Present Continuous

Not the tense. But life. I have a tendency to dig into the past and worry about the future, while forgetting about the present. Someone told me to live in the present and treat it as continuous because that is the only truth. Makes sense. But the mind has a pattern and it has got used to a certain way of thinking and doing. Consciously trying to control it from wavering into the past and future, is not working. After all, certain decisions I take now will have a bearing on the future, and this cannot be denied.

But it is the paramount truth that life (or is it destiny?) has a style of its own, showing startling and unexpected things when we are not ready. So, what’s the point of living in a bubble assuming that everything is in my control? I will never know what will happen! There is something larger than me which is fitting every day of my life as a puzzle and the final picture will be seen at the end. I just hope that picture is worth it! And, that I have it in me to face the consequences of all decisions which I take.

As usual, DVG's perspective!

ದಿವಸದಿಂ ದಿವಸಕ್ಕೆ ನಿಮಿಷದಿಂ ನಿಮಿಷಕ್ಕೆ ।
ಭವಿಷಿಯವ ಚಿಂತಿಸದೆ ಬದುಕ ನೂಕುತಿರು ।।
ವಿವರಗಳ ಜೋಡಿಸುವ ಯಜಮಾನ ಬೇರಿಹನು ।
ಸವೆಸು ನೀಂ ಜನುಮವನು ಮಂಕುತಿಮ್ಮ ।।

Day to day, moment to moment,
Live on, without worrying about the future.
There is a Master to fit in the detail;
You only need to endure. –Mankuthimma

Love

When you are in love, everything looks good. All simple things will seem to have many layers hidden beneath and you will have fun peeling those layers. You will look for beauty in everything. You feel connected with the bigger network of what you can’t see but feel. You can be in love with yourself, or a person, or a thing, or an idea even. It is all the same.

Love is a positive feeling. It grows and nurtures the mind that loves. The one who loves himself is happy, content and at peace with everything that surrounds him. He understands people around him and behaves in a way in which he does not hurt them knowingly.

In the journey of life, each of us wear different hats – play different roles. Our capability to love is tried and tested at every step. It is easy to lose sight, react to situations and unknowingly behave in a way which masks our capability to act with love. It takes conscious training to put love first.

This emotion which we humans are capable of is such a gift – the default emotion which we have as children sadly outgrowing as we grow up. Rules about what is good and bad, what is correct and wrong, notions about the right way to grow up, to live life, definitions of success, failure – all together imbibed into a growing child’s psyche somewhere diminishes the ability to love – to accept without judgment, to think freely, to be creative. Barriers are already built by the time the child grows.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” 
― Rumi

When the child grows and hopefully rediscovers love, a lot of time is lost, lot of decisions taken, lot of actions performed – the adult might feel let down. A new process then starts to rebuild what is lost.

Among all the stuff written about parenting, one thing which I feel is of utmost importance is to ensure that the child’s ability to love and to be happy remains untouched. If every child is brought up this way, imagine the world we will have.

How to do this? Well, it is a journey of discovery for the parents too – albeit with the big picture in mind! It is tough but it is worth it, isn’t it?

On that note, here’s Calvin with his big picture ;-)