International Neuro-Semantics Conference in Grand Junction

Traveling to Grand Junction Colorado USA was an experience. Firstly we are in the throes of post 911 paranoia where security is so tight they want to squeeze you out of everything including your shoes. Then one has to remember Colorado is the mile high state because its capital Denver sits a mile high above sea level. Colorado is also tornado country. Arriving at Denver airport, I noticed their tornado shelters were also the men's and ladies' rooms!

By the time I arrived Grand Junction Country Inns, I had flown through Singapore, London, Denver, and then some. Luckily the conference delegates were warm, cool, and hot ~ this all rolled into one! *How fascinating!*

Wonderful weather. Lovely people and stimulating learning. *How fantastic!*
Looking forward to the next Int'l NS Conference ~ this time hosted by Kuala Lumpur in 2013.
So time to plan your holiday. Get ready to enjoy Malaysian hospitality ~ fine food, great adventure, and the best coach training in the world.

See pictures of Grand Junction ~ my first glimpse from inside the airport. Country Inns Conference Center. My presentation titled: Book Yourself Solid.

Going Home for the Holidays

It'll be Eid - Mubarak or Hari Raya Aidil Fitri for Muslims all over the world. It's one month of Shawal, 1 month of celebration after Ramadhan - 1 month of fasting.
What does this festival mean?
Firstly it means reuniting with spirit, after "going within" to search and connect with those who are less fortunate than ourselves. It means realizing our fallibility and forgiving those who have hurt us, as we have hurt others --- through our mindlessness. It means "going without" the things we want in honor of the things we have.

It is a time for reuniting --- with family, honoring our elders, and returning to the place from where we originated. That place is love. That place is a place of peace. Because we are spirit and spirit is about love. Spirit is about peace.

Within each one of us is that tranquil place. In the midst of chaos do you know where to go for peace and love and calm?

7-up, Coke, and Sprite will work to have you believe Raya is about quenching your thirst on your journey to there. Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's will certainly have a go at pushing their finger licking goodness. But "Raya" (celebrate) is not about food and drink or money or stuff at all.

Raya is about finding oneself. It's about going home --- to Self. It's about prioritizing. Distinguishing what's truly important from what's worldly and superficial. Raya is about actualizing --- Self.

Who are you? What are you made of?
Do you know where you're going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to? Do you know?

To Inspire Courage Confidence and Freedom

What is the vision? The vision is to reach as many people as possible.
The vision is so that people everywhere have access to this human technology that allows them to live their best life. Yes, it is our singular purpose in this life to be happy. Yes, that technology is available. And yes, we all can be happy as long as we choose to. Just as soon as we know how to access that state. Or gestalt of states that = happy ;-)

What is the mission? To inspire courage, confidence, freedom.
Courage as opposed to fear. Fear as opposed to lack of love.
Confidence as opposed to playing small, staying weak, apathetic. Confidence for stepping out as we are. Just the way we are.
Freedom from what? Freedom from our upbringing, our conditioning, our past, our limitations. Freedom to choose the life we want. Freedom to sing our song. Our song.

The goal, the objective, is to go among the masses. The work is to bring the message to everyone --- men, women, children and everyone in between. Just as fear does not discriminate, love must not discriminate. The challenge is to give love unconditionally. The job is to include and embrace and distribute.

When? As soon as possible. We are faced with unprecedented economic chaos. This has upset the family dynamic where men who have been breadwinners are now facing psychic, not just emotional and financial upset --- because their ability to provide and protect is challenged. So family systems are being overturned. Families are suffering loss, grief, separation --- from Self --- when needs are not sufficiently met.

Apart from financial struggle, emotional and psychic disturbance, relational upset, our world is under attack from the flagging ethical and moral fiber that threatens to break up social structure, law and order, and on a larger scale, the health of the human spirit. In this case, fear spreads. Fear is the opposite of love. Fear is the result of the separation from Self.

There is much work to do. For this work we need all hands on board. Women and children, pick up your tools. Even if this is the warmth of your embrace, the calmness in your voice, and the softness of your bosom.

What work exactly? Go out into the cities and towns and make every soul feel like they are important, make them feel like they belong.

This is the work. This is the calling. This is our purpose.
Beyond this, nothing matters.

Proud to be Malaysian

When S&P downgraded the US from AAA to AA, Moody’s defended the US’ triple-A status. Fascinating. I think this presents Malaysia with a unique opportunity to lead. I think it’s time for Asia and the emerging markets to combine forces and expertise to create our own neutral rating agency.

America didn’t confront their problems sooner and now the gap seems too wide for any single president to fix. Europe is stressed and in disarray. Do we want to wait for crisis levels before we act? Why not start now to increase domestic – led consumption and exports to Asia, the emerging, and frontier markets. Buy Malaysian. Promote Malaysian – made. Act now.

Let’s you and I stand up for our economy. Let’s champion Brand Malaysia.

Let’s collaborate with China, India, Africa, and our Latin American friends. Let’s form joint venture alliances to scour the planet for products and services that these huge consumer nations seek and desire. When companies see demand surging for Malaysian – made goods and services will they be inspired to produce more, and produce quality. Everybody wins.

Under the US Dodd – Frank law that was proposed on 2 Dec 2009, there’s the Volcker rule. By this rule, depository banks are prohibited from proprietary trading, meaning they can’t trade with their own funds, only with clients’ money.

Banks forced to curb trading means money looking for new places to go… This gives Malaysia a brilliant opportunity to attract global funds. It’s time for us to modernize our trading systems. We’re well – poised as one of the world’s foremost Islamic Banking centers.

“In the near future I envisage that the Yuan will become the safe haven currency of Asia. Later, the Yuan together with other emerging market currencies such as the Brazilian Rial, Russian Ruble, Indian Rupee, and South African Rand will be in one big gold – backed basket,” predicts Ashwin M Binwani Wealth Strategist at Peak Prosperity Consulting Hong Kong Ltd.

(That means Americans can’t simply print money; create Quantitative Easing 2 and 3 without backing it with a measure of gold!)

Malaysia is in a sweet spot as our Ringgit is the proxy currency for the Chinese Yuan. In fact when the Yuan appreciates, all Asian currencies follow suit.

The entire matrix of business and finance has shifted to the East. It’s time for Malaysians to develop more courage and confidence. Why not use this time to perfect our systems and take measures to decouple from the West. For this to happen our financial and political groundwork must be honed and refined.

Malaysia has a lot going for itself. At this point the stakes are high and primarily we’ve got 2 choices. We can work to do ourselves proud. Or we can let ourselves down. I say we stand for unity. Think National Pride.

I say peace will secure prosperity.

Asia in Full Throttle

China is currently holding more than US$ 800 billion of US treasuries. If a ratings downgrade takes place, China and other investors would be tempted to sell their USD bond holdings. Should the US dollar collapse, the market would probably hedge by buying metals such as gold and silver, and invest in Asian and emerging market currencies like Singapore dollar, Malaysian Ringgit, Korean Won, Thai Baht, Indonesian Rupiah, Chinese Yuan, Australian dollar, and Brazilian Rial.

Between 31 Jan – 8 July 2011 the Indonesian Rupiah climbed by about 6.15% against the USD. Between 15 Mar – 8 July 2011, the Singapore dollar climbed 5.3% against the USD. Since the Thai election on Jul 3, the Thai Baht has climbed about 2.5% against the USD. Between 2 Feb – 8 Jul 2011, our Ringgit climbed 3.1% against the USD.

On Fri 8 Jul the Bloomberg – JP Morgan Asia Dollar Index rose to a 14-year high. In the 5 days leading to July 8, global funds pumped more than USD 1.9 billion into South Korean, Thai and Indonesian equities, Exchange data has showed. The increase in demand for Asian and emerging market equities has increased the demand for its currencies.

Moral of the story: Any exporter wanting to succeed must redesign and realign its market strategy to suit Asia and the emerging markets.

Trust Yourself - We are perfect as we are

The Tao Te Ching: To achieve greatness we need do nothing. We are perfect as we are.
We are as God made us, and God doesn't make mistakes.
We are made perfectly for the tasks we are to perform on this Earth and that is to love God with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength. Not for God's sake, but for our own.

The Tao Te Ching: Think Small. Stay low.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Stay low --- like the ocean --- where all great rivers must flow into you.
Jesus spoke 500 years later. He said, "The meek shall inherit the Earth."

Lao Tzu, or "old man," regarded as the most learned man on the planet, wrote this 500 years B.C. His contemporaries were other self-realized beings like Buddha, Confusius in the East and Plato, Socrates, Euripedes in the West.

King Solomon of the Old Testament does not refute this. In fact, in his writings, King Solomon celebrates love of self and love of other. Pages are dedicated to this through his verse.

Jesus quotes Lao Tzu almost word for word in His sermons on the mount. The Tao Te Ching is the 2nd - most translated book in the world after the Bible.

"A Course in Miracles" --- another spiritual text says, "At the last judgment, God will tell us how He really feels about us, and finally... we will know how magnificent we are..."