STRESSED OUT FOR WHAT?




I was in a departmental store, last evening. Diwali being close, there was a long queue at the payment counter. On the large TV screen, just behind the cashier, Mr. Bean show was on… And, after a very, very long time, I found myself just laughing, the way I would do as a little school-child. I really didn't mind the waiting… I really didn't care as to who stood around me… Mr. Bean’s stupid exploits just broke my resistance… For that moment, I really forgot that I have been heavily stressed out all through the day.


Stressed out for what?


Yes, I can give a hundred reasons why I was stressed out…


But, justifying my stress with reasons is the surest way of re-enforcing it in my life…


While watching Mr. Bean’s exploits, I found the stiffness in my body all dropping, the serious-as-grave look in my eyes turning into a twinkle of a little child… and, the desire to ‘enjoy life’… laugh… play like a child… springing up in my soul, all over again!


The stress comes from my resistance… Weaving gory stories out of small stuff...


Yes, by “sweating our small stuff!”


Are all stuffs ‘small’?


Maybe not. But, I realized, yesterday, that stressing out with our ‘problems’ is more of a habit… as laughing it out, too, is!


If I do not laugh, every little problem or irritation can become ‘big stuff’… and cause a hell amount of stress in my life.


I have been watching Mr. Bean’s exploits right since I woke up, today… The fellow is an idiot. Like me. Completely self-centered. Like me. He comes out with crazy solutions for his crazy problems. Like me. Finally, ends up losing! Or is it winning?


We are all crazy… but, we only cover-up our craziness!




Laughing it out is a choice 


as much as stressing it out is… 


If I have to spend my little time in this world, 


why spend it with such corpse-like gloom?



I keep telling myself, I would rather spend it watching Mr. Bean’s crazy exploits…


I am still laughing…






GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Yogita Tipnis



Comments

Harita Desai said…
Felt a lot light after reading and watching the video. Thanks. Harita
November 5, 2012 at 8:47 AM
Uma Suresh said…
Mr. Bean makes me laugh and do away my tensions. thank you Gerry.
- Uma
November 5, 2012 at 8:48 AM
Ajay said…
thanks for highlighting the importance of laughing and not let the stress over weigh on our lives
March 5, 2013 at 12:33 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

"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...