(English below the Chinese for my family)
和那个你思念、渴望重逢的人重新连接。
有个老笑话：妈妈谭把我“过继”给二舅舅当儿子，因为他没有儿子，只有很多女儿。
再说一次，我分享这个只是举例，告诉你你可以怎样“使用”我的家人（只是比喻，绝对不是字面意义）。
来，我们开始练习！
选一个人吧。我邀请你写一封信给你的亲人，不管他们还活着，还是已经不在了……
如果他们已经不在地球上，就假装……就几个小时就好……我保证，这会让你变得更坚强。
我经常和我外婆、我两位姨妈、我那些已经去世的最好的部落成员聊天。有些是因为胡闹和愚蠢的错误走的，有些是因为癌症或中风……我一直在心里和他们说话。我甚至还和我的上帝聊天，如果你能相信的话。
这个简单的练习带给了我信仰，但请记住，我远不是一个虔诚的宗教徒。正如乔丹·彼得森曾经说的：“我行事仿佛上帝存在。”
你就照我这样写，和他们对话。告诉他们他们对你的人生有多大的影响。分享你和他们最美好的回忆。感谢他们。告诉他们你爱他们，你原谅他们，你也原谅自己。彼此给予宽恕，即使宽恕看起来遥不可及，你也要假装，然后真的去做。
如果他们已经不在了，就把心里的话全部倾诉，把最近发生的一切告诉他们。你看，我写这本书虽然看似荒诞和混乱，但其实正是我在和生命中所有人做同样的练习，包括那些我从未见过、也永远不会认识的人……
我相信自己只是众多种子中的一颗，而这些种子终将带来世界和平。我现在的使命，就是通过一次分享一个故事，把这个未来的可能性变成现实。
准备好毛巾吧……你会需要的……如果你害怕，别担心……我会一直陪着你……用我的书作为你的指引……我会一步一步陪着你。
我不会让你失望。
我是功夫熊猫！
如果你哪天过得很糟，一切都不顺利，你可以去好好拉一泡屎，读着这本书，然后冲个痛快的热水澡，让这一天重新亮起来。如果这些都不行，我强烈建议你去刷刷IG上的熊猫视频，或者用你最喜欢的方式看媒体。谁能讨厌一只熊猫呢？几乎不可能。
然后想象功夫熊猫给你一个熊猫级的大拥抱，像家人或部落成员一样爱着你，欢迎回家，你现在和家人在一起了。
对于那些仍然在世、关系还很好的亲人……也许是你的爸爸、我的舅舅、我最好的朋友，你知道的……
我开始对我的大哥、我的爸爸、我的舅舅、我的表兄弟们说，也对你说……对，就是你……
我爱你们，就像我爱妈妈谭和我的家人一样深。
你相信我吗……我会用生命保护你，免受伤害。我是真的功夫熊猫……我在这里守护我的部落……
拿毛巾吧……把情绪都释放出来……深呼吸……长长的深呼吸……
你随时可以回来……我一直都在……
当你准备好继续前行，就去吧……如果你不想哭，就跳过……你有权利选择怎么生活……
我在给你力量，让你掌控自己的人生，而不是让别人替你活。
现在猜猜看……你可以对生命中最重要的人说“我爱你”了……
最奇妙的事情发生了……我们现在经常这样做。
你和每个家人之间的和平会变得更强大……试试看吧。
(ENGLISH STARTS NOW)
I’m writing now to my immediate family… I’m talking to you. This book will help us all honor our family and our legacy. My grandmother from Mama Tan, my two aunts who passed away recently, my two elderly parents in their mid to late 80s, my brother, and everyone else… Your family… Everyone…
Now I get to share my conversations with them… Thank you and you will see… My next updates will make you cry harder. I invite you to love your family and my family (myself included) deeper, harder than you have ever loved before. If you have lost someone, you can borrow mine. I don’t mind. Sharing is caring.
This book gives you, the reader, the opportunity to learn more about me and who I am. I commit to doing everything I can to honor my family’s legacy to the fullest. I am practicing my writing skills on myself now so that I can write Mama Tan’s story and our family’s stories. This is the bigger mission. And their story must be shared for the world to hear!
I am going to prove to you that the American dream is still alive and well today. All it takes is sacrifice, hard work, and perseverance. As AMERICAN CITIZENS (legal), The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.“
Happiness is NOT GUARANTEED. The “PURSUIT” of happiness is.
I know my family loves me. Now you get to know why… The stories behind the stories… I will show you why. I will share my failures, my challenges, my success. I have no shame. This is not to brag about what I have accomplished. This is my humble brag of how I got to my current destination.
My ask for you is simple…
If you have had anyone in your life family that you miss or that have passed… It does not matter… Use me and my family as your tool. Use me, borrow one of my family members (figuratively and not physically) and be with the one you miss and long for to reconnect.
The running joke is that Mama Tan gave me up for adoption to 2nd Uncle to be his son because he had no son and plenty of daughters. Again, I am sharing this as an example of how you can use my family (figuratively and NOT LITERALY). You get to practice what I am saying to do as an exercise. Here we go!
Pick someone. I invite you to write a letter to your loved one, alive or gone… If they no longer here on Earth. Pretend… Just for a few hours… I promise it will make you stronger.
I talk to my grandmother, my two aunts, my best tribe members who have passed. Some by Shenanigans and dumb mistakes… Some through cancer and strokes.. I talk to them all the time.. In my mind of course. I even to talk to my God if you can believe it.
This simple exercise brought me faith, but remember that I am far from being religious. As Jordan Peterson once said, “I act as though God exists.”
You talk to them just like I’m writing. Have a conversation with them. Tell them how much of an impact they made on your life. Share your fondest memories of them. Thank them. Tell them you love them, you forgive them, and you forgive yourself. Give each other grace even if grace is far from possible, you pretend and do it anyway.
And if they are no longer with us, you share your heart out and get them up to speed. You see, this book I am writing as silly and chaotic as it may be, is my way of doing this exact same exercise with everyone in my life including the ones I will never meet or ever know… I have a belief that I am but another seed in the pile that will cause WORLD PEACE. My mission now is to make this future possibility a reality sharing myself, one story at a time.
You better get a towel… You will need it… And if you are scared… Don’t worry… I will be there every step of the way… You use my book as your guide… I will always be there every step of the way. Giving you baby steps… supporting you every step of the way. I won’t let you down.
I am Kung Fu Panda! And if you’re having a bad day when nothing seems to be working, you can go take a long poop, reading this book, and taking a nice long shower to brighten up your day. And if all that should fail still, I highly suggest you start looking up any PANDA VIDEOS on IG, or your favorite way of receiving media. How could anyone ever hate a Panda? It is virtually impossible. And then imagine Kung Fu Panda giving you a panda size hug, loving on you like a family member or tribe member, welcome home to your tribe. You are with family now.
For those very much still alive and in your life in good terms… Maybe it’s your dad, my uncle, my best friend, you know…
I started to tell my big brother, my dad, my uncle, my cousins, and now you… Yeah you….I love you just just as hard as I love Mama Tan and my family….
Do you believe me… I would lay my life on the line to protect you from harm and hurt. I am the real Kung Fu Panda… I am here to protect my tribe…
Get that towel… Let it all out… Breathe… Long deep breaths… You come back whenever you want… I will always be here… When your ready to move on… Go… If you don’t want to cry… Skip… Your choice on how to live your life… I’m giving you strength to control your life instead of having others living it for you…
Now guess what… You get to say I love you to the people that matter the most in your life…
Strangest thing happens… We do it all the time now. The peace you have between each of your family members grows stronger… Try it.
You will continue to have the best days and some that are not so good. This is life and nothing is guaranteed. You must generate your own abundance and happiness. It is a moment to moment experience and it is never constant.
With Love Always,
Telap