January 2003 85th Issue

This months holidays and festivals

Thailand is well-known for its festivals which take place all the year round. Most of these festivals are influenced by Buddhist and Brahminical religions, however, with the passage of time a number of them have been adopted in deference to the international practice.
Actually, the official New Year's Day of Thailand has undergone several changes. Once it used to fall at the end of November. Later, during the reign of King Rama V (1868-1910) it was moved to a date in April and then New Year's Day was changed to April the first. The universal practice of celebrating the new year on January 1 was adopted in changes aimed at modernizing the country.
Though January 1 is regarded as official New Year, the majority of Thais still regard the middle of April (Songkran) as their new year's day. Celebration on January 1 is not so popular as that of Songkran. Normally, before the upcoming January 1, people will exchange greeting cards and gifts. Since on this auspicious occasion, a few grand celebrations are held in the kingdom, people take this opportunity to travel upcountry to visit their relatives or spend holidays at a tourist attraction site, while those who stay at home will prepare food and other necessary items to make merit on the early morning of January 1 and then take part in various charitable activities held in various places.
At the same time, several companies take this opportunity to give a bonus and announce promotions to their employees, who later cash money to buy gifts for relatives and friends before heading to their hometown for a long vacation.

Childrens Day - 11th Jan
Children are considered as the most valuable resources of the nation. They are a powerful force in the development and stability of the nation. Normally, the age of children taking part in the celebrations should be less than 14 years old.
Childrens day is a chance for educators to instruct children in keeping the country clean and conserving the natural environment and public property.
At the same time, to stimulate children to be aware of their significant role in the country, the National Children's Day was held for the first time on the first Monday of October 1955 and continued until 1963. Then it was changed to the second Saturday of January, as at this time the rainy season in over and it is a government holiday. This is still in practice today.
The government has set up an organizing committee to co-ordinate with several agencies in both public and private sectors to organize the celebration simultaneously throughout the country.
The objectives are to enable children to realize their importance, to be disciplined, and to be aware of right and duty, responsibility towards society, be proud of their country, Religion and Monarchy, and believe in a democratic system having the King as the head of state.
Every year on this day, His Majesty the King gives an advice message while the Supreme Patriarch gives a moral teaching. The Prime Minister also gives a slogan. This indicates that children are the most valuable resource of the nation. We often hear the saying that, "Children are the future of the nation, if the children are intelligent, the country will be prosperous." Therefore, children should ask themselves whether they are worthy children or not.
On this day, many interesting places such as the Dusit Zoo, the Army, Navy and Airforce bases, Government House and Parliament House are opened for children to visit. Thus, all children look forward to National Childrens Day.

Teachers Day - 16th Jan
In 1956 Prime Minister Field Marshal P. Pibulsongkram, who was the Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Teachers' Council at that time, addressed a gathering of teachers from throughout the country and suggested that as teachers were our benefactors they should have a day of their own so that their students would get an opportunity to pay respect to them. He continued, "On other auspicious days such as New Year's Day and the Songkran Festival we pay a tribute to both our living and dead relatives and make merit in dedication to their souls. Since our teachers play an important role next to our parents, I would like to propose the idea to this gathering and ask you to consider it in principle. I hope no one will object to this idea."
As a result of his remarks and the welcoming opinions expressed by the teachers through the media, which reported that a Teacher's Day should be held in order to remember their significance as the ones who make a great sacrifice and do good deeds for the benefit of the nation and the people as a whole. The Teachers' Council unanimously agreed to set up Teachers' Day in order to hold a ceremony to pay a tribute to the teachers, to promote unity among teachers and to promote better understanding between teachers and the general public.
Thus, on November 21, 1956, the Cabinet passed a resolution to announce January 16 of every year as Teachers' Day and it was celebrated for the first time on January 16, 1957. The event has been held ever since and is held nationwide. The highlights of the day include religious activities, a ceremony of paying respect to teachers and activitites to strengthen unity among teachers.
To express our gratitude to the teachers, we wish them and their families happiness and good health.

Part Two: Beginning the Transformational Thinking Journey
In the last article, we established the fact that learning to become a better thinker will lead to better decisions which will produce better results and, therefore, a better reality. Pretty simple and straightforward so far, right? Before you start any journey, you have to establish the purpose. The purpose of improving the quality of our reality on either the personal, relational or professional levels or all three is our guiding star on the Transformational Thinking journey. We will explore many regions of the process but that is always what keeps us on course. If you want to improve your reality or even suspect some day you might, Transformational Thinking is for you. That's what it's all about. And it is a fascinating journey during which we gain a better understanding of how we think and why as well as how to read other people better and that is a benefit. The first step of the Transformational Thinking journey is perception, the first of the eleven elements of Transformational Thinking we call the eleven P's. They are, not in any particular order since each situation is different but all must be present in a philosophy that is effective and applicable in the real world: perception, passion, purpose, potential, people, politics, plans, processes, perseverance and pliability.
We get to flow in and out of those areas at will. Here is the first lesson in becoming a better thinker: Learn to play with ideas. Learn to play in the arena of your perception. Many of us take thinking too seriously and no wonder, considering the many mentally autocratic adults we had as models and mentors. There is a time and place for serious thinking, but it can also be a wonderfully relaxing playground as well as a creative hotbed and that taps into some real power we will also discuss.
You are about to be introduced to the first of several natural laws that we have discovered apply to Transformational Thinking in every respect, so much so that we have incorporated them. This one is the Tension Differential Factor and was what we refer to when we say there is always room for improvement. Raise the lower bar and the higher one moves proportionately. Some people look at that and get discouraged that they will never reach perfection. I look at it and rejoice that there is always going to be space for it to be better.
Let's look at the second such natural law, called the Law of Requisite Variety because that takes us a step closer to the real objective here, understanding the power of perception, for that is where it all begins. The Law of Requisite Variety simply states the more options from which I have to choose, the more likely I am to make a better choice. A simple numbers formula. Here is the key, and do not miss this. Our options are limited by the parameters of our perception. That is why it is crucial we begin here. If we can learn how to expand the parameters of our perception, then we can multiply the options (or opportunities) available to us.
We will also see that other natural laws seem to kick in as well. That is how Transformational Thinking developed into a full blown philosophy, a way of life that has helped hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals around the world.

The accompanying is a graphical representation of the Law of Requisite Variety. What we found was that we could easily teach people how to expand the parameters of their perception which unleashed all kinds of creative power and the question then became, "What do we do with it?" First we have to "get it". Here's how.
There are seven basic guidelines to becoming a better thinker. We will present them in total here and will be referring to them as the process continues.
1. Temporarily suspend judgment and emotion. (We will have to work on that one.)
2. Go for quantity, not quality. (Opposite of what we have been taught.)
3. Go for speed. (The mind is capable of amazing speeds! Faster than a speeding bullet!)
4. Seek as much diverse input as possible. (Group synergy is another one of those pesky natural laws that keeps popping up.)
5. Do not censure your own thinking or that of others. (Refer to number one.)
6. Practice active listening skills. (More on that later.)
7. Learn to have fun again with thinking. (Rediscover what it was like to think as a child. Think without committing to or owning the ideas. Concepts are just tossed on the table to play with, bend into different shapes, make different connections.) Do you consider that too immature for you? Refer back to guideline number one and look again. Which brings us to the point of judgment and emotion. Let us show you why this is such a key issue.
In order to really appreciate its importance it is helpful to understand why we think the way we do. We have inherited a system of thinking based upon what we refer to as linear logic (A followed by B followed by C, etc.). We have been taught to think in linear terms and that is fine as far as it takes us. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer much in the way of creative thought or innovation, often just what you need to get out of the rut your thinking and decisions have gotten you into again. "Our best thinking is what got us here!" Let's examine the process here.
As you imagine a time line, you are merrily walking along and all of a sudden are confronted with an "event". It could be a problem, a decision or choice, a plan you have to make, a new idea or concept, change, any number of things. At that point of impact is an area in which it is wisest to do your thinking. All too often, this area is clouded with emotions that led us to make unwise choices or judgments that later turn out to be false. Whoops! Now all our time and energy is consumed apologizing, rectifying, defending, justifying and all those other necessary political maneuvers.
Wouldn't it be better to take a little time up front, apply a few little simple thinking skills and increase our chances of making a better decision? No room for emotion or judgment here. No need. This is the area in which we are considering and playing with all the factors in our minds. It is a free thinking zone. You can leave your ego and attitude at the door. They will be waiting for you when you depart should you choose to collect them.
It is precisely within this "thinking zone" that we are going to focus our attention and where the skills we will be presenting beginning with the next installment will have the most incredible impact on your life. Stay tuned until then and keep thinking.

Paul Taylor 10/12/49 - 12/11/02

Died suddenly in Bangkok on 29th November 2002

Missed greatly by his wife, Maureen, and daughters, Dawn and Joy, as well as the rest of his family and friends and all those connected with Action Pursuits in Hua Hin

Abacus

How to use the oldest computer known to man! This simple calculating device was used by the Chinese thousands of years ago, and you can still see it in use around Hua Hin, especially in the market area. It is reliable, no batteries to wear out or digital display to fail, and makes a fascinating teaching aid for children.
A modern abacus is a wooden frame holding nine columns of beads on rods or wires. A crossbar divides the frame, with 2 beads on each wire above the bar and 5 on each wire below.
Numbers increase from right to left. In the lower part of the frame, the right hand column represents ones, the next column tens, the third hundreds and so on. Each bead below the bar represents a single unit, each bead above represents 5 units, so that each full column has 15 units.

MAKING A CALCULATION:
Calculations are made by moving the beads towards or away from the bar. When adding, the beads are moved to the bar, and when any column totals 10 or more - say 2 beads on the bar in the top section and 2 below - 10 units are moved away from the bar and a single bead in the next column is moved up to the bar. This is the equivalent of carrying one in arithmetic.
The final total is arrived at by noting the values of each number of beads against the bar, reading from left to right.

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