Proper Perspective Helps

The past weeks have been one exhausting lump. Health challenges. Anxieties. Beating to-dos, some urgent while others unimportant, really.

Anxieties can blow life away. It's easy to overlook what the day offers when swamped by day to day stresses. And more, get distracted.  Proper perspective helps. Though we plan for the morrow, we need appreciate and enjoy today's blessings.



What important things that really matter do you need to do that you've been been putting off, simply because you think you're too busy to do? Actor and writer Sid Caesar reminds us:  "In between goals is a thing called life that has to be lived and enjoyed."


The good old saying is always handy, "Laughter is the best medicine." At least we can try...  it's a great absorber for life's rut and bumps and a happy heart makes our face cheerful.  There's something else about seasonality.

Poet John Keats once said: "There are four seasons in the mind of man." Besides, if it's winter in America, it's summer in Australia. It's always a challenge to start anything, but once we get going, the process becomes smooth. What's the 'season' in your life now?

Start your day with a smile to put back some energy into your life. Perhaps, encourage a dying ember. As a child, I've always loved sparklers. I found them more exciting than fireworks which come off stronger and more aggressive.

If memory doesn't fail me, just days after New Year about 5 years ago, I was invited to a friend's house and found that she had two lovely calendars displayed side by side. You know, the kind that display one page for each day, with a date in a large figure and few lines of print at the bottom.

I was being polite so I didn't say anything why she has two calendars together. My glances did not escape my smart friend. She of course smiled and said, "You're probably wondering why I have two of them. Have a closer look again, Tel. They're not the same."

True enough. I found out that the first calendar had "A Joke for Today" and the other "A Quote for the Day." A smile and a quote of encouragement.

What a lovely way to start a day!

Hope Does Wonders

We are familiar with that overly quoted:  hope springs eternal. And true too. As long as we have hope for success in getting out of a situation we are in, or worse, at the brink of almost giving up - somehow, we find courage to keep trying, and going, or moving on. 

Without hope, what chance could we hang on to? But with it, our hearts remain strong; it becomes our pal, our friend, when everything else fails.

I've kept in mind what Russian writer Dostoyevsky eloquently wrote from his famous classic novel Crime and Punishment:  "They wanted to speak, but could not; tears stood in their eyes. They were both pale and thin; but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life. They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other." - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian Novelist

When we are feeling depressed, we need to do something about it. Talk to someone we can trust. Email or phone call will do.  Not feeling like connecting with anyone or like no one else seems to care? Do something you love to do. Perhaps a self-treat, a bit of self-love to give you warmth and lighten your heavy heart.

Whatever brings us hope is a sure flicker of light, a little ray of sunshine.

Withdrawing to Regroup

Regroup and create space

Life is a gift. At the same time, reality has it that living is also a continuous challenge. Highs and lows. Ups and downs. Feeling depressed, depressed or anxious of what the future holds? Go, take a walk. Or, as a popular song goes, "when life is making you lonely, go downtown..."

Sometimes Murphy’s Law strikes its worse at our most vulnerable and least expected moments, that is, when trials seem more than enough.

Others lose faith. Some don’t. Others become numb.

Some of us withdraw temporarily or indefinitely, only to regroup. We stay silent for awhile.

When we do seek support and company, let it be from people who have kindness, a gentle and a sincere heart to offer. Somehow, face to face or through other forms of communication, we can feel these attitudes during our most down moments.

Come to think of it, I’m reminded of pine cones. When they fall off the pine trees, they are sealed tight so the seeds inside can’t get out. What happens? The fallen pine cones lie on the forest floor - sometimes for long years … until a forest fire carries it through. The seal is melted by the unforgiving, cruel and unfeeling fire. But the seed inside fall out and eventually grow.