Today, I participated with Ramli Ibrahim in a lecture-demonstration at the Bentley's Auditorium, The Curve. It was titled 'Innovating Innovators'. The talk was held for people from the top advertising agencies in Kuala Lumpur. Our session is not what I would like to talk about. I was completely blown away by the session that followed us. It was by a man named Miha Pogacnik.
Looks like an abstract piece of art doesn't it? Looks like something a 3 year old could do? What if I told you that my life was expressed in that exact same drawing. Would you believe me?
Miha, the cultural ambassador of Slovenia, managed to take one of Bach's sonata's, broke it down, and analyzed the entire score and managed to interpret to me, the simplicity of life and achieving your dreams.
"Don't Ever Aspire To Be Normal!' he stressed. Why is it that we all aspire to be normal? Afraid of what people will think? Afraid of letting your parents down? Why do we shy away from our true calling like how Mystique from X-Men shunned her blue skin?
Imagine starting dance classes at the age of 5 and continuing under the tutelage of incredible mentors, each making a little indent on me, into the pot that they wanted me to be for 21 years. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many powerful personalities, exuding auras the size of a studio apartment, all willing you to become the child of your destiny.
It gets tiring after a while. And when you get tired, you stop. You stop everything that everyone has aspired you to be and consciously resign from what everyone wanted you to become. I always felt so warm and comfortable in my artistic cradle but I started to suffocate. I needed to break away and breathe!
I stepped out of Sutra and stepped on the first flight to Seoul. Even after 6 months, I still felt trapped. I felt like a puppet who was always under the command of a choreographer. I came home and felt utterly vulnerable, inferior, completely useless.
Uncreative. I felt that the 'U' word was dirty. It made me *urgh* normal. I didn't want to be normal. I was an artist. I didn't know how to be anyone else.
It's been almost 2 years and I feel that this trial of fire is almost over. The chaos in my head has calmed down and I feel like I am ready to accept this role a higher power put me on this earth for. Almost like a Superhero accepting his powers and responsibility.
Miha mentioned something that really hit home. When you are a teenager, you forget the world. The entire universe revolves around you and you are your own God. All you want is for you to be happy, no one else's feelings matter anymore and you make sure your parents know it! This was sadly to say my terrible teens. (My mother would surely agree with me here...sorry mom! But we're great again!)
So then came my early 20s and I think I realised that it was not just me in this universe and I started caring for those around me. I started taking their thoughts into consideration, I observed and tried to improve my art, I took a bite of the humble pie.
In my early 20s, I remember for the longest time being at crossroads. Do I dance? Do I work? What did that question even mean? Well, when you've done what I've done since childhood, you don't really look at it as work. To me, work meant dressing up in a suit and carrying a briefcase. Yes, naive I know but I was young and stupid!
Now, almost a year after my 25th birthday, I would say I am in my late 20s and starting to embrace my calling. I have found my plus one and feel like I'm ready to go back to the idea I had in the beginning but was not ready to commit to, until now.
I feel the warm rays of hope emerging through the thick black clouds and am filled with an intense comfort. Like putting on your favourite t-shirt, it feels like home.
Now, scroll up and have a closer look at the drawing. Look for the arrows starting my journey and look for the final arrow pointing towards the heavens. Understand and chant the mantra "Let Go and Let Come". Notice the fires of conflict that lead up to surface only revealing the sun shining as brightly as you have ever seen.
When you look at this photograph what can you see?
Looks like an abstract piece of art doesn't it? Looks like something a 3 year old could do? What if I told you that my life was expressed in that exact same drawing. Would you believe me?
Miha, the cultural ambassador of Slovenia, managed to take one of Bach's sonata's, broke it down, and analyzed the entire score and managed to interpret to me, the simplicity of life and achieving your dreams.
"Don't Ever Aspire To Be Normal!' he stressed. Why is it that we all aspire to be normal? Afraid of what people will think? Afraid of letting your parents down? Why do we shy away from our true calling like how Mystique from X-Men shunned her blue skin?
Imagine starting dance classes at the age of 5 and continuing under the tutelage of incredible mentors, each making a little indent on me, into the pot that they wanted me to be for 21 years. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many powerful personalities, exuding auras the size of a studio apartment, all willing you to become the child of your destiny.
It gets tiring after a while. And when you get tired, you stop. You stop everything that everyone has aspired you to be and consciously resign from what everyone wanted you to become. I always felt so warm and comfortable in my artistic cradle but I started to suffocate. I needed to break away and breathe!
I stepped out of Sutra and stepped on the first flight to Seoul. Even after 6 months, I still felt trapped. I felt like a puppet who was always under the command of a choreographer. I came home and felt utterly vulnerable, inferior, completely useless.
Uncreative. I felt that the 'U' word was dirty. It made me *urgh* normal. I didn't want to be normal. I was an artist. I didn't know how to be anyone else.
It's been almost 2 years and I feel that this trial of fire is almost over. The chaos in my head has calmed down and I feel like I am ready to accept this role a higher power put me on this earth for. Almost like a Superhero accepting his powers and responsibility.
Miha mentioned something that really hit home. When you are a teenager, you forget the world. The entire universe revolves around you and you are your own God. All you want is for you to be happy, no one else's feelings matter anymore and you make sure your parents know it! This was sadly to say my terrible teens. (My mother would surely agree with me here...sorry mom! But we're great again!)
So then came my early 20s and I think I realised that it was not just me in this universe and I started caring for those around me. I started taking their thoughts into consideration, I observed and tried to improve my art, I took a bite of the humble pie.
In my early 20s, I remember for the longest time being at crossroads. Do I dance? Do I work? What did that question even mean? Well, when you've done what I've done since childhood, you don't really look at it as work. To me, work meant dressing up in a suit and carrying a briefcase. Yes, naive I know but I was young and stupid!
Now, almost a year after my 25th birthday, I would say I am in my late 20s and starting to embrace my calling. I have found my plus one and feel like I'm ready to go back to the idea I had in the beginning but was not ready to commit to, until now.
I feel the warm rays of hope emerging through the thick black clouds and am filled with an intense comfort. Like putting on your favourite t-shirt, it feels like home.
Now, scroll up and have a closer look at the drawing. Look for the arrows starting my journey and look for the final arrow pointing towards the heavens. Understand and chant the mantra "Let Go and Let Come". Notice the fires of conflict that lead up to surface only revealing the sun shining as brightly as you have ever seen.
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