Greater Self Awareness

Reducing expectations is a necessary part of the personal process of letting go of the human penchant for attachment. Attachment reinforces expectations, expectations deepens attachment. Society exerts attachment in the pysche of every human being. We grow up and live consciously and subconsciously reinforcing attachment - and spend much in time, effort and finances in exercising that attachment. With attachment, comes addiction. The fuel for addiction in anything is personal expectation. It is definitely not easy to let go of attachment, as at every stage of human life, attachment is embedded in us - but we must be able to recognise it first before we can reduce and moderate it. Moderation in thought and practice only comes from an internal awakening - before then having a mindfulness about it. The awakening can be to recognise attachment coming from commercial drivers, political manipulation and personal deficiencies. Awakening can further arise from understanding why we have such addiction and expectation in several pronounced ways. For example, I reflect on why do I need round the clock news from media of any sort? Why do I expect to be able to try the latest yum food? Why do I possibly have the fear of missing out? Why do I feel the urge to visit another sensational foreign destination? Why must I have higher expectations of relatives than in acquaintances? When we manage to reduce our own level of expectations in others, the mind and emotion eases, opening up better pathways to evaluate and resolve a situation. Alongside a healthy process of reducing expectation, is the personal journey of increasing gratefulness for things, small or more, that already go right in our lives. The underlying constant requirement in each of us is the magic of personal awareness. Awareness helps us significantly to enable more observation and less reaction. We do not just observe the temporary nature of episodes, emotions and events, local or overseas, but also in ourselves. Our passing thoughts and feelings are truly not us, but only like fleeting clouds that pass us by. To be able to separate such matters is a first stage of reducing attachment. Awareness helps us in every aspect of our lifetime journey if we make the effort to embed it in everything we do. Awareness clarifies. Awareness helps in identifying causes and not just symptoms of a particular matter. Awareness makes us realise and identify the ever evolving motivations in ourselves and that of others. Are underlying reasons for our actions, thoughts and expectations instinctive, or have a specific cause for being, or are they due to some significant experience in our lives? Personal realisation helps us acknowledge our expectations and addictions. In so doing we understand better the attachments we carry. We are what we think. The mind can be the most powerful organ in rhe human body. Awareness can assist us to be moderate in approach, consumption and attitude. Moderation leads us to gratefulness, gratitude leads us to moderation. Once we can reduce our expectations, we chip down the hard rock of attachment, especially to external things and matters outside our selves. Within the journey of reducing attachment, we value what we already have. So the cycle can be summarised as such: Initial Awareness Less Distraction Greater Observation of Symptoms More Mindfulness Enhanced Focus Identifying Temporariness in Nature of Things Understanding Causes Reduced Expectations Less Addictions More Moderation Increased Gratitude More Effective Resolution Better Mental Health Less Attachment Even More Awareness To balance our approach to life, reducing attachment does not mean not recognising our personal level of energy, proactivity, initiative and turning our passions to reality. Our own positive characteristics and drive are our responsibilities to nurture and harvest from. We deal with them quietly and internally - we utilise them wisely in our independent journey of life. #yongkevthoughts

Oil Sufficiency in Nations - A Contrast

Singapore significantly plans ahead. She never seems to settle in a comfort zone for even a little while. Even if it does not produce oil at all, Singapore has invested long ago in massive refining capability, compared to Australia, New Zealand and other larger ASEAN nations. This comes from a government which takes on challenges by creating opportunity and approaching problems by looking and acting outside the norm. Singapore does not limit herself by whinging about its limitations, but by changing the nature of whatever disadvantages it has. Singapore is conscious especially of her high jet fuel needs as an important air hub. The small island nation has around 90 days reserves in petroleum, religiously complying with agreed international energy requirements. Singapore, even if it is a dot in land size, had long ago planned huge underground oil storage capability ( opposite to the consistent Australian government mentality and approach, when Australia is really a continental island and has more than sufficient geographical space to keep reserves of vital national assets). Australia has a population around 5 times bigger than Singapore. Singapore does not use much petrol and diesel for over land transport, compared to most of her neighbours. Goods and produce arrive via shipping and air transport, to which oil is most vital. Singapore does not have any natural resources and imports all its food requirements. Singapore is fortunately located in south east Asia, which sees significant trading routes, enormous shipping traffic and is an important hub for airlines. Singapore has positioned itself as a place to refuel, refresh and exchange. This is precisely why it maintains a huge stock of oil and refines them in huge quantities. Australia is more remotely located but geographically so large its domestic needs of petroleum of all kinds for use in private and commercial transport are more significant. This Southern Land has oil reserves but they lie mostly untapped due to a mish mash of complex reasons like environmental reasons, Indigenous cultural damage, possible lack of required commercial initiative by a sequence of governments and allowing foreign companies to walk over Australian independent strategic interests. The tendency to allow so called free market forces determine the production of refined oil in Australia has overruled national strategic interest considerations. Australia depends on oil based fertilisers to support its agricultural sector. Minimal refining capacity in Australia for so many years has now come home to roost related problems. Australia has liquefied natural gas capability, but has not taken the next step in utilising LNG to make helium like Oman ( which lies at the narrow Straits of Hormuz, opposite Iran). Helium is necessary as an ingredient to make or use in so many modern day applications ( straddling medicine, IT and more) - it can be ridiculous that some governments underestimate its importance. Australian governments seem content in history to export commodities, produce, minerals and resources in raw and unprocessed form overseas. Then Australians pay for the processed and transformed outcomes by importing them and paying foreigners. Successive Australian governments have a reluctance to regulate energy companies, especially foreign entities, and even allow outsiders to get gas at much cheaper rates than what Australian voters pay for domestically. There is no legislated prioritisation and reserve of petroleum and gas for use by domestic customers first, perhaps except in the state of Western Australia. In the current uncertainty affecting availability of oil, Australia has only 30 to 40 days reserves of oil. The significance of ASEAN in being key suppliers of refined petroleum to Australia has now come home to better realise and wake up to. Most of ASEAN have populations larger than Australia and when supply of oil generally gets cut off to them big time, how can Australian governments not make contingency anf future sufficiency plans before emergencies arise? ##yongkevthoughts

Stop and Be Cautious

Recurring Caution and Mindfulness from Us Required When: We are regularly lured to buy frivolous things all hyped by packaging, seemingly cheap deals and constant barraging. Getting into warranties as we are pyschologically seduced to pay for a promise that we almost certainly never use. Setting up auto debits for subscriptions, memberships and other payments. We instinctively know things, flavours and offers are too good to be true - and yet go ahead to acquire or eat/drink them. As we pay upfront for depreciable products even when we know we hardly use them. We are informed in tersely curt, impersonal and infornal language or wording in notifications that has an obvious feel of not telling us, as consumers, everything we are supposed and rightfully to know. When we are overwhelmed with what is included with our payment - but a dead silence received when we ask what is excluded. We do not know our rights when we encounter a situation not expected but can still happen. When we have doubts that what and who are dealing with are real or sincere. When reviews on social media can get so blurry or tricky on what is honest, what is paid advertising and what is influencing. #yongkevthoughts

Another War, Another Fuel Shortage

Does anyone still recall being on the cusp of the world wide pandemic in late January 2020? Was there a creeping silence as to what could possibly come ahead, as youngsters prepared for another school year across Australia, as east Asia welcomed another Lunar New Year and as supermarket shelves in Europe were loaded with taken for granted signs of plenty? Six years later, we are beginning to possibly experience a Deja Vu of a familiar unfolding scenario in our daily lives. Medicines essential on a regular basis may become scarce or increasingly unavailable due to logistical problems. Availability of supplies of diesel, refined petroleum and liquified gas are reduced and can stop indefinitely, subject to political play. Retail prices of electricity and gas spike again as their generation and flow are dependent on ships delivering petroleum along the world's critically trade strategic passageways. Increasing interest rates spiral inflation for businesses and reduce affordability at the retail level. The linkages in a globalised world continue to be saddled with issues as to how to effectively move trucks, ships and aircraft. Impact on prices charged for construction and building materials is one example of a downside that can ripple through society. Impact on viability and pricing for delivery of goods, food and parcels can slow the dynamics of online and off site purchases. At this stage, in late March 2026, do you feel a deafening or selective silence from authorities, governments and those running our society, about the current and potential risks and outcomes, should there be a continuation of shortages in supplies, increased volume of arnaments used in destruction and a significant toll of civillians injured or dying as collateral damage? The impact of much less petroleum being delivered to societies and economies around the world is still unravelling around four weeks after the firsr missiles were fired. Less developed parts of any country first take the hit when a vital resource gets progressively hard to obtain. City folks get disrupted later and when each new day offers no resolution to the cause of the problem. Australia Post has increased charges for business customers regarding delivery fees. The retail prices of petrol continue to spike all across the Asia-Pacific, with the Phillippines already declaring a national energy emergency. There is a reduction in availability of ingredients necessary to make materials for several industries. Airlines have quickly raised airfares and reduced scheduled flights. Fresh produce cannot be shipped on a timely basis to key overseas markets. Waste collection services in suburbs are affected. Fertiliser costs rise to the detriment of farmers. The much reduced inability to obtain liquified natural gas from West Asia adds a double whammy. Each week brings stuttered considerations and implementation by governments of counter measures like fuel rationing, car pooling, limited use of vehicles, release of poorer quality petrol, emergency provisioning and requests to the public to go out less. Food and grocery availability depend on mechanised vehicles being able to operate mostly utilising petrol. The visible lack of electrification across Australia for public, commercial and private transport purposes has now come home to roost. Generation of electricity in Australia however is not just reliant on solar panel generation but uses fossil fuel sources as well. More and more countries have over depended on private vehicle usage, for varying reasons like their geographical size, cities with poor public transport networks and the pyschological freedom valued when using the motor car. The Achilles heel in vehicle usage is the combination of high pricing for fuel and its reduced availability. The reactions observed of government responses seem to indicate a lack of viable and proactive business continuity planning. Governments of nations seem to operate on the optimism model and only act after significant negative events to first occur. It can be incredulous that governments have been using the just in time and minimum stock principles in inventory management of vital national supplies. A viable nation not only requires defensive abilities in war, but equally important are national resource security, key asset management and the ability to bounce back in the shortest time possible. Incredibly there have been Prime Ministers and/or Energy Ministers telling voters in the recent past, that there are no worries about having a few weeks of national fuel reserves on shore, as they can always depend on allies overseas to make up for shortages in case of shortages encountered. In a world wide emergency, it is indeed every man to himself. Energy sources are not just vital to run an economy in peace time, but become so significant in times of war. A society's vulnerability spikes when it only reacts after something has already occured. The importance of refined petroleum is a good example - a country as large as Australia has for a long time chosen to only have two refineries, even if it produces this vital resource in raw form. A small island nation like Singapore strategised to be a large fuel refiner long ago, even if it has no natural resources. How long the war crisis permeates both micro and macro layers of any economy depends on the decisions made by the human players in the outbreak of conflict. We were tied to the biological and mutatative behaviour of organisms during the Covid pandemic - and the world had witnessed the impact on finance, trade, mobility, health in all forms, governance, commercial power play and social attitudes from 2020 to at least 2023. The kick off for inflation to move at a faster rate has begun a few weeks ago. When various parts of the supply chain experience a kink or a delay, rogue players in the free markets can create artificial insufficiencies or quote actual shortages and raise prices more than necessary in the scheme of things. In economies which do not believe in price controls, the ultimate consumer has no other choice but to pay ultimate costs. The subsequent consequence of rising inflation for higher inter bank rates set by a central bank ( and thereby for mortgage and other lending costs) brings further dire pressure on loan borrowers who already do not earn enough to pay more for interest expenditure. In socialist practice, do governments offer tax credits, increased welfare payments, compensation set offs or specific subsidies to mitigate sudden rising costs of living and expenses of small business? With tighter budgets, the public can be reluctant to spend less on discretionary items and thereby contract the multiplier effect on consumption. A further strike on consumer and business confidence can drive recessionary pressures, reduced wages and GDP growth. Like an accelerating car's speed, even if the causative war were to end tonight, the linked impacts would take some time to stop. Who are nevertheless still benefitting behind the cloud of a pessimistic outlook? Does a conflict embed further the immense power already held by the few on Earth? The churning of pricing and value of investment options is utilised for quick profits with deft timing and changing allocations. The price of gold has see sawed in response to political moves, threats to escalate, promises to reverse and differing actions already witnessed in the few weeks since 28 February. Bond yields in the USA have steadily risen. Share prices have plunged collectively on red letter days and quietly recovered on days that followed. Understandably wholesale oil prices show spectacular increases on graphs, although they do drop as well. How the big players buy and sell at the right time is a useful skill of intelligent analysis and daring already seen through previous heightened episodes of stock and asset play. The media, in whatever form, needs events to arouse readership, attention and discussion. In an age of instantenous accessibility and enhanced pack mentality in expression, well funded financiers, politically charged arousers and savvy influencers can have an intense opportunity in communicating their convictions or agenda. The tragic underside of the internet is its misuse to misinform or disinform. What has not been emphasised is the possibility of general gullibility of the target audience (including myself) - especially to new technology that can make it harder to distinguish the truth and facts from opinions, speculation and manipulated images. Wartime is the garden bed for bringing up fears, confusion and strong opinions in reaction to a deluge of varying qualities and standards of supposed information. Are certain quarters using war, and its impact, to make huge money making opportunities personally ? Buy when share or commodity prices fall drastically, sell when it spikes up again? If a political decision or action can significantly move values and prices, isn't it a better mechanism to utilise than wait for movements of so called free markets. Like during the Covid 19 pandemic, this month can be another opportunity for contemporary societies to reassess their ongoing risks, assumptions and delusions of the prosperity enjoyed so far. How likely is the strength of still possible optimism, that the problems so far experienced will fade and life will go on as before? Is your nation sleep walking and blithely awaiting a next crisis, if it survives this current one? Patchwork and stop gap measures may make our society carry on, but it does not resolve the relevant root causes. A crisis is an opportunity to resolve matters and build more resilience for the long term, and not just surface treat the symptoms. What are Earth and human beings in for this time in 2026? The Word of the Year seems likely to be "Fuel Surcharge". #yongkevthoughts 26.3 26

Living and Investing in Havens

When trouble strikes elsewhere, a city state like Singapore watches. Others also watch Singapore. Singapore gains from being and/ or perceived to be a beacon of relative governance/ financial/ educational/ personal/ health/ economic/ trade safety, compared to her competition. Now her leadership has also to seriously grapple between her Asian cultural roots and Western colonial links, in a geopolitical landscape that seems to heighten tensions and more interaction between the East and West. Singapore's strategic characteristics, her geographical size and her image can be double edged blessings and risks. She attracts attention, she attracts investment, she attracts portable funds always waiting for a place to park (until the next higher return). Singapore can also arouse players which may have designs on her to embed their vested interests. It can be due to her strategic location at the nexus of significant shipping, airline and trading routes. It can be due to her mature, dynamic and relatively more reliable reputation as a financial centre. It can be her government's consistent readiness and planning to overcome most present and future risks. Singapore also is sited centrally in the Indo-Pacific region, the world's fastest growing region. She is ever conscious and alert to rising competitors, whether in the most prominent Bay areas of the USA and China, or in the petroleum rich and ambitious city states of West Asia. Behemoth financial centres like London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong have always loomed large historically when Singapore was not so developed. Those four cities incurred extensive damage and loss in the huge wars of the 20th century, but so did Singapore. Lower tax regimes in Singapore, compared to OECD nations, can make her investment attraction and advantage more like tax havens. In fact, Singapore does better in structuring her society than most atypical small city or island tax havens. Key features that top most lure expats to Singapore can be a one stop corporate shop, organised infrastructure, high standard education/ medical facilities and relative personal safety. Any expat living or investing in tax havens can move away from their original home nations - and they do so for lower costs of living, taking advantage of currency exchange rates, enjoying a different lifestyle, jet setting and having a better climate. Such havens structure their society to attract such expats. Dubai has under stated its war risks in a volatile geopolitical region. Singapore is serious in better managing its humid weather conditions. Tax havens in Europe are used to navigate through the historical confrontations and conflicts - and they can be little kingdoms, unassumedly not catching the attention of most critics or opposition. The Carribean isles invite investors to soak in warm weather vacations as well. Dubai has extreme high temperatures but that is mitigated by energy consuming air conditioning ( like in Singapore and Hong Kong). Expats, whether they are media influencers, cashed up retirees or corporate high flyers, often need a variety of offerings in leisure night life activities, contemporary arts, unique architectural surroundings and more. Some tax havens do also stand out in offering vibrant business opportunities, critical networking and excellent internet reliability. The dark side of such vibrant places is the unavoidable requirement to import lower paid migrants willing to undertake the so called menial jobs, which are critical to the running of society but often hidden away from media attention or acknowledgememt by authorities. Hong Kong may not be seen as organised as Singapore, but has benefitted much as a financial centre and trade conduit to the burgeoning hinterland of Greater China. Now more well integrated with an ever prosperous and technologically advanced Motherland, Hong Kong now also competes with dynamic cities within China itself. The Swiss adopted a vital stand of neutrality to differentiate themselves from the often shaky geopolitics in Europe. By so doing, Switzerland instantly offered better stability and reliability to investors and those seeking minimisation of risks. On top of the Swiss cake, the country offered governance through a republic. These are the layers intentionally built under the star feature - financial discretion and management ability. No place is perfect - and what is more significant is how a society and government highlight their strong points and manage risks for their vulnerable ones. #yongkevthoughts