Forget the fact that there were enough candles on my cake to light up a runway at Changi Airport. So I turned fifty-two last week and, like most, wonder how it all happened so fast. To me, age is an attitude. You are as old as you feel. The fact remains, that time flies!
However, I am counting my blessings and not my time with a pointless pining for yesterday. During the first forty years of your life, if you are like me, you probably rushed through college, fell in love, married, embarked on a career, climbed upward and acquired many things. I know of many who did not make it past four decades. Divorce. Suicide. Too much alcohol. Guilt. Loneliness.
I have begun to look at my life through the metaphor of a football game. If you are a football fan like me, you'd know that the game is won in the second half, not the first. It's possible to make mistakes in the first half and still have time to recover but it's harder to do that in the second half.
If you ask most people what they want from life, as I have been doing in recent years, you will discover that they want to achieve success. Some want to be successful in their workplace and others want to be successful parents. But if you ask people to define success, you will end up with as many different answers as there are people.
If you google it, you will find it defined as "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose" and "the attainment of fame, wealth, or social status". If this is what success is, please, please tell me that there is more to life than success.
I believe the greatest success is to be constantly growing, developing and evolving into the better person I know I can be. Success is not a destination - it is a journey.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. "When I reach the station, that'll be it," I used to think. "When I am 21." "When I buy my BMW!" "When I put my kid through university." "When I get a promotion." "When I pay off my mortage, I will live happily ever after!"
Eventually, I realize there is no station to arrive at, once and for all. The station is only an illusion. It constantly outdistances us. The true joy of life is the trip.
However, I am counting my blessings and not my time with a pointless pining for yesterday. During the first forty years of your life, if you are like me, you probably rushed through college, fell in love, married, embarked on a career, climbed upward and acquired many things. I know of many who did not make it past four decades. Divorce. Suicide. Too much alcohol. Guilt. Loneliness.
I have begun to look at my life through the metaphor of a football game. If you are a football fan like me, you'd know that the game is won in the second half, not the first. It's possible to make mistakes in the first half and still have time to recover but it's harder to do that in the second half.
If you ask most people what they want from life, as I have been doing in recent years, you will discover that they want to achieve success. Some want to be successful in their workplace and others want to be successful parents. But if you ask people to define success, you will end up with as many different answers as there are people.
If you google it, you will find it defined as "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose" and "the attainment of fame, wealth, or social status". If this is what success is, please, please tell me that there is more to life than success.
I believe the greatest success is to be constantly growing, developing and evolving into the better person I know I can be. Success is not a destination - it is a journey.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. "When I reach the station, that'll be it," I used to think. "When I am 21." "When I buy my BMW!" "When I put my kid through university." "When I get a promotion." "When I pay off my mortage, I will live happily ever after!"
Eventually, I realize there is no station to arrive at, once and for all. The station is only an illusion. It constantly outdistances us. The true joy of life is the trip.
The Mirror
Edmund Burke , 1729 – 1797, Irish Philosopher.
I look in the mirror
And what do I see?
A strange looking person
That cannot be me
Edmund Burke , 1729 – 1797, Irish Philosopher.
I look in the mirror
And what do I see?
A strange looking person
That cannot be me
For I am much younger
And not nearly so fat
As that face in the mirror
I am looking at
And not nearly so fat
As that face in the mirror
I am looking at
Oh, where are the mirrors
That I used to know
Like the ones which were
Made thirty years ago?
That I used to know
Like the ones which were
Made thirty years ago?
Now all things have changed
And I`m sure you`ll agree
Mirrors are not as good
As they used to be.
And I`m sure you`ll agree
Mirrors are not as good
As they used to be.
So never be concerned,
If wrinkles appear
For one thing I`ve learned
Which is very clear,
If wrinkles appear
For one thing I`ve learned
Which is very clear,
Should your complexion
Be less than perfection,
It is really the mirror
That needs correction!!
Be less than perfection,
It is really the mirror
That needs correction!!
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