Human’s forever are on the look out. When we are young we crave to be older. As students we aspire for the career ahead. Once in a relationship we dream of marriage. The married paradoxically often never make sacrifices to keep the promises made.
Work unfolds an never ending horizon of intent, deligence, determination and a gratification to persue forever. This way the treads of aspiration keep moving to weave in tandem a weird harmony of the paradox of life.
When children are young parents often crib about the responsibilities and not being available for their own passions. The contradiction is when they grow up and fly out of the nest we start grieving about the emptiness.
Not just with ourselves, we consider our lives as incomplete until we’ve seen our next generation grow and sustain. As humans we are never ever done and happy to call it an achievement or a blessing at any stage of life that we are in. The coolest enigma is “On retrospect the past is always the best”.
Have you noticed the rising numbers of geriatric melancholia and dejection. When we are younger and always occupied with the drudgery of profession we crave for a sabbath. With superannuation people sink into lonliness and forlorn despair. The paradox is work is painful but rest is paradoxically awful.
When we are living at the present moment unless we wittingly remind ourselves, we often drift into reflections of the past or ambiguity about the future. It takes a whole life time to learn to enjoy and cherish the moment with gratitude. Thankfulness as tribute to every little blessing life offers is a virtue to be learnt.
Whenever a single disaster strikes we brood and believe that ‘I am the most unlucky’. Till that day, did we ever accept that we’ve been lucky all along. There are two major highlights about crisis in life. Up until we face a problem we tend to believe subconsciously that ‘all this can never happen to me, be it illness, emotional or financial breaks” .The day we encounter catastrophe the paradox of trust divulges to make us say with conviction that “nobody is as unfortunate as me”
The reality about life is we human’s have paradoxical reactions and perceptions about life and living. It is prudent to live in the moment, savour the situation and cultivate thankfulness. There isn’t any human who’s walked this planet without obstacles. Every person on earth is facing their own battles. The virtue to harvest peace at any point in life is a consciously nurtured skill.
To relate happiness to money, social status and other gains is the most unrealistic balance of paradoxes. However we are not metahumans nor ascetics . We all need the stability of existence to feel tranquil . We need to willingly perceive that each of our battles may not be the same but we bear similar weightage for existence and so we need to be empathetic towards one another.
The need for losses to appreciate the happiness of gains is a great paradox of life. It’s often conspicuous that the most thankful and peaceful souls are the ones who have had terrible existence in reality.
When it comes to abiding ethics / rules in life all of us know every bit of it. The paradox is implementation of rules is always an expectation on others and with self we confidently blindfold ourselves with genuine reasons.This makes us often unhappy with what others are doing. Some people are always miserable with a set of friends and colleagues for unmet expectations. This class of people paradoxically least introspect on what they themselves have met up with.
We buy goodies ( outfits and accessories ) of living for that very special day of our lives, the paradox is we never realise when that day passes by . One fine day we count that the beautiful cookery and doilies never made it to the table in years waiting for the right day. Similar it is with our exquisite outfits.We buy them with pleasure and paradoxically linger for eternity looking for the opportune occasion till we realise it fits us no longer or at times has gone outmoded and obsolete. The paradoxes of life just go on.
But all said and done, the wrap up message that six decades of living has taught me is , Today is the best day of my life !!! lets believe this with affirmation. We have woken up to a new day, we are healthy, there’s a family to cater to and also lean back on and this is the greatest blessing I have from the universe. Feeling blessed is a rectitude of the witan.
Dr Madhumita Priyadarshini Das