Tracey Rissik

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. “

- The Buddha

This quote arrived very timeously in a newsletter today. It really struck a chord with me as I’ve been feeling very unsettled in the past month or so, and it’s largely due to me worrying about things in the future.

I was back in South Africa in September, helping my parents pack up their home of the last 20 years, prior to them moving to a smaller house down at the coast. It was a huge job, sorting through 20 years of living in one place, and 45 years of their marriage too, as we were going through photos and memories by the box-load! One thing that struck me was how my parents are ageing – I hadn’t really noticed before quite how grey Dad’s hair had become, or how drawn Mom can look when she’s tired. But with the huge load of “packing & moving” stress, and the physical work it involved, I saw them in quite a different light. And it scared me. Where had my invincible capable-of-anything parents gone? It also made ME feel old

Since returning to London, I’ve felt quite torn by the choices I could make: of returning to SA, or remaining here in the UK. One thought that has popped up is the big “what if” … “what if something happens to one of them before my next trip out??” It’s even affecting my sleep. But I need to realise that:

• today I don’t need to make any decision
• today they are both healthy & happy
• today I need to do what’s right for me
• today my business is doing well here in London and it’s where I want to be
• today I can pick up the phone any time I want & speak to them, tell them I love them, and all is good
• today I will enjoy my life to the the best of my ability

and instead of “anticipating troubles”, I will plan & make it my goal to grow my business so that in the near future I can start to have 2 holidays out in SA each year, spending good times with all my family, not just Mom & Dad.

So…

here’s to today & good plans!