It was Saturday night two days before Chinese New Year 2012. I got the invitation from a good friend to have “fine dining at French Restaurant”. In my life I only had a very few time having “fine dining”, I believed not more than ten times. It was a bit awkward for me being surrounding with many forks and knifes, sometimes I made a joke about how difficult to recognize which knife can be used to cut or to kill, and it was easier for me to recognize the chopstick because they didn’t have “left or right”. Anyway my friend is a very handsome and extremely smart I couldn’t reject the opportunity to know people better, especially when the setting was in the one of the most expensive restaurant in Jakarta.
I was in a very nice restaurant with three handsome men. We talked about random topic and suddenly one of them asked me, “Miss Lina, how do you enjoy your life? “ It was like a table topic speech for me. Yes… that was really a good question for me. I don’t really like shopping; I don’t like branded stuffs, I don’t really aware with fashion and all the ladies’ hobbies to be beautiful.
It was probably hard for them to believe me. I have nothing to hide about my life. I enjoy every moment in my life. I teach every day and I become a friend for my students; I meet people from different countries. I enjoy sharing stories and I think that is what I love to do in my life and I have a big passion to do it. I see my work and my personal life is like a chocolate cake. It blended together… nothing can be separated if we want to enjoy the real chocolate cake. I put love into my work so I never think I am working… I do it with love and it becomes my happiness. Every minutes of my working time is enjoyable for me. I like to quote from Ernie Banks, “Work? I never worked a day in my life. I always loved what I was doing, had a passion for it”
And then come out a very detail question, “If you are not teaching… how you enjoy your life?” If I am not teaching, I like to write article. I think the most enjoyable moment for me if I can have a cup of coffee and to listen to light music or to share with someone about life. Once again, it is too simple.
Probably they need to ask me with multiple choice of answer. I am really a very simple person, if God gives me more time to enjoy my life; I want to repeat millions times chatting, playing and dancing with my daughters because they are the eyes of my heart. I want to build memories in the time I have. I want to enjoy the time with my husband and to write more articles.
My husband has asked me, “Do you want to buy a new house?” My answer was, “Do we need one?” My husband was curious to know more,” What do you want then?” I told my husband, “I don’t need any beautiful house because I am the one who have to take care of that. I just need you to be with me… we enjoy our time together …I want to walk hand in hand with you and I want to travel around the world and I will drink a cup coffee while you can take pictures with your camera. We will watch the music performance and we will build the memories for the rest of our life”
How do I enjoy my life? I enjoy every present, every moment and I do enjoy it. As Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Life is available only in the present moment.”
**Lina Kartasasmita** Jakarta, 30 January 2012, 8.39PM
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Life is about the spirit of life
If you want to accomplish the goals of your life, you have to begin with the spirit.
Oprah Winfrey
It was December 13, 2011 we arrived safely in Texas and I was so grateful for the opportunity to bring back my mom to visit United States. I wanted to share my belief about “Life is not about age, life is about the spirit of life itself”.
My mom’s last trip to United States was 22 years ago and she was 55 years old at that year. She didn’t want to visit USA again because it considered a long trip in the airplane, especially when she got older and older. She was worried about her health, her legs and there were many reasons not to go to America. I thought, maybe the biggest reason she didn’t want to be a burden for somebody during a long trip.
In July 2011, it was two days before her 76 years birthday at one o’clock in the morning, my daughter woke me up and said, “Mom … wake up… please wake up.. Something happened with grandma” My daughters always slept in my mom’s room. I jumped from my bed and rushed to my mom’s room. I tried to wake her up but there were no response from her. She was unconscious at that time. We were panic and started to call everybody to help us. I was shocked and I tried to hold my mom with my hand. I couldn’t move her at all. Finally someone helped us to carry my mom into the car and we brought her to the hospital. My daughters and I prayed and cried a long the way and I kept saying, “Mom please … wake up” She got first aid in emergency room; her sugar blood pressure was too low. The doctor said, “Thanks God, you are about on time to bring your mom here. If you are late, she would be in coma forever” The doctor’s statement tore my emotion. I prayed to God, “God, Please give her another chance… Please give me another chance to make her happy” I lost my energy… I cried and I saw my daughters and my family was in tears. My brothers came directly to the hospital. Time is a valuable thing in life and life is short. Sometimes I took time for granted so I didn’t realize I could always loose the opportunity in life. My mind went back at the moment when I lost my dad, he passed away during his trip and he came back in his coffin. The trauma was still in my mind. Now I had to see my mom was in crisis.
A couple minutes after the crisis, my mom awoke. We all were happy to see her and I promised in my heart. I would give my mom a motivation to bring her health to the maximum. I believed as Deepak Chopra said, “We are not victims of aging, sickness and death. These are part of scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.”
I witness many people with limited body abilities; they still can do a lot of thing in their life and most of the time because they have only a great spirit in their life. I started to set up my mom’s mind. We had a trip to Bali the next week to celebrate her birthday and I decided not to cancel the trip. I said, “Mom, you can do the trip. I will not cancel the trip”
A week after that, we went to Bali for five days and my mom could enjoy the trip. I gave her another motivation, “Mom, you can still travel to America. You can visit your grandchildren’s campus. We can go to Disney world… Let’s keep your health in the prime condition” I saw the motivation worked so well. The spirit of life took over my mom’s ages; her health was getting better and better.
I always believe in philosophy, life is about spirit not about the body. I had experiences in life when I was hospitalized and I faced surgery, I kept saying to myself, “It is okay if something happens with my body but the spirit of life should be there all the time”
I made my wish came true, I brought my mom back to visit America. I was so happy and she was happy to see her grandchildren in America. We were back to visit Disney World in Florida. She needed wheelchair to go around the Disney Park, but she made it. I was worried actually but there was always a whisper voice in my heart, “You can do it… You can do it”
The trip is a great lesson learns about the spirit of life and I agreed with James A. Garfield, “If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.”
**Lina Kartasasmita** Jakarta, January 22, 2012 at 10.46PM
Oprah Winfrey
It was December 13, 2011 we arrived safely in Texas and I was so grateful for the opportunity to bring back my mom to visit United States. I wanted to share my belief about “Life is not about age, life is about the spirit of life itself”.
My mom’s last trip to United States was 22 years ago and she was 55 years old at that year. She didn’t want to visit USA again because it considered a long trip in the airplane, especially when she got older and older. She was worried about her health, her legs and there were many reasons not to go to America. I thought, maybe the biggest reason she didn’t want to be a burden for somebody during a long trip.
In July 2011, it was two days before her 76 years birthday at one o’clock in the morning, my daughter woke me up and said, “Mom … wake up… please wake up.. Something happened with grandma” My daughters always slept in my mom’s room. I jumped from my bed and rushed to my mom’s room. I tried to wake her up but there were no response from her. She was unconscious at that time. We were panic and started to call everybody to help us. I was shocked and I tried to hold my mom with my hand. I couldn’t move her at all. Finally someone helped us to carry my mom into the car and we brought her to the hospital. My daughters and I prayed and cried a long the way and I kept saying, “Mom please … wake up” She got first aid in emergency room; her sugar blood pressure was too low. The doctor said, “Thanks God, you are about on time to bring your mom here. If you are late, she would be in coma forever” The doctor’s statement tore my emotion. I prayed to God, “God, Please give her another chance… Please give me another chance to make her happy” I lost my energy… I cried and I saw my daughters and my family was in tears. My brothers came directly to the hospital. Time is a valuable thing in life and life is short. Sometimes I took time for granted so I didn’t realize I could always loose the opportunity in life. My mind went back at the moment when I lost my dad, he passed away during his trip and he came back in his coffin. The trauma was still in my mind. Now I had to see my mom was in crisis.
A couple minutes after the crisis, my mom awoke. We all were happy to see her and I promised in my heart. I would give my mom a motivation to bring her health to the maximum. I believed as Deepak Chopra said, “We are not victims of aging, sickness and death. These are part of scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.”
I witness many people with limited body abilities; they still can do a lot of thing in their life and most of the time because they have only a great spirit in their life. I started to set up my mom’s mind. We had a trip to Bali the next week to celebrate her birthday and I decided not to cancel the trip. I said, “Mom, you can do the trip. I will not cancel the trip”
A week after that, we went to Bali for five days and my mom could enjoy the trip. I gave her another motivation, “Mom, you can still travel to America. You can visit your grandchildren’s campus. We can go to Disney world… Let’s keep your health in the prime condition” I saw the motivation worked so well. The spirit of life took over my mom’s ages; her health was getting better and better.
I always believe in philosophy, life is about spirit not about the body. I had experiences in life when I was hospitalized and I faced surgery, I kept saying to myself, “It is okay if something happens with my body but the spirit of life should be there all the time”
I made my wish came true, I brought my mom back to visit America. I was so happy and she was happy to see her grandchildren in America. We were back to visit Disney World in Florida. She needed wheelchair to go around the Disney Park, but she made it. I was worried actually but there was always a whisper voice in my heart, “You can do it… You can do it”
The trip is a great lesson learns about the spirit of life and I agreed with James A. Garfield, “If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.”
**Lina Kartasasmita** Jakarta, January 22, 2012 at 10.46PM
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