The art of self-learning

A great teacher, to my mind, is the one with the creative ability to recognise the natural talents of each learner; able to guide the learners to discover those hidden talents, help raise their level of self-awareness of what they can do, be or have, and leave them alone to get on with the art of self-learning.

Learning to become like the Great Master

"The Master does nothing, yet he leaves nothing undone. The ordinary man is always doing things, yet many more are left to be done.”  This inspiring quote from the 38^th verse of the Toa Teh Ching has been my lifeline during moments of despair when I become overwhelmed with thoughts of where my life is going. This has become the subject of my meditation especially during the onset of distress and before anxiety and panic set in.

The paradox of this verse illustrates the dilemma inherent in the paradigm of how people succeed in life: Through hard work. This presupposes that hard work alone is the prerequisite for achieving success. That is why we are all involved in the rat race striving for success. We do not know when to stop striving. By our continuous striving and re-striving, we let in stress, depression and dis-eases into our life.

Hard work is great for success. However, letting in the grace of the Great Master brings real meaning to human success. Although we can control our work, we cannot control the outcome. That is in the hands of the Master. That is His grace.   

The creative Source does nothing, yet everything He created works in perfect completeness leaving nothing undone. The universe is in complete harmony with the Creator. When we interference with nature and suffer the consequences, we blame the Master for causing it or for not preventing it.   

As the Master is perfect, he completed His creative work to His perfection. He does not therefore need to interfere.

This verse has application in many areas of life. For example, when the work is complete, the worker steps aside and allows the outcome to flow in like river. It also has application for business. For example, when the boss issues an instruction to his employees, he leaves the stage and allows them to get on with the job.

When you practice the habit of allowing, you do nothing, yet you leave nothing undone. You let go of your struggle and let God take control. At the point when everything in your life seems to be at a complete standstill, I ask you to surrender all to the Great Master, the universal Power, the Source of your inexhaustible supplies, who does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone. When the Master created you, He left nothing undone. He created you to perfection leaving nothing.

This verse teaches me to become an observer of events in my life. As you step out of your door each morning, begin to notice everything and everyone you come across on your way to and from work, from shopping, from your place of worship, etc. Begin to notice what each event brings into your live or what it takes away. Always let your mind be on the positive side in all of such events. Begin to learn to see the blessing in every encounter. Even when someone steps on your toe, it is for a reason. Perhaps just to test your level of tolerance, or to learn more about forgiveness.

The greatest joy for us as humans is that we are all destined for success. We let success manifest in our lives by knowing when enough is enough in everything we do. The Master does not strive for success, He is the success. He does not strive to be great, He is the Great. Begin today to learn to become like the Master who does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone.

Keep Counting Your Blessings

On the need to learn the art of living by the moment, Dale Breckenridge Carnegie, the renowned American Self-help guru once wrote: "One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon, instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today." What is preventing you from noticing all the thank-able things that are happening right now in your life?

Helping one another to succeed

On the importance of becoming a better help meet for one another, it was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous German literary genius who once said, “Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be, and he will become as he can and should be.”  What could you do today, tomorrow or next, to make just one person in your life become as he or she can and should be?

Why keeping focused on your goal is essential

What is your next goal? How focused are you on what you need to focus on in order to achieve it? What is distracting your attention from achieving it? It does not matter what your next goal may be, let it be the focus of your attention all the time. Do not be like the proverbial Mr Tortoise that travelled to a very distant land in search of a bride but found himself distracted by some other trivial short-term interests and lost the bride to a more focused and determined suitor.  

According to the tale, several weeks after his arrival in the town, Mr Tortoise was still unable to find the right bride. Shortly before he decided to return to his hometown, Mr Tortoise spotted a beautiful young girl of his dream. Meanwhile, Mr Squirrel had also arrived in the same town. He too was in search of a bride.

Without knowing, both of them had been dating the same girl. She was the dashingly beautiful daughter of a wealthy local goldsmith, Mr Rabbit. Both Mr Tortoise and Mr Squirrel, in their separate milieu, had been looking forward to meeting Mr Rabbit, their future father in law.

As part of knowing-me-knowing-you tradition, Mr Rabbit decided to invite Mr Tortoise and Mr Squirrel to his house at the same time. On the day of their meeting, Mr Tortoise was the first to arrive. Mrs Rabbit had gotten the dinner table ready for the august visitors. They welcomed Mr Tortoise warmly into their palatial house and asked him to join them on the table for the special dinner. Without hesitation, Mr Tortoise had settled down on the table ready for the food to roll in.

Shortly after, while Mr Tortoise was still relishing the aroma of the delicatessen in high expectation of having a taste of the deliciousness of the food already set on the table, Mr Squirrel also arrived. He also received a warm welcome from Mr and Mrs Rabbit who invited him to join the family on the table. Mr Squirrel thanked his hosts for his enormous generosity but explained that he would have loved to join them for dinner but that would be after he was allowed to explain the purpose of his mission to the house.

He explained that since he arrived in the town and had set his eyes on their daughter, he promised himself never to taste any food or drink until he had met the parents of such a beautiful queen. He insisted he would neither eat nor drink until he had gotten their approval to marry their daughter.

Mr Squirrel had not stopped speaking when Mr Tortoise sprang up from the dinning chair shouting at the top of his voice saying that it was for the same purpose he had come to visit the family. What Mr Tortoise was saying did not amuse Mr Rabbit who instantly went to his daughter, gently held her hand, led her slowly to Mr Squirrel and gave her to him as his bride. What a successful conclusion for Mr Squirrel and a sad ending for Mr Tortoise.

Paradigm Shift

They say there is no problem without a solution. What, then, makes it hard for some of us to find solutions to some of our problems? The way we think about the problem is the problem. MAM coaching uses Value Life Balance toolkit to help people shift their way of thinking from problem to solution mindset. We then apply modern Focusing technique to guide them in finding the solutions, which, from my personal experience, lay deep below the level of human consciousness.  www.mamcoaching.com

Gratefulness is thoughtfulness

You demonstrate an act of gratefulness each time a feeling of sadness creeps into your mind about your lack of shoes to put on your feet and you suddenly remind yourself of many other folks out there who have no feet to put into shoes. What aspects of your life are you not grateful for?  What do you think should have happened in those areas for you to be grateful?

Your act of gratitude for the little things that are happening within and around you is the key that opens the door that lets great things to happen in your life. You learn to live a life of real gratitude when you begin to notice all the little things that are happening in your life, in the life of the people around you and in the environment in which you live and work. Then, you will be amazed to see how much you should be grateful for.

Compliments and Criticisms

I consider it a mark of respectable self determination when you know how to detach yourself from either compliments or criticisms. As Orison Swett Marden rightly stated in his book, Pushing to the Front, “Compliments are criticisms in disguise. Both are used to manipulate behaviour. But compliments are more socially acceptable.”  MAM Coaching

MAM Coaching Quote of the Week

If you want milk, goes an old saying, you do not just sit on a stool in the middle of a field hoping that the cow will back up to you. To get the milk, you have to get up and go after the cow. What is stopping you from starting something today that will propel you towards realising your dream?  MAM Coaching