I saw this the other day while my associates and I were looking for some plants to add ‘colours’ to our plain looking office. I was elated to see the little ladybird and immediately took out my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot camera phone to take a few shots; the few shots turned out pretty decent. It sure is good to have a camera with us always - we never know what surprises we will get in life.

Simple thing like this makes me happy. When we learn how to appreciate life, it is easy to be happy with everything and anything. Life’s goodness is in abundance all around us. I appreciate and am grateful for all these goodness; be it the blessings that came along the way or be it the challenges that came my way.

It has been challenging for the past few weeks with lots of brick walls to be cleared. Brick walls which seemed impossible to break down initially all came down eventually. Just as Randy Pausch said, “Brick walls are there for a reason…” They are there to test how much we wanted what we want. In his own words, “… The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” The good news is, the greater the brick wall, the bigger the opportunity for growth.

It was an amazing experience to see how each challenge eventually cleared and the limiting belief which I had of myself broke down. It was as if the Universe conspired to make things happened; all issues were ironed out with the assistance of family, friends etc around us. A simple realisation, “When we truly believe and hold the faith strongly that all will work out great, the Universe will respond in the most magical way.” This is the law of attraction.

However, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that all we need to do are to believe and have the faith that all will go well. We need to take action to make things happen too!

My journey started on Tuesday, 3 August 2010 when I left home at around 3pm with a simple backpack (with clothes and personal stuffs that are supposed to last me at least 3 months) and a laptop. Just before leaving the house, it started to drizzle all of the sudden, typical weather of Singapore where the rain could
come and go as it pleases. The drizzled lasted for a mere 10 minutes and I started my 7 minutes walk to the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station. It was mentally a long walk to the station with the weight of the backpack weighing down on me. The hotness and humid of the weather were making it much worse
and by the time I was at the station, I was already sweating like a pig. Guess what? The train chose the ‘right’ time to be late; I waited for more than 15 minutes and continued to sweat like a pig. Eventually the train came and that ended one part of the journey.

The next part of the journey consisted of a 5 hours coach ride to Kuala Lumpur. I was a little anxious since it was my first coach ride to Malaysia and there were a lot of uncertainties. I was there much earlier and waiting, alone, for the coach to arrive did not make the waiting any easier. And yet there was this element of excitement of the ride ahead; I was looking forward to the long ride. It turned out to be a pleasant ride; I made a new friend on the coach and I managed to catch the Blind Side which I thought was a pretty good movie. A lot of times we just have to take the journey. Worrying is normal but futile. We might as well enjoy it since we have to do it. It may not be as bad as what we are thinking.

All the rides were just the side dishes. The real journey has started for me. Till this point of time, I have met a few challenges … some losses and confusions amidst the journey. However, I kept telling myself … this is the greatest opportunity for me to grow. As I pass each challenge, I am a better person. As Carl Jung said, "The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown." It might seem unsolvable initially, but as we calm our mind and focus on seeking the solution and have faith, the clouds eventually disperse.

As I proceed in this challenging journey ahead, I am also excited and happy of the person I am becoming.

I believe no one promised him that his journey would be an easy one; no one painted him a journey with straight smooth paths and flowers at the side, where the sun will always shine brightly with occasional rain to nourish the lands. And definitely no one guaranteed him result.

It was his fate to scale all brick walls that stood in his way to top his class and I believe that he will continue to go against all odds in his life.

Brendan Lee emerged as the top student despite his dyslexia. He said,

“I didn’t have much of a childhood. I had to go to the dyslexia association, Singapore General Hospital for my speech therapy, home tuition, school tuition, so there was no time for leisure. Many times, I was demoralised. My friends would ostracise me because I failed all my subjects.“

Fortunately for Mr. Lee, he chose to play the cards that was dealt to him differently and against all odds. How would we have played his cards? Are we to resign to our fates? Or are we to re-engineer our own fates? Either way you are right to choose whichever path you want to take.

The path to re-engineer our own fates is not one without challenges, just as it was a challenging one for Mr. Lee. And I certainly do not promise you that it will be an easy and smooth sailing one. As the saying goes, “There is no shortcut to any place worth going.” Now the question is, “Is it worth it for Mr. Lee?” I would leave you to answer that question on your own. Either way, you are right; it is a matter of choice.

Even for billionaire Richard Branson, he didn’t do well academically; he has mild dyslexia and according to an article by John Shepler,

“Richard didn’t breeze through school. It wasn’t just a challenge for him, it was a nightmare. His dyslexia embarrassed him as he had to memorize and recite word for word in public.“

Richard Branson is the 261st richest person in the world according to Forbes’ 2009 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of approximately £2.6 billion (US$3.9billion). Was it worth it to re-engineer his fate and not resigning to it? Mr. Branson wrote in his autobiography of the decision to start an airline:

My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them…from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it.

However, the author mentioned something which brought me to a new level of appreciating quotes. I have always like collecting quotes for the wisdom we can find in them, from my own interpretation, my own understanding, my own experiences and my point of views. It may or may not have anything to do with the great and famous people who uttered those words.

The author mentioned, “We cannot fully understand the beauty and power of certain quotes unless we understand both the context and the experiences of those who uttered them.” How true isn’t it?

Most who have undergone personal tribulations and challenges in life may understand that the world does not stop just because of them. The people around them would offer love, consolation, support and sympathy but end of the day, these people would have to move on with their own lives. The planet still continues to revolve around the sun. Nothing stops; changes are taking place all around us in the next nanosecond. This realisation usually comes later for some; for a while they may stop moving in their lives and thought likewise that their lives have ’stopped.’

If only all will realise one day as what Robert Lee Frost had experienced that ‘Life goes on,’ then moving on and letting go would be much easier, smoother and faster.

A look at Robert Lee Frost’s personal life, one would realise that his life was plagued with grief and loss. At the age of 11, his father died of tuberculosis, leaving the family in financial distress. From Wikipedia:

Frost’s mother died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, Frost had to commit his younger sister, Jeanie, to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost’s family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost’s wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.

Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliot (1896–1904, died of cholera), daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983), son Carol (1902–1940, committed suicide), daughter Irma (1903–1967), daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of puerperal fever after childbirth), and daughter Elinor Bettina (died three days after birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost’s wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937, and died of heart failure in 1938.