........... of living purposefully

Y S' footprints on the melting snow at Sinchiang, China.
Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) received this in his mail. It is a good reminder for those who have reached the summit and also those who are still climbing. Read on .......

And then it is Winter.

You know. . . time has a way of moving quickly

and catching you unaware of the passing years.

It seems just yesterday that I was young,

just married and embarking on my new life with my mate.

And yet in a way, it seems like eons ago,

and I wonder where all the years went.

I know that I lived them all...

And I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams...

But, here it is... the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise...

How did I get here so fast?

Where did the years go and where did my youth go?

I remember well...

seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people

were years away from me and that winter was so far off

that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like...

But, here it is...

my friends are retired and getting grey...

they move slower and I see an older person now.

Some are in better and some worse shape than me...

but, I see the great change...

Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant...

but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks

that we used to see and never thought we'd be.

Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day!

And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it's mandatory!

Cause if I don't on my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit!

And so...

now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared

for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability

to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!!

But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last...

this I know, that when it's over... its over...

Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done...

things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done.

It's all in a lifetime...

So, if you're not in your winter yet...

let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think.

So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly!

Don't put things off too long!!

Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today,

as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not!

You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life... so,

live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...

and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things

that you have done for them in all the years past!!

"Life is a gift to you.

The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after.

Make it a fantastic one."

LIVE IT WELL!

ENJOY TODAY!

DO SOMETHING FUN!

BE HAPPY! BE THANKFUL!

...... of 2012

With two major earthquakes, the one in N Zealand and recently in Japan, of such disastrous magnitudes happening within such short interval, images from the block buster movie "2012" kept flashing in Yours Sincerely 's ( Y S ) mind. Would Planet Earth end up in a series of catastrophes and cataclysms : earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, twisters, typhoons, landslides, floods, Tsunamis, drought, collisions of the planets etc etc coupled with political turmoils in the Arab countries and else where in the world ???

Y S tries to assure himself with self reasoning that "2012" is a block buster hoax and that natural disasters are always the order of the day. Ice bergs of all sizes , for example, collapse into the Tundra and Antarctic almost everyday and that glaciers turn into avalanches every now and them. Floods, twisters and volcanic eruptions have been happening since time immemorial. The only difference is that now we have efficient and effective mass communication. In the days of old, at the most one could only see a picture in black and white on the front page of the newspapers, and perhaps a few coloured pictures sometime later in "Time" or "Life" magazines NOW, you can see the HD images and video clippings of the natural disasters right in your living room on your LCDs. These images keep repeating themselves and with each passing days, CNN , BBC, CCTV or Al (Something?) serve you with better and more detailed images. How not to etch in us lasting impressions of the events ?

The theory that flashes of images on the LCD screen can leave a lasting impression on our mind holds water. This has been capitalized by advertisers to ingrain their brands on our mind by regularly flashing all the silly advertisements on our TV screen. The images of the catastrophes and cataclysms do leave an impression on us subconsciously in the same way.

Are we moving towards "2012"? As much as Y S does not want believe it, things are unfolding almost everyday. Yet, Jesus Christ says that He will come again "like a thief in the night." So, would "rapture" (Where believers would be assumed into heaven before the world suffers in turmoil. ) followed by "Tribulation" ( Where the world would be in turmoil before the assumption.) or vice versa? It is confusing.

What do you think?

.... the light from within

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) once read that "people are like stained glass windows! They glow and sparkle when it is sunny and bright; but when the sun goes down, their beauty is revealed only if there is light from within. "According to Buddhism, all beings are imbued with a spark of inner divine light.... The Jewish mystics use similar words when they speak of the inner spark or the spark of God. The Koran, referring to man, talks about the little candle flame burning in a niche in the wall of God's temple.

Almost inevitably a spiritual search becomes a search for divine or sacred light. By cultivating our inner core, we search for this light in ourselves as well as the divine." - Lama Surya Das It is the "light from within" that produces in man strength and happiness to find out the way in which God is going, and he going that way too.

It is often said that the foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feel. That is why that happiness is like a butterfly which when pursued is always beyond our grasp, but which if you sit down quietly may alight upon you.

Cecil Rhodes, born in 1853, played a major political and economic role in colonial South Africa. He was a financier, statesman, and empire builder regretfully said at the conclusion of his life, " Happy ? No! I spent my life amassing a fortune only to find that I have spent half of it on doctors to keep me out of the grave, and the other half on lawyers to keep me out of jail."

There is a common belief that happiness is something that is achievable and can be held on to. We look forward to that time in which we can finally be happy, but it continually recedes. We want to get to the top of the Wheel of Life and stay there. When in the university, we think, "If I can just graduate then I will be happy." Graduation, however, is not fulfilling, and we decide " Maybe it will come upon finding the right job, buying the right house / car / etc etc....... or getting married, or having children, or retiring. " The goal remains elusive. The "happiness that lasts" is never found because it is actually impossible to get happy and stay happy. If life is based on obtaining happiness, then we will always fall short because life is always changing as the wheel turns.

Y S likes what Richard L Evans once said, " May we never let the things we can't have or don't have, or shouldn't have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have. As we value our happiness, let us not forget it, for one of the greatest lesson in life is learning to be happy without the things we cannot have or should not have," How true?

And above all, it is so important to know that we can choose to feel happy. Most people don't think they have that choice.According to Aristotle, "Happiness depends on our selves." For people are just as happy as they make up their mind to be. True happiness may be sought, thought, or caught but never, never bought. It is the light in our inner self that keeps burning even when the sun has set !

.... of help, helping and being helped

Yours Sincerely ( Y s ) discovers that it is very hard to offer help to others these days. People are self-sufficient. They do not want to be indebted. They rather exercise their self-sufficiency than to accept help and remain indebted so they think.

Y S used to ask a friend to fetch him to the airport in wee hours of the morning since we are living in a BEC and that is a Basic Ecclesiastical ( Godly, in spiritual communion, brotherly ) Community and since so much have been preached about mutual help and co-operation among fellow Catholics in a common locality. Y S could have called a taxi but then that is denying a brother-in-Christ to exercise his ecclesiastical deed or duty to help another member of the BEC. Y S asked for help with the hope that the same could be returned to him when he is in need. However, Y S found out that the brother-in-Christ called a taxi to get to the airport when he could easily called Y S. So, do you dare to ask for his help again ?

In the circle of the middle class society, self sufficiency is what people aim for. Gone are the days when you borrow an onion, some sugar or an egg from your neighbour. People rather drive all the way to the grocery kilometres away just to get those menial things. Or rather people buy in dozens and scores to store up and many a time groceries are stored until they are rotten and discarded.

"HELP" is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. " says Ralp Waldo Emerson. Allowing ourselves to be helped if so necessary is also a virtue that has to be learnt. How many have suffered in silence, thinking that they are virtuously bearing the so-called "crosses" of life. A good exercise for the heart is to bend down and help another up, and also to reach up and accept help. As it is said that when you help someone up a mountain, you will find yourself close to the summit too.

Think.