masterwordsmith-unplugged

Last night, I had dinner with my close pals, Philip (whom I have known for 32 years) and Dr. Murali (whom I have known for over a year) at No Eyed Deer. It is amazing how our lives are inextricably linked. The first time I introduced Philip to Murali, it turned out that they go to the same gym. As expected, they have been relentlessly badgering me to join them at the gym. As we enjoyed our delicious dinner, we exchanged notes on our plans for 2011.

It is indeed difficult to find good friends with whom I can be myself and know that regardless of my weaknesses, they accept me for who I am. Respect for each other, a forgiving spirit, a giving nature, sincerity and the desire to bring out the best in the other have been the buzzwords in my friendship with Philip and Murali. In fact, I have written about them a few times in my blog. Through thick and thin, good times and bad times, they have stuck with me patiently giving me their support, encouragement and unabashedly knocked me on the head when I needed to be on track again. The same goes for StraightTalking and Angela (not forgetting other dear friends and blog readers) except they are not in Penang.

This evening, I am posting an old write-up that I wrote in 2008. By January 7th 2009, all my blog posts were deleted and this was subsequently reposted again HERE on February 21st, 2009 (with lost of beautiful photos). I am reposting it to say thank you to all my dear friends, blog readers and subscribers who in their own own have been a constant source of encouragement for me to be more than who I am today. God bless you all.


Mirrors of My Soul

There are mirrors and then there are mirrors.

There are those small ones that you carry in your handbag, large ones placed at your console table, decorative ones in restaurants, practical ones in the bathroom and functional ones in your bedroom that come in all shapes and sizes.

Each has a different effect.

When the light is soft and direct, the image will tell us wonderful things about our faces, even though they may not be true.

Those placed in boutiques seem to make you look slimmer, sexier, fairer and better so you end up buying that dress or shirt that you did not even need.

At carnivals and theme parks, we have a gala time laughing at the distorted images in fun house mirrors where our images are skinny, convoluted, fat or distorted.

Then there are one-way mirrors which can be deceiving or revealing depending upon which side of the mirror you are standing.

Similarly, our friends are like mirrors because friends let us look at ourselves. There is one big difference though - friends are better than mirrors because regardless of the light, angle, time or place, the reflection of ourselves that we see in the face of a friend is always true.

As I age day by day while trying to keep young as well, I regard my friends as my mirrors - mirrors who let me see myself as I really am.

For those who are close to me, I sometimes see expressions there that I don’t want to see but I have to see because I know the time has come to make changes in my life. And I do make those changes. It makes a difference when people communicate it differently and it must come from a heart filled with love, understanding and tolerance.

Now, regardless of how I feel, I know I can never hide my true emotions from my friends and loved ones. Their faces even through the web cam or in reality, tell me that my ‘act’ is not very convincing or there is this certain dead giveaway lilt in my voice which reveals my true state of emotions. So that is good because I just drop the screen and talk things out frankly and start to feel better right away - really better. In fact, now there is no facade any more - what you see in me is what is me and what you will get just like what you are reading now is what I feel and what I am typing straight from my heart.

Thus, when I am at my best, feeling full of joy, the reflection of me that I see in the faces of my loved ones makes me even happier.

I hope that you all will continue to be the perfect mirror of your friends - a caring mirror, honest mirror, a mirror that loves, shares, feels, understands and is never cruel or judgemental.

When your friends look into your eyes whenever you communicate, they will see themselves and all the possibilities of improvement and goodness within themselves. And you know what, no other mirror in this world could ever allow them to experience themselves so deeply and fully as you do.....