A huge shout out to Dehradun, a city of warmth and culture and soon becoming a smart city. I am honored to be writing my column- Mayaspeak in the Wonderful World Integrity Centre- Style, to share with you my thoughts and feelings and current events, books and the like. Here’s hoping you get my drift and enjoy talking about happenings, experiencing them and sharing them..in a circle of camaraderie and joy.
I used to enjoy making endless lists, like I know most people actually do, but learnt through trial and error that most lists do not go beyond the first stage, most times. Inspite of that I still do. The very act of having the thoughts, listing them and fancifully putting them down. We are indeed creatures of habit. So it’s the beginning of the year and I am committed to assessing my life, making definite changes if need be and doing a little gig about it.
I have grown up in a culture of overachievers, where people like us make things happen and we make them happen fast. But with that the days just seem to disappear and we realize that too much has happened much too soon. Not adding that wanting to achieve in a hurry has other consequences.
So I decided that this year the same could be done at a slower pace and perhaps with a finer tuning. A headless chicken never looked good in any form. To ease the beat- the -clock jitters requires absolutely no skill, no expertise and no commitment, perhaps just the intent to do so. I decided then in the moment that I would clear up my days to ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’.
Happy in the thought of ‘decisions’- I learnt to whistle, take a much needed nap, take longer than needed baths, watch the sun set in slow motion, basically forced myself to unwind, without feeling guilty. Smell the roses so to speak.
Slowing down does take time. To be in the state of doing nothing is like being on the outer edge- a kind of an impossible dream, the ultimate luxury. A nice way to understand this would be-understanding that peace of mind is not a rare and exotic flower. In actuality, relaxation is merely a native plant that grows in one’s backyard. One just has to cultivate the seeds of serenity.
So how did I do that, I learnt how to breathe all over again for starters, learnt to listen with intent, learnt not to rush to catch a plane, or lose a heartbeat while trying to beat a deadline. The mind in turn cannot ever be threatened, but gently cajoled into being harmonious with the conscience.
Procrastination is an art form, for instance it can take one from meandering to places you might have missed, like instead of going crazy trying to pay one’s bill, one can decide to just clean maybe a sock drawer. Or perhaps start writing their first novel instead of fixing the garage door.
It has nature’s way of tidying up messes and cleaning up unseen corners. So do try wasting time. A prime example would be vagabonding between 4 walls before going outside of them. Get sanguine…Make your hour of procrastination equivalent to an hour in the Gym.
This whole idea of making money is a relatively new invention.. how? Well, it is known to be something that feudal lords stumbled on some 800 years ago when they discovered quite by chance that their idle servants looked a lot happier when they had less free time, more work to do and of course a few more gold coins as reward. A sort of a new money economy in the 12th century started the modern age.
Meditation- I didn’t start with that, because its been done to death. But I think meditation and I think- Cat. They really know everything that there is to know about it. And we are so busy using meditation as an attempt to tame this wild and crazy creature we call- the Soul. Quietening down mental activity is not the easiest thing in the world, but we all know that some of the best thinking happens when the conscious mind takes a sabbatical.
Wearing down our restlessness is what helps as we pull our minds back to earth. Isaac Newton figured out the law of universal gravitation while sitting undisturbed under a tree, Ben Franklin invented the lightning rod while casually flying a kite, and Sir Thomas Edison came up with a light bulb filament while one day idly rolling kerosene residue between his fingers. Talking of cats, Albert Einstein pondered on the riddle of the Universe with a cat on his lap.
Just letting our thoughts go back and forth over the odds and ends of the day helps us in the wear and tear of out thoughts and feelings. Erosion is known to be a slow process, albeit a creative one. It’s the chiseling of the mountains that creates mountains, carves canyons and makes sand dunes.
Somebody once told me-The moment that you think that you have too much to do- break the anxiety by taking a ten min nap. As ludicrous as it may sound, dropping off the edge of consciousness always proved the best way to react for me. What better way to battle impossible work schedules, mixed up agendas and all kinds of headaches. Ten minutes and nobody even missed you. What feels and looks like inertia has magically healed you instead with firing neurons. So take that Gourmet nap..
And lets never forget the subtle art of listening, the hardest of it all. We hear because our ears crave sound bites. Do you know that whoever listens most is the one who actually controls the situation, even though what actually passes between a speaker and a listener goes way beyond a mere sharing of words. To listen well, is to turn your body into a sounding board for another’s thought, emotions and ideas. But I do believe and I suspect a lot of you know that- ‘Silence is Golden”
Leave something unsaid, do not share every detail, and make room for mystery always!
Previously published in WIC Style
