dear nessa
tks for such a nice email. yes, i treat and respect chloe as an adult. i talk to her about life, relationships, business, problems, our buddhist philosophy and she asked intelligent questions.
i see a LOT of potential and good qualities in this young girl, however at the beginning she did not seem to have very high self esteem nor confidence in herself, thats why i have tried very hard to make her realize and see all the good qualities and potential in her. this is what i have learned in our buddhist practice: to encourage, respect and appreciate.
i agree with you 100% in your saying as below:
how an adult's treatment and expectations towards a youngster can help flourish or suppress the youngster's development. we treat our little boys and girls with respect and the expectation that they can manage the materials they work with, with respect and independence
i made serious mistakes when i raised kevin and michele, not encouraging them nor giving them compliments, trying to make them do things 'i think' was right, or criticizing them when they dont do things i want them to do, in doing so, i had suppressed kevins growth. since i started my buddhist practice, i have learned and changed, and i find that this is very helpful indeed.
tks nessa, for your good insight. i am going to share this with all my friends and family, with the hope that others will learn from my mistake and live a much smoother and happier life.
lydia
below is nessa's email:
Dear Aunty Lydia,
Wow, I am so happy for you that you had such a wonderful, gerat quality time with Chloe, she is indeed very mature, and I believe that you two will continue to enjoy this friendship from hereon...thanks to your openness towards her, and treating her like a friend first, therefore allowing her to show her mature side too, to live up to what she can be. I can now really see, as a teacher, how an adult's treatment and expectations towards a youngster can help flourish or suppress the youngster's development. this is why I appreciate Montessori so much, because we treat our little boys and girls with respect and the expectation that they can manage the materials they work with, with respect and independence. We shake their hand to greet them as if they are grown-ups, we don't baby talk with them. This is surely the same effect you have on your beloved granddaughter. Moreover, it is her respect towards you that motivates her to write such a beautiful and heartfelt message. Michele and Ben are very lucky!
xo Nessa
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Chloe in Sydney 2012
my dear friends and family
chloe left for hong kong this morning. just now i was so happily surprised to find that she had removed all her used bed sheets, pillow cases and towels into the laundry area. what good manners, how thoughtful! (oh, my son kevin taught her this and she has learned.)
during her stay with me, we are more like good friends. i can talk with her about my problems, joy, frustrations, relationships and she can understand and share, and vice versa. i begin to miss her and when i logged into my email, i saw the following message from her and i am so touched. a little girl of 15 would have the heart to appreciate, be grateful and thankful.
as she had mentioned, she learned from attending all sgi meetings in sydney. and she said what she has learned in these meetings will leave traits to help her now, and in the future.
to quote her, 'words cannot describe' how happy i am to see a young girl grow in such a short period of time', ie 1 1/2 months in sydney.
i would really encourage parents to take their children to sgi meetings so they will have the good fortune to learn from our profound theory. am attaching a photo of chloe, a lovely and pretty girl.
cheers
lydia
below is the email from lovely chloe:
dear nana,
you're standing right next to me as I write this email, so I'm trying to be discrete ;). I want to send you this email to thank you for everything you've given me, words cannot describe how grateful I am. I have enjoyed every day I've spent with both you and na kung, and I will really miss it when I'm in hong kong. I feel as if you're more of a friend than a nana ;).. also I'd like to thank you so much for taking me to all the sgi meetings, I've learnt and benefited so much from attending and listening. Both you, and sgi has taught me how to live as a genuine, humble, good human being, and I'm so thankful because all these traits will help me now, and in the future.
hope to see you soon,
chloe
chloe left for hong kong this morning. just now i was so happily surprised to find that she had removed all her used bed sheets, pillow cases and towels into the laundry area. what good manners, how thoughtful! (oh, my son kevin taught her this and she has learned.)
during her stay with me, we are more like good friends. i can talk with her about my problems, joy, frustrations, relationships and she can understand and share, and vice versa. i begin to miss her and when i logged into my email, i saw the following message from her and i am so touched. a little girl of 15 would have the heart to appreciate, be grateful and thankful.
as she had mentioned, she learned from attending all sgi meetings in sydney. and she said what she has learned in these meetings will leave traits to help her now, and in the future.
to quote her, 'words cannot describe' how happy i am to see a young girl grow in such a short period of time', ie 1 1/2 months in sydney.
i would really encourage parents to take their children to sgi meetings so they will have the good fortune to learn from our profound theory. am attaching a photo of chloe, a lovely and pretty girl.
cheers
lydia
below is the email from lovely chloe:
dear nana,
you're standing right next to me as I write this email, so I'm trying to be discrete ;). I want to send you this email to thank you for everything you've given me, words cannot describe how grateful I am. I have enjoyed every day I've spent with both you and na kung, and I will really miss it when I'm in hong kong. I feel as if you're more of a friend than a nana ;).. also I'd like to thank you so much for taking me to all the sgi meetings, I've learnt and benefited so much from attending and listening. Both you, and sgi has taught me how to live as a genuine, humble, good human being, and I'm so thankful because all these traits will help me now, and in the future.
hope to see you soon,
chloe
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Blessing and Protection (Aug 10, 2012)
my dear friends and family
i have not been writing for sometime and below i am sharing with you what i have been thru these past few months.
A severe cold
in june, when i was in hong kong, i contracted a very very bad cold. i had to confine at home for about one week trying to recover. since then my body had been weakened and on return to sydney, i still had not recovered and was feeling very weak.
Internet
as i was trying to help myself get better, something horrible happened to my computer. one night as i was checking my yahoo emails, all of a sudden, right in front of my eyes, all my incoming mails had disappeared! this incident had happened more then three times during that week, i was terribly alarmed , lost and didnt know what to do: had my computer been hacked??? i was so frightened even to start and use my desk top.
i tried to use my iphone to log onto yahoo mail, and then one afternoon, all the mails in the yahoo box also got disappeared and i could not log in again, and at night all my records in whatsapp and even my 'notes' in the iphone also disappeared right in front of my eyes!!!!!! i even thought that there must be GHOSTS around
you can imagine how frightened (not of ghosts ) and worried i was. as all the while trying to find out whats wrong staying up until 2 am every night. one day by chance a friend told me that Yahoo USA had been hacked and over 200,000 were affected! then i realized it was yahoos problem and i stopped using yahoo.
fortunately during this time, i got support from two lovely ladies in hong kong and a high tech IT guy who volunteered to come to my home to check and fix my computer, and help me transfer info to my gmail account. this was very comforting to me. now things are back to normal.
my health
because of the above, my health was further weakened and i became neurotic, to the point that i had heart palpitations which made me dizzy, and short of breath. i could not think and was at a loss of words when i wanted to speak. i did not even have the energy to talk, nor to chant and i could only whisper when i chanted. there was nothing i could do except to chant nam myo ho renge kyo for better health. i chanted to the gohonzon for energy because my mission is to encourage and support other people, and i needed the energy (which i did not have then) to do so.
kevin took me to a doctor whom i had no confidence, then by luck i remembered the name of a very good doctor who treated me last year and found his name on the internet; by the way, his name is Dr. Joseph Santos, a very very good doctor who cared, listened, explained and asked me to have relevant blood tests, brain and neck scan, and gave me advice on the proper medication.
tks to Dr. Santos, my health is now getting much better, i am more settled and all test results are fine.
andrew
a couple of weeks ago, on a friday afternoon, after lunch andrew said he had discomfort in the chest. as i had had stomache problems all along, so i thought it was reflux, gas or indigestion.
1 pm sat noon after andrew finished work, our nurse called and said andrew was feeling very unwell. i immediately rushed home and called our doctor friend who suggested we go to the nearby hospital.
when we arr at the emergency ward andrew had the BEST care and attention, they staff immediately took him in and gave him an ECG and a blood test. 2 hours later they told him the blood test was confusing and asked him to stay in the hospital. they also gave him aspirins. (all the while i was feeling very unwell myself, andrew even jokingly said i looked even sicker then he did)
sunday morning the cardio doc said that all his blood tests were find, but they would still give him a scan on monday and if the scan is find, he can go home.
monday morning after the scan andrew called and said the scan did not look too good and they would give him an angiogram to check his arteries in the heart, because they didnt know the schedule yet Andrew said he wanted to come home first and book in some other time later in the week when he is not too busy for the angio. i instantively said no and asked him to stay in the hospital UNTIL everything was cleared.
10 min later andrew called again and said his latest blood test overnight showed that he had a minor heart attack and they would give him an angio the same day, ie monday. during the procedure, it was found that andrew had TWO blocked arteries in his heart and they put in two stents.
andrew is now back home and back to work, and he is slowly recovering. however, i have to keep an eye on his routine and diet, and will have to find ways to build up his energy level again.
blessing and protection
the above is a brief account of all the scenarios i had gone thru. i had to say that it had not been an easy time for me; however during these difficult times, i could feel the protection that i have received: help from hong kong and sydney on the internet, the advice from a friend on yahoo which came in the right time, the good doctor who genuinely cared and helped me and all the good staffs in the hospital who helped andrew. these are the shoten senjins (guardian angels) who protect us when we chant nam myo ho renge kyo.
furthermore i consider it a real blessing that we found andrews problem BEFORE anything worse bad happened, the slight heart attack did no damage to his heart, and is to alert him to be more careful with his diet (an effort i had spent in the last 10 yrs but with not much success )
all in all, my buddhist practice had taught me that, when we chant nam myo ho renge kyo, and have faith in the gohonzon, whatever hurdles we come across we have the power to overcome them, and rise above
cheers
i have not been writing for sometime and below i am sharing with you what i have been thru these past few months.
A severe cold
in june, when i was in hong kong, i contracted a very very bad cold. i had to confine at home for about one week trying to recover. since then my body had been weakened and on return to sydney, i still had not recovered and was feeling very weak.
Internet
as i was trying to help myself get better, something horrible happened to my computer. one night as i was checking my yahoo emails, all of a sudden, right in front of my eyes, all my incoming mails had disappeared! this incident had happened more then three times during that week, i was terribly alarmed , lost and didnt know what to do: had my computer been hacked??? i was so frightened even to start and use my desk top.
i tried to use my iphone to log onto yahoo mail, and then one afternoon, all the mails in the yahoo box also got disappeared and i could not log in again, and at night all my records in whatsapp and even my 'notes' in the iphone also disappeared right in front of my eyes!!!!!! i even thought that there must be GHOSTS around
you can imagine how frightened (not of ghosts ) and worried i was. as all the while trying to find out whats wrong staying up until 2 am every night. one day by chance a friend told me that Yahoo USA had been hacked and over 200,000 were affected! then i realized it was yahoos problem and i stopped using yahoo.
fortunately during this time, i got support from two lovely ladies in hong kong and a high tech IT guy who volunteered to come to my home to check and fix my computer, and help me transfer info to my gmail account. this was very comforting to me. now things are back to normal.
my health
because of the above, my health was further weakened and i became neurotic, to the point that i had heart palpitations which made me dizzy, and short of breath. i could not think and was at a loss of words when i wanted to speak. i did not even have the energy to talk, nor to chant and i could only whisper when i chanted. there was nothing i could do except to chant nam myo ho renge kyo for better health. i chanted to the gohonzon for energy because my mission is to encourage and support other people, and i needed the energy (which i did not have then) to do so.
kevin took me to a doctor whom i had no confidence, then by luck i remembered the name of a very good doctor who treated me last year and found his name on the internet; by the way, his name is Dr. Joseph Santos, a very very good doctor who cared, listened, explained and asked me to have relevant blood tests, brain and neck scan, and gave me advice on the proper medication.
tks to Dr. Santos, my health is now getting much better, i am more settled and all test results are fine.
andrew
a couple of weeks ago, on a friday afternoon, after lunch andrew said he had discomfort in the chest. as i had had stomache problems all along, so i thought it was reflux, gas or indigestion.
1 pm sat noon after andrew finished work, our nurse called and said andrew was feeling very unwell. i immediately rushed home and called our doctor friend who suggested we go to the nearby hospital.
when we arr at the emergency ward andrew had the BEST care and attention, they staff immediately took him in and gave him an ECG and a blood test. 2 hours later they told him the blood test was confusing and asked him to stay in the hospital. they also gave him aspirins. (all the while i was feeling very unwell myself, andrew even jokingly said i looked even sicker then he did)
sunday morning the cardio doc said that all his blood tests were find, but they would still give him a scan on monday and if the scan is find, he can go home.
monday morning after the scan andrew called and said the scan did not look too good and they would give him an angiogram to check his arteries in the heart, because they didnt know the schedule yet Andrew said he wanted to come home first and book in some other time later in the week when he is not too busy for the angio. i instantively said no and asked him to stay in the hospital UNTIL everything was cleared.
10 min later andrew called again and said his latest blood test overnight showed that he had a minor heart attack and they would give him an angio the same day, ie monday. during the procedure, it was found that andrew had TWO blocked arteries in his heart and they put in two stents.
andrew is now back home and back to work, and he is slowly recovering. however, i have to keep an eye on his routine and diet, and will have to find ways to build up his energy level again.
blessing and protection
the above is a brief account of all the scenarios i had gone thru. i had to say that it had not been an easy time for me; however during these difficult times, i could feel the protection that i have received: help from hong kong and sydney on the internet, the advice from a friend on yahoo which came in the right time, the good doctor who genuinely cared and helped me and all the good staffs in the hospital who helped andrew. these are the shoten senjins (guardian angels) who protect us when we chant nam myo ho renge kyo.
furthermore i consider it a real blessing that we found andrews problem BEFORE anything worse bad happened, the slight heart attack did no damage to his heart, and is to alert him to be more careful with his diet (an effort i had spent in the last 10 yrs but with not much success )
all in all, my buddhist practice had taught me that, when we chant nam myo ho renge kyo, and have faith in the gohonzon, whatever hurdles we come across we have the power to overcome them, and rise above
cheers
logic and reality Aug 14, 2012
my dear friends and family
last week i watched a TV science documentary talking about reality in life, in the universe etc.... sciencetists tried hard to analyze what 'reality' is, initially they said that 'reality' is a hollowgraph, then later they said they cannot really explain what 'reality' is.
this reminds me of an incident a couple of weeks ago: on my way to encourage a member who has been chanting and practicing our buddhist practice for more than one year but did not seem to have made much progress , i talked to chloe about my problem, chloe is my granddaughter who is on holiday in sydney, she is 15.
to my surprise, chloe said: maybe this member is trying to use her logic to understand the buddhist philosophy, which is about the power of life, and the power of the universe. chloe also said: ' maybe this member has been asking and asking for things in her prayer and did not take appropriate action to reach her goals, and then complained.' hearing chloes comment, i was stunned.
chloe is only 15, and she has the wisdom to give me her insight which had helped me so much when i talked to the member concerned. yes, life and the law of the universe is sooo mystic and so powerful that even scientists cannot explain, let alone simple logic.
i am so happy, and so proud, of little chloe, and i must say that i enjoy every minute of her stay with me. she is so pure, simple, so understanding, and yet so wise and so intelligent. she is also a very happy and kind hearted girl. she attends every sgi group meeting with me (amost three times a week) and is enjoying the meetings very much.
mrs. cheng (chloes mother and my daughter), you've got a lovely daughter. (from movie: the graduate)
cheers
last week i watched a TV science documentary talking about reality in life, in the universe etc.... sciencetists tried hard to analyze what 'reality' is, initially they said that 'reality' is a hollowgraph, then later they said they cannot really explain what 'reality' is.
this reminds me of an incident a couple of weeks ago: on my way to encourage a member who has been chanting and practicing our buddhist practice for more than one year but did not seem to have made much progress , i talked to chloe about my problem, chloe is my granddaughter who is on holiday in sydney, she is 15.
to my surprise, chloe said: maybe this member is trying to use her logic to understand the buddhist philosophy, which is about the power of life, and the power of the universe. chloe also said: ' maybe this member has been asking and asking for things in her prayer and did not take appropriate action to reach her goals, and then complained.' hearing chloes comment, i was stunned.
chloe is only 15, and she has the wisdom to give me her insight which had helped me so much when i talked to the member concerned. yes, life and the law of the universe is sooo mystic and so powerful that even scientists cannot explain, let alone simple logic.
i am so happy, and so proud, of little chloe, and i must say that i enjoy every minute of her stay with me. she is so pure, simple, so understanding, and yet so wise and so intelligent. she is also a very happy and kind hearted girl. she attends every sgi group meeting with me (amost three times a week) and is enjoying the meetings very much.
mrs. cheng (chloes mother and my daughter), you've got a lovely daughter. (from movie: the graduate)
cheers
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