Seeing The Bigger Picture

Have you ever in your life feel that you have been wronged by someone?? Or in your life has you ever wronged another person?? This week I would like to write about seeing the bigger picture in all these episodes in life, and I hope my readers will try to apply this to their daily lives and find less frustration and anger when someone does something wrong or bad to them.

When the unfortunate situation above happens to you, what do you do?? From my experience, most people will straightaway coin the other person an "***hole/****ker" or something along the lines. As I flip through the newspaper each day, most of the news I see are articles on the Rapists/murderers who are to be executed or who gets caught or something along the lines there. As I grow older, I've come to learn and think of such people, not as rapists/murderers/assholes but more as humans who committed a mistake, that way we are seeing the BIGGER PICTURE by putting the human being first before the act.

The revelation came when I was attending a talk lately by a prison inmate on his time in jail. Before he was caught and sent to jail he was responsible for quite a few murders/heists and things like that but now out of prison, he runs motivational talks on teaching people how to make the best out of their lives. It's amazing how people can change and learn after such events in their lives. From various books Ive read, and from other sources, most inmates in prison do have a conscience and people do feel grief and regret for what they did, but somehow, society always chooses to put the act before the human being. Terms like, murderer, rapist, robber, killer are constantly used and the list is endless. Once again, it would be good, and the world would be more peaceful if we could look at these people as a human being who committed a mistake, rather than putting the act before the person.

I remember a story set back in the 1990's when south Africa was just freed from apartheid. When the apartheid ended, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu set up a truth and reconciliation commission. Anyone who felt that he or she was a victim of its violence was invited to come forward and be heard. Perpetrators of violence could also give testimony and request amnesty from prosecution. There was a particular case where a white policeman went up to the commission and in front of a audience, he recounted how he had tortured and killed a black activist of the ANC (African National Congress) party. As he recounted the episode, he was trembling and tears were streaming down his eyes. As he finished, a black lady stood up from the crowd, and walked towards him. Everyone was stunned and no one moved, even the security guards did not stop her. As she reached him, she put her arms around him, hugged him, and said, " I forgive you". It was such an amazing sight and shows how even when in the darkest situations, we can still put the person before the act!! If someone like her is able to forgive the killer of her husband and father of her children, I'm sure we all can learn how to do the same with others and ourselves in our lives.
So next time someone wrongs you, or you pick up the newspaper and headlines says " Killer Caught/ Murderer Caught". I hope all of you will have the courage to put the person before the act. As humans we are bound to wrong someone also from time to time or commit mistakes in our lives, therefore, it is always good to learn how to see the BIGGER PICTURE in hopes that when we do such things, people will also see the BIGGER PICTURE with us. When we commit mistakes, let us acknowledge it, forgive ourselves, learn from it and realise we ourselves are also humans who make mistakes.

So to people that I have wronged before, I hope I am truly forgiven for the things Ive done as I have in some point of time regretted it dearly and learned from it to be a better person (hopefully). To those who have wronged me also, you are all humans who made a mistake and are forgiven. I am sure you'll all learn and will not repeat it again. As I forgive the people who have wronged me, I also hope I am forgiven.

Always (trying) to see the bigger picture,
Yuen

Patience And Persistence - The Key Tandem

How do any of us struggling athletes improve? How do the big guns of our sport smash races with annoying regularity? Well two of the big buzz words are patience and persistence. How can you develop these and more importantly, how do you maintain this once you get how it all works?

Athletes around the world over fit very nicely with the Type A personality definition, such as being impatient, highly competitive, hostile and aggressive(??), and incapable of relaxation. A very familiar ring for many, I'm sure, which makes two key ingredients of sport rather ironic...patience and persistence. After all, who wants to wait around when you're trying to take on and beat the world?!?!

Patience and persistence are ideal bedfellows - they need each other - and without them you'll never reach your potential.

Patience is the ability to wait with a calm feeling for something you want desperately. It's an area that many of us really struggle with, but improve as we get older...which is experience. As kids, it's hard to see past the here and now; to see the forest for the trees. You know the saying...if only I knew then what I know now...it would all be different (or would it?).

And it can frustrate you to tears, like having to wait until you're 18 to drive a car (or drink!!) or in my case feeling like Im going nowhere with my swimming or training. The lesson of patience, and the sense of perspective that comes with it, is one that can only truly be learned over time. That's what patience is, allowing the passage of time to unfold so all the variables can play themselves out...even if the end result is the same as you predicted. Learning takes time. Hasten slowly.

Patience is realising that the process of improvement and development takes time, repeating the big and little things over and over and over, each time making a micro-improvement on the previous time. Patience in sports also plays out in competition, in being the steady pace tortoise and not the hare that burns out before the end. Patience allows you to forsee what might happen, and take pre-emptive actions.

Persistence is having the drive to just keep on doing it, overcoming the roadblocks and detours in pursuit of your goal. Persistence can overcome it. If you simply can't figure out how to quite do something, can't recognise when it is time to quit time to accept that you haven't got a chance. The ability to, no matter what the disappointment or set back, to continue to move forward one step at a time is, perhaps more then anything in this sport of triathlon and in life, an absolute requirement.

So how do you develop persistence and patience? Well the same way you develop as an athlete/person; practice. You make yourself wait and accept waiting. You make yourself go out the door for those miles when your tired, when it's raining, when it's late at night, when it's zero, when it's snowing. No matter what, and each individual time is a victory. You are going to miss days, you are going to lose. But then somewhere down the line you will think back and realise you can't remember the last time you didn't get out the door, then as Emil Zatopek said "Motivation is no longer a problem."

So the next time you have a crappy race or training session and then have to get up for a session the next day it's raining, remember we have all had these days and the champions are made right there on the mornings when you want nothing more then to sleep a little longer. Or out in the storm and coldness where no one is about.

It has been well said, "Hold on; Hold Fast; Hold Out. Patience is a genius". Be a genius. Be patient.

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience" -Ralph Waldo Emerson-

Yuen

The Sum Of Small Efforts

'Success Is The Sum Of Small Efforts, Repeated Day In And Day Out'
-Robert Collier

Most days of the week I wake up at about 530am in the morning to join Longhorn Aquatics masters swim team for their morning workouts at 630am and to my surprise by the time we get in the pool at 630am, the kids who were training before us from 5am got out. Wow.. No partying, no late nights, just school and swimming for them..

From the looks of it, some of those kids are bound for great heights as future olympians and elite swimmers for the US. Over the years longhorn aquatics has produced many top class swimmers such as, Aaron Peirsol, Branden Hansen, Eric Shanteau, Garrett Webber Gale, Ian Crocker etc etc who all made it as great champions.

Those kids probably get up at 415/430 each day and then head down to the pool to train. Day in, day out, just train and no complaints. At the end of the day it is the sum of all these efforts, the training they do when no one is around, nobody sees and know about, that will turn them into champions of the future. Their dedication and discipline in life will put many older people to shame.


So its a long path up to the top, but with the attitude that all these young age group swimmers show (about 13-17yrs) I'm sure all of us can and will achieve our goals that we set for ourselves in life.

In 2009 I hope to learn from them and live my life with the same discipline, desire to succeed and toughness like them as I gear up for my 2009 season that will start in April. Next up is 2 half marathons as prep races!

Here's to a disciplined lifestyle,
Yuen

Happy New Year

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”
- Bill Vaughan -

“Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.”
- Henry Ward Beecher -

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”
- Oprah Winfrey -

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
- Edith Lovejoy Pierce-

To all my dear readers, have a great 2009 ahead!

Yuen

Falling Behind Happily And Gracefully

Last week I was out cycling with David Khan, one of my coach's professional guys. David is the world Ironman 70.3 25-29 age group champion, and former Olympic trials swimmer once ranked 8th in the US in the 200m Medley. Boy all I could say is that he was fit. However the lesson learned from riding with him was not a chest thumping one where "Oh I beat him in that ride etc etc" but more of a lesson in patience and learning how to fall behind. David obviously being the fitter one, would pull away at times leaving me behind for awhile.

When someone drops you in life, what do we do? In work, love, sports or anything else, the first thing that comes to mind is I must do more or work harder to be able to catch up to that person. Or in other words "I MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT" however as I grow (and continuing growing) I guess sometimes the best thing to do is just let yourself get dropped and move along at your own pace through life, meaning sometimes we should just sit back, continue at our own pace, enjoy the ride, not do anything about it and when the time is right you'll eventually catch up.

As an athlete I always watch the faster swimmers pull away from me quickly in a race while I try aimlessly to bridge up from the back. After that, I spent countless hours in the pool to try to be as good as those guys were and I remember last year after a certain period of time, I begin to feel delusioned and not really improving as fast as I wanted to. I grew weary and tired when instead I should be celebrating ever small improvement that I make. Looking back at it now, Ive come to realised that everything takes time, and those guys got to where they are from years and years of competitive swim training while me, who only starting swimming in Oct 06 should be glad that I can still swim and not lose too much time to them. Even now, I'm nowhere near them, but I'm enjoying my journey and hopefully in time I'll catch back up to them. All that I'm doing now definitely beats the drugs and shortcuts some the dishonest pro athletes use at times to make it up there, only to crash back down again when reality strikes.It is not always the fittest, but the smartest and most patient athlete that wins the race! In life its the same thing too. Life is a journey that is long, bumpy and winding at times so why rush through it trying to finish it first and trying to keep up with others when it'll only burn you out before you reach the end? Rather than doing that, why don't we all try to finish it with as much joy and happiness so that every mile, meter, minute and second of it will forever be cherished even after the race is done.

Lets all slow down at times, do nothing and enjoy the moment while letting nature take its course.

Yuen

Splashes Of Life

I remember skipping rocks as a kid back at the lake near my house. Lately on my vacation I saw another child doing the same thing and as I looked at the ripples that formed with each throw and skip I came to realise something.

In life we are all like that stone, we create various ripples and splashes that affects everybody around us. You may create a lot of splashes in your life, but remember the waves that come from those splashes will affect the peace of all your fellow creatures. Remember that you are responsible for what you throw into your circle, and that your waves will touch many other circles. Always try to live in a way that the waves that come from your circle send out the peace of your goodness to other circles.

Remember the waves that come from anger and jealousy will also send those feelings to other circles. You are responsible for all the waves.
That was truly an eye opening moment for me.

We cannot create world peace if we are riddled with inner conflict, hatred, doubt and anger. We radiate the feelings and thoughts that we hold inside whether we voice them or not. Whatever is sloshing around inside of us is spilling out into the world whether we want it to or not, creating beauty or discord with all the other circles of life.

After seeing that stone, I wish that I realised this simple point earlier in life as the plain ignorance of it has cost me dearly in various ways over the years. As of current I realise that I have a lot of work to do on myself!

Only a stone's throw away,

Yuen

P/s: Merry xmas to all my readers! =)

Some Travel Notes..

As of today It's my 3rd day in Vegas Baby! and Im typing this from my uncle's computer. Yesterday we saw the grand canyon by an air tour and my, it was such a humbling and amazing sight.

However what amazes me more is the fact that even though the grand canyon is about 2 billion years old, it took mother nature over a 6 million year period of time to create such a masterpiece. Compared to our very short lifespan as humans on earth, and the time we devote to attaining perfection in various areas of our lives, everything seems rather puny and insignificant.
Basically, I guess what I wanted to say to everyone is, if it took the all mighty mother nature (whom I frequently fight with and loathe at times) about 6 million years, yes 6,000,000 years to create such a masterpiece, how does that compare to us humans? When scaled down to our size, we should also realise that the grand canyons of our lives will also take a very long time to build. However if we keep working away at it and dedicate time and effort to something that we want, then we are most likely to succeed. We might not know when or how but with time and patience it will come! And at the end of the day, when you look back on it, you will be truly impressed and satisfied with yourself.

Moreover, the grand canyon is still evolving and changing with time, so just like that, we should also not stop once we build our canyons but keep working on them, just like mother nature in order to deliver something that is even more impressive and beautiful!

As for me today..skydiving beckons from 15,000 feet! =)

Keep building,

Yuen

Quote of the week

As Im on holiday and do not really have the time to type out the stuff that runs through my head too much, Ive decided to leave all of you with a quote that I will elaborate more on when I get back to Austin on the 22nd or 23rd.

Quote of the week
'Circumstances do not make the man, they merely reveal him.'
-James Allen-

How many times have you been revealed to others in your life? And of those revelations, how many of them you wished you never revealed?
Think about it and perhaps next time we'll all be more careful in how we handle the events of our lives, especially the bad and sad ones, for it is always such situations that reveal the most about us and how we handle ourselves will always leave a lasting impression in the minds of the people involved.

Reveal yourself wisely,
Yuen

Calmness

As of late Ive been reading A book by James Allen, called As A Man Thinketh. This book focuses a lot on how thoughts and the mind is master over everything. Noble thoughts will always make a noble person, while lowly thoughts makes a lowly person.

"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts." So he says. I would like to share the link with all my readers and friends so they can hopefully enlighten themselves with the words of this very very wise man who definitely was avant garde in thought and character. http://jamesallen.wwwhubs.com/think.htm is the link to the book!

So yes before you go off reading it, here is a chapter on serenity of the mind, which I feel many of us lack in our topsy turvy world as the conditions of life never stays still for a moment, so is our minds that get tossed and blown away in all directions like the waves and winds.

Serenity

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.

A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought-evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought. As he develops a right understanding, and sees more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect, he ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Even the ordinary trader will find his business prosperity increase as he develops a greater self-control and equanimity, for people will always prefer to deal with a man whose demeanor is strongly equable.

The strong calm man is always loved and revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm. Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life? It does not matter whether it rains or shines, or what changes come to those possessing these blessings, for they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite poise of character which we call serenity is the last lesson culture; it is the flowering of life, the fruitage of the soul. It is precious as wisdom, more to be desired than gold - yea, than even fine gold. How insignificant mere money-seeking looks in comparison with a serene life - a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth, beneath the waves, beyond the reach of tempests, in the Eternal Calm!

"How many people we know who sour their lives, who ruin all that is sweet and beautiful by explosive tempers, who destroy their poise of character, and make bad blood! It is a question whether the great majority of people do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness by lack of self-control. How few people we meet in life who are well-balanced, who have that exquisite poise which is characteristic of the finished character!"

Yes, humanity surges with uncontrolled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, is blown about by anxiety and doubt. Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.

Tempest-tossed souls, wherever ye may be, under whatsoever conditions ye may live, know this - in the ocean of life the isles of Blessedness are smiling, and sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming. Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought. In the bark of your soul reclines the commanding Master; He does but sleep; wake Him. Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power.

Say unto your heart, "Peace, be still!"

In sports, this trait is usually what separates the men from the boys, clamness of mind in a competition will always lead to better results and a much more efficient and faster race, this has been brilliantly demonstrated by many top triathletes, cyclists and successful sports people over the years. A few good examples would be how in an Ironman race where top guys such as craig alexander have the capability to stay calm and controlled throughout the race and not be fazed about whoever goes pass them first or beats them in the swim. Those guys know how to be calm at heart, not panic and focus on their own race ahead with the right thoughts and in the end still thrash the opposition.

Lance Armstrong is another man who has great control over his thoughts while racing, and when he does that, he ability to see how the race will pan out comes to him and he then makes the right moves. Who can forget 03 TDF when the man showed great mental control and resolve to fight back and win the tour after almost losing it to Jan Ullrich when a lesser person would have cracked under the mental strain and pressure. Even with Phelps we can see that. Its easy to be unnerved by all the great attention that was placed on the man before the Olympics and with the amount of races he did, there were so many chances for false starts and DQ's but the man still succeeded in doing what he setout to achieve. People like Roger Federer, and Tiger Woods also have that trait. Who can forget Federer's (almost) comeback against Nadal in the 2008 wimbledon final after going 2 sets down, sure he didnt win but he showed great mental control that day to not give up? Also remember Champions League final 2004/2005 Liverpool vs Ac Milan where the reds were 3-0 down by halftime where they demonstrated great strength of mind as a team and came back to win! By calmness and mastery of mind these men achieved great things and so can you if you try!

As humans, I believe what separates us from the animals is the willpower to be proactive and not reactive. So by being proactive to our state of mind and note down our thoughts to prevent it from going idle, eg as we all know an empty mind is the devil's playground! This in return will help us lead better, happier and more productive lives! Calmness and the mastery of mind will also give you the ability to see things as they truly are and then enable you to make the right decisions in life!

Think right and stay calm, (yes stay calm for that 2 final papers you have on friday and sat even though you didnt study jack for them...=P)

Yuen

On Adversity...

From Rainer Maria Rilke, Famous German Poet, thinker and writer..

"What is required of us is that we love the difficult and learn to deal with it. In the difficult are the friendly forces, the hands that work on us. Right in the difficult we must have our joys, our happiness, our dreams: there against the depth of this background, they stand out, there for the first time we see how beautiful they are"

-Selected letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

"Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave"

-Rainer Maria Rilke

To all my dear friends and readers, Go slay some dragons!

The (Soon to be) Dragon Slayer,
Yuen

10 Tips For A Happier Life

I spend quite a few of my afternoons in Follett's Intellectual Property bookstore going through books and magazines and trying to catch up with my reading. As of today I stumbled upon a very simple article in a magazine and would like to share it with the readers of my blog.

10 Tips For A Happier Life
1. Don’t worry
Worry is the least productive of all human activities and thoughts….

2. Don’t let needless fears preoccupy your life…
Most of things we fear never happen!!!

3. Don’t hold grudges…
That is one of the biggest and most unnecessary weights we carry through our lives..

4. Take on one problem at a time
It’s the only way to handle things anyway..one by one..

5. Don’t take your problems to bed with you.
They are bad and unhealthy companions for good natural sleep and rest…

6. Don’t take on the problems of other people..
They are better equipped to handle their own problems than you are..

7. Don’t live in the past.
It will always be there in your memories to enjoy..but don’t cling to it. Concentrate on what is happening right now in your life..and you will be happy in the present also..not just the past.

8. Be a good listener.
It is only when one listens..that one gets and learns ideas different from ones own…

9. Do not let frustration ruin and rule your life…
Self pity more than anything..interferes with positive actions..with moving forwards in our lives.

10. Count your blessings…
Don’t even forget the smallest blessings .. As many small blessings add up to large ones…

Looking at the 10 tips here. How do you rank yourself for each one on a scale of 10? The 10 tips given are usually just common sense and I am sure most of you will know about them, but the question is, how many of us really do try to apply the 10 tips to our lives?

Personally I feel that I room to improve on all 10 tips, especially on tip no 7 and 9 as I tend to think about stuff like, eg the bad races I had in the past, bad things that happened before too much. Its even worse when most of the time a lot of these things happens without any reason (example: train 20hrs a week, feeling fit, go to a race and perform sub par..why??).

At the same time if the past was successful, let us not dwell on that success too much too and work hard for future successes.

In the end if we continue living like this, we will run the race of life with so much extra weight attached to our back that shoudnt be there. Imagine how much smoother and faster one's life would be without the extra needless burdens placed on your ownself by yourself!

Being an endurance athlete, I always talk about the ideal weight that I will want where I shed off the extra 4-5 pounds of fat and gain more strength and power (muscle) to compete. Looking at it now from a mental point of few, I shall also have to shed off a few 'pounds' of 'fat' in my head in order to ensure that I will be able to run the race of life in a efficient and smooth manner, in the process of shedding that few 'pounds' mentally I will also get stronger and gain more power to get through the obstacles and the race of life easier (but hopefully not too fast as I dont want to die too soon! ) =)

Always remember, the present is parent of the future and child of the past. However the present will also someday become the past. While there is nothing we can do about the past, we can secure our future and our past of tomorrow by taking care of the present and not let it slip by us!

When you look forward, you may not understand the things that have happened to you, but when you keep on moving forward, eventually you will see, looking backward, that everything, your successes and failures, your good and bad circumstances, will somehow connect for the best. As steve jobs said in his commencement speech for stanford students in 2005 " you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards." We have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in our future and have the belief that somehow everything will work out in the best possible way for us!

To all my friends and readers out there, how many of the 10 tips have you applied in your life today?? Think about it

"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory" Someone once said how precisely true that is for my case and people who share the same problem as me!

Be Happy and if you have read this far, thanks for reading!
Yuen

P/s: I swear publishing articles like this that hopefully will reach you people out there to help you guys out with your lives really helps take the stress and frustration out of certain days in my life! I also hope you guys will put your thoughts on how you rank in the 10tips or so on (eg thoughtful words, and diff views on happiness etc etc) in the comments part as everyone's view is welcome and will surely be refreshing! Would be great if you guys could let me know what else I need to work on too!

Lesson 1- Of thanksgiving and greed

Hi all,

Its been awhile since I last blogged and between that time and now Ive realised that through sports and my own observations on life Ive learnt a lot and would like to share it with you in hope that it will help inspire, motivate and teach the readers of this blog lessons that hopefully will help make a difference (however big or small) in their lives!I also hope to be able to motivate and inspire people with some of my posts in this blog! So here we go...

Over the weekend I was away in Chicago for thanksgiving break. The following day was black friday, which is equivalent to the UK version of boxing day! Shoppers were everywhere buying and buying more! Shopping started at 12am for my friends including me where we headed out to a factory outlet that sold branded items (Nike etc etc). As usual I headed straight for the Pearl Izumi shop to look at the latest tri/cycling goodies that were marked down twice! As in discounted once and then discounted again, as I stepped in the shop I kept picking up items, I wanted this and wanted that and in the midst of my madness and as I looked around me, it suddenly struck me when I realised that of all the things that I was going to buy, how many do I actually/really need? How many of it will I really use?? I felt really ashamed of myself having succumbed to greed and because of the cheap prices and the fact that I could afford it I wanted to buy it all! I picked out the stuff that I really needed, and after somemore thinking, paid and left the store.

As I looked around me, I wondered how many people actually shopping here today bought things that they actually need? Or were they buying it because they could afford it and beacuse it was the sales? As I observed around I realised that beacuse of our culture of "more is better" I can bet you that a lot of people out there at the sales were actually buying more than they needed.


As I thought about it, I realised our culture of greed has actually left us much poorer than what we started out with. If we take a good look at ourselves, how many times have we actually bought something, only to regret it later for being a waste of money?Or when we take a look at our closet, how many of the shirts and dresses that we posess, we make full use of? Greed in a lot of ways have far reaching consequences on everyone (think lehmann brothers, goldman sachs, Bear Stearns and the current economic crisis), because of the greed of the people at the top, countless others around the world suffer.

In sports it is no different, when I look at 2007/2008 I think of people like Marion Jones(doping), Imagine how her teammates feel now that they'll have to return the gold medal they worked so hard to win in the relays, or look at cycling (Ricardo Ricco, Stefan Schumacher, Leonardo Piepoli), look at how greed got the better of them and they doped and when they were caught the whole team of 22 riders + staff suffered and most were left without jobs now as sponsors pulled the plug on the whole team. Because of the greed of one, many suffer. With a lot of things in life worth doing there are no shorts cuts, and the only way to get wherever we want to go is through hard work and as Sean Kelly put it "Guts"!

I also look to the times in life when I got greedy and paid the price for it, especially when it comes to food and sporting goods. Countless time Ive eaten more just because it was a buffet and I paid for it, then to suffer later by feeling bloated or I bought something that I didnt really need just beacuse I thought it was cheap and advertising got the better of me. In that respect I believe I still have a lot to improve on and learn how to make better choices.

As we try to get through life, I hope that we do not let greed get the better of us, everytime before we buy something, let us look back and think "Do I really need this pair of shoe" I know all of us think "hey thats what we do when we shop", but really how many of us really give it serious thinking. I admit that as a self obsessed triathlete its also really hard not to get greedy especially with the media saying if you buy this bike youll be 10% faster or this shoe will make you as good as the ethiopian runner etc etc but I try to look behind all the advertising and try to make my spending decisions based on logic rather than the fact that I can afford it and hence I should buy it.

Our greed is unlikely to cause the next global financial meltdown or anything on that scale. However, it might cause havoc on our lives in some way (think want this but cannot afford it, want that but cannot afford that etc etc)then we suffer because we can't get what we want. I suppose the best way to deal with our greed in life is to think about what we have not what we don't and be thankful that we have those things. The more we think of what we dont have, the more we will want the things that we dont have.

So this holiday season while we shop, take a step back and think. The choices we make in the departmental store when we shop might make use poorer in the material sense but I believe it will make us richer spiritually and mentally in the long run with less craving and suffering.

At the end of the day, let us realise that this world provides enough to satisfy every person's need, but not their greed. If the greed in all of us were gone, we would probably solve 1/2 of the world's problems (war, poverty etc etc).

Dont miss the silver lining because you were expecting gold instead.

Shop wisely,
Yuen

P/s to all who read I would be really grateful if you would leave comments on how to improve my blog and writing. I'll try to post a lesson learnt/ something motivational every week as when Im out running/cycling alone I tend to think about stuff like this!