We are now living in difficult times in this turbulent and chaotic world. Many problems and negative impacts are beyond our control. I am too forced to accept, adapt, adjust and alter my living to endure this very challenging time with no end in sight.
Life is not always smooth-sailing.
There are many challenges and setbacks.
They often appear as disruptions to test our
character and inner strength. But I don’t always have the calmness and
resilience to face and deal with them! The only way out for me is to find
positive words to encourage and lift myself up so that I can move forward
during difficult times.
Every year this time, I always pray for good health, smooth-sailing and safety for self and family. It’s the same wishes every year.
My motto is: Hope for the best. Be prepared for the rest. But I can never prepare for every event as I will never know what is to come!
Every year this time, I reflect on my past year’s events and mistakes. Some were uncontrollable, others were caused by slow thoughts. But I am grateful for the ability to eat, sleep and run though I have to accept the fact that I’m getting older and moving slower each year. I try to console myself: growing older means getting closer to the monthly payout and moving slower may be a good thing to avoid being scammed fast!
The biggest regret in life is not what we had done. It’s what we did not do when we had the chance.
And there is no second chance.
Everyone starts their life journey with
nothing.
Along the way, we acquired and accumulated
lot of stuff. Nobody really knows how long is this journey but our baggage gets
bigger over time. One thing is certain: at the final stop of our journey, we
could bring nothing with us. It’s wise to plan ahead and put efforts to gradually
let go of our stuff to reduce the burdens of those we leave behind.
One stroke survivor once said: “A setback is a setup for you to come back.” But for some setbacks, there’s really no coming back! We can only accept and adapt to setbacks.
Reading from the Japanese’s Wabi-sabi thinking and the Zen Buddhist’s teachings, we have to accept impermanence, imperfection and incomplete nature of everything and the short-lived nature of our existence.
It’s still very tough to let go the feelings of grief and sorrow. Trying to cope and manage this difficult time by distracting the mind with exercises, getting enough sleep (though not easy), practise mindfulness and occupying spare time with art. The self-healing process is slow to dilute emotions during such difficult time.
After many months of a hiatus, I pick up the paint brush again to distract myself from grief and sorrows. It’s not difficult to re-start this activity but it’s not easy to put down the fact that one of my loyal Fan is no longer around to support my art. Tears still flow, emotions still choke up every time I think of her short life story and the memories she had left behind.
