You’re the Gardener of Your Life

A weekend spent going through “The Art of Hypnosis” workshop with Dr Roy Hunter was really good for a practicing hypnotherapist like me. People ask me why do I still attend the workshop even though it simply goes through the basics? Well if I get a chance to learn to do things the way a guru does, why not? So I see a lady volunteer to go up for a demonstration and rudely resisted the demonstration that Roy Hunter wanted to give. Then at break time I heard her telling other students that he gave Roy a chance to prove his worth because if he was a Guru, he should be able to hypnotize anyone… What balderdash! I look at her and see all the misexpectations and myths that have taken root in her mind about hypnosis; which makes me reflect on my own clients. This image then crept into my mind:

Our mind is like a Patch of fertile soil when we were young. You can plant anything you want. What you think is what you plant. So if you plant lots of self-defeating thoughts, your patch of soil will let these thoughts grow and grow. Then again most people think a combination of nice and not nice thoughts; your patch of soil would look overall nice or not nice depending on which thoughts prevail! One thing is for sure, for any client to get better, they need to be planting flowers for of they keep planting corpses, they’re most likely going to get a cemetery instead.

Every client that comes to me gets a chance to regrow their land, the only issue would be what would they want to grow on it 🙂

The Japanese Cashier… A Story for All of us

The following is a translation of a short story originally taken from a 2008 book by Haruhiro Kinoshita and posted on a blog called One Minute Impressions. The story struck a chord with tens of thousands of people across Japan as it spread through social networks. I do not own this article but it is extremely shareworthy. Please get the book if you are interested in it!

There Was This Cashier

She moved from the countryside to go to a university in Tokyo. She joined many extra-curricular activities but always got turned off quickly . One after another, she jumped from club to club looking for something better.

How Did I Go From A Biology Major to an Actress? Lisa Kudrow from Friends

Thanks Kaye for sharing this really inspiring speech from Lisa Kudrow. This speech was taken from the Vassar College Website. I think this deserves sharing, happy reading!:

Thank you, President Hill, for inviting me to speak, and thank you to the Class of 2010 for not protesting…seriously.

Goldman Sacks

This is easily the best article I have read on banking in quite a while. The original article is on the NYTimes page. This is a repost. It was written by Greg Smith.

TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.

The Real Experts Talk

This is a repost from The New York Times. Its a really great article summarizing the findings based on research about aging. It covers many broad topics like aging, marriage, parenting, regrets and happiness and gives nougats of advice that are really simple to follow. Great article coming up:

By Jane E Brody

At 17, I wrote a speech titled, “When You Come to the End of Your Days, Will You Be Able to Write Your Own Epitaph?” It reflected the approach to life I adopted after my mother’s untimely death from cancer at age 49. I chose to live each day as if it could be my last — but with a watchful eye on the future in case it wasn’t.

My goal was, and still is, to die without regrets.

The Lumberjack and The Forest

Taken from Asiaone

If you follow the news about SMRT, you would find much information about how that day of unexpected delays happened. Having spoken to friends who work in SMRT, the picture they painted wasn’t pretty, no doubt the trains would hit a point of critical mass. This inspired a story, one about SAW-ing too, well sawing trees that is.

The Yip and The Yap

This story was originally by Dr Seuss but I just can’t find the title or the original book. I only remember the crux of the story. It was written for kids but it applies to us adults even more. This story is truly about communication and this is my adapted version:

The Calligrapher

Every one wants quick results. Yet sometimes when we don’t get the results we want, we grow disheartened and lose heart. Most of us simply pack our bags and look elsewhere. Yet is there another way? Maybe this story will help. Inspired by the book Mastery by George Leonard.

When People Don’t Change

I met a friend over the week who wanted to “rescue” his maiden from her lifestyle of “bad habits” and in the process, not only did he get hurt, but the relationship between the two of them turned sour. His experience as well as my own inspired this story.

The Gravity of Inertia and Feeling Lost

Feeling Lost? It’s a pretty common feeling to have in between various phases in life. Some times this intermittent periods lasts only hours; sometimes days; sometimes even years. Its that need to move yet not knowing how to move. Look back into your life, you’ve probably come across this feeling a few times, most of the time when you’re in a dilemma.