Category: My Thoughts

The Opposite of Addiction is Connection

I was intrigued by this idea by Johann Hari, in his TED Talk, ‘Everything you think you know about addiction’.

The opposite of addiction is not sobriety.

The opposite of addiction is connection.

  • Johann Hari, TED Global London, June 2015

He talked about the experiment done on rats in empty cages, with two bottles of water, one plain water and the other drug water. The rat always chose the drug water and eventually died. A Professor Alexander changed the environment to a Rat Park, where the rats were well fed and played with other rats. They almost never touched the drug water, and lived happily ever after. And he asked the question: What if addiction is an adaptation to your environment?

Another professor wanted to call it bonding instead of addiction. We are created to bond with each other. If we’re unable to bond with people, due to trauma or other issues, we might bond with things like drugs, pornography, gambling, social media, etc.

Social media feels like connection, right? Maybe some of us connected to childhood friends through Facebook. We feel connected to our friends as we watch what’s happening in their lives through social media. Yet, I’ve read that our current society is more lonely than ever before! Social media can never replace the real connection of meeting face-to-face with conversations and laughter (or tears) over a meal. Social media can’t replace the deep connection which is fostered as we see our friends weather through the storms in their lives.

We’ve got bonds and connections that you want to be present for. You’ve got work you love. You’ve got people you love. You’ve got healthy relationships. And a core part of addiction, I came to think, and I believe the evidence suggests, is about not being able to bear to be present in your life.

  • Johann Hari, TED Global London, June 2015

The connection we long for – in whatever we are addicted to, be it social media or drugs – is the connection of love and acceptance. We seek that connection of one human being with another, in a safe and loving relationship. Let us create a world of real connection and deep bonding of caring and loving unconditionally, and of supporting each other in our struggles.

What A Weekend Down With Flu Taught Me

I was down with flu last weekend – running and blocked nose, throbbing headache, and coughing. It was enough to bring me down – weak and lying in bed – cancelling all my weekend activities.

When I was young, I shuddered at the thought of how one’s life can change in a split second, for example, how Christopher Reeve was paralysed from the neck down due to a horse-riding accident. A famous celebrity who played Superman was not immune to life-shattering accidents? This really struck me!

Reading about Christopher Reeve, he became an inspiration through his research, advancement and building a foundation to help quadriplegics. He even had a directing debut and returned to the screen for a short time. He became a different “Superman” for us.

It is my faith in God that brings meaning to the sufferings in this world, as Jesus had come to suffer an excruciating death to die for our sins. Sin, death and suffering came through the original sin of Adam and Eve, but Jesus came to redeem us and grant us fullness of life. I do not understand many of the sufferings of the world, especially diseases and wars, and I don’t think I ever will. I do know suffering has its purpose of gaining a different perspective, and helping us to be more compassionate. And I know that God is with me through the trials and storms in my life. He longs for me to turn to Him for safely and protection, comfort and consolation, guidance and leadership, hope and inspiration, and mostly importantly, love and grace.

What I realise is that life is fragile. Do not take for granted what we have today – especially our loved ones and our health – they are the ones that we tend to ignore most of the time. Treasure our loved ones and take good care of our health. Before it is too late.

Chasing Who I Am in 10 Years

Recently, I heard Matthew McConaughey speech:

They are three things to my account that I need each day. One of them is something I look up to, another is something to look forward to, and another is someone to chase.

Someone To Look Up To

The something he looks up to is GOD. He thanked God for his blessings – how amazing that is! I too believe that God is someone I look up to and give thanks to everyday. I am who I am today because of God’s amazing love and grace.

Someone To Look Forward To

The something he looks forward to is his family – how wonderful that is! To always look forward to his loving family is such a blessing. We must never take granted our family and friends, who have supported and love us.

Someone To Chase

The person to chase? That’s him in 10 years time! He is constantly chasing the person he will be 10 years away. He knows he is not going to attain that, and it’s fine with him because it keeps him with somebody to keep on chasing.

I love this concept of imagining my future self and chasing after my own hero. I get to envision the best version of myself in 10 years time, and keep on chasing after my awesome Future Self. It is a moving target of chasing the best version of who I can be in the future. I can play my own hero in my story, writing the adventures of my life!

I want more from my life because I know I can be more – that I can contribute more to the world. There is a purpose of who I am – to do something that I was meant to do, that only I can contribute to in this world. It is the unique contribution of my Future Self that I am pursuing – whether it is in one year or ten years’ time!

Overcome Feelings of Being Stuck

After starting a project, we sometimes go through a phase of feeling stuck, where we don’t feel like we are making much progress, or not making progress fast enough. What I would call: an annoying plateau.

One of the ways of overcoming this feeling of being stuck is to have a sense of progress, however small the progress. Maybe write one sentence for your book, or one line of code for your program, or one small social media post to say ‘Hi World’, a 3-minute exercise, or reading or researching on your topic, or making connection with someone who might be related to your project.

Just do anything – the smallest action – to gain a sense of progress, especially when you don’t feel like it. Make the action so small that you can’t not do it.

The strongest known force in daily motivation is a sense of progress – Hidden Potential by Adam Grant

I believe what is most important is not to get stuck for too long, as the longer we are stuck, the harder it is to get unstuck! I like the idea that I read somewhere – not to miss your daily action task for two or three consecutive days. Quickly get back on track as soon as possible, even with a small action to get that sense of progress. For example, if your project to lose weight requires you to exercise 20 minutes a day, just do a 3-minute exercise to keep the momentum and have a sense of progress, instead of having a total loss of one day. I always tell myself: 3 minutes is still better than 0 minute.

The secret to overcome the feeling of being stuck is by having a sense of progress, however small the progress is. A progress is still a progress, however small or big.

Start, even if you are not ready

We have a tendency to analyse and research when we want to start a personal project – Google search, ChatGPT, seeking expert opinion and friends’ advice, do research – all to make sure our little project that we have been dreaming of is fail-safe..!

The problem with all these checking and analysing is that we end up not starting at all – the curse of “analysis paralysis”. Furthermore, all the preparations might not prevent us from failure, as many things are not under our control.

So when do we start? NOW.

How do we start? Whatever first steps we can take. We don’t need to figure out all the steps to start our project. Along the way, we will figure things out, as we get more feedback and can improve on our initial action plans.

God always puts in our heart the desire to dream and make it happen. He will be the one to show us the way, but He will only show us a few steps at a time. Just so we trust Him. He will remove the obstacles in our way, and bring the connections and resources that we need. Sometimes, it is harder or longer than we expected, as we prefer to have things fast and easy. God wants to grow our character and it takes time. Humans and plants do not grow overnight – it takes time and seasons. Caterpillar takes time to turn into a beautiful butterfly.

We don’t see the finish line of a race when we are at the starting line. God sees the finish line and our victory. We journey together on this adventure, but we need to be at the starting line to start the race.

Trust in God’s timing.

Trust in the process of growth.

Just START.

Whether you feel ready or not.

Especially when you don’t feel ready!

The Amazing Power of Whisper

Recently, I watched an Instagram reel of a father called happy.human.life using the power of whisper to calm his young child and speak to her in a whisper. She had to stop screaming and yelling, get close enough to hear what her father was saying, and did exactly what he asked her to do.

Next time if you are in a heated anger or having a meltdown, STOP. Switch your raging anger from shouting or yelling or screaming – to calm down to speak in a soft whisper, if possible. See if this works to diffuse the heated situation – but my guess is that it will take some practice…

In the story of Elijah, God showed Himself in a gentle whisper – after the strong wind, after the earthquake, and after the fire:

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. – 1 Kings 19:11-13

God had shown His mighty strength and power in many instances – the ten horrible plagues against the Egyptians, parting of the Red Sea, crashing down the walls of Jericho, etc. However, God speaks to us through the soft prompting of the Holy Spirit, in a gentle whisper, so that we must draw close to hear Him. We also need to have a peace and quiet mind to discern His voice and understand what He is saying.

This is the Amazing Power of Whisper.

Steal Your Future, Kill Your Dreams and Destroy Your Confidence – NOT

I recently heard this from instagram posts by liveoutloudbrooke, where she explained about the famous verse from John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy – she confessed that this verse used to scare her, until someone explained to her the steal, kill and destroy part:

The enemy is coming to Steal Your Future, Kill Your Dreams and Destroy Your Confidence.

Have we not realised how our enemy is constantly defeating us – by stealing our hope in the future, burying all our long-forgotten dreams, and making us lose our confidence, not only in ourselves but also in our God?

This is a reminder to the second part of this same verse in John 10:10:

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Yes! Jesus is our Redeemer and Saviour! He has redeemed us from our hopelessness, despair, and shame to grant us:

  • An Abundant Life
  • Dreaming Bold, Audacious Dreams and
  • Having full confidence in who God is, and who we are in God.

Instead of allowing the lies of the enemy to steal, kill and destroy us – believe in our God who has come to give us an abundant life. We are meant for MORE, MUCH MORE. God always instil in our hearts His divine dream and calling for us, and we will always be restless until we heed His calling to do His divine will. And after that, He still wants to bless us MORE and MORE!

That’s how I have started this blog in 2019. I felt I have much to share, and I wanted to gift it for my 50th birthday in 2020. Then I slacked for a few years, losing my momentum and my motivation. This year 2024, I have a renewed “push” by the Holy Spirit to do this for God’s glory, and He has blessed me with divine inspiration every week (Monday). I pray that my readers will be inspired to seek their divine calling and thirst for more of God’s blessings in their lives.

Invitation to an Empty Tomb

We just celebrated Easter Sunday yesterday. In the Bible, there is the story of the women who went to the tomb early in the morning to look for Jesus to embalm His body. They were told by the angel that Jesus has risen, just as He had said, then the angel invited the women to come and see the empty tomb (Matthew 28:6).

In the homily by the priest, he reminded us that the stone was rolled away from the tomb – not for Jesus to leave – but for people to enter and check the tomb. That really struck me – that it was for the women and the disciples to enter the tomb – to see for themselves that it was empty. I am sure they were totally confused to find an empty tomb. Jesus had taken upon Himself the sin and shame of the world, and overcame them. The celebration of Easter is the victory of the Son of God over sin and death. That’s the significance of the empty tomb!

Do we sometimes find ourselves going back to our dark hidden secrets that are buried deep within us, in our “tomb”? The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection is that He has overcome sin and death, to give us Eternal Life. The tomb is empty now – no more sin and death, no more shame and sorrow. They are gone. We are free – our freedom purchased graciously by the Son of God.

As we celebrate Easter, let us be reminded that:

  • The tomb is empty because Jesus has died for our sins and His resurrection has overcome death once and for all.
  • The tomb is empty because we are freed from our past shame and sorrow, not hidden nor buried, but vanished.
  • The tomb is empty because we have a new HOPE in God and His Almighty Power to overcome death.
  • The tomb is empty because we have a God that is powerful and sovereign and love us unconditionally.

As we look up at our Risen Jesus on Easter, let us remember the significance of the empty tomb as well.

YOLO Win Just Once

Recently, I watched the Chinese movie YOLO – where a woman was jobless for 10 years and living with her parents. Many times, she was betrayed by those closest to her. Despite the pain of betrayal, she still helped them out and didn’t seek to take revenge on them.

There came a turning point in her life that she decided she wanted to win just once. She was tired of being a loser. However, she didn’t obsessed about proving anything to anyone, except herself. She transformed her life drastically by registering for a boxing competition. She had to attempt a few times just to qualify – and it was sheer sweat, tears, determination, perseverance, resilience and grit . On her first match, she was determined not to quit but to complete all the rounds, whereas I was indignant how they could pitch a beginner against a pro boxer! She defined what was a WIN for her, not conforming to society’s definition of success. And because of that, she also define who is a WINNER.

As I was watching the movie, my initial assumption was that they got a slim actress and put on the “cosmetic weight” for her for the beginning of the movie. How wrong I was! At the end of the movie, they showed the real actual progress of the actress losing the weight from beginning to end of 2023! I was super awed!!! It blew my mind when I found out she was also the movie director!!! Unbelievable!! Absolutely INSPIRING!!!

Her story reminds me of Joseph in the Bible – how he was betrayed by so many, yet he triumphed in the end as God brought him up to great heights. God always use our dire circumstances to transform us. God has created the human spirit to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. It exist deep within us, that sometimes only the biggest challenges in our lives can reach inside and grab hold of it.

Never lose sight of what is IN YOU:

Your Awesomeness.

Your Beauty.

Your Courage.

Your Determination.

Your Energy.

Your Fighting Spirit.

Your Greatness.

YOU ARE A WINNER!!

Harness Kindness as a Super Power

Kindness has become a rarity in our culture, no longer occurring as naturally or commonly as it once did. It is more common that we are too busy to even notice – a person who had stumbled, or rushing to a closing lift door, or a pregnant woman standing in the bus, or a mother juggling grocery bags and screaming kids – much less do something about it.

We live in a detached world where everyone is distracted. We have no idea what another person is going through. Sadly, we don’t even know what those closest to us are going through – their private battles and silent tears. Yet, we are quick to judge and condemn – particularly among keyboard warriors and netizens who arrogantly voice their opinions, behind the shield of digital media and/or anonymity, and without the filter of normal social decorum!

We need to bring back kindness as part of our way of life. Kindness can bring great hope and joy, which has a rippling effect of kindness spreading far and wide with lasting imprint to our hearts and souls.

A kind word spoken at the right time can transform a person’s life.

A kind remark can inspire others.

A kind act can heal wounds.

A kind gesture can offer strength and comfort.

A kind question can show curiosity and seek to understanding.

A kind smile can bring joy and laughter.

A kind giving can help someone in their critical finances.

A kind thoughtfulness can bring warmth to a friend in need.

A kind heart can love profoundly.

A kind consideration can uplift spirits.

A kind hand can reach out to the lonely and desperate.

In all the kindness to others, let us always remember:

to be kind to ourselves.

The reason kindness is a super power is that it takes courage to be kind – when we speak lovingly, or write thoughtfully, or give generously, or smile, or reach out, or forgive, or being considerate, or sometimes, when we go out of our way to do something for another person. And this courage gives us the power to do something good and bring out the goodness in others.

Let us harness kindness as a super power – to bring hope, compassion, generosity, inspiration and understanding into the world.

Embrace and celebrate our imperfect self to become our masterpiece

In our current world, we strive for perfection. And it is getting easier than ever to achieve the perfect image – through filters and AI. In our social media, we show our best photos. In our social settings, we display our best appearances. Behind all these virtual and physical masks, we hide our imperfections. Surely, I am guilty of it!

I like the Japanese art called Kintsugi – the art of repairing broken objects, often ceramic pottery or glass, with gold lacquer. For me, what is so amazing is that the repaired pottery is even more beautiful that the original, as the golden lacquer brings out the beauty of the broken pieces. It is not ruined, as the broken pieces have been weaved into a new masterpiece.

That is also true of us – when we take our broken pieces and weave lovingkindness for healing, to become a new person – using the lessons we have learnt from our failures – to make us stronger and more compassionate. Our failures teach and guide us, reveal insights about ourselves and sometimes, force us to face the painful truths within us. We become healed from our brokenness and become “real” – to experiencing LIFE with its joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, achievement and frustration, freedom and oppression. The depth of sorrow brings new height to our joy. The long agony of frustration makes us value our hard-earned achievements and successes. Our failures make us who we are today. We celebrate our imperfections as they made us into our own masterpiece.

We don’t need to hide our imperfections, especially not from ourselves. To recognise the beauty of our imperfection – is how we can see our self-worth – to be confident of who we are and appreciate how far we have come in our journey of life.

No masks. No filters. No AI.

Just as we are.

Absolutely Beautiful.

Perfectly Imperfect.

Just as how God made us.

Embrace and Celebrate Your True Self

In the recent Emmy’s acceptance speech by Niecy Nash on 16th January 2024, she thanked herself, with a loud applause from the audience. Yes, we all recognize how important it is to thank ourselves.

I love her choice of words to believe in herself – a delicious invitation to believe in yourself. She won the awards against all odds. She gave voice to all women who went through tremendous hardships and inspired all women to not lose hope. She celebrated who she is and what she has achieved by believing in herself. What a wonderful speech!

We so often do so much, non-stop, one task after another. No one knows the frustration we feel and/or the tears we cried, or the numerous times we wanted to quit. No one knows how much it costs us to keep believing in ourselves when no one else did. Yet, with all the major and minor achievements, we let the celebration slip. When we fail, we beat ourselves. But when we succeed, do we remember to take time to celebrate? Are we not worthy of celebration? Hence, we must remember to celebrate when we achieve something, whether big or small – a simple pat on your back, or a high-5 to yourself in the mirror, or a celebration cake or chocolate or meal or drink. Remember: We are worthy of celebration.

I know of friends who downplay birthday celebrations, especially as they get older. I believe we should always celebrate:

  • Celebrations are a reminder of who we are and what we’ve achieved, not just another number or another year.
  • Celebrations bring meaning to our achievements and milestones
  • Celebrations bring us together with people who love and support us
  • Celebrations bring joy and treasured memories
  • Celebrations inspire us to dream bigger!

Today, I embrace and celebrate my true self. And I celebrate and thank God for creating the one-and-only ME! Yes, I just looked at the mirror and told myself – You Are Awesome – and gave myself an High-5!

Question: How can you embrace and celebrate your true self today?

Manifest the person you want to be

Last year, I read the book ‘Manifest’ by Roxie Nafousi. Her first step is – Be clear in your vision. Instead of focusing on manifesting things, we should focus on manifesting the person we want to be. For me, this mean the journey of becoming the best version of the person I want to be.

When visualizing your ideal future, visualize not just what you want to manifest, but the person that you want to be – Roxie Nafousi

In her book, her second step was to remove fear and doubt that blocks manifestation – to do the inner work of healing. We have to master our thoughts, be aware of what we say to ourselves and the language we use, to use positive affirmations and to practice visualisation.

She believed self-love is the driving force behind manifesting. I always thought of self-love as doing things to care for myself, e.g. going for massage, reading a book over a nice cup of tea, listening and dancing to music when no one is watching. I realise that it is more than doing things to make me feel good – it is a way to honour who I am and who I want to become. And it goes way deeper – it is empowering.

Self-love empowers you to step into your light, to step into your greatness and to open up space for abundance to enter your life – Roxie Nafousi

Self-love also means forgiving myself and putting my past behind. To take my past mistakes as lessons that I needed to learn. To be kind to myself – to recognise my achievements and appreciate how far I’ve come in my life. And to be confident that I can dream big and achieve greater heights by manifesting the highest version of my Future Self.

Manifest Exercise – describe the person you want to be.

Overcome Imposter Syndrome

I was listening to Mel Robbins interview with her daughter, Kendall, on the topic of imposter syndrome. Kendall is an upcoming singer/writer who attended her first music festival during a weekend and felt like an imposter at the backstage where she had an artist pass.

I can relate with her. When I first launched my journal on Nehemiah in 52 days on 6th November 2022, I hardly believe I could call myself an “journal author”. Then one year later in 2023, I published my journals in Amazon, and I still feel a little embarrassed to call myself an “international author”.

I realise that I am putting myself down. There is no doubt that it is an achievement to write two journals, publish and print them in Malaysia, and then publish them in Amazon Kindle in both digital and paperback versions.

Kendall mentioned the phrase – beat everyone to your inconvenient truth – be honest and vulnerable about her situation as a beginner in the music industry. So, the truth is that I only sold a handful of books. And my blog has only a handful of subscribers. In fact, I was very close to quitting this blog last year as I was writing so inconsistently and lacking motivation. This year, I have decided to write and post every Monday (yes, I am sweating now).

Kendall mentioned having the beginner mindset to overcome imposter syndrome. We are all here to learn and to share, that we can all learn from each other. She also flipped the switch and decided to be grateful to be where she was and to enjoy herself at this great opportunity to meet so many of her music idols at the music festival.

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to publish my own journals, and to write in my own blog. I am proud of what I have achieved. In fact, all of us should recognize and be very proud of our many achievements.

Question: What are the achievements you should be proud of and thank yourself for?

Being Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

You think that most people want to be happy, right? I suspect the truth is closer to the fact that most people want to be comfortable. Then naturally, they would be comfortably happy!

But to grow, we need to get out of our comfort zone, and do the uncomfortable things that challenges us. For example, I was uncomfortable taking photos of myself and posting them on social media. As a photographer, I felt more comfortable behind the lens than in front of it. It took me awhile to be comfortable in taking selfies on my iPhone. I found out that using DSLR camera to shoot is quite different from using the iPhone camera to shoot selfies. It’s quite a different skill set! Now, I am quite comfortable and confident taking selfies, as long as there is good lighting!

My next challenge is taking videos, which I am still very uncomfortable. I am even finding ways to post videos on social media without showing my face..! Haha!

Nevertheless, I really want to overcome it and do this uncomfortable thing. I have a new project which requires my social media presence more “vividly” (showing my face lah). I have been hiding comfortably behind written words in this personal blog of mine. It is time for me to move to the next level. It is time for my exponential growth – my 10X growth – for 2024.

What is the uncomfortable thing you know you should do to accelerate your personal growth this year?

Turning into a Pillar of Salt for Looking Back

Today, I was going through the YouVersion plan by Christine Caine called ‘Don’t Look Back’. The main story was Lot’s wife, who was told not to look back as the angel helped Lot and his wife to escape Sodom. She was told to do one thing – not look back – and she did exactly the one thing she was told not to do, and was turned into a pillar of salt.

I believe, we all have our “Sodom” that we look back to:

  • the who we used to be
  • the what we used to have
  • the place we used to live in
  • the “normal” we had before the Covid pandemic
  • the unforgiveness that robs our peace
  • the dashed hopes or dreams or expectations
  • the past seasons of our lives that was much easier
  • the youth and/or health we took for granted
  • the secret thoughts that darken our mind
  • the shame that we hide behind our facade

Even though God had told us to let them go and DON’T LOOK BACK.

This question in the YouVersion plan struck me:

Are you lingering in a place and longing for what was, all the while tolerating what is, all in hopes that if you linger long enough, you might get back what God told you to leave?

Are we so foolish to think that if we linger long enough, we might get back what we long for? In Luke 17:32, Remember Lot’s Wife – Jesus reminds us not to turn back – or face the consequences. God is commanding is to MOVE ON.

As we start a new year, let go of whatever that is no longer serving us or even holding us back, and move forward boldly to a new adventure.

Are you connecting to your core values?

Connect to Core Values
Connect to Core Values

In the book Bittersweet by Susan Cain, she talked about accepting the bitter and losses in our lives, and how it can lead us to connect to our values and subsequently acting on those values.

I reflected upon it and listed the core values I believe is important to me at this season of my life:

  1. Courage – courage to do what God has called me to do, to trust in God’s plan for my life, and to be led by the power of the Holy Spirit
  2. Compassion – to reach out to others and inspire them to dream boldly, and more importantly, to have compassion on myself – to be kind and gentle to the little girl in me
  3. Creativity – to use my talents in bold unique ways to give glory to God – dare to dream big, be bold, go wild, run free, dance like no one is watching, and have lots of fun!
  4. Gratitude – to give thanks for the countless blessings in my life, including the trials that strengthen my character and driven me to be who I am today

I realise that I need to align my values with what I am doing in my life. That whatever project or work I embark on, it needs to align with my core values. And these values must be outward seeking, that is, it is to serve others and to give glory to God.

As we start the new year of 2024, I invite you to connect to your values and seek to live in alignment with your core values.

May this year 2024 be a wonderful year for you!

Bittersweet Year of 2023

I was totally struck by the interview between Mindvalley’s Vishen Lakhiani and author Susan Cain. She has a new book called, “Bittersweet – How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole”. I was so intrigue that I quickly got this book and read it. Her previous book, “Quiet – The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking” is the de-facto book for introverts.

Her book helped me to accept pain and sorrow in my life. It is healthy to recognise the emotions of pain and sorrow as part of life – that there is no escape. Her book gave me so much hope in that it encourages me to acknowledge and accept the bitterness of life, and transforming it into creativity, transcendence and love. It is after experiencing bitterness that we treasure the sweetness of joy even more. And it had given me inspiration to transform my biggest trials this year into exploration, discovery, adventure and renewed confidence. Basically, it was God’s way of pushing me out of my comfort zone into the next level of who I can become.

In her book, Susan Cain wrote the real reason for our emotions is to connect us. And Sadness, of all the emotions, was the ultimate bonding agent. We can see this in the movie, “Inside Out”. We can see it in funerals, death and grieving.

Sadness triggers compassion. It brings people together.

It is humbling to go through sadness and sorrow. But when we go through these emotions, they can bring us closer to other people through our compassion, if we allow them. It helps us sieve through our overwhelming noise and distraction, and connect us to what matters most. And this can lead us to take committed action to transform the bitter to the sweet. Let the bitter lessons of life bring renewed hope and joy, gratitude and compassion, to people around us.