I wish you enough

"Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport as the daughter's departure had been announced. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said:"I love you and I wish you enough."The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom." They kissed and the daughter left.The mother walked over to the window where I sat. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry.I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?" "Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking but why is this a forever good-bye?""I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said.When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, "I wish you enough." May I ask what that means?" She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. "When we said 'I wish you enough' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them". Then turning toward me, she shared the following, reciting it from memory,"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye."She then began to cry and walked away.They say it takes a minute to find a special person. An hour to appreciate them. A day to love them. And an entire life to forget them."

This story is not written by me - I read it online somewhere.

Not really book-related, but...

...this picture always leave me mind-boggled. Look how small we really are!

Gets me every time.

Source

Enlightenment!

Ever felt this way when reading a book? I sure have!

Source

The Happy Jar - looking back!

Remember I told you about the idea of The Happy Jar?

Well, it has now officially been a year since then - and guess what? I did try it out. I started in January with writing down these little fun things that I experienced through a day. Alas, it was not on a piece of paper in an actual jar, but hey, it is the idea that counts, right? I figured I could simply write the list on my tablet - that way I would be able to carry the list with me most of my day, and so hopefully make it easier to remember writing in it.

In the beginning it was a bit difficult, though. I mean, jotting down happy things meant you had to pay attention and remember them, right? Not the easiest thing, but every few days something worth remembering would happen - something that made me smile or laugh a bit. The list grew. Granted, it did grow slowly, but at least steadily. By the end of March, something peculiar happened. The little happy things I jotted down started to occur almost every day! By June things even started accumulating - I now not only found one, but a couple or more of happy events most days.

Here, I will show you a pic of what my Happy Jar looked like in December. What do you think?

13th to 17th of December

It is amazing, is it not? Look at all those happy moments for each day - some of them small, like a hot brew and a gingerbread on a cold winter's day, and some of them big, like getting visitors and a huge cuddle from my godson! And let me tell you, the days with lots of entries are now the normal ones.

So, what do you think happened throughout the year? How did it end up so differently from where it started?

I am perfectly convinced that I somehow tuned my mind in on happiness. Of simply being happy, maybe just for a little moment. You can always find something in your day that will make you smile. All you have to do is to pay attention when it happens. Easy as that ❤

I hope you will get inspired to start your own Happy Jar - or perhaps inspire others. Maybe you can look back on all the great moments, events and things you have filled your jar with the next time the year turns. It is a funny thing, you know, when you see all those moments in black-and-white in a note or colourful pieces of paper in a jar. I promise there will be so many you had forgotten already! Who knows, maybe you can make a difference out there by showing this little idea to someone.

I, for one, will continue my Happy Jar-list. I made a fresh one, starting today.

It already has three entries.