A source of inspiration

A source of inspiration
(Note: I am presently running a series of blog on self-help based on my experiences in life and this is the 11th article. Enjoy reading mates.)

Are you still young to succeed or too old so you need to retire? If your answer to this question is yes, you have to opt changing your line of thinking.
Life is short enough for those who have everything to give and long enough for those who are fed up of even extending their hands to offer a little help. However, it is not the quantity of years you stayed on earth but the quality of your presence that counts. Come judgment day, you will not be asked how long have you lived, instead, how worthy your presence was while you were on earth.
So while we are still alive and kicking, why not we examine our life. Let us reflect on how we can make it meaningful for ourselves and fruitful to others. Only when we can confidently say, that we are worthy of the life God lend to us that we can be happier as a human being.
Let us go back to the question, are you still young or old enough? What is the ripe age to succeed? Based on experience, research and queries from people of various age groups, age is immaterial when we are talking about success.
One best example is Jeremy Lim of Singapore who at the age of 11 already became the Young Ambassador of the National Kidney Foundation Children's Medical Fund. He was a storytelling champion for three times and two-time double gold medallist in an international Mathematics and English competition organized by the University of New South Wales in Australia
He was then featured in various newspapers and periodicals and on television because of his achievements. His picture even graced the front page of The New Paper on Sunday, 11 March 2001 which he jestingly said not because of his good looks but to show that children like him can also be an inspiration.
For Jeremy, learning is joy. It is full of excitement and loves every minute of it. He said that attending the various classes gives him the opportunity to develop himself intellectually, socially and emotionally. What he cannot achieve physically, he makes up for it through conquests that require brain power.
In achieving those milestones in his life, Jeremy, like other grateful achievers owe much of what he is now to the school principal of his school, Pei Chun Public School, Mr Chen Keng Juan who has been so kind to him in giving him chance to develop his potential. Jeremy said that he is a man who believes that every child can make a difference and he lives by that philosophy. That is why Jeremy owe Mr Chen a debt of gratitude. He recalled that his parents had to go school hunting. Except for one, all the schools they approached turned them away as if he was suffering from some dreadful contagious disease. The rest was history.
Jeremy's life is not a bed of roses, in fact the opposite. He recalled that his life is full of unpredictable accidents. It is impossible to tell which bone will break next. A born fighter, one philosophy keeps him going is he may not be able to control the waves in his journey through life but nothing is going to stop him from learning to surf.
In his website, http://www.jeremylim.com/, Jeremy has this to say to everyone as source of inspiration to succeed like him amidst the odds in life: I am a fighter not a quitter. If necessary, I will climb the highest mountain to get what I want. You may say that it is difficult or impossible. It is my mountain. I will climb up or crawl up. Believe me, I will!

If Jeremy who is young and could not exert his full physical might was able to do it, anyone who has the drive to make a difference in his life can do it.
Believe me, you will!

Succeed and enjoy what life has to offer

(Note: I am presently running a series of blog on self-help based on my experiences in life and this is the sixth article. Enjoy reading mates.)

During my college days (don't ask me anymore when was that), I joined the peer counselors group to assist other students in any way to help them survive the challenging college life.

One of the ‘initiations’ done to qualify as one was to undergo a seminar-workshop to orient us about the responsibilities of a peer counselor.

In our final activity, we were asked to imagine or think of a person whom we idolized and be like him/her in the future. Our club moderator told us that she prepared a photo of each person she believed would be our choice. That made the activity interesting because we were surprised why our moderator had that extra sensory power (ESP) to know it.

Well, to make the story short, I chose Gary Valenciano because of his versatility, humility and spirituality. I had expected to see his photo at the end of the journey. We were asked to go on the said ‘final journey’ one by one and our moderator told us not to reveal anything until everybody would be able to experience it.

I heard suppressed giggling from those first few aspirants who came ahead of me that made me thought on what was in there that made them reacted that way. Was our moderator really that clever to know the minds of more than 20 people who joined the seminar-workshop?

I was a little bit nervous when it was already my turn to do the activity as I have really no idea whom this image would be. To my surprise, a framelike structure was covered by a cloth turned to be a mirror and I saw my own image on it.

Our moderator, during the processing of the activity told us that above anyone else, we need to believe in ourselves before others will do it for us. An effective peer counselor according to her is one who exemplifies self confidence and believes in his capacity to shine and be man or woman for others (the paramount objective of a Jesuit education).

The song ‘The Greatest Love of All’ tells us exactly how we need to make ourselves the best we can be so that we can translate it to inspire other people to do the same thing for them. It is not bad at all to idolize other people especially if we are trying to emulate the good influences in them. What is not good is that instead of making our own impact, we prefer to be the shadow of the said influential person/s that make us lose our own identity.

We are not expected to lord it over the others but we are not also destined to be in the cellar as well. It is doing the best of what we can do and letting the Lord do the rest that makes our life meaningful.

By being happy to do our best in anything that we do without wasting every opportunity that comes our way is already good enough to prove our worth.

Succeed and enjoy what life has to offer!