Midnight Serendipity

It was 11 PM in Australia and I was about to turn in for the night.  I switched to the tab to close my Gmail but I noticed an email from Sunshine.   It was quite unusual to receive a message from her.  In the first place she does not sent out a lot of email (unless she's at the office or is at home doing work remotely),  and in the second place, it was the middle of the night in her side of the world.   Naturally I had to read her email.  

Her message was short and straight to the point. She could not sleep.  It was 3AM in California.  She was hoping to catch someone in Skype but could not remember her username and password.   (Yes, the two of us are definitely related.)

Anyway, given that "call for help" the least I could do was email back her username, right? So I logged in to Skype and (lo and behold) found Sunshine online.  

Seeing her online meant that she did not need my help to recall her username and obviously she'd also figured out her password.  Of course I had to ring her up even if it was the middle of the night here and even more so the middle of the night there.   How often would I get the opportunity to talk with her? She is hardly ever online during my timezone.  In fact, she is probably hardly ever online considering she almost forgot her username and password.   (Yes, definitely my sister.)

So we were able to chat for a while.   

There was serendipity in our middle of the night call.  I think the call helped me more than it helped her.  She was the one who could not sleep, remember?  Well I was the one who had a massive headache and eye-ache that lasted over three days.  I was the one that stepped out of the office on Tuesday to get my eye pressure checked and finally took a day off from work on Thursday to go see a doctor.  (If you are interested, my eye pressure was normal and by the time I saw the GP on Thursday, I was feeling much better.  The doctor didn't find anything and just advised me to take the day off.)  

MacGyver keeps telling me it is the stress and lack of sleep.  I believe him.  I really do.  And I am trying to work my way around the issues that are causing my stress and anxiety.  He often says I'm the bullheaded Taurus woman and that I don't listen to him, but in reality I think it is more the teflon brain at work causing me to forget the things he patiently repeats when I am in distress.  

Admittedly I am constantly trying to find my peace.  Well, Sunshine mentioned something in line with this during our conversation.  Aside from giving me sound advice, she introduced me to a Buddhist monk named Thich Nhat Hanh.  (In case you are curious, it was Oprah who introduced her to this monk.)

Our midnight chat was cut short because little Ronald woke up and jump-started her Saturday.

I took the opportunity to learn a bit more about Thich Nhat Hanh before going to bed.   

So far, I have picked up the following 

• be passionately present for the here and now
• respond with compassion
• keep the peace in yourself
• deep listening will help the other person suffer less
• shake off wrong perceptions of yourself  
• learn from your sufferings 

I believe everyone can learn something from him.  You can read more on his four matras. 

The Four Mantras of Relationships

Darling, I am here for you.

Darling, I know you are there and I am very happy.

Darling, I know that you suffer, that is why I'm here for you.

Darling, I suffer. Please help me.

-Thich Nhat Hanh