Hello! Andy here! Been a while since I last submitted little stories on our blog! Let’s see if I can rekindle some interest and keep up the momentum!

All the best! Andy

Following a long and happy retirement, Everest drew his last breath. He was greeted by a fairy as he felt himself exiting from his physical body, who asked him if there was anything else he wished to do before he moved on.

“Well, I have done plenty,” Everest reminisced, “I have to wonder, though, what they are saying about me on my headstone!”

Before he even finished his sentence, he found himself standing next to his own tombstone in the cemetery. “This astral travel is really handy!” exclaimed Everest.

Slowly and deliberately, he cast his eyes onto the gray slab in front of and slightly below him. He immediately noticed that it looked cleaner and less damaged than how one would typically imagine a gravestone. He figured that made sense, considering it’s freshly installed! His gaze gradually rested on the main inscription, and he snapped his head back in fits of laughter.

May he Ever Rest

“What is funny?”

Startled by the unexpected voice, Everest stopped laughing, turned around abruptly and saw his fairy friend. “Oh, it’s you!” he resumed chuckling. “It’s a good one! Wish I had thought of it myself!”

“Is that all you got from that?” said the fairy, quizzically.

Responding to the earnestness in the fairy’s voice, he read those four simple words again with new appreciation.

“It’s true,” said Everest, somewhat more solemnly, “I was always busy doing something, even in retirement. I would feel all irritated and restless at the end of the day, if I didn’t feel I had done enough for the day. I guess it was more apparent to others than I thought!”

“So, what do you want to do next?” said the fairy, prompting Everest, who had appeared lost in his own thoughts.

Looking up at the fairy and with a sly smile, Everest proclaimed, “I want to become a mountain, ‘cos then I’ll be doing nothing for a change and I’ll last a long time!”

The fairy was not smiling.

A massive volcano erupted somewhere on the ocean floor on Earth, the seismic activities could be felt for miles around, the water in the immediate vicinity started to boil as it was doing its best to cool the tons of magma spewing from the Earth’s core. Before long, the landscape in the area was changed forever as Mother Nature facilitated the birthing of a mountain, towering above the waterline. It’s not the largest or tallest by any means, but nevertheless impressive, commanding and for some time to come, still hot to the touch as the migrating lava gradually found its rightful place to settle down and take in its new environment.

Along with the physical structure, a new consciousness was also born.

“Hey hi, you’re the new guy,” said the Ocean, flatly.

“Yes,” the Mountain replied, with comparable enthusiasm.

“So, what is it that you do?” the Ocean’s tone piqued a little.

“I am just a Mountain, I don’t do anything.”

It would have been quite easy for the Ocean to take offence at the off-handedness, but she had seen enough over the eons to be bothered by such immature antics.

“Sure, no problem,” the Ocean maintained her friendly approach, “and is it okay if I bring some friends who might need a home or some rest?”

“I guess.”

Before long, life was teeming along the waterline at the foot of the mountain as algae and moss began colouring the bare rocks, different species of crustaceans started anchoring themselves on the surface or roaming nearby, adding dynamism to the otherwise static display.

The Mountain felt something on his face, it was irritating at first, but he soon got used to it.

“Hello, sorry I haven’t introduced myself properly, you didn’t seem very approachable before,” said the Wind.

“Oh? And what made you think I am approachable now?” the Mountain retorted.

“I didn’t,” asserted the Wind, “but since we’ve met so many times, it’s only good manners that one of us reaches out!”

“Okay, so who are you and what do you do?”

“I am the Wind, I go everywhere, it’s great!”

“Well congratulations, I am the Mountain and I don’t do anything.”

“Oh, okay.”

The Wind was somewhat disappointed that his friendly efforts weren’t reciprocated, but he pressed on nevertheless, “If you are going to be so grumpy, why are you here?”

“I made a joke about being a mountain, I didn’t know I was going to end up as one!”

The Wind did his best to hold back sniggering, “We’ll meet again for sure, and just to let you know, sometimes my friends like to ride along with me and they might need your help too, is that okay with you?”

“Yeah, heard that before,” grunted the Mountain.

As time passed, the Wind brought with him thousands of species of seeds, insects and other more exotic companions such as seagulls, migrating birds and majestic eagles, all began thriving on the richness of the Mountain. The Wind also brought gallons of water vapour, some settled to nourish the plants and animals, others climbed to higher altitude with help from the Mountain and became clouds.

With no one celebrating his birthdays and losing count of the mundane perpetuality of the Sun rising and setting, the Mountain had no idea just how much time had passed, so he didn’t know whether to be excited or angry at this particular visitor. He chose the latter.

“Took you long enough! Get me the hell out of here!”

“Hell? Is that where you think you are?” said the same fairy who granted his wish.

“I haven’t done anything here, I am still not doing anything, and I am not about to get up and do something, am I?” said the Mountain, freely letting rip.

“You want to do something?” the fairy teased, “let’s go! Let me show you something.”

Before the Mountain could say another word, he found himself hanging next to the fairy, starring at a huge mountain in front of him. He was immediately reminded of the astral travel experience when he went visiting his own tombstone.

“Whoa, is that me?” the Mountain exclaimed. “Actually, looks quite majestic from this vantage point!”

The sound of ocean waves drew his attention to the foot of the mountain, as he re-focused, his field of vision was filled with the scene from just below the waterline. Schools of exotic looking fish were swarming around, darting in and out of the equally attractive coral reefs; nearby colonies of crustaceans supported the scene with a more static background display, some with their flailing flagella floundering against the gentle current.

“That’s beautiful! I never knew…” muttered the Mountain, quietly to himself.

The focus of the scene in front began shifting in an upward direction, as if they were following the contour made by the barnacles and the surface on which they were attached.

The imagery panned further upwards, until the sky was visible from the top of the Mountain. Then it zoomed into a pair of seagulls, one older and the other much younger, standing atop the Mountain at the brink of dusk, evidently pining at the flock of their migrating companions further ahead towards the horizon, in an elegant formation against the progressively crimson canvas painted by the sunset. The Mountain could see that although the pair were both bidding their companions farewell, one was filled with pride and nostalgia, the other was with hopes and aspirations.

“That’s me there! I am part of all this!” said the Mountain, turning excitedly towards the impassionate fairy.

Taking his own initiative now, he looked a little beyond the physical confines of the mountain and saw a nearby village; as he focused on it, he immediately found himself hovering above one of their simple dwellings, overhearing the conversations.

“We didn’t use to go to school in our generation, you know… when the mountain came, it started to bring us rain regularly, so we could plant our crops, it also brought us much better fishing…”

“You young people are inheriting a much richer village than we ever had, the miraculous mountain changed everything for us!”

The Mountain felt a pang of humility and gratitude that he had never felt before, not even when he was a busy and successful corporate executive, not even when he was a busy and contented retiree.

“So, Mr Mountain,” said the fairy, “what is it you do again?”

“Nothing,” the Mountain replied, “I don’t do anything.” This time, though, he was beaming a big smile.

“What Mr Mountain? My name is Everest!” said the Mountain, bantering with the fairy.

”Sorry…” reciprocated the fairy, “that name’s been taken already!”

It’s Summer Solstice in Singapore, but I am not expecting any perceptible differences at this unswervingly tropical locale!

Looking more inwardly, however, this biannual event, together with its sister phenomenon – the Equinoxes – often feels like the Universe’s way to remind us of the grander philosophy of Duality.

Furthermore, solstices also connote harvest, as well as starting anew.

With this in mind, it is in equal parts anticipation and apprehension that I introduce you to a little book I recently launched: ODELIN – Of Dual Existence, Light and INtent.

Presented in 9 short chapters, the tale revolves around how a young woman is awakened to her true calling while lying in a coma, following an accident on a supposedly ordinary day in her allegedly purposeless life.

Leveraging on the power of stories, it could be chicken soup for the troubled souls, an affirming tonic for the more seasoned, and a font of possibilities for those in between!

To read more about it, please go HERE

To order your e-book copy, visit Smashwords HERE

To order your hard copy, visit Amazon HERE

Need help? Contact me: andy@acast.me

I’ve been Amara Tia Ann’s partner, working together on ACAST, for a while now; I still have one foot in the corporate world though, as a Leadership facilitator. I’ve been aspiring to marry the two realms, and I believe simple stories may be the stuff of the first date.

Stories are great, they are entertaining, and they don’t impose. Instead, they tickle your consciousness, then let you scratch the itch just as much as you want. ODELIN is designed to be a quick read in terms of length, but it is hoped that the reverberation will continue to work on the breadth and depth. Some of the characters and concepts will find their way into some other piece I’m working on, but that, as they say, is another story!

ODELIN – Of Dual Existence, Light and INtent – is a young woman who sniggers at her ordinary, purposeless life; she is presented with an opportunity to see a bigger picture, a much bigger picture, that shows her not knowing her purpose is not the same as not having one.

When she wakes from the ordeal that landed her this opportunity, is she going to embrace her gift of insights? How is she going to believe in it, if part of the grand design is that she does not remember her guided tour to the other side of the veil?

If you wish to read a little more, place an order, make a comment or ask a question, please click HERE 

Andy

Click HERE for a little more of me!

 

A time may come when all there is to live for is memory – make it worthwhile.

Andy

An explorer makes a trip to the deep Arctic, takes a rest and makes himself a cup of tea.

Steam emerges from the cup and sees Ice for the first time in his life, who is likewise intrigued!

“So, you are the Ice I hear so much about”, Steam beamed a big smile, almost condescendingly, “but you look so sad! You are stuck in one place, you don’t move much! Me, I fly all over, I feel limitless, I talk with the birds and rest on treetops on the mountains. I make inspirational rainbows and romantic morning mist!”

Ice patiently allows his temporary companion to let off steam, then staring at him coldly, “Yes, I’ve heard of you. You mean you are never grounded,  you don’t commit to anything, probably forget to pay your bills and can never get yourself to the right place at the right date and on time!”

Steam gets ready to come around with his rebuke, only to realize that Ice has barely started.

“Me, I am solid and down to earth, steady and reliable from the start. I provide solid platforms for people to travel and work on, I am not a fickle air head!”

Before Steam could hiss another word, a deep, mellowing voice catches their attention, swerving from the cup, “I think the Universe is big enough to accommodate both of you, even if you choose to only be the way you are.”

“I am Water. With a change in perspective, a dose of open-mindedness and learning, perhaps you can also come to appreciate the middle ground! I also provide a platform for people to travel and work on, but I am constantly on the move to the most wonderful places too. I transform into something more ethereal when the environment calls for it, and am equally comfortable becoming more solid and grounded when necessary.”

“I simply choose to remember that within the spectrum I navigate, despite the many states I may find myself in, I am, nevertheless, one.”

A 6-month old boy was having a good crawl about in a park when he came across an acorn on the ground.

“Hello”, he said, “and who might you be?”

“I am an acorn”, came the equally courteous reply.

The youngsters struck up a conversation without much inhibition, as they do.  “So what do you want to be when you grow up?” inquired the curious baby.

“I am going to be a mighty oak tree”, the acorn responded in a heartbeat, “I will have a trunk that would take 3 men to hug, I will have branches that stretch out in most inspirational gestures, I will provide shading for the tired, allow lovers to make indelible declaration on my veneer, and bathe in the moonlight while I create wonderings about the vastness of the Universe.”

“Wow!”, cried the baby, full of admiration and enthusiasm. The baby also made his declaration: “I am going to be a park attendant in a large and busy park”, the boy smiled, “I am going to be the one making sure that the grass is well trimmed, the flowers well groomed and the facilities well kept.  I will be providing a place of rest for those tired of body, a place of tranquillity for those tired of mind and a place of solace for those tired of spirit.  I will be making silent connection with those I see come and go, whether they realize I have been of service to them I care not.  For those who do notice me, I will help them realize that in the midst of today’s hustle and bustle, it is still OK to stop and mark the moment of Now with a smile.”

The 2 friends exchanged a briefest moment of eternity, and went their separate ways.

It took a total of forty five years and a hundred and seven days before the acorn was able to catch the attention of the baby again.  The acorn, by now, was of course a mighty oak and the baby a man.

The recognition was mutual and unmistakable.

“Hey, it’s been a while my friend”, the man sighed as he exhaled, pondering on the fact that he has time to notice how his breath was made visible by the cold winter air.

“Not for me”, parried the mighty oak with warmth and wisdom as he persisted, “I see you everyday, twice a day, very early in the morning and very late in the evening.  But your presence had always been somewhere else, so how did you expect to see me?  So how have you been my dear friend?”

“Well, I was a partner in an established architect firm”, began the man, sounding somewhat contrived, “I so called designed and built high street shopping malls, car parks and affordable housing units”, his tone conspicuously deteriorating, “everyday I walked into a soulless office, pored over soulless pieces of diagrams, translating them into formidably soulless structures, just so the masses could enjoy sustaining their soulless lives.”

The wise old oak remained empathetically silent as he subtly encouraged the man to continue.

“I had a childhood where I had lacked nothing. I did well in school, so I had to choose a subject commensurate with my potential.  I did well in college, so I had to apply to the top firms for my internship.  I did well in my internship, so I had to accept their job offer.  I did well in my job, so I had to accept the offer of partnership.  The firm was taken over by another company, I was the most junior partner and so I had to be the first to go.”

“What about you?”, barely mustering up the energy to reciprocate the courtesy.

“I have been providing a place of rest for those tired of body, a place of tranquillity for those tired of mind, and a place of solace for those tired of spirit.  I have been making silent connection with those I see come and go, whether they realize I have been of service to them I have cared not.  For those who do notice me, I have been helping them realize that in the midst of today’s hustle and bustle, it is still OK to stop and mark the moment of Now with a smile.”

He sat down and wept.

Feyte and Dasdinee are asked to take part in sports training at school and they both agree.

When they are in the gym hall, they are told to go to the different sections of the hall. Feyte ends up in the Squash court, she picks up the racket and starts trying out the game.  She takes to it quite easily, almost like she’s done it before. She makes impressive progress and those around her are delighted for her.

Dasdinee ends up at the other end of the hall. She finds herself in a big, open space with a matrix of lines and markings on the floor; she instinctually understands that this is a multi purpose hall. In front of her, she finds an endless selection of rackets of slightly different shapes and sizes, balls and shuttlecocks of varying weights and designs.

She picks up some of the equipment and wields them about. She finds herself resonating with most of them quite naturally, although she doesn’t feel an immediate pull towards any.

After a while, Dasdinee decides to visit Feyte at the Squash court. Dasdinee feels dismayed when she sees Feyte dancing around the court, expertly smacking the little green ball and seems to be commanding it to land exactly where she wishes.

Dasdinee approaches the gym teacher. “I feel so useless”, Dasdinee begins, “Feyte is so clear about what she should be doing and is obviously gifted at it, whereas I have so many things in front of me I don’t know where to start! Feyte has already made so much progress and I haven’t done anything at all!”

The gym teacher looks empathetically at Dasdinee, “Things are not always as they seem Dasdinee”, he speaks softly, “with Feyte, her talent is firmly in Squash, it’s been obvious for a while, it’s just a case of right timing and opportunity for her to discover that for herself.”

“You, on the other hand, is built to be trained in something else.” Dasdinee’s curiosity is piqued as the gym teacher continues, “can we train you to be a champion Squash player, ‘cos we can; can you be a great badminton player, ‘cos you can, but the best contribution you can make to the school is to be the ambassador of the expanded possibilities.”

Dasdinee looked visibly mystified as the teacher paused for effect. “Look at the court you were at and the equipment in front of you, the game is no longer about being told what to do and do your best to get good at it, which is how it’s been. The game now is about deciding for yourself what feels good to you and have a good time doing it. Most important of all, to know that you’ll be supported and rewarded with applause and approval as long as your heart is in it. Not many would appreciate or buy into that, let alone understand it and teach it. You, Dasdinee, have such capacity except you don’t believe it yourself yet!”

“So…, let’s just say I do believe, how would I know and what would I be doing?”

“It’s not about what you do, it’s about how you are. Your joy and enthusiasm are contagious, but only when you are feeling authentic and acting with genuine passion; what you actually do is not so critical, as long as it is pleasing to you.”

“So you don’t want me to be good at anything?”, obviously still finding the concept somewhat incompatible.

“We already know you could be good at a lot of things, but the one level above that is not about medals as such, but to help raise the game for everyone else.”

“So you are saying I will be distracted if I were to become really good at something!” Dasdinee beamed at the teacher, “then how come I feel so de-motivated and useless then?”

“Swimming against the current is always tough. Much of this is, admittedly, counterintuitive and out of whack with what you’ve always known and been taught to believe. Nevertheless, remember you still do choose how you feel and what you decide to do. In a way, having a clear path is in fact easier, and what you are experiencing now is part of the training.”

Since then, Dasdinee visits the gym often, especially when Feyte is in a Squash match, she’d always be there to give her support. Otherwise, Dasdinee spends time playing with and coaching other people, her classes are fun and inspire creativity. She would use the badminton rackets with the ping-pong balls on a tennis court setup,  or use 5-a-side football format with hockey sticks and tennis balls. Kids have fun exploring the different possibilities, even Science teachers find new ideas on illustrating concepts.

Unbeknownst to Dasdinee, she is on her way to be inventing some new games altogether. When she does, they will be strange to many, a few may be curious and they certainly won’t be popular straightaway. Nevertheless, by then she’ll be a lot more ready to see it for what it really is: training for yet the next level.

What does the British Queen have in common with the Venus Planet? Well both of them have recently gifted us with a once in a lifetime experience: The Queen with her Diamond Jubilee celebration and Venus passing between the Earth and the Sun. We will not see either of these events again for the rest of our lives. Both occasions drew large crowds; people were inspired, people were amazed.

As the saying goes, “you cannot step into the same river twice”. Isn’t it true that every single moment in our lives, no matter how you define “moment”, is in fact a once in a lifetime experience? What would happen if we were to give each moment the same kind of attention, anticipation and joy we gave to the Queen and our neighbour Venus?

Understandably, some “moments” are easier to do this with, such as the birth of a child, planning for an amazing holiday, etc.; doing photocopying at work or grinding through routines may not have the same appeal!  Nonetheless, let’s consider what Muhammad Ali used to say: “I am the Greatest”. He didn’t say “I am the greatest boxer”, he simply said “I am the Greatest”. In fact, he also said he would be the greatest no matter what he had ended up doing, he said if he had been a bin man, he would have emptied more bins and would have been doing that better than anyone else! Then there was this poignant thought from Helen Keller, “It is not about doing great things, but doing things in a great way.”

Spiritual awareness and development need not always be something regal or astronomical, in the truism of Oneness and Mastership, it is up to us to decide whether something is worthy in God’s eye.

Sitting in a hotel restaurant with a few of my colleagues while on assignment, we found ourselves starring at an assortment of leftover in front of us, having somewhat underestimated the generosity of the Australian portions. One of them started telling us how she had made a pledge with some “waste no food” campaign and therefore we should all help out in finishing off the remaining morsels. We all started laughing, until we realized it wasn’t at all meant to be a joke!

It is of course not hard to come up with a list of reasons why we shouldn’t waste food, but surely there can be and needs to be more creative solutions than simply eat it up!

Overeating and its plethora of consequences are commonplace in the more privileged parts of the world; consequently, more and more money, manpower and energy are put into counteracting the effects, from gym memberships to costly health care.

One way or another all organic materials will be reintegrated into the cycle of life and personally, I’d have the French fries, rather than my dead body, fertilizing the daffodils!

The Earth is about to transit to the next dimensional level and our bodies will be coming with us. We’ll need to prepare our physical body for the higher vibration and lighter density existence. Whilst no one can say for sure exactly what that means, it surely cannot mean mopping up the rest of the Black Forest when we intuitively know we’ve had enough already.

Currently I am adopting a practice, especially when I am eating out: order half of however much you think you’d want! You may not be full, but neither will you feel hungry!

We are spiritual beings currently having a human experience. We are therefore never awakened to our spirituality as such, but the realization that we are spiritual.

This realization may come in many guises, some of us begin communicating more directly and openly with spiritual beings, some display special talents and skills which they didn’t know they had, others continue with how they have always been but with a refreshed perspective and a few of us take on the role of the so called enlightened ones.

The awakening process can sometimes be rather sudden, dramatic, even inspiring. It struck me, however, that unless you come into awakening by dying, the gas bill, parenting responsibilities, bank charges and such like never seem to disappear correspondingly elegantly! There are still going to be Viagra ads in the inbox, traffic signs still need to be obeyed and potential clients generally do not engage your services by responding to telepathic invitations.

Awakening is acquiring an out-of-this-world perspective. It is wonderful, but not supposed to be a fairy-tale twist in our lives or an egotistic breakthrough in our relationship with all the ills of this world. It is an invitation from Spirit for us to embrace a wider truth and with it, more solemn responsibilities, greater breadth of wisdom and ultimately an opportunity to experience a richer incarnation by being a more effective human being.

True the bills still need to be paid, but we can learn to harness the abundance mindset as opposed to going along with the scarcity mentality; we still cannot get everybody to like us and love all we do, but we would know to honour their respective paths and let them teach us about ours; it is still emotionally challenging to be dealing with death, but we could exude a sense of solace that brings a blanket of peace and comfort for those in need.

Being awakened is merely the ticket to the ball, you’ll still need to learn to dance and you may still get red wine on your gown. But what’s life if not a party? Now if you’d excuse me, I have washing up to do…