Tuesday, August 14, 2007

i want to tell you a story about dreams.

music: best i ever had by vertical horizon

today is ME day.
spent alone with me, myself and i.

everyone needs a day off from the rest of the world. a day where you just spend listening to your own voice, talking to yourself, instead of listening to someone else ramble, someone else bitch, someone else whine, someone else lecture. because we are moving so fast we don't slow down to discover ourselves, because we're too busy thinking what someone else thinks, because we just don't realise the importance of knowing ourselves.

and so today, it was just about me.

originally setting out to go out and explore ann siang street as i had never been there before, i asked ngiam how to get there since he was the one who suggested it in the first place. "city hall! walk around." that's the reply i got. so, i walked around. armed with my ipod and comfy slippers, i was in my own little heaven. i walked by the river, visited the war memorial, the lim bo seng memorial, the water fountain, read the informative signs placed near each site, like a tourist in my own country. i must admit i have never actually bothered to stop, look and appreciate these sites before.

pretty soon i realised that i was actually walking aimlessly, just going wherever my feet took me. the weather was good, relatively nice and windy as there had just been a light shower. walking to the other side of the river that is not frequented by most, i chanced upon starbucks, with tables and chairs set outdoors right by the river. so i thought, why not? it's the perfect weather to just sit down with a good book and coffee and i did have a good book in my bag at that moment.

i splurged six bucks on a mocha frap with whipped cream on top (which leaves me with six bucks for the rest of the month) but what the hell, it was rewarding. and i just sat there, reading for over two hours, with my ipod playing in the background, occasionally pausing to just stare out at the water and digesting what i had just read. just like that, i finished reading the alchemist by paulo coelho.

books have a way of speaking to us in a language that humans cannot. maybe because books don't judge you, nor have expectations of you. you can put it down when it gets too much for you, and pick it up again when you feel you're ready to take what it has to offer you.

and this book really taught me alot. here's a part that really struck me:

"everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him," his heart said. "we, people's hearts, seldom say much about those treasures, because people no longer want to go in search of them. we speak of them only to children. later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. but, unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them--the path to their Personal Legends, and to happiness. most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place."

"so, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. we never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard: we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts."

"why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist.

"because that's what makes a heart suffer the most, and hearts don't like to suffer."

from then one, the boy understood his heart. he asked that it, please, never stop speaking to him. he asked that, when he wandered far from his dreams, his heart press him, and sound the alarm. the boy swore that, every time he heard the alarm, he would heed its message.

i have dreams too, and i promise myself that i'll never lose sight of them no matter what.

Posted by STINKY @ 6:11 PM