I would often be preoccupied with things I regard as important, thinking that it would be nice if I could really have them. Quietly I would yearn for them, keeping my mind focused just on this wish every day. But in fact they are not necessarily the things that matter the most.

Perhaps only when you are left with nothing would you be jolted into realising what you really need.

So far this year, I have been anxious to achieve something, wishing to win back what I have lost in the financial tsunami, and make up for lost chances. But this would only make me even more unhappy because somehow I sense that even if I could make good some of the losses, I would still miss what cannot be recovered.

This constant longing is no way to relieve the grief and regret because instead of finding true relief, you would only try harder and harder, becoming more and more weary.

Undo everything and start all over again, so that there is nothing to make a fuss of.

What you miss the most when you have lost everything is what you really need.

By Yi-hing Ong