My End of Year & Honey Toast

Credit: Vintage Life ;)

2013 is about to end. It's a very significant year of mine with regard to relationship with others, relationship with myself as well as my own personal development, a breakthrough phase of inner growth that doesn't seem to mix well with my outgoing 'n' flamboyant Sag. style & trademark!!! (lol).

I can relate to Rumi's quote: You know how it is. 

"Sometimes we plan a trip to one place, but something takes us to another"

In school, we are taught lessons then tested. In life, we are tested to learn lessons..  Life is in fact a series of changing seasons....naturally and spontaneously, metaphorically saying. We cannot blossom in Spring and shine in Summer without harvesting in Autumn and keeping ourselves warm during Winter hibernation. We cannot change the seasons nor resist them; that only creates sufferings and drama, We can allow things to flow the way they are while changing and adjusting ourselves instead...to survive, to live, to learn to appreciate and to celebrate the inevitably changing seasons...with those we love, who, without any doubt, love us just the same...or more! ;)

The roads to all relationships are not always as smooth as silk and filled with rose petals along the way. We can feel like they have been on a see-saw of emotions, and that we are traveling their spectrum from loving empathy to dark despair and then back again...
Love can be like the changing seasons: as hot and sunny as summer one day and as cold and cloudy as winter the next...
Love, as in Life, has many dynamics, in persons, places, and circumstances. Love, as in Life, can grow, and evolve into more with each experience. We will never live long enough to experience it all. But if we remain open, and never give up of our desires and goals, we can, experience and embrace that which we are worthy of...with someone who, not only likes and appreciates us for who we are, but also grows together and shows us that we can be even more than who we are...and in fact, can be even a greater lesson and experience. 

"A hopeful heart and an open mind are the best traveling companions."

It's all about Acceptance, Faith and Love.

Everyone who has crossed our paths, comes with their own pains and struggles, despairs and glory, ups and downs, flaws & strengths (like ours). The more I profoundly learn to relate myself and accept this reality, the more I accept and surrender myself to what life has to offer with its flow.

I therefore would like to dedicate this post, expressing my heartfelt thankfulness to my mom & dad, family and friends for their loving words & actions, warm thoughts, kindness, love and  support, throughout the whole year, plus, on my birthday as well as on December 26th (9th Tsunami Memorial Day)... 

Tsunami 2004 dramatically affected and completely changed my life...turning over a new leaf from a hotelier to a volunteer...then an aid worker for 5-years-Tsunami Recovery Programme, International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (French Red Cross and American Red Cross, respectively).

The Illumination of Life

I remembered Christmas Eve 2004's unforgettable moment at the beach, right after BBR's gala dinner reception, celebration and entertaining activities...The scene of illuminated flying lanterns, which gradually ascended into the sky, bringing tears of joy to the eyes of our resort guests 'n' staff who were gathered that night including myself...It was the last serene scene ever captured, for those, who lost their lives late in the morning of the boxing day...

R.I.P. friends, relatives, acquaintances and those lives who didn't make it through.

On December 26th, 2013...I tried...not thinking about the incredible magnitude of loss in its aftermath...and I felt like having a lump in my throat. It was so unbelievable, recalling how much I had carried with me...How many children were separated from their parents...wives, separated from husbands... How many suffering souls who were left behind, losing their loved ones...how many casualties, ambulances and helicopters...how many people running for help, screaming in panic and shocked by extreme fear...+++ and what I had been through...back then.

......And believe it or not, on the first day of Tsunami devastation in Khaolak, the victims' (uncovered) fresh corpses were delivered at the ground floor of Takuapa hospital's emergency building...as their numbers got increasing in the evening of the same day, they were therefore relocated to YanYao Temple for further autopsy & identification process. Unfortunately & sadly, I found a former hotel staff, lying among all the other victims' corpses, on the floor of the hospital on that day...

I also met my hotel guests (a Swiss-German couple) there while I was running here, there and everywhere, looking for some missing hotel staff and guests in the aftermath of Tsunami. The couple had stayed in our beachfront villa; they were strolling along the beach, when Tsunami stroke the Andaman coastline. They received help from local villagers in order to get to the hospital. The husband was seriously injured, pending for leg operation (only 1 surgeon in the hospital + scarcity of tetanus vaccine). After about 30 minutes, I returned to meet with the same guests...the ground floor of the hospital was 90% empty...

So I asked a Burmese migrant worker who was still there, "where have all the people gone?"...He pointed his finger to a staircase nearby. Then, I went upstairs (4th floor), and finally found them, trembling with fear, asking me not to leave them. I asked them why & how they could manage themselves up there with such vulnerable condition. Another German patient, sitting next to them, was screaming instead...and there came a Thai nurse, telling me that the woman was still shocked...and while I was going away, they heard someone shouting "Water Coming", then almost all of the patients ran to the top floor of the building! In fact, it was drinking water delivery service!

Regardless of tremendously negative aspects, there are positive sides of "the power of humanity" and "compassion" inside every tragedy. I was fortunate enough to also witness a glimpse of hope & miracles with my own eyes...When a French father who couldn't help bursting into tears in front of me, as he found someone who could communicate with him in French at a local hospital, begging me to help searching for his family. A week later, this poor man who could not eat and sleep...who desperately lost motivation to live...could eventually reunite with his wife and his 5 months old baby girl... I never forget the moment I saw them hugging, kissing and crying together...then they both came to give me big hugs, while thanking and wishing me..."blissful life".

...and A story of a 7 y.o. Finnish girl, whom I met in an emergency room.... She was swept away by the giant waves, and lost touch with her family. I and my cousins tried to talk to her both in English and our common body languages. Despite the fact that she could not say a word in English, she made an impressive effort with a small pack of crayons, handed to her, in drawing a picture with her name on it, to tell us what had happened...finally reunited with her mother and older brother...and many more Tsunami-based life-changing stories which have been kept and cherished in my heart as well as in my poetic memory*. 

* “The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful ..." --― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

End of 2013 's Contemplation:
Whenever we are doubting on how far we can go, just remember how far we have come. 
Remember everything we have faced...
All the battles we have won and all the fears we have overcome...

The importance is in the journey, not in arriving at the destination. What we can learn along the way could easily have more meaning than an arrival, because the journey itself can become our destiny. 

Today is most likely going to be a time of observation, contemplating events and situations we have witnessed on the highway of life. Deep meditation could bring us answers for yesterday's, today's, and tomorrow's problems.

By getting in touch with the inner us, we will probably be able to find truth even when there appears to be very little around. The outcome of becoming aware of our situation is that we have the time to meditate on the problem and come up with good solutions. By trusting our subtle and innate abilities we will come to terms with our problems. 

"In the midst of War, find PEACE within.
In the midst of Chaos, find STILLNESS within.
In the midst of Confusion, find CLARITY within.
In the midst of the World, find YOURSELF within."
(Doe Zantamata-Happiness In Your Life)

Note* A daily dose of Love & Laughter keeps us not only emotionally healthy 
but also good for our physical health! 
We can survive by seeing the sunny side 'n' humour in everything. 
Take the bad with the good.
Thumb our noses at sadness; turn the tables on tragedy...
Effort counts as much as Heart...and finally Life is to live in the light of Love (and Hope). 
We all deserve to live our destined quality of life...with destined soul mates & destined people.
...
I LIKE PEOPLE
WITH WHOM I CAN
OCCASIONALLY
HAVE REALLY DEEP
CONVERSATIONS,
AND AT THE
SAME TIME JOKE
AROUND WITH
THEM.

Have you hugged someone and made them smile/laugh today yet?
Satisfaction's guaranteed! :)

The average length of a hug between two people is 3 seconds. But researchers have discovered something fantastic. When a hug lasts 20 seconds, there is a therapeutic effect on the body and mind. The reason is that a sincere hug produces a hormone called "oxytocin", also known as the feel-good love hormone. This substance has many benefits in our physical and mental health, helps us, among other things, to relax, to feel safe and calm our fears and anxiety. This wonderful calming is offered free of charge every time we have a person in our arms... we cradled a child... we cherish a dog or cat... we're dancing with our partner, the closer we get to someone or just hold the shoulders of a friend the more grounded and loved we feel. {credit: The Chocolate Date} 

A TOAST to New Beginnings! 

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• ✿ღℓ σ √ ε ღ✿ܓ
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My New Year's Resolution is...
To Enjoy Eating another luscious HONEY TOAST at Hua Tah Bistro,
with chill-out & easy-listening music, playing softly, including this one... 
feeling good listening to this song again today, since last December :)
What's yours? 

Dear Miss Anne,

Upbeat & Radiant, you are set to end the year on a positive note. You have performed exceptionally well during 2013 and the slow but productive personal developments give you strength to move ahead in life. You may continue to soar higher...as You are in the pink of your health and always see there's a glass to fill in water...no matter what..., with gratitude, persistence and creativity; therefore, even when life gives you lemons, you know how to turn them into melons!! ...Despite your tendency of being a little over the top, ardent, playful, hypersensitive, impulsive and sometimes "a pain in the ar_e!", you have come to learn the hard way and know how to preserve an exterior of grace, poise and calm dignity under awkward  circumstances.  Begin 2014 with same enthusiasm, vigour, attitude and demeanor...

We will come back to check on you again at the end of 2014.

Be Good, Be Kind & Be Courageous... and above all,

just simply Be Human Being!!!

Yours,

Aliens (from Planets Mars & Venus ) 

p.s shhhhh....Thank you for the chocolate! 

Dear M&V Aliens,

Thank you for your letter with such a brilliant performance appraisal record... I'm impressed! 

BTW, I won't tell your boss that you guys all received a big box of sinfully dark & decadent chocolate as a gift...I know this is against your planets' "Code of Colgate", oops!... "Code of Congee"...excuse me "Code of Condom"...no no no..."Code of Conduct"...whewww (whatever) Well, please don't get me wrong. I have no intention to blackmail you, to bribe you or anything. I'm not a lobbyist...trust me!

Looking forward to pampering you guys with chocolate again, anytime!

Yours,

Anne ;)

p.s Next time, please try 'honey toast' too. I bet you will never find it anywhere in the Universe, but on my planet Earth...seriously!

New Years Countdowns at WiddlyTinks.com