As the year winds down, the cover of the latest issue of 'Outlook', intrigues me. It claims to prescribe how to stay happy in these gloomy times. And calls this year, 2008, horrid.
Not so surprisingly, the magazine pays just lip service to the subject of happiness. It's prescriptions range from the absurd__what to eat, wear, see, drink__to the eclectic__embracing Kalam's life's mantras. Is that all there is to happiness? And can another's life's philosophy appeal and apply to you?
To do things that again impact the materialistic realm of our existence?
Curiously, the same issue o
f the magazine, erases any fears that I may have nurtured that this world and its media have turned their backs on the concept of intelligent living__in the now__as a means to happiness. The story of Baby Moshe (Holtzberg) and his Nanny, Sandra Samuel, give me hope. Sandra is a perfect embodiment of living in the now. In the present. The trauma of the Mumbai (Nariman House) seige, the surreal nature of her impulsive act of valor in saving Baby Moshe from the clutches of the terrorists, her flight to an alien land without even time to bid goodbye to her own two children, the glamor that comes with high-profile media coverage, the selflessness in her resolve to stay committed to Baby Moshe 'till he needs her', her love for India, her acceptance of Israel as her home for the now, her faith that her God is inside her__dizzying, contrasting events, experiences, emotions.__have the potency to shake and stir anyone. But Sandra remains rooted in the now, soaking in and enjoying every moment. With equanimity. And that choice, that choice alone, makes her happy, she declares, to writer Seema Sirohi, peacefully.
The Learnings:
1. Happiness comes from wanting what you get. It does not come from things. What we eat, drink, wear don't give us happiness. What we are thinking about does.
2. Living in the present, in the now, is neither impractical nor is it a choice that you can postpone forever. Sooner than later, we will have to be on that path. When you start living in the present, is when you start living. Period. Until then, you were just existing on the planet.
3. No year, no event, no moment is horrid. There is beauty in every moment. Such is life. It is what it is. When you start accepting the moment for what it is, you start living.
Not so surprisingly, the magazine pays just lip service to the subject of happiness. It's prescriptions range from the absurd__what to eat, wear, see, drink__to the eclectic__embracing Kalam's life's mantras. Is that all there is to happiness? And can another's life's philosophy appeal and apply to you?
To do things that again impact the materialistic realm of our existence?
Curiously, the same issue o
f the magazine, erases any fears that I may have nurtured that this world and its media have turned their backs on the concept of intelligent living__in the now__as a means to happiness. The story of Baby Moshe (Holtzberg) and his Nanny, Sandra Samuel, give me hope. Sandra is a perfect embodiment of living in the now. In the present. The trauma of the Mumbai (Nariman House) seige, the surreal nature of her impulsive act of valor in saving Baby Moshe from the clutches of the terrorists, her flight to an alien land without even time to bid goodbye to her own two children, the glamor that comes with high-profile media coverage, the selflessness in her resolve to stay committed to Baby Moshe 'till he needs her', her love for India, her acceptance of Israel as her home for the now, her faith that her God is inside her__dizzying, contrasting events, experiences, emotions.__have the potency to shake and stir anyone. But Sandra remains rooted in the now, soaking in and enjoying every moment. With equanimity. And that choice, that choice alone, makes her happy, she declares, to writer Seema Sirohi, peacefully.The Learnings:
1. Happiness comes from wanting what you get. It does not come from things. What we eat, drink, wear don't give us happiness. What we are thinking about does.
2. Living in the present, in the now, is neither impractical nor is it a choice that you can postpone forever. Sooner than later, we will have to be on that path. When you start living in the present, is when you start living. Period. Until then, you were just existing on the planet.
3. No year, no event, no moment is horrid. There is beauty in every moment. Such is life. It is what it is. When you start accepting the moment for what it is, you start living.
Dear Avis,
ReplyDeleteWe all should have started living in NOW long back, so has all our planning of ambitions,Career,Family, Savings and Life itself on th whole has given as the current Status.
lucks
Deepak.G