This is the third Chinese New Year that I am observing since the demise of my beloved dad. It was not easy the first time or the second time. This year, it has been slightly easier because I realize that it is better for me to treasure the beautiful memories of the previous Chinese New Year celebrations with my dad than to accent on the loss. So often in life, we take things for granted - even the people we love. It is 2.30pm now and my older boy just went back to KL. Previously, I used to weep while driving him to the bus station but this time, I was pretty strong although I have to confess there are tears in my eyes now. I have learnt to treasure precious moments and to let go of my sadness and grief. Instead of missing him, I think of the next time he will be back and what we will be doing together. How time flies and how I have grown much older and wiser. Today, a reader left the following comment in my previous post HERE . It is a very moving and inspiring comment which I hope will touch your heart as it has mine. Thanks Anonymous @ 11.11a.m. for sharing it with us. Have a great day, everyone!
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TOMORROW IS NEVER PROMISED
One day a woman's husband died, and on that clear, cold morning, in the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't "anymore". No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat, no more "just one minute."
Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away, never to return before we can say good-bye, say "I love you."
So while we have it, it's best we love it, care for it, fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. This is true for marriage, and old cars, and children with bad report cards, and dogs with bad hips, and aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.
Some things we keep -- like a best friend who moved away or a sister-in-law after divorce. There are just some things that make us happy, no matter what.
Life is important, like people we know who are special. And so, we keep them close!
I received this from someone who thought I was a 'keeper'! Then I sent it to the people I think of in the same way. Suppose one morning you never wake up, do all your friends know you love them?
I was thinking,,I could die today, tomorrow or next week, and I wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that needed rekindling or three words needing to be said.
Let every one of your friends know you love them. Even if you think they don't love you back, you would be amazed at what those three little words and a smile can do.
And just in case I'm gone tomorrow. "You are special to me."
Live today because tomorrow is not promised.
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Please leave a comment if you like. I would love to hear from you.Thanks! Take care and God bless you.
26 comments to TOMORROW IS NEVER PROMISED
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Anonymous Let's make every day count,
appreciate every moment
and take from it everything that we possibly can, for we may never be able to experience it again.
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Penangite Death leaves a heartache,
No one can heal;
Love leaves a memory,
No one can steal.
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Anonymous when the golden tiger ROARS , more aides & political secretaries will resign b4 their bosses do , amen !!
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Unknown Dear Village Boy
Thank you for your wise words. May you continue to be a blessing to your parents, children and those around you, including me and my blog readers :-).
Take care and God bless.
Cheers
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Unknown Dear Anonymous
Indeed time flies oh too fast and if we do not seize the day, we have only ourselves to blame.
Thank you for your wise thoughts.
God bless!
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Unknown Dear Penangite
My thanks to you for those touching four lines you have shared. Memories are all we have of our loved ones - they are like photographs of moments in time except through time, the edges are blurred....
God bless you! Do stay in touch.
Cheers
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Unknown Dear Anonymous @ 4.28 pm,
Hear ye, hear ye!
May the worms start crawling out as they rot in their carcasses of corruption!
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Anonymous This was what I had wrote some time back. It is a different perspective on life and living and what make us happy.
--- Carpe Diem ---
Once Confucius had a student who seem to complain about everything and anything. Then one day while passing through a graveyard he called this student up and asked him to look at the graveyard. "Those people there have no more problems."
In the movie "Dead Poet Society" the teacher in trying to convince his students not to throw away their life in frivolity called the class together round the portraits of some of the great men that had graduated from that school. A hush fell over the group and he asked them to listen intensely as to what these men were saying. When the silence was pregnant with anticipation the teacher gently whispered "Carpe Diem"..."Carpe Diem" - "Seize the day". And he ended by saying that those great men are now "feeding the daffodils."
We live in or perhaps trapped in the world of our own making. Our own mundane and selfish concerns often filled our day. We often think that all these will bring us happiness. We strive for attention, to look pretty, to behave appropriately, to struggle for the next promotion and often stabbing others in the back to get at it etc. When our precious little world is threatened or some how dented by the presence of another we do all we could to either diminish or remove the perceived threat. So we resort to rumour mongering, creative reframing of who the person is, add a little mud on the other person's character etc. and we walk away feeling high and mighty. In so doing we actually deny ourselves the opportunity to really know the person and in the process grow from it. We are comforted by the little prison that we create for ourselves.
Carpe Diem - can only take place if we learn to grow beyond our delusions. It is within these delusions that we conjure up images of the people we relate to. We never really relate with another, not even our lover - a person that we had chosen to unite body, mind and spirit. What we relate to is our images of the person. The way we respond to sensory objects(including our mind objects) all depend on what we hold of the events and persons within our own mind. If it is someone we like it brought about a smile. If it is someone we despise we become upset and filled with ill-will.
Some times when we realised that the person approaching wasn't whom we had expected we felt silly. We are all caught up in a emotional roller-coaster of our own making and think that we are actually sane and is able to hold all of these together.
In short our relationship with another is a relationship with our delusional images within our own mindstream. And these had been formed from our experiences, conditioning, past life, upbringing etc.
To truly seize the day we have to go beyond our delusions otherwise we would again be deluding ourselves that we had really lived a meaningful and useful life. The will to meaning is so strong within our own psyche that psychologists are convinced that it is a path towards happiness and mental well-being. Again these are social trappings and disguises that we create to dress up the prison of our mind.
When we truly seize the day our whole consciousness, our whole being is totally immersed in it. It has no meaning nor does it seek meaning. In seeking the day is lost, in getting we snuffed the life out of it. It is like trying to catch a bird and our life is needlessly consumed in the process. And when we managed to catch it, we would have snuffed out the life of the bird. In catching, flight is lost and we can only saviour the empty shell of a bird. And to us this is meaning and happiness.
Can we go about our day without meaning or purpose ?
Seize the day or before long we will all be feeding the daffodils as well.
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Anonymous This was a piece I wrote to a friend who had succumbed to rumour mongering out to destroy me...the friendship never got revived :
--- The Journey through life and the friends we meet
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That which is written is not that which is written about.
The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon.
Gentle, simple, compassionate, funny are words
- are nothing more than the fingers.
To see beyond the words require no less than the stillness of the night in one's heart.
Only then can the light of your spirit illuminate the way.
Lest we pass each other in the night and lost is the friendship that could be right
- be still and isten..........
Words , words, words........
without it we are lost.
With it we are trapped.
Someone who's gentle, will find.
Someone who's kind, will be free.
Someone who's funny, will laugh the belly laugh of matreya.
As our ship pass each other in the still of the night, shout an "ahoi" my way - mate.
Let us be guided by our stars before we hitch our 5 heaps** together.
Live not for tomorrow for today is all we have and yesterday is all but gone.
** 5 Heaps = 5 skandhas = physical+Feeling+Perception+Volition/Emotion+Consciousness
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walla Sometimes we are around but gone but still around. The echo from the past finally returns full circle to the present.
People don't die. They just fade into the background so that we can continue to live on until it is our time to move on too.
If we can believe this, all the good shown to and showered on us by others who have been with us for one reason or another will continue to resonate in our lives.
For how can we forget those we have loved before?
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Anonymous This was a story sent to me by a dear friend from sri lanka.
---- The most important part of the body ----
"My mother used to ask me what the most important part of the body is. Through the years I would take a guess at what I thought was the correct.
Do you know what was the Answer ? if you want to know go on reading ......
When I was younger, I thought sound was very important to us as humans, so I said, "My ears, Mommy."
She said, "No. Many people are deaf. But you keep thinking about it and I will ask you again soon."
Several years passed before she asked me again. Since making my first attempt, I had contemplated the correct answer.
So this time I told her, "Mommy, sight is very important to everybody, so it must be our eyes."
She looked at me and told me, "You are learning fast, but the answer is not correct because there are many people who are blind."
Stumped again, I continued my quest for knowledge and over the years, Mother asked me a couple more times and always her answer was, "No. But you are getting smarter every year, my child."
Then one year, my grandfather died. Everybody was hurt. Everybody was crying. Even my father cried. I remember that especially because it was only the second time I saw him cry.
My Mom looked at me when it was our turn to say our final good-bye to my Grandfather. She asked me, "Do you know the most important body part yet, my dear?" I was shocked when she asked me this now. I always thought this was a game between her and me.
She saw the confusion on my face and told me, "This question is very important. It shows that you have really lived in your life. For every body part you gave me in the past, I have told you were wrong and I have given you an example why.
But today is the day you need to learn this important lesson."
She looked down at me as only a mother can. I saw her eyes well up with tears. She said, "My dear, the most important body part is your spirit."
The most important part of our body is our inner spirit.
Without it the body dies. We can be walking and talking but if we
are not sensitive to this spirit within, we are no better than a walking, talking zombie.
With it love is possible.
Without it, is the dead body love-able ?
From here it is obvious that, that which love and what we love in others is the spirit within. The body is merely the temporary cloth we wear while on this earthly existence.
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Justice The future begins from now.
The world spreads out from here.
We should decide what needs to be done at this moment,
and how to establish a firm footing right where we are.
It is important to win today and to win here.
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Unknown Dear Anon @ 5.13pm
What a wonderful discourse on life you have written!!! Can I please post it as a separate post???It is very beautiful and must be read by as many to enjoy the enriching philosophy therein.
I will await your response. If you agree, I will attribute it to you (you pen name or real name) or to Anon @ 5.13 pm.
Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
God bless your wisdom and kindness.
Take care and please keep in touch!!!
Shalom
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Semua Boleh Anwar said PKR will be extra careful in the selection of electoral candidates in coming general elections, ensuring that they are unwavering, strong and clean.
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Unknown Dear Anon @ 5.21 pm
Thank you for sharing this well-written and meaningful piece. I am so sorry to hear the friendship go revived.
I have had my fair share of broken relationships and at my age, seldom make new friends. However, I have been blessed because via blogging, I have met some VERY nice and real friends....and I hope you will be one too!!
Sometimes the pain of a broken relationship is just too much to bear. One wonders what went wrong. Despite overtures, apologies, some are adamantly silent and I let them be and walk away because I have done my part. These days, I remember what is beautiful and forget the pain, hurt and disappointment although these may occasionally rear their ugly heads now and then.
Take care and may you continue to bless your friends with your sincerity and wisdom.
God bless you! Please stay in touch.
Shalom
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Anonymous People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did.
But people will NEVER forget how you made them feel.
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Unknown Dear Walla
How lovely to hear from you again! Thanks for sharing your nuggets of wisdom. Your views are both pragmatic and philosophically beautiful. And yes, love never dies...the memories live on and make life worth living.
Take care and God bless you and yours always.
Shalom
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Unknown Dear Anonymous @ 5.29 pm
Wow - I am blessed again by another comment. Thank you so much for sharing this very meaningful and moving story.
May I have your persmission to post this inspiring tale?
So much to learn and for us to meditate upon from this story..I will await your response before putting it up.
Take care and have a lovely evening.
Cheers
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Unknown Dear Justice
Exactly!!! I wish our leaders could think and act of these principles!!
Thanks for sharing. Take care and God bless you.
Cheers
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Unknown Dear Semua Boleh
I am glad he said that. However, it should have been done LONG AGO. At this stage, it is a bit too late as turncoats are emerging.
For sure, they had better make sure candidates are absolutely squeaky clean!!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Take care and keep in touch!
Cheers
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Unknown Dear Anonymous @ 5.56pm
Thanks for that very moving and meaningful comment.
May your friends never forget you because of how you made them feel!
God bless you. Stay in touch ok?
Cheers
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edward Dear MWS,
I can see that this is an emotional time for you...with memories of your late father in the background and at the same time missing your eldest boy. This reveals in you the loving nature of a good mother and at the same time a devoted and filial daughter.
I guess in life's journey we inadvertently have to cope with the sense of loss. A loss of our innocence, our youth, our health, relationships, dear friends/relatives and so on so forth. No one can fight the passage of time nor predict what comes next. Yes, "tomorrow is never promised" but we can also learn to live like there is no tomorrow and savour every beautiful moment while we can.
Take care.
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Unknown Dear Edward
Many thanks for your sensitive and kind compassion for my current state of mind. Thanks also for the inspiring words of wisdom you have shared here. I really appreciate your support both as a reader and as a friend and am always thankful for the many ways in which you have blessed me!
Take care and may tomorrow and all your tomorrows bring you and yours showers of blessings!
Shalom
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Anonymous Respecting, encouraging and inspiring others make everything go smoothly, whether at the workplace, in the home, the nation, or the world. And what is the most important factor in inspiring and encouraging others? Gratitude and appreciation — the recognition that an individual’s contribution is important and helpful. Feeling needed by others encourages and inspires anyone.
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Unknown Dear Anonymous @ 7.45 pm
How true are your words - very relevant and much needed in today's cold and cruel indifferent world where feelings of respect and gratitude take a backseat to many other negative vibes.
Thank you for inspiring us to be more than who and what we are today that the world may be a better place. God bless you!
Stay in touch,ya?
Have a lovely evening!
Village Boy We must all treasure our parents. No matter how high someone might rise as a leader, politician or celebrity, if they do not treasure their parents, protect them and make them proud of them, they are the lowest of the low!