78 days to go...

I started writing today without any plan or idea in mind. No theme, just write. In fact, I let go of all thoughts that I had. I just wanted to be open to the moment completely.

I am staying in a lakeside apartment hotel in Hanoi, which is under renovation. It’s a mess, and noisy too. After some annoyance of being put there without knowing the condition, I decided to just accept it as it is. It is actually interesting to stay in a place like this, where they are tripling the hotel’s capacity, and of course that brings some mess temporarily. It’s like being in a place in transition. Most places I stay are “stationary” and are not changing very much or at all. Transition has its own energy, and is exciting. Now I can see the mess in a different way. It’s like being present at a birth.

I read Mike George’s 5th Aha! (The 7 Aha!s of Highly Enlightened Souls - How to Free Yourself from All Forms of Stress) today, and it talks about accepting everything. His theory goes that by accepting everything, you tap into the moment and the connection with the situation or person. If you hold back or resist, you build up a wall, either in yourself or in the other person. And resistance is based on fear, and fear is a negative energy that creates obstacles and division. Mike George explains that fear is based on the idea that we can actually control things. We cannot. If we want to live a harmonious life and encourage and empower others, Mike George says, we have to start with acceptance. So that was my theme for the day, to practice acceptance, and it will be for tomorrow too, until something else comes along. I happily accepted!

Photograph: Art exhibit, Singapore Art Museum