Covered by Rain

Hypothetically: There’s this one girl…

Reality: There are many incredible women in this world. If you’re hung up on one particular girl you just can’t get out of your mind - and she hasn’t given you any sense that she shares the same feelings - then recognise that it is not love you are feeling, but obsession. And that obsession is likely to scare her away.

The best thing you can do for yourself and for her is to go out and meet as many women as possible, until you realise that there are plenty of people out there for you - some of whom are able of recognising your worth and reciprocating your feelings.

Hypothetically: Some people are born with the ability to be confident. Other people just don’t have it and never will.

Fortunately, there is a third type of person: one who can learn it. I’d like to think I’m now one of those people. Once you understand how confidence works and have a few successful moments, it’ll be you too. Any problems you may currently be having aren’t the result of who you are but of what you’re doing in how you’re presenting yourself. Those problems can be fixed easily with the right knowledge and a little practice. If you continually try to do your best and you STICK WITH IT, you’ll even start to become better than the so-called “naturals” you once envied.

The Universe Is Not Cruel

Let’s talk about motivation.

I know one guy who has been researching about the gym, exercises, routines and diets. He had researched everything there was to be read and was familiar with all the methods of gym work.

Yet he looks the same now as he was 6 months ago

I asked him how many times he had gone to the gym in that period of time

His answer: I could probably count them on one hand.

I think one of the biggest sticking points that most guys have is with their WORK ETHIC. To be good at anything requires time, energy, work, practice, leaving your comfort zone and even risking failure.

Hopefully you know by now, what a loser calls failure, a winner calls useful feedback.

In life, people tend to wait for good things to come to them - and by waiting, they miss out. Usually, what you wish for doesn’t fall in your lap, it falls somewhere nearby, and you have to recognise it, stand up and put in the time and work it takes to get to it. This isn’t because the universe is cruel, it’s because the universe is smart. It has it’s own cat-string theory and knows that we don’t appreciate things that just fall into our laps.

It’s time to get to work.

This guy was willing to read a lot - hours on end each day. But he was not willing to take action, which takes only seconds to get started.

Why?

Because reading is easy, DOING can be scary, especially if it is not habitual behaviour. And furthermore, real work is not based on the amount of time spent doing something, it’s about the energy spent doing it. And it is often JUST before a major breakthrough or success that the path becomes treacherous and difficult.

Most people quit things in life JUST before the brink of success. And it is only those who stick through the pain period who get to become champions. One thing that I have learned through life is that when the going gets tough, the weak go away.

The qualities you want to nurture are your inner-strength, self-motivation and work ethic. Success is not going to come to you once you know enough. It’s going to come to you when you invest enough energy into it - and energy channelled into the right directions, into the right tasks and with the support of right friends and teachers.

So this is a message to those who aren’t where they want to be in life: Stop holding yourself back. One of the biggest reasons people give for not putting in the work is TIME. But there are no reasons for failure, only excuses. Here is something you can apply to those excuses that keep you from your goals.

• Address dead-end excuse such as “I don’t have enough time”
• Turn it into something that can be improved “I have poor time management skills”
• Turn that into something that you can work towards. “How can I effectively manage my time?”

Aftershock

On Sunday morning, I woke up at an unholy, blisteringly cold hour just after sunrise. 

My mother had set up a prayer, one of those containers filled with sand, a few candles and incense sticks. But the main character of this setup was the portrait photo which dates into the 1950s. In that container, one incense stick stood tall and burning bright. It was my mother’s prayer.

My mother must have been awake even earlier than I had but I guess it seemed that she could not even sleep after hearing of her mother’s passing. The incense was already halfway burned, soon to become a pile of ash.

I approached the prayer and made mine. I really didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t find the words to say. What do you even say when a relative dies? What do you say to someone who is supposed to be close to you - but you’ve only met them once - 8 years ago? I really didn’t know, so I just lit the incense and clapped it in my palms, closed my eyes and just stood there facing the prayer for a whole two minutes.

She asks “What did you say to grandma?”

I couldn’t say anything, I didn’t know what to say, and I wish I could have said something.

Breakfast was made and ready to be served, however my mother couldn’t eat. She could only sit in her chair, elbows on the bench with her hands in her face. She was shaking. I’d stupidly question “Mum, are you okay?”

Well of course she isn’t, she hasn’t had any sleep for 48 hours and she can’t even eat. But my mother is strong, she lifted her face slightly out of her hands to show her teary and sunken eyes. “I’m okay.”

And I went and hugged her, and my gosh, it was the most warmest and most comfortable hug I could have ever given and felt. No amount of hot coffee, layers of clothing or even my bed could compare to how warm this hug felt - and I wasn’t even being hugged. 

To strike person in prayer.

Around 8pm 5 days ago, a woman who had suddenly collapsed in the middle of prayer was admitted into ICU.

To the surrounding people, it seemed as if all was well, until she fell forward whilst kneeling, sprawled face down on the floor.

She was announced dead only 1 hour and 15 minutes after admission.

This woman was someone who I had met in my youth. She was a very serene, gentle and easygoing individual. She lived 12 hours away by plane so she wasn’t someone I could keep in contact with. In fact I only really met her once.

That woman was my grandmother.

That is how death can strike so swiftly and suddenly.

Sins

• X: Hey... Do you think sins are really forgiven?
• Rain: I've never tried.
• X: ...

Anonymous asked: why do you even bother to help people its not like your going to get anything from them so why waste your time

I never thought haters could find their way to this tiny blog.

That aside, I can tell you why I try to do what I do - it’s so simple that I can tell you in a single sentence.

You don’t need a reason to help people.

好

Thought it was mindblowing that the kanji for like uses the same characters for female and child, or how I interpreted it as a young female. It makes so much sense!

Unfriending those club promoters on Facebook

Getting rid of that which weighs you down only allows you to fly higher.