Right now, it's gonna be a tunnel vision all the way - that of A' levels and of Prelim Examinations.

However, with veracity, i just find it so hard to concentrate! Guess i have been too accustomed to doing Y2Y Network projects and being busy with community work that i really find it extremely uncomfortable to be not doing things related to South East CDC! Ok that's bad.

Probably i should find something else to distress along the long and arduous route of mugging for exams! Perharps blogging, swimming, going to the gym, maintaining my friendster (yes i do have one, http://www.friendster.com/jamestheguy [Do add me or post a comment!]) or research the stock market?

Ahh study first for now! We have to do well to make it further in life! Focus, Focus, focus...



P.S. As can be seen, James is under so much stress that he's behaving weirdly and not knowing what he's typing now. I hope he gets back to normal soon. :(

1:28 PM
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Hello! I received an email from annabel a few days back which i think may be relevant and useful to some of us out there, who are either overly-stressed by the inevitable hounding of daily life or seeking an explanation somewhere.

Here goes:

hi people, i read this in a book and thought it was really relevant to those of us who rush through the day with really alot of things to do and get done (which is about, all of us?).

enjoy!




An excerpt from Prayer – Does it Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey

Chapter Twenty: Prayer and me



Stopping Time

Anthony Bloom struggled to learn patience, with good reason. He lived a tumultuous life in a tumultuous century. After spending early years in Russia and Persia (now Iran), he fled as a refugee with his parents to France, where he served in World War II and trained as a surgeon.



Having no religious background, Bloom professed atheism until he experienced a dramatic conversion while reading the Gospel of Mark. Later he resigned his medical practice, entered the priesthood, and eventually rose to become the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan for Western Europe. In his book Beginning to Pray he tells of the crucial step of conquering his impatience and creating space for God by ‘stopping time’.



As a physician, Bloom was always focusing on the future. While examining one patient he would peer behind her into the next room to count the heads of those waiting to see him. By the end of his surgery hours, he had not the slightest recollection of the people he had seen. Furthermore, he found himself asking the same questions twice or three times, not remembering what he had just done. He decided he had to change his approach, by treating the patient before him as the only person who existed. Whenever he felt the urge, ‘I must be quick’, he forced himself to sit back and engage in small talk for a few minutes in order to keep himself from hurrying. Surprisingly, he found that he actually had more time during the day because he no longer had to repeat questions and procedures.



We must deliberately stop time that is trying to move too fast, Bloom decided. Say, ‘No’, and you will discover that time passes perfectly well and without the inner tension. ‘Can you imagine that only one minute goes by every minute? That is exactly what happens. It is strange, but it is true, though from the way we behave one might think that five minutes could rush by in thirty seconds.’



The practice of stopping time gradually transformed Bloom’s life with God. He concentrated on living in the present, recognizing that the past is irremediably gone and the future is irrelevant because who knows whether it will happen or not. Now, a fleeting instant, represents the intersection of eternity with time.



At certain times in the day Bloom would pause and say, ‘I am seated, I am doing nothing, I will do nothing for five minutes… I am here in the presence of God, in my own presence and in the presence of all the furniture that is around me, just still, moving nowhere.’ He practiced this for short periods, two to five minutes, when tempted to fidget. Then he extended the few minutes to a longer time, learning to be calm and serene in those intervals, before resuming his busy schedule.



To his amazement Bloom found that the rest of the world could, in fact, wait five minutes while he was not busy with it. He learned that even the most pressing tasks, which normally would fill up his mind, could be postponed for three, five, or ten minutes – and in fact he did those tasks more calmly and quickly after the interludes. Eventually he linked those stop-time moments to a protracted time of prayer in the morning and evening.



He began each day in quiet and stillness, acknowledging that the day itself was a gift of God, something that had never existed before, a chance for a new start. It stretched before him like a vast expanse of unspoiled snow in his native Russia. ‘This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ He prayed to enter that day as God’s own messenger, carrying God’s presence to everyone he met. Then at night he would review all that had happened, committing both the progress and the failures to a gracious God. The day is now spent; it rests in God’s hands.



Intervals of stillness and prayer became for Bloom a series of markers, strung together like pearls in a necklace, reminding him of the true nature of reality. Life is not a meaningless sequence of actions but an arena in which to live out the will of another world, the kingdom of heaven. Prayer is a state as much as an act, a fact that easily gets forgotten when we confine it to one or two isolated instances a day.



I point to Anthony Bloom (who died in 2003) because it would be dishonest to pretend I have achieved the discipline he recommends. When I sense that my activity means something and has worth, and so move faster and faster trying to accomplish more and more, at that moment I give in to pride and a feeling that all depends on me. What a foolish thought. My heart could stop beating within the hour, my brain could fail from an aneurysm. This present moment itself is a gift from God – I would live more realistically, and at the same time accomplish far more, if I allowed that fundamental truth to pervade my day.




in His love and mine,
bel


i guess that the realization that the past is truly a past and the inner acceptance of it would enable us to move on and produce the best of what we can or could in the future. By seeing each moment as a precious gift to you by God due to His love for you and being thankful for it is probably one of the most important cornerstones of happiness.

3:17 PM
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007
BACK

OK things are getting back into control again for now.

James is currently undergoing strong recovery and is expected to conclude a strong growth rate at the end of the year. Stock price increased by 25.9% this week, the highest positive rate since 11th July 2007.

Well, with the PSC (Public Service Commission) Psychometric Test for potential scholars coming up, and an invitation to a Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS) tea-session on the 18th August, appreciation is anticipated to come into great force strongly. Furthermore, with active involvement in Y2Y Network, South East CDC's upcoming major projects as an overall project mentor heading the committees, James is believed to be able to come into stronger growth.

The only compromise James might have is a declining physical fitness, which he has so neglected after the National Canoe seasons. However, this is considered by some to be a manageable problem given the time surplus James now possess without canoeing and setting his life back on track again.

While we pray for his continued momentum,
Let's wait for the official quarterly reports to be released.

10:02 PM
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