crucial, essential, valuable

Written on 26th Jan 2010; Tuesday

What is important to you? Is having a career important? What about being able to do what you want to do and what you like to do? Perhaps to be ambitious and marrying those two together? What if you have many likings and hobbies, pastimes and leisure, beyond the workplace? What about friends beyond colleagues? I do not forsee it being an easy task to have all these.

Are relationships important to you? Is there someone else whom you care for more than yourself? Who and what do you prioritise in and for? Do you think about the past which is gone, or the future which is uncertain? I know of people who outline their life and create tick boxes to signify milestones in their lives. I know of people who do it carpe diem. I know of a few who had the former and changed to the latter and I know of those who did it vice versa. What made them change? Was it a person? Was it a single experience? Was it time? Or is it more of something that we can point our thoughts to scientific reasoning? For example, an organic condition on how our brains are wired, how synapses occur and to the extent of cellular changes towards thoughts with action and reaction. How our hormonal levels change and how the changes will affect thoughts. Ever wanted to sky dive or bungee jump but not anymore?

I’d like to share yet another set of phrases: "There is no mystery to happiness. The happy man does not look back. He does not look ahead. He lives in the present. But the present cannot deliver one thing: meaning. If he wants meaning, a man must reinhabit his past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain." It also adds that nature dangles it to us and we are to choose only one.
Nothing is ever black and white. (That’s why we have lawyers). Perhaps we seek for ‘meaning’ to appreciate the present moment of happiness to a greater extent. Perhaps we seek for ‘meaning’ for its enlightenment gives us happiness. Perhaps it is worthwhile to go through the darkness and uncertainty if happiness is found. Ah, the magic of “hope”.

As a medical, I do feel the pressure to be a good and competent doctor. I feel that there is a responsibility to care – to the best of my abilities, and beyond. It can take a toll. People are a group of individuals, and that’s who they are: individuals. Similar treatment with potentially different outcomes. Someone once told me, that it is okay to aim to make just one person happy in a day. Cumulatively, that would mean 365 people are going to be happy in a year. Shall I add, that is, if it is one different person daily. If all of us do the same, would it make the world a happier place? (Secretly, I’ll be content for the ability to make one same person happy)

Why do we wake up every day? Children wake up to play, students to go to school, adults to work, the retired to do some tai-chi and the old to see it all. Perhaps.
This is generalisation. Why do YOU wake up every day?



I wake up to the scent of a loved one, the aroma of coffee and indulgences. I wake up to get ready to say hello to the break of dawn, to smile to the rising sun, to breath the air of life, to allow my senses to roam free and discover new territories. I wake up to feel happy, to feel that I can do something today, something beneficial – hopefully for others. I wake up to hear greetings of good morning, to pass them on after adding an extra touch to it, to share wishes, thoughts and ideas; to care. I wake up to be thankful for another day of happiness. I wake up not wanting an argument. I wake up not wanting to be less than optimistic. I wake up knowing that there are too many out there fighting for just another day and it would be a blessing to get a day like mine. I wake up to smile.

I am glad to be able to do this in spite of – looming exams, troubling mind, rumbling emotions and being 24. Yes, the latter is important.

I hope as you are reading this, you see something beautiful in your mind. Go on, go out there and make someone happy. You’d be surprised on how immeasurable the happiness will reflect on you.


p/s: Smile.