Flame into Life

The other day I went to SungeiWang, a well known department store nearby where I am living. I was looking for some accessories as I like to wear bracelet and necklace. By chance I found a shop where they were selling a silver necklace with a dragon stamped on it. I don't know why but I felt quite attracted to it, and I decided to buy it.

Since I was a child I liked dragons, I don't think it is because I was born on the year of dragon in the chinese horoscope, but simply because I found those mystical creatures great and respectful.

I bought the necklace. For 21 Ringgits, I have an oportunity to wear it every single day :). Its shape is nice, the design is good and I wear it since then, even at the office.

It just happened that one day after that, I had a chance to read a book about chinese horoscopes. What a coincidence! It has been interesting for me to know about how asian cultures believe, and I have been surprised on how much developed the chinese horoscope is, in comparison to the western culture.

As you know, chinese horoscope consists in a set of twelve representative animals (Rat/Ox/Tiger/Rabbit/Dragon/Snake/Horse/Sheep/Monkey/Rooster/Dog/Pig), and each year a different animal is assigned. Therefore, each horoscope happens once in twelve years.

What made me surprised, is that within these 12 animals, there are also some specific characteristics. For example, there are five different elements for dragons (metal, water, fire, wood and earth). And depending on the year you were born, you are one type or another.

Each horoscope happens once every 12 years, and there are five elements, which means that in combination with each type of horoscope, for example, a water monkey, happens only every 60 years (12 for the animal, plus 5 times for each element).

I checked through the website and book, I happened to know that my year, 1976, is the year of the dragon, more specifically the "Fire Dragon", which will not happen again untill 2036.

When I read the book I was surprised because the color-preference for dragons is greenish-blue, and they like sapphire and amber, and so do I... I was surprised to find a matching between the book and my personality.

Not everything has to be agreed, but most of the parts I do. Besides through website and book I also found the best hobbies for a dragon are computers/IT which is my field, and one of best gifts is a camera! :) So happy!

I found some paraghraphs interesting, which match my personality,

"Others love to be around Dragons because they have a way of making people feel better. Dragons are quick to fall in love, but do not surrender their independence easily leaving most of them to live life by themselves. Yet, an smart, witty, and funny companion may intrigue the Dragon long enough to make him want to get married. And once the Dragon becomes committed, he is unlikely to ever leave.

It takes someone with thick skin who is easygoing to be a Dragon's partner, because, despite their sentimental characters, they can be moody, and insensitive. Many people will want to run when the Dragon's temper is provoked. Chinese horoscopes are very specific about which partnerships have the potential to be successful in love and in business. Yet, though destiny can point us in the right direction, we must still make all efforts to maintain loving relationships."

I agree in the terms of that I am sometimes surrounded by people and I treat them confidently. I often try to make people around me feel comfortable, I like to listen to them, hear their stories and talks, and suppord them anytime needed. Not only in Malaysia, but also in Spain and everywhere.

But it is also part of my character to be moody when I am angry at something. It takes really long time to make me mad or angry since I am a very patient person who loves to listen and attend to reasons, but once I am mad, it must be really a good reason to make me feel angry as I am quite easy going and I don't like conflicts, basically, unless I find the reason really necessary to fight with.

What I can say is that I have almost never had a hate or anger feeling against anyone except when the cause was really big enough to make me feel so. I am quite patient and do not rush to conclusions easily at the time I still don't know well the situation.

It is true I like to advice my friends whenever needed and I do love supporting and listening to people confidently. This is how long lasting friendships can be build and I am happy for every single time I spend with my friends.

On the back part of my necklace, I ordered to write down and stamp a well known japanese saying:

"ichigo ichie" (一期一会). It literally translates to "One encounter, one chance" and can be translated as "for this time only," "never again," or "one chance in a lifetime."

Ichigo-Ichie means that every encounter with someone, even a friend whom you see often, should be treated as if it were a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

Its origins come from the traditional japanese tea ceremony, which reminds participants that each tea meeting is unique.

It is also used to admonish students in a dojo who become careless or frequently stop techniques midway to "try again," rather than moving on with the technique despite the mistake.

The reason why I decided to write these kanji is because it reminds me that each chance is unique and it is on our hands to take it or leave it. Yet every time we meet people, they will make our meeting unique and we should learn to appreciate all this precious time.

Lately some of my good friends in Malaysia are leaving overseas and I do not certainly know when I will see them again. Each encounter with them has been really pleasant, and so has been every single moment spent with my friends from Spain who came to visit me a few days ago and loved it here, and also the ones who are now in Spain.

I encourage all of them to take the chance at the right moment, do whatever choice and follow it to the last consequences as each experience will certainly enrich our life and the life of those surrounding us.

Take the chance and be strong in your thoughts, life happens only once and it is our responsability to try and fight for whatever we want to do.

In short I will know wether my dreams will become true or not after a long time. What I can say is that even accomplished, I will always keep trying and never give up on it. Take the chances, and let your life feel alive. You will learn how to respect yourself and how to respect on others.

Dragons are not only the creatures I like, but also Phoenix, as they can stand up and reborn in life no matter how. And from a human point of view, there is no more pride on oneself than seeing our dreams accomplished after a long effort.

This necklace will remind me that, as the dragons do, flame into life, let your life have a chance to experience and learn from every single moment you live, take your choices before they turn from a lively fire into ashes!

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More information about the chinese horoscopes can be found here:

http://www.usbridalguide.com/special/chinesehoroscopes/Dragon.htm

When dreams could be true

It's been a while since my last post... I am so sorry for not being able to write for such a long time. Work has kept me busy lately and also been feeling sick by food poisoning in KL haha... but now completely recovered again and ready to get some inspiration to write :)

Since not so many things happened lately, today I want to write about some dreams I have had in the past that I still remember these days. Sometimes we are able to remember meaningful dreams, sometimes just the silly ones... haha. I invite you all to write about any kind of dream you remember and was important for you.

Well I had this dream over one and a half or two years ago. At that time I was still in Spain, and my personal situation was quite uncertain about work and life.

My dream started walking nearby the entrance of a temple. The temple was located in the mountain and it was not like a chinese type of temple with all red colours, but a kind of more relaxed one, I would even say "a japanese style" temple or dojo, a small wooden house with a private garden with green plants and stones in almost a top of the mountain.

There was nobody in the surroundings but me, and I felt from the outside that it was a quite peaceful location.

When I got into the area, I tried to look inside through the walls in order to find the person who I wanted to speak to. But there seemed to be a group of people in the small garden sitting and discussing, and I did not want to interfere their conversation with my presence, so I just kept observing for a while and looking at the surroundings.

In my quietness, a monk came to me and asked me to wait.

- "I want to see the Buda", I said.

- "I am sorry the Buda is busy now, you can't see him, please wait for a while", he replied in a very polite way.

A few seconds later he turned back and walked in to the small wooden house.

Finally the people who was sitting in the garden discussing with Buda stand up and left, and then Buda was alone in the garden. I took off my shoes and walked in.

I never expected I would meet or speak to Buda in the dream. I myself was surprised about this dream,... anyway...

I walked close to him, while I was listening the sound of a small waterfall somewhere in the garden, and felt the cold stones in my feet. When I finally faced him, something strange happened...

...first of all, I couldn't see his face. All I remember was seeing how he dressed with a light attire.

Secondly, I couldn't talk to him. It was like he was reading my mind and we were communicating mentally. It was a strange feeling because even I tried to open my mouth and speak, I found I couldn't even say a word. My mouth was sealed and no words came out no matter how hard I tried. It was like he had taken my voice away or simply the way he communicated with me was directly reading my thoughts and what I wanted to say from my brain.

This experience in the dream was quite impressive for me. I felt really uneasy not to be able to speak from my mouth for a while, but he asked me to calm down and when I did I realized we could communicate directly and that was a pleasant experience for me. I felt that my mind was totally open to him and whatever I would think, he would be able to know it instantly.

At that time, I felt I so much wanted to ask him so many questions and talk to him about a lof of issues. I was very curious to know about him, because I never expected I would meet Buda in my dream :)

He said to me, "You don't need to speak. I already know why you are here". I felt so calm down and peaceful then.

The sound of nature and the small river or waterfall surrounded me. I found myself in front of him, not being able to speak, just being able to see, but not even his face. I felt so quiet and relaxed, and then he told me, "follow me".

I absolutely trusted him. It was like feeling so peaceful that even the place didn't look as part of this world. Well it was a dream after all :)

Anyway, the last thing I remember is that we walked out of the garden and went to a small pathway going up to the mountain. I do not know where we were going to, all I remember on the dream was that I followed him, and he was leading the route. I was just walking behind him, I could see his sandals, a kind of spartan sandals, quite used. I remember his long monk dress, but unfortunately as I said before, in the dream he had no face, I couldn't even see it.

That's all I remember about it. When I woke up I felt so calm and easy. It was a pleasant wake up, really natural, felt so peaceful...

I remember I told my good friend Kan Kan in Thailand about the dream on that day, she told me it's very unusual for people to dream with Buda and it is a symbol of luck.

I do not know why, but I felt that dream was so real at that time and since then I appreciate it. The feeling of peacefulness was really amazing and I woke up so relieved and happy.

It was a sunny day brighting on when I woke up. I kind of felt there was another world after this life, and there are certainly things in our minds that we cannot control. I still remember very clearly every detail of the dream, every stone, every part of the garden and the temple.

Sometimes we can control the dreams, but most of the times we can't. Sometimes we wish dreams could turn real and our reality was just a dream.

There has been some other dreams I have had that I still remember. The one I wrote about today was very nice and pleasant, but the other one is not. I will just leave it for a next chance :)

I am leaving to Bangkok tonight to meet my spanish friends there. Will spend there a weekend, and then back to Kuala Lumpur on sunday night. I am looking forward to see them and share their opinions about asia, since they have been traveling to Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Let's wish they like it a lot and who knows, they may end up dreaming about a Buda too!