SIMPLY BE.
TAKE TIME TO ENJOY THE PRESENT.
IT’S IN THE PRESENT, YOU WILL KNOW THE MOMENT.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
SIMPLY BE
#present
PERFECT IN THE PRESENT
LIFE IS NOT ALWAYS PERFECT.
PERFECT – WE COME TO A CONCLUSION AFTER A MOMENT… TIME.. AN EVENT HAS PASSED.
THEN, WE MAKE JUDGEMENT.
IF IT WENT WELL ACCORDING TO OUR PLAN, IN OUR FAVOUR AND SOMETIMES NOT AS PLANNED BUT WORKED FOR US; THAT IS WHAT WE USUALLY WOULD DEEM AS “PERFECT”.
HOWEVER, IF IT IS NOT IN OUR FAVOUR, THEN IT IS NOT PERFECT.
EXPERIMENT WITH OUR FUTURE SELF, THAT IS,
FROM THE NEXT MOMENT AHEAD;
THAT WE START AS “PERFECT”.
INSTEAD OF BASING “PERFECT” ON THE PAST,
WE START WITH IT IN THE PRESENT.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
THE FUTURE IS
I’M DEFINITELY NOT PERFECT.
HOWEVER, I AM COMMITTED TO BECOMING BETTER,
NOW AND THE FUTURE.
THE FUTURE IS THE MOMENT AHEAD OF THE PRESENT.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
THE PRESENT FROM THE FUTURE
YOU SHOULD NO LONGER ALLOW YOUR PAST
TO RUIN YOUR DAYS OR
BE A MEASUREMENT OF YOUR FUTURE.
LIVE IN THE PRESENT.
EVERY MOMENT NOW, IS THE PRESENT FROM THE FUTURE. LOOK FORWARD TO IT.
ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
WEEKEND TO WEEKEND
Where have all the days, the work days, that is; in the week gone? Before you realise that you are on one of the weekdays – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; they vanish right beneath your feet. Time is moving so fast that warp speed seem unnervingly slow. It is quite unfortunate that many of us are moving from weekend to weekend, without actually living the workdays in each week.
Life is short, very short. Each moment that comes from the future, becoming the present, and soon vanishes into the past is gone – twee twee tak balik (1), unretrievable, can’t rewind… So, we should count each moment every day and make them count. There are gonna be great days and there are gonna be days that could have been better. Each day is definitely a plus.
I heard a preacher once say that we cannot control the beginning and the end of our lives, which are givens. What we can control is between those two givens. The length of time between those givens are different for each of us. It is like as though we are presented with a blank canvas for us to paint the best picture of how we are going to make our lives to be.
For me, I wish the weeks were elastic so that I could stretch them. I have so many things to do, writing being one of the main items on my list. I have a growing backlog of essays that I would like to write on subjects, that would be interesting and fun to explore and put pen to paper…in this case keyboard tapping to words on the screen.
This weekend, which has begun just over 4 hours ago (the time is 4.10am at this point of keyboard thumping) this Saturday morning; the Batik Influencer, Jeannie (my wife) and I, Alan, the Hatted Writer; will be at our usual place at F1.08 on the first Floor of Amcorp Mall. The Batik Influencer has got a new range of her very famous JEANNIE’S OWN label Batik Cape Creations that she will be showcasing. Very limited in numbers; come quickly to acquire one of each design pieces. She represents the Malaysian in each of her pieces.
Last weekend; I had the pleasure of meeting my school (La Salle Primary & Secondary School, Klang) classmate, Dr. Michael Lee Pillai who came by with his wife, daughter and her husband. Dr. Michael and I have known each other since we were 10 years old. I remember having had to go to his house twice a week for Bahasa Malaysia tuition when we were in Standard Five (1969’s version of today’s Year 5).
It was a nice surprise meeting him and his family. We don’t meet as often as we would like to. A major event in the works, coming up is our 50th anniversary reunion. It would good to meet with the other schoolmates of 1975 graduation.
Dr. Michael got a copy of my book, SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT, with me personalizing it for him.
I am expecting to meet a gentleman this weekend who had a serious issue in writing an article. He was inspired by my book, and my story behind writing and publishing it. Several months had gone by but he couldn’t stitch an article together. I helped him by providing him a solution. And that was it. He was sure to have this important article that he was to write, done, and present to an important group of people. He is coming back to see me and tell me how he fared with finally being able to assemble enough words together to create a highly credible article for his presentation.
The Batik Influencer and I, the Hatted Writer; have had the wonderful opportunity of meeting multiple number of people that visit us at our booth each weekend. These people are mainly Malaysians. We have also met many people of different nationalities from China, U.S,A., the U.K., Japan (Akato is coming to visit us again this weekend), Brunei, Australia, Singapore, India, Mauritius, Maldives, Italy, and many more. We welcome everyone to come visit us. That includes you, our friends. Looking forward to meeting with all of you.
NOTES:
1. Twee twee tak balik is a famous Malaysian play slang in the Bahasa Malaysia language; which means not “twee twee” coming back.
“Chup” is another word which means the same thing “or cannot take back.
Address:
Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.08, 1st Floor, ,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: September 27th – September 28th, 2025
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)
NEW LIFE, ONE MOMENT AT A TIME
I AM MOVING FORWARD & CREATING MY NEW LIFE,
ONE MOMENT AT A TIME;
AS EACH MOMENT AHEAD, IS THE FUTURE;
PREPARING FOR THE PRESENT.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
LIVING TO THE FULLEST IN THE PRESENT
DON’T SPEND TOO MUCH OF TIME ON THE PAST.
IT’S GONE.
DON’T FRET OVER THE FUTURE EITHER.
IT HASN’T ARRIVED AND YOU CAN’T DO MUCH ABOUT IT.
LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST IN THE PRESENT.
MAKE IT BEAUTIFUL FOR YOURSELF, AND ALSO FOR OTHERS.
MAKE EVERY MOMENT COUNT.
WHAT BETTER WAY CAN THERE BE?
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
IN ANY SITUATION
HERE’S YOUR CHANCE. THE STAGE IS ALL YOURS.
BE YOURSELF NO MATTER WHAT. SOME WILL ADORE YOU AND SOME WILL HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU.
BUT WHO CARES?
ENJOY THE BEAUTY THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER. SMELL THE FLOWERS.
TAKE TIME TO BE IN THE PRESENT.
KNOW THIS ONE THING FOR SURE, IN ANY SITUATION,
I WILL ALWAYS GET UP.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
THE BEST AWAITS YOU
DON’T DWELL ON THE PAST. IT’S OVER. DUSTED. NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.
STOP HOLDING YOURSELF BACK.
DECIDE. IF YOU AREN’T HAPPY, MAKE A CHANGE. YOU ARE YOUR BEST RESOURCE TO DO THAT. FOCUS ON THE “NOW” – THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE. THAT’S WHERE THE BEST AWAITS YOU.
~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller
PEOPLE
Is it the weekend already? You’re supposed to answer the obvious. Unless your weekend starts on a Sunday or Tuesday.
I’m on my one of my 10km walks. The sky is billowing with black clouds, looking like it is about to burst at its seams. A strong drizzle is already coming down and I, cowering under an opened umbrella; must complete my 10km distance. A couple of people pass by. “Raining” one said. while pointing to the sky. Again, it is the obvious. I smiled and replied, “Yes, it is”.
On another of my walks, a neighbour sees me walk by at a fairly brisk pace? “Jogging, ahh?” That got me thinking about the word, “jogging”. Off the bat, I consider jogging as a run, mostly slow run. Small steps, moving 3km/h to 5km/h faster than a general brisk walker like me. Not too fast, but faster than the casual walk. It turns out that Wikipedia agrees with me. 😀(1)
So, the neighbour is quite correct when she asked if I was jogging, because I was not running. However, I was walking faster than my usual pace (which is in itself, quite fast, above the average).
There are multiple other incidents similar those mentioned above. Many are strangers to me. The message. People are kind. People are friendly. People want to make conversation, even though just for a few minutes.
Just a few days ago, as my wife, Jeannie and I were leaving Sunway Pyramid after some light shopping (I did not find the the item I was looking for). Our car was parked on CP3 (Level 3). So, we walked up to the pay machine as we usually did, keyed in our vehicle number, flashed the credit card to clear the transaction, but it failed. After a couple of attempts to make payment, I saw a small sigh above the machine stating that it now only accepts debit cards. We were going to walk one level down to pay with our credit card, when a young couple asked us to key in our vehicle registration number into the payment machine again. When we did, the lady used her debit card to pay. The payment cleared. I tried to pay them back but they did not want to accept it, saying that it was a small amount.
Is this kindness, or caring, or any one of the good words or statements you can think of? I would say a little bit of each. People just do what comes naturally to them, without a second thought.
I am grateful for people. I find them fascinating, don’t you agree? The more I think of it…the more I ask questions…and get answers…, they lead to more questions. Am I becoming philosophical (I can hardly get the spelling right)?💭🤔
Musings
Picture taken probably in the 1970s.
Bottom picture, Left to Right: My cousin, Christopher Nellaiah, my late brother, Nigel Edward Atkinson and my cousin Dato Ronald Gomes.
Picture taken around 2020.
The bottom picture are of the sons of the gentlemen in the picture above. Both pictures are of men with amazing people’s skills, friendliness and kindness.
NOTES:
1. Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods of time. Performed over long distances, it is a form of aerobic endurance training. Wikipedia