Leonard Ng

The Five Elements: A Systematic Approach to Holistic Living

by // Leave a Comment

coloured journals
Image by Liz Weston.
A Comprehensive Approach to Personal Growth

Modern life is a pretty complicated bagful of kittens.

On the one hand, we’ve come to believe that there’s more to life than making money, having fun, raising a family, and staying out of trouble (or getting into trouble, if that’s what you prefer).

But on the other hand, there’s so much going on in life that we hardly know where to begin.

We might want to get every part of our lives running happily along and playing nicely together… but there just seems to be so much to consider. We have noble dreams of balance and fulfilment and harmony, but how can we keep track of it all?

That’s where five-element theory comes in. It’s a system I use to ensure that my days are meaningfully spent, and it works, too.

Basically, this is an old concept which uses the five classical elements as shorthand for the various aspects of life: Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Void (or as I prefer to call it, Whitespace). Put together, these five cover just about every aspect of human growth and personal development.

If you’re anything like me, this approach will give you a framework that can help you shape your life more wisely and effectively than you ever thought possible.

Let’s get to it.

[Read more…]

The World Is Deep

by // Leave a Comment

September desktop
My desktop, at the moment.

It’s been some months now since my last entry, which was all about living with focus; and living with focus is exactly what I have done. Apart from work and a social life, here’s what I’ve been up to: I’ve…

  • travelled across the United States, from Boston to New Orleans;
  • established a regular habit of reflection and meditation;
  • moved into a beautiful new office space in a good part of town;
  • doubled the number of strict pull-ups I can manage;
  • explored old ruins with the Urban Explorers of Singapore;
  • started writing several scenes for a new play;
  • and finished reading almost 17 books of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, in Ancient Greek.

Life has fallen into a clear and steady rhythm, and I’m reminded of Nietzsche’s lines Die Welt ist tief, Und tiefer als der Tag gedacht — “The world is deep, and deeper than the day bethought.” I first encountered those lines in the Fourth Movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, and they’ve stuck with me ever since.

I am much clearer, these days, about who I am and what I stand for. But for now, just a quick note to say I’m still here, still going, still listening to the music of the world.

I’ve Missed You Too

by // Leave a Comment

My little mint plant
My little mint plant.

I haven’t blogged in a while. I think I simply outgrew my previous blog: the parameters and style I laid out in 2005 no longer suit me, here in 2015. Ten years have gone by since. I’m different now. I’ve changed, I hope, in all the ways that matter: I’m bolder, kinder, stronger, wiser. A better man. I hope, anyway. I’ve learned to hope.

Growth and change are inevitable, even if we resist them. But often growth happens in a spiral. (Above is a picture of my little mint plant, which has doubled in size over the last week, and while it doesn’t exactly spiral it certainly does wind its way along.) Often we seem to be going back when we’re really moving forward. And now here I am, starting again. And I find that I’m glad to be back.

Work on this new site, like all creative work, was all-consuming; I tended to get impatient and annoyed when things weren’t going my way, or when things were going too slowly. So I took an hour off to recollect myself. Put some music on, lit a stick of incense, aligned my energy back towards growth, tuned my mind back to gratitude. Work went much more smoothly after that. One more thing to be thankful for.

Often we stress ourselves out unnecessarily when we’re growing, even when we’re working on our biggest opportunities. And sometimes we have to consciously slow down to align our attitudes and actions with our larger goals, so that we can move ahead faster.