Dear readers -- well, whoever still remains,

I wrote this little more than a month ago, but never published it. Because I didn't think it was perfect. But reading it again, I think there's something worth telling. So here it is... with some additions.


Three weeks ago, my uncle died of a heart attack. My family were busy with the wake when three days' later, my grandfather passed away instead.

To say that the past few weeks have been an emotional time for us would rather be an understatement. It's a story of loss, but it is also a story of forgiveness and the triumph of love. Although it has been three weeks, what happened is still very raw to our hearts.

You may count it strange that I combine this incident with the continuation of my take on a particular Boundless article. But it just so happens that one lesson I learned relates to the next point about living life to its fullest.

2. Initiative

It is always when death occurs that the brevity of life stands out starkly. And when it does, we're shaken to remember to make the most out of it, down to the little 'non-important' stuff.

Being a dreamer, I struggle with living in the now, because I'm always waiting for that moment in the future, that season when everything is perfect and falls into place perfectly. So I look constantly ahead, with not much thought about today.

It's kind of like if I drive for two hours focused on reaching KL awake and thus alive, but forgetting that to reach safely I need to stay within the speed limit and not dig into the glove compartment for some random CD.

For the record I don't do that. But I digress.

So this is initiative - To even get to the aim, we need to start with the small steps - to put dreams into action.

It dawned on me that there can be purpose in "real time living". So often I ask about purposes in events and projects. The rest are like means to an end. But, really, the journey is equally as important.

It is not just living for a purpose, but living with a purpose.

And in treasuring the moment, there really is no need for carrying burdens and bitterness. For what can we do with it eventually? And what's the point of holding back love?

Naked we came, naked we will go. There is nothing physical we can carry forward - no riches, no clothes - not even our own physical body. What we can carry are only the things that are of the eternal.

All of us will have to die one day. Life is really but a breath of air. The question is: What are we going to make out of the time we have between birth and death?

When I breathe my last, I don't want to be plagued by unfulfilled wishes.
When I breathe my last, I want to say as William Hung said.

"I already gave my best. I have no regrets at all."