Some of the Random things or simple pleasures I like:

A sunrise!

A bright sunny day.

A cooling breeze blowing in my face on a hot day when I am walking.

The singing and dancing of the leaves and branches to the wind.

Blue skies!

White and big fluffy clouds which remind me of cotton candy I had when I was young.

The dark clouds before the storm.

The smell of rain in the air and the peacefulness before the storm.

The sounds created by the rain falling on different things.

The raindrops falling down on puddles of water and the ripples.

The fresh smell of the air after the rain.

The droplets on the green after the rain.

Rainbow!

The green of the trees and grasses.

The flowers.

Going for my run.

The occasional snails I see when I go for run.

The wild mushrooms I see when I go for my run… it could be quite hard to spot them around my place.

The wonderful feeling after the run and sweating it out.

Singing while I am walking.

Watching people and observing them in the public transports.

Watching children playing, running, smiling, giggling and laughing.

Observing and act of random kindness.

Performing act of random kindness without expectation.

Making a different to the life of another.

Last but not least, spending quality time with family and friends!

And of course a sunset!

As you have noticed, I could probably go on and on with the list of things and simple pleasures which I like and enjoy doing; and which also make me happy! When we take the time out for the moments in life, we would discover the simple pleasures these moments bring to us.

I have the habit of sharing lessons, as what a dear friend of mine put it, with family and friends through email. I am not sure if they read the email 100% of the time because I rarely get a reply from them. It has always thrilled and delighted me to get replies once in a while. However, I was both happy and sad when I received a reply from this dear friend about a week ago. He was the one who shared the story of Dr. Kwek with me.

Although I did not know Dr. Kwek personally, reading the testimonials of his patients still saddened me. In a tribute to him, I learned how he had walked the extra miles. He was called up late in one evening by this patient’s sister and yet he turned up at the hospital’s A & E department just to visit this patient. They made a detour to his clinic later, at close to midnight, so that he could give this patients some jabs. A simple act like this could have been just a routine and norm for Dr. Kwek. However, for this patient, this simple act of kindness and concern meant a great deal and touched his life.

In my reply to this dear friend, I said, “It is very rare these days to find a good doctor who is not more interested in his/her pocket than his/her patient.” I hope Dr. Kwek story could serve as an inspiration to doctors and aspiring doctors. Just as the revenue is important to you (you and your family need to survive too, in order for you to have a peace of mind to help others), your patients are equally, if not more important as they have entrusted their lives to you.

From the video on Kindness by Amy Krouse Rosenthal which I had share in my last post, Amy asked, “What constitutes a life worthy of being remembered? How do you want to be remembered? Big questions to consider! A life worthy of being remembered will differ from individual to individual as one explores deeply within oneself. And how do one wants to be remembered? That could be a tricky question as how others remember us may not always be how we have wanted them to remember us.

Perhaps the question we need to consider is “What is/are the important things, the priorities, in our life 10, 20 or 30 years down the road?” It seemed that what were important to Dr. Kwek had naturally become the way of how people are remembering him now. The story of Dr. Eric Kwek Soon Kiat has enlightened me and straightened out my perspective. He had reminded me of the priorities in life.

To leave you with something my dear friend said, “Life has different plans for each of us, may all of us finish it without regrets.”

More Wordless Wednesday

What does a renown house like the Fallingwater has anything to do with the meaning of life? To you and I, the connection may not be so direct. However, to Frank Lloyd Wright, could the meaning of his life be, ‘to create masterpieces like the Fallingwater.’ Or did he give his life meaning by creating masterpieces like the Fallingwater?

In Viktor E. Frankl‘s book, ‘Man’s Search For Meaning,’ he said that a lot of people are going through life asking, ‘what is the meaning of life,’ when they should be giving their lives meaning by what they are doing everyday. Previously I was also constantly asking myself what is the meaning of life and it was like a dog chasing its own tail; I was going round and round in circle.

Then what I read in Viktor’s book made sense to me. When one is searching for the meaning of life, one is not in control of whatever life throws at one. However, when one gives his/her life meaning, one is in control of whatever he/she does. Then what meaning should one gives to his/her life?

In Bill Strickland‘s book, ‘Make the Impossible Possible,’ he mentioned, “… a good life isn’t something you wait for, or chase after, or try to possess; it’s something you must create, moment by moment, on the foundation of your dreams.” What Bill said resonates with what Viktor had mentioned in his book isn’t it?

The connecting dots are then in the dreams that each individual holds. In so speaking, there is a need to know what are one’s dreams. Failing to know one’s dreams in life will make it impossible to live a fulfilled and happy life. Then how does one know his/her dreams? The question is, ‘what are we passionate about in life?’ Found out what we are passionate about and then build our dreams based on our passion.

Now, “What is the meaning are you giving to life?”