Tuesday, 1st Aug
Been back to work since Monday and I was welcomed by my good old friend Ananthi. She bought me breakfast and we talked about my journey thus far. After breakfast, I met some other colleagues who were equally concerned about my mother. They not only asked about mum but how I was doing. I am very grateful to all of my colleagues because those work assigned to me were all shared out so I could concentrate on doing the most pressing thing, that of helping my mother. I am really moved to tears for their kindness and understanding. They asked me not to worry about work but to focus on helping my mum recover. They said it was a small matter compared to saving my mother. I was proven wrong by this, that there are people who work with you and still care about you as a person. I am grateful to have been part of this dynamic department. Not only did they welcome me back, it was business as usual and I felt no pressure to adjust. Praise God for all of those in HSSE.

I also have friends who have not called me because they know that I simply needed rest. They waited for me to call. I did this morning and they were so happy to hear about my mother's progress. That's what friends are for.

Today I want to share about resting. My mum always says she cannot sleep at all. Resting is so important to the liver. It is said, and please check it out, that the best time to sleep is at ten and not later than eleven. But some elderly folks will tell you that as you graciously get wiser, you sleep less. So what then is rest. Is five minutes enough? My friend Shin Miin always talked about the forty winks after lunch. My mother believes that after eating a meal you need to sleep. She said, it is better to take a nap after a meal than to be a general of a powerful army. What say you? Here is a story for you.


Dr. Dean Ornish wrote a bestselling book called STRESS, DIET AND YOUR HEART. It was a good book. In it he talks about how to manage stress, how diet promotes a health life and why proper stress management and good diet affects ones heart. He should have been on top of the world. He had just turned forty. He was fit and healthy. STRESS, DIET AND YOUR HEART soared to the top of The New York Times bestseller list. So what was the problem?
Where was the joy and fulfillment he so desperately wanted?
He was working more than 80 hours a week, what with speaking, promoting his book and working, and he was exhausted. A wake-up call came in a conversation with a flight attendant. Ornish had just barely made it in time for his flight and he collapsed into his seat. A flight attendant noticed his frazzled state. She remarked, "You look harried."
"I feel harried," he admitted.
The attendant tried to encourage him. She said, "I just read a book that might help! She said she highly recommended it. It was a book called STRESS, DIET AND YOUR HEART. She told him that it had some wonderful stress-management techniques that he might try. At that point Dr. Ornish decided to make the changes he so desperately needed.
(From "Why Being Happy Keeps You Healthy," by Dean Ornish, M.D., "Family Circle," April 1, 1998)
We need lots of rest. These bodies are beautiful creations. They run practically on peanuts and, when well cared for, they can serve us splendidly for many years. But when neglected they run down like an unwound clock.
Sir John Lubbock once said this about relaxation: "Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."
Is it time to rest?