Paradigm Shift: Is it possible?

I was thinking about paradigm shift the other day. Being able to see things from another point of view can make such a difference in our attitude towards others in our life.

The following is an anecdote from the Reader's Digest. This is a classic example of a paradigm shift.

A friend of mine, returning to South Africa from a long stay in Europe, found herself with some time to spare at London's Heathrow Airport. Buying a cup of coffee and a small package of cookies, she staggered, laden with luggage, to an unoccupied table. She was reading the morning paper when she became aware of someone rustling at her table. From behind her paper, she was flabbergasted to see a neatly dressed young man helping himself to her cookies. She did not want to make a scene, so she leaned across and took a cookie herself. A minute or so passed. More rustling. He was helping himself to another cookie.

By the time they were down to the last cookie in the package, she was very angry but still could not bring herself to say anything. Then the young man broke the cookie in two, pushed half across to her, and ate the other half and left.

Some time later, when the public-address system called for her to present her ticket, she was still fuming. Imagine her embarrassment when she opened her handbag and was confronted by her package of cookie. She was eating his package of cookie this whole time.

Often our paradigm of others are incomplete, inaccurate or completely messed up. From our limited point of view, we seldom see the whole picture or have all the facts with us.

We should always open our minds and hearts to new information, ideas and point of views.

It is obvious that if we want to make big changes in our lives, the key is to change our paradigm or the glasses through which we see the world. Change the lens and everything else follows.

Gandhi once said 'Be the change you want to see in others'.

Lost and insecure, you found me.

I found God
On the corner of first and Amistad
Where the west was all but won
All alone, smoking his last cigarette
I said 'where you been?' He said 'ask anything' (so I asked God)
'Where were you'?
When everything was falling apart
All my days were spent by the telephone
It never rang
And all I needed was a call
That never came
To the corner of first and Amistad

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me

In the end everyone ends up alone
Losing her, the only one who's ever known
Who I am, who I'm not, who I want to be
No way to know how long she will be next to me

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me

Early morning, city breaks
I've been calling for year and years amd years and years
And you never left me no messages
You never send me no letters
You got some kind of nerve, taking all I want

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Where were you, where were you

Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me

Why'd you have to wait?
To find me, To find me

I love this song to bits...it expresses my feelings completely.

Calvin & Hobbes on death.

Calvin and Hobbes has been my favourite comic strip of all time. This comic strip pretty much sums up what being a kid is like. Constantly feeling out of sync with the rest of the world, and thus retreating to the world you create for yourself in your mind. Sometimes I feel the same way as Calvin does, so it is easy for me to relate to Calvin and the interesting life he leads. For a boy who has mischief on his mind all the time (without actually realising it), it's nice to see him having a heart and being emotional when losing something he loves.

Calvin and Hobbes in the comic strips above sums up what it feels like losing someone you cared about.

Thinking of you, Ron. Missing your mischief smile.

Aristotle

Aristotle once said 'Anyone can become angry' - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way - this is not easy. It is really hard to be angry if you think of it. It actually takes purposeful effort to be angry with someone.

Erasing life?

Mistakes.
We all make them. Sometimes, if we're lucky, an eraser will do the trick, and we can rub it across the page. We can wipe away the dust and all that's left of our careless mess is a hardly noticeable smudge.

But some mistakes can't be erased. No matter how old or young we are.
I learned that life doesn't come with erasers.

Religion, etc

I have not written for more than a year, alot has happened since then. It's like a bad roller-coaster ride that makes you wanna gagged. But today is a new day and a new year and I wanna share my thoughts on religion and all the hype on who has the right of using the word "Allah".

It's real sad cos it seems that we are fighting over God. God would be saddened by this especially since there are more important things to be concern about in life.

I'm not even gonna dwell onto another religion and compared to see who is 'right' cos I'm no expert, let alone my own religion. But I remember something the Dalai Lama onced said " Every religion emphasizes human improvement, love, respect for others, sharing other people's suffering, etc". On this grounds, every religion has more or less the same viewpoint and same goal in life.

So the common rule to live by each day is :Do onto others as you would wish them do onto you.