KNOWING WHAT TO OVERLOOK

 


“The art of being wise

is the art of knowing what to overlook.”

William James

Simple things are, always, priceless! The wild flowers, for example… The hues on the sky… The sound of the sea waves… The silence of the valleys… The flight of an eagle… The busy bees… The discipline of the ants… The loyalty and the affection of dogs… The beauty of our wrinkles… The goosebumps the temple bells give… The tears, the fears and, yes, the simple joy coming from just be…

Less is more… Yes, it is. You don’t need much to make you feel happy and rich, you see. John Kabat-Zinn says, “Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more.”

Sometimes, it’s best to let it be… Too much concern and too much care, I have come to realize, only keep me on tenterhooks. Planning is good… But, unplanned things, often, are as glorious and as irreplaceable as the wild creations of Nature are…

Two days ago, a wheelchair-bound, elderly gentleman called me, all out of the blue. “I just called to wish you Merry Christmas in advance,” he said.

“How sweet!” was how I greeted him!

The same day, I received two more calls, again, all out of the blue. One person, who had just undergone a complicated surgery, said the same thing: “I just wanted to say ‘Hello’ to you." Then, she whispered quietly, “Who knows?”

It was an unplanned gesture… “Who knows?” did not need any explanation, you see!

The other call was from a dear ex-student of mine. “Sir, I am about to board the plane to Bangalore,” the young lady said, “Just felt like saying ‘Bye’.”

Amid the hustle and bustle of our frantic life, these simple, random things, really stand out… They touch; they stay! Someone, somewhere, always, is thinking of you… just as you and I do of someone. But, expressing that to one another - just like that – yes, makes a fulfilling experience in life!

You see, in Life, how little is needed to feel joyful!



Henry David Thoreau said this: “As you simplify your life, the laws of the Universe will be simpler - Solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness, weakness.”

Knowing what to overlook! Ah! What a wisdom that is!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: pixabay

Video: Paul Simon and Garfunkel/arqags79


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