The young, healthy greenery that carpeted these hills once, now at the end of its time, still vibrant, falling off its holds, gracefully weaving a colorful blanket covering the hills and mountains far and near before giving its last in nourishing the grounds. I’ve seen it from beginning to end, the cycle of life, how nature accepts it with pride, playing its part, and giving it all to the end!

Another life lesson realized: wisdom falls on me like I am at the end of time. My breath is shallow, and my eyes tear with a peaceful wave. My thoughts are questioning: can it be now, today, or years from now, but it doesn’t matter? I feel ready now to accept the unknown and embrace what’s beyond. No need for struggle, begging for more time, or fear to say goodbye to this borrowed life? Parents, children, life partners, and even the pets we loved dearly were borrowed to fulfill this life. Nothing belongs to us; everything we received in this lifetime we must return at the end.

Accepting this realization is not easy. We each face those moments differently, depending on how we have lived. Returning moments can come in many ways, like fear, troubles, struggles, regrets, and physical and emotional pain. When I think of my parents, I remember the tears and the happy smiles on their fallen faces; I did not see hope there, but love, only love. In their lifetime, they suffered and struggled, but they faced all those life sorrows with a smile on their face and strength in their heart. I have never heard them complain about anything or anyone, never showed disappointment, or blamed anyone but lived their life to the fullest. In the end, did they realize that their lives were borrowed, the time was borrowed, that we, the children, were borrowed and had to let go? Is that why the last hugs from my mother felt a bit longer than usual? Is that why they didn’t struggle, scream, or cry at their last breath? They just went to bed and peacefully, gracefully said goodbye to this borrowed life as they left their bodies. I see that as a blessing! How can we all breathe our last that peacefully, to let go of our time, life, family, friends, connections we made, and lastly, our body to go beyond to the unknown?
With this realization, my soul is awakened, and I find peace. I feel ready to give back all that I have borrowed without regrets. I feel no need to struggle or beg for more time; I will have no last words or requests to fulfill. When that time finds me, just like my parents, hopefully, I can leave in peace!

It’s been a while since I wrote anything. I hope you find a lesson here. Please leave a comment!

Bea

This holiday season, New Year approaching, we miss our normalcy to celebrate and enjoy family visits and gatherings. For two years, we’ve been patient, waiting, holding back our urges to travel, take down our masks, and breathe freely.

Covid has taken over the world, and uncertainty is more prominent, not knowing when or if we will ever be free from this pandemic. It seems like covid will touch every one of us before it leaves us be. In the meantime, life goes on as we get disconnected, distanced from our loved ones. In this holiday season, we need to find joy, peace, and tranquility to accept life as it is.   

Life is a rhythm; it writes your song of life. Every action, every thought, and all emotions contribute to that rhythm. When we take, walk, sing or sit quietly, our thoughts play a rhythm it creates a guiding force to better our life. Sorrow, joy, rage, and all these emotions write a different rhythm in our path. Think about a few moments, how your heart beats when you hear a song that touches your heart, what makes your eyes tear, how your heart warms to a hug, why you inhale the scent of blooming followers, and how thoughts turn into a song. Our life is a song that we write even after passing on. You can live this moment with such excitement if you can find those notes to our life song. Tears of sorrow write the best stories, beautiful memories bring good laughs, and moments of joy create the saddest songs that fill your heart with warm feelings. Life has to find balance, and there is nothing wrong, painful, or worse in what we go through in life. But if we can find our rhythm, it keeps us afloat.  

Find your rhythm to write your life song!  

Happy New Year!!

Everything we do, as humans, effects this world one way or the other. All the notions that cross our mind, our credence, words we dribble out, and our actions have an opposite and equal reaction; it’s the Newton’s Law. Just like our words can hurt other people, and our action creates disruptions, what we sense and ponder within us can harm us and our surroundings. If we embrace negativity, it creates destructive energy that spreads to others around us, and just the same, our positive energy can transform to strengthen another being. So, you see, our action produces reactions that affect the world we live in. I know we can’t be on our best behavior all the time or be angles because we are human. However, we have a brain and a heart that we can use to do better, think better, and live better.

A few months were having the world shut down, we have purified the air around us. Without the fumes from factories and intense transportation, the environment had time to breathe easy. Now we can see a bit far into space.
We can take tiny steps to keep peace in this world. All we have to do is take a few seconds to rethink before we act and before we speak. Those few seconds can make a big difference in the world and to our humanity. Life can get better if we respect this earth and the people that live within. Stay silent when you are angry, don’t look the other way when you witness unjust, and play your part as humans to make this world a better place and respect humanity.

Bea

A few months back, we lost a dear friend. He spent his usual evening, a lovely evening with his wife, went to bed, half an hour later, he was gone. No warning, no health problems, suddenly he was gone. This incident made me think about death, wondering what guarantees we have about tomorrow? Is it worth to spend the life we have in this world, fighting, competing, arguing, and being angry and being selfish? Can we afford to postpone any tasks that we believe are important to us? Are you sure you are going to be alive tomorrow to get to that task? 

We get caught up in our selfish needs, and we have no time to spare, to enjoy life, cry if we need to, or take a break if we have to. Living has become a routine, a drama that we play over and over: we, humans turning into Roberts. 

We cannot defeat death. Can we agree on that? It will take us without warning, but some get to see it coming. Now, if I have that option, if you have one day to live, what do you think will interest you the most? How would your priorities your to-do list? 

There will be many questions: Where to go, who to see, how to spend that last moment? Would you be scared or happy? Just for the fun of it, let me give you a few questions to think through. Would you cash in all your money and go away and spend it on an exotic island or settled your debts or give it to charity? Would you call all your friends, family and relatives and spent that last moment with them, or spent it at your work, hospital, in a hotel or with the one you love? What about your secrets? Would you want to share your secrets with someone come clean or go to your grave with it? Would you forgive the once who hurt you, or call them and give a piece of your mind for one last thrill? Would any of this matter, would you be sad, angry, or would you be happy?

Well, the answers to these questions depend on the life you have lived? When you realize that we can’t take anything with us, not the money, not our loved ones, not even our clothes. We will leave just the way we came. The difference is when we came to this world, we brought joy and love, and if we continue to share that until we leave, that we can take with us, and also leave behind. 

When you come to think about this, you will realize that all we have is the present, no use dwelling in the past, no guarantees for tomorrow, so living every second as if it were your last will make you enjoy life, and you will begin to live. It is only then that you will be free to leave this world any given moment in peace without regrets. Life is beautiful only if you choose to live it.