Ice cold jacuzzi

There is nothing more refreshing than a dip in an ice cold natural jacuzzi surrounded by a natural garden of flora. That pretty much sums up my trip to magickriver last sunday.

Sitting among nature, being engulfed by the enorminity of it all makes for a rather humbling experience. Coupled with an inspiring chat with Antares and a few new and existing friends from the city over a cup of Antares' infamous milk tea, the experience was definitely food for the brain. In a good organic way.

But of course, any such visit would not be complete without the impromptu percussion jamming sessions where we bounce energy and beats off each other. It must be the place. And the people. There is something magical about magickriver that somehow brings people together, answers to questions, and peace to mind.

I went home that night feeling a lot clearer, and focused. Nothing like a good dip in the water to cleanse the spirit and the mind.

Dedicated to all Cholerics out there!

The Powerful Choleric personality. A strong-willed, fast-thinking snappy decision maker who is quick to anger and deems themselves always right. Has a habit of branding anyone who doesn't think as fast or make similar decisions as stupid (which is pretty much all non-cholerics).

When you meet a Choleric you'll know immediately by the way they talk and make quick decisions, and demand that their way is right even though they are obviously wrong. This is normal as the choleric somehow can't comprehend the fact that they too can make mistakes.

A typical conversation with a powerful choleric may be something along these lines.

You walk into the room and the powerful choleric approaches you with a problem, asking you to think of a solution. Before you can begin he/she starts listing down the points to ponder, out-lining the pros and cons of each possibility and before you know it, comes to a conclusion that works. He/she proclaims this as the solution and wonders why you can't think of it (the choleric probably thinks you are stupid at this point).

Meanwhile, the poor bugger who just walked into the powerful choleric doesn't quite know what hit him/her. Before he/she has a chance to even answer, the powerful choleric has taken matters into his/her own hands and delivered a decision without giving a chance for said bugger to respond. He/she probably even got labelled stupid, lame, or .

So powerful cholerics, chill a while; and give the others a chance to think and make decisions. And by a while, I meant until they come up with something and not the 10-odd seconds it took you to do so. After all, we're not all powerful cholerics.

Some parting words for the quick-to-anger choleric.

There are three ways to deal with anger. You can express it, suppress it, or forgive.
Out of the three, the only real way is to forgive.
-A monk whose name I've forgotten, but whose words I shall not-

How does one kill oneself?

Isolation. Stubbornness. Arrogance. Pride. Anger. Fear. Stupidity. Emotions.

Wouldn't it be great if we could fill ourselves with all these and commit suicide? Then we'd take all these negative qualities with us. We will rid the world of another thorn in society. Imagine a world where seriously flawed people consciously remove themselves from society.

We'd have a blissful world of inspiring individuals, all aspiring to achieve world peace. No one would belittle another nor be angry when things are not accomplished. Everyone will be understanding and accommodating. We will continuously inspire each other. There will be no 'stupid' people.

But it has to start somewhere.

I'm going to begin with me. I'm removing my flawed self from society.



"The first step towards improving oneself is to acknowledge that one is flawed"
-The Sage-

A humble piece

By Kalamari

How is it that a teacher who aspires to be
An example to all, can crumble and fall,
Amidst anger and arrogance?

It is simple. For he/she is still human.

How is it that a teacher who inspires
Find that he or she cannot find it in others?

It is simple. For he/she is only human.
And arrogance clouds the mind from learning.

How is it that a teacher who dutifully cultivates
The essence of spirituality and meditates
Can find no peace in his/her heart
To learn from those below him/her?

It is simple. For he/she is just human.
And knowledge comes from humility.

Phasing out

I'm going through a phase of spiritual cleansing.

WTF?

Yes, I hear you. Spiritual cleansing, to sum it up in my terms is a way of detaching from physical, emotional and material baggage. There is nothing religious about it, and there should be nothing religious about it since I'm not in any way inclined to religion in the first place.

So with one and a half weeks to go, from a total of three weeks, I find myself a nervous and often edgy wreck. Constipated, as 3sa always puts it. More so than I usually am.

I guest its my body's way of cleansing everything that shouldn't be there in the first place. Anger, angst, frustration, constipation (lots of it), regret, sadness, and many more. Negative emotions being flushed out by the torrents. Much like how the toilet bowl becomes your best friend when you go on a detox programme.

And like the shit (pun intended) that spurts out from a detox programme, I do feel significantly 'cleaner' and much much 'clearer'.

So when the stench clears, I may once again breathe the fresh air that nature intended me to breathe.

Ouch!

Wow, it has been more than two months since I updated my blog. I could feel the cobwebs crawling all the way from cyberspace to my keyboard.

Anyways in my bid to survive on my own, I've managed to successfully destroy any semblance of my social life; occasionally finding the time to breathe a little and catch forty winks between classes and meetings.

So now I run my own business (unregistered as of now) doing web maintenance for website companies and web owners. I also teach Capoeira full time. In addition to that, I'm currently doing a Teachers' Training course at Living Arts to improve and hone my teaching skills. I'm also taking dance and yoga classes in order to expand my vocabulary of movements.

This explains my absence from my beloved blog and from society. Oh, did I forget to mention that for the most part of January I was involved in dog/dog owner training. 3sa had acquired a Golden Labrador (Labrador mixed Golden Retriever) mid December and I was helping her train/walk/bathe/misc etc Bruno. I was also dishing out advice from 'dog ownership' to 'observing how healthy your dog is based on his shit'.

It has been a whirlwind of events with more coming up, including the upcoming TITs (Teacher In Training) pseudo-graduation where we have to choreograph and perform a piece each, an upcoming Charity Event organised by BotakBraces and gang, putting together a performance team in three months and getting involved in the production of a musical.

This is gonna be a great busy year. All appointments should be made two weeks in advance.

Advocating Change: Part 2

A couple of months ago (or maybe more) I wrote a post on change, and how it happens everyday and everywhere and to everyone including yourself. And I've noticed that lately my posts have all been about change and constantly changing and keeping that change alive.

It's funny in a weird sort of way as I was always one who is shy of change. But now it seems change has taken over my life, or rather; my life is now ever-changing. It is rather refreshing to say the least, for change is what made my life a whole lot more interesting than it was before.

And meaningful.

However I notice that a lot of people find it extremely hard to accept the changes that has sculpted my life thus far. Everywhere I turn, the people I know who are close to me all gave me quizzical looks as if I had gone utterly mad! Many even offered advice which however safe and practical it may seem, will only continue to cripple my personal growth. Perhaps 'cripple' is too harsh a word. I should say, continue to direct me towards a more secure and mundane path.

But I wasn't made for the boring statistical sedimentary life.

I was made to soar.

So why stay on the ground? You can fly too. And you can take those unbelievers with you.

The Days After

PATCH was one heck of an experience. It was tiring, time-consuming, stress-inducing and a lot of effort to raise funds for two cerebral palsy kids. But it was darn worth every single drop of blood, sweat and tears.

I fell sick the evening PATCH ended and was taken ill for the days to follow. In total, three days to be exact. Even then, my head was still a bit heavy on Thursday. Unfortunately, I wasn't alone. 3sa was sick as well, and the both of us were practically bed-ridden for the most part of three days (she could however miraculously attend 6am rehearsals two days in a row).

Eventually I got well, but 3sa came down with a bad throat infection that is only now clearing after downing enough antibiotics to kill two horses.

I learned a lot from the PATCH experience. I learnt to be patient. A lot more patient. I learnt to relax (somewhat, I can still be pretty anal most of the time). I learnt how to lead and manage a team. I learnt that tempers cannot solve problems and worrying does not make them go away (how many times have I mentioned this before, I wonder...).

I learnt that no matter how well-planned things are, shit will still happen. And it won't be anybody's fault, because that's the nature of shit. I learnt (time and time again) that people will always be late, because we are all Malaysians, or aspiring to be. I learnt to let things be.

Now more time floods my days, but still there's more to be done. The world is ever-changing, and we have to keep up with the changes to see them, and change alongside them. For if we stay where we are, then we shall remain in that frame of time. Unchanging. Stagnating.

And so I start to move again. I've had my break. It's time to get back to work. Now if I can only relax and let things flow...