My friend, Chade Meng
2011
Whenever I see my friend Chade Meng, he always has a ready smile on his face. It is infectious, I can’t help but laugh and smile throughout our conversation. His life ambition is to create world peace. Meng as he is known in Google – he’s among the first engineers to work there in 1999 and the first Singaporean to do so – is spreading this message by conducting a self-awareness class at Google.
When I met him in January at Googleplex in Mountain View, we spoke about meditation, as a way of beating stress as well as focussing the mind. To me, meditation is sitting in a quiet room, thinking about nothing and generally focussing on the breath. Well I got the breath right but not the rest. Meng advices that one-minute of meditation anywhere and at any time once or twice a day will lead to a clearer mind and the ability to withstand stress. From one-minute, extend to 2 minutes, once or twice a day.
Just sit down and close the eyes and focus on breathing in and out, he adviced. Do this at your work area or anywhere, ignore the activities around you. It’ll be difficult initially but after practice, it will become easier. He practices it himself and he is able to handle office dynamics better, he told me.
I was reminded of his advice when I wrote the story on Meng’s endowment fund for 2 undergrads at NTU. The story appears tomorrow’s issue (May 4) Digital Life. I admire him because of his peaceful demeanour and his willingness to contribute to society. Google has made him a multi-millionaire and he is using his wealth to do philanthropic work.
For more on Meng and his views on why compassion makes sense for businesses, go to ted.com or google him.
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