Language

What is the voice within?

We are so into everything that we have been led to understand so much that we have forgotten the fundamentals of life itself. When we were first born, everything was clear. The slightest movement means a whole lot more than just a movement. Life was simple.

What happened to ourselves? What made things seemingly so simple become a whole different story as time goes by?

Changes happen. Changes happen in all directions. We have been taught that there are three dimensions in our world. Thus come the very common phrase when everything seems to be not working for us… we are pulled from left right center. If you decipher carefully this phrase, it is just linear. Everything that we have been taught, our minds see as one single line, even though we learn so much in school that we live in a three dimensional world.

How do we pull ourselves out from such misleading phrases in life? Perhaps you would be thinking to make the dimensions yourself through the words that you use to phrase things differently. But then, the phrase will sound awkward… we are pulled horizontally vertically diagonally. These are very huge words to use when thinking of a situation we are in.

What is being described in our text books may be the knowledge that has been passed down through generations of scientific research. Parts of them may be true but a bulk of them still remain open to discussion, if we may. Mainstream history and science may not buy into any new ideas that do not fit into the existing journals. Whatever that is written seems to be hard fixed in the common people’s lives.

Why are we limiting ourselves into the theories of others?

We are all individuals. We are capable of having our own mindset. We have the power to influence ourselves to become our better selves. It is all in the mind. But there seems to be something missing out there. How do we actually do that?

Have you ever been in a room with a hundred people? When a person walks in, you can straightaway identify if the person is of caliber or not. That feeling is almost instantaneous. There is no explanation needed.

I remember a story told to me some years ago. An experiment done by a person of caliber to test if majority of the humans are depending on visual or seeing through their heart. The room is full. A man in suit walks in and the entire crowd cheered upon him thinking that he is the person of caliber that they are looking forward to listen to. And so the person did the entire presentation effectively. During the questions and answers session, a participant rose with a question that the person could not answer. Then, the person redirected to say that the answer is so simple, even my driver can answer it, pointing to another man that did not look like anyone important.

Our five senses love to play tricks on us, especially our eyes. Whatever we see we will think is the absolute truth. In actual fact, the man on stage was the driver while that uninteresting man sitting amongst the audience was the person everyone should look up to. Moral of the story is to always feel with your heart, not to let your five senses block the most important sixth sense in you.

Listen to yourself. Travel within to look deeper into what you are really looking for. What is the first question you ask yourself every single day? What is that question that you thought is not important and yet is shaping your life? What are you looking for?

Always ask questions. Even when the questions seem redundant. Even when the questions seem repeated. Even when the questions seem unimportant. What are we doing here? What is our purpose in this life? Are we really who we see everyday in the mirror? What is our destiny? Where do we come from? Which direction are we heading to? This world that we live in, is it really existent or it is all in our imagination?

No language can describe our life if we let go of all the barriers we have been setting up our entire lifetime.

 

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (Ludwig Wittgenstein), Austrian-British philosopher, 1889-1951

Create

Why now? Perhaps the question one should be asking is why not now, instead of why now.

Now is a good time. Considering the situation around the world right now, it is a good time to start anything that we have been dreaming of doing. This is a calling. A calling for something to change.

All along, we are just living the life we thought was the life that is. Day in day out doing the same routine over and over. Life is just as is because it is just as is. There seems to be no way out of the situation at all. Life seems to be fixed, whatever life we are living.

A farmer seems to be just living the life of a farmer. Wake up, head out to the farm, sow seeds, water the crops or harvest the crops. Send the reaps of hard work to dealers and get some money in return. During the lockdown, people are just not allowed to move around too much. Though categorized under essential services, because of the lockdown, a large number of harvested crops are left to rot. Farmers have no choice but to take another route. They go online. Now, consumers can directly purchase from them at a cheaper price, while they are making higher profits without the need to go through middle men. It is a win-win situation.

As for the middle man. Life was great prior to the lockdown. They source for good stuff, then they resell to the end user at a marked up price. There is no need to produce anything to sell, they only need to know where to find something to sell and where to market it to the right audience. However, during the lockdown, many things cannot be done. Perhaps it seems like efforts lost in translation. If they do not change the way they run their business, there will be no business to run after this ordeal. When people can no longer move around like before, it is a good time to bring the business online.

When everyone goes online, this will mean the initial online businesses will be affected because the pie has been cut into way too many pieces. Perhaps this is a great time to think out of the box. What else can you do differently from all the other businesses out there? How can you differentiate yourself from the norm? How to find your perfect niche within an ocean full of sharks.

Some may say that it will be easy for things that people will definitely need to buy to do business. How about those things that are considered redundant?

Nothing ever is redundant. It is the perception of people that makes things useful or not. There are more than 7 billion people in the world. There bound to be people finding something that you are offering. You just need to know where to market and how to market. Knowing the where and how is of utmost importance for any business, regardless of whether or not you are in an industry that many say is dead now.

Take tourism for example. Many companies have ended their business because it is impossible for sustenance when nobody is allowed to travel around. Perhaps it really is the right time to think of something else. Perhaps tourism is not the right business for you. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to change your business model. Every business should be able to sustain even if they are running for at least 6 whole months without any income. If the business is running on a day to day basis, then there must be a weak point in the business model itself. If you are still holding on to it, you will just end up stressing yourself about it right till the end.

It does not matter what life throws at us. It only matters how we look at life. When you know that something is not working well, stiffen your heart, cut loss, and let go. There is no reason to keep hanging on to something that you know will end up nowhere.

The old you will have to first die to create the better you. You do not die literally, you just let go of everything that are pulling you down, and you start anew.

 

To create is to live twice.

Albert Camus, French-Algerian philosopher, 1913-1960

Switch

What to do when you wake up feeling under the weather?

Everyone has had this feeling whether or not you admit it. Once in a while, you will feel like you just cannot get out of bed. Perhaps you have been working too hard for the past few months you hardly get enough sleep throughout the whole period. Now, you are burnt out. It does not help when the weather outside is gloomy. The sky is still moody at 9 in the morning.

Perhaps you feel like your daily routine is torn. Perhaps you feel like you are going to breakdown at any moment. Perhaps you are alone or even with your family, everyone else seems to be also in the same situation. There are too many things still on the plate that you need to handle but you are just not up to it. What do you do when this happens? Have you ever felt like life is turning against you in the peak of your performance? Have you ever felt like the energy level suddenly just drop in the peak of your motivation? What can you do?

Your mind tells you to get going but your body stops you from moving. You know your responsibilities but everything just does not seem to gel. You know you have to do something to get out of this situation but your brain is just not functioning the way it usually does. You are not sick but you feel like you are getting sick. How do you overcome this? How do you think you can handle the situation? Why is it so different today? Why does it feel like you are going back to the old you now? Why is change so difficult?

Do you realize that there is a button in all of us? It is called the reset button. You can always switch from a terrible situation to a wonderful one once you press on that button. All you need to do is to find that button within you.

Where?

The question to ask is not where the button is. The question to ask should be how to reach the button of functionality. Each of us function in our own unique ways. Only you know what works best for you.

If meditation sounds too mystical for you, perhaps just sitting quietly in a clear space in your room will help. Observe everything there is in the room. There may be a little crease in your bedsheet, or a hairline crack in the wall, or may be a little ant trying to find its way home. All these little details, what do they have in common despite their differences? All these little details, as little as they may be, they are part of your room. They have been around probably since you moved in or they may be newly created along the way. They could be an important change in the structure of your room. Just observe, do not judge.

You may say that you are living in a square tiny room in an apartment and you really hate the lack of space, then just get out there. There surely is a park or garden or playground somewhere you can just sit and be still. Observe everything that goes on around you. There could be children playing and running about screaming and shouting as they have fun. There could be butterflies or bees having their taste of pollens and nectar from the beautiful flowers all around. The wind is blowing and the leaves whistle. The birds are chirping. There could be a whole colony of ants transporting food back to their queen. Immerse yourself into nature. Spend as much time as you possibly can, be in this moment. Just be in this moment.

We have been too busy in our hustle and bustle of life that we have lost connection with what is. Your body knows it better than you do because you have cramped so much information within you that everything become congested and crowded, you can no longer differentiate what is. There is only so much our physical body can take. When it tires, it affects your mind. This is when you know you need a break. Trust your body. Trust your mind.

When self-esteem is low, it is time to switch on the button of functionality.

 

When you mix with the wrong energy, there’s bound to be an explosion. Pay attention and switch lanes when the signal changes. What’s really real, is ultimately revealed.

T.F. Hodge, author of From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with “The Divine Presence”, 1969-present