7 Days of Gratitude: Day 2
Today has been amazing.
As I was having lunch I bumped into a good friend of mine who happened to be in the area, totally unexpected and out of the blue! It was a good chance meeting, and we had lunch together with his colleague, and afterwards they taught me how to buy the lottery, which I was intending to do but had no idea how (I normally don’t, but it’s a $10 million special draw for the Lunar New Year so I thought why not, keep my fingers crossed!).
Later on, I went for a dinner I arranged with a couple of friends. This one was rather special. You see, one of my coursemates from when I was studying 3D animation is now in Kyoto, pursuing his dream studying film in a Kyoto university. Another friend of mine who’s staying in Tokyo happened to be back over the weekend and we had a meetup, together with a few Japanese staying here in Singapore who are friends of another friend (er, I know, sounds a little complicated).
Here’s where the nice serendipity comes in.
One of the Japanese, her name is Fumiko, happens to be a film director in Japan! I mentioned my friend studying film in Kyoto to her, and a day later when I meet him (he’s also back over the week) for dinner, I offered to introduce him and so fixed up dinner with the both of them.
Nice!
But it’s not over yet. Over dinner he tells her about this film project he’s been wanting to do, a documentary about sumo wrestling, but he hasn’t gotten the permission to film yet from the sumo association. Then Fumiko mentions her friend is the owner of this famous sumo house in Tokyo who could help him out and proceeds to call him, then give my friend his contact details!
Very nice!
But the best part of the day has to be at the end of it. When my friend sent me back, he and I got to talking about our lives…we’ve been friends for nearly 9 years now, and we’ve been through a bit. He said that he regretted a little about his decision to study overseas, at which I admonished him for it.
I told him how I really felt about him: that I admired his guts and passion for following his dream whole-heartedly, and that he was building something amazing for himself. And to forget those regrets, and just give it his best shot. It felt really good to be able to say that to him, not because it was something encouraging, but because it came straight from the heart.
Today was a good day for magic moments 
And now, my coach’s challenge to you: wherever and whenever you are, if you’re reading this right now you have an opportunity to capture a magic moment. What is at least one good thing that happened to you today that you’d like to remember? I invite and challenge you to write it down and leave it as a comment.
Go!
I really enjoyed this post. It’s easy to forget how powerful our physical reactions are! I like your approach here. Especially reminding the reader that we are not always ready for change — though we think we are! I agree that the real failure is letting fear stop us. Thanks for posting this!
Hi Julie,
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad it was helpful! “Coping with Stress” is a part of a series of articles on Stress that I have written, hopefully Life Coaches Blog will be posting the rest. So keep in touch!
Kindest regards,
Karen
This is a great article. I especially like the list of symptoms… some of which a lot of people may not recognize as a sign of stress.
It’s also important to continue with your stress managment activities even when there are no signs or symptoms of stress. Doing this will help you become stressed less often and ward off stress before it even begins.
Hi Jill,
Absolutely, it should be a way of life! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Kindest regards,
Karen
Hi,
Great site!!!!! Good health is very important with the high cost of medical coverage. We need to have a healther lifestyle by taking care of our health eating and exercising. I am a cancer survivor and I know. Our health is our greatest asset. Keep up the Good Work!!!!!
The physical body does not differentiate between happy stress and overwhelm. Stress is stress. We need to develop coping mechanisms in our daily life to avoid the harmful, physiological effects of stress.