A Healing Note For Amy Cheong

In case, you are wondering – who is Amy Cheong?

She is a senior executive of National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) in Singapore who recently created a nation-wide sensation due to her online rant with a racist Facebook posting regarding Malays. She was sacked within 24 hrs after she made the post.

She wrote that Malay weddings held at the void decks of HDB flats should be banned and also went on her rant with offensive post to the Malays. Her comments went viral and drew a torrent of criticism, even threats from the public on both Facebook and Twitter especially in a multi-racial Singapore where racial tolerance is very much advocated. Within 12 hrs, she apologised on Facebook for the comments which she attributed to her being “upset with the noise” from her flats. By then damage was already done. A police report was lodged against her and she could be charged in court. She has since fled to Perth, Australia where she is a citizen.

Amy Cheong may be going through the suffering of losing her job and the public backlash from the impulsive and offensive remarks. But she still has to pick up the pieces and continue with her life. If she is intelligent, she would look in and contemplate on the important life lessons from this whole episode so that she does not make the same mistake again.

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Be a Living Teacher

Next Saturday on 1st September is Teachers’ Day, in the spirit of honouring all teachers in the world, I would like to share the truth about science of teaching in the Vedic Tradition which had inspired me to be a living teacher I am today and how teaching has become my very life.

All of us are teachers in some ways – whether it is telling your child or siblings how to do things or advising people on something or showing the way. All these actions make us a teacher in some situations in life.  However, to be a living teacher, one has to make it a conscious decision.

In the Vedic culture, an acharya (teacher) means the man who teaches what he lives. The click will happen only in the students when the teacher is practicing what he or she is teaching every day. Only by living the truth, one becomes a living teacher otherwise one is considered a dead teacher. As a yoga teacher and a spiritual coach, I can only teach what I personally had experienced. Students can easily tell if a teacher is integrated and authentic just by looking at the teacher’s life. Fundamentally, teaching has to teach us first before we can start teaching others.

Here are some deeper truths about teaching which I learned from my spiritual teacher who is also my guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda.

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Living an Authentic Life

Do you know the difference between honesty and authenticity?

This is my understanding. First of all, honesty is definitely a better quality than dishonesty as we all know dishonesty only leads to more mess and suffering in life.

Many people claim that they are honest, for example, they pay their taxes regularly to their country, they would admit their mistakes, they express anger with someone if it is not right, they tell you off if they are offended, they would even come clean with their spouse if they cheat in the marriage etc. Basically, if we look deeply, honesty is a social quality which is essential for living together in a community. But honesty is built on ego because honesty demands and sometimes tries to torture others. Fundamentally, honesty is a poor substitute for authenticity.

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