Speak Up!

Yesterday, I received a certification of participation that I am quite proud of!

Yeah! I took part in a preaching contest in my church!

Basically I had to stand in front of an open hall and speak to the crowds. To be honest, I do not really like to talk in front of a large crowd (very few people like to).

In fact, when I used to be a shy person. I barely talked and preferred listening than talking. Some of the shyness was because I had low self esteem and was not confident in sharing my thoughts. I felt they were not good enough and people were not interested.

I remembered I was so shy that once I waited at the bus stop for 15-20 minutes with a class-mate and did not even spoke to him. He was so frustrated that he asked me out in exasperation : “Why are you so quiet!” Btw, he was 1 of the most patient person I know and yet I wore him down. =( But

Thank God that I have changed over the last few years. With the encouragements of friends and mentors, I start to grow in confidence about myself and see the VALUE that is in me.

Though I may not be talented in certain areas compared to some of my friends, I do have unique talents =) At the same time, I am SPECIAL just like everyone around me!

Hope this encourages you to speak up and share your inner worlds with people! Btw, the organizer had made a U-tube of my sermon (they did it for all contestants). But I am not going to tell you where is it. =) Have fun searching for it!

World without Strangers!

In my previous entry, I wrote that someone wanted to add me in his or her "Love Happens" network.

A thought came to my mind. Why someone would wants to put me in his or her list of friends when both of us are total strangers? I did not put my picture and particulars in my profile.

That is when I realise that I am truly in a different generation. =) I am OLDbie!

People nowadays are so comfortable in using such online social network to meet people from all over the world and even to find boyfriends and girlfriends. It is a WOLRD WITHOUT BOUNDARIES AND STRANGERS!

Well, this OLDbie still has some advice for the YOUNG ONES out there.

We should celebrate the wonders of internet and the power given to all of us to touch base with the world at the touch of a finger on our computer.

Yet we should still exercise caution for with great power comes great responsibility. If we are not responsible, we would be hurt by this power. We need to be wise in handling online "friends". Do not judge a book by its cover but instead read through it and digest its content. For we cannot never know the true nature of someone by just their looks, messages or photos.

You can go read what one of my friends had written in her blog regarding "online" encounters :
http://kermitkhoo.blogspot.com/2006/10/days-are-evil-2.html

Love Happens!

Was busy this week. Did not have time to do a good reflection =(

But during the week, I received an interesting email.

Someone emailed an invitation to join "Love Happens!" It is a social network website where you can meet and date people. It is like Friendster.

Hopefully through it, you can find a boyfriend or girlfriend. =)

Just for curosity sake (hmm do not think I am desparate), I signed up for it. After that I forgot about it.

Guess what? A few days later, I received a invitation for someone (whom I do not know)) who wants to add me to his or her network of friends!

In my heart, I was delighted that a total stranger would like to know me better. =) It was a good feeling. So I click on the link so that I could go the the website and add my new forund FREIND

But gues what!!! I forgot my password! Could not log in =(

There goes my new found friend! Haha

The Key To be Free!

This is the conclusion article for my 2 previous entries on RenJie’s story (Part 1, Part 2, Locking Me Up).

In my previous blog “Locking Me Up” I wrote that some of us are trapped in the prisons of our hearts because we find it difficult to forgive the people that had hurts or disappointed us. As a result, we may find ourselves holding a grudge against them and we have no freedom at all.

The key to unlock the doors of this prison of UNFORGIVNESS is simply FORGIVENESS!

For me personally, when I feel that someone has let me down or huts me, I try to forgive him or her by
a) Asking myself why did this person do such a thing?
I put myself in the shoes of this person and try to see from his point of view. Though the person behaviour or action may be wrong, there may be circumstances that force him to react like that. That helps me understand his situation better and let go of the burden in my heart towards him.

b) Reminding myself that no one is perfect.
By putting myself in the shoes of the person, I also realize that I may do even worse thing than him. At the same time, I also remind myself that I have done wrongs to others in the past. The people that I have hurt and disappointed have forgiven me for my mistakes. Hence, if they can forgive me, shouldn’t I do the same to others?

I end my entry today by sharing a great story of forgiveness that I had seen on a documentary. The father of a man was shot dead by a thief when he was a young boy. His dad was robbed of his life for only a few dollars! In the end, the thief was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment. Life was not easy for the man without his dad around. He missed his dad tremendously.

What could the man have done? He could cursed God for taking his dad away. He could have hated the thief for killing his loved one. Yet the man did a great act of forgiveness. One day, he went to visit the thief in prison and release forgiveness to him. At the same time, he even petitioned for the early release of the thief. In the end, the thief was released from prison!

Guess what? The man in his act of forgiveness not only set the thief free from his physical prison but also from the prison of his heart as he was guilt-ridden of killing an innocent man. At the same time, the man had set himself free from the emotional pain of losing a dad.

Be Free by forgiving!

Where am I heading?

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I had not been to blog recently because I was busy with work. In fact, it seemed that I had been quite busy for the past few weeks.

Yesterday, I was at a gathering when my mentor asked us this question,” Do you know where you are heading?" He mentioned that we can be so busy and we are just doing and doing without considering where we are heading.

It is like running or driving very fast. You are only focusing on following the road and maneuvering its turn so much so that you do not have time to think of where you are going. Before you know it, you reach the destination and realize that it is not where you want to be. But by then, it may be possible to backtrack or make a U-turn!

In our fast paced society, it is inevitable that we are all busy. But we cannot accept that and just run the rat race because everyone is running it. Well, even if you win the rat race, you still a rat.

So what is the best way to run this race? My mentor advised us to LOOK FAR. We need to look far ahead and ask ourselves what are the meaningful and purpose dreams we hope to see becoming a reality in the future. With this end in mind, we can set short terms and intermediate mile-stones so that we know that even in the midst of doing the routine and mundane things, we are still going towards the right direction and in the process of achieving our dreams.

Even as I reflected upon this question of where I am heading, I realized that I do have to be mindful and slow down periodically to take bearings of where I am heading. Therefore, I am taking some time off this week to plan what I want do for the last 3 months of the year in order to finish this year off still focused on the dreams I have set at the beginning of the year..