A Musing by Hayden Tay

Finally, an update!

November 28, 2011 | 0 Comments

Image by Edgar Sousa

So, this blog really isn’t working out too well is it?

Things have been a little crazy since I last blogged. These things happened:

I found an apartment, moved to Toronto!
Did the craziest shopping trip of my life to get furniture
Started work, loving it, got to do some really interesting things for it
Trying to meet new people

So yeah, things have been a little up in the air… I am still getting settled into this town, and if anything, will likely get busier in the next little bit until I get used to this life.

Therefore, this blog won’t really be seeing an update anytime soon

HOWEVER! I will likely be reworking the blog shortly. With my life right now, Tumblr seems to be a better medium for blogging (as well as bonus points for social!). So keep an eye out for that!

Filed Under: Life | Tags: blog, Toronto

Change: A New Job, New City, New Home

October 9, 2011 | 0 Comments

I didn’t expect to fall off my writing goals that quickly, but… I have good reason for it! I’ve been extremely busy over the past week, but ridiculously excited for this Fall, because I GOT A JOB!

I will be interning at Entrinsic, a digital communications agency, until the end of February 2012. I’m really excited that this is happening, because I am starting to break into a field that I would absolutely love to be a part of, and I will get to learn so many new things!

Because of the job, my life is now in slight turmoil though. I will be moving out of my sister’s apartment, where I have literally been living in a closet for the past month. I will be moving to a completely different place – from Waterloo to Toronto. And the craziest news of all? I’m about to sign a lease for a place of my own – something that really marks the start of my adult life!

These changes terrify, excite, sadden, and fills me with joy at the same time.

I’m terrified because this marks the start of my adult life – I will no longer be a student anymore! However, though, I am excited to start something new, to grow further, and to explore the wonders of the world out there.

I’m joyful because I am happy that my efforts have paid off, and someone is now offering me this chance to work in a field that I have been trying to break into.

But I am sad. I never used to think I’ll say this, but I am sad to be leaving Waterloo Region, and all it has to offer. The community I have experienced in the past several months has been amazing, and I have learnt and befriended all these amazing people.

But! I will be back soon enough ! After all, KW is only THAT far away from Toronto, and my lovely sisters are still based here, so expect me back for tons of visits!

Filed Under: Career, Life | Tags: change, Entrinsic, Toronto

JFDI

October 2, 2011 | 0 Comments

I learnt quite a few things during my stint at Velocity. My favourite philosophy that was really articulated and expressed to me was the idea of JFDI. What is JFDI, you ask?

What is JFDI and Why

Just. F******. Do. It.

It is a very simplistic idea, but I think that this philosophy holds a lot of value. We often spend so much of our time bogged down by worries, fears, concerns etc. and we try our best to minimize the risk that we face.

Yes, risk minimization is a great thing, but often times we end up with information overload – we take on too much irrelevant stuff and end up being inefficient in our decision making, our choices, our actions.

That’s where I think the idea of JFDI is great. When you want to do it, DO IT. Don’t be bogged down by fears of failure or difficulty or worries, but instead, challenge yourself to be better. (Of course, the caveat is doing it smart!)

The Easy Path

I had a discussion with a good friend last night about our choices and paths. We ended up talking about our peers who had dreams and things that they wanted to achieve. However, they were afforded opportunities that took them on a different path from those dreams – somewhere that was safe and stable, but not necessarily what they dreamed of. Some of them are happy now, but some of them are frustrated too.

While it is really personal choice, I think that taking the path of least resistance is also taking the path of least learning. In taking risks, we fail more, but it affords us the chance to learn from both our failure and success. Bound within our safety net, we can only relearn what we already know, and fail to see anything outside that little bubble.

So I’m really trying to incorporate JFDI as a philosophy in my life – if I have an idea, act on it. Try to make it a reality. If it fails, at least I tried!

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship | Tags: JFDI, philosophy, Velocity

TED Video: Compassion

September 30, 2011 | 0 Comments

My first TED talk I’m discussing is Joan Halifax’s talk on compassion and the true meaning of empathy. It is a pretty good talk, and I would definitely recommend a watch. Keep in mind though that this was presented at TEDWomen, and was clearly to move a mainly female audience.

This video caught my attention as I was browsing through the TED site because it really relates to one of the things I’ve been pondering lately – what is our responsibility to the world and the greater good of the people, and how can we ? Perhaps one of the possible answers is more compassion in the world.

So what is compassion? Joan Halifax identifies 4 comprising factors of compassion:

The capacity to see into the nature of suffering
Ability to stand strong and recognize that one’s self isn’t separate from the suffering of others
Aspiration to transform said suffering
Not to attach self to the outcome of the suffering

Of the four, I think that 2 and 3 strike me the hardest. My interpretation of her point is that compassion is beyond the sometimes demeaning pity, because it involves an element of the self. It doesn’t mean that you have to try to walk in those shoes of suffering. Compassion means that we can recognize the fact that we are intrinsically tied and that it is possible to relate two beings no matter physical distance. In being compassionate and recognizing this intrinsic tie, the motivation to alleviate and improve upon this suffering is what can help bring about greater good.

I really like the questions that Joan Halifax poses in her talk. Why don’t we teach compassion – to our children, to health care providers, to everyone so that we can help each other? Why don’t we make decisions based on compassion, and why don’t we elect our leaders based on compassion? After all, wouldn’t that make for a better world that knows to care for each other?

Choice Quotes

”The most wondrous thing in the world is that all around us people can be dying and we don’t realize it can happen to us.”

“Compassion means that we aspire, we actually aspire to transform suffering”

Filed Under: Random | Tags: compassion, TED

Refresh

September 28, 2011 | 0 Comments

For the past week, I’ve been working on a site redesign as well as setting various goals in terms of self-enrichment. In refreshing this blog, I also decided to repurpose this blog a little.

The repurposing of the blog is to achieve two aims:

Represent myself better – I want to be more authentic in my writing, in how people see me, and in my online presence. I hope my posts will start reflecting the multi-faceted nature of my interests from now on.
Hold myself accountable to the goals I’m setting

The goals I have set include:

Write more. In order to become a better writer, I need to start being more particular about putting my thoughts down on paper (or on the screen). To do so, I’ll be trying to keep to a schedule of posting at least 3 times a week, covering a variety of topics. With writing more, I also hope that it’ll help improve my critical thinking ability and ability to express myself, allowing me to shape my thoughts and arguments more coherently.
Read more. I had a discussion with A. Y. Daring recently about the value of reading and how reading adds to the spice of life. Frankly, I absolutely love reading. The problem? I don’t read enough. Solution? Read more. I’ll be trying to read a book – fiction or non-fiction, every two weeks. So I’ve signed up for a Goodreads account to track my reading! I’m really excited about this.
Learn. I want to expose myself to new ideas and new thoughts. I figured a good source of that would be to watch TED videos. To keep myself accountable, I’ll be writing a review of a TED video once a week, covering key point I’ve gotten from it.

Filed Under: Life | Tags: A.Y. Daring, blog, goals