Island Sunrise: Today and Everyday

“Next time a sunrise steals your breath, or a meadow of flowers leave you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing and listen as heaven whispers, ‘Do you like it? I just did that for you.'” — Max Lucado

I woke up to the sound of my alarm.

It’s 5:30 AM.

I had to see the sunrise especially this one.

As I walked towards the beach, the sky was painted powder pink like a sea of cotton candy. I watched in awe while it slowly turned into pastel blue as the light further out.

A moment later, I saw the golden sun sitting in its rightful place amidst the soft blue sky.

It was beautiful.

It was quiet.

Most importantly, it was peaceful.

Nothing but the sound of waves, the sand in my feet and the warmth of the sea breeze in my face.

I sat down and stared at the unbelievable beauty in front of me.

At that moment, I was thankful.

At that moment, I felt blessed.

At that moment, I felt guilty too because I have forgotten to be thankful and grateful for quite some time.

These days, I remind myself of these feel-good moments whenever I feel astray. Sometimes, it’s easy to get too caught up with the noise and be carried away. It’s true that appreciating what you have feels so much better than stressing over what you don’t have. You can’t always control what’s happening around you, but you can always choose how to respond to it.

Your thoughts. Your words.

It’s a choice.

In life, there are a lot of reasons to feel bad but if only we focus on what makes our life more meaningful and happier – it will always be a good day to watch the sunrise.

Day 3 of My First: The Blonde Guy in a Suit

What do you do when you are the only Asian in the room and all the others are Arabic-speaking people?

Is it a first for me? Not really. Ever since I started working in Dubai, I have been in few situations and meetings where I found myself listening to people even though I didn’t understand a thing that they said. Name it – clients and business partners who speak German, Arabic, French, Spanish and Hindi. Can it get more awkward than that? But it’s okay, it’s just one of the things you have to get used to when you’re working abroad. It felt like watching a foreign movie without subtitle!

That meeting warmed up my brain in writing this post. I missed writing about “my first” for Day 3. I was supposed to do it before going to sleep last night but my bed was such a temptation. So here I am recalling what happened yesterday…

“Approach a stranger and make small talk.”

Okay, that’s it. That’s my challenge for the day. I’ve never done that before! I was walking on my way to work and was thinking about how, when and where I could do this when I spotted him. He was walking towards me. A cute blonde guy in a suit. The perfect stranger to approach and have small talk with huh? 🙂 But sorry to say, it didn’t happen. Haha! 🙂 I realized it’s almost 9 and I couldn’t be late for work. (Excuses!!!) We smiled at each other but the small talk didn’t happen. Okay, move on!

It would have been a juicier and more exciting story if that small talk happened huh? 😉 Otherwise, I had a couple of simple “my firsts” yesterday. I tried this new Arabic yogurt for the first time (which unintentionally became my only meal for the day) and was able to fix a problem with our wireless printer in the office. That was a first. I didn’t even bother to know about wireless printers before. Oh I wish you had seen the triumphant smile in my face when I was able to make it work! 🙂

This whole thing of  “trying out something new every day” is kind of exciting. (That rhymes!)

It makes you pay attention to things you never really care about before. It makes you want to do things differently in your everyday life.

Isn’t that good? 🙂