AC. 在水一方

When we get older, we are afraid of getting hurt;

we are afraid of losing the respect of others;

we are afraid that we can no longer be friends with the other person;

we are afraid that the other person is not who we expect him/her to be.

There are so many things to be afraid of, but, what if tomorrow comes to an end?

I have decided to write about this topic for a while, and then the Paris incidents happened, which makes me think that it is about time to finish this article.

We don’t know what would happen tomorrow; we only know about “now” and “past”.

We never stop complaining about “now”, about our “past” and we forget to embrace every moment existing in the “now”.

If there is no tomorrow,

would you bravely tell someone what you admire about him/her?

would you loudly tell someone “I love you”?

would you sincerely praise someone?

Of course, there are things that you don’t have to point out to anyone, because, they know.

You don’t have to tell someone how they different from others.

You don’t have to tell someone where they come from and where they should be at.

You don’t have to tell someone what they should be doing and should not be doing.

A mentor used to say, “’Should’ is a big word.” As such, nothing “should” happen in a certain way, nor anyone “should” do certain things.

What we could do is to tell the other person our appreciation in time.

There is a saying used often in the Japanese tea ceremony culture, “Ichigo ichie (一期一會).” “Ichigo” means “one life” and “ichie” means “one encounter; the sentence points out that there is only one (first) encounter during a life time, reminding everyone in the tea ceremony to treat each other with their best intention.

I have a few of these wonderful encounters in life, where strangers weren’t afraid to tell me how much they like what I was wearing or how much they like my smile. They tried to pass on their appreciation to me honestly, and I was (and still am) very touched. Like what my parents always say in Japanese, “Uso demo ureshi! (I am happy even if it is a lie!)”

At first, I feel shy about these praises from strangers because I don’t know how to respond to them; I don’t often get them in Taiwan, and, even if I do, they are often praises from a salesperson *haha*. Eventually, when I start practicing passing these type of praises honestly to others, not only that the receiving people are happy about the praises, I also feel happier while delivering them. J

There are people whom you may never meet again.

There are things that, if you don’t say them now, may remain forever unspoken.

What kind of impression do you want to leave for this world?

Wishing you all do happy things in time, do kind things in time,

Lillithanielle 2015.11.23