part of the eagle statue in Langkawi, Malaysia
Have you heard of the story about the rebirth of the eagle?
Rebirth, as the word implies, contains a notion of shedding the old, and creating a new. It requires courage and patience.
As we are told, every eagle has to face a once-in-a-lifetime decision to “rebuild” itself. When an eagle reaches mid-age (which is roughly about 30 years’ old), it has to fly to a mountain top to go through a transformation period of about 5 months. It would knock off its beak because it is too curly to be of any practical use, and wait for the new one to come out. It would break the talons to allow new ones to come out. It would then pluck off its feathers, one by one, so as to allow the new feathers to come out. When this transformation is over, the eagle is in the best form to take on its preys, and enjoys another 30+ years of living.
It sounds tough, doesn’t it? If the story is true, I think the eagle would do it because it is a question of survival.
In a different situation, we see people go through their own “rebirth” in big and small ways. Most of the time, it is not for survival, but more for reasons towards goals and aspirations. Regardless what the underlying reasons are, I think the act itself shows a lot of guts and should be commended. These guys would likely be the happier bunch and live a fuller life of their own definition.
Live Life, Junius.
Filed under General, family, self improvement, spiritual by .
I have come across this poem whilst searching for some source of inspiration. It is called Metamorphosis. The author is M. Butterflies Katz from New Zealand.
xxx
In a world filled with sweet scents and blue sky,
lives the gentle, uplifting butterfly,
whose metamorphosis has this truth to teach:
Our aspirations are within our reach.
For this fluttering flyer of soaring worth
was at one time a creature that crawled the earth.
When she climbed a plant and learned of the sky,
She looked down at the earth and wondered why
her destiny was to live on the land.
Something inside her did not understand.
‘The sky is my home’, every part of her felt
‘How could crawling be the lot I’ve been dealt?’
Keeping those thoughts safe, where they could be found,
She slowly descended back to the ground.
When she found the right plant on which to rest,
She brilliantly wove a cocoon for her nest.
Inside the chrysalis, she went to sleep
tucked in with those thoughts that she wanted to keep…
…One sunny day, the cocoon came unsealed.
Magically, a butterfly was revealed.
Seeing this miracle with my own eyes;
of caterpillars becoming butterflies,
brings real hope of the possibility
of the total transformation of me!
Like the caterpillar that crawls the Earth,
We are destined for a divine rebirth.
xxx
Poems can be such wonderful media for inspiration. With minimum words, it sets us on a new dimension.
Metamorphosis as in a caterpillar to a butterfly, or a tadpole to an adult frog, can be so magical. When we look around, there is no shortage of magical things like these. Are they meant to inspire us, the human kind?
It seems that transformation is a constant. It happens in us too. Our skin is replaced every 27 days. And, our entire skeleton is renewed every 2 years. Incredible, isn’t it?
Physical transformation (not deterioration) makes us stronger. Mental and spiritual transformation completes us as a person. However, how far we can go remains a personal choice …
Live Life, Junius.
Filed under General, health, self improvement, spiritual by .
We often hear people say “think out of the box”? What exactly does it mean?
I would say that the box could be our comfort zone. The Wikipedia defines comfort zone as the environments and behaviours with which one is comfortable, without creating a sense of risk. With this definition, an analogy that vividly comes to mind is the one about the frog. The poor thing sits comfortably inside a jar of water, not knowing that it is on a simmering fire and is gradually (unaware by itself) boiled to death. People say the biggest danger is the lack of a sense of danger. How true it is!
I would also describe the box as the box of conformity. Human civilization has gone through different eras of transformation, from the agricultural state, to industrialization, to the computer age, and now the information highway. For most things, we know that we simply cannot apply the same principles from our ancestors and make it work at this time and age. We need to change.
I remember some interesting questions from a brain-power workshop I attended some time ago. For instance:
“Who would win the race, the rabbit or the tortoise?” (Would you like to think of your answer first before reading on?)
I don’t know your answer, but almost all the people on the floor (including myself) said,” the tortoise!”
We were right if we were asked about the forever told story of the Rabbit and the Tortoise. Why on earth would we think that the tortoise could run faster than the rabbit if not because of that story you and I have heard over a hundred times? This is a good case of conformity, isn’t it?
Now, what about “1+1 =?” 
Live Life, Junius.
Filed under General, self improvement, true wealth by .
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