Reflection

Who am I?

Some people are born with the gift of knowing who they really are, who they want to become, and they have the chance to make their dreams come true. These are probably the lucky few.

Most people, however, either do not know who they really are, or who they want to become, or they do know but they are just not born in the right condition to let them shine. Whatever the reason is we choose to give ourselves, if we dig deep enough, it is usually our emotions that is taking over our mind and controlling over our life.

Have you ever wanted something so bad you are willing to give up anything and everything to get it? As adults, we would probably smile and say that only a child would be as foolish as to throwaway everything he already has in order to pursue something that is uncertain in all ways. Perhaps we would end up living a hell throughout the remaining years in our lives. Perhaps we would succeed and become a notable person in history. People are often bogged down by fear of losing it all.

As a child, you have probably had dreams far beyond imagination. You want to become an astronaut to go see the moon and stars up close. You would probably have built space ships with empty bottles and put a cape on your back to pretend that you can fly to infinity. These are beautiful times when there is nothing to worry about in life. You probably have peers having the same thinking as you do. You form discussion groups and work on projects to make your dreams a reality. You are creative.

What happened to the child in you? What happened to your fearless self?

Over the years, while growing up, you probably have encountered elders telling you of things you should leave behind. Back then, your dreams are important. Somehow, along the way, you need to come back to reality. Your dreams are a total setback and you have kept them locked in the deepest part of you, in a chest with such a huge bolt, it is impossible to unlock it anymore.

You become who you should be. You go to school. You get good results in examinations. You come out to society and you start to work your way up the corporate ladder. You excel in your job. You get promotions all the way up. You find your life partner. You get married and have children of your own. You have a mortgage to pay up. You have your children to bring up. But your dreams have been buried, so deep you can no longer uncover it.

Now your children have all grown to become adults. You are already in your golden years. Your children have children of their own. They are walking your footsteps, to become the person they adore most, you. Perhaps they are living the life of their dreams, perhaps not. Somehow, it does not seem important to have a dream after all. You have your grandchildren to love and show you love. You should be fulfilled.

As age catches up, health declines. You are not in the hospital bed. You have all the time to flash back in your younger days. You talk about those days a lot. You suddenly realize that there is something missing. Despite the happy and smooth life that you have had, there is still a void within. What is that? Why are you feeling emptiness inside when you already have what others say as a complete life?

It is your dreams.

You have been living the perfect life in the eyes of everyone but you are not living the life of your own. You look in the mirror, you see your face but you do not see the truth inside of you.
You look in the mirror, you see your body but you do not see the life you lead.
You look in the mirror, you see everything down to the acne but you cannot see through your soul.
You are you, nobody can change that. Have you been true to yourself? Or are you just merely being someone you are not?

Who is the person you see in the reflection?
Who is the person you really are?

 

Why is my reflection someone I don’t know?

Hua Mulan (花木蘭), Female warrior from the Northern and Southern dynasties era

Kindness

Amidst the hustle and bustle life in the city.

Life is a state of being. Life is strange in many ways. It has been known scientifically that we are all made up of matter but we lack the understanding of what matter really is, and what really matters in life. Perhaps we are being clouded by the things we see around us, material things. Perhaps our minds are too congested to even think what life really means.

We seek kindness in our everyday life

We hope very much for people to be kind to us in all directions. We hope our life to be smooth sailing all the time. While having hope means a lot to those who lack of something but what hope really means is the lack of ability to make it come true. What then, can we do to make our dreams become reality? What is it that we need to fulfill in order to not just relying on luck and hope?

What we want others do for us we have to first do for others. If you want people to be kind to you, you have to first spread the kindness. This has been known through history of mankind but somehow the transmission of information has been halted due to many reasons. It no longer matters the reason information is not brought to us, it only matters what we do to correct it.

Whatever that had passed, leave it to the historians. Whatever that will happen in the future, leave it to the predictors. Our responsibility is to identify what we want and really take action into seeing it through. Some people are quick to decide while some takes much longer to find themselves. Perhaps we have been looking too hard to find something that is there in plain sight.

Most often, we spend time over thinking. This does not help at all, and in fact, it complicates the matter so much you become confused. When your mind is overwhelmed, it functions is a berserk way. Everything seems important. Everything seems urgent. Everything seems to matter. You get stressed. You try to control your emotions. You become depressed.

Depression is somewhat a silent killer. Many people do not realize that when a person is in that state of mind, that person would be thinking of many ways to self-destruct. While that person may have depression, they will be seemingly normal in the eyes of others. They are great actors. They are able to hide the side of them that they do not wish to show anybody. Even their closest family may not be able to identify that they need help.

What can we do then? If we are not able to identify, we cannot help them.

Perhaps we have been looking in the wrong direction. We do not treat the symptoms, we have to cure the disease. How about being kind to everyone around you? How about treating everyone the same? How about lending a helping hand to people even if they did not ask for help? How about having a conversation with the people you care about? How about stopping your procrastination and aimless jokes about other people?

Making fun of someone makes you feel great but can cause a disaster in the person’s life.
Making fun of someone makes other people laugh but can cause the person to silently bleed.
How do you feel when one day you are the one in the hot seat?
How do you feel when someone makes fun of something you hold dearly of?
Always put yourself in the shoes of others before spitting out words.
Always use your brain before your mouth.

Being kind to others means being kind to ourselves. While this may not make sense now, it will all come together when the time is right. The universe works in a very simple yet complex way. The universe knows no emotion, it only works towards what is true to our minds. What you think, you act. What you act, you get. Just remember this. What goes around comes around.

Be kind to yourself and others. Kindness will find its way back to you at times when you need it most.

 

We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin), English filmmaker and composer in silent film, 1889-1977

Impose

One excels better when one is forced into a situation of no turning back!

As a normal human, we often overthink situations and never bring anything to the light, especially in this vast information era. Information is easily available everywhere. We can be simply overwhelmed and become indecisive of what we want to do with the information at hand. Most often we even feel that we have not enough information to start on anything. This feeling should be stopped. There is just way too much information we are drowning in it. Take a break!

The choice is ours!

Start listening to ourselves. What do we really want? What is it that we want to achieve that is so great that we must do? What kind of value can we bring to the world? Find out the ultimate goal and work towards it. We do not need all information to be at hand to start. If we are clear about what we want to do, information will flow in, one way or the other.

We may end up thinking that we are not worthy to achieve anything important, or we are not that top one percent (1%) to make a difference to the lives of others. How will we know where we will end up if we never take the first step? Nobody can predict the future.

Even if there are higher beings that have the skills to tell future, all they will do is to provide us with words of wisdom. They are wise, they will not tell us exactly how our future looks like. They will not guide us step by step how to reach our goals. They are modest because they know that everything changes over time. Our future is in our hands. Every little decision that we make today, can change tomorrow. Even if we are born to be rich by sixty, we can be rich and successful or rich and lonely.

We create our own path. Nobody can do it on our behalf.

Learning never stops. We can choose to learn everything under the sky and become wise in the head but never implement a single thing we learn. Or, we can learn along the way while moving forward chasing our dreams. We can be the person who create something new for everyone else to live better. We can bring value to other peoples’ lives. If we believe we can do it, and impose action, we will surely succeed.

Successful people are confident because they believe in what they do. They believe that they are able to make a difference. Nobody is born to be a success. Everyone has to work their way up.

An athlete can run at lightning speed because of practice. A gymnast can flex like rubber because of practice. We only see their success in the limelight but we never see the hardcore training that their coaches impose upon them. The life that they live is nothing like ours. They have a strict diet. They have a tireless string of activities that stretch them beyond what a normal person can do. As the old wise Chinese saying, “One minute in front of the stage, ten years of work behind the stage.”

Actors that we adore in movies and series can be so fluent and real in their acting. Musicians that we idolize in concerts and theatres can touch us with just their voice or the sounds of the instruments they play. Everything is about practice. They could have been born with the talent, but if it was only talent without determination to perform, will they be known?

Some people have the opportunity to meet with great teachers that impose upon them certain rules to follow, certain steps to implement. While it may make us feel torturous, it is part and parcel of moving forward. Only if we can live up to the challenge we can succeed. Success does not come easy. There may be easier way out but there is only one path in and it is never laid in golden bricks.

A pencil can only write after it is sharpened. Impose on ourselves to get back up after stumbling and falling. We may have cuts and bruises but once recovered, we are our better selves.

 

For one cause or another, it has become necessary to impose restrictions upon the use of many commodities, including not a few of the necessities of life.

William Lyon Mackenzie King (Mackenzie King), 10th Prime Minister of Canada, 1874-1950

Actor

An actor is only great when he believes in the role he is playing.

The first thing we have in mind is that handsome or beautiful actor in the movie or series we are following. Some are just merely there for show, while the once that really stand out are the ones that stay in our heads for a long time. It could be the unforgettable beauty or the noble character they are playing. Different people remember different characters from the movie that we watch.

Just like the Lord of the Rings. Most people will remember Frodo Baggins portrayed by Elijah Wood because he is the main actor in the worlds’ most well-known trilogy. Some people will remember Gandalf, can be the Grey or the White, portrayed by Ian McKellen because he is the most outstanding wizard of all realms in the movie. There will be a handful that remembers the other characters like the clean and noble Sindarin Elf, Legolas of the Woodland Realms who is the saviour of all times, or the elusive Stoor Hobbit, Gollum of the River-folk who is always lurking around in all dark corners.

Whichever character we remember better, we become. Whether or not we agree to this, is up to the individual. When we quiet ourselves enough, we will realize that we are somewhat attracted to the actors not because of their looks but because of the role in the movie or series we watch. Like attracts like. This is the law of attraction and it applies to everyone.

Some people idolize actors that they like. While this may be good because most actors do have a very healthy lifestyle. Besides looking at the fame alone, we should concentrate on what the actors are able to teach us. They do not become famous overnight. We have to also learn from them, their past efforts, and how they managed to be where they are right now. The best way to learn is to learn from our idols.

We are all actors in our own way. This world is a big theatre!

How we want to live our life is entirely up to us. We may be a speck of dust now but it is not what that determines our future. We can choose our own path. We can be the character we want to be.

We can be an entrepreneur. We are all born with a brain to think. Every little idea can be turned into an opportunity for success. We can change our own lives for the better. All we need is determination in everything that we do. We have to believe that whatever we do brings value to other people. We have to bring out the best in ourselves. Everyone is different, there is no need to compare. What we have in mind is what will bring us to the right place.

We can be a teacher. We can teach one way or the other. A teacher need not be in school. Teachers of life is everywhere. There is no limit to what we can teach our children. Nothing in life is every written in syllabus in text books. What we learn in school is just the foundation, we learn words and how to put together words. While this is a skill, it does not determine who we ultimately are.

We can be a leader. We can have many followers. What is important is not how much people respect us but how well we nurture everyone else. A great leader do not limit the thinking of others. They welcome ideas and encourage people to put on their thinking cap. Never once will they say an idea is a bad idea because they understand that every individual is different. Every idea is good in their own way. Whether or not we see it now, it really does not matter. As long as there is an idea, life moves forward.

We can be an environmentalist. Humans have tapped into nature far too long and deep, nature is bleeding. There is no turning back but we can always learn from the past mistakes. We can always change life for the better. We can live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. We only need air, food, and shelter. What we provide for the homeless are the only essentials that humans need to live. Everything else is just a want. We can have them or omit them.

Choose wisely, which role we want to play.

The actor has to develop his body. The actor has to work on his voice. But the most important thing the actor has to work on is his mind.

Stella Adler, American actress and acting teacher, 1901-1992