Bucky Group 18 - The Power of the Dream

This week we sang the song "The Power of the Dreams" by Celine Dion
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Deep within each heart
There lies a magic spark
That lights the fire of our imagination
And since the dawn of man
The strength of just "I can"
Has brought together people of all nations
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There’s nothing ordinary in the living of each day
There’s a special part
Every one of us will play
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Feel the flame forever burn teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
As the world gives us its best
To stand apart from all the rest
It is the power of the dream that brings us here
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Your mind will take you far
The rest is just pure heart
You’ll find your fate is all your own creation
Every boy and girl
As they come into this world
They bring the gift of hope and inspiration
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Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
The world unites in hope and peace
We pray that it will always be
It is the power of the dream that brings us here
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There’s so much strength in all of us
Every woman child and man
It’s the moment that you think you can’t
You’ll discover that you can
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Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
The world unites in hope and peace
We pray that it will always be
It is the power of the dream that brings us here
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Feel the flame forever burn
Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream
The world unites in hope and peace
We pray that it will always be
It is the power of the dream that brings us here
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The power of the dream
The faith in things unseen
The courage to embrace your fear
No matter where you are
To reach for your own star
To realize the power of the dream
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Discussion
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I wish that more people will realise that 'deep inside each of their heart, there lies their magic spark'. Depressed people forgets that they have this spark inside them. So overwhelmed by their depressive thoughts, this spark gets buried. I hope they would rediscover it to light up their lives again. To depressed people, it is the chemicals in their body that is causing their depression, not their mind. But aren't the chemicals created by their thoughts? Is it possible to spark up their lives on their own and change the chemicals?

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Johnson brought out that in the Nazi camps, it was those who were not sent to the gas chambers and who survived, are those who had hope of living. Kong interjected that while hope is important, 'hope' is also a dangerous emotion used by conmen and religious cult. It is because of the hope of money or a purported messiah coming to save them that they get conned. So hope has to be threaded on carefully. Perhaps, more than hope, there should be a purpose. When there is a purpose to survive, people will stay alive for the purpose.

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Hinlan added that ultimately there must be action. Without action, hope and purpose will not manifest to the results we want.

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Elaine brought out a true story during the war when the Japanese were gathering Chinese men up the truck to be brought on a 'journey of no return' (death). The Chinese men were all seated and gathered on the ground waiting for the trucks to come and ferry them. Then when it came to this particular man, feeling totally despondent and resigned to die, he was about to stand up to go up the truck when a Japanese man came and touched him on his shoulders and indicated to him not to move. He then looked at the Japanese man, connected instantly and had hope and trust suddenly. He trusted the Japanese so much suddenly, he did not go up the truck. And that was the last truck. There were no more trucks coming back. He survived. The rest of them who went up the truck were never seen again! So, listen to your heart and trust.

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Joo Hwa interjected and asked, "If you were put in such a situation, what would you do to escape?"

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[No answer. We are all very wary of Joo Hwa's questions. Usually there is a catch somewhere! :) So, it was better not to answer! :)]

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So he continued, "by asking that you need to go to the toilet! Usually that will work. I tried it so many times!" and illustrated by raising his hands up high, as if asking the platoon commander on the spot.

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Clara brought up the issue of expectations. When she cleaned up after her son, in the first round, she is ok (patient and unperturbed). However, if she has to do it third and fourth time, then she started to get frustrated, as she would start to develop expectations of her son. Then she realised that it is her expectations that then got frustrated.

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Johnson raised the question of hope further. In a scenario of a fight between the samurai and the soldiers, the samurai seemingly had hope and charged forward against the brandishing machine guns and got shot dead. So does hope work?

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I commented that it depends of what he means by hope. Hope to win or hope to be matyred. Did they know they are going to die? May be they think it was still a better chance to win, by charging forward rather than waiting for the machine guns to shoot them, thereby they will definitely die. So they will rather try than do nothing and die.

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Chin Soon added that it depends on what we mean by winning. In the end, the soldiers all came down to pay their respects to the samurai for his bravery. So the samurai still won. He won the respect of the solidiers.

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Someone brought out that he likes the part where it says:

"It’s the moment that you think you can’t You’ll discover that you can "

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However, Flip disagrees with that part. He would be more inclined to believe what Henry Ford said about "If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you are right too!"

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I think it all depends on the context. Sometimes, when you think you can't, you 'gave up' and let go of everything. It is not so much the giving up, but more of 'letting go' that you discover you can do it.

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Joo Hock brought out the example of contestants in the American Idol. When they were told that they could not make it, but asked to sing again, they did it so much better. Then they have let go of everything and give their best.

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Also brought up that it is important to "Feel the flame forever burn". As we go on with our daily lives we meet problems and can get bogged down to forget to keep the flame burning. That is why we come to the Bucky Group sessions. This is called "Re-creation". That is to re-create ourselves regularly to keep the flame burning. Click here

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The session was moving towards the end and many are feeling restless. I wanted to share something, but couldn't get past saying, "I would like to say something...", as there immediately, came more chatter. I then repeated that I wanted to say something, but yet more chatter. So, I had to force my way to say what I wanted to say. That is, that many people had commented that I could recall with amazing detail of our Bucky session discussions and had asked me how I could remember so much, since they don't see me taking any notes.

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The secret lies in simply 'listening'. I actually listen very intently during the sessions. Many I have observed, chose to talk when others are talking and therefore cannot capture the same clarity and detail. I feel it is important to listen while others are talking, and when we do, will discover the richness of what the speaker says.

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Announcements made:

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1. A few of us in the Group went to Tanjung Sutera Resort recently. It was wonderfully peaceful and close to Singapore. Definitely worth going. Rather inexpensive too.

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2. My blog post, "The Green Temple" was noticed by a reader and listed on blog aggregator, tomorrow.sg. The reporter from the local New Paper also contacted me to quote a part of my post. Subsequently, Channel News Asia did a documentary on the temple. There is a visit planned by a group this coming 6 March 2008. However, not many spaces are available, so we may arrange another trip just for the Bucky Group.

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3. My House warming - on the 2 March 2008. The event will start at 4pm. There will be a screening of the movie "Osama". Poh Piah and Kueh Lapis will be served.