"Life is full of ups and downs" is a famous quote and we use it often to remind ourselves or convince ourselves and others that it is ok to fall.
Is it possible to treat both our ups and downs the same way? The goal or aspiration is to treat everything the same, isn't it!? One of my favourite songs - Mein zindagi ka saath nibhata chalagaya - has a line towards the end - Gam aur khushi mein phark na mehsoos ho jahan, mein dil ko uss makam pe lata chalagaya summarizes it so well and it has been my goto song for ALL my moods 😀
An early morning few weeks back, when I was concentrating on my breath, I started saying a thank you for every breath in. I paused when I was breathing out and realized that I had to say a thank you for each breath out as well. Because if there was no breathing out, breathing in cannot happen. So breathing out is equally important. This made me think about all the bad or negative things, which our mind labels as bad/negative/sad and I suddenly realized the importance of these so called bad/negative/sad things that happen as part of life! This realization helps us in achieving the state of looking at everything the same way!
So to reaffirm my realization, the two big beautiful roses in my balcony dried up and all the petals fell down. I cleared up the petals and saw two other very small new buds slowly trying to show their faces to me.
Nature is amazing!
Old flowers have to die and make space for the new ones to bloom! Only when there is a breath out state can there be a breath in state! Only when we keep giving away old clothes, can we have space for the new clothes we buy! Only when we fall down can we get up or rise!
Let us cherish all the experiences - good bad ugly sad - these lables are just names given by our own minds. Because every single experience is equally important! Let us say a THANK YOU to every experience every day without distinguishing them and see the magic unfold! Let us try it and see if a shift happens in the way we look at things when we are thankful to everything. Let us say a bigger thanks to the negative/sad events that happen and experience the magic!
As I type the words, I know that it is going to be hardest to say thanks when we or our loved ones experience health issues or even worse, when we experience a loss - a temporary or a permanent one. But shouldn't we be thankful for being healthy till the ailment hit or for the presence of someone till we lost them? Yes we cry, we feel sad, but at the same time saying thanks because the body part or he or she has given us so much when the body part was healthy or when the person was alive is crucial.
Let us be consciously grateful for everything we 'have' and 'don't' have from now on!
Love this quote I read long back -
Don't cry because it is over
Smile because it happened
