Month: January 2017

Don’t ride elephants. Love and treat them with respect instead. In my most recent visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand, I had the privilege to share food, have a mud bath and bathe in the waterfalls with the most friendly Thai elephants. 

Step 1. Get to know elephant. Share some bananas and sugar cane as these are their favourite food. Elephants can eat up to 360 kgs of food and drink 50 gallons of water per day.

Step 2. Follow elephant to the mud bath. Rub mud all over elephant as they love this A LOT!

Step 3. Follow elephant to the nearest waterfall for a swim to wash the mud off. If elephant happens to lay down on his/her side, you need to stand behind their back and help splash water. 

Step 4. Smile a lot and enjoy the company. 

Happy elephants, happy earth. 

Location: Elephant Jungle Sanctuary, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

#ahimsa 

Your friend,

Binh 

Life doesn’t get easier. You just get stronger. Back in 2001, I started my Masters degree in Speech Pathology. It was a challenge. Even though my English was good, I sometimes thought, “Who am I to teach people how to speak?”, “What if I don’t pass my exams?”. Thoughts like these crossed my mind all the time. However, I didn’t let them get the best of me. One day, I took out a huge piece of paper, wrote “I AM INVINCIBLE.” on it and stuck it on the wall in front of my desk so I could see it all the time. Each day, I repeated this sentence up to 100 times. Only a few years ago, I found out from Tony Robbins, an amazing life coach, that this is an incantation or positive affirmation. An incantation is something that you write down and repeat to yourself so many times until every cell in your body starts to believe it and live it. Whenever things became difficult or before an exam, I quietly repeated to myself “I am invincible” many times and that gave me the strength and courage to complete various tasks and accomplish my goals. 

I graduated as a Speech Pathologist in 2003! 

Write down your incantations and say them every single day. Some examples are:

I am healthy.

I am strong.

I am loved.

Keep repeating them with passion and on a regular basis and see how your life changes for the better. Believe in yourself. Keep working hard to achieve your goals and never back down. You don’t know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have. 

You are invincible!  

Your friend,

Binh