A - option
Other than jeans, tops , blouses... have you ever felt you don't fit into things anymore?? 'Things' could be people, groups, situations, workplace, society you live in.. so on and so forth. What simply was 2+2=4, is now , 2.5, 3 or sometimes 4.5 .. too much to swallow or sometimes, to little to munch. A repeated occurrence of this, could be termed as a phase.
The Pessimist would call the phase- 'mid life crisis', the Opportunist - 'a call to search your direction in life' and the Optimist- plain 'maturity'. Either which ways, for anyone who could lend a little time for oneself might confront this phase. A brilliant class of people cover it up with mundane, blind folded repetitive work and show the rest of us how stupid we are! Frankly I envy them :)
I wonder how our previous generations led their lives. They seem so sorted out. So much at peace with whatever they did/ and are doing. After my 'why' analysis , I derive : The disposables in their lives were minimal! Disposable income, disposable time, disposable resources.. were either negative, zero or minuscule. So the movement of the middle class kids ( meaning us) to upper middle class or upper class adults has shifted the 'non disposable' childhood to 'abundance' parenthood. And this also catapults us to the'phase' some of us find ourselves to be in .
Music has always been part of my DNA and helped me wade through the various stimuli life has thrown at me. But my appeal always stopped at the tune of the songs. Now,when I went ahead and confronted the words, I was confused! Why did I like the piece of creation more, the music or the meaning? This confrontation is what this phase of my life brought me eye to eye with.
Don't know who got there first- me or my husband. But the unwritten pact of being on the same page , brought us here together. This realization let to a lot of discussion. Individually we kept seeking what we loved to do and hoped it would lead us somewhere.
'Children' always brought us happiness. The innocence, the cheer, the zest for life, the viral laughter, the underlying principle of being in the moment have been infectious and influencing in both of our lives. Could we then replicate all these virtues without diluting them ever? Could we make more beings who spread love and life throughout and don't get influenced by any vices?
Could money, ego, society, rules, not affect the kids? Could they live on to be great beings untouched by all the negativity? Questions kept growing, answers were tried seeking.
Amidst this journey, we started growing closer to the basics- the start and end of all- The soil, mountains, rivers, trees! Doing and keeping on doing without asking for gratitude and filling the world with love and peace was the simple mantra of nature.
On 3rd April 2016, we decided to adopt a child. We decided to take care, to tend to and oversee it until it was ready to give back to the world. We bought 20 saplings! At dawn with the rising sun along with us, we planted the 20 babies near our society we stay in . We have hence been watering them every other night and also asking people to do it whenever they get time. A little bit of time and effort is all they need during the initial days. Once their roots are grounded, they are on their own, unlike humans wherein the process takes atleast 18 years!
There was an immense amount of satisfaction and joy empowering us. It was a means of expression, of returning, of feeling light and right! The 'phase' could have been an aftermath of just extracting and utilizing ( as taught brilliantly in my 5 years of management education) to our benefit, all that we gather in our life- money, material, resources, energy, relationships, feelings...
But here, with no intent to multiply, gain, return, store, or mere show off, we just gave back.
2+2 was definitely not 4 still, and the equation not exact - but we seemed to give away and gain ahead both simultaneously!
Shubha
April 15th 2016
The Pessimist would call the phase- 'mid life crisis', the Opportunist - 'a call to search your direction in life' and the Optimist- plain 'maturity'. Either which ways, for anyone who could lend a little time for oneself might confront this phase. A brilliant class of people cover it up with mundane, blind folded repetitive work and show the rest of us how stupid we are! Frankly I envy them :)
I wonder how our previous generations led their lives. They seem so sorted out. So much at peace with whatever they did/ and are doing. After my 'why' analysis , I derive : The disposables in their lives were minimal! Disposable income, disposable time, disposable resources.. were either negative, zero or minuscule. So the movement of the middle class kids ( meaning us) to upper middle class or upper class adults has shifted the 'non disposable' childhood to 'abundance' parenthood. And this also catapults us to the'phase' some of us find ourselves to be in .
Music has always been part of my DNA and helped me wade through the various stimuli life has thrown at me. But my appeal always stopped at the tune of the songs. Now,when I went ahead and confronted the words, I was confused! Why did I like the piece of creation more, the music or the meaning? This confrontation is what this phase of my life brought me eye to eye with.
Don't know who got there first- me or my husband. But the unwritten pact of being on the same page , brought us here together. This realization let to a lot of discussion. Individually we kept seeking what we loved to do and hoped it would lead us somewhere.
'Children' always brought us happiness. The innocence, the cheer, the zest for life, the viral laughter, the underlying principle of being in the moment have been infectious and influencing in both of our lives. Could we then replicate all these virtues without diluting them ever? Could we make more beings who spread love and life throughout and don't get influenced by any vices?
Could money, ego, society, rules, not affect the kids? Could they live on to be great beings untouched by all the negativity? Questions kept growing, answers were tried seeking.
Amidst this journey, we started growing closer to the basics- the start and end of all- The soil, mountains, rivers, trees! Doing and keeping on doing without asking for gratitude and filling the world with love and peace was the simple mantra of nature.
On 3rd April 2016, we decided to adopt a child. We decided to take care, to tend to and oversee it until it was ready to give back to the world. We bought 20 saplings! At dawn with the rising sun along with us, we planted the 20 babies near our society we stay in . We have hence been watering them every other night and also asking people to do it whenever they get time. A little bit of time and effort is all they need during the initial days. Once their roots are grounded, they are on their own, unlike humans wherein the process takes atleast 18 years!
There was an immense amount of satisfaction and joy empowering us. It was a means of expression, of returning, of feeling light and right! The 'phase' could have been an aftermath of just extracting and utilizing ( as taught brilliantly in my 5 years of management education) to our benefit, all that we gather in our life- money, material, resources, energy, relationships, feelings...
But here, with no intent to multiply, gain, return, store, or mere show off, we just gave back.
2+2 was definitely not 4 still, and the equation not exact - but we seemed to give away and gain ahead both simultaneously!
Shubha
April 15th 2016
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