A friend recently attended a talk by a psychiatrist who is also a Christian and he shared on overcoming anxiety and How God can help us. This is one of the powerpoint slide that he sent to me and I think it is very applicable in many of our lives.

Fear is a distrust in God and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In some way, I agree that the more fearful we are in our lives, the further we are from God. We, humans have begin to lean on our own intelligence instead of the All Almighty God. Our limited wisdom would never be able to comprehend many things that is easily done for God, after all, he is the Creator of this Universe.

The sentence that I relate to the most is - Fear results from a refusal to exercise faith. Think about it. If we could endure and stand in the heat for another day, week or month, wouldn't our circumstances no matter how bad it is be improved or resolved?  Hebrews 11.1 - Faith is the assurance of things hope for , the evidence of things not seen. 

The things that remain unseen are the solution that we want to see in the problems we had now, be it financial breakthrough, career, relationship or state of health.  Before we get too worked up, I think it is important to note that we all have fear in our lives and a certain amount of healthy fear is good for us. 

Primitively, when humans were born in historic times and they are out of their caves to hunt, the unknown outside their comfort zone triggers an element of fear, causing them to stay vigilant and be on the watch out for danger, a sign of self protection. Fast forward to the 21st century where we are living in modern society and technological advancement with more good food ever found in the natural forest, are we, humans more fearful than our primitive time?

It's like looking at the glass half full or half empty, a matter of perspective. The bigger the playground, the more perceived danger there are. Equally speaking, the amount of fun and pleasure also increases. We need to recognise that holding on to excessive fear is both harmful for ourselves and also can destroy the many opportunities that we are fearful of embarking on. Often, these fear stems from a lack of knowledge, past experiences and our limiting beliefs.

Example, if someone attempts to change his job to a new industry, he might want to give it a try but his limiting beliefs (what qualifications do you have , unsupportive parents, etc) dissuade him and the potential remains buried. How sad.

Shouldn't we look at life filled with different experiences , each one to enrich us and broaden our outlook of life rather than to treat the experience and label it as success or failure. Are we too preoccupied with the society labelling and the need for instant gratification is so rampant? We need to slow down, pull our handbrake and be aware of what's really going on. The robots may be coming but we humans are far more creative and intelligent than the machines and we need not live a life mechanically, devoid of human emotions.

​

We must discipline our mind to purge the negative thoughts which contributes to fear and fill it abundantly with good thoughts, kind, loving and happy ones. Make it a conscious effort to slow down and appreciate the things in life that you are already blessed with :
Disaster free country 
Corruption free government
A roof over our head
Loving family and children
Etc

Things like this may seems trivial since they are present in our lives, that sometimes we could take it for granted. Cherish what we have, banish fear in our life by staying close to God, pray and meditate on his words, seek his guidance and all things would end up well. Believe it.

In the school of trading, it is said that one must track their performance, recording both winners and losers. I had done that in the past and have found it difficult to move out from mourning the losses. Instead of bouncing back, I went into self blame, strong criticism, regrets, frustrations and anger. It make my emotional account more volatile than necessary. This time, I decide to do something different. I want to focus on the winning only. This picture above is not my trade nor I had traded this before but find it to illustrate my state of emotions right now. 

Focus on the maker - our God and plant our foundation firmly in his words, savouring every single verse/words carefully and he promised to give us the harvest in due seasons. I thought this is very meaningful and I chart this to motivate myself not to lose myself in the woods - worrying about the inevitable losses and forget the maker !  

By having amnesia on losses, regardless of big or small is in a way denying it has happened. This denial clears the room in my head to store only the winning records - the big ones and the accumulation of small ones. Sieving through them make me happy and also drives me to outdo the previous records. Focus on what I had done right and celebrate the wins, big or small. 

When one focus on the maker and his own portfolio without reference to the world out there, he has peace within himself as he stops comparing his results with others. He did things at his own accord, trusting the Lord that at its appointed time, he will reap his harvest in abundance. Imagine if all of us could do that, wouldn't this place be a better one to live in ?

​Shalom, everyone!

I discovered something over the last few weeks while managing my trading account. Imagine if you have a spreadsheet consisting of 10 trades, 4 wins and 6 losses. Even if the overall is a profit, somehow, subconsciously, there would be times where our attention would be channel to look at the 6 losses. Aterall, 6 is more than 4 and they are recorded in red. Red colour strikes out and it catches our attention much faster than the peaceful blue one. If what we give attention to expands, then my logic of only recording the winnings, however small it may be make a little sense. 

Most time, we tend to be more critical on ourselves, passing unnecessary judgement on our own performance. As they say, the failures are for learning purposes, for which I do not know how useful it is for progression. Instead, I would like to keep a record of my winnings only and believe by looking at it frequently, it would pushes me to perform better and better. Afterall, there is no gap to fill, so  I would not be distracted. Some might say this is denial , which in a way I subtly agree on the concept. 

By denying the flaws, we only accept the good ones ,the ones that we want more of and crave for. Our desires are built for better not for worse. We all yearn for a better standard of living, be it in cash or other material forms as it may be. Not recording the flaws also pushes the negatives out of sight and over time it would be out of mind since most of us are short in memory on our investment portfolio (unless recorded).

Thank you Lord for the blessing ! I was merely wishing if it is really possible to make monthly income of 10,000 into daily. He showed it to me that nothing is impossible and impossible is indeed nothing if we choose to believe Him. I did that twice yesterday, it would have been more had I not sold off much earlier. 

The first one was buying gold , 30 contracts at 1159 and sold off at 1162. It went up much higher that day at 1165. That net me a profit of US$9810. I also won some from silver as well. I had 20 contracts of silver at 16.589 and sold off at 17.01. It went up higher later that day at 17.194. The profit was US$2100.

Yesterday, I had a hat trick once more with NZDUSD. I bought 10 lots at 0.72998 and it went south after the FOMC meeting and I sold 6 contracts for a nice profit of US$8243. That brings at total of US$20,153 or SGD 28,617. 
That could be someone's annual salary (close to 30,000) and I was blessed, lucky, fortunate to did that in 2 days!

The logic minded people might contest to say if it could be done consistently, again and again. That would have missed the point. The point is to first hit it and immersed in the feelings of the wish fulfilled, ie, making monthly income to a daily one. It is awesome!!!!! That would gives me a good two weeks of trading off if I want to or spend quality time with my family and doing the things I like - gardening, exercise, reading, writing, etc.

May the LORD, the God of your ancestors, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised! Deuteronomy 1.11

If I can continue to hold on to my firm belief that nothing is impossible and multiple fold of returns is achievable (proven) then, making it happen again and again would be my next goal ! 

They went forth, and entered into a ship, and that night they caught nothing. – John 21:3
And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. – John 21:6


If we could be more like Peter and exercise faith when told to fish on the right side (depending on human way is the wrong side), then our catch would be enormous and effortless. Like fishing, once the fish is hooked onto the bait , there is an ongoing battle. It is the same as us returning to our senses world of sight, hearing and feeling. As we have yet to see our goals achieved in material form by our sight, we begin to lose faith (fish is still in the water) and doubts starts to creep into our mind. But if we persist and close our senses off this world where evidences are momentarily missing, we would land our big catch as we free our limitations of the human ways.

Winnings these two trades has taught me about the above 2 scriptures, it becomes alive. Nothing has changed for the fishermen (or I) , still fishing , using the same equipment, etc (trading, same products, etc) but at the right side, it can means a world of difference. 

Thank you lord for your continuous guidance, blessings and I look forward to our heavenly meetings where I can draw many life lessons of wisdom, inspiration from you. 

Excerpts from I am discourse - you know the condition that existed today in the lack of employment (replace with other lack that you faced - financial, relationship, career, etc), don't you accept that into your world for one moment. It does not make any difference what the rest of the world is doing, you have the Authority and Power in your Life stream to bring yourself into the desirable employment (replace with your wish here) , and there is nothing in all human creation to prevent you from doing it. Mankind who do not understand this Great Law will experience the other, but that is not your fault, and that is no reason that is no room , there is no employment. 

Call it swimming against the current, being rebellious, take the path less travelled or simply out of curiosity, I urge you and humbled myself once more to stay on this course. To defy the world masses and withstand the stares, criticisms and lack of understanding from others (including your loved ones) can make this journey harder than it seems. 

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8.18

Is it not tormenting to do the things and stay obedient even if you feel like giving up? Is it not painful that you have to bear the agony of uncertainty (waiting period) and eagerly awaiting for the end results? Think of a caterpillar going into a cocoon before the transformation into a butterfly. It takes about 4 weeks for the caterpillar to hatch from the egg and then go into the pupa in its chrysalis. Like the pregnant woman, the birth cycle takes an average of 9 months, anything before is consider premature birth. After the impregnation is done, there is nothing left to do except to wait for the arrival of the baby. 

In wanting what we want, it is the same. We have to concentrate on the goals at hand, feeling it has been achieved, living through it mentally, seeing ourselves behaving the way we are when we had achieved the goal. Who will we talk to? How is our expression? One of excitement and joy , surprise or emotional ? Neville said to condense it into a single sensation and focus on that. 

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
John 14.2-3

Mansions here also refer to dwelling place but it must not be confused with the extra rooms being built onto the extended family as secular history would tell you.  The bible as Neville said is an allegory , using ancient poems, stories to convey meaning to mankind. The dwelling place here refers to the different emotional states that are available - happiness, joy, peace, abundance, gratitude, etc that we can get into if we want to. We have a choice, one of the most important traits that make us different from other animal species. A lion or tiger wakes up each morning to hunt or get hunted. They live by their natural instincts to fight off their predator or go hungry for the day. It is merely a game of survival. We human beings, made in the image of God enjoy the highest privileges - we can think and we can act according to our choice, although each choice is accompanied by its consequences. 

For a moment, I seem to understand why the Tibetian monks and other enlightened people would choose to stay in the mountains. The external environment shapes our thinking, influence it day by day, conforming us to think and act like the majority. Nobody has stand out from the crowd before and it would be risky to do so. To the asians, this could means a loss of face if one does not succeed using this technique. That's the problem. We misconstrued the real facts and got confused along the ways for many many years. 

While the world now celebrates the like of driver-less vehicles and robots manning the retail shops, in my opinion, the human mind need an upgrade too, the earlier the better. Too many of us still live in the ancient world, trapped by our past, allowing rituals and other cultural doings to affect how we think and act. Like robots, we simply obey, not for a moment asking why. Ironically, if adults behave this way, why are we expecting our children - the generation of the future to be different, to be able to think out of the box? Are we being fair to them when we are still locked in our own myopic way of looking at things? Or are we so complacent that we need a big wave of change from the government, the external environment to hit us so hard before we wake up?

From being able to type my daily post in my previous laptop wherever I go was a blessing. Now, I have to make do here and cherish the moment of my thoughts, finger typing and the monitor screen. I am both excited yet nervous about the results like a child awaiting for his exam results. 

Imagine a world where there is no doubt and everyone has the confidence to do what they are good at. Wouldn't that be perfect ? Too many were beaten by failures and while the fought hard, some gave up after a while, citing family, finances, age, etc that holds them back from doing what they want to. There is a sense of regret in their tone, as if hoping they can get a second chance. If only they are aware of this power within them, within each and everyone of us. That's the beauty, God is fair , he has given this ability to all, regardless of race, language , gender or age. 

Ezekiel 36:26
"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Think about it. The heart of stone can't feel, they are no different from a robot. Cold and hard. The heart of flesh is soft, capable of emotional feelings - we cry when we are sad, we mourn for our losses, we become angry and frustrated when things are not right, we love our children and we have compassion for the lesser privileged......................................

It is this heart of flesh in humans that make us who we are, to experience the ups and down in this world. God must have a reason for that else with his power , he could have turn all of us into robots. If that happens, then there would be no sin, since all of us are programmed to perform according to his wishes/command. No, he gave us a choice, to be able to experience both the good and bad side of things. 

Decision making then become a daily task that all of us have to make. We decide whether to wake up at 6am or 7am. An hour of difference can means more sleep and rest or starting the day earlier and getting more things done. It is when we attach meaning to the context that makes us feel it is the right thing to do. We find it worthwhile pursuing when we have a vision ahead of us - for the family, for a goal you are after, a belief you have,etc. 

So, I hope we all choose wisely each day and always harbour loving, kind and wonderful thoughts about others and yourself. Have an awesome day !

We were at my daughter's school children party last weekend and there was a lucky draw where we get to win some lovely prices. I decided to put what I had learnt to the test. On the screen, there would be the names of the parents according to the centre that the child belongs. If the name is there, that means you have won a prize. So, throughout the day, I see in my mind my name appearing on screen. It did not manifest till the end of the program. I was not disappointed because I remembered what was taught to me. Do not allow reasons or senses (our visual sensory perception) to tell us this is the facts. 

Nothing is final yet. I imagined shaking hands with the organiser and happily receive a cheque from them. I see myself with frantic heartbeat and at same time concealing that overly excited look on my face. For a moment, I thought I might faint. Haha. The first time winning the lottery, oh my god, so exciting, isn;t it? 

To stay focus on one single sensation, one mental picture and keep repeating it till it is out pictured in the real world for me. That is my homework. If I allow the temporary setbacks (contests, mini lotteries, etc) to distract me and affect my faith, then I had given in to reasons (equivalent of doubt) that this wish/goal is not happening and soon my confidence starts to wane.

1 Corinthians 16:13 Remain alert. Keep standing firm in your faith. Keep on being courageous and strong.

To give up is the easy part as it relinquish one from the responsibility towards the end goal. It quickly dissipates the stress held within and also the anxiety of the unknown is gone but that would be back to square one to forming a new goal but giving up each time. Isn't that insanity? Walking in faith is like a blindman walking on the streets, unable to see the signposts and landmarks ahead of him. The person with sight see clearly, guided by these external objects and tread carefully not to be hit by them. 

"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Matthew 6.24

Fear and Faith, choose one. Happiness or sadness, choose one. The state that we wish to penetrate, we must ensure we enter it fully and not stepping in with one foot, half heartedly and having second thoughts of withdrawing. This defeats the purpose of entering the desired state in the first place. The outer senses want you to believe it is not real, that you are beaten, doubts want you to believe it is not possible, reasons after reasons or evidence upon evidence, it wants to convince you the fallacy of this concept. But one must hold steadfast to its faith and never let it go. Lots of man-made isms would have you believe that your luck is dependent on this colour, number, certain month of the year,etc. Remember this ; Isaiah 46:9 — For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.

When we put our trust wholeheartedly with one Lord, the one and mighty, the "I am-ness", we won't be distracted by the worldly man-made ones and be led ashtray. The confusion would be eliminated and all teachings/learning are found in the scriptures only. The world wants you to believe in diversification, scattering your faith like headless chicken running amok the streets with no clear sense of direction, following the latest Pip Piper blowing his horn around. Temporal success may get to you but its fleeting success quickly sets you back to before or worse.

You gonna have faith - WHAM

Just because we lived in a fast-paced environment does not mean we have to follow the herds. The more excited, fast-paced your life is the higher your vibration (energy) goes to and it needs to be normalise to sustain. Is that any wonder the world out there is trying to seduce you with its food, music, entertainment, etc ? With technology advancement, you are only seconds/minutes away from another country by call, email, chat services, video conferencing, etc. The need to seen doing seems to drive people crazy. 

Slow down, let your heart take a rest and your mind calm down. It is necessary. Think about it. Are you  gaining clarity? Are you feeling a sense of joy and have a clear sense of where you are heading? Slow down to make the next decision. Nothing is so urgent, really that demands your immediate attention. Listen to your breathing. Are you panting and puffing for air? Really, does it make you feel good? Or was it the morning coffee that spike you up? So you fall for it , took on the vicious cycle of consuming more just to keep up, just to stay alert and awake and participate in the action. Night falls, you switch coffee for liquor. Does it do well for your body? 

​Think again. Be still.

Ah.....are we going to talk about change again? Yes, we are, haha. In the words of Bob Proctor, a favourite author of mine, he said; we are either progressing or stagnant in life. So if the word; change is too BIG or daunting as if you need a complete makeover, consider replacing it with progress instead. After all, we had said that hundreds and thousands of times when we are in school. "We the citizens of Singapore...........so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation."  Sounds familiar? 

Since I had my shoulder injury years back, I had fallen drastically on my physical strength training for fear of aggravating the pain. It was, each time I try to exert the muscles around it and it is frustrating that I can't do much and felt helpless.....
I had many sleepless night as rotating the arm would hurt so bad that it wakes me up. (maybe that explains the dark eye circle, haha)Nearly giving up, I was feeling depressed and decided to turn to God for help. (Forgive me for not seeking YOU first, LORD) I asked him to release the pain and let me regain my strength and confidence once more. Nothing miraculous happen over the weeks, the pain still exist, the sleep was horrible and the days were muddled through...........

Then, one day my daughter wanted me to paint with her. Honestly, I was reluctant as I dislike drawing when I was young. But it was something that I had promised her and she was looking forward to it. So I said OK and this was what I painted. It came to me instantly, as if God knew that is what I need now! 

Shortly, thereafter, I got my son to draw up this calendar for me. See attached drawing. The 2nd drawing is an ordinary 2 months time line that I set for myself to get started with my training again. It was not helpful when I kept thinking how strong I was in the past when I can hit the gym to lift the weights and so on and so forth. I had to start from scratch, I know and the sooner the better.

I started on 16 Aug 2016 where you could see a number, 6 was written on it. That was the number of chin-ups I could do. On some days, I added in my own run which I had been doing regularly, 3 - 5km run depending on time availability. 
2 weeks later, I am still at 7 chin-ups and I was feeling a little frustrated how slow the progress had been. Then end of the month, 31 Aug 2016, I hit 8. That was a marked improvement for me. 

I noticed once a new number register in my mind, it becomes the minimum I had to do and 7 or 6 became the past as I looked back at this calendar. Of course, the words of God, written by my son is  a constant motivation. Matthews 19.26 - Nothing is impossible for God and Mark 9.23 - Nothing is impossible to Him who believes.

Last Sunday, 10 Sept 2016, I breakthrough with 9 chin ups and now 8 , 7 and 6 are behind - the past and no longer a limitation that I used to had and fear of reaching. My action and achievement by way of my records are evidence that it is possible and do-able.

Guess what, the next number will be ?Yeah, a full 10 and that would be another milestone that I love to hit it. The problem I realised that we get ourselves trapped are our very own thoughts. We not only compare with others but also our very own past performance, assuming if we had done it before ,then now should be easy and achievable. Yes and No depending on the context. 

The 10,000 hours training that each person put behind his interest, be it a physical goal or financial one is crucial. This two month tracking progress may seem slow and way too easy for some but it fits my current lifestyle and I like the progress, slow and steady without hurting my shoulders too much. 

God has a wonderful way of giving us what we want. He arranged for my daughter to get me to draw which I had not done in decades, less to mention holding a paint brush. As I saw her happily painting away, I thought what should I paint and my gut feeling told me this word. And then the next thing was this calendar I get my son to do for me. He loves to cross out each day of the month on the hard calendars we had in the house. And an idea just came to me, model the same thing on a piece of paper and each time I finished a physical task, I would cross it off. 

Also, each night I shared my happy moments with him, how happy Daddy is by achieving this baby step one day at a time. 
As a father, I think it is more important to walk the talk than to give him theories on how to be resilient in the midst of adversity. 

Friends, if you are going through some challenges right now, do as I had done. Baby steps, giant leaps one day at a time. Do not underestimate the power of accumulation but it has still to start from day one. Make today your day one and soon you will be excited to share your progress with your family member and others as well. 

To expect others to come forth and help us or the external situation to first improve without making a radical shift in our attitude is the works of an insane person who unconsciously repeat the same steps but expecting a different result. 

Acts 3.19 - Repent so that your sins can be wiped away..................

This is also one of my favourite verse but I too had to apply in my own life, experiencing the mighty power of God so that my testimonial are not hearsay but truly experienced. 

Repent in the dictionary has too many negative connotations from feeling remorseful to being regretful of one's act. Wouldn't that act itself (feeling remorseful) magnify the problems you had on hand; i.e. making it bigger and worse than before?

According to the Strong Concordance, the word; repent means change of mind, change the inner man (accept the will of God). So simply, God say I am here so that you can have abundance and prosperity..... John 10.10. Now, we know God's words cannot be revoked, he kept his promises and thus it is up to us to change our mind, to shift our paradigm from looking at the external situation (shoulder pain) and forgotten the teachings of God. And that is to have faith and believe in his words. Now faith is the assurance of things hope for, evidence of things not seen. 

In our mortal world, we were "educated" or brainwashed to only accept what we can see (visual sense) as facts before we can believe something. For example, if you say you are financially rich, then you jolly well dress up, live in a big house or drive a flashy car. We all "learn" to judge by what we see. But God see our hearts and not by what we have - our circumstances.  We find it difficult to believe in something unless we can see it . Money, house, car are what we can see , then our brain begin to believe.

God say to do the reverse, first to believe than you will see.  John 11.40 - Did I not tell you if you believe, you would see the Glory of God? And  Matthew 21.22 - If you believe, you will receive whatever you request for in prayer.

Meditate on these words (a strong reminder for myself as well). It is the reverse of what the mortal world is teaching out there - out of sight, out of mind but rather God's way - out of mind, out of sight.

To your success, keep the faith strong !

The thoughts of losing balance brings to mind ; Control. Many of us are afraid to lose control in the different areas of our lives - financial, career, health, family, etc. Yet, unknowingly to many, we are on that path each day as we continue to do things the same way as yesterday. Currently, I am working on a new habit change that require meticulous recording of data and in-depth study of the materials. I find myself swinging back and forth with some days having difficulty to keep focus and get distracted to do other trivial things. Then when guilt and pressure revisit me, I quickly go back to the drawing board. 

I reckon losing control of my past behaviour that may not give me the quality of life that I want yet, stubbornly I still cling on to it. That seems irrational and does not make sense yet that is what I do So I need proper intervention and stay constantly aware of what I need to do to avoid losing balance and stay out of track. 

Some research say we need 30 -66 days to adopt a new habit. I am probably one third in the journey and already have withdrawal symptoms and begin hallucinate and have buyer's remorse. Why am I doing this ?

I need to calm down, breathe and see the bigger picture, feel deeper into the purpose behind doing this project. WHY am I doing it? If this wish is fulfilled, how will I feel? It may seems distant and difficult to incite feelings of achievement, excitement or achievement when where I am now to where I am going seems far (geographically). The trick is in the mind and to bring the end goal to the present by enacting the scene as vividly as possible. Mind you, this is not a one off event but a daily one which builds on the last foundation and keep on building it mentally. No wonder so many people give up as it seems surreal and impossible to achieve as they can't "see" it to believe it. 

The truth is we need to first believe it in our mind , see it in our mind and it will be manifested in our external world. How exactly it is done will require time, intensity of focus on this singular activity and strong faith. As the faith becomes stronger, naturally we will know what actions to take that will lead to positive consequences that take us closer to our goal. The starting point is not finding the means to an end but live in the end literally.

Allow God to take over and lose control by relinquish human efforts to pursue our goals. The more we try to control the more stress we become and the journey without God is often fraught with ups and downs. With God's grace, it might be slower but we will find it a blessing and joy in the journey towards pursuing our goal. Doors are open, opportunities are given and it seems effortless and ideas that you never think of will appear miraculously. That is the power and what God can do in our lives IF we allow him.

Surrender to God is not an act of cowardice or what others perceived as being lazy or shirking from one's responsibilities. On the contrary, it is wisdom and working smart than working hard to get what we want. Testimonials from others can do so much to motivate us but we must eventually get on this journey ourselves. Letting go may seems a challenge for many as we are so used to doing it for such a long time. We feel vulnerable, uncertain and fearful what lies ahead and have doubts, questions, anxiety,etc. What if .....what if .......

Learning to trust God and allowing him to take over my life is the best decision I had ever make in my life. It is , to me not a one off activity but one that requires daily renewal of the mind, consciously aware the role and importance he plays in my life and my family and being humbled by his grace towards us.