Change Your Questions Change Your Life

Lately I am discovering these concepts from the continuing education program that I'm doing through my networking business. This book called 'change your questions change your life' by Marilee Adams talks about how the right questions can transform our lives. The choice map starts off with anything that impacts us at any moment (eg: thoughts, feelings, circumstances, etc). How one chooses their path (namely learner or judger path) has an impact on how they ask questions.

In a nutshell, the learner path leads to learner questions (eg: what's useful here? what happened? what can i learn? what are my choices, what's best to do now); the judger path leads to judger questions (eg:who's to blame? why am i such a failure? why are they so stupid? what's wrong with them? what's wrong with me?). These paths / questions cause us to either choose or react, which will cause very different outcomes.

I'm putting these ideas into practice and find them very useful in my attitude, interpersonal relationships, work, ministry, and business.

What Is A Paradigm Shift?

Thomas Kuhn popularized the concept of "paradigm shift" in 1962. He defined paradigm shift as "one conceptual world view is replaced by another". It is a change from one way of thinking to another. It's a revolution, a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis. It is believed to be driven by agents of change.

One example is the printing press. Books became readily available, smaller and easier to handle and cheap to purchase. Similarly, agents of change are driving a new paradigm shift today. The signs are all around us.

Another example is the introduction of the personal computer and the internet have impacted both personal and business environments, and is a catalyst for a paradigm shift. It has been said that change is the only thing that is constant.

I personally have been through quite a significant number of paradigm shifts in the past few years, including the areas of my spiritual life, ministry, mission and business. My way of thinking has been transformed as a result of a number of change agents (mentors & heros), whom I am very grateful for.

One classic statement is a good example of my paradigm shift:

WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS
HAVING A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS
HAVING A HUMAN EXPERIENCE

Have you experienced paradigm shifts in your life?

Homeland

The Melbourne International Arts Festival is on right now, and there are many great shows. I had the opportunity to see Laurie Anderson's Homeland last week, which I enjoyed very much.

Laurie Anderson is a multi-talented artist. Her artistic career as visual artist, composer, poet, photographer, filmmaker, vocalist and instrumentalist, along with over the past thirty years, has made her one of today's premier performance artists. she has created a number of groundbreaking works ranging from spoken word performances to elaborate multimedia events.

Homeland is Laurie Anderson’s latest production. Somewhere between epic poem and music concert, this production looks at 21st-century American obsessions with security, distance, information, the relationship of fear and freedom, the increasing acceptance of violence and the persistent new language of war.

Homeland was not only entertaining, it was very thought-provoking, and challenged me to think about the issues that people in the western world faced as well.

Some "P" Words

Recently I have been drawn to a number of important "P" words that got me thinking. Amongst them are 6Ps - 'Proper prior planning prevents poor performance'. That's so true isn't it?

There are another 3Ps that I am committed to in order to achieve balance in life. They are: Pray, Participate and Play. Why these 3P's? Well praying will connect us to God, partcipate will ensure that we engage in what we are called to do. But why play?

A good friend of mine wrote a very meaningful article in a magazine called "Play in God's playground". Leng is a musician. Her experience has been that when she has no words to say to God, she can still meet with Him by playing an instrument. In those moments, she believes He plays with her and through her. And She asked a thought-provoking question. "Does God play?" What do you think?

We may know God to be loving, holy, just, faithful, mighty and merciful and merciful, but can we say god is playful. I believe that playing is a means of relating to God and of worshipping Him. It's so true that we are sometimes at risk of taking ourselves too seriously. I agree that we are created not only to plan and pray, but to participate and play as well. We have been given the freedom to play. As Leng said it beautifully, "His play is extravagant and beautiful, for none of His Creation was born out of necessity. He is the initiator of all play and invtes us to play with Him in respectful stewardship of the freedom and resources He has provided."

Nice Matters Award

Fabulous Audrey gave me the Nice Matters Award, which is an award for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Oh I am so humbled to receive this award! Award, your recognition and inspiration is such blessing to me dear sis!

I'd like to now pass this award to all my blogger friends and readers. You have all been a source of inspiration to me one way or another.

S.E.R.V.E.

I was reading this book called "The secret - what great leaders know - and do", and among the various tips, one important insight was that leaders serve. In the book, great leaders of the past were mentioned that were great in serving others. The followings are some examples:

Nelson Mandela, who was wrongly jailed for almost 28 years, yet when he was finally released he wasn't angry. He came out with a desire to serve and help. He even invited his jailers to his inauguration when he was elected president of the Union of South Africa.

Jimmy Carter, who created an incredible team to build thousands of homes for the poor through Habitat for Humanity. And he won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work facilitating peace talks in troubled areas of the world.

Jesus of Nazareth selected twelve inexperienced people and developed them into leaders who would carry on after he was no longer in bodily form. When people asked him questions, his answers always showed a servant heart. 'How do you lead?' 'By following.' 'How can I be first?' 'By being last.' He even said that he had come to serve, not to be served, and he showed that by washing the feet of the disciples.

Martin Luther King, Jr had a powerful vision - a dream that one day people wouldn't be judged by 'the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.' He saw the future, and engaged others.

The acronym of the word 'SERVE' was used to describe these great leaders' attitude of service to others:

S = See the future
E = Engage and develop others
R = Reinvent continusously
V = Value results and relationships
E = Embody the values

I really like what Martin Luther King, Jr said, "everyone can be great, because everyone can serve."

Fabulous Award

What a privilege and pleasant surprise! I was given the above award. Thanks so much fabulous Pia for that. I am so humbled!

There are many fabulous people in the blogosphere, amongst them are: Audrey, Corry, Kc, Rodney and Amanda.

You're all fabulous blogger friends!

Who's He Looking For?

God is not looking for those who are clever,
but for those in whom He can be wise;
He is not looking for those who are talented,
but for those to whom He can be all sufficient;
He is not looking for those who are powerful,
but for those through whom He can be almighty.

Life Is Like A Car

Recently I have heard of news of quite a number of friends' family members having terminl illness, as well as serious sickness. I couldn't help but thought to myself, health is really important to us!

I received a message from a business partner today, in which our life is liken our car. I found it quite meaningful:

Just like your car, your life needs fuel. The fuel can be found in the value of healthy living.

Just like your car, if you put the wrong fuel into your body, you get poor performance and a shorter ride.

Just like your car, your life needs maintenance. A consistent exercise program provides your body and your life with the maintenance it needs to run smoothly, operate efficiently and stay in good working order.

Just like your car, your life needs steering. You are the driver of your life, and as the driver, you get to choose the direction your life takes.

Just like your car, without active physical and mental involvement, your life goes nowhere.

So, if you are unhappy with the state of your life today and ache for a better life tomorrow, make today the day you begin to give your life a tune-up and get it back on the road! The time is now, your engine is running and a better life only awaits your instructions.

Incarnational Ministry

I am sooooo challenged and inspired by Michael Frost's book "EXILES" - living missionally in a post-christian culture. According to him, we have slowly but surely shifted into a post-Christian world, which means Christianity is no longer in the centre, but in the fringe of the society.

I am amongst the exiles: Christians who find themselves caught in that dangerous wilderness between contemporary secular Western culture and an old-fashioned church culture of respectability and conservatism. As a follower of Jesus in the new world around us, I want to live missionally in this post-Christendom context. I want to embrace a dynamic, life-affirming, robust Christain faith that can be lived confidently in a world that no longer values such a faith, especially in the business and artist circles that I am involved with (host community as Frost terms it). I am accepting the risks and making the leap, despite the difficulties and challenges, as I am convicted that this is where God has called me to be.

The biblical, Christian impulse to draw near to those who don't know Christ, described as incarnational ministry & missional living is the way to be. There is a whole world of professioanl Christians who live primarily in the church or the Christian academy, but who never seem to embody the ideas of incarnational Christian witness. On the other hand, there are people who are reading the Bible and intuiting new ways to create proximity with not-yet-Christians on their turf. These exiles often don't feel appreciated or understood by the conventional church, or their professional Christians counterpart. Sadly their other Christian friends think their ideas and lifestyle too radical or too unsafe to accomodate or too compromised etc, without trying to understand Jesus' example of incarnational ministry.

I like the four aspects, described by Frost, regarding Jesus' example of incarnational ministry:

(1) An active sharing of life, participating in the fears, frustrations, and afflictions of the host community......

(2) An employment of the language and thought forms of those with whom we seek to share Jesus.......

(3) A preparedness to go to the people, not expecting them to come to us.....

(4) A confidence that the gospel can be communicated by ordinary means, through acts of servanthood, loving relationships, good deeds.....

I Am Back!

Hello my friends and readers, it's been a long while since I wrote on this blog. After the 42 day of challenge with Living Life Now, I have been taking the time out to explore another online social utility and meeting new friends in social meet up groups here in Melbourne. God has been teaching me heaps about HIM, about missions, about myself and many other things that I learned from these lovely people through these new forms of communication.

One of the things that I am addicted to lately (which kind of replaced my time on the blogosphere) is facebook, which is a social utility that connects me with the people around me. If you like to connect people all over the world, this is a great tool and fantastic way to keep in touch. If you have it, please add me through my email. I am on it almost everyday now. It's lots of fun but time-consuming to say the least :)

Meetup groups help people find others who share their interests or causes, and form lasting, influential, local community groups that regularly meet face-to-face. Meetup groups believe that the world will be a better place when everyone has access to a people-powered local Meetup Group. That's the goal.

The meetup groups in Melbourne that I have been attending these last few weeks include photography, new-in-town, graphic design, coffee meetup, women are fabulous friends, thai and chinese cultural groups. Through these, I have met new friends, learned and shared with the members, and my life has certainly be enriched, and hopefully I will be able to make a difference in their lives as well.