“Living in the moment means letting go of the
past and not waiting for the future. It means living your life consciously,
aware that each moment you breathe is a gift.” – Oprah Winfrey
While
we pass by our lives, living through tough times, happy times, sad times and
dull times, deep inside us are some stored emotions that just doesn’t leave us,
no matter how long you have come by. Stubborn, arrogant just like a child
demanding for a candy, it stays with us as we grow older constantly reminding us
of those moments, especially ones that had hurt us. It is etched so deep that
the scars left behind keep surfacing every now and then. The incidences are
though long forgotten, the emotions stay intact with us. Embracing those
dominating emotions, we sail through our days wearing masks of happiness or
satisfaction completely unaware of the consequences. Didn’t we all experience
one moment of our madness or one impulsive reaction or even a mere word getting
on our nerves, only to regret later? The simple reason for our weird behaviour
is the deep hidden pain or the anguish.
In
our struggle to make our life comfortable, as we grow, we learn to shut our
minds and shove off all the ill feelings that keep peeping now and then by
keeping ourselves busy. The long-forgotten child with the long-forgotten demand
for candy is now all grown-up with a much bigger demand what hasn’t been met
yet. It is that time of our life when we feel life is all messed up. But by
now, having come far we just do not want to let loose our past we have been
holding on. Failing to acknowledge the bottled-up emotions brewing to the brim,
we encounter helplessness, frustration and monotony, in life. And the results
come in different names, depression or midlife crisis or even severe.
These
words, as I write reminds me of my childhood days when I was always compared to
my twin who was the one to listen to my parents and me, a care-free person,
always up to something: picking up fights at play or the one who was always
caught up dozing during night time study. My scores were always less than
hers’. While I spent my pocket money to bring cakes to my little sister, she
saved. My circle of friends was mischievous and hers’ were all categorized as
‘good children’. I, who never liked reading and she, a book worm. I, though
woke up early would be late for school and she, up on time. The repeated
comparison had lowered my confidence and the feeling of worthlessness had
completely taken over me. It took me years to get back on my track. Eventually,
I learnt to stand up for myself. The emotions keep coming up sometimes, but
now, having come a long way, while I parent my three teenagers I learnt to let
go off the past ill feelings.
Life
has its own weird ways of teaching lessons. And no two lives are alike. Each
one has their own shares of experiences of good times and bad times, no matter
how hard you try or learn from other’s experiences. Worrying about the future
or thinking about the past is a sheer waste of time. Live and let live, forget
and forgive are two mantras to forge ahead.
Life
indeed is beautiful but a very short journey. So, it has to be lived in the
manner we love to. So, why crib and complain? Let’s take charge and steer it in the direction we
wish.
Celebrating
today, celebrating each moment and each day, living in the present is the only
key to live life fully.
