t minus 11

t minus 11 to the exam. been running low on motivation. came across this video which is really inspiring. Actually watched this during my ck preparation, but this time it makes more sense.

Whoever who are on the same boat as me, may all of us succeed in this exam. It's definitely not easy. but we really can't let this exam define who we are. definitely should never let this exam stop us from achieving what we want.

It's that close. really close. I have to give my final push.

I just want to pray that I can have a good sleep and rest during this final phase of preparation. Please grant me the peace, confidence, strength to pull through this.

brain

Brain is such a amazing organ. one which differentiates us human from animals. it's function, of course can be good or evil. there's always an angel who is talking to us and at the same time there will be one devil opposing it.

Many think that angel is the good one and devil will always be in the dark side. This applies to most cases, but in certain situation, the devil will act to protect us from whatever out there which is detrimental to us. It actually serves as a protective mechanism.

Of course, this triggered me to think, whenever I am studying, I felt tired. So is it tiredness, which the brain is telling me to stop and don't overwork OR is it just the devil side - I am just plain lazy. no idea.

But I can only conclude, self mastery is very important. It's all in your mind.

# side note after watching a very motivating movie: Gifted hands: Dr Ben Carson. Dr Carson the youngest appointed director of paediatric neurosurgeon in john hopkins university hospital was an amazing figure. You should google it to find how impressive his life story is and should totally watch the movie if you have time.

anyways, in one of his sharing, he pointed out how complex our brain is, how many billions neurons are working in our brain. He asked the crowd, how many of you remember your birthday? for this simple action of raising your hand, do you know complicated it is?

to spell out the mechanism in minutes is tough for me, but for the brain to process the question that we hear passing from our external auditory canal to inner then convert it to chemical energy passing it to our auditory cortex which connects to our motor centre to allow us to raise our hand, it only takes seconds for us to raise up our hand to answer to this stimulus. Awesome right?

and even more awesome is that all these are happening without us realising it. We never even thought about all this thing and our brain are diligently processing it in such amazing manner. Our brain can achieve soooo much without us realising.

so, imagine, what can WE achieve, if we put something that we want to do in our brain, if we are consciously thinking of doing it?

He also mentioned, he operated on many many many brains. And upon opening the skull, underneath the dura is our brain. And all human brains are the same, regardless you are black, white, female, male rich or poor. So, all this are just a cover. What differentiates one to another essentially is how you make use of your brain.

One question that his mother always ask him: do you have brain? if the answer is yes, stop making excuses to the problems and start finding solution. Because what is needed is all up there in our brain. We are equipped with everything we need to solve a problem.

yes, it's all in your mind!

Motivation

I realised, every now and then, I have days which I am so pumped up to study, some days which I would just lazed away, the difference is : motivation. So I went up to youtube to look up for some motivation, and I found this, and I am currently watching this: 

'A simple discipline if repeated everyday, can create a success. ' That is definitely so true, imagine a person trying to lose weight ( that's me, lol), by exercising one day, cutting down on high carb diet for one day, we can see not much of a difference. But if this is practised repeatedly, I am sure there will be a major change.

I remember, last time when I was in JC, I could not even pass my Napha-we have this physical education whereby we need to pass several components in order to get a silver/gold medal. The 2.4km run was a dreaded one. But now, I have been running long distance like 10km, and even 25km once. Ok, can't say I am a superb runner, but I am proud of myself, when I look back now, for taking up the challenge, for having this discipline to train almost everyday.

To be a great doctor, I think first and foremost, I need to have a good health myself. It will be shameful if you walk in the clinic, and you see your doctor coughing away there. So, I try my best at every opportunity to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

As much as knowledge is important, I constantly try to feed my soul with lots of motivational quotes, books, videos. I have also installed few apps on my phone which deliver daily inspirational quote for me.

Lastly, quoting from the video, a question one should ask himself everyday:
'What would the person I would like to be, do what I am about to do?'

If you have never thought of 'what would "I" like to be' , it's time to reflect upon this question, before the year ends.