Life is contrasts

Death, Birth. Marriage, Widowhood. Sickness, Health. Music, Silence. Vignettes of utter contrasts back to back all within 18 hours. Life itself, in fact, encapsulated in a nutshell.

Last night, I ‘attended’ a wedding online. Today, an online memorial meet for my husband’s schoolmate. Right before, I caught what I could of the streamed concert of a dear friend. I spoke to a relative who was going through major illness. Later, I visited (physically) a friend who had a baby recently. Contrasts have been a constant of our family’s journey to date. We have lived between two, very different, countries for over a decade now, in the same two places – one a big city, the other a small town. A question each one of us continues to get asked is which domicile we like more. None of us have been able to answer that unequivocally.

What we all have are particularly enhanced memories – valuable intervals of time and space helping us relive our experiences in more depth. Every street and turn, building and store, tree and shrub, is a movie into the past. At that time, only some felt nice. Others were worrisome, even distinctly unpleasant. Yet, with the passage of time, most appear trivial. Even inconsequential.

Some reflecting and introspecting is good. Enjoyable. Over-indulging, though, can stop one living in the now. For life can change in an instant. One should NEVER postpone to later what can be done now. Neither should we be overjoyed when things go well, nor should one sweep regret under the carpet. Temperance. Temperance. Always.

My mother says that one can only change oneself. That one should channel oneself positively. Empower oneself to be soul satisfied no matter what happens around us or is done to us. To not only do our best and with utmost sincerity, but to believe the best in everything and everyone and to give the benefit of the doubt. It requires constant work. Constant introspection. Relish the good. Forget the bad. Knowing all the while that today will become yesterday very soon.