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!