Leading The Past

Been in the bottom rung
Far too long
Been lost in the heap
Where no light takes a peep
A voice within you beckons:
Arise and shine forth
Break free, jump high, take a leap!

Your life belongs to you
The past has no hold on you
Live it differently
Live it better.
You alone can mark the path
Far away from your painful past.

Upon your hands Our Creator has given
The freedom to live as you have chosen
No acceptance needed
No approval demanded
Decide today
Your fate forever
You have the gift of choice
Use it well.

Even if you stumbled in the past
Arise from the dirt and dust!
Look at the past with lessons to gain
Do not wallow in defeat, sadness and pain
No letdowns, but lessons
You’re no victim, but a victor!
No excuses, no pointing fingers!
The past had you in it, but today is happening
And tomorrow awaits
So veer away from the slippery slope
Of negativity
And today create a brand new destiny!

Leave behind the baggage
Break free from the bondage
Why carry a heavy burden
When you can have a lighter load?

Change the world
By changing within
Be fully responsible
Say “I” not “You”
Whatever life hurls at you
Respond with a positive opposing force
Commit to victory
And feast upon life’s wonders and beauty.

Yes, there may have been
A time when you were weak
Taken advantage of, left alone
But our Creator is mindful of you
His design is for you to succeed
Do not let the past condemn
A bright future that awaits
Forgive, forget, move forward!

You may once have lived
Under mere consequence
Of other people’s actions
But your life is yours alone
Determine its significance and purpose
Replace negativity
With positive emotions.
You reap what you sow
When you’re positive about life
Life is positive about you, too!

Challenges are no millstones around your neck
They are cornerstones to your success!
Restart your life
Create the best future!
Improve your skills
Continue to learn
Sustain the change
For the better.
Confront the past
Make peace with it
Now!
Hold on to your dreams
Let not the past pin you down
Your victory awaits
Claim it, it’s yours
Now!

– Patrick Liew and an anonymous poet

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

Please ‘Like’ me on https://m.facebook.com/patrickliewsg

Visit my Inspiration blog at https://liewinspiration.wordpress.com/

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflection and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

Walk The Path Of Giants

As much as the swirls and twirls of DNA
Create the who in you and me,
We are molded along the way
By other matters of vast significance.

Who cradled, who taught, who disciplined
The little boys and girls we once were;
Whether we did well or whether we sinned
Was according to what they said.

As we grew, the friends we chose,
What we did and didn’t do with them,
Played as much a role, we must suppose,
Such is the power of influence.

The past is the creator of the future,
And a man is part creator of himself;
Personal choice, nature and nurture.
How then to make the most for the best?

What you cannot change, learn to bear;
Adopt attitudes that promote well-being;
Choose well, exercise your freedom with care;
Surround yourself with the right influences.

Learn from mistakes, practice humility;
Be virtuous:  forgive, be humble, be kind;
Keep your soul and spirit contaminant-free:
Avoid energy vampires – people who poison .

Find a good mentor and learn willingly;
Build your resource of spiritual giants
To teach you, and coach you to greatness;
Become a giant yourself, the best you can be!

– Patrick Liew and an anonymous poet

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

Please ‘Like’ me on https://m.facebook.com/patrickliewsg

Visit my Inspiration blog at https://liewinspiration.wordpress.com/

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflection and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

What’s Your Story?

We are authors in the storybook of life
We wield our pens and turn the pages
Write of our victories and challenges
Triumphs and strife.

No one can dictate how the story goes
We mark the path with our own soles
No other can predict how it all unfolds
The power to create our life story, we hold.

Start a new chapter
Close an old one
Change the plot
Twist another.

Wallow in defeat
Or fight back and conquer
We are heroes and heroines
If we choose the latter.

It’s never too late
To write the story of your life
The happy ending you wish for
Is never far out of sight.

For when your time is up
And on to the veil you pass
To your friends and loved ones
Will you have a good story to part?

When you’d be gone
How will you want to be remembered?
On a happy note,
Or one dull and sombre?

Write a story worth reading
Live a life worth remembering
Give a gift above wealth and riches
It’s a life story worth that inspires and blesses!

What’s your story?

– Patrick Liew and an anonymous poet

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

Please ‘Like’ me on https://m.facebook.com/patrickliewsg

Visit my Inspiration blog at https://liewinspiration.wordpress.com/

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflection and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

Revolution Against Negativity

The best way to stop negativity is to start from the beginning.
Prevention is truly better than cure, so don’t even give it a chance.
Negative thoughts have roots – explore them and nip them in the bud.

Negativity can grow in intensity and strength without being noticed,
Be alert then to every worry, fear and anxiety that seeps into your mind,
Don’t give it the slightest chance to grow in you and entrench itself.

Sometimes we cannot help but experience some negativity in life,
But it’s not a death sentence:  neither perpetual nor universal nor terminal.
The downward spiral of negativity can be stopped, it can even be reversed.

It’s vital to face negativity instead of pretending it does not exist;
Likewise running away from it can be just as destructive as embracing it;
The key to fighting negativity is to acknowledge, confront and transform it.

Challenge negative ways of thinking by harnessing your rational capacities;
Reason with yourself on how negativity can harm and destroy you;
Dispute self-defeating lies, half-truths and distortions you tell yourself.

Push negativity away with positive thoughts, emotions, words and actions;
Immerse yourself in positivity through your senses and your environment;
Solicit feedback, pursue wisdom, force-feed yourself with all things positive.

You can reinvent yourself internally and create a lifestyle of positivity.
Discipline yourself until it becomes a vital, integral, perennial part of you.
Free yourself, soar and meet your dream on wings of positivity.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

Negativity Wears Many Faces

It is a disease that can kill:
Not just the physical body,
Not just the soul and the will,
But societies entire.

It is the modern day curse –
Affecting all types of media.
Nothing can be worse
Than the future it brings.

It is a dark cloud descending,
Pervading mind and heart,
Over many areas looming,
A black, contagious shadow.

It is a tsunami of destruction,
Cascading and ravaging,
Bringing damage and depression;
A slippery slope to failure.

It is a parasite that slowly grows,
Taking root and gaining strength,
Feeding off its willing host.
Does it happen to be you?

It is a lens one sees through,
Turning everything dim, forlorn.
Look outside now, what see you?
Is it the candle or the dark?

Negativity is a road you take
It builds itself into habits
It will make you who you are;
Negativity is a choice you make,
Soaring eagle or wallowing hippo –
Which of the two shall you be?

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

Dancing With Life

The morning breaks
With the sun’s warm glow
That kisses your cheeks
And paints your world mellow

A new life bestowed
A new day borrowed
A blessing worth counting
Until tomorrow

Listen, the rooster crows
Listen, the bird sings
Listen, the wind blows
Listen, the world hears

Tree tops that sway
To the dance of life
Colours so vibrant
They come alive.

Life is a gift
Live it!

Tread upon this earth
With a soul to serve
Walk on in life
With happiness to share.

You are a magnum opus
A great masterpiece
Though rough in the edges now
Perfection is your crown.

Look into the mirror and see
A prince, not a frog
A divine destiny
Live to claim today
The privilege to be
Someone of a worthy calling
Someone the Father wants you to be.

Talents, skills, intelligence and health
Heaven has endowed you with these wealth
Use them to serve and lift another
Use them to make someone
Breathe a little better.

For what is life
If not lived with purpose?
For what use is a light
When in darkness it is hidden?

Wake up, be grateful
Find someone to help today
Cheer up, be of goodwill
Make someone feel glad today.

Tomorrow may be gone
Today may be your last
Life may finally reach
Its expiry date.

So improve yourself,
Reach out
Influence others for good
Live life to the full today.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

Dark Shadows Of Life

Ten years
Of pitch-black abyss
Of endless bickering
And ill-treatment.
Ten years
Of high hopes gone away
Of forever growing dim
Of happiness retreating.

A stalwart young man to begin with
A soul so dead was he found
Irresolute, broken
Hope, he has forsaken.

With a dagger of doubt
He charges
With a fortress of lies
He ensnares
Living in dark shadows
Of an infernal past
He is sunk in a quagmire of self-defeat
Where he traps another
To a rotten pit.

They struggle
To emerge from a morass of chaos
Love supplanted contention
Faith cleared doubt
Hope overcame fear
Light cast away dark shadows

Three years hence
He is back on his feet
Though feeble at the start
He makes his way through
From a miserable need
For approval and affirmation
From constant bouts
Of anger and depression
His stride, now steady
His handshake, firm
His eyes, glistening
His head held up high.

He smiled
And the world smiled back
He poked a hole through his soul
And ill feelings left
He reached up
And received help.

Knees bent in prayer each day
He reclaims a life
Once lost to the dark shadows
of a bitter past
He lives today
With love and acceptance
Speaking kindness and truth
From within.

No more running away,
No more hiding
No more pretending
No more grin and bearing
Forgiveness and mercy has he
For the one who has hurt him
Until the poisonous cup of revenge
Is now removed from his lips.

Free from the bonds
Of discrimination and hate
Free from the negative voices
That hover
He lives and loves whole
Today.
From darkness to greatness
He inspires.

What life would have been wasted
Had it not been for introspection
Truly a broken bow
Cannot spring an arrow
So heal if you must
Take a moment to quiet down
And then go far, reach up for the sky
Because only he who is whole
Flies.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

An Ode to the Fish

Not just a delicious dish
But a symbol of resilience
Abundance.
Inspiration
Transformation.
To the Chinese, a symbol of good tidings
of freedom and good fortune.
To the Christians, a symbol of a Higher calling
Of being Fishers of men
Preaching the Gospel
Saving souls
And making it back
To the Father of all.
The fish, too, symbolizes abundance and faith
Were it not that a multitude
Thirst and hungered
Were satisfied and fed
With two loaves and fishes?
The Master, the One True Source
Of all our supplies and possibilities
Proved through the fish
That faith and work can meet our needs
Beyond our imagination.
To the Norse and Europeans
The fish stands
For single-mindedness
Persistence and resilience
Just like the Salmon
Undeterred and resourceful
Swims upstream
Goes against the flow
To find a new place for spawning
Strong-willed and daring
To the fish awaits a new beginning
A promising new cycle of life.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

Live Like Water

Observe the fundamental element of life
As it flows across the yearning land.
Able, agile, adaptable,
How unstoppable it is!
Everything it touches is changed
By its potent dynamism.
Live like water –
Move mountains, change vistas,
Be a cleansing, purifying power,
Be a sustaining, satisfying force.​

Watch the fluid treasure of our land,
See its different states and shapes
As it quenches many thirsts.
It can be still, it can flow;
It can be cold, it can be hot;
It can ascend, it can descend.
Live like water –
Touch the least, the last, the lost.
Value-add to human endeavor.
Build the life you want to live.

Accept the invitation to become
– In this era of uncertainties –
A positive influence to society,
A vital resource to the country.
Be still and seek life’s wisdom,
Inspire others and bless them.
Live like water –
Meek and powerful, gentle and strong.
Beneath your hand, make sand from stone.
Flow on, my friend, be a life-giver.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

My Praise To The Man

A special tribute to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew on his 91st birthday

He ended a dark era
Of punitive oppression
From Reds’ destruction
He salvaged this nation.
Harnessing his strong will
Foresight and wisdom
He gathered valiant men and women
To build a new home.
Their resources were scarce.
Their lives, unspeakably hard.
Unflinching, daring, selfless, caring
He led them to press on and claim
Lasting peace for our motherland.
The red dot on the map
Is tiny but mighty!
The world witnessed its transformation
From third world
To first world nation.
He subdued the abuse of power
He made perils and upheavals a thing of the past
In its place — stability
Robust growth for economy and society.

This year he’s 91
Basking in the golden sun
A wise man, slow and feeble
Bequeaths a life-long legacy
For you and me.
Because he made a choice
To stand for liberty
Today we walk the streets—Free!
Free from danger and fear
Free to be the best we can be
Free to enjoy a good life
And to build a bright future
For our generations down the line.

Mr. Lee, to you I give
My profound gratitude and praise
You took it upon you
To make this country a better place.

Leaders of different nations
Come to seek your wisdom
Scholars come to learn
Politicians take a pensive look
Singapore is a world leader and exemplar
Because of you.

To a great man, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew
I am perpetually indebted.
I shall carry forth this love for country
Until my death bed.

Live Long, Live Strong
I bid you well.
Thank God for you,
Mr. Lee Kuan Yew!

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

For my opinions on social affairs, please visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com/

Please visit my website, http://www.patrickliew.net

Please read my reflections and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!