EVERY DAY, WE ARE ONE STEP CLOSER














“Don't ever save anything for a special occasion…
Being alive is the special occasion.”

 ~Author Unknown

Well, this Post is not about dying… It is about living… living with gratitude, joy and no regrets…

Yesterday, in our Tai Chi class, we saw our oldest (youngest!!) student Sundandaji – who is some 80-plus – after a long absence. As soon as she arrived, she handed to our sir, Rakesh, an envelope containing fees and started explaining to him why she had been absent for such a long time.  There were so many genuine reasons… Sunandaji lived alone… Despite two maids at home, the situation was as good as having no help at home… “I end up doing everything,” Sunandaji told us.

Rakesh sir doesn’t make any fuss about our absenteeism, even though commitment and continuity are of utmost importance in his view. When we all come out with our excuses for our absence, he is really cool about it… “Now that we are here, let’s make the most of it”… yes, that’s the approach our sir has for a healthy well-being in life…

Don’t keep regrets… Don’t give excuses… Don’t blame… and, above all, own up, take charge and enjoy the moment.

“That’s celebration of life,” echoed the infectious Kannan, who himself had turned up after many Sundays. He continued, “I don’t plan in advance… I don’t keep too many things in my mind… If you ask me what I just said, I won’t be able to tell you… I just grab with both hands what is right here before me… the here and now.”

Kannan is a cancer survivor… and, therefore, is strikingly aware of what he is talking about… “Every day, we are one step closer,” he said it so casually in his own inimitable way, yesterday.

I paused!

“The blog is ready,” I told everyone around me… “Every day, we are one step closer!”

What a truth!


Many a time, truth comes and stares at us in a most unlikely way… Like it did, last morning. Kannan is so spontaneous while speaking, that some of his utterly casual words hit you with tons of truth…

Are we all going to go one day?

Is life too short?

Is it worth living our days here in this world with blame, regrets and guilt, with envy, hurt and hatred?

Why don’t we learn to accept gracefully what we are ‘given’?

Why don’t we thank and rejoice?

“The lesser you think about yourself, the better you feel about yourself,” Kannan casually told Sunandaji…

What Kannan meant was: the lesser you self-pity and complain, the lesser you compare yourself with others…the  better for your well-being… Probably, the more aware you become of the truth that, every day, you are one step closer to death… yes, this realization is enough to help us take one step closer to the celebration called LIFE!


GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: Divesh Shah

Comments

Hans Georg Lundahl said…
Please help me celebrate 1 000 000 + readers:

1,020,997 views
https://nov9blogg9.blogspot.fr/2016/10/1020997-views.html

And take a look on previous post too.
October 17, 2016 at 10:21 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...