MENTAL PEACE IS ABOVE EVERYTHING!

 

 

My day starts at 7 am. I am up in my bed, staring at the painting hung on my room’s wall - a knife painting of a couple walking amidst greens.

 

The entire painting is a colorful depiction of the colors of life.

 I wonder, do we ever walk in peace like them..? Even during the most awaited vacation, there’s a constant juggling of activities and less time to be at peace.

 

Vacation memories apart, I can’t wait to make my home look sparkling, like the sea that dances to the sun’s shine. The routine begins hence. Everyday is a new day but the routine remains the same… new is the color of the sky, the trees capering and prancing to the music of the breeze, the activities of animals on the road, the sight of walkers with masks, the tune of the vegetable vendors on loud speakers! With so much to look forward to, the day is indeed going to turn out interesting. As I step into my cosy corner - the kitchen, new ideas for breakfast tend to freeze and I end up deciding on a regular menu! My cup of hot chocolate is in the making... only to be had cold while I finish my sanitizing routine! Nevertheless, the sanitized newspaper brings a sense of entertainment, to go through the eternal covid news, the dirty politics, the relaxing sudoku, the easy peasy word jumble and the glamorous Bollywood section. While I sip onto my drink, my darling hubby joins in with his cup of freshly brewed hot coffee, also to be drunk cold because of the sipping delay…caused by the engrossed, yet relaxing read of “The Speaking Tree’” and the like on the paper. So we enjoy the cold drink early in the morning and start our day with a smile on our face, exchanging views on the newspaper content. I m just done with expressing my views and can’t wait to get back to the meal prep, making him upset about the short morning catch up! I step downstairs after my quick shower and there he is, waiting to catch a glimpse of…yeah, he calls me “a breath of fresh air!”

 

When I freshen up, I actually see a fresh day ahead, with no complaints about the previous day, no worries about toxic relationships, no negativity about the current situation…it’s all about having mental peace from the start to the end of the day. It is easier said than done of course, but it is important to realize the value of that peace throughout the day. There may be and there will be such situations where you can lose yourself, and it is difficult to hang on with peace, but a conscious resistive effort to the negative energy driven within us helps strike the balance. I also tend to get sucked into stress situations but I convert it into a momentary thing and do my work happily… well, I’ve taken after my mum!😊😊

 

As I slide into the prayer room to offer my prayers to God for my existence this day, the good things I’ve been showered with, to give me strength to withstand the bad that may come through, my lil' one appears with a cute sleepy face shouting off the name he calls me by and starts the noisy, shrilly part of the day! The endless gaming encounters ring in my ears like the chanting of mantras! Busiest is this part of everyday. 

Eventually, it is breakfast time and I cherish the time I spend serving the regular breakfast and listening to the disappointed little soul saying, “Why can’t you make paneer everyday?” Haha

 The day goes by with some reading, writing, quilling, napping, multiple encounters with the wrongly-ordered-capacity washing machine and so on..

 I rightfully wait for our “we time - the tea time”, in the evening, when he wraps up work for quite some time. The kingfishers, the cuckoos, the sparrows, the parrots and the crows are of course still existent in the world irrespective of the quality of air we have created for them and we get to smile listening to the chirping. Some time does go by, recognizing the neighbors walking, and talking about the incidents we associate them with. As we continue talking, admiring Bangalore’s beautiful weather and blissfully enjoying the tea, now, the hot tea.., a feeling of something like that heat, burning the tongue, pricks my skin! It is of course, the friendly, uncalled for neighbour, the mosquito! A true indicator of how much time we have spent relaxing, and pushing us to resume home-bound activities!

 

Sometimes, a noisy dinner is what we have, while having to give out behavioral instructions to the sonny boy, but most times, a casually silent and sumptuous carb-ful one for rejuvenation of the energy lost during the late evening workout!

My day wraps up with a game of Carrom with my hubby, good amount of social media catch-up and a sound sleep, a little later.

 

When I am content with smaller pleasures, mental peace flows like a lazy river and life gives me immense opportunities to make this world a happy place for everyone around me. There are of course desires, in plenty, but it’s not like I am losing sleep over it. For some, there are disturbing circumstances, high ambitions, life goals, work pressures, health issues, hectic schedules...the list is endless. I have some of these as well…I’m no perfect, but peace is about how best you can bring out the best in you!

 

The key to having mental peace as you grow up is a good bringing up by parents, not the classes you attend in adulthood. All that is needed, is the time given to kids which they will cherish forever. For me, the non encouragement to my cribbing by my mum, and the solution-oriented conversations with my dad, have been the greatest influence in being what I am today. Often, we tend to include and involve kids in unwanted adult conversations, making their brittle mind lose peace at a young age. Instead, the negative thoughts in them should constantly be transformed to a much colorful picture of life, else, they will be last in the list of peace-experiencing individuals and turn into running commentators of problems in life!

It is important to strive to make the world a happier place to live in. Life is too short to complain of shortcomings but long enough to lead it meaningfully.

 

I’m no perfect human being, but I accept my negatives, and irrespective of whether I’m going to change immediately, I give it a thought. Just doing that is an indicator of me becoming a better person tomorrow!