Today is one of those days that starts well, wonderfully well, and so busy that one forgets the promise made to publish every Monday. As the saying goes, a promise is a debt. So, I share with you fragments of my February journal some conclusions I have tried to summarize in quotes.

1. Beginnings carry within them goals, wishes, and prayers to be fulfilled. They uplift us and give us the strength to dream of the best parts of new beginnings!

2. Life never misses an opportunity to break apart and rebuild itself. Everything we do shapes us!

3. Faced with the same tragedies, people do not feel the same things, do not suffer in the same way. Thresholds and sensitivities deprive us of true communion and the certainty of saying, “I understand you” or “I know.” In reality, we never truly understand, and above all, we ignore the full extent of pain, distress, and suffering.

4. The fear of illness is a painful illness in itself an unspeakable ailment that excludes, that hurts, because its symptoms are intangible, and its concerns are often dismissed.

5. Health comes first mental health above all, I insist!

6. It is so complicated to fully embrace one’s life, especially when ambitions no longer measure up to past dreams. The fear of losing consideration after such a realization condemns us to the worst of lies!

7. Some days are brighter than others those moments when we feel we belong, when we feel grounded. I have known such days; they are happy days.

8. I have reached an age where I can see my mother in her entirety as a daughter, a wife, a friend. These realizations make me see how she, too, needs to make mistakes from time to time, to be cared for from time to time. She is my mother, but now and then, I can be a friend, a listener, her family not just a fragmented presence but someone she can truly count on.

9. Life is made of adjustments.

10. There is such joy, such delight, in loving life as it is, as it presents itself, without demanding to be, to have, or to do anything more. Loving it with all its lacks, loving it with all its gifts! Loving oneself without labels, without the lifebuoys of superlatives and impersonal adjectives.

11. If we give ourselves a chance to embrace the unknown, we could love at any age. If we dare to love more, we could sweep away fear with the peace of knowing we are loving beings, luminous because we reflect the light of others. To embrace, to open like a rose, promises a peaceful life!

12. The heavens made me both introverted and extroverted. I cannot be one without the other. I float between the need for solitude and the dream of a fulfilling social life.

13. Good health is a sufficient reason to appreciate life, to savor it fully, to look at the world and hold onto faith and hope in all possibilities!

14. Life is made of habits, a choreographic repetition. I am getting used to perceiving daily joys. They are mundane but oh so numerous! I am getting used to being happy in my routines, to not hearing the call of sorrow, to ceasing to summon it while accepting that one day it may appear. I simply ensure that it does not take everything away that my happy memories tame it and make it bearable.

15. Life is a quest for meaning, discovered according to each person’s sensitivity.

16. Life is full of the unexpected—things that could make us waver, drown us, or instead guide us toward new horizons, toward a deeper knowledge of ourselves, or even reveal a flaw we never knew we had!

17. People do not fail from lack of desire, willpower, or motivation. They fail because of their environment, because of fear of failure, because of that whispering voice that says, “I knew it!” urging them to minimize damage rather than take risks.

18. Seeing the glass half empty is just as valid as seeing it half full, but being right is not enough; one must also be happy. While the half-empty view may bring certainties, the half-full perspective brings the risk of seeing roses where crimson may prevail. But the gamble is worth it the rose we thought we saw helps us endure the crimson reality. Being right about impending misfortune is admirable, but who does it benefit? My notebook is pink that’s a good start!

19. Life is a beautiful story, a story of encounters, a theater of experiences, of sad and beautiful songs. Life is a marvelous tale of faith and goodwill, a green story with its share of oddities but ultimately a story of continuity and promise, anchoring us in hope and pulling us away from despair!

20. Take life as it comes, extract the good from each day to turn it into something great. Do good and savor the satisfaction it brings—happiness so rare, yet so grand and accessible!

21. Sometimes, stress plunges us into distress, especially when we face decisive moments that shape our destiny. It reminds us that life is neither good nor bad, that it follows no faith or law—it simply is. Defining it is futile. We must take what it offers and learn to live better.

22. Every day holds its share of adventures, beautiful or less so, uplifting or unsettling. This daily mystery is a great gift, shaping us, informing us, and constituting all that we are, in essence.

23. “One thing at a time”this phrase is underrated. Doing one thing at a time builds a habit; doing many things at once dismantles, disrupts, and overturns what was in place. I prefer one thing at a time, and I will fight for it until the times are countless and my faith in this method becomes unshakable. My peace of mind depends on it!

24. Intuition is what elevates us beyond a banal existence. It is that voice convincing us to believe or disbelieve. It is that strange force urging us to consider the improbable, to ignore limitations, and to embrace possibilities. It is also what keeps us from being deceived, even when everything appears to be in our favor. Intuition is an invisible institution of the soul a premonitory force beyond explanation.

25. What do I do with my life? I accept it. I spend my existence choosing it, embellishing it, resolving what remains unsolved. Loving what was imposed on me, carving a path, doing everything to make it a success. I do everything, I impose everything on myself even in doing nothing, I am still doing something. Life is so complex that my own fragment of complexity, I cherish it, I enhance it, I live it!

26. Living better means better appreciating the moment, better anticipating the future, adjusting life according to circumstances. Living the past without living in the past extracting the best from it to build a better self and a better world!

27. Our bodies hold secrets, and when they reveal them, it can be for better or worse a joyful or worrisome weight loss, an exciting or painful weight gain, a declared illness, or a beauty defying time. There is so much the body keeps inside, only revealing what it must, explaining what pleases or plagues it. Our bodies are signposts!
28. Life is unpredictable in the face of our predictions, yet so precise in the face of our uncertainties. Only those who accept its vastness and recognize that they are mere servants of life itself find the comforting feeling that life is perfect. And as long as they remain anchored in it, they remain part of its magnificent perfection!

Écrit par Aliane UMUTONIWASE