A few days of festivities are entering a short pause – tomorrow being Govardhana Puja, followed by Bhai Dooj on Sunday, and then someone’s Gregorian birthday a few days later.
Days will speed past though. We will be staring at the end of 2024 soon, and the promise of another year that hopefully brings less violence to an already simmering world.
Or will it end up stoking the fire? After 2020, one cannot take what lies ahead for granted.
What does one do then? Endlessly speculate on what the future brings, or choose to live in the present – the now.
When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing in your life. Just as when you are drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life. Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole world revolves-slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life.
Easier said than done. One does occasionally forward such profound thoughts of Thich Nhat Hanh, but is it really this easy to practice in real life?
Every moment is a struggle. One between the ideal you, and the you that is living the moment. The gap narrows many a time, but then widens again. It may not be possible to be the ideal you every day of your life, but in my opinion, if you have made your best efforts to close that gap as much as possible, it’s a victory of the process.
The only judge of whether you have been able to do this is – You.
And we all know how biased we are when it comes to ourselves.
The annual 30 days fitness challenge begins tomorrow. A friendly competition as well, so one has to clock in at least 30 minutes a day, with those clocking the max winning.
So there is a small incentive to “rig the numbers”, given that no one actually checks that well.
Can win yes, may also get accolades, but how much of that training you do actually changes you? How many moments will you experience a better you in those 30 minutes every day? How much of a changed person will you be thirty days from now?
There lies the actual challenge. Winning against yourself – your laziness, your inertia, your passiveness.
Dussehra is also a victory of the self, so is Navratri, so is Deepawali. And so is every single challenge that you undertake. Only fools do it for the public:)
Wish you a very happy 30*30!
May the best version of you WIN!