books
Managing the environment
I was lucky enough to be invited to stay over at an organic farm, only to be the generous blood donor to those pesky mosquitoes. So here I am typing this article while the bite marks stare evilly back at me. Still, I’ve enjoyed the stay. It’s a breath of fresh air, literally, from the [...]
Avoid imitation
It’s back to the book on Maria Montessori. It’s quite amazing what she’s actually saying about kids, essentially about us when we were much younger. We unconsciously learn from the environment around us, be it from parents, siblings, uncles, granmas, friends, insects, trees, grass, bugs, stone, leaves, branches, bicycles, streets, neighbours, and the list goes [...]
Fatigue
I’m watching Friends, and laughing as though I haven’t seen the episode before (the one where Chandler is moving in with Monica). Friends are just such a mind relaxant. Kudos to the people who made it such a joy. And then my wife made a comment…
“You must be really stressed…”
I think she’s right, as usual.
I’m [...]
Action, then label
I’m currently reading a biography on Maria Montessori - an educator among other roles. When she teaches kids, one of the features of her method is to let them learn through their senses first, before labeling what their senses tell them. For instance, the children will learn to listen as they explore the different pitch [...]
Swimming in a blue ocean strategy
I recently lent my copy of the Blue Ocean Strategy to an entrepreneur, who created a blue ocean strategy himself without realising it! I’m envious of the action he took for the theory that I only found out through books, my main hideout. I don’t want to be a two-legged bookshelf. Fortunately, I’m also practising [...]
Technological wonders make me wonder…
It’s strange to see myself in the mirror again, without glasses. I’ve been wearing glasses for the past 15 years, and basketball increased the turnover of my glasses. So much so that I’ve decided not to go for any ball near the D-zone - the danger zone under the basket! Avoiding the D-zone leaves me [...]
Buy books to create a better world
I’ve just ordered my first book from BetterWorld.com. It aims to meet the Triple Bottom Line - social impact, environmental impact and economic impact. It also uses carbonfree shipping. It’s not actually carbon free as the book still has to travel the distances and the vehicles that carry it still has to emit those carbon [...]
Fear of feedback
I recently attended a “leadership” course, where you’re asked to play games in a group setting to demonstrate your leadership, or the lack of it, in a controlled environment. We navigated a small island with a “hot-from-the-oven” navigation skills and a 20-years-old topographical map.
I actually enjoyed the navigation part as it brought me out to [...]
Live the questions, now
I haven’t read any Tai Ji books for a while now. My learning journey in Tai Ji has in a way forced me not to look for answers in books but look for them through experience. And then I come across a quote from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke.
Be patient toward [...]
Emotion beats logic, but only emotion can beat emotion
When I said learning less everyday, I didn’t think that emotions played a big part. I know that the more I learn, I seem to know less about the world around me. Maybe my tag line should read “learning less about the world everyday”, but that’s not true either. I wanted to learn the way [...]
