Thanks Kar Huey and Apple for sharing a nice article with me! Waldorf School was mentioned or appeared twice today. One of my friends who is attending an organic conference in east Malaysia called me and said he would like to introduce a new friend who runs a Waldorf School in Penang to me. After a few hours, I opened my email inbox and saw the article sitting there for me. Waldorf again! It's no coincidence; it is Law of Attraction. And I believe everything happens for a reason; it just sometimes we don't know what it is.

Six months ago, I first learned about Law of Attraction. Initially, I don't understand and believe it fully. However, many things occurred in my life later and I cannot deny the power of Law of Attraction. Well, enjoy reading this article. Prof Lei Jiu Nan is one of the persons whom I would like to meet in the near future. She is simply amazing!

談兒童身心靈整體的人性教育
雷久南

人自稱為「萬物之靈」，與動物的獸性所不同的是人的靈性。這兩百年來，在物質主義的思想下，人對自己的靈性所知極為模糊，有些人甚至於與動物認同， 在物質主義的思想下，受害最明顯是教育和醫學，當然，農業和一切與人有關的也都受影響。每一個時代的危機也必然出現解救的人。在教育方面，當今已有世界性 貢獻的是三十六個國家的沃道夫(Waldorf)學校創始人魯道夫．史丹勒(Rudolf Steiner)博士。他於一八六一年出生於奧地利，一九二五年離世，是位科學家，他以靈性科學為基礎，對教育、農業、醫學、建築、文學、藝術、殘障教 育、哲學、佛教、基督教提供了很多新知識和方向，他所開創的人類智慧學(Anthroposophy)目前在世界各地都有分會和學校。

在教育方面，他所提出的方向是，根據細細觀察人從幼年到成年的每一個階段所需，而提出給予學生在課堂上協助成長所需的一切。人是一個能思考、有情感和意志活動的個體，因此，教育是頭、心、手的結合。

從一九一九年第一所沃道夫學校成立到今日的一千多個學校，這近八十年中，他的教育原則已普遍得到西方教育、家長、老師和學生們的熱烈推薦，很多畢業 生在各國都考進最好的大學，一九八一年，德國教育廳統計發現，沃道夫學校雖注重整體教育、加強藝術創造想像力的表達，但他們的畢業生於全國性的 ABITUR考試，考取率是公立學校的三倍，完全上完十二年的沃道夫畢業生，考取率幾乎是六倍，美國的教育家Joseph Chilton Pearce（《Magical Child》和《Crack in the Cosmic Egg》作者）對沃道夫教育的評論是，「一、在最好的時刻，此教育是對孩子和社會最理想的，在當今面臨童年危機和教育崩潰時，史丹勒傑出的教育方法是迫切需要且深深切題的」。

史丹勒博士對教育的看法是「我們最高的努力是教育一個人能給予自己的生命意義和方向，因此，教育的中樞神經需有三股力量，即想像力、真理感和責任 感」、「教育的真正目標是喚醒對生活中的觀察和判斷力，經由如此覺醒才能達到真正的自由」。據史丹勒博士的觀察，人從出生到成年須經過三個教育階段，每一 個階段大概是七年。

第一個階段是出生到換乳牙，學習特色是模仿，此時要提供溫暖和諧的環境，父母親和兒童身邊的人的身教重於言教，讓兒童五官感受到的真善美，「孟母三 遷」即說明環境的重要。此時是肉體成長快速的時段，所有的生命力都用在建設一個健全的肉體，因此不能提早教導文字、數學等，如果過早教育會剝奪人、後半生 的生命力，造成未老先衰，身體提早硬化、老化，這世紀初即有天才兒童早夭的例子，由於過早教育，十六歲即哈佛大學畢業，三十五歲後身體即開始硬化，四十初 即死亡。童年期如果見到太多痛苦與悲哀會使成年期多病。

第二個階段是七歲到青春期，此時兒童需要權威性的榜樣，因此老師扮演重要角色，藉著童話、寓言、歷史、偉人故事讓兒童學習道德和崇敬之心，同時，這 段時間提供由四肢動作配合頭、情感、教導加減乘除，所教的都從整體觀開始，並和身邊的有直接關連。例如，地理是從自己房間畫起，再延伸到住屋、城市、國 家、世界，教科書由兒童們自己創作圖文，頭八年沒有成績單，只有個別老師觀察兒童成長的評語，除了語文、音樂課，其他八年同一個老師，這樣老師對學生才能 深入了解，建立信賴。

第三個階段是青春期到二十一歲，是個人判斷力形成的時候，也是尋求外在世界和自我真理的時候。總結來說，對一個孩子而言，他所需要的，第一階段世界 是有道德的，第二階段世界是美的，第三階段世界是有真理的。他強調尊重每一個孩子所帶來的特色，而不是一張空白的紙張，由母親那兒可觀看他的才能，從父親 那兒可觀看到他的興趣，由此觀察可協助一個孩子選擇一個輕鬆能勝任的志願。

沃道夫多年的教育思想在亞洲已在日本和印度生根，各國都有教師的專業訓練，總中心在瑞士。美國東、西岸都有教師訓練和師範大學，北加州的Rudolf Steiner College的地址：Rudolf Steiner College, 9200 Fair Oaks Blvd, Fair Oaks, CA95628；電話：(916) 961-8727；傳真：(916) 961-8731。 參考書籍：《The Foundation of Human Experience》、《Education of the Child》、《Kingdom of Childhood》（史丹勒的著作為德文，但已翻成英文，可向下列出版社索取目錄。Ahthroposophic Press, 3390 Route 9, Hudson, NY 12534-9420）

An Inspiring Advertisement - The Robot Boy

All our children will become robots in the future if we continue to raise and educate our children as we are practicing now. Disagree? Let's examine our current practices.

1. Do your children play freely nowadays? I look around the learning and play opportunities that we provide for our children, there are all structured learning and play (including the sports). Everything has defined boundaries, rules and structures based on adults' standard. It is not hard to imagine that the future generations will lose the ability to imagine and create given our current practice - everything has a right-and-wrong answer, clear beginning and finish, and fixed sets of rules to follow.

2. Do your children spend at least 3 hours watching TV programs, working/playing computers and video games everyday? If yes, watch out for that! Spending too much time with the "machines" will lead to poor social skills with others. The reason behind it is quite straight forward as the time that is spent with another individual is now spending with the entertaining devices.

3. When was the last time your children and you go into woods? Never or a few years back?! A child without experience with nature is missing out tremendously. Not only physical health can be improved in outdoor play, but also enhance the children's mental, psychological and spiritual aspects. Take your kids for a walk in the park today!

Click on this link to watch an inspiring advertisement about the importance of outdoor play http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VndRdVjOjRU A television commercial in which a robot becomes a boy when it ventures outdoors.

Bee Farm Visit

A Group of us went to experience bees keeping at the corn and pineapple fields last week. The green plants, blue sky and the yellow bees were indeed beautiful and inspiring! Observing the bees at a closed distance, no fear was arose. Do you know that bees rub their hind legs, so the pollens will be attached to them due to statics? Things on this planet are so well planned and designed. Life is amazing and mysterious!

Farm Trip

We organized a 2-day-1-night farm camping for a few families with adorable children lately. Before the children left the farm, they told us that they want to stay for a few more hours and even visit us again. It was so encouraging and touching! Although it was a short trip, kids had so much fun learning to sail a bamboo raft on their own in the big lake, observe the water lilies in the closed distance, play water polo in teams, catch bugs with homemade tool in the vegetables garden, walk the country path at night, listen to the noises produced by different types of insects and animals, build their own tent, walk in the woods to experience the nature, etc. Prior to the trip, I was concerned that adults might not want to have so much physical activities and prefer to sit and enjoy the view of the farm. To my surprise, these parents are extremely active and inspiring parents. It is really lucky to be their children. They participated in all the activities with full energy and shared knowledge with each other at all time. They had taught me new knowledge and skills.

I noticed that how these children behaved could be traced back to their family practices. It was interesting to watch and fun to take note of. I start to imagine how my children will look like and behave for having a mum like me.

My Garden - Updates

First bub from my melon Plant

First Flower from Melon Plant

Life is so beautiful and miracles take place every day! Live it and Feel it!

Tree House

Have you imagined yourself living in a tree house? You will see the leaves, branches, birds, insects and more when you pull open your window. You can listen to the interesting sounds from the nature during the night. Isn't it cool or sort of creepy?

I always want to experience to live in a tree house since young. Someday in the future, I want to find a big tree to build a tree house and invite all of you to join me. May dream come true!

I knew there are a group of Japanese whose job is to design and build tree house in Japan. It is so awesome! They are simply amazing because they do their best to protect the trees meanwhile making good use of the space between branches to build the house. I applause for them indeed!

A friend of mine share with me there is different between a wooden and a concrete house. According to her, a wooden house is cooler and airy. She believes that a wooden house has better energy flows compared to concrete house. For many of us who have been staying in the 4 concrete walls, maybe it is time to find a wooden house and experience it.

Heart versus Brain

Be present! I heard about this phrase in one of my entrepreneurial courses that I took a year ago. I didn't get the essence of this phrase until lately. At that point in time, I understood it literally.

I started to generate a different understanding after I participated in one of my study group sessions in town. The facilitator drew a simple chart on the whiteboard. It looks something like this. Past ----------->Now------------>Future To be able to be present is when we let go of the past and forget about the future desired outcomes. First thought came to my mind was how can I let of go of my past because all the big and small decisions are based on my past experiences? If I disregard my previous experiences, what should I rely on to live my life? Second thought was "What!? You ask me not to set goals for myself? Then how should I know where to go and what to do next?" Tons of doubts and defenses against it when I started to reveal the true meaning of be present.

Something that I read lately has stunned me indeed. My dear brain represents my past! The reason is our brain is full of memories, and all those memories are moments that we experienced in the past. My brain and I have been living for 30 years and I always pay high respect to it. For a person who believes in logics and science, it is really shocking to learn that my beloved brain might not as important as I used to think.

Then if not brain, what is it? If not past and future, how am I going to make my daily or life decision? I became panic when I started to THINK. I love Peaceful Warrior so much simply because it illustrates this concept so well. "Dan, where are you?" I am HERE. "What time is it?" NOW. Let me use this example to illustrate further. Dan who was the gymnast in the movie cannot perform to his highest potential because he lived with his past glories and worries (his past) and was aiming for his Olympic gold medal (his future) whenever he practiced or even lived his life. He had never lived a single moment at the present until he met Socrates at the gas station. The key thing here is that he had not enjoy himself truly when he did all the movements on the rings. His mind was full of garbage of the past and the future. You probably heard people said this before; it is the process and not the results. Every single moments during the process should be enjoyable! In real life, how many of us has really live in the moment.

Follow your heart! This is the answer. Your heart is the future. The voice from our heart will guide us to where we suppose to go. Making any decision that is based on your heart will lead us to happiness and fulfillment although there might be challenges on the way. It is not easy to follow our heart because we are so used to use our brain to think and analyze. Once I said "follow your heart", what pops up in your head? ".....ya, but......" Our brain is an interesting machine; it constantly generates a lot of fear in us when we want to try something that has not happened in the past or are uncertain. This is simply because our brain is full of past experience. Things that are out of its control, it makes us feel our nerve.

Be present and follow your heart Today!

Change Climate Workshop

My sister and I traveled to KL at 5:30a.m. to attend the Change Climate Workshop on 9th of August (Saturday). We made such an effort to this event because we believe that the world will be better if each of us can contribute in our own ways by taking small steps. We were the first few who attended earlier. To our surprise, the attendees were not as many as we expected. Maybe they would come on the following day as it went on for two days.

The workshop was insightful and full of useful information that we can apply to our daily routine. The main objective of the workshop was to educate public to take small steps to start from home to prevent global warming. Dr. Joanne Wun gave an inspiring talk about garbage enzyme and how it can save our rivers. I was very touched by what she has done and is planning to do. She shared that her team has been making a lot of garbage enzyme these few years. She can easily give away all the garbage enzyme to the public; however, she refuses to do so. Her reason is all those who receive her free garbage enzyme will pour it to the river with the intention to clean our rivers. After everyone has finished pouring the garbage enzyme in the drains and rivers, the water is going to stay clean for only a short period of time. How about the following months and years? In addition, our rivers wouldn't be clean and healthy because every household is still using detergents for washing dishes and clothes on the daily basis. Thus, our rivers are still polluted. After years of hard work, she has come to a conclusion is to educate public to make garbage enzyme on their own for household cleaning. If more and more people are taking the same actions, our environment will be free of pollution!

For your information, garbage enzyme is made of kitchen vegetable leftovers and fruit peels with brown sugar and water. After 3 months, it will be fermented into garbage enzyme that can be used for dish, floor and clothes washing, natural fertilizers for plants and flowers, insects repellents and so on. By using the garbage enzyme, all the chemicals used will be greatly reduced and in turn to protect our environment from pollution. Garbage enzyme can save each household money, reduce the release of methane that is the culprit of global warming from our kitchen leftovers, decompose the pollutants in our rivers, etc.

Besides the garbage enzyme, they had shown two fantastic documentaries that were An Inconvenient Truth and The 11th Hour. If you have not watched them, please take some time to view them. It is alarming for us to take actions now!

The other nice things about this workshop was I obtained many related information about energy saving, education, simple ways of living, vegetarian and more.

Healthy Enzyme DIY

After two months experience in healthy enzyme DIY. Today, I would like to share my experience in one of the healthy enzyme DIY - Dragon Fruit Enzyme. Dragon Fruit contains remarkable concentration of nutrients and the most valuable antioxidant to protect us from the damaging of free radicals, prevent premature aging and result in glowing complexion.

The following are the ingredients and methods.

Ingredients
1) Dragon Fruit 800g
2) Oligo 900 90g
3) Lime Flower Honey 250g

* Pure Isomaltose Oligo (Oligo 900) is the most ideal ingredient to be used for preparing non-sugar enzyme. It helps the growth of bifidus in large intestine and will not be fermented into glucose.

* Lime Flower Honey is a combination of glucose and fructose. Low amount of honey helps to activate the fermentation process. This glucose and fructose will also be converted into alcohol and with very low level residue remaining when the fermentation matures, these substance will be fully decomposed.

Methods
1) Rinse the dragon fruit and keep dry. Remove the skin and slice it.
2) Divide ingredients into three portions. Stack ingredients into the glass jar (dragon fruit, oligo 900, lime flower honey). Repeat the process with the remaining portions.
3) Seal with food wrap and cover with a lid. Keep in dry and cool place for two weeks before serving.
4) For serving, every 30ml enzyme mix with ten times of water.

Enjoy!!

The Power of Life

I obtained the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin that I bought from the market a week ago. I didn't intend to grow them, so I threw them in my little garden in hope they will decompose and turn into natural fertilizer one day. To my surprise, three tiny little pumpkin plants are growing healthily in my garden and more are on their ways. I examined the plants, seeds and its roots; it is simply amazing & awesome! These plants are tiny but strong. They just grow when they have the right conditions to grow. Reflecting on my own self, I started to ask myself why I have so much want and don't want, do or not do blah blah blah... ... Life is powerful if we can let go of the "trash" and just grow!

3 Amazing Encounters

Do you believe in like attracts like? I have never seen events from this perspective until I watched The Secret. If you believe in something, visualize and feel it! The signal will be sent to universe and you will attract people and events that you are desired. Lately, I have three interesting encounters with three people. First, I received a call from a course mate who took the same entrepreneur course as me nine months ago to inquire some information. I can't recall we talked during the course; however, we ended up talking in the phone for more than an hour. Later, he invited me to join a study group that discusses The Four Agreements and I joined. Because of this study group and this dear friend, I met a group of people who are aware of the current education curriculum and pedagogies and we share the similar vision for the ideal school. I am so glad to find them! :>

Second, I was told to meet this particular kindergarten principal . Without hesitation, I called the principal and made an appointment to see him on that particular afternoon. There are many coincidences between us. Besides we believe in similar education model and philosophies, we both graduated from the same university overseas!

Last, I traveled to this beautiful recreation park yesterday to meet an amazing lady. I am very impressed after our 1+ hour conversation. On my way back, I couldn't stop applausing for her because she knows her mission for life so clearly and I can FEEL it. Not many of us know the true purpose of our own lives. Some said they knew but I fail to see they buying to it, but this amazing lady does! Although she names it differently, she has been adding values to others and will definitely contribute in a larger scale in the future.

I am grateful and extremely happy to meet all of them and expecting more marvelous people to walk into my life. Thanks the universe for all the great moments!

A Must-watch Inspiring Movie!

I received a nice gift from my brother a few days ago. He bought me a DVD in big Chinese title 《深夜加油站 遇见苏格拉底》. If it is translated in English, it will sound like this. Bumping into Socrates at a fuel station at midnight. When I played the DVD, I realized that it is a Hollywood movie and to my surprise, it is the movie that my study group fellows highly recommended last week. It is Peaceful Warrior! If you haven't watched this movie, you have to watch it. It is indeed an inspiring movie!

The movie is about a gymnist working very hard to be qualified to represent US to take part in Olympic Games; however, he was injured badly in an accident prior to the big day. Interestingly, an old man had appeared in his dream and later appeared at the gas station near his place. The structure of the movie is simple but the meaning behind the story is philosophical, powerful and spiritual! A must-watch movie!

Homemade Soaps

Today, I have learned a new skill that is making soaps. After I have been searching where to get the raw ingredients for soap making for months, I finally found them. As a beginner, I decided to start with the Melt-and-Pour method as it requires license to obtain NaOH in Malaysia. Thus, I bought the soap base, melted it and added with different natural herbs/fruits from my mother's garden. The herbs/fruits that were used in making these soaps are aloe vera, lemon grass, ginger, pandan leaves and dragonfruit. The reasons for selecting these natural herbs/fruits are to create fragrances, colours, textures and functions. (See picture - Green Pandan fragrant soap & Dragonfruit + Aloe Vera soap)

Some valuable lessons from this first experience.

1) Don't put too much fruit chunks in one soap as they won't form nice shape. I have put a lot of Aloe Vera and dragonfruit in the soap and they floated on the surface of the melted soap. When they were done, some parts of the soaps with too much Aloe Vera/dragonfruit was not formed properly. Thus, I think it is wiser to squeeze the juice from the fruits next time.

2) To avoid the finished soaps stuck in the molds, there are two things you can do. One, wipe alcohol on the molds prior to pouring the melted soap in them. The other way is place the finished soaps in the freezer for 5 minutes and they will come out easily.

Today is 21st of July, I would like to add some updates about my soaps. The bright purple-reddish colour that I obtained from the dragonfruit to make soaps had faded into brown colour. Thus, we are looking for ways to improve it.

Healthy Enzyme Vinegar

I went for a talk about healthy enzyme making and its functions on Sunday. It is something new to me. You probably wonder what enzymes are. Enzymes are protein molecules responsible for all biological activities in our cells. They help to digest, absorb and utilize nutrients in our body. There are two main groups of enzymes that are digestive and metabolic enzymes.

Healthy enzyme DIY is a natural alternative remedy that boosts up our body immunity defense, alleviates digestive discomforts and inflammations, detoxifies and revitalizes our body cells. How these enzymes can be made? Under hygienic and control conditions, enzyme levels in fruits and vegetables will be elevated through fermentation. During the process, live bacteria "pre-digest" the nutrients available in fruits and veggies. The fermented fruits and veggies with elevated enzyme levels will become more useful for our body.

After the course, I made a bottle of white fungus enzyme vinegar that can nourish our lungs, strengthen our respiratory system and lower cholesterol. It is rich in protein that can improve and moisten our skin. One important issue that is noteworthy mentioned here is avoid using the usual sugar found in market because it will produce alcohol and carbon dioxide as the by-products during fermentation. Continuously consumption of alcohol is not recommended for liver and diabetic patients. We are encouraged to use Oligo 900 that is isomaltose to make healthy enzyme as it is beneficial to the growth of the friendly bacteria in our large intestine and prevents the growth of the harmful bacteria. More importantly, it won't transform into glucose and become alcohol in the latter part of fermentation.

My Speech for Toastmaster Session

What Education is All About

One evening, I was sitting in my living room and writing my blog about children education, and my handphone rang. It was my friend Teo. He sounded a bit urgent, “Fei…Fei, I have an interesting case here and you might be able to help.” I asked him what it was about. According to him, he met a mother of a 7 years old boy who hates to do homework to the degree that he would purposely leave his homework at school, tell lies about his assignment and even threw his homework booklets out of the window of his school bus. Both his teachers and parents are helpless to handle his behaviors. After hearing all this, I was speechless because this young boy just started primary 1 for 6 months only. Teo corrected me and shared that this behaviour has started way back when he was in kindergarten two years ago. Good evening, Toastmaster of the Evening and fellows Toastmaster. I would like to share my viewpoints about education this evening.

what is education all about? Do we want our children to get as many As as possible in exam? Or do we want to ensure our children to get the certificate to have a secured job in the future? No! The fundamental of education goes beyond that. The fundamental of education is to inspire our children “to learn how to learn”. In other words, the role of an educator is to inspire our children to acquire the attitude of learning instead of acquiring the academic skills only. For children who have learnt how to learn, they will definitely love learning and continue to learn even after they graduated from school. Sadly to share, many children today have acquired the knowledge and skills in multi languages, mathematics and science but not the essence of learning which is the enjoyment or the attitude of learning, so they are very likely to stop learning after they step out of school.

My next question is how do we cultivate this “to learn how to learn” in our children? The answer is simple but not easy. Respect our children’s interest and start from their interest. For instance, if a child likes cats, take him to a pet shop and introduce different types of cats to him and observe how to groom a cat. Take him to bookstore to find relevant books about cats. Buy him a real cat as a pet for him to take care on daily basis. By providing a supportive environment for him to develop his interest, he will explore and eager to find out more information spontaneously without our nagging. This is the learning attitude that we want to cultivate in our children, so our children will enjoy learning for the rest of their lives.

Besides the appropriate learning attitude, there are two essential skills that are crucial for our children to have a meaningful and productive lives in the future? The two skills are imagination and creativity. This is because these are the two skills that keep our children being competitive and competent in the future fast-paced world. The future generations are absolutely different from our generation due to the advanced and sophisticated technologies. In the near future, the subjects that our children are studying in school will be outdated when they are graduated from the 3-4 year college or university study. Thus, learning all the subjects and skills are relatively irrelevant at that point in time. In contrast, those who are good at imagination and able to create new opportunities will lead a satisfying and fulfilling lifestyle regardless of the environment. Let’s look at the great inventors and entrepreneurs such as Thomas Edison, Einstein, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong and Bill Gates. They have one thing in common is they dare to imagine and determine to create things that were not existed yet. This will hold the truth for our future generations as well.

Back to the case of the 7-year-old boy, why does he dislike to do homework? This is because we failed to inspire him the fun and correct way of learning instead we stress him out with tons of tons of homework since he was 5 years old. To educate our children effectively, here are two suggestions. First, find out your children’s interest and cultivate the love of learning from there. Once they have the right attitude for learning, they will learn on their own for the rest of their lives. Second, plan all the activities in the way to promote imagination and creativity. Children who have these two skills will have a dynamic and outstanding life. I would like to end my speech by sharing my favorite phrase. “The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates and the great teacher inspires”.

A School in Nature

I have a dream 15 years ago when I was in secondary school. I read an article on the local newspaper about the forest school in Taiwan, and I fell in love with its educational ideas. Lately, I have been sharing some educational ideas with some friends and have found a few of them also share the similar viewpoints about education. It is really Marvelous!

I was asked by a friend whether I have read a Chinese book named <<种子学院>>. I asked him what this book is about. To my surprise, this is the book about the forest school that I fell in love with 15 years ago. Wow... ... I can't describe the feeling at that moment. It is simply so great because my dream is closer and closer to me day by day.

Tips for Growing a Dragonfruit Tree

My mum used to grow a dragonfruit tree at her garden a few years back; however, the tree has neither blossomed nor produced a single fruit. Thus, we visited the dragonfruit farm to look for the secret recipe.

To grow a dragonfruit tree successfully,
1. You will need 4 individual dragonfruit cactus-like trunks.
1. Cut both ends of each trunk and tie them around a stable pillar.
2. To determine which end of the trunk facing upward, you ensure the thorns are pointing upward.
3. Fertilize it on monthly basis.
4. When it grows taller, you need to tie it at its upper trunk again to give support for the plant to grow upward untill 4 feet height.

According to the expert, the tree will take about four months to grow to 4 feet tall. With the adequate condition, it will blossom on monthly basis. From flowering to harvest, it takes only 1 month. Hope you have a fruitful dragonfruit tree if you plant one today!

My Little Garden

I brought home an organic melon from a friend's yard a few months ago. To my surprise, a melon plant is growing in my little garden next to where I made natural compost from left over veggies and fruit peels from my kitchen. I didn't have a thought to grow a melon plant but it happens. It must have "escaped" from my compost basket and a life just happens like a miracle. I am so grateful for having the chance to see it growing strongly in my little garden.

Life is very exciting, isn't it? Observing the little melon plant growing bit by bit everyday, it is indeed inspiring! Given the suitable soil, temperature and water, a plant will just grow beautifully. Ah! This has reminded me an analogy from a well-known life coach named T. Harv Eker. He shared that only humans will limit our potential to grow and perform but not an animal or a plant. A pine tree will not tell itself to grow 10 feet tall only; it grows as tall as possible whenever it can. Thus, do you have set a lot of limitation for yourself? It is time to let go and live your life to your greatest potential!

Note: The little papaya tree is another surprise ino my garden.

Let's Have An Environmental Friendly Club in JB!

I was quite disappointed for failing to find a relevant activity on the Earth Day in JB this year. Since then, I have been asking around where to find an organization that educates public on issues related to conserving natural resources in JB. A few months had passed and I only found a voluntary organization that conducts recycle activity on the first week of each month at different schools or centres. Of course, there are Karang Guni who go street by street to purchase the unwanted newspapers and electronic devices from the residential areas.

On last Thursday, I received a phone call from a boss of an organic shop in town. He learnt about my desire to initiate a voluntary environmental friendly club through a friend of mine and wondered if I am interested to start the club with him. He shared about his idea briefly in the phone and it was fantastic. He suggested that we can teach public to grow some plants using organic farming at our own residential area and make our own natural fertilizers from our kitchen and garden. What's a great idea!

Rice Harvest

Have you ever wondered how the rice is harvested?

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day! My parents, younger sister and I drove two hours north east to the farm to watch how the rice was harvested. We pulled our car over at the side of the path and walked passed the 10,000++ dragonfruit trees with bright red fruits hanging on the trees and a few golden paddy fields. It was quite some walk for an urban person like me especially on the uneven surface.

Finally, we heard the sounds coming from the gigantic harvesting vehicle that was cutting the rice crops at the field next to us. It was an interesting activity to watch. The gigantic vehicle moved around in the muddy rice field and wherever it passed by, the rice crops were cut neatly at a certain height. The machine inside the vehicle segregated the stalks from the grain. Then, the stalks of the crops were expelling out from the back of the vehicle and falling on the ground. The grains were remained in the storage of the vehicle. When it reached a certain capacity, all the grains were transfered from the harvesting vehicle to the pick-up truck through an extended sucking-and-release pipe.

Why does a 7-yr-old Boy Hate Homework?

Do you believe in Law of Attraction? I just finished writing my previous blog about my view about education and my handphone rang. It was my friend who called to ask my opinion how to handle a case related to a boy who hates homework by purposely "forgetting" to bring homework home, throwing it away or lying to his parents that he does not have any homework. I asked how old the boy is. He replied, "7 years old", which is the admission age to primary school in Malaysia. In other words, he just started his formal education in grade 1 for 6 months and hates homework to the core. It is really puzzled me! I kept shaking my head and feel sorry for this young boy. What have we done to him at this young age? Sigh... ...

I was eager to find out more about this young boy and asked when this incident has taken place. Over the other end of the phone, my friend replied, " since he attended kindergarten last few years". What!? Kindergarten!? Why didn't teachers and parents do something to help over these few years? My friend expressed that no one at home, in school or at nanny's place can tackle this issue. Thus, it becomes so serious over time. Everyone in his immediate environment has surrendered at this point in time. My next question to him was what the boy does after school. I was so shocked to hear the answer that was he watches television programs for hours and hours and this is his hobby and daily routine after school. Sigh... ...

My friend finally popped the last question, "What should the parents do now?" My responses were as follow. First, stop introducing any more homework to him. Second, find someone either nanny, parent or teacher to spend some time on daily basis to play with him and explore what he really likes. Third, understand the real purposes of teaching. We shouldn't just follow the syllables to teach him through one means that is usually copying and writing in the authoritative way. Make learning fun! If it is a math homework teaching counting or addition, use his favourite toys to count and make addition into a game to play with him. If it is a language homework that requires him to memorize the name of the objects, make it into a card game or even treasure hunt. The objective is to teach in a fun and meaningful way!

All children love to explore and learn by their nature. If a kid shows resistance to learning, it is time to re-examine what learning is all about and why we want him/her to learn. I will end my writing here with this last phrase -- LOVE is the answer for all questions if you truly understand and apply it.

Purpose of Life - Purpose of Education

It will be my first year anniversary for my soul-searching journey on 6th of July 2008. Wow... ... I cannot explain to you how much I have gained after quiting my 8-to-5:30 job as a school psychologist in Singapore. Please don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with being a professional in Singapore; it is simply my new journey to look for the purpose of my own life.

Many have been asking me the same question why I look for so much trouble to establish a brand new education concept company from scratch instead of working in a well-established school system or getting a franchise. The simple and most straight forward answer is "That's me!" I feel and believe that I can contribute more in an alternative way, so I follow my heart instead of my brain. After reflecting my past few years teaching experiences and stepping out the system to re-look at the existing education, I have come to my own conclusions and viewpoints about education.

Have you ever taken a few seconds or minutes to think what education is all about? Shamefully, I didn't spend much time thinking about this issue while busily working in the school in the past few years. I had to admit that I failed to see the big picture of education but focused on the detailed nitty gritty of teaching. I only came to think about this important issue after I stepped out from the system. After months and months searching for answers, I realized that the aim of education is to inspire our children or ourselves to learn how to learn! Yup, it is "learn how to learn". . . . . . Education is not simply a method or teaching the skills, subjects or any topics rather it is an attitude toward your own life and the environment. Many of us were lost or are still lost without a clear direction of what we really want to provide for our children.

Are your kid stress about getting the right answers for his/her exam?

How many tuition lessons and/or enrichment centers that you sent your kid to?
Does your kid have enough time to play meaningfully?
When was your last time bringing your kid to explore the nature?
How much quality time you spend with your kid everyday?
What does your kid want to be instead of what you want him/her to be in the future?
Does your kid experience challenging moments that require him/her to problem solve, be persevered, creative and so on?

It is time to let our children be themselves instead of stressing them to master various economical-driven talents and learning methods. If learning becomes an attitude of living, children will learn more happily and spontaneously.

Eco Friendly Enzyme

You probably wonder what the heck are in these two bottles. They are my new creation -- Enzyme for this special day! This enzyme serves several purposes such as fertilizer for plants, insect repellent, air freshener, sterilizer, detergent, etc. More importantly, it keeps our environment clean and safe! Why? This is because it is made of left-over veggies & fruit peels from the kitchen, brown sugar and water, and they are able to stimulate the release of the healthy gases to protect the ozone and clean up the polluted drains and rivers by cultivating more good bacteria. These mixtures will be kept in the bottle for three months for the miracle (aka chemical reaction) to be taken place.

For those who are interested to homemake some natural enzyme. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Brown Sugar = 100 gram
Veggies and/or Fruit Peels = 300 gram
Water = 1 litter

Procedures:
1. Dissolve brown sugar in the water.
2. Pour the mixture into the container that is filled with veggies and/or fruit peels.
3. Wait for at least three months for the final product

Notes:

• All veggies and/or fruit peels are needed to be covered by the mixture in the container.
  
• The mixture will eventually turn into reddish, orange or yellowish color. If it turned into black mixture, I am sorry to tell you that your experiment is not working.
• Gases will be released during the process, so it is recommended to use plastic instead of glass container as the pressure inside the container might be too great for the glass to stay in shape.
  

For better results for the finished product, dilute the enzyme with water as follow.
Plant Fertilizer - 1 cc enzyme : 100 cc water
Insect Repellent - 1 cc enzyme : 1000 cc water
Air Freshener - 1 cc enzyme : 200 cc water
Sterilizer - 1 cc enzyme : 500 cc water
Detergent for dishes/clothes - 1 cc enzyme : 1 cc normal detergent : 10 cc water

Make your own environmental friendly enzyme today to protect our Mother Earth!

My Encounter with An Organic Rice Farm

Did you know that there is a beautiful organic rice farm in Johor, southern Malaysia? Many of my friends cannot believe this fact when I told them about my discovery in December 2007. Simply because all the rice fields are located in northern Malaysia, so this latest fact is conflicting with what we all used to believe.

This was my first experience with a REAL rice farm in the life! The farm is huge to the point that I couldn't see its border by standing in the middle of the farm. The vast blue sky just makes me speechless. For those who stays in urban area, you just cannot imagine this unless you experience it! Besides their main products that is organic brown rice , there are also various organic vegetables and 10,000 + dragonfruit trees on the farm. A lovely water lilies pond with the bamboo rafts parking along its bank. By sailing the raft heading 45 degree angle, you will reach the rabbit island. Oh.... the furry rabbits are so adorable and they always hop around their heavenly island.

I have not cycled for years and years especially on the kampung (means village in Malay Language) paths. It takes more effort to peddle and really challenges my riding skills. I cycle everytime I visit the farm. The bike becomes very handy because it can take me to as far as 3km away to the nearby dam.

After my encounter with the farm, I started to learn about organic, why it is important and how it is going to help to preserve the natural resources. There are so much to learn and I am eager to share all the new knowledge that I gained from this farm with you.

Welcome to Go Nature!

You landed on this blog isn't an "accident"!

I hope you will find something valuable from this blog and benefit from it. I am determined to share what I am doing as a facilitator for outdoor education and my personal view on what small little steps that we can do to protect our environment.

Hope you enjoy it and feel free to comment!

Have a gorgeous day!