As I near my 60th birthday, in sha Allah, I’ve been thinking about what time teaches us that books never could.
One of those quiet lessons is this: never trust what people say to you completely. Not because they are dishonest: but because they are human.
We speak from the moment we are in – from joy, guilt, excitement, or affection. In that instant, we mean every word. But time passes, the feeling cools, life shifts. What once felt certain begins to dissolve.
The Fragility of Promises
This is truest with those closest to us: those who are dear to us, friends, colleagues.
The words that warm your heart today may not survive the season that birthed them. A promise made in joy may vanish in the fog of forgetfulness. Not out of deceit, but out of change.
In an earlier reflection, I wrote about not getting caught in emotion. Emotions rise like waves: powerful, beautiful, and fleeting. If we mistake the wave for the sea, we suffer. If we learn to ride it, we grow.
The same applies to words. They are emotional waves. They rise with feeling: and fade when the tide turns.
The Ocean of the Heart
Over the years, I’ve learned that maturity is not the absence of emotion, but the presence of perspective. To live wisely is to hold words lightly but actions dearly. To love without demanding permanence. To forgive others’ forgetfulness: because we, too, forget.
The heart, I’ve come to see, is like the ocean. Waves crash and calm, yet the sea remains. Its depth is its dignity.
When we anchor ourselves in meaning rather than mood, we begin to live from presence: not from the “molecule of more,” not from endless wanting or wounded pride, but from peace.
What Time Teaches
Each stage of life humbles us differently. In youth, we want to be heard. In adulthood, we want to be right. And later, we just want to be kind.
Words may fade, but kindness endures. Integrity endures. Love that asks for nothing endures. As I step closer to sixty, I pray to keep my ocean calm, my expectations kind, and my love unconditional.
We must learn to live from that stillness: where emotion becomes wisdom, and love becomes light.
Smile and Let Smile 