This is a poetry book written to create ripples in your thoughts.  If you are facing certain issues, be it happy, sad, frustration or stuck, you would find a poem that connects with you.  When you read and listen (with your eyes closed for best immersion) to the poems, and take the time to ponder over those words, you would be able to find your own path to your desired destination.
 
It is best that you take your time with these poems and not rush through them. 
 
The book has three sections, Step In – a time for self-reflection, Step Up – a time to own up to what is the true you, and, Step Out – a time to live the life that you have always wanted.  And that would be the sequence you go through this series.  In between each section, there are pages for you to doodle and write your thoughts and I welcome you to play with my poems – change it to the way you see fit or doodle any images that comes to you while reading and listening to them.  I want you to have fun with my poems too.
 
If you are wondering how you could express your emotions better or to be understood, find a poem that  connects with you. Go ahead and use them as a communication starter for you and the person that you are trying to connect with. 
 
If someone in your life whom you feel needs to read or listen to my poems, go ahead and read or play the audio for them.  Continue with a conversation around your understanding of those poems.  That is one way to start mindful conversations.
 
I would really love to hear from you when you connect with any of my poems and decided that you are going to empower yourself towards Stepping Out.  Add comment in the blogs, or contact me here.
 
Be safe and Be Empowered!

Hope you enjoy them!
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​kris ang

My relationship with my mom is a magical one. From the time she delivered me, her journey began alone because my dad was not well. So, it hadn’t been easy on her from the start. And me being an only child, was another challenge altogether. But she persisted and I resisted. Then she relented with conditions, and I gave in - in my own way because…because… I only have one mom! Not sure about you, but I believe I’m her child for a reason. And so this was written for her. It is just a glimpse. There’s so much to write about her and that could be another book!!!

Many times we were caught up in our daily challenges but until we take time to be still and listen to our inner voices, we will never know what brings true joy to us.

I am grateful to my extremely gifted friends, Maryanne Mooney and Janet Goldblatt, for organising a purpose quest retreat in Louisiana in Dec 2018. During that retreat, together with 11 other purpose questers, I realised that I had this deep love for writing poems. I felt so much indescribable joy and self-empowerment from writing for myself and for others. And on that purpose-quest retreat, I wrote this poem.

​kris ang

Written while walking in the woods to identify my life's purpose.  I wanted to know is there more to life than what I was doing.

I used to be one who packed my days to the brim with one activity after another. These can be work, spending time with the children, family, friends, or running errands, etc.  I didn't really have time for reflection. After all, a busy day is a productive day. However, there were many times I didn’t feel fulfilled even though I had accomplished a ton of work. I asked myself, "how could that be possible?" After all, I had a very productive day.  Then I realised that I didn’t take time to listen to what my heart wanted. I was driven by results and went with the flow of busy-ness. I wasn’t in tune with my own inner voice.

​Anyone who knew me will knows that I love when people are in love. Whether it’s sibling's love, couple’s love, family love, friend's love, love for animals, for plants, for the sun, or the moon and the stars!
However, when people talk about them being in love with another person, do they really know who they are in love with? When we are in love with the idea of a person and when the journey together progresses, something so good at the beginning may begin to work against us. For instance, too much sugar could give us diabetes! So do we really know who are we in love with?
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kris ang

​I love it that my niece, Melissa, my front-line editor, looks at me strangely every time she went through my poems. She will ask me questions on structures of poetry and I would have no idea how I conform to those structures without any prior knowledge.  So she gave me a challenge to read Eve Merriam’s “how to eat a poem” and write a poem in that style or something along that concept.  And after pondering for a day, I wrote this and send to her.

​I have been a coach to many professionals and CEOs since 2002.  And it’s common that whether we are professionals or otherwise, we all want to look as if we have everything under control. We want to project the image that we are unfazed by the challenges life throws at us.  But is that the truth? What do we do with the inner struggles we are battling? Do we share with someone? Will it be safe to share? Will there be solutions? Or will we discover some new perspectives? It’s tough to try to handle it all by ourselves.

Most people I interacted with claimed that they can’t help behaving a certain way because of many reasons. I am also one of those. However, if our behaviours have not been serving us and others well, we really need to think how can we be more accountable to our actions and bring peace to ourselves and others.

​I wrote this after a chance encounter with the beautiful Ms. Zai Miztiq in Batam in 2018. And, together with some discoveries of friends from the stories they shared with me, I wrote this during a break at the conference. It is puzzling how we assume we know someone based on the years of friendship. The truth is, we still will not know the other person until we provide the safe space for them to show their true selves while time just slips by us.