Do what you think is right for you and you’ll be okay?

Some people like to say: Do what you think is right for you and you’ll be okay. The trouble with this piece of advice is not everyone knows what is right for them and if they do know what is right for them, they wouldn’t be asking for advice. Until they achieve mastery of themselves and their life paths, most people need to be told what they can or can’t do, should or shouldn’t do. They need to be told what would happen to them if they erred. Some have to be frightened into doing what’s good for themselves hence the Christian Ten Commandments for example. Some wise guy said: If people can be persuaded to do what’s good for them, the Ten Commandments would have been called the Ten Guidelines. :)

People say: Do not expect anything from others and we won’t be disappointed. I ask: How do we have (working) relationships then? “Working” is the operative word here. Aren’t relationships based on trust and expectations? We have to know what others expect of us and they have to know what we expect of them? Even my dogs have to trust me and know what to expect from me and vice versa. Every communication is based on trust. There can be no communication without honesty. Don't believe me? The next time you have conversations, do observe the quality of the conversations and be mindful of how much you trust the person you are having a chat with.

I, for one, do not test my relationships. They are put to the test by events. My relationships live and die according to the results of these tests. Life constructs these tests, not I. This works both ways. I am sometimes being tested for relationships and when I don’t pass the criteria set by others, they stop being in a relationship with me too.

We all know by now we shouldn’t depend on other people to make us happy and yet, when we do connect with folks our “kind of weird,” these relationships do contribute greatly to the quality of our lives. We know we should invest in ourselves – study, develop, improve, keep fit, stay sane, eat well, give ourselves a treat now and then, take time for rest and relaxation; do something each day to make ourselves feel good about ourselves. We know we should cut down on unnecessary stress, manage our time, manage ourselves and earn less if that’s the price we pay for good health. We know less can be more.

Here’s the latest update regarding menakoo.com:

It costs about USD70.00 (RM300.00) a year to keep menakoo.com on the present server. At USD5.00 a book, I would have to sell 14 books a year to pay for the running costs. I’m told there are one billion people on Facebook alone. I’m told nearly every literate person in the world is on the Internet today, in one way or another. That's a huge market of potential readers that anyone, anywhere *can* reach; they are out there and reachable. Yet, it doesn’t look like I’m going to sell 14 books a year using my website model.

Someone in the publishing industry informed me that this industry has become a “zoo.” He said: “There are so many millions of books that no one can find anything these days, and people can't even give away their crap.” He said he used that word for a reason — much of what is out there on the market today is just that: “crap.” He described these books as: “Poorly conceived, poorly written, poorly edited, with nothing to say and no hope of ever selling.”

Well, I’ve made things even more difficult for myself due to my genre; which I can’t help because we are writing about stuff we know or think we know. I can’t find an editor who is metaphysically inclined. I may just publish what I have on Amazon anyway and let my books join the “obscure” club. It’s just as well I don’t depend on this income to eat or else I’ll be lining up at the Soup Kitchen real soon. :)

Announcement:

Please note the server that is hosting menakoo.com is undergoing “major data center migration and consolidation exercise from July 2016 till the end of October 2016.”

In view of this, I am not renewing my web package in mid-June and will only consider resuming once the host provider has sorted its “continuous commitment to provide better services and better hosting experience to (their) valued clients in October.”

This will give me time to rewrite the books in a new format and place on other platforms if that is the way to go for me in the future. Once the manuscripts are on free servers, they will be archived there for a long time for no charge. I am studying the POD (Print On Demand) option in the meantime.

When I first announced the impending launch of menakoo.com, there was an average of 600 monthly viewers. All they got to see was a temporary WIP (Work In Progress) page. As it got closer and closer to the October 2015 launch date, the number of viewers went up. After the launch, there was a steady stream of over 1K viewers a month. My webmaster was surprised that a new website could get so many viewers.

In any case, there were few conversions. Some of my friends told me they had difficulty paying with their smart phones. With others, it could be that there are trust issues with using cards on my website even though I’ve been reassuring the public that they’ll still be going through PayPal. Additionally, I am supposing that as a new author the public has credibility issues with me. So for me at least, it’s not a situation where I need more book promotions or advertisements. "You can bring a horse to water but you can’t make the horse drink." There are several reasons why books do not sell as well as they should. See this write up: http://noorosha.com/why-readers-dont-buy/. So this server downtime will be utilized for a rethink, re-plan and redo. :)

When I first published, I had no idea what I was up against. Would I still have written my books had I known what I now know? The answer is YES. I wrote my books for therapy and they have served their purpose. Then again, if they are just for therapy, why bother with publishing? I published because I have a message to get out. I published because I wanted to test the market for my material. Since then, I have learnt a thing or two about the publishing industry and the market. It is clear now that I shall have to do something different regarding the business model (selling books is a business!) if I want to stay in the industry. So, those of you who are reading this and are interested to publish your own books will do well to read this first: http://theworldsgreatestbook.com/self-publisher-reality-check/.

Fans, friends and supporters of Mena Koo will still be able to keep up with her activities on her social media pages. There aren’t many of you out there due to the metaphysical material in her books that friends have said are “hard to understand,” “abstract,” or even “blasphemous.” :) Hence, it's not that I don't want a professional editor, I just can't find the right one. One who is metaphysically inclined and one that I can afford. Once again, thank you all for being here and for your continued interest.

Mena

♥♥♥

What is the universal language understood by all life forms?

Imagine life as a contest or a game. It is bound by rules and decided by skill, strength or luck. In a contest, not everyone can win. So in life, there will be winners and there will be losers. According to the rules of this game of life, one has not won until one dies spiritually strong and one has not lost until one stops evolving spiritually.

Is it not utterly preposterous that while not everyone can win in this game of life, everyone could lose by wars? If there is a global holocaust and the whole human species is wiped out at once, is that really so bad? In that scenario, every soul would be relating on a different level and there would be no need for food, water, clothes, houses, cars, etc. and no hassles to go with those needs. There would be no requirement for jobs, careers, ambitions, politics, sex, etc. There would be no disease, pain, suffering, etc. Is that so bad?

If life is a game or a contest and in this context there has to be winners and losers, then even after a holocaust there would be winner and loser souls. And they would inter-relate on a different stratum until they can find a way to manifest themselves in some form that would serve their purpose and start the game of life process as we know it all over. Except, maybe our forms may not be human (due to the lack of sustaining elements or whatever.)

What is the universal language understood by all life forms? We know energy is the common thread but what is the common language? Is it the innate knowledge that everything has its place in the whole scheme of the Universe? Can this knowing be the common language, a sort of understanding making it a sort of language? 

Why is it our natural instinct to want to live? Why does the human race strive for life? Beyond being afraid of the unknown, I think we cling on to life is because we innately know our souls need the human body, its form, to best inter-relate. Why do we need to inter-relate so badly? Because we know deep down that it’s only by inter-relating that we learn.

Values need the physical embodiment to be felt, touched, enjoyed and enhanced, improved upon or destroyed. We need our bodies to carry out our will. Ergo, souls are willful things. And it is this will that constantly binds us to our bodies. And it is this same will that leaves our bodies when we lose the will to live. The soul having no more will to live this existence because the body can no longer serve its purpose.

Despite the suffering that these needs in human form inevitably bring about, souls would still be better off with the physical embodiment with which to do and learn something as well or as bad. So it makes sense that the more lives a soul had to live and learn, the more evolved it is. And this evolved soul continues to will life again and again so that it can learn more and more from these life chances.

Of course, lessons in life are painful experiences. Not many of us would be excited to face lifetimes of suffering yet we inherently understand that in order to experience the gifts of life, we have to take the suffering with the joy. It’s what we dog lovers understand all too well. When we say yes to a joy, we say yes to the woes as well. The experiences we souls have on the Earth plane are either gifts or lessons. We do well to try to be the gifts we want.

We need to preserve our bodies so that we can live and learn as much as we can from our life chances. A lifetime is a life chance and is not to be wasted or frolicked away. This world of ours, contrary to popular thinking, was not designed as a permanent hedonistic paradise. Eternal life is a given as we are energy to begin with and I see eternal life as the chance to be born again and again if one desires to learn more and experience more. The possibilities are endless.

Catching Up With Orbit 1

So many people are in so much pain, sometimes I wonder how the world can still function. It seems to me like the world has not stopped functioning because while almost everyone on the planet is filled with pain, the population of the world is not paralyzed with pain at the same time. Thank goodness we take turns to suffer so we can step up for each other from time to time.

Recently, I reconnected with a childhood friend (from what I call Orbit 1 in my memoir, Changing Orbits) and our back and forth emails lead me to challenge myself to use present day (Orbit 5) consciousness to make sense of Orbit 1 events. Isn’t it bizarre that life has to be lived forwards but can only be understood backwards? Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 but I also have to rely on insight which is the best vision, they say.

This childhood friend of mine was sharing that she had developed into being quite the semi-recluse herself. So I wondered about what makes people reclusive. Then, my thoughts drifted over to the last year of my beloved Sharpei’s life. During the last year of Sharpei’s life, she at first tried to call my attention to the fact that she was unwell. She was trying to communicate to me that she needed my help to cope with whatever she had to cope with at the time. I didn’t get her urgent messages then so she was left to cope on her own. How did she do it? She became reclusive. The dog that was my shadow for all of her 12 years suddenly became reclusive. Reflecting on this, I realized I became reclusive myself when I couldn’t get the help I needed from the people around me and the wider community. I realized I had to depend on myself and so I went within. Now that my childhood friend is telling me she also tends to reclusion, I’m guessing that she couldn’t find the answers to her challenges/questions from society either. She had to also go within to find the answers.

My dogs teach me so much. They also teach me about boundaries. Jolly has his room in the house and Bubu has her resting place in the house. They do not intrude into each other’s resting place. When either of them feels sociable they will enter a neutral space and that is where they hang out and play together.


What reconnecting with my childhood friend reminded me about Orbit 1:

• I wore shades (dark sunglasses) in my mid-teens and heavy makeup in my late teens, as a means of hiding my insecurities.
• My first love was music.
• My natural career would have been in the Performing Arts (Singer, Songwriter, Dancer, Actor, stand-up comic).
• Even as a teen, I ate for comfort. Was not too fat then as I was the athletic type. I have always loved exercising and this love remains with me till today.
• I suffered from real low self-esteem and low confidence then but masked it well enough to lead a gang of 12. We called ourselves “The Dirty Dozen.” Yes, I know; not very original. :)
• If life is a playground and the people we hang out with are our playmates, I was and still am that weird kid constantly on the lookout for people "my kind of weird." Mena can be pretty serious but Gwen is still in there somewhere.     
• I hung out a lot with my gang and ate a lot at their parents’ houses. They were my substitute family as I was not feeling the love at home with my parents and siblings.
• Due to spending so much time in other people’s houses as a child, I was exposed to other lifestyles, values, habits, etc. at an early age. I saw how disadvantaged I was as a child compared to my friends. I saw a lot and took in a lot both on a conscious and subconscious level. I was soaking it all up like a sponge.

     
 (My present) Orbit 5 consciousness:

• In childhood and in school, we have a lot of “friends.” There is not necessarily any special meaningful relationship or feelings or attachments there except that we share a common history and how we ourselves choose to interpret the past. That said, it doesn’t mean that some deep and meaningful friendships can’t begin in childhood. This depends on the soul affinities and I believe these affinity type match-ups have a more one-on-one intensity that goes beyond group friendships.
• I have since gone on to prefer quality, not quantity where friends are concerned. Nowadays, I feel I can get by with just ONE good friend. People are complicated. The more personalities we have to deal with, the more complications we have to deal with.
• In the same way, I wish I had only a single sibling instead of 5. I feel that if there was just the 2 of us, my sibling would have been as vested in getting along with me as I was in getting along with a sibling. As it is with friends, too many personalities tend to dilute the relationships. I feel only intense relationships can make a real difference in a life. As with any group situation, there is always some degree of “politics” going on in the background.
• What I share in my memoir (Changing Orbits) and Chi book (The Dance of the Chi is more intense than any "gossip" anyone can spread about me.
• When driving, we use the rear view mirror to see what's behind us but if we look there too much, we will fail to see what's in front of us. Sure, the past has its place in a life story and it's fine if looking back is for the perspective and lessons the past can offer. But the past has no more power, at least it shouldn't have. We have to keep moving forward. Just keep moving and moving forward. Don't look back; we're not going that way!  
• It’s amazing how much I can recall from Orbit 1.  My friend says I have a “photographic” memory but no, I don’t. I have asked myself before what quality I would like to have if I could choose and I have decided I would like to have a photographic memory if I could. Imagine how much easier my life would have been. For one thing, passing exams require that we have a great retentive memory so we can regurgitate all that are in the books. And being able to remember all the stuff that I do not necessarily have to read but just glaze through would truly make a huge difference in my life. As it would any body’s life.
• Emotional support wise, my gang was more of a family than my birth family. Kind of like ghetto gangs I suppose only I needed them more than they needed me. While I prioritized them, I was only an option to each of them. We were all children in need of adult supervision, direction and wisdom. We each needed a go-to adult to complete the support structure but that was missing for me and as we grew up, I grew apart and away from the group as I was unable to rely on the group for the support that I needed to take me (and the group) to the next level.  
• 40 years later, each of the “Dirty Dozen” (minus one who died in her 20’s) is the same river but the waters that run through us are not the same.
• They remember Gwen as being ahead of her time. As Mena today, I still feel ahead of my time.
• My parents thought my friends were a “bad influence” and the 16-year-old Gwen said to her father: Do you realize that my friends’ parents could be thinking I am a bad influence on their kids?  Today, my old gang confirms that I was right. Even at that age, I was insightful. Troubled but still insightful.
• Gwen was seemingly an extrovert (seemingly getting energized by company). Mena is an introvert (needing time alone to recharge; company drains me). That can be confusing to people who have seen both the Gwen and the Mena side.
• I think extroverts who grow to like solitude over time have "encountered more on the disillusioned side." They start to believe that company is a waste of time. In my opinion, solitude has more to offer than socializing unless of course one is in marketing then the more a people person one is, the better for creating income. If one is on the creative side, then all the inspiration and ideas come about when one is alone and “in the zone.”
• I like to say if one is not depressed, one is not paying attention. :) As far as I'm concerned, this planet is the "penal colony of the universe" and no one is spared their share of depression.
• Good company doesn't always have to be good conversation. Sometimes just knowing that someone is there if you need them to hold space for you is enough.
• Are you familiar with the quote I paraphrase: "The person who likes his/her own company makes very good company?" This is true in the sense that if people don't spend time alone reflecting, reading, listening to music, observing nature, whatever, they tend to run out of interesting things to talk about when in company. They tend to be boring.
• People like to ask in greeting: How are u? As if it's that easy to answer with any degree of meaning. I just take it that everybody (animals included) is suffering. By default of being in the physical state. By default of having to live within 3-dimensional limitations/structures on the planet. When I see a happy face, I know that's only fleeting.
• That said, I don't mean to suggest that it's ok for us to let ourselves sink into a state of depression. Of course, we have to help ourselves not sink. What works for me is to not take life so personally. It just is what it is.
• I am happiest when I am able to count my blessings. Being grateful for the basic things in life (knowing that things could be much worse) and keeping the lifestyle simple has always been the open secret.
• Age should give us healing and some understanding which leads to a kind of wisdom. Acceptance of what is not within our control is wisdom.
• People are like onions. The longer you’ve been around them, the more layers come off and the more you know them.
• My writing is not about passion. It's love-hate and it's more about therapy. I've been a victim of circumstances for almost all my 60 years and I'll be spending the rest of my life in healing mode.
• While it’s nice to get compliments for my efforts, it's what I think of myself at the end of the day that counts. I am the one who has to wake up to myself and to my life on a daily basis and I am doing what I do to cope and deal. Even my social media activities are all about the therapy; healing and doing something meaningful and purposeful with my life.
• So many people are living with so much unresolved pain; I know what it's like. That people become recluses, I can also guess the reasons. When someone is in a kind of "prison," he/she has to focus on surviving that “prison” lifestyle. He/she can't have a foot in prison and another out of prison. Better to embrace/accept/deal with the reality inside than to be distracted by influences coming at you from the outside. The Chinese have a saying: If you have one foot in two boats when the boats move, you will end up in the water. Now, if people outside are actually trying to break you out of your prison and you trust them enough to cooperate with them ... that's a totally different scenario ... in that case, the prisoner might engage with hopes of having the chance to live a life outside the prison.  
• It’s normal for people to do what they are good at and to keep on doing what they are good at. That is their mode of soul expression.
• People who don't observe personal boundaries make me uncomfortable.  
• "No expectations" -- If we're honest with ourselves, it's very hard not to have expectations when we invest in relationships. Either we hope for the best outcome or we don't invest ourselves too much for self-preservation. Life is so tough that we all more or less have to reserve our resources to help ourselves get through our days. When I am able to reach out to others it means I have strength to spare. When others are reaching out to me, it means they have strength to spare. When we respond to overtures it means we have faith and trust to spare.
• Because of my weak ties with birth family, my choice of friends has always needed to be of the supportive variety. I have always needed to replace my birth family with a "family of supportive friends."
• Meeting up with old friends after a long period of detachment, the old friends have to build trust and friendship all over again. They can’t borrow these from the past. Whether old friends are able to take the reconnection to the next level will depend on present day trust and camaraderie, not the trust and camaraderie of decades ago.
• In life, timing is everything. When the tide is missed, the tide is missed. That said, one can always wait for the next tide to come in. :)
• As relationships go, I tend to visualize how I want a relationship to go. It's like I write the script starting from the end of the story and work my way backward. I try to say and do the things that will "create" that reality for me. So when the other party doesn't have the same script (not on the same page) they will not co-create that reality with me and yes that can be disappointing; even painful and a waste of resources. This works both ways. I can disappoint others too if I’m not responding according to their “script.” So we all have to be careful with our choice of friends. We have to use our time prudently.
• What is the alternative? Not to plan? Not to have a vision? Not to expect anything? How do we expect the Universe to cooperate with us if we don’t know what we want? How do we manifest/create our realities?
• I can relate easily to people who have had hard times the likes of which bring them to their knees in despair and surrender. I have been there myself, many times and I feel a kinship with such journeys.
• Society everywhere is such that one must be able to show the outer trappings of "success" in order to gain respect. This is what is known metaphysically as "3-dimensional structures." I still have a lot to prove especially to myself that I did not waste my life chance. I don’t expect to win this kind of conventional “respect” from society (I’m aware I’m too much of an outlier); I am aiming for self-respect and peace of mind.
• I was interested in astrology and metaphysics even in my teens.
• To quote my friend: “People need saving. What or how to save is a question that's an enigma because each individual has a personal path. Everyone has to go through a cathartic journey of their interiors before they can heal. “
• To quote my friend: “What's the vision for humanity? Well, whatever means or ways, the goal must be to come up with a lesson plan for living with full attention and self-awareness, with self-control and responsibility, with empathy and compassion -- in other words, with skills that allow people to overcome their own destructive emotions. “
• Many people think they or their lives are not “normal.” What’s “normal” anyway?
• Everyone has a life story. Not everyone can write, not everyone can or want to share.
• The computer is my life. I don't have much of a life outside of it. It meets almost all of my needs. The dogs offer a balance as I have to shut down the pc to be with them. PC-related activities, dogs plus Yoga and Tai Chi are my soul's expression. I need them like I need oxygen.
• Breathing is life. Life is breathing. In the moment that we focus on the breathing, we focus on the now. And the now is all there is.  
• For my survival and healing, I need to be solution and peace oriented.

The Jolly Trolley

I have a recurring nightmare. The theme is always around a lack of control over my life and environment; not feeling safe. Waking up from the latest nightmare a few days ago, I thought about how Gabriel Morris’ travel videos and books share the ways in which he puts himself in various situations and environments that require him to take a lot of calculated risks. I appreciate that he is telling people in his own style, that one can voluntarily put oneself in a challenging environment or life can put one there. Either way, one finds oneself in uncomfortable and scary situations now and then. But with some pre-knowledge of the unknown, one can navigate one's way relatively safely.

The Jolly Trolley is up and running. That would be the “kennel-on-wheels” I created for my latest rescue, Jolly Boy. That big baby was traumatized by the recent firecrackers and fireworks over 2 weeks of Chinese New Year celebrations. This year was the loudest it had ever been and I felt like I was in a war zone, nevermind the poor dogs who don’t know what the source of the “explosions” are. He was already a nervous wreck when I took him off the streets but he was coming along nicely and then had a setback over the Chinese New Year.

Walking him was dangerous for both of us. He would suddenly have a panic attack whenever he saw a male human or whenever he heard an unfamiliar sound. He would bolt and pull and I would be holding on to the leash for his dear life while endangering my own as he pulled me this way and that, over monsoon drains and what not. I had to break my fall while still hanging onto Jolly because if I had let him loose, that might have caused him to lose his life. The neighborhood durian plantation has packs of dogs that are allowed to roam freely and they would surely maul Jolly to death if he takes to the forests for cover. As well, some people in the neighborhood are known to leave poisoned meat on the streets to get rid of what they perceive are nuisance dogs, stray or not.

Anyway, necessity truly is the mother of invention. I had suffered along with the dogs for the last 20 years not knowing what I could do to exercise them in the outdoors while respecting the rights of non-dog lovers. Dog lovers or not, sometimes owners lose control of their large dogs and they are known to frighten people on the streets. With the Jolly Trolley, I have solved the following problems for myself. I like to believe I am also being an inspiration to other dog owners as we think of ways to live and let live peacefully in our multi-culture and multi-lifestyle world.

The benefits of the Jolly Trolley:

1. I can safely walk more than one dog at a time. For the size of my Jolly Trolley, I can only walk one big dog and one small dog but other Trolleys can be made bigger to fit in more dogs to suit the situation.

2. Caesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer aka Leader of the Pack says that dogs need Exercise, Discipline, and Affection – in that order. So my dogs get their daily exercise although I must share that they don’t start to pee and poo while in the Trolley until about Day 4 as they need some time to get used to the idea of not being able to sniff at trees and bushes during their exercise.

Today, Jolly peed and pooped while in the Trolley and as I was moving the Trolley along, I couldn't stop in time so the poo hit the back of the grill but that's ok. I picked up the poo and hung it on the side of the Trolley to be disposed of at home. Once home, it was simple enough to use the garden hose to spray the Trolley clean. Not a problem at all. If your dog doesn't poo during the first few times in the Trolley, it's ok. After their exercise, they should spend some time in the garden to do their potty thing which I appreciate is not what most dog owners would prefer. Most dog owners would prefer their dogs do their potty outside so they don’t have to clean up after their dogs but don’t forget, we are supposed to clean up after our dogs anyway. Whether they go potty outside or inside, we still have to clean up.

3. During the monsoon/rainy season, I no longer have to fit their walks around the weather. In the past, I had to wear a raincoat and I created little raincoats for the dogs who still managed to get wet as the raincoats flapped about in the wind. Now, all I have to do is to cover the top of the Jolly Trolley with a piece of cheap linoleum and we can take our exercise in the rain. I enjoy walking in the rain but not in a lightning storm of course. That one is a no-no!

4. Now I get to carry a large bottle of water and a bowl for the dogs to hydrate a couple times during the one hour walk. I hang a basket at the side of the Trolley so I can bring the items that I think are important for a successful outing. Other than water for me and the dogs -- (“A hydrated cell is a happy cell”) -- I also bring their leashes to walk them home the old way in the event the wheels drop off. I have no idea how long these wheels will stay in place and do their thing. I also bring a chain and a padlock to secure the Trolley in the event that I have to abandon it midway and walk the dogs home with their leashes. The welder who made the Trolley for me said the wear and tear depend on the terrain. Whatever, should the wheels come off the welder is only a call away. He will make house calls to replace the wheels when necessary. By the way, people have already started to stop me on the streets to ask how much I paid for the Trolley. It cost me about USD130.00 including transport to my house.

Update June 2017: I've since bought some spare wheels to change by myself in the comfort of my home. I no longer need the welder. The wheels cost about USD1.50 each. So far, I've changed 2 wheels and had to rotate them like we do with our motorcars.

5. The hilly area where I walk my dogs are not only home to the plantation dogs but also home to marauding monkeys. Sometimes the monkeys come to the roadside and my dogs get too excited. In the past, I’ve had dogs that went chasing after these monkeys and it was very difficult and dangerous for both the dogs and me so now with the Trolley, I can relax no matter what is coming at us during our walks. My friends joke that if there are too many attacking plantation dogs, I could take refuge in the Trolley as well. I don’t think so. It would be too risky for my dogs if I were to open the Trolley door to get in so I have 2 sticks in place on the Trolley for me to defend myself in such an event. These marauding dogs have scared other dog walkers and they have resorted to using taser flashlights to keep the dogs away but the sound of these tasers scare both my dogs so I don’t use them.

6. As I get older, I may suddenly collapse from a heart attack or something (who knows, better to be prepared for all eventualities!) and the Trolley will come in real handy to protect my dogs while I am being helped back home (by passersby) on top of the Trolley. You know … whatever. :D

7. My western foreign friends will not like the Jolly Trolley the way they also do not like that my house has window and door grills to keep intruders out. I’m told that in some parts of the western world people actually do not have to lock their doors and windows even when there is no one at home. That, I know, is not the case where I live and in most places of the world.

8. The Jolly Trolley is also good for rescuing dogs. I remember struggling with the few that I had to leash and bring to my home temporarily while awaiting transport to take them to the Vet’s for spaying and releasing after a weeks’ stay at the Vets. In Oreo’s case, before I was able to take him in, we would struggle to bring him to my house for a flea bath and skin treatment. We had to push and pull and sometimes even lift his hind legs and make him walk like a wheelbarrow. With the JT, we just have to guide-walk him to my house. Assuming we are small enough, we can even get inside the Trolley or sit at the entrance to bathe and treat the strays before releasing them or finding foster homes for them.  

9. Aura bolted and took off while on a walk with household members and went missing for a few days. His leash got entangled in the bushes and I heard him barking and whining while I was out walking my other dogs and keeping a look-out for him. He bolted again when a friend freed him from the bushes and returned on his own later that day but died the same night from suspected poisoning. Hard to say what poisoned him. Could have been a snake bite as other dogs have been known to die from snake bites in the neighborhood. With the JT, this need not happen again.

10. My neighbor had his arm broken when his dog pulled him on one of their walks. Some dogs are so nervous on the streets that they can run into traffic and pull their owners along with them.

11. Many of the big dogs in my neighborhood don’t get to exercise because the owners can’t keep up with them and are just too scared to risk losing control of their big dogs on the streets. With the JT, these big dogs can enjoy their exercise again at a pace that is comfortable for their owners.

12. Some of the neighborhood dogs are allowed to roam about freely even though the law says all dogs have to be leashed while outside their house compounds. Lovely as these free roaming dogs are, they can be a nuisance and a danger for me and my dogs while we’re minding our own business. So the Jolly Trolley meets our needs.

13. I get a real good workout each time I take the dogs out in the JT and I get to move at my own pace. I had gained about 4 kg since the photo in my profile taken about 3 years ago. Being in the Writing Zone to publish my 2 books resulted in the weight gain. Now I'm working it off. I also get to stop anywhere I like to take a water break or just to enjoy the view and/or a chat with passersby. Jolly is not so scared of people when he feels protected by the Trolley.

14. Standard crates in the homes are mostly too small for the dog’s comfort. The JT can be customized to fit the space available in individual homes.

15. The JT works like a kennel too. These mobile kennels can be placed anywhere in or out of the house. My first 4 puppies (Boy, Plenty, Lady and Sharpei 1) had to be placed in a temporary wooden enclosure when in the house to manage them. When they grew into adulthood, Boy and Sharpei 1 would fight and I had to put them in separate houses to stop the ugliness and the trauma. With the JT, each dog could have had their “time out” in the same house. This would have been applied to all the dogs in our care over the past 20 years. Goo Goo would have benefited the most from the JT. Goo was the rescue that was so abused he couldn’t trust a human not to hurt him again. He would at times bite the hand that fed him and as a result, he was left in a large “igloo” of a kennel for all 10 years of his life. We wanted desperately to exercise him but couldn’t think of a safe way to do so. With the JT, it would have been a matter of guiding him around in the Trolley, in and out of his “igloo.”

16. Great for moving dogs when we are relocating. In the past, we had to carry the dogs upwards and into the back of lorries and leash the dogs to the backs of lorries for the long road journeys. With the JT, the dogs can be guided up a ramp at the back of lorries and just “parked” in place and then guided down the ramp at the destination without the usual fuss.  

Do let me know what you think about the Jolly Trolley. All comments are welcomed. Thank you for your interest in our stories. :)

Book Review: ‘Kundalini and The Art of Being’ by Gabriel Morris

http://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Art-Being-Gabriel-Morris/dp/1581770960/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456844907&sr=8-1&keywords=gabriel+morris

This was Gabriel Morris’ first book but I read it as the fifth book of his creative accounts on the spiritual journey. I read the three travel books and the shorter version (49 pages) ‘Kundalini Power’ before this (183 pages).

I say the same thing about my books: “I am just someone sharing my perspectives and experiences.” I get that “kundalini power/energy” is another name for chi as well. I get that perspectives are everything. The difference between Gabriel’s journey and mine is I can’t say that I am basically the same person as I started out.

After reading his fifth book, I decided that he was being brave, not foolhardy. It’s not that he didn’t know the dangers out there, he did it anyway. He had to overcome a lot of fears while on his journeys. That said, he and all budget travelers place a lot of faith in “spirit,” “guiding light,” “Providence,” “fate,” and “destiny.” I could never do that with so much conviction that “somehow” I would be delivered safely.

One passage that got my particular attention was when he described how energy has to be used and directed or else it will just drag a person down. One has to align with the energy that is within and find expression without.

While reading the books, it occurred to me that homeless people are a depressed lot basically because humans need a safe place where we can get a good night’s sleep and rest when we are weary or wary. That is a basic necessity. One can’t work on life’s challenges without this basic need being met. Sleep is essential to mental, physical and spiritual health. The books reminded me that the times when I socialized the most in my life were when neither I nor the people I met had permanent addresses or phone numbers. As such, I couldn’t stay in touch through the Orbits 1-5. (Changing Orbits, now in revision, is my memoir.)

I found myself joining Gabriel in asking the questions: What was the point of all the wanderlust traveling, seeking and adventurous lifestyle? I decided by elimination, these travelers would get there. I wonder if Gabriel is “there,” yet. Where is “there?” “There” is where he had wanted to be when he started out on his quest. For most of us “there” is happiness and peace. For most of us, happiness and peace look like the same – financial and social security. For the rest of us, it might look somewhat different. Will we recognize when we get “there?” A personal question for each of us to answer, yes?

When one is on the road, it’s inevitable that one is not as in control of one’s environment as one would be when one is staying put. People who give in to their wanderlust essentially sacrifice this “control” in exchange for other stuff that can’t be found in a “safe” or “safer” environment. We make our choices and we have to deal with them.

Travelers like these go where “spirit” takes them. They usually come across as “commitment phobic” as they like to keep their schedules open and simple. They need the freedom to come and go as “spirit” takes them. I note there is no difference between the genders. Female adventure travelers are similarly brave and capable.

I wonder whether hitch-hikers get picked up nowadays. Not here in Malaysia, for sure. Such decision times can be fatal. These kinds of adventure travel are a kind of “yoga” (discipline) in its own way. As in other arenas of life, when pushed beyond the limits of endurance, something snaps within us and then it’s too convenient for society to think we are crazy. What is “crazy” anyway but the inability to understand another? Society doesn’t understand when a person no longer holds her/himself within normal social limits. Again, interpretation of experiences is everything.

What is the point of being spiritual seekers when we spend much of our time in anxiety, sadness, deep fear, confusion, inner torment, and loneliness, from a lack of 3-dimensional structures and social connections? What is the point of the spiritual lifestyle?

Is it the “less is more” philosophy? Becoming homeless just to “facilitate personal and spiritual growth through the challenges the lifestyle would inevitably bring” is scary stuff. Hence I say such personalities are more brave than foolhardy because I can’t bear the thought of being homeless. I wouldn’t be able to thrive in that state. I would say such people are closer to enlightenment than the rest of us.

What I am taking away from all this reading: Energy must find expression. Otherwise, it’s trapped energy and it will drag you down.

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Everyone Pays a Price For Being Who We Are

Of all the humans on the planet, I think free thinkers are the loneliest and get the least support from fellow humans. I mean Muslims generally enjoy support from the Muslim community and Christians generally enjoy support from the Christian community. The Buddhists way of offering support is through sharing their dharma and the free thinkers generally believe that everybody is expanding their consciousness each in their own way and each at their own pace and so they practice a kind of non-interference.

Recently, I had to treat a carbuncle at the site of my second chakra. Interacting with doctors, nurses and other medical staff is not an easy thing for a Germaphobe. I go for treatment because I need help to treat the ailment but I find myself having to defend my beliefs, values, and practices. I can accept that if I go to a Shaman or a Curandero for treatment, I would have to share their beliefs and values or else a cure or healing might not happen via that route.

However, when it comes to regular conventional treatment, I don’t expect medical personnel to challenge my preference to err on the side of caution when it comes to germs. I can’t understand how it hurts others that I choose to avoid unnecessarily contaminating myself with bacteria, fungus, and viruses. So what if I choose to purchase prescribed antibiotics that are manufactured by reputable companies rather that settle for the generic and cheaper drugs?

Anyway, the antibiotics have been making me groggy and less than my best for the past few weeks so I have been using February to catch up on reading Gabriel Morris’s two Kundalini Books. I am more or less familiar with his experiences told to me by dozens of seekers, each with their own filters, references, and interpretations. I was struck by how similar experiences can have such different explanations, perceptions, and interpretations. It seems like even when people have similar experiences in life, they can and often do interpret them differently. Similar experiences can have a broad spectrum of “creating different realities” depending on people’s personal filters, references, and belief systems. Truly, we are all simply experiencers and interpreters of our experiences.

I am familiar with the belief that there are no shortcuts to spiritual enlightenment. Shortcuts are dangerous routes and are counter-productive. The mind, heart, spirit and body are not ready to understand the process when it is taking place. Every part of an individual has to be ready for the experiences or else the point will be missed and the lessons of the experiences will fail to click into ascension.

“Kundalini energy” and the “Kundalini River” is another way of saying “Chi” and the “River Chi”. With all due respect to Gabriel Morris, I wouldn't say the root chakra is the “source” of chi. I would say it's where the ‘Earth chi’ begins the journey upwards, mixing with the atmosphere and the ‘Heaven chi’ at the cauldron (dantian) where the mix is then distributed throughout the body and out through the Crown chakra (‘Heavenly Gate’). In The Dance of the Chi, I offer the idea that the body is the conduit for the Earth, Atmosphere and Heaven chi to alchemize at the dantian. I more or less suggest that is the reason we need our physical bodies to evolve our soul consciousness. Although Author Gabriel Morris remarks here that he has no idea if the chakras have ever been scientifically proven to exist.

Page 21 of Gabriel’s Kundalini Power is a great way to remember the last two chakra colors. Indigo is a deep blue and Purple is a mix of this deep blue and the first Root chakra color, red. Sometimes the various spectrum of colors can be confusing as to the proper chakra colors. In The Dance of the Chi, I quote Quantum Physics a lot regarding the premise our thoughts create our realities. I imagine I get a lot of flak for that and for my other ideas but I am stoically holding my ground. It is what it is. I can’t help the way I think and feel any more than a gay or transgender person can help the way he/she thinks and feels. Ultimately, we all pay a price for who we are.