Make life count

*Sigh*. What a wonderful feeling it is table to observe silence in your ears, interrupted only by faint squeaks of far away squirrels, or the occasional chirp of a bird on a tree nearby. Luxuries beyond definition.

When your day begins with the sound of your mobile alarm rudely awakening you from a deep slumber, accompanied by your involuntary groan at facing a new day of work, you know that life isn’t all it is made out to be.

Ambition is overrated in today’s world. From childhood, you’re taught to battle with life’s forces, stomp out your competition, push yourself to the extreme and prove to be the ultimate survivor. Ride a wave of glamour, glitz, fame, money and power. Reduce your hours of sleep, make each moment count and let the world huff and puff to keep up with your steep rise.

Even if it means that your head is constantly cluttered with useless information, almost making you think you’ve become a schizophrenic. And making you forget all of that which really matters. You eat food so fast that you’ve forgotten what makes any meal distinct – the taste doesn’t count anymore, does it? – only time does. The bags under your eyes, your constant respiratory ill health or the digestive tablets you pop by the dozen are all hidden from the glare of your followers. Somewhere a secluded doctor is privy to the depressing problems of your body combating with your lifestyle.

Take it easy, buddy. Life can wait. Time can wait. People can wait.

YOU matter. Your happiness matters.

And the realization that your happiness may not be what the world defines as happiness also matters. In the long run, yes, it will matter that you have survived. But it will also matter HOW you have survived.

Making today’s time count is important. Making your life count is more important. Don’t drive yourself up a wall where you’ve finally nowhere to go but straight down.

Wake up in the morning – tomorrow morning – and take a good look at yourself in the mirror. Ask yourself, “are you okay?” “Are you feeling good?”

Spend some moments to savour your feeling about yourself. Savour your realization that you want to make life easy and good for yourself. You want to make that effort. Only because you are the most important person in this world. To you.

And also because you will never be able to give to someone else, unless you have given to yourself. Your friends, your family, your spouse, your kids, your colleagues, your work, your boss – everyone is counting on you to keep yourself happy. Because if you are unhappy it will show up on all of them. If you have catered to your needs, you will be more willing to cater to theirs.

Ask yourself therefore: “what is my need?”

Do you yearn for time? Drop thoughts of your work and backlog – or maybe family pressures and commitments. Go, take a walk – somewhere where you can see and hear nature, possibly breath in fresh waves of air and feel your mind soar as your lungs expand. Don’t let thoughts clutter your mind. Occupy yourself with the present and your basic need to enjoy the moment.

Do you yearn for love? Go find it. Find it in the arms of a lover in your life, who’s ceased to occupy your formost thoughts – yes, there was love sometime in your life. Just that your drive for success has blocked that primal need too.

Or maybe you still don’t have a lover – if there is someone nearby who could fit the bill, go tell him or her how you feel. That takes quarter of the effort of having to keep your emotions bottled up within you.

And if you don’t have anyone at all, well, what the hell. Find friendship. Friendship eases even the most difficult of pains. Sob on the shoulder of a friend if you’re sad. Or better still, go get you and your friend large buckets of icecream. Crash on a sofa and watch your favourite comic movie. Healthy doses of laughter, and you’re left feeling fit and fine in a jiffy.

Connect with your emotional and physical selves. Hug your parents, and don’t say anything. Stop giving vent to the need the fill out verbal voids with nonsense. Ask your mother to rest her tired head on your lap, and gently let her know that you’re there for her. Place your hand on your father’s back, and soothe him silently – almost unconsciously.

Watch your little child play and let him/her/them use you like an amusement ride – climbing and running amok – nothing can gladden you like the pitter patter of tiny feet/hands – amidst of course, your groans of pleasurable pain. Take your teenage daughter/son out somewhere, where you both can connect – listen to him/her without judgement, and let them know that whatever goes wrong in their lives, you are there for them. Do you have a spouse who’s been with you for years, and you haven’t told them the magical three words lately? Say it now. And mean it. Marriage bonds two people in a way not even a blood relation can – it is the most precious of relationships. Make it count.

Make life count. Good day everybody 🙂

 

P.S. Want to know what I’m doing as I write all of this? I’m in a room, glittering with the light of the morning sun. The air is fresh, smelling of beautiful blossoms somewhere. Outside the window, squirrels hop along trees, and birds chirp their music. Occasionally, the sound of a train passing by, talks of people’s journeys. Journeys of life…