Random Thoughts after a lovely “Mastralian” weekend

The coffee is ready. It’s good to return to some random thoughts.

The sun is rising on my right behind the tree. It’s a new week ahead with quite a few “new” experiences lined up.

But first, before I leap ahead, I’ll dwell a little longer in gratitude for a lovely “Mastralian” weekend. It was nice to reconnect with “home” through multiple ways. From conversations on simple topics to updates on friends and family, then there was also the very early in the morning Skype session back to Bangsar Lutheran Church.

A lot of walking on the weekend for the whole family with our guest 🙂 So, an extra physical workout bonus indeed. But the extra “sunshine”, whether it’s the weather or from “rat girl” was indeed a blessing.

It’s just over six months since I’ve first arrived, and about two months for the rest of the family. The clock at the same speed, but the experience of time is indeed relative. It feels so fast. At times I wish it would slow down, but then again, we aren’t in control of the rhythm of the clock, we are only in some degree of control of how we will savor the moments, and decide on the next steps forward, with a dose of memory documentation.

I’ve been thinking about how we live in multiple “worlds”. We start somewhere we call “home”, then often, our pilgrimage opens up doors for us to have “second homes” (or more), then we walk around different zones outside of our “homes”, some comfortable, often surprising, occasionally remarkable and interesting. Not for forget, some bumps along the way with growing pains to mature us.

We embrace the local languages as much as possible, then a kind of “hybrid” moment comes. We can never be the same. But when could we? Even when we’ve been located in the same “geographical” area all our lives, we’re never in the same “chronological” space. Wise men and women would add, there also these “kairos” moments too.

It’s also easy to let them pass quickly without attention. We miss out the extra gems to add to the jewelry of our memory and personal formation. So, it’s good to have some coffee with the sun now rising a little higher, to “recollect”, to contemplate – to have a look again.

There’s so much to reflect upon, so many lessons to draw from.

The strange and yet surprising way we move beyond the surface of language and culture to dig deeper into our humanity.

New people who begin to brighten up and make a mark in the ever unfolding narrative of our existence.

Ideas that come and go. Knowledge which opens doors to new ways of thinking. Old ways of thinking either retrieved, reworked, or released, I have in particular found the joy and struggle with playing with “ideas”. The pursuit of “knowledge” is tremendously humbling. “Thinking” while is very much a “head” thing, but it’s beyond the “head”. Perhaps, some biological perspective can explain how all these impulses work in the brain. It’s pretty amazing. But reducing it to electronic “ping pong” movements does make it less artistic. 🙂

Watching my kids has always been a way into new discoveries. Seeing the world through their eyes makes me connect and reconnect again and again to what is important, and what is less important, and for the so called “Adult”, makes me wonder what the struggle is all about. We can’t chuck away the struggle, unless we want to “exit” a little faster. Perhaps, in some ways the perspective of a child clarifies significance of things, events, people and relationships, while the struggle of an adult is an indicator of life and growth in a messy and broken world.

How we wish our world can be a better place for our children. And often, the “powerful” adults are responsible to make that possible. We fail so frequently. Some of us blame those before us too. There’s always a place to do some accounting at some stage. But since the whole notion of “wish” is here, then to make a “wish come true” needs loads of imagination added with the necessary steps towards what we “wish” for. “wishful thinking” is when we are full of “wishes” and “thinking” but lack the courage maybe and perseverance to make those wishes become a reality in our world.

The coffee is finishing soon. The sun is really shining brighter now. Looks like it’s time to “zone out” from this moment of hopefully cultivating some “wisdom” so that one is not running around in circles “wishing” only. The road from wishing and wisdom isn’t that far I suppose, when we know when to stop and simply check on the direction we are heading. The way to folly is broad indeed. There are lots of “folly” fans ready to drag us into the mob of “foolishness”.

However, though the way of wisdom is narrow, and often hidden, you might spot the trail, or if you are lucky, and often we’re more than lucky and a little blessed, whether it’s a fellow pilgrim or a sagely master, we’re join in with a little more confidence we’re on the right path.

Hip hip hurray to all of them!

HIp hip hurray to all the children …

HIp hip hurray to our loved ones, those whom we often take for granted, and those whom we look forward to see one day.

And yes, one more!

Hip hip hurray to the one who made it possible to enjoy this coffee with all the factors needed to make it possible, and the assembling this awesome world we live in warts and all. 🙂