80-20 rule

I was in Malacca over the weekend.

The weather was gloomy and dark when the journey started. Nothing much to worry about; I gotten my travel insurance in the morning. If anything was to happen, and if I was still alive when the rescue team was there; the travel insurance would basically take care of almost everything.

We were lucky; the weather was fabulous when we reached the destination - the rain had stopped and the air was chilly. The host took us out for a great dinner; we even managed a beer at an open air cafe before the brainstorming session started at 10pm. When the session was over, it was an hour past midnight. Though I was extremely tired, I was happily tired. The rain had started midway of our session and the rain sung perfectly as I lay my head to rest.

I woke early the next morning; a travel habit that I am always grateful for. After the morning routine, I managed to squeeze in an hour of work before the discussion continued. When all was done; three hours had went by.

Wouldn't it be nice if we are here for a couple of days instead of just overnight? Here seems to be a perfect place to chill out.

Exactly, I am coming back.

I could not resist a reply.

You especially appreciate everything simply because we are spending so little time here. Imagine if you are here for a couple of days instead of an overnight trip, you might still be in bed.

The more we have, the less we appreciate. Sometime it is this scarcity that pushes the appreciativeness in us.

I had a wonderful discussion last evening with a fairly new but comfortable acquaintance. He is slowly becoming a friend; someone who is fun and knowledgeable, a wonderful talking partner. We were having a good time arguing if one should strive for 100% happy time or be content with life as it is. His argument was that life is question of choice; one can basically decide his emotions. Let yourself be caught in the emotion game and the other party becomes the controller of your eventual emotion thus making you the loser of the game. Therefore, be happy 100% of the time and win the game for your own sake.

I begged to be different; I am a believer in the 80-20 rule. I aim to be 80% happy; if the remaining 20% constitutes of the not-so-happy hours, so be it. Without the 20% of bad times, I would probably not appreciate the 80% of good time. Without winter, how can one appreciate the summer? Without black, how can one appreciate the comforting white? Without the baddies, would we come to love the goodies in our life?

I was a sickly child and I hated the days that I spent in the hospital. There was nothing positive about this sickness, it was simply chest tubes after chest tubes, stitches after stitches.

Looking now, I have come to appreciate all that had happened; the sickness, the hospital stay and probably even the pain. I was taught the importance of money at a very early age. I do not love money, but I do understand without it; the number of choices in life would be so restricted. Do not love money for what it is, but use it wisely for what it can bring. I believe when one is self sufficient, the person would start to care for the less fortunate. If everyone can aim for self sufficiency, the world would be perfect. The 80-20 rule again applies - without the 20% of pain that I suffered when I was young, the 80% of good times would not be possible.

Love life and love the pain that it brings along the way too - thing happens for a reason.