Happy Friday

Woke up to pink tulips in full bloom, cheering up my room.



Thanks to someone, it's a happy Friday!

Love's gift

Love's gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted.

- Rabindranath Tagore

The depth and tenderness of that quote struck me deeply as I witnessed an old friend taking a ceremonious step into married life.

It's strange to watch someone you have known for over two decades standing there in front, vowing to stay with another person for life. Not weird-strange. Just, happy-strange. Tender-strange, maybe.

It's like, we were once carefree, innocent children, running around screaming and playing without a care for the world. The laughter, the mischief, the tantrums, the tears, the hugs, the childlike wonder.

And now, we are carefree children no longer. We do not run around screaming and playing anymore. No more mischief, tantrums, carefree world. We are adults, bounded by responsibilities, burden, worries, problems of the world.

But when I am with her, I seem to forget we are adults with heavy burdens. She is still the same carefree innocent friend I used to play with over 20 years ago. My time stopped there with her; we are still two 7-year-olds running around with childlike wonder.

And as I watched her standing there, hand-in-hand with the love of her life, I feel so much joy my heart can't contain. My eyes brimmed with tears of happiness. I am still filled with childlike wonder, at my carefree innocent friend getting married. I am just so happy she found someone to share her life with. The beautiful glow on my friend's face today taught me one thing:

"Love's gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted."

Congratulations, Grace. I wish you an everlasting and blessed married life!

I silently asked

I looked at her and I silently asked,

"Is this what life does to you?"


The many lines on her once youthful face and the extinguished light in her once bright eyes answered my silent question.


～みはる～

Reframing perspectives

We all live our lives as if we are immortals, don't you think so?

There is so much we need and want to do, there's never enough time in a day to do all of them. And so, we plan for them to be done tomorrow and in the future.

I will take my child to that playground tomorrow, after I get this budget done.

I will bring my mother for that medical examination next week, after I submit this job proposal.

I will make that call to my friend next month, after I complete this project for this important client.

With so much to be done, we are always on a constant chase for time and so are almost perpetually stressed, agitated, calloused, and sometimes unreasonably demanding on the people around us and on ourselves.

Can't you wait patiently, I said I will take you to that playground tomorrow!

Why are you so selfish, can't you see my work is more important than that routine check up of yours?

I haven't got time to call you, my client needs this blueprint this week, and no, I can't spend an hour chatting with you, my every minute is worth more than gold.

But what if we don't have tomorrow, next week, or next month? What if all that we have is only today and now?

We put things off into the future because we all know our expiry date is sometime in the distant future. So distant that it seems like forever far; it gives the illusion of us being immortals. Not just us, but also the people around us.

But life do not always go according to plan. Things can happen to throw life off track. And sometimes remind us that our expiry date may be a lot nearer than we'd like to believe, that it's not in the far distant future.

When faced with that fact, that we are mortals and could well be gone in a blink of an eye, we start questioning what is important in our lives. What matters to us most, today and now?

Seeing the smiles of the people I like matters to me.

Hearing the voice of the people I care matters to me.

Holding the people I love matters to me.

Listening to kind words matter to me.

Sharing a joke or sad news with someone matters to me.

Feeling the warmth of the sun and the gentleness of the breeze matters to me.

Breathing in the air, wriggling my fingers, looking at the blue sky, listening to laughter, smelling the floral fragrance matters to me.

They matter to me because they tell me I'm blessed to be still alive when many are not.

They matter to me because they tell me I'm blessed to be still loved when many are not.

Many things do not matter anymore when faced with our mortality.

Reframe your perspectives.

What matters to you, today and now?