Year End Reflections

As 2012 draws to a close, how many of us do sit down and reflect on the year gone by? Do you give yourself a report card for your achievements, successes and failures? Do you have a goal post which you have set to gauge how near or far you are from your personal goals? Do you have a vision of how far more you have to go? And where you are going?

Taj Mahal India 2011

Every moment that we are alive is a treasure full of hope. Sometime during the year, we may have run into difficult situations where we feel hopeless that things will  ever turnaround or feel overwhelmed by problems which we do no know how to resolve. Yet, we are still here, ushering in another year. In the words of a friend who succumbed to cancer, how wonderful it is to be alive!

Betong May 2012

Life is not easy. I have known that since I was old enough to remember. I have had my share of tough times. There have been times when it seemed almost insurmountable. Yet, the difficulties have shaped me.  I recognise the immense suffering in this world. And I also recognise how crucial our own attitudes are, in creating our own happiness. No one is spared of suffering. The question to ask ourselves is what we learn from that suffering and how it can be used to benefit others.

Many Chinese families make money their foremost priority. Rightly so, because we need to survive. Beyond that, does money override parental and sibling relations? Is it worth sacrificing our health and mental wellbeing over? Is money a measure of how much we love our parents or children? The more we give them, the more we love them? Or is it just a replacement for love and devotion?

Gaden Monastery, Mundgod 2012

I have been faced with issues of life and death this year, with my parents failing health and hospitalisation, Chang's death and the birth of this blog. I worried over losing my parents. Yet, life and death is a fact we cannot escape from.

What counts is what we do in the present moment. As each year comes to a close, I will ask myself whether I am  more peaceful and happier than the last. It is said that our inner world is reflected in our outer world. If there is turmoil within us, then there will most certainly be turmoil in our external world as well.  If we are peaceful people inside, we will most likely attract peaceful people into our lives.

I wish you a time of reflection as you usher in 2013. And a New Year of Peace, Health and Happiness.