There and Back Again

Hey everyone, I’m back from my month-long vacation. It’s been one hell of an interesting ride. Highlights of my journey include:

• Venice, ah beautiful Venice, I don’t have a bad word for you
• Amsterdam caught me by surprise! I love the this city
• The charming cottages complete with grazing cows in the very picturesque Swiss Alpine region
• The people! So many helpful, friendly people who’ve helped make this trip a memorable one!

My feet are covered with blisters and my body is aching. It’s been a great experience. But oh, does it feel good to be back home. :)

See You Later

Absent
Hey all. I’ve just crawled out of my week-long semi-comatose state. I was down with a particularly bad cold. Had fever 4 days straight. I was convinced I had the flu but no, just the common cold, insisted the doc. In my drug-induced stupor, I kept trying to console myself that some good will come out of this and whaddaya know! Having spent my days mostly in deep slumber and awake in the wee hours of the night, my body has somewhat adjusted to Central European time! Yup, I will be leaving for my European adventure in a few days’ time. I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging on the road so if there are no updates here next month, do pardon me!

Present
While lying sick in bed the other day, it dawned on me how we tend to really be in the present during extremes in our lives — in mirth or gloom, when we’re experience great pain or pleasure or during moments when we were this close to death. The other parts — those that make the bulk of our lives — we merely go through the motions, only to be referred to when current times are bad: “those were the days”, “I wish things were back to normal”, etc. Over the past few years, I’ve been trying to live my life positively in the present and I have to say that it has helped tremendously in the way I see and live my life. I genuinely believe that living with a positive mindset coupled with affirmative action has helped me achieved a lot of my goals — one of which is this very trip I’m taking. :)

Tomorrow is May Day for many of you folks, so enjoy the long weekend!

Nothing Like The Present

Spoke to an old friend today and he told me how he missed the good old days. I told him that although my youth was good in general, I surely don’t miss them. Those were the days of shopping with friends, checking out boys, watching local bands play and getting away with many, many things. Those were also the days fraught with illness, sadness, and struggle.

Life has been a series of constant learning and improvements. It took me so long to realise this.  Everything “bad” that had happened was an opportunity for me to learn and better myself. So in effect, each new day is better than the day before.

The present is a comfortable place for me to be right now. The people I love are healthy and relatively happy and that makes me happy.  It’s funny how now that I live life fully aware of the present, every little “good” thing is magnified. “I’m having a funny conversation with my husband, how cool is that?”, “My cat is dreaming in its sleep. This is cuteness personified!”, “I’m eating a chocolate bar. What a delightful taste!”

10, 20 years on, when I look back on this day I hope I’ll still be saying  “those were the good old days.  And thank you for the present”.

Happy New Year

Thank you for reading Growing Happiness in 2008. I’m ever so grateful for your company.

Here’s to a great 2009! :)

In Perspective

Yesterday was not one of the best days of my life.

I woke up late for an appointment. Got caught in the rain.
Fell smack on my butt. In the middle of a large crowd of kids. Twice.
Had to wait in line at two different queues for a total of 2 and a half hours.
I was so hungry all the while because the only thing I had eaten the whole day was a piece of bread.

By the time all that ended all I wanted was a nice, comforting plate of creamy pasta.

Went to the supermarket. Got a good deal on two packs of spaghetti and some sauces. Was feeling chuffed as I went back home. Got home and realised that I had left one of my shopping bags at the cashier’s counter. The one with all the ingredients I needed to cook my dinner.

Took 35 minutes to get to and back home from the supermarket. No longer in the mood to cook. Ended up having two burnt bagels for dinner (I set the oven timer 5 minutes too long).

At night I got news that one of my relatives is now jobless. The one I thought was in a secure, cushy position.

Then my brother called to say that his company is axing nearly a thousand workers next week. He said he’s losing sleep and hair over the news and asked whether I could recommend….. a shampoo to slow down hair loss. :o

Jobs can be replaced but hair loss is irreversible, he reasoned. That’s someone who got his priorities sorted out, though not in a typical order, I thought.

Yesterday was not one of the best days of my life. But it could have been worse. And for that, I’m thankful.

Different But Still the Same

I met the other half of my sludge worm fellowship a few days ago. So glad to finally see her again! All the anxiety I had about meeting her quickly melted away as we chatted about the old days and how much (or how little) we’ve changed.

On the surface we looked different - we’re no longer giggly schoolgirls in uniforms, we’ve grown a couple of inches taller and our fashion styles have evolved - but essentially we’re still the same persons. She described our reacquaintance succinctly when she said,

“Everything’s different yet nothing’s changed.” :)

Life’s Little Gifts

I was in the shower when it happened - covered in soap, I was suddenly engulfed with a feeling of utter bliss.

I didn’t have to worry about things like war, hunger or poverty — I had warm water running down my body and delicious-smelling shampoo in my hair. In the light, soap bubbles were rainbow-coloured orbs, generously bestowing their beauty for my amusement.

I turned the shower off and the world was silent for a minute. Not a sound. Slowly, I started hearing a bird sing. And then another one. A gentle rustling of leaves. The sound of my breath, rhythmically inhaling and exhaling. The sounds of life. What a pleasure to be gifted with this experience!

Moments like this, stanzas in life’s poetry, are embedded into our daily lives. You just have to be aware of them, luxuriate in the moment, and let them magnify.

I hope you find a magic moment today. :)

Looking Forward

My weekend was a turbulent one, complete with all the elements of a soap opera– health scare! money issues! soured relations! mental torture!

I had a few moments of clarity as the events unfold over the weekend:

1. I needed all the experiences, good and bad, to help shape the person I am today. This one is for tomorrow.
2. At least I still have my great sense of humour. And by great I mean weird! LOL!
3. Some situations are beyond my control, but as experience tells me, it will all make sense in the future. If not, it will serve as the much needed Drama! to my biography.
4. When you’re down the only other way to go is up. :)

Thank God I made it through. I’ve never been so glad to start a new week!

Things To Be Thankful For
That Winning Feeling

Things that made me smile in spite of my painful migraine headache:

The joy on my mother’s face when David Cook was announced the American Idol winner

The joy on my mother’s face when Manchester United were crowned winners of the UEFA Champions League

Finding a sachet of instant coffee at the bottom of the snack drawer

The smell of magazines with uncoated pages

My geriatric cat giving me the “I love you so much” gaze :)

A group of teenage girls was sitting next to me as I was eating lunch at a fast-food restaurant on Wednesday. They were talking about their schools assignments, boys, mobile phones and er, boys.

20 minutes later, the group left and a gang of 3 teenage boys took their place. The topic of the boys’ conversation moved from girls to mobile phones to Friendster accounts and then back to girls. Ah…the priorities of youth! I’m glad I’m no longer a teen — such a stressful and confusing period!

I remarked to B a few days ago that I’m in a comfortable position in my life where I’m glad for the lessons of the past and look forward to the fruits of the future. Guess that’s one more thing to be thankful for! :)

What are you grateful for today?

Ants in My Pants

I was out all day today.

In the morning, while waiting for a cab at a very crowded area, I felt a tingling sensation running up my legs. After awhile I realised I had my feet just an inch away from a mound of large, red ants and, predictably, a few had crawled up my feet! I started stamping about like a mad person in the middle of the crowd. Amazingly, I managed to shake every last one of the angry looking ants without getting a single bite! I did however, squash one particularly big one to its death. I’m so sorry ant, it was a reflex reaction.

The rest of the day went by quite uneventfully until the time I had to go home. I was happily hippity-hoppity-hopping way down a long stairway when I decided to skip a few steps. This proved to be a good move as I would have plunged my feet straight into a colony of big-headed ants otherwise. What are the odds of my narrowly missing stepping on an ants’ nest twice in a day!? Counting my blessings, I continued walking down the flight of stairs with trepidation.

A few minutes later, I was waiting for the traffic light to turn green when I thought I felt something crawling on my feet again. Obviously after two encounters with different groups of ants, I was extra sensitive today but what I wasn’t prepared for was the fact that I had my feet, once again dotted with ants — this time fast-moving orange (red? yellow? crazy?) ants. And once again I had to do my crazy dance to get rid of all of them. After moving away a safe distance, I noticed that I was standing just a mere inch away from a very bustling ant highway, 3 inches wide. An inch away! Again! The third time today! Thankfully, I didn’t get bitten at all! Phew!

Too much ant drama for one day.