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Is Forgiveness A Simple Act? Forgiveness is, supposedly, a simple act. As preached in many religions and shared in many spiritual practices, we are told and we are encouraged to forgive each other. When God can and that He will, why can’t humans forgive ourselves and forgive each other? Why within the humans’ world, there must be conditions and sets of rules, to accept and to extend forgiveness? We do not have to agree with each other but we should not stand and play god among us. We need to ask forgiveness of someone whom we have offended. We need to offer forgiveness to one who has offended us. We have to forgive and seek forgiveness to find our own peace. Yet, forgiveness is a tough task. It is one difficult and complicated principle to practice, unconditionally. Why is it so? We tend to hold onto unforgiveness. Is the act of forgiveness made us to survive all internal struggles? Does it give us the strength for what we are going through? Does it shield us from facing our own flaws, our own imperfection? Forgiveness does not mean going back to the good old days. It does not mean to forget and to dismiss what had taken place. The act to forgive is a must. It is a remorseful act done from deep in the heart. Forgiveness brings healing. Forgiveness gives freedom. It is where past bitterness opens doors for the present and the future with joy, happiness and peace. It is the prayer for more blessings to reward life. It is an act for all disagreements, all resentments, all egoistical behaviours to become humbly right by our own self conscience. The healing process brings self preservation. It is where strong boundary is set. It is about moving forward without holding onto heavy resentments. It is a detachment to find closure. Detachment is not an act of anger. It elevates us from staying trapped on guilt. It keeps us to respect ourselves to reclaim the energy for our own life. Holding on to any grudges is exhausting. Detachment is the silence of absence from each other. It is a distance to leave us alone to handle our own conscience and conviction for true Self to happen. Life is too beautiful to worry about things we cannot control. Let go, let God. Life is wasted when we cannot let go of what weights us down. Life is to honour one True Self and learn to become aware not to bring harm to others. Living in peace and with peace is a foundational step for a balanced and meaningful life.

Just to add on. Should there is no Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), alternative route to navigate legal procedures for a loved one who has lost mental capacity is to set up Deputyship. Deputyship has to be done through a lawyer together with Family Justice Court. Deputyship process takes time unlike LPA. And, it can be an expensive process. It is necessary to apply for deputyship when there is no LPA. This is the only legal way for the deputy to make critical choices of the loved one. It is also the only way to unlock the loved one’s accounts.

How To Teach The Mind To Think? Every morning, for yet it is another blessing, we wake up and the mind can be overwhelmed with random thoughts. We wake up to all sorts of ideas: - To accomplish things, - To complete outstanding tasks, - To chase another dream, - To make another new day better - And so on and on. The idea is to give life a true meaning, a true purpose with the brand new day. Reality is, we can improve on how we live, on how we learn and unlearn and how we teach the mind. We live to accept the problems and how we solve them – with love and with better understanding. We live to observe and how to deal with the thought process. All about life is an education All about knowingness is an inspiration. All about awakening is soaring opportunities. All about consciousness is evolving the soul higher. All good human connection and genuine empathy ignite inner strength. Engaging in reflective learning forces new life directions. All life needs are for our mental mind, emotional mind, spiritual mind and the physical mind to engage and broden all life experiences. All life asks are for us to be positive in the way we think, in all the ways of our lives and become positively proactive in every interaction. Just as gravity ensures nothing falls to Earth for free, our blessings require our energies, our actions and our efforts to work together in tandem. When we do nothing, nothing comes. The brain is made to move, to explore and to react. Understanding consciousness is about survival. The failure not to use it wisely and to dismiss it entirely leads to stagnation, ends with a loss. Action creates the momentum. Action speaks louder. Growth never happens by accident. We get what we want because we truly want it and know the reasons why we truly want it. Knowing and internalizing the ‘Want’ are the forces reshaping the output. Nothing in life is free. We reap what we sow. However, it is important to know that the brain is highly adaptable. We need to be mindful with what we teach the brain. So long we are still alive, there are still many things to learn to become a good or better person. Acquiring new knowledge is an ongoing thing to improve on the way to live. However, do not indulge in over intellectualize the simplest things. Every choice has consequence. Every action has reaction. Every experience finds the pursuit of mastery.

Be True Learn to be true to yourself. Be the person who stays true to his / her words. Importantly, listen to our words and how they sound. All the words we choose, we vocalize them and the tone we use to deliver them, make profound difference in life. The awareness to it harness the respectful connection among us. Words are energy. Sound is too. While there are no wrong words and wrong answers and the conscious mind cannot grasp everything that is happening, these energies shape the ways of lives. They shape our connection with each others. They lead us to the next step moving along with the energies we have created. Words transform our true well being. They nourish the wellness of the soul as well as destroying it. Learn to unlearn those words that diminished the sense of meaning. Learn to consciously empower words to elevate higher purpose and pursuing loving intentions. Avoid saying something that we, as humans, cannot hold with the true intention. A promise is a promise. A yes is a yes. A no is a no. Obey what we say for it directly shaping the soul to embrace its highest purpose. When we align our thought with the soul, life gets to be beautiful. We live with the way of our higher purpose. Let words guide us to the deeper level on self realization. With heightened comprehension on self realization, we raise our vibrations and consciousness towards God realization. This path is the only way for us to understand our existence more. It is the only way to erase rigid structures and outdated believes. It stops us from getting stressed out over things we cannot control. The soul that is given to us does not come on Earth to be corrected. What is, is the thinking mind - the mental mind, the emotional mind, the spiritual mind and the physical mind. Fact is, nothing kills more than the over thinking of these minds. To say something without holding to its true intention betrays genuine relationship. It destroys connectedness among us. Over saying and amplify the true intention, just to make ourselves worthy, leads to disconnection. Trust develops from fath where actions are, and needed to be, proven. Do not say something just to make us look good, feel good. Doing so, we are in partnership with the Ego. We become the accessory for the Ego to go out of control. We become its slave, without we know. It is perfectly okay to say no. To say 'No' is a courage. To say 'No' is setting up boundaries. To say 'No' is taking charge on our well being. It is the art in knowing what we truly want and what matters most. No soul bears the burden of others. We answer to our own decisions, our own choices and not others. We come here, on Earth, alone and we shall go home alone too. In between the timeframe, it is about ourselves and God alone. Each one of us needs to take accountability and responsibility for our own actions. Our actions should not be imposed onto others.

Interesting!

01. How did you guys get to know about this Forum? 02. What's your age group? [< 20] [<30] [<40] [<50] [>60] 03. What is your demographic profile here? - What section of the Forum you enjoy reading? - What is your most interesting read? 04. Does the chat function here serve you and is it a good tool?

Throwing out these foods for thoughts. Will this be a good change for the Forum? A. To change the Forum's logo? Anyone would like to contribute for a new logo? B. To change the Forum's motto? Currently, it is read 'Blowing Wind is a Forum for the Mature Singapore Gay Man'. To be relevant to the modern days, what would be your recommendation? TIA again!

Thanks guys! Do know that Mods are reading this thread albeit all our day job. Do keep your ideas coming! Simply, this thread is about deeper reflection to gauge how effective the Forum has had served the community. With the reflection, the idea of change is coined too. Change, after all, is an engine for progress. As is, the Forum - as I see it, has become a home for the community.

Personally, this Forum has served me well as an LGBT person, long before I become an official member since 2007. This Forum survived few others of similar platform that existed way back to early 2000. With hindsight, BW does provide a purpose, a good sense for good growth - albeit our differences. Questions to all members: 01. What does this Forum mean to you guys? 02. Moving forward, what can be a good change for this Forum? TIA for any inputs!

To Live Is To Become Aware The Peace of 'I' is an inside job. When there is true self awareness, both realized internally and externally, clarity lives in pure presence. Wisdom is instilled when there is the capacity to internalize all actions, reactions, thoughts and words (termed 'Deeds') are carried out in the name of true unconditional love. To be a better human, we need to become aware on how we deal with these deeds. We have to see and watch them. We have to hear and listen to them. We have to feel and pay attention to the frequencies they carry. Being mindful leads us to strength our Spiritual Self that shaped our well being. With our Spiritual Self, we embrace empathy. How we live by them define the quality of our lives. Life is about making choices. We can choose to live with problems. Or, we choose to resolve them. It is choosing to survive the day or authoring the future. The intent on choice carries underlying sacred energies. Do we choose out of fear? Do we choose out of love? Hard truth is, we need to decide on choices. Simple truth is, knowing what we want makes things easy. Live to be a good human. Be truthful. Be nice. Be kind. Be useful. Be a blessing. A life lived wisely is on finding the right space between stimulus and response. It is a state of pure witnessing on the power to choose. Hence, choose with love and only love in every steps in life. With every forgiveness, life is at peace. Closing the door, after forgiveness takes place, is self respect. Closing on that door, is not about hate, not about anger. It is protecting self value. Distance becomes dignity. What is meant, it will be. What happened has happened. Let the past stay where it belongs. Remorse heals. Those who move on choose peace over memory. Those who cannot choose Self Entitlement. Self entitlement is not peace. It divides humanity. It breeds contempt. Moving on is a must. It is the ego that gets hurt the most leaving behind. Peace is constant. It is the foundation unlike the weather. But, peace needs a room to stay. Its existence is never touched by the human experiences it perceived. Peace is essentially the bridge between knowing who we are and and simply being who we are. Peace is always there, steady and unmoved. Peace is in knowing we are souls lived in borrowed physical bodies. Right now, stop stressing over things we cannot control. Nothing kills more than the over thinking mind. Life is about awakening of consciousness. When we live to become aware, then every experience (good or bad) is a tool for growth, for discovery. When we accept the tools, they turn life into a process of self discovery and empowering experiences towards knowing our higher purpose. Aren't we want to know our higher purpose? With the tools, we raise our consciousness towards our presence as to why we are here on Mother Earth. With raised consciousness, we become respectful towards life and to live to become a good human first before our age, colours, races and religions. May the blessings be!

To all our Muslim members and guests, Here, the Moderating Team wishing each one of you a Happy and Blessed Hari Raya, Aidil Fitri. May the day be filled with lovely camaraderie with your family members / relatives / friends / loved ones and vowing the wonderful tradition of forgiveness on this festive occasion. Also, enjoy the good food. Do stay safe and do stay healthy throughout the festive one month.

Life Is To Be Understood Do not worry. Do not let it consume us. Do not bother. Do not let it upset us. Do not give excuses. Excuses are for failures. All that happens is made for good reasons. For they are valuable lessons to let us become better human. All have been divinely planned. We are all sinners. We fall shorts. Do not be angry. Do not let it destroy us. Learn not to take things personally. Do not get personal. Learn to accept. Learn to have an open mind. Fill the heart with love. Not hate. Learn to admit we are flawed. Stop the mind from intellectualizing. Learn to be mindful. Learn to exercise self compassion. Life is preyed upon anger. It is haunted with ambiguities. It triggers anxieties. It is plaqued with lusts. To keep life in its truest form, let the heart connects to divinity. Recognize the soul. Let the soul to light in the light of God. Let the body and mind be filled with clarity and wisdom. Let there be forgiveness. Be good. Be kind. Be nice. Be useful. Acceptance is the key. With every hello, there will be goodbye. With every good, there is always bad. Resist is paralysis. To fight against the inevitable is fighting against faith. When there is no faith, there will be no trust. Without trust, trouble troubles us. Not to accept reality, while life can be harsh, is the problem of the pride. It is the struggle of the ego. Life is to be understood. It is not to be feared. There is right in all the wrongs. Face it, there are many things we do not know. There are many things we do not understand. There are many things we do not know what it all meant. Why we did the things we did? Why we said the things we said? Wrong is a personal judgement. Wrong is an inability to accept. Wrong is self entitlement. When we wronged someone, it is an act where one commits himself to be better than others. There are thousand kinds of perception. There are thousand kinds of self right. In all these thousand kinds, each is influenced by personal experience, personal interpretation. Each is one’s subjective viewpoint. What do these things mean? Do they serve our higher purpose? Do they make us perfect? Henceforth, what is perfection? What is right? What is truth? For today, let us surrender. For now, count our blessings. In each breath, be grateful. In every moment, let go and then let God. To say bless is to understand what life is. All spiritual practices lead to God. We may be different but that does not mean we are right. Right is when we learn to be good human first. Right is when we know respect is to be earned. Self entitlement does not bring us peace of mind. It does not unite humanity. Self entitlement hurts the soul. It belittles the inner child. Growth retards. Only when we learn not to judge, joy starts to grow. May the blessings be.

Dear Members and Guests, Here, the Moderating Team wishes all our members and guests a happy Horse Lunar New Year, 2026. May the arrival of the fire horse bring to you strength, speed and success. May there be prosperity, abundance and good health. May there be love, joy and peace. Stay safe throughout the festive. Enjoy the bonding.

As we bid goodbye to 2025, let it pass meaningful inspirations for us to move forward. Let us be grateful for all the experiences and the lessons, to be cherished always. As we are entering 2026, the Moderating Team wishes every member and every guest (and to all your loved ones) a peaceful, joyful and blessed eventful filled New Year. Thank you for being you and being here in this Forum. Have a wonderful 2026. May the blessings be. Be safe, be healthy and be positive always!

Big congratulations Dear Straight People (DSP) for winning The Pinwheels 2025. Yes, this message should be conveyed directly to them. To have them mentioned here in the Forum, however, is a win win situation. Their efforts are remarkable where they are constantly bringing awareness to our community on their podcast platform. Well done Sean and team!