A tribute to the teachers.

I received the email below from a teacher. As a retired teacher myself, I know that there are places where teachers are not well respected. Of course, there are instances where teachers themselves are to blame for some of them, like some in the other professions, treat their work as just another means to a pay-check. But then, there are good, if not excellent, teachers who are truly dedicated to their profession. Such teachers throughout the world ought to read what one lady has to say about a teacher's job and what she thinks of those who have no respect for the jobs done by others. I totally agree with her and therefore, I would like to thank the writer of this article. Unfortunately, I do not know who he/she is and therefore am unable to request for permission to have it put here.
(The words in brackets are mine.)
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Article is sent from a friend, share it with all teachers here....

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO (proud of being a professional), decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, ‘What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?' (I decided to be a teacher even when I was in primary school simply because a few of my teacher were great in inspiring me to do something meaningful in life and teaching is one of those things.) He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers:'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.' (That is obviously from someone who do not understand for I am one of those who can use as well teach English very well.) To stress his point he said to another guest; 'You're a teacher, Mary. Be honest. What do you make?' Mary, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, 'You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, and then began...)

'Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a C+ feel like the Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental. You want to know what I make?' (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)
''I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in maths. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator. I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. I make my students stand, to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the National Flag, and sing the National Anthem, because we live in this great country. Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.'

Mary paused one last time and then continued, then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant..... You want to know what I make. I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?' His jaw dropped, he went silent.

THIS IS WORTH SENDING TO EVERY TEACHER YOU KNOW. and all your personal teachers like mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, your spiritual teachers, (everybody, for everyone of us who do take time to teach a child is a teachers. Just as I have said before, every parent is a teacher to his/her child.)

Children look towards their parents for encouragement.

A child would put full enthusiasm into everything of interest. In their enthusiasm, they concentrate on their project without thoughts for their surroundings, their clothes and the condition of their appearance. Thus, it is not surprising to find a child so involved in something that he/she does not bother about time. The child will go on and on with his/her interest.

This is something parents ought to understand to appreciate the cause of their ignoring calls to dinner and so forth which is interference to the child’s present time joy. Understand that the child is putting in one hundred percent interest in his effort. Do not expect him to stop immediately. Go and get his attention slowly and gradually, then tell him/her about his/her next project. Get the child to turn his interest towards another direction.

As the child puts in effort into whatever is being done, clothes are bound to be dirtied, wet and crumpled. Even the hair, face and body may get some nature’s colours and pastes. So, if possible, keep the dirt and bacteria from him/her, not keep him/her away from the contaminants. Meaning that if the child plays in a clean environment; a well-kept room or hall perhaps, then the chances of him or her getting dirtied can be very slim. However, let the child play on sandy, clayey or loamy ground and we can expect more changes of clothes.

Now, the above would warn parents about the things they can expect and so not go into a rage over such matters. Do not grumble or scold about the messiness of his/her efforts. Give him a smile instead and get him or her to bathe more often. Encourage all his/her efforts for, good or bad, clean or dirty, artistic or not, they are all sincere efforts at achievement. Never judge the work done by our adult standards. If we do that, the child does not stand a chance to feel confident to carry on. Remember that children learn through such play. They learn about things around them, the effect of such things on their hands, the feel and texture and, even more important, the appreciation of their work. Without adult appreciation, there can be no encouragement to continue putting in effort. So never ever dampen such efforts.

To understand the importance of this, adults should stop and think of the feelings felt each time someone appreciates their efforts, be it games, fun or work. If you know these feelings, then you understand how vital appreciation is to the development of any child.

So, the next time your child were to scrawl or drawl something on a piece of paper, colour it with crayons or colour pencils, do ensure that you find the time to stop at least for a short moment whatever you are doing to take a look at his/her work, smile lovingly to him or her and show your appreciation of the effort. Be grateful that your child is trying something and learning in the process.

I stress on this because of the numerous times busy parents would shoo away their children with their seemingly unimportant piece of art work or small piece of self-made craft. Of course, you may not be impressed with his work as you are an adult but that is your child’s wholehearted attempt at expression or creativity in a piece of child art. Know that those few minutes of appreciation, now and then, each and every day can bring so much much needed encouragement for your child’s progress in his growth of self-esteem, a self respect which would give him/her the confidence to learn even more and develop positively as he or she transforms from a child to a teenager into an adult with a sense of self worth that would hold him/her in good stead in every sphere of life.

So do stop to appreciate whenever a child approaches with something he/she had made. The fact that this child approaches to show it must mean that he/she have to be looking for some assurance that his/her efforts are worthwhile and his/her learning process can continue with confidence.

Sharing experiences of pain can eleviate similar suffering.

Today, a friend and I visited another friend who is suffering from cancer. He is much better now after enduring the weakness experience after the last chemotherapy. He was certainly in a much better mood too as he told us of the people he encountered in the hospital's cancer ward.

According to him most of the people in the cancer ward gets thinner and thinner before they depart from this world. In one of his more jovial moments, he told of one of the patients who approached him with "Another one of us is gone." that he is not to worry as long as "we are still around and it is not our time to go soon".

Upon that, I remarked that everyone of us will have to go sooner or later. I told him we ought not to worry about the going as that is bound to happen for all, without exception. What we do not wish for is to not be able to go when we have started to suffer pain and the indignity of having the television watch us in our agony. Imagine the misery we would have to endure while all the people around suffer together with us.

As I have explained in previous postings, I have grounds to believe that there is reincarnation, that we do not die, only the physical body dies and we are released from our body to be reincarnated, to live on with another earthly identity. Therefore, there is nothing to fear about death. However, that does not mean that we should seek death for we come into this world to accomplish something, a role we ought to play to its completion.

From this discussion about suffering and coma before eventual death, we went on to talk of the merits and demerits of mercy killing. Many cases that we knew of were brought up and throughout all this our friend, the cancer patient, for more than an hour forgot his own condition and emphathise with the people in such critical conditions.

Sharing thoughts and feelings on such matters do alleviate a person's own problems.

Innate intelligence to develop: Part 2

A day ago, I have covered visual-spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, verbal-linguistic intelligence and bodily-kinestic intelligence.

Yesterday, I have written about my son who loves nature, having great fun, exploring the muddy swamps of Tanjung Dawai in Kedah. When a young toddler, he would take a sprinkle and water the plants in my garden. The first sentence he uttered, at hardly one year of age, was 'I water the plants.' He has a love for animals and a curiousity about them. He had his first hen at the age of three years, wondered why the eggs did not hatch into chickens, got the answer from me, and so went to hunt for a cockerel. Our chickens live among the tree-tops in my garden and my son would hunt for the eggs laid at various places. Once the hen built a nest on a jutting window ledge, sat each day up there, observed by my inquisitive son till the day the eggs hatched and the chicks jumped and flew down to the ground. The excitement of the event expressed on the face of my son was a delight to see. Since then, we had ducks, geese, rabbits, pigeons, parakeets, budgerigars, discus, hamsters, roboskies, tortoises, fresh-water turtles and many other types of fish. Each of the animals were studied as they were reared. Books came from the library or the book-stores and knowledge as well as linguistic improvement took place. It gave him a love for books and knowledge. This son is born with strong naturalistic intelligence. He can remember scientific names of natural things so well, something I am weak at.

Encouragement to his interest resulting from his naturalistic intelligence has seen him improve in many areas of his life. Where linguistic ability is concerned, he has developed the love for books and knowledge. He is able to converse especially well on things concerning nature. since he loved watching animal cartoons, music and songs became a part of his early life. He enjoys listening to songs. He compares the lives of animals, their similar sicknesses and treatment, with humans and himself, reaching an understanding of himself. He realises he is an introvert but through his observation skills developed through observing animals and nature, he is able to understand others. Of course, besides his strong naturalistic intelligence he has other fairly prominant intelliegence which is enhanced as he used them in his interest on nature.

People who have prominant innate naturalistic intelligence are among biologist, landscape artist, scientists, veterinarians and geologists.

My second son is someone interested in the workings of machines and electronic things. Even before he entered university to study engineering, he could repair televisions and radios.

Today, I have a new television I have used only for a week because my son repaired the old television after I have decided to throw it out. The old television had been having problems and each time I sent it to a professional repairman, the television worked for just a few weeks before it broke down again. After the fourth time, I decided that it was no longer economically viable to go on repairing it. I bought a new television just before this son returned home from his residential school for his final holidays. He saw the television, told me he wished to open it up for a look inside and when he did, it took just a few minutes before he told me he saw the problem and would like to repair it. That he did and today, that television, after about four years, is still working with no further repairs needed.

Obviously, logical-mathematical intelligence is this son's strong point. He has repaired a clock, radios, disc-players and televisions of some friends. People like him can be possible matematicians, scientists, engineers, or accountants.

Some people are very quiet when young. They observe others and think much about themselves and life. In their persuit of an understanding of life, they may find themselves interested in spiritual things.

I am one of them. In fact, when I was young I was so quiet that my parents thought I was dumb. They did not realise that exchange of thoughts took place not between people but within my own mind. I searched for spiritual truth and knowledge even to this day. I observed a lot of things and so was able to understand people even better through sharpened observation. Today, though I can be very vocal, I can also draw inwards into myself and my mind in order to make observations quietly. People like me have what is known as intrapersonal intelligence.

People with such intelligence are the spiritual leaders, psychologists, teachers and philosophers. I was a teacher and my appreciation of myself as well as others helped me to understand children and plan ways to encourage their strengths as well as overcome their weaknesses. I am now writing in this blog also to share my observations and knowledge, hoping to help plan and direct lives to greater heights, more happiness and constant good health as a result of this intelligence in me. By doing so, I head towards more knowledge, greater understanding and an improved, more meaningful life. Thus, where this blog is concerned, everyone is a winner.

There are those who have the knack of interacting with others well. They are able to feel others' emotions easily and so are able to adjust themselves to people. They are the Public Relations Officers. Since these people mix well with others, they cultivate language skills easily and are usually good at verbal as well as non-verbal skills. Besides public relations, they can be excellent teachers, social workers and politicians.

Then, we have people who are inclined to religion. These are the people whose intelligence lead them to the understanding of human existence, meaning of life, death and the thereafter, eventually straight to God and divinity. They are the priests, the monks, the preachers, the thinkers and the writers.

Everyone is unique and has a role to play in our society. Each must be allowed, as well as encouraged, to find his niche in life. When a person is enjoying his/her talent, his/her talent-related work is pleasurable as it no longer is work but joy, a sort of hobby. When that happens, the person will develop even further the other intelligence that he possess, although to a lesser degree. For no person possess just one or two intelligence. All of us have them all, it is just the degree of the intelligence which is different and most of us have not been given the opportunity to develop all our intelligence to the full. Researchers tell us only a very small percentage of our brain has been utilised. Therefore, there is still so much more, no matter what age we are at, to learn and develop.

Building a team and building a future; what's the difference?

Look at those world-class gymnasts. Watch the ease with which they perform. That performance could not have been without the examples seen or the practices carried out so rigourously for a long period of time. It did not just happen. If they had been heaped upon with loads of criticism and disdain at the beginning of their learning, there would most probably have been no such gymnasts. The much needed confidence would have been lost.


Of course, besides the training and encouragement, there has to be discipline. Training has to be consistant. It must be often enough to have the human body develop the agility, flexibility, coordination and strength to perform those fantastic moves. Beside those three important qualities, gymnasts eventually developed a control over their bodies, imparting a lightness to their moves and landing.

Such rigorous training can only be possible if and when the human brain understands with confidence that the body is capable of achieving the trained graceful monoeuvres. And for most, that is only possible when the mind is first shown the possibility of such moves and is confident that there are steps or stages to reach the goal.

Once confidence is established, what remains for the individual is his spirit and his attitude towards all other probable new manoeuvres.

While gymnasts go towards new, more difficult or advanced manoeuvres, every other person could go to explore new ideas and create new products or inventions. That's where those who are not interested in gymnastics could possibly go into; probable new ideas and inventions. I wish to point this out as no matter which area our children may have their interests in, the road to success for our precious children and us is almost the same.

Therefore, caring parents must at all times be aware that children ought to be motivated with proper guidance, encouragement and praise. Children must be provided with, as much as possible, the proper aids to assist them to reach their full potential, irregardless of what that potential is.

The desire to try. Part 1.

"Hey, that's something new."
"Sure, but it looks so black and the noodles are thick."
"Have you taken it before?" I asked.
"No, I rather not have it. I don't know the taste."
"If none of us know how it tastes, let's try it. I'll get two plates of it for us." I insisted.

After eating the 'Hokkien Char', a fried noodle dish with dark thick soya sauce, my friend smilingly admitted it was tasty and she would like to order that again another time.

"See, we must always order things we have not eaten before to get to know their taste. Ohterwise, we'll never know what we'll miss," I told her.

Yes, unless something is obviously too dangerous or wrong to do, we must try it.

Imagine what would have happened if nature had not imbued us with the desire to try things out, to imitate or to attempt the so called impossible.

Beginning with our precious children, if they had not tried to walk at the time when they could not, they would have been unable to do so. Despite the weakness in their legs, they pulled their bodies forward, then crawled and eventually waddled forward clumsily, sometimes to fall, perhaps cry, but to persist until they had strengthen their legs, improved their coordination and straighten their bodies to walk upright just like us.

If they had not tried to talk when they could not, they would have remained mute forever. Fortunately, the desire to try was a natural instinct in them. They uttered unfathomable language, babbled incoherently for a time before their tongues, jaws and mouth managed to coordinate to give out language; initially words, then phrases and clauses ending up with sentences as they gained confidence.

How did they manage to do all that? First, there was the example. You, the parents and others in the surroundings. Yes, you are the ones who showed the way. Your child imitates your walk and your talk. That is the reason children brought up in the wilds by wolves walk around on all fours just as wolves do. And they snarled just as good as any wolf too.

Then, there was the encouragement from you. During the olden days when toys were less or less affordable, children still managed to walk because parents always gave praise for their efforts. Sometimes, over enthusiatic parents tried to quicken the process by forcing the child to walk before the bones had formed properly, resulting in bow-legged children and adults.Nevertheless, the joy of learning is always there in the child and so, though forced, the child would still be happily, laughingly swaying towards the parent.

Well, from the above, we can see how important good examples of what is possible and achievable is to our children and us.

After that, it ought to be encourage and praise, irregardless of the results of their attempts in achieving anything. Never ever let our children down with criticism of their amateurish performance. Even experts and artistes were amateurish while training to be good.

Look at those world-class gymnasts. Watch the ease with which they perform. That performance could not have been without the examples seen or the practices carried out so rigourously for a long period of time. It did not just happen. If they had been heaped upon with loads of criticism and disdain at the beginning of their learning, there would most probably have been no such gymnasts. The much needed confidence would have been lost.

I remember very well one ocassion where a little cried when her piano teacher told her that she has to practise at home if she wants to be good. Upon being asked the reason for her breaking down thus, she told the teacher she just could not find the time to practise. She had to attend to her studies. Why? Her mother hit her hands twice for getting an average of 95 marks. I was aghast at such revelation. I could not contain myself any longer and told her, this uncle who was a teacher then, seldom scored such a high average in an examination.(Yet, this uncle scored enough in the standard six examination in 1958 to be given a place in the then best school in Penang, The Penang Free School. When the child was not around anymore; I did not wish to undermine her confidence in her parents; I told the music teacher how sad it was that parents make such unreasonable demands on their children, putting them to such great stress. Further more, how many of us had ever scored so high marks constantly?

Thus, parents ought to teach their children using encouragement and praise for trying to achieve anything; and when our children are not up to the mark, we should let it on that we are proud of their attempts. The children will learn something for every attempt that they make. They will come to understand their strengths and their weaknesses as well as their limits. They will know of their capabilities, the possibilities and the probabilities in their lives.


How often have adults themselves given up just because they thought they were too clumsy or not knowledgeable enough for a job, even though those jobs could be done through a little know-how?

In a recession such as the present one, we will soon hear of success stories of people who still have the desire to try new jobs. As a saying goes: Just do it! And it can be done. Adults have to tell themselves they can and will as they face each new day. In magazines such as The Readers Digest, we have read of people failing even in good times, in ordinary times and recovering from their failure, learning from it to achieve even greater success.

Believe that it can be done!

When our children want to take on any challenge, be it an elocution competition or an English commentary on a Japanese movie, encourage them. This is especially so when our children themselves voiced their wish to go for it.

As parents, we ought to understand that every challenge our children willingly takes on must always be considered as a step towards self improvement.

I know there are some who would like to point out that our children may fail in the challenge. “So what?” I would say. After all, is not life always full of challenges? Are not failures a part of the learning process? And if our children are not allowed to face challenges they believe they have the opportunity to succeed in; then, when are they going to know their potentials, when are they going to know their limits and when are they going to improve? How are they going to learn everything about their capabilities when they only see the possiblities and the probabilities but not the certainty? How are they going to know themselves well?

It is not the failing that we ought to fear, for it is the attitude towards it that matters. In life, if we fear failure, then we will never try anything. Then, what possible thing can we get out of life? For, in all ventures that we ever made, there is always the chance to succeed or fail. Nevertheless, without any attempt, how are we ever to know which will be the outcome?

Take falling in love. If we do not allow ourselves to do so, how are we ever to know the outcome? Even if we fail in our first love, that should not deter us from falling in love again. What is important is the ability to face failure, take it as a part of life, learn from it our own weaknesses and go on to live another love. Those who commit suicide as a result of such a failure are those whose minds are unaware that one love does not a make a whole life-time. They have never known how to face problems and challenges in life. Maybe, they were never given the opportunity to face life's challenges. Even if love matures into marriage, marriage does not guarantee happiness forever. Marriage merely gives us the opportunity to help each other to reach happiness through love. The possibility and probability of happiness is there. The challenge lies in the sustenance of love. (I shall go into that in a future post for it's a subject I have thought deeply about.)

In every competition our children take part in, there is always the chance to fail to emerge as the best. No matter how good our children are, there could always be someone better at a particular time. However, that is not true failure!

What is failure to us? It depends upon how you look at it. For example, is being in second place a failure? What about third place? Fourth place? To me, so long as they benefit from the participation, they have won something. They have gained something. Do you agree? Please think about it.

Furthermore, being in fourth place is not being a failure. It merely means that at that particular time, three persons managed to prove themselves better. It could be they have more experience, more knowledge and longer training in attaining certain required skills. Of course, we should not make these our excuses. However, given the same experience, knowledge and training, the fourth placed person may turn out to be even better than the present best. In true life, we see it happen all the time. They move up the ranks and become the world's best in time to come.

Even if your child does not get a placing, he/she has learned something. He would have understood himself/herself better and know which field to enter in future.

The wonderful thing about challenges and activities which our children want to face in their youth is they give our children the chance to understand and know their own strength and weaknesses, their potentials and their limits. And if parents give them the encouragement by appreciating their aspirations and their efforts, they can develop great attitudes, excellent resilience and a strong character.

To know our weaknesses, limits, strength and potentials is important as with that knowledge, we know in which career or sphere of life we would be able to excel. Let us face the fact that no individual can be excellent in everything. Some cannot excel in science but are fabulous in arts. Every one of us can, with the right knowledge, be successful in many things but the chances of being successful are much better in areas where our strengths and potentials lie.

Just as a general with knowledge of his army’s strengths and weaknesses can plan a suitable strategy to win, so can our children if they understand their own capabilities and weaknesses well.

All of us have our weaknesses and limits. Some among us, I am one of them, cannot excel in singing or dancing, although we are among the best in other matters. If we know our weaknesses in singing, we can put some effort into overcoming it and thus, still have fun or be fairly good at it but we know we can never be another Elvis Presley or Cliff Richard no matter how much we train or how many times we go onto a stage.

Never mind, just be like me. I can still sing to myself to my heart's content in my bathroom. I am my own best fan!

Actually, there are many adults who do not fully know their own strengths and weaknesses or potentials and limits. For our children to have this knowledge, we ought to encourage them to try out whatever they want. This is the kind of knowledge that will indicate which direction probably leads to success and which possibly takes them to dead-ends. Such knowledge is similar to a map which shows dead-end roads as well as all the roads leading to success.

So, should we not encourage our children in whatever dreams they have?

Teach our children to be adventurous, to explore.

Our children ought to be encouraged to be adventurous. Help them to explore the many places in his world. It is especially helpful for children who are too timid. The child here is one of my two sons. See how confident he is when the bond between mother and child is good.

Harness the power of belief for your child's success.

With evidence of the power of belief through research by medical experts into the placebo effect, through witnessing people perform incredible acts such as the piercing of sharp metal shafts into the body and yet suffer no injury and through knowing that gymnasts could gather sufficient confidence to perform unnatural movements, we should next think of how such powers can be harnessed to help our children achieve success in life.

The question here is, how? Well, first, the parents, you, must show your pride in your children’ s abilities. Tell them how good they are whenever the opportunity arises. Tell others how good your children can be, not behind their back but in their presence. Speak out loudly and clearly so that they can hear your praise and joy. Give the understanding that you believe they are capable.

Encourage your child to do whatever he/she is capable of. When the need arises, give your child a helping hand. Teach him. However, do not hurt his/her ego when doing so.

I have heard parents make the following comment, “Come on! Such a small thing and you cannot do it. Come. It’s like this. “ And if the child still could not do it, resumed with “What man? Look carefully at how papa does it. Like this, okay.”

Those words should never be used. Now let us look at it critically. What is the parent saying? “Come on! Such a small thing!’ tells the child he/she is useless. And the “What man?” indicate a loss of respect for the child’s ability. The parent is letting the child down. The parent can get a child to lose whatever belief he/she has in his/her ability. Without belief in one’s ability, where is the necessary confidence to tackle life and its problems?
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Help your child to do whatever he/she finds difficult and then either end it with praise or a consolation such as “It’s tough, isn’t it. Many people need a lot of practice to do this.” In this manner, a child is encouraged and his belief in himself or herself is not diminished. Such a child will walk the many rugged paths of life with confidence.

Prepare your child well for the life ahead. Understand his communication needs and his social development needs.

Language and knowledge are two factors that can lubricate the flow of communication. Teach him language skill early in life. Tell him as much as you can about his/her world. This means spending as much time as possible with the child. The confidence of facing a world where almost everyone can understand him or her is important to the development and the strong belief in the child that he/she is capable of staying in control of whatever situation he or she has to face.

Teach your child how to handle himself/herself wherever he/she is. If your child can handle himself or herself well, there will be less stress as popularity comes to those who mix well. Teach your child restrain, cooperation and the habit of showing joy at meeting others. The ability to mix well strengthens a child’s confidence and the belief that life can be conducted easily through his ability and knowledge.

And then there is love. Everyone needs love. It would take a very strong person to go through life without love. A lack of love caused by divorce or loss of parents can lead to a loss of confidence and the belief in the self. I have seen this lead to pressure and mental problems. Fortunately, recovery successes in such cases have been achieved through techniques taught by The Art of Living Foundation. I have personally helped one such case in 2008.

For further information on The Art of Living Foundation, please go to:

www.artofliving.org

Love gives a child the shelter to seek solace and comfort for all the pain, frustrations and fears he may come across. Love is the guiding light that leads him/her to safety. Love is the heart that never fails to comfort him/her when such a need arises. Love is everything a child needs when all else fails. Those show how necessary love is to all of us.

How can there be confidence when there is no belief? How can there be confidence when there is no love? How can there be love when there is no sufficient care? How can there be care when you do not think of the future of your family and your child?

All the above is possible. Believe it!

Gymnasts have done it through the power of believing.

If you have been following this blog, you would have read how people could walk on glowing, smoking,red-hot coals. You would have read of people who pierce long thin shafts into their cheeks or bodies and later remove them without any indication of injury to them. Unbelievable, of course, unless you understand the power of the mind.

What should interest us even more is how we can harness this power of believing to achieve our everyday success. For that, allow me to tell you how I achieve success as a state gymnastic coach.

When I did my first year of teaching in St. Michaels Secondary School in Alor Star, I assisted a more experienced coach to train the gymnasts of the school. When the experienced coach left for further studies in Australia, I took over the team and for the first time the school team became the champion team of the state. This was the case for the next four years when I was there. Frankly, I was very egoistic and strongly believe I am a better coach than all the others.

Then, just as I was getting another team together in another school, the captain of another school team had an accident and all gymnastic competitions came to a full stop in the state for the next approximately twenty years. Do you see how powerful an incident like this can have on the mind?

About ten years before my retirement, I was required to go for coach training. My school was sent Olympic standard gymnastic equipment and I immediately went to the lower form classes to select the right students.

Firstly, I wanted to know who were interested to become excellent state gymnasts. Some of those who came forward were not only interested; they walked with a confidence of being able to achieve what I planned to succeed at. They were the ones I chose, for in their walk, they showed that they believed in what I was going to do.

Then they went into training, six Malay girls and seven Malay boys. To remove any doubts as well as other obstacles regarding my method of teaching, I invited their parents to watch the training. They saw the progress their children could make and approved my method.

If you understand how gymnasts are trained, you would know that at certain parts of the training there is the need to bend backwards with arms stretched back as you jumped upwards and backwards to land on your hands while your body and legs follow through to land on your feet and straighten the body; a backward somersault. Some people dared not even jump upwards as the body bent backwards. They just do not have the confidence. Have you ever thought what is it that gives us the confidence? It is nothing but belief; belief in the coach and believe that it could be done. Without those beliefs, a somersault is impossible to achieve. Sometimes, I do come across a child who believes in the coach but does not believe she is capable of it. What can the coach do to overcome this? During my coaching I have sometimes praised and exaggerated my gymnasts’ abilities and performances to give them the necessary boost to top up their confidence and enable a movement to be performed. Yes, I have discovered that there is value in exaggeration and encouragement. For, it is especially in gymnastics that I discover the need and the importance of believing to achieve improvement. Some of my gymnasts brought back medals from national schools’ gymnastic meets.

Well, that was a true story of how the power of believing can help humans achieve something in their lives.

Do you have a story to tell? Let us hear it.