Daily3 Life’s Moments

Not everyone may know who she is but within the Chinese community, she is a very well known and well loved  actress (similar to someone like Faye Dunaway) in the Asian community.  This actress, Lydia Shum died of complications from liver cancer on February 19, 2008.  I remember watching her shows and her hearty laughter always put a smile on my face.  The news of her death has made me realize again how vulnerable our lives are on this planet and how we truly need to “live” everyday as if it were our last.  Her death also put many things into perspective for me in my own life.  Lydia will always be remembered.

**  Stephen Covey in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” had written a scenario where the reader was to picture walking into a room where there were people in the room (some they know and some they may not know well); on the people’s faces were sorrowness…you don’t know exactly where you are but when you finally get to walk to the front of this room, you see something…and that something has made you realize that it is your own funeral!  The moral of this little scenario was : if you were to die today, what would this scenario look like?  Who would attend your funeral?  How would you be remembered as?  What would you like to be remembered as?  This little exercise was to make us all think about where our lives are at the present and find out where we want to be and most important WHAT we can do to make the necessary changes to better our lives.  This is also a great book…and is one of the books that I have on my list of books that have changed my life. 

**  Take care of yourself first before you can take care of others.  We tend to (particularly women) put other people infront of us.  If we don’t learn to put ourself first, then we are not going to be able take care of those we care about…what happens when we get sick?  Like in Lydia’s situation, the most important thing in her life is her daughter.  However, now that Lydia is gone, her daughter is left alone in this world — she may have relatives and friends but it’s not the same.  Luckily Lydia has financially provided security for her daughter (probably for the rest of her life) but what her daughter would give to have her mom spend just a few more years with her.  In Lydia’s case, her daughter is well cared for from friends and family…but in most cases, we are not so lucky.  You hear many stories that children are left with no one close to take care of them when their parent(s) had to leave them suddenly.  It is sad but true.  I think of my own children…and I am suddenly in a panic mode because I don’t think we are that all prepared for our children if something happened to us.  This has been a wake up call for me to :  take better care of my health, make sure I have a will and trust put in place, and the hardest is to find someone we can trust to love our children the way we would love them if something did happen to us prematurely and our children are left alone.

**  Financial Security.  No matter how we see money, it is important.  We are so influenced by ads about “things” we NEED that we forget the true importance of what we REALLY NEED.  Do we really need that extra big flat screen TV?  Do we need the latest handbag?  Do we need the latest fashion accessories?  Sometimes I will fall into this trap (usually this happens when I am in a slump and i watch too much TV).  I will start to think like what the advertisers want me to think…that I need to SPEND money!!!  Then at the end of the year we realize we are in serious debt and have not put in place a plan for financial security for our family.  I take Lydia’s death as a wake up reminder for me to FOCUS and stop spending on frivolous things.  Your kids DO NOT need the latest Nintendo, SONY Playstation; what they need is QUALITY time with you, your love and knowing the fact you will TAKE CARE of them.  So, if you haven’t already done so, put forth a plan on how you will better care for your children.