Blessed

I received this in my inbox today (Lawrence, if you happen to be reading this, for which I'm quite sure you will, thank you!).

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: 'Why does God have to select you for such a bad disease?'

To this Arthur replied:
'The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked God 'Why me?'.

And today in pain I should not be asking God 'Why me?'

Which prompts me to ask myself when was the last time I counted my blessings?

Each & every one of us have so many things to be thankful for and yet often, we fail to realize how lucky we are. It has not dawned upon us that there are a lot of people in this world who are so much less fortunate than us. (Or, maybe, for some of us, we don't really give a hoot because all we care about is ourselves and for that, my friend, all I can say is that I feel sorry for you)

Instead of counting our blessings, we put more emphasis on what is lacking in our own little world - physical beauty, worldly possessions, a loving, more understanding/romantic partner, a better paying AND less stressful job (keep on dreamin', baby!)

In times of trial, we blame God; at times, our parents/partners, society, government, etc. but not for a moment do we look back and ask ourselves whether we have ever thanked or credited anyone during our happy moments.

The truth is that most of the time we don't because the majority of us think we deserve all the happiness in the world but not the trials & tribulations that come with it.

We simply refuse to acknowledge that ups & downs are part & parcel of life.

So today, I am ever so grateful for:

• Having my mom as a parent and thankful for everything that she has done for both my brother & I - without you, there will be no us;
• My relatives for being ever so supportive and remaining a close knit family even though there tend to be some on and off minor arguments,
• My cousin for allowing me to stay with her so that I can watch baby Aydan grow into a beautiful little girl and also, at the same time discover that in a relationship, a perfect partner does not exist;
• My amazing friends whom I have come to realize that even though we're far apart, that I can always count on them (you know who you are!);
• My job which I enjoy despite the fact that I still hate the idea of getting out of bed at 6.15am every weekday morning;
• My yoga classes which never fail to make me marvel at how time can possibly pass sooooo slowly and yet, brings a sense of peacefulness within me;
• Me being pink, pasty & healthy and though sometimes my left knee hurts a little after my 3km run, at least my four, whole, limbs are still attached to my trunk & in working order.

I could not have asked for more.

"There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness." - Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist, Psychologist and Founder of the Analytic Psychology, 1875 - 1961