Hope

Alleluia, He is risen! Alleluia!

I caught the Easter sunrise this morning along the East Coast Park and the early morning sun recharged my body as much as this weekend did my soul. 

After my reflections this weekend, I think it can be summed up with 1 Corinthians 13: 13. "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love." I have faith that love with bring Easter's hope to each and every day.

And as I do every year, allow me to share my all-time favorite poem by e.e. cummings, perfect for Easter and for Every Day:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a true blue dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Reflection

"Silence! Be still!" 

Suddenly the wind stopped and there was a great calm. 

(Mark 4:39)

Taken at Little Guilin, Bukit Batok Town Park in Singapore

Retreat

I promised myself a personal retreat once a year. In random order, my retreats are a time to...

• pray
• enjoy the silence
• reflect
• take stock of life
• enjoy nature
• be thankful
• daydream
• say sorry
• write
• revisit my bucket list
• slow down
• find my center (again)
• take a "vacation with the Lord"

Offline

I'm going offline for my 3-day retreat. But cool that I got started with an online recollection from www.phjesuits.org!

I'm sure I'll have great Words to reflect on this weekend.

Review

I had my mid-year review today with my manager. I've been blessed with the opportunity to work with three of the organization's most respected and dynamic leaders, and they have all been awesome managers, coaches, and role models. As such, I've always looked forward to performance review discussions... seriously! It was my first review with my current manager who I only started reporting to in January and all went well. I've had a jam-packed first half of the year and am on track to meet the year's significant goals. We took note of things to prioritize in the coming months, and also discussed my development plan.

I'm also about to start my personal "performance review" - if I may call it that. I've been going on an annual silent retreat during the Lenten/Easter weekend since 2006 and it has been one of the best gifts I've given myself. It's a time for me to get away from the world, go on a "vacation with the Lord" as Fr. Thomas Greene, SJ calls it, enjoy the grand silence, and take stock of where I am in my life, my goals, and my bucket list of dreams. It has also been a good time to plant seeds for writing ideas. The last five years have been semi-directed, with the help of a spiritual director; this year, I will attempt to do a self-directed retreat. I'll set my own pace, my own itinerary, and my own reflection points. I've found really helpful resources online to get me started, and I am really excited for this much-deserved me-and-God-and-Universe time. Much like my earlier review, I'm hoping to revisit my priorities and design my personal development plan.

Kindness

"Don't say no to kind gestures," a wise friend once said to me. "Just pay it forward."

Today I had our general manager buy me breakfast, then our senior consultant buy me lunch. I am grateful and I promise that their kindness will be paid forward.

Thank you, I and B.

Sun

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright...

I started my day with sun salutations at a 7 a.m. yoga class.

I hope sunflowers can somewhat brighten up an empty apartment, even if only a little bit.

I caught the last rays of light as I left the office building.

I am looking forward to my Easter sunrise this Sunday.

I love being the younger sister who looks up to her big sister, much like a sunflower follows the warmth and looks up towards the sun.