Stories

Everyone has stories.  And I believe each of us has compelling stories to tell that can make a difference.

Facebook says we can tell our stories with Timeline.  Fantastic.  You start seeing photos of your friends' graduation or wedding day got replaced by updates on what they just had for breakfast this morning.   Great invention!  

Facebook is still great, don't get me wrong.  The thing is, we have total autonomy on how we tell our stories.  Say you are catching up with an old friend – would you rather be interested that he had Egg Benedict this morning, or hear about his new dream job?  

Say you have had a rough day at work where literally everything could have gone wrong had gone wrong.    

When your emotional edge and resentment are your little demon friends, you chose to tell and post your story with:  

"I would not be feeling x, if y didn't happen." Or, more realistically, "I would not be feeling x, if so-and-so didn't do y." 

What this is, is like a projector screen of words convincing you of a story you are literally making up to yourself. Works you up to anger, exacerbates the pain and guaranteeing its survival.

To me, the purpose of telling your story of self is to create common ground with your audience by sharing a story that reflects the values that brought you to work on your given issue, and where those values come from.

Perhaps next time you can consider taking your frustrations to the bar and flush it down with a happy-hour drink or two.  

Do you think the keyboard can escape just like that?  

I don't think that's allowed.  

Is Chivalry Dead?

What's wrong with these twenty, early thirty year-old these days?  They pretend they don't see with their eyes wide opened.  

I am talking about being chivalrous in giving up seats on mass public transports.  I have taken a lot of trains and buses in Asian cities to conclude that Hong Kong is the worst I have seen.   It is saddening to see my home city's civilization retreating backwards.  

The old, incapacitated, pregnant or distressed deserve your seat more than you.  Give yours up!   Don't they teach that at school any more? 

Next time, if you notice a seated person so absorbed in their game of Candy Crush or Fruit Ninja that they haven’t seen the 93-year-old.  Intercede, or they will never learn.    

Oh, and since we are on the subject of etiquette on public transports - I will add one more commandment: Invest on decent headphones, I mean, any masterpiece that leaks out just becomes noise disturbance when emanated from that lousy headphones of yours.