Tag: Inspiration

Kyoto (II)

Kyoto (II)

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We woke up early and strolled the bamboo grove 

The summer air is holding on to it’s last breath of chilly cold 

I thought about the last time I was here. And then there was bird song

It’s bird song. As bf said it, the bird is feeling so peaceful it sang

And there really was a tune to it

And he had to dish out this piece of advice for the kids, “ next time find a house where there is birdsong. There’s where peace is”

We strolled to the Togetsukyo spans the Hozu River at the foot of Mt. Arashiyama. It is 250 meters long and still retains its 17th century appearance, despite more recent renovations made using steel.

Yesterday night when we drove in search of the hotel, the full moon was up in the sky

And it’s beyond magic to be here in arashiyama

In this spot- it’s got this special aura you just want to be soaked up in it

In the hundreds of years that has gone before, so many have come here only to have their hearts filled with this magic

And to translate it all in works of art

Lunch is shojin ryori at Shigetsu

We came here last winter and the lunch was amazing

It was the why to the now

I can’t vocalize how my heart sang with joy to be back. The kids remembered this spot and that -“we were here!” and now we are back! This was possible not just because of the heart we have and held, it was because we had blessings! And that let us come back today.

It feels like a kid brimming with so much happiness and you can’t make sense of it because it’s just happiness

I was trying to look for the maple tree that turned red last winter and this time I saw it in luscious green 

And -flowers! Expressing their power and colour. It reminded me of how and why the Japanese were so adamant and would wow at maple or sakura- the bloom would not last, but it would be so full, so beautiful. There was not a care about anything about what the future would hold, or a past that had gone.

It was all about NOW

And I saw this maple that defied time and the seasons and maintained its red. IT about being authentic and standing by you even if you stood out.

Then we strolled the shops and had matcha ice cream eclair, namafu and dango! 

We drove to Ine, recognized to be among Japan’s Most Beautiful Villages. Without much room to build between the mountains and sea, the villagers created this village right along the waters of Ine Bay (in Kyoto Prefecture), one of UNESCO’s World’s Most Beautiful Bays, and the 230 “funaya” (boat houses) that line the bay trace their origins back to the Edo period. 

The Sea of Japan can be unforgiving, especially during the winter months with wave swells measuring meters high. But Ine has nothing to fear because the village is enveloped by mountains that separate it from the Japanese Sea. Geographically, Ine faces south.

As the Sea of Japan (to the north) wears away at the cliff faces of the Tango Peninsula, Ine remains safely nestled within a lush mountain-scape. What’s more is that the mouth to Ine Bay has a sacred uninhabited island called Aoshima, which also helps to keep Ine Bay calm, and its boat houses safe from large tidal fluctuations. 

I love how this pamphlet reminds the visitor that Ine is not a scenic spot nor historic site but a real living space. Asking us visitors to be mindful of the fishermen who live here and eke out a living going to sea early.

 Traditionally used in conjunction with houses to stow boats and provide extra storage/living space, now many of these historic buildings have been converted into Japanese inns, living spaces, and quaint cafes while still retaining their original designs. The people of Ine still live in harmony with the sea as the bay is a fishing port, but it’s also a center of cultural identity; the bay is the setting for spectacular fireworks and local festivals, a world renowned sake brewery, and views that really have no parallel anywhere in the world.

And we had the chance to stay in one of these Funaya – it even has a cypress bathtub and the kids love it. 

You cold get whiffs of delicious cypress when you bathed and it was the best baths ever!

Dinner was a full japanese course, highlighting fresh fish. Ine is really intimate and you would need to book the restaurants, otherwise you might need to drive out for food, the nearest convenience store is also a quick drive away.

What was really lovely was the quiet, and the gentle washing of the waves at the shore, punctuated by the flight of seagulls and black kites.

Kyoto (I)

Kyoto (I)

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My first time on ANA to Osaka via Tokyo and I slept like a baby while the plane took off

It has never happened before

And when I woke, it feels like i am in a different place

The view outside the window was humbling

Infinite shades of blue white light grey

The shade was on and the sun came through

I took a moment to observe that

The sun is shining like no one’s business and that is divinity

I was flying forwards and  cloudstream above was gushing in my direction 

It’s like a literal translation of how much I am moving 

Bypassing the shifts all together in no time

I thought of 2 points in time-

The first time I flew to Hokkaido on JAL with bf and the aliveness healing and thankfulness in that window seat

It was that instant that seeded all these wonderful Japanese trips and culminated in the now

I thought of the last I flew back from Fukuoka , in the night and I asked myself: where is my place in this big big big space 

I look out at the window and continue to be delighted like a child wondering about all this magic in life , of life

And my heart is filled with so much joy they have precipitated warmth in my eyes

I want to travel more, and more. To be in the season, to be in place. To be me. 

In this place nearer to God, I say my thanks and gratitude to all , all who have helped me lifted me loved me. 

Filming a time lapse as we make our descend to Narita made me see that the skies are always clear bright and fine weather up there 

I also asked myself: what is it that I would like to do? 

I look forward to the answer these few days

I sit and settle to connect with Kuan yin , Buddha , Jesus and the ascended masters who have blessed me, all this while and especially lately through Ed 

And I feel this warmth and love at heart

Is it not? This connection?

And I look out 

The world is so big 

In this expanse of space the possibilities- are endless – so long as I will

And so long as I set my heart to it, anything and everything goes

You have made so many things come true, TPY

And what is next? What is the next thing you want to make, come true?

Travel! Travel travel travel! And to have beauty find me, and to express beauty outwards. 

Through me, my eyes my heart my feelings my words

In doing so lift myself and others

And as I thought about what I wrote for the upcoming column in zb, this came to mind, whether I wrote beautifully or not, i wrote things my way, in a way that expresses what is in my heart the most, 没有人有办法写食物写到像陈彬雁那样

Inspirations From A Run (VIII)

Inspirations From A Run (VIII)

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I had a conversation with the anxiety and fear I have been feeling in the last few days.

HuaiHao said he could feel it. I asked him how and he said “ there’s like an aura of it on me, like you are anticipating something.”

The feeling diminished slightly – not actually significantly after my virtual interview with CXXX

I guess I didn’t want it. So I felt relieved after the session

I told my family over dinner – that previously I had been preoccupied with sending out job applications

And now that I receiving echoes I am seriously wondering what my calling is or how I want my future to be

And I am getting the jitters because I’m not familiar with this point enough – or as much as I want to

Now writing about this made me appreciate the fear or concern I have been harbouring

It was really asking me to pause and to have a think with myself

I was just fidgety and anxious, impatient and jittery

During those few days, I realised that the energy it was bring me is stopping. Stopping me from advancing

And I didn’t understand it fully then until in the run and now really

The first thing I did was to acknowledge its presence and simply say to it. Hello dear, I see you, I feel you, I hear you.

And it was a good feeling. The feeling was opening up to it rather than suppressing it not wanting to see it abhorring it

The. I asked what the message it had for me and the response that came along was –

It is a habit and a highly reinforced energy- over the years. And in a bid to caution me, to alert me of possible pitfalls and that I needn’t be fearful of it.

So there are two things here: an automatic habit of feeling fear that kicks in once I sense myself encountering something different or what I m not used to

The other is my response to this habit – while I have been always afraid of it, I can listen in to it and use it to my advantage

Another response that came was to use this energy. To use it and fully so, on something new like in a new venture a new project or adventure . For these are innately arisen to support and help me. And I could really use them this way.

And I asked what I could do to resolve the habit .

And I find myself saying thank you and goodbye to this energy. It has been with me for 40 years and I was fearful of it, when all it wants is to help me and support me

Helping me come to where I have.

And I find it moving from the belly to my heart and that was where I said goodbye.

It’s a wonderful conversation

Inspirations From A Run (VII)

Inspirations From A Run (VII)

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The intention was to get to know why the soul chose to come to earth? What was so attractive here that I wanted to explore so much I signed this contract?

I ask for the running practice session to help me find out.

And what did I hear ?

(I) to see and find out about light

All the times of perceived difficulty in worry and fear, each time I chose the way out – guided by light. I travelled in the direction of light once and again

(II) to find my magic my divinity

Each time of perceived difficulty worry and fear, I drew out from my core my being my soul my power my magic.

I thanked myself for keeping on – with openness, with the willingness to try , once again. To persevere and not give up. To stake on myself and believe I can

No I did not come here to worry about health, that was me gone off course. And i steer myself back

(III) the miracle body

Everyone of us has this miracle body who takes such wonderful amazing care of us , supporting us healing is restoring us to keep us going

The way my body heals is instant miraculous and magic

Our bodies perform magic once and again on is for us- because it wants us to know that we have a bigger purpose and a lot of things to achieve and accomplish. Our bodies want us to do exactly what we want to come here for and so they support us so unconditionally so faithfully so committed – with so much love

I thank my body I thank my body. Thank you for loving me!

(IV) the magic is if I m well you are

If I m facing light and feeling all the wonders of it, why wouldn’t my daughter? Why wouldn’t you? Or he? She?

One of the most meaningful things I heard from Lee Harris the day before in his free podcast was that when you run( or do something) , you are carrying the energy for another too.

We are all parts of each other. Fractals of each other.

If I am well you are too.

(V) so go forth and do what gives you joy

Without a care

10 Yrs 4 Mths

10 Yrs 4 Mths

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Huaihao is working hard at the Rubik’s Cube and exploring all ways to solve it–and he has.

This month, the foodie in him was channeled to help me with tasting sweets, and when celebrating daddy’s birthday

Look at the card he made for daddy!

But he also had a go at rediscovering what he loves-drawing, sketching and he does it with this sense of wittiness that is in his eyes

He spent some time going back to the basics-drawing, because he had too much device time and is banned from it for 2 weeks!

But being banned doesn’t stop him from exploring possibilities, he was trying out all the ways he could think of before calling it quits and coming back to draw

When all that he tried couldn’t make the devices come back to, he had to fall back on his first loves

That’s how he got to make a wallet like this

On day we were at the National Museum, there was an art programme going on and i took the chance to participate with huaihao, where he drew himself on the bus

Looking at the drawing’s expression, he must have been bored stiff!

On a weekend, he woke early and we headed out to walk and had our usual vegetarian bee hoon

This month was also big for Huaihao as he had the chance to participate in Track & Field during the National School Games season. He was really excited about it and this day he had to report to school at 635am.

My recommendations to Huaihao was that he should enjoy the process and have fun rather than to be bent on winning. And afterwards he shared that having fun was exactly what he did. And he would go for it again!

On Mother’s Day, I woke up to his card, he hid it under his pillow and flashed it out when I woke!

At bedtime on a few occasions, I was asking Huaihao for some advice on my career progression to which he said things like:

“you have to start somewhere, you can’t be a protagonist right from the beginning “

“rich people don’t do things they don’t like”

“you have to do things you like”

One day on YouTube, Qi Qin was playing the harmonica

Me: So nice to be able to play. You could direct your emotions into the instrument and let them be expressed in beautiful notes

HuaiHao: You can actually be the instrument you know

Bedtime with HuaiHao

Was telling him about a new opportunity that has come my way and I m not feeling entirely confident

But speaking to him cemented things. I had prayed for an opportunity because I wanted to provide for my father every month

And this is one opportunity that is. If this isn’t the universe’s answer to my prayer then what?

Wow

And he said, “ go for it. Isn’t this what you have been longing for? And if you don’t try, you don’t know.”

when I asked him for advice he also said, “ rich people don’t do things they don’t like and rich doesn’t just mean money.”

On the night he came back from visiting the Thow Kwang Pottery Jungle, he shared with me bits and pieces of his trip. And we spoke about daddy. And HuaiHao said, “ he’s so grumpy today!“

So I asked, “and what do you do?”

He said, rolling his eyes from side to side, “ it’s like there’s someone passing the ball in my eyes. Let’s just get on with what we are busy with or else the clouds that we are will turn into a storm”

I can’t help but giggle at the way he puts things. We could have been a cloud to observe it all, but if we participated in anyone’s unhappiness , we would if unwitting enough—be joining their storm.

What wisdom.

Another day at dinner time:

Me: I’m sorry I m not a good cook

HuaiHao: pats me on the elbow, “ it’s ok there’s always a next time

But HuaiHao did not keep to his promise about using the diffuser and I would not be in his room if he had not . But there I was . And he said, “ because you want to be with me.”

How accurate.

Always and forever

Gifts

Gifts

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This was what the outside looked like this morning, perhaps just before sunrise , yes at 0642hrs

The light is- divinity itself

Things like this have a jaw dropping effect on me. You are stripped of anything you can say. Anything works and everything doesn’t work.

And so you look at it squarely. And be with it. Meditation is perhaps like this too?

In the evening when I looked out again, I saw tiny birds or swallows swooping in the skies. They were having loads of fun playing around

Obviously hard to catch! And I did!

So little bit they took on the skies without any care.

Can I learn from them?

Let go of inhibitions, fears, worries, anything that stops me from advancing.

And just play and have fun, without —— any care.

What wonderful gifts I have received today!

Inspirations From A Run (VI)

Inspirations From A Run (VI)

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Gift from nature at the end of my run. How beautiful.

(1) Light years ahead

May anyone who sees this be inspired by the light captured this morning to go forth and activate your path

(2) Big and Beautiful

The chinese way for the word beauty is 美, made up of 羊 （sheep）and 大 （big）

This morning as I was running , there was places which were more open than the others

And like this

And the expanse is beautiful. Space is beautiful. And it brings me back to the word 美. The word is supported by 大 or big below. And it says quite a bit about beauty. Big is beautiful

(3) Wisdom of the Sun and Moon

I have been writing this for a few days now- 智慧有日月同光

It translates to having the wisdom of the sun and moon. Or having the wisdom or intelligence of the universe.

And I kind of paid attention to that as I ran. There is a small window of seeing the sim and moon together. If you did- at any point in time, celebrate! And I thought of the times where I made decisions like that. I want to make decisions like that.

I can’t help but thank the new moon for her companionship at night and the sun for showing it’s brilliance this morning.

It’s so beautiful and to witness this is bliss.

And when thoughts came, I reminded myself to just be here, to stay here with this beauty that is here.

Be here and listen in on the divine. What does it have to say? What is it saying to you?

With so much love and light here,

Inspirations From A Run (V)

Inspirations From A Run (V)

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The intention today is to work with the divine to receive healing. To restore .

And this was what that came up in the run.

(i) thankful to be here

I’m thankful to be here , to be running now and to be seeing this. To be given this opportunity to be here now, to receive

(ii) nothing to do

When thoughts came, immediately there is this idea that “There is nothing to do, nowhere to go but here.

To receive.

There is no thing to do but just to be here and we will receive. I m certain.

(iii) healing comes within

Towards the end of the run, I asked myself about healing. What does my womb want me to know? That it is out of balance . And what can I do to restore he balance? To write !

The body is actually made to support the soul and soul journey and development

When there is inner clarity, the body works it’s best to support the purpose

(iv) openness

If I m here and an opportunity lands on me , isn’t that part of the flow? isn’t that a gift? Just as everything around me in the run is?

I have been looking elsewhere and thinking about something similar I have done always and remained somewhat close to the opportunity that has landed.

What happens when I m being open to this all?

David Foster: Off The Record

David Foster: Off The Record

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Teacher Stephan sent me a reply

“Dear Pin Yen, I feel for you in the pain and thoughts.

We are all equal young people, old people, all people and all need to be respected.

Without the elderly (parants, grandparents, great grand parants etc) we would not be here.

They not only had to care for their families and survive wars, famines, atrocities, injustice and so on…stoically survive and move forward through the uncertainty of life and time. Building our nations, economies and then meet so that we are born.

Did you know if we look back the last 11 generations or about 300 years. There were at least 4094 people who had to meet, give birth to a child which would grow up and meet someone else to face the lifes challanges, bringing children etc.

Where did they come form?
How many wars, famines, atrocities have they survived or not survived?

But also how much love, joy, dreams have they had and send to us down the line.

And how much strenght, endurance, courage and resilience have they left in us to move ahead in our lifes.

All we can do is to honore these gifts and take up their courage and strenght to forge ahead and make our lifes.”

And I saw Sasha’s send of this pix that I liked immediately and immensely

I wonder why

I am not sure why but I just wanted to watch this that I watched a while ago.

Particularly the part on Whitney Houston and the hit “ I will always love you”

“And I hope life, will treat you kind
And I hope that you have all
That you ever dreamed of
Oh I do wish you joy
And I wish you happiness
But above all this
I wish you love
I love you
I will always love you”

And this kind of sums it up.

The question and the answer is the same: love.

Inspirations From A Run (IV)

Inspirations From A Run (IV)

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The intention today was to have awareness so as to work with the divine or rather to let the divine work through me.

And the “child” seems to be the theme of the run .

(i) How did you run?

This little girl was running into my lane and the first thing that popped into my mind was: how did I used to run as a child? How did my running steps feel like?

I couldn’t place these at all. Maybe I didn’t really run. I don’t really recall myself running. Perhaps it’s from the care of my family or nanny, who were so protective of me and was afraid of me hurting myself in a run . It came as advice out of goodwill and I listened in and practiced it

I didn’t run

Maybe that is why I always did not enjoy physical education in school. I didn’t like running . It’s not my thing.

But I still tried to feel for that feeling of me as a little girl of about 4 or 5. How would she run?

Without a care. Without any density of energies . Like a squirrel. That light. That free.

When I saw this, I kind of felt that in my running steps.

(ii) Possibilities

Whenever thoughts came, whenever I saw a possibility a picture of myself, I acknowledged it and told myself to continue to open up – to possibilities .

I thought of the times when I closed in or centred on one possibility. Such as when I left work. At that time, I centred on that particular possibility and couldn’t open up to the others. It was my choice.

But now, I asked myself to continue to open up, to widen to see and to observe.

And to go for the best and never settle. To go for that one which would make the little girl ‘s eyes and face shine

(iii) inner child

I had such a wonderful session with the girl in me.

What would you say to the child in you? The you in you?

“You are so blessed little one. You have such a strong and wonderful support circle around you and so move forward and do what makes you sparkle.

I feel you in perfect health and there is nothing you need to worry about.

I feel and see how you are so loved by your family and people around you. Your husband devotes to you your children love you, your siblings look up to you. “

I wanted to hear what she wants. I kind of created with the girl by asking her what she wants.

At a certain point in time, I saw why I came here again. I was daunted, couldn’t see possibilities, gave up on myself and lost my power .

In fact I reprised that too. Once very clearly during my second year in JC, when dad lost his footing and I lost mine or rather , I gave up mine.

The other time clearly, when I gave up work in 2019 . I handled my power away.

And what would the little girl choose?

“ I just want to pass on this touching feeling or moment(s) as much as I can. The feeling of the heart warmed and energized, fueling myself to greater goodness . Feeling hope and hopeful and ready to charge , to be inspired and go for it once again. “

I think that’s my power. To find my power (back) and let others see their power.