Dr Teh Blog

The White and Dark Horses

2011-07-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

We moved in to a new house few months ago. Next to the house is a large green field with a hill where two horses live; a White Horse and a Dark Horse.

They belong to our neighbour. We see the horses together everyday day, and they are usually never apart. They don’t seem to have a stable and stay out in the field most of the time.

One day, the Dark Horse disappeared, and he (I assume it's a male) may have been sent away to veterinarian or the owner might have taken him for a ride.

The White Horse appeared anxious about the disappearance of the Dark Horse - for the whole day, she (I assume is a female) was charging up and down the hill whynneying with no drink or food.

I had been observing her and she appeared very restless and anxious. She obviously did not know what had happened to the Dark Horse and was missing him a lot because usually they were rarely apart.

By evening, the Dark Horse was back and the White Horse then started eating and drinking and looked a lot happier.

The next day, it was the White Horse’s turn to disappear with Dark Horse being by itself and to my surprise he was so calm - no anxiety, no charging up and down the hill whynneying, just eating and behaving as normal. He took it so easily and patiently waited for the White Horse to return.

I suppose this can happen to us occasionally too; not knowing what happened to our loved ones can make us anxious and restless.

However, we can either choose to react like the White Horse or Dark Horse. The White Horse that was anxious, over-reacted and worried unnecessarily or be like the Dark house that was positive, kept calm and waited patiently for the facts to be revealed.

Negative thinking can drain our energy while positive thinking with wisdom can save us unnecessary worry and help us to stay calm. The choice is ours.

During the last few days, we didn't see either of the horses, and have no idea what has happened to them.

The owner could have sold them or moved them to another field. We are missing them in a way even though we do not own them as they have been “good company” for a good few months. We hope that they will be come back, and if they do I will update you …!

Remove busyness to achieve Peace

2010-07-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

I am writing while at Manchester Airport on my way back to Malaysia to celebrate the Chinese New Year – a once-a-year trip to visit my family, especially my mum.

Due to having to wait several hours, I’m able to reflect on my life over the past few months and update my blog.

There has been a bit of change in my life during the past few months. I was called back by my previous company to help out with the difficulties faced by their finance department.

The financial controller who took over my position didn’t perform to expectations and was therefore asked to leave. I am back there temporarily on a consultancy basis whilst they recruit a new financial controller.

I was asked to take up the job permanently, but I decided that it wasn’t a good idea, since it took me a lot of courage to leave the job in the first place.

My consultancy contract is coming to an end and the handover took place last week. I am now able to take my holiday with free mind, i.e. I need not worry about any responsibility for the department.

I would like to touch on my life for the past few months whilst I was serving with my previous company. Things have changed dramatically since I was there, new faces and new management styles and new cultures.

My task was to sort out the mess created within the department and put control back in place. My life was full of surprises and pressures, certainly back to the life I had 15 months ago.

During the first month back at the company, I noticed mentally I was really tensed up - having such a great task to accomplish, my mind was restless and unable to find peace most of the time.

I had a lot of ideas about how to improve the various departments and to bring them back on track, just as they were when I left 15 months ago. Apart from this task, I had accounts deadlines to complete for my own companies.

Therefore, I was feeling really tensed up having to juggle the two companies and literarily forgot to rest. I felt ill for few days and my mind wasn’t working to its full potential.

I have to travel 10 hours to and back every fortnight which I found a drain on my energy.

I am now able to reflect on my life for the past few months and I realise that I created my own busyness and therefore my mind wasn’t able to rest, which created a lot of sleepless nights due to apprehension. I took up the challenge to earn more money.

However, a life that is overwhelmed by stress and anxiety cannot perform to its fullest. An efficient mind requires the removal of busyness and the creation of space for thoughtful processes.

In conclusion, we can influence our own life, however, I chose to become busy due to the desire for more earnings and should therefore, accept the consequences of restlessness and anxiety.

The lesson here for me is to choose a balanced way of life and create the necessary space in my mind for a healthy life.

The following phases from a Buddhist text would help us to decide what life we want:
• By removing busyness and agitation, there is natural peace.
• By removing endless desires, there is natural satisfaction.
• By removing self-centredness, there emerges a natural awareness of others and care for them
• By removing illusions, there is natural lucidity about things.
• By removing fear of loss and stinginess, there is natural generosity.

Walking and Life

2009-11-08T07:25:00.001-08:00

I have recently walked around the Lake District’s Ennerdale Water with my partner. Ennerdale is a beautiful lake and I feel I am fortunate to live in a place that is nearby so many beautiful lakes. It usually takes an hour-and-a-half by car to get to the most scenic lakes in England.

http://www.visitcumbria.com/wc/ennerdal.htm

This was the first time we’d walked around Ennerdale, so we didn’t know how long the journey would take or how difficult it might be, i.e. whether it would be rocky or easy walking. We chose to start from the left-hand side of the lake.

The journey wasn’t so interesting at first as most of the lake’s view was blocked by trees. We had to make a detour through a wooded area in order to get around Ennerdale which gave the impression that we were getting farther and farther away from it before eventually getting back on track again.

When walking around the lake we came to a very rocky forest which we found rather hard to walk through. The surface was uneven, full of tree roots and with a little stream flowing down from the mountain. We had to concentrate when walking so that we didn’t stumble on the rocks or tree roots and fall into the lake on the right side.

After a few miles we came to a hilly area with a breath-taking view of Ennerdale Water. Climbing the hill to get around a place called Anglers Crag made us quite breathless but after that the route became easier and the scenery became more beautiful, which made us feel that it was all worthwhile.

Later, when it began to get dark we had to walk really fast to get back to car park. We now know which are the best parts of Ennerdale and look forward to going back again.

On the way home, I reflected on the whole walk and realized how it emulates our life’s journey. We go through life without knowing what is ahead of us. A good or bad experience, whether it’s boring or exciting, or how long we are going to live, etc.

In life we have to take a detour sometimes which is necessary in order to gain different experiences to prove that we are on the right track. Time is not wasted because it adds more excitement and colour to life.

We have to go through the boring and tough experiences in life in order to appreciate how good life can be - it is part and parcel of life’s whole journey. We have a choice to either initiate a tough and boring life and end with good life, or the opposite. Whichever decision is made we have to go through both. There is no such thing as a good life or a bad life forever - things change but it depends on how we appreciate each moment.

When we go though the rocky parts of our life we just have to be more mindful and concentrate that we don’t fall easily, and with the vision that events will change for the better.

The next time we go for a walk we will still choose to start from the left-hand side, which means starting a boring and tougher journey with the vision that we are heading for a nicer walk with a better view during the second half of the journey. We will walk with a more mindful attitude and enjoy and appreciate every minute knowing this is part and parcel of the walk.

Gardening and Meditation

2009-07-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

What, you may wonder, has gardening got to do with meditation? Well, I here will share with you my thoughts of how I think the two are related.

I have loved gardening ever since I was a little girl. But there were times during my life when I couldn’t do gardening because of time constraints and not actually having a garden - those times were during my high school and university days. I feel privileged that I am able to do gardening again.

My present garden was full of weeds and bushes when I first moved here, but I was determined to transform it into a garden to be proud of. It was extremely hard work clearing the unsightly brambles, stinging nettles and deep-rooted bushes that had been there for many years.

After each spell of gardening I was exhausted but I looked forward to seeing a garden that would soon blossom with different types of flowers that we would be able to enjoy in the future. We also dug a pond, planted water lillies and forget-me-nots. Sometimes I would spend more than eight hours some days digging out the bushes, planting flowers, watering and fertilising.

I noticed that when gardening my mind focuses only on that particular activity and I don’t think of anything else; this induces a sort of meditation. Part of the meditation is to concentrate on breathing, cultivating positive thoughts and clearing unnecessary illusions or thoughts out of my mind. Gardening is also about clearing weeds and cultivating and healthy plants.

I use to have a headache problem during weekends but since starting gardening I don’t seem to have this problem much anymore - it must be the soothing effect of gardening and the closeness to nature that helps.

I also weed very often in order to keep the garden clear of plants that could be invasive and overrun the garden giving it an unsightly appearance. It’s the same with meditation - it requires consistent practise to deter invasive thoughts that will distract a healthy mind.

Gardening and meditation are both mind relaxing activities that induce a positive attitude and also compliment each other - both activities train our minds to focus and relax. From my point of view, one is cultivating beautiful flowers and the other is cultivating a beautiful heart.

Challenges of the Entrepreneur

2009-03-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

It has been nine months since I last wrote my blog – it’s time I got back into the habit of bringing it up to date. There have been several big changes in my life during the last nine months, including a new environment, and new job and a new lifestyle.

At first it was difficult having to face all the new challenges, but I have been reminding myself to keep a positive outlook with each new challenge. Running a business with trade up and down obviously has affected my emotions.

I suppose this is one of the first things to understand about being in business, to look at the long term and avoid being short-sighted. The important thing is to continue making the effort and plan my strategy to improve the business.

Although I am moving away from my accountancy profession, I feel like putting into practise what I have learned from all those text books. The whole experience of running my printing business is exercising the reality of the business world.

Sales drive the business, therefore the role of polishing one’s selling and marketing skills is critical. Obviously, the procurement of new business, operations and the management of staff are also critical to the success of a business.

The main difference between my previous and current roles is moving from facing figures to facing customers. It takes a lot of courage to be proactive and build good relationships with potential customers.

It wasn’t easy at first, but after some practise it wasn’t so difficult getting potential customers to see how I could help them to improve their businesses. My attitude was, “if I don’t ask, I won’t get it, if I ask but get rejected, what is there to lose?” It can be quite demoralising after several negative reactions, however, it felt good when I succeeded.

I gave myself a challenge by organising a wedding fayre, which is also complimentary to my printing business. I have been preparing this since November last year and next Sunday 15 March is the big day. There was a lot of work to do in preparation for the fayre.

I was felt disheartened at first as I didn’t get much support for my event. However, after continually trying I now have 18 exhibitors who will be at my wedding fayre, plus 10 businesses which are giving support to a half page advertising feature in a local newspaper.

Details of the event are at www.eventsupermarket.co.uk. I will update you all with the outcome of the event after 15 March. Wish me good luck!!

I suppose the above experiences don’t only apply in business. It is also about how we should live our life whatever jobs we are in. Regardless of what we do, we have to stay long-sighted and not be drawn away by short-term challenges. I also believe persistence will yield results in the end.

Leaving for a Bigger Challenge

2008-07-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

After thinking long and hard, I finally decided to leave the company I work for and start a new life as an entrepreneur. I believe it to be a good career change and I am keeping a positive outlook.

There is one thing that I remind myself of everyday: that is, with all my future challenges and obstacles, may I face them with an open heart, gratitude, a positive attitude and compassion.

It is important for me to keep this in mind, as there is a lot of uncertainty ahead of me. Leaving my comfort zone and entering into a whole new life is a step towards insecurity.

However, without making this move, how would I know whether I can succeed or not? Therefore, challenges and uncertainties are not the main barriers; it is the way my mind perceives them that is most importance and could become an obstruction if I keep having negative thoughts about the move.

Following my resignation it is satisfying to know that the organisation appreciated my work and wanted me to stay. However, I decided to move on.

In one of my articles, I mentioned that I’d had a hard time with some of my colleagues because they believed that my intention to improve the organisation was perceived by them as interference in their own interests. I have been sending my loving kindness to them.

Unfortunately, their self-centred attitude didn’t bring them long-lasting careers; some of them have finally been asked to leave the company.

This experience has taught me that as long as we are sincere and have done nothing that is against the organisation’s interests we deserve a good result, and people who are thinking only of their own interest won’t last long and will have to face the consequences.

However, I do feel sad to see the people that I have been working with leave the organisation in such an unpleasant way. I wish them well and hope that they will learn from the lesson.

Here is my sharing of the talks by His Holiness the Dalai Lama – Part 3

2008-06-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

My emotions when seeing His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

On 25 May 2008 at Nottingham Arena when His Holiness entered the stage he was surrounded by young people who had finished presenting the Opening Dance Presentation (the performance was about the possible future, with the entrance of humans after the destruction of the world).

His Holiness thanked the young people for presenting such a wonderful performance and shook hands with them, including several disabled children.

The energy of compassion from the His Holiness touched the audience. We were able to observe His Holiness’ expressions and movements on two giant TV screens.

I was definitely touched by his compassion and kindness and was in tears with an unexplainable energy. I have a similar feeling when chanting Metta Puja (Loving Kindness Prayers).

His Holiness occasionally showed his playful side when taking pictures with the young people.

He was making conversation with the disabled children and giving them a blessing by touching his forehead with their forehead, this being one way of making a blessing.

In 1999 when I was helping to prepare accounts for a temple in London I received a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as a present from a nun there. It was a very good picture taken together with His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, whose details can be found at his website http://www.kagyuoffice.org/karmapa.html.

I was really pleased with the present and the picture has been displayed in my lounge for more than six years. That was my first association with His Holiness.

Naturally, I always hoped that I will meet His Holiness in real life one day. Seeing His Holiness on 25 May was a dream come true for me.

Even though we couldn’t get close to him, I could feel the energy of his compassion by just observing his movements and expressions over the giant screens and by being in the same area with him. His Holiness has demonstrated a character and the power of a great spiritual leader. I am sure a lot of people feel the same.

Here is my sharing of the talks by His Holiness the Dalai Lama – Part 2

2008-06-10T14:17:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous article, the talk was about the environment. His Holiness explained that Tibet is Asia's principal watershed and the source of its major rivers. Machu (Huang Ho, or Yellow River), the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), the Drichu (Yangtze), and the Senge Khabab (Indus) are among the five most heavily-silted rivers in the world.

Nearly half of the global populations, notably in India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan, depend on the rivers of Tibet for their sustenance.

The Tibetan Plateau is the largest and highest plateau in the world. It sustains a unique, yet fragile high altitude eco-system much of which remains unspoiled due to its remoteness and inaccessibility.

A significant proportion of river flows in Tibet are stable or base flows coming from ground water and glacial sources. This is in marked contrast to river flows in most neighbouring countries, which are determined by seasonal rainfall patterns.

However, human impact is now taking a devastating toll on the natural resources - the wildlife, forests, grazing lands, rivers and mineral resources are now at a point where they may never recover. Unless urgent action is taken now to stop this the rivers of Tibet, which have brought joy and sustenance, may one day bring death and destruction.

"Destruction of nature and natural resources results from ignorance, greed and the lack of respect for earth's living things."
--His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 1993

Here is My Sharing of the Talks by His Holiness the Dalai Lama - Part 1

2008-06-02T14:31:00.001-07:00

I had been trying to book a ticket for the past few months to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Nottingham Arena, but without success as the venue was fully booked.

However, my friend Liat told me that there was going to be an extra talk on the afternoon of Sunday 25 May due to the huge demand to hear His Holiness speak.

Thanks to Liat, I had a chance to see and hear for the first time His Holiness and Songyal Rinpoche speak in public. Songyal Rinpoche is a renowned teacher and the author of ‘The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’.

The public talk was an interview between The Dalai Lama and chosen young people from Nottingham about environmental issues, hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby, the TV and radio presenter.

The most interesting question from one young person was ‘how can we make our friends aware that the environment is important for our future’. My interpretation of His Holiness answer is that the earthquake in China and the cyclone in Myanmar are signs of intolerance from Mother Earth.

Mother Earth has been adjusting to the needs of mankind for past decades. However, it has come to a point where the Mother Earth can no longer tolerate her children (mankind), who are not behaving.

As a result, we will all suffer one day if we carry on harming the environment. It is now happening to China and Myanmar, and natural disasters will continue to happen to us if we are not more compassionate to our Mother Earth.

A positive outcome regarding the China earthquake is that it has united the world - people around the world, regardless of race, have donated money and have given much support to the victims in China.

The disaster has softened the heart of mankind, which has been hardened for a long time - those who thought more of themselves than others.

However, how long will the compassion last? When the disaster is a distant memory, most of the people may forget about it and go back to being self-centred.

I hope that people continue to recall how much the disaster brought suffering to mankind and remember be kind to the environment and to others.

My little mind when I was a child

2008-04-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

I lost my father when I was only 10. It wasn’t easy for me to understand why he had left me forever, or to understand what was death about.

For many years after my father died, I was an unhappy child and I felt that my mind was covered in cloud - it was all grey. It was really hard for me as a 10 year old girl to understand the meaning of death and to understand where my father had gone to.

Due to thinking about all these questions, I became really unhappy, quiet and mature for my age. I appreciated my mum more as I was so scared that I would lose her too. I prayed to my father to protect my mum and family and I hope he heard my message.

At the age of 14, I began to learn about Buddhism and it explained to me the meaning of life and death. I absorbed the teachings like sponge as I had been looking for the answers since I was 10.

I also came to realise that it is not important to think of the past and future but that the most important thing is to be happy and appreciate how I am now and what I currently have.

I spent the years from age 10 to 14 very unhappy and I didn’t see where I was going with that. I didn’t know what was going to happen in future. Therefore, I decided not to waste more of my life being unhappy.

Sometime, we think that we don’t have a choice of choosing a happy mind, but in fact, we are able to choose. It depends how we would like to think. If we would like to feel miserable about our life, we will feel unhappy, but if we feel satisfied with our life, than we will feel happy. The difference is in how we choose to think about it. You can decide your own happiness.

Be Clear with your Ultimate Goal

2008-04-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

When I arrived in the UK, it took me a while to find a job that related to my profession, so I had to accept any job that was available to me.

I was a student looking for part time work. My first job was working in a Sausage factory despite being a vegetarian. It was tough, because the environment was against my principles.

I had to wake up at 4:00 am and walk 45 minutes to work for a 5:00 am start. It was dark and cold too! . The temperature in the factory was approximately 8° c degree constantly which was the requirement for production. I worked 8 hours standing in the cold packing sausages. This lasted for one and the half years.

In the beginning, I felt sorry for myself because I had to work in such an environment despite my qualifications. Many times, I burst into tears and felt negative about my life.

However, every time when I felt negative about my life, I tried to think about the positive future ahead. I sincerely believed that things would get better, nothing comes easily without going through hardship first.

I did it because I want to complete my education (Master & doctorate degree). I had the choice before I started and I decided to do it so I just had to stick to my decision which I believed would be best for me in the long run.

There were also positive aspects about that job, I was a good worker and the supervisor really like me and made me a line leader to manage the line. I did the best I could do at what I was doing.

I tried not to feel miserable about it because I believed that is only part of my road to success and I would just have to adapt to whatever the environment was during that process.

What I learned from this was that when we are clear about our ultimate goal, we should stick to it and be prepared for the challenges and obstacles on the road to success.

I made the decision to study in the UK under self support for my doctorate and therefore I had to be mentally prepared for whatever job was available to me to support my studies because, I believe the job is only part of the journey towards my ultimate goal – doctorate degree.

For people who feel miserable with their job, remember that it is only part of the path to your ultimate goal. Think of the long term rather than short term. We will feel more positive that way.

Death, ME and A Happier Person

2008-03-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Death is a word that sounds negative, horrifying, pessimistic, depressing etc. In the Chinese culture it is taboo to talk about death.

However after reading “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” and Buddhist teaching that I learned since I was young, I felt that it wasn’t all that bad to discuss death as it brings wisdoms whist we are still alive and we will live a happier life.

As I mentioned many times in my previous blog posts, we are emotional beings and are easily affected by the conditions around us. We are very “self-centred”, because when someone or something upsets “ME”, I feel sad, angry and miserable about it.

This is because we have a strong obsession with “ME”. We wish to protect or safeguard “ME”, and that’s why we feel hurt. Imagine, if something happens to a stranger, would you get hurt? You won’t feel that hurt because it isn’t “MINE”.

But, if someone/something hurt “ME”, “MY” family or “MY” belonging, we would be emotionally affected by it, because those belong to “US”.

To meditate on “self de-centralising”, they are two ways of looking at it, the first way is the hard way and second is soft way.

The hard way this is to meditate on DEATH, that is to think that all our belongings including ourselves will evaporate from this world one day, which means we will all die, and all our belongings will be back to earth again, i.e. body and belongings will become rotten and evaporate into mother earth. They came from earth and they are not going back to mother earth. This is the cycle of life.

Under this circumstances, there is no more “ME”, our body and belongings are only part of earth. Where is the “ME”? and why should we so obsess of “ME” and “MINE”, since this will be only be part of mother nature one day?

Perhaps I should demonstrate this with an example. I’ve worked really hard throughout my life to achieve what I am now, and have a reasonable comfortable career and life.

I have a good job, nice house and I am driving a brand new company car BMW. Sometimes, I am fear of losing what I have achieved, because I am obsessed about it and it will hurt me if I lost them because I worked really hard for it. Sometime, I am driving my BMW and thinking…. If I lost all these luxury, would I get hurt? Yes, I would, no doubt about it.

However, on the other, I was also thinking that I will loss these anyway at some points…maybe when I retire or when I die, and I can’t bring all these wealth with me, all these will have to stay and why am I upset about thing that will not belong to me one day.

This thought changed the way I thought about my life, I thought I should just concentrate on enjoying the process of life and appreciate what we have at the moment, and be a happy person. As life is too short, and we should enjoy the fullness of it, why worry so much?

The soft way of “self de-centralising” is to meditate on COMPASSION, this is to extend the loving of “ME” and “MINE” to others. Learning to love others is not easy because they are not related to “US”. However, learning to love other could broaden the horizon of mind wisdom. This is also related to practising of “LET GO” and “GIVE”.

A person who is compassionate and generous will find it easy to “LET GO”, “GIVE” and love others and he/she would be a happier person.

For example a child who knows how to give will be happier than another child who just wants to keep thing for him/herself.

The former won’t get upset if something has been taken away from her, because she is happy to give and let go, whilst the later will be crying and screaming when things were taken away from him/her. This is also applies to an adult, if one doesn’t know how to “LET GO” and “GIVE”, they will find his/her life more miserable because he/she is living in a worrying world, worrying about losing HERS/HIS.

I am giving another example of “LET GO” and “GIVE”, which made me a happier person. I came from a not well off family, my mum has brought up six of us and my dad died early. It was very tough for her to bring us up on her own.

During my high school, I didn’t have much money, I have a tight budget and had to spend it carefully. One day, I went to a food stall, getting my dinner as usual (I was staying way from home since I was 12). I hadn’t been eating well for a while and decided to get something nice to eat. I didn’t know about the price until I paid for it, and it costs 3 times over my budget.

I felt so bad about it because I’ve spent too much of my mum’s hard earned money that I couldn’t sleep at night. However, I was meditating on “LET GO” and “GIVE”, I thought of how much of my money will be able to help the stall holder. He would have been spending his hard earned money on his family and children’s education. It wasn’t easy to be a trader with a low income.

After meditating on “LET GO” and “GIVE”, I felt so much better, because, it is not all about “ME”, it is also about caring for others.

After understanding the wisdom behind Death, knowing the wisdom of loving others, I am sure we will be happier people.

My friend Randy Smith has shared this with me..

“And that is what I think is the biggest upset .... to know so many people move on without having 'lived' their lives....

Or as a poet once said - "They died with their song still inside them"

That to me seems the greatest shame of all time.... we have but one life to live, we should live it to it's fullest, love every minute of it, find passion for it - and pass the passion on to others!”

Do You HATE your Job?

2008-03-02T07:17:00.000-08:00

How many people do not like their job? [J.O.B. =Just Over Broke ;)]

I was in this position myself so I know how you all feel. There are always good and bad sides to our jobs which made us like or hate them.

However, it is important to stay positive. I remember when I did my doctorate, I started out full of motivation and ambition, however, it took me 5 years (I was doing it part-time) to complete my thesis. Throughout the process, I have gone through different stage of emotional stages, i.e. motivated, confusion, depression, hating, loving, joy, satisfaction and happiness.

At one point, I started to hate my thesis, but the more I hate it, the more I couldn’t do it and lost my concentration. My friend who has completed his doctorate degree encouraged me to “love” my thesis, because, that is the only way to complete my doctorate sooner.

I listened to his advice and started to learn to “love” my thesis. “LOVE” meaning thinking about the achievement and good result and positive outcome of the whole 5 years’ hard-works, graduation, good career and better life – meditating on positive life (meditation is about mind training toward strong positive mind).

Surprisingly, I progressed tremendously and it only took me another 5 months to complete my thesis and my concentration improved because I love my thesis. I felt so much achievement and satisfaction with the whole process.

Imagine, how powerful our mind is, without the change of my mindset, i.e. loving my thesis, I could have taken another 2 years to complete my doctorate which would be a real torture.

Our life is just like writing a doctorate thesis, we started with a good motivation and ambition, but when we encountered obstacles, we become depressed, hatred and sad, with the positive mind turning around, we experienced the opposite which are joy, satisfaction and happiness.

A wise person will take the experience as a lesson because unless we experience the depression and sadness, we won’t realize how good the joy and happiness are.

As I mentioned in my Story of Law of Attraction, it was tough being in a company politic, however, I tried to change my personal view and practice metta meditation, please have a go with the metta meditation that I recommended, you will see the result.

But again, no doubt, you need to be consistent and persistent with your practice. I hope my explanation will help every one who 'Hates' their job!

Winston Churchill quoted, on writing a book - which applies equally to writing a thesis ...

"Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public."

Learning to have Positive Attitude through Experience

2008-01-21T15:34:00.000-08:00

I am feeling a lot better today, recovering from my chicken pox, my face has nearly cleared and looking forward to flying home on 23 Jan 08.

The whole experience of chicken pox was so painful, causing me so much hassle in my life and more money too. However, now that I am looking back, it wasn’t all that bad. As I wrote a few days ago, things can only get better. Yes, it caused me a few more hassle and cost a few more pounds, but I suppose that’s life. Things happen and I think the most importance thing is to look at the experience more positively.

I always remind myself to be strong internally to deal with all the obstacles. I also have this as my new year’s resolution. I am not afraid of the obstacles, but, I am more nervous about my own negative thoughts. A negative thought could drag me down in the wrong direction and make me depressed.

With a strong positive attitude, a problem becomes really small and easy to resolve. Alternatively, when we look at problem in a negative way, the problem grows bigger and bigger until we can’t cope with it. Therefore, the practise of keeping a positive mind with small problems will then help us to deal with bigger problems at later stages in our lives, as practise make perfect!!

My Chicken Pox and Meditation

2008-01-14T11:46:00.001-08:00

I've a surprise present for the new year 2008, I got Chicken Pox!!! Today is a week on and I am still recovering from this nasty diseases. I have another 6 days to recover before my flight back to Malaysia on Sunday. I may or may not make it depending on my recovering process.

Inevitably, I have been overwhelmed with a lot of negative thoughts since I caught this disease last week, as it was a pain for the last 7 days. My face isn't pretty and I looked at my face and feel sad about it everyday. Everyday is such a long day for me because I kept looking at my face and can't see much of an improvement and wondering how would my pretty face look like after I've recovered from it.

Being a meditation practitioner, I tried to meditate on "impermanence". Everything is impermanent, thing change for better or worse, and in my case, it can only be better. That put a smile on my face :). The experience of "impermanence" has been a valuable wisdom to me especially, when I have encountered obstacles in my life.

We as a human being are such an emotional being. We feel happy when thing work at our favour and feel sad/angry/jealous when things went wrong. We are such vulnerable being who are led by our emotions, it would be so wise to realise that those are just emotions due to the changing conditions in our lives (impermanence) and why are we so fooled by it?

I know it is easier said than done, that's why I need to practice meditating on "impermanence", to enhance and understand this wisdom and use it in my life - ie. my Chicken Pox. Because Meditation is about improving practical life not just a theory.

My Introduction to Sound Meditation

2008-01-07T16:42:00.001-08:00

Sound Meditation

In this type of meditation, also known as vibrating meditation, you’ll use the sound of mantra to move you. While doing this type of meditation and allow deep breathing to cleanse your thoughts. Then, pick a word that sounds good and showcases peace for you. Repeat it over and over again, in a chant like method. Relax your muscles and enjoy what this method has to offer to you. The following links are the mantra that I used or I chant everyday. I hope you would find this useful. They are in Sanskrit, an ancient languague

http://fortuneangel.com/GuanYin/Images/Wisdom6M.mp3

http://fortuneangel.com/GuanYin/Images/GreatComp5M.mp3
_________________
Dr Teh

Sharing of my Experience - Compassion and Metta Meditation

2008-01-02T04:57:00.000-08:00

Compassionate meditation is also called metta meditation. "Metta" means loving kindness in Sanskrit. I have been doing this meditation since I was 18 years old, it was taught to me by a Buddhist monk.

It has since helped me to live up to my life’s challenges until today. This meditation has helped me on the path of achieving my Doctorate Degree and my career as a Qualified Accountant and also having a loving family. This is not about superstitious but this meditation is about “Positive Mind” and “Action” and “Determination/Persistence”.

It is a very simple meditation, it started with wishing me happiness and freedom from physical and mental suffering (as one has to be emotionally healthy to help others), this is followed by wishing that my mum will be happy and free from physical and mental suffering, and so on. The following are the sequences of my meditation:

1) Me
2) My Parents
3) My Family and Relatives
4) My Friends
5) My Colleagues
6) Strangers
7) Animals
8 ) Others Being in the World

With a consistent practice of metta meditation, I feel myself become full of loving kindness and compassion and also attracting loving kindness from family, friends, strangers and animals. It feels like radiating the energy of loving kindness from me to others, or in other words “positive mind communication” with others. I visit my family once a year because they are far away in South East Asia, but they are always close to my heart.

Obviously, this practice has to be genuine and honest. It is not meant to be used for the wrong reasons.

You should try this, take 5 to 10 minutes in the morning or before bedtime (I usually do it in the morning, a good start of the day). Meditate on the following;

1) May I be always happy and free from physical and mental suffering and danger.

2) May my Parents be always happy and free from physical and mental suffering and danger.

3) May my Family and Relatives be always happy and free from physical and mental suffering and danger.

4) May my Friends be always happy and free from physical and mental suffering and danger.

5) May my Colleague be always happy and free from physical and mental suffering and danger.

6) May the Strangers be always happy and free from physical and mental suffering and danger

7) May the Animals be always happy and free from physical and mental suffering and danger

8 ) May Other Being be always happy and free from physical and mental suffering and danger (if only you believe an existence of other being, Buddhism believe the existence of other being)

Give it a go and let me know how you feel about it

The above is about “Mind”

My daily “Action” is about greeting others first thing in the morning and always carrying a SMILING face around. I could discuss about other action next time.

The last but not least, “Persistent” with the above practice. As for me, I have been persistent for the last 17 years .
_________________
Dr Teh

My Story of Law of Attraction

2008-01-02T04:52:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I had a conflict with some colleages at senior level and I have been trying hard to resolve this conflict. I was suffering and I wasn't happy. I was even thinking of leaving the company. No doubt, there are always political problems within an organisation but I wasn't use to this. I was doing my best to help the company, but this was perceived as threatening the interests of other managers.

I eventually found that it is in fact about changing myself - changing my mindset because I can't easily change others.

I started to think positively about them and to feel gratitude for what they had done for me in the past, e.g. they employed me and helped me with my promotion etc, while practising compassionate meditation. I was friendly to them even though they were tough with me. Gradually, they felt the change in me and I felt more relaxed and positive with what happening to me and consequently our working relationships have changed for the better since.

I believe this has reflected the law of attraction, as being sincere and good to others will also attract positive reactions in return. The lesson I learned from this experience was that I have changed my mind and persistence in my positive attitude to others as "Mind", "Action" and “Persistence” are all importance in law of attraction. I feel great about my achievements.
_________________
Dr Teh

2008 Happy New Year!!!

2007-12-31T15:52:00.000-08:00

This is 4 minutes before New Year 2008, and I am writing a few words about my New Year Resolutions.

1)To complete my meditation ebook
2)To complete my ebook about the how the law of attraction relates to my life
3)To establish my online business
4)Be happy and positive with all my life's challenges and obstacles

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Best Wishes

Dr Teh

WELCOME

2007-11-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

Hello!!

Thank you for visiting my new blog.

The purpose of my blog is to provide information that will help people to live a more relaxed and positive life, at home or at work.

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Thanks

Dr Teh