According to Wikipedia:
The word for "eight" (八 Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (發 – short for "發財", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, e.g. Cantonese "baat" and "faat".
There is also a visual resemblance between two digits, "88", and 囍, the "shuāng xĭ" ("double joy"), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 ("xĭ" meaning "joy" or "happiness").
Previously I had posted about mindfulness, and today that idea was further reinforced when I stumbled across a term that I think very poignantly encapsulates what I feel when I fold the cranes: Purposeful Solitude.
There's always going to be something to worry about, or do, or someplace to be. Or maybe you're on the other side of the spectrum where you have too much time to yourself and you spend them mindlessly consuming or consumed with things that are just that... things. Either way, take some time just for you to be somewhere quiet. You'll realize when you just force yourself to make time to do so, even if it's just minutes, it can help to quickly put some things into perspective.
Both statements are true. How can I reconcile that? Well think about it, you hear that saying that hindsight is 20/20. You can always look back and say I could have done this or that. You'll always be able to find something you could have done. And as a result, you run the risk of always staying in the past beating yourself up over the things you wish you had done differently, because then things would be different today.
Looking back... I wonder did he want to change himself or his circumstance at that time in his life? How badly? Maybe a lot. Maybe not at all. Or was this just an indicator of an extra weight on his shoulders, from having very high expectations placed upon him, either by himself or someone else? I certainly know that my parents had such high expectations of me that I never felt like what I did was enough. If I lived that way, I could certainly look back right now and think "I wish I could have explored that a little more with him. I wish I could have come up with all these poignant things to say that I know now, that maybe would have been helpful/interesting to explore."
I think that's a difficult way to live though. What I found is, at the time that the conversation happened I worked with what knowledge I had at the time, shared my opinion, listened to his, and we talked about it a little more. Getting to share that with him was important in us trying to learn more about each other, and at the time it happened, we did our best to try to understand each other. So I can still be happy about that. I say that even if you have high expectations, especially the ones you place on yourself -- you should celebrate victories where you get them. Whether you think they are big or small, a victory is a victory. Your mini goals feed into your big goals.
Not saying the past isn't important, it's how we learn, grow and do better the next time. So your best can be improved upon -- just not at the time it's your best. We shouldn't take away the efforts we made before, because at the time they were our best. It shouldn't be invalidated because we can find ways to do it differently next time. If you do what you can now, yeah you might make mistakes along the way, but that's ok. Learn. Grow.
To borrow from a previous post about setbacks in life -- I think about how much I know now... I feel like everything in my life has led me to the people I have loved and lost -- friends, family, loves. My choices, my heartbreaks, my regrets. Everything. And when we’re together, my past seems worth it. Because if I had done one thing differently, I might have never met them. I look at the people I am surrounded by right now who care about me, who I also care deeply for and I feel lucky. I wouldn't trade this.
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