Falling in love with life

Being Happy with life --- Being Present

Guest writer:  Jo Rosee

"Most people seek to fall in love with life and the people in it." Humans are complicated and, unnecessarily, make life much more complicated. Since we first started living, all we really want is to fall in love with life and the people in it.  We abbreviate the truth, don't reflect, don't commit, or don't make appropriate changes, even when opportunities are in front of us to keep us slotted into our chosen path. Most often we get sucked into other people's agendas, unnecessary situations and humiliations because we fail to live our own life appropriately, that is, what it has been meant for us.

[Reflections after attending a funeral of a loved one...]

The eulogy was about the 'dash' between the date one is born and the date one dies. The 'dash' represents the life of the person.

If our whole life's span depended on the measurement of the 'dash',  it would be true to say, we could make our life up as we go. It's after all ours, not anyone else's,  isn't it! Therefore, we can feel proud of every micro achievement we make in that 'plan of life,' be it big or small. Why? Because we only need to measure up to ourselves. Since each person is unique, if we know that the dash represents what we do - decisions we make daily, hourly, and by the minute - we can easily 'fall in love with life' to achieve our plans. That is not saying, we should not help others, or share in commitments, or not take responsibility seriously.

'Falling in love with life' is about being happy with our life. It is about our commitment to ourselves and to our plans first, before others. Being happy with life and being alive allow us to 'fall in love' with who we have or want to interact with us (little or greatly), along the way.

Being in love with life may not always give us the desired result. Consciously or not, we might anticipate, calculate and manipulate, but we cannot dictate others and their reactions to life. We should not. We do, however, need to find time to reflect and to give ourselves the opportunity to change what we don't want to accept, and what works well for us, in order to continue to 'fall in love with life and the people in it'.

Shaping our 'dash' is a self-commitment and a love of life. It also makes physical age immaterial. Our life journey should not be judged or based on other people's opinion. As individuals, we should set aside a time and a space for reflection, a breather, to pave way for that needed mind-clearing decision, if only to honestly fall in love with life.

Sometimes we need a reminder - to stop - to be present.

Initially published from my Life Sparklers, September 2008.  / Tel

(c) September 2011. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 
 

Growth and Pain

The pain that comes along as we grow.

Spring wind has caught up in this part of the world where I live. Sad to say that last night's incident finds me annoyed and even angry. My friend's car was burglarised whilst parked in the  space area with security gate where I live. The left car window front seat was smashed to pieces.  Increasing crime even in supposed safe areas is simply alarming.Even spring rain occasionally abuse grass the past days...

To know enough, to remind ourselves, and to accept discomfort that pain, disappointment and annoyances is a part of our natural life... we should.  But not too much pain though...

Come to think of it, I'm astounded to discover the countless of moments I've spent trying to minimize and avoid pain.  Sensible or at times self-made. How about you? I mean pain from a love lost, rejection, betrayal, illness, and all other kinds we experience in the byways of life.  Or other times we are afraid to admit and face our own anger, our self-denials of who we really are.

Empathy. Have we become that senseless and indifferent? How we treat the people we live with - family, friends, neighbours, affects relationship and well-being of everyone.

Just as a breath can blow out a flame, a careless remark or body language of indifference can cast a shadow of hurt across another heart.

Yet time does wonders, and acceptance of things that are. There comes a point in life when we no longer fear it nor avoid it. We accept it as part of life.  Then we can live life more fully, to seize the day.  Carpe diem!

Water Music, An Inspired Poem

"Water Music"

By Dennis Metcalf, Guest writer

The world has grown colder,
The winter seems to come more often and stays longer
The wind is wet with threat and grass is now slippery underfoot
As you skid and slide and skate down the long embankment
That leads to the little stream at the bottom of the garden.

The leaves stick to the soles of your shoes
Like fellow travellers who have no better place to be
A broken gate is rusted open, inviting you to enter
You wade through thick and sickly weeds
That cling weakly to your legs for a moment
Only to fall away with a wet slapping sound.

You sit by the stream
Listen to the voices of pebbles as the water ripples and whispers on
Your bones ache with pain
You now know how as reality
And you softly scream into the back of your hand as it reaches its
crescendo,
All cymbals clashing and kettle drums rolling.

Looking back, you can see the trail
Each sodden footstep printed on the grassy slope above you.
You have smudged your presence on this corner of the world
And now sit contemplating the music of the waters
Trickling through the reeds and weeds
At the bottom of a garden in winter.

(Provided by Jo Rosee, for D. Metcalf, originally published 13.9.08.)

Reprinted September 2011 / Tel

(c) 2011. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Thoughts on life and living

 

 

Quotes and sayings I've kept through the years. Many of them come from my own thoughts, readings, conversations with friends, oh, anywhere and everywhere really, as the quotes warm and uplift, or strike a heartfelt chord. /  Tel 

 

"Life is no brief candle to me. 

It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, 

and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible 

before handing it on to future generations." 

~ George Bernard Shaw ~

 

Life and living.  

Life isn't always what we like. But if I speak and act pure thoughts, happiness might follow me like a shadow. 

If I want to change my live, I may just need to change my mind. 

 

Life is an open book, with no particular limit.Things happen; they come and go. It's how we deal with it. It's how we respond to it. 

We mellow down with years. I've been greatly chastened learning a lot from my experiences, perhaps from hardened scars of pain. I've even started to treat others with exaggerated respect.

(c) September 2011. Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.