YEAR End - In the Eyes of A Child

There is so much fervor of New Year's Eve Celebration. So much that in the eyes of a 10- year old boy, it borders from amazement to sheer repudiation to skepticism. Yes, people's attitude to new year celebration have changed a big lot, over the years!

He (my son) further inquired, "Papa, why do people make countdown parties on New Year's eve but not on Christmas Day". Frankly, I answered in a haphazard manner. I said, because people favor the ushering of a new year to the celebration of Jesus Birth.

Reflecting back, I would have answered - "celebrity rather than spirituality is the name of the game" or "Practical and cultural rather than scriptural, I suppose. "

I had a better chance of reflecting on this event once more. What better way to end the year than reflecting further from air supply songlyrics-'in the eyes of a child'.


When you look to the past for life's long hidden meaning
For the dreams and the plans made in your youth
Does the thrill to achieve match the warm hidden feeling
That lies so still and lives in you

In the eyes of a child there is joy, there is laughter
There is hope, there is trust, a chance to shape the future
For the lessons of life there is no better teacher
Than the look in the eyes of a child

You've found the place to walk the path you've chosen
You'll never miss the world you've left behind
When life gives life, it's happiness unbroken
When you give love, it's love you'll find

Wrapping Babies Upside Down

I found this parable in one of my favorite blogs. Read on. My take is - like most of us, we often neglect to "upgrade our life skills" as we journey. Some reasons out lack of time. Others argue its because of lack of interest. Still, most find they are comfortable and would find change to be altering what was once a comforting tool to use.

However, examining a few sports personalities here and there showed even the most prolific of them needed a re-tool. Tiger Woods for one. Imagine! A Worldclass athlete still not satisfied with his swing!

Even Michael Jordan's life, long considered the greatest basketball player of all time, is littered with anecdotes of consistently improving his free throws practice after practice after practice.

What more with ordinary people like us wading thru the rudiments of daily life!

The Parable Goes:
Miao Zhen was a scholar of the Song Dynasty ( 960 - 1279 AD) who had previously ranked fourth in the civil service exams. When there was a new court examination for new vacancies, he applied. The Prime Minister informed him, “ you have been an official for so many years. Before you take the exam, might as well spend some moments to review your literary skills, and some of the classics.”

Miao Zhen quite confidently replied, “ Could an old midwife who’s been doing it for 30 years ever wrap a baby upside down?”

After the exam, he found out that he had indeed failed. When the prime minister met him, he smiled to Miao, and ask, “Miao, how could you have wrapped the baby upside down?

Swim Against the Current

I remember a passage or two of the first book I have ever read, cover to cover. The author, Gabriel Quemado says " It is very easy to swim with the current. Everybody can do it. But to go against the current requires bullheaded persistency and deadly determination."

Below article I found from Businesspundit.com, which I quote, also elaborates on the principle of swimming against the current.

"The good thing is that there is hope. You have your castles in the sky, and that is where you have to start to be an entrepreneur. But don't be afraid of the work. Who needs accounting? Entrepreneurs do. That tells you how money flows through your business. It's an important thing to know. Who needs sales training? Entrepreneurs. You are always selling. Selling your product, selling your business to job candidates, selling your future to investors or creditors. It's something you should know. Who needs business law? Entrepreneurs do. You should understand the basic principles, so you don't make a critical mistake. Who needs self-reflection? Entrepreneurs do. You are going to have to make decisions without much information sometimes, and you need to look back and see if you have done a good job. Who needs ethics? Entrepreneurs do. It's easy to be ethical when business is booming, but it's hard to refund customer money when you need it more than they do.

The lazy way is usually a path to failure. It doesn't build the foundations that enable your dreams. It doesn't give you an advantage because, anybody can be lazy. Foundations take a long time to build. I'm not saying you have to wait until they are finished, because they will never be quite done. But don't believe the hype and rush into something that doesn't suit your skills or your dreams. Running downhill is easy, but if you want to see the top of the mountain, you have to run the hard way. Don't be afraid of running up."

This is what I like about principles. They tend to weather time. Principle of hardwork always resonate thru the ages.

On Dreaming

We all have dreams. Everyone do. The difference is - successful people make their dreams into reality. Not-so-successful ones continue on dreaming all their life.

Also, one famous philosopher quips "Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

Bravo Henry David Thoreau. I end with my buzzword - 2FMaDaRe- Fundamental Foundations Make Dreams a Reality!

Being Hungry

"When you're hungry, you tend to absorb and retain information quickly and for the long term'.
Thus said the article I read posted at Businesspundit.com.

I totally agree. On the contrary, the reverse is also true. Biologically when you're full, the tendency is for you to absorb less info. The logic behind is that the body's energy is utilized to digesting food when one is full. And since blood is an essential component in the processing of food, most blood is channelled to the stomach.

You get it! The the brain is thus deprived of blood. And when this phenomenon happens, brain power and memory suffers.

Spiritually too, no wonder when people fast, and feed, on the WORD, tendency is for the WORD to manifest in their lives with more meaning and more essence. Solomon is again right "There is nothing new under the sun".

Keep Your Eyes on the Road

Yes! That is exactly the words of my 10-year old son!

This happened while we were cruising along an expressway. He blurted out those words while watching me steer the wheel. He has somehow caught my wandering eyes enjoying the view. ]

While reflecting, this event strikes a chord !

Come to think of it. Often, we cruise into life and along the way, starts to wander off course. For variety of reasons, we stumble into a new hobby or habit. Venture into unknown places. Indulge in new passion.

However, the reality is that everytime we engage ourselves chasing those pursuits, we ended up veering away off course from life's most important elements-family. At the end of the day, Stephen covey's take on this sounded truer than ever - "Begin with the end in mind".

Of Stocks and Risks

Finally! After years and years of searching for the magic pill (read: simplified explanation in stock market investing), I read this entry of a well-known money blog post I just can help but quote it down...Alternatively, you can read this same entry at the link below. Read on with GUSTO!

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/2006/12/a-better-way-to-view-stock-market-risk.html#more-1106

"The prospect of losing your hard-earned money is scary. You know that if you invest with $1000 in stocks, in a year you could be left with either a huge gain or a huge loss. People (including me in the past) tend to look at the stock market like a slot machine:

This is good in that, yes, for the short-term the stock market is risky. Don’t put money you may need right away into stocks. However, when young people tell me that they are putting their Roth IRAs in a bank CD because they are afraid of the stock market, that is bad. Roth IRAs are long-term investments. We’re talking 30, 40, 60 years for some people! The way you should be looking at the stock market is this:

As you can see, as your time-horizon lengthens, your risk of losing money decreases significantly. When looking back and taking any 25-year period between 1950 and 1994, the worse case still gave you a 7.9% annualized return. Note that the average for all of these time periods is still the same, 10% per year. So what you’re really looking at is something more like:

Although we may not get that same 10% average in the future, I think it’s clear that you need to make your horizon as long as possible by starting now. Remember, most of you are not going to touch your Roth IRA for decades, so it doesn’t matter what happens next year. What matters is that you were “in the game” for that year, extending your time period in the market, rocky or not. Also, this is just stocks - We are not even taking into the account the additional tempering effect of incorporating bonds to your portfolio.

Finally, consider this. Right now, bank CDs paying 6% in some cases may seem nice. But after inflation, the long-term return of cash-equivalents like bank accounts or Treasury Bills is… zero. By not investing in stocks (again, for long periods), you are giving yourself a 100% chance of making nothing. IRAs, 401ks, 403bs, TSPs, they are all for the long-run.

Get in the game!

* The graph is adapted from one in A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Malkiel, one of my recommended investing books. Common stocks are defined as a diversified stock portfolio, such as the S&P 500 Index.

Hierarchy of Needs

Oxford defines 'plateua' as a "state or period of little or no change following a period of activity or progress".

Let's examine this word in the context of a hypotethical person, in early 30's, married with 2 young kids, mid-level position and a promising career plan in a multinational company. Given he/she has 3 lifestyles to choose from in order to 'get by' the platuea stage experienced by most mid-level managers. Options include;

Choice A. The Avid Learner: back to school to pursue Masteral, Doctorate studies. For most people, this is the upgrade ticket to senior management position. Without such extension on a person's name, career path and plan is going to be a hard sell. All done in the spirit of rekindling passion for learning 'new things'.

Choice B. The Busybody: continue busily toiling day in and day out in the corporate world, spending weekends ever expanding his corporate network. All in the hope that one day, senior mgmt would notice of his/her efforts and recognize, possibly promote, him/her.

Choice C: The Contented Cap: this is liberating. Imagine. Happily basking out there in sustaining commitments to the family. Perhaps a break to start a hobby, planning a retreat for the family. Or even starting a small business to 'fallback' on. Finally renewing commitment to his/her GOD to ensure his/her spiritual nourishment is in check sounds a fitting finale.

Well, for me, appears the choice C is imminent. Obviously I'm bent on "waiting on the Lord". Profound but true.

7 Laws of the Learner

I visited a Christian Bookstore today and stumbled upon a book with above title. I was immediately hooked into browsing it!

Straightforward, practical with a catchy theme and most of all, timely. These are words I would use to describe the book. You might say, oh no, another book on teaching ?! True. However, as tons and tons of books have been written about teaching, I think none has been crafted just for the layman's need.

Structuring the topics/subjects into 7 'laws' puts ease of recollection, simplicity and coherence. I have not read the whole book. Given the chance, I will definitely post my comments. I was just hoping too I could find one in a nearby library. I would not mind putting time and effort to read and apply what it says.

After all, lifelong learning seems to be the buzzword these days.