Sampah Masyarakat : Wesak Day Cleanup

Hey there, awesome people! :D

So in case you haven't heard (which is unlikely if you're living in Malaysia), Wesak Day is coming up on the 28th of this month.. It's a day in which Buddhists celebrate the birth, enlightenment and passing of Buddha.

On Wesak day, devout Buddhists assemble in various temples before dawn for the ceremonial hoisting of the Buddhist Flag and the singing of hymns in praise of the holy Triple Gems: The Buddha, The Dhamma (His teachings), and The Sangha (His disciples). Devotees bring simple offerings of flowers and candles to lay at the feet of their great teacher. The symbolic offering of flowers is to remind us that just as the beautiful flowers would wither away after a short while, life is subject to decay and destruction in similar manner as the flowers. The symbolic offering of candles is to remind us that just as a candle gives light to chase away darkness and in the process melts away (“sacrifice itself”), we should be mindful in “chasing” away our ignorance and care for the well being of others. Devotees are enjoined to make a special effort to refrain from killing of any kind. They are encouraged to partake of vegetarian food for the day.

 Now, usually after a celebration of this sort, there would be a vast array of rubbish left behind, scattered everywhere.

As a solution to this problem, there is Sampah Masyarakat, a nonprofit organisation that brings people together to clean up the mess that is left behind, hence the well-chosen name. Sampah Masyarakat has done this before on more occasions than one, and this time it's at Brickfields' Buddhist Maha Vihara temple.

In a nutshell, it's like this:--
Start Time: Friday, 28 May 2010 at 20:00
End Time: Saturday, 29 May 2010 at 00:00
Location: Buddhist Maha Vihara, Brickfields

Click (here) for the Facebook event page.

:)

Peace

The past week has been crazy, and i think it is needless for me to announce that i just might be incapable of updating this site regularly anymore =( but then again i might be speaking too soon -- maybe i just need to get a little more adapted to the crazy hours of my college life.

(Perfection by Murrrzilka)

So yeah, i've started college. Straight out of camp and into college. I still want to blog about national service -- or what i've managed to get out of it -- before i forget it all, but i can barely find the time or patience to sit down and draw my thoughts out in this space. I expected college life to be full of free time and fun, but as it turns out, the course i signed up for...not so much.

In the past five days, i have had approximately 30 hours of sleep. Another 30 hours was spent being in class -- yes i'm doing A Levels -- and the remaining free hours were spent on the road, being thrilled, excited, worried, happy, vain, and just plain tired. More than once -- when in the far too early hours of classes -- i have questioned the reason as to why i am doing what i'm doing.

Why am i here? Why did i fight so hard to do A Levels? What am i doing?

And i have regretted, but it is true that everything falls into place. I see that now. Everything is perfect now, and i am here BECAUSE i chose to. I insisted on A Levels BECAUSE i knew very well that it was perhaps the only way i could use to get what i want. I am here to devote all my energy into being my most amazing self.

A few weeks back i got called to an interview for a scholarship, one that -- if within my grasp -- would solve most of my problems. This scholarship would put in my hands several hundreds of thousands of ringgit worth of education in the country of my choice. It was a basket of golden eggs. It was THE opportunity. Today the results came out, and i found that i didn't get it.

To my surprise, i wasn't disappointed.

I was okay. I felt nothing. And this Nothingness confused me, because surely i should be feeling something. Disappointment? Frustration? Exasperation? Or relief, even, because not getting the scholarship would mean that i will not have to uproot myself from this college life that i am already settling into. But i felt none of that, nothing at all. I tried to decide on a certain emotion to feel, but then caught myself and realized that really, it doesn't matter how i feel about not acquiring the scholarship.

The point is that i didn't get it. And it's fine. All is well. All is good. Life may prove to be hard right now, but this is the path that i have chosen, and i can most definitely get out of here anytime i want to, but i will not, because this is where i want to be.

Reminders

I am not ignoring you, pain, I am being with you, but not letting you take me, all of me. You can not have 100% of my focus. I will not re-act through my pain, I will act more consciously from my heart and soul.

You may have taken me over for some time, but you have reminded me that I want to be Love in every moment. You have reminded my that to be inspiring is to be inspired. You moved me to pause and notice the beauty that surrounds me and that is inside me.

Pain, you showed me a lot and now you are gone. You may be coming right back, but that is okay, I will now take you as a reminder to show me who I want to be even in the face of pain.

 Precisely. Thank you, Tricia :)

Gratitude Journal : For life that keeps on going

Gooood morning, people!

I'm back for good this time :) actually, i've been back for almost a week, but slipped into a nasty procrastination phase regarding this blog. Sorry :C (i'm hoping that) this post will kickstart the resurrection of this blog to regular posts, as i can feel myself needing that positivity buzz again.

So what's been happening while i was away? Lots, apparently. So many events, environmental and otherwise. And much has been happening within myself too, sometimes creating the illusion of conflict and unrest in my soul -- but all is well. Us living our lives is like a process unfolding itself, and everything that happens is all part of the process, anyway -- and what an amazing process this is.

In the past one and a half months i have found myself caught in one too many unpleasant situations that caused me much frustration. More often than not i questioned myself and let doubt take over my thoughts. Why am i here? Beyond that, i even started believing this self-doubt and began drawing out my own conclusions -- this is such a waste of time; there's no point to all of this! I hate it here... and then all these negative thoughts festered into something else that made me so miserable....

....until i realized that i was just resisting -- and in resisting, i was making myself unhappy and blind to the beauty of what was around me. And that is the most important thing that i have learnt thus far -- that it is crucial for us to learn to adapt to the situation that we are put in so that we can move on past what we think we see to what really is - that every moment is perfect, and nothing is ever really pointless, and that we just have to trust.

I have so much to blog about -- about National Service and camp, and the airplanes that roam the Paya Indah skies, and the bonds that are created there, and the incredible highs and lows (that i experienced). But for now i simply resolve to relax. And slow down. And stop chewing so fast, or making rash decisions, or run through my day like there's no tomorrow. In fact, i challenge myself to slow down, as that's what it's turning out to be. I become antsy and nervous and insecure should i find myself with too much free time on my hands, and that ain't right. Like a friend at camp said, you're only 18 this year, what is 3 more weeks of your life anyway?

And that applies to you, even if you're 25, or 35, or 45, or 55. You're still young, believe me. Slow down, and enjoy the moments. Live. Listen. I wish i had, when that friend dispensed that particular piece of advise to me at the time.

Stay amazing you all, till the next post :)

Justlife Earthday : Green ribbon movement

Today is Saturday, and it has been four whole days since I came home from camp and had Internet access, but this blog lies dormant as ever. The fault is mine, for I could've made time to coax life back into here, but I did not.

But here I am today. I sit here on the sofa in a resort on Frasers Hill, and the air is perfectly chilly and if I crane my neck to the left, a stunning avalanche of green tumbles into my view. Here I am surrounded by tree after tree, forest after forest. It's gorgeous. I close my eyes and feel at peace knowing that I am now in the middle of a massive carbon sink, and I wish that other parts of the world could be like this too. Over at camp it's constantly stuffy and warm, and we're always sweating. Is this global warming then? Right at our doorstep.

From where i stand, i still see many people who do not concern themselves with being green -- but then there are those who DO care, and there are those who are doing something about their concerns. Just last weekend there was the Mega Earth Day celebration in Kota Damansara Community Forest, which i so unfortunately had to miss out on due to my compulsory presence in camp. Then there was this morning, yet another of the month tree planting efforts.

And then there's this, Justlife.

Justlife is a series of organic shops that first started off in 1999 in Malaysia and has gone on and expanded into more than 5 stores across Selangor, Malacca and Penang. Their Facebook page is here and recently they have started a Green Ribbon Movement, in which you spot or create your own green ribbon, take a picture of it, and post it on the wall of their Facebook page.

And it's just so cool. Here are a few of the photos that have been submitted recently --

Aaaand, their humorously suggestive video :)

Hey, even you can participate, so how about it? Go on and promote environmental awareness today? :)