Life
I will be graduating pretty soon and moving on to the next stage in life. Till now I had a clear goal in life, ie., to finish up my studies. That was pretty much my goal all through my life, as my parents were very keen on me completing my studies. But now that I am graduating and moving on to next stage in life (work etc), I have to seek new goals in life. The more I was thinking about the goals in life, the more I was thinking about life in general. I had a conversation with a very close friend of mine about this topic and that set into motion a through process that went on for sometime and this is what I could conclude.
The ultimate truth is that change is the only thing that is permanent in life. I have heard this statement, I have read books on it and I have thought about it. But I did not understand the implication of the statement until about 2 days back.
The day we are born the biological clock has started to tick. After every second, we are closer to leaving this world. There is no reason to believe that our stay in this world is permanent. All people who were born 200 years ago are no longer among us and 200 years from today I wont be alive*. After the initial panic of "realizing" this obvious truth, I understood that so many things in life that I take for granted is actually very precious that I cannot afford to waste. As a simple example, the breaths I take every moment in life. There is no joy in me for every breadth that I take. It is so "mundane" and common that suddenly it is no longer very interesting to enjoy the fact that I am alive and that it is actually a very nice feeling to experience each breadth in. There are few times when I am happy about the fact that I am breathing fine. I am sure as a new born baby, I would have been very happy (and relieved) to finally breath for the first time and fill my tiny lungs with life giving oxygen. When I workout or run for some distance, every breath I take after I stop excercising would be a very welcome experience. In my swimming class, when I was "drowning" in a five feet of water (I am almost 6 feet), the breadth after of air (instead of water) was very enjoyable. If I was suffering from cold and if the medicine relieves my blocked nose cavity, I would be very happy to breath normally. I am sure during the last days of my life, I would be happy for the fact that I am actually alive and breathing and scared of the thought that I might fail to take the next breath. Apart from these occasions, I do not think much about the fact that I am breathing normally and that I am alive.
If such a fundamental thing such as breathing is not permanent in life, then everything that we experience in life is not permanent. If we have such a thought process, so many simple things in life now suddenly become very interesting, important and a reason to celebrate. For example, simple things like the time that I spend with my friends, the joy of eating good food and writing my PhD thesis has now become moments to enjoy and savor.
This thought process brought me to a new state of mind. Every moment in life is precious and reason to be happy about. There is no reason to be unhappy in life. Because the very fact that I am living, is something that should be perceived with great joy. No matter in what situation I am in, I have to enjoy the moment. Because once the moment is gone, it never comes back. Our life is a journey in a one way street that terminates at the end. Dwelling on things that make us sad only takes away the time when we can be happy in this terminating journey.
Footnote:
*Medical science could alter the way cell grows and degenerate, making everlasting life a reality. Since that has not happened till now, and less likely to happen in my life time, I will assume that I am not going to benefit from it.
The ultimate truth is that change is the only thing that is permanent in life. I have heard this statement, I have read books on it and I have thought about it. But I did not understand the implication of the statement until about 2 days back.
The day we are born the biological clock has started to tick. After every second, we are closer to leaving this world. There is no reason to believe that our stay in this world is permanent. All people who were born 200 years ago are no longer among us and 200 years from today I wont be alive*. After the initial panic of "realizing" this obvious truth, I understood that so many things in life that I take for granted is actually very precious that I cannot afford to waste. As a simple example, the breaths I take every moment in life. There is no joy in me for every breadth that I take. It is so "mundane" and common that suddenly it is no longer very interesting to enjoy the fact that I am alive and that it is actually a very nice feeling to experience each breadth in. There are few times when I am happy about the fact that I am breathing fine. I am sure as a new born baby, I would have been very happy (and relieved) to finally breath for the first time and fill my tiny lungs with life giving oxygen. When I workout or run for some distance, every breath I take after I stop excercising would be a very welcome experience. In my swimming class, when I was "drowning" in a five feet of water (I am almost 6 feet), the breadth after of air (instead of water) was very enjoyable. If I was suffering from cold and if the medicine relieves my blocked nose cavity, I would be very happy to breath normally. I am sure during the last days of my life, I would be happy for the fact that I am actually alive and breathing and scared of the thought that I might fail to take the next breath. Apart from these occasions, I do not think much about the fact that I am breathing normally and that I am alive.
If such a fundamental thing such as breathing is not permanent in life, then everything that we experience in life is not permanent. If we have such a thought process, so many simple things in life now suddenly become very interesting, important and a reason to celebrate. For example, simple things like the time that I spend with my friends, the joy of eating good food and writing my PhD thesis has now become moments to enjoy and savor.
This thought process brought me to a new state of mind. Every moment in life is precious and reason to be happy about. There is no reason to be unhappy in life. Because the very fact that I am living, is something that should be perceived with great joy. No matter in what situation I am in, I have to enjoy the moment. Because once the moment is gone, it never comes back. Our life is a journey in a one way street that terminates at the end. Dwelling on things that make us sad only takes away the time when we can be happy in this terminating journey.
Footnote:
*Medical science could alter the way cell grows and degenerate, making everlasting life a reality. Since that has not happened till now, and less likely to happen in my life time, I will assume that I am not going to benefit from it.
posted by Kodak | 4:20 PM
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