The Riches Within (Demartini) Introduction

• Why contemplate something more than your existence right now?
  
• If you don't plant flowers in the garden of the mind, then you'll forever be pulling weeds.
  
• One of the greatest impediments to personal evolution is an exaggerated, lopsided expectation - one that reflects neither the magnificent order of the universe nor the
  brilliance of every individual in it.
  
• Big visions are those dreams that are doable and aligned with your values. Fantasies are not achievable and don't align with your values.
  
• Doing what you love and loving what you do are the most powerful ways to build wealth.
  
• Questioning teaches you to look, and suddenly brings you to timelessness and love. If you don't take the time to look, you simply react; and everything you continue to perceive as one sided adds another layer of debris, dampening your brilliance, further burying your seven secret treasures.
  
• Take no credit; take no blame! Just keep focused on the game! Focus on the mission and chief aim!

Unleash Your Greatness (Robin Sharma)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -George Bernard Shaw

Life Lessons

The prayer for our uncle in Johannesburg today was so peaceful. Sitting there for over 3 hours allowed me to reflect on so much...

Life & its purpose
Love & its intracasies
Family
Friends
Death

At the end of life, what matters most is how you lived it & the relationships you maintained. Being amongst family was wonderful & uplifting. Feel like I've come back with many blessings. ♥ 

Poem: Your Dash

Following my uncle's (Baboomama) sudden death this week, I'm reminded of one of my favourite poems.

Please read & take heed...

How You Live Your Dash
by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He told of the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came her date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears.
But said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that small line is worth.

It matters not how much we own,
The cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know what time is left,
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what's true and real,
And always try to understand
The way that people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more,
And love the people in our lives
Like we've never loved before.

We could treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy's being read
With your life's actions to rehash
Will you be proud of the things they said
About how you spent your dash?

What's going on in Venezuela in a nutshell (English version)

A former student, Persida from Venezuela shared this video with me this morning with a short message asking for prayers for her country. Apart from news headlines, many of us are oblivious as to what is happening around the world. Let's keep them all in our thoughts & prayers.

Read EZ - Success!

Pic sourced online

As a self-confessed bookworm myself, I almost felt my heart burst recently when a student told me, “Teacher, I don’t see the benefit of reading.” 

Gasp! Shock! Horror!

I immediately knew that damage control was in order. Also, judging from recent tests that our students have written, lack of reading was quite evident. I started doing some research around this topic and came to the conclusion that students may actually NOT know how to read. In other words, they don’t have sufficient skills to read through an entire text or book comfortably and confidently.

I decided to start a free class (that would replace our “Listen Up”) which would focus solely on reading. What would I call it?
Thanks to my regular and loyal students, they came up with the name “Read EZ” – playing on the name of my conversation class which falls on a Monday, “Speak EZ” J

I have a list of reading techniques and skills to help students with reading, but would I dive straight into it? I thought of taking a different route, and this is a general outline of the class – which exceeded my expectations!

• Do you read in your own language?

Vivian from Colombia said she does – it’s like an escape for her.

• Do your parents read?

Raid from Saudi Arabia said his father used to have him read every night before going to bed.
Marta from Angola said that her brother is her hero, because he encourages her to read.

• What are you reading at the moment?

Wow…I was so impressed with this one because suddenly, some students started taking not one, but two books out of their bags!

Sancha from Angola had The Ironing Man, which I used as an example.

I wrote the title on the board and showed the cover to the students.

(I also introduced vocab like author, summary/synopsis, genre)

Based on just the title and picture, what questions did they have about the book?

I then read (aloud) the synopsis at the back of the book. What were the keywords? Who are the main characters? What do we know about them?

Tom & Marina (husband and wife) who live in a small village.
Tom works in London while Marina is a bored & lonely housewife.

What further questions do the students have based on this information?

So, drawing from some of the questions the ss formulated themselves (before even opening the book) The purpose of this is to pique their curiosity and to give them a purpose when they begin reading. What exactly are they looking for? Are they looking for personality descriptions of the characters? For reasons for their circumstances etc?

To end the class, I then asked if they agreed with the student who said they see no benefits in reading.

To my absolute delight, they were horrified by what he said. So we compiled this list:

The Benefits of Reading:
Self-development
Helps to learn English
New vocabulary
Improves writing
Improves speaking
New information
Improves memory
Understand grammatical structures
See the world through another person’s eyes
Open your mind
Develop emotional understanding
Escape from your daily problems/challenges

My Facebook Timeout

I've been amused by the speculations surrounding my recent hiatus from Facebook. For someone who is a self-confessed Chatterbox, I can see how it heightened people’s curiosity that I have suddenly “gone quiet”.

Truth is, one day I felt I that I spent far too much time on the social networking site when I could have been doing something more productive. Having the app on my phone allowed me to access my account anywhere, anytime. I could be in a queue at the store or waiting for a friend in a restaurant. Also, when I when I wake up, I want to check in on what I've missed while I was asleep. And of course, before I sleep, to see what else I missed throughout my working day.

For a while now, I kept saying that I needed to get back into my writing, but the situation was that I either had the energy to write, but no time OR I had the time, but was ready to flop into bed. Take one step back. To write, I know that I needed to read more. From the time I could read a full sentence, I remember being an avid reader. Over the years, the excuse of “I’m too busy” became my line.

I decided to just go on a “Facebook fast”, if you like! A few days offline turned into a week. Being so busy at work, I found that I didn't actually miss anything. Sure, a few people asked why I was so inactive. No reason. I just started channeling my energy into activities that were benefiting my own self-development instead of reading about people’s personal lives. Don’t get me wrong, what people choose to share is their prerogative, but it didn't serve any purpose to me.

Time spent on Facebook can range from 30 seconds to an hour. It’s so easy to be sucked into the world of people’s photos or follow conversations happening in people’s Comments thread. Some may argue that it’s all about willpower. Self-control. Sure. But do we really have that?

I remember a period in Korea when I was quite serious about my writing. But the only reason I actually got things done was because I disconnected my laptop from the internet. How could I possibly get anything written with notifications popping up every few seconds? So the best thing (for me, at least) was to go cold turkey.

Last week, I logged into my FB account for the first time after over a month. 100+ notifications and over two dozen Inbox messages. I think I spent about 45 minutes sifting through everything and replying to everyone. But before I was sucked back in, I logged out.

I didn't want to go the route of actually deactivating my account. It’s still there. Open. It’s just a bit sleepy.

So the question is: HAVE I spent the time on self-reflection and self-development? Yes! Absolutely J

I have been reading a lot more, which has sparked my inspiration to write / journal quite frequently. Basically just doing some stock take of my life. Or what I like to call, “weeding”!

I haven’t disappeared completely off the Facebooksphere, but I can tell you one thing. A few weeks ago, I would not have written this blog post in the time space that I just wrote it (ie 14 minuteSoms!). That is with zero distraction and 100% concentration.

So to set the record straight, nothing is “wrong” or nothing “happened” that I have taken a back step. I just decided to be a bit selfish with my time and use it for my own personal gain.