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Chinese New Year, Events, Personal, Reflections

(Part 1/4) 12 Things I Am Grateful For In 2012

December 19, 2012

I was actually inspired by a Facebook post my friend, Adam made yesterday to start this series: 

But instead of thinking how to get my unfulfilled goals done in 12 days, it got me thinking about what has already been done in 2012 which I am grateful for. And this reflection has made me realized, there’s no way I can cram all into one post and so I decided to spread it across 12 posts. 1 per day starting from today and leading up to 2013.

The most unfortunate thing is, my blog has not been updated since 31 dec 2011. So there’s a lot of “catching up” to do. But I reckon, the 12 things that I’m going to share will probably cover how my life went for this year.

In short, this is NO ORDINARY YEAR. 

To be frank, when I was thinking of what I wanted to blog about and thought of 12 things I am grateful for for this year, I was squeezing my brain dry.

I initially had GREAT hopes for this year — my dream wedding, my honeymoon (thank God for providing us with a beautiful wedding & honeymoon which I will touch on in subsequent posts :)), my parents’ retirement, our first home, our business achievement of breaking the million dollar mark annual revenue for this year. But this year has got to be one of the most challenging years I have ever had in my entire 26 years life.

And I thank God for accompanying me through the ups and downs, for blessing me with a great family and with friends & leaders of great faith who stood by my family.

Before I get carried away..

The first thing I am grateful for in 2012 is quality time with my family. 

I will always remember Chinese New Year this year. It was the day before CNY eve when my mum had to be admitted in A&E for anemia. My mother has always been the “SuperMum”, Iron Lady to me and for the first time, she was weak, pale & frail. And the doc actually said if we had delayed her admission, she could have died from cardiac arrest from lack of oxygen in the body.

At that time, I had to witness my mother undergo blood transfusion cos her hB level was 4.3 which was dangerously low. A lot of pints. I can’t remember how many. And we requested for her discharge to spend CNY for one day before readmission. That she wanted too.

I still remember her telling me, “I feel like this is my last Chinese New Year” when we went out visiting on the first day and I just had tears in my eyes. The picture you see above, was taken with a heavy heart but still with a smile in my face as I always like to remain optimistic even in times of difficulty/uncertainty. Let me tell you, it’s not easy going house to house wishing everyone Happy CNY, and then return to the car to check if my mum was feeling alright.

On the first day of CNY, we went straight to hospital to be readmitted after all the visiting.

It was during the admission that my mother underwent further tests & was suspected to be with stomach cancer. The days of waiting for the results was really agonizing. My mum who knew the results still couldn’t bear to tell us. And when the doctor broke the news to me for her, I remember it was just sheer confusion and distraught. I remember going home, crying in my bed.. asking God why this had to happen.

But as I began to accept the news, it just made me treasure time with my mum & dad more.

I still remember during one of the consultations, Prof Simon Ong, my mum’s presiding oncologist said something like… cancer is a very destructive & curious disease. It’s devastating news to the family but somehow, it brings the best out of everyone as people start to make time for each other, seek spiritual help, find time for things that meant the most to them.

He was right.

I started trying to spend more time with my parents, as much as I could. But it was challenging as I had to manage commitments from the business, employee management and at the same time, deal with the falling USD & economic changes.

And I was the only child. (LOL)

But seriously, I did not have the luxury of calling a brother, a sister to help out in the family, to spend time with my mum on my behalf.. etc.

Hence, the emotional burden was actually really really heavy, that I started developing skin problems on my face (unnatural break outs).

But I felt it made me work harder to strike a balance (thank God for Calvin to keep me in check) and also to rest in God for Him to do His work in my life. It also made me treasure our time together more.

I think it made us more resilient against this unknown thing called cancer.

And I felt I finally got something back that I kinda lost from the past 3 years of working, to understand what was truly important to me — time with my family.

The last three months of my mum’s life was spent in and out of hospital. But that did not deter my father & I from going to the hospital to spend time with her almost every single day. Watching my mum indulge in her iced milos and say, “This is Simple Joy” and she glancing at us from the hospital bed to see what we were eating, reading or watching.. How she tells her guests “Thank you for coming”..

The pieces of advice she tells me with regards to life, “Don’t work so hard”, “Be kind to others”, “Be yourself”, “Be strong”, “Be nice to your husband (lol)” etc. are things I will keep in my heart.

All these memories I have of time spent together with my mum & dad… I am thankful to have them.

Right now, I treasure the people who continue to be important in my life even more and will continue making it a priority to spend quality time with them in the coming year.

I hope that encourages you some way to do so too. 🙂

Think about the people who are important to you.

Have you been spending as much time with them as you can to continue cultivating the relationship?

Why don’t you commit some more time in a month to just have a meal, catch a movie, have a coffee or even just be in each other’s presence?

You’ll realize how valuable time spent during interactions and relationships is, and it’s something which no amount of money can buy.

I hope you have benefited from my sharing.

Till the next post tomorrow to continue with the 2nd thing I’m grateful for in 2012.  Good night!

Events, General, Personal

My Eulogy

November 15, 2012

I was thinking twice whether I should post my eulogy on Facebook. But I felt that it’s something really personal which I would very much like friends or family to discover it on my personal blog, then for me to post it on Facebook which will appear as “READ ME! READ ME!” on the news feed.

It’s funny how this eulogy got written. It was written in a haste as I originally thought I would be delivering it on the day of the cremation. However, Pastor Pauline (the Pastor for the Memorial service) suggested that I delivered during the memorial service where most people are present.

Having to entertain guests and write an eulogy at the same time was NOT easy. Basically cos I had to keep my emotions in check while writing something that was so meaningful to me. I wanted to put in more thought and heart into it. But the presence of all the visitors.. friends, colleagues, family etc. actually made me realize the central theme of my eulogy — my mother’s unconditional love for others..

This eulogy is a tribute to my mother Lucy U Po (18 Sep 1956 – 8 Nov 2012) and I hope it speaks to you if you have known her. And if you don’t know of her, I hope this short synopsis of her life is suffice to give you reason to think about your own life and of how you can live it such that you too can say “I think I have lived my life well. I have no regrets”

—Start of Eulogy—

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift. that’s why it’s called the Present.” Thank you everyone for being here. It’s the best present you have brought along for my family today. To my relatives who travelled from overseas to make it for today, thank you very much.

My name is Patricia, and I’m the only daughter of Lucy. I know you all know my mum personally in one way or another. It could be at school, at work, it could be in the neighbourhood or probably, simply because she’s my mum, or an aunt or cousin to you. But there’s only one way I know her. To me, she’s my dearest mother. The mum that I couldn’t have chosen but the mum whom I would choose again if I could.

My mum is an incredibly kind, helpful and generous person. She never fails to lend a helping hand to friends, family and even strangers. She makes the effort to know the bus 900 bus drivers, the cashiers at Shop & Save, the neighbour who just moved in and the child sitting across her in the MRT. Her smile is ever radiant and genuine that it warms even the coldest person in the room.

That’s how she stole my dad’s heart.

My mum is originally from the Philippines. She’s the baby of the Po family who grew up as a young, intelligent woman who later went to medical school with the plan of becoming a doctor. However, little did she know, my dad, her penpal for 14 years from Singapore, was to be her soulmate and life partner.

The first time my dad went to the Philippines was for a practical reason, to go on a holiday. He was choosing between the USA and Philippines but figured Philippines was nearer and cheaper. And he had a penpal who was excited to meet him for the very first time. My dad and mum always recall the faithful day with laughter. She was so excited about his arrival that she was jumping in the crowded airport to catch his attention and welcomed him with a beautiful smile.

That is the smile that stole my dad’s heart.

And that smile continued to radiate in so many people’s lives.

The friends, family, neighbours and colleagues who have stepped forth during the past few months to comfort her, console her and even care for her.. are the fruits of the seeds she has sowed in their lives over the past 56 years of her life.

When she was first diagnosed with cancer, she told the doctor, “I have no regrets. I think I have lived my life well.” Now I can’t help but agree.

As my father and I experience the love, care and concern from everyone during this journey, we truly understood the unconditional love my mother gave out of herself to those who crossed paths with her.

Today, in the presence of everyone, we want to say we are very proud of her – of the many things she’s done in her life, big and small.

And …

We thank God for being with her in this ardous battle against cancer.

We thank God for the victory she has had.

We thank God for making her a blessing in so many people’s lives.

We thank God that He has received her with open arms.

She fought a good fight in her battle with cancer and remained faithful of God’s love and grace.

What holds for us tomorrow is a mystery.

But my mum always says, Trust in the Lord.

And in the Lord we will trust.

We will dearly miss Lucy, a great mother, a loving wife and a faithful child of God.

We will always love her and remember her for who she is and she will always be in our hearts.

Before I end, I’ll like to share with you an SMS my mum sent me on Valentines’ Day.

It goes like this, “Love is d greatest Healing Power – at d end of our lives after all our successes n failures the value of our lives is determined by how much we have loved – :-)”

I hope we’ll always remember her unconditional love for us and remember to love others unconditionally as well. Thank you.

—End of Eulogy—

In memory of Lucy U Po, my dearest mother

Events, Millionaire Mind Intensive

Millionaire Mind Intensive 2010 Singapore Day 2 & 3

December 1, 2010

Sorry guys for being late with a recap of Millionaire Mind Intensive Singapore event Days 2 & 3!

Let me tell you why:

1. I arrived home on Day 2 at 12MN. I was exhausted and we had to get up at 7am the next day! So I really didn’t feel I was up for staying late and surviving another day with just 4 hours of sleep.

2. At the end of Day 3, I arrived home at 9pm. That’s real early right? BUT I CRASHED INTO BED! Haha.. MMI was sure INTENSIVE~!

Monday was back to life/reality and really getting to those emails that have piled on Friday through the weekend. Now that I’m free (cos I’m waiting for Calvin to finish recording a video), I’ll just share with you the highlights of the event.

Day 2

Day 2 was all about challenging the beliefs we had and also changing the belief structure. Now, one might think that since I graduated with a B.A. in Psychology, all the stuff that Harv went through were not new to me.

YES THEY WERE NOT NEW.

BUT I finally understood the application of conditioning and the power of beliefs in hindering one’s success. It’s funny how the brain works especially how internal conversations seem to be able to influence your actions just as though it were one person.

One old belief I had was, having a lot of money is a huge responsibility.

And during the event, I was taught to develop one argument against it and it was, I am smart and capable and I can take on such a responsibility.

Now, that’s empowering, don’t you think?

In addition, I stayed on for a special presentation (or upsell) for their ‘Train the Trainer’ program. It was really an eye opener for me to learn all the subtle stage etiquette that helps you involve your audience and supercharge your presentation! Though it was just a few pointers revealed in the presentation (well, to find out more you had to sign up for their program), Calvin and I discovered there are many areas we can improve on.

Day 3

I must say that Day 3 was a great conclusion to the whole MMI. It dealt within something so powerful – emotions. Do you know that everyone has an emotional attachment to almost anything – including money?

Now, that’s something I didn’t realize I had. Negative emotions related to money can subconsciously hinder you from creating wealth for yourself.  Whenever I thought of money, I was worried that I won’t have enough to provide a comfortable lifestyle for my family etc. And all these worrisome thoughts I had were not empowering me. In fact, they were slowly demoralizing me!

Lastly, I changed my attitude towards striving for wealth. I used to think that only people who were materialistic will want to strive for wealth because they want to buy the expensive things and enjoy life. I failed to recognize apart from these people, there are people who strive for wealth for freedom and for a purpose.

Why are there rich people who aren’t happy? Shouldn’t they be happy that they can afford everything in life?

That’s cos they are not fulfilled.

When you strive for wealth for a greater purpose other than yourself, you will be fulfilled and the wealth will come along.

I have always known that the reason why I work so hard is for my family and my future. But that is NOT the greater cause. My purpose behind striving for wealth should be much greater than that, in order for me to see a drastic change in both my life and my finances. Right now, I don’t really have an empowering motivation – I am in my comfort zone because I have been able to provide for my family’s basic needs.

Hence, in order to stretch out of my comfort zone, I am on a personal mission to discover what my calling is and to discover what mygreater cause is.

I’m not sure how long it’s going to take me but I sure hope it’s going to be super good. Because I know God has a plan for me and I just need to find my way towards it.

That’s all for today!

xxx

Events, Millionaire Mind Intensive

Millionaire Mind Intensive Singapore Day One

November 27, 2010

I’m going to tell you the truth. I AM EXHAUSTED NOW. 12.58am. And we’ve got to be up by around 7am so that we can be on time! And boy, did T Harv Eker make a huge point about this throughout the whole session!! But I’m still going to share more about Day One of Millionaire Mind Intensive Singapore, simply because I did come away with a lot of insights about myself and about wealth, which I would want to share with you.

Alright for today, Harv started the whole session on a high note and it was funny that he used the EXACT SAME QUOTE as Calvin did for our Accelerated Blogging Profits workshop. I’m not going to tell you which one it is but it’s the opening line. 🙂 Looks like my boy is a born speaker! I knew it! Adam Markel went on to take over from him after lunch and continued from there.

So, one of the activities that I benefited the most from today was the activity on the beliefs we had about money, wealth and rich people. It was pretty insightful because I discovered that I had limiting beliefs about how I could achieve more money, negative beliefs towards having/accumulating wealth and even fears about becoming a  rich person. (I know, it’s like ZOMG!) It’s funny that I have been in this business of internet marketing for almost 3 years with the sole goal of creating multiple streams of income for myself with the purpose of attaining financial freedom and to support my family. BUT I am not even prepared to handle the wealth, the money and even becoming the person that I have been working towards becoming!

No wonder I seem to have reached a plateau with regards to my earnings and even earning abilities. I have been subconsciously sabotaging myself!

One limiting belief I had about me making more money was,”Striving for wealth won’t allow much time for anything else in life”. This is absolutely not true! That’s a lame excuse that I have been giving myself all this while!  One quote that Harv left deep in my heart was “How you do anything is how you do everything”. So If I were to manage my time well when it comes to striving for wealth then I would pretty much be able to manage my time to allow myself to do other things in life!

One negative belief that I had about accumulating wealth is “Having a lot of money is a big responsibility”. And because I have this belief, I will avoid opportunities that will involve a lot of money so as to avoid this big responsibility. That is so true!  That equates passing up opportunities for JVs or partnerships in the past, just because I didn’t feel I was up to the challenge of partnering a big marketer alone (in fact, a few gurus have contacted me before but I was self-sabotaging myself!).

One fear I had about becoming rich was attracting the wrong people (i.e. people who are out to take advantage of me) and having people  who mean the most to me (friends and family) leave instead. Now whoever thought I’d actually have this mentality? I think I have been watching too many TV dramas.  Haha.. But then again, these are fears and beliefs I have been holding onto all these while. These are not the only ones btw, there are many others. But these are the more ‘prominent’ ones.

I’m certainly going through a reprogramming of my brain and my brain cells so that I can better equip myself with the millionaire mind that is needed for my success!

One thing that I would like to share with everyone is my take home message from today’s session:

Money is a result which comes out of something you do. And so long as you do something with purpose and joy, the money will naturally come to you.

Financial Freedom is a choice. It is not a choice that everyone makes. But it’s a choice which can change the way you lead your life.

Off to bed and geared up for Day 2!!

“If you will do what most people won’t do for the next few years, then you can do what most people can’t do for the rest of your life.” – Wade Cook

xxx

Events, Millionaire Mind Intensive

Millionaire Mind Intensive (Singapore) in 7 hours’ time! Are you going?

November 26, 2010

I’m still up at 2.04am, just 6 hours before Calvin and I head down for the 3 day Millionaire Mind Intensive event from 26th to 28th November and just 7 hours to the start of it!

Oh dear.. now I wonder if I am going to be in tip top condition tomorrow morning!

So anyway, I really don’t know what to expect from tomorrow though I’ve heard a lot of good stuff from past attendees like Edmund Loh and Elle Wong. It seems that it’s so power packed that I’m gonna be blown away! I am definitely looking forward to some recharging of the millionaire mindset, especially when I am being convinced to attend the event by Calvin.

Now to be frank, I have NOT attended such *hard core* personal development other than the free ones organized from school, webinars or audio distributed for free by awesome speakers like Tony Robbins and even live preview events conducted in the past by local speakers like Adam Khoo and Stuart Tan (who happens to have become my NLP practitioner course master trainer). So I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow’s event. Doesn’t help that SITEX is happening during the same period! All the more reason to be at Expo tomorrow and over the weekend 😛

I wonder who I’m gonna meet there? Then again, I’m a person who doesn’ t really open up during networking sessions (*shock* I know!) until I’m comfortable with the environment. So don’t be surprised if I tend to look rather unfriendly at first glance. But nonetheless, if you are heading down, don’t forget to say hi! 🙂 At least to Calvin, cos he’s more famous than me. HAHAHAHA.. 😀

I’ll be posting some updates from tomorrow, the first day of the MMI event. So stay tuned!

xxx