Personal Beliefs

"Whatever you believe is true, it is the truth for you."

This entry is on the power of human thought. It is a truly powerful thing that many people have yet be able to understand or harness its power.

Do I mean that the truth is subjective? No... No matter how you think the sun rises from the North, it wouldn't. But what I meant is with regards to issues that are more important than that... It is not so much of a philosophical viewpoint, but a psychological one. What I do mean is not to underestimate the degree of influence of our self-esteem, confidence and beliefs on the outcomes of issues.

On a simple level, if you were to undertake a certain project that you think is doomed to failure, it is likely that you will not give your best to solve whatever problems that crop up. It'll be easy to miss opportunities and potential solutions, and to dwell in despair at the problems, which might not be so unsolvable at all.

Similarly, if you think that you're bad at something, you will not be motivated to do it well. You will likely suffer from low self-confidence, and be self-defeated by your negative thoughts. You will tend to notice all the negative points, and ignore the positive ones. In fact, the fear that your beliefs bring might be so strong that they might prevent you from even trying.

Sometimes, that makes the whole difference between the person who succeeds and the other who fails.

For example, if you believe that you are bad at studies, your mind would be tuned to picking up the difficult parts of the topic, and using that as "proof" to show that you can't understand the topic well, that it is too difficult for you. You then convince yourself based on the "facts", and quietly resign yourself to failure. On the other hand, if you have faith in yourself and your intellectual skills, you will pick up the simpler parts of the topic and try to build up your own knowledge foundation to understand the more complicated ones. In this way, these parts now transform from unattainable ideas to ideas that you have not understood yet.

It's the same thing in life. If you tell yourself that life is screwed up, I'm sure you can point out a millions things which are wrong in the world today. But if you believe that life is really to be celebrated, you can also find another thousand of things that you are enjoying and grateful for. It is all in a matter of perspective.

A person who convinces himself that he can't do it, can never do it. And granted, another who believes that he can do it, may not be able to achieve it in the end either. However, the difference between the two, is one lives in despair, one lives in hope.

The goal of psychology is to change how the patient perceives himself, and hence change his attitude in life.

Ever had the time where you were hoping so much that something wouldn't happen, and it did?

Are we so afraid of failure that we dare not succeed?

Be careful of what you think. =)

The Meaning of Life

"What is the meaning of life?"

An all-time favourite philosophical question. This is one of the basic questions that has got philosophists pondering about for hundreds of years.

Is there any reason why we are around? Is there any purpose in life that we should fulfill? Why are we who we are? ... Questions that has bogged mankind for ages. But I'm afraid there wouldn't be answers to any of the questions soon, if at all.

It is easy to be confused about life, especially when we look at it from a macro perspective. We are born to the world, we go through life, studying, working, getting married, having your own family, and then finally we slowly age and die off. A repetitive cycle that has repeated itself for thousands of years at least. And what have we achieved in the past thousands of years? What achievements do we have to be proud of?

Scientific advancements?
People are doing more things more efficiently, getting to places faster and enjoying various comforts of they can afford. But at what cost? All this technology saves time, yet people are getting more busier and busier and have less and less time for themselves.

More comforts of life?
Granted.. But at what expense? Look at the destruction of the flora and fauna around the world. Extinction rates are alarming. Look at the effects of pollution. Look at the severe climate changes.

Richer?
On the average, we have grown richer over the years. Yet, it is known that the top 20% of the world's population earns 80% of the world's income. In other words, the richer get richer, while the poor... Millions of people around the world are umemployed or starving, and billions worry about not having enough to pay their bills.

Civilisation
Some claim we have become more civilised. Have we? Has the situation of politics, competition and back-stabbing decreased? Have we stopped being aggressive against others? Have we become more selfless?

The list can go on forever. But it does seem that our thousands of years of "advancement" isn't as wonderful as we think it is. Have we really achieved something? If history shows that we cannot achieve anything, it is reasonable to assume that we can't achieve anything as well, isn't it?

But at the end of all that thought, I think I have realised the answer... While some people have been trying to search for the answer to the question, they have not realised that it is the question that is wrong.

Life by itself has no meaning. It is like asking the meaning of a group of friends playing board games. Is there a reason? Is there a meaning to it? The simple reason for us playing is that we enjoy doing so. The same thing with life... We are live, because we want to, because we enjoy doing so. Along the way, we give life more meaning, by doing things that we want to achieve. It may not be anything significant, but so long as you enjoy doing so, it's great.

Largely put, there is a high chance that we would not achieve anything really great in our lives. We are limited by our human abilities. Yet, what we can do is to find happiness in the everyday activities we do. It's really not so much of the goal that's important. It's the journey.

So, what meaning do you give your life?
Perhaps one answer to "Why do we do the things we do?" is simply "Because I want to."

Revelations

As the first proper blog entry, I'll like to start off that there are many fascinating truths about our universe that we have yet to fully discover. And these might just be the solutions to the many difficult questions and problems in life that cannot be easily understood now...

A few years back, I was somewhat in a withdrawn state from society. Having not much to do in the army, I set my mind thinking about the "larger" questions in life, questions like my purpose and future, as well as the "bigger" picture on where the world is heading towards. And I was there thinking and reasoning myself out, and gradually, it really seems that everything seemed dark and gloomy.I was kind of depressed and confused, so I sought out the help of the library.

Over those past few years, I have read quite a few books on self-help, philosophy and psychology. And I've learnt quite a lot from them. From these books, I have observed many similarities in their ideas they are promoting. And I've found that many things are actually very simple and basic in nature - a lot of the concepts in the books are actually simple things that we already know, yet have not been practicing in our lives...

In this blog, I'll try to write down some of my answers to these "difficult" questions, as well as other revelations that come my way. I do not hope to provide answers for anyone, because these are often answers that can only be answered by themselves. What I hope to do is to perhaps stir up some thoughts to let people understand themselves and the world better, and show that the world we live in, actually is run by several simple rules, and life can truly be enjoyable.

Asia07 Travel Blog

A compilation of my experiences and thoughts in the UBC-USP summer programme:

Eating our way through Asia:
A field study of Chinese migration
6th - 25th May 2007.

Places visited include Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Singapore, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. Though this programme was initiated to explore the extent and consequences of mass Chinese migration over the past hundred years, we did not find many answers to our questions, but rather found lots more questions for us to ponder about, such as the consequences of the impact of globalisation on the Chinese culture, the definition and "exportability" of culture, authenicity etc.

A relaxing, free and easy trip. Little structured learning, yet with lots of observations and issues to think about.

Available at http://injuir-asia07.blogspot.com/