Beyond the Roads

The roads of the Himalayas were endless. Everything was covered in snow. All I could see were endless valleys and winding roads. But I believe, beyond the roads there had to be something waiting for me.

- Japanese adventurer Anton Hiroyoshi

The challenges of Say No Evil

The one week Say No Evil bootcamp initiated by Karen has ended. The camp rule includes no lying, no flowery speech, no harsh speech. I have already broken one or more of the rules on day 1, day 2 and….. what a failure!

It is indeed challenging as we are all so used to our daily habits. Bad habits are implanted in us, like a deeply rooted weed in an unattended garden. If we want a beautiful garden, we have to constantly protect it from pollution and to regularly clear the weeds before it took over the flowers and plants.

This boot camp reminds us that it is time to do our gardening!

PS:One thought I have from this camp: When we refrain from harsh speech, do we still harbor harsh thoughts?

Personal Development List

Priscilla Palmer has started to compile a list of Personal Development blogs which includes any blog that we feel can benefit us in our growth process. I find that this is such a good idea. Now that we have the list, we can visit the good blogs that we would never have known.

I have been tagged by my friend Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness. Thanks Rick for adding me for the list. The personal development list is still growing, do check out the latest list at Priscilla’s website.

Personal Development List (up to 24 Aug 07):
· Aaron Potts at Today is That Day
· Adam Kayce at Monk at Work
· Alan Torres at Made to Be Great
· Albert Foong at urbanmonk.net
· Anita Pathik Law at Power of four Way
· Brian Kim at briankim.net
· Bob at everyeveryminute
· Christine Kane at ChristineKane.com
· Craig Harper at Motivational Speaker
· Dave Schoof at Engaging the Disquiet
· David Rogers at How to Have Great Self Confidence
· Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com
· Donald Latumahina at Life Optimizer
· Dr. Hal at Northstar Mental fitness blog
· Edward Mills at Evolving Times
· Gleb Reys at Personal Development Ideas
· Gustav at Success-is-in-you.com
· Henrik Edberg at The Positivity Blog
· Jason Ivers at A Miracle a Day
· Jay White at dumb little man tips for life
· Jean Browman at Transforming Stress Into Power and Cheerful Monk
· Jerry Lopper at Personal Growth
· John Place at John Place Online
· John Wesley at Pick The Brain
· Josh Bickford at Reach For Magnificence
· Kammie Kobyleski at Passion Meets Purpose
· Karen Lynch at Live The Power
· Kim George at Doing What You Can Do
· Kirsten Harrell at Ipopin
· K.L. Masina at Be Conscious Now
· Lee Nutter at bmindful
· Leo Baruta at Zen Habits
· Life Reflection at Universe in a Single Atom
· Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
· Lola Fayemi at Real World Spiritual and Personal Development
· Lorraine Cohen at Powerfull Living
· Lyman Reed at Creating a Better Life
· Maria Palma at The Good Life
· Mark McManus at Build Your Life To Order
· Martin Avis at Kickstart Daily
· Michelle Moore at Happiness Blog
· Nancy Tierney at Unconditional Confidence
· Nneka at Balanced Life Center
· Pamm Larry at My Spiritual Dance
· Paul at Paul’s Tips
· Peter at I Will Change Your Life
· Phil Gerbyshak at Make It Great
· Priscilla Palmer at Personal Development Demands Success
· Raymond Salas at Zenchill Powertools
· Reg Adkins at ElementalTruths
· Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness
· Scott Bernadot at Keeping The Secret
· Shauna Arthur at Breathing Prosperity and Follow Your Path
· Steve Olson at Steve-Olson.com
· Steve Pavlina at stevepavlina.com
· Ted Demopoulos at Blogging For Business
· Thom Quinn at Qlog
· Tim Ferris at 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog
· Tony D Clark at Success From The Nest
· Troy Worman at Orbit Now!
· Vickie at Contemplate This
· WildBill at PassionateBlogger
and these collaborated sites:
· Life Coaches Blog Stratagies for a Greater Life

And here are my top 5 blogger list:
· Jennifer at Goodness Graciousness
· Karen at Journey with Water Learner
· Sam at Acquire Wisdom and Live with Passion
· Robert at Compassionate Council
· Mark at The Naked Soul

What is pain? Part II

Jennifer pointed out that pain is in the brain. Our receptor sensory nerves detect the area that is wounded or needed attention and send a message to the brain, which interpret it as pain. Mark and Lili pointed out that pain is in our mind.

Very interestingly, under meditation, if we observe pain, there are 2 types of pain as discussed above. One is physical pain and the other is mental pain. Our brain detects the physical pain but it is our mind that holds on to this pain mentally.

As Mark pointed out, different people seem to have a different tolerant level to pain. What makes these differences is the level of control we have mentally. How we view pain can greatly alter our tolerant to pain.

I am not very good at meditation, however I have tried it a couple of times to look at pain. I tried to concentrate at my pain area, and strangely the pain disappears and all I can feel are pulses on my nerves in that area. There are times where the pulses are not very obvious, the pain is still there but strangely, I feel disconnect with this pain at the mind level. What this means is that I feel the physical pain but not at the mental pain.

There is always a saying that my body is sick but my mind is not. At the mind level, we can control or eliminate our mental pain. Often, people commit suicide because of mental pain. The pain of losing their love ones, the pain of losing their money, the pain of losing their reputation are all pain at the mind level.

Perhaps just like the story in What is Pain? we can’t possibly live with a bad leg and wake up in pain everyday, we should do a check from day to day and amputate that ‘bad leg’ that is preventing us from living fully.

Or perhaps we should do a check to see if these are ‘real’ pain in the first place. Sometimes the bad leg is already gone but as long as we hold on to it mentally, we will always feel the pain. As what Karen had realized in the story, this applies to all undesirable things in our life.

We should have the courage to face our pain, amputate it when needed and tackle it at the mind level. Let’s hope for less pain in this world.

What is Pain?

Up till today, scientist has very little understanding of how pain works. Some scientists describe pain as “a complex mixture of emotions, culture, experience, spirit and sensation."

I came across a very interesting situation when watching a drama show.

A patient’s right foot was infected with flesh-eating bacteria. For the past few days, he had been living in agony and pain in his right foot. The infection was so bad that the doctor had no choice but to amputate his right leg, from the knee down.

After the operation, his right leg, from the knee down was gone. But for the next few days, the patient still complains about pain in his right leg.

There was once in the lift, he met with a very experience doctor. He told the doctor, there is still pain in his right leg. The doctor asked him to close his eyes, feel the pain and tell him where the pain is. He close his eyes and told the doctor, the pain is in his right foot, and he then uses his hands and try to touch his right foot where the pain was.

Of course, he couldn’t feel anything down there as his right foot had already been amputated. Shocked, he looked at the doctor. The doctor then explained to him that the painful part of his leg is already gone, but his mind has yet adjusted to the new situation.

Now comes the big question.

If his leg is gone but he is still feeling the same pain, is the pain in his leg or in his mind all this time?

Surprise Surprise

I thought I should take some time this week to thank a few people that are very important to my blog.

Universe in a single atom started on 22 June 07, my very first blog. I’m very new to blogging and I don’t blog everyday as I am holding a full time job. I am still learning and blogging at the same time.

Nearly 2 months into blogging, I got so much surprises and so much support from the folks at Bloglog which totally surprises me.

I got 2 Inspirational Blogger Awards this month, first from Jennifer at Goodness Graciousness and the other from Trish at Breathing. I really appreciate them for giving me this award and it really gives me a lot of encouragement.

Jennifer has a wonderful blog. I really think she deserves the Inspirational Blogger Award. Her blog provides a lot of insights & awareness and it really inspires people.

I love what Trish says about truth “What seems to me to be truth one day may pass like the wind through the trees and disappear the next”. Trish only listened to the heart speak and those who speak from the heart are the most inspiring people.

So much surprises and I really want to say a big thank you to all of you.

Ever since I started blogging, I have visited many great blogs. And here are some of them that I think deserve the awards.

Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness. Rick’s blog is devoted to provide information that will help in changing beliefs and creating a better life. Rick mentioned about my blog A Peep at the Monster in his Sunday Reading 15 July 2007. That was my fifth writing and that has given me so much encouragement to keep writing. Thank you Rick!

Karen at Journey at Water Learner. Living a life with awareness. Thought provoking and enlightening blog filled with honesty.

Sujit at gurushabad. Great music accompanied by great wisdom. Knowing ownself is wisdom, I love that.

Joel at Fearless Dreams. Great articles, informative and inspiring. A blog worth reading.

Jackal at Jackal. Jackal suffers from mental illness (borderline personality disorder). She had recently been awarded the courageous award but I still wanted to give this to her as she really deserves this. Jackal, be brave.

To read more about the Inspirational Blog Award please visit Christy at Writer's Review.

Value of human life?

When it comes to precious and valuables gems and diamond, there are some who like to collect, some like to show it off as a form of status, others aspire to have them. I was thinking what gives things a value? When it comes to fashion, gems, electronics, what gives them a value? From economist’s point of view, it is the demand and supply that give rise to the value of an item. From marketer’s point of view, the value is determined by the perceived benefits successfully portrayed in a series of advertisements, packaging, display, location of sales, etc.

This means that there is no fixed value on any item. The value of all things in this world is fixed by each individual. The market can fix a Tag watch at $1,000, but I can value this watch at $2,000 and I would think that at $1000, I actually got a good bargain. On the other hand, if I value this watch at only $500, I would not pay for that price they are selling.

A lot of the determine factor for the value came from the expectation of society, the people around us, the advertisements, our family, added to this expectation. Diamonds and gems, perceived to be valuable, portrayed as prestige by marketers, are valued at high price by the society.

Anyone that has watched the movie on Blood Diamond, will probably give a second thoughts when it comes to buying diamonds. Greed propels some beings to value money and gems more than anything else. It is just madness that we human are willing to sacrifice the precious life of another human just to get a piece of element existed in this world, excavated from the earth FREE.

It really makes me wonder, how much is our human life worth?

With no marketers and no demand and supply to fix a price, what is the perceived value of a human life?

Riding the Roller Coaster

The past few days have been a roller coaster ride for me. One moment I’m happy, the next moment I fell into frustration and the next I’m depressed. Work has been frustrating. I became so emotionally tired.

I started to blame the company, the management, the processes, colleagues and everyone else. I begin to hope for a new job, new colleagues, new management. Maybe things will be better if I change a new environment. I wanted to escape from all these unhappiness, from all these madness and I wanted to look for happiness and peace somewhere else.

Then I begin to wonder, how many times have I experience these before? How many escapes have I made in the past? I have been changing jobs, always in search of a “better place”.

I realized that there is no better place in our outer world. Things and people always change. The things that bring us happiness today, might not bring us happiness tomorrow. For example, my manager praise me yesterday and I became very happy, but today, he reprimanded me and I became depressed and frustrated.

I always thought that I would be happier if I get a new job, or a new bag or a new mobile. But that happiness only lasted very briefly. So I concluded that true happiness and peace couldn’t be found externally.

If we continued to search for peace and happiness in all these things out there, we will always be riding the roller coaster, up one day and down the other. True peace lies in the heart. What this means is that we should practice looking inwards for inner peace.

When we look inwards, we will see that a lot of our unhappiness came about because we are either constantly looking to escape from this unpleasant situation or we are constantly looking forward to new pleasure. When we are here, we wish to be there. We can’t be truly enjoying.

It is time to stop whining and stop escaping. I’ll pack up my emotional baggage and start breathing.