Shoshin-Zazen

Anybody who wakes up in the morning and says,”Hey, today I am going to change a little about myself and the world, and I am going to do it now” is an Entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is the creative force in economics, is a person who comes and looks at a desert, jungle or wilderness and sees a garden, you know, sees opportunity to create new value.

I can safely say that I am at the acceptance stage =)

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us - Helen Keller

”Anicca vata samkhara - uppada vaya dhammino
Uppajjitva nirujjhanti - tesam vupasamo sukho”

“Impermanent are all component things,
They arise and cease, that is their nature:
They come into being and pass away,
Release from them is bliss supreme.”

My affair with the trombone has staged a major comeback, now halfway around globe. She left me for three years and now she’s back? How could she? Think that shes somebody who can come and go at anytime?

You’re right, I couldn’t resist it!

“It feels like the start of Autumn,” my boss said to me one day at the lunch table whilst looking out at the window.

Indeed, the chill is in the wind now and some rain has come together with it. The trip to Skansen today was pretty much ruined by the rain. Skansen is a open air museum in Stockholm city and boasts a city zoo showcasing the Scandinavian wildlife (not so wild anymore). Skansen is situated near Djurgården, a Royal park. It has traditional houses in the 16 - 20th Century that were identified in places in Sweden and then deconstructed and rebuilt at Skansen itself. This makes very touristy sense, especially to those who wants a good 6 hour whirlwind tour over spanning over 5 centuries of time and space of Sweden. The realism of the place was impressive. They even have real people manning real shops depicting life in the good ol days. Even some of the 17th century cottages that we went into had Swedes baking bread and cookies. Smelling the fragrance of freshly baked bread can do much on a cold Swedish day.

Something of noteworthy was that we saw the elusive Wolverine at the zoo - and I thought it was a name only in X-men comics.

Well, I will visit Skansen again in good weather and I will take good pictures then.

Oh wait, I hear cows mooing outside. Let me check that out…

Today I talked with a fellow YEP (Youth Expedition Project) New Dawn participant about him being in Luang Prabang, a place where a team of us did a project in a village called Muang Kham. He told me all about the villagers who saw him in town and called him to joined them in drinking beers. I can almost visualise the old quaint town of Luang Prabang - its architecture, and its people. Food carts line up streets with litter and funny smells, and its beguiling night market filled with Karen wares and bags. I remember the village and how we managed to stay tried to live in a moment in a Laotian’s life - a hard life, if I might add.

As I now write this in my room in Stockholm, Sweden I find myself rather disconnected with the South-East Asian culture and places. I am far away from home, missing dearly local foods and delicacies. Home is in South-East Asia, a place that I can identify with straight-away.

I met a Thai student just a floor above me who just moved in. She was a student studying for her Masters in “Strategic Management” in KTH. With some anguish written all over her face, she complained about the cold - and it is only the end of summer now. I told her about Chiang Rai and it was also cold - just like this, now.

The Zen masters say a mind flows like water. My mind is just doing just that now; flowing here and there. So when I talked about Chiang Rai, I remembered my first project in an Aha village and lived in a  humble bamboo hut for two weeks. The nights could be very chilly, temperatures could drop to near zero celcius. We would always need a fire to keep our hands warm while we chat over hot tea in the evenings.

I cannot help but feel that the disconnect I feel between now in Stockholm and home in South-East Asia is largely due to simplicity of life that I came into contact with in Thailand and Laos. Rather, this “complication” does not really lie in the lifestyle but with the local people’s mindsets and thinking.

All these make too much thinking, I am going to eat my sandwich now.