IT’S NEVER ALL BAD
Perhaps the best thing that happened this year was something I decided to do for myself, which is the thing that has helped me put this whole year into perspective.
I signed up for the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course at Singapore Management University, an eight-week programme that teaches you how to practise mindfulness in daily life to better understand yourself, regulate your emotions and respond to stress.
Each week we learnt a new method of meditation. About halfway through the course – coincidentally, on my birthday – we spent six full hours in total meditative silence.
Sounds intense? That’s because it is.
But it turned out to be the best way I could have spent my birthday – giving myself the gift of undivided inward attention, unbothered by my phone, my work or other people.
About four hours in, I was contemplating a tree in the courtyard of the Yong Pung How School of Law, when a sudden wind passed through, sending a symphony of small, yellow leaves through the air.
It was the most mundane of occurrences. Yet, that moment of deep silence gave me fresh eyes to see beauty where I least expected it.
The impermanence and unpredictability of life is exactly what makes it so enchanting, so worth living regardless of what comes at you. In that moment, I didn’t just understand this truth – I felt it.
So was 2024 still a struggle sundae?
Kind of, yeah. But I’m now learning to appreciate even the sourest bits of it – how they can make the sweet ones that much better, how they show me that my palate’s a little tougher than it was before, and the part they play to create a richer, fuller taste.
I don’t know what 2025 will bring. But with my friends, my teammates and the lessons of 2024 at my back, I know it can’t be all that bad.
Yasmine Yahya is a deputy chief editor at CNA Digital where she oversees CNA TODAY, Lifestyle and Luxury.
