The Heart of Good Counsel

"Touching Lives, Changing Hearts."

Dear SJAB Singapore Cadets,

Firstly, I want to thank all of you for giving me the honor to share with you on a skill set that I truly believe every human being should be equipped with. This is the fourth year (I think) that I am bestowed with this privilege and responsibility. By you being chosen to attend this cadet course, you are being recognized of your leadership potential and to be further equipped for the next chapter you are about to embarked in your lives.

You may wonder why I lead you to my website (as homework) before you attend my class. Well, here is where I have penned most of my spectrum of emotions and experiences that I wish in some way would benefit someone someday. (Even if it is only one.) To give good counsel, you must first be a recipient of them. I dare not claim all my counsels are good, but wish only declare that I am blessed to be a recipient of many. Life is fraught with many problems and pain. It is also filled with many inexpressible joy and laughter. To understand life and live it to the fullest we all have to embrace it.

Every individual is a unique being. Thus there are really no one set of solutions that can be mass produced to meet each pain. Great men have debated inconclusively for centuries about the existence of the “Happy” pill. I then arrive on a realistic conclusion. The people that really have no problems or pains are living in small bottles on shelves at Mandai. However, I believe that through all circumstances man has the ability to triumph and come out better.

I am a very blessed man because I chose to be one. I am who I am by the sum of my experiences and of the valuable contributions that great men and woman has made in my life. St’ John was founded on a real need and pain. Which is to care for the sick and to succour the poor and the homeless. I believe you know more of it’s history than I do.

The simple ideal truth is this; a man to have a Heart of Good Counsel, he needs to consider others first before himself. However, realistically it may not be possible. Or is it? It has to start somewhere, and I pray that it starts with you.

Read through my blog and understand a unique life. I look forward to listen or read about yours too. I encourage you to post comments freely to let me know what you wish to know on the coming Sunday.

Lastly, I wish that you may find this life of mine useful and had contributed to your journey that I sincerely believe would be spectacular.

Your fellow Pilgrim of Life,
Michael Kuan a.k.a WindyG

A Sanctuary

Many of us would wonder during our times of solitude, about what is all the hustle, bustle and rushing all about. Many too would find this little pause unsettling. Though the lazy would beg to differ, there is always somewhere to go or some things to do. We are unaccustomed to being still, and yet we are aware that the world spins on regardless of our desire that it pause for us. The world cannot stand still, but our own world can. I have seen many that seem busy but yet achieve nothing. There are too the people that seems to do nothing yet they accomplish plenty. I commented a few days ago to my boss this ideology. “It is not what you do, but how you do it. To desire a different result you have to do things in a different way.” This is a simple idea, but many fail to grasp the essence of it. By failing to understand that a process is created for an result, we design processes that hinder results. Thus a lot of people then wonder why they are not getting their desired results that they worked so hard for. The plain and simple truth is this;

I am often dumbfounded by myself (and many others), of why I kept doing the same thing yet desired a different result. Am I blinded to the truth or is just simply foolish? We know what we want to know and deny what we know as truths but it is not what we want to know. The vicious cycle then keep going round and round till weariness or bitterness sets in. That’s why it is crucial we find rest. The Sanctuary where we find time to ponder on the many mysteries of life and seek truth. I am thankful I have a relationship more than a faith. My time of solitude is never a time of aloneness. It is a paradox. I am alone yet I am with Someone. Freaky? Nope… My fellowship in that quiet moment yields me peace that neither riches nor persons can give. My sanctuary is sacred and thus requires extreme measures being taken to protect it.

Do you have that Place? Are you often there? Many people I met fear this place. Their popularity and security is hung onto how many times their mobile phone rings in any given day. They would fill their hours with noise and activities of nothingness. And when the dusk finally falls, they enter the twilight of their daily depression. It need not be this way my friend. Being secure requires an understanding that surpasses our own needs and wants. It is to know that it’s ok, even when everything is not ok. I am not advocating apathy, but of a still heart in the mist of a raging storm. I am always in awe of a leader that remain focus on the task at hand even the world may be falling apart around him. His secret is simply this. He enjoys his sanctuary.

Be still…
Michael Kuan a.k.a WindyG