A Value-Added life (1)

".... This could be a bargain-hunting activity...."

There are so many examples surrounding us are about value-added. This blog if going to be left "empty", with no updates will not be value-added anymore. I like to think the blog is an "outcome" of the state of life I am in. It does not mean how often I wrote (though I was quite "active" in the earlier period of writing the blog), it is what I wrote that "add value". Value-adding can be contributing to seeing new perspective on certain issues that I missed out in the past. Such continued search for "value" ensure I am always on the "look out" for new "experience" and "encounter".

"value" can also be taken to mean "belief". For example, western value, eastern value, etc. If certain thing add "values", this implies that I reinforced the belief and obviously, I feel good about it. So what is a good example of "value-added" activity? Bargain Hunting is one, I am sure, at least for me. It is hard to understand the rationale why this is so. But the thrill of "saving" makes one feel is a "big deal". This ranges from a few pence to a few pounds. Yes, it is a "belief" so it is a "value", it reinforced what you believed and you are simply "practising what you believing in".

We can always create new "value" based on our "belief". This should be, for example, about hobbies we choose to do, book we choose to read, music we choose to listen. Yes, you made a conscious effort to feel, sense and internalising them and you made a choice. I recently found I am a fan of Mozart piano, simply because it relaxed my mind to large extent. It felt as if my mind was being massaged by the rhyme of the piano music. It felt like I am being gentle touched, if I consciously (and relaxingly) following the piano keys from one to another, indulging myself totally in the world of Mozart. I just loved it.

At the end of the day, it is about "reaching out" and "discovery". Whether this involves people or not, it does not matter. It could be a very personal experience as simple as reading a good book, which is enough to take you a ride into an adventurous world that is waiting for you patiently out there. There are many things your mind and your senses can do to create wonder for you.You just have to discover them! :D

Feed-forward

"It keeps my mind alive..."

A friend on facebook posted an interesting article about "habit, routine and integration" which I had enjoyed reading, and which brought me to think of my experience of developing and keeping good habits in life, such as blogging, which was not doing too well recently. It's been quite empty for a while since the last post beginning of March 2012. I actually evaluated about blogging lately, not that I wanted to give it up, rather seeking an identity to be related and associated with, as in asking again the question, what purpose it served and how it represents me. Yes, this blog is about listing down observation and reflecting about life, but it must be more than that. I supposed I am re-thinking about the motivation of blogging.

I have been observing lately my mentality when I was not blogging. I sense that my observations slowed down and my awareness became weak too. There is of course certain degree of focus when I was at work. But it lacks a degree of continuity after work. It became a bit listless and aimless after hours, as if waiting for tomorrow to come and start my work again.This certainly didn't enrich my life and become meaningless later.

Though i didn't blog as much, I keep up with my meditation's practices, which I found myself to have made some progress. I made a trip down to the Raj Meditation session on Tuesday evening and once again fascinated by Natalie's inspiring speech about keeping calm and peaceful. I then remembered she said before that meditation is sometimes like a re-charge. There must be something one can attain out of meditation and this good feeling feed-forward to our daily life and in turn this supports our meditation practice and make it better for our well-being.

I am beginning to think blogging can bring me this good and yet different impact. Now that I had a chance to "live without blogging for a while", and as I reflected upon the "non-blogging" days, it made sense to see blogging as a form of re-charge too. It is becoming more and more believable. If writing a blog is the outcome of my daily observing and reflecting, then it keeps my mind alive, apart from being peaceful. This certainly has the positive "feed-forward" effect, just like meditation. The mind is a world of its own and certainly it can be enhanced and be enriched, it's the quality of the observing and reflecting, and of course, the blogging that matters. This seemed to make sense.

De-cluttering

".... but what purpose does that serves?"

It seems that cluttering is one of the main hindrance for a minimalist's lifestyle. Cluttering stops you for having a very "clear" life, it's too crowded. We talked about this the other day, claiming that it might begin from your mindset. Your perception is the key, what gone through your mind feedback on your perception and affect your impression on things. A straightforward way to deal with this, is to be honest with how you feel, tracing on your feeling as to where it starts affect you, could help you to get down to the main problem. Often, and especially if you are the sensitive type person, you might not even be aware what actually affected you and your thinking.

What we see from our eyes affect our thinking, despite our level of intelligence, across the board, it affects everyone the same. Today, I thought I tried my hand at some "de-cluttering". Though I carelessly deleted 8 of my blog posts, I did cut down on the number of labels I have on my blog, that way the theme becomes more consolidated and I did felt "neater" after that, as I also updated some layouts of my blog, making it look a bit refreshing. I did find I experience some changes in my thinking after writing blog for a about a year. Therefore, these changes made reflected and represented me in a more realistic light.

What is the after effect of de-cluttering then? I think the purpose of de-cluttering as much as it might be an advocate from the minimalist's perspective, it is also a pre-condition for staying focus. I am slowly adapting some of the techniques I found in the books I read (by the way, I find it more productive reading a few books of a similar topic areas all at one time. It is a bit of a marginal reading. This means you read a bit of one book tonight, and then a few bits of another the following night, and so on. You find interesting similarities among them, and building together you can custom made a simple model for "self-help" for your own purpose). I am thinking, observing the breathing process is perhaps a good exercise to train your mind to stay focus. Russ Harris in his "The Happiness Trap" page 115, wrote this "Slow, deep breathing is important because it lower the level of tension in your body. It won't get rid of your feeling (either good or bad), but it will provide a center of calm within you....." For me, this center of calm helps you to say concentrated and focused on anything you want to get on.

There is a time for the mind to wander about and there is time for it to stay focus and work. De-cluttering helps create conditions for "focus" to take place, However, there is only a place and a time for one thing. Your thought should only be allocated to things one at a time. Unfortunately, I was not quite successful in this department today. I was thinking about work, while what I seemed to be doing was designing my blog, playing bubble, and then going out to the shop. I should really decide what is best and just go for it. Being indecisive on what to do and have the thought lingering about the mind is quite tiring and unproductive. I should really make full use of my time, make it better next time round.

The challenge of a Minimalist

"hmmm..... perhaps start from your mindset...". 

Minimalist is not the topic that I first mention. I had discussed this before. Indeed, a lots of other bloggers are mentioning this too. Thanks to my Dashboard, I have been able to keep updated about latest blogs written by other bloggers and read them and enjoying them. Interestingly, the other day I came across a blog entry about minimalism quotes. It just amazes me how the sort of thinking exists in the olden days, and in all forms. I especially like the quotes from Wu-Men, “If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, then this is the best season of your life.”

This quote immediately put a smile on my face when I see the word "clouded". This was what I told my counsellor when I went to see one in my late teens. When he asked me why I went to see him and what I wanted to get out of the session. I told him, my mind was too crowded and it needed some spaces. I often try to rationalize and make sense out of what I told him and why I told him that at that time. One of the explanation was that I guess I want to keep things tidy and neat and therefore I also want my thought to be arrange in the same way. But, is there a relation to being a minimalist? I am actually beginning to see some similarities.

If one regard being a minimalist as getting rid of life's unnecessary baggage. If that begins with getting rid of unwanted stuff in your residence, for example, then it should all begin in the mind. Some thoughts are unwanted thoughts you can throw them away or simply put it in a safe place and not touch it. Interestingly, you can only do so by speaking about it or writing about it. And strange enough, writing blog has that effect on me sometimes. I begin to wonder if meditation, which supposedly is to help people to move away from thinking and focus more on observation, also help one to develop a less crowded (clouded) mind and moving closer to become a minimalist, based on my own theory as outline above. Interesting topic to worth further investigation!

back to basic

As I begain writing blogs few months back, I also learnt the environment in which the blog writing platform works and I learnt ways to make it for me to allow me to get the best out of it. There is an interesting option on Dashboard that allows one to list out links that one likes to follow or be updated. This is good because it reminded you what had changed since the last time you visit those blogs. It is similar to checking the "inbox" for "new messages", so I am finding this helpful especially if you don't visit those blogs a lot and still want to ocassionally be informed of new article, for example.

Yesterday while I was on Dashboard, I found some new updates on lessoninlife.com, one of the site that I linked with. And it says, "the 3 words that solve 99% of your problem".I find this intringing and starts reading the article. This is actually a very thought provoking article. It says you can always solve the problem by "going back to basic". I guess when you are under pressure, you seriously "cannot think straight". Often, the way out of this is not as hard as you thought. As you begin to calm down, you get clearer and the obvious solution just finds its way out. It is simply calming down and clearing up your thinking process. For example, like I had read before somewhere, one would expect to be very nervous and find things "all over the place" when you came home one day finding your home has been robbed, but after a while, you know what's the best things to do, yes, report to the police. So, I am thinking what the article claim to be "back to the basic" could be a battle of mind over the heart, rationale fighting and winning over the emotion.

What's the BIG things in June 2010

休息是为了写 更 多的 blogs! :D (a good rest is for the sake of writing more blogs!)

I think it's time I come back. I wanted to give myself a one month break on blogging each time I finished 100 post entries. My next "one month" break will be when my blog post entered at 200th . Interestingly, this coincides with the whole of the month in June for my break. Additionally, the break is a good time to reflect and reinvent. So, just watch out the design of my blog, it may change again. What happening in June? Here's some highlight

Work with JR - I finished my research paper with JR. He is now looking at it and hopefully when he finished his part, I will do mine quickly and then off we go, submit it to a 3* journal. So, I have one task down.

Work with JL - Unfortunately, we received a rejection from a 4* journal for this research with JL. JL, however, was as positive as usual and very encouraging. So, we are going to meet in August in Edinburgh to discuss a bit more research and other topics.

PhD supervision - Finally, I got to interview a potential PhD student. It went well and both BB and I think the student has good potential. An offer has sent out to her, and we really hope she accept the offer and can start in October. Her mathematical skills complement very well with what both BB and I did with our research, in a way that we can come in handy for her to give her the necessary support.

Exam marking - Oh, and I cannot forget to mention this. I marked about 330 scripts in total. I have never marked so many exam paper at one go. Thank god, the mark was well distributed and hopefully the external examiner won't give "sour grape" remark like he did last year. As yesterday was the external exam board meeting and nothing was heard by end of it, I believe it's been fine.

New research - Apart from JL, JR, my collaborator now include LLY, who is my colleague and also a computer scientist and specialised in neural network. We had quite a long chat last month about how her knowledge can be used to predict "buy" or "sell" decision in stock investment. I was interested as it coincides with what I did about active currency management. Today I met her and show her my data and the discussion shows some potential for further research which I am quite excited about.

Meeting with JW - Finally, I made a trip to Nottingham to visit JW. JW was my PhD colleague while at HW. She now taught in Nottingham Trent. She showed me around her 12 Billion pounds office building, which was amazing. We went for a Chinese buffet later and I would like to thank her for the treat. And comparing Nottingham and Leicester, both near to Loughborough, I think Nottingham feels a lot posher, and I love the shopping outlets. The high street brands, H&M, Topman and River island are all there. The shopping area are located so near to train and bus stations, making it so much easier to move about when it's time to go back.

Visit Singapore - Yes, I am going on holiday back to Singapore from 6th July to 6th August. I normally meet old friends when I am back, but as one friend so rightly put it, I believe I will get bored after two weeks or so, therefore, I am looking forward and strangely, also not that look forward, but a change once in a while is always nice. I am slowly making contact to meet people now, even before I am back to Singapore. I don't like the way I do this, I didn't feel very organised, but due to the time constraint, meeting friends sometimes appear quite in a rush and not serve any purpose, but then again, meeting up is always good, though not always you find the meeting really meaningful, can't help to think it is like "meeting for the sake of meeting". Anyway, I believe I will have some more to say about this in my blog at a later date

email @ 5.23 pm - Hey, I am quite happy about this email, not going to give too much away, but sometimes worth a try as it is an opportunity. Will update again if anything actually happened with regard to the email, watch the space.

P/S: thank you to those who read the blog post past few days. I know who you are and thanks for the support. Many many thanks! :D

Reinvention

"..... I am still zenbreather and I still reflect and lately I realise this is also one main characteristic of Leo, which I am one..."

They said you have to reinvent yourselves once in a way to get new inspirations. This could be a new type of job, a new image, a change of lifestyle, etc. I found another way to reinvent myself. Yes, you are right. I am reinventing myself through the change of the theme of my blog.

I have now written about 100 posts. I do find myself getting more drawn down to writing stuff related to my work. As you can probably see, the "Career and development" section has a lot more entries than others. Therefore, after some thoughts, I began to realise perhaps I should have a blog theme that suits the situation I am in and "Ivory Tower" appears to be the best fit. I like the new blog skins. It is quite academic, the font, the mixture of information on the layout, a bit like those we read from the "Economist" magazine. The only thing I need to do, is to add in more "labels" so that the future posts for "Career and development" can be further broken down into other categories.

However, I am still zenbreather and I still reflect and lately I realise this is also one main characteristic of Leo, which I am one. Being reflective is a characteristics for Leo because Leos are competitive and actually they are being competitive with themselves. They reflect so that they know what else they can do to continue to be better. Sometimes, they believe if they can be better than their current selves there is also likely chance, they will be better than others, though their intentions of competition does not begin with "winning others".

Yes, I am not aiming at winning others, other than myself. As I wrote this, I began to think what I had done today. Well, I finished preparing the Wednesday presentation slides and though I didn't write enough of the book review for XYX publisher, there should be enough time do do that later. I have some meetings with students tomorrow and I am relaxed about them, the more I think I only left with my last lecture to do, so I should be able to do the JR's paper, while waiting for them. And yes, I have to call SMH tomorrow, not chat with her for a long time, not sure what happen to North East Scotland now. I am feeling relaxed and reinvented (i.e., inspired) as I get ready to face tomorrow and the rest of next week, and I hope you too!

I can't "wear my skin", but my blog can!

"Life can be complicated, having a cute blog doesn't have to be"

It's the Easter Friday and it is wet. I had a quiet day spending at home mostly. Today I mainly search the web for "new skins" - it's the skins for my blog. That is how I spent my day. One of the rare days that I didn't do anything about work, how amazing! I enjoyed writing blogs so far, but get bored with the design and the background theme. I am looking for something new and have few considerations when thinking any changes.

1) It has to be pleasant to the eyes - When people read my blog, I don't want them to be too "shocked" by the design, "too heavy looking", "too futuristic" or "too dark".

2) It has to be suitable for my theme - I named my blog "zen breather". In a simplest way, it means a form of thinking "properly" and "sequentially". I might not get RIGHT by my definition, but it is just the way I believe to be CORRECT WAY OF THINKING because it works for me and relate appropriately to ZEN THINKING. A suitable theme is something more of a lighted shade of colour. Zen needs not be nature, waterfall, Japanese, etc, it has to have a shade of light green, not sure if it is because I like green, :D

3) I must know how to do it - I adore some fairly cool designs of skins, but they were too complex for me. In the end, I discovered that it doesn't have to be too complicated for a change, some blog background themes required very few amendments to the html codes and it is easy to do. I tried out some to see if it works on my boring blogspot theme.

I have good fun trying out all sorts of skins and background. You never have a perfect one. I really like the header of my blog, it is after all provided by blogspot and now I am getting a bit bored, perhaps it is time to look for new inspirations. I am still enjoying the blog writing experience. I didn't feel I am all too geeky because I spent loads of time in front of the PC/laptop, which, fairly enough about 8 hours in total everyday. I find my life integrating nicely with those spent in the cyber-world and those in the real world. In the 21st century today, I am leading a very "normal" life. :D

Interestingly, I saw this site about this guy decided to stop writing blogs after having 2000 entries. His ego must get a boost after comments come flooding in from his supposedly regular readers. I can be sure I will still stick to blog writing for as long as possible. I think it is about the expectation and whether you can stick to the habit of doing so with some discipline, just like brushing your teeth everyday and night. Blogging is ABOUT YOU, the nice side, the ugly side, other people don't have to like or accept it, that includes the design and the theme. I like to thank my friends reading the blogs and leaving comments, it should be an experience that "help you to grow" and becoming better, just like the way your life operates, if not how can one ever find a reason to live, you tell me! :D

Writing and thinking

"...... you see yourself outside you, you get better perspectives and perhaps form a secondary opinion to an existing issue"

When I was younger, a lot younger, I dreamt of being a writer. I have an Uncle, who "coached" me on writing. I often wrote stuff and give to him for "correction".He was often very strict, and end up not being as encouraging as he would like. My urge to write, however, didn't stop. I start writing diary around age 13 and lasted 4 years and I stopped. I guess I was a bit bored and kind of find it "tiring". Writing diary is a good experience. It forced you to think, and more importantly, to express in word, which is a good training.

My current profession needs writing skill, i.e., writing for research to be published. The most important part of my past writing experience that benefits me is the "process of thinking" behind writing. Writing involved largely putting thoughts down in words, and requires good organisation, coherence and completeness. The more you do it, the more it becomes easy to apply to any topics you write.

I actually think about blogging after a suggestion from a colleague. The motivation behind blogging, however is a different one, though it still requires writing. This is a medium to get known for what you wrote. There is a chance you can get famous for things you wrote, some people aim for that when they write blog, as it should be in principle for others to see as it is in the public domain. I actually didn't think about all that when I decided to start blogging again. I wanted the whole blogging experience to be ABOUT ME. It is about my thinking, my reflecting and to some extent, my healing. When you put your thoughts down in word, you see yourself outside you, you get better perspectives and perhaps form a secondary opinion to an existing issue. This brings you closer to find a solution, if that is what you look for. Setting up the blog had spent me some times, however. I had my time spent on finding the blog theme and getting links, etc, though I enjoy that, I did move away quickly to focus on writing, which is what the blog is about.

I guess I am slowly integrating writing blogs as part of my life. I don't find writing blog entry a chore, when it is time for blogging. it just comes naturally. Blogging has been a rewarding experience for me so far, as it not only enable me to reflect upon my everyday life, but also allow me, after reading stuff I came across, to have a platform to put down my thoughts, which in a way broaden my thinking and encourages me indirectly to read more and to read even wider.