Weaving Between Light and Shadows, Said and Unsaid talks about mental health being an invisible force-we cannot see or touch it, but we certainly can feel it within us. It sometimes catches us off-guard, and we wonder why we feel the way we do, or what, where, in our environment, can we encounter these frictions or triggers to our mental health?
The author speaks with individuals from different personal and professional backgrounds in Singapore to learn how their environment shapes their mental and emotional well-being. They each bring a unique perspective on how our external circumstances shape our internal experiences, and shed light on the unexpected and less known areas of mental health.
Archives: Books
The Stormy Sea
The Stormy Sea is a true story about ordinary men coming together to protect the vulnerable fleeing Vietnam on the Southern Cross ship. The band of brothers dealt with everything from pirates, birth, fire and flooding on board to organising their own rescue from the Indonesian island where the Southern Cross eventually ran aground.
To this day, the author still remembers in detail the calm water and the smell of diesel on the fishing trawler he was cramped in all night with his family.
Lawrence was appointed leader on the ship backed by the European Captain and his crew to lead the 1,200 refugees on the deck of the Southern Cross. This was prompted by a gang of young men confiscating food and extorting money for instant noodles. Lawrence realised his five young children wouldn’t stand a chance of surviving had he not taken charge.
Why Am I like This?
‘Why am I like this?’ If you’ve asked this question to yourself quietly time and again… get ready to unpack and process like never before. Embark on a textured journey that will illuminate the hidden, unspoken and often unconscious experiences of the traumatized self. Chapter by chapter, you’ll make sense of your emotions, body, nervous system and relationships.
Through concept, vulnerable story-telling and self-inquiry, author Natalia Rachel ignites a shift towards self-compassion and the dissolving of shame. Like the brilliant formations of a kaleidoscope, your awareness will continue to morph, crystalize and clarify until you make the utmost sense. Natalia’s life journey as a patient turned therapist opens an incredibly special doorway to trauma recovery, healing and post-traumatic growth.
The End of All Skies
The final days of Sun Girna Ginar have arrived.
The old witch in the marketplace knows it, but no one believes her. How could the Sultanate fall when the God-Sultan rules over the earth and Skyworld? How could anyone ever defeat General Marandang, the giant slayer, and the city’s champion, Lam-Ang?
Entering into a wager with the gods, the old witch promises to destroy the city. And by granting the most insignificant the ability to make their dreams come true, it all comes to pass. We witness the fall of the Sultan’s great city through their stories: the hunter who seeks revenge, the one-handed thief who wants justice, and the exiled datu searching for redemption.
Together, they bring about the destruction of the city of Sun Girna Ginar. Its walls are breached by the six-headed giant of Gawi-Gawen as fire consumes the Palace and the never-ending rain swallows the city in flood.
The End of All Skies is a story of reclaimed myths, but it is also a mirror of recent history, of today. It revisits our lost past and entreats us to never forget the sins committed against us, while reminding us of the power and humanity each of us possesses.
The Great Career Paradox
Why are some people with highly successful careers… still unhappy in life?
At the pinnacle of their careers and lauded by many for their achievements, they struggle to find joy in the work they do. To fill this void, they drive their careers even harder, only to feel more isolated and frustrated.
Therein lies The Great Career Paradox of our time – that contrary to popular belief, Career Success does not always create Happiness, and might even have an opposite effect!
This lack of Career Fulfilment is a key driving force fueling the mass exodus of staff in many organisations today.
How can individuals achieve Career Happiness? What can employers do to engage their teams to improve retention?
Having coached thousands of Executives, Authors Adrian and Yen were piqued by this Paradox and combined their experiences in Headhunting, Consulting and Coaching to unlock the Secrets to Career Happiness.
In-depth interviews and massive surveys were conducted with Business Leaders and Executives and they created a new Career Framework based on Career Strategy™ and Career Agility™.
Correctly executed, these concepts will help you navigate your life journey and ultimately achieve meaningful Career Success.
Threading Worlds: Conversations on Mental Health – Stories We Don’t Tell
Stories We Don’t Tell consists of a series of heartfelt and moving repositories of conversations with people who have lived experiences of mental health challenges. These candid talks revealed not just the challenges these individuals faced, but the immense amount of courage and strength and self-love they carried throughout their mental health journey.
While the mental health conversation was elevated in 2020, people have always been navigating mental health issues, whether it be through major life changes, relationship difficulties, financial struggles or more. Understanding how life’s challenges affect our mental and emotional states is crucial if we want to become a society that is more compassionate towards each other. An unexamined life is not worth living, and an unlived life is not worth examining. These raw transcribed stories from dialogues that were taken in real time will take you through the personal journeys of those who lived, and are still living, with mental health-and hopefully allow you to better understand what mental health truly is, beyond the hearsay.
Threading Worlds: Conversations on Mental Health – Growing Pains
Growing Pains talks about pains experienced by children and youth that can leave deep emotional wounds on us. In our formative years, we yearn to be accepted and loved by our family and friends, all while trying to find our place and identity in the world. As we show the people around us who we are, an identity that is still in its raw and unchanged form, it can sometimes be met with disappointment and rejection even from those closest to us. These experiences can either make us stronger and more resilient individuals, or tear our inner worlds apart. Trauma is a word that is still very often misunderstood. Just the word alone by itself caries a negative taboo and social stigma. We have an obligation to re-educate ourselves in our understanding of how we become the person we are today, such that we can move our lives forward to the future that we yearn of, and to pay it forward to the next generation and ensure that they become the best version of themselves through their growing years.
Today, young people have to find their way in an increasingly noisy and uncertain world, on top of navigating their relationships with family, friends and loved ones. The stories in this book capture the challenges of youth, and provide insights on what it takes to support the young as they go through the ups and downs of life.
A Taste for Murder
Poisons. Mayhem.
At Singapore’s premier university.
The Das Sisters follow the trail of a diabolical murderer.
The second of the Das Sisters Mystery Series finds Inspector Dolly Das and her sister, Lily, embroiled in a university murder case. It is 2011. When a Korean postdoctoral fellow from the chemistry department dies suddenly, apparently from a heart attack brought on by food poisoning, canteen stall owner, Lily Das, is in danger of losing her business license. Intent on clearing her name, Lily, with the help of her sister, Dolly, discovers the victim had been deliberately poisoned. When more poisonings occur, endangering the lives of people they know, Lily, and Dolly suspect a serial killer is on the loose on campus. The Das sisters, with the help of their mother, Uma, Dolly’s son, Ash, Lily’s assistants, Vernon and Angie, and the domestic helper, Girlie, must race against time to catch the murderer and stop the killing spree. But can Lily think clearly when she is estranged from her husband? Can Dolly keep her job when her jealous boss is intent on retiring her? Both Lily and Dolly must overcome these challenges to nail an elusive, cruel, and highly dangerous killer.
Kopi Dulu
A journey of 15,000 kilometres – by rail, road, on foot and under sail – through about 50 Indonesian islands, shining a light on what has been described as the world’s most invisible country.
From tracking tigers (and the mythical ‘short man’) in the Sumatra jungle to the mystical Dayak tribe that lives near the geographical centre of Borneo, this book touches on some of Indonesia’s most intriguing secrets. The author meets Tana Toraja’s ‘living dead’, the Bugis people (once known as the Bogeymen) who build and sail the spectacular Sulawesi schooners and the villagers who are literally besieged by dragons in the Komodo archipelago. He surfs the legendary reefs of G-Land, Nias and Occy’s Left (and pioneers a previously un-surfed wave in the remote Alor Archipelago). He road-trips across Sulawesi and Flores and sails in the wake of Alfred Russel Wallace around Spice Islands, which have remained largely unchanged for centuries.
Wild Wisdom
Wild Wisdom recounts the story of social entrepreneur and philanthropist Christine Amour-Levar and the all-female expeditions she has led across the globe via her two non-profit organisations, Women on a Mission and HER Planet Earth. Over a decade, she has taken hundreds of women, of all nationalities, ages and backgrounds, to off the beaten track locations around the world on challenging, often pioneering, expeditions that really push them outside of their comfort zone.
She has run expeditions to some incredible places, from regions of the Arctic circle to the coldest, windiest and most remote continent on earth, Antarctica. Her teams have crossed the largest caves in the world in Vietnam, sailed across remote islands in Asia, were the first all-female team to bike across the frozen Arctic Circle Trail of Greenland and the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia – the hottest place on earth. And all these expeditions have had as mission to raise awareness and funds for vulnerable women, transforming the lives of thousands of women and girls in the process.
By sharing her personal story and highlighting her life lessons, from growing up on multiple continents to leading teams on expeditions, she sets the stage for a new approach to caring for the human condition and the planet, at a deeper, more intrinsic, heart level. Ultimately, this is a story about roots and values, sisterhood and adventure, pushing limits and the power of our common humanity and compassion to drive change and impact the world for the better.