I love you. October?

 What did October teach you?

Ever since I was a child, I would often hear my big brother bellow like a baboon; “Patience is the mother of all virtues” and I would look up & stare at the big monkey perched on the jambu tree and wonder wtf was he saying!

Anyone who hasn’t seen or isn't going through tough times these days could be living under a rock or has deep pockets. Having to travel in early October in the early hours of the morning, saw signs of life returning to the usually crowded terminal at KLIA2. Most flights were full as optimism slowly returned to the travel industry only to be dampened by a local airline going bust jettisoning thousands of passengers with bookings.

Also in the early hours on Oct 7, Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israel triggering events of unspeakable horror and brutality that could escalate into WW3.

As if feeling terribly depressed, our ringgit fell to a 25-year low of RM4.77 to the US$, the lowest since the 1997-8 financial crisis.

In mitigation, on Oct 1, in a press release;
"Growth in developing East Asia and Pacific is projected to remain strong at 5% in 2023 but will ease in the second half of 2023 and is forecast to be 4.5% during 2024," the World Bank said on Sunday in its semi-annual economic outlook for the region.
The silver lining here is that Malaysia is expected to perform better (3.9-4.3% growth) in 2023/4 than the last 5 years. (Av. 3.1%)*.

While wine infused lunches still continue for some, some of us have to sip Chinese tea and remain patient as the cycle of life turns to complete the curve of the law of nature, averages, good business practices supported by good governance to prevail.

I now understand my brother’s quote and what October taught me- Patience.
Impatience will surely result in disaster.

May the harmonising force be with you.
May you stay the course with resolve and patience.
May you find strength in finding your gifts.
May November bring glad tidings and peace on earth.




P/s This post is dedicated in memory of multitalented Ray Stevenson who played Baylon Skoll a fallen Jedi, in the Star Wars Clone Wars Series.
Another gunforhire gone too soon.

I love you. June

June /dʒuːn/ noun

the sixth month of the year, in the northern hemisphere usually considered the first month of summer.

"the roses flower in June"

Photo by Tuân Nguyễn Minh on Unsplash

We are at the end of the first six months of the year although I felt as if I have just welcomed January not long ago posted <here>. 

Seems time has literally flown spent virtually doing “nothing”

And by painstakingly doing nothing, and waiting.

Not just waiting twiddling my thumbs but waiting in a state of flow. 

Of equanimity. Of sitting with oneself in silence and solitude. 

Of not running away from oneself but sitting with one's pain. Befriending it. 

Breaching the void, enjoying it and it's impermanence. 

What a beautiful month June has blossomed into. 

Truly “roses flower in June”

Stillness is truly the superactivity of the source. 

And what a year it has been, getting to take stock at the half-way mark. 

I am prepping and bracing myself for the next half. 

And I know well enough the main aim is to take care of my physical body. 

Now that my spiritual body is strong, I am also ready, willing and able to face the months ahead one day at a time. 

As they say in sports; Let's go out and win the race. 

Have a great second half of the year. 

I love you. Beginnings.

 Meditation for Beginnings.

Sit with spine comfortably erect, in a cross-legged posture. 

Rest your hands, palms up on your thighs or in your lap.

Drop your shoulders and relax your whole body.

Bring your attention to your breathing. 

Inhale deeply and as you exhale, relax into it. 

Feel your body fully relaxed as you calmly settle down and focus on one thing you want to do that is not currently part of your life.

Be specific and imagine what it would look like, feel like. It may be meditating or exercising daily,

or learning something new or doing something creative - writing, singing, dancing, painting, - or simply being more patient with those you love. 

Pick something that has meaning for you.

See yourself beginning this activity. Imagine the state of mind, body and emotion ideally required to begin. How do you want to be feeling mentally, emotionally, and physically when you start? 

Imagine yourself as you ideally want to be to begin.

Stay with this for a few breaths.

Now, be aware of how you are feeling mentally, emotionally, and physically at this moment. 

Feel the gap, if you can, between where you want to be and where you are. 

Let your attention follow your inhalation and exhalation, take a few moments to to feel, without judgement, the gap between where you are and where you want to be- or think you should be- to begin.

Now, imagine yourself beginning to do what you want to do, starting from the place you are right now.

See yourself doing it- meditating, exercising, being more patient, learning something, doing something creative- just the way you are. 

Do not pull away from the way you are feeling. Let yourself relax into how things are and imagine doing what you want to do, perhaps not as perfectly, not as ideally as you first imagined it, but doing it anyway. Let go with each exhalation; let yourself feel exactly how you are feeling. 

Give yourself permission to begin from here.