Punggol Waterway Run - 2

Continued from Part One.....

Some say that there are different paths to heaven. I am not sure about it as there are those who believe in killing to go to heaven. If that is the God then I am surely ending up in hell. I believe God put in each of us a conscience. I do not seek to go to heaven as seeking to go to heaven is liken to seeking to be rich. Wanting to be rich and wanting to go to heaven could lead you astray and ending up in the wrong places. I wanted to seek where I came from and where I belong and should be ending up. The truth shall set you free and the truth is creation and not destruction. Do you not see and feel that when there is creation, from nature to things, there is always design and purpose whereas all destruction are ugly and meaningless? So be careful to seek the path to truth and the light.

Of late, I feel like a HNI, you know. Sorry, not HNI but HSI - Highly Stressed Individual. I certainly need to work out, look up into the skies for answers and to see the light. Sometimes, to connect to real clouds and not just iCloud. When in nature, there is total peace and serenity. The tranquillity is a detoxification of the soul in itself. No medicine required thus bringing me back from HSI to HNI - not High Net-worth Individual but Highly Nurtured Individual. Well, you can say when you are healthy in the mind, body and soul, you are of high net worth. 

On this side of the award-winning park, one could just go around the park and move from here to other vicinity. 

Sometimes you may bump into wedding couples or some photo-shoots for graduation.

Punggol is getting more happening.

Big open space with lush greenery.

The new SAFRA sits proudly and beckons.

On some weekends, you could catch interesting family events here.

I did not have these in my time and it is a good way to do things with your children and the family.

There were laughable moments as you see unwitting parents struggling to help their children paddle their boats. 

I was rooting for all of them!

It is really not bad at all to be living near water. So Punggol residents around the waterway are a fortunate lot. Not sure about the prices though. With leasehold homes, at the end of the rat race, you are still a rat. My dream is to live at the end by the sea with a sprawling space with an open backyard with BBQ pits and build a Teppanyaki kitchen to cook for you. With a little boat moored and you can fish right there right now with no care to the price or value in terms of real estate. For me, it is a dream estate not real.

Pretty flowers everywhere, when you see them I'll be there.

Where there are rivers there is life.

ieatirunishoot.

Are these leaves this colour or was it the sunlight.

Like a good cowboy, we must prepare to ride onto the high plains...

...into the rough...

Even towards the sunset but be water, my friend.

As Bruce has said.

Water can take the shape of anything.

It can flow.

And it can crash.

It can fill through cracks.

And it can ... dance!

I use the different spots as markers to know how much more I may have to suffer.

The path of life can sometimes get lonely and under the searing heat of a scorching sun with wobbly legs, we need endurance. 

We could take a breather and observe the surroundings.

Just as Uncle Ben once told Spiderman: "With great power comes great responsibility".

Yet many crave power but not the responsibilities and what is power without control? Or power used for the wrong reasons. 

Keep busy like ants and never stay still if you have to.

Or saunter around under the shade under the belly of a bridge.

Over the years, I have occasionally posted photos to family and friends on chat groups on such weekend exploits. Some are probably still asleep. I could imagine the different reactions that came to their minds upon receipt. I could figure out the various responses later as a study on human psychology. Most folks get into friendly banter. A few get inspired and a few others who might think that I was arrogant and boastful. Yet, there may be one or two who shall try to emulate. Such as this - a leg raise stretch. Then in the end, some attempted and admitted they could not do it and we have a good laugh.

Brains and muscles work the same way in that you have to use them or lose them. If you keep working keep practising, they become well-oiled. You can't fight Father Time but if you could delay some negatives creeping on you then it is good. In fact, this is nothing great. Before I started years ago I was often lethargic. It is a struggle when you have the bed or look at the sofa and when you saw just one cloud in the sky you think it is going to rain. You have to keep fighting it. 

When I was a really young little boy, I have a soft spot for old people especially and beginning with my grandmothers. I observed their wrinkles, their growing weaker and slower over the years and I knew I had to be nice to old people as I knew some day in the future I shall become like them. I have even thought that despite their age they seemed quite strong and wonder if I came to their age, what would have become of me? I must be prepared but now I realized no matter how prepared your powers would wane and it would be difficult to stave off energy loss. Just ask Waned  Wayne Rooney. 

As a generally fit person, you can feel a sense of loss. As an ardent fan of Bruce Lee, I followed closely how he trained, what he does and how he was so fit and achieving power and strength beyond his frame. It is impossible to do many of the things he did but I could copied some and did some of those feats albeit on a smaller scale which was by no means easy even at half of it. In my youth till my thirties, I could still do this - bending the body forward by half with legs straight (no bending at the knees) only using your hands to hold your calves above the ankles and pressing your forehead against the knees. 

The other is to in this similar pose but by using the palms of both hands to bend forward to touch the ground with the palms flat and parallel to the ground. Since I found no further reason to practise both, I have not tried and am sure I can't do it anymore. Now, I could only do the same but using my fingers to touch my toes (without knees bending). You will be surprised that many could not even do it. I could see and feel my own decline. (A faded photo of youthful exuberance).

Another great feat of Bruce was to use only a thumb or a finger from each hand to do push up. It is impossible but I could do it using two - a finger and a thumb from each hand only to do push up. Nobody believe I could do it and they would want to have a wager on free beer or whisky back then. Many would say ''I bet you can't even do once'' and that was the moment I was waiting for and I would offer three push up and they would increase their bet. I even offered all around to stay low and observe to ensure only a finger and a thumb from each hand was touching the floor. I have never lost. No one has matched me in this.

Then one day in Shanghai and at the hotel bar and on the wrong side of 40s, the last challenge came and I gave my last performance. Surprising I met my match. At last. He was a young Japanese, ten years younger than I was, very small frame and a head shorter than me. We both won and got free whisky. While I congratulated and told him no one has matched me before I also said to him jokingly that he can only consider to have matched me if he came back ten years later and achieved the same. I have never done this since. While I think I could still do it I also think my beautiful face and nose is more important at this day and age ten years later. I will also need my fingers for golf grip or to pick my nose. I have nothing else to prove at this point in my life and acknowledged vast and frightening decline. (That was me doing 4 fingers push up in Shanghai ten years ago).

This is why legend has it that he comes from the distant clouds.

Some say he comes from the mountains because they saw him ''Going to the mountain''.

Maybe they saw him retreating to the mountains when they followed his trail. Haha.

Or he flows with the water.

What is there in the world to be arrogant about or to boast about? If I have suddenly changed then that is one thing but if you know me well especially since my youth then you will know I have always been like this.

Nothing belongs to us. You may be good at something because you have been honing that skill but all powers shall wane. 

If I have sent to you before, it was because we need to have fun. It was because I wanted to wake you up from your slumber. I merely wanted to inspire you. From my viewpoint, my powers are waning. No narcissistic person talks about their weaknesses. 

Now I need to shut down and go to a retreat. I need to hideaway. I need to meditate. I need to seek a solution and enlightenment to mind, body and soul and on ''sustainable energy'' for the future.

The problem with humans is that we are always in a state of flux. We are always working for a better tomorrow, worrying about tomorrow and then when tomorrow comes we do not know how to enjoy it, how to handle it or to be in the moment. We start thinking about another better tomorrow. Why can't we always have a better today? I know of some who may worry about losing their job but when they did not and got something else, they begin to worry about the next ''fear''. 

The only way to cheat Father Time is to be "in the moment" everyday. Like a butterfly fluttering with the wind. Resting to smell the roses and flow with the time. Nobody wins against time. As Reinhold Niebuhr has written: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference".