I do not understand Boredom

I just don’t. It’s one of those mysterious phenomena which my faculty feels handicapped in comprehending. I see many people deal with, but don’t understand how they do it. I hear people complain about it daily, but don’t understand their language. I read about people dealing with it, but don’t understand their words. I listen to people talk about it, but don’t understand how i can be part of that conversation.

Yep, i do not understand boredom.

Not when we have a cosmos, alive, thriving and expanding each second. 

Not when each moment comes entrapped with the potential of doing something not attempted before or reattempting the old, differently.

Not when each of you who’s reading this has access to the demi-god called Google.

Not when at least one of your five senses are functional and allows you to interact with the world around you.

Not when each second at least one new life, a new story begins somewhere on the globe.

Not when we are still discovering new species, new lands and new skills.

Not when just one musical instrument demands a lifetime to be mastered and still need more time.

Not when some researchers tells us that we use less than 10% of our brain’s original capacity.

Not when a butterfly’s flapping of its beautifully intricate wings causes a violent hurricane thousands of miles, many weeks away.

Not when each kid knows that her mother’s kitchen is a private, fun, chemistry lab.

Not when there are ten different roads you can take to reach your office.

Not when our wardrobes hold clothing for more than one type of season.

Not when we live in a galaxy so vast that our brain will burst at its seams trying to envision its expanse.

Not when i can hold a book in my hands, read it on my kindle, borrow it, lend it or pass it on.

Not when three colours can give birth to a million other colours and a zillion shades of those million.

Not when we are still asking “Why are we here?”

Not when i’m the owner of one of the most complex, ingenious and efficient collection of systems - my body.

Not when i can watch a scratchy video of the Wright Brothers when they first conquered the skies.

Not when a small box can capture light on a piece of paper permanently.

Not when i can make mistakes. Endlessly.

No, i do not understand boredom. Now, do you understand me?

Weeding Life

Our life is our garden and we are responsible for what grows within its premises. We own the health and rigour which engulfs this space. The garden comprises of entities, animate or inanimate, and their associations, deep or short-lived. Each of these serve us a purpose, whether utilitarian or aesthetic, intellectual or emotional, and more. 

Time moves and so does this network of inter-dependence. The garden will need change. We’ll have to facilitate that change or risk losing it altogether.
And when the wind of change quietly sweeps through our nurtured enclosure, we need to quietly weed each patch by examining everything (possessions, relationships, habits, perceptions, routines, lifestyles - you get the drift) through these two questions:

  • Do I [still] need it?
  • Does this [still] add value to my life?

The tree which gave me shade in my summer might now be blocking the sunshine in my winter. Do not judge the relevance of today with the worth served yesterday. Similarly, do not cling on to what you hold dear today, for it may need parting tomorrow. And this weeding needs to be done regularly, because, like it or not, life changes regularly.

Pretty regularly.

Post this revaluation, we need to act upon the wisdom gathered and remove the unwanted - after, of course, paying it due gratitude for the indispensable service rendered; for ingratitude is poison for the garden. Yank it, nip it, prune it or burn it. Do what needs to be done. Because if we don’t, we risk losing/damaging the wanted ones, risk withering our garden.

Unheard Speeches : Get a Life

“Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house… Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over the water gap or the way a baby scowls with concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.

“And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted… It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color of azaleas, the sheen of the limestone on Fifth Avenue, the color of our kid’s eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of live.”

For more such speeches which were never heard, click on the source. :)

Source: mentalfloss.com

“Each poster can be viewed on its own but also works as a little story when displayed in the order above. It goes something like this: Our friend, the Shaolin Monk (the official mascot for Zen Pencils, and whose name I haven’t figured out yet) is disillusioned with the monastery’s rigid dogma and resistance to new ideas so decides to leave and discover his own path to self-fulfilment. On his journey, he climbs a massive mountain as a test of his will power and to overcome his fear of heights. Once at the summit, the monk strips down to his undergarments amidst a freezing blizzard and meditates. He trains his mind to overcome his physical pain, which is the next step on his journey to enlightenment.”

Click here to get to a spot which will provide you the high resolution posters, fit to be printed. Get inspired! :)

Source: zenpencils.com

The Tree & the Fruit

Heard an interesting question this morning, ‘When does a fruit fall from the tree?’ Answer: when it is ripe, simple! The Master’s message was aimed at delivering the idea that letting go is an essential part of the cycle of an experience, just like getting together is (the tree lets go the fruit). In fact, letting go, completes it.

I loved the analogy of the tree and the fruit since it is simple yet intense. We are hoarders, sort of (some like the word ‘collectors’ as well) and we like to hold on to ………(people/things/experiences). And we are indiscriminate about it. So while it may be beneficial to ‘hoard’ the pleasant ones, there is simply no justification to hold on to the unpleasant ones. Take an experience for example. Our experiences serve an important purpose, that of experiencing it and then drawing the learning from it as a result of experiencing it. Think of it this way, your favorite movie/s vs. the not-so-favorite ones, which ones do you end up watching more than once? Is it the same with your memories/experiences (mentally)?

I think it is also important to distinguish between an experience and experiencing that experience. The former is an outcome, a result, a past event and the latter happens in the moment, the now. Simply put, the former is an outcome of the latter. And here is one possible reason why we hold on, that when we were experiencing an experience, we were not present to experience it.  

Have a think! What have you been holding on to? Is it serving or enslaving you? Does it empower or weaken? It is time to take the best from it and let it go, get lighter, more agile……a new beginning beckons!


Just received this in my inbox. Found it worth putting here! How strong is your presence in your present? :)

The big & small of it

Waking up with the first light of the day - makes me feel both big & small. Big, coz i’m part of everything i can see. And not see, too. It’s a punch in the stomach and simultaneously a resplendent realization of my ‘being’. Small, coz despite knowing & feeling this, i tend to restrict my ‘self’ to the physical form which carries me. This differentiation, this separation pits me against this grandeur. I guess it makes sense that i feel both, together or alternatively. The dichotomy upholds me. What about you?