The past one week

Coaching notes

Hazizan coaching Wendy

Micheal coaching us

Above, Bicarasufi friends below, Amanda my massage therapist

Alastair's book

Alastair

Dr Jahid

Life will never be the same again. Things will never look the same nor feel the same. This one week is like a lifetime.
I had a call on Thursday morning from a doctor friend. She asked me to contact a friend of a friend whose daughter had just taken 25 panadols and was now very ill in ICU at Selayang hospital. She had been sent from another hospital after she bled from the orifices ..a sure sign of DIVC. In fact, her organs were in falure already when they decided to transfer her and she was in coma.I was supposed to fetch Al from the airport at 12 that night but changed my plans. Shoved my clothes into my bag, and grabbed hubby and took off to Selayang Hospital. I saw H lying so still and so cold in ICU , checked my bag for the remedy I had made, that had saved the life of a very close relative who had taken close to 50 tabs only to find it missing from my bag. My maid had taken out the botol of remedy and it was now on my table at home! Sadly I told the mum I would make some more and have it sent in the morning. I got a call in the morning from another friend. No need to make the remedy. I was a bit surprised but not for long. She seemed to have stablised , the BP and pulse were steady, no bleeding when I saw her but, in the morning, she started to bleed again and then she died at 6.30. I felt so shattered, she was only 20 years old and had been fasting the whole week before . She was in the midst of exams and had been a little bit down because she felt she did not do too well. We will not know what really happened. When her mum went to see her, she was studying in another state, she was already in coma. We do not know why she took the panadols but I feel sure she did not intend to kill herself ..but she died anyway. It happens so often. I had a patient who swallowed 20 panadols after her lecturer tore up her project which she had slaved over for months, spending money she could barely afford. I had packed her off to the hospital where she slowly slid into a coma but she recovered, with a bad liver and bad gastritis and I had helped her back to health , scolding her and cajoling her, giving her a piece of my mind sometimes and sometimes just listening to her woes until she regarded me as her second Mum. She has finished her studies and is married and so I will be getting not one grandchild soon but two. One from my daughter and another from my "adopted" daughter.

Then we had gone to fetch Alastair at the airport and the next day was the seminar. It was very good. I told Al he had grown in his ablitiy to teach since I last saw him. He had written a book about the experiments he did for several remedies , we call them provings and I was impressed with the systematic way he had done it. A far cry from the earlier provings bythe earlier homeopaths, and even by Hahnemann himself. Of course we have more tools at our disposal now.I did not know how much he appreciated my friendship until he had asked me to write something for him to place on the back cover. I wrote what I felt was real:

"What has always impressed me about Alastair is his dedication and commitment to excellence. His teaching has never been less than magnetic . I have seen Alastair at work and at play. When he does something, he does it with his whole presence and that is the quality that you will find in his provings."

There it was on the back cover!

On Saturday , regretfully I had to leave the seminar for a few hours to attend a gathering of my sufi online friends from Bicarasufi.com.I was on the organising committee. Luckily the place I had booked was within walking distance from Hotel City Villa and I did have a lovely time listening to Dr Jahid and I was delighted to meet friends whom I had never met before. Dr Jahid's short speech penetrated my heart and my sadr ( chest) ..the words so clear , ringing so true. Until today I can still feel the impact on my chest. It still feels kind of full which is one reason I say I will never be the same again. We plan to have more meetings and perhaps the next thing we will organise is forums.
I spent Sunday afternoon bringing Al to Low Yatt to buy some *toys* he wanted. Being the yuppy that he is, he loves all the electronic toys ..he was almost drooling. Al left early Monday morning . Alias took him to the airport.
Monday was an off day for me. I had arranged to get a deep tissue massage with Amanda who has a lovely place in Bangsar she calls the Wellness Place. Amanda had attended the Homeopathy workshop and she came to fetch me from the LRT station , gave me a wonderful massage and sent me back. She does very good work indeed!

On Tuesday was the start of my coaching workshop with Micheal Heah. There were 14 of us there and most of them highpowered people in the business industry. To my surprise I found that I knew a lot more about coaching than I would have thought I did and I also discovered where I need to improve. It was a mind opening 3 days. I am just thinking that I have to be careful or I will find myself in coaching mode with my friends who will then run away because I ask such penetrating questions that make them uncomfortable and have to seek answers!

A whole lot of other things were happening with family and other friends at this time. It had been a real upheaval time.
Of all times a friend chose to develope acute pulmonary embolism and have a manic depressive behaviour disorder , she had to have it during the week I was away. And a frantic other friend could not reach me to go with her to the hospital...
My hubby was transferred back to Melaka because his eyes were not yet fully recovered and he needed a less demanding job for the mean time. It was traumatic for him even though it was for the greatest good.

And so on and so forth. I guess I did not convey my emotions through all of this but perhaps they come through anyway and maybe these pictures will help you get the suasana!

Postscript:
After writing this I realised there may be parts which may be misconstrued. I realise I am not as involved in people as I sound...
I am starting to notice the changes in me. I explain more about what I do since I know people would not know unless I explained to them what I do.So the coaching is helping me to understand marketing and networking.

I'm Back !!!

It has been a long week! I am finally back in my clinic and seeing patients!
More later!

Fan Clubs and other stuf

The Star today has an article on page 10, Mawi pays the price.
Fame has a price !

Fans write mail, some of it hate mail, and some of it telling the do s and the don ts that they expect from their hero/heroin! And when the hero or heroin does not do what they expect , then they will resort to threats, and cajoling and insults or pleading ..
Of course there are the people throwing themselves at the feet of the people they idolize and admire..(Ooops I just read words like idolize are to be avoided by the press because it is against Islam ..have they got a fatwa out yet?)
Now what am I getting at? Just that when you have fans and followers, you have to be aware of their influence upon what you write and how you write. I was going through a blog that has a lot of admirers and comments and I think I detect a change in writing style..Now my advice to the fellow is: don t bow to their demands man! You were doing good before..
This is the real test of being genuine but then again, according to a quantum physics law the mere act of observing changes the observed..there is more about this in Schrodinger's cat!

" And now my friends are looking strange , they shake their heads they say I've changed. Well something's lost and somethings gained in living everyday"

lyrics from the Song Both sides now..who sang it?

My grey mood and literalism

Note the grey suit I was wearing during the training in Perlis.






Segovius on his blog Anulios is in the midst of writing a book. This is to me a very exciting prospect since I feel I ought to write a book or have one written by now but have not gotten around to it , satisfying myself with blog entries. Which begs the question: Why do such talented writers like Dr Roza and Bergen have no desire to write a book while a person like me, who is so serius and no fun at all (almost) want so much to write a book , when I know it would be difficult to engage the casual reader to read a book that I write?
I just have to admit that I am a serious person. The only times I have fun are when I forget to carry the world upon my shoulders . That somehow usually happens when I am dipped into super cold water , like at the waterfall at Sagil and splashed at ! My children have even video cammed me screaming like a kid while dipped in the supercold stream at Sagil!
In the past few days however , my usual seriousness has become even worse because I seem to have taken to wearing only the blue greys in my wardrobe!
So back to this super serious topic of literalism that Segovius has brought up.
Segovius wrote that there are two types of perceiver, the literal and the metaphoric. I think there are more than two types but perhaps we can say there are two main types.
Literalism cause a rigidity in thinking. I think I would say literalists do not understand the shades of grey and see things as either black or white! Something like what George W B had said, a quote that has become pretty famous

"Either you are for us , or against us "

I find what Segovius has to say about The Theory of the Right Man interesting. This theory by a science fiction writer A E Van Gogt

Segovius wrote on his blog:

This theory was first outlined in Van Vogt’s Report on the Violent Male and envisages a type of man who can never accept that they are wrong. They believe that something is true simply because they believe it - the fact that they believe it and they can never conceive of themselves as being wrong is proof of it’s total validity. Hence no supporting or contradicting evidence is necessary and reason flys out of the window, facts are ignored and evidence sometimes suppressed if the sufferer of this condition is in a position to do so.

So there you have it...a possible reason why 'men are always right.' Please note the quote unquote. You would be alarmed to know that it leads to a reason for violence in men..to read further on this you can visit Anulios.

Next comes the main part of what Sergovius will be writing in his book and here is another quote from his blog:

To return to the considerations of these two types in the Islamic context which is what the book is primarily about: the book essentially charts the development of Islam in the non-rigid sense and documents the emergence of the ‘Rightist’ (to coin a phrase) elements within the tradition and the effect of equivalent elements acting on it from elsewhere.

So there you have it. Lately I have been feeling so threatened by the emergence of a degree of intolerence and rigidity in thinking among our fellow Muslims that I started to feel quite insecure. I think that an outspoken person like me can likely be thrown into the jsil just for speaking my thoughts . It could become like what is happening here:
See this example of justice:

Saudi Teacher Sentenced to 750 Lashes

I got this from Mushtaq's blog entry

Meet America's greatest allies in the Middle East.

I keep wondering why governments want to control thinking and ideas and whether they realise that with the internet , they just cannot keep the frogs under the coconut shell anymore , to borrow a Malay proverb. You may be wondering what I am ranting about but take a look at the kind of books that are being banned in Malaysia:

Nine books published in Indonesia banned

It is as if we are unable to think for ourselves and need our thinking controlled and tailored to fit in with some perceived right pattern. Right according to whom? According to the never wrong men ?

Hmmm..... So this is what the grey clothes are all about ..my mild spiritual outlook is becoming political and I now rave and rant?
Now that I have gotten that off my chest , I 'll go back to posting pictures of my garden and aquarium and talking about food. I am so sorry to plant all these revolutionary ideas into your heads my dears.Let us go back to our usual mode then. What is for dinner?

What was I doing in Low Yatt Plaza?

Epson Photo Printer fitted with a continous reinking system. Goodbye dried up cartridges and clogged up print heads.

Broad band modem and wireless router..so why all the wires? It is both wirefull and wirelles!

Pycno is wondering what I was doing in Low Yatt.
I had bought a continuous reinking system for my epson 210 photo printer that was going to save me 90% of my ink bills. I thought I could fix it myself only to find I could not. All I managed to do was get my hands stained with ink of all colors. I had to go back and get it installed..it cost me an extra RM80 ringgit that I thought I could save!But now all I have to do is pour in the ink when it finishes!
And the reason we had to go prior to that was because the wireless router and wireless receiver we bought was not working and we had to change it.All the computers in the house are connected to the broadband now. Total trips 3 ...

The wonders of Travel and other thoughts

I was reflecting yesterday that 40 years ago it would not have been possible for me to be in Perlis in the morning, in Kuala Lumpur by afternoon and back home by bedtime! My nasi lemak breakfast was at a hotel, and then for lunch it was an Indonesia restaurant which seemed to be a branch of a famous Indonesian chain, Garuda and dinner was at a kedai makan IndiaMuslim .
I also had dealings with Malay shopkeepers when I bought belacan and ikan bilis at Pasar Tani in Perlis, dealt with a Chinese fellow at a computer print accessory at Low Yat Plaza and of course there were the Indonesian and Indian cooks and waiters in the restaurants! Indeed this is one of the reasons I love my country Malaysia. We are such a melting pot of races and religions and cultures. No, I am not forgetting the food!Malay food in the morning, Indonesian food at noon and Indian food at night!
During my training the subject of NLP came up . We were discussing how actions follow states of mind and by doing actions which indicate a state of mind, the state of mind can follow the action. Like when we sit with slumped shoulders and turn the corners of the mouth down, after some time we start feeling down!I then had a thought that if I wanted to lose weight I would have to follow the actions of the thin people in the room so I interviewed a thin person. It turns out that she does not think about food and when too busy skips meals! I on the other hand think about what is for my next meal and love food!I was amused to discover that I can get extremely annoyed when patients take up my lunch break!
Yesterday was a very full day in terms of content as well as emotion!
My husband starts work today after seven months on medical leave. Yesterday we sent him to his temporary living quarters near HKL, temporary because when he can see well enough to drive he can move back to our house in KL. It was like sending a child to a hostel and my daughter commented , Baba you used to send us off to study and now we are sending you off! I had nightmares last night over my husband working . This is the first time since he was ill that we are leaving him to fend for himself. His vision is still not fully recovered but he has adapted well and feels he can cope but I am like a mother hen fussing ! His opthomologist wanted to extend his medical leave but he insisted he wanted to work and refused even a letter for light duties.Perhaps I am fooling myself that my sadness is totally concern over him and has nothing to do with having to sleep alone here in my bed in Melaka . I had already known that I was going to be on my own when he got transferred to Kuala Lumpur yet again, but had been given a respite with his long medical leave and it was good to come home with him waiting for me everyday and quite a reversal to having him come back later that me because he often stays back in the office.Once he got into his work routine I knew he would be happy because he loved what he did and put himself into his work wholeheartedly. We had discussed the reasons why he became ill and had so much time away from his work and I had said to him , perhaps that was the only way for you to take a step back from what you do and reexamine it from afar. I feel sure he would be a so much better Timbalan Pengarah now because of the insights gained as a patient as well as the time he was given to step back from his work.
The other thing I had said to him was that when God takes away something He had given to us , something that we take for granted, like vision and then slowly gives it back, like what happened to him , then we appreciate it so much more and we are blessed with that experience.
I was talking from experience. I had keratoconus in my left eye which left me almost blind in my left eye from when I was 24 until I was 44 , ie for 20 years. I finally had my corneal graft and can see from both eyes after 20 years of seeing with only one eye. My vision had returned slowly over a year after the corneal graft . I hardly noticed when I started to see in full sterescopic mode again but indeed the world is beautiful and vision is a blessing. I even think after I got my vision back, I could see better with my innner eye as well as my outer eyes.
Subhanallah! I used to ask God, why did you take away vision from my eye dear Lord? And when I got it back, I knew the answer...so that I can give you greater vision in the future my beloved. Yes , indeed I am God's beloved ..so are we all......

The meaning of Worship

Kevin wrote in his Blog under the title Love or Worship

In orthodox Islam, the object of creation is the worship of God," said Najaf. "This is a relationship of subordination - a one-way relationship in which God is the master and the devotee is the slave. This relationship means that if you worship God, you will get rewarded - on the Day of Judgement, you will go to paradise - and if you do not, you go to hell.

He goes on the say how sufis do not agree with this but I think the difference is not so much a disagreement . I think sufis believe the same , that the object of the creation of the human ie insan is for worship of God as is stated in the Quran (Wa ma khalaqta jinni wal ins Illa lya'budun).

I think the difference is in the understanding.When we understand what worshipping God means we will understand the reason for our creation:
It is true that the Quran says that the reason for creation of Insan is to worship God. But worship does NOT mean formal worship as in prayer and fasting and going for Haj..These are only the vehicles to get to the connection with God and this communication then reveals to us our purpose in life and fulfilling that purpose is the worship that is meant . In the end the worship that is required of us has to effect an evolution of not only our humanity but the collective consciousness of the universe

After thoughts:
These after thoughts came as a result of a private communication I had with a beloved friend on email. She has been unhappy with her not regular at prayers husband. I have this to say about this:Many people say their prayers regularly like clockwork but the rote prayers do nothing for them to increase their connection with the Divine. Then again there are some who hardly say any prayers but are very connected. I am not saying one need not say prayers , Lord knows I say mine like a broken clock ( ie sometimes slightly late) but never missed.
I am only saying prayers are a means to an end and you need not judge a person by their prayers or lack of it since it is between that person and God. What we do need to do with people especially our nearest and dearest is to focus on their goodness and pray for their increased connection to the Divine for only in that lies salvation .

Nerd

I never quite knew why my sons do not like to be called nerds or to be associated in the least with the group of people called nerds.I now think I have got to the bottom of the mystery why my very intelligent sons underachieved in school! There seems to be a conspiracy among boys to not do too well and to not study too hard. Somehow or other, girls do not have the same problem and my daughters can get away with good results without risking being classed into the nerd category.

What has triggered this post is Doctor in the House blog entry

My Grousing Thoughts

DITH was describing how the village people never give a thought to studies preferring instead to be lepakkers ..I really have no English word for lepak , is it because it is very much a Malay thing? The closest I can think of is loitering which does not quite convey the term lepak!

When Ood commented that our sons are getting harder to raise because they seem to fall either into the nice but sotong types ( read effeminate?? nerds??) or super macho lepakkers ..note that I am paraphrasing here and those are not her exact words , I commented that it sounds pretty gloomy.

My son Aiman/Elman gets seriously alarmed with the term nerd though and indeed I would not apply it to him even though he is intelligent enough to become a nerd. I suspect the boys have an idea that a nerd is socially inept and perhaps even emotionally unintelligent . Does it really have to follow that a person who is smart is also not intelligent emotionally? Or is it because of the reputation smart children have that make them that way?

This now brings us to the more serious subject of why is it that our boys do not like to be called brainy, studious, hardworking or nerd? !It is my feeling that it is also a reason that boys lag far behind girls academically in school and some classes in some faculties in the IPT have an enrollment of 1 boy to every 4 girls or even worse!
Now how bad could a nerd be , let us have a look:
Here is the Wikipedia entry on Nerds with all the relevent interlinks:

Nerd, as a stereotypical or archetypal designation, refers to people of above-average intelligence whose interests (often in science and mathematics) are not shared by mainstream society.

I leave you to explore the definition as well as the change in meaning the word has undergone.
Interestingly girls who are called nerds view it as an accomplishment !

I only pray we will be able to develope a culture of intelligent, hard working boys who are strong enough to rise above the status quo not to be afraid of labels which do not mean anything and can sabotage their future. It is just possible that the nerds of the present are the Insanul Kamil of the future.

Geek Postscript:
It seems that the work Geek is now complimentary. Let us hope that nerd goes the same way soon!:

from wikipedia

Geek has always had negative connotations within society at large, where being described as a geek tends to be an insult. The term has recently become less condescending, or even a badge of honor, within particular fields and subcultures; this is particularly evident in the technical disciplines, where the term is now more of a compliment denoting extraordinary skill.

The Prey and the preyer

I have decided I do not like politics and anything to do with it. I also prefer to focus on my sphere of influence not on my sphere of concern. Reading about murders and killings and corruption makes me sad and sometimes I feel that things are so hopeless.
Lately I have come face to face with the worst kind of corruption possible , people preying on the weak and powerless. I do not have the strength to fight this with my might but the least I can do is to relate what I had come face to face with.

I had an inkling of this kind of preying while I was in Chowkit one day, just beside the Bomba station in front of Brisdale hotel. I had gone out to get a breather during one of my seminars. I saw 2 policemen roughing up a young man. I think he was Indonesian. I sensed something was wrong. I felt very angry then but did not do anything about it although I felt very strongly like asking the two policemen what they were doing. Perhaps the young man did not have a valid visa or something but I knew the two policemen wanted money from the hapless chap.

Last week I wanted to see one of my rehab patients. I heard from my clinic nurse that he had a problem with the law and wanted his version of it. He told me about being taken to the police station because of his cell phone. The policeman insisted it was stolen and brought a girl whose phone was missing to identify the phone my patient had with him.The girl denied it was her phone. It was his own phone. It was near Hari Raya and the policeman wanted money to make ends meet. He asked my patient for money. My patient did not have any and the policeman said," Then I will frame you and get you thrown in jail" So my patient , let us call him Amin, was forced by the policeman to give him his cell phone. I asked Amin why give in when he was not guilty of anything? Amin said he did not want any trouble, it was so near to Hari Raya and he did not want his mum to be upset . He had done enough in the past to make his mum sad he said, so he just gave in because he did not want any trouble. I know my rehab patients are talented actors and can put on a pretty convincing "poor me " show but this was for real. I gave a big sigh and shook my head. Do something about it Amin, report the fellow.

Today Arisham wanted to see me .The tall muscular good looking young man with a pony tail looked troubled. I have an open door policy for my rehab patients and told them they can come in to discuss with me whatever needed airing. Arisham needed to talk so I just listened. He told me on the third day of Raya he was held up at a road block and the policeman asked him if he had taken drugs. He had been clean for a whole year but the day before he had met some of his old friends and someone had given him a joint of cannabis. So thinking honesty was the best policy he told the policeman yes he had smoked cannabis , just a little. The man arrested him and took a urine sample. And then came the bombshell. Have you got RM2000? If you have, then I will make sure your urine is clean. He did not have the money and spent the night in the lock up. The next day he got out on a bail of RM1000.It was his own money. The fact that he had this money was because he had been clean for a year, but that was all he had. He was saving it for something. What is he to do? His case will be mentioned in two weeks and if he did not have the money he was looking at at least 4 months jail and rotan because he was a repeat offender who was still on parole from the Pusat Serenti. I asked him why did he smoke the cannabis when he had been clean for so long and he said because of friends and he looked at me as if expecting me to understand and actually I did understand. To a drug addict or a recovering drug addict his friends were part of an emotional support system that saw him through his drug clouded mind and life. Nobody accepted him except his friends and nobody understood the love affair with drugs except his friends so he owed them and was loyal to them and besides, what was cannabis compared to his heroin addiction? I could only listen but in my heart I was so sad.
Why are there such buzzards in our society? What is the blessing in money obtained from such extortion?I looked sorrowfully at Arisham and asked him, would you do this again? Of course at that point in time he was repentent and vehemently said no. I felt God the most merciful would forgive this truly repentant man even as I also knew he would forget and fall again...for drug addiction is a chronic relapsing illness...why do buzzards and vultures prey on the ill and hapless.?

I already know the answer: " Because it is their nature."


Old turkey buzzard
Old turkey buzzard
Flying flying high
Buzzards just a waiting
Buzzards just a waiting
Waiting for the people down below to die
Old buzzard knows that he can wait
For every mother's child has got a date
A date with pain..

from the theme song of Mackenna's Gold....

I do not want to tangle with these people!

Oh dear!
I think it is a mess to get involved in a huge debate over argumentative types who are illogical.

OK here is a list of characteristics of rigid and narrow minded people I should avoid having any kind of interaction with.

This is not my work , cannot remember where I ciplak it from though. Why I brought it back to mind is because of a little discussion I had with a friend's son who is studying in Bogor under a guru yang murshid...whose lessons hit him in the heart ...
He told me , there are now 3 groups very active proselytizing in universities ..God help us. One of the groups is like what is portrayed below.
.............................................................................................................................................................
You can fill in the blank with any brand of interfering .......................

1. DENIAL That is the first identifying mark. They will flatly deny they are ............ They will say, there is no such thing as ................. or ............. They will say "I am just a............................ "I don't believe in sects". Don't be fooled by any of this. Read on...

2. TOO MUCH KNOWLEDGE Another distinguishing factor. Usually these folks have a lot of knowledge about the Religion of their choice but of a certain understanding only.

3. INTERFERING A special characteristic. This is a certain giveaway. These people are interfering. Trust them to stick their noses in EVERY AFFAIR.I know...... who go along with a janaza/burial procession, and at the time of burial will stick their noses in, scolding the bereaved
family to do this and not to do this. This interference is blatant in every sphere of life. These people are incapable of keeping their noses out of any matter. They just have to give their $0.02 worth, otherwise they suffer from a severe indigestion.

4. INTOLERENCE
Combine #2 and #3 above and you have a sure recipe for intolerance.
These people have least tolerance for people of other beliefs.
Be it anyone. These people judge everyone according to their own narrow microscope and then pass judgements. Their judgement is usually negative. Religious telerance and unity/brotherhood is usually low on their list of priorities.

5. KEYWORDS
Another dead giveaway. Remember these three keywords. The people who use
these words a lot, you would know who they are. These three words are innovation unbeliever and "associating other gods with god". Any action to which they do not believe in, based on their own knowledge is one of the above tolerance for spiritual matters and tend to think of everything as black and white. What they don't understand is, to them, obviously wrong.

6. OH, SO LOGICAL!
These ppl are very logical. They tend to prove/disprove everything from the books. Usually authentic books. The sad point is, that their hearts are usually dead. They don't understand anything spiritual or mystical. They feel there should be nothing spiritual about
muslims. Everything we require is in the books. So they tend to flap helplessly when confronted with the mystical aspects of Islam. But then their logical minds kick in. Here is how it works: We don't know about it - So - Its not in the books - So - Thats not ........- So -Those who do it are Ignorant/etc" - So - - So - This is wrong - So - They will go to hellfire - Hence WE ARE
RIGHT!

So what can we do: Unfortunately, not much!.... Thats sad, but true. Just chill. All
you can do it to stay away from discussing anything religious with them. Don't fight with them. Although very inappropriate under the circumstances, and very politically incorrect, but there is one very wise saying in Irish which is apt to convey what I am trying to
convey... ( I deleted this because it was just too bad) .......
Same here. Don't debate. Stay away. They will mess up your beliefs and you wouldn't know. They will try and shove down their own microscopic ..........................( fill in the apropriate religion or ism) down your throats. If you really want to talk to them, just discuss with them weather, cricket, cars, anything...but religion/ism. And you will live a happy life.

This breed of people is growing everyday. This group is created on the base of "fear". Their scholars will frighten others by saying that what they are doing is wrong and they will be put into hellfire if they don't follow the ........ (in their words, "true Religion/ism).

Son, you re too big for Ma to carry

Sume wrote a poem in the style of of villanelle.

I found it so inspiring. Seems like good advise to give to our children .

It is titled to Icarus with love. Icarus was a greek character whose father made wings for with feather and wax .His father Daedalus told him the limitations of the wings, that is he is not to fly near water and not to fly too close to the sun. Icarus was too excited over the new found freedom and flew too close to the sun. The wings melted and Icarus perished.Daedalus flew to safety and built a monument dedicated to Icarus . Icarus became the symbol for the dangers of the over exuberance of youth.

Sumes poem is worth a read:

To Icarus, Love Mom

Garden Pics

Elman inadevertently left his digicam and SIL had a heyday snapping pics. He is quite a camera man, taking in small details that we may not even notice , coming to and fro, not realising there is such beauty around.








Helwa looking at Koi in the pond



This butterfly was hovering above the flower and later settled on the flower



Sphinx cat? She watches from the pillar of the fence down the road and watches the cars go by
White lilly . Is it true that the flowers face north south east west?

A dragonfly

Reviewing my 7s

Dr Roza, you would be tickled to know I have registered for a coaching tools class to fulfill one of my 7 things to do!

Dirundung Malang

I promised to write 3 more articles for Jendela Hikmah ..already wrote 2. Feel free to comment , this not published yet...so you fellow bloggers get first hand read. To my English readers sorry because the newspaper I write for is in Bahasa. My topic is titled When disaster strikes and the quotes are all from the Quran , at least you can see which verses I quoted.


Setiap manusia yang hidup akan dirundung malang . Ini adalah sunatullah. Pernahkah terfikir kenapa setiap yang hidup akan lalui liku liku duka disamping saat saat suka? Apakah hikmah disebalik duka dan apakah hikmah disebalik suka. Kalalu ini sunnatullah sudah tentu ada sebab musabab setiap perkara itu berlaku.
Setiap kali musibah besar berlaku, ada yang rugi dan dirundung malang. Kadang-kadang skala musibah yang meimpa tak dapat di fikirkan dengan minda dan ada yang tidak dapat terima walaupun ada didepan mata seperti mana berlaku semasa ombak Tsunami menuju pantai pada bulan Disember yang lalu.
Adakah musibah itu malapetaka yang berlaku kepada orang yang jahat dan tidak ingatkan Allah . Adakah ia berlaku sebab manusia terlalu biadab hingga patut saja dimusnahkan ?Itu yang kita diberitahu dalam Al Quran dengan ayat-ayat yang ceritakan tentang kaum Aad dan Kaum Thamud serta umat Nabi Lut yang memang di musnahkan sebab sudah menjadi tamadun yang terlalu rosak binasa dan biadab .
Namun demikian bukan semua yang berlaku akibat perangai manusia yang melampau batas . Sebenarnya setiap musibah menduga yang kena dan yang tak kena . Belum tahu kehebatan seorang sehingga krisis melanda. Saat krisis barulah kita tahu hati budi orang yang dilanda krisis dan juga orang sekeliling orang yang dilanda krisis.


Amat mudah kita perkatakan dan menghukum manusia lain sedangkan kita tidak berada dalam keadaan manusia itu. Maka saya sendiri tidak tergamak nak lakukan demikian , ia itu menuduh orang yang ditimpa malang sebagai mencetuskan keadaan malang itu sendiri. Namun demikian lihatlah pada ayat Quran ini:

Dan apa saja musibah yang menimpa kamu maka adalah disebabkan oleh perbuatan tanganmu sendiri, dan Allah memaafkan sebagian besar (dari kesalahan-kesalahanmu). (QS. 42:30)

Ayat ini dengan tegasnya berkata bahawa setiap musibah yang menimpa diri kita adalah akibat perbuatan diri kita sendiri dengan tidak ada kecualinya. Ayat ini juga diikuti dengan peringatan tentang keampunan Allah terhadap sebahagian besar kesalahan-kesalahan kita. Bagaimana harus kita mengambil ayat ini, lebih-lebih lagi bila malapetaka yang berlaku dalam skala gempa bumi dan tsunami serta ribut taufan dan banjir besar?Apa pula bila yang ditimpa adalah umat Islam yang kita rasakan umat yang patuh taat kepada Allah swt?Ada pula tsunami yang melanda rumah tangga dan gempa bumi yang porak perandakan keluarga . Kesemuanya adalah akibat perbuatan diri -diri ini?

Cuba lihat pada perkara yang berada di dada akhbar hari ini. Seorang kanak lelaki umur 10 tahun mati kena kejutan letrik setelah mencelup tangannya kedalam air pancut kepunyaan Majlis Bandaran. Adalah anak itu membuat dosa besar sedangkan anak itu belum baligh. Faktanya begini.

1 Anak itu celup tangannya kedalam air ..ini perbuatannya sendiri . Salahkah perbuatannya itu? Pada hakikatnya tidak salah.
2. Air pancut itu mempunyai kebocoran kuasa letriknya kedalam air dalam kolam. Salah siapa? Kemungkinan besar salah pihak Majlis yang tidak membuat pemeriksaan berkala untuk pastikan keselamatan air pancut berkenaan.
3. Tiada yang tahu cara untuk menyelamatkan anak itu dengan tidak membahayakan diri sendiri . Salah siapa? Salah orang sekeliling sebab tidak tahu belajar langkah keselamatan. Mungkin juga salah pihak pemerintah sebab tidak masukkan pelajaran tentang langkah-langkah wajar keselamatan dalam kurikulum sekolah dan juga kedada media massa.

Melihat fakta seperti di atas ini maka fahamlah kita tentang apa yang dimaksudkan dengan musibah yang menimpa kamu adalah disebabkan oleh perbuatan tanganmu sendiri . Tetapi kamu yang dimaksudkan bukan seorang manusia tetapi sekumpulan manusia yang masing-masing perlu mainkan peranannya untuk memastikan keselamatan dan juga memahami langkah yang patut diambil pada setiap krisis yang melanda. Kalaulah setiap individu dalam masyarakat bertanggung jawab atas tindak tanduk mereka dan juga mengambil berat masaalah kebajikan kesemua anggota masyarakat , akan berkuranglah malang yang timpa kepada kelompok manusia itu.

Maka kita boleh yakin bahawa walaupun malang yang menimpa adalah akibat keputusan yang kita buat , ini tidak bererti kita mungkin tidak berdosa dengan keputusan itu walaupun keputusan kita telah menyebabkan musibah menimpa diri.
Maka sikap yang dimbil oleh orang yang terkena musibah adalah seperti yang disebutkan dalam ayat ini:

"Dan sungguh akan Kami berikan cobaan kepadamu, dengan sedikit ketakutan, kelaparan, kekurangan harta, jiwa dan buah-buahan. Dan berikanlah berita gembira kepada orang-orang yang sabar, (155)(yaitu) orang-orang yang apabila ditimpa musibah, mereka mengucapkan:"Innaa lillahi wa innaa ilaihi raaji'uun". (156) Surah Al Baqarah

Ramai juga yang sebelum diduga menjangka mereka manusia yang hebat dan gembira, merasakan diri mereka disayangi Allah swt tetapi bila timpa musibah merasakan pula amat kecewa dan sedih, Malahan ada yang memarahi tuhan, mengatakan kepada Allah , inikah balasan Mu Ya Allah dengan kestetiaan dan ketaatanku terhadap Mu?

Allah SWT telah berfirman tentang perkara ini:

Dan apabila Kami rasakan suatu rahmat pada manusia, niscaya mereka gembira dengan rahmat itu.Dan apabila mereka ditimpa suatu musibah (bahaya) disebabkan kesalahan yang telah dikerjakan oleh tangan mereka sendiri, tiba-tiba mereka itu berputus asa. (QS. 30:36)

Ayat dibawah ini menegaskan ayat yang saya sebutkan awal tadi serta menyatakan sikap orang beriman yang tetap akan beruntung walaupun dirunding malang.

"Tidak ada sesuatu musibahpun yang menimpa seseorang kecuali denga izin Allah; Dan barang siapa yang beriman kepada Allah, niscaya Dia akan memberi petunjuk kepada hatinya. Dan Allah Maha Mengetahui segala sesuatu"QS. 64:11)

Nasihat dari Al Quran bagi yang di timpa malang.

"Janganlah kamu bersikap lemah, dan janganlah (pula) kamu bersedih hati, padahal kamulah orang-orang yang paling tinggi (derajatnya), jika kamu orang-orang yang beriman." (QS. 3:139)

Ayat di atas ini diturunkan berkenaan dengan peperangan Uhud di mana umat Islam ditimpa kekalahan dan banyak di kalangan umat Islam menemu shahid. Maka Allah swt menasihatkan umat Islam yang di timpa malang supaya jangan lemah semangat , jangan bersedih hati sendangkat mereka sebagai orang yang beriman tinggi derajat mereka jika mereka benar-benar beriman. Ayat ini menunjukkan kecekalan dan keanjalan yang patut ada kepada orang yang benar-benar beriman dan menyerah diri bulat-bulat kepada Allah swt.

Ayat di bawah ini masih tentang peperangan Uhud tetapi lihat bagaimana Allah menyebutkan malang dan kekalahan itu sebagai ujian dan juga untuk membeszakan antara manusia yang mana beriman serta musibah itu sebagai kifarat menghapuskan dosa dan memberi ganjaran untuk memasuk syurga Allah.

"Jika kamu (pada perang Uhud) mendapat luka, maka sesungguhnya kaum (kafir) itupun (pada perang Badar) mendapat luka yang serupa. Dan masa (kejayaan dan kehancuran) itu, Kami pergilirkan di antara manusia (agar mereka mendapat pelajaran); dan supaya Allah membedakan orang-orang yang beriman (dengan orang-orang kafir) dan supaya sebagian kamu dijadikan-Nya (gugur sebagai) syuhada. Dan Allah tidak menyukai orang-orang yang zalim, (
dan agar Allah membersihkan orang-orang yang beriman (dari dosa mereka) dan membinasakan orang-orang yang kafir.Apakah kamu mengira bahwa kamu akan masuk surga, padahal belum nyata bagi Allah orang-orang yang berjihad di antaramu, dan belum nyata orang-orang yang sabar. (QS. 3:140-142)

Nyata, setiap musibah dan mala petaka tidak berkekalan dan berpanjangan pasti ada jalan keluar darinya dan jalan keluar ini kadang kala adalah dengan pertolongan orang yang bertanggung jawab , sukarelawan, sahabat handai, pihak pemerintah dan lain lain yang mana ada disana tugas dan tanggung jawab yang telah diperincikan dalam sistem kebajikkan Islam . Sudah tentu membela nasib orang yang dalam kesusahan tanggung jawab semua dalam masyarakat.Ini juga Sunatullah.

Akhirkata bagi pihak kita yang mungkin sedang mengalami Tsunami jiwa atau keluarga, Alllah menjanjikan jalan keluar dari masaalah. Tidak ada jalan yang buntu dan ini bukan omong kosong dari saya tetapi juga janji Allah swt

"Barangsiapa yang bertaqwa kepada Allah niscaya Dia akan mengadakan baginya jalan ke luar. Dan memberinya rezki dari arah yang tidada disangka-sangkanya. Dan barangsiapa yang bertawakkal kepada Allah niscaya Allah akan mencukupkan (keperluan)nya. Sesungguhnya Allah melaksanakan urusan (yang dikehendaki)-Nya. Sesungguhnya Allah telah mengadakan ketentuan bagi tiap-tiap sesuatu." (QS. 65:2-3)

B l e s s e d

Someone sent this to my healing list and when I read it my heart opened up, my eyes grew moist and my emotions became tender.

Blessed are they who make

willing sacrifices in kindness.

Blessed are they who see the star of their souls

as the light that is seen in the port from the sea.

Blessed are they who patiently strive

in the cause of truth and do not weary.

Blessed are the unselfish friends

and they whose motto in life is constancy.

Blessed are they who cover the scars of others

even from their own sight.

Blessed are the innocent who believe and trust.

Blessed are they who hear the call

from the minarets of their hearts.

Blessed are they who fear lest they cause another

the slightest hurt by thought, word, or deed.

Blessed are they who rest in the abode of their souls.

Blessed are the proud in God,

for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who have found their life’s purpose.

From “The Complete Sayings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, 1978, Sufi Order Publications, New Lebanon, NY,

Suras 551-561, pp. 64-65. (insignificantly revised/reorganized by Sharing Futures, Ltd. Houston, TX, 2005)

Oh Lord , that I remember this always

And the servants of the Most Beneficent (Allâh) are those who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness, and when the foolish address them (with bad words) they reply back with mild words of gentleness.

Sura furqan, 25:64.

The Truth : between knowledge and real Knowing

There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul."

-- Arnold Bennett

When I read this quote I realised its truth and it made me recall something that was stated in the Quran which said and I am paraphrasing what I understand from it here:

The bedoiun said they have faith ( are mukmin), tell them to say, we have surrendered (Islam) for faith(iman) has yet to come to them.

I take this to mean that it takes time for the experience of Islam to become Faith. That doing and practising what the Prophet taught is what produces the changes. It is like the difference in knowing that we are looking at a picture of the Pyramids and actually having been there, experiencing the desert air and the feel of the stones and the atmosphere, the sun and the desert around.

Looking for Peace gone wrong?

I asked my patient's permission to take these photos of the stump that was left from the amputation of his left leg. He was a drug addict who went on a drug replacement program but missed the highs he used to get on Morphine. Being an intravenous user, he dissolved the subutex that he was supplied with and injected it into his femoral vein . Something he had been doing for guite some time. The last time he did this however, he made a mistake and injected the cocktail he had made into his femoral artery which, as a result was totally destroyed after getting infected and ulcerated. He went to the hospital too late, the blood supply to his left leg was completely cut off and the leg became gangrenous and had to be amputated.He was not my patient to start with, only coming when the pain from the leg that was at that time gangrenous was causing his too much pain. At that point the doctors had told him,go home and wait till the leg gets bad enough for us to amputate. He was screaming in pain and there was nothing I could do except to give him more subutex and dormicum to help him get some peace and relief.
These photos are a grim reminder of what can go wrong in our search for joy...if only people knew that zikr and meditation can bring more joy than drugs.

From Inner Journey

I''ll comment on this later.

Apply what you know

"Knowledge of any kind ... brings about a change in awareness from where it is possible to create new realities."

-- Deepak Chopra

As we evolve, we handle knowledge in different ways. We tend to move through these stages:

- We are unaware.
- We become aware of facts, data, information.
- We comprehend meaning from the facts.
- We can personally apply the information in our lives.
- We have wisdom - enlightened, we can lovingly apply our knowledge to world affairs.
- We live in truth.

How have you personally experienced a shifting of applying knowledge from one level to the next?

"More important than finding the teacher is finding and following the truth of the teaching...."

-- Sogyal Rinpoche

"There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul."

-- Arnold Bennett

I am?

Come on take the test!



You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


Congratulations! If your mission in life
is not already to preserve the English tongue,
it should be. You can smell a grammatical
inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is
revered by the underlings, though some may
blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just
jealous. Go out there and change the world.


How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)
brought to you by Quizilla

Reminders (Ian Watson)

My introdcution to Ian was his book Methodologies in Homeopathy. A book sent to me from the UK by an online friend. A book I really appreciated and had determined for me the direction my homeopathy was to take. Since then I had expanded my horizons to healing the spirit and the emotions. I had no idea that Ian was also on a similar path.
I found his website and his writings via a link sent to my Beyond Homeopathy mailing list.
Here are some quotes from Ian. He calls them reminders because he teaches that we already know everything we need to know and what anybody can do for us is to remind us.
............................................................................................................

Consciousness

Consciousness, energy and matter are a trinity. They are three aspects of the one thing.

---

Growth

If you really want to help people to grow, you have to be willing to give them back to themselves

---

Life of the Spirit

Moving your centre of gravity from the outer material concerns of life to the inner realm of spirit - that is the work of the maturing adult human being.

---

Doing What you Love

It's said that if you do what you love, the money will follow. Well, it may or may not, but at least you'll be doing what you love and, quite likely, loving what you do. In my experience, that beats getting well paid for doing something that robs you of the joy of life.

---

Clarity

When you really get down to clarifying exactly what it is you're seeking, you will inevitably be surprised to discover that you already have it.

---

Movement

'I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.'
Oliver Wendell Holmes

---

Compost

Composting is as good a metaphor for the spiritual life as I have come across. You take what appears to be waste material - that which is normally thrown away - and you contain it. With a little bit of encouragement, it starts to break down, and what starts out stinking and slimy is transformed into something sweet and full of the essence of life itself. Out of decay and death comes new life - it's an ever-present theme in nature that we do well to remember.

---

Paradox

All truth contains a paradox. Only when we embrace a pair of opposites do we get a taste of the whole picture. Even then, it's only a taste. It's not the whole picture!

---

Acceptance

One of the secret keys to healing is acceptance. Allowing things to be as they are (not how we want them to be) is a necessary first step towards change.

---

Being Yourself

It takes no effort to be yourself. On the other hand, it takes a lot of effort to be something that you're not.

Global Peace Mission

Ikelah just came back from heading the second Global Peace Mission in Pakistan. You can donate using your handphone.

More at the Global Peace Website.

http://www.keamanan.net/

To donate RM5 ,
type GPMspace5 and send to
39111

The amount will be deducted from your handphone bill.
You can key in any amount from RM1-RM10

The money is for the earthquake victims in South Asia

The Fellowship of the Bloggers..

As you probably would have guessed , this entry is about our Bloggers meeting which was held on the second day of Hari Raya, at the Berjaya Hotel located in Times Square. Our gracious host was none other than the mysterious Pycnogenol and family.
I was a little late because I actually arrived more than half an hour early so decided to run an errand at the nearby Low Yatt Plaza, not knowing that parking was going to be rather difficult, we ended up parking at Basement 5 and then proceeded to go to the computer supplies store to exchange a defective item ..which we finally managed to do, after some argument..it seems that the particular store I had unwittingly bought from has to be dealt with in that manner. My only regret was that I had wanted to pretend to be angry, not get angry...We knew how the store management operated based on the experience of others who dealt with the store!

So we ended up being second last to come, just before Hiyoshi.

For me it was an anticlimax because the mysterious Pycnogenol and family turned out to be quite ordinary. Now I don t meant that in an uncomplimentary manner. They were ever so pleasant and nice ..and not controversial nor mysterious or flamboyant ..just a lovely sweet looking family that I feel belong to the top 5% of citizens in Malaysia in terms of pleasantness and achievements.I am not talking about money here. The children were charming and yes, little introverted. Pycno was charming and a wonderful host..The food was very nice, and I finally found my kacang ,,I was searching for kachang in all of the houses I had been to earlier and there was none served. So I was very pleased to find it as well as a lovely carrot cake!

As you know in my comments in Hiyoshi's blog, I had a conversation with him over study smart and study hard... I was sitting next to Ikelah and he told me something of the happenings in Balakot and also Aceh . It is quite depressing really, to hear of the tragedies and the degree of help or rather the lack of help that the earthquake victims are getting.

You would want to know about Dr Roza and Inositol as well as the rest of the people who came to the meeting.

Inositol was also lovely, I believe she brought some of the food we ate. She did not say much to me but it felt as if we were good friends and Dr Roza also felt the same way to me. We seemed to share a lot of things in common and I immediately felt very much at home.

The most difficult thing for me to do was to actually leave the gathering, there was so much to talk about , so many things to discusss but we finally had to go anyway.

As I said earlier , I felt that Pycno and family represented a very small section of Malaysian society and even if we narrow it down to Muslim society , they and the rest of the bloggers present represented a small section. For one thing , all of those present spoke good English, for another , most of us there were bloggers. Another difference was the emphasis on education , that was pretty clear since many of the children were in IPT and of the adults present all were graduates and some had gone on to Phd's. I probably am going to go off on a deep end over this but suffice to say this group represents the conscience of our society and not only that, they represent that part of society who are empowered , whether they realise it or not. In what way will each member of this group contribute to the betterment of our country..and the world? Insya allah, I hope through the years to follow the progress of our Fellowship. We may not at the moment have a Quest but who knows, perhaps the Quest is taking shape even as I write for nothing happens without reason.

Later in the car when we were driving back to Melaka, I asked my 3 children who were with me about the way I had brought them up ie in a very relaxed hands off manner . providing them with whatever support they needed but not doing much forcing or supervising except to lay down some groundrules , do s and don ts as well as the basics of prayers and other Muslim practises which we enforced and showed by example ..the answer and feedback they gave is interesting .
It turns out that all my children think differently from their peers , are nonconformists, get along well with different groups of people .They are also regular with their prayers and conscientious about religous duties , are well mannered children but love their fun. I think my children have somewhat experimented and tried out things on the edge of the tenets of religion but having done so have probably decided that it is not for them...Because my way of bringing them up is based on trust, I have never ruled over them with an iron hand, neither has my husband .There is the downside of all this . Since I never enforced on them any compulsory studying , my children do not get excellent results that enable them to get scholarships and I have to fork out money for their tertiary education although their natural intelligence and the amount of effort they put in places them above average in their studies. On the other hand, because of my free style, they spend a lot of time studying other than their school subjects and learn about cause and effect the hard way...It makes them more worldly wise, as well as creates in them independent thinking..I cannot wait to see how they do in terms of getting jobs and earning their own money as well as contributing to society. A mistake I and my husband have made is to overprotect them and over indulge them by providing for them too well..more hardship in their lives would have perhaps prepared them better to face life in the real world, not the world their parents bought for them and provided for them. I write my thoughts for the sake of my blogger friends who have children who are still small..perhaps time to rethink what you as parents are doing for your children and how you are preparing them for the real world. We older folks belong to a less luxurious time, we belong to a more hardworking generation, we had less priveleges ...As for my children who read this entry, well children, time for self direction , time to tighten your belts and time to assess how you are going to be the responsible adults of the future , the Khalifah of God and be responsible not only for yourselves but for the direction the country and the world is going to take .

EID MUBARAK, SELAMAT HARI RAYA

My best wishes for everyone on the the Eid! Will be away for a few days, but will be meeting up with the Fellowship of the Blog at Times Square...see you there..3 pm on Friday...details on Pycnogenol's blog..

Maaf Zahir Batin...jika terkasar , terlepas cakap, ter ter ter...