Time Flies: The Art of Taking Stock

I launched into this year with many hopes, goals & aspirations. Suddenly a good 1/4 of the year has gone by since my last post (can't believe it myself---plus i guess have been slack at updating this, haha) and we're well into summer already!

Incredibly, I'm in a taking stock, consolidating phase of this year already...i know it sounds weird being only 1/4+ into the year. Why, u might ask? Because we need to sometimes. For me personally, the opportunities have been incredibly abundant this year. And i've been making some inroads into pretty much all aspects of my life that I'm pursuing. After all, life is all about capturing every opportunity that's thrown to you right?

Well, no. Opportunities may not always turn into successes (ask me personally for details..haha) and grabbing opportunities left, right & centre can be VERY tiring, draining and stressful and even downright depressing when things don't turn out as expected! I *knew* prior to the year that all the developments in my life this year would make my life complicated (from my BaZi la). And it's been the most complicated that's it's been since 2005!

So "suddenly" 1/4+ into the Earth Rat year, I'm tired and rather depressed. And needing to take stock. Needing to encapsulate the BaZi adage that sometimes we need to choose wisely and that it's not worth the mental, emotional and spiritual drain of doing/taking everything that comes our way. I knew it was gonna be draining and tiring but told myself "KE, try it...see if you can handle it". You see, after all, we ALWAYS have a choice of what to do and what NOT to do.

I remember once telling a person I met at a networking do about how 1 aspect of BaZi analysis is to determine what opportunities are coming and which to grab etc. The person of course (you know how these networking folks can be) tells me proudly "Well, I take ALL opportunities that come my way." And my response was that you can't possibly physically or mentally handle everything so it's wise to choose pursuing the RIGHT thing and the RIGHT time.

So this lovely Snake month, reality has hit me and I'm indeed in a consolidation phase, taking stock of where I am, my physical well-being and emotions and more importantly, making adjustments to my goals & aspirations. See folks, 2 important lesssons here--

i) you use BaZi as a guide and to benchmark against your path you are walking. Merely going with the flow...is it good for your psyche, personal happiness? Eg (in my case), opportunities and a life with 10,000 things happening may not always be the best for your soul and spirit!
ii) even BaZi practitioners have their own lives to manage (we are people too...just because we "know" and can dispense practical solutions doesn't mean we are divine in any way).

Looking back now (and my previous entries) I'm starting to think perhaps there was a reason why i've not posted til now. Read my previous entries again and compare it against this one. There should be an important BaZi/life lesson to be learnt in between :)