Hello, thank you for visiting my personal fundraising page. As we come upon the end of 2013, and for those who have just celebrated our Thanksgiving holiday, this period gives pause to what we have accomplished, how we have contributed, and for what we have to be thankful. We are living in a time where the good in the world is often over-shadowed by a myriad of challenges: economic upheaval – globally and personally, teen suicide, untimely deaths of beloved parents, lay-offs, being passed over for a promotion, and even major life- altering surgeries and diagnoses. The list is long, and familiar. I personally have had friends and family members in my immediate circle who have experienced every single one of these hardships in the past few months. It is often hard to see, much less count, our blessings – because the hardships appear so much larger, darker, and uglier. And, no doubt, they are at certain times. We, as known intrinsically, have much for which to be grateful – all at varying levels and degrees. Yet, honestly, not all of us have our health or wealth or prosperity – and in many cases around the world – not even enough food, shelter or safety. So what are the universal blessings that all of us have, and for which we can all be grateful, regardless of station or status in life? I will share with you three blessings that TECH Outreach Malaysia was glad to be part of: Blessing 1: Time in the Present Moment "Now is the only time we have" to quote a favorite scholar and author of mine: Elisabeth Kupler Ross. She, of course, is right. Everyone from Stephen Hawking to Eckard Tolle has made this point popular in recent years – scientifically, if not spiritually. Yet, so many of us continue to plan for the future or live in the past, with only lukewarm attention to the moment we are in right now. Many of us put our life on hold – waiting for 'something' or 'someone' to enter (then 'real life' will begin). Well, as the old cliché goes – Life is what happens when we are planning our life. Not to say we shouldn't plan – that is a given reality. We have to prepare for the expected and the unexpected. However, what we have is right now ... nothing else, NOTHING else is guaranteed. This year TECH was thankful to have started a project in Nepal with the widows of war with their local representatives RUWON (Rural Women of Nepal). RUWON approached TECH based on our success stories in Sri Lanka and wanted to collaborate to bring the same success to their women who have been affected by the war in Nepal. TECH is grateful that with as little funding we had, we took the risk to start the project in June and the first team of members went to Nepal in July where together with RUWON, we established our processes and teachings with RUWON plus interviewed 20 women. We successfully provided micro credit facilities to 3 women who today are very happy and are planning to move a step higher in their respective business. They say that TECH and RUWON’s collaboration was a gift for them. That is it. Each moment is unequivocally a gift – a gift. It is not guaranteed. The moments become more potent, more precious, a treasured commodity. What are we waiting for, read more about the women in Nepal on TECH’s website www.mytechoutreach.org and start contributing. Blessing 2: The Ability to Give Love It doesn't get much better than giving to another – whatever form that may take. I am not speaking solely of the romantic type of love (though, that is pretty fabulous, too); yet, of 'agape' love. The love that shows up when, for example, a person rescues a lost puppy from a field in west Texas and adopts it as their own, or the woman a few years ago who made national headlines by bailing out a stranger whose house was being foreclosed upon only 'because the women was in need' or the type of love that reveals itself when a group of business leaders rally behind an associate suffering from inoperable cancer. We see this sort of 'love' daily – if we keep our eyes open. Unconditional….without expectation. With full acceptance…..without judgment. Notice, I didn't say 'receive love.' Though, this is indeed a gift, too; not all have been blessed with this. I would love to believe that all living beings have been given this ... though that is not necessarily the reality. What I do know – is that all of us have the ability to GIVE love. By that truth, if we all embrace that opportunity of 'giving,' it is my personal hope that we will all 'receive' love at some point. As the holidays approach and we are ending yet another year, at the risk of sounding a bit "woo woo," I personally am going to try to fully integrate this thought into my life. Not just with and to my friends and family, but with strangers and business associates and through TECH and their initiatives to empower women. Personally, I'm going to really give it a try – and I hope you will help me with this campaign! If we all pull together, perhaps we can give love to the women who are trying to build something not just for themselves but their circle of family and friends and build a “love chain” that develops and develops. Giving love is a blessing we all have. We can choose to fully unwrap it and enjoy it (or not). Blessing 3: Lessons to Learn In some ways, this is the hardest 'blessing' to explain. They most often don't show up as gifts. They show up as hardships, losses, illnesses, set-backs and are just that – lessons. Not ones we necessarily want to learn or ones we think we need to learn. Perhaps we are not even the ones learning them, we are the ones teaching others through how we handle the situation and interact with others through the situation. I have personally learned exponentially more through my hardships (valleys) than I ever learned through my highlights (hills). Correspondingly, I have learned much more through family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers, who have handled death, illness, bankruptcy, loss of job, loss of home, loss of parents, and children with grace, strength, courage, resolve, and stalwart love of life. They were and are my teachers. We are no doubt in earth school. We are here to learn lessons. These lessons are often the firestorms in life – and they burn into us what we become....brilliant beings of light and love. What a blessing we have all been given. We can choose to go to 'school' and learn lessons (or not). Final point ... many of you may wonder what this article has to do with women or business, well everything. Without awareness and gratitude for our gifts, we miss the richness of what life has to offer and the opportunities we have for giving back. This manifests in all forms, most pertinently perhaps in business – where we spend a majority of our lives! As the end of yet another year rapidly approaches, may we all realise and be grateful for the blessings we all have: - Treasuring the 'here and now' and appreciating and contributing in every single moment we have while here, - Loving openly and freely with no boundaries, judgment or expectation and, - Welcoming the lessons which undoubtedly come our way and give us the opportunity to grow. Blessings Be! Our cups truly do runneth over. Using this given platform is really simple and most importantly it's also a really cost efficient way for the charity to raise funds. My page allows you to follow my progress; share it with friends; voice encouragement or even join me and get involved yourself! Susheela