The 10 Levels of Healing

The 10 Levels of Healing

1. Awareness: Identifying with victim behavior.

2. Commitment to change old patterns and begin to practice healing tools.

3. Step by step, you begin to see results of using the tools.

4. You are now processing and integrating new insights while releasing old patterns.

5. The determination becomes stronger to create more balance in your life.

6. Increased awareness of your ability to manifest the life you deserve.

7. Self-worth expands and grows significantly.

8. You have stopped creating dramas and have drawn in mentors.

9. Confidence in handling life’s lessons.

10. Experience more pleasure, happiness, delight, clarity, and peace, in your daily life now.

~ Lori Rekowski

Citibank

When Travelers chief executive Sandy Weill acquired Citibank for US$70bn in April 1998 he effectively forced a rewrite of the rules of financial regulation. The US system was set up in the 1930s to prevent a repeat of the crash that led to the Great Depression.

The Glass-Steagall Act kept investment banks on Wall Street separate from commercial and retail lenders on main street, so traders couldn’t bet bank deposits. It was effectively repealed during the dying days of the Clinton Presidency in November 1999.

The Citibank takeover, which brought together legendary bond trading house Salomon, acquired by Travelers in 1997, with one of America’s largest main street lenders, forced this issue out into the open.

It heralded a wave of similar deals, combining both sides of the banking business. Most notably in September 2000 Chase Manhattan bought JP Morgan for US$33bn shortly after it had snapped up UK investment bank Robert Fleming.

Soon afterwards inventive investment bankers made the most of the low interest rates put in place after the terrorist atrocities of September 11 2001 to create debt instruments that led ultimately to the current debacle.
Continue reading “Citibank” →

Vedanta

Vedanta is a spiritual tradition explained in the Upanishads that is concerned with the self-realisation by which one understands the ultimate nature of reality (Brahman) and teaches the believer’s goal is to transcend the limitations of self-identity and realize one’s unity with Brahman. Vedanta which implies “the end of all knowledge” – by definition is not restricted or confined to one book and there is no sole source for Vedantic philosophy. Vedanta is based on immutable spiritual laws that are common to religions and spiritual traditions worldwide. Vedanta as the end of knowledge refers to a state of self-realisation, attainment, or cosmic consciousness. Historically and currently Vedanta is understood as a state of transcendence and not as a concept that can be grasped by the intellect alone.

In the Bhagvad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna, “It is better to follow your own calling imperfectly than follow another’s perfectly. If death should come while following your own path, this is surely better than living with the fear and anguish of following a false path.” (3:35)

Jim Rogers

“Be extremely skeptical, and stay with what you know. The great success stories in life are people who figure out what they know, stay with it, put their eggs in that basket and watch it very carefully. Don’t listen to me or anybody else.”

~ Jim Rogers

Ted Williams

Ted Williams was the most robust batter in baseball history. Williams discarded the strike zone and ignored umpire calls, instead creating his own personal batting zone. This was an area divided into 77 sub-sectors each the size of a baseball.

Through many trials, Williams determined that the probability distribution of him getting a hit was best in only nine of those zones. Using tremendous discipline in his set-up, he would only swing the bat if a pitch was in one of those nine zones. The results are recorded in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

If there was ever a time in market history when we all need to be Ted Williams, it’s now.

Shantideva: Far-reaching Mental Stability

(10) One moment, they’re friends;
In an instant, they’re enemies.
At a time for being delighted, they fall into a rage:
Ordinary beings are so difficult to please.

(11) Told what’s of benefit, they get enraged
And cause me to turn from what’s of benefit too.
But, if their words aren’t listened to,
They fall into a rage and go, then, to a worse rebirth state.

(12) They’re envious of superiors, competitive with equals,
Arrogant toward inferiors, conceited when praised,
And hateful when told what they don’t want to hear:
When is there benefit from infantile beings?

(13) If I associate with infantile people,
Then destructive behavior inevitably arises among infantile folk,
Such as praising myself and belittling others,
And prattling on about the pleasures of samsara.

(14) From entrusting myself to others in this way,
Nothing but loss comes about in the end,
For they’ll be, in fact, no-good for me
And I’ll be, in fact, no-good for them.

(15) So let me flee far away from infantile folk;
But if encountered, I’ll please them with pleasantries,
And without becoming overly familiar,
I’ll conduct myself nicely, merely as an ordinary person would.

Black Swan Revisited

The Black Swan theory (in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s version) refers to a large-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare event beyond the realm of normal expectations. The term black swan comes from the commonplace Western cultural assumption that all swans are white. In that context, a black swan was a metaphor for something that could not exist. The 17th Century discovery of black swans in Australia metamorphosed the term to connote that the perceived impossibility actually came to pass.

In risk management, we need to deal with black swans that have consequences. Further, a search in the literature in the philosophy and history of probability shows the depressing fact that large impact events are absent from discussions. Probabilities by themselves do not matter. They can be very small, but their results are not. What matters in life is the equation probability x consequence. This point may appear to be simple, but its consequences are not.

If small probability events carry large impacts, and these small probability events are more difficult to compute from past data itself, then our empirical knowledge about the potential contribution – or role – of rare events (probability x consequence) is inversely proportional to their impact.

Machiavelli

“For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.”

– Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

The Thrillseekers – The Last Time

No one on earth
Could ever make me, make me feel
So loved, so complete
You and you only

The only answer to every reason that I can dream of
The one solution to every problem
That makes me crazy. That turns me inside out.

The last time we touched, the last time you held me
I was a soul in your hand
The last time we touched, the last time you held me
My life had only begun

The last time we met, and I could see you clearly
My eyes were not opened up

The last time we met, the last time I held you
I could see you clearly

Your sky is mine
I walk beneath it, not alone
When I call your name
You always answer

And every time I
Begin to doubt you
You give me more love

No hesitation
You come to me when
My heart is beating
So hard I can not breathe

You give me all I need
You give me all I need
And this is all I need

MV Faina

The MV Faina is a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship operated by a Ukrainian company that sails under a Belize flag of convenience. The Faina is owned by Waterlux AG, based in Panama City, and managed by Tomex Team in Odessa, Ukraine.

On 25 September 2008, the Faina was hijacked by approximately 50 Somali pirates calling themselves the Central Regional Coast Guard in the twenty-sixth such attack in 2008. The Faina’s crew (at the time of capture) consisted of 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Latvian. The ship was allegedly heading to Mombasa, Kenya, from Ukraine with 33 Soviet-made T-72 tanks, weapons (including rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns) and ammunition on board, when it was seized. The pirates said they were unaware of the ship’s cargo before they captured it. However, the pirates claim that documents found onboard indicate that the arms cargo was destined for Juba, Southern Sudan, instead of Kenya, as originally understood. The claim was confirmed by U.S. Navy and Western intelligence officials, though the Kenyan government denies the allegation.

The pirates demanded a ransom and had threatened to blow up the ship, along with the pirates themselves and the ship’s crew, if the ransom is not paid. The ransom amount has been reported as US$35 million, US$20 million, and US$8 million in the days that the ship and its crew have been held hostage. The pirates are thought to be attempting to move toward the pirate haven of Eyl in Somalia in an attempt to unload some of the cargo there.

The U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Howard and the Ticonderoga-class missile cruiser Vella Gulf engaged the Faina in pursuit within several hundred yards to stop the unloading of the cargo by the pirates. As of 21 October 2008, six U.S. warships have surrounded the Faina with the Russian missile frigate Neustrashimy en route.

On 28 September, Viktor Nikolsky, first mate on the Faina, said that Vladimir Kolobkov, the ship’s Russian captain, had died from a hypertension-related stroke. On 5 February 2009 the MV Faina was released after being held captive for 5 months. The remaining crew of 20 were freed along with the ship and are reported by the Ukrainian presidency as being healthy and safe. A ransom of US$3,200,000 was paid on 4 February 2009 by the ship’s mysterious owners. The pirates left the vessel early next day stating that the release had been delayed for one hour, but the ship was eventually released. The ship arrived to its destination, the Port of Mombasa, on 12 February 2009, where the cargo was unloaded. The body of the captain was taken to a local morgue awaiting a shipment to Russia.

Only an A-Team will do: MM Lee

IS THERE a need for a new type of leadership to steer Singapore into the future? Or will what has worked in the past continue to work in the future?

These questions flitted through 41-year-old Jonas Ang’s mind as he sat through a dialogue at the Human Capital Summit with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew yesterday.

The human resource director decided to pose them to the man most responsible for building modern Singapore.

Mr Lee’s immediate response: ‘That’s a very pertinent and deep question which I’ve asked myself.’

He said the Singaporeans of today have higher aspirations and are better educated than in the past, but that has also led some to believe that they know better than the Cabinet ministers.

‘You can see it in the letters to the press, which isn’t a bad thing provided they understand that they may not be right, because the ministers aren’t stupid,’ he said.

Changing times notwithstanding, Singapore must continue to have an A-Team of leaders in place, he added.

He said: ‘If we field a B-Team, we are in trouble. We’ve got to have an A-Team. I don’t care whether it’s the PAP (People’s Action Party) or any other party.

‘You need first-class people with good minds, a sense of obligation to do a good job for the people and the ability to execute. That’s an A-Team.’

How is an A-Team picked? MM Lee gave a peek into the process.

First, potential leaders undergo rigorous selection tests. They are then put through at least two five-year terms before they get to higher office, he said. ‘So we know that they got what it takes.’

A type of leader that Singaporeans must guard against is the glib speaker who cannot perform.

Said MM Lee: ‘That you can talk plausibly doesn’t mean you can perform effectively. They’re two different qualities. A good politician must be able to do both.’

One reason for the stringent criteria for future Singaporean leaders is the competition the country faces from up-and-coming economies like China and India, he said.

Still, there is something very much on the side of future Singapore leaders.

This is the Singapore system, characterised by traits like the rule of law, transparency, fair play and meritocracy, he said.

India and China will take at least 20 to 50 years to catch up with Singapore in this aspect, he believes.

Canadian and Singapore PR Edouard Merette, who has lived here for 12 years, agreed with MM Lee.

The peaceful, safe and efficient environment here is one reason why his company, Aon Consulting, decided to set up its regional headquarters and a research centre here.

Said Mr Merette, Aon Consulting’s CEO for Asia-Pacific: ‘Singapore is a modern society in a Third World area. You can give compliments only to Mr Lee’s leadership.’

Impediments

“The lesson is that you never know in life whether something is going to work out to your advantage, even if it seems to be a terrible impediment.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Legal Times, Justice Ginsburg Remembers Her First Steps in the Law, November 13, 2007

Accept the Rules

I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

~ Robert A Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966)

Black Operation

A “Black Operation” or “Black Op” is a covert operation typically involving activities that are highly secret due to questionable ethics and legality. The term itself is often used in political, military, intelligence and business circles. Agents or persons who specialise or are involved in a black operation are typically referred to as a “Black Operator” or “Black Operative.”

Black Ops missions often fall into the deniability category, where no government will claim responsibility for the action, or where responsibility is shifted to another actor in the case of a “false flag” operation.

False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is, flying the flag of a country other than one’s own.

Warren Buffett Interview

What can I possibly do with billions and billions of dollars? I don’t see the fuss in having 6 houses with greenskeepers; I don’t see the fuss in having 20 cars in the garage. If you think about it you are living better than John D. Rockefeller. If you want to watch the Super Bowl you just turn on the TV and watch it. If he wanted to see the World Series it would take him a long time to get there, and he would not have air conditioning and that type of thing. The problem is not getting rich, but finding a game you enjoy and living a normal life. The most important thing is finding the right spouse. If you make the wrong decision on that you will regret it, there is a lot of pain involved, but if you have the right spouse it is just wonderful. What qualities do you look for in a spouse? Humour, looks, character, brains, or just someone with low expectations. The most important decision that you will make is that. If you make that one decision right I will guarantee you a good result in life.

Question: What is happiness? Are you happy?

I am so blessed. I get to do what I like to do with people that I love. That is happiness. I am happy day after day after day. How could I be any happier? Someone once said success is getting what you want and happiness is wanting what you get. And that’s what I see in people as I look around. The only thing I have to do in life that I don’t like doing is fire people occasionally – very seldom. I would pay a lot of money if I didn’t have to do that. But wverything else I like. I’m doing what I like doing. I could be playing shuffleboard, I could be in Vegas, but I’m doing what I like doing. There is a woman here in Omaha who is a Polish Jew. She was in Auschwitz, her family was in Auschwitz. One would be in one line, another in another line. One of them didn’t come out. She said this to me “Warren, I am very slow to make friends, because the bottom line when I look at somebody is would they hide me?” Now I know people my age that have dozens and dozens of people who would hide them, Tom Murphy for example from Berkshire. I can tell you about a whole bunch of others who are worth billions and billions of dollars, who have schools named after them, who nobody would hide them. Their own kids wouldn’t even hide them “He is in the attic, he is in the attic”. That hiding is just a metaphor for love. If you have people that you want to love you, that do love you. If you leave out illness I have never found anyone who has dozens of people who love them, or would hide them using my metaphor, who is an unhappy person. I have seen all kinds of people that they are miserable. They have what the rest of the world may think is important, but they don’t have anybody who gives a damn about them. Being given unconditional love is the greatest benefit you can ever get. The incredible thing about love is that you can’t get rid of it. If you try to give it away you end up with twice as much, but if you try to hold onto it, it disappears. It is an extraordinary situation, where the people who just absolutely push it out, get it back tenfold. My friend Tom Murphy that I mentioned before, if he does 20 things for me he doesn’t expect even one back.

Foreign law firms good for S'pore

ST Aug 27, 2008
Young lawyers get to practise with global firms and gain exposure
By Selina Lum

CHANGES to the Legal Profession Act passed in Parliament yesterday will now open up the hitherto protected legal sector to allow foreign firms more leeway to operate here.

The presence of strong local and foreign law firms will strengthen Singapore’s reputation as the region’s legal services centre, said Law Minister K. Shanmugam.

Young and talented Singaporean lawyers too stand to gain as they will now have more opportunities to practise in big international firms and gain international exposure, he said.

The amendments to the Act follow recommendations made last September by a committee, headed by Justice V. K. Rajah, tasked with developing the legal sector.

They come nine years after the Government first sent signals that the sector should be liberalised.

Three key changes will result from yesterday’s legislative amendment:

Come October, five foreign law firms will be allowed to hire Singapore-qualified lawyers to practise Singapore law in certain areas, namely high-end work in corporate and banking sectors.

Second, an existing scheme in which a local firm ties up with a foreign one has been enhanced, among other things, allowing the foreign part of the venture to share up to 49 per cent of the local constituent’s profits.

Third, the scope of work that foreign firms can carry out in international commercial arbitration involving Singapore law has been widened.

Four of the five parliamentarians who spoke on the issue yesterday were practising lawyers. To a man, the latter expressed concern about the impact of the liberalisation on local law firms. They also had reservations about whether the moves would really benefit Singapore as envisioned.

Mr Shanmugam said he understood their concerns about competition but pointed out that a number of areas would continue to be ‘ring-fenced’ beyond the reach of foreign firms.

These include constitutional and administrative law, conveyancing, criminal law, family law, succession law, trust law for individuals and litigation.

Local firms also stood to benefit if the economy as a whole prospered. ‘We must remember that the decision to liberalise was taken because we believe that it is in the overall economic interest of Singapore. It should also benefit the legal services sector as a whole,’ he said.

Explaining a key driver behind the moves, Mr Shanmugam noted that financial-sector representatives had asked ‘very strongly’ for the legal market to be liberalised.

‘We survive as an economic entity by reason of being open, by reason of being economically competitive. The financial services sector is one of the key pillars of our economy and we have to listen to the feedback from that sector,’ he said.

He later addressed a point made by Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines GRC), who was concerned that top local firms could become ‘footnotes in our history books’.

Mr Shanmugam, a partner in Allen & Gledhill until he became Law Minister earlier this year, said he would be the last person to disagree with the point that the major law firms contribute significantly to the legal heritage and legal culture in Singapore.

But when dealing with policy issues, one had to look at things in terms of the benefit to the public, he said.

Singapore’s interest was best served by allowing competition, enabling more choices for young lawyers and creating a more vibrant economic legal market.

‘When that calculation comes through, it cannot be dominated by emotion,’ he said.

To Nominated MP and accountant Gautam Banerjee, who asked for even more liberalisation, he said: ‘We start at five (foreign firms). I think it’s better for us to proceed cautiously and make sure we get it right.’

Tracy Phillips: Mixing Work with Passion

by Chris Emmanuel
As far as the entertainment industry goes, Tracy Phillips is one whose shoes are certainly hard to fill. The humble and trendy pace setter very kindly took time out her busy schedule to sit down and have a chat with CHOICES.

She is young, beautiful and successful. She is undoubtedly a household name among the partygoers at Zouk. Though not always seen, Tracy is often heard through her ideas and concepts that have indeed been a part of the success Zouk experiences.

Born in Singapore, the Marketing Manager of Zouk grew up in Australia. She returned to Singapore when she was 12 and got her secondary school education at St. Joseph’s Convent. After her O’ Levels, Tracy enrolled in a Diploma programme at Nanyang Polytechnic. Upon graduation, she landed her first job at the Waterfilms Production House.

A fan of Zouk ever since her first clubbing days, she used to frequent the nightspot very often. During these visits, she loved sharing her creative ideas on the clubbing scene and it was through such encounters that she found herself being offered a job by Zouk’s management. Sounds like a dream come true for the rest of us.

She kicked off her career with Zouk in September 1998. “I had no prior intentions of actually working in a club, but had always had a great passion for music & club culture and in particular for Zouk. It’s been an amazing journey and I am extremely grateful to Lincoln and all the wonderful people I work with daily for providing me with the opportunity,” says Tracy.

The gorgeous 29-year-old relates that when she first started out in the industry, it was hard to be taken seriously. “I was very young back then, with crazy hairstyles & quirky outfits and working with industry peers….

Mong Kok inferno kills 4, injures 55

Don’t live above a nightclub.


Mong Kok inferno kills 4, injures 55
Firemen die fighting major apartment blaze
Austin Chiu, Ng Kang-chung and Agnes Lam
SCMP Aug 11, 2008
Two firefighters, an elderly woman and a person believed to be a nightclub employee were killed yesterday morning in one of Hong Kong’s worst commercial and residential building blazes in a decade.

At least 55 people aged five to 77, including three firemen, were injured in the alarm No 5 fire at Cornwall Court, Nathan Road, Mong Kok and were admitted to four hospitals.

A 26-year-old man, at one point critical, was last night in serious condition along with two other men and a woman, while 18 people were in stable or satisfactory condition. The rest were treated and discharged.

The six-hour blaze broke out at about 9.20am and was extinguished at 3.13pm. It began in a nightclub on the first floor of the building, Fire Services Department director Gregory Lo Chun-hung said.

A nightclub employee, who identified herself as Ms Law, told the South China Morning Post she set off an alarm after workers sleeping at the club were awakened by a loud noise shortly before 9.30 am.

“About six or seven of us were sleeping at the nightclub,” she said. “We heard a loud noise and woke up and ran downstairs. We saw lots of smoke and so I broke the fire alarm. But one staff member didn’t leave with us. We still have not heard from that staffer.”

The Fire Services Department said no smoke-prevention door was installed at the nightclub.

The two firemen killed in the blaze were 46-year-old Siu Wing-fong, a 24-year veteran and father of a 12-year-old girl, and Chan Siu-lung, 25, who had joined the department just a year ago. Both were from the Mong Kok fire station.

A 77-year-old woman was found dead on the ninth floor, while another body, as yet unidentified but believed to be female, was found in the nightclub.

Mr Lo said investigators would probe the cause of the fire and the deaths. Rescue operations were hampered by the intense heat, heavy smoke and narrow passages inside the building, he said.

“Our colleagues found the two firefighters [who later died] on the top floor of the building,” Mr Lo said. “When the rescue team found them, they were still dressed in full protective gear, but were already unconscious.”

The two men had entered the building from the ground floor to search for residents.

The division commander for Kowloon Central, Lau Chi-ho, said: “It was very difficult for us to get into the upper part of the building. The intense heat was trapped in the staircase, and the heat could not be released. The temperature was too high and the smoke was very thick.

“When we arrived, the mezzanine was filled with smoke, and the thick smoke … raged through every floor of the building.” The firemen had to use ladders to rescue residents waving for help on the upper floors, as it was so difficult to reach them from inside.

Speaking to reporters at the scene yesterday, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong offered his condolences to the families of the dead firefighters. “We are deeply sorry about the deaths of the two very brave firemen,” he said. “I, together with the chief executive and the chief secretary, send our deepest condolences to the families, and we will do everything possible to help them to get over this very difficult period.”

Acting Chief Executive Henry Tang Ying-yen, Director of Home Affairs Pamela Tan Kam Mi-wah and Mr Lee visited victims in hospital.

“We admire the two firemen’s bravery and their professionalism in their work. We visited families of the two firemen and the elderly woman. They are deeply saddened and heart-broken. I am in deep sorrow, too,” Mr Tang said.