Rocks and Wind

Kindness is a roof over your head for the night from an old friend you've not spoken to in ages.

Laughter is the sharing of experiences, perspectives and good 'ol memories over a kangkung belacan dinner - with the same old friend.

Courage is the opportunity to put yourself out there, in the arena, in front of 40 people, sharing a topic you are personally passionate about.

Humbled is sitting among these 40 people and learning lessons you would never otherwise realise as a lone island.

Thankful is for the prosperity blessed upon the parents, and thus myself for the train rides and coffee breaks.

Silly is paying at a cafe to realise they don't take card and you have no cash.

Service is when you ran across the road to get cash, and come back to find that the barista reheated the milk in your mocha so it stays warm.

Surprise is finding a lil bit of sweet cream cheese in an otherwise normal looking blueberry muffin.

Friendship is sharing fresh eggs from the chooks in your own allotment.

Lucky is when the train you thought you missed was delayed and therefore you made it.

Life is everything of the above; everything more, everything less. Thank you.

It's days like these that I realise good, bad, negative, positive or even neutral is part and parcel of life. Most importantly, my faith in humanity's niceness is reinforced.

Yesterday I've had the chance to present at a business psychologist event about my dissertation which core is focused on relationships in the workplace, particularly quality ones and how this influences growth whether of the organisation and/or the individual.As most of my writings would hint by now, I'm extremely fascinated with human behaviours particularly how we connect, and the good parts, more so that the bad parts. Being able to present on a topic that I'm immensely interested in to a group of 40 people ranging from students, to working adults to experts in my field was definitely nerve-wrecking to say the least. But it also made me realised that I was experiencing exactly what my dissertation was trying to describe; that moments of quality engagement such as this 2 hour event can lead to so many positive outcomes - in this case, knowledge sharing. While the presentation part left me jittery, I really enjoyed the more informal session towards the end of the events where I had the chance to share deeper about my topic with a couple of people whom I've never met before (and probably will never meet again) thanks to that 15 minutes of connection we had earlier. It feels satisfying to be able to experience what I've been trying to describe - kinda like walking my talk.

The thing about connection is that it rolls on like dominoes falling, but in a good way. Because I had to attend the event, I also had the chance to reconnect with an old friend, a high school classmate whom I've not spoken to in ages. Had a great time catching up over dinner, and guess what, our conversations revolved a lot abut connections as well. Particularly interesting was our discussion on LDR. We both agreed that LDR is much more challenging nowadays but we had different point of views as to why it is more challenging. His point of view echoed the idea that the current generation's mindset is that it is easier to throw things away and start over than to spend time fixing it. I suggested it could be because we have a mindset of too many choices, too many things out there in the world to explore, so committing to one area in a long term is very much challenging. More so that commitment tends to be equated with no/lack of freedom. I know of people who've said that there's always the possibility of being committed and yet still enjoy this exploration together, but we all have to admit, sometimes words are easier uttered than acted upon. The conclusion we had was that  the world is too fast and too rapid for connections and relationships where its goodness may take longer than a snap of finger to realise. I mean, why would a person want to invest in something that may or may not bring joy in the long run, but definitely some pain in the foreseeable future when they can first fling with all the pleasures in the world?

That said and done, I still think everyone should still take the chance to see the world, haha conflict much.

No (wo)man is a lone island.

I guess it's because connection and relationships are so core to the human being that it is the same reason it is taken for granted. It should be there, it is there, it is as ordinary as it can be. Yet the value in ordinary, ah, that's the magic isn't it? Personally, my wake up call to remind me about the value of relationships came with the realisation that while people value connection because or especially when they feel lonely or sad, I think connection is also worth much more when you have someone to be happy with you.

It's difficult not to have a shoulder to lean on when you're depressed, but it's a whole different palate of sadness in my opinion to not have someone to share with when you receive the joyful news in your life.

Amidst the tons of train travelling, dragging luggage across terrain, presentation jitters, good food and great conversations, I am reminded that it is up to us to decide if people are the rocks on our cape, or the wind beneath our wings.