How to increase your Luck multifold

HSBC's Hexagon Logo -
unfolded from a square, smart huh?

Have you ever wondered why HSBC, one of the most successful MNC banks in the world, chose hexagon as part of their logo design?  I do not have the official answer.  Read on, and you may agree with me the reason behind later.

If you believe in numerology, there is different meanings with each single digit starting from 0 to 9. The numeric digit 6 is our topic for the day here :)

According to Fumio Nishida (幸運之神, 西田敏郎), one of the most successful sports and business coaches in Japan, the most powerful way to increase one's luck factor is to utilize what he termed "6 way thinking", or simply put need to pay attention and due respect to 6 aspects (or directions).  Ya right, East, West, South, West, Above and Below.  Let me explain the meaning of each direction one by one:

1. Face EAST - is to thank and pay respect to our ancestors and parents.  Without them we won't come into existence in this world.
2. Face WEST - is to thank our family member (spouse) and especially children.  They are the backbone and main motivator to propel us forward.
3. Face SOUTH - is to thank our Teachers and Supervisors, they are the ones who give us courage and drive.
4. Face NORTH - is to thank our Colleages, Peers and Friends, who renders support to us when our path crossed.
5. Face UPward - is to thank the Sun and Sky to give us air and energy which protect and nurture us selflessly.
6. Face DOWNward - is to think the Earth and Ocean, to keep us grounded and closer to all the nature beauty.

If you notice, a tetrahedron is formed with 6 directions to form a beautiful 3 dimentional shape.  The perfect water crystals as I wrote about in earlier blog posts are all hexagonal in shape.  The more coincidences make me think the Hong Kong Bank founder or logo designer were real smart people in choosing hexagon in their logo, which carries so much meaning.

This simple ritual of paying respect on all 6 should take no more than few minutes.  I suggest to make it into habit, you can build it as part of your daily routine, like in the morning after wash up or brushing, to think and thank for all those 6 aspects.  This will give you a positive boost, and energise you for the rest of the day.  When you are feeling positive, this is where the luck factor will follow naturally.

Are you game to give it a try to see how it goes?  I will be interested to know if this gives you a new prespective on those surrounding you that you need to feel thankful for.  Have fun!  :)

4 steps, 12 words to realize all your dreams

My 4 steps, 12 words simplest system
to realize your dream!

This post is gonna to be short (I hope) as my handphone battery is running low.  Besides, the system is really simple after all, isn't it? :)

Here are the 4 steps:

Step 1:  Write it down

Step 2:  Trust your instinct

Step 3:  Go for it

Step 4:  Don't give up

Disclaimer: I don't invent all these.  Initially, I was going to write just 3 words, which is "Write it down".  It ended up my inner self was telling me I should augment it with few more 3-words steps to make it more complete and actionable. So here we are, with some elaboration.

Step 1: Write it down
The clearer with more details the better.  Once you start to write down your dream/ goal, it will be more tangible, and not just another fluffy idea in the air.

Step 2: Trust your instinct
Once your goal start to take shape in paper, the next step to manifest it, is to believe it will be achieved.  Believing your dream will be realized requires you to have faith on your higher self, that it is going to guide you along the way.  The best thing to do now is to let go, and trust your instinct (aka subconscious mind).  Do what your inspiration leads you to, or what your inner voice's suggests you.  Even if it's a walk to the park in the middle of the day, or a detour to your usual back home routine, so be it.  You may bump into someone important, who knows?  It's the mystery bits and pieces when you connect the dots together later that's fascinating.  (see my earlier post on connect the dots here)

Step 3: Go for it
This is to orchestrate with the previous step.  Other variations of this step are "Just Do It" or "Do it now".  They all have the same effect.  You never know if you never try.  You will know what works better (or not working at all) the earlier and faster you get started.  Success like any good energy flow, loves action and speed.  The more actions and the faster you do it, the quicker you will start to see results [hopefully it is a positive one; if not, revise and fine tune the approach to get better ones next time(s) round :)]

Step 4: Don't give up
The event in life is like a pendulum.  Every extreme carries an equivalent opportunity and threat.  There is no absolute good/ bad no matter how you view it.  As long as you don't give up (too soon), and carry on your course with a clear end goal in mind, you will reach the one and only destination i.e. success.
(see my earlier post on running legend here)

Oops, looks like I exceeded my original word count target. Just recap: the success formula is really very simple.  4 steps 12 words only.  In fact, it could be just too simple that people simply overlook, or discard it too soon before even giving it a full trial.

I hope you can also give some thoughts to these simple steps (each of them is pretty good and can stand by it's own right).  Go for it, my friends!!!

"Connect the Dots", "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish" - Steve Jobs

This is the first time I write the blog post using a PC.  I reckon I couldn't use my iPhone, as I need to embed video (my 1st time also).  Hope it turns out to be alright :)  Yes, it is about Steve Jobs' speech that he gave few years ago to Stanford graduates. 

I first come to know about this video also few years back, but never really get a chance to watch it.  Stumbled upon the Chinese translation from my friend's facebook post (thanks Chee Fong), and was quite touched.  The text in Chinese you can find in this link.  It was translated very well.  If you can read Chinese like I do, I highly suggest you should take a look at the Chinese translation first.  You will have a deeper meaning :)

If you are the impatient type, I have found you the full transcript in this link here also.



If you can't view the above video from your mobile device, please click here to open directly in You Tube.  Hope this helps!

Of all the three stories that Steve Jobs mentioned, I particularly like the first story about Connecting the Dots, need to look backwards.  My personal experience is you can do it regularly on any time horizon, like years, months, or even on daily basis, and you will be pretty amazed when you tried to connect the dots when looking backwards, by reflecting on what you have done (most of the time, by your intuition) to bring you to current state.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.  So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.  You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.  This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. 

The second story about Love & Losses was pretty good too.

And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.  If you haven't found it yet, keep looking.  Don't settle.  As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.  And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.  So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Lastly, the third story didn't quite resonate with me yet, except the closing quotes

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

I hope you've enjoyed watching this video, reading the transcript, or both! and picked up some useful insights like I did.  :)

How to be the Master of your Money

My wallet & Angel Coin on Abundance

Just a short post hopefully as this is Saturday nite haha.  I once read a book by a Japanese lady author. The book teaches a lot of tips on making money listen to you, in other words, you gain back the control and be its master, rather then be mastered by it.

Here are few of the tips.  I tried most of them and are quite satisfied with the results :)

1. Get a new wallet.  A branded one that you like and treasure will be better.  Cleanse it under full moon before first time using it.

2. As wallet has memory, load it up with the amount of cash that you'd love to have, and it will memorize the figure.  Eg $400, $500 or whatever the amount. Reload it to same figure as required.  New notes will be preferred, if possible.

3. Always sort the dollar notes in order.  Ascending or descending doesn't matter, as long as consistent.  All notes must face same direction as well.  This is particularly important.  Reason being to give your notes a comfortable environment to stay :) thus creases/ dirty notes, messy receipts environment are absolutely no no.

4. Use cash instead of your credit cards, whenever possible from now onwards.

5. When spending the cash, pay for it &/ tips generously even when don't ask for, in an unexpected way.  Say Thank you (three times silently) and quietly command the cash/ change must remember to come back in 10 times one day.  Eg cab fare is only $9.10 but you pay 10 bucks.  Ask the $10 or at least 90 cents remember to come back multifold.  Look at the cab driver's expression too, you will be amused :P

I have been doing few of these tips and seeing I have more control on my money.  Are you game to give it a try also? :$. I think #3-5 is quite easy to do.

PS: In short, this is to train us to have an abundant mindset, rather than a limited/ scarce based one. Make sense?

PPS: Coupled with the donation tips (see my earlier post on greatest money making secret), I am quite sure this new $$ formula will begin to work some magic to you.  Have fun, and let me know how it goes, ok?

Power of 5 & Running Legend

Jack and me during the book signing session

One key takeaway from Jack Canfield's 1 day seminar talk I attended late Sep, is the "Power of Five".

Simply put, if you keep doing 5 new things a day, everyday, that will help you closer to your goal, you are gonna to achieve your dream in no time.

I think Jack and his partners must have used just this principle to help them propel their book series and achievements to new height :)

The consistency and persistence rationale behind fits very well, and greatly exemplified with an inspiring story I heard in two different occasions.

It's the story of an Australian runner by the name of Cliff Young. Cliff (a potato farmer) entered the ultra marathon to run from Sydney to Melbourne, at the age of 61, with no prior experience, support, or even proper sports attire.

Contrary to what others thinking that he would quit (or die) in the race, Uncle Cliff actually won this super long distance race, and broke the record by finishing the race in less than 6 days!

His winning secret? He just kept running no matter how slow he had been as compared to the rest of top class runners, who would run 18hrs then rest 6hrs.

The consistency and persistency actually made such a paradigm shift to the runners, that they all adopt Cliff's method the following year :)

You can read more on Cliff's story and his other encounters from this link. Cliff Young, what a name and legend. Salute!!

I reckon if we can do not five but at least one new thing consistently on a regular basis, we would be on the sure path to success, agree?

"Love & Gratitude" Experiment

My little experiment on
"Love and Gratitude"

Putting on my scientific thinking hat, I decided to do a simple experiment on what I read as mentioned in Dr. Emoto's book.

As I have two identical mugs at home, this makes the test even simpler :).  Thanks to Aileen's (my wife) kind participation, the blind test went smoothly.  She didn't even notice there were words on one of the mugs. :P

The same drinking water poured into the mug with the words "Love and Gratitude" did turn out to taste better.  It tasted smoother and sweeter than the one without the words on it.  I started the test just after 5 short mins.  The longer I waited, the nicer it tasted.

What made the water in left mug taste so good? (guess I don't need to get Hyflux filter anymore haha).  Simply put: water as a messenger is reflective and resonating with the beauty of Love & Gratitude as shown onto it, and become purified.  Amazing, isn't it?

Same effect can be achieved by saying positive words to water eg "I love you", "Thank you", "I appreciate you" etc

Now you know what to do to make your drink more tasty? The implication is larger when we consider our body consists 70% or more of water.  The Key is to purify our own water, and our life will be happier.  More on it later.  Meanwhile, happy drinking (water)!

PS: my elder son Gordon (6 years old) also confirmed the test result.  Fantastic!

What's your Purpose of Life?

Have you ever thought of why you are reincarnate here to the earth?

This is a simple question, but thought provoking as well, isn't it?

Jim Rohn (I think is him, or some other great personality) says "The purpose of Life is a life of Purpose" Succinct but still "chim" (abstract) right you may say.

At the end of the secret behind the secret DVD (another post later), Abraham (the group of intelligence beings channeling via Esther Hicks) says it even more simple (or even more "chim") and beautifully "Life is life!"  Just 3 words :P but means a lot more!

These could be from Westerner perspectives. Pardon me as I counted Abraham Hicks as Western as it was spoken via an US lady's mouth :)

Before I off tangent too much. The reason why I blog this post is to share something I read some time back, from a Taiwanese writer 張德芬 think is the last book of her trilogy.

Life is a game. Everyone of us already pre plan what are the life lessons we would like to go through before coming to earth. To make this game more interesting and challenging, mankind always spend his/ her first half of life trying to forget who he/ she is, and spend the second half trying to remember who he/ she is. Pause a while ... It really has a lot to ponder. (like playing hide and seek, you also don't want to catch your mates too soon in the game, correct?)

Nevertheless, I do believe once we find out who we really are and our life purpose, we will live our lives much fuller with lots of passion.

I am closer to find out mine, what about you? :)