Boy plucking flowers. A story.

A boy is walking through grassland, thinking of picking up just one flower for himself. He plucked up one pink flower. " Maybe i can get something better", he walked on. Along the way, he pulled out those flowers that caught his attention at first sight. Gathering them all together at the other hand. There were few flowers left as he reached the other end of the field. 

As he thought he can then select the most beautiful among those he had collected; the flowers were dying, turning dull and drying up. And he threw them back into the grassland, went back with nothing.

We all want to have the goods in many worlds. But many of a time, we did it at the expense of others; un-intentionally. A teacher once said in class, " Don't worry about you falling down. we are smart enough to save ourselves, but not others. Careful with the people around you."

For the boy, he went back home with disappointment; which he'll recover with time. For the dying flowers, the boy had just put a full-stop to their colourful days.

What i learnt when i hike. Lesson #3 Beauty is not for the pockets

Along the way making our way up to the mountain top, we were blessed with beautiful scenery. Most of the time, i would be looking down at the crumbly path. Small little blue flowers waving and the morning glories smiling at me. When i lift my chin up, greetings from the clear blue sky and friendly Himalayas never fail to remind me that we are always part of the universe.

Of course, sometimes i would have silly fantasy that i could carry the mountains back to Singapore. Woken up by the fact that, its is best to leave them alone, soaked myself into such estasy. However cute the wild flowers are, pulling them out from their soil and pocketing them means ceasing their moments of glory. I would prefer to squat and look at them as long as i want.

I was fumbling with my camera, trying to get some good shots of what i've seen. And realised that, nature is just too much for capture with the lens. I shoved my camera into my bag, and just enjoy. I was the camera, my eyes took the shots, my brain kept it into films of images became great memories.

None of a true beauty can be bought and keep into any of our pockets. Not even a smile.
None of a true beautiful moment will happend twice, like the flowing river. The same river will not flow a second time, the way it has flowed for the first.
We are all beautiful, when in our natural way.

What i learnt when i hike. Lesson #2 Mind Your Own Business!

You and me, we all have got the same 24 hours every day. Why are there stillpeople begging for more time, others are using it just right and some others has got too much to spend?

During hiking, i couldn't stop talking. Being overwhelmed by the nature, i would talk to Shiya about the flowers, the clouds, the weeds, the stones, the sheep, the children....
For the first ten minutes, i would get some replies of acknowledgement. And slowly, i realised she could not be bother about me; but i was just keep talking.... maybe to myself or if the guide could understand me. When i turned around, Shiya was busy fighting her own war with the flights.

Shiya decided to ignore me... reserving energy for herself. Which is good:)

And we were minding our own business. She was sweating gracefully and i was making my own speech. We were both experiencing body tiredness, fighting with stamina, sudden gushes of cool wind...The fact is, we could not walk the path for each other, not possible.
Each of us has got a business to mend, that's a very personal experience.

Every single one of us has got the same schedule planner; where we will jot down our appointments. Take a look at your own planner, looking at just any one month of the year. How many of these appointments are for yourself, and how many of them are for others?

Though we are blessed with 24 hours a day, most of us like to give away part of our share. Ended up not having enough to reach our goal; and the lucky ones would have few more extra hours from others for themselves.

We are all running a business of our own. No other people should be able to tell your how it should be run, for they have their own business to mend too. You have a goal, a direction, a passion, an idea, a thought, a plan and 24 hours a day; now do it.