Day 10 Bring thankfulness to life

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27 Jan 2021

#thankfulness #blessings #mindfulness #mindfulliving

Today I want to push pause on my thread of sharing on mindfulness, and share with you a small but significant incident that happened today.

As you all may know, in the Chinese tradition , the first day of the new year, families go and visit their closest relatives and friends to wish them a prosperous year and exchange New Years wishes, Bai Nian 拜年. Our family was no exception. As we all mounted boxes of gifts onto the car and set off to see my Grandpa’s brother Da Yeye, my dad got a call on the way. He had a patient who was in critical condition in the ICU and needed his help. Without hesitation, he turned the car around to drop us all back home so he could attend immediately to his patient. As if this small hiccup had happened on a normal working day, he calmly asked my mom to call grandpa to tell him we were going to be late picking him up, and asked us to wait at home for him to be done at the hospital.

A couple hours later, he returned home looking worried. He shared with us that his patient was in a coma and the patient’s chances of surviving was slim. He was only 32. And had previously had an operation done in a small hospital and suffered complications right after. This was already after 2 in the afternoon, and he had had nothing to eat since we had breakfast together at 8 in the morning.

After a quick meal, we set off again to see our Da Yeye again. To nobody’s surprise, dad received another call when we were at Da Yeye’s home. His patient needed an emergency operation. He quickly hurried off to the hospital again. It wasn’t until around 8pm that he had finished the operation and was able to return home. Luckily, the patient was stable.

Actually, this happens on a regular basis with my dad’s job. Being a surgeon means you are on call 24/7. And my dad had been so for the past 20+ years. It wasn’t a surprise that he got called in today, but to me, it was a different feeling. I felt thankful, very very thankful.

I was thankful that the poor man in the ICU fought through a rough battle; I was thankful that my dad was a brilliant surgeon who put his patient’s need above anything else; I was thankful that all my family members and friends dear to my heart are healthy; and mostly, I am thankful for being healthily and happily alive.

Life is short. Do what makes you happy. Make a difference to your life, make an impact on others, and do good to the world.

Written on 5 Feb 2019

第十天：感恩生活

正如你们所知：中国传统中每个家庭都要在农历大年初一前去拜访关系最为紧密的亲朋好友并互致新年祝福，祈愿繁荣昌盛，这也就是所谓“拜年”习俗。我们家自然也不例外。

正当我们在车上装满礼物，准备好出发去给大爷爷（爷爷的哥哥）拜年时，老爸在途中接到了一个电话。他的科室来了一个正在ICU抢救的危重病人，急需他出手医治。他毫不犹豫地掉头把我们送回家，接着马上赶去抢救那位病人。

就像是一个在平常不过的日子中一个普普通通的小插曲一样，他在赶去医院前一边不慌不忙地让老妈电联爷爷，告诉爷爷我们晚些时候再去接他儿，一边让我们等在家里，直到他从医院忙完回来为止。

几小时后，老爸一脸疲惫地回到家中。他告诉我们：那位重病人昏迷不醒，生机渺茫。这个可怜人才32岁，此前在一家小医院动了手术，却很快出现了严重的并发症。这时已是下午2点了，而老爸打从早上8点全家一起吃完早饭以来，完全是粒米未进。

在草草吃了点午饭之后，我们再次出发去给大爷爷拜年。不出所料，老爸在大爷爷家又接到了电话：他那位病人急需手术。他再次驰赴医院。直到晚上8点，他才完手术返回家中。幸运的是，病人情况稳定。

其实老爸在工作中经常遇到这种事。一名外科医生必须一周7天随时待命。老爸在过去20多年中一直过着这样的生活。今天他接到这样的召唤实在太过平淡无奇，但对我来说，这却是一种全然不同的体验：我萌生了一种感恩，非常非常深厚的感恩。

我感谢那位ICU里的可怜人终于艰难战胜了病魔，我感激老爸是一位置病人需要于万事之先的睿智外科医生，我感恩自己所牵挂的家人和朋友们个个身强体健，我更要感恩自己还在健康快乐地存活于这世间。

生命短暂，所以要抓紧那些让你心的事。我们应当让自己的生命流光溢彩，要能对他人产生正面影响，还要能为世界作出积极贡献。

（本文写于2019年2月5日）