Mindful Success By Meng Chan

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Mindful Success By Meng Chan

Helping people to grow their health and wealth through Mindful Success. The freedom I sought seemed elusive, and I felt like a ship adrift in a vast sea.

I am on a mission to share my passion in mindfulness and meditation practice for more than 10 years, to help more people achieve true success in life. 𝗔 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹-𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴

Once upon a time, I embarked on a relentless pursuit of success, driven by the desire for a fat bank account. From a young age, I held tightly to the belie

f that financial prosperity was the ultimate measure of achievement. Little did I know that this path would lead me to a place of exhaustion, disillusionment, and a yearning for something more. After working away for others and even starting my own business, I found myself trapped in a cycle of burnout and confusion. It was during this time that a friend, a successful financial consultant, extended an invitation that would forever change my life (the lowest point of my life). I was hesitant for a year. I knew that as a financial consultant, I carried a tremendous responsibility. My clients placed their trust in me to guide them through their financial planning journeys, and I couldn't afford to let them down. And I have to provide the best service. Eventually, I decided to embrace this new chapter, fully aware that I would have to make it my last career, enabling me to serve those who placed their faith in me for as long as we live. However, just as I settled into this new role, my friend unexpectedly resigned from the agency. I was thrust into uncertainty, left to navigate the unpredictable tides of the industry all on my own. The next two years were an arduous struggle, marked by sleepless nights filled with anxiety about my income and how to grow my business. My mental and physical well-being suffered under this weight. It was during these darkest moments that I experienced a profound realization—a true measure of success goes beyond the accumulation of wealth. To rebuild my life from this low point, I knew I had to focus on holistic well-being, nurturing both my mind and body. Determined to find balance, I embarked on a transformative journey. I sought solace in a ten-day meditation course in Hong Kong, seeking to improve my mental well-being. Through dedicated practice, I began to cultivate mindfulness, finding clarity amidst the chaos that had consumed me. Simultaneously, I embraced a daily running routine, embracing the power of physical fitness to strengthen my body and spirit. With each step, I took towards self-care, a remarkable transformation began to unfold. My business slowly started to blossom, and a newfound sense of purpose ignited within me. Driven by a desire to help others grow their health and wealth holistically, I embarked on a mission—a movement I call Mindful Success. Today, with 14 years of experience as a financial consultant, I stand before you with a humble heart. I have had the privilege of guiding countless individuals and families through the intricacies of their financial journeys, always placing their well-being above all else. My commitment to mindful financial planning is an expression of my unwavering dedication to your holistic success. If you are searching for a friend who understands the significance of your mental, physical, and financial well-being, I invite you to join me on this extraordinary path. Together, let us venture toward a future where your dreams and aspirations come alive, where your financial well-being thrives in harmony with your overall happiness and fulfillment. Embrace the humble journey toward Mindful Success, and let us create a legacy of prosperity, joy, and lasting contentment.

02/09/2026

Mindfulness
This is from Sayadaw U Tejaniya, a contemporary Burmese meditation teacher in the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage, known for his particular style of vipassana practice often called "Mind-Watching"
— teaching that emphasizes ongoing awareness of mental states throughout daily life rather than confining practice to formal seated sessions.
His teaching style is distinctively investigative and non-prescriptive, often built around simple, repeatable questions ("What is the mind doing right now? Is there awareness?").
● "Do not look for what you want to see; look at what is actually happening"
This targets a specific, subtle trap in meditation practice: approaching awareness with a hidden agenda — hoping to observe calm, hoping to confirm progress, hoping not to find restlessness, aversion, or boredom.
When meditators do this, they're not actually observing; they're filtering experience through expectation, sometimes unconsciously shaping or interpreting what's noticed to match what they want to find.
U Tejaniya is asking for something harder: honest observation of whatever is actually present, including states that are unwanted, embarrassing, or seem like "bad meditation" — irritation, dullness, wandering thoughts, self-judgment itself.
● "Awareness is not about achieving a blank mind"
This corrects a very common misconception about meditation — that the goal is emptiness, silence, or the absence of thought. U Tejaniya explicitly teaches against this.
Thoughts, emotions, and mental chatter arising isn't a failure of practice or a sign that awareness isn't happening. A "blank mind" isn't the target and chasing it is, in his framework, just another form of wanting a particular outcome rather than being with what's true.
● "It is about knowing the mind as it is"
This is his actual definition of awareness (often rendered in his teaching as "sati" or simply "knowing mind"): a clear, receptive knowing of whatever mental or physical state is currently present — including thinking, restlessness, boredom, or resistance itself — without needing it to be different first.
Awareness here is a relationship to experience (accurate, non-manipulative knowing), not a particular content or state that experience should be manipulated into.

26/08/2026

This is from Jon Kabat-Zinn, the molecular biologist who founded Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at UMass Medical School in 1979 and was central to bringing Buddhist mindfulness practice into secular, clinical, and mainstream Western settings.
His work tends to strip away religious/metaphysical framing and describe mindfulness in plain, functional terms — this quote is a good example of that style.
● "Mindfulness means being awake"
Kabat-Zinn frequently uses "awake" as shorthand for a basic quality most people assume they already have: actually being present for their own experience, rather than running on autopilot.
He's pointing at the ordinary condition of going through large chunks of the day — driving, eating, conversations, chores — without genuinely registering them, because attention is elsewhere (planning, ruminating, distracted). "Awake" here isn't mystical; it's closer to "actually here for this."
● "It means knowing what you are doing"
This is Kabat-Zinn's characteristic move of making mindfulness concrete and almost mundane rather than exotic.
Knowing what you're doing while you're doing it — brushing your teeth, walking to the car, listening to someone talk — as opposed to your body doing one thing while your mind is somewhere else entirely.
This is essentially a plain-language restatement of sati (the Pali term often translated as "mindfulness"), which carries connotations of remembering to attend, or retention of present-moment awareness.
● "The little things? The little moments? They aren't little"
This is the core claim, and the rhetorical structure (question, then flat assertion) is doing real work.
Kabat-Zinn's broader teaching is that most of life is made of small, seemingly unremarkable moments — not the big dramatic events.
If those moments are consistently missed because attention is elsewhere, most of one's actual life goes unlived, even while the person is technically present and functioning.
Conversely, if those small moments are met with attention, they turn out to carry more weight, texture, and significance than their "smallness" suggests.
This connects to a recurring theme in his books (Wherever You Go, There You Are, Full Catastrophe Living): mindfulness isn't primarily about special meditation sessions set apart from life, but about how present you are for the actual texture of ordinary living.

19/08/2026

Mindfulness
The image itself
Picture a jar of muddy water. If you shake it, stir it, or keep poking at it, the mud stays suspended and the water stays cloudy. The only way for it to clear is to stop disturbing it — set it down and let gravity do the work. The mud settles to the bottom on its own, given time and stillness, not effort.
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Lao Tzu is using this as a direct metaphor for the mind under stress, confusion, or emotional agitation. A reactive, anxious, or overstimulated mind is like the shaken jar — turbulent, unable to see clearly. Clarity isn't produced by more mental effort or forceful analysis in that state; it emerges from settling.
"Do you have the patience to wait"
This first question is really testing capacity, not just describing a technique. Waiting without forcing an outcome is genuinely difficult — there's an almost built-in urge to do something when things feel unclear or uncomfortable: analyze harder, decide faster, fix it now. Lao Tzu is asking whether you can tolerate the discomfort of not-yet-knowing long enough for clarity to arise naturally.
"Can you remain unmoving until the right action arises by itself"
This is the second, related capacity: stillness held not just until things become clear, but until the correct response itself becomes obvious — as opposed to acting prematurely out of anxiety, impatience, or the need to feel in control. "Arises by itself" is key. The action isn't manufactured through willful deliberation; it becomes apparent once the mental "mud" has settled, in the same way the right next step in a heated argument is often obvious only after you've calmed down, not while you're still worked up.
Connection to wu wei (無為)
This passage is a concrete illustration of wu wei, often translated "non-action" or "effortless action" — one of the central concepts in Taoist philosophy. It doesn't mean literal passivity or doing nothing. It means not forcing outcomes through strain, ego, or anxious grasping, and instead acting in a way that's aligned with how things naturally unfold. The "right action" still happens — it's just not muscled into being.

12/08/2026

Mindfulness
This quote comes from Mooji, a teacher in the neo-Advaita / satsang tradition (lineage traced through Papaji back to Ramana Maharshi). It's a compact statement of nondual teaching, and it works in two distinct halves.
● "You need nothing to be happy, but you need something to be sad"
Mooji's claim here is that happiness — or more precisely, the peace/wellbeing he's pointing to — isn't actually built from circumstances.
It doesn't require an object, an achievement, a person, or a story to complete it. It's presented as prior to and independent of conditions.
Sadness (and, by extension, most suffering) works differently: it requires content. A thought, a memory, a comparison, an expectation unmet — something specific that the mind is holding onto and identifying with.
Take away that "something," and the sadness doesn't have material to run on. This mirrors a claim common across nondual traditions: distress is always about something, while the awareness in which it appears is not about anything — it just is.
● "Don't be a person; be the space where the person appears"
This is the more radical, characteristically Advaita move. "Person" here means the constructed self — your name, history, roles, personality, opinions, the ongoing character built from memory and thought.
Mooji is not saying to erase that person or stop functioning as one practically. He's pointing at a distinction between:

→ The content of experience (thoughts, emotions, the sense of being "someone" with a story)
→ The awareness in which all of that content arises and passes
→ "Be the space" is an invitation to recognize yourself as that awareness — open, unchanging, prior to any particular thought or feeling — rather than being fully identified with the shifting character who has good days and bad days.
In this framework, the "person appearing" is likened to a wave, and "the space" is likened to the ocean: the wave isn't false, but it's not the whole story of what you are either.

05/08/2026

Mindfulness
This quote reflects a distinction Tara Brach draws on frequently in her teaching — one with deep roots in Buddhist psychology, though she puts it in accessible, contemporary language.
● "Pain is not a mistake; it is a part of the human condition"
This is the first move: normalizing pain rather than treating it as a problem to be solved or a sign that something has gone wrong.
Physical pain, loss, disappointment, fear, grief — these are built into having a body and caring about things.
Brach's point here is that pain itself isn't evidence of failure, bad practice, or bad luck singling you out. It's simply part of what it means to be alive and vulnerable.
● "Suffering is the story we tell ourselves about the pain"
This is the sharper distinction, and it echoes the Buddhist teaching often called the "two arrows" (from the Sallatha Sutta): the first arrow is the pain itself — unavoidable, direct experience.
The second arrow is what we add on top of it — the interpretation, the resistance, the narrative.
Things like "this shouldn't be happening," "something is wrong with me," "this will never end," "I don't deserve this."
That layer of story is where a lot of the added suffering lives — and unlike the raw pain, it's often more within our capacity to notice and work with.
● What this is not saying
A few common misreadings worth heading off:
→ It's not saying pain is "all in your head" or that suffering is simply a choice you can switch off. The story-making Brach describes is often automatic, deeply conditioned, and not something people summon on purpose.
→ It's not a call to suppress or dismiss the story. Brach's actual practice (she's known for the RAIN method — Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) involves turning toward both the pain and the story with curiosity and compassion, not bypassing either one.
→ It doesn't mean all suffering is illegitimate or that people should stop seeking to change painful circumstances. It's a description of an inner mechanism, not a statement that external conditions don't matter.

29/07/2026

Mindfulness
This is one of the most quoted lines from Dōgen's Genjōkōan ("Actualizing the Fundamental Point"), a foundational text of Sōtō Zen Buddhism written around 1233. It lays out a kind of chain reasoning, each step building on the last.
● "To study the Buddha Way is to study the self"
Dōgen is redirecting where spiritual inquiry actually happens. Buddhism isn't fundamentally about doctrines, texts, or something "out there" to acquire — it's an investigation of who and what you are. This is consistent with a broader Zen emphasis on direct, personal insight over abstract belief.
● "To study the self is to forget the self"
This is the pivot, and the most easily misread line. "Forgetting the self" doesn't mean self-annihilation or dissociation. In Zen usage, it points to what happens when you look closely enough at "the self" — through sitting meditation (zazen), through sustained attention — that the sense of a fixed, separate, permanent "me" loosens. You stop being preoccupied with the self as a thing to defend, improve, or assert. The self isn't destroyed; the grip of self-referencing thought relaxes.
● "To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things"
Here's the payoff. When the self-centered filter drops away, Dōgen says you're not left in a void — you're "actualized" (verified, made real, brought to life) by the ten thousand things: the sound of rain, another person's face, the weight of a cup in your hand. The direction of activity reverses. Ordinarily we feel like we go out and grasp the world with our senses and concepts. Dōgen is describing the opposite experience: reality meeting you, confirming you, without a separate self standing in between mediating and interpreting everything.
● Putting it together
The quote describes a progression from intellectual study → to direct self-examination → to a loosening of self-centeredness → to an intimate, unmediated participation in the world as it is. It's often read as a description of enlightenment itself, but Dōgen (in line with Sōtō Zen more broadly) tends to treat this less as a one-time achievement and more as something continually enacted and renewed, moment to moment, especially through zazen practice.
● One caution: it's easy to flatten "forget the self" into pop-psychology self-esteem talk ("don't think about yourself so much") or into a mystical claim about literally dissolving into everything. Dōgen's language is more precise than either — it's pointing at a shift in the structure of experience itself, not a moral instruction or a metaphysical merger.

22/07/2026

The Wisdom of Impermanence
We spend so much time and energy trying to lock things down—our plans, our wealth, our comfort, and our control.
We treat life as something we need to hold in place. But Jack Kornfield beautifully reminds us: "Nothing is permanent. Everything changes.
When we try to hold onto things, we create our own hell. When we allow things to flow, we find our heaven."
● The Trap of Holding On
Change is the only constant law of nature. Yet, our minds constantly fight against it:
→ The Struggle: When the market shifts, a plan falls apart, or a season of life ends, we panic and try to grasp tightly to what was.
→ The Suffering: That resistance is what creates our own mental "hell." The tighter we squeeze, the more pain we cause ourselves.
● The Freedom of the Flow
True peace begins the moment we stop fighting reality and allow life to flow.
→ Mental Clarity: Like a river, when you stop trying to dam the water, you can move with it smoothly.
→ Resilience: Whether you are navigating market waves or personal transitions, letting go of control allows you to respond with wisdom rather than panic.
When you allow things to flow, you realize that peace isn't about having everything figured out—it's about being free within the changing tides.
Are you holding too tightly to a plan or a worry today?
If you are ready to let go of the internal struggle and bring more balance to your life and decisions, send me a message. Let’s have a short Zoom conversation about finding your own path to peace.

08/07/2026

Mindfulness
This is a powerful illustration of the difference between experiencing life and being controlled by it.
Here is how these two metaphors apply to mindfulness:
● "You cannot stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."
→ The Waves: These represent the uncontrollable events of life—market fluctuations, personal challenges, difficult emotions, or global news. Just as you cannot command the ocean to be still, you cannot force reality to fit your preferences.
→ The Surfing: This is the practice of mindfulness. Learning to "surf" means developing the mental resilience to maintain your balance regardless of the conditions.
Instead of being tumbled by the waves of change, you develop the skill to ride through them with stability and presence.
● "The mind is a mirror; it reflects everything but clings to nothing."
→ Reflecting Everything: A mirror does not judge what it shows. It reflects both the beautiful and the unpleasant with equal clarity.
This is the quality of non-judgmental awareness. It allows you to see the world as it is, rather than how you wish it to be.
→ Clinging to Nothing: A mirror does not "hold onto" the image once the object has passed. When we experience anger, fear, or stress, our natural tendency is to "cling" to it by overthinking.
Goldstein’s teaching suggests that if we can adopt the nature of a mirror, we can experience emotions without becoming attached to them, allowing them to pass through our awareness without leaving a permanent stain.

01/07/2026

Mindfulness
Saying "yes" to the present moment is a direct challenge to the human tendency to live in conflict with reality.
Here is an accurate explanation of this mindfulness concept:
1. The Meaning of "Yes"
Saying "yes" does not mean you are passive, nor does it mean you are "happy" about a difficult situation. It means you accept that this moment, exactly as it is, has already happened. You are acknowledging the reality of the present rather than wishing it were different.
2. The Futility of Resistance
Tolle describes resistance as "futile" and "insane" for several reasons:
→ Reality is Unchangeable: The present moment is the result of countless previous causes and conditions. It is already here; therefore, fighting it is like fighting the weather.
→ The Energy Drain: Inner resistance—the mental "No!"—consumes a massive amount of life energy. It creates suffering, anxiety, and unhappiness because you are mentally trying to be in a time or place other than where you physically are.
→ The Disconnection: By resisting, you disconnect from your own true nature and from the intelligence of life itself, which can only act through the present.
3. Acceptance as a Gateway
Tolle emphasizes that once you accept the "what is," you are no longer blinded by your own emotional reaction. This puts you in a position of power.
→ Action from Clarity: When you stop resisting, you can see the situation clearly. You are then free to take effective, calm action to change the circumstances if necessary, rather than reacting out of desperation or fear.
→ Neutrality: True acceptance is neutral. It is simply dropping the mental baggage of "this shouldn't be happening" so that you can deal with the actual problem with a clear mind.
Practical application in the comment below.

"Stop fighting the current of your own life. If you are ready to find the balance between building your financial future and cultivating true mental freedom, send me a message.
Let’s have a chat on how we can get you 'floating' again."

24/06/2026

Mindfulness
This quote by Alan Watts is a profound metaphor for the practice of surrender and the release of control in life.
To understand it accurately, we can break it down into these core concepts:
● The Trap of Grabbing
In this metaphor, the "water" represents life, the present moment, or the unfolding of reality itself.
When we "grab hold" of the water, we are trying to control, force, or fix things that are naturally fluid.
→ The Anxiety of Control: Just as a panicked swimmer tightens their muscles and fights the water, we often "tense up" against the flow of life.
We believe that if we worry hard enough, plan obsessively, or resist change, we can stop ourselves from "sinking."
→ The Paradox: Watts points out the irony: the harder you try to secure your safety by holding on, the more you exhaust yourself and create the very resistance that causes you to struggle.
● The Intelligence of Floating
To "trust yourself to the water" is to recognize that you are not separate from the environment.
→ Trust and Relaxation: Floating requires a counter-intuitive action: you must stop "doing." By relaxing, you allow the water to support you.
In life, this means shifting from a state of constant, forced effort to a state of receptive presence.
→ True Faith: For Watts, "faith" here isn't religious dogma. It is an active, experiential trust in the process of existence.
It is the realization that if you stop fighting the current of your own life, you have the capacity to navigate it naturally.
● Why It Is Often Misinterpreted
Many people hear this and assume it means "being lazy" or "doing nothing." That is a misunderstanding.
→ Dynamic Action vs. Force: A swimmer who floats is still active—they are breathing, keeping their posture, and staying present. They are "swimming" effectively because they are working with the water, not against it.
→ Efficiency: When you stop grabbing, you conserve your energy. You become more capable of dealing with whatever challenges arise because your mind is clear and your body is not paralyzed by the tension of fear.

Practical Application
You can apply this immediately, particularly in your professional consulting or your own mindfulness practice:
Notice the Tension: The next time you feel a surge of urgency (like a "need" to fix a client's issue immediately or a fear about a financial projection), notice that physical sensation of "grabbing."
The "Float" Experiment: Consciously soften your posture and take a breath. Remind yourself: I do not need to fight this moment to survive it.
By relaxing into the uncertainty rather than resisting it, you often find the insight you were searching for because your mind is no longer clouded by the panic of control.

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