When The Gem Meets The Gem Cutter

Imagine, a piece of less than spectacular stone. Who knew it has the potential of becoming a sparkling marvel that women craves?

Nobody could see the potential of the piece of stone. Only the Jewel Cutter!

Diamond cutting is the art, skill and, increasingly, science of changing a diamond from a rough stone into a faceted gem. Cutting diamond requires specialized knowledge, tools, equipment, and techniques because of its extreme hardness.

Although there are the 4 C's that determines a diamond's value : Clarity, Colour, Cut, Carat. The most important is the cut!

Cut has the biggest impact on the beauty of diamonds and sometimes least amount of difference in their price compared to color, clarity and carat weight. The word cut has several meanings when it comes to diamonds. The cut of a diamond does not just mean its shape (round brilliant, princess, oval, cushion, etc.) but also addresses the symmetry, polishing, angles and the proportions of each physical aspect of the diamond.

The cut determines the diamond's sparkle and brilliance. A properly cut diamond will refract the light that enters the diamond and return it through the top to produce the much desired sparkle. The angles have to be exactly right to optimize the reflection of light back to your eye.

What did I learn from the passage above?

Firstly, I consider my work as the Master Gem Cutter. Where other people did not consider those pieces of stone precious, I had a different view. I saw its potential, I saw its beauty. I saw possibilities. This is where the cutting begins. The cutter must be skillful, creative, has imagination, patience. The gem must be willing, tough, resilent.

However, the most important lesson to be learnt is not this. Look at how shinny the gem is. How it sparkles. But do you realize something. It only sparkles when there is light! and it does not produce any light itself. The cut enables the gem to refract light so as to create the beauty of a rainbow.

Food for thought :)

DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

Wished that I knew what I know now. What do I know now? What have I learnt? What I have learnt is to remind myself every day.... is that none of IT matters. Yes, none of ANYTHING matter. Everything is neutral.

Sitting in traffic. Missing a flight. A bad cup of $5 coffee. A woman sitting in her car...no, squatting!... WHAT IS SHE DOING!, while you're waiting with your blinkers for her to pull out.

Why she didn't call? Why didn't he reply my sms? How come she doesn't pick up my call? What did I do? What is she doing? Did I mess up? Is he scheming world war III? Have aliens kidnapped her? Maybe he is in a fix....but why doesn't he ask me for help? What's wrong with me???

We waste our energy and too much of our lives getting upset, being stressed, overly worried about what are only annoyances. ''Ask yourself, will this matter in a year?"

What I know now? What I've learned, but what I have to remind myself every day, is that life lessons aren't something you memorize like 2-times-2 or ''Four score and seven years ago" and that's it.

Life lessons -- stay calm, be patient, don't sweat the small stuff -- fade. You have to relearn them again and again....oh....and everything that happens are small stuff!

Things happen to make you learn. And if you don't learn the lesson being taught, it will happen again and again until you finally learn...why not learn it the first time round? So instead of asking yourself "why did this happen to me?" or "why am I so unlucky?" ask yourself "Why can I learn from this?" and "What good can I see of this?"

THE GAME OF LIFE

The game of life is a wonderful invention. You choose the players, you determine the rules. You decide when to play it. You set the rewards. You decide when you win and why you win. You are the master. You choose your colours, you choose your symbol, you choose your destiny.

The billion dollar question is.... "Why do we make it so much harder for ourselves?" I am writing this because I was "encouraged" and "discouraged" with some stuff I experienced in Macau!

I was encouraged : I saw so many people made it! I met many fantastic performers, so positive, so willing to learn. I talked to quite afew champions...who made it despite of the odds. I witnessed for myself, the QCE president...2nd year running....she was only a clerk in CPF back room support!

I was discouraged : I saw champions who were rude and inconsiderate - why do they need to be arrogant to prove their superiority? I witness champions who make themselves small when they are really big. I chance upon negative energy despite the positive setting. I saw an Eagle turned into a chicken.

Yes, both winners and losers made it to Macau! They are winners in Prudential's and everyone else's eyes.... but they are losers in their own. Why are these people so stubborn stupid to set rules in their Game Of Life that will almost guarantee that they will lose? Have they forgotten that in the GOL, they set their own rules?

I challenge everybody...before you get upset, ask yourself the following 7 questions:

1) Where is this issue on a scale of 1 to 10?

2) How important will this issue be in 6 month's time?

3) Is my response appropriate and effective?

4) How can I influence or improve the situation

5) What can I learn from this?

6) What will I do differently the next time?

7) What can I find that is positive in this situation?

And if you are honest with your answers, you will realise that you can play your Game of Life well.... so long as you put things into perspective.