Un Bel Dia

That's the famous aria in Madame Butterfly, the opera by Puccini. One that I heard my dad hum again and again til I memorized the tune, first along with his vinyl record when I was little and then with his Walkman after they moved into their San Gabriel house.

The association is always like this: it's a beautiful day with sunshine, and I feel like doing laundry and as I am getting the fragrant clean laundry out of the hamper to line dry them, I think of the song, and then dad.

I think I have said this so many times, to different people, on different occasions, that to me, blessed are those who know to enjoy "Un Bel Dia" like this. Meaning line dry your clothes and not resort to the dryer.

High tech takes away our chance to befriend the nature, and in return, allow the Nature to heal us. I have come to believe that healing needs to take place on a daily, if not moment by moment basis. For all things big and small, there will be emotional responses and hence mini traumas here and there. We may not feel it, but as the cumulative effect manifest itself in our sudden unexplainable sadness, however subtle it may feel, and/or any out-of-proportion emotions that surprise us only after that fact, we know healing is overdue.

Listen to the silence in the morning before everything wakes up; listen again to it at night after everything goes to sleep. Hear the wind chime sing, and watch the hummingbirds take pride in their wings. Take a deep breath. These are some of my preferred ways to let God heal me through His creation. Blessed am I.