Prices will drop in near future to even lower level then now since the whole issue of world peace or chaos all over the world from killing to sub-prime loan issue. Like to end in sight in the short term.
So....no point to wade into the market to get screwed....better to have patient to see how the whole situation turns before any reaction from me. Just can't tahan seeing the market's trend
going up then down... it is like what the hell wrong with the whole market.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Friday - 28/12
Man.....:( wah.....already 10 days ago when my old man passed away. During these 10 days period....has gone thru many things eg asking my old man to let go and moved on peacefully and that wasn't a nice thing to do. Anyway...even harder for me to see him suffering to hang-on to dear life is even worst.
The 3 days funeral thing......plus to watch his body being cremated then to pick his ashe and kept them into an urn.
Also watched the share market went down and then up.....and down again when Bhutto was killed, the whole situation became bad. Something I felt bad about as I missed the boat again.
Guess....to trade this kind the market, it takes lot of patients and understanding of how people can react in this condition.
The 3 days funeral thing......plus to watch his body being cremated then to pick his ashe and kept them into an urn.
Also watched the share market went down and then up.....and down again when Bhutto was killed, the whole situation became bad. Something I felt bad about as I missed the boat again.
Guess....to trade this kind the market, it takes lot of patients and understanding of how people can react in this condition.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
A tiring week
Walan....after the funeral, just have no mood for anything. Tired and angry at the same time.
Tired becoz had to settled almost everything...angry becoz of all the loose talk by the women folks.
Also....missed my honey's pau pau. So addictive hehehe. Also shopping for X'mas gifts and going around to pass out the diaries and gifts before X'mas day itself. Then....went to Mom's grave then back to dad's niche. Running around....can be very tiring and stressful.
Tired becoz had to settled almost everything...angry becoz of all the loose talk by the women folks.
Also....missed my honey's pau pau. So addictive hehehe. Also shopping for X'mas gifts and going around to pass out the diaries and gifts before X'mas day itself. Then....went to Mom's grave then back to dad's niche. Running around....can be very tiring and stressful.
Collection of ashes
Went to collect the ashes the next morning at Mandai. One box full of bones.....lots of big ones but the contractor managed to put all into the urn.
After the whole thing....went for lunch with the whole group.
After the whole thing....went for lunch with the whole group.
Funeral on Thursday 20/12
The sending off was also well taken care.....under cloudy sky. Lucky the rain stopped at the right time. The mass was at St Anne at 3:30pm....after a short service at the funeral home at the Chruch of Nativity at 2:45 to 3pm.
At 4:15pm we proceeded to Mandai. The recremation was set at 5pm sharp....then went back to the chruch for dinner. Ordered 3 tables....total cost $470, again plenty of nice food to eat and to let the relatives bring home.
At 4:15pm we proceeded to Mandai. The recremation was set at 5pm sharp....then went back to the chruch for dinner. Ordered 3 tables....total cost $470, again plenty of nice food to eat and to let the relatives bring home.
Old man - passed away on 18/12/07
Well...at last he passed away peacefully at 9:45am on Tuesday. Same time as my mom's. And with me around together with my family members.
The wake was for 3 days so the funeral was on the following Thursday. Collected a total of $5491 plus RM$700 and expenses at $11916.40. Incurred a deficit of $6425.40 as of now....there still other expenses to take care of later. Eg when mom's remain is removed from her grave to be kept together with my dad's remain in the future.
One thing is for sure....becoz of money, family members can fall out with each other.....in my case is the loose mouths of my elder sisters and sister-in-law. Managed to put them in their places since I caught hold of the gossip early or the whole thing would have end worse off then the relationship would be unmanageable. Another thing is that my old man is not rich...that helps too. Looking back at my aunt's family....the whole family fell apart after my aunt's death due to money....she was rich. Everyone was fighting for a share of the pie. For my dad's case...even since he was poor, there still gossip about money. Eg the collection of white-gold vs expenses, the truth was that my elder sisters somehow mistook the 2 sets of figures. Instead of deficit they thought there was a gain....SHITHEADS. Esp since they were around when the expenese were represented to us for approval by the funeral home representive and chruch. Only when I pointed out to them....then they realised their mistake.
The good part for the whole affair was that the funeral was well taken care of....quite grand and with plenty of foods for everyone.
The wake was for 3 days so the funeral was on the following Thursday. Collected a total of $5491 plus RM$700 and expenses at $11916.40. Incurred a deficit of $6425.40 as of now....there still other expenses to take care of later. Eg when mom's remain is removed from her grave to be kept together with my dad's remain in the future.
One thing is for sure....becoz of money, family members can fall out with each other.....in my case is the loose mouths of my elder sisters and sister-in-law. Managed to put them in their places since I caught hold of the gossip early or the whole thing would have end worse off then the relationship would be unmanageable. Another thing is that my old man is not rich...that helps too. Looking back at my aunt's family....the whole family fell apart after my aunt's death due to money....she was rich. Everyone was fighting for a share of the pie. For my dad's case...even since he was poor, there still gossip about money. Eg the collection of white-gold vs expenses, the truth was that my elder sisters somehow mistook the 2 sets of figures. Instead of deficit they thought there was a gain....SHITHEADS. Esp since they were around when the expenese were represented to us for approval by the funeral home representive and chruch. Only when I pointed out to them....then they realised their mistake.
The good part for the whole affair was that the funeral was well taken care of....quite grand and with plenty of foods for everyone.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Stock market for the week ending 14/12.
Look like the market went south again after 3 weeks of up trending....it got me here. Shit! got bited again, luckily just a small wound. Looking at it now....it is buy on rumor and sell on fact. This is a old saying....nothing new, all old market birds will tell you that but not all old market birds practiced what they knew all along.....back to the greed thing again.
If I want things to be different the next year then I must recall all my lessons from all my dealings in the market over the years. In fact....since 1983.....shit after 24 years of losts still I am losing. Never learn....or didn't learn my lessions?
If I want things to be different the next year then I must recall all my lessons from all my dealings in the market over the years. In fact....since 1983.....shit after 24 years of losts still I am losing. Never learn....or didn't learn my lessions?
Growing old
This is one subject that is bugging me lately....esp seeing my old man struggling to stay alive. Just question myself....why not just let go and move on. Now....after seeing him in this situation for the past 6 months, it does boil down to me that it is not so easy to just die....no such thing as just lay down and die. If have then,
in old age....life will be great! Less suffering for all....I don't think my old man wants to continue living like this and also it does "pain" me to see him in this condition.
So....it is no point to blame ( anyone eg God )why does a person live so long or so short. There is no right or wrong answer to this question....whether is it fated or not, no one can say so for sure. Guess this is how things will balance or sort out in the world.
For growing old....it is also a natural way of life. Yes! there are something we can buy and use to make ourselves look "younger or more beautiful" but in the end....we
still will grow old and die. If have lots of money....then life can be much more easier and smoother but still...it cannot prevent one from getting older. So....the
sooner one accepts this fact then one can growing old gracefully too. Being old is not a bad thing....can get priority to senior citizen's fare on quite a number of things. People also tend to give way to you. Of course there are also some disadvantages of growing old.....lesser hair, weaker, less teeth, more fats in the mid section, talk slower, react even more slower and more white hair. Hopefully....one still stay healthy.
After seeing my friend's blog....yes, do recalled some old memories too....both good and bad ones. Then again....best at this stage to look at things from a beautiful angle. What is the point to have bitterness....no point and also it is better for one to move on since we have already move on with the years.
Oh....one more thing I have learn lately, as we get older.....it is also good to gain some spiritual peace within oneself. Beside to me....this is like an insurance thing kekeke. Who can really tell whether is there truly a god...and when we die we shall be judged for what we have done in our lifetime? So.....maybe to play safe, spend sometimes to get some blessings in place first.
Here we in S'pore, we are really blessed to be lucky when getting older.....we can look forward to my CPF funds. Now....we can also continue to work if we want to or we can rest and do nothing.
It is up to you....for me, I will continue to work. The good thing here is that in future, people will be more used to see older folks doing work and working along side-by-side with younger people.
Healthwise....it is still up to you to stay in good health. Whatever one decides....chances are that it will be much better to be in Singapore than elsewhere.
So....cheers to growing old, nothing to be afraid off. Just keep sane and grow old gracefully.
in old age....life will be great! Less suffering for all....I don't think my old man wants to continue living like this and also it does "pain" me to see him in this condition.
So....it is no point to blame ( anyone eg God )why does a person live so long or so short. There is no right or wrong answer to this question....whether is it fated or not, no one can say so for sure. Guess this is how things will balance or sort out in the world.
For growing old....it is also a natural way of life. Yes! there are something we can buy and use to make ourselves look "younger or more beautiful" but in the end....we
still will grow old and die. If have lots of money....then life can be much more easier and smoother but still...it cannot prevent one from getting older. So....the
sooner one accepts this fact then one can growing old gracefully too. Being old is not a bad thing....can get priority to senior citizen's fare on quite a number of things. People also tend to give way to you. Of course there are also some disadvantages of growing old.....lesser hair, weaker, less teeth, more fats in the mid section, talk slower, react even more slower and more white hair. Hopefully....one still stay healthy.
After seeing my friend's blog....yes, do recalled some old memories too....both good and bad ones. Then again....best at this stage to look at things from a beautiful angle. What is the point to have bitterness....no point and also it is better for one to move on since we have already move on with the years.
Oh....one more thing I have learn lately, as we get older.....it is also good to gain some spiritual peace within oneself. Beside to me....this is like an insurance thing kekeke. Who can really tell whether is there truly a god...and when we die we shall be judged for what we have done in our lifetime? So.....maybe to play safe, spend sometimes to get some blessings in place first.
Here we in S'pore, we are really blessed to be lucky when getting older.....we can look forward to my CPF funds. Now....we can also continue to work if we want to or we can rest and do nothing.
It is up to you....for me, I will continue to work. The good thing here is that in future, people will be more used to see older folks doing work and working along side-by-side with younger people.
Healthwise....it is still up to you to stay in good health. Whatever one decides....chances are that it will be much better to be in Singapore than elsewhere.
So....cheers to growing old, nothing to be afraid off. Just keep sane and grow old gracefully.
2 weeks to go and Christmas
Well....should I say, 2 weeks to go before getting my 13th mth pay kekeke. Walau I have already plans how to spend the money. Oh...let me put it this way, use to pay for my cock-eyed prediction in the stock market ventures. SHITS!!!
One thing for sure.....millions of people also have the same problem as me, hmmmmmmm
still don't feel "shiok" somehow. Anyway....come to think of it, it was the same thing year-in and year-out for me. Fxxked! so what is different then?
To count my blessings ===>>> 1... I am healthy, 2...my family is healthy, 3...my loved ones are healthy, 4...more or less, we did managed to get thru the bad patches
for this year in one piece, 5...we still have our job, 6...we still can sleep, eat and shit, 7...have time to reflect on our life, 8...can look forward and hopefully to a better 2008.
One thing for sure.....millions of people also have the same problem as me, hmmmmmmm
still don't feel "shiok" somehow. Anyway....come to think of it, it was the same thing year-in and year-out for me. Fxxked! so what is different then?
To count my blessings ===>>> 1... I am healthy, 2...my family is healthy, 3...my loved ones are healthy, 4...more or less, we did managed to get thru the bad patches
for this year in one piece, 5...we still have our job, 6...we still can sleep, eat and shit, 7...have time to reflect on our life, 8...can look forward and hopefully to a better 2008.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Another new month - December
POWER....13 mth pay again, wow so fast and this year is gone.
Looking back at the past 11 mths, and there are lots of things I should have done differently and the outcome would have been better. First....just stick to what I
have learned over the past 20 years about the stock market, would have surely stand
me at good stead but somehow due to greed and peer-pressure to make more that caused
me to lose all that I have won and plus suffer another big lost.
The answer....is still greed.
Guess whatever one's suffering....it will always be back to the same cycle of pains
because greed cannot go away. Human has short momery....shorter still if easy money is concern.
One sure way to overcome this issue once and for all.....is to die. Death can be the only way out. Frankly....I too won't mind the thought of it, in fact I wish for this to happen asap. I really hate myself for all my past mistakes.
Now....even if I had a million dollars, I really believe that I won't be able to hold on to it for long....I will still somehow lose it all very soon, one way or another. Unless....I can totally "remake" myself, totally give up my present way of thinking and life style. Yes....if I go away from here, totally not touch internet and live life far away from the city. Be a monk alone in the hill....just far away from anyone then maybe I can hold on to the million. hahaha....then again why do I need the million for? Since I won't be spending the million....no point having the money if one won't be spending it. Again another pointless thought.
Okay...maybe if I just go away and find a purpose, maybe like to help the orphans in some far away land. For that....I must have money, again $$$$$$$ and more $$$$$$$ in order to be of help. So....back to greed again.
At the end of all these "yo-yo" thoughts...death is the best way out for all these headaches.
Looking back at the past 11 mths, and there are lots of things I should have done differently and the outcome would have been better. First....just stick to what I
have learned over the past 20 years about the stock market, would have surely stand
me at good stead but somehow due to greed and peer-pressure to make more that caused
me to lose all that I have won and plus suffer another big lost.
The answer....is still greed.
Guess whatever one's suffering....it will always be back to the same cycle of pains
because greed cannot go away. Human has short momery....shorter still if easy money is concern.
One sure way to overcome this issue once and for all.....is to die. Death can be the only way out. Frankly....I too won't mind the thought of it, in fact I wish for this to happen asap. I really hate myself for all my past mistakes.
Now....even if I had a million dollars, I really believe that I won't be able to hold on to it for long....I will still somehow lose it all very soon, one way or another. Unless....I can totally "remake" myself, totally give up my present way of thinking and life style. Yes....if I go away from here, totally not touch internet and live life far away from the city. Be a monk alone in the hill....just far away from anyone then maybe I can hold on to the million. hahaha....then again why do I need the million for? Since I won't be spending the million....no point having the money if one won't be spending it. Again another pointless thought.
Okay...maybe if I just go away and find a purpose, maybe like to help the orphans in some far away land. For that....I must have money, again $$$$$$$ and more $$$$$$$ in order to be of help. So....back to greed again.
At the end of all these "yo-yo" thoughts...death is the best way out for all these headaches.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Saturday - 4D
Sighed.....missed 14K which I could use to pay off the "losts" in the stock market recently. Very handy indeed but it was not to be. Missed by in one number for today's 2nd price. XXX7....mine was XXX8.
Went to Waterloo Temple this morning and asked for divine prediction.....I managed to get lot #1 in which it stated that it likes the beginning of this world. Everything is already pre-ordained.....and that I must continue to offer prayers so that the Buddha can help bless me with everything good. Another thing is not to be reckless in doing things, think and look carefully before steping into the unknown.
In the end.....things will be better, as this is a rare lot. The beginning of things.
......lot # 1.
POWER....meanwhile, be patient and learn about how the world moves.
Went to Waterloo Temple this morning and asked for divine prediction.....I managed to get lot #1 in which it stated that it likes the beginning of this world. Everything is already pre-ordained.....and that I must continue to offer prayers so that the Buddha can help bless me with everything good. Another thing is not to be reckless in doing things, think and look carefully before steping into the unknown.
In the end.....things will be better, as this is a rare lot. The beginning of things.
......lot # 1.
POWER....meanwhile, be patient and learn about how the world moves.
Friday, November 23, 2007
It's Friday again
Well....another week is "gone" and my pocket is also very much lighter. In fact, one hell of "too much lighter".
Fxxk....that is how badly the stock market has impacted me. "COMA"....with most of the stocks I had dropping badly. It has been 6 weeks since the peak of the SGX and the Dow, and I have just "lost hope" trying to see a meaningful up-side for the market. Up one day but drop the next 3 to 4 days. At the end....the market got cheaper and cheaper.
My timing was so bad this time....I went in too early. Was thinking after dropping for 3 weeks...the market can find it's feet but it turns out to be a wrong move. Now.....I have lost most of my bullets and guts. What a huge different from the month of Sept. I seem to be able to predict the market well. Frankly this fall....
I too sort of right when I said this will surely "happen" but due to greed to try to make money for honey, I shot myself in both feet.
Also year-end is near....just paying of the interest of the over-drafts on the personal loans and credit cards roll-over is knocking a huge hole from my pay check now.
Thinking back....I was so confidence in August till early Oct, whatever I buy, I made money....now, whatever I buy, I lose money and badly too. When making money, it was small money as compared to my lost now.
All my predictions about the market was right except that I don't follow strictly to my own prediction....and now "fear" has taken over from confidence esp for myself.
FEAR....fear of losting more money. If I "cool" it now, the worst is that my 13 mth pay plus low profile for the next few months and I will be okay again. If I keep..."cheonging" away and the market continue "going south" then I will have no choice but to "jump" with it. And that is not nice.
Fxxk....that is how badly the stock market has impacted me. "COMA"....with most of the stocks I had dropping badly. It has been 6 weeks since the peak of the SGX and the Dow, and I have just "lost hope" trying to see a meaningful up-side for the market. Up one day but drop the next 3 to 4 days. At the end....the market got cheaper and cheaper.
My timing was so bad this time....I went in too early. Was thinking after dropping for 3 weeks...the market can find it's feet but it turns out to be a wrong move. Now.....I have lost most of my bullets and guts. What a huge different from the month of Sept. I seem to be able to predict the market well. Frankly this fall....
I too sort of right when I said this will surely "happen" but due to greed to try to make money for honey, I shot myself in both feet.
Also year-end is near....just paying of the interest of the over-drafts on the personal loans and credit cards roll-over is knocking a huge hole from my pay check now.
Thinking back....I was so confidence in August till early Oct, whatever I buy, I made money....now, whatever I buy, I lose money and badly too. When making money, it was small money as compared to my lost now.
All my predictions about the market was right except that I don't follow strictly to my own prediction....and now "fear" has taken over from confidence esp for myself.
FEAR....fear of losting more money. If I "cool" it now, the worst is that my 13 mth pay plus low profile for the next few months and I will be okay again. If I keep..."cheonging" away and the market continue "going south" then I will have no choice but to "jump" with it. And that is not nice.
Friday, November 16, 2007
US market closing for Friday
Choppy....is the key word for the market. At the start it was up nearly 80 but after 45 mins it was way down south in losing by 50....then another moment it was up again showing even better gain as compared to the start....up by 100. By the last afternoon it was way down again.
I thought...SHIT, the same old last hour crash again. This was what happened to the last 2 trading days Wed and Thur in the States. Oh no...not again, luckily at the last 20 mins.....it turned around and head "NORTH". Man....the index was like crazy,
it can be up or down by 5 to 20 points in the up-dates. Just lucky looking at it to show a gain of 66 points for the DOW and 18 points for the Nasdaq.
While the declines vs the advances....still show more counters closing lower than higher. Hahaha....really a "dead mouse" bounce type of rally to me. Cannot say this is a dead cat....as this is smaller and weaker. In fact....the last minute buying is more for covering the earlier "shorts" or squaring trading positions. Still no complaint from me....better than a sharp fall like what happened during Wed and Thur.
For the market here on this coming Monday....look like we too will be having this type of rally at the start followed by a fall but ending the day with a better close.
A mirror finish....just like what happened tonight in the States. The market as a whole is already over-sold....but there is no trigger to turn the market around from present "correction" mode to a "up" mode. Maybe on Tuesday night....when the Feb released the reason for the last rate-cut on 31st Oct...then we may have a better insight to the trading. Still....my personal believe is that next week, the markets all over will be in better shape than this week. Sure...there will be up and down but at the end of the week....can show a gain then to me, it is a good week.
Hahaha....still the same old story of "only time will tell" whether my insight is right or wrong. Since I am fully in the market....would be great for a change if market shows a positive reaction to what happened this week. :)
I thought...SHIT, the same old last hour crash again. This was what happened to the last 2 trading days Wed and Thur in the States. Oh no...not again, luckily at the last 20 mins.....it turned around and head "NORTH". Man....the index was like crazy,
it can be up or down by 5 to 20 points in the up-dates. Just lucky looking at it to show a gain of 66 points for the DOW and 18 points for the Nasdaq.
While the declines vs the advances....still show more counters closing lower than higher. Hahaha....really a "dead mouse" bounce type of rally to me. Cannot say this is a dead cat....as this is smaller and weaker. In fact....the last minute buying is more for covering the earlier "shorts" or squaring trading positions. Still no complaint from me....better than a sharp fall like what happened during Wed and Thur.
For the market here on this coming Monday....look like we too will be having this type of rally at the start followed by a fall but ending the day with a better close.
A mirror finish....just like what happened tonight in the States. The market as a whole is already over-sold....but there is no trigger to turn the market around from present "correction" mode to a "up" mode. Maybe on Tuesday night....when the Feb released the reason for the last rate-cut on 31st Oct...then we may have a better insight to the trading. Still....my personal believe is that next week, the markets all over will be in better shape than this week. Sure...there will be up and down but at the end of the week....can show a gain then to me, it is a good week.
Hahaha....still the same old story of "only time will tell" whether my insight is right or wrong. Since I am fully in the market....would be great for a change if market shows a positive reaction to what happened this week. :)
Luck also not with me.
Yes! my luck was still nok.....missed the 4D Wed for the number 2007 which I bought quite often and normally for 5 big 5 small....pte one. And since I was already losing badly in the stock market, kind of pull back on my 4D punting lor and end-up as a bad move.
Even for the stock market.....the market did recovered a couple of times but in the end I didn't took any opportunity to "sold off or cut gain". If I have do that I will be able to keep my losts to the mininum.
Even for the stock market.....the market did recovered a couple of times but in the end I didn't took any opportunity to "sold off or cut gain". If I have do that I will be able to keep my losts to the mininum.
My stocks dealing for this past week - SGX
Like I said on last Saturday that only time can tell....well, after one whole week of wheeling and dealing the facts shown that I kena "screwed". True enough that the market "tanked" for 4 out of the 5 trading days.
Whatever I bought....went "South" the moment I buy the counter. Really a hard week esp with so much "selling" happening around. Just no end in sight for the selling here and in the US Market....even now with all the markets having drop so much, no one can really tell when shall be the end of the selling. That we shall continue
kena "fxxxked" was a big surprise!
At the US markets.....the melt down usually happen towards the last 1 hr of trading and the drop is big too. Then all these will be follow by a drop here.
Whatever I bought....went "South" the moment I buy the counter. Really a hard week esp with so much "selling" happening around. Just no end in sight for the selling here and in the US Market....even now with all the markets having drop so much, no one can really tell when shall be the end of the selling. That we shall continue
kena "fxxxked" was a big surprise!
At the US markets.....the melt down usually happen towards the last 1 hr of trading and the drop is big too. Then all these will be follow by a drop here.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
My luck - lately
Frankly....just don't know what to say for my luck lately. In fact for a last one month....I noticed I am very screw-up esp with 4D luck. Missed out 3 first prizes...
2 on my car's no and 1 for my daughter's NRIC, not counting countless starter prizes.
Then....stupid buying and selling of stocks, another "lost". By the thousands.
Now....upon reflection of what may have gone wrong is that I didn't gone "vege" on the 1st and 15th of lunar calender. NO MEAT....but for the past couple of sessions,
I totally didn't follow. SHIT....kena "punished".
Today....also same again, last midnight....happily sucking on chicken's feet wanton mee until someone said that today is 1st of the 10th month. "CB"....too late!!!
Tonight's.....4D.....no smell. SHIT :(
Just don't know what to believe....but I better make sure I go half day "vege" the next 15th. It cannot be worst....esp my luck, just that I must remember well the 1st and 15th. Must die...die do it for my own sake.
2 on my car's no and 1 for my daughter's NRIC, not counting countless starter prizes.
Then....stupid buying and selling of stocks, another "lost". By the thousands.
Now....upon reflection of what may have gone wrong is that I didn't gone "vege" on the 1st and 15th of lunar calender. NO MEAT....but for the past couple of sessions,
I totally didn't follow. SHIT....kena "punished".
Today....also same again, last midnight....happily sucking on chicken's feet wanton mee until someone said that today is 1st of the 10th month. "CB"....too late!!!
Tonight's.....4D.....no smell. SHIT :(
Just don't know what to believe....but I better make sure I go half day "vege" the next 15th. It cannot be worst....esp my luck, just that I must remember well the 1st and 15th. Must die...die do it for my own sake.
Only Time will tell....on this Monday's stock market direction.
Wa....lau if only I wait till the market corrects to the price below then I won't
have to be worry about the coming drop on Monday for most of the Asian markets
including SGX. The question...."by how much will be the drop" and "when will it ends". From the look of things....no one can tell esp when "FEAR" of the unknown
start to appear in the minds of the players all over the world.
The whole situation with the stock markets all over the world is that of a "perfect storm"....a combination of factors. High oil prices, weak US $, sub-prime issues for the housing loans, regional risks - Turkey, Iran and the Middle East. Plus the incease for most basic stuffs for the people eg food prices, utilities and housing.
Plus the fact....that most stock markets are at their highest level in years only added to the pressure of a "bubble". It has to correct along the way or if not, the drop will be worst. And it won't be term as "correction" but "crash or meltdown".
For now....I still think what is happening for the market is just a correction and not yet a "crash or meltdown". That will happen if there is something big eg another "911" in the US.....then when the stock markets in China, Hong Kong crashed,
the rest will follow. The US market....will still be the "trigger" for the next big fall.
My prediction for stocks I plan to buy....which I put up on last Monday and come this Monday, most likely the price of some of these stocks may go below my picks. Meaning that I have to re-adjust my picks again or pick up some of these stocks for a quick punt.
My pick last Monday for the local ones...mainly from Construction sector will be Yongnam ( below 33 cents ), Chip Eng Seng ( below 58 cents ) and Hiap Seng ( below 66 cents ).
The heavy weight ones shall be STX PO ( below 3.50 ) and Olam ( below 3.00 ).
The China ones then the ones shall be Synear ( below 1.90 ), China Energy ( below 1.10 ), China Fish ( below 1.88 ), YangZiliang ( below 1.90 ), China Sky ( below 2.00 ), China XLX ( below 1.00 ), China Sun ( below 50 cents ) and Pine Agritech ( below 43 cents ).
Monday - "fishing" day or a killing field day? Only at the end of it....then we will know. Like what the wise saying...."only time will tell". POWER!
have to be worry about the coming drop on Monday for most of the Asian markets
including SGX. The question...."by how much will be the drop" and "when will it ends". From the look of things....no one can tell esp when "FEAR" of the unknown
start to appear in the minds of the players all over the world.
The whole situation with the stock markets all over the world is that of a "perfect storm"....a combination of factors. High oil prices, weak US $, sub-prime issues for the housing loans, regional risks - Turkey, Iran and the Middle East. Plus the incease for most basic stuffs for the people eg food prices, utilities and housing.
Plus the fact....that most stock markets are at their highest level in years only added to the pressure of a "bubble". It has to correct along the way or if not, the drop will be worst. And it won't be term as "correction" but "crash or meltdown".
For now....I still think what is happening for the market is just a correction and not yet a "crash or meltdown". That will happen if there is something big eg another "911" in the US.....then when the stock markets in China, Hong Kong crashed,
the rest will follow. The US market....will still be the "trigger" for the next big fall.
My prediction for stocks I plan to buy....which I put up on last Monday and come this Monday, most likely the price of some of these stocks may go below my picks. Meaning that I have to re-adjust my picks again or pick up some of these stocks for a quick punt.
My pick last Monday for the local ones...mainly from Construction sector will be Yongnam ( below 33 cents ), Chip Eng Seng ( below 58 cents ) and Hiap Seng ( below 66 cents ).
The heavy weight ones shall be STX PO ( below 3.50 ) and Olam ( below 3.00 ).
The China ones then the ones shall be Synear ( below 1.90 ), China Energy ( below 1.10 ), China Fish ( below 1.88 ), YangZiliang ( below 1.90 ), China Sky ( below 2.00 ), China XLX ( below 1.00 ), China Sun ( below 50 cents ) and Pine Agritech ( below 43 cents ).
Monday - "fishing" day or a killing field day? Only at the end of it....then we will know. Like what the wise saying...."only time will tell". POWER!
Friday, November 09, 2007
Friday market
Well...what to say? Again another killing field day for all markets. Here the drop of 70+ points or 2+% lost of the index, was a drop in the ocean. The Chinese markets go up and down the whole day. Same for the Hong Kong market too.
Now....with the US market closing down again, things won't look good on this coming Monday. The index has dropped about 307 points from the high in Oct of 3906 points to present 3599 points or 8.5%. But....still feel that the market had to correct further and bigger than now. There are rooms for further falls.
Now....with the US market closing down again, things won't look good on this coming Monday. The index has dropped about 307 points from the high in Oct of 3906 points to present 3599 points or 8.5%. But....still feel that the market had to correct further and bigger than now. There are rooms for further falls.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Investment outlook
For myself....I am half expecting to see this correction but for the greed to try to make money fast, I fall into the trap. Yes! I know that no money, no honey still becoz I need my honey, I become less careful and very rash for my own good.
For the correction....I think it will be okay after this month. It won't be so fast this time to get over the fall or should I say that it has to drop by at least 10% before any meaningful upward trend can be set.
The swing lately for all markets is "huge". This is good for the brave and deep pocketed big fishes....not for me hahaha. Lose....kena the bones and still no honey to sayang sayang my pain.
For the correction....I think it will be okay after this month. It won't be so fast this time to get over the fall or should I say that it has to drop by at least 10% before any meaningful upward trend can be set.
The swing lately for all markets is "huge". This is good for the brave and deep pocketed big fishes....not for me hahaha. Lose....kena the bones and still no honey to sayang sayang my pain.
Wed and Thu - SGX and world market
Man...a killing field on today's markets for other Asian markets, esp after last night huge drop in the US - 360 points south.
Lucky for us...we had a holiday but then we cannot escaped the drop for long. Just gotto hope that the US closed higher tonight then the drop here on Friday will be manageable. Will still suffer a drop...only how bad.
The market as a whole has gone up too much too fast, and now with oil and the sub-prime issues we cannot expect the market will continue to go up higher. The world is such that the rich will get richer, and the poor....poorer. This is an example.
I read in today's newspaper that the number of billionaires in China is fast catching up with the US. I am not surprise....as their stock market is gone up so fast over the past couple of years, that one day soon....we shall be sending our children to work there. Luckily not as maids but as teachers and other skilled workers. Guess we are also lucky to be Singaporean. And we must not forget about this. Yes! our standard of life has dropped lately with the increase of almost everything but pay....still we are lucky, maybe we should be more careful with our money and things will be okay.
Lucky for us...we had a holiday but then we cannot escaped the drop for long. Just gotto hope that the US closed higher tonight then the drop here on Friday will be manageable. Will still suffer a drop...only how bad.
The market as a whole has gone up too much too fast, and now with oil and the sub-prime issues we cannot expect the market will continue to go up higher. The world is such that the rich will get richer, and the poor....poorer. This is an example.
I read in today's newspaper that the number of billionaires in China is fast catching up with the US. I am not surprise....as their stock market is gone up so fast over the past couple of years, that one day soon....we shall be sending our children to work there. Luckily not as maids but as teachers and other skilled workers. Guess we are also lucky to be Singaporean. And we must not forget about this. Yes! our standard of life has dropped lately with the increase of almost everything but pay....still we are lucky, maybe we should be more careful with our money and things will be okay.
Asian markets face turbulence in 2008: ratings agency
Asian markets face turbulence in 2008: ratings agency
Asian stock markets face a difficult 2008 and could slide sharply, ratings agency Standard and Poor's said Thursday as regional share prices fell heavily in early trading.
"2008 will be a more difficult year for stock market returns and we would not rule out the risk of a sharp correction," Lorraine Tan said in a statement accompanying a report by the agency's equity research unit.
Asian equity markets had reached increasingly risky levels and there would be less scope for them to rise after 2007's strong performance, the report added.
"Markets would be jittery over potential negative news, such as on inflation and further deterioration in the US and European economies," Tan said.
The comments came as major Asian markets dropped by between two and three percent early Thursday after an overnight slide on Wall Street caused by jitters about the outlook for the US economy.
The US is struggling with a credit crunch and housing market slowdown after record defaults on subprime mortgages extended to homebuyers with riskier credit profiles.
The report said markets in Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand were likely to deliver better relative performance in 2008, but that Japan was set to do less well.
Standard & Poor's also expects more ratings downgrades for the corporate sector next year due to rising costs and less readily available credit.
Ian Thompson, the firm's chief credit officer for regional ratings services, said that "casualties" were expected, especially outside the financial sector.
He added that "the balance of our rating outlooks on the corporate sector suggests there may be more rating downgrades than upgrades among Asia-Pacific companies in 2008".
That contrasted sharply with the general improvement in credit quality this year, he said in the statement.
Standard & Poor's expects Southeast Asia to grow on average 6.4 percent in 2008, with Indonesia and the Philippines seen as bright spots.
My view - Guess this is not a good thing for punters and to me personally. But at the end of the day.....good thing will end one day, for this case too soon hahaha.
So, gotto rethink my options to deal with this.
Asian stock markets face a difficult 2008 and could slide sharply, ratings agency Standard and Poor's said Thursday as regional share prices fell heavily in early trading.
"2008 will be a more difficult year for stock market returns and we would not rule out the risk of a sharp correction," Lorraine Tan said in a statement accompanying a report by the agency's equity research unit.
Asian equity markets had reached increasingly risky levels and there would be less scope for them to rise after 2007's strong performance, the report added.
"Markets would be jittery over potential negative news, such as on inflation and further deterioration in the US and European economies," Tan said.
The comments came as major Asian markets dropped by between two and three percent early Thursday after an overnight slide on Wall Street caused by jitters about the outlook for the US economy.
The US is struggling with a credit crunch and housing market slowdown after record defaults on subprime mortgages extended to homebuyers with riskier credit profiles.
The report said markets in Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand were likely to deliver better relative performance in 2008, but that Japan was set to do less well.
Standard & Poor's also expects more ratings downgrades for the corporate sector next year due to rising costs and less readily available credit.
Ian Thompson, the firm's chief credit officer for regional ratings services, said that "casualties" were expected, especially outside the financial sector.
He added that "the balance of our rating outlooks on the corporate sector suggests there may be more rating downgrades than upgrades among Asia-Pacific companies in 2008".
That contrasted sharply with the general improvement in credit quality this year, he said in the statement.
Standard & Poor's expects Southeast Asia to grow on average 6.4 percent in 2008, with Indonesia and the Philippines seen as bright spots.
My view - Guess this is not a good thing for punters and to me personally. But at the end of the day.....good thing will end one day, for this case too soon hahaha.
So, gotto rethink my options to deal with this.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Tuesday - SGX
Power....the index started out shooting higher. In fact at one point in the morning it was up by 30+ points and then the Hong Kong market started...also up by 350+ points....then within 20 mins, dropped by 350 points. SHIT!!! And the market here also followed with a drop of 7 points instead of a plus 30 points.
To think of it....that is a wide range of movement. From the look of the market lately here and elsewhere, it is quite common movement. So there is money to be made if your call is "right". Hahaha I was thinking of some cherry-picking this morning but the start of trading threw me off balance. I expected the market to drop since the US's market dropped. I end-up buying the losing stocks....since they slow a negative or have not went up yet. EG China Fish, Bio-treat and Pac Andes. By 10.30am,
all show a drop hahaha...instead of cherry they turned into sour plum. Anyway by 11.30am they did recovered the price a little.
Really need a strong heart to play this market lately....fun if the call is correct and made some money...the same can happen if the call is proved wrong, lose some money.
To think of it....that is a wide range of movement. From the look of the market lately here and elsewhere, it is quite common movement. So there is money to be made if your call is "right". Hahaha I was thinking of some cherry-picking this morning but the start of trading threw me off balance. I expected the market to drop since the US's market dropped. I end-up buying the losing stocks....since they slow a negative or have not went up yet. EG China Fish, Bio-treat and Pac Andes. By 10.30am,
all show a drop hahaha...instead of cherry they turned into sour plum. Anyway by 11.30am they did recovered the price a little.
Really need a strong heart to play this market lately....fun if the call is correct and made some money...the same can happen if the call is proved wrong, lose some money.
Desire by Osho
“Desire has not to be destroyed, it has to be purified. Desire has not
to be dropped, it has to be transformed. Your very being is desire; to
be against it is to be against yourself and to be against all...”
Osho
hahaha....guess what Osho may be thinking are the pure type like the
desire to make money. On itself, it can be many different ways to
achieve the goal....so maybe he wants us to do that the "right way".
Like...thru hard work or biz ( honest way ).
Man....the start of day and the sky already "dark" and raining. Sighed!
Just hope this does not happen to the stock market too hahaha. My take
for today should be better than yesterday. Can monitor and do some
cherry-picking if free. And I am free as usual....unwanted!
to be dropped, it has to be transformed. Your very being is desire; to
be against it is to be against yourself and to be against all...”
Osho
hahaha....guess what Osho may be thinking are the pure type like the
desire to make money. On itself, it can be many different ways to
achieve the goal....so maybe he wants us to do that the "right way".
Like...thru hard work or biz ( honest way ).
Man....the start of day and the sky already "dark" and raining. Sighed!
Just hope this does not happen to the stock market too hahaha. My take
for today should be better than yesterday. Can monitor and do some
cherry-picking if free. And I am free as usual....unwanted!
SGX - index dropped 45 points
hahaha at one point in the afternoon, it went down to 60+ points. And the US futures also went down to 120 points as compared to the Singapore's close at 5pm which show only 95 points.
Tomorrow will be another "down" day for the markets everywhere, as we are living in a global market. The problem is whether "how much is the drop in US tonight?" Then the same will happen here in Asia.
For the present drop...the blame is back to sub-prime and if the last one in August is any guide then we can see the market dropping for the next couple of days. With the holiday on Thursday....then, next Monday is a better bet for the market to stablise. Still...there will be some stocks going "up and down".
My pick for the local ones...mainly from Construction sector will be Yongnam ( below 33 cents ), Chip Eng Seng ( below 58 cents ) and Hiap Seng ( below 66 cents ).
The heavy weight ones shall be STX PO ( below 3.50 ) and Olam ( below 3.00 ).
The China ones then the ones shall be Synear ( below 1.90 ), China Energy ( below 1.10 ), China Fish ( below 1.88 ), YangZiliang ( below 1.90 ), China Sky ( below 2.00 ), China XLX ( below 1.00 ), China Sun ( below 50 cents ) and Pine Agritech ( below 43 cents ). For China stocks.....it is wise to stay out for the moment becoz of all the different views and ideas coming out of Bejing esp with the QII funds which can invest in oversea China stocks. One victim of this rumour is Hong kong market today...down by 5% or 1500+ points.
With the bloodbath in Asia the whole day....these prices are being "narrow" and the gaps/my targets are achievable so I must stay very calm and patient hahaha. All these remind me....of "fishing".
My advise is still be invest in Index shares....better and faster reaction when the market corrects upwards.
Tomorrow will be another "down" day for the markets everywhere, as we are living in a global market. The problem is whether "how much is the drop in US tonight?" Then the same will happen here in Asia.
For the present drop...the blame is back to sub-prime and if the last one in August is any guide then we can see the market dropping for the next couple of days. With the holiday on Thursday....then, next Monday is a better bet for the market to stablise. Still...there will be some stocks going "up and down".
My pick for the local ones...mainly from Construction sector will be Yongnam ( below 33 cents ), Chip Eng Seng ( below 58 cents ) and Hiap Seng ( below 66 cents ).
The heavy weight ones shall be STX PO ( below 3.50 ) and Olam ( below 3.00 ).
The China ones then the ones shall be Synear ( below 1.90 ), China Energy ( below 1.10 ), China Fish ( below 1.88 ), YangZiliang ( below 1.90 ), China Sky ( below 2.00 ), China XLX ( below 1.00 ), China Sun ( below 50 cents ) and Pine Agritech ( below 43 cents ). For China stocks.....it is wise to stay out for the moment becoz of all the different views and ideas coming out of Bejing esp with the QII funds which can invest in oversea China stocks. One victim of this rumour is Hong kong market today...down by 5% or 1500+ points.
With the bloodbath in Asia the whole day....these prices are being "narrow" and the gaps/my targets are achievable so I must stay very calm and patient hahaha. All these remind me....of "fishing".
My advise is still be invest in Index shares....better and faster reaction when the market corrects upwards.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Another "down" day for the SGX
Well....this is to be expected esp with the markets around the world are at their "highs" and with oil and resources at the all-time "high" too.
Even at the "mirco level" eg at our market and neigbhourhood shops, almost everything have gone up. For the general public, the situation is worst off than
before. Like myself....got a 3% increase in pay but look around, GST went up by
another 2%, the petrol price increase, then everything went up even at NTUC supermarkets. Our money has lost the actual value faster then we can earn more.
With...the above, believed this is happening all over the world. No place is spared.
Frankly I really pity those who are counting their $ and cents. This is really "shit" time for them.
Oh...back to SGX, yes! the market will drop for the next few days too. How much will it drop, no one can really tell. So...it is best, to stay out of the market and watch it from far. Only when there is a 10% correction...then it is time to come and camp "monitor" the price movement.
Yes....there are a few "good" stocks to focus on.
Even at the "mirco level" eg at our market and neigbhourhood shops, almost everything have gone up. For the general public, the situation is worst off than
before. Like myself....got a 3% increase in pay but look around, GST went up by
another 2%, the petrol price increase, then everything went up even at NTUC supermarkets. Our money has lost the actual value faster then we can earn more.
With...the above, believed this is happening all over the world. No place is spared.
Frankly I really pity those who are counting their $ and cents. This is really "shit" time for them.
Oh...back to SGX, yes! the market will drop for the next few days too. How much will it drop, no one can really tell. So...it is best, to stay out of the market and watch it from far. Only when there is a 10% correction...then it is time to come and camp "monitor" the price movement.
Yes....there are a few "good" stocks to focus on.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
No such thing as a sure bet
Yes! confirmed esp for the above statement. At best....the odds are better maybe 30/70 but only if one is prepared to lose some money and sleep, it is best just to keep an eye on the market esp like now.
Yes! one can still win some money....only but if ONE is prepared to be patient and wait for the opportunity. Must be damn nibble in this type of market or end-up losing the pants too.
Sometime....by holding a losing bet may not be a "great idea" as no one can predict the bottom for the stock at this moment. At best....after some homeworks and midnight oil....can come up with some guidelines before placing the bets.
Yes! one can still win some money....only but if ONE is prepared to be patient and wait for the opportunity. Must be damn nibble in this type of market or end-up losing the pants too.
Sometime....by holding a losing bet may not be a "great idea" as no one can predict the bottom for the stock at this moment. At best....after some homeworks and midnight oil....can come up with some guidelines before placing the bets.
SGX - for the week ending 2/11
Well for the past week stock market, lots of up and down. Lucky managed to control
myself from diving into it. Anyway....after the last screw-up, I am kind of very kiasi. It is no fun losing money....trust me on that. Might as well use the money to go for a holiday or buy something for the family and myself. That is better as everyone can be happy.
From the look of the market here....it has gone up too fast and the volume has come down, this show that the ave retail punters ( uncle and anuties ) are still nursing their wounds esp when the China stocks came crashing down about 2 weeks ago.
The market has to correct before the year-end rally....and for this to happen, the index gotto come down to 3300. Therefore there is still a 10% drop before things can stablised. This is when the volume dropped further....signalling that the weak sellers have sold out their holdings.
I would focus on STX PO ( below $3.60 ), Olam ( below $3.00 ), Semb Mar ( below $4.40 ) and Berlian Laju ( below 33 cents ). As for the China shares....best to give them a rest hahaha. Maybe a couple can be follow, China Energy ( below 1.20 ) and Yangzijiang ( below $2.00 ). For quickies, Chip Eng Seng ( below 64 cents ) and Manhattan Resources ( below 65 cents ).
Mainly for the long term then....STX PO is the best bet if can buy below $3.60 as the stock is selling back in Korea at $7.20 or at double my target. Unless some huge correction happen or some hidden forex losts by the company ( eg Semb Mar & Labroy )
occur out of the blue....this stock should continue to go up to around $5 by end of the year. The thing is this....this stock is very violate.
myself from diving into it. Anyway....after the last screw-up, I am kind of very kiasi. It is no fun losing money....trust me on that. Might as well use the money to go for a holiday or buy something for the family and myself. That is better as everyone can be happy.
From the look of the market here....it has gone up too fast and the volume has come down, this show that the ave retail punters ( uncle and anuties ) are still nursing their wounds esp when the China stocks came crashing down about 2 weeks ago.
The market has to correct before the year-end rally....and for this to happen, the index gotto come down to 3300. Therefore there is still a 10% drop before things can stablised. This is when the volume dropped further....signalling that the weak sellers have sold out their holdings.
I would focus on STX PO ( below $3.60 ), Olam ( below $3.00 ), Semb Mar ( below $4.40 ) and Berlian Laju ( below 33 cents ). As for the China shares....best to give them a rest hahaha. Maybe a couple can be follow, China Energy ( below 1.20 ) and Yangzijiang ( below $2.00 ). For quickies, Chip Eng Seng ( below 64 cents ) and Manhattan Resources ( below 65 cents ).
Mainly for the long term then....STX PO is the best bet if can buy below $3.60 as the stock is selling back in Korea at $7.20 or at double my target. Unless some huge correction happen or some hidden forex losts by the company ( eg Semb Mar & Labroy )
occur out of the blue....this stock should continue to go up to around $5 by end of the year. The thing is this....this stock is very violate.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Enter the mature bull - and higher volatility : SGX
Enter the mature bull - and higher volatility
But there's still room for equity prices to go higher
By TEH HOOI LING
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
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STOCK investors need pretty strong nerves to stay invested in the market of late. It is not uncommon to see the Straits Times Index (STI) open up 50 points but end the day at -50. And a 100-point plunge in one day may be followed by a similar jump the next.
This is a sign that investors are jittery. On the one hand, equities around the world have done spectacularly well in the last four-and-a-half years. During that time, the STI has more than tripled. That's a lot of profits to lock up. On the other hand, there are just as many compelling reasons to hold on to, as there are to quit, equities now.
The economic force that the emergence of China and India unleashes into the world, as hundreds of millions of new consumers flood the marketplace in the next few years or decades, is unimaginable. Meanwhile, the wealth accumulated thus far in these two countries is scouring the world for viable investments. That liquidity flow will continue to support asset prices globally.
On the flipside, the economy in the United States - still the world's biggest market today - is slowing down. The impact of the sub-prime mortgage crisis on consumer spending is still a big question mark. If US consumers tighten their purse-strings as they see their home prices fall, then many of the exporters around the world will be hit by declining profits. Demand from Asia may not yet be enough to make up for the shortfall. But increasingly, the market wisdom is that problems in the US are not severe enough to cause a recession there, and hence the impact on the global economy may not be as great as initially feared.
Still, the increased volatility is symptomatic of a maturing bull market.
Four-phase cycle
In a report this month, Citigroup Global Markets' equity research said that the global equity bull market that began in March 2003 is maturing, but not finished yet. We are now into the third phase of a four-phase market cycle, according to Citi.
The first phase is when the economy is emerging from a recession. It follows the bottom of the credit bear market. Spreads fall sharply as companies repair their balance sheets, often through deeply discounted share issues. This, along with continued pressure on profits, keeps equity prices falling.
Phase two begins as profitability turns and equity prices start to rally. Credit spreads fall even further as corporate cashflows rise strongly. This is an immature equity bull market. In the current cycle, this phase began in March 2003.
The third phase is when the credit bull market comes to an end. Spreads start to rise as investor appetite for leverage wanes. The equity market decouples from credit and continues to rise. 'We think that the market is entering this phase now. This is the mature equity bull market,' says Citi.
And after that, the market enters the bear phase, when equity and credit prices are falling together. This is usually associated with falling profits and worsening balance sheets. Insolvencies plague the credit market, and profit warnings plague the equity market. At this stage of the market, a defensive strategy is most appropriate - cash and government bonds are the best-performing asset classes.
Citi tries to identify the four phases in the last 20 years' market cycles. It found that the different phases are not equal in length. For credit market, phase one tends to be fast and furious. It lasted 18 months in 1991-92 and just five months in 2002-03. But the returns are significant - spreads collapsed by 29 basis points (bp) per month in 1991-92 and 50 bp per month in 2001-03.
Phase two tends to be longer. It lasted five years in the mid-1990s and just over four years in the early 2000s. Spreads fell by a more leisurely 3 bp a month in 1992-93 and 10 bp a month in 2001-03.
The credit bear market begins in phase three. Spreads rose by around 300 bp in 1988 and 1997-00. This time round, they have already risen by 120 bp since spreads bottomed on June 12, 2007.
Spreads keep rising in phase four as defaults increase and corporate profits fall. This tends to be the most painful period for credit investors, notes Citi. It lasted 30 months back in 2000-02.
While the credit investor makes money in phases one and two, an equity investor makes money in phases two and three. In phase three in 1988-90, global equities rose by 38 per cent despite a 317 bp increase in credit spreads. And in phase three in 1997-2000, equities rose by 57 per cent despite a 282 bp increase in credit spreads.
While equities perform well in phases two and three, phase two - the immature bull - lasts longer and is less volatile.
For example, the US Vix measure of implied volatility has averaged 15 in phase two and 22 in phase three. This is a key difference between a mature bull and an immature bull. 'The returns may be as good, but the quality of those returns is worse,' says Citi. 'Sharpe ratios and risk-adjusted returns deteriorate.' As for now, the Vix is 16 - having peaked at 30 in July. 'But we would expect the overall trend to be rising as the mature bull market develops.'
This suggests that while it is still right to be overweight equities in phase three, the overweight should not be as great as during phase two. And a leveraged strategy is less appropriate as volatility rises.
Among the sectors, Citi's analysis showed that travel and leisure, retail, media and industrial goods and services performed well in phase three of the last two cycles. Banks underperformed during this phase as credit spreads rose.
Meanwhile, the mature bull phases are also when major bubbles develop. In 1990, Japan rose to a 60 times trailing earnings multiple and accounted for 50 per cent of total global market cap. It now accounts for only 10 per cent. In 2000, technology, media and telecoms (TMT) also rose to 60 times PE and accounted for 40 per cent of global market cap. It now makes up 20 per cent of global market cap.
'These bubbles usually build on a theme that has already been performing strongly through phase two. Into phase three, easier monetary policy and rising capital inflows from other asset classes provide the fuel to drive prices to spectacular and ultimately unsustainable levels. This then bursts and proves a major downward force on global equities in the bear phase four,' says Citi.
Next equity bubble
The next equity bubble could be building in emerging market or commodity plays. 'These are stocks or markets which are perceived to be most positively exposed to a robust global economy, irrespective of the US slowdown.'
However, the Asia ex-Japan index, at 19 times PE, although a premium to the MSCI World's PE of 16 times, is still a long way off the 50-plus times multiple more typical of the peak in these mature bull market bubbles.
'The key point is that if the bubble for this cycle is to be created in the global growth trade, and the Asia Pacific/emerging markets indices in particular, then they could have a lot further to go.
'Investors who try to fight the current re-rating of these markets could suffer the same fate as those who tried to fight Japan in the 1980s and TMT in the 1990s. Probably the right call, but the timing could hit you,' says Citi.
According to Citi, signs of the end of the mature bull run include rate hikes and extended equity valuations. Both don't apply now.
So while the recent dislocation in financial markets suggests the end of the credit bull market, it is not the end of the equity bull market. We are entering the mature bull phase, which will still provide decent returns for equity investors. However, it is becoming increasingly unstable. This is the phase where a major speculative bubble typically develops in the global equity market. Perhaps this time round, it is in emerging markets and commodity plays. However investors should remember that these bubbles can go a lot further than anybody expects - it can prove fatal to bet against them too early, cautions Citi.
But there's still room for equity prices to go higher
By TEH HOOI LING
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
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STOCK investors need pretty strong nerves to stay invested in the market of late. It is not uncommon to see the Straits Times Index (STI) open up 50 points but end the day at -50. And a 100-point plunge in one day may be followed by a similar jump the next.
This is a sign that investors are jittery. On the one hand, equities around the world have done spectacularly well in the last four-and-a-half years. During that time, the STI has more than tripled. That's a lot of profits to lock up. On the other hand, there are just as many compelling reasons to hold on to, as there are to quit, equities now.
The economic force that the emergence of China and India unleashes into the world, as hundreds of millions of new consumers flood the marketplace in the next few years or decades, is unimaginable. Meanwhile, the wealth accumulated thus far in these two countries is scouring the world for viable investments. That liquidity flow will continue to support asset prices globally.
On the flipside, the economy in the United States - still the world's biggest market today - is slowing down. The impact of the sub-prime mortgage crisis on consumer spending is still a big question mark. If US consumers tighten their purse-strings as they see their home prices fall, then many of the exporters around the world will be hit by declining profits. Demand from Asia may not yet be enough to make up for the shortfall. But increasingly, the market wisdom is that problems in the US are not severe enough to cause a recession there, and hence the impact on the global economy may not be as great as initially feared.
Still, the increased volatility is symptomatic of a maturing bull market.
Four-phase cycle
In a report this month, Citigroup Global Markets' equity research said that the global equity bull market that began in March 2003 is maturing, but not finished yet. We are now into the third phase of a four-phase market cycle, according to Citi.
The first phase is when the economy is emerging from a recession. It follows the bottom of the credit bear market. Spreads fall sharply as companies repair their balance sheets, often through deeply discounted share issues. This, along with continued pressure on profits, keeps equity prices falling.
Phase two begins as profitability turns and equity prices start to rally. Credit spreads fall even further as corporate cashflows rise strongly. This is an immature equity bull market. In the current cycle, this phase began in March 2003.
The third phase is when the credit bull market comes to an end. Spreads start to rise as investor appetite for leverage wanes. The equity market decouples from credit and continues to rise. 'We think that the market is entering this phase now. This is the mature equity bull market,' says Citi.
And after that, the market enters the bear phase, when equity and credit prices are falling together. This is usually associated with falling profits and worsening balance sheets. Insolvencies plague the credit market, and profit warnings plague the equity market. At this stage of the market, a defensive strategy is most appropriate - cash and government bonds are the best-performing asset classes.
Citi tries to identify the four phases in the last 20 years' market cycles. It found that the different phases are not equal in length. For credit market, phase one tends to be fast and furious. It lasted 18 months in 1991-92 and just five months in 2002-03. But the returns are significant - spreads collapsed by 29 basis points (bp) per month in 1991-92 and 50 bp per month in 2001-03.
Phase two tends to be longer. It lasted five years in the mid-1990s and just over four years in the early 2000s. Spreads fell by a more leisurely 3 bp a month in 1992-93 and 10 bp a month in 2001-03.
The credit bear market begins in phase three. Spreads rose by around 300 bp in 1988 and 1997-00. This time round, they have already risen by 120 bp since spreads bottomed on June 12, 2007.
Spreads keep rising in phase four as defaults increase and corporate profits fall. This tends to be the most painful period for credit investors, notes Citi. It lasted 30 months back in 2000-02.
While the credit investor makes money in phases one and two, an equity investor makes money in phases two and three. In phase three in 1988-90, global equities rose by 38 per cent despite a 317 bp increase in credit spreads. And in phase three in 1997-2000, equities rose by 57 per cent despite a 282 bp increase in credit spreads.
While equities perform well in phases two and three, phase two - the immature bull - lasts longer and is less volatile.
For example, the US Vix measure of implied volatility has averaged 15 in phase two and 22 in phase three. This is a key difference between a mature bull and an immature bull. 'The returns may be as good, but the quality of those returns is worse,' says Citi. 'Sharpe ratios and risk-adjusted returns deteriorate.' As for now, the Vix is 16 - having peaked at 30 in July. 'But we would expect the overall trend to be rising as the mature bull market develops.'
This suggests that while it is still right to be overweight equities in phase three, the overweight should not be as great as during phase two. And a leveraged strategy is less appropriate as volatility rises.
Among the sectors, Citi's analysis showed that travel and leisure, retail, media and industrial goods and services performed well in phase three of the last two cycles. Banks underperformed during this phase as credit spreads rose.
Meanwhile, the mature bull phases are also when major bubbles develop. In 1990, Japan rose to a 60 times trailing earnings multiple and accounted for 50 per cent of total global market cap. It now accounts for only 10 per cent. In 2000, technology, media and telecoms (TMT) also rose to 60 times PE and accounted for 40 per cent of global market cap. It now makes up 20 per cent of global market cap.
'These bubbles usually build on a theme that has already been performing strongly through phase two. Into phase three, easier monetary policy and rising capital inflows from other asset classes provide the fuel to drive prices to spectacular and ultimately unsustainable levels. This then bursts and proves a major downward force on global equities in the bear phase four,' says Citi.
Next equity bubble
The next equity bubble could be building in emerging market or commodity plays. 'These are stocks or markets which are perceived to be most positively exposed to a robust global economy, irrespective of the US slowdown.'
However, the Asia ex-Japan index, at 19 times PE, although a premium to the MSCI World's PE of 16 times, is still a long way off the 50-plus times multiple more typical of the peak in these mature bull market bubbles.
'The key point is that if the bubble for this cycle is to be created in the global growth trade, and the Asia Pacific/emerging markets indices in particular, then they could have a lot further to go.
'Investors who try to fight the current re-rating of these markets could suffer the same fate as those who tried to fight Japan in the 1980s and TMT in the 1990s. Probably the right call, but the timing could hit you,' says Citi.
According to Citi, signs of the end of the mature bull run include rate hikes and extended equity valuations. Both don't apply now.
So while the recent dislocation in financial markets suggests the end of the credit bull market, it is not the end of the equity bull market. We are entering the mature bull phase, which will still provide decent returns for equity investors. However, it is becoming increasingly unstable. This is the phase where a major speculative bubble typically develops in the global equity market. Perhaps this time round, it is in emerging markets and commodity plays. However investors should remember that these bubbles can go a lot further than anybody expects - it can prove fatal to bet against them too early, cautions Citi.
Week of wild swings in market; warrants thrive - SGX
SGX Market Commentary
Published October 27, 2007
Week of wild swings in market; warrants thrive
By R SIVANITHY
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
ANOTHER roller-coaster week - thanks to wild swings on Wall Street and Hong Kong - yesterday ended with the Straits Times Index (STI) surging 64.41 points to 3,771.55, thanks mainly to a large push on the banks.
The main trading strategy? Ride the momentum, whichever way it went.
Over the five days the index gained 24 points, but throughout the week performances were not wholly convincing, notwithstanding what the index might suggest.
On Monday, for example, the index plunged 105 points in response to a severe Oct 19 sell-off on Wall Street that briefly rekindled memories of Oct 19, 1987 - or Black Monday, as it became known.
Wall Street's avoidance of a follow-up plunge was instrumental in helping to stabilise prices around the world, and the seeming ease with which it took news of a huge Merrill Lynch sub-prime-related write-off in its stride also helped restore confidence.
In all sessions though, it was necessary to keep an eye firmly on Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and/or the December futures contract on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Sudden twitches in either or both had an immediate impact here and 100-point moves in the STI were common.
Volatility increased sharply, especially with the Hang Seng Index regularly undergoing 1,000-point movements in a single trading session.
Program trading, short-selling and short-covering were all very much in evidence throughout, the targets being mainly the large, liquid blue chips. The main trading strategy? Ride the momentum, whichever way it went.
Perhaps the single most interesting feature was the surge of interest in structured warrants. Yesterday's business in the instrument was $208 million, roughly 6 per cent of the $3.5 billion that was traded - a marked increase from the 4 per cent average for the first nine months of this year. Every day, warrants featured prominently in not just the top percentage gainers list but also absolute gainers. These were mainly warrants on the STI and Hang Seng.
Other than warrants, shipping and shipyards provided fertile hunting opportunities for investors. In particular, China shipyard Cosco Corp continued its upward climb following a mid-week announcement of yet more contracts that led to a fresh slew of broker 'buy' reports.
DBS Vickers, for instance, on Thursday said it has raised its target price for Cosco to $9.00 based on 12 times bulk shipping earnings, a 50 per cent rise in capital value of vessels since January, and 30 times FY09 shipyard earnings. Having started the week at $7.50, Cosco finished it at $7.70, a tad below its closing record of $7.80 achieved a week earlier.
The banks have always led the index throughout this year, and this week was no different. DBS's announcement yesterday that its provision for US sub-prime-related losses amounted to less than what was expected helped its shares rebound, with a 70-cent rise to $22 adding 11 points to the index. Sympathetic rises in UOB and OCBC added a further 17 points.
In the second line, penny stocks continued to flag - the UOB Sesdaq Index, for instance, yesterday dropped 0.26 of a point to 231.59. Favourites such as Ei-Nets and Memstar appear to have fallen off punters' radar screens, while Uni-Asia Finance started the week at $1.59, crashed to $1.04, and finished the week at $1.38. The stock has been the subject of some controversy lately after local broking firms placed trading curbs on it.
Conclusion - from the look of the events happening lately, all these point towards a market correction soon. The wild swings are mainly related to people playing the index stocks one way or the other. For the rest of the market, generally quiet and bias towards moving lower. Therefore unless one is very focus on daily trading of buy and sell....it is too dangerous to remain "long" in this type of situation.
Published October 27, 2007
Week of wild swings in market; warrants thrive
By R SIVANITHY
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
ANOTHER roller-coaster week - thanks to wild swings on Wall Street and Hong Kong - yesterday ended with the Straits Times Index (STI) surging 64.41 points to 3,771.55, thanks mainly to a large push on the banks.
The main trading strategy? Ride the momentum, whichever way it went.
Over the five days the index gained 24 points, but throughout the week performances were not wholly convincing, notwithstanding what the index might suggest.
On Monday, for example, the index plunged 105 points in response to a severe Oct 19 sell-off on Wall Street that briefly rekindled memories of Oct 19, 1987 - or Black Monday, as it became known.
Wall Street's avoidance of a follow-up plunge was instrumental in helping to stabilise prices around the world, and the seeming ease with which it took news of a huge Merrill Lynch sub-prime-related write-off in its stride also helped restore confidence.
In all sessions though, it was necessary to keep an eye firmly on Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and/or the December futures contract on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Sudden twitches in either or both had an immediate impact here and 100-point moves in the STI were common.
Volatility increased sharply, especially with the Hang Seng Index regularly undergoing 1,000-point movements in a single trading session.
Program trading, short-selling and short-covering were all very much in evidence throughout, the targets being mainly the large, liquid blue chips. The main trading strategy? Ride the momentum, whichever way it went.
Perhaps the single most interesting feature was the surge of interest in structured warrants. Yesterday's business in the instrument was $208 million, roughly 6 per cent of the $3.5 billion that was traded - a marked increase from the 4 per cent average for the first nine months of this year. Every day, warrants featured prominently in not just the top percentage gainers list but also absolute gainers. These were mainly warrants on the STI and Hang Seng.
Other than warrants, shipping and shipyards provided fertile hunting opportunities for investors. In particular, China shipyard Cosco Corp continued its upward climb following a mid-week announcement of yet more contracts that led to a fresh slew of broker 'buy' reports.
DBS Vickers, for instance, on Thursday said it has raised its target price for Cosco to $9.00 based on 12 times bulk shipping earnings, a 50 per cent rise in capital value of vessels since January, and 30 times FY09 shipyard earnings. Having started the week at $7.50, Cosco finished it at $7.70, a tad below its closing record of $7.80 achieved a week earlier.
The banks have always led the index throughout this year, and this week was no different. DBS's announcement yesterday that its provision for US sub-prime-related losses amounted to less than what was expected helped its shares rebound, with a 70-cent rise to $22 adding 11 points to the index. Sympathetic rises in UOB and OCBC added a further 17 points.
In the second line, penny stocks continued to flag - the UOB Sesdaq Index, for instance, yesterday dropped 0.26 of a point to 231.59. Favourites such as Ei-Nets and Memstar appear to have fallen off punters' radar screens, while Uni-Asia Finance started the week at $1.59, crashed to $1.04, and finished the week at $1.38. The stock has been the subject of some controversy lately after local broking firms placed trading curbs on it.
Conclusion - from the look of the events happening lately, all these point towards a market correction soon. The wild swings are mainly related to people playing the index stocks one way or the other. For the rest of the market, generally quiet and bias towards moving lower. Therefore unless one is very focus on daily trading of buy and sell....it is too dangerous to remain "long" in this type of situation.
5 Secrets You Should Keep From Your Partner
It starts out simply enough: A man and woman get together, they share some wine, they go back to her place, their relationship grows, they laugh and they fight, and they become-tada!-a couple. And then something happens: They're supposed to share everything with each other. Their fears. Their dreams. Their thoughts. Their bills. Their medicine cabinets. And that's when this simple little romance starts to get complicated. in most relationships, there's such a thing as too much sharing-and I believe that a little discretion at the right time in the right situation is not only a good thing, but also could actually improve relationships. As long as you're not breaking the relationship rules-like playing tonsil hockey while the goalie isn't watching-then a little mystery can be a good thing. Here, five secrets you should keep to yourself-because not saying something will actually speak volumes. (And just so you don't think that I'm pushing to abolish the honesty policy, you'll read about the things you should never keep from your partner next time.)
You Don't Turn Me on Right Now
Granted, there will be days when your partner walks into the room and everything sparkles-moments like these make us count our blessings. But there are going to be other moments when your woman looks less like Cindy Crawford and more like Broderick Crawford, and when your guy is less Hugh Grant than Lou Grant. But when the occasional fashion faux pas or haircut from Edward Scissorshands comes around, swallow your tongue. If you want him or her to wear certain styles, compliment what you like, and ignore what you don't. Eventually, they'll get the message-but without the hurt feelings.
I Flirt With Others at Work
The stats don't lie: About 40 percent of men and 35 percent of women have lusted after a co-worker-without ever making a move. Even if you have no intention of taking it anywhere, nobody wants to think of their significant others spending 8, 10, 12 hours a day around flirtatious and attractive co-workers, especially when they look, smell and behave at their very best. Want to share sexual secrets? Confess your attraction to Hollywood celebs, not the co-workers in the adjacent cube.
I Can't Stand Your Friends
Your partner's circle of friends probably come in three different categories: a perfect package, nice enough, and how the hell can the two of you be friends? In that last category, there are all kinds of crazies-maybe she's too controlling, or maybe he's a bad influence. Whatever the case, know your audience. You may not like the friends, but your partner has more history with them than with you. So while they may not rank high on your personal list, keep it to yourself. Boxing out a man's friends is a relationship deal breaker, according to 83 percent of men we surveyed. And 62 percent of women would end a relationship if a guy doesn't get along with her friends.
I Still Think About My Ex
While it's natural to think about your ex, the Internet has increasingly made exes a bigger threat than ever before. The phenomenon of searching online for one's ex, which the majority of Americans admit to, can really make your partner jealous and fearful-especially since the phenomenon of people reuniting with very old flames has recently exploded (again, because of the Internet). You put your exes in the past; do the same with any conversation about them.
I Can't Live Without You
Why? Number one, it's not true; you can live without them. And number two, the key to a successful long-term relationship is to ensure that you've got your own life. You can say I love you, I enjoy you, I desire you, I appreciate you. You don't say I can't live without you. A partner should never feel trapped. He or she should be making a choice every day to be with you. And you, with them.
Conclusion - Guess all the above made sense esp if you still love your partner and don't want to rock the boat.
You Don't Turn Me on Right Now
Granted, there will be days when your partner walks into the room and everything sparkles-moments like these make us count our blessings. But there are going to be other moments when your woman looks less like Cindy Crawford and more like Broderick Crawford, and when your guy is less Hugh Grant than Lou Grant. But when the occasional fashion faux pas or haircut from Edward Scissorshands comes around, swallow your tongue. If you want him or her to wear certain styles, compliment what you like, and ignore what you don't. Eventually, they'll get the message-but without the hurt feelings.
I Flirt With Others at Work
The stats don't lie: About 40 percent of men and 35 percent of women have lusted after a co-worker-without ever making a move. Even if you have no intention of taking it anywhere, nobody wants to think of their significant others spending 8, 10, 12 hours a day around flirtatious and attractive co-workers, especially when they look, smell and behave at their very best. Want to share sexual secrets? Confess your attraction to Hollywood celebs, not the co-workers in the adjacent cube.
I Can't Stand Your Friends
Your partner's circle of friends probably come in three different categories: a perfect package, nice enough, and how the hell can the two of you be friends? In that last category, there are all kinds of crazies-maybe she's too controlling, or maybe he's a bad influence. Whatever the case, know your audience. You may not like the friends, but your partner has more history with them than with you. So while they may not rank high on your personal list, keep it to yourself. Boxing out a man's friends is a relationship deal breaker, according to 83 percent of men we surveyed. And 62 percent of women would end a relationship if a guy doesn't get along with her friends.
I Still Think About My Ex
While it's natural to think about your ex, the Internet has increasingly made exes a bigger threat than ever before. The phenomenon of searching online for one's ex, which the majority of Americans admit to, can really make your partner jealous and fearful-especially since the phenomenon of people reuniting with very old flames has recently exploded (again, because of the Internet). You put your exes in the past; do the same with any conversation about them.
I Can't Live Without You
Why? Number one, it's not true; you can live without them. And number two, the key to a successful long-term relationship is to ensure that you've got your own life. You can say I love you, I enjoy you, I desire you, I appreciate you. You don't say I can't live without you. A partner should never feel trapped. He or she should be making a choice every day to be with you. And you, with them.
Conclusion - Guess all the above made sense esp if you still love your partner and don't want to rock the boat.
Friday, October 12, 2007
SGX
Walau....this past week was a tough week, missed the 4D 1st prize on Sunday ( car's # ) and Wednesday ( daughter's NRIC # ) plus for selling the 15 lots of STX PO too fast. If not....the lost for the previous week would be covered, and I can "cheong" again.
The whole week started on a wrong footing since last Sunday.
Then again...that is Life, win some lose some.
The whole week started on a wrong footing since last Sunday.
Then again...that is Life, win some lose some.
Fear of Death means a Partially-Lived Life - By Osho
Often the fear of death comes up, intense and strong, and the fear of having to leave all this beauty, this friendship and love. How is it possible to relax in this certainty of death?
First, it is possible to relax only when death is a certainty. Relaxing is difficult when things are uncertain. If you know that you are going to die today, all fear of death will disappear. What is the point of wasting time? You have one day to live: live as intensely as possible, live as totally as possible.
Death may not come. Death cannot come to people who live very intensely and very totally. And even if it comes, those people who have lived totally, welcome it because it is a great relief. They are tired of living, they lived so totally and so intensely, so death comes like a friend. Just as after the whole day’s hard work night comes as a great relaxation, as a beautiful sleep, so does death come after life. Death has nothing ugly about it; you cannot find anything cleaner.
If the fear of death comes in, that means there are a few loopholes that are not filled with living. So those fears of death are very indicative and helpful. They show you that your dance has to go a little faster, that you have to burn the torch of your life from both ends together.
Dance so fast that the dancer disappears and only the dance remains.
Then it is not possible for any fear of death to visit you.
“And the fear of having to leave all this beauty, this friendship and love.” If you are totally herenow, who cares about tomorrow? Tomorrow will take care of itself. Jesus is right when he prays to God, ‘Lord, give me my daily bread.’ He is not even asking for tomorrow, just today is enough unto itself.
You have to learn that each moment has a completion.
The fear of having to leave it all comes only because you are not completely living in the moment; otherwise there is no time, and there is no mind, and there is no space.
Once a merchant was asked, “How old are you?”
He said, “Three hundred and sixty years old.”
The man could not believe it. He said, “Please, repeat it. Perhaps I have not heard rightly.”
The merchant shouted and said, “Three hundred and sixty years old!”
The man said, “Forgive me but I cannot believe it. You don’t look more than sixty!”
The merchant said, “You are also right. As far as the calendar is concerned I am sixty. But as far as my life is concerned I have lived six times more than anybody else. In sixty years I have managed to live three hundred and sixty years.”
It depends on intensity.
There are two ways of living.
One is the way of the buffalo. It lives horizontally, in a single line.
The other way is of a buddha. He lives vertically, in height and in depth. Then each moment can become an eternity.
Don’t waste your time in trivia, but live, sing, dance, love as totally and overflowingly as you are capable of. No fears will interfere and you will not be worried what will happen tomorrow. Today is enough unto itself. Lived, it is so full; it leaves no space to think about anything else. Life unlived, worries come and fears come.
Just live, love, and make each moment a deep ecstasy. All fears may disappear.
The Golden Future
First, it is possible to relax only when death is a certainty. Relaxing is difficult when things are uncertain. If you know that you are going to die today, all fear of death will disappear. What is the point of wasting time? You have one day to live: live as intensely as possible, live as totally as possible.
Death may not come. Death cannot come to people who live very intensely and very totally. And even if it comes, those people who have lived totally, welcome it because it is a great relief. They are tired of living, they lived so totally and so intensely, so death comes like a friend. Just as after the whole day’s hard work night comes as a great relaxation, as a beautiful sleep, so does death come after life. Death has nothing ugly about it; you cannot find anything cleaner.
If the fear of death comes in, that means there are a few loopholes that are not filled with living. So those fears of death are very indicative and helpful. They show you that your dance has to go a little faster, that you have to burn the torch of your life from both ends together.
Dance so fast that the dancer disappears and only the dance remains.
Then it is not possible for any fear of death to visit you.
“And the fear of having to leave all this beauty, this friendship and love.” If you are totally herenow, who cares about tomorrow? Tomorrow will take care of itself. Jesus is right when he prays to God, ‘Lord, give me my daily bread.’ He is not even asking for tomorrow, just today is enough unto itself.
You have to learn that each moment has a completion.
The fear of having to leave it all comes only because you are not completely living in the moment; otherwise there is no time, and there is no mind, and there is no space.
Once a merchant was asked, “How old are you?”
He said, “Three hundred and sixty years old.”
The man could not believe it. He said, “Please, repeat it. Perhaps I have not heard rightly.”
The merchant shouted and said, “Three hundred and sixty years old!”
The man said, “Forgive me but I cannot believe it. You don’t look more than sixty!”
The merchant said, “You are also right. As far as the calendar is concerned I am sixty. But as far as my life is concerned I have lived six times more than anybody else. In sixty years I have managed to live three hundred and sixty years.”
It depends on intensity.
There are two ways of living.
One is the way of the buffalo. It lives horizontally, in a single line.
The other way is of a buddha. He lives vertically, in height and in depth. Then each moment can become an eternity.
Don’t waste your time in trivia, but live, sing, dance, love as totally and overflowingly as you are capable of. No fears will interfere and you will not be worried what will happen tomorrow. Today is enough unto itself. Lived, it is so full; it leaves no space to think about anything else. Life unlived, worries come and fears come.
Just live, love, and make each moment a deep ecstasy. All fears may disappear.
The Golden Future
THE FOOD OF LOVE - BY Osho
As life is.... I divide it in three parts: breakfast, lunch, supper. The childhood is the breakfast-time. And as it happens if you have not been given your breakfast today, you will feel very, very hungry, out of all proportion, at lunchtime. And if you have missed lunch also, then of course at supper you will be almost mad. Love is food — that’s why I divide life in three: breakfast, lunch, supper.
Love is food: food for the soul. When a child sucks at his mother’s breast for the first time, he is sucking two things, not only milk. Milk is going into his body and love is going into his soul. Love is invisible, just as soul is invisible; milk is visible just as body is visible. If you have eyes to see, you can see two things together dripping into the child’s being from the mother’s breast. Milk is just the visible part of love; love is the invisible part of milk — the warmth, the love, the compassion, the blessing.
If the child has missed at his breakfast, then when he is young he will be too needy for love...and that creates trouble. Then he will be too impatient for love...that creates trouble. Then he will be in such a hurry for love...that creates trouble because love grows very slowly, it needs patience. And the more in a hurry you are, the greater is the possibility that you will miss.
Have you watched it in yourself and in others? The people who are too much in need of love always suffer, because they always feel that nobody is going to fulfill them. In fact, nobody is going to be their mother again. In a mother-child relationship, nothing was expected from the child. What can a child do? He is helpless. He cannot return anything. At the most he can smile, that’s all, or follow with his eyes where the mother is going, that’s all. Small, beautiful gestures, but nothing else can he do. The mother has to give, the child has to receive.
If at breakfast-time you have missed this, then you will be looking for a woman who can be your mother. Now, a woman is looking for a lover, not for a son; trouble is bound to be there. Unless by chance, by accident, you can find some woman who is looking for a son. Then things will settle; then two illnesses will fit together.
It always happens: a pessimist always finds an optimist to fit; a sadist always finds a masochist to fit; a dominating person always finds one who is in need of being dominated, then they fit. You cannot find two masochists living together, never. I have watched thousands of couples: up to now I have not been able to come to a single couple in which both the partners are sadists or both the partners are masochists. It is impossible to live together; they have to fit. Only opposites fit, and people always fall in love with the opposite.
If you can meet a woman who is in search of a son...that too is ugly, that too is ill, because a woman naturally should be seeking a lover, not a child. And this is the problem, and the problem becomes more complicated: even if she is looking for a son, she is unaware of it; and even if you are looking for a mother, you are unaware of it. In fact, if a woman tries to mother you, you will feel hurt. You will say, “What are you doing? Am I a child?” And you are looking for a mother. Thousands, millions of people are looking for a mother.
That’s why man seems so much interested in women’s breasts; otherwise there is no need to be so interested in women’s breasts. The interest simply shows that in your childhood, at your breakfast-time, you have missed something. It continues, it hovers on your mind, it haunts you. Breasts are for breakfast time. Now why do you go on thinking and painting.
Watch deep down, because it is not your responsibility, it is nothing to do with you. You cannot change your mother now. It happened as it happened, but you can become conscious. You can become conscious of all these things inside. And by becoming conscious a miracle happens. If you become conscious of these things, they start dropping. They can cling to you only in deep unconsciousness. A profound consciousness begins to be a transforming force.
So just become conscious! If you have some childish attitudes towards love, become conscious, find out, search deep. And just by becoming conscious, they drop. So nothing else is needed. Not that first you have to become conscious and then you have to ask “What to do now?” The moment you become conscious they disappear, because by becoming conscious you are becoming adult.
A child is not conscious. A child lives in a deep unconsciousness. By becoming conscious you are becoming adult, mature, so all that was clinging in your unconsciousness will disappear. Just as you bring light in a room and the darkness disappears; bring consciousness deep in your heart.
Then there are people who miss their lunch also. Then in their old age they become what you call “dirty old men.” Then in their old age they continuously think of sex and nothing else. They may not talk about sex in a direct way — they may start talking against sex — but they will talk about sex. Their being against makes no difference.
You go and listen to the so-called saints in India, and you will always find them continuously talking against sex and praising brahmacharya. These people have even missed their lunch. Now suppertime has come...and they are mad. Now they know that death is coming any moment. And when death is approaching near, and time is disappearing from their hands, if they become neurotic it seems natural.
These neurotic people have stories in the old scriptures that when they meditate, apsaras — beautiful women from heaven — descend. Naked they dance around them. Why should they do such a thing? Who is bothered about an old man sitting in the Himalayas meditating. Who is bothered? He is almost dead — who is bothered? Those apsaras from heaven, they can find better people. In fact, so many people are chasing apsaras, how can they find time to chase rishis, these so-called saints? No, it has nothing to do with apsaras or with heaven or anything. It is just that these people have missed breakfast and lunch both. And by suppertime their imagination is playing tremendous games with them. It is their imagination, starved imagination.
You do one thing: you just go on a fast for three weeks, and then everywhere you will start seeing food...everywhere! Even you may see a full moon rushing into the sky and you will say it looks like bread, a chapatti. That’s how it will happen. You will start projecting, your imagination will be playing games with you.
If this happens, then compassion never arises. Move slowly, alert, watching, be loving. If you are sexual I don’t say drop sex: I say make it more alert, make it more prayerful, make it more profound, so that it can become love. If you are loving, then make it even more grateful; bring deeper gratitude, joy, celebration, prayer to it, meditation to it, so that it can become compassion.
Unless compassion has happened to you, don’t think that you have lived rightly or that you have lived at all. Compassion is the flowering. And when compassion happens to one person, millions are healed. Whosoever comes around him is healed. Compassion is therapeutic.
A Sudden Clash of Thunder
Love is food: food for the soul. When a child sucks at his mother’s breast for the first time, he is sucking two things, not only milk. Milk is going into his body and love is going into his soul. Love is invisible, just as soul is invisible; milk is visible just as body is visible. If you have eyes to see, you can see two things together dripping into the child’s being from the mother’s breast. Milk is just the visible part of love; love is the invisible part of milk — the warmth, the love, the compassion, the blessing.
If the child has missed at his breakfast, then when he is young he will be too needy for love...and that creates trouble. Then he will be too impatient for love...that creates trouble. Then he will be in such a hurry for love...that creates trouble because love grows very slowly, it needs patience. And the more in a hurry you are, the greater is the possibility that you will miss.
Have you watched it in yourself and in others? The people who are too much in need of love always suffer, because they always feel that nobody is going to fulfill them. In fact, nobody is going to be their mother again. In a mother-child relationship, nothing was expected from the child. What can a child do? He is helpless. He cannot return anything. At the most he can smile, that’s all, or follow with his eyes where the mother is going, that’s all. Small, beautiful gestures, but nothing else can he do. The mother has to give, the child has to receive.
If at breakfast-time you have missed this, then you will be looking for a woman who can be your mother. Now, a woman is looking for a lover, not for a son; trouble is bound to be there. Unless by chance, by accident, you can find some woman who is looking for a son. Then things will settle; then two illnesses will fit together.
It always happens: a pessimist always finds an optimist to fit; a sadist always finds a masochist to fit; a dominating person always finds one who is in need of being dominated, then they fit. You cannot find two masochists living together, never. I have watched thousands of couples: up to now I have not been able to come to a single couple in which both the partners are sadists or both the partners are masochists. It is impossible to live together; they have to fit. Only opposites fit, and people always fall in love with the opposite.
If you can meet a woman who is in search of a son...that too is ugly, that too is ill, because a woman naturally should be seeking a lover, not a child. And this is the problem, and the problem becomes more complicated: even if she is looking for a son, she is unaware of it; and even if you are looking for a mother, you are unaware of it. In fact, if a woman tries to mother you, you will feel hurt. You will say, “What are you doing? Am I a child?” And you are looking for a mother. Thousands, millions of people are looking for a mother.
That’s why man seems so much interested in women’s breasts; otherwise there is no need to be so interested in women’s breasts. The interest simply shows that in your childhood, at your breakfast-time, you have missed something. It continues, it hovers on your mind, it haunts you. Breasts are for breakfast time. Now why do you go on thinking and painting.
Watch deep down, because it is not your responsibility, it is nothing to do with you. You cannot change your mother now. It happened as it happened, but you can become conscious. You can become conscious of all these things inside. And by becoming conscious a miracle happens. If you become conscious of these things, they start dropping. They can cling to you only in deep unconsciousness. A profound consciousness begins to be a transforming force.
So just become conscious! If you have some childish attitudes towards love, become conscious, find out, search deep. And just by becoming conscious, they drop. So nothing else is needed. Not that first you have to become conscious and then you have to ask “What to do now?” The moment you become conscious they disappear, because by becoming conscious you are becoming adult.
A child is not conscious. A child lives in a deep unconsciousness. By becoming conscious you are becoming adult, mature, so all that was clinging in your unconsciousness will disappear. Just as you bring light in a room and the darkness disappears; bring consciousness deep in your heart.
Then there are people who miss their lunch also. Then in their old age they become what you call “dirty old men.” Then in their old age they continuously think of sex and nothing else. They may not talk about sex in a direct way — they may start talking against sex — but they will talk about sex. Their being against makes no difference.
You go and listen to the so-called saints in India, and you will always find them continuously talking against sex and praising brahmacharya. These people have even missed their lunch. Now suppertime has come...and they are mad. Now they know that death is coming any moment. And when death is approaching near, and time is disappearing from their hands, if they become neurotic it seems natural.
These neurotic people have stories in the old scriptures that when they meditate, apsaras — beautiful women from heaven — descend. Naked they dance around them. Why should they do such a thing? Who is bothered about an old man sitting in the Himalayas meditating. Who is bothered? He is almost dead — who is bothered? Those apsaras from heaven, they can find better people. In fact, so many people are chasing apsaras, how can they find time to chase rishis, these so-called saints? No, it has nothing to do with apsaras or with heaven or anything. It is just that these people have missed breakfast and lunch both. And by suppertime their imagination is playing tremendous games with them. It is their imagination, starved imagination.
You do one thing: you just go on a fast for three weeks, and then everywhere you will start seeing food...everywhere! Even you may see a full moon rushing into the sky and you will say it looks like bread, a chapatti. That’s how it will happen. You will start projecting, your imagination will be playing games with you.
If this happens, then compassion never arises. Move slowly, alert, watching, be loving. If you are sexual I don’t say drop sex: I say make it more alert, make it more prayerful, make it more profound, so that it can become love. If you are loving, then make it even more grateful; bring deeper gratitude, joy, celebration, prayer to it, meditation to it, so that it can become compassion.
Unless compassion has happened to you, don’t think that you have lived rightly or that you have lived at all. Compassion is the flowering. And when compassion happens to one person, millions are healed. Whosoever comes around him is healed. Compassion is therapeutic.
A Sudden Clash of Thunder
THE ART OF EATING - by Osho
Whenever you are half-hearted in anything, it lingers longer.
If you are sitting at your table and eating, and if you eat only half-heartedly and your hunger remains, then you will continue to think about food the whole day. You can try fasting and you will see: you will continuously think about food. But if you have eaten well — and when I say eaten well, I don’t mean only that you have stuffed your stomach. Then it is not necessarily so that you have eaten well. You could have stuffed yourself. But eating well is an art. It is not just stuffing. It is great art: to taste the food, to smell the food, to touch the food, to chew the food, to digest the food, and to digest it as divine. It is divine; it is a gift from the divine.
Hindus say, Anam Brahma food is divine. So with deep respect you eat, and while eating you forget everything, because it is a prayer. It is an existential prayer. You are eating the divine and the divine is going to give you nourishment. It is a gift to be accepted with deep love and gratitude. And you don’t stuff the body, because stuffing the body is being anti-body. It is the other pole. There are people who are obsessed with fasting, and there are people who are obsessed with stuffing themselves. Both are wrong because in both the ways the body loses balance.
A real lover of the body eats only to the point where body feels perfectly quiet, balanced, tranquil; where body feels to be neither leaning to the left nor to the right, but just in the middle. It is an art to understand the language of the body, to understand the language of your stomach, to understand what is needed, to give only that which is needed, and to give that in an artistic way, in an aesthetic way.
Animals eat, man eats. Then what is the difference? Man makes a great aesthetic experience out of eating. What is the point of having a beautiful dining table? What is the point of having candles burning there? What is the point of incense? What is the point of asking friends to come and participate? It is to make it an art, not just stuffing. But these are outward signs of the art; the inward signs are to understand the language of your body: to listen to it, to be sensitive to its needs. And then you eat, and then the whole day you will not remember food at all. Only when the body is hungry again will the remembrance come. Then it is natural.
The Beloved
If you are sitting at your table and eating, and if you eat only half-heartedly and your hunger remains, then you will continue to think about food the whole day. You can try fasting and you will see: you will continuously think about food. But if you have eaten well — and when I say eaten well, I don’t mean only that you have stuffed your stomach. Then it is not necessarily so that you have eaten well. You could have stuffed yourself. But eating well is an art. It is not just stuffing. It is great art: to taste the food, to smell the food, to touch the food, to chew the food, to digest the food, and to digest it as divine. It is divine; it is a gift from the divine.
Hindus say, Anam Brahma food is divine. So with deep respect you eat, and while eating you forget everything, because it is a prayer. It is an existential prayer. You are eating the divine and the divine is going to give you nourishment. It is a gift to be accepted with deep love and gratitude. And you don’t stuff the body, because stuffing the body is being anti-body. It is the other pole. There are people who are obsessed with fasting, and there are people who are obsessed with stuffing themselves. Both are wrong because in both the ways the body loses balance.
A real lover of the body eats only to the point where body feels perfectly quiet, balanced, tranquil; where body feels to be neither leaning to the left nor to the right, but just in the middle. It is an art to understand the language of the body, to understand the language of your stomach, to understand what is needed, to give only that which is needed, and to give that in an artistic way, in an aesthetic way.
Animals eat, man eats. Then what is the difference? Man makes a great aesthetic experience out of eating. What is the point of having a beautiful dining table? What is the point of having candles burning there? What is the point of incense? What is the point of asking friends to come and participate? It is to make it an art, not just stuffing. But these are outward signs of the art; the inward signs are to understand the language of your body: to listen to it, to be sensitive to its needs. And then you eat, and then the whole day you will not remember food at all. Only when the body is hungry again will the remembrance come. Then it is natural.
The Beloved
I feel like I am falling into an eternal black and bottomless abyss. What am I experiencing? - by Osho
"Evening has merged into night.
Some people have come. They say, "You teach nothingness. But the thought of nothingness terrifies us. Is there nothing we can hold on to?"
I tell them that courage is certainly essential for a leap into the void.
But those who leap in do not attain nothingness, they attain wholeness. And those who hold on to something achieve nothing. Can an imaginary handhold really help you?
It is only through emptiness that we can attain truth. And in emptiness, there can be nothing to cling on to. I tell them a story:
"One dark, moonless night, a traveller passing through unfamiliar mountains slipped and fell into a deep chasm. Catching hold of a bush, he hung in suspense. There was darkness all around. Below him was also impenetrable darkness and the dreadful abyss. For many hours he clung to the bush, and throughout this time he suffered the pangs of imminent death. It was a winter night and gradually his hands became cold and numb. Soon he would have to release his grip, and then he would fall into the abyss. No effort could save him, and already he saw himself in the jaws of death. He fell -- but nothing happened. There was no abyss at all. The moment he let go, he found himself standing on the ground."
This has been my experience also. Falling into emptiness, I discovered that emptiness itself was the ground. By dropping the support of the mind, we attain the support of the divine.
The courage to leap into the void is man's only true courage, and those who cannot summon up the strength to enter the void remain unfulfilled."
Osho, excerpted from: Seeds of Wisdom, Number 26
Some people have come. They say, "You teach nothingness. But the thought of nothingness terrifies us. Is there nothing we can hold on to?"
I tell them that courage is certainly essential for a leap into the void.
But those who leap in do not attain nothingness, they attain wholeness. And those who hold on to something achieve nothing. Can an imaginary handhold really help you?
It is only through emptiness that we can attain truth. And in emptiness, there can be nothing to cling on to. I tell them a story:
"One dark, moonless night, a traveller passing through unfamiliar mountains slipped and fell into a deep chasm. Catching hold of a bush, he hung in suspense. There was darkness all around. Below him was also impenetrable darkness and the dreadful abyss. For many hours he clung to the bush, and throughout this time he suffered the pangs of imminent death. It was a winter night and gradually his hands became cold and numb. Soon he would have to release his grip, and then he would fall into the abyss. No effort could save him, and already he saw himself in the jaws of death. He fell -- but nothing happened. There was no abyss at all. The moment he let go, he found himself standing on the ground."
This has been my experience also. Falling into emptiness, I discovered that emptiness itself was the ground. By dropping the support of the mind, we attain the support of the divine.
The courage to leap into the void is man's only true courage, and those who cannot summon up the strength to enter the void remain unfulfilled."
Osho, excerpted from: Seeds of Wisdom, Number 26
Is enlightenment only a human phenomenon or can trees and animals also be enlightened? - by Osho
"The spring of life is available to everybody; otherwise how can you live?
Your life is continuously being nourished by the spring of life. The trees are nourished by the spring of life, the flowers blossom ... but the juice comes from the spring of life. The whole existence is nothing but a manifestation of the springs of life.
But trees cannot become enlightened -- neither can mountains or oceans; neither can animals or birds. They all have the same source of life that you have. But man has a prerogative, a privilege, that he can become aware of his spring of life. This awareness is not possible in any other form in existence. It is man's grandeur, it is his dignity.
Existence has given him the most precious opportunity. If he can create awareness, consciousness, more alertness, then his spring of life explodes into a new dimension. The dimension of life becomes the dimension of light, of knowing -- knowing the deepest roots of our being in eternity. And the moment we know our roots are eternal, we know our flowers are also going to be eternal. Enlightenment is a flowering.
The springs of life are seeds; enlightenment is a flower. The seed has come to its ultimate expression -- there is no further to go. Springs of life are the lowest rung of the ladder, and enlightenment is the highest rung of the ladder, although the ladder is the same. The change comes slowly, as you become more aware of who you are, of what life is -- not intellectually, not by reading through scriptures, but by reading the only holy scripture: your own being, and bringing your potential to its realization. So that which was hidden in the seed becomes an explosion in the flower, in the fragrance.
That fragrance is enlightenment. It comes from the sources of life, but it is not synonymous with it. The seed is not synonymous with the flower, although the flower comes from the seed. The seed is the womb, but the flower -- although connected with the seed, with the womb -- is a totally new experience. Awareness ordinarily is objective. You know others, you know the world, you know the faraway stars.
The moment awareness turns inwards and starts knowing itself -- in other words, the moment awareness is the object of its own knowing -- enlightenment blossoms with all its beauty, with all its immortal glory.
Life is accepted by the scientist, but he is not yet capable of accepting the possibility of enlightenment. Life is accepted by the atheist, but he is also not capable of comprehending the ultimate explosion.
Just as for millennia we had no idea that matter is made of small atoms, which are not visible to the eyes ... they are so small that if you put one atom upon another atom, and then go on putting one on top of another, you will need one hundred thousand atoms, and then they will be as thick as a human hair. Such a small atom, one hundred thousand times thinner than a human hair, when it explodes, releases so much energy that a city like Hiroshima or Nagasaki disappears within seconds -- evaporates.
I have seen a picture sent by a friend from Japan ... just looking at the picture, one feels so sad about humanity, so hopeless. The picture is of a small girl, maybe nine years old. She is going from the ground floor to the first story with her bag and books -- perhaps to do her homework before she goes to sleep. She is just in the middle of the staircase when the atom bomb falls on Hiroshima.
Just a small atom exploding creates so much energy ... you can use it for destruction or you can use it for some creative purpose. Right now the scientists say we have come so far from Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- our new nuclear weapons are so great in their energy -- that the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima look like children's toys. If matter, in its smallest particle, contains so much energy, can you conceive how much energy may be available in the living cell of human beings?
Enlightenment is the explosion of a living cell. Certainly it is not destructive at all, but it transforms the whole man. In that way, it is destructive. It destroys the old man, it destroys the night, it destroys all that was constituting your personality: your jealousy, your anger, your hate, your lust, your greed -- all that is simply finished in a single moment. And the same energy that was involved in jealousy, hate, greed, ambition, and a thousand and one desires, is changed into totally new forms of energy: love, silence, peace, compassion, wisdom -- all that is the basic search of life itself. Life in itself is dormant, it is fast asleep.
Enlightenment is absolutely awake. But it is the same energy that was asleep that becomes awake. So they are not synonymous, but they are two extremes of the same energy. But this, if taken as an intellectual understanding, is not going to help you in any way. It has to become your own experience. You have to see that light. You have to see that explosion within your own being. You have to see the darkness disappearing. You have to see the new dawn of a new life -- a life of grace and gratitude, a life of beauty and blessings."
Osho, excerpted from: The New Dawn, Chapter 16
Your life is continuously being nourished by the spring of life. The trees are nourished by the spring of life, the flowers blossom ... but the juice comes from the spring of life. The whole existence is nothing but a manifestation of the springs of life.
But trees cannot become enlightened -- neither can mountains or oceans; neither can animals or birds. They all have the same source of life that you have. But man has a prerogative, a privilege, that he can become aware of his spring of life. This awareness is not possible in any other form in existence. It is man's grandeur, it is his dignity.
Existence has given him the most precious opportunity. If he can create awareness, consciousness, more alertness, then his spring of life explodes into a new dimension. The dimension of life becomes the dimension of light, of knowing -- knowing the deepest roots of our being in eternity. And the moment we know our roots are eternal, we know our flowers are also going to be eternal. Enlightenment is a flowering.
The springs of life are seeds; enlightenment is a flower. The seed has come to its ultimate expression -- there is no further to go. Springs of life are the lowest rung of the ladder, and enlightenment is the highest rung of the ladder, although the ladder is the same. The change comes slowly, as you become more aware of who you are, of what life is -- not intellectually, not by reading through scriptures, but by reading the only holy scripture: your own being, and bringing your potential to its realization. So that which was hidden in the seed becomes an explosion in the flower, in the fragrance.
That fragrance is enlightenment. It comes from the sources of life, but it is not synonymous with it. The seed is not synonymous with the flower, although the flower comes from the seed. The seed is the womb, but the flower -- although connected with the seed, with the womb -- is a totally new experience. Awareness ordinarily is objective. You know others, you know the world, you know the faraway stars.
The moment awareness turns inwards and starts knowing itself -- in other words, the moment awareness is the object of its own knowing -- enlightenment blossoms with all its beauty, with all its immortal glory.
Life is accepted by the scientist, but he is not yet capable of accepting the possibility of enlightenment. Life is accepted by the atheist, but he is also not capable of comprehending the ultimate explosion.
Just as for millennia we had no idea that matter is made of small atoms, which are not visible to the eyes ... they are so small that if you put one atom upon another atom, and then go on putting one on top of another, you will need one hundred thousand atoms, and then they will be as thick as a human hair. Such a small atom, one hundred thousand times thinner than a human hair, when it explodes, releases so much energy that a city like Hiroshima or Nagasaki disappears within seconds -- evaporates.
I have seen a picture sent by a friend from Japan ... just looking at the picture, one feels so sad about humanity, so hopeless. The picture is of a small girl, maybe nine years old. She is going from the ground floor to the first story with her bag and books -- perhaps to do her homework before she goes to sleep. She is just in the middle of the staircase when the atom bomb falls on Hiroshima.
Just a small atom exploding creates so much energy ... you can use it for destruction or you can use it for some creative purpose. Right now the scientists say we have come so far from Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- our new nuclear weapons are so great in their energy -- that the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima look like children's toys. If matter, in its smallest particle, contains so much energy, can you conceive how much energy may be available in the living cell of human beings?
Enlightenment is the explosion of a living cell. Certainly it is not destructive at all, but it transforms the whole man. In that way, it is destructive. It destroys the old man, it destroys the night, it destroys all that was constituting your personality: your jealousy, your anger, your hate, your lust, your greed -- all that is simply finished in a single moment. And the same energy that was involved in jealousy, hate, greed, ambition, and a thousand and one desires, is changed into totally new forms of energy: love, silence, peace, compassion, wisdom -- all that is the basic search of life itself. Life in itself is dormant, it is fast asleep.
Enlightenment is absolutely awake. But it is the same energy that was asleep that becomes awake. So they are not synonymous, but they are two extremes of the same energy. But this, if taken as an intellectual understanding, is not going to help you in any way. It has to become your own experience. You have to see that light. You have to see that explosion within your own being. You have to see the darkness disappearing. You have to see the new dawn of a new life -- a life of grace and gratitude, a life of beauty and blessings."
Osho, excerpted from: The New Dawn, Chapter 16
Why do I feel so much pain in letting go of the things that are causing me misery? - by Osho
"The things that are causing you misery must be giving you some pleasure too; otherwise the question does not arise. If they were pure misery you would have dropped them. But in life, nothing is pure; everything is mixed with its opposite. Everything carries its opposite in its womb.
What you call misery, analyze it, penetrate into it, and you will see that it has something which you would like to have. Maybe it is not yet real, maybe it is only a hope, maybe it is only a promise for tomorrow, but you will cling to the misery, you will cling to the pain, in the hope that tomorrow something that you have always desired and longed for is going to happen.
You suffer misery in the hope of pleasure. If it is pure misery it is impossible to cling to it. Just watch, be more alert about your misery. For example, you are feeling jealous. It creates misery. But look around -- there must be something positive in it. It also gives you some ego, some sense of your being separate from others, some sense of superiority. Your jealousy at least pretends to be love. If you don't feel jealous you will think maybe you don't love anymore. And you are clinging to jealousy because you would like to cling to your love -- at least your idea of love. If your woman or your man goes with somebody else and you don't feel jealous at all, you will immediately become conscious that you no longer love. Otherwise, for centuries you have been told that lovers are jealous. Jealousy has become an intrinsic part of your love: without jealousy your love dies; only with jealousy can your so-called love live. If you want your love you will have to accept your jealousy and the misery that is created by it.
And your mind is very cunning and very clever in finding rationalizations.
It will say, "It is natural to feel jealous." And it appears natural because everybody else is doing the same. Your mind will say, "It is natural to feel hurt when your lover leaves you. Because you have loved so much, how can you avoid the hurt, the wound, when your lover leaves you?"
In fact, you are enjoying your wound too, in a very subtle and unconscious way. Your wound is giving you an idea that you are a great lover, that you loved so much, that you loved so deeply, that your love was so profound, that you are shattered because your lover has left you. Even if you are not shattered you will pretend to be shattered -- you will believe in your own lie. You will behave as if you are in great misery, you will cry and weep, and your tears may not be true at all, but just to console yourself that you are a great lover, you have to cry and weep. Just watch every kind of misery: either it has some pleasure in it which you are not ready to lose, or it has some hope in it which goes on dangling in front of you like a carrot. And it looks so close, just by the corner, and you have travelled so long and now the goal is so close, why drop it? You will find some rationalization in it, some hypocrisy in it.
Just a few days ago a sannyasin wrote to me that her man has left her and she is not feeling miserable -- what is wrong with her? "Why am I not feeling miserable? Am I too hard, rocklike? I don't feel any misery," she wrote to me. And she is miserable because she is not feeling misery! She was expecting to be shattered. "On the contrary," she wrote, "I can confess that I am feeling happy -- and that makes me very sad. What kind of love is this?
I am feeling happy, unburdened; a great load has disappeared from my being."
She asked me, "Beloved Master, is it normal? Am I alright or is something basically wrong with me?"
Nothing is wrong with her, she is absolutely right. In fact, when lovers, after a long long togetherness and all the misery that is bound to happen when you are together, leave each other, it is a relief. But it is against the ego to confess it, that it is a relief. For a few days at least you will move with a long face, with tears flowing from your eyes -- phony, but this is the idea that has prevailed in the world.
If somebody dies and you don't feel sad you will start feeling that something is certainly wrong with you. How can you avoid sadness when somebody has died? -- because we have been told it is natural, it is normal, and everybody wants to be natural and normal. It is not normal, it is only average. It is not natural, it is only a long long cultivated habit; otherwise there is nothing to weep and cry about.
Death destroys nothing. The body is dust and falls into dust, and the consciousness has two possibilities: if it still has desires then it will move into another womb, or if all the desires have disappeared then it will move into the womb of God, into eternity. Nothing is destroyed. The body again becomes part of the earth, goes into rest, and the soul moves into the universal consciousness or moves into another body.
But you cry and weep and you carry your sadness for many days. It is just a formality, or if it is not a formality then there is every possibility that you never loved the man who has died and now you are feeling repentant; you never loved the man totally and now there is no more time. Now the man has disappeared, now he will never be available. Maybe you had quarreled with your husband and he died in the night in his sleep. Now you will say that you are crying because he has died, but really you are crying because you have not even been able to ask his forgiveness, you have not even been able to say a goodbye. The quarrel will hang over you like a cloud forever.
If a man lives moment to moment in totality, then there is never any repentance, no guilt. If you have loved totally, there is no question. One day if the lover leaves that simply means, "Now our ways are parting. We can say goodbye, we can be thankful to each other. We shared so much, we loved so much, we have enriched each other's lives so much -- what is there to cry and weep about and why be miserable?"
But people are so entangled in their rationality that they can't see beyond their rationalizations. And they always rationalize everything; even things which are obviously simple become very complicated.
"I am in love with my horse," said Andrew to the psychiatrist.
"That's nothing," replied the shrink. "A lot of people love animals. My wife and I have a dog that we love very much."
"Ah, but doctor, it is a physical attraction that I feel towards my horse!"
"Hmm!" said the analyst. "What kind of horse is it? Male or female?"
"Female, of course!" said Andrew. "What do you think I am -- queer?"
You ask me, Akal, "Why do I feel so much pain in letting go of the things that are causing me misery?"
You are not yet convinced that they are causing you misery. I am saying that they are causing you misery, you are not yet convinced. And it is not a question of MY saying it. The basic thing is: YOU will have to understand, "These are the things which are causing me misery," and you will have to see that there are investments in your misery. If you want those investments you will have to learn to live with the misery; if you want to drop the misery, you will have to drop those investments too.
Have you watched it, observed it? -- if you talk about your misery to people, they give great sympathy to you. Everybody is sympathetic to the miserable man. Now, if you love getting sympathy from people you cannot drop your misery; that is your investment.
The miserable husband comes home, the wife is loving, sympathetic. The more miserable he is, the more his children are considerate of him; the more miserable he is, the more his friends are friendly towards him. Everybody takes care of him. The moment he starts becoming happy they withdraw their sympathy, of course -- a happy person needs no sympathy. The more happy he is, the more he finds that nobody cares about him. It is as if everybody becomes suddenly hard, frozen. Now, how can you drop your misery?
You will have to drop this desire for attention, this desire for getting sympathy from people. In fact, it is very ugly to desire sympathy from people -- it makes you a beggar. And remember, sympathy is not love; they are obliging you, they are fulfilling a kind of duty -- it is not love. They may not like you, but still they will sympathize with you. This is etiquette, culture, civilization, formality -- but you are living on false things. Your misery is real and what you are getting in the bargain is false. Of course, if you become happy, if you drop your miseries, it will be a radical change in your life-style; things may start changing.
Once a woman came to me, the woman of one of the richest men in India, and she told me, "I want to meditate, but my husband is against it."
I asked her, "Why is your husband against meditation?"
She said, "He says, 'The way you are, I love you. I don't know what will happen after meditation. If you start meditating you are bound to change; then I don't know whether I will be able to love you or not, because you will be another person."
I said to the woman, "Your husband has a point there -- certainly things will be different. You will be more free, more independent. You will be more joyous, and your husband will have to learn to live with a new woman. He may not like you that way, he may start feeling inferior. Right now he is superior to you."
That's why down the ages man has not allowed women to meditate, to participate in deep religious experiences. Man has not allowed women to read the Vedas, the Upanishads, the great scriptures of the world. In many religions the women are not allowed to enter into the mosque or the synagogue. In Jainism it is said that you cannot be liberated from the body of a woman; first you will have to be born as a man, then only can you be liberated. From the body of a woman there is no way to God.
Why? Why this fear? The reason is very psychological: man has always been afraid of women becoming happier than him, more peaceful than him, more attuned, more integrated than him -- because once they are more integrated, more attuned to their beings and to the being of the whole, more in harmony with existence, more in accord.... And women can attain to harmony more easily than men, remember. For certain biological reasons, a woman is more capable of going into meditation than a man is. The male energy is aggressive, violent, outgoing, extrovert, and the female energy is introvert, passive, ingoing.
Hence what Jainism says is absolutely wrong -- not only absolutely wrong: just the opposite may be the truth. It is easier to enter into God through the body of a woman than through the body of a man. The woman's body is more harmonious, the man's body is not so harmonious. The woman's body is more balanced, more rounded; that's why she looks so beautiful. Her body is less tense, more relaxed.
Mothers become aware after a few months' pregnancy whether it is a male child or a female child in their womb, because the male child starts parading and doing things inside the womb, kicking... he cannot be at rest.
You can watch small girls -- they are perfectly happy sitting in a corner with their dolls. And the boys? -- they can't sit.
Just a few days ago a little boy took sannyas. I had to ask him, "Can you be silent for one minute so I can explain your name to your mother?" But he was not even able to be silent for one minute. Small girls come for sannyas; when I say to them, "Close your eyes and sit silently," they sit so beautifully; they can sit for hours. When small boys come and I say to them, "Close your eyes," they have to clench their eyes! They are afraid that if they don't do too much they will open. They are so curious about what is happening, what is going on outside.
When small girls take sannyas they look at me. And the boys? -- they look at Krishna Bharti and his camera! They are all over the place! I am putting a mala on them and they are looking at people to see what the response is.
"Are people laughing, enjoying, watching?" They are great performers! And a great curiosity keeps them constantly tense.
While on their honeymoon, Kit and Netty bought a talkative parrot and took it back to their hotel room. As they made love the bird kept up a running commentary. Finally Kit flung a bath towel over the cage and said, "If you don't shut up I am sending you to the zoo!"
Getting ready to leave the following morning, they could not close a bulging suitcase and decided one of them would stand on it while the other attempted to fasten it.
"Darling," said Kit, "you get on top and I will try."
That didn't work. So he said, "Now I will get on top and you try."
That didn't work either.
"Look," said Kit, "let us both get on top and try."
The parrot yanked away the towel and said, "Zoo or no zoo, this I've gotta see!"
The parrot must have been a male!
I told the woman, "Your husband is right: before you enter on the path of meditation you have to consider it, because there are dangers ahead."
She didn't listen to me; she started meditating. Now she is divorced. She came to see me after a few years and said, "You were right. The more silent I became, the more my husband became furious at me. He was never so violent -- something strange started happening," she told me. "The more silent and quiet I was becoming, the more aggressive he was becoming." His whole male chauvinist mind was at stake. He wanted to destroy the peace and the silence that was happening to the woman so he could still remain superior. And because it could not happen the way he wanted, he divorced the woman.
It is a very strange world! If you become peaceful your relationship with people will change, because you are a different person. If your relationship was because of your misery it may disappear.
I used to have a friend. He was a professor in the same university where I was a professor; he was a great social worker. In India, what to do with the widows is still a problem. Nobody wants to marry them, and widows are not in favor of marrying either; that seems like a sin. And this professor was determined to marry a widow. He was not concerned whether he was in love with the woman or not -- that was secondary, irrelevant -- his only interest was that she should be a widow. And he persuaded her slowly slowly, and she was ready.
I told the man, "Before you take the plunge, consider it for at least three days -- go into isolation. Are you in love with the woman, or is it just a great social service that you are doing?" Marrying a widow in India is thought to be something very revolutionary, something radical. "Are you just trying to prove that you are a revolutionary? If you are trying to prove that you are a revolutionary, then you are bound for trouble -- because the moment you are married she will no longer be a widow and your whole interest will be gone."
He didn't listen to me. He got married... and after six months he told me, "You were right." He cried. He said, "I could not see the point: I was in love with her widowhood, not with her for herself, and now certainly she is no longer a widow."
So I said, "You do one thing -- commit suicide! Make her a widow again and give somebody else a chance to be a revolutionary! What else can you do?"
Man's mind is so stupid, so unconscious. Buddha says it is in deep sleep, slumber, snoring. Akal, you cannot let go of things that are causing you misery because you have not yet seen the investments, you have not yet looked deeply into them.
You have not seen that there is some pleasure you are deriving out of your misery. You will have to drop both -- and then there is no problem. In fact, misery and pleasure can only be dropped together. And then arises bliss.
Bliss is not pleasure, bliss is not even happiness. Happiness is always bound together with unhappiness and pleasure is always bound together with pain. Dropping both.... You want to drop misery so that you can be happy -- that is an absolutely wrong approach. You will have to drop both. Seeing that they are together, one drops them; you cannot choose one part.
In life, everything has an organic unity. Pain and pleasure are not two things. Really, if we make a more scientific language, we will drop these words: pain and pleasure. We will make one word: painpleasure, happinessunhappiness, daynight, lifedeath. These are one word because they are NEVER separable.
And you want to choose one part: you want to have only the roses and not the thorns, you want only the day and not the night, you want only love and not hate. This is not going to happen -- this is not the way things are. You will have to drop both, and then arises a totally different world: the world of bliss.
Bliss is absolute peace, undisturbedness, neither disturbed by pain nor disturbed by pleasure.
To celebrate their fortieth anniversary, Seymour and Rose went back to the same second-floor hotel room where they had spent their honeymoon.
"Now," said Seymour, "just like that first night, let us undress, get in opposite corners of the room, turn off the lights, then run to each other and embrace."
They undressed, went to opposite corners, switched off the lights and ran towards each other. But their sense of direction was dulled by forty years, so Seymour missed Rose and he went right through the window. He landed on the lawn in a daze.
Seymour tapped on the lobby window to get the clerk's attention. "I fell down from upstairs," he said. "I am naked and I gotta get back to my room."
"It's okay," said the clerk. "Nobody will see you."
"Are you crazy? I gotta walk through the lobby and I am all naked!"
"Nobody can see you," repeated the clerk. "Everybody is upstairs trying to get some old lady off a doorknob!"
People are so foolish! Not only the younger ones -- the older you get, the more foolish you become. The more experienced you are, it seems the more stupidity you accumulate through life. It really rarely happens that a person starts watching, observing his own life and his own life patterns.
See what your misery is, what desires are causing it, and why you are clinging to those desires. And it is not for the first time that you are clinging to those desires; this has been the pattern of your whole life and you have not arrived anywhere. You go on in circles, you never come to any real growth. You remain childish, stupid. And you are born with the intelligence that can make you a buddha, but it is lost in unnecessary things.
A farmer who had only two impotent old bulls bought a new, young, vigorous bull.
Immediately the stud began mounting one cow after another in the pasture. After watching this for an hour, one of the ancient bulls started pawing the ground and snorting.
"What's the matter?" asked the other. "You getting young ideas?"
"No," said the first bull, "but I don't want that young fellow to think I am one of the cows."
So even in their old age people go on carrying their egos. They have to pretend, they have to pose, and their whole life is nothing but a long long story of misery. Still they defend it. Rather than being ready to change it, they are very defensive.
Akal, drop all defensiveness, drop all armors. Start watching how you live your day-to-day life, moment to moment. And whatsoever you are doing, go into its details. You need not go to a psychoanalyst, you can analyze each pattern of your life yourself -- it is such a simple process! Just watch and you will be able to see what is happening, what has been happening. You have been choosing -- and that has been the problem -- you have been choosing one part against the other, and they are both together.
Buddha says: Attain to choiceless awareness -- don't choose at all. Just watch and be aware without choosing, and you will attain to bliss, you will attain to the lotus paradise."
Osho, excerpted from: Dhampadda - The way of the Buddha, Vol 5, Chapter 2
What you call misery, analyze it, penetrate into it, and you will see that it has something which you would like to have. Maybe it is not yet real, maybe it is only a hope, maybe it is only a promise for tomorrow, but you will cling to the misery, you will cling to the pain, in the hope that tomorrow something that you have always desired and longed for is going to happen.
You suffer misery in the hope of pleasure. If it is pure misery it is impossible to cling to it. Just watch, be more alert about your misery. For example, you are feeling jealous. It creates misery. But look around -- there must be something positive in it. It also gives you some ego, some sense of your being separate from others, some sense of superiority. Your jealousy at least pretends to be love. If you don't feel jealous you will think maybe you don't love anymore. And you are clinging to jealousy because you would like to cling to your love -- at least your idea of love. If your woman or your man goes with somebody else and you don't feel jealous at all, you will immediately become conscious that you no longer love. Otherwise, for centuries you have been told that lovers are jealous. Jealousy has become an intrinsic part of your love: without jealousy your love dies; only with jealousy can your so-called love live. If you want your love you will have to accept your jealousy and the misery that is created by it.
And your mind is very cunning and very clever in finding rationalizations.
It will say, "It is natural to feel jealous." And it appears natural because everybody else is doing the same. Your mind will say, "It is natural to feel hurt when your lover leaves you. Because you have loved so much, how can you avoid the hurt, the wound, when your lover leaves you?"
In fact, you are enjoying your wound too, in a very subtle and unconscious way. Your wound is giving you an idea that you are a great lover, that you loved so much, that you loved so deeply, that your love was so profound, that you are shattered because your lover has left you. Even if you are not shattered you will pretend to be shattered -- you will believe in your own lie. You will behave as if you are in great misery, you will cry and weep, and your tears may not be true at all, but just to console yourself that you are a great lover, you have to cry and weep. Just watch every kind of misery: either it has some pleasure in it which you are not ready to lose, or it has some hope in it which goes on dangling in front of you like a carrot. And it looks so close, just by the corner, and you have travelled so long and now the goal is so close, why drop it? You will find some rationalization in it, some hypocrisy in it.
Just a few days ago a sannyasin wrote to me that her man has left her and she is not feeling miserable -- what is wrong with her? "Why am I not feeling miserable? Am I too hard, rocklike? I don't feel any misery," she wrote to me. And she is miserable because she is not feeling misery! She was expecting to be shattered. "On the contrary," she wrote, "I can confess that I am feeling happy -- and that makes me very sad. What kind of love is this?
I am feeling happy, unburdened; a great load has disappeared from my being."
She asked me, "Beloved Master, is it normal? Am I alright or is something basically wrong with me?"
Nothing is wrong with her, she is absolutely right. In fact, when lovers, after a long long togetherness and all the misery that is bound to happen when you are together, leave each other, it is a relief. But it is against the ego to confess it, that it is a relief. For a few days at least you will move with a long face, with tears flowing from your eyes -- phony, but this is the idea that has prevailed in the world.
If somebody dies and you don't feel sad you will start feeling that something is certainly wrong with you. How can you avoid sadness when somebody has died? -- because we have been told it is natural, it is normal, and everybody wants to be natural and normal. It is not normal, it is only average. It is not natural, it is only a long long cultivated habit; otherwise there is nothing to weep and cry about.
Death destroys nothing. The body is dust and falls into dust, and the consciousness has two possibilities: if it still has desires then it will move into another womb, or if all the desires have disappeared then it will move into the womb of God, into eternity. Nothing is destroyed. The body again becomes part of the earth, goes into rest, and the soul moves into the universal consciousness or moves into another body.
But you cry and weep and you carry your sadness for many days. It is just a formality, or if it is not a formality then there is every possibility that you never loved the man who has died and now you are feeling repentant; you never loved the man totally and now there is no more time. Now the man has disappeared, now he will never be available. Maybe you had quarreled with your husband and he died in the night in his sleep. Now you will say that you are crying because he has died, but really you are crying because you have not even been able to ask his forgiveness, you have not even been able to say a goodbye. The quarrel will hang over you like a cloud forever.
If a man lives moment to moment in totality, then there is never any repentance, no guilt. If you have loved totally, there is no question. One day if the lover leaves that simply means, "Now our ways are parting. We can say goodbye, we can be thankful to each other. We shared so much, we loved so much, we have enriched each other's lives so much -- what is there to cry and weep about and why be miserable?"
But people are so entangled in their rationality that they can't see beyond their rationalizations. And they always rationalize everything; even things which are obviously simple become very complicated.
"I am in love with my horse," said Andrew to the psychiatrist.
"That's nothing," replied the shrink. "A lot of people love animals. My wife and I have a dog that we love very much."
"Ah, but doctor, it is a physical attraction that I feel towards my horse!"
"Hmm!" said the analyst. "What kind of horse is it? Male or female?"
"Female, of course!" said Andrew. "What do you think I am -- queer?"
You ask me, Akal, "Why do I feel so much pain in letting go of the things that are causing me misery?"
You are not yet convinced that they are causing you misery. I am saying that they are causing you misery, you are not yet convinced. And it is not a question of MY saying it. The basic thing is: YOU will have to understand, "These are the things which are causing me misery," and you will have to see that there are investments in your misery. If you want those investments you will have to learn to live with the misery; if you want to drop the misery, you will have to drop those investments too.
Have you watched it, observed it? -- if you talk about your misery to people, they give great sympathy to you. Everybody is sympathetic to the miserable man. Now, if you love getting sympathy from people you cannot drop your misery; that is your investment.
The miserable husband comes home, the wife is loving, sympathetic. The more miserable he is, the more his children are considerate of him; the more miserable he is, the more his friends are friendly towards him. Everybody takes care of him. The moment he starts becoming happy they withdraw their sympathy, of course -- a happy person needs no sympathy. The more happy he is, the more he finds that nobody cares about him. It is as if everybody becomes suddenly hard, frozen. Now, how can you drop your misery?
You will have to drop this desire for attention, this desire for getting sympathy from people. In fact, it is very ugly to desire sympathy from people -- it makes you a beggar. And remember, sympathy is not love; they are obliging you, they are fulfilling a kind of duty -- it is not love. They may not like you, but still they will sympathize with you. This is etiquette, culture, civilization, formality -- but you are living on false things. Your misery is real and what you are getting in the bargain is false. Of course, if you become happy, if you drop your miseries, it will be a radical change in your life-style; things may start changing.
Once a woman came to me, the woman of one of the richest men in India, and she told me, "I want to meditate, but my husband is against it."
I asked her, "Why is your husband against meditation?"
She said, "He says, 'The way you are, I love you. I don't know what will happen after meditation. If you start meditating you are bound to change; then I don't know whether I will be able to love you or not, because you will be another person."
I said to the woman, "Your husband has a point there -- certainly things will be different. You will be more free, more independent. You will be more joyous, and your husband will have to learn to live with a new woman. He may not like you that way, he may start feeling inferior. Right now he is superior to you."
That's why down the ages man has not allowed women to meditate, to participate in deep religious experiences. Man has not allowed women to read the Vedas, the Upanishads, the great scriptures of the world. In many religions the women are not allowed to enter into the mosque or the synagogue. In Jainism it is said that you cannot be liberated from the body of a woman; first you will have to be born as a man, then only can you be liberated. From the body of a woman there is no way to God.
Why? Why this fear? The reason is very psychological: man has always been afraid of women becoming happier than him, more peaceful than him, more attuned, more integrated than him -- because once they are more integrated, more attuned to their beings and to the being of the whole, more in harmony with existence, more in accord.... And women can attain to harmony more easily than men, remember. For certain biological reasons, a woman is more capable of going into meditation than a man is. The male energy is aggressive, violent, outgoing, extrovert, and the female energy is introvert, passive, ingoing.
Hence what Jainism says is absolutely wrong -- not only absolutely wrong: just the opposite may be the truth. It is easier to enter into God through the body of a woman than through the body of a man. The woman's body is more harmonious, the man's body is not so harmonious. The woman's body is more balanced, more rounded; that's why she looks so beautiful. Her body is less tense, more relaxed.
Mothers become aware after a few months' pregnancy whether it is a male child or a female child in their womb, because the male child starts parading and doing things inside the womb, kicking... he cannot be at rest.
You can watch small girls -- they are perfectly happy sitting in a corner with their dolls. And the boys? -- they can't sit.
Just a few days ago a little boy took sannyas. I had to ask him, "Can you be silent for one minute so I can explain your name to your mother?" But he was not even able to be silent for one minute. Small girls come for sannyas; when I say to them, "Close your eyes and sit silently," they sit so beautifully; they can sit for hours. When small boys come and I say to them, "Close your eyes," they have to clench their eyes! They are afraid that if they don't do too much they will open. They are so curious about what is happening, what is going on outside.
When small girls take sannyas they look at me. And the boys? -- they look at Krishna Bharti and his camera! They are all over the place! I am putting a mala on them and they are looking at people to see what the response is.
"Are people laughing, enjoying, watching?" They are great performers! And a great curiosity keeps them constantly tense.
While on their honeymoon, Kit and Netty bought a talkative parrot and took it back to their hotel room. As they made love the bird kept up a running commentary. Finally Kit flung a bath towel over the cage and said, "If you don't shut up I am sending you to the zoo!"
Getting ready to leave the following morning, they could not close a bulging suitcase and decided one of them would stand on it while the other attempted to fasten it.
"Darling," said Kit, "you get on top and I will try."
That didn't work. So he said, "Now I will get on top and you try."
That didn't work either.
"Look," said Kit, "let us both get on top and try."
The parrot yanked away the towel and said, "Zoo or no zoo, this I've gotta see!"
The parrot must have been a male!
I told the woman, "Your husband is right: before you enter on the path of meditation you have to consider it, because there are dangers ahead."
She didn't listen to me; she started meditating. Now she is divorced. She came to see me after a few years and said, "You were right. The more silent I became, the more my husband became furious at me. He was never so violent -- something strange started happening," she told me. "The more silent and quiet I was becoming, the more aggressive he was becoming." His whole male chauvinist mind was at stake. He wanted to destroy the peace and the silence that was happening to the woman so he could still remain superior. And because it could not happen the way he wanted, he divorced the woman.
It is a very strange world! If you become peaceful your relationship with people will change, because you are a different person. If your relationship was because of your misery it may disappear.
I used to have a friend. He was a professor in the same university where I was a professor; he was a great social worker. In India, what to do with the widows is still a problem. Nobody wants to marry them, and widows are not in favor of marrying either; that seems like a sin. And this professor was determined to marry a widow. He was not concerned whether he was in love with the woman or not -- that was secondary, irrelevant -- his only interest was that she should be a widow. And he persuaded her slowly slowly, and she was ready.
I told the man, "Before you take the plunge, consider it for at least three days -- go into isolation. Are you in love with the woman, or is it just a great social service that you are doing?" Marrying a widow in India is thought to be something very revolutionary, something radical. "Are you just trying to prove that you are a revolutionary? If you are trying to prove that you are a revolutionary, then you are bound for trouble -- because the moment you are married she will no longer be a widow and your whole interest will be gone."
He didn't listen to me. He got married... and after six months he told me, "You were right." He cried. He said, "I could not see the point: I was in love with her widowhood, not with her for herself, and now certainly she is no longer a widow."
So I said, "You do one thing -- commit suicide! Make her a widow again and give somebody else a chance to be a revolutionary! What else can you do?"
Man's mind is so stupid, so unconscious. Buddha says it is in deep sleep, slumber, snoring. Akal, you cannot let go of things that are causing you misery because you have not yet seen the investments, you have not yet looked deeply into them.
You have not seen that there is some pleasure you are deriving out of your misery. You will have to drop both -- and then there is no problem. In fact, misery and pleasure can only be dropped together. And then arises bliss.
Bliss is not pleasure, bliss is not even happiness. Happiness is always bound together with unhappiness and pleasure is always bound together with pain. Dropping both.... You want to drop misery so that you can be happy -- that is an absolutely wrong approach. You will have to drop both. Seeing that they are together, one drops them; you cannot choose one part.
In life, everything has an organic unity. Pain and pleasure are not two things. Really, if we make a more scientific language, we will drop these words: pain and pleasure. We will make one word: painpleasure, happinessunhappiness, daynight, lifedeath. These are one word because they are NEVER separable.
And you want to choose one part: you want to have only the roses and not the thorns, you want only the day and not the night, you want only love and not hate. This is not going to happen -- this is not the way things are. You will have to drop both, and then arises a totally different world: the world of bliss.
Bliss is absolute peace, undisturbedness, neither disturbed by pain nor disturbed by pleasure.
To celebrate their fortieth anniversary, Seymour and Rose went back to the same second-floor hotel room where they had spent their honeymoon.
"Now," said Seymour, "just like that first night, let us undress, get in opposite corners of the room, turn off the lights, then run to each other and embrace."
They undressed, went to opposite corners, switched off the lights and ran towards each other. But their sense of direction was dulled by forty years, so Seymour missed Rose and he went right through the window. He landed on the lawn in a daze.
Seymour tapped on the lobby window to get the clerk's attention. "I fell down from upstairs," he said. "I am naked and I gotta get back to my room."
"It's okay," said the clerk. "Nobody will see you."
"Are you crazy? I gotta walk through the lobby and I am all naked!"
"Nobody can see you," repeated the clerk. "Everybody is upstairs trying to get some old lady off a doorknob!"
People are so foolish! Not only the younger ones -- the older you get, the more foolish you become. The more experienced you are, it seems the more stupidity you accumulate through life. It really rarely happens that a person starts watching, observing his own life and his own life patterns.
See what your misery is, what desires are causing it, and why you are clinging to those desires. And it is not for the first time that you are clinging to those desires; this has been the pattern of your whole life and you have not arrived anywhere. You go on in circles, you never come to any real growth. You remain childish, stupid. And you are born with the intelligence that can make you a buddha, but it is lost in unnecessary things.
A farmer who had only two impotent old bulls bought a new, young, vigorous bull.
Immediately the stud began mounting one cow after another in the pasture. After watching this for an hour, one of the ancient bulls started pawing the ground and snorting.
"What's the matter?" asked the other. "You getting young ideas?"
"No," said the first bull, "but I don't want that young fellow to think I am one of the cows."
So even in their old age people go on carrying their egos. They have to pretend, they have to pose, and their whole life is nothing but a long long story of misery. Still they defend it. Rather than being ready to change it, they are very defensive.
Akal, drop all defensiveness, drop all armors. Start watching how you live your day-to-day life, moment to moment. And whatsoever you are doing, go into its details. You need not go to a psychoanalyst, you can analyze each pattern of your life yourself -- it is such a simple process! Just watch and you will be able to see what is happening, what has been happening. You have been choosing -- and that has been the problem -- you have been choosing one part against the other, and they are both together.
Buddha says: Attain to choiceless awareness -- don't choose at all. Just watch and be aware without choosing, and you will attain to bliss, you will attain to the lotus paradise."
Osho, excerpted from: Dhampadda - The way of the Buddha, Vol 5, Chapter 2
Friday, September 21, 2007
Can expect the SGX to trade higher this monday
From the closed of the Dow index....on Friday, I can see a better opening for out own share market on Monday.
Shares to watch....NOL, JK Tech, Jiutian and even STX PO.
NOL - due to the steep correction for the past 2 days....should go up till $5.20 to $5.30 range.
JK Tech - due to the St James Power Stn taking over soon, it now having a exciting biz to extend and grow.
Jiutian - Cum Share "splits 5 for 1 plus a free warrant " Ex -date is this 26/9.
STX PO - should be tracking it's Korean's IPO price ( closed at $3.30 there ) while it was only at $3.10 here. That is why.....I would said the market here will play catch up.
Shares to watch....NOL, JK Tech, Jiutian and even STX PO.
NOL - due to the steep correction for the past 2 days....should go up till $5.20 to $5.30 range.
JK Tech - due to the St James Power Stn taking over soon, it now having a exciting biz to extend and grow.
Jiutian - Cum Share "splits 5 for 1 plus a free warrant " Ex -date is this 26/9.
STX PO - should be tracking it's Korean's IPO price ( closed at $3.30 there ) while it was only at $3.10 here. That is why.....I would said the market here will play catch up.
Friday
Well....if everyday is like today then I will be rich. STX PO .... seem to behave actually what I predicted it to be in term of price movement but the trouble is that I don't have enough faith with myself or self-delief.
And the other trouble when it comes to trading in shares is that for myself I tend to be taking huge risks esp stocks that have gone up. I tend to notice them at the end stages. That is why....I may win-some, and lose-some too. At the moment, more
at the losing side. I must practiced self-control not to chase or buy shares that has gone up in prices.
Somehow....not to sure that the market can go up further without a major correction.
In my mind...it should happen sometimes in Oct just like in 1989 Oct 13 ( black oct )
where the US market Dow index dropped nearly 500 points when the Dow index at 3000+ points....a drop of 15 to 18% in a single day.
With this in mind....I have already shift out the other funds into Money market funds for safe keeping.
And the other trouble when it comes to trading in shares is that for myself I tend to be taking huge risks esp stocks that have gone up. I tend to notice them at the end stages. That is why....I may win-some, and lose-some too. At the moment, more
at the losing side. I must practiced self-control not to chase or buy shares that has gone up in prices.
Somehow....not to sure that the market can go up further without a major correction.
In my mind...it should happen sometimes in Oct just like in 1989 Oct 13 ( black oct )
where the US market Dow index dropped nearly 500 points when the Dow index at 3000+ points....a drop of 15 to 18% in a single day.
With this in mind....I have already shift out the other funds into Money market funds for safe keeping.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Looking after sick old folk
Yes! this is one of the hardest thing to handle in life....caring for sick old folk.
The only fear I have now is that myself will end-up like my father....sick and old. Lucky for him that I am still around to look after him....what about next time for myself? Only 2 kids....what is the chance for any one of them to do the same for me?
The only fear I have now is that myself will end-up like my father....sick and old. Lucky for him that I am still around to look after him....what about next time for myself? Only 2 kids....what is the chance for any one of them to do the same for me?
Life "sucks"
Yes! saw the teacher blogging about his gay lifestyle. Well....now gay teacher, later lesbian don't know what! then what will be next?
Guess....people are getting "bored" with life, so want to try something weird for a change. But the whole topic got out of hand when these people start to blog openly their lifestyle esp teachers.
I feel most people are not ready to accept "gay or lesbian" teachers openly yet becoz what message is these "gay teachers" trying to say to the students. In a simple fact....that there are rules here that state "homo-sexual sex between 2 guys is against the laws here". Unless this is change....it is not the time to openly declare one's sex orientation openly if one is still working full-time in some professional post in the government dept.
Me....I'm straight but still it doesn't make any different kekeke. Fxxk! that is how life "suck".
Guess....people are getting "bored" with life, so want to try something weird for a change. But the whole topic got out of hand when these people start to blog openly their lifestyle esp teachers.
I feel most people are not ready to accept "gay or lesbian" teachers openly yet becoz what message is these "gay teachers" trying to say to the students. In a simple fact....that there are rules here that state "homo-sexual sex between 2 guys is against the laws here". Unless this is change....it is not the time to openly declare one's sex orientation openly if one is still working full-time in some professional post in the government dept.
Me....I'm straight but still it doesn't make any different kekeke. Fxxk! that is how life "suck".
Up-date
Man....didn't realise that I didn't up-date my blog for so long. The problem is "time" and motivation, just don't have that to write at all.
Life has kind of turn stray for me....love life is even worst and not to mention
sex life which is at best once a month or 2 months thing. Kind of lost that urge too.
Lately....luck is also on the down side, more "down" days as compared to "up" days.
Frankly I know why....no sex lor. Man lives for sex....woman for money and love. So gotto meet somewhere so that we can get what we need.
China girls....me also lost that "touch" with them even with some of them working under me. Just don't have the mood to chat them up....or should I say, don't know what to say to them to motivate them to go out with me. No go out....how to score?
The only thing that interest me now....is food, good food....shit! I know I am getting fat from all the thinking of food. Feeling "depress" lately as I don't have a goal to work towards. My AIA work....also down in the pit, thinking of giving it up.
Looking at share market....this is even worst becoz one way or the other, it causes more "depression" esp when you lose money or earn less profit.
Just feel....lonely and I bottle-up all my negative energy inside me. No wonder, I am as cranky as my old man.
Life has kind of turn stray for me....love life is even worst and not to mention
sex life which is at best once a month or 2 months thing. Kind of lost that urge too.
Lately....luck is also on the down side, more "down" days as compared to "up" days.
Frankly I know why....no sex lor. Man lives for sex....woman for money and love. So gotto meet somewhere so that we can get what we need.
China girls....me also lost that "touch" with them even with some of them working under me. Just don't have the mood to chat them up....or should I say, don't know what to say to them to motivate them to go out with me. No go out....how to score?
The only thing that interest me now....is food, good food....shit! I know I am getting fat from all the thinking of food. Feeling "depress" lately as I don't have a goal to work towards. My AIA work....also down in the pit, thinking of giving it up.
Looking at share market....this is even worst becoz one way or the other, it causes more "depression" esp when you lose money or earn less profit.
Just feel....lonely and I bottle-up all my negative energy inside me. No wonder, I am as cranky as my old man.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Restorative and anti-aging Properties of Chaga
As we strive to live longer and stay younger, we deal with the reality of a rapidly growing health care crisis. As the first of millions of "Babyboomers" are about to reach retirement age and overwhelm our already overloaded health care system.
As we lose faith in our health care system as well as the safety of pharmaceutical medications, our search takes us closer to natural cures and effective medicinal herbal compounds. Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on pharmaceutical research to find "cures", yet little in comparison is spent on prevention and anti-aging.
Why? Because unless pharmaceutical companies can patent new chemical compounds, there is no financial motivation. And who funds most of the research? The big pharma companies. And they can't patent nature.
Nevertheless, researchers and scientists at the forefront of research are finding great promise in botanical curative substances like Chaga. Science is confirming folk medicines such as Chaga, which have been known for centuries for their superb healing and anti-aging properties.
Our superior Wildcrafted Chaga Extract is the all-natural solution to anti-aging. It is the richest of all foods and oils in anti-oxidants, which are needed to fight free radicals. Free radicals damage our cells - setting the stage for disease and aging.
Chaga also contains:
Polysaccharides which enhance the immune system, treat cancer, liver, HIV virus and other anti-bacterial and viral infections.
Betulinic acid which helps counter viral infections and tumors.
Triterpenes which helps lower cholesterol, improve digestion, detoxify the liver, treat hepatitis, chronic bronchitis, coughs and asthma.
Germanium, which helps cleanse the blood, normalize blood pressure and prevent tumors.
Melanin, which enhances the appearance of hair, skin and eyes, and restores a more youthful appearance.
Important Nucleosides, Phytonutrients, minerals and amino acids such as Saponin, Magnesium, Chromium, Iron, Kalium, Beta-glucan, Inotodiol, Isoprenoid and others, all offering tremendous health benefits. .
King of the Herbal Adaptogens
Chaga belongs to the group of herbs distinguished as "adaptogens." It normalizes all kinds of vital functions inside your body, raising low levels up to normal, or lowering high levels down to normal. The word Chaga derives from indigenous languages which are spoken around the entire Arctic Circle, and in North America native people use it for medicine and call it Tiaga or Tsi Aga. The Nez Perce people used it in pemmican and were immune to diseases brought in to them by early trappers.
Soviet research on Chaga also showed a potent mixture of Adaptogens. The word adaptogen, coined by Russian Scientist Dr. Nicolai Lazarev in 1947, refers to a natural herb product that increases the body's resistance to stresses such as trauma, anxiety and bodily fatigue. Adaptogens can help the body adapt better to its environment, whether that environment be one of many harmful chemicals or simply one of rapid change. The guidelines Lazarev created for an herb to be considered an adaptogen are:
It must cause only minimal disorders in the body's physiological functions
It must increase the body's resistance to adverse influences not by a specific action but by a wide range of physical, chemical, and biochemical factors
It must have an overall normalizing effect, improving all kinds of conditions and aggravating none.
It is claimed that adaptogenic herbs are unique from other substances in their ability to balance endocrine hormones and the immune system, and they help the body to maintain optimal homeostasis. Most herbal adaptogens that have been identified are used in either Ayurveda or Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). These herbs and other adaptogens have been proven in clinical and laboratory studies to help us adapt to the rapidly changing conditions in our modern, often synthetic environment.
The Russian scientist, G.M. Barenboim stated:
"For the first time in the history of human civilization the biological potentialities of the human body have failed to meet the requirements imposed on it by the epoch. One witnesses an unusual 'epidemic' of fatigue aggravated by the powerful action of man-made, external chemical and physical environmental factors. Like the drugs that saved the world from numerous bacterial and viral epidemics that cost millions of lives in the past, the adaptogens are needed to help man withstand the diverse stresses of today."
Adaptogens may show the following health benefits:
Eliminate the Effects of Stress
Support Immune Function & Strengthen Immune System
Improve Mental Clarity
Improve Physical Perforation Aging Effect
Regulate Function of Muscles and Nerves
Reduce Fatigue
Improve Resistance to Disease
Improve Sleep
Recent studies have shown that Chaga has extremely high antioxidant compounds. Hundreds of research studies overwhelming confirm the health benefits of antioxidants. These antioxidants protect the body against agents of disease called "free radicals", which cause chemical reactions (oxidation) that destroy cells and damage tissues. Oxidation is thought to be not only one of the most common mechanisms of disease, but also the basis of the aging process. Free radicals cannot be avoided: ultraviolet light, for example, is a common source.
The FDA has recommended that people should increase their antioxidant consumption to 7000 ORAC units a day to help lower their risk of Cancer.
What is ORAC?
ORAC stands for "Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity", a USDA recommended standard for measuring antioxidant capacity. The measurement of ORAC analyzes how a certain food helps your body fight diseases like cancer and heart disease. The Higher the ORAC score, the more the food will help you.
This is a scale that measures the amount of free oxygen radicals in your body that a food or supplement can absorb. Free oxygen radicals are formed in our body from normal daily living, electricity, pollution, sun exposure and various other unavoidables. These free radicals bounce around our body beating up on our cell structure and organs, making us more susceptible to diseases. Cigarette smoke is full of free radicals. Ever notice how much older smokers look?
Researchers have also discovered that consumption of foods with a high ORAC score help protect against premature aging and age-related memory loss. Chaga has the highest reported ORAC score in natural foods or oils. Chaga also has Polysaccharides, that other medicinal mushrooms contain, and Triterpenes only found elsewhere in Ganoderma.
ORAC Test Results for Leading Medicinals
As you can observe from the graph and table below, Wildcrafted Siberian Chaga from Chaga International demonstrates superior antioxidant values compared to superior class medicinal mushrooms and other popular anti-oxidant juices available..
As we lose faith in our health care system as well as the safety of pharmaceutical medications, our search takes us closer to natural cures and effective medicinal herbal compounds. Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on pharmaceutical research to find "cures", yet little in comparison is spent on prevention and anti-aging.
Why? Because unless pharmaceutical companies can patent new chemical compounds, there is no financial motivation. And who funds most of the research? The big pharma companies. And they can't patent nature.
Nevertheless, researchers and scientists at the forefront of research are finding great promise in botanical curative substances like Chaga. Science is confirming folk medicines such as Chaga, which have been known for centuries for their superb healing and anti-aging properties.
Our superior Wildcrafted Chaga Extract is the all-natural solution to anti-aging. It is the richest of all foods and oils in anti-oxidants, which are needed to fight free radicals. Free radicals damage our cells - setting the stage for disease and aging.
Chaga also contains:
Polysaccharides which enhance the immune system, treat cancer, liver, HIV virus and other anti-bacterial and viral infections.
Betulinic acid which helps counter viral infections and tumors.
Triterpenes which helps lower cholesterol, improve digestion, detoxify the liver, treat hepatitis, chronic bronchitis, coughs and asthma.
Germanium, which helps cleanse the blood, normalize blood pressure and prevent tumors.
Melanin, which enhances the appearance of hair, skin and eyes, and restores a more youthful appearance.
Important Nucleosides, Phytonutrients, minerals and amino acids such as Saponin, Magnesium, Chromium, Iron, Kalium, Beta-glucan, Inotodiol, Isoprenoid and others, all offering tremendous health benefits. .
King of the Herbal Adaptogens
Chaga belongs to the group of herbs distinguished as "adaptogens." It normalizes all kinds of vital functions inside your body, raising low levels up to normal, or lowering high levels down to normal. The word Chaga derives from indigenous languages which are spoken around the entire Arctic Circle, and in North America native people use it for medicine and call it Tiaga or Tsi Aga. The Nez Perce people used it in pemmican and were immune to diseases brought in to them by early trappers.
Soviet research on Chaga also showed a potent mixture of Adaptogens. The word adaptogen, coined by Russian Scientist Dr. Nicolai Lazarev in 1947, refers to a natural herb product that increases the body's resistance to stresses such as trauma, anxiety and bodily fatigue. Adaptogens can help the body adapt better to its environment, whether that environment be one of many harmful chemicals or simply one of rapid change. The guidelines Lazarev created for an herb to be considered an adaptogen are:
It must cause only minimal disorders in the body's physiological functions
It must increase the body's resistance to adverse influences not by a specific action but by a wide range of physical, chemical, and biochemical factors
It must have an overall normalizing effect, improving all kinds of conditions and aggravating none.
It is claimed that adaptogenic herbs are unique from other substances in their ability to balance endocrine hormones and the immune system, and they help the body to maintain optimal homeostasis. Most herbal adaptogens that have been identified are used in either Ayurveda or Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). These herbs and other adaptogens have been proven in clinical and laboratory studies to help us adapt to the rapidly changing conditions in our modern, often synthetic environment.
The Russian scientist, G.M. Barenboim stated:
"For the first time in the history of human civilization the biological potentialities of the human body have failed to meet the requirements imposed on it by the epoch. One witnesses an unusual 'epidemic' of fatigue aggravated by the powerful action of man-made, external chemical and physical environmental factors. Like the drugs that saved the world from numerous bacterial and viral epidemics that cost millions of lives in the past, the adaptogens are needed to help man withstand the diverse stresses of today."
Adaptogens may show the following health benefits:
Eliminate the Effects of Stress
Support Immune Function & Strengthen Immune System
Improve Mental Clarity
Improve Physical Perforation Aging Effect
Regulate Function of Muscles and Nerves
Reduce Fatigue
Improve Resistance to Disease
Improve Sleep
Recent studies have shown that Chaga has extremely high antioxidant compounds. Hundreds of research studies overwhelming confirm the health benefits of antioxidants. These antioxidants protect the body against agents of disease called "free radicals", which cause chemical reactions (oxidation) that destroy cells and damage tissues. Oxidation is thought to be not only one of the most common mechanisms of disease, but also the basis of the aging process. Free radicals cannot be avoided: ultraviolet light, for example, is a common source.
The FDA has recommended that people should increase their antioxidant consumption to 7000 ORAC units a day to help lower their risk of Cancer.
What is ORAC?
ORAC stands for "Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity", a USDA recommended standard for measuring antioxidant capacity. The measurement of ORAC analyzes how a certain food helps your body fight diseases like cancer and heart disease. The Higher the ORAC score, the more the food will help you.
This is a scale that measures the amount of free oxygen radicals in your body that a food or supplement can absorb. Free oxygen radicals are formed in our body from normal daily living, electricity, pollution, sun exposure and various other unavoidables. These free radicals bounce around our body beating up on our cell structure and organs, making us more susceptible to diseases. Cigarette smoke is full of free radicals. Ever notice how much older smokers look?
Researchers have also discovered that consumption of foods with a high ORAC score help protect against premature aging and age-related memory loss. Chaga has the highest reported ORAC score in natural foods or oils. Chaga also has Polysaccharides, that other medicinal mushrooms contain, and Triterpenes only found elsewhere in Ganoderma.
ORAC Test Results for Leading Medicinals
As you can observe from the graph and table below, Wildcrafted Siberian Chaga from Chaga International demonstrates superior antioxidant values compared to superior class medicinal mushrooms and other popular anti-oxidant juices available..
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