WHETHER TO SEE SUNSHINE OR SHADOW

 




“Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see

the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.”

Helen Keller


 

I don’t think, that there is anyone around us, who doesn’t realize the importance of being positive in life. Yes, the energy and motivation to do well and do good in life come from a positive state of mind. But, I, also, don’t think, that there is anyone around us, who thinks it’s possible to stay positive, ‘always’.

Writing by blogs, teaching my students and several such activities give me the greatest joy. That is the positive space I long to be in… But, I have seen, during the course of writing and teaching, that, at times, I can literally touch the negativity… Irritations, frustrations, gloom, lack, impatience and, even, arrogance. All this springs up right through my day… There are times, when I tend to lose trust in people, lose hope… feel bitter about life…

But, but, but… Not always. Mercifully, these gloomy bouts, like smokey clouds, do pass quickly, letting me see the sunshine, all over again…

Happily, Helen Keller’s advice, to keep face to sunshine doesn’t have an ‘always’ in it. The Legend knew, that it’s not possible for her to do so in her own life… All that she tried to do was, perhaps, to keep lifting her face to sunshine, time and time and time again…

The shadow – the negativity, if we wish to call it – shall, always, be present around us. But, whether to see the shadow or the sunshine – well, that’s a constant choice before us…

The people we surround with, the films, programmes and videos we watch… The books we read, the messages and forwards we choose to believe in and spread… The strong political and religious ideologies we choose to harden ourselves with… These are some of the areas where the choice has to be exercised. Just before I started writing this Post, I clicked ‘Not Interested’ option for scores of YouTube videos that kept popping up on my phone. Meanwhile, there was this video, too, that had popped up…

 


 


 


Yes, I had chosen to watch this…

Sunflowers choose to keep their faces to sunshine, no doubt. But, sadly, even they wither away. We are better placed, you see, as far as our choices are concerned… We can tune-in to the sun-frequency more often, and more effectively, than the sunflowers do…



GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.:pixabay

Video: H.H. Radhanath Swami

Comments

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

"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 painful that
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 does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...