It was a treat to have dinner with my good friend L. whom I have not seen in about half a year. I love eating with her for she is as into food as I am and has an amazingly discerning palate.
L. has the ability to raise life into an art form by living in the moment and injecting into each instant a fullness that is wonderfully round and transcendent.
Every meal is a celebration whether we were sitting in a hawker centre eating comforting carb and lard loaded Hokkien mee or in some chichi dessert joint alternating between mouthfuls of impossibly smooth araguani chocolate and a citrusy fragrant yuzu sorbet.
Needless to say we both enjoyed ourselves, feasting on food and thought-provoking conversation. Thanks L., dinner last night was rich in more ways than one.
On hearing about the recent season of death and loss in my life, L. recommended I take a couple of days off to chill on my own and decompress.
While I would like to do this, it is, right now, an indulgence I am not willing to expend much effort and expense on for there are so many things I have going on currently.
Plus, I should be saving up for my big trip scheduled for the end of the year.
She asked me a question on whether I was able to give without going to the extreme, within reason and healthy boundaries, and I said yes, although I do admit it is a struggle at times.
Like how I struggled between being responsible and committed to my Friday meeting tonight or doing something frivolous like going to the ballet (the tickets were for tonight only, with the compliments of J.).
The ballet won out for life's been too intense and sad lately and I needed to do something that moves my soul with its beauty. Giselle was an apt anodyne!
This little time-out is my way of rising above the gravity of recent events and I will continue to look for these creative getaways that can be as therapeutic as a beach holiday. Well, almost.
I also intend to rely less on mindless activities like channel surfing late into the night to avoid reflective and introspective time alone to process my thoughts and overladen emotions.
Kahlil Gibran's definition of freedom resonates with me and I will endeavour to find the boundaries of freedom in my life:
You shall be free indeed when your days are not
without care nor your nights without a want or a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and
yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
Good thing the group is doing Cloud and Townsend's Boundaries over the next two months.
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