The art of saying enough

Simply put you’ll never understand the concept of “enough” when you never learn to teach yourself the word “Grateful”. I was lucky enough to be able to see what kind of impact of human ‘greed’ can damage a person, family and even community’s life.

Here is some of my take on the issue based on my personal experience (which I was included in the category of people who had enough back in the days).

1. The root of all evil was, is and will always be for the love of money. You will end up in pursuit of money as it will become the goal of your life without even thinking that the time you spent on pursuing money is not equal to the level of how you can enjoy the life you already have in your hand now. Human will always think that happiness come from having money/asset without trying to think that why you need those amount of money in the first place.
2. Your personal life and family life will be the first victim of your pursuit of money. The closest person in your inner circle should be the reason why you work so hard in the first place and this is a Biblical concept. But then when you work extra miles without actually sharing your life with your closest circles, what is the meaning of that pursuit in the end? for who then all the efforts? At this stage it is clear enough we can safely say all of these efforts are for “Me”.
3. The reason on why is it so hard to say enough is usually because you see other people having the privilege to enjoy the things you don’t have. This is exactly where the toxic level of pursuing money deliver its killer blow. Remember that each person has their own journey and achievement in life. You will never compare your reward with their struggle. Stop comparing yourself with others!
4. Learn to enjoy where you are, what you have with the one you loved! This is the key to master the art of saying “Enough”.

The mentality

I saw the news today of my hometown Jakarta which now officially having MRT (Mass Rapid Transportation) system kick off after being inaugurated by President Jokowi.

A truly remarkable achievement if we look on the situation that the citizens of Jakarta is facing day-by-day just to survive from its horrific traffic.

But at the same time the press was having its time when the photos of Jakarta’s people behavior went viral during the trial phase. People were eating at the waiting platform, hanging by the hand grip inside MRT and play with it, standing in the MRT chair and etc.

A sad reality to know that it is easier to bring people out of poverty compare to try bring poverty out of them (their mentality, head and state of mind).

Homework for the current provincial government on how solve the situation. Nevertheless it is a gigantic step forward toward a better future for the city. It is yet to be seen though how far this new public facility could impact one of Jakarta’s problem – traffic.

Failure is the moment to pause for a cause

Photo by jim jackson on Pexels.com

This week we all saddened by the tragic crash of flight JT610 Lion air Indonesia, a tragic loss of 189 souls on-board in the morning of 29 October 2018. Many believed that this was a tragedy waiting to happen since a long time with all the behavior that this airline management shows during all of their “near miss”, “small incidents” and many delays event.

Again and again, the airline failed, failed to deliver a parents meeting their children who wait at he arrival gates on the other end, failed to safely transport a mom who bring along her baby for probably the baby first flight, failed to show a sincere apologies to all the family at first instance and choose to -first and above all- defend their standard operating procedures by saying based on the “factory guidance” has conducted a repair and maintenance process when the plane arrived at Jakarta the night before with a “error report ” from the previous flight crew who bring the plane from Bali to Jakarta.

For whatever reason, someone in their command structure has failed the trust of 189 lives who purchase their faithful tickets with a believe that they would landed safely at their destination. If I were the owner of that airline, the best thing to say is ” I deeply regret the lost of your loved ones during one of our flight, I apologies that we have failed – period –

Putting all of that into perspective let’s switch the mode first, let’s talk about failure. as the Lion Air has failed, we can also fail in many ways. But let me tell you one thing straight off the bat, failing is not always the end of everything. From my personal experience, failing has a whole different dimension of meaning. For me, failing is a moment to pause.

It is a moment to ask a questions to yourself about your value, your goals, your motivation, what drives your action and most importantly why you do the things that failed.

Let the battle between your heart and mind begin! Whose fault it is? is it the mind or the heart that was the culprit? If the heart is the one responsible check your motivation, check your values, re-check your objectives in doing the things that has failed. If the mind is responsible, check your methods, check your ways in doing things, check your behavior!

At some point you – If you are able to let all of that sink in and find the answers- will have the opportunity to bounce back and re-do everything this time with a better heart and mind.

Why it has to involve heart and mind, because without it it will become impossible for passion to show up in your actions. You’ll need a cause to start anything, but passion will be the things you need most when things get tough.

Let the Lion air management sink this incident in their heart and mind, and battle their heart and mind on it. Are you doing everything you can to make profit and valued people lives or for you all the passenger was just a numbers in your book report?

Dedicated to all the families that lost their loved ones in Flight JT610

What a mess

Do you know what is the price for a 30 years old house made of woods and wreck over time and seasons? most probably ZERO!

But one thing that I learn today from one of my favorite Pastor, John Gray, That God value you beyond your current value! It means if you are wreck now, the good news is He is the God that able to fix you and invest in you  for your future value!

What the devil wanted you to have in your mind is “It’s over” “You are worthless” ‘The end of the line” which is a BIG FAT LIE. The Bible has been so clear about the things God was able to do to people with a wreck background. There is no such a thing that God were unable to fix, the question is will you let Him fix you?

Fixing involve pain and agony that you can’t escape, The truth is through that specific pain, He is restoring your life for the future value. So if you are in a mess now, keep in mind that there someone out there who constantly in search to invest in your life for your future valuation.

Face your fear straight ahead

What is your biggest fear? sickness, marriage, parenting, career? mine was going broke. At some point in my life I have a $5 in my bank account with a baby to feed and wife to cover.

Fast forward 6 years later, I am sitting where I thought I would never imagine before, a good job, family and on route to recover my life. How do I get to this point? Solid faith that I knew the best is yet to come.

I’ve disappointed many people and friends who put their trust in me so many years ago, one thing that I learned is, going under reveals not just who is the real you but also who is the real friends you got.

When I encounter the moment of realizing I am about to going broke, I felt the deepest fear that I have never felt before, the uncertainty of many things and etc. Then I woke up and realize God will not bring you to a situation where He did not safeguard you. with that, I slowly pickup myself from the pieces and start over. Took so many pain over a long period of time but again that was the price to pay. I learned that fear will only win over your thought if only you allow it.

If you are in that specific moment, keep in mind that this is not the end of the line, there is always an opportunity to recover if you are willing to face the fear and pay the price of your mistake. Move on, it’s just a failure. Learn from it and walkaway with confidence

Photo by GEORGE DESIPRIS on Pexels.com

The Journey Begins

Starting again my writings side. Been too long pausing for a sabbatical leave. Hopefully the page could revive, replenish and encourage a lot of people who were in the same shoes just like me several years back

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton