The Pinch of Reality
Today I woke up better. There was less of the pittish feeling that I had slept with. The reason is not a drastic revamping, just the feeling of not hitting the snooze button, tiny sense of accomplishment after a difficult yesterday.
While we’re caught up in our head, life just seems miserable. We lose empathy. We lose sight of what many others might be feeling or going through. Sometimes, I love connecting back to it.
Hence, in my quest to find peace and fresh air, I pulled out a jacket & decided to step out. Under the garb of grocery shopping, I decided to observe people, find out the misery of what the body traps them into.
I saw poor, homeless, elderly with fragile bodies, lonely traders, sweepers, and many others. They were living through the routine, making eye contacts with strangers; sometimes asking why me?… sometimes just for a cup of tea.
But, one thing was common in all these eyes, which I read as ‘Hope’!
I saw a woman, homeless, wrapped in a dirty piece of clothing, fully dependent on mercy for survival. Actually, I have been observing her for quite sometime now. She’s very much a part of my mundane, when I step out to respire. Even she looked at me with ‘hope’. She even smiled, like she generally does…
I love observing people. They’re the best teachers when they don’t say a thing. All these people tried reminding me of the privileges that I am blessed with. They shook me from inside again & threw me at the doorstep of gratitude.
Blessed with youth, certain about the two meals of today, covered in comfortable clothing; able to touch, feel, see through the beauty of this border-less world. Isn’t all of it a blessing in itself?
When I felt the pinch of reality, these people asked me to start afresh.
“Don’t fight today, just live through…Don’t become, just be…”, they said.
Why can’t we click the refresh button in our head easily, I thought.
Why is it difficult to observe gratitude everyday, I wondered.
I don’t claim that this is my Siddhartha to ‘The Buddha' moment, but I think I will make a conscious effort to be thankful every morning.
Will you?
(P.S I recommend 7 Líneas by Lama Dorje, because it’s beautiful & mainly because I was listening to it while typing this)
