How do you get a heads-start on your New Year resolutions?

The answer is really simple of course. Like all profound answers. 

You could ask Einstein, or Steve Jobs. They had some simply profound answers to some pretty tough questions. And it really comes down to solving problems, or to put it in even simpler terms, finding problems to solve. And then looking for the solution. Sometimes the solution takes awhile, and sometime it's as quick as the next idea that hurtles past you in random succession. 

In school I was always better at words than at numbers. But I remember a little about fractions, even though it took me awhile to conceptualise them. It became a little easier when I looked at them wholistically; maybe even as parts of a pie that gets divided up in different ways. 

What I really remember and what made me launch into this little story is the term 'lowest common denominator'; breaking something up into it's simplest parts. 

How do we apply this to solving a problem? Reduce it to its simplest parts; break it up or break it down until the solution becomes almost obvious. You just need to pick up the biography of any successful entrepreneur and break down their story until you see what they saw as a problem that needed fixing. 

Doggedness. I'm not really sure where this word originates from but you're going to need this if you want to succeed at anything. If you want to know what this means, just picture a dog with a bone. When do they leave that bone alone? 

Never. Unless it gets taken from them. Be that dog with that bone and keep chewing. 

So how do you get a head-start to your New Year Resolutions? 

Start Now. That's really the simplest answer. Why not start now instead of waiting until the New Year rolls around?

 If you start today you'll have a ten day head-start and by the time the 1st of January comes, you would have already formed some empowering new habits. And our lives really revolve around our habits. 

Start now. Start today. De-clutter and simplify your life-style. You decide how you want to live your life, but whatever you decide, do it now. Life happens even in moments of indecision. Make the wrong decisions quickly that lead you into making better decisions. 

Your future depends on the speed of your next decision. 

What makes you cry?

Messy 

Painful 

Tears 

Running down your face 

When you least expect or want them 

To show up 

When your inner faucet somehow seems 

To have a faulty leak 

Why cry when we should be laughing? 

Why the mess when all we want is 

A clean slate 

Why the pain when we least expect it? 

What's the purpose of crying when all

It does is to show our weakness and 

Make us look ugly 

Humanity

Crying shows we're human 

When your child whimpers and tears roll down her face as she experiences 

Physical pain for the first time 

Her mother cries too 

Even as she kisses the hurt away 

It would be wonderful if all hurt could be soothed away by just a 

Kiss and a Hug 

When you see your best friend 

Struggling through issues of self-esteem 

Or facing the loss of a precious parent

You cry 

Because you're human 

When you see innocent lives lost 

For stupidly sensless reasons 

Lives that could have been saved 

And should have been saved 

But weren't 

You cry 

We cry when we care

We cry when we love 

We cry when we feel so strongly 

And so passionately about 

Something or 

Someone 

When we want a situation to change

So much that we would do 

Anything Within

Our power to change it 

We cry 

Crying is powerful because it exposes 

Our deepest human need to feel 

Without becoming vulnerable 

We cannot become strong 

Without crying we cannot laugh 

Without shedding tears we cannot have 

Eyes that 

Sparkle and Shine 

That reflect light prisms 

Rainbows from within extending outward 

Connecting hearts 

And changing lives 

Cinderella's Dream.

I love fairly tales, and not just when I was a kid.

Of course I"m still a kid at heart! Very much the dreamer and the romantic. Eagerly waiting for that happy ending. And fairly tales are perfect for catering to that whim.

Or maybe it's just that fairly tales teach us about hope. The eternal battle between good and evil; with the good always winning. Somewhere in the midst of the story at the point of climax the story seems to hover in favour of the evil side, but then the tipping point comes When the hero or heroine realises that within them lies a greater giant than the one outside and it's only when they unleash their internal giant that they're able to conquer that external giant.

It's all about hope. One of my favourite fairly tales is Cinderella. What young girl could ask for more? It has all the elements of romance complete with a beautiful young girl, albeit mistreated, but then she ends up marrying the most eligible bachelor! The prince and the heir to the kingdom. But that's not the only reason why the story appeals to me.

It's also a story of transformation.

A young girl who is overlooked by her own family. Orphaned at a young age. Motherless. Penniless. She thought her father was her only ally, and he was until he re-married. A terrible fate for a young grieving girl. As if this wasn't bad enough the woman he married, and whom she was supposed to call 'mother' was everything a mother wasn't.

 A mother comforts you and cradles you on her bosom when she sees you sad. A mother looks into your eyes and just knows how you feel. A mother kisses your hurt and makes it go away. A mother asks if you've eaten even if you tell her a hundred times that you have. A mother rushes to your side no matter where in the world you are, the moment she finds out if something is wrong.

Cinderella's stepmother was not her mother; not in the true sense of the word. But she really had no choice, it was either stay in the house and do what she said. or be tossed out of the house to fend for herself. She decided to stay and submit herself to the erratic demands of her stepmother and her stepsisters, not knowing that her next miracle was around the corner.

Not many of us are granted a fairy godmother but maybe the Universe was watching and saw her humility and service and decided to reward her. But even before the fairy godmother appeared there was something that Cinderella did. Something simple, but ever so powerful.

She set an intention.

Perhaps it was an intention born out of desperation, but it was a pure intention. She had a desire to be someone better, to have better, and to do better. She had a desire to be greater than who she was at that moment. She didn't know how it was going to happen, but she knew that she knew that she needed an escape out of the situation she was. She was just surviving from day-to-day but what she really wanted was to live and thrive. Not so different from many of us.

Maybe she had a big dream. Except she just didn't know how it was going to come to pass.

Her intention was granted. Not immediatly of course because she had to go through a process. Her fairy god-mother gave her a magical makeover but she still had to overcome her past identity and push herself forward. She had to show up at the ball, how else was the prince going to notice her?

And then the worst possible thing happened. She lost her beautiful glass slipper while dashing out of the castle, lest people and especially the prince realise who she really was. As brave as she was in showing up at the ball and dancing the evening away with the prince, there was a little girl inside of her who thought she really didn't belong there. She wanted to belong there, but she didn't believe it fully.

The glass slipper was her stepping stone to a better life.

It was literally the only way the prince had to recognise her. This was way before any kind of personal recognition system. It must have been magical because there was absolutely no other woman in the entire kingdom who could fit into it. And when they royal party came to her home to go through the tedious process of fitting the shoe on the foot of every woman in the household, Cinderella was ready. With all her insecurities and uncertain feelings, she was ready to step into a new life.

She married her prince and lived happily ever after which is my favourite line of the story. The story doesn't go further to tell us how they lived happily ever after. Perhaps like any married couple they had their share of disagreements and adjustments. Maybe she traveled around the world with her prince. Maybe they started some non-profit organisations. Who knows?

Fairy tales can teach us a lot of very simple lessons if we choose to open our eyes and hearts. 

Cinderella had belief, courage and expectancy and she made it happen for herself, with just a little help from the Universe. She chose to believe in her dream of a better life, and she was aided by the Universe. 

It's a very human story with a little magic thrown in. An unbeatable combination in my eyes.

How do you stop Time?

Wondering 

Waiting 

Wanting 

Willing 

To do everything possible 

To stop the hands of Time

But why? 

And for what Purpose? 

Why do we want Time to stop? 

But more importantly how do we stop 

Time? 

So many questions that need answering 

So many tasks that need completing 

So many experiences that we want to experience 

So many people that we have yet to meet 

So much of Life yet to happen 

But we can stop Time

It lies in our hands 

The Moment we decide to truly live 

Live freely 

Live truly

When we decide to love 

Love freely 

Love truly 

When our hearts and minds fuse 

When our sighs give way to moans 

Of pure happiness 

When we jump from one moment to the next 

With an absolute lightness and certainty in our hearts 

Knowing 

That in the silence between each moment 

Lies peace that the next moment will be better 

Hope that even in spite of harsh moments 

A rainbow awaits 

A rainbow infused with a myriad of colours

Splashing your next moment with ecstasy 

And when we dwell within those moments of ecstasy 

Time stops 

Of Magic, Metaphors and Being Awesome

Life- changing. Epic. Innovative. And of course awesome. 

Thought- leaders. Entrepreneurs. And just simply really really good people.

People with heart and soul, who’ve decided to make something happen in their lives. Rather with their lives, to improve the lives of others. People who’ve reached a point in their journey toward betterment, to stop and think about why they’ve been put on this Earth. 

Not on any other planet but this one- although judging from the spurt of innovation we saw, moving to another planet may just be a not so distant possibility!

The real magic of Afest lies not so much in the experience itself, as awesome as it was. If we had all died and gone to wherever our souls go to after AFest ended, I think we could collectively agree say our last few days on earth were perhaps some of our absolute best ones. Gratefully we’re still given time to create a better story. 

So back to what I was saying, that the real magic in Afest lies not in the experience itself. After all a metaphor is formed only on looking back, viewed through the lens of experience. 

It’s like eating food that’s nutritious; we don’t experience the true benefit while we’re eating it. If we like the taste of it, it only adds to the pleasure. If the ambience is great, the company invigorating, again it only adds to the sensory pleasure. But once the food starts getting chewed, broken down and the nutrients go into all the right places, then we start experiencing the benefits.

It’s how I would metaphorise Afest. The information shared, the people who shared their lives, the awe- inspiring location, the synchronistic energy of powerful thoughts, and most importantly the love and acceptance that were shown to everyone regardless, was all part of that transcendental sensory experience.

And then comes digestion; allowing the ‘nutrients’ to take their place. Stripping each thought and experience- word by word- and integrating it into our separate lives. Allowing the thoughts and ideas and the love to germinate within and make us stronger, somehow.

For some, new business ideas. For others, a greater sense of self-power and realizing that each of us has the power to create something bigger than ourselves; leaving something of value behind for those who are still travelling and seeking. And for most of us, basking in the love and warmth of newly forged relationships and friendships. 

It’s pure magic.

Hope

Just when you think 

Or feel 

You can't go another day 

Hope 

When the rose-tint in your glasses 

Turns grey 

And weeds crowd in on your blossoms 

Hope 

When the road takes a 

U-turn and 

You're back to square One 

Hope 

When the pain etched across your 

Heart 

Imprints in your memory 

Leaving scars 

Hope 

Hope never ends 

Sometimes it remains silent 

Letting you weep 

And mourn 

For a short while 

It lies dormant 

Letting you believe that 

That there is no more 

Hope 

But Hope

Cannot stay silent 

Forever

It is irrepressible like the 

Sun that rises every morn 

Like the rose that must bloom 

Like the road that straightens ahead 

And no matter the pain 

No matter the sorrow 

Or the rain 

As surely as your heart beats 

Hope lives 

Am I my Sister's Keeper?

How would you answer that question? 

Why should we care? Maybe the real question should be why shouldn't we care? And care about who? Ourselves? Or the people around us? 

It's easy to get so caught up in living our own lives that we increasingly forget that we're living among people. 

Other people. People who are not our family. And not in our friend's circle either. 

Living in Singapore I see people becoming increasingly glued to their gadgets and devices. It seems to be easier to face a gadget than it is to face another person. 

Maybe because gadgets don't ask us tough questions. If they did, it would bring new meaning to the term 'smart phones'! 

Are our 'smart phones' doing us a disservice by isolating us from others? Or are we allowing them to do that to us? Are we allowing them to make robots out of us? Isn't the purpose of technology to connect, and not isolate? 

The irony is that in highly developed societies, people are feeling increasingly lonely. Starved almost, of human connection. But why? When there are people all around us? 

And why, when within our hands lies the decision to change our own life? And perhaps even that of others. 

Maybe we just lack the ability, or rather the confidence to step outside of our little ego- centered circles and talk to someone else. Why should you? Just because. What if you knew that even your hi or your smile brightened someone else's day? 

We're not always privy to details about someone else's life, and very few of us might really know how our words or actions touched another's life. But lack of that knowledge should not stop us from doing what is in our very DNA. 

To Reach out. Make strangers your neighbors. Expand your circle, or better yet never close your circles so there is always room for more. 

Take the first step, and watch your life blossom in ways you may not have ever imagined. Start-ups are never easy, but then what is life without it's myriad challenges? 

Who knows, you may even find your next miracle. 

Esther www.soakupinfo.com/Esther 

You, Me, and Us

I have something 

that you don't have 

something that no one else has

Or will ever have 

it's not breath because 

You breathe too 

It's not sight because 

You see too 

It's not hearing because 

You hear too 

It's not taste because 

You taste too 

Its not beauty because 

You are beautiful too 

It's not Love because 

You are loved too 

Faith? 

Maybe 

Happiness? 

Maybe 

Joy? 

Maybe 

Peace? 

Maybe 

The Truth is 

What I have that no one else 

Has or will have 

Is Me 

The greater Truth is 

You have something I do not have 

That no one else has 

Or will have 

And that is You 

And You and Me 

We are better together 

With what we have to give 

To others who dont have what we have