My Padang-Bukit Tinggi trip

I went there in May. Just sharing my photos

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Congratulations Lee Kok Sun!

Kok Sun has graduated and is waiting for his induction course. I should actually call him Dr Lee !
I think the first time I met him was as a little boy. His mum or dad would bring him to see me when he was sick.

Today he came to see me because he was sick ! This time , instead of just examining and writing a prescription, respecting him for his knowledge as a doctor , I asked him what his concern was and told him what I was prescribing and asked his opinion what he wanted.

No doubt I was a doctor long before he was born , then again he probably knows much more than me about anatomy and the latest drugs even though I try my best to keep abreast of the latest in medical advances.

In medicine , what one learns 5 years ago is out of date and management changes .
Even drugs that were first choice are now looked upon in disdain.
Take for example atenolol , a beta blocker drug indicated for hypertension. I never liked it very much because it gave most people a slow heart and can cause spasm in the lungs and worse still, for me it could cause impotence. So I reserved it for old women who had a lot of anxiety because of the calming effect of this drug and no history of asthma.Through meta studies over very long periods of time , it is now known to precipitate diabetes mellitus in susceptible people!

Another drug that does the same ( precipitate diabetes)are diuretics that were once used a lot especially when there was a slight degree of heart failure.

As for diabtes, Dibenclamide used to be first line and glucophage was abandoned . Then now we have a reversal and use glucophage rather than dibenclamide. Why? Because dibenclamide does not protect the remaning islet of Langerhans, insulin producing cells and can make a non insulin dependent diabetic into an insulin dependent diabetic over the years. So what else can be prescribed if the patient needs more than one drug? Januvia is the latest and I think safest ..but it hurts the pocket !

You could always opt for homeopathy though!

So now with the babies I used to treat becoming doctors , I guess I need to be on my toes so as not to show how out of date my medical knowledge is...

Gone are the days when an older person can say " I have eaten more salt than you therefore I know better than you what to do !"

So my prayers for Dr Lee.....

May you be the best Dr that you can be and may you always have the enthusiasm and good attitude towards your patients.

Really they are not called patients for nothing ....you need to have a lot of patience!

Preventing Entropy of Mind and Heart

Kenyir lake

This is nothing to do with Kenyir but is a cultural show in Bukit Tinggi ( Sumatra).I was there two weeks ago

This is me in front of the cabin in Kenyir Resort about a couple of months ago. Observe the mp4 hanging around my neck. This was an entropy preventing trip of seeking beauty in nature and reflecting on my spiritual teachers words ( the mp4)

This is the cabin from outside

What has triggered this topic is a combination of human actions and reactions and my current project: A book on EQ.

This book has been good for me in more ways than one.

• It has induced me into becoming aware of my emotions and how I interact with people
• It has made me even more convinced to always try new things
• It has made me more persistent in my efforts to balance my emotions , experience peace and joy in the depth of my being
• Last but not least, remove from the environment the polluting effects of my own toxic emotions by not feeling them .

What has all this got to do with entropy?

On a discussion recently on the sufi studies list , while discussing about human behaviour Mushtaq mentioned the word entropy in the way things happen . Even when things start out as lofty ideals and best intentions , it kind of deteriorates over the years and naturally depraved human beings give in to their egos and lusts and desires.

This is getting complicated so I will just stop here with a few observations and suggestions

When was the last time you REACTED rather than RESPONDED?
What I mean by this is you jumped to conclusions, made judgment on a person who is communicating with you and became absolutely angry and out of control and then started to exchange insults?

If you tell me you did that in the past one week then my next question is ...

What have you been doing recently to stop brain and heart rot? I am not talking about some rare disease caused by germs or viruses but the all too human tendency not to do things that develop the brain and the heart.

What are these activities you want to know?

Here are some suggestions

• Pray with full focus and and concentration
• Contemplate on beauty - nature , poems , music etc..( What is that? These things don't move you ...aiyooo.....come see me to unsupress , I will give you a homeopathic remedy )
  
• Learn a new skill
• Read a book that is not essentially junky
  
• Memorise a verse or saying or ayat that is soul food
• Do something you have not done before
• Reflect on your deeds without being defensive
• Stop finding excuses for your shitty behavior
  
• Hug a kitten or a tree if you do not have a kitten
• play with young children ( tolerating them while feeling rotten does not count)
  
• Did something positive for someone out of the sheer goodness of your heart ( force yourself to do this if you cannot find the goodness -hopefully it will have to surface -unless the rot is total! )
  

How will you know you have stopped the brain and heart rot ?
When you cannot remember when the last time you yelled in anger because of your intolerance and judgmental attitude and your heart does not easily contract in anger and tension and your mind is not constantly thinking of ways to entertain your jaded senses.

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

For some reason this will not play . Just go to this URL to hear the Youtube

I cried the first time I heard her sing and then when I listed to it again , I cried again.
She has a most beautiful heart wrenching voice. And watch Simon's face as he hears her sing - what does it express?

Su

I dreamed a dream


I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high,
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
When dreams were made and used,
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung,
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame.

And still I dream he'll come to me
And we will live our lives together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather...

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.