by echandr on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 | Diary, Life | 1 Comment

Some people believe in “Destiny is what you made”, but I lean more towards “Destiny is what laid out for you”

I also believe, even though things are laid out for us, we still need to put extra efforts to secure them. Some people are lucky enough to get all the things laid out for them without those extra efforts, but most of us seem like to not have that kind of lucks.

I was jogging with a few friends this morning, and one of them happens to be a businessman who has just managed to make his fortune during the last five years. Prior to that, he had been going through lots of ups and downs. He had even worked in the public market as “coolie” for a couple of years. He said that man can only try to put all his extra efforts to catch his dreams, but by end of the day, he could only get what he deserves…no more no less. He had tried so many things and was all out with his extra efforts, but when the time was not his yet, he always found himself back to square one. But then, he kept trying…till the time comes, whatever minor things he did, turned out to be gold-mine. That’s how he makes his fortune now.

It is quite a story to tell. The point being is, we are supposed to make our efforts to a better life, not a richer life (in term of material). If we’re destined to be rich, then the riches will find us. And if not, no matter what extra efforts we’re putting in, it won’t get us anywhere. As human being, we need to make our life better everyday. Be nicer, be more generous, be more patient, have more knowledge and be anything better that could enrich our souls and bodies. That’s the destiny for all of us. Wealth and fame will follow…….eventually.

Tags: better life, destiny, morning coffee, richer life

by echandr on Monday, October 27th, 2008 | Diary, Inspiration, Life, Uncategorized | No Comments

Tags: coffee, diversity, morning coffee, pluralism

by echandr on Sunday, October 26th, 2008 | Diary, Life | 4 Comments

SEN LAU PING SE is a chinese saying BORN, OLD, ILL and DEATH. Meaning, people will mostly go through these phases in life. Life is a journey for all of us, starting from the day we’re born through all the way to our death.
It’s a journey of surprises full of unexpected events, except the three things after we’re born i.e. getting old, becoming ill and facing death.

All of us surely know that the end of our journey is death, but surprisingly many of us can’t really take it well. Why would we cry on something that we would have already expected from the very start?

Life is a journey and death is the destination, then we should take the journey with enthusiasm and joys. It’s always the journey that matters, cause we all would certainly reach the destination for sure…no matter what. Even though we would all have the same destination by end of the day, but certainly not the same journey. Some take the long easy road on the tollway, some choose the long winding road with remarkable views, some take short bumpy road and some take the off-road route. Some have smooth non-stop drive, some make few stops and some even make detours. We all make choices on the route.

What important though, the journey is supposed to be joyful and meaningful. On the journey, we all get the chance to see, feel, and learn. Meet people, share our joys and knowledge, help the ones who needs and learn about things we don’t know. Cause by end of the journey, we are supposed to be proud of ourselves on things we have accomplished. Don’t pick up too many things cause it would only slow down your pace. Don’t be attached to unnecessary things cause that would only distract you from enjoying the journey. Make stops whenever you need and make detours if you think you have to. Bottom line is, the journey is for us to enjoy. Don’t make it a burden.

In the end of our journey, we gonna face death…leaving everything and everybody. If you could not make your journey a joyful and meaningful one, there is no point of taking the journey after all…………

Tags: Diary, Inspiration, Life, morning coffee

by echandr on Friday, October 10th, 2008 | Diary, Inspiration, Life | 1 Comment

Tempus Fugit = Time flees or Time flies
Whatever you wanna do…just do it…………..

Remember the old days back then…when we were still in colleges? So many things that we hoped we could do once we’re out in the real world. Where are all those dreams and hopes? Yeah..how time flies…and suddenly it’s more than a decade since graduation. For most of us, works have probably consumed most of our time. Big dreams become medium dreams and turn into small dreams. Big hopes evaporate through daily routines and works stuff. I believe most of us have dreams and/or hopes of things we wanna do back then. What happens to all those dreams and hopes?

Some of us are lucky enough to accomplish a major part of our dreams, few got to accomplish all, but the majority could only see those big dream/ hopes slowly disappear along witht the sunset of the days.

Is this supposed to happen naturally? Well, I don’t think so. Many people said, life is too short and we only live once, so why bother with all the unnecessary long-term plannings? Don’t screw your current life, but if you have any dreams and hopes, you gotta go out of the box and do it.

Don’t let your dreams/hopes bottle up inside you. When you eventually reach the sunset of your life, you would sit by yourself, and look back at your life, and regret that time is running out and you don’t have the chance to just simply do what you really want.

Imagine yourself in Eden running around and beating bushes without knowing and/or doing what your really want. By end of the day, when the Angel of God ask you what exactly you like about Eden, can you actually tell?

Three more months to go and another new year will come. Make priorities and open the old box again. Sit down and look back, what’s left of the unaccomplished dreams and hopes you have back then. And remember TEMPUS FUGIT……whatever you wanna do, just do it…………

Tags: just do it, morning coffee, tempus fugit, time flies

by echandr on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 | Diary, Inspiration, Life | 1 Comment

Tags: Carpe Diem, living, morning coffee, Robin Williams

by echandr on Sunday, September 21st, 2008 | Diary, Life | 1 Comment

A friend of mine said he was like having a deja vu with global financial crisis this past few weeks. Capital markets all around the world were soaring up with the hikes in commodity prices. Companies dealing with commodities led the rise of indexes. Poor and developing countries are working extra hard to keep up with the problems arouse, while developed countries are having funs with speculative actions on commodities and trying to make the most benefit out of the chaotic markets.

In one part of the world, the billions poor people are struggling with their lives for foods and other basic needs, while on the other part, the few million rich are having extravaganza lives and showing-off. One person’s pain is another’s gain….This phrase sounds familiar?

I don’t actually know how this balance-mechanism works for us on this earth. Some people are so greedy to expansively grab all they want, while the rest are so defenselessly seeking for whatever left to survive.

The epic reaches its climax with the fall of the huge traditionally powerful financial institutions in the US. The investment banking companies on Wall Street have been the icon for the financial power for a long time. They are powerful, super rich, arrogant, ruthless and merciless. They could practically get their hands on anything they want. They move and act with pride and taking more than they could. They see profit as the one and only extra important goal. Other thing else is meaningless.

Seeking for profit is one thing, but greedily excessive urge for profit is too much. Wanting anything too much in life keeps the balance off the chart. Now, it has been too late for a lot of those at Wall Street to understand this simple wisdom. They now reap what they sow. Their greeds have eventually brought down the decades-long pride hanging high on the top of the skyline-buildings of the financial district on Wall Street.

It’s too bad when the understanding comes too late……

Tags: Diary, morning coffee

by echandr on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 | Diary, Life, Uncategorized | No Comments

Morning has always been the best part of the day for me. Wake up from the good nite-sleep, re-energized and ready to start a whole new day. One ever said: “I die for this old world when I go to bed at night, and in the morning when I wake up, I’m reborn for a whole new world” (if I’m not mistaken, it was Gandhi)

My daily morning routines are: going for a 60mins jog, having a big cup of my favorite coffee, reading the newspaper and turning on my lappie & surfing the net for approximately 30mins. Well…not really honest with the morning jog though. My plan is to jog at least 5 days of the week, but more than usual, I wouldn’t even get 3.

The internet era has completely changed the world. News is popping up from every corner of the world. Everyday we can practically spend the whole day reading any sorts of news and do nothing about it. Probably that’s why there are millions people who know zillions things, but yet don’t really have a single experience on minor things. What a sad world, isn’t it?

Just a couple years back, I was a “forced” workaholic, meaning I worked my tail off 24-7 not because I wanted to, but just simply had no choice. CHOICE…yeah, sounds familiar to most of us, rite? A dear friend of mine told me that most of us are born with a given choice (read: FATE) and there is nothing we can do about it. If we want to live happily, just don’t pick your own choice, but instead stay with the given choice. Just ‘sip it’ and ‘zip it’. No matter how bad the choice is, if you can ‘sip it’ and ‘zip it’, sooner or later you gonna eventually make peace with it. Plain and simple, rite?

I personally don’t think it’s quite right though. I honestly believe we all have our own CHOICEs. However, choices also come with compromises. You can’t just simply choose to stop working when you have big pile of bills on the table, or you can’t just simply go travelling leaving your family on their own. That’s why some people often said, when you have family, you’re stuck with them.

For me, we all are bound to make our own choices. It’s not only we can do it, but we have to. Life is a single direction and unique journey. There are plenty of unexpected places and events ahead of us. Happy, sad, good, bad, rocking, flat, colorful, plain and many more. All bundles up to take us for a roller-coaster ride. Whenever you make a choice, don’t seek only for the short-term goals, but go for the big picture and long-term targets. So, whenever you hit the wall, you will not stop and give up.

I specially write this for a dear friend of mine who currently lives overseas, who always told me: “Making choices in life is not a luxury I can have”. Well…making choices is the luxury we all have. Don’t just ‘sip it’ and ‘zip it’. Try it and you’ll eventually come out of the cave you’re in all this time. Good luck, pal!

Tags: morning coffee