Somebody's job is on the line. Heavy rain was reported on 16 June 2010 and from 8am to 11am, 100millimetres of rainfall were recorded, causing major flood in areas such as Orchard Road. (Source: Channel News Asia).
Due to the flood situation, businesses are disrupted, properties damaged, safety of people were affected plus a whole lot of other issues that will come up the next couple of days.
One common reason floods happen is when there is very heavy rain and high tide at the same time. Floods happen during these time because water from the sea is going upstream and heavy rain fall is pushing water to the rivers and canals. Over a short period of time, the water level simply goes up and over flows to the roads and any other low lying areas.
However, a quick check with Singapore's National Environment Agency's website http://app2.nea.gov.sg/tidetime.aspx shows that on 16 June 2010 at 0756 hrs it was low tide and the next high tide was at 1458 hrs. From 8am to 11am, it wasn't high tide and this proves that somewhere along the Stamford Canal there are blockages. Water along the canal isn't moving out fast enough.
First thing that comes to mind is that the Marina Barrage would be at fault. It is meant to prevent more sea water from coming into the river system and to flush out swelling river water into the sea when the risk of flood is high. If flood happened, it could mean it is not flushing out quickly enough.
But then, if there are blockages upstream, the water level near Marina Barrage would have been at a safe level and the system would not have activated to flush out the swelling river water.
Hence, looking at the situation from a logical standpoint, it is more likely that there are some blockages on the upstream. Somebody, some company will be looking at the wrath of Singapore law staring right in front of their eyes.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Fate and Wisdom
Knowing the difference between fortune-telling and life-destiny counseling is important. Many will have you believe that life-destiny consultation is evil and bad and runs foul with religious belief but what they do not realized is that it is no different than being in a room with religious counselors who is trying to straighten out a person's life.
If you are being told that you will be getting a big contract in three months and you do nothing to ensure you truly deserve getting the contract, you are relying on fate and that is fortune-telling. For this reason, fortune-telling lacks moral significance.
But if you are being told of such an opportunity and you ask what you can do to ensure you get the contract, then you are seeking the wisdom to produce the results you worked hard for. This is the big difference between fortune-telling and professional life-destiny counseling.
If you are being told that you will be getting a big contract in three months and you do nothing to ensure you truly deserve getting the contract, you are relying on fate and that is fortune-telling. For this reason, fortune-telling lacks moral significance.
But if you are being told of such an opportunity and you ask what you can do to ensure you get the contract, then you are seeking the wisdom to produce the results you worked hard for. This is the big difference between fortune-telling and professional life-destiny counseling.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
When to engage Feng Shui Consultant
Many people often wondered when is the right time to engage a Feng Shui Consultant. There is actually no right time but the best time. By the time a person decides to engage a Feng Shui practitioner, they are most likely in a dire situation. Those who engages Feng Shui consultant very early are either true-believers of the Chinese Art or they have seen and experienced the true results of what Feng Shui can do or has done for them. For these people, their objective now is not about how to recover from dire situations but how to improve and take another level forward from where they are at the moment. This is how amazing Feng Shui can be used by everyone.
For Feng Shui audits, the time to engage a Feng Shui consultant is BEFORE buying a property, any property. You want to engage a Feng Shui practitioner because you want to make sure the land and the property is good, Feng Shui-wise. You want to ensure the land is able to collect and retain vital land energy where the prospective property lies. You want to ensure the land is auspicious and you as the new owner is able to tapped on the available auspicious energy. You want to ensure the land and property is suitable for you and your purpose.
But suppose you have already bought the property but have not moved in yet. You will want to engage a Feng Shui practitioner to evaluate the property and determine what can to be done to match the occupants with the surrounding environment. This is an important step that new property owners need to take. Proper planning to locate all entrances and exits, the design of all walkways, corridors and room allocation are important considerations. This planning is to help create energy flow within the property. You need to be able to channel the energy from the outside and circulate it on the inside. Failure to do so creates a mediocre living environment.
Next, what if you have already staying in the property? You need to assess your current life situation. It is usually related to your career, business, work, family, relationships, financial situation, and health. Are they all balanced? Are there any issues that you need to focus your time on? Do you need to improve any of the situations? If yes, this would be the time to engage a Feng Shui practitioner. If any of those life issues are well balanced, it simply means that you are already enjoying what life has given you. You just need to maintain and continue to do what you do best. However, you need to monitor if changes starts to be noticeable. This is an indication that changes are happening and you need to know why and what steps can be taken to minimize the impact and how long the implications will affect you. This, a Professional Feng Shui practitioner can be your guiding light.
For Feng Shui audits, the time to engage a Feng Shui consultant is BEFORE buying a property, any property. You want to engage a Feng Shui practitioner because you want to make sure the land and the property is good, Feng Shui-wise. You want to ensure the land is able to collect and retain vital land energy where the prospective property lies. You want to ensure the land is auspicious and you as the new owner is able to tapped on the available auspicious energy. You want to ensure the land and property is suitable for you and your purpose.
But suppose you have already bought the property but have not moved in yet. You will want to engage a Feng Shui practitioner to evaluate the property and determine what can to be done to match the occupants with the surrounding environment. This is an important step that new property owners need to take. Proper planning to locate all entrances and exits, the design of all walkways, corridors and room allocation are important considerations. This planning is to help create energy flow within the property. You need to be able to channel the energy from the outside and circulate it on the inside. Failure to do so creates a mediocre living environment.
Next, what if you have already staying in the property? You need to assess your current life situation. It is usually related to your career, business, work, family, relationships, financial situation, and health. Are they all balanced? Are there any issues that you need to focus your time on? Do you need to improve any of the situations? If yes, this would be the time to engage a Feng Shui practitioner. If any of those life issues are well balanced, it simply means that you are already enjoying what life has given you. You just need to maintain and continue to do what you do best. However, you need to monitor if changes starts to be noticeable. This is an indication that changes are happening and you need to know why and what steps can be taken to minimize the impact and how long the implications will affect you. This, a Professional Feng Shui practitioner can be your guiding light.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Early Heaven Story
Here is a pictorial story of Early Heaven.
A beautiful view of a clear blue-sky.
A calm, serene lake, reflecting the wonderful view of the sky
But as nature would have it, the weather could change without prior notice
That will come with sounds of thunder
Followed by the ferocious wind
With the never-ending rain
Bringing the source of life to the living being via the Mountains
Collected by Mother Earth
And it all goes back to Heaven
If you understand the above, you understand the Early Heaven arrangement.
A beautiful view of a clear blue-sky.
A calm, serene lake, reflecting the wonderful view of the sky
But as nature would have it, the weather could change without prior notice
That will come with sounds of thunder
Followed by the ferocious wind
With the never-ending rain
Bringing the source of life to the living being via the Mountains
Collected by Mother Earth
And it all goes back to Heaven
If you understand the above, you understand the Early Heaven arrangement.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Qing Ming Festival 清明节
I was in Penang recently to celebrate ‘Qing Ming’ festival. Qing Ming festival is a celebration where the descendants remember and honour their ancestors at their grave site. It is a time to do ‘house-keeping’ by cleaning up the area around the grave, pulling out the weeds, ensuring the tablets are cleaned, the wordings on the tombstone are re-painted with fresh coat of paint and maintain the overall façade of the grave.
Over a period of twelve months, there will be rain and the earth, sand over the grave may get washed away. A depressed, crater-like grave does not look very ‘healthy’. Thus, it is also a time to ‘top-up’ the earth to create a small ‘hump’ over the grave. There are also services being offered to plant carpet-grass over the grave. It is nice idea that not only makes the grave look nice, it will also hold the earth from being washed away by the rain.
Traditionally, if one follows the way of Taoist practice, the first thing to do after arriving at the cemetery is to proceed to the main temple that governs the whole graveyard. One would offer prayers before proceeding to the grave of their ancestors.
Once at the ancestor’s grave, the descendants would clean up the grave and start to offer prayers. If you have been to a Chinese grave, you will notice a small tablet on the side of the grave, usually on the right if facing it. This is the God of the Earth and the descendant would first pray to the God of the Earth, request permission and to summon their ancestors, informing them that their descendants are there.
Depends on the family tradition, sometimes you will see the family members putting on gold and silver-colored paper over the grave. This is to symbolize the patching up of their ancestor’s home in the after-world. Sometimes you will find multi-colored papers as well. This is just in case the water-heater needs servicing or the roof-top needs to be repaired, etc. Consider this as maintenance work for their homes in afterlife.
Sometimes you will also find the descendants burning what looks like bank notes or money, paper shirts, and paper shoes. This is all symbolic to signify the offerings of ‘buying’ new shirts and shoes and giving their ancestors cash allowances to spend in their world. The value on the bank notes ranges from the smallest denomination to millions. Nowadays, you can find mobile phone, laptop computers and modern luxuries being offered to their ancestors. Whether they know how to use it is another story altogether.
When I was there one morning to follow the Qing Ming rituals, there were also other families who burn firecrackers, pretty much like during the Chinese New Year.
After all the prayers are carried out, the family members world feast on the food and drink they brought for the worship to signify family reunion with the ancestors.
Over a period of twelve months, there will be rain and the earth, sand over the grave may get washed away. A depressed, crater-like grave does not look very ‘healthy’. Thus, it is also a time to ‘top-up’ the earth to create a small ‘hump’ over the grave. There are also services being offered to plant carpet-grass over the grave. It is nice idea that not only makes the grave look nice, it will also hold the earth from being washed away by the rain.
Traditionally, if one follows the way of Taoist practice, the first thing to do after arriving at the cemetery is to proceed to the main temple that governs the whole graveyard. One would offer prayers before proceeding to the grave of their ancestors.
Once at the ancestor’s grave, the descendants would clean up the grave and start to offer prayers. If you have been to a Chinese grave, you will notice a small tablet on the side of the grave, usually on the right if facing it. This is the God of the Earth and the descendant would first pray to the God of the Earth, request permission and to summon their ancestors, informing them that their descendants are there.
Depends on the family tradition, sometimes you will see the family members putting on gold and silver-colored paper over the grave. This is to symbolize the patching up of their ancestor’s home in the after-world. Sometimes you will find multi-colored papers as well. This is just in case the water-heater needs servicing or the roof-top needs to be repaired, etc. Consider this as maintenance work for their homes in afterlife.
Sometimes you will also find the descendants burning what looks like bank notes or money, paper shirts, and paper shoes. This is all symbolic to signify the offerings of ‘buying’ new shirts and shoes and giving their ancestors cash allowances to spend in their world. The value on the bank notes ranges from the smallest denomination to millions. Nowadays, you can find mobile phone, laptop computers and modern luxuries being offered to their ancestors. Whether they know how to use it is another story altogether.
When I was there one morning to follow the Qing Ming rituals, there were also other families who burn firecrackers, pretty much like during the Chinese New Year.
After all the prayers are carried out, the family members world feast on the food and drink they brought for the worship to signify family reunion with the ancestors.
Friday, January 8, 2010
100% Effective Training
Someone once asked how can we tell what the teacher teaches is 100% effective. A seemingly simple question.
Today the market is flooded with courses on Feng Shui and Destiny Analysis. Lillian Too was undoubtedly the pioneer who started to popularise Feng Shui to the western world, targeting the English-speaking audience. A lot of non-Chinese speaking students would pay tribute to her for bringing this art alive to their world. Thereafter, the likes of Raymond Lo, Joseph Yu, Joey Yap just to name a few, started to sprout the world over. We are thankful for their contribution to bring the art of Chinese Metaphysics alive to the world.
Before we can tell if a teaching is effective, we must first try to understand the objective of a teacher. In today’s highly commercialised world, the first objective is to make money and the second objective is how much money to make. The second objective is more important and here is why.
If the objective is to make lots of money, the more general the information you are going to get. The bigger the market share to capture, the more diluted the teachings will be. Teachings will be tailored according to what is more popular in the market. It does not matter if the methods taught are usable or not. Just teach what the others are teaching and try to make more money than the other instructors.
You will also find that many sub-topics are created from a single topic. This is called milking the cow while it still has milk. With the number two objective high on the list, would you still think you are getting the real stuff? They will protect their interest first and least of all, to allow you to be their competitor with what they teaches you.
Thus, we can forget about learning the real thing from the mass-marketers, let alone 100% effective teachings.
There is another group of teachers whom you hardly hear about them. Occasionally, you will hear their name being mentioned in blogs and forums. You never see them on TV, newspapers, and no annual convention-hall type of seminars. You don’t even know how they looked like. To this group of teachers, the number two objective is not important because they already have enough to last a few generations. They have their own source of income and they are effectively using their Chinese Metaphysics knowledge to grow their other source of income. They do not depend their livelihood by peddling Feng Shui products and services. This is the true effectiveness of Feng Shui at work.
Let’s say you are lucky enough to meet the second group of teachers, would you be learning the real stuff? You will, eventually, but not as fast as you want it to be. It takes time. You can be assured that you will be given proper direction but the information will be released in small bits. Sometimes information is given without you even realising it because you have not reached the stage of grasping the knowledge. It is after much practice and thinking that you will realised that yes, it was taught but could never comprehend.
What the teacher may be looking for is your ability to absorb the knowledge, your integrity as a person and your loyalty to the group and family. I am not saying that this is the rule. It is my perception that all genuine masters will be looking out for transfer of knowledge and they will have their own criteria, in their own time. You would be doing the same if you are in their shoes. Offend your teachers at your own peril.
So, the first part of getting to know if the methods taught are 100% effective is to find a teacher who has been practicing the real art, who has created real, tangible results for himself and his clients. The second part is getting him to teach you the basic foundation that is usable. And the third part is to practice and use it yourself to truly experience the real results of 100% effective Feng Shui methods. This is the only way to know if the method is 100% effective because you have learned it, done it and seen it work yourself.
Do you need a lifetime to see results? No, a few hours at best, the longest in 6 months.
Can you become a credible Feng Shui consultant just by attending a 3-day course? Something to think about……
Today the market is flooded with courses on Feng Shui and Destiny Analysis. Lillian Too was undoubtedly the pioneer who started to popularise Feng Shui to the western world, targeting the English-speaking audience. A lot of non-Chinese speaking students would pay tribute to her for bringing this art alive to their world. Thereafter, the likes of Raymond Lo, Joseph Yu, Joey Yap just to name a few, started to sprout the world over. We are thankful for their contribution to bring the art of Chinese Metaphysics alive to the world.
Before we can tell if a teaching is effective, we must first try to understand the objective of a teacher. In today’s highly commercialised world, the first objective is to make money and the second objective is how much money to make. The second objective is more important and here is why.
If the objective is to make lots of money, the more general the information you are going to get. The bigger the market share to capture, the more diluted the teachings will be. Teachings will be tailored according to what is more popular in the market. It does not matter if the methods taught are usable or not. Just teach what the others are teaching and try to make more money than the other instructors.
You will also find that many sub-topics are created from a single topic. This is called milking the cow while it still has milk. With the number two objective high on the list, would you still think you are getting the real stuff? They will protect their interest first and least of all, to allow you to be their competitor with what they teaches you.
Thus, we can forget about learning the real thing from the mass-marketers, let alone 100% effective teachings.
There is another group of teachers whom you hardly hear about them. Occasionally, you will hear their name being mentioned in blogs and forums. You never see them on TV, newspapers, and no annual convention-hall type of seminars. You don’t even know how they looked like. To this group of teachers, the number two objective is not important because they already have enough to last a few generations. They have their own source of income and they are effectively using their Chinese Metaphysics knowledge to grow their other source of income. They do not depend their livelihood by peddling Feng Shui products and services. This is the true effectiveness of Feng Shui at work.
Let’s say you are lucky enough to meet the second group of teachers, would you be learning the real stuff? You will, eventually, but not as fast as you want it to be. It takes time. You can be assured that you will be given proper direction but the information will be released in small bits. Sometimes information is given without you even realising it because you have not reached the stage of grasping the knowledge. It is after much practice and thinking that you will realised that yes, it was taught but could never comprehend.
What the teacher may be looking for is your ability to absorb the knowledge, your integrity as a person and your loyalty to the group and family. I am not saying that this is the rule. It is my perception that all genuine masters will be looking out for transfer of knowledge and they will have their own criteria, in their own time. You would be doing the same if you are in their shoes. Offend your teachers at your own peril.
So, the first part of getting to know if the methods taught are 100% effective is to find a teacher who has been practicing the real art, who has created real, tangible results for himself and his clients. The second part is getting him to teach you the basic foundation that is usable. And the third part is to practice and use it yourself to truly experience the real results of 100% effective Feng Shui methods. This is the only way to know if the method is 100% effective because you have learned it, done it and seen it work yourself.
Do you need a lifetime to see results? No, a few hours at best, the longest in 6 months.
Can you become a credible Feng Shui consultant just by attending a 3-day course? Something to think about……
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
How we read Bazi for Employee Selection
Is Employee selection based on Day Master?
A question was asked if the employee selection is based on Day Master.
Essentially, when we read a BaZi chart, we read the chart in its entirety i.e. we read the basic four pillars together with the Luck Pillar and Annual Pillar. The basic foundation of Zi Ping Ba Zi is to take the Day Master as the reference point and using the other 3 pillars to determine its influence to the Day Master. These basic four pillars will give us the “picture” of who the person is, the personality, the strength and weaknesses plus a few other factors of the potential candidate. This is where we will evaluate and determine the “job-fit” with the employer. We will present our analysis but the final decision comes from the employer.
Complexity of BaZi
Humans are complicated creature. We are influenced by a lot of factors coming from all angles. For example, if you are familiar with the construction of a BaZi chart, you already know that the Day Master, that is you, are influenced by your Grand-Parents, Parents, Siblings and Children, if any. This is one layer. Each one of us re-acts to a certain way when probed by external environment and this reaction is our personality, as seen by people around us, developed over the years ever since we were a child. Hence, to understand a person, we need to know what the individual is made-up of and these can be found in the four pillars of a BaZi chart.
Difference between Divination and BaZi Reading
Sometimes practitioners will use the Day Master alone together with some “Gua-pictures'” to derive an answer. This method of reading is what we call ‘Divination’ reading. If used correctly, it is fairly accurate. The only setback is that to get an answer, you need to have a question. And the method used to get the answer is only valid at that point of time. Using it again at another time will get you a different answer.
Once we have analysed the 4 pillars, we will evaluate the Luck Pillar the candidate is going through. All employers want to hire employees who can contribute to the success of the company. They want employees who are effective, efficient and productive. The Luck Pillars will give us the information. It is about timing and timing is the essence of maximising opportunities when it is right.
We always based the employee selection on Day Master in conjunction with the other pillars to derive a complete picture. The Day Master is the representation of the individual and combined with all the Pillars, it tells us the full story of the individual.
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