Today, I found myself.. (Day 87)

Today, I found myself scratching headlines towards livid beginnings.

Today, I found myself.. (Day 73)

Today, I found myself solely disappointed and severely tested for time and rest. 

Flying the Colors of Red and White; Proud to be Singaporean

With National Day around the corner, there’s no need for further reminder as the sight of red and white flags dot out the island, or at least that’s what we would have been used to.

Recently, I took a bus ride through the heartlands and spotted a particular block of flats, entirely decked out in the red and white of Singapore in the form of flags. Indeed this serves as a breath of fresh air on a mundane bus ride but I knew that there was a deeper significance behind it.

It has been a national tradition of sorts for Singaporeans to hang the national flag of Singapore whenever national day comes close. Since majority of Singaporeans live in high raised HDB apartments, it certainly makes a majestic sight to see a block of flats with the red and white of our nation flapping free in the air.

The flags are not only for decorative purposes though.

By hanging the national flag, you are showing respect and pride for the country.

Remembering the times when I was just a little kid, whenever the 9^th of August came close, my family would unfold the Singapore flag that we have and hang it on the hooks mounted right outside our window. Sure it wasn’t much but it provided quality family time as well as a symbol of respect for our country.

Seeing neighbours help one another hang their flags year after year religiously were at that time, a fascination to the young in me as I had no understanding behind the symbolism of hanging the national flag.

However, times have change and as society develops, such practices have reduced as people get more engrossed in societal concerns.

And bit by bit, the sense of national pride and loyalty deteriorates; ask the younger generation if they’re proud to be Singaporean and the answer will probably be in the form of uncertain slurs.

I admit that I’m one of the culprits behind such responses as I was never the self proclaiming loud and proud Singaporean; and I’m sure that I’m not alone.

I may not recite the national pledge or sing the national song daily but in my heart, I’m secretly proud and contented to be Singaporean and there are many others out there who are as well.

So why not take the first step and hang that flag high and proud this national day? It may be hard to say “I am a proud Singaporean” but surely this gives volume that action speaks louder than words.

*Article published on The Straits Times Online Forum, 22nd July 2009.

http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Online%2BStory/STIStory_406147.html

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After a refreshingly long hiatus, I’ve done an article as seen above. However don’t fret! Its for a school submission but I thought you guys would be interested nonetheless.

I guess I’m a tad disappointed that the article didn’t make the print edition, but nonetheless, it got published (partially). Better luck next time!

Keep checking back for more updates here. Work has been (and still is) a killer, positively of course.

Hang in there.

Today, I found myself.. (Day 72)

Today, I found myself anticipating tomorrow’s arrival for different reasons.

Examinations; Understanding or Memorising?

Take a Step back, and think.

I wouldn't consider my holidays to be in full swing, nor is it in a total standstill. Due to some unpredicted circumstance, total liberation from school has been delayed, to much dismal reception.

On hindsight, I've never been a real big fan of written examinations, but I mean, who is?

2 hours spent in a cold room with nothing but pen, brain and hand. All those late nights, all those long hours spent memorizing factual information, everything lies within those 2 precious hours.

Make it or break it.

Since the dawn of time (seemingly), examinations have always been the forefront of being an indication of a person's understanding of the subject, well at least in the current trend of society.

What you know, is what you're worth, or so they say.

Sure, education is about understanding and ultimately learning, but really, let us take a step back and reminisce the times where nights of precious sleep was given up due to the following day's exams.

Is this learning?

Often I heard the people around me, even educators, talking about written examinations. Multiple interpretations arise but my personal favorite has to be "exams are just vomiting everything out, and back onto the script, which is then handed in".

An interesting analogy I feel.

The society's indication of a person's worth is limited in terms of measurement standards. The number of As you have in your report card often determines your chances of getting the job you desire.

And to me, that is largely disturbing. The society has "evolved" to such stage that we are so result oriented. So much so that we lose sight of the big picture.

However, this is where the paradox comes in.

Examinations does have its educational uses as well. For one, the presence of exams acts as a spur and a drive for individuals to actually make an effort to learn something. And ironically, being in such a result oriented society, that in itself is a motivator.

It is human nature that when we lose out, we feel horrible and we naturally want to do better, to compete and to excel; nobody likes or wants to lose.

To draw the line between boundaries.

We have to draw the line very clearly between knowing something and understanding it; what you know might not be something you understand.

And for me, education is all about understanding and learning something new. Never mind if you know the exact use of Mandelstam variables or the definition of quantum chromodynamics by the tip of your hands, understanding the theory and the principle behind such complexities in life is what I feel education is all about.

Sure, all hell breaks lose when the storm comes but what happens after that?

Right that's that. Now for a little update on metallic-stains.

Its been quite awhile since the blog's last post (as seen below) largely due to exams and school commitments but since that's (almost) behind, we're back in business.

For starters, I've added a little something to make interaction easier (and faster) with you guys my readers.

Blogger introduced this new feature quite some time ago and thus I'm putting it into use. Here it is,

As seen at the end of every post.

Reactions. That's what the feature is called (its the "yes" and "no" thing beside "Dig the post?") and its basically a "poll" where readers can click, select and express how they feel about the post.

Pretty interesting huh.

With Reactions, it'll be easier to obtain feedback about the post and the blog, and also easier to see if people like (or hate) the particular post. So yea, feel free to use the feature.

Its always a nice feeling to me when I see visitors from all over the world on metallic-stains. Recently I've been observing a flow of visitors interesting countries all over the world and I really appreciate that.

And you guys out there if you're reading this, feel free to comment and a big shout out to all of you.

Also, feel free to follow the blog by clicking on the "follow this blog" feature located on the right tool bar for updates.

Audrey has been busy of late and for those interested, be sure to visit the flickr page (link is located on the toolbar to the right).

Alright, I guess that's that for now. Metallic-stains is back, so be sure to check back for updates and the lot.

Great stuff soon to come.

Stay Gold!

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Now playing: Anberlin - A Day Late
via FoxyTunes

Use The Force; Harnessing Change

This really just makes us sit back, and wonder if we're truly alone out here.

Sometimes Life grabs you by the feet and what happens? You trip over.

You look back to see what you've tripped upon, you see nothing and thus you move on with your life.

Or is it really how this works?

I guess the situation in our current context would differ vastly from that of mentioned above wouldn't it?

When Life grabs you by the feet and catches you off guard, causing you to trip and fall, will you, will anyone, "move on" just like that?

We cannot hide the fact that in Life, there are bumps, setbacks, problems and dilemmas around every corner, every phase. But let us take a step back and think, is there a greater reason elaborating on the reason for these "inconveniences" in the course of Life?

My last couple of weeks were spent, a huge delegation, to the priority of school work and worldly commitments. My only source of relaxation came from limited sources; music, friends and more importantly, family.

However, I've recently dug into the archives of my rather inadequate movie collection and revisited the epic saga also known as Star Wars.

Being one of my all time favorite production series as well as storyline (not forgetting the mouth watering technological marvels), a hint of nostalgia fitted knowingly into my mind, as I watched the entire series, over the course of weeks of course.

For some, Star Wars may just be another science fiction action series will an awesome (and elaborated) storyline with addictive content and indeed, I can be considered amongst "some". But personally, there is a deep underlying aspect behind this mammoth of a concept that George Lucas had put together.

Amidst a conversation a couple of hours back with my folks (who are, by the way, fans of the series too), this topic of Star Wars' content was brought up. It was mentioned that the storyline and themes of the series were based off those in the real world.

At first, I was skeptical about that claim; how can a movie with flying spaceships, alienated characters and men wielding laser swords replicate the real society? But thinking about it in retrospect, I found truth in that statement.

We cannot hide the fact that there is political tensions in the world we live in and that's the first replication to that of the series. There is an underlying message in the series as it revolves around the accent of politics in the background as a side plot to the main storyline. Manipulation is also evident as a fringe to the story line's themes.

"May the Force be with You"

I'm sure many have heard of this term at some point of their lives, whether its during a geeky online chat or even during your daily trip to the dentist, we cannot hide the influence this phrase has on society, though on a very subtle level.

The Force, however, does exist in real time context; let us view this with a little literal intent encrypted.

As mentioned at the start of this post; if Life grabs you by the legs and causes you to fall, what do you do?

Interestingly, I feel that this "Force" has its truths in this context.

There is no doubt that at some point in our lives, we have always felt like giving up, felt like not making the effort to recover from the fall caused by the bumpy road and as a result, we blame instead of rectify.

Is there a difference?

For sure, in my opinion. When we fall, what do we usually do on first reaction? We think and figure out how we fell. Next, we think about why we fell which will often encompass the negative, but natural, reaction of human beings; to blame.

Individualistically speaking, we react differently from different "falls". This is also dictated via the subject matter in question; "falling" out of love, for instance, will grant a different reaction from "failing" to close a business deal, so to speak.

I now question this intention; what is the purpose of blaming?

Till this day, I cannot safely accredit an answer for that lest the fact of venting frustrations. Naturally, human beings are highly emotive creatures and when we're at a loss, or in a situation of desperation, we automatically seek alternative forms of finding out the "right" solution.

Take this for example;

You enter this wonderful relationship with another individual and the both of you are happy, most of the time. Suddenly, there is a change in things and your partner has to move away, out of the country, thus signaling the end of the union.

You're at a lost, you will thus turn to blaming. Blaming the reality of distance and the fact that he or she has to leave because of that. But have you even thought that there might be another reason, aside from distance (for example), for the "fall"?

Certainly we don't see the un-obvious, for as the term suggests, is not obvious thus often overlooked, but what if there's a reason for everything that happens?

For many, a change in Life is often considered a good example of a "fall".

Like moving to another country for work purposes or as mentioned, getting hurt in a relationship; we often classify these as "falls" thus giving truth that little or no human is comfortable to change.

Fusing both blame and change, we then get this elaborated vicious cycle that limits and weakens the progress of humans individually as well as collectively.

I brought the issue of Star Wars up because I found that aside from the factors mentioned about the emulation of real life aspects, the issue of change and blame is very evident, and in fact, the root of all evil.

Allow me to elaborate.

Remember this little character called Anakin Skywalker? Oh, maybe the name "Darth Vader" would clear off some confused faces (if you don't know the plot, you might want to consider watching the series and/or reading up for a tint of the plot).

In a way, this entire storyline focuses on him; his founding, his development, his manifestation as well as ultimately, his end. A particular quote from the film that I found really insightful;

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering..."

Indeed, for the root of all evils starts from a change, which induces fear into him. This then paves the way for blame to step in as Anakin along the plot, starts blaming for the things around him and his situation, instead of his own wrong doings which is evident in the final climatic scene in Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, where an exasperated Obi-Wan says:

"You (Anakin) were the Chosen One! It was said that you would, destroy the Sith, not join them. It was you who would bring balance to the Force, not leave it in Darkness"

All of this with ultimately led to Anakin's suffering, as he ventures towards the dark side of the Force.

Which brings me to the next point of this topic.

I would largely like to believe that the "Force" does exist in Life, though not in the dramatic form you see in the movie. Everyone has this Force from within themselves, just that few can understand and truly master its potential.

The Force to me, is simply a way of thinking. It can be considered, to a certain extent, the very thing that drives you, the very thing that you live by and the very thing that you believe in.

Very so often during the various movies of Star Wars, we see the Jedi Knights in terrible situations, in need of their lightsaber. Which is when they call upon the Force to psychically summon the lightsaber.

Though this makes a good effect in the movie and fantasy world, I believe that there are real connotations to that subject matter.

Think of your lightsaber as something you need very badly. Something that, in the given situation, you require urgently and the Force as your mind.

Say for example, you really need a car for that Saturday night date you've been planning since first grade. That becomes your "lightsaber".

What do you do?

By using the Force to reach for the "lightsaber", which may result you in getting a part time job to raise the funds, or any action taken to obtain that "lightsaber".

Indeed we can classify the Force as a way of thinking but then again, I feel that subjectivity plays a part in this argument as everyone has different interpretations of the Force.

The constant fear of change, viewed in another perspective is just a way of moving another step up the stairway of life.

With the problem (fear of change) as well as the solution (using the Force) presented, it is now down to the matter of applying the solution to the problem.

Many a time, we are faced with the prospect of change and as mention, are naturally not acceptable to them. So what do we do?

Its all in the mind, I usually assure myself. Even if my "lightsaber" is something deemed too radical or hard to achieve, I'd still use the Force.

In a way, I feel that Life is, blatantly put, Change. Which makes perfect sense as Life encompasses a myriad of problems, big and small. Thus we must be susceptible to change and this can be achieved via the harnessing of the Force, in doing so bridging the gap between problem and solution.

An old quote from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho states (and I'm sure I've mentioned it previously);

"If you want something bad enough, the entire universe will conspire for you to get it"

That, I feel, relates strongly to this "Force", when viewed from a certain aspect. Harness the change, eradicate fears and use the Force to achieve the seemingly impossible.

So the next time Life grabs you by the feet and you fall, learn from that experience and move on with the Force and your "lightsaber" set in your mind. Only then, will you propel up the endless steps of improvement set along the stairway of Life.


*The owner of this blog and author of this does NOT own any of the images you see in this particular post. Any related references made to "Star Wars" is purely nonprofitable and credit is reserved for the creator of the content as mentioned. The author and owner for this post, along with its management team, does not have any affiliations to the company behind "Star Wars".

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Now playing: Cute Is What We Aim For - Lyrical Lies
via FoxyTunes

Eating at Disambiguation; Agreeing is not Disagreeing

Had this sudden urge to talk about a little something that I've been thinking about for the past couple of hours or so.

Disambiguation.

And after much thought and deliberation, I've decided to elaborate my train of thought into a full grown standalone article.

Many a time, life throws riddles and problems straight into your face, be it in terms of work or your personal life. And many a time, such problems and adversities aren't as clear cut; if you mix white and black together, you'll get a color called gray, not "black-white".

Ambiguity exists in our daily lives though as we get used to such confusions of the mind, we ignore them and treat them as something of the norm, something that is "just like that" or is "made this way".

On a daily basis, us human beings are subject of ambiguity as much as being the source of it, such is a context of irony.

Obvious sources of this interesting aspect range from speech to daily occurrences.

Remember the time back in preschool, when your teacher would ask the class of cute and chubby 5 year old kids questions like "what is your favorite color?" Well, I remembered my time during preschool less then distinctively but viewing it in retrospect, disambiguation has already been put into play.

Pertaining to that particular question, the chubby 5 year old in me at that time (as I faintly recall) saw friends and classmates around me raising up their hands in excitement, some even shouting our their answers to the teacher's inquiry.

"Red! Blue! Yellow! Green! Black!"

And soon, it was my turn to answer that question as my teacher (and the rest of the class for that matter) waited intently for my answer.

Indeed I was young at that time and I too, was subjected to giving the "right answer", thus choosing to "play it safe" with a normal answer ("my favorite color is red"). My answer was acknowledged as a result.

But thinking back, had I answered something along the lines of "my favorite color isn't blue" (for example), would the entire experience be the same as the one that happened?

Here we see an example of disambiguation at play. It is fact that the color red, isn't blue and in actual truth, it is common sense so that means that red isn't blue.

We say that there is ambiguity in the answer for there are in truth, 2 correct answers to the question ("what is your favorite color") but in actual fact, only one is deemed "correct" for the other answer would be labeled as "missing the point" and going "out of topic".

What happens here is that we are able to see a clash between truth and societal expectations, between the orthodox and the unorthodox. This is what ambiguity brings to the world.

The term ambiguity can be defined as "Doubtfulness or uncertainty as regards interpretation" (as cited from dictionary.com). But to me simply put, it means a subject matter having different interpretations, resulting in different answers and opinions.

Ambiguity is in contradiction to social expectations in most cases, simply because the society as a whole dictates the pace, lifestyle and thinking of its members.

I'm sure many of you have heard of the term "pack instinct" though normally evident for canines like dogs or wolves which hunt in packs, thus giving credibility to this term.

What this "pack instinct" does is that it ensures that everyone in the "pack" follows and thinks similarly so as to work as an effective, compact unit.

I draw relevance with this to a typical human society. It is often said that humans are social creatures and that (most, if not all of them) will not be able to work as effectively in solitary settings as compared to working in a group.

What the society does is to instill this "pack instinct" within its members. Which means this "instinct" sets the right from wrong, black from white, truth to false.

Ambiguity "disrupts" the order of the pack instinct by proving that there is often more than one answer to a question. Ambiguity proves that there is an "in between" for everything and it supports the use of the word "maybe" in any question.

True, ambiguity often encompasses confusion but I like to view it as a variable alternative. It provides a new perspective, one that is not necessarily incorrect or false.

So which path should we take? The mainstream thinking of "going with the flow" of others or the unconventional route?

It is human nature to want to be different and to stand out in the crowd. However, I find it really ironic that though we're wanting to be different subconsciously, much of the population is still under the influence of conventional thinking.

Much of this is credited to the fact that people prefer to agree to something that is already suggested (or disagree) then to suggest an entirely new idea.

In the rite of life, we are often faced with obstacles and detours and are also, in varied frequency, fazed with the prospect of a tough decision. And sometimes, these are the type of decisions that will affect the script of the next chapter of your life.

In that sense, ambiguity is your enemy as it aggravates the situation and puts the "what ifs" back into the equation.

In a way, people in general do not like to think about the "what ifs" as fear takes over the control of possibility and dismisses existence.

A good example is the presence of life in space. For centuries, humans have dismissed the possibility of other life forms in space, more specifically termed "aliens".

The conventional theory goes that all living things need basis requirements to survive and that space conditions does not fulfill the criteria for life to flourish. But is that the case?

Here we see a typical case of ambiguity in play.

The "right" answer to the existence of life in space was originally "no, its not possible for life to exist outside earth as the conditions aren't ideal for survival of life form". But recently, the advancement of men has decreed that there is a possibility of life outside earth.

To put illustrate this point, let us look at this simple interpretation;

Question: Is there Life in space?

Option 1: Yes. (Conventionally "wrong" answer)
Option 2: No. (Conventionally "right" answer)
Option 3: Maybe. (The ambiguous answer)

With this example, we see the society moving together as a unit to accept ambiguity. The public perception has changed from option 2 to 3 thus giving truth to the fact that ambiguity exists and the "right" answer is not always right.

There are many aspects of ambiguity in life, another prominent one being religion. Thus being the case that its a sensitive topic, we cannot deny the fact that there is ambiguity in religion; different religions emphasizes on different values.

To me personally, ambiguity is a "yes and no" answer, factoring in both the proposition as well as the opposition points of view.

Sure, we're bound to be involved in ambiguity at some point of our lives but I guess there's always an unknown boundary in every question, argument, definition or statement.

Working towards solving ambiguity will in turn, result in improvement and development (as with the case of life in space) and in the long run, a better understanding.

Life is full of ambiguity. Look at them not as confusion but as points of clarification and improvement.

The Price of Emotions; How much are you willing to give?

Price and financial stability has often been of issue during the recent decades of mankind. Probably due to the rising costs of living (as I'm sure all of us are relatively familiar with) or even due to the vast and complex advancements in the societal context.

It is assuring to find out that yes, our society is improving and moving towards the future; who knows what it'll hold for mankind. But are somethings compromised in the process of such "advancements"?

To have the society move forward is one thing while the psychological development of its citizens, is another issue altogether. An issue that is often overlooked by the sociologist of this century.

A slight irony if I may say so, but naturally, it is had to foresee the developments of the human mind, as with the study of psychology; it is a field of mysteries even more complex then logic itself.

So is the human mind evolving as a result of all this?

Certainly, for the mind is designed to evolve as that is the way of nature. It is impossible for mankind to remain stagnant in evolution as that would deem void in the order of survival.

But has this evolution deteriorated our evolution to such an extend that we are purely based off currency and finance? And that our lives are basically circled around what we call, the "Greens"?

A couple of weeks ago before I started my first lesson with my student, my employer (my student's parents, who coincidentally was my ex-table tennis coach) approached me for advice about his child's progress.

I thought to myself, hey I mean this kid's just in primary one (first grade) surely there wouldn't be a need for such intensive materials just yet?

Well I guess this is where the term people coin "parental instincts" come about and my employer appeared rather anxious about his child's academic performance (especially in the English Language).

I suggested the purchase of an English dictionary (largely due to the fact that it would not only be substantial to the child's education but also a long term investment) in response to his enquiry nevertheless as I felt that there was no significant need for "additional materials? aside from the such.

The following week, I came for my routine with the newly bought dictionary, eager to impart what I know about the uses for this "$12.79 heavy-weight" to my student, as well as his parents.

It was really interesting to me personally that my employers would so readily invest in educational gains for their child and this really set me thinking (though I've had been in similar situations in the past with my own parents sparing no expense at my education); I see it in a different viewpoint now.

This may be a natural occurrence, of parents spending and investing what they can into their child's education, but from this derives a precious lesson and leaves much room for thought.

Since our society nowadays revolves around currency and finance, I presume it must be natural that the psychological aspect of mankind overlaps with such "logical entities". But to what extent have our mental state of mind depend on such physical factors?

As seen in the example I've quoted, emotions are shown through gifts and investments. My employer cares for his child and thus entrusted me with the responsibility of purchasing the dictionary.

However, this is where the delicate cradle of balance comes into play; are we over-relying on such physical objects to articulate our emotions?

When it comes to gifts, I'm pretty sure one would often link it to the annually occurrence of one's day of birth, or even the festive event of Christmas, where people exchange presents and the such.

But are physical gifts a good indication of one's emotion to the other?

I personally feel that we live in a materialistic society in itself, where everything circles around money, thus giving existence to terms such as "money is power" or "money makes the world go round" or even "time is money".

It is quite sad that our society has turned towards such a direction where everything is so material based and our human rooted emotions get affected as a result.

I find the term "diamonds are a girl's best friend" disturbing to a certain degree (though I understand that term is a metaphoric statement, depending on the situation) especially in a relationship context. If diamonds are a girl's "best friend" then what does her partner stand for? Hopefully not her "piggy bank" I hope.

Some people of our modern dive straight into material pleasures and are enticed by them, especially the younger generation. Take a quick walk down the streets of the busiest shopping districts and I'm sure you'll see teenagers by the truckload, browsing through the various "material indulgences" up for grabs.

But is a physical gift the best form to emphasize your emotions? Must we really purchase that elusive diamond necklace or that expensive bag just to show that we care?

I surely hope not, for I feel that emotions yield no stable logic but yet, flows in the human mind as free as water. Nobody can put a price on emotions such as care, concern, sacrifice and most importantly, love.

Embrace emotions to people or vice versa, for only in its purest form, will its true meaning surface and take purpose.

However, do not misunderstand me. Like how a parent is willing to spend and invest for his child's education, spending is justified, only to a certain extend. Overdoing it however, will deem superficial and in truth, pointless.

Emotions come from your heart and soul and not from your wallet. Even if you're not able to afford a simple gift due to financial constrains, a little action is not only the best way to express but is also the most apporiate one, in my opinion.

They say that "its the thought that counts" and I for one, am in favour of that statement as to convey your emotion, it is what you think and the "thought"; the physical object being a substantive.

So as we speak, is our society plunging deeper and deeper into the depths of the cold and harsh reality that is in the figures of our bank account?

I sure hope not. From the latest fashion trends to the complex gizmos of the future, society is going further and further into development.

But let us not forget what keeps us sane, our emotions, for it is what keeps us human and intact (refer to article, "Emotions; A Flaw in the Human Design?").

No one can put a price tag on emotions and no matter how much our society moves ahead of us, let us hope that some primitive traits in the human design will remain the same for a long time to come as I do not see an alternative to our current predicament.

So the next time when you're pondering about what to get for a friend, your children, your family members or that special someone, always put in retrospect that no matter how much one spends, the thing that will be remembered isn't that unique "only one in the world" jewelry or that custom made music player that has 200GB of storage space, but the "thought" that was considered when making the decision to purchase and doing it.

To actually give thought to a particular event and to take action for it is the greatest form to demonstrate the inner emotions.

Emotions are priceless, treasure and savour them.

The Receding Hairline and Frayed Inspirations; What is your Personal Legend?

Quite recently, I read a book, a rather inspirational and captivating one at that, I might add (readers might take a hint from the title of this post). Needless to say, I was heavily drawn into the values and beliefs put out by the author through this masterpiece; it was peculiarly similar to the very values I live by.

To regurgitate every single piece of information and key point in the book would be an infringement of copyright and what’s more, it would be painstakingly long for both the writer (me) and the readers (you) to clearly illiterate the entire story.

But to put it simply, the book teaches people to be conscious of their life and how they live it which then branches out into many different aspects in itself.

Venturing out of your safety zones, becoming what you were meant to be, not afraid to lose it all for your dreams, empowering them and having an open eye are just a sample of what the book brought into me.

Clearly, the book left an impact on me as my way of thinking is galvanized further in terms of my personal beliefs and my goal setting.

So what is this “Personal Legend” as put out in the book itself?

I found the concept of destiny rather amusing and absurd in the past for I personally believe that destiny is in the eye of the user; the people himself shapes his destiny.

Yes, if so I may say, destiny is intertwined with this “Personal Legend” as your personal legend is what you were meant to do when you were first given life. It is what grants you your full purpose of existence and what that will make you satisfied before the day comes (refer to article, Satisfaction; the Delighted Mother and the Inquisitive Child).

There is however, a stark difference my interpretation of the term “destiny” (refer to article, Tales of the Past III; what is Destiny?) as compared to this Personal Legend concept.

You see, to me, destiny is defined as an allocation, a fixed mould in the pattern of life, for what your life would be no matter what you do. Which also means that even if the person doesn’t work towards his goal, he will still get it cause it is after all, what he was meant to be.

Your Personal Legend on the other hand, is vastly different.

I believe that everyone in existence has a purpose that was allocated to him or her when he or she was given life. Uncanny resemblance with what was mentioned about destiny? Unfortunately this is where the similarities end.

Unlike destiny, your personal legend does not provide a smooth sailing path for the person while in pursuit of his or her goals. One of the many significant quotes from the book certainly tugged at my consciousness; “Every search begins with beginner’s luck and every search ends with the victor being severely tested” (Paulo Coelho, 1988, The Alchemist).

The term “beginner’s luck” is often heard in high class hotel casinos or even shady underground gambling dens but in this case, one will not get thrown out or mugged for winning. Beginner’s luck does exist, but is often overlooked and ignored by many.
It is a sign which indicates that one is on the right track to their personal legend as it is the creator’s way of signalling to you and encouraging you by giving you a little bit of leeway.

So why do we ignore such telltale signs?
Many people overlook the fact and existence of their personal legend, in the process numbing themselves to what they were meant to be and thus also restricting themselves to being something they are not.

Most of them give up without even trying while others give up after failures. Only a handful persist through all the challenges and emerge something more; a better, more complete person. Those who give up without trying is oblivious to even the existences of personal legends while those who give up in the process lack willpower and drive to see it till the end.

But who can we blame for such alterations?

The way the society works is similar to that of a dictatorship’s rule and I’m referring that in a metaphorical sense. The society shapes its people’s minds and more rather, sets down rules and stereotypes in certain contexts.

In a way, “protection” may seem the word here, but this also restricts people’s advances on their personal legend in a way. They might not want to venture out into the wilderness and out of their safety zones and fear is an integral part that constitutes to people not fulfilling their personal legends.

I’ve always enjoyed conversing with people, especially with elders. But sometimes I can’t help but wonder if they’ve heard of or even thought about issues like personal legends or destiny.

I sense that the society’s grip on people, especially the elders is strong, partly due to the fact that they’ve been raised that way, and partly because of their mindsets. Yes, many of them have inspirations since young but only a handful of them successfully see them through.

Again, this is a prime example of the case mentioned earlier where people either give up without trying or give up while trying. They are discouraged at the seemingly adamant feasibility of realising their personal legends as they usually find it “impractical”.

But what defines it as impractical?

Impracticality largely depends on the user; if that individual feels its impractical, it is. This is also where belief and motivation comes in. More rather, I find that these individuals give up due to the lack of motivation, the sole principle of working towards a goal or an aim (refer to article, Screaming Fans; The Motivational Force and Ambition) and as their hairline recedes, so does that drive
and inspiration.

I find it sad that people give up or don’t know about the concept of personal legends. I find it sad that we let the environment around us dictate how we should live and what we should or shouldn’t do. But I find it especially sad when people give up hope or on their lives.

“Its the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting” (Paulo Coelho, 1988, The Alchemist). Many a time, I’ve come across people who come and tell me that life is “boring” and that they don’t see the joy in living.

By relishing your personal legend also means making a dream come true. And to those people, who tell me life is boring, I tell them to keep holding on and they’ll find what they’ll need and work towards their personal legends.

As for myself?

I daresay that I’ve found the path to my personal legend and that is the media. Due to its highly personal details however, I will not reveal certain details but I truly believe that this is what I was meant to be doing.

Though it may seem like a bold claim, the feeling speaks for itself. Many challenges are thrown at me, which I hope will make me stronger in the end.
There were times, awhile back, when I wasn’t sure of my personal legend or didn’t know that such a thing existed.

I felt lost, unsure and insecure. I didn’t know what I wanted nor had a clear precise goal in mind. I would give up on things or a particular aim due to distractions for clearly, my drive wasn’t there; I aim not to repeat what I’ve been through.

Yes, sometimes when challenges are thrown at you, headfirst and you can’t handle them, it may seem as if all hope is lost and failure presumes which naturally, isn’t the case here.

Challenges to me are tests. Tests that will make you stronger as it is the creator’s way or ensuring only the finest and strongest succeed in achieving their personal legend. Pass this test and another one takes its place and another and another, until the “victor is severely tested”.

Sure its no walk in the park but when you’ve finally found your “pot of treasure”, satisfaction grips you like a vice and you’ve made it for sure.

So have you found your personal legend? No matter what it is, how harsh the conditions or how impossible the odds are, hope is important for it is what keeps the engine up there going.

Thus let us empower our lives and find our respective personal legends and claim our justly deserved “pot of treasure”


*The above insight contains a only selected number of themes mentioned from the book itself. All references made belongs to the author and its contents*

The Human Behaviour (III); The Influence of Fear

As this series draws to a close, I’ve covered the various causes of Human Behavioural changes and observations to the complexity about this complex mechanism that is within all of us.

Being a conclusive instalment, I’ve decided to tackle an issue on human behaviour that has been brought up in my previous instalments, namely influencing and the element of fear in one’s mindset and how it affects the human behaviour.

Mentioned in the 1st instalment (refer to article, “The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting”), fear is an attribute, more rather, that alters the human behaviour in ways often unnoticed from an onlooker’s perspective.

Fear is a scary (no pun intended) attribute that crafts a person’s mindset, which is ultimately, interrelated to his or her behavioural habits.

With reference to the previous instalment, fear causes changes personality-wise and also behavioural wise, for example, in tough and awkward social settings as mentioned.

It is thus no doubt that fear is a powerful tool used by people of power or authority in our modern society to, somehow or rather, “shape” and “control” the minds of its citizens; of which I’ll elaborate more later on.

The second factor in ultimate human behavioural alteration is the aspect of influence.

Mentioned in the 2nd instalment (refer to article, “The Human Behaviour (II); The Change”), the somewhat controversial issue of influence plays a part in human behavioural changes and structures.

Strong influences in the society, culture or even race can ultimately affect human behaviour whether adversely or otherwise. However, influences or rather the act of influencing, is a powerful tool along with persuasion as it is able to shape changes in the human behaviour.

Won’t this be a little scary if its used to “programme” the masses? To have your perceptions controlled through persuasion and influences?

Evidently, I’ve decided to do a final wrap-up on these two simple (but complicated in its own way) aspects as derived from my previous instalments mainly because I’m particularly affected and drawn to the fact that human behaviour can be controlled, shaped, fabricated and even manipulated to such an extent that it changes their entire perception and mindset, which forms a chain effect that in turn, affects the human behaviour.

Sounds like an awful lot doesn’t it?

Sadly in our society nowadays, the image of fear is often anchored to the technique of influence as these two aspects and attributes match side by side, like how a puzzle fits perfectly together.

What this means is that this method, as I would like to call it, is an effective catalyst, a potent mix, to control and shape, as mentioned.

Firstly, let us break down it, word for word.

The term influence is defined as “the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behaviour, opinions, etc of others” (as cited from dictionary.com).

What this means, in laymen terms, is that influence is basically a stage by stage process which coincides with the technique of persuasion as persuasion influences people to believe or even do a particular task or matter.

The term fear is defined as “an emotional response to threats and dangers” (as cited from Wikipedia.com).

Note the word emotional, used in its definition. Fear is often associated with emotions and emotions automatically constitutes into the mind which links to the behaviour.

This is a complex chain but logical in a sense as our behaviour is very much based on our emotions and perceptions. After all, behaviour is what gives humans their character and their unique facade due to the diversity of each and every single human mind.

Putting the two attributes together is interesting and powerful then. Think of the technique of influence as a gun and fear as its bullets; its the same relationship.
Without the gun, the bullets would be useless (unless loaded into another gun) and vice versa, which can be said in a more metaphorical sense in this case of influences and fear.

By inculcating the influence of fear in one’s mind, their actions or behaviour in this case, will be motored on by their “emotional response” which in this case, is fear, and results in certain changes in the human behaviour.
Influencing fear into people thus, is like a “loaded gun” and that means it is deadly and effective at the same time.

Though it may seem common, the influence of fear in our daily lives is so subtle that in many cases, we subconsciously accept these incoming fears and believe them, in doing so succumbing to the influence of fear, which may or may not contain truth, depending on the situation.

Over the pass few days, I’ve tried to observe such examples of the “subtle details” which indirectly, uses fear to influence. I had to find a source and had to observe people’s reaction after exposure to the source and how their behaviour would change in contrast.

And for that, I turned to the mass medium of the 21 century: the television.
The media is actually a powerful influence in people’s mind. From the high intellects, to the less fortunate, these people turn to the most common medium to gain information, exposure and also unknowingly, influence.

It helps conceptualise the fact that most people actually put their utmost trust in the media and the information it delivers.

Thus, as if on express, different influences get brought across very quickly in our modern society and that’s why human behaviour and perceptions can be so easily dictated via the media and its various mediums.

Though my observations in the outside world were in vain, I turned to school and finally found my due observation.

“Bowling for Columbine”, “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Fahrenheit 9/11”. Three
controversial films in their own rights, were shown to the classes, mainly due to educational purposes and also, to stimulate the students’ thinking in such controversies.

These films were very powerful in a sense that sensitive issues were tackled headfirst and information about various conspiracies were uncovered. Persuasion and influences were used deeply in these films too, particularly the influence of fear.
Though it may not seem as an accurate sample size, I did a rough observation on the behaviour of my fellow class and course mates who viewed the film and there was an astonishing difference before and after the film, behavioural wise.

Most of them reacted strongly as compared to their usual nature before watching such films as they were purely convinced. There were a handful though, that were sceptical about the things mentioned and were by far, unconvinced.

They voiced their opinions out after the films as we held a little discussion for each film screened and some of them underwent a distinctive change in behaviour.
Perhaps their believe was shaken or that they were deeply influenced by the speech. But I chose to think otherwise.

“Fear is what feeds the mind of horrors that can otherwise be devised” A quote that I came up (with a little influence from the film, Fahrenheit 9/11) that I feel, captures the essence of the “fear factor” in this case.

The aspect and issue of fear was what my observational subjects were probably exposed to, whether to a large or small extent, which influenced and persuaded them of their thoughts and mindset, thus resulting in the change of behaviour.

Many of the films mentioned have the fear of uncertainly hidden amongst the elaborated words that were flourished in the content which were subconsciously absorbed by viewers. This was probably because most of the films dealt their respective controversies with a certain degree of doubt.

Humans are not comfortable when they’re dealing with things that they are unsure of due to their nature and thus, an apt aspect of fear used.
However, the behaviour tabulated is subjective to individuals as some perceive it differently.

For some, their behaviour “shrinks” which will then result in them retreating and contemplating about what was shown to them. For others though, their behaviour strengthens and they gain a certain boost and motivation to make a change and difference and to evict the horror that they were presented with.

And this brings me to my next objective of pointing out the different benefits of fear.

Yes, fear will often reap negative effects for some, but like the mentioned above, certain individuals see fear as a source of motivation (refer to article, “Screaming Fans; The Motivational Force and Ambition”), which is largely ideal.

The motivation for improvement is fluid as for some, it is hard to find but for others, it comes naturally. By being able to turn negative aspects like fear, into positive aspects like motivation, I find that particularly enriching.

This will also mean a change in behaviour; a change for a better one. Which is largely due to the cultivation of motivation as motivation breeds positive behaviour; a vital aspect for improvement.

But this motivation for change is subjective, depending on the context as not all motivation for changes are positive and good natured. This is also where values and morals come into play as people are tested to tell what’s right to wrong, what’s good to bad.

People thus capitalises on this detail and uses fear as an influence; to gain motivation for change.

I’d like to think of the human behaviour as a litre of water, in a metaphoric sense.
It can take almost any form, as it is easily influenced to changes and it can take any shape, as it is unique to each individual.

Many people don’t pay attention to the delicate details of that “litre of water” and when it changes its form or shape but I find it particularly interesting to chapter its changes and find out about the causes and effects of it all.

Our mind and our behaviour is a very versatile aspect of our “internal motherboard”. Foreign influences (such as fear) can alter its balance and its function.

I hope that we’ll all be able to take full control of our minds and thus, free ourselves from the various external aspects that our mind is faced with which affects behaviour.

“Life is full of daily complexities and mysteries...” (taken from “The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting”) and the human mind and behaviour is one such example.

I hope that this series has indeed gained a better insight into such “complexities and mysteries” of life and enrich one’s perception from a personal viewpoint.

The Human Behaviour (II); The Change

My pervious instalment of The Human Behaviour covered the aspect of the reaction and feelings of people in particular social settings. Issues covered included the general outline of human behaviour, their distinct roles in a group social setting, humans being emotive creatures, the issue of fears in a social setting and many more.

This observational series is one that requires time and much observation in order to be acute in its reports.

I’m however, tackling the approach via a means of my personal perspective and thus, certain claims and observations might be subjective to the individual.

The ambiguity of a topic as such is evident.

As mentioned in the previous instalment (refer to article, The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting), the human mind is subjective and complex in its own nature. The mind of a person, being the core constitution of a person’s behaviour, decides the person’s behaviour and the way he or she acts, which might shed some light on the ambiguity of the behaviour of humans; we rarely behave similarly.

“the action or reaction under specified circumstances” (as cited from dictionary.com) fully defines the term, behaviour and naturally, as proof to my pervious claim about behaviour being subjective, “action” and “reaction” are rarely carbon copies from one human being to another.

Human behaviour therefore, is a very vast and diverse topic.

Moving on to my substantive for this instalment.

The society around us changes and shapes the very tomorrow for the lives of those living in it. For example, the government might ban education tomorrow and that will surely affect the people in the particular country (with expected mixed reactions, of course).

It is no denying the fact that changes are evident in our everyday lives, and whether if its a good or bad thing, depends purely on the mindset of a person, which often follows in a series of differentiated human behaviour.

But the question remains; how will change ultimately affect the human behaviour? Are we so superficial as to the fact that changes can alter our mindset, in doing so, our behaviour?

There is truth to that statement.

In a sense, changes fosters a different mindset due to the core dependency that humans respond to stimuli. I feel that change itself is a stimuli and thus, we, as living organisms, would and should respond to the changes around us, in terms of either refining, adapting or even totally revamping our mindset.

Though it may seem unrealistic or even nonsensical, humans undergo a series of “revamps” which also can be termed changes, in their mindset and human behaviour. Its amazing that the behaviour of humans can change drastically throughout one’s life, as I’ve found out during my observational period.

Observing changes often takes up a bunk of time and effort, mainly because changes are sometimes uncalled for and highly situational. Knowing this, I knew it was really hard for me to actually observe changes and how those changes affect human behaviour.

Thus I came up with a little something called Contrasting. It may seem complex but in fact, it is much easier to contrast rather than sit and wait for a change to actually happen; some of which can take years to cultivate a significant change in a human’s behaviour.

The concept of Contrasting is a fairly simple one. Basically, when I observed something significant in the field of human behaviour, I would compare the behaviour with the former self. This was, a comparison is created and one would be able to analyse the differences in human behaviour before and after these changes without actually witnessing them.

However, not that Contrasting may work only for certain observational types and the results are more rather, fluid and subjective and observations can only be treated as a generalization.

A good example where I used Contrasting, in a general viewpoint, is in the change of age and its effect on the human behaviour.

The change of age is an aspect that affects the one’s behaviour, in drastic fashion at that, I feel. This can be due to a number of both scientific and psychological aspects that leads to this change.

On a scientific basis, Senescence, which is the big word used to describe the process of aging, often spurs different types of “social, psychological and physical changes” (as cited from Wikipedia.com).

These psychological changes that people undergo during aging hints at the change in behaviour too, in drastic differences and fashion. The change in behaviour for the aspect of age often varies from one end of the spectrum to the other.

You would normally envision old people to be quiet, soft spoken and always keeping to themselves, which is only half correct. Age does make a person keep their problems to themselves as they gain a higher sense of maturity and wisdom; they do not want the people around them to worry. And in this sense, their behaviour will obviously change as they will become less idealistic and more down to earth, accepting things for what they are and as mentioned, keeping their thoughts to themselves in order for the society to not worry for them.

However, this is only one side of the spectrum that I’ve mentioned.

The other half of the spectrum is vocalised (pun intended) by those who develop their sense of right to speak up or being more sociable.

Though the majority lies with the former group, there are exceptions.

My daily bus rides to school granted me this insight for I observed a particularly contentions elderly man; he was voicing his opinions loudly on the bus. Though I enjoyed his rapid comments about various social issues, I pondered on the change that age has taken on him.

He was so sociable that he even spoke to another elderly man who boarded the bus about highly personal topics such as their children.

There was no clear indication that both of them knew each other but the sociable elderly started conversing in fluent dialect, as if they were long time friends. He even helped the other elderly man down the bus as he had difficulty walking.

Indeed that was an act of kindness. But I began to reason, in my head, about the behaviour of the sociable old man. Clearly the change of age has taken him (he was 65) and now has a sociable, and open mindset; lets face it, how many times have you seen younger adults being so open to people they don’t know?

Take note here that I’m not trying to criticise this type of behaviour but more rather, point it out, as people nowadays are somewhat ignorant of such subtle aspects of life.

I feel that another subtle detail that people fail to take observation and notice, in our society is all around us; our environment.

A new sign board, a different coat of paint, a new building built; these are all but a small part of our environment. I’m not trying to be over critical here but one of the main influences of the changes in behaviour is the environment around us.

When one is thrown into a new environment, one often feels lost, disorientated and insecure. Without a doubt, the human behaviour of the particular person will change accordingly. This is why people tend to be more introverted and inward when first introduced to a new environment.

The feeling of disorientation and insecurity makes a person less adventurous as they are afraid to move out of their safety zones and will also result in people putting on “false fronts” either to deceive or simply due to their fears (refer to article, The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting).

This however, is more often, a temporary issue as the insecurity of a new environment will fade as soon as that person gets familiar with the surroundings. Again, this is an issue of speed and subjectivity as certain people can adapt almost on the spot while other takes weeks or even months; its that diverse.

People thus undergo a duration of altered behaviour when they’re introduced to a new environment that they’re not used or comfortable with.

Most change aspects are on a long term basis but the change in environment is one of the few aspects that yields temporary change in behaviour.
As mentioned earlier in the article (and the previous instalment), the human mind and human behaviour is closely intertwined together, which means that this serves that another platform for the basis of the change of behaviour; the change in one’s mindset.

Though it may not be easy to change and, with reference to the earlier mention, revamp your mind, it can and has been done, though many people don’t notice this due to its understated observation and notice.

Very so often or another, we’ll come across that one inspirational book that will change your perspective about something. Mind, it need not be a book but can be anything, anything that inspires you to think, reflect and change your behaviour.
The change of mindset is one that not many people are willing to make nor will they notice that they have done so.

A simple quote like “every blessing ignored becomes a curse” (from The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho, 1988) for instance, can change a person’s mindset and behaviour for they are then inspired.

This little motivation (refer to article, Screaming Fans; The Motivational Force and Ambition) leads to a change in behaviour as the person is influenced and motivated to lead a different life, for example and this constitutes to a change.

The change of influence is also based on the mind as the mind perceives, get influenced and acts based on the combination. I find the basis of influence extremely strong and evident amongst teenagers.

Perhaps at a young age, people are more easily influenced due to premature thoughts and unfiltered mindsets. Bad influences can thus pervade these vulnerable minds, corrupting them and tainting them with negative imagery.

I’m sure there are cases of teenagers attempting to emulate their so called “role models” by copying their actions or even mimicking them word for word, stride by stride. Let us question these influences; are they positive or negative?
It is again, subjective. Like a coin having two different sides, it is not exception here.

I feel that altering one’s behaviour based on influences is rather “self-zombifying”. The main reason being that I feel each and every single individual should be distinct and prominent; no two people are the same entirely.

Instead of subjecting to influence and mimicking due to that influence, why not change and create your own influence?

Changes are very diverse in the field of human behaviour, as with the entire aspect of it on the whole. There are many factors that contribute to the change in human behaviour of which I’ve only touched on a few.

The human behaviour is a complex issue which isn’t easy to unravel.

For my coming edition, I’ll be concluding about my observations regarding human behaviour and giving my final analysis of the psychological side of expression.

*The above references made to various authors are in no way used for the reason of blog promotion.

The Human Behaviour (I); The Social Setting

Life is full of daily complexities and mysteries, even though most people are immune to certain aspects of various society implications.

This is why I personally feel that the skill of Observation, is an invaluable one to have in any setting of our modern society (refer to previous article Observation; The Art Of Reading Your Environment Like a Book).

To me, I see every social outing or social event as an opportunity to study and observe, and thus that is actually one of the reasons why I endeavoured this personal project of mine; to do a three part observational project on the complex human behaviour.

The human mind works in many different and complex ways unfathomed (refer to previous article, The Human Mind; A Powerful Tool or just a Voice inside us?) and I find this detail extremely appealing. Reason being the scope of the human mind; its almost endless.

The mind invokes the behaviour and thus completes a person. The limitless aspects and diversity of the mind is so immerse for it holds no boundaries and that is what makes the human mind and behaviour so appealing to me.
No doubt, there is a link between the mind and the behaviour for the mind controls the behaviour and in some cases, vice versa.

Throughout my field studies and observations, I’ve observed some interesting details and reactions from my study subjects, who were people I totally didn’t know; they were just random members of the public.

For this part of my observation, The Social Setting, I took to densely populated areas, bustling with human activity. I started out with places like the train station, shopping malls, eating outlets and general meeting places where masses of people would designate to meet up.

I wanted to explore and observe the people’s reactions when they’re in social situations such as, being in big groups, their facial expressions when they’re in groups, the social composition and aspects along that line, things people normally wouldn’t observe or take notice.

I’ve been sitting in a particular train station for quite some time now on one of my research days, doing a general observation of the people and the activity in the station. It was interesting in a sense that somehow, I felt a sense of organization amongst the what seemingly mass of people rushing thru and fro, trying to catch their trains; a particular chain of order in the system was in place.

My attention however, was caught by a bunch of elderly people, meeting up in the station.

Interestingly, I did a little comparison with the people around them, who were mainly alone or in smaller groups.

I saw laughter. I saw excitement. And probably most importantly, I saw joy and happiness in the eyes of the elderly who were meeting up, something the people around didn’t seem to show on their faces. Whether they’re deep in thought or rushing off to work (as it was around the morning rush hour) I didn’t see what I saw in the group of elderly.

Why is this so?

Human beings are social creatures. Its is in our nature, instinct and blood to be socially involved.

This is evident in our everyday lives as we are able to see people having more fun than being alone, but of course, there are minorities of those who prefer and seek happiness when they’re all alone in a solitary world.

Their activity level increases when they’re in a group as well; Social habits and settings help people open up.

Passive and inward individuals are more likely to open themselves up and speak when they’re in a familiar social setting mainly due to the fact that they are comfortable.

The insecurity in them, during social situations, is compromised by comfort and thus they open up and speak their thoughts. They become less conscious or afraid especially in big groups as a result.

I’m sure that at some point in your lives, one might have come across a wildlife documentary about animals seeking shelter and protection in big groups; humans work in the same way as well.

Except in our case, it isn’t the battle of the fittest and for survival but a psychological and mental insecurity that eludes these individuals.
However in every social group, there are always prominent characters that stand out. Many calls it the stereotypes of a social group, but I simply like to term these as prominent personalities in any group setting.

You’ll always have the strong, outspoken and domineering one. This is the person in the group that makes decisions and starts the conversation going. We commonly term this person the leader or initiator. These people usually behave aggressively and all out.

You’ll then have the supplier, the support and material person that usually comes up with the ideas and suggestions. There are many terms for this role but I like to call them the resource providers. They provide valuable inputs and suggestions to the direction in any social setting and they behave passively.

Finally, you’ll have the typical listener. They are the ones that get the work done but in this case, they listen to the flow of the conversation dictated by the leader and contributes.

The basic build-up of a social setting is highly subjective as it largely depends on the configuration of a particular group. The above that I’ve mentioned is just a general guide upon my observation in a particular social setting.

As mentioned earlier in this substantive, human behaviour is a limitless field of study. This also means that each and every individual is different in terms of behaviour and mindset.

It is natural that everyone has different interest, needs and wants and thus, social groups will not always work out every time.

However, the biggest obstacle that most people face when they come against a difficult social setting is fear.

“a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil and pain etc” (as cited from dictionary.com) as such often appears in certain social settings.

The aspect of fear is that it plays on one’s emotions and supplements it with negative thoughts that often scares or discourages oneself. In a social setting perspective, fears of meeting new people, for instance, often eludes individuals, especially those of conservative personality.

In such situations, such individuals will often retract into their “safety shells” and either hide or keep a low profile.

We call such a fear a strangers Xenophobia. The human behavioural aspect when it comes to fear is especially prominent as human behaviour drastically changes when subjected to the essence of fear.

Public speaking, is another common fear people have and that occurs in a social setting.

It isn’t easy to speak in front of a huge crowd due to the reason that almost everyone is insecure about themselves; they are subconsciously affected by what people view of them. And thus most people will dawn on a different facade when they’re exposed to a tough social setting such as public speaking.

I personally feel that the fear of public speaking lies with the idea of being a social misfit if derived of a wrong impression. Everyone in society wants to be socially accepted in the right way and thus would be very conscious about their appearance or performance when they’re under public scrutiny.

The social setting is a vast exploration for human behavioural observations. However, there are many other fields to cover and consider in terms of the observation of human behaviour, which I’ll cover in my coming additions.

Observation; The Art of Reading your Environment like a Book.

Today's a fruitful day for me personally, of details which I'll go through later in the article.

Humans are sensory creatures, and this leaves much to debate about. We are gifted with five sense, namely touch, hearing, taste, smell and of course, sight.

They say that we often rely too much on a particular sense and research has shown that the sense of sight, especially, is the most heavily relied on, except maybe for certain individuals (the blind for example).

Is this considered a weakness? By relying too much on a particular sense, are we somewhat applying immunity to our consciences and filtering what we perceive in the world?

The sense of sight, is heavily relied on. For those who doubt this statement (or claim, more rather), do a little experiment and contemplate the results; Blindfold yourself for an entire day and try to live your life normally as you would with sight.

In common cases, normal people who attempt the above experiment will face difficulty in carrying out their daily activities as we humans, rely alot on sight. People get disorientated without sight and that's not a big surprise at all.

"Never judge a book by its cover". I'm sure most if not all of you have heard of this saying. This is played around the over-reliance of the sense of sight, so much so that the "book" is judged by its exterior appearance, its "cover" rather than its contents and ideas.

That is a metaphoric saying, yes. But in a way, it does hold some truth to our daily lives. More often then not, sight is used or rather, misused in our daily lives and this is especially evident in terms of human relations.

It is proven that people tend to favour better looking things or objects, or in the human relation's case, people, as compared to their counterparts.

It is rather disturbing that our society relies so much on visual appearance nowadays. This is so impactful that even the fate of business deals or competitions can be decided and swayed based on the visual appeal of the person.

It can thus be said that sight is a powerful thing as it fabricates our thoughts and perceptions about the environment around us. Your eyes, or I would rather call, "Windows to the World" is the medium and the source that brings about your vision and sight and with those, your perception of the world.

And that brings me to the main emphasis of this article; the Power of Observation.

"an act or instance of regarding attentively or watching" (as cited from dictionary.com)

In a theoretical way, yes. But I feel that there is much more then meets the eye then "attentively" and "watching".

Indeed, observation, simply put is just "watching attentively" but let us look at a more psychological aspect of the concept of observation.

To observe, is to learn and to find out. This is where the "watching" part comes in. It remains largely unnoticed but as one observes a particular incident, setting, or even a particular person, your subconscious mind creates an mental image in the head and this is when an impression is created, an impression of a place, an impression of a person etc.

This is just a general concept in your head, and to gain a more detailed insight on a particular observation, and this is where the "attentively" part comes in. By paying close attention to the fine and precise details of a matter, one will be able to gain a insightful observation to the things around them.

Mind you, this is not easy to master. Observation is tedious process, as I've found out, a couple of hours back.

I set myself a task to observe two specific places in the country (of which I will not specifically mention due to various reasons), largely to the benefit of a project that I was supposed to take on.

I've never thought observation was an easy thing to do probably because I one who will struggle for action if I judge an environment too mundane for my liking.

However recently, under the influence of my father, I've slowly interest myself in the art of observation. The myriad of people expressions and the various significant incidents that you see on this blog itself are so called "products" of my observations.

So why is observation so hard? "Attentively Watching" something doesn't sound as hard as say, Learning Spanish, or is it?

We are brought up in a society as such that people do not normally observe their surroundings closely, especially the Asian society as such. Thus I feel that in a way, Observation is to a large number of people, a social faux pas.

Is observing really something that makes you different? (refer to Article, Differentiation; not your Average Math Question)

During my period of observation, I've personally noted no less then 7 different individuals throwing weird glances and looks at me as I sit on benches or even stand in a corner with my notebook, scribbling furiously as I pen down my thoughts about my observation.

The society is a discreet one indeed and I'm sure the core reason in their response is that they are not used to this kind of action. People are not used to other people observing them (or just that they seem to) thus get uncomfortable.

They were not the only ones feeling uncomfortable though. I endured glance after glance and stayed focused on my task at hand. It somehow dawned on me that the society isn't one that encourages observation.

The constant hunger to improve time and time again and the motivation to better ourselves. That is how our society is turning out nowadays. As a result, the stress factor eats into people's lives and thus they develop a kind of "immunity" to observe interesting details of everyday life. They hardly have the time to take a step back and look at the lighter side of life and they hardly have time to observe.

Tragic, this is. For the great demands of our society takes a toll on its people adversely; it is evident even as you walk along the streets.

Many do not see the benefits of observation, though its a highly subjective result. It personally interests me to observe my environment. It keeps me in check and also allows me to see the other side that the world and life itself has to offer.

I don't want to numb myself to the variety this world has to offer and I feel that we shouldn't let certain social faux pases of the society hold us down.

Human beings have been in the never ending quest of more knowledge and I feel that environment observation is part of that quest for knowledge. A daunting task it is, to observe successfully but why shouldn't we?

So the next time you see someone with a pen and a notebook jotting down notes in a corner in any particular setting, think of him not as a social faux pas or a weirdo but a person who's observing and reading his environment and surroundings in detail.

The Evolution of Survival; The Minimalistic Way of Life and Subjective Demands.

Term breaks are finally here and that means its time for a good rest, as well as a couple of article catching up.

Dinner today was great; Subway with the family (as usual) at a quiet outlet (awesome-ness). That was complimented with a nice walk to digest the food as well as a trip to the supermarket around my estate thereafter for we had to get some supplies.

The "Frozen" section of the supermarket has been a personal favorite of mine when I was young, partly due to the temperature and partly due to the variety of food that is usually found there; I was fascinated by the feasibility of keeping food fresh in low temperatures.

I observed the people in the supermarket as much as I do with the products and the selling concept. What is it that makes people come back again and again to the supermarket to restock their supplies?

It voices down basically to the most fundamental concept of life; Survival.

I derived that these people in the supermarket (including myself), are here because they see it as a necessity, as a NEED, which is in this case, to buy food and other daily objects that they NEED to survive.

Sustenance, or more commonly termed, Food and water, is a very basic need of not only human beings but living creatures. in general. Without these physical needs, existence will not be possible for the body functions on these to work.

However, I begin to contrast the differences between our mode of physical survival needs now and in the ancient past. Our need for survival has indeed changed but is it for the better or the worse?

In ancient cave-men times, people had to hunt for their food. It wasn't easy, for some hunts would end in vain and they would return empty handed and would have to go hungry.

In contrast, currency has brought about convince to the people of the world today. From an literal sense, obtaining currency may seem like a "hunt" and it is but there is no doubt about the convince we the people of today have as compared to the people of hundreds and thousands of years ago.

For instance, a person living hundreds of years ago might have to milk a cow for milk. And now? All we have to do is to walk into your local provision shop to get all the "milking of a cow" in one carton; its that much simple.

We can thus say the need for survival has changed, for when one society changes and develops, so does the need or rather the mode of survival, as seen in the example above.

As society advances, trends in the market follow. Fresh and new marketing strategies are constantly implemented to cope with the rising demands of customers' varying needs.

Imagery is very important when marketing your product as successful branding will result in the consumer remembering the product the moment he sees something related to the said product.

However, recent trends in the market include packaging and customization. With the society's evolution, people pay closer attention to the packaging details as after all, human beings are more visually oriented beings.

This is evident, as I survey the supermarket and its products in the frozen section. We have what marketers call "shelf talkers" where they'll persuade consumers to purchase products and try to win them over. Flashy packaging, large fonts and unique containers surround me as I walk and browse through the groceries.

Is this how far our evolution for survival has preceded?

It is a marvel, really, to see, study and compare the growth of our medium and source of survival. However, with the advancement of society comes variety and choices and in cruel business terms, competition. Marketers have to come up with fresh new concepts in order to attract consumers.

As we develop, we'll naturally ask for more and more to satisfy our growing desire for higher standards of living and higher levels of satisfaction. Alot of emphasis is put on convince, especially food, which as mentioned, is essential for survival. What this means is that preparation of food is easier and faster. A quick browse through the section reveals a whole selection of "instant" food, all with just a microwave button away.

Convince food is controversial in recent periods due to its health benefits; there has been alot of debate surrounding the harms of consuming such products. Certainly, convince comes with a price.

This is inevitable for different people have different demands to their terms of survival.

The Evolution of our survival reflects on the society that we're living in. It is the need that spurs the people I observed in the supermarket.

So Lets just take a step back, and think about the magnitude of our evolution as human beings. And if we were to evolve further, what would become of us? Will we be eating out of infra-red waves or blue tooth signals?

I sure hope not, though someday, the time will come for the due advancements as that is the way of life; we constantly improve ourselves and our society, vice versa.

Thus be it frozen chicken wings, instant pizzas to raw meat or milk freshly obtained from a cow, the evolution of survival is no doubt in the balance and in action in our society, though they share the same purpose ultimately.

So let us define our way of living as only with that, can we fully chart our evolution and look back at our growth.

Screaming Fans; The Motivational Force & Ambition.

(With reference and build up from "Sustenance X; Our Pillar of Support, the Source of Strength")

Picture this; thousands of screaming fans all tightly packed in the stadium, their screams evident even at backstage. The curtain calls, and its time for you to strut your stuff.

Step by step, you and the rest of your band pace onto the stage, your veins pulsing with anticipation, waiting for the curtain to drop.

Waiting for the moment to come...

What spurs a person? What is it that actually drives him and pushes him?

Only last Sunday, I was in attendance at the Singapore Indoor Stadium for a concert; The Click Five's Modern Minds and Pastimes tour. Thousands of fans and supporters alike flocked to the stadium to catch the pop-rock band in action and many of them were really hardcore die hards for the band.

I observed them, as they paced around with T-shirts, posters and giant signs of the band. Painted faces, hands and other body parts with huge words "I LOVE YOU C5" were also sighted amongst the crowd.

Clearly these people need no motivation whatsoever as this is something they enjoy and want to be part of. The crowd had an air of anticipation to see their favorite band perform live right in front of their very eyes; each and everyone of them hyped up, standing impatiently awaiting for the show to start.

The Curtain calls, music plays and the lights darken. With screams everywhere, the show starts...

*

As mentioned in my previous article, Motivation is a very powerful force that I feel, resides within one's head. It is important and thus, I've decided to dedicate a sole article based on the topic itself.

So what actually is Motivation?

"The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal" (as cited from dictionary.com) finely defines the term in a coherent manner.

Being a psychological aspect, it is thus hard to manipulate and control due to the fact that we as human beings need to exercise constant control and discipline in order to master our full psychological capabilities.

Motivation and Ambition works together in a way, as without Motivation, one will not be able to achieve his ambition and vice versa. This is interesting in a way as both Motivation and Ambition are psychological aspects of the human mind.

Using Motivation and Ambition to fuel your development is essential to do well and succeed in one's life path. Think about a life without Ambition and you'll think about waste, despair and the lack of hope and drive. I'm sure we don't want such a mentality and such a way of living, do we?

Taking control of your Motivational drive and plotting your Ambition however, is another factor that makes the whole process so hard to master and adhere to.

Being humans and having a certain degree of intellect, we are fickle and queer creatures. As quoted from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick mentions in the final scenes that "Man is a giddy thing". I feel that that particular quote makes perfect sense and fully chronicles the entire human behaviour in a simple phase.

The aspect that constitutes to this "giddy thing" is of course, the psychological aspect of the human mind. (refer to "The Human Mind; A Powerful Tool or just a Voice Inside Us?")

I guess the main factor to this constitution is due to the difficulty or harnessing the full potential and control of one's own mind, as mentioned earlier.

So how do we counter this so called "flaw" of in our minds? The inability to control and to master.

Control is not entirely impossible, as with mastering our minds. The fact that Motivation results in Ambition can be played upon as once we develop Motivation, Ambition automatically follows and with that, strengthens the Motivation itself. Complex? You bet it is.

But if we think in a logical fashion, that claim does make sense.

If a person dreams and strongly feels to be a rock star for example, he or she will gain the Motivation in the process of identifying the Ambition involved. With this Motivation, that person will work on the music and keep on improving until progress shows and ultimately, if all the hardwork pays off, his or her dream and Ambition will be fulfilled.

Dreams and Ambitions do come true. Many people are discouraged by the fact of failure and the lack of faith and as a result, give up halfway or even before trying.

"Its better to try and fail then to never try at all". This is an interesting quote as it is subjective in a sense. The grey area of the quote however, is overlooked by many people.

Many overlook and underestimate the psychological impact that failure has on people. Though many claim to be "strong", few can actually endure failure after failure, defeat after defeat and are mentally affected. Obviously, this is negative to one's mental health.

However, I urge you guys, my readers, NOT to give up after failure. The whole purpose of strengthening the mind is to develop an immunity to such situations and come out stronger, more Motivated and better prepared. Take failure not as an attempt at success then went wrong but as a learning process.

To control our Motivation and chart our Ambitions successfully, one must have the required amount of sensibility and determination. Ambitions especially should be enrooted early in our lives as it gives a sense of direction and a ruddle to steer our lives in the right direction.

The way to control and achieve the best out of our psychological abilities depends on the individual afterall and there's no one else that can motivate you more than you yourself.

The sources of Motivation vary from person to person which is touched on in the previous article, Sustenance X.

No matter where your inspiration comes from, the thousands of screaming fans, your idols or just a person, remember that only you yourself can Motivate and control. Its only you, yourself, that can dream and achieve that dream. And its you, yourself, who will look back when the day comes and smile to yourself for the due achievement.

So let us Motivate ourselves and work hard towards our respective Ambitions. Only then will we be able to deliver our best in everything we do and succeed.


*Concert Review Post Update
My internet's really cranky and as with similar reasons to my previous post, I'll have to push back the publishing date for the concert response.

I'm in the process of fabricating the post and I assure those who are eager to read that it'll be updated very soon.

Till then, keep checking back for updates. (probably take a day or so more)