"Sifu! I have great news!" I yelled at the top of my lungs on a path in the middle of a still garden.
Sifu jumped out of his meditation with his legs criss-crossed and his palms on his knees. He wiped his eyes and looked towards me, running to approach him.
I sat in front of him with my legs crossed as I calmed myself down, and placed my hands palm to palm and bowed to him.
"I was falling asleep anyway," Sifu said. He breathed in and smiled. "What brings you here today?"
"I thought I was going to die today, but I did not," I told him, smiling.
With his head askewed, Sifu said, "Stop thinking about how you were going to die. Think about what you want to do when you live forever, because you do have life everlasting."
"I just thought about the smallest beautiful details and enjoyed the smallest moments in my life," I told Sifu. His presence gave me a grounding spirit that filled me with a soft and loving gentleness to my soul. His words felt like a warm hug on a cold day.
"You should give yourself some credit for being alive. Violence is not a small matter to overcome. It is a triumph that you're still here, Diana. Don't let those enemies occupy your thoughts, because they've hurt you and they would always be a negative in anyone's life, if the world only knew of how they hurt someone so dear to God," said Sifu. He breathed in peace and exhaled in calm prayers in silence as he closed his eyes. "Go about your life as if those who hurt you have gone to purgatory to pay their debts. They will be there in a short while, and you have that satisfaction."
"Sifu, you are right. They were sociopaths," I replied. "They thought I would give up my life early on."
"In every day, honor yourself with something good, because you are alive. Those who hurt you wanted death, correct?" Sifu said, as he opened his eyes and touched my shoulder. "They've lost. So you have to keep winning and keep loving yourself."
"Thank you, Sifu," I said with a smile that went deep inside my soul, because I knew my life came to a new birth.
Just write.