Learn life's lessons

Life is not complicated... life is simple. It is people who make it complicated because they like drama and action.

I came across this phrase while googling on the internet. It made me pause to think. I somehow realized that it fitted with some thoughts which have been working in my mind. Take life as a painting coated by a master painter. The subjects of his painting are in complicated scenarios. Though his work may have been more simplified we choose to make it complex since there is no use looking into details when it is all out in the open in one bold stroke.

Going back to my infancy, I recall that we were worried about things like if we would get a toy we had been vying for or if our best friend would start talking to us again. Then on to schooldays when we were concerned about parental wrath if we do not score

well in exams or if our house would have to face the humiliation of being defeated at the annual sports meet. Later, during the higher education era and employment days, life becomes more complex. We are thrown into a battle of hardships with many issues like survival, backstabbing, unfairness, romance and health. Sometimes the weight on our shoulders is so heavy that you almost collapse. Some do but others have the will to stand up no matter how many times we are shot down.

Looking upon a generation younger than ours I note that they are obsessed with different issues. Most of them are not trivial but things they have built up in their mind. They have enjoyed life's comforts more than us. While we battled with books to do research for our projects and walk miles and wait for hours for the school bus, they have computers and school vans at their fingertips. Yet, they who while away time surfing the web, playing cricket or clubbing, are flanked by depression and faith-related issues.

I peek into the life of two of my friends. Their lives are complex because they have let passing thoughts take control over them rather than let the mind take control over these fancies. One completely ignores common sense and chooses to live in a fantasy world while the other is concerned with a future he chooses to predict. What contrasting view points and personalities! Yet they are happy enough to indulge in their rosy/dark worlds.

An empty mind is a devil's workshop. When they have nothing of interest in mind, they let fleeing thoughts take root. So deeply do these roots dig in that they do not consider the advice given by others.

When people close to you give similar advice, the listener should heed a fraction and ponder over them. Their words might mean something. Stubbornness and aloofness will get them nowhere. As an Ethiopian proverb goes Give advice; if people don't listen, let adversity teach them.

"When I look back at my childhood I realize how simple life was. I only worried about little things which I would have dismissed with a bat of an eyelid today," I told a friend some weeks back.

He smiled.

"That is natural. When you have less attachments, you'll have less sufferings. When your world is getting larger, you will get lost in its vastness. Maybe you should write about that," was his answer.

Shehara - [email protected]