Gerald D'Cunha

  “What is this life if, full of care. We have no time to stand and stare.” William Henrey Daveis   B eauty is there everywhere... We are surrounded by it. Only thing is: Most of it goes unnoticed by us... Because, we are frantically busy; or, we look for it somewhere far, in grand settings... Beauty around us, therefore, escapes our eyes... Many of us travel to exotic places... Yes, we call it break, vacation, get away, holiday and so on. But, if it is a ‘break’, a vacation – a leisure in true sense -   then, we should not be obsessed with broadcasting our ‘vacation’ live, 24/7 on social media... We miss the point – the very purpose of our ‘get away’ from our frantic schedule in our cities. It is difficult, for many of us, to stay anonymous for a few days during our get aways...   We need someone to remind us, that when we chase big things in life, we miss the beauty of small things around us. Like, I loved teaching as a young man... Teaching, bein...

  “Remember the blue sky… It may be, at times, obscured by clouds; but, it is always there.” Andy Puddicombe   I was talking to a young college-girl, yesterday. “What are your main hobbies? What activities make you happy and peaceful?” I asked her. “Sir, it is crochet,” the girl said, “I find it very relaxing.” To this young girl, it is crochet; to me, it’s my writings; to someone out there, it may be swimming, exercising, singing, poetry, reading, or, simply, sky-gazing… Each one of us pursues some activity or the other as our hobby that makes us happy and peaceful… very relaxed, as the young girl said. Our days can be frantic… running and rushing, keeping us constantly anxious… A hundred emotions, when clash inside the mind, it can drive us crazy… Only, when we slow down… step aside from our rush, we can see things ahead clearly. Katherine King puts it beautifully: “Slow down… You will get there faster.” E very activity can be done with our mindfulne...