Tag: live life

Memories and Life

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment

As summer is coming to an end in the northern hemisphere, I thought about summers past.  Then an interesting thought came to mind.  Memories that I remember most vividly from childhood usually occur in the summer or involved something new, something unexpected.

Why summer?  Why do memories from these two to three months a year are the ones that remain so vividly in my mind?  What happened with the rest of the year?  Why do new, unexpected events leave marks upon the brain?

Of course, memories from the other nine months of the year, which is not summer, also appear now and then, however, I noticed that they are usually memories of time with an “event” to remember.  For a kid, that meant traveling, new experiences, birthday parties or playing with the dog and somethng happens.   I remember seeing Chantilly in France for the first time as we rounded a bend in the road and suddenly before us appeared the magnificant castle.  I remember dropping chocolate on a white sweater while visiting the Loire Valley. Then standing in the rain, looking up at the Neuwienstein (Fairy Tale Castle) near Munich, or having fireworks magically rain down overhead on Luxembourg’s national day.

Usually,  memories imbed themselves when something new happens, something unexpected, or something you’ve never experienced before happened.  Sometimes, it involves planning something mischievous or working on a school project that I found extremely fun and challenging.  I remember one where we had to think about how to prevent an egg from breaking if it is dropped for the second story.  Each team worked hard and may theories developed.  The fun part was when all the different groups had their eggs actually dropped. You could see how different types of packaging reacted as it flew through the air and hit the ground.  Sometimes it involved thinking about the planets and their relations to one another,  or writing up a report on the hazards of smoking.

Yes, school projects do make a difference.  I still, for some reason, remember since grade school that kangaroos have extremely strong tails that could kill you if you were hit by one.  I also remember that a cigarette has over four thousand hazardous compounds.  I remember reading the words, writing about them and feeling in awe.

Why do these particular memories come to mind?  I think it’s because they involved a new experience that made your brain think.   A new activity that challenged the brain, like it has never been challenged or experienced before.  These “moments” where the brain had to really work, really think, are the ones that are imbedded most strongly in the mind.  Stimulate the mind.

Sometimes as we grow older, work, and end up living life in a routine, we lose a bit of that “awe” that a kid has.   We grow accustomed to our life, and do not want to try new experiences.  We do things the way we always do, because that’s the way we’ve been doing it.  I say, keep life inspiring, try something new each day.  If that’s too much, try each week or each month.   Discover the little child inside and explore, for this world is still full of such wonders.  Keep questioning, keep exploring, and keep feeling awed by all around you.

Live life with passion. Life is so much fun, and too short to let it go to waste. Live your life.  Don’t let routines bogg you down!

The Kitten Reminder

~ Swisa A ~ 3 Comments

Tonight I am a little contemplative.  I think it’s perhaps because of what I first saw when I got out of the house this morning coupled with the scandals making headline news.   Usually in my usual rush to work, the focus is about getting there on time, getting things done and ignoring all what else that might come between me and my goal.  I get a little frustrated when things don’t go my way.  So when you open the front gate and come face to face with “death” it can
be a little silent reminder on the brevity of life.

Don’t worry, it wasn’t someone by my front gate (if it were, I’d probably be in too much of a shock to write tonight.)

The “death” I saw was that of a young little kitten.   At first glance I thought the little kitten was just having a nap by my neighbour’s house, but upon closer inspection I realized that it wasn’t moving, it wasn’t breathing and that there was dry blood not too far from the
kitten.  The little kitten was gone and lost to this world.  Its life cut short just like that.  One mistaken step out in front of a passing car. A second too soon.

This image brings me back to a particular memory that has been embedded in my mind for a couple of years now.  It’s like a video clip that would not erase.  It’s about a little puppy whose life was taken right before my eyes.  The worst part was that there was nothing I could do about it.  Playing on the pavement, this barely three month old puppy decides to play a game of hide and seek by the wheels of a car that was stuck in traffic.  You probably can tell what happened when the traffic lights turned green.  There I was witnessing all this and completely helpless in my car.  In the space of a minute, the puppy’s life was no more and it ceased to exist.  Just like that. One mistaken decision.

So the kitten and the puppy had a similar fate.  Who knows what our fate will be?

One mistaken step, one mistaken turn, one unexpected move.  Our lives too could be gone in a matter of seconds.  Sometimes when you don’t get what you want or things don’t always go your way,  it isn’t always necessarily a bad thing.  It might even be for the better.  As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining.

As it turns out, those who got to work late on the fateful day of September 11 were the lucky ones.  So when things don’t always go your way, rather than be frustrated and use up all your energy;  I think the best way is to take a deep breath and be reminded of the brevity of life.  Enjoy each and every minute of your life for who knows what will happen next.  See the good things in life.  Be positive.

No one knows what will happen tomorrow.  What you do know is that when life is gone, it can never be taken back.  Not even for a split second.  Death is final. So do what you want to do and say what you want to say before you can’t.