Take challenges positively

I have this christian friend whom i know from a buddhist society camp ( i know it sounds contradictory). Anyway, my focus is not abt her religious background but rather, her working style and confidence. A few of us have always taken her as our role model as she often impresses us with her views of life and ways of handling matters. I have a short chat with her lately on MSN, and she gave me this golden advice:

Take challenges positively

I was initially feeling v perplexed and sian over some work matters but upon recalling her advice, i got a sudden surge in my morale. Within a short time, i managed to come up with a mini proposal and some ideas which i will try using to solve my issues tmr. Having the right mentality is so crucial in life.

Many friends have asked me what exactly i do at work. Its hard to explain, but basically i am supporting the building of new notebooks, setting up the material structures, overseeing the launching and finally, sustaining them and ensuring their quality in the market. Most ppl wud have belittled the sustaining part, but from the business pt of view, sustaining a product shld be one of the most crucial area. This is to win the trust of customers and to continue keeping up the good name of the company brand.

I wud like to link this idea to NUSBS. As spoken to OWY over dinner jus now, i feel that sustaining and retaining the members in the society is very crucial but often neglected. Its not easy for to get new-comers to the society, despite much efforts have been done on marketing and publicity. Besides the buddhist teachings itself, i believe its the bondage, the spiritual friendship, the sense of belonging, that help to keep and retain the members in the society.

Besides myself (call me BHB or thick-skin), i have seen how a few fellow bs friends have spent efforts in extending their friendships to the members of the society - who eventually become very active and prominent members of the society. I believe we did all these not becos we wanna enlarge our society membership, neither were we hungry for helpers or supports, but all in the name of wanting more ppl to get in touch with the Dharma.

But something contradictory i notice over the past few yrs - while many of us were so active and busy in organising buddhist activities to bring Dharma closer to the campus community, how many of us actually have spent the equal amt of energy and drive to similarly bring Dharma closer to our own family members, friends and lecture mates? I know some of them did, but not many.