Your Magic Book

Written

2013-10-28  QuinSQ  Art of Flying

Quite a few people have asked me "What is this magic book you talk about? Does it teach you magic skills?" 

 

It doesn't teach us how to make coins disappear and rabbits appear out of hats, but it does magically transform our lives. 

 

So, what is a Magic Book and how did I create this idea?

(Above picture: My magic book)

I was in London in August this year and met up with a long time friend,Colette. Always a happy, cheerful and optimistic gal, this time we met, she was facing some tall challenges in life. So I said "Let s have a Magic Session to help propel you forward into your dreams!"  

 

"Oh yes. Let's", was her enthusiastic reply. 

 

The next morning we met for breakfast in a cozy little cafe in Hammersmith, and the first thing I did was to twirl my fingers in the cool English air, explaining to Colette that I was sprinkling magic dust. 

 

"Aha, so - that s what you are doing, Tinkerbell," my amused friend remarked. 

 

And then, I pointed to the black notebook, and said with a whisper "Thiiiiis....is your magic book." I took a ball point pen from my bag and slowly handed it to Colette, whose eyes are larger than saucers by now, and added,"this is your magic pen. You will write with this magic pen into your magic book all the dreams and wishes you want to come true, and it will appear like magic." 

Above Picture: Pretty Colette happily yet seriously filling the book with her dreams.

 

Since that wonderful magical morning, quite many of Colette's wildest dreams and long held wishes have come true. Some appeared in a few hours after she wrote them (they came true in front of my eyes), others in a matter of days and some in a week or two. 

 

This October when I am in London, again, Colette proudly showed me her new workplace. It's the dream job she wrote in the first page of her magic book, described with much details - even down to the name of the company. Housed in an old church, refurbished in milk white and complete with doors and windows that almost reach the sky, I joked with my dear friend that this must be what it feels like to work in heaven! Indeed, my friend replied with a twinkle in her eye. 

Colette's new office, if this isnt like working in heaven, what is?

 

And what's more inspiring is that after she started work, Colette decided to add a few more minor details into her magic book and that too took less than a week to materialise. Oh yes, less than a week! A new smartphone. A new 21 inch touch screen. A new assistant. She names it, she gets it. How much more magical can it be?

Below picture: My bear checks out the cool piece of technology.

 

Coming back to the magic book.

 

Some simple steps:

1. Write down in the front page, "This Magic Book belongs to..........." And use this book solely for creating magic in your life. Don't use it to keep your expenses or other scribbles. 

 

2. When you are writing down (or drawing) your dreams and wishes, add vivid and colourful details. Engage your 5 senses. Even more importantly, engage your heart. Feel what it is like to be living in your dream.

 

3. After you finished writing, pause for a moment and go over what you have written. Use a highlighter to pick out words that are of significance to you. Add a few more. 

 

Even better if you can add some action steps. For example, Colette's action step was to tell the headhunter specifically which company she is interested to work for. Sounds simple but how many of us do this? I didn't!

 

4. If your logic gets in the way of your Magic Session, suspend it for a moment. Tell your logical mind to take a coffee break whilst you have a few carefree moments to dream courageously. 

 

5. And always have fun. Enjoy the Magic Session. 

 

Wish it. Dream it. Do it. Get it.  

 

Let the Magic begin. happy 2015

 

Love, Quin

Love is...

When your cat misses you and looks like she does 

The secret of Bangkok

邀请Ana by Karma品牌创始人写烂诗画烂画，然后。。。英文版本的“烂”诗被他 们 的粉丝蹂躏成。。。小文青~

2014-12-21  写烂诗画烂画

烂诗烂画by Quin SQ

（Quin不太会讲普通话，用英语，粤语，马来语混合成了这首好烂好烂的诗！哈哈！大爱~）

Ana cries:

Rainbow rainbow in the sky

Why you sit up there so high

Sunshine sunshine in my eye

Come play with me, dont just 嗮！

Karma replies:

Ana Ana please don't cry

I will bring both to your life

The sunshine and rainbow I will tie

Into a Happy Scarf to let you 带！

Ana means Sister in Bhutanese Language.

Karma is a Bhutanese from a small village she weaves colorful scarfs on a home loom to bring happiness to her sisters worldwide.

好，是时候看看这首英文烂诗被小伙伴们蹂躏成什么样~

都好文艺哦，我只选3首~

有一种烂，叫不够烂！~

哈哈，太有爱~~！！

1. By Candy C

Ana泪眼婆娑道：

七色彩虹卧天边，

唯恐高处不胜寒，

羞涩阳光入吾眼，

唯愿与吾戏人间。

Karma复曰：

吾姐吾姐莫悲伤，

吾欲编制七彩光，

缠缠绵绵系心房。

2. By Jieting

问太阳借用金光

问彩虹借用七色

只要彩虹能抵达的国度

Ana Karma就能送去温暖

 

3. By Max

安娜曰，

虹自悬天际，

光刺吾目而无彩，

痛吾心。

卡玛回曰，

娜，

兄织虹以耀娜，

娜可喜。

Ana by Karma是一个围巾品牌。她吸引我的不光是其产品档次，而更多是关于这个故事的开始，发展和结果。故事起源于两位相隔甚远，但心地都很善良的女士，结果聚集了一个正能量人去的社区。在这里，大家不会关注“我能得到哦什么”，而是不断去给予，去帮助，去成长。然而，结果却出乎意料，这个过程可以无限激发我们的内在能量，以帮助创造一个更美好的世界！这这是Ana by Karma的价值所在！——Written by Helen

Like us, Karma has a dream. Her dream is to create colour and happiness to the world with her handmade weavings. But Karma never had a chance. Because she is poor,she is illiterate and she lives in a small village in Bhutan. Because of all of that, and more, she is cut off from the world of opportunities.

Then came from a foreign land, a big sister (the word is “Ana”in Bhutanese language)who recognised Karma's special talent, and Ana became the bridge for Karma. The bridge of Hope. The bridge of dreams.

Bit by bit, Ana helped Karma, and other Bhutanese weavers like Karma to realise their dreams to reach and to enrich the world with their rainbow-coloured happy handmade scarfs.

You can be Ana for them too, and make dreams come true for a sister. Will you?

Karma跟我们一样也都有梦想~她的梦想是创作出带给世界色彩和欢乐的手工编织品。但机会一直没有降临到Karma头上。因为她目不识丁，因为她生活在不丹的小乡村，因为她与世隔绝。因为。。。没钱，认命？

不是的喔~直到有一天，一位从国外来的大姐大（不丹语称之为Ana）发现了Karma的天赋。大姐大成为了桥梁——希望和梦想的桥梁~~Ana耐心且充满创造力的一点一点地帮助Karma和不丹其他的编织者，让他们实现梦想，让他们用彩虹般的快乐手工编织品丰富世界的梦想！

那么，你会成为他们的Ana吗？那个帮助不丹小姐妹梦想成真的Ana。你愿意吗？

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Ana by Karma - A Mother's Hope

Cute little Tenzin is the 5 year old son of Yeshi, a weaver lady from a small Bhutanese hamlet in the south, Umling. 10 hours by bus from the capital, Thimphu followed by a trudging 3 hour walk, Umling is the worse place to be in for a mother with a sick child. Afflicted from birth, Tenzin’s legs are very weak, he cannot walk for more than a few minutes without falling over. Desperate to seek better medical help, Yeshi uprooted herself and her son to Thimphu, her only hope to see little Tenzin run and skip like a normal kid.

To survive in the capital, the illiterate Yeshi works on any odd job she is fortunate to land, currently as a labourer in an apple orchard. Day time she works long hours in the scorching heat to pluck apples, sort them and pack the fruit for sale. Yet Yeshi is grateful to have a paying job, doesn’t matter if it is back breaking for so little amount of pay. Yeshi said softly to us, “This job provides food and shelter for my (ailing) husband and (crippled) young son.” Any spare time she has, she would do what she loves best – weaving. An art that is passed down from mother to daughter for more generations than Yeshi can remember.

On 17 September 2014, she received 10 scarf orders from “Ana by Karma”. She felt like the compassionate Lord Buddha answered her silent prayer. With the apple season ending, so is her work at the orchard and that could mean returning to the village with no medical facilities for Tenzin. “Just when I am seeing black future, this gives me light again, thank you so much, ” Yeshi covered her face and wept. “My Tenzin now has hope, Ana, he is sure to walk again.”

Footnote: Yeshi will start making the scarfs from 23 September 2014, after her last working day in the orchard. We will post picture of her work when it is received and updates. Stay tuned.

A(nother) story of Hope

Bhutan is a lost kingdom, nestled between Tibet and India. The gentle Bhutanese are ruled by a young king and his beautiful queen (pictured above). In this sacred land, a story of hope started in June 2014. An uneducated lady called Karma from a small eastern village in Bhutan was worried about her future, her family s future. Thankfully, she met a big sister from a foreign land who recognised her talent in producing beautiful hand made things. The sister, whom Karma calls Ana (means sister) called upon other sisters and together, all these sisters from international places reached out to Karma and gave her hope.

Today, less than two months since Ana helped Karma, its Karma's turn to give hope to her own sisters in Bhutan. This is the other story of hope. Please read on......

Nim Dema is one of the dozen home based weavers who are working on the Ana by Karma project. She has weaved 10 scarfs for Ana by Karma, under the guidance and support of Karma.

This is Nim’s story, faithfully translated by Bhutan volunteers and (lightly) edited by Ana in HK to help non Bhutanese follow the story.

“My husband and I are illiterate. We do not have any future. My husband sometimes does carpenter work. We have three boys.

After class 10 (last free year of education), my eldest son could not continue his studies so he joined in Vocational Training Institute in mechanic fields for two years. We pray he will be employed in the private automobile workshop. My second son is studying in class 7 Arts. My youngest son is in government school in class 1.

Karma warps* the scarf in special and nice colour combination, and teaches me how to weave them following her pattern. So far I have weaved 10 scarves for Ana by Karma. Yes, I would like to weave more. I am happy because made income and support my family in a small way. I hope to make more scarfs. We want to thank our scarf buyers and Karma for giving me this chance.

‘* warping a scarf – wrapping rows of thread onto the loom before the weaving process (Ana in HK tries her best to explain but not good enough because she herself never did any warping!)

How to be rich

It was a bustling open market, many housewives jostling each other in the tight narrow spaces as they carry plastic loads of vegetables, fruits and meat, sellers shouting at the top of their voices whilst waving their wares and produce. Yet she caught my eye and my attention immediately. It was not just her smile and the clear bright eyes, but that she was sliding across the hard dirty tarmac road, sitting on a worn-out cardboard and using her hands as the propelling force. Her legs folded limply under her tiny body, obviously useless.

I walked up to her, knelt down to look into her sparkling dark eyes, not knowing what to say. And even if I did know what to say, I won't be able to speak Vietnamese anyway. So, I justlooked at her, dumbly.

Richest woman on earth.....

She smiled and pulled out from her little bag, a stack of tickets - ahhh, she sells lottery tickets. I admire her even more now, my eyes now brimming with tears. She is a "business woman" inspite of her dire circumstances, her disability and lack of a proper wheelchair to give her mobility. Yet she is determined and strong, and from her beautiful eyes that spark with life and a smile that comes from deep within, I know she doesn't want nor need my pity nor my charity. And I know I am the one who learnt a lesson in life that day, from one of the richest woman in the world - To appreciate life, to take life and make the best use of it and to do what you can do.

In gratitude, I held her hands, which are rough like sand paper and gnarled like old roots of an ancient tree, her hands scarred from the years of use as a propeller. It was me who thanked her from my heart for teaching me life's lessons.

Beggars....

In contrast, I have met beggars who look able and fit, full bodied and young enough to work. Yet they sit there with either a written cardboard detailing their woes in life and a little mug to collect our coins of pity. They ask for our charitable hearts to take pity on them. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't.

Whilst we may not be that crippled Vietnamese lady nor a beggar with a cup, I am sure we all met many "beggars" in our lives. For example, a client who wants you to do something for free, not once but many times. Or you have a special skill, and many people expect you to teach them for nothing. Or people who come and ask you for ideas,using up your time that you could otherwise spend with your loved ones, but these people do not appreciate the time and brainpower you invest in them.

And then ask ourselves, have we too been beggars to our friends, our colleagues, our suppliers? Have we been taking without giving? Have we been recipient of good things but did not appreciate?

My lessons learnt are:

1. Ask not for pity, but for admiration for what we can do to make life fulfilling and meaningful.

2. Expect not charity or free things, but salary or payment for honest good work

3. "Beggars" who get things free from us do not appreciate our efforts and contribution because they get it for free from other people too. What so special about you giving them free? Beggars probably lack appreciation. If they did, they won't be beggars for long.

4. And if we are the one who wants free or cheap things, it means we have a beggar's mentality. Do not expect to become rich with this beggar's mentality.

To be rich, adopt a richman's mentality. Do away with wanting things for free. Start appreciating. 

Bhutan Beckons

There is something about Bhutan. If she is a woman, she would be shy yet wild, beautiful yet solemn, quiet yet colourful. She would be contrasting herself. She would be so unique. And that's why she takes many strangers' heart and keeps it.

11 years later, I went back to collect my heart that is left there and instead she now has taken my soul too. Oh. Bhutan indeed beckons

First reason why Bhutan beckons. The smiles. The miles of smiles. It captivates. 

I even got to dress up in a Gho. Looking as handsome as a young prince. But the menfolk shook their heads and refused to take me out if I dorn the Gho. I suspect because I will get more attention from the ladies than they can. They don't want competition. 

But I suppose I fare ok in the kira too. Specially chosen by Karma for me. They say I can pass off as a Bhutanese lady if I keep my mouth shut after saying Kuzuzangpo. 

And how I love the children. They are so bright. So cute. And my, speak such beautiful English too

And the beautiful sights

And most of all, my sweet brother dupchu. Who took time off to take care of me. He is my chauffeur, camera man, translator, bag carrier, protector, guide. And he does it with such graciousness. And each night as he drops me off at the hotel, he would say. I am so happy today. What beautiful words