A Happy & Rewarding Life in Singapore? – The power word trees taught me

Whether we are bus drivers, electricians, policemen, administrators, lawyers, doctors, engineers, dentists or dog catchers. Everyone basically aspires towards the same set of goals. Granted there may be minor differences somewhere along the way, but trust me, the same set pieces are all there – that is to live a happy and rewarding life.

Happiness is a function of how much control we are able to exert over our lives – when we find houses, cars and basic necessaries going up and up, then we can all only feel a sense of foreboding that comes when events seem to control us. Instead of us controlling them – we pull on our levers of power. But nothing happens! This is sharpened by certain unsettling realities, for many (except Ministars) salaries have remained the same and do not seem to be able to keep up with the helium sky high cost of living in Singapore.

To be able to live a rewarding life – we must all be able to believe in the idea: if a man works hard, then he will be able to turn the wheel of life. But with salaries for the low income stagnating and in certain cases regressing – it is very difficult for most to be optimistic about the whole idea of living a rewarding life. Coupled to this fact, while the poor are getting poorer, the rich seem to be having a gala time. Everytime, we turn on the TV or just walk around in Singapore, we are bombarded by images of what we have to buy IF we are to live a driven life. For many there is a cruel twist to this whole affair of living in Singapore when your money seems to be getting smaller and smaller by the day – as while they are able to see what the rich may wear, drive around in and dine on – they can never ever share in this dream of living a rewarding life. So they can only feel frustrated and demoralised by the whole idea of globalization as it doesn’t seem to offer them a gainful way to lead a rewarding life.

But to truly live a happy and rewarding life – we must be able to say, NO! To many of the things the world demands of and from us. We must all be able to live our own lives and take control of it in such a way, whereby it is US and not OTHERS, who define what is  success – as once others are able to script their version of what success should look like – then if we are not MINDFUL we can all only struggle like a hamster in a wheel chasing someone elses goal. Though we are all putting our shoulders to the wheel and even working so hard that we are panting and sweating. We are really not getting any where closer to our goals of living a happy and rewarding life – as the wheel  of life is fixed and though it continues to turn, we are going nowhere.

Darkness 2012

“When I was a young boy. I wanted to be farmer. As I loved trees. So one day in class, when the teacher asked everyone what they wanted to become when they grew up. I lied and said that I aspired to be an engineer. That was because I was yet to discover the power word that would make the vital difference in my life. I was a very unusual boy in the moment of my youth and it was not uncommon for me to go to parks and spend the whole day there just walking around and observing the beautiful symmetry and lines of trees (that could be one reason why I never had a problem with saving money). When I was university, I went out to a date and took this girl to Hyde Park in London. There we sat for two hours as I recounted to her what this or that tree really was – when I returned with two ice creams, the girl was gone. This would happen to me many times in my life. But I didn’t allow that to bother me. When I started working, I used the tao of the trees to guide me others used business management knowhow. Again my work career can only be described as very unusual like the growth of a strange species of tree. As I happen to have both field and senior management exposure which was very unusual – you could say, I deliberately planned my career in this way as I noticed many senior managers had a blindspot when it came to figuring out how things are made like how do you bend a sheet of steel into a car bonnet – but to me these things are never a mystery as I have studied them in the same way I know the make up of a tree from the roots to the leafs. Then one day, after years of saving up and investing my money wisely. I decided to go into commercial farming in a big way. Many people thought that I would fail as how can someone from Singapore a country that doesn’t have any land produce good farmers. This year my production is the highest based on  average acerage yield rates – I think one reason for this is because I have NEVER been afraid to go my own way and to set my own definition of what is and is not success – I have always gone my own way, done my own thing and cared very little what others think about me. As one of the most valuable lessons that I gathered from watching trees very early on in my life – is how they don’t seem to have any hang up’s about saying NO! I realized very early on in life NO! is a NOT an ordinary word – it is like Ohm or Hellaluya, it is a power word. When the farmer wants a tree to produce, it is not unusual for the tree to go on strike and just stop fruiting and rest. Even today scientist do not know why trees do this and they have tried everything to cajole mother nature and it hasn’t worked. As nature is bigger than man and it has it’s own way of doing things and it cares very little about what man thinks or even wants. This I think is the crux of what I have gathered from watching trees – I think BEFORE it is possible for a man to be able to seek happiness and a rewarding life. He should first feel comfortable with saying NO! NO! to staying back after 5 at work. No! to what you want me to be! No! to what you think of me! A point will come when you are so accustomed with this power word, NO. That you will eventually realize the more you use it, whenever you say NO! You are actually saying YES to what you really want out of life.  As all I really wanted to do in my life was to be close to my trees everyday, so to me it is very easy to say NO.  I think when you know what you really want in life – then it is very easy to work towards it, day by day, month by month and year by year and this goal with the power of the mind can only materialize into reality. It is really only a matter of time. I wish you all luck in find the line in your great escape. Take your time. Be kind to yourself. There is no need to pressurize yourself – that is the first rule you need to learn as an escape artist, be gentle with yourself, be kind even as it is only when you are comfortable with saying NO! that you can really be able to dig that tunnel and escape from the many problems in your life. I wish you all God speed and I hope you all find that mythical line that the trees once shared with me.”

The Way of the Farmer – proudly brought to you by the Brotherhood Press 2012