Give thanks

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ His Son

And now
Let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what The Lord has done for us
Give thanks

Charlie Chaplin final speech in The Great Dictator

I love to listen to political speech. I watched The Great Dictator (film that was made in 1940) recently and I was very impressed by the dictator's final speech. Below is the transcript:

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"I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible- jewish, Gentile, black men, white…

We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others’ happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind.

We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery ,we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all.

Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair.”

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder!

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men—machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have a love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate!

Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it’s written “the kingdom of God is within man”, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power.

Let us all unite.

Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill their promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people!

Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance!

Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite"!

Providing recommendation on new business model through quality data analysis

I feel so happy at work this week. I worked closely with our head of department and my colleague to perform quality data analysis and make recommendations for new product format business model. It is an important work because the direction we take will determine the profitability of our business. I'm glad to be able to contribute and learn new things through the experience. Having a colleague doing the same function we can compliment each other, instead of competing each other. Greater teamwork and collaboration were fostered. I look forward to next week where I need to work with different colleagues and get critical stats up and running.

I thank God for the opportunity to learn and grow in my current organization. I will treasure every moment I work with my colleagues and people.

Relax and overcome anxiety

I tend to get stressed and serious easily especially when taking on unfamiliar task or new task. The way I handled my stress had not been effective. I would always start to question myself why am I feeling that way, what's wrong with me, what beliefs I need to change, and etc. I was being too harsh on myself. It yield destructive result. The more I worry and think, I became more depressed. It would normally take a few days to a week to get it over. I would be very quiet and distracted when meeting people. I would always find a spiritual reason to get myself recovered to normal again. But the result is frustrating as the next cycle of worry would return again.

Just 3 weeks ago, I was asked to lead ISO certification project for our company's new business. I was so stressed up after knowing the expectation given by the managers. I didn't know a lot about my company's procedures and processes as I was new to them. I only joined the team for 2 months. I started to worry a lot. I searched for root cause of my stress with all my energy, asking myself why I feel how I feel. I can't remember the whole process of searching. I only remember I was not happy for many days. I concluded that I was not aware of the presence of my "spiritual enemy" like fear of how people look at me and I didn't pray against it enough. I implemented the "corrective action plan" by praying harder everyday against my "spiritual enemy". It seemed to work for a couple of weeks until the next cycle of stress and worry began.

This endless cycle of anxiety and worry just never stopped. I never seemed to overcome it completely. Frustrating over the method I used, I looked for Mr. Google for secular tips. Who knows, the anxiety symptoms in me have medical reason. One tip I found is very simple. Just take some long breaths repeatedly. 5-7 secs of inhale, 4 secs of hold, then 7-10 secs of exhale. Repeat this for about 20 to 30 times. I tried and the result is immediate. I pondered over the reason I recovered quickly. When I am feeling anxious, I have short breath. Short breath unfortunately does not help control my brain to stay calm and think logically. I am now more aware and conscious of my breathing pattern. When there are things or stresses that cause me to have short breath, I will decisively take a longer breath to calm myself and get moving on again.

I feel much relax now. I don't quickly jump to "judge" myself when I get stressed. I also don't quickly jump to "judge" others when they seem stressed. Nothing wrong with spirituality. If you are a very "spiritual" person, just be aware there are other non spiritual matters affecting our spiritual lives.

For me, I don't fear the next cycle of stress now. I hope to open the new chapter of my life through this Easter.