The Rule That Never Change

Everything is never stagnant. The earth never cease to rotate, seismic movements never stop to create devastating earthquakes, and for all other natural workings of life, including the involuntarily trudging to work in the mornings, life has never been able to ever appear exactly the same. Similar, but never congruent. As history puts it, something done can never be undone. Placing something back to its original position will never be the same as untouching the object. And even if u categorically deny all these changes in life, there is one domain for sure, which will incontrovertibly move on, even if u hate to. And that’s time. And probably for what I’ve said so much, you would recognize that the only probably rule that never change is change itself.

In the ever changing sphere of life, I would like to question the existence of the word “routine”. It seems like the word monotonous is a misnomer. Standard Operating Procedures, or SOP, for all organizations who employ this term, is very much falsified. There can never be a standard way to respond to a different scenario that occurs everyday. Adaptability sounds more correct. It is uncommon to hear grievances that work is dull and boring. And believe ever so deeply that it is inherently so. Why not take a look at interesting jobs then? These “palatable tasks” that sparks our excitement has found a way to sow seeds of satisfaction and joy, and thus we innately believe so. These sparks are generated very easily as a matter of fact, because we perceptibly welcome it. We open the gate to the gardener who sows the seeds. And this explanation is for the positive responses about work being engaging, exciting, likeable.

So how is routine work founded on? It occurs when our attention giving to a specific task stagnates at a particular unchanged purpose, thereby generating a responsive mechanism to an “outdated bug” which resides in our mind. It dictates our mind to view it in a repetitive way, that we are doing something that what we have already done many times. It focuses on the frequency, and not on the quality. And being an insidious bug, it soon spreads like wildfire, infecting our emotions, our perceptions, and sadly, our action. We find it hard to resist defiant acts of demonstration against routine activities, and our pent-up desire to rid these “routine” works simply adds fuel to the fire.

So the fundamental reason why humans dread routine is because we don’t recognize changes. We don’t inject differences to our lives. We don’t identify ourselves with different purposes of doing a common daily chore. We don’t give ourselves a chance to relook things from different perspectives. We are so reluctant to changes. If you realize, we made a grave mistake. We did not obey the sacred rule, the rule that never changes.

Benign Manifestations

I sincerely thank those who stumbled onto my blog and do appreciate the intricacies of my posts. Some are philosophical, some are unabashedly written, yet some may trigger parallel imaginations. Whatever the reason, i welcome skepticism. And i love opinions, cynical ones inclusive. When there's discussion there's engagement, through engagement we form common understanding, and from there it paves a way towards the very meaning of what i truly believe is the sole existence of my blog, benign manifestations.

Actually i have questioned myself infinite number of times the reason for my blogging. I've asked people about their opinions of blogging too. Some told me its just casual fun, some hoped to share their live experiences with others, some just drift with the digital trend. Some are addicted, some are indifferent. Some view blogging as a waste of time, some cherish their posts and always adore them with colourful pictures. To me, quintessentially, i blog because i feel that there are many common affairs which need to be thought deeper. Failing to do so does depreciate the value of our life. Either we havent gave serious reflections on our past deeds, or that we do not bother about what we had just spent our day on. I dont think its a manifestation of indifference, or any departure from the norms of "daily life" blogging. So regardless of the various external opinions, here i am, always humble in sharing my views, dedicated to those that would potentially benefit from my benign manifestations.

I seek you to join me in this journey.

Filtrating EXAMINATION

When the word EXAMINATION was first made an english term, never did it anticipate that it could unleash so much horror upon the world. It can be used with almost any word u like: EXAMINATION hall, room, paper, board.. so many combinations. And it literally makes a student freak out, a teacher gets worried about his rice bowl, the parents frantic... etc. It is really like pandemonium, especially in schools. It is like an endemic, so indiscriminating in its spread. It is similar to a disease, with sypmtoms first appearing, then a myriad of effects taking its toll on us. There is the pre and the post. How intimidating is that. Somehow examination is inextricably linked to fear.

Ok. Maybe when i attempt to dissect EXAMINATION you may get more relieved about it. If i were to pass EXAMINATION through an emotional filter paper, and when all human emotions are clearly residued, whats left behind are those meaningless exam questions, exam results, exam answers, exam grades, etc. But its easy said than done right? if i tell u to empty your mind of such apprehension, i am merely wasting my efforts as it is virtually impossible to do so. Come on, will u tend to look at residue trapped in the filter paper or the filtrate that passes through the filter paper more naturally? Or to rephrase my question, how much of your time spent observing the filtration process would you be focusing on the filtrate rather than the residue. My bet is most would just give a cursory glance at the filtrate, while devoting most of their time on what is gonna be left on the filter paper.

You say its natural tendency. Yes, this is an incontrovertible fact of life. It is our inborn tendency, our innate inclinations. It is involuntarily. Our minds tend to be more preoccupied towards the conspicuous, and the "all-encompassing". So how do we make this change? To put it simply, its just a mere alteration of our view to that of the filtrate. Simple, but is it really so? No it isnt. It is a forceful change. A test of our mental flexibility to take on new perspectives. We need to look at things from a new dimension. We have to look at the glass of water which is half filled as half empty. Its easy for the glass of water but not easy for the pile of books in front of u isnt it? This is because the glass of water is something tangible, while fear is intangible. Emotions are our greatest enemies because we feel absolutey impotent to have complete control over them. That is why people say the greatest fear is not others, but oneself.

You need the tenacity, the hunger, and the sheer will to change it. In short, you must be more fearful of the outcome of not changing your mindset than the fear towards the examinations itself. Then there is a chance. HOw, How, How... My answer to you is: when you are desperate enough, you will find an answer to it.

As the cliche goes, it's all in the mind. But in order to execute it, it takes much more than just being "cliche".

为何难以活出理性？

理性的根本描述着出污泥而不染的现状，是一种少数人类的非凡特征. 活在一个多姿多彩，诱惑百般缠身的世界里，人，身为感性动物，是难以卸下此面貌的. 古人曰: 知己知彼，百战百胜.我们之所以屈服于精神压力，之所以打感情败仗，完全归咎于对自己对自己内涵的了解不渗透. 其实，我们不时会听到这句话“你不了解你自己”. 在反复斟酌之后，我们有时会茅塞顿开，顿时大悟. 其实，客观的事实无形的影响了我们感性的主观，使我们在第一时间接触到它时，情不自禁地投入它的怀抱，结果忽略了大局. 而正当我们越陷越深，丧失理智时，旁人才指点迷津。我们这才发现当局则迷，旁观者清. 浪子回头之际，才忏悔自己当时的愚蠢. 我说我们人为何这么傻呢?

Ok, sorry to put some of you through the above agony. Haha this brings me to another issue. To some chinese, chinese language has offically been wrote off as their native language, and i think its very pathetic. Havent written or read a full chinese article since like 2 years, i have already felt a certain sense of guilt. You know its really sad that many singaporeans have adhere by evolution, adapting to our new english environment and compromised our precious culture that we have brought along with us. To me, chinese will always remain a beautiful language. Its meaning can be simple yet thought provoking, creating emotional imprints in our mind. To be frank, I took quite a while to construct the entire chinese paragraph above, and i am really feeling like a disgraceful chinese. Haha. But nevertheless, i'm still glad that my mind still somehow managed to churn proper chinese sentences out.

Ok, what a post.

Maybe Thats How Relationships Work

I've been pondering how some people are able to get along with each other just so well that they hang along with almost that same bunch of friends with undying fervour and countless outings. I've also contemplated about why some of us do not really a wide circle of friends... is it merely attributed to the lack of social skills? poor PR? There are people who really get frustrated by being so "friendless".. while some dont bother cos they are living in a world of their own. There was once i received a chinese sms. It was as follow:

朋友的价值观不是每天都要见面，而是大家在忙碌的生活里彼此还记得，也会抽空关心慰问及传送信息

Does this encapsulates the meaning of friendship? I didnt find it enlightening to my doubts. But what i thought could hold more sense is that a relationship, be it friendship, BGR, or even btw family members, conforms to an "induced fit" hypothesis which isnt alien to a biology student learning how enzymes work.

Just as scientists postulated that specificity of enzymes are not restricted to a lock and key hypothesis, i believe not all friends, kins, or even spouses are made for each other. As much as perfection is an illusion, to attain so called "best friends" or "buddy" isnt so unless we define it to be. Is a relation only good if both parties are able to fully empathise and care for each other? Or to put it in an unpalatable way, are friendships mere facades for mutual exploitation? Actually i am inclined to believe the latter. But the fact that we always exploit each other doesnt really cause the other party to hate us.. in fact it strengthens the relationship. isn't that the irony of it all?

We ask for help, and our so called best friend acquiesce. This small act doesnt connote with it the notion of exploitation because both parties do not view it as such. What i am driving at is that friendship is all about mutual perception. "induced fit". If you try to accommodate something, you most likely look at its plus points. You would try to dissolve the drawbacks, minimise the negative thoughts, and learn to look optimistic about it. Maybe one day we could try fitting on a shirt in the dressing room and tell ourself like hey, i'm so gonna shine in this attire. But you know our mind is playing a hell load of tricks on us? We feel what we feel because we feel that this should be what we feel.

Applying it to friendship, maybe that guy who just ignored you aint a poor friend, while the guy who whom you just went out with might not be an excellent one either. Maybe that is why human relations are complex and multi-faceted. So sometimes its good to sit back and reconsider our perspectives about people, though ur friends might not do likewise to you. But let them be. When we do that, we are giving ourselves more opportunities to interact with them, befriend and influence them. When our perspective is correct, our world is correct.

一个人的思想如果是正确的，他的世界就是正确的

And maybe thats how relationships work.

Teaching - Playing A Brick Game

Teaching can be executed in various styles and methods. But what constitutes a good lesson? Is there a benchmark for it? I would think it is influenced greatly by the teacher's perception of the lesson outcome. Many tutors bear grudges even before starting the lesson, for example complaining about the students, the work load, and sometimes even the meagre pay, etc. These tutors are normally those that emerge unsuccessful in attaining a satisfactory outcome in teaching. Why? A misaligned mind leads to contorted thoughts and an under performing aptitude. So it boils down to having passion in teaching, or at the very least take it in your stride. But once again, many teachers still fail to deliver no matter how hard they try. In my honest opinion, i think the root of the problem lies in that we do not have an objective understanding of the reception of knowledge.

Learning, to me, is always a self discovery process. The feeding of information from others, ie teaching, has a limit onto how much the student would absorb. There is a learning curve as people always speak about. But the limiting factor to this curve is our mental processor. A processor that processes information in a way unique to oneself. A teacher would not be able to effectively pass on knowledge to a student if he or she does not have a rough idea how the information is assimilated by the student. On many occasions, teachers felt that they did all the could in presenting the concept and curriculum, but fail to grasp how meaningful these content meant to the students. I can give u an example:

A teacher administers his usual routine teaching to a class of students. At the end of the lesson, he proceeded somewhat comfortably to the question and answer session and began opening the floor to the usual quiet class. So any questions? He asked. Then from one corner, among the perplexed faces, a boy raised his hand and sounded off his qn. The teacher gave it a thought, and was then energised to provide an explanation. I want to direct my focus at this junction right now. Has the teacher really helped the student as much as he could by providing a solution? I would only dare to say partial.

What has gone wrong? The teacher didnt address the process which led to the question, but merely satisfying what the student queried about. Is teaching all about the superficialities? I'm afraid its not. If all lessons turn out to be in this manner, we would be breeding stagnancy in our education standards. The reason why some students turn out to be smarter than the rest is not always proportional to the effort they put in. Its like playing a brick game, u know those electronic ones with different shapes falling from the top. The student's understanding of the topic is the layout of the game at the bottom, while the teacher's solution is the falling brick at the top. If the teacher doesnt dwell into the intricacies of the students mind, he or she would not be able to orientate the piece of brick correctly into the entire layout. Be mindful that where the brick is laid, how it is laid, and sometimes how fast it is laid is of significant concern to the development of the individual, or in the case of the brick game, the sustainability of it.

Some students end the game quickly, in other words game over, because their bricks are tragically misplaced such that there is no continuability in the bottom layer of bricks in the game. In academic sense, they cant make sense of what they are learning though information has been fed. More accurately, the are not able to grasp the entire puzzle that has been fed to them bit by bit. In this case they give up. There is a limit. And test not the limits of an eager scholar, i beg of you. Learning is a life long process, please do not construct a dead end for them. Its a right to live.

That is precisely the reason teachers are valuable. Their jobs influence lives of students extensively and tremendously. It is incumbent on the beholder of wisdom to disseminate knowledge responsibly. And being a teacher isn't as easy as one think, if you are really passionate about the performance of students.

A Happy CNY 2007

A great CNY to everyone. Some look forward to it some dont really. They find the visiting a chore. But to be its like a welcome change in my life. Something like the 4 seasons. Its rather rejuvenating to know that for the next few days u no need to wake up and smell the NS stench.. haha. not that bad la, i exaggerated. By this time most visitings might have ended. I'd hoped u all have gotten all the ang paos u deserve. Or rather actually every year u would sorta expect a certain amount of money right? it cant possibly exceed the margin by loads. haha

Well can u all recognise a change in style of my writing? from those literary articles, its more of casual, more bloggish, more humane, more intelligible, and more relaxing entries. I am segregating the literary articles from the routine affairs, not because they dont form part of my life, but i want to compartmentalise it. So they are now not on this blog, but the link is on the right. So do visit them!

Magical Life Insurance - Aspire, Inspire, Acquire (AIA)

Many people aspire for a better life, they hold brazen ambitions, they dream big. But few are sufficiently inspired to reach for these aspirations. You can really see "aspiration" as being intangible, while inspiration as the tangible driving force. Acquisition is ostensibly the fruit of your labour. Success, in its untainted definition, refers to the complete acquisition of what we have aspired, through relentless inspiration in our drive to attain it.

We need to be able to imagine our desired outcome. Such envisage is truly imperative as the constant source of motivation, a catalyst for accelerating through tumultous situations. In short, it is a mental image that offers a perk to our soul, propelling our inner desire to work towards something great, palatable and attractive. It is precisely through such vivid imagination of our future that belies inspiration, bequeathing us a great deal of passion and determination to work towards our dreams.

But of course, the extent to which we aspire curtails our achievements. As with the cliche "Dare to Dream", it is only if you hold greater expectations and dreams that you will possibly achieve it. So it adheres to a succession of logic that if one merely hopes to be mediocre, he or she will probably be lesser inspired than what he aspires to be, and the outcome? Probably below average. So aspire leads to inspire and then to acquire.

However if i were to just stop here, my argument would definitely be horribly flawed, as people following my explanation above would know little more than DAYDREAMING - aspiring the impossible. They are only taught that the greater u aspire, u the greater u are inspired, and therefore u acquire more. But for this law to work, i guess we probably wont exist in this planet. In everything we do there is loss and gain, even in science we deal with conservative laws. This theory here works pretty much the same. There is a check and balance. For every bold dream u aspire, you inherit a bold risk. It commensurates each other. So i have just made the equation a little complicated. Success isnt tantamount to boundless aspiration, infinite inspiration, and countless acquisition. It is more accurate to say that success entails a delicate concoction of all three. Bold aspirations, Maximum inspiration, Predicted Acquisition.

Why bold aspirations? Needless to say, we need to involve ourself in something stimulating and challenging. We have to forcefully mould ourselves into products which are necessary, yet not always palatable and easily achieved. And why not boundless? its because in the process of formulating such boundless aspirations, you have already injected absurdity and improbability in your dreams. So in the sense it has already transformed into something fictitious.

Now, why Maximum inspiration? How different is it from infinite inspiration? Maximum denotes peak. There is always a limit to our inspiration if u notice. An artist would not indefinitely possess inspirations for his drawings. A runner would not have unending stamina even if his mind is very strong. Emotions also have its ups and downs. We cant remain in a eternally unperturbed predisposition. Neither can we feel exhilarated all the time. What i am trying to boil down to is that we derive inspiration through events which have a lifespan. We need to constantly renew this pool of events which provide us with perks. So in order to enjoy maximum and not infinite inspiration, it has got to do with extracting the most out of each event that bypasses our life, obtaining valued inspiration and move on.

Lastly, why Predicted acquisition and not countless? As with right from the start, we only demand a rightful proportion of our share. We have prefixed an amount to take away. No bargaining about that. But the more significant aspect of the word "predicted" is the idea of confidence, conviction and faith. This is what we are going to get. We will eventually achieve what we want. We are merely reliving the process of toiling. That is what must be said to oneself. That the outcome is fully within control, nothing is unexpected, nothing will deviate from what we want. Certainty.

Oh and that pretty much concludes the secret of this magical life insurance. There is no rehearsal in life. Neither is there a shortcut for success. Taking the right path is in itself a shortcut.

It is up to us to get enlightened. And I am barely trying to.

The Game Of Pressure And Stress

Pressure and Stress are two words which can really make or break your life. They are fundamentally different terms in my opinion. Pressure refers to a compulsive external influence, while stress refers to a bulging internal influence. From my definition, it is sure that pressure comes from the environment, while stress comes from our innerself. We cant control the environment we live in, but yet we can presumably control ourselves. But yet why do some people live in depression, over- anxiety and even go nuts when they get over stressed? The link should lie in between- we cant control how the environmental pressure affects our inner state. It has something to do with expectations and perception.

So pressure exerted by the environment induces a certain amount of self induced tension, which is called stress. And because we cant exactly rein in the mechanism of controlling the stress induced as a result of external pressure, destress seems to be the only recourse.

So there are two groups of people: One that mitigates the consequences of stress, the other group concentrating on gaining better control of the link btw pressure and stress. In my opinion, 80 percent engage in the former, with only 20 percent the latter. This is because the latter is tedious, arduous, and often unrewarding for the start. Its not even an uphill battle. Its like jumping from one cliff to another. Make or Break. So therefore we choose the former. Its easier to manage, and often goes with the flow of life.

But maybe its real time to shift our focus on getting our expections on track. Knowing the key to set rationale expectations will pay well for our future. We will better manage our perceptions, and fortify our inner state against pressures from the external environment. We place our selves right smack in the middle of pressure and stress, acting as filter. I would say that would be the idea state. And in such an effective isolation, it is then undisputable that we have really triumph in living a life for ourselves, pursuing whatever we like without the slightest mental barrier, overcoming adversities without feeling excessively drained.

But many people have already fell off the cliff. So are u willing to gamble?

The Limit

Is Sky really the limit? Or are we the limit of our dreams? Much can be said about limits. I overpushed my limit in sispec, therefore i was injured. I didnt know my limit, thats why i wasn't sure of an impending injury.

At first i didnt want to dwell over the matter of my injury again, but i felt many things we do in life, even as in blogging, there is really a real limit and a perceived limit. Not trying to be mathematical, but as the perceived limit overshots the real limit, the balance would be overturned, unleashing a pandora box of unending worries.

I hate to say that in life, we always set limits, just as we might have set targets. The more ambitious we are, the greater tendency we have to stumble. And upon sensing that we might have reached our limit, we resort to initiate a complete change. Thats the normal path. But being in the shoes of this path would certainly allow u to recognise that one is like turning upon hitting a stone. i.e. we dont really have an accurate benchmark as to where we execute a retreat. And the baseline of all - thats only our perceived limit. In many circumstances, our perceived limits are unaligned with the real limits.

I was sick recently, yet again due to the miscalculation that i thought i wouldnt have fell ill. I was already feeling ill on my duty night, and to exacerbate the situation, it was an overnight duty. The next morning i went home i rested, but it was never enough. Plus a few days of insufficient sleep thereafter, it culminated in this terrible streak of illness.

So being able to grasp the limit, knowing when to steer out of dangerous traps is vital for survival. It is the accumulation of experience that grants us greater acumen in our judgement of the Limit.

Parallel Existence, Differentiated Paths

The argument over nature or nurture remains unabated, with different interpretations unleashing several schools of thoughts. Is a newly born infant a blank slate? or is it tainted by nature? Can clones behave differently? We know identical twins dont really.. Why am i posting about this?

There was once i googled my full name: "ong chin leng". Definitely many entries. I was piqued by the results, and went through 10 pages of the search. What took me aback wasn't the fact that there were quite a number of "chin leng" around. Neither was that there were two matches with the identical name as mine - ong chin leng. I was rather amazed by the many other identical "ong chin leng" could possibly exist in this world, virtually unreported. Many of them obviously didnt made it to the google headlines. Including mine. Of course that depends on the availability of modern communication in places they live in, but for those who made it to the net, it speaks volumes of efforts that these people, or institutions, which try to advertise and convey their interests in making themselves or their customers known.

The first clone of mine was this award winner in NUS. He got an award in doing research regarding electrophoresis. Awesome indeed! I was impressed upon the revelelation. Oh well, then i continued browsing... Guess who is the next person? A hawker who successfully tendered a stall at Toa Payoh area. Not that its inferior, i was just stunned. Again of course that website was a government website, not a personal one. Both are local websites.

Parallel existence indeed. But totally different walks of life. People around them conjure images of "chin leng". People socialising with the NUS achiever would definitely have a different impression than others knowing the hawker named chin leng. Another unpublished chin leng probably exists in some other part of the world. But what i have derived from this small episode is the extent of being conscious of how people view us.

Some are very concerned that others view themselves in a negative way. A few dont want others to construe certain traits of themselves, e.g. selfish, inconsiderate, boot-licker, etc.. Also there is another group who are over conscious, i.e their behaviour and actions therefore revolve around the aim of preventing such unpleasant impressions to be tagged onto them. Indeed all of us may not totally fall into the last category, but we exhibit tinges of such traits here and there in our daily lives. It is often inevitable because it is the workings of our sub conscious. But to allow further degeneration of these thoughts into generalisations and skewed perceptions is to endanger our mental state, hypnotizing our spirits unnecessarily.

There is just this thin, almost undiscernable boundary which separates the two extreme forms of self awareness. The way we are brought up and the environment we live in definitely plays a part in determining our predisposition. Yes, both nature and nurture. We would have to best manage our own expections towards a perceived image of ourself so that we will always lead a balance and fulfilling life.

Only in such a manner our paths in life would be undeviated and uninhibited.