LOVE

And so, here comes the season for LOVING — not just romantic love, I feel it is a celebration for all kinds of love — with friends, siblings, family, fur-kids so on.

Love is universal and is a phenomenon that can be experienced by all. Love knows no boundaries — age, gender, cultural backgrounds etc. Love is love, no matter what kind, type and with whom, as along as one feels the spark of connection and closeness and sparkles in one’s eyes when your person is near.

Last week, I had some reflections about love and life…

I was pushing a wagon to fetch my child from school. In my memory, as I did this on regular basis, I’d often come across a mother-daughter pair on my way.

As usual, I stumbled upon this mother-daughter pair. This time, I made an intentional effort to slow down and take a closer look at them. That’s when I realised — it is made up of an elderly lady (presumably the mother) and a middle-age lady (presumably the daughter in this equation). The latter was pushing her elderly mum in a wheel chair. As our paths crossed and eyes met, we nodded and smiled - as if to acknowledge one another’s presence in this shared space. Before, we will typically cross each other’s paths hurriedly, with the sense of duty and proceeded on our journeys… with no time and attention to spare to make eye contact, let alone observe or convey anything.

This made me realise the power of slowing down —it allowed us space to pay attention to details and notice elements of the environment/situation that may have been neglected in the haste of our daily hustle and bustle. It enabled me to appreciate things that we normally would have missed. That nod and smile of acknowledgement from the lady, for e.g., made my day; it was truly just what I needed. From the unspoken and non-verbals e.g., nod, smile of acknowledgement, I felt momentarily connected with the lady.

Furthermore, I notice something amazing — there is a parallel between the two pairs though we are in different life stages. While the lady is caring for her elderly mum, I am caring for my child. We are both behaving in accordance to our sense of responsibility, duty and above all, love. If we allowed our imagination to guide us, my child will eventually grow to be a young person and I, an elderly person. And at some point, given old age, I may require some caring for, similar to how the lady cared for her mum.

This made me tear — it was a moving revelation indeed. The idea of life cycle dawned on me at this point. It is about one’s transition through life stages…from a mum who cares for her child to a mum who requires care from the child at a later stage. The exchange of care and love served as sustenance for the relationship!

I am glad that these sparks of insights are captured during the moments whereby I intentionally slowed myself down and observed people /situations around me.

Just a gentle reminder to slow down and observe, if you haven’t found time to do so in a while. Comment down below and let me know what are some of your insights when you gave yourself the permission to slow down and observe...

Signing off with a humbled heart,

Jeanice

Season of love and loving. Happy Valentine's Day.