Ergy ThÓughts

只有积极地意识和接受人生无常的不变定律，才能抓紧当下，活出快乐自在。如果因为无常与对未来的恐惧而畏缩，到头来唯有被老击败。

人生花了多少时间
在等待

等待机会
等待幸福
等待关怀
等待改变
等待成功
等待更美好的事情
降临在自己的身上

你，
是否一样还在等待？

等等等
等个屁啊！

No, I haven’t forgotten about the journey to ambidexterity. Didn’t really have time to constantly practise on writing with my right hand all this while (an excuse?). My goal has been the same in this journey - to be able to use my right hand, especially to write, as competitively as the left hand in daily practical routines. I recently picked up from where I started and left in last year December (Refer to my entries in that month). Here’s what it looks like:

Handwriting on 13 Sept 2008

One of the interesting things about blogging: there is no commitment that comes with it. Sukak-sukak (When you are in the mood) you post in the blog; when you beh song (not in the mood) you just leave it at the corner, secluded.

In spite of no commitment involved, my conscience has urged me to chuck some thoughts in here just to keep others (or myself?) informed of what’s going on.

Time has gone past just like that. There ends my one year of study abroad life in Perth, Australia. It’s time to go back to UK to finish off my final year of honours degree. Not really looking forward somehow lol. It is Australia where I learnt the most out of everything. For the first year of UK life as well as the subsequent half year of Aussie life, I had been sort of struggling to cope with some forms of cultural shock. I guess it is something every international student has to go through, even though the period of time one experiences it might differ a lot. Some find it simply a piece of cake while others fail to adapt for years.

Living overseas does not mean that you will change or improve in adaptation to the new place. There is always some way that one can live through his or her life without altering own self. It might not be pleasurable but unshakable habits have always been such a comfortable reasoning or excuse for people to remain unchanged, even for the sake of betterment.

I’m glad that I’ve put in efforts to adapt and improve myself to cope with overseas life. It paid off in the long run. I’ve gained more confidence academically and socially as well as opened myself to different cultures. It’s relatively easy to acknowledge cultural varsities between races but when we have to live and deal with it, that’s when problems kick in. Matters that we think are totally reasonable might be devastatingly unacceptable to those of different backgrounds. You just have to figure out what the heck they’re thinking and their principles behind that back them up “as if they are right”.

There is still a lot for me to learn. Hopefully the damn cultural shock wont come back to me when i get back to sheffield this time. It seems trivial but it definitely affects your life adversely if you refuse to face and learn how to adjust yourself accordingly. Adapting to a new life, a strange community and exotic cultures does not mean losing your own identity or abandoning who you originally are. Instead, it’s about turning into a 150% person who has gained more life experience in the quest of finding out who you truly are, the life you want to live and becoming who you want to be.

Haven’t actually reviewed my past year and planned the new year. But overall i wish everyone, those that I know and those that I don’t to be healthier, happier and better this year. And I would like to draw everyone’s attention regarding the booming world population. NO MORE EXCESSIVE BABIES PRODUCED FOR THE SAKE OF INCREASING A COUNTRY OR A RACIAL POPULATION. We really have enough human beings on the earth now. The number has been increasing in tenfolds since the Industrial Revolution. All the problems that arise now, including global warming, the drainage of limited resources, pollution and so on are mainly due to increased population. Just to let you have an idea of how terrible it can be in the near future, looking at the numbers tells you everything.
2000 years ago — 0.3 billion population
200 years ago   – 1 billion
Now                 — 6.5 billion!
50 years later   – Predicted to reach up to 10 billion
This is the real problem we should give a serious thought. If you are concerned about the issue, please find out more about it.

***
Anyway, back to my ambidexterity thingy..lol. This is my handwriting on 4-1-2008. I’ll keep improving myself. As someone said before, "if you don’t improve, you are going backward." Sounds geng.

I’m not sure how much improvement I have had since I don’t practise much because of working, working and working..blueh. Anyway up to 21st Dec 2007, that’s how my right hand handwriting looks like (in case you dunno, I’m leftie). 

Update: 23/12/07 - another more recent snapshot, neater aye?

(Click on the image to open a popup window)

er…hi everyone…my blog is so dead and secluded nowadays. I couldn’t think of anything to write properly all the while :/ I’ve been living in aussie for 5 months and 6 days. Perth is definitely a good place to live-laid back, quiet and comfortable…except the summer weather, which can be up to 40 degree celcius sometimes. damn it. I have been quite lazy to take pictures..but i guess i’ll snap as much as possible before leaving next year. lol.

And guess what..I have been living here alone for one month and there’s one more month to go. Everyone’s gone during the summer break, while I’m working here as a sandwich artist and a waiter for the sake of money. Cant believe I can live alone for so long  without feeling lonely. amazing. i should consider going to some mountain in india for long term meditation. hah.

Life with two jobs can be very hectic..but sometimes boring too. So I came up with a plan-the journey to ambidexterity. I’ll do most of the things with the hand that I’m not used to using, especially practising to write with right hand. It began on 5th Dec 2007. i’ll keep uploading my handwriting snapshots from time to time to show the improvement (if there’s any). Very wu liao hor? Well that’s the usual unusual me.

I’m coming back Mal on 24th jan next year. looking forward to see all my friends and family Take care!

First day of ambidexterity training. (Click the image to view a full size version in a popup window)

After doing some research (not extensive one), I come out with an abbreviated list of ways to elevate brainpower, not necessarily promote higher intelligence, that I think is useful, practical and perhaps easy to execute in daily life.
I try to keep it simple, so if you need more information about a particular bit just talk to me.

1. held-breath underwater swimming – increase blood flow in the brain
2. meditation-develops - mindfulness
3. mindfulness - helps build good thinking habits
4. good thinking habits - eliminate bad thinking and develop positive thinking
5. Mozart
   music - Mozart effect is somehow controversial but nothing to lose to give it a shot
6. write and talk-take note of the ideas that we come out with, organize and
        analyze our thinking by writing or talking to someone
7. sit up straight – good posture for uninterrupted blood circulation
8. critical thinking - consider the opposite, question everything!
9. fill up all seemingly dead time-eg eating, sleeping, walking by doing something else useful in the meantime
10. self-hypnosis - the power of suggestion! (memory morphing)
11. speed reading
12. learn new language – stimulate the brain different ways to think
13. learn new skills/things- function determines structure!
14. deliberate practice - always review, analyze how to improve and accelerating learning rate!
15. focus on developing your strengths! – instead of trying to eliminate weaknesses
16. good diet – tones of information about foods that increase intelligence
17. make increasing brainpowera habit- you get more of what you reinforce! Persistency!

Hope it does help

嗨，大家好。好久没有写部落格了。现在似乎流行用中文写，我也想试探自己有没有退步了。所以我决定用中文完成这篇文章。突然脑里的小小声音出现:

“哇。这样写下去真的会到明天。不如还是避重就轻吧!”

我欣然答应: “why not?”

Listen to the little voice.

When I was doing some reading about neuroscience
and taking notes just now, my monkey mind was wandering elsewhere for a few
seconds. I tried to write down the word “lobe”(a term used in brain structure)
at that time, but it turned out to be “love” instead, which was exactly what I
thought about.

I guess this thing happens loads of times,
whereby the subconscious mind overrides consciousness and expresses itself
through our acts, speeches and behaviours. We often neglect them. They are just
silly mistakes, we reckon. But with no doubt they are not.

Many people, including national leaders around
the world would say something wrong at first accidentally, then correct the
mistake immediately with much deliberation. Everyone knows, the very first thing that comes out from the mouth, without
the interference of conscious filtering, is always the utmost truth.

“Mistakes” of the brain is never erroneous. There
must be something that it wants to deliver when it makes its appearance. The intention
is to tell the conscious mind that we have missed some important points.

Many a time when a little thought comes into our
mind, we squelch or ignore it without even giving a second thought about it. Sometimes
it is just a feeling that flashes through for milliseconds, which we manage to
notice but let it go or even suppress it so that we can continue the fluent
flow of our thinking.

This is especially true when we are making a
decision. We tend to lay out the pros and cons neatly, organize the thought,
gathering and analyzing the facts that we’ve got to support a decision or action
that we are about to take. During this crucial process, emotions can interfere,
adverse feelings shall arise, little voice might be heard. All these occur at a
fraction of time, or perhaps prolong for a longer period sometimes,  trying to give us clues towards making the
rightest decision. We are however often taught to be rational and not to be
affected by emotions nor to follow “the inner instinct”, so we choose to take
them for granted.

Recall the moments that you looked over the
little voices and made wrong decisions consequently afterwards. They were not
junk products of the minds. They have never been.

In this case ignorance is not bliss. Catch the
inner thought when it flashes over and amplify it instead! Take it into serious
consideration when making a final decision. After
listening to the little voice in your heart, you will find yourself being more
comfortable and confident in taking a pathway that it guides you to. And of
course, it is the right one to proceed.

我对你的爱
永无灌溉

对你的忽冷忽热
你从不介怀
施予你的负担
都默默单杠

你进得厨房
却登不了
大雅之堂