| Most of the time, we are thinking about life, not living life. We are not allowing the life energies to function to their fullest exuberance. Someone told you, “I think therefore I am.” Is that really true? It is only because you exist that you can generate a thought, isn’t it? Your thought process has become so compulsive and your focus has shifted from your existence to your thought to such an extent that now you are beginning to believe that you exist because you think. Even without your silly thoughts, existence happens. What can you think, really? Just the nonsense that you have gathered and recycled. Can you think something other than what has been fed into your head? All you are doing is recycling old data. This recycling has become so important that people even dare to say “I think, therefore I am.” And that has become the world’s way of life. Because you are, you can think. If you choose, you can fully be and still not think. The most beautiful moments in your life – moments of bliss, moments of joy, moments of ecstasy, moments of utter peace – were moments when you were not thinking about anything. You were just living. People who have been living happily through the pandemic did not think about what awaits them daily. They lived with gratitude that they were alive every moment and did not think about what worse could happen to them. I know how hard and exhausting the last two years have been for most of us . We have lost loved ones, jobs and business was affected. Millions have experienced mental health challenges and are still struggling with finding their way forward. It has been a very emotional and challenging time and yet when I ask many of our Rotarians if something positive came from the pandemic almost everyone said, “Yes.” While addressing my Rotary Club, I asked the members what they learned about themselves during the pandemic. A lady Rotarian stood up and said, “I learned I was stronger than I thought. I was more resilient than I knew.” Many Rotarians shared how they adapted, innovated, reinvented, grew, and are now stronger because of the adversity they faced. Adversity is a university and it is a great teacher. For me personally, I don’t know if I grew stronger. I would say I became more loving, compassionate and focused on relationships more. I shed tears for the loss of my close friends many times. I realised that it was more important to be kind than to be correct while dealing with people, especially those working for you in your house or business. Speaking of love, the biggest positive take away from the pandemic was the time I spent with my family. Since I wasn’t traveling, like I usually do for many Rotary events in a year, I spent a lot of time discussing many things with my wife at home and realised that at every stage in your life, your spouse has more wisdom and energy to make you look ahead with confidence. Human beings have invented millions of ways to suffer. For all this, the manufacturing unit is just in your mind. When you have risen above your mind, this is the end of suffering. When there is no fear of suffering, there is absolute freedom. Only when this happens, a man is free to experience life beyond his limitations. Pandemic taught me this and the strengthened family bondage made me step into 2022 with renewed vigour and to develop a clear space between me and my mind. I am now able to experience a completely different dimension of existence. You know, people who think too much about their own nonsense end up ignoring life around them. They are the people who don’t smile at anybody or even look at anybody in the world. They have no eyes to look at a flower, a sunset, a child or a smiling face – or if it is an unsmiling face, they have no inclination to make it smile; they have no such small duties or small cares in the world! They ignore all the life around them because they are all busy, solving the problems of existence. I realised that service through Rotary to those around us at such times gives me more happiness and we keep becoming true ‘Rotarians’ all over again. The planet is spinning on time. Not a small event. All galaxies are going perfectly well, the whole cosmos is doing great. But you have one nasty little thought crawling through your head, and it is a bad day. So, stop thinking negatively and look at how beautiful your life is and how wonderful it is to live amongst people who are just like you. Let’s move forward together! |
