New Balance

Balance

Nobody is perfect. Surely, there will be some days where absurdities happen and blunders made or certain negative stuffs might have crept into your life. Forget them the sooner the better. Forget the matter but do not loose the lesson for in everything there is a lesson to be learned. Finish the day and be done with it anyhow as you have probably done what you could. Tomorrow is a new day! You must begin it with a new sincerity, honesty, serenity, wisdom, in high spirit and a New Balance. Do you have balance? Even your car tyres need to be balance.

Perception

Everyday that we rush through life, we may think that we are thinking but we are not because what you think is only from your own perspective. You are not there to see how your staffs suffer, your bosses stressed. You may not be there to see how your children feel sad or your parents lonely, you may not understand or see these things as you are acutely focused on oneself. You are too busy.

It is a must to have that landed property or condo, that spanking new car, that 4-times a year dream holidays and the latest iPad. You are always fidgeting with your cell phone, reading your emails even when you are on vacation leave, you are constantly upgrading your gadgets endlessly but what about our souls? What about our balance? "Ah, we don't have a choice?" Really?

Time Compression

We all need a certain focus and drive to get things done and to achieve but taking things too far leads to intense frustrations and stress. If you were to step out and look down from a helicopter view, you can see where you may be off balance. We will find that we need to recalibrate as we live in a severely time compressed modern world and when thrown off balance it can lead us to extremes and extremes as you know can be dangerous.

What are the roles you play in your life as a son, father, husband, wife, daughter, brother, sister, friend, colleague, manager, worker, in sports or hobbies, etc. In what areas of life, do things matter to you most such as  money, career, status, pleasure, artistic pursuits,  family, friends, a sense of public service, etc.

When you combine everything together, you get to your circle of life. You are your Lion King. A restless warrior. What are your priorities? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFYBLwb3I84

Restlessness

Restlessness is an inability to remain at rest. What cause restlessness? People today are getting even more restless because they are losing their peace of mind in their fruitless struggles for social status and for keeping up. People's minds are often being bombarded by information overload and advertisement or a belief  that if you carry a Louis Vuitton, Chanel or Berkins you walk taller when the only way you will look taller is to wear six-inch stilettos. Keeping up with the Joneses, you bet. 


People have unrealistic expectations and often lack patience. What's wrong with starting out with a small or old house? It takes time to train someone and hone his skills to be a good manager or leader but today's managers are  just like a production line. The new lifestyle the world is presenting rapidly including non-stop 24/7 entertainment with some right up your door step so folks are just so busy and do not have time. When you run out of things to be entertained, you get bored. People have no idea what to do or how to be engaged without gadgets. Parents are increasingly planning away their children's life - tuition, swimming lessons, piano, violin, ballet classes - an endless stream of activities.


All these actually started when people started moving from the farms into the city taking up life in the new industrial economy. Consumerism sunk its roots into society. New technology developed means we are living at a much faster pace than ever before. Loads of new problems begin to surface - increasingly more people suffer from insomnia, headaches, fatigue and depression. Anxieties and restlessness creep in. To live a pulsating life, there are many things so vibrant that you seem to need and yet so out of reach. It becomes frustration and no matter how you chase, it becomes elusive. 


After years of exposure to thousands of advertisement we absorbed like a sponge an image of a continental marque cruising through the city, rooftop parties in a new home that comes with jacuzzi, go on vacation first and pay later. The world has so much to offer, everybody just want to grab them but we can feel anxious and depressed because it seems that some others may have found a way to get all these stuffs and life is really only happening elsewhere. Dreams only belong to other people. 


What To Do?


What to do is not a tone of resignation and to accept the status quo. We do need some of these modern stuffs or gadgets and they have their purpose and place. You have to plug in and stay connected but you can say no to constant upgrading. There are no quick fixes or cures. Get a good grasp of your expectations and what is reality. The trick is on how to keep narrowing that gap between them. We can go on and on chasing the endless possibilities in life till you get overwhelmed so why not ask yourself what can you do and what you really like to do? 


Parents are overly concerned over their children's places in the world of the future but by making decisions for them that they inadvertently prevent them from discovering their own true abilities and talents. Not all of us will be lawyers, doctors, a scientist. Not all of us is going to be rich and famous and if you don't get these, do you feel useless and discontented. What's wrong with being a mechanic or a carpenter? The one way people say RIP meaning rest in peace is six foot underground or in modern faster way again - cremation. We ought to be looking for rest and for peace for it is only at rest that you can find peace. Some folks do true yoga or eat true yogurt. How about finding true rest?

True Art

Were we not encouraged to pursue our passion and to be well-rounded? The various activities one enjoys in life is valuable and priceless or should we opt to have a single-minded pursuit of career and making $$$? One man's meat is another man's poison. Maybe people look at me and think: "This guy is too contented and complacent". Maybe even lazy. Really? Is there life outside of work? Do you have a life or hobbies to complete it? Will you wake up one day, stare at the mirror and fail to recognise yourself? Or realise that is all over?



Discard The Old For A New Balance

I struggle hard to achieve a balance. It is a tight rope. Even a new balance can become old and outdated. My old New Balance that had served me so well has seen better days. I was reluctant but I had to make a change.

I like some Adidas and Puma designs and being German I didn't expect that the sole width are actually narrower. I tried a few more brands but eventually has to return to New Balance because it fitted me best. It has to be my solemate.

I hope to achieve more balance with New Balance.

I didn't have a 不 倒 翁 to show you but have something that look like one. Our ex boss who went to Russia returned recently and bought us each a special gift. This is a typical Russian toy called "matrioshka". The 不 倒 翁 is a toy that whichever way you push it, it will still return to its original position. It was more common inthe old days. It does not fall. That is really good balance. We should be like that.

The matrioshka is different. You open it and you get a smaller version until you get to the last one. Multi-layer. Maybe people are like that.  

But this one can fall.

Life can be fragile and if we do not have balance, we may have a great fall like Humpty Dumpty and all the King's horses and all the King's men could not put Humpty together again.

I offer a quote from Mother Teresa but please do not see it as something religious but a reflection on the hustle and bustle of daily rush in life.

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...We need silence to be able to touch souls."

I wish that you will find your new balance.