Today’s Drifting Thoughts: Story of a Helium Balloon

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“Look! A helium balloon!” I said to myself as I was distracted from my reading.

It was yesterday as I was waiting for quite some time for my bus to arrive at night. Typically to make good use of time I’ll open up my book which I brought with me and start to flip through the pages. Usually I find myself having to take reading breaks more often as the mixture of the cool hues of fluorescent lights and the orange hues from the street lamps behind makes my eyes easily weary.

Upon a quick glance as I close my book, the sight of a floating, brightly coloured Ultraman balloon caught my attention. For some reasons, that balloon caught my full attention: Helium balloons had a special place deep in my heart as a child. At a young age, helium balloons were quite rare sight and as far as I could remember the only I saw it being sold was at Chinese New Year, where a balloon seller, typically only equipped with a gas tank and a pole full of colourful balloon will be there across the street. He was there, at the same spot, every year during Chinese New Year and I still remembered vividly how my brother, sister and I would pester my parents to buy one for us - and the joy as I hold onto the string firmly and played with the floating object.

And as soon as I remembered that scene, a whole lot of fragments of the pasts flooded to me, memories that I thought was faded was shown vividly in front of my eyes. Despite not being able to remember the whole scene and situation that I have experienced, the essence of childlike wonder and joy burst out like a spring: as if it was the fountain of youth, I felt young again.

The ecstasy of youthfulness and innocence.

It’s quite an unexplainable yet extremely exhilarating feeling - re-experiencing my childhood makes me feeling extremely grateful and appreciative to whatever I had experienced and had: All the great and happy memories brings out the shiniest emotional gems in me, and the remembrance of feelings of lost, rejection, sadness and shame shown me how much I had grown and matured: giving me a reminder that no matter how bad I felt about something at the moment, it didn’t really mattered anymore.

The whole point is to be at the moment, whatever the situation may be. Fully savour the intensity of your own emotions and letting yourself go, as it was exactly what makes us really alive. Learning to tune into yourself and relish the showers of gifts that life was offering you.

That’s the story of a helium balloon.