Some say even ruthless in getting from Point A to Point B.
But this can be a problem.
I often get side tracked with being razor focused that I sometimes lose out on the bigger picture of life.

Simply because I thought this copy was smart Simply because I thought this copy was smart Simply because I thought this copy was smart

Its been 3 months since I ditched the suit and tie in corporate Kuala Lumpur for shirt and jeans startup environment.

Getting things moving has been a Herculean task.

Obstacles galore and managing a team – something quite new to me.

But despite the hectic demands an pace of things – its fun. I find that I really enjoy seeing people enjoying what they do – and doing a great job along the way.

There is satisfaction in seeing people doing things they themselves didn’t think they were capable of doing – and being proud that its their handiwork that has brought a project / venture so far.

But I digress.

I might be rocking it in my day job – but I find that I have slacked on my other priorities:

1. Beinrg fighting fit
2. Contibuting more to the community
3. Sharpening the saw in self improvement
4. Spending quality time (if anytime at all) with friends (yes, the Blackberry is a bad excuse)

The past weeks have been a jolt to get me to look at these in my life. Work is just an expression of life and isn’t the only thing. I was watching a self development video that underlines that we should ask ourselves these questions constantly:

Did I Live Fully and Vibrantly?

Did I Love Openly?

Did I Matter? Did I make a difference in at least one person’s life.

I have recently started to pick up dumbells once again. I hope to get back to Karate (this has been the 3rd time I promised myself that).

Looking to having a learning project in becoming an awesome kick ass copywriter and get paid for my work within the next 3 months.

I am off for a good start – I think things really fell into place after I left the Bank. Pleasant coincidences happen more regularly and I feel really grateful to be where I am working with the people I am working with.

My boss was being the usual healthy sceptic when I told him about leaving the Bank.

This meant kissing my corporate retail banking bonus goodbye and swimming in a new pool that even I don’t know the depths and distance.

Which is crummy, considering I was just 2 weeks or so away from bonus announcement.

My 3 years in the Bank has been bittersweet. I will always remember the awesome workshops I got to attend as an International Graduate. We are like a Bank but unconventional. That’s the fun of it.

But the itch of trying something new (that usually bites after 1.5 – 2 years – I noticed) and living a life without boundaries was literally screaming at me.

So, I traded my 9-5 job (without the bonus I worked so hard for the past year) for a startup experience.

They don’t call it a startup for nothing

You literally start everything up. Sure, its scary but amazing at the same time.

For once, I don’t need to hear limitations – its as if there is no limits to what I can do and having that freedom is very liberating. Especially after working in a corporate environment for almost all my life.

Life is great when you are constantly creating, expanding, providing opportunities and growth.

The Theory of How Things Come Together

Its here that I feel that there is a funny mechanism at work. Even when I got shortlisted for the job and was in the process of deciding whether to make the leap – strange events conspired to just tell me what I was doing was the right thing.

There seems to be force at play that seems to bring things that vibrate alike together – will attract. We needed passionate people for the team – and despite some really crappy applicants – we pretty great people!

I am excited to see what happens after this and how we will proceed from here. Its a whole new horizon of possibilities happening.

Mornings seem much brighter now.

As I am coming back to the Path, I so happen to met another fellow traveller.

Amazaing to be able to talk about satori and have people who actually understand what you mean. It feels great that there are people who can relate to your other world-ly elements.

I feel less like a stranger in my own land – blazing the path less travelled.

The overall energy was great – so great that I didn’t even feel like sleep. Great vibes discussing about living and transformation. I think the energy exchange is mutual. For me, being able to meet a person who has met many guru’s during his lifetime and for me, a natural to refine by getting more “downloads”. I believe this is how sometimes the Universe speaks to me.

This was how I was taught – from life – and natural events – the people I meet – the experiances. Enriching and leaves a lasting effect in my psyche.

We talked about life, meditation and spiritual masters / mastery. Amusing stuff.

Few nuggets of wisdom was to re-remind me that I was on the right path – no matter how much my mind tells me I am insane, to live by instinct and listen to your feelings and operate less on thinking and on focusing on clearing old beliefs (which incidently is what I am currently doing – undoing, uncreating and destroying old thought patterns and constructs).

These constructs bring me to different points of my life where I have perceived something which hardwired my belief. Sometimes I feel I am transported to those brief periods of my life and I can see the untruth in it all.

Its a great highlight to meet other people on the same journey. The burdens don’t seem too heavy and the journey doesn’t seem so far.

After all – we are only here for the ride – the destination is pre-destined in the sands of time.

I always wanted to have myself sketched in my 20′s, 30′s and 40′s. To be used:

(A) In my orbituary – face it, its much cooler than a black and white photo, people will ACTUALLY pay attention.
(B) As a picture for a book cover photo – instead of a photo shoot, kinda shows I have character (literally) to have a character instead of an actual photo.
(C) To just satisfy my fascination of just have sketchings of myself adorn my mansion (ala the old rich) – think museums and how having a potrait sets historical figures apart.

So after work, I made my way to the streets of Bukit Bintang and looked for a sketch artist. We got to a short chat.

Interesting guy goes by the name of Dino. He used to work in a port before being a full time artist.

He was sharing with me how a job as a street artist enabled him to:

travel the world – people actually sponsored him to go to Macau and Las Vegas to do caricatures of people who win the casino and even the UK!

meet people of different backgrounds -he even went to the UK and did paintings of some army generals and some oddball characters

earn a decent amount of money – he charges RM50 per piece (that’s somewhere around USD16) for 45 minutes of work. A conservative 4 pieces a day would snag him about RM6000 -1.9K USD if he worked everyday (way more than what I am paid in my day job – LOL). He earns even more for overseas and museum pieces.

get some very interesting projects – he painted some of Malaysia’s mythical figures for the Melaka museum and National Museum. He apparently called the spirits to emerge for him to draw their features and got sick after that! Always wondered how did those artists know how historical figures look like.

Goes to show – money would come – you just got to live a little. Try out different things, do things you actually enjoy, and have fun doing it.

Which reminds me – its a good advice for me as well personally to live by.

As with most dreams – the details are sketchy. One thing for sure, I knew I was dreaming (wonder if its still considered a lucid dream if I just let events play out the way it plays out rather than actively change the flow of events).

I dreamt I needed to get from one point to another.

There were several ways for me to go about it. I was standing in waiting line with faceless people contemplating on which route to take to reach my final destination.

Is it my turn yet???

Option 1 – take a cab there. I was sitting in the cab and had an odd conversation with the driver. Before I knew it – I was stuck in a crazy jam and the sky was turning dark.

I knew I made a wrong mistake.

Suddenly, my consciousness threw me back to the time as I was in the waiting line deciding on what to do next.

It just felt as if I have lived all the decisions I needed to make and somehow, I knew the answers to whatever decisions I have before me. The only issue is just being clear enough to know which decision was the right one.

Because clearly – some of life’s pathways defies the very laws of logic.

What are you staring at? Infinite possibilities?

I watched the original “What the Bleep Do We Know?” back in college when it was first released. I understood perhaps half of it and was more interested in the idea of programming of water crystals and with 80% of the body being fluid – how does thought transform to self programming. Not sure if I have written a What The Bleep Do We Know review back in college – but I felt it would be good to just revisit this.

Along the way, the docudrama did get some flack for being lopsided in presenting their findings and being quantum physics porn – i.e. lots to think about and fantasize but no practical application. So how far deep down the rabbit hole do you think YOU want to go?

>> Buy What the Bleep Do We Know? Down the Rabbit Hole <<

The Rabbit Hole Revisited

I decided to revisit the movie and see if I can catch extra stuff to see if I can catch anything I that I may have missed the first few viewings.

It was a different experiance really – this version has more animation to illustrate quantum mechanics in an easier to understand detail. Even made me miss Physics!

The items covered is about the same: the foundations of the universe and their links to human consciousness.

I particularly liked how they parry Biology and Physics togather with New Age. They even got scholars to explain the various theories that they covered throughout. The various animations really helped piece togather my understanding on particle behaviour. Best explaination of the double slit experiment!
But as I mentioned earlier – the docudrama seems to have narrow view of what they wish to depict – New Age theories. There are some reviewers who felt that it was very lopsided. Rather than getting two sided view – it seemed more like a documentary with the sole purpose of informing viewers of the various theories instead of forming a good debate on the topics discussed. But I feel, overall its still a good docudrama – just take it as additional pieces of information with a pinch of salt. Some claims may seem exaggerated but it sure was an interesting ride.

>> Buy What the Bleep Do We Know? Down the Rabbit Hole <<

What Do You Get In The Boxset?

So what makes this boxset worth getting compared to the original What the Bleep do we Know?

• You get 3 CONTENT RICH DISCS!
• The movie itself comes with English and Spannish subtitles.
• There’s an optional “Quantum Viewing Mode” with additional random clips added for every viewing – this adds to replayability of the movie and ensures that you catch different nuggets of wisdom at different viewing.
• You get almost 6 hours of additional interviews from the panelists – giving additional insights to the subject matter discussed.
• Filmmaker Q&A.

You can buy it here:
What the Bleep!? – Down the Rabbit Hole (QUANTUM Three-Disc Special Edition)

If you like What the Bleep Do We Know? Down the Rabbit Hole, you may also like – The Secret, Extended Edition

“What the Bleep Do We Know” Full Length Movie

I have always been swinging on two ends of the personal development tightrope – the more material side (eg. Zig Ziglar / Anthony Robbins) and the more esoteric / spiritual side (chakra balancing, Universal Energy, other New Age fluff).

It doesn’t help that I have both a very practical / pragmatic self and dreamer / spiritual side.

During different points of the year, I swing to either side – hit a plateau – go to an equilibrium balance and the cycle goes on.

Deep inside, I do realize its like a dog chasing its own tail.

The Eternal Search for Truth

The search of Truth its most pure nature often eludes us.

Sometimes Truth finds us not worthy of gleaming into Its secrets – like Shiva’s dance – it plays about – only to be shared to the most pure and sincere devotees.

I was brought up in a very conservative Baha’i family. I am grateful to have been brought up by very upright teachings of values. Being introduced to comparative religion at a very young age (it helps that you belong to a religious minority often misunderstood). I have always been fascinated with religions, God, prayer, and the idea of spirituality at a very young age.

By the age of 7, I was already reading Holy Texts from various religions and questioning faith.

At the age of 6, I had several Out of Body Experience (OOBE) and I could remember having Spiritual Guides advising me about life. I didn’t think too much about it then – thinking it was normal. Of all the advice, I remembered one advice that still stuck, “You are destined for greater things in life”.

By the age of 12, by some weird way – I got into contact with New Age literature – T. Lobsang Rampa being the first. I started learning about meditation, chakras, crystals, Arkashic records and out of body experiences.

But somewhere along the way towards adolescence, I lost the voice of my Guides. I was introduced to modern self help at 16 – Zig Ziglar being a primary influence. Leaving life less to intuition and more into self motivation. I was a go-getter. I hustled my way into being in leadership positions in High School. But between those lines – I felt as if I have lost the childhood dreams that I used to have.

Spiritual Whispers

For the rest of my years ahead until today – I had occasional “on and off” encounters with the spiritual. Either in the form of books, people I have met, experiences, or just a Calling to revert back to spirituality. Sure enough, I get sucked back into materialism.

Caught between two worlds – I felt trapped.

I decided to blog again – to document my path to liberation (or madness) – in balancing the two worlds and hopefully getting the clarity I had when I was younger. I feel that the older I get – the more I forget of how true limitless wisdom and clarity was like.

I believe that each conversation or events that happen in our life – happens for a reason. This ties in very closely to my StregthFinder assessment of my 2^nd strength “Connectedness”.

I believe we are meant to learn something from each of these seemingly random encounters to somehow remember our True Selves. To find who we really are once again. If we pay close attention to these little lessons along the way to improve ourselves – then perhaps – just perhaps, Truth is within our reach.

As I am constantly updating my site, I like to keep an account of changes and revisions made – for personal record. This was

Hi there!

If you stumbled to my blog – its a high possibility you either know me or heard of me offline. Thank you for taking the initiative to google my name and visiting my site.

I have many interests, I like to see myself as a consultant of sorts:

I am an urban monk – I enjoy practical spirituality (thus the word “urban”), meditation, comparative religion. I tend to lean towards ancient gnostism and Buddhism – but I believe all religions do point to the Truth, just misinterprated (deliberately or otherwise) to meet different agendas.

I am an avid reader – I enjoy reading about religion, spirituality, technology, marketing, finance, PS3 gaming, Blackberry, inspirational, history, and I can go on and on. I enjoy learning new things – trivial or otherwise.

I am an idea pirate – I believe all new innovations / ideas are just rehashes of old concepts being made new. I love ideas – in all shapes and sizes – no matter where they come from.

I am a writer – I do copywriting in the fitness, self help, and personal development niche mainly. I also write opinion pieces – I hope this blog can be depository of what I have read, my thoughts and pretty much a portfolio of who I am.

I am a dreamer – I dream of a life where everyone can find balance in their existence and nobody is hungry.

I am a business thinker / marketer – I am very interested in what drives supply / demand, buying consumer mentality, and how do we drive campaigns and businesses to be optimum. I think marketing is cool because it is both a science and an art.

I am an aspiring speaker – I am a Toastmaster and enjoy listening to myself speak (who doesn’t?). I hope to speak in a TED or TEDx events before I am 30.

I am a fitness enthusiast – Call me a health nut, I think taking care of your body is equally as important as taking care of your mind. I enjoy vegetarian food, marathons (ones that I prepare for at least) and working out.

This list will most certainly get longer as I love enriching my life with new interests.

It was the first time I got to go off work early – I ended up watching a “delightful Chinese New Year movie” or so the tagline describes Derek Yee’s latest offering “The Great Magician”

"Look ma, who says I can't play with fire?"

Yes, I do admit I am a fan of Tony Leung and Lau Ching Wan. They have a track record of making pretty decent movies. Movies that talk about humanity and that has a deeper message behind the usual storyline.

Movies that deal with magic is usually a hit and miss – if done well – it challenges the way we look at what is real and what isn’t. The US counterparts have been quite successful with The Illusionist and The Prestige.

Fortunately, The Great Magician manages to deliver the essence of awe and wonder in magic. It even had a few scenes (or rather lines) that was profound – questioning what is real or fake and searching for the Truth. It starts off great with a good premise, good cast, great special effects and a promising storyline – only to trail off to something else midway.

The story follows a crazed warloard Bully (Lau Ching Wan) who is seen conspiring with the Japanese to expand his territory just to win the affection of his seventh wife ( Zhou Xun). Along comes a mysterious stranger Chang Hsien (Tony Leung) who just returned from overseas with more than just his bag of tricks. A hidden agenda, conspiracy and a love story all rolled into one – good premise right?

Unfortunately, it seems to outrightly “borrow” steal plot elements from The Illusionist and The Priestige – two great movies on magic. Heck, even the poster seems to be an Asian knock off from The Illusionist!

It steals the plot of being a “love story” from The Illusionist and the plot of vengence from The Pristige.

But towards the middle – the lines of what is real (or serious) and what is fun (comedy) starts to blur out. It seems that the writers have finally given up on the originally intended storyline and decided to follow the safe, tried and tested slapstick comedy route.

Besides the 101 plot holes that one can uncover even while half concentrating – I feel the movie did deliver on what it set out to do in the first place – to entertain and maybe throw some mystical gems of wisdom.

I would give it a 3 star rating for just entertainment value. Whether or not its worth to spend RM8 for a ticket? Well, if you are looking for a movie to shut your mind off for 1 hour 50 minutes and can tolerate ridiculous and zany plots – sure go ahead and watch it.

Hmmm...how should I cold read this one??

Probably ran out of cold readings to spin.

She did however tell me that I can choose to stay in my current job – which I feel is dead end or do something else.

The choice is mine. Or so it seems.

She did quickly add that I should look for something to do where I provide solutions to people. Where I bring harmony and order into lives and help people take control back over their lives. Sounds like being a cult leader. LOL.

I am always intrigued with the mystical – part of me really wants to believe them that life is indeed easy. Life is as we will them.

While the scientist in me is critical and sceptical about it all. Sometimes it just drives me up the wall ‘choosing sides’.

That’s the danger of the current information age – where everything is so easily available.

Where everyone claims to be an authority of something, when more often or not – they are just like you – trying to make ends meet. Trying to make a living.

Its a double edged sword.

Back in the past, only with sufficient contacts or authority can one be of an authoratative nature. Thus, we are not consistantly bombarded with new information. Heck, I think the appropriate word is rape. Being fed information right, left, and centre and having to piece togather – what makes sense / what doesn’t / what is applicable / what isn’t.

As much as there are cheats out there – I still believe there are the genuine articles amongst them. People who really care to make a difference in the lives of others.

Sincerity.

Such a rare trait. I hope to be able to find rare jewels amongst the dimes in the dozen.