stories_for_the_soul_by_milena的八卦，PTT、DCARD、MOBILE01和Yahoo名人娛樂都在討論

🔸Where Is Happiness? 🔸

Rapha and I adopted Sesame on one Saturday night.
The following Sunday, we canceled all of our previous plans and called it the “Sesame Day”.

We hit the Pet Safari and bought what we thought would make her happy. I was over enthusiastic about the toys.

We took a cat tunnel, a fluffy little house with special feature, a cat tease stick with unique technology that was sure - by the marketer - to create “maximum fun, development, and engagement” for our Sesame.

I soon learned that the marketer must have made a mistake. Because she couldn’t care less.

The only thing she touched was the 1-dollar cat tease.
Until she discovered her ultimate toy: a dry leaf that fell down from a plant in the balcony.

She held it in her mouth, brought it in the house, dropped it on the floor near my feet, looked at me as if saying “Mom! Look at this magical thing I found!”

She then chewed on it, kicked it around, tucked it under the carpet, rolled over on her belly to wrestle with it.
And when she got tired of playing, she slept next to it.

Watching Sesame and her dry leaf makes me think of how I’d many times tried hard, spent money or years of my life, to get something I thought would make me happy.

When I finally got it and realized it didn’t make me happy, I wondered what was wrong with me.
I didn’t know that the things that really made me happy was simple, inexpensive, often-free.
I also see this in the women I work with in my coaching program.

It’s not the promotion, the designer shoes, the beach house, the perfect lover, or the sports car.
It’s the moment when you sip your tea and watch the rain, a tight hug, a smile with a stranger while you both wait for the elevator, the smell on the bark of an oak tree, mango, a tiny pot of succulent on your desk, reading a book you love…

And yet, this wasn’t clear to every women I worked with.

But when I get them to be still, to feel it in their heart, they always can tell me about their “dry leaf” - the simple things that make them smile.

The next step is to do a bit less of the things that they “think” will make them happy.
So they make a bit more space for the things that *really* make them happy.

(I bet you can’t imagine Sesame forces herself to run around the cat tunnel. Then complains that she has no time to play with her leaf.)

It is to gracefully say no to the people who gives you the “cat tunnel”.
Insist on taking your dry leaf with you.
And do that, a little bit each day, every single day of your life.

So now I have 2 questions for you, beautiful one.
- What’s your “dry leaf”?
- Can you give yourself 10 minutes today to “play” with it? (No. You don’t need to quit your job.)

If you can, that’s 1 baby step you take towards the life you want.

🌻And if you need someone to guide you, you may find me on that journey. Let me help you milenanguyen.com/coaching/

#stories_for_the_soul_by_milena

🔸{ The Girl With No Hand } 🔸

The subway train’s door opened in front of me. I walked towards an empty chair. It would be only 3 stops to Singapore Botanic Garden.

As I settled into the seat, I glanced to my right: a man stood to face a blue trolley.

I saw this every day in Singapore: parents ride the subway with their kids tucked neatly in little trolleys.

But this time, something was different. I drew a deep breath, not knowing what to feel.

The baby girl, around 3-year-old, had no hands. Her tiny arms reminded me of matchsticks or tiny tree trunks that somehow forgot to grow branches.

The skin on her face, even though without wounds, resembled the face of someone who survived a fire accident.

But she didn’t look like she was afraid, or hurt, or sad, or tired. She was dressed in a pink shirt and matching trousers. She smiled at her dad. He was about 30, thin and tall, wore a black t-shirt and simple blue jeans.

They both looked so happy!

The dad squatted down to talk to his baby while she babbled back cheerfully.

With his hands, he caressed the back of her head. He kissed her forehead and nose. She giggled, waved her two arms in circles in the air - with no hands.

Her dad kept talking to her and kissing her. At one point, the baby laughed aloud, like a small bird sings in sunrise.

I felt a lump in my throat and a stirring in my chest.

The most magical thing I saw was how the dad looked at his baby.

He had twinkles in his eyes. He looked at her as if she wasn’t wounded, as if she was perfect in every single way.

When I left the train, my heart aches with the beauty of that encounter.

The girl without hands reached for the one she loved, received kisses, and hold onto hope with more courage than many of us who carry the unimaginable luxury of having 10 fingers.

As I took a slow walk among the old trees of Botanic Garden, the late afternoon sun poured a golden glow on my skin.
I thought: “The sun always shines on me, no matter how crazy or broken or wounded I thought I was.”

The sun shined on me the same way the dad of the girl with no hands looked at his baby.

As if to whisper: “You’re brave. You’re strong. You’re beautiful. And everything is going to be okay.”

I want to look at myself through that eyes too. Even if I have no hands, even if I’m different, even if I get hurt and go through hell and come out on the other side with scars and losses.

Because the way we see ourselves influence the way we show up in life.

If we see ourselves as a poor little victim of life, we’ll blame others, make excuses for ourselves, shrink into a little ball, hidden from the world, waiting to be rescued.

If we see ourselves as the hero of our story - like any good story: full of challenges, trials, triumph, and learning - we’ll crack puzzles, solve problems, fall down, learn, get up, take leaps, keep our heart open for love, and eyes open for beauty.

It’s a choice that defines who we become.

Somewhere in the nights and days at the hospital, I think the dad of the little girl with no hands made that choice.

And I guess he makes that choice again every day, every moment when he looks at his little girl.

Perhaps that’s the choice we can make every time we see ourselves in the mirror.

🔸 #stories_for_the_soul_by_milena
🔸 Milena Nguyen | milenanguyen.com