It's now again.

Madam Contest Chair, Members, and Guests, life has a funny way of getting our attention.

There's an old metaphor that says when life needs to teach us something, it starts with a feather, then moves to a brick, and if we still don't listen, it sends a truck.

For years, I felt a growing sense of boredom and unfulfillment at work. It was like a feather brushing against my consciousness—a subtle but persistent reminder that something wasn't right.

Each day felt the same, like I was going through the motions, and I often found myself wondering if this was all there was to life.

These feelings reminded me of another period in my life, when I lost my religion in my early twenties. I had been training to be a pastor. Losing my faith was a monumental shift, and I struggled to rebuild purpose and meaning from the ground up.

At that time, mindfulness entered my life. Through it, I was able to construct a new foundation—a way of living that didn’t depend on external beliefs but on presence and acceptance of the moment.

Still, when I felt unfulfilled at work, I ignored that feather and told myself those thoughts could wait. But life had other plans.

The brick hit me hard last year.

On my daughter’s fifteenth birthday, what should have been a day of celebration turned into a day of loss when I lost my job that morning. Losing that job forced me to confront the dissatisfaction I had been ignoring. The feathers I had brushed aside now felt heavy, like stones piling up.

Even then, in the midst of my shock, I didn’t fully grasp the message life was sending. I was too focused on fear and loss to see the opportunity within that challenge. It reminded me of when I had lost my faith.

Back then, I was searching for something to hold onto—something that would give me peace. Just as mindfulness had helped me through that struggle, it was waiting to guide me again.

And that’s when the truck came.

The truck came in the form of a fall from my roof, breaking eighteen bones in my back and all but one rib on one side.

In an instant, I was lying on the ground, broken and in pain, experiencing a level of vulnerability I had never known before. But amidst the agony, something unexpected happened.

I felt gratitude.

I was alive. And despite the severity of my injuries, I had no permanent damage. The truck had hit hard, but it didn’t take everything. Instead, it left me with a deep awareness of how precious life is.

As I lay in recovery, the message I had been avoiding for so long became crystal clear.

I need to teach mindfulness—not just for myself, but for everyone who is seeking it, especially those struggling to find peace and meaning after losing their religion.

Just as mindfulness helped me rebuild my life after losing my faith, it could help others facing the same struggle.

In the aftermath of that fall, I realized every feather, brick, and truck was life’s way of guiding me—urging me to wake up and truly live.

I learned to notice the feathers before they became bricks and the bricks before they became trucks. Mindfulness taught me that while we can’t always control what happens, we can control how we respond.

We can choose to see challenges not as curses but as gifts—opportunities to grow, learn, and become more present and alive.

So, Madam Contest Chair, Members, and Guests, the next time you feel a feather brushing against your thoughts, pause and pay attention.

Don’t ignore those gentle nudges.

When a brick lands at your feet, don’t wait for a truck to knock you down. Instead, see it as a chance to wake up before life forces you to.

The universe is always speaking to us, sending messages in feathers, bricks, and trucks. We don’t have to wait for a truck to knock us off our feet to start listening.

I encourage you to listen for the feathers, pay attention to the bricks, and take action before life needs to send in the truck.

Each of us has a purpose, and it’s up to us to listen, learn, and respond before life makes the choice for us.

In the end, it’s up to us to decide whether we learn from the feather, the brick, or the truck.

If we embrace mindfulness, if we choose to live fully in each moment, we can navigate life’s challenges with grace, resilience, and peace—and share these lessons with others.

I like to see mindfulness, the present moment, as the calm in the eye of the storm. Because no matter what’s swirling around us, when we return to the present moment, we find that in this moment, there is seldom a problem.

And it’s always this moment. If you check your watch, your mobile, or the clock, I think you’ll find—it’s now again.

Madam Contest Chair.