Synchronicity - The Gifted Child

Yesterday morning my Indian friend told me about his choice to keep her daughter in the 'normal' class in school, despite being chosen to be in the 'gifted' programme. He wanted her daughter to mingle with 'normal' students, study normally and enjoy the little things in life. So there were no late nights studying for school and she went to bed at 9pm every night. Unlike most other kids in Singapore, there was also no home tuition after school.

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Incidentally, later in the evening, my South African friend told me a very similar story. In her case, when they first came to Singapore, the school principal didn't think that this new African student (her daughter) will make any difference to the school overall grades, and she was put in a 'normal' class. So, when my friend's daughter did famously well in her exams, the principal and the teachers were stunned. They then offered her daughter a place in the 'gifted' programme, but she rejected it, as she too wanted her daughter to live a normally and enjoy school.

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As the school went on, in both cases, the girls excelled and topped their cohort. Both the principals wondered how a 'non-gifted' child could do better academically than the 'gifted' children in the 'gifted' classes.

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These two cases taught me that no matter how school, family or society categorises someone, e are who we want to be, and if one essentially has the belief, one would achieve that belief.

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Patience 3 - The Message?

I got this message from a fortune cookie in a Chinese restaurant in London:

"Time and patience are called for, many surprises await you."

Very timely. Let's see what happens next and what surprises await.

Synchronicity 4

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Someone I know was recently unfairly dismissed from her job. Naturally, she was upset, but I immediately knew that she will get another role more suited to her aspirations. I don't know why, but I just knew.

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A month before she lost her job, she decided to study Chinese. So it seems timely, as now she is freer to pursue that.

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Last week, she got a new role to teach in a local university. Unsual, because she does not have a PhD nor the experience of teaching in a university, but she got the position. She has always wanted to teach in a university.

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Yesterday, she found out that she was selected against the better qualified candidates because she came prepared with a programme and also that she has a background in the Chinese language. She will be teaching (art) aesthetics, and the department prefer someone who can also compare aesthetics from the perception of cultures distant from Europe.

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So listen to yourself. What are the keywords in your thoughts recently? We all have a voice within. A voice some call the "Holy Spirit". Then go with the Flow.

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Synchronicity 3

I visit Joo Hock at his salon sometimes, usually to discuss how we can make the Bucky Group session more effective. In this instance, I was there to collect my projector, as the Group has now bought its own. The introduction of the projector was a great leap forward as we now have documentary videos and music for our sessions.

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During the chat, he mentioned the book,"The Tipping Point", by Malcolm Gladwell to create an experiential workshop. Actually it was the wrong book, as I'm reading "Blink!", also by Gladwell. Then further in our chat he mentioned about Ms Jean Tan (a famous businesswoman in Singapore, not her real name) and how they may be working together. As I am helping a friend to look for a boutique franchisee in Singapore, I asked if she would be interested to invest. "Possible, ask her", Joo Hock said.

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Our chat lasted an hour and soon it was time to meet up with my friend Francis at a nearby pub. When I reached there, Francis has a friend with him and she was reading the book (surprise surprise!) "The Tipping Point". A few minutes into the conversation, I was interrupted by an sms from another of my friend Irene. In it, she said that she could introduce Jean Tan to me regarding the franchising opportunity.

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On the way home in the taxi, I thought I should be eating out less and cooking more at home. I do sometimes use the steamer, to steam sweet potatoes, corn and carrots. Good healthy stuff. I thought it would also be nice to have a slow cooker crockpot that can cook soup. So that I can just put the ingredients in the pot in the morning and get soup in the evening, without much tedium.

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Incidentally, in the next evening, I found a discarded crockpot downstairs. It was in good condition complete with the paper wrapping. People here are wasteful. There are many times when I picked up useful household items thrown away by the residents.

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Yesterday, I asked someone to read Vacuum State. She agreed and told me she too have a blog called "Vacuum". Ha ha!

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The moral of the story here is, "Be careful with what you think, for it may even come true!"

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So have beautiful thoughts and get set for a beautiful day! It's all in the mind! :)

Synchronicity 2

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I have just been catching up with my emails after busy helping a Vietnamese friend with his business and quest to use part of his profits for social projects in Vietnam and also down with food poisoning for a few days. Such luck! May be it is due to too many upheavals recently, including the recent move to a new apartment after the doubling of the previous rent.

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Coincidentally (or is it so?), I got an email from a friend whom I haven't heard for at least two years, who is now a volunteer librarian in Vietnam. In her email, she also mentioned about the rapidly rising rents in Vietnam and how landlords prefer short leases so that they can raise the rents the following year by substantial amounts. To top it all, she is also recovering from a food poisoning! :)

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So be careful what we think, we attract exactly what we think. Make a list of keywords around what is happening around you. It is likely what you have been thinking a lot of! In my case here, my key thoughts have been: 'Vietnam', 'high rent inflation', 'food poisoning', and 'charity'. How clear and fast your thoughts will manifest will depend on how clear and strong your thoughts are.

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Synchronicity

Strange! Many things seem well lined up in the last few days.

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Last week, a friend explained to me what jatropha is and on the next day, another friend contacted me out of the blue to tell me that he knows of people growing the crop and that they may need help in looking for funds.

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The day after in a party, another friend introduced to me her two friends - one of them a trained environmental engineer, which fits in well with my environmental technology business and the other, a lady from Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The next day, I was introduced to a businessman from Chengdu, by another friend.

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In last weekend's Personal Planet workshop, we ended crafting plans for social enterprises. A fortnight before, the facilitator of another workshop identified that I will be going into the creation of social enterprises.

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Distilling it all, the keywords for me to watch out for seems to be 'Environment', 'Chengdu', 'Social enterprise' and 'Jatropha'. We will see what comes out next.

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Do you have such experiences before?

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