Good Life

" Appreciate the good things in life!"-  this is something we commonly hear and even tell others during hard times and disappointing situations. Now, let me ask you, what are these 'good' things? I was pondering over this, when the beautiful morning breeze caressed my face and hair and patted me a "very good morning" today. And, I can tell you there are many things! Many things that long to get your nod of appreciation.

Humans, I believe are never content with what they have, more or less. For a better and good life we become adaptable and accomodating. Even for a septuagenarian, it has become a need to be able to handle a smart phone with the ease with which a wheel chair or a walking stick is managed. In both cases, the need overpowers the skill or aptitude.

After all, there isn't much space or scope for emotion or nostalgia in the 'real' world. Thanks to the infinite 'smilies' available on the social media, emotions are conveyed in a matter of seconds. Anger, fear, love, happiness, depression, loneliness, disgust- it's all out there for you to choose from, no matter what mood you are in! There is consolation that social media will never let you run short of emotions and nostalgia.

 But what about the 'real' things in life?  Like abandoning your house of 20 years and moving in to a villa overlooking a breathkingly beautiful sea? And the old T.V set that you grew up watching? Or the baking oven of your gandma? Things are fused with emotions, nobody can dispute that. But emotions no longer are held close to one's heart, if one is to move with the times and 'get a life'. So what about the house, theT.V and grandma's oven? Well, we mourn it, we miss it and slowly, we forget it. 

It is good to dream big and be ambitious because a life without these is disastrously dull and can get depressingly drab.  Being content with one's life leaves you with  the 'same job, same faces, same places, same food (and for some, whose outlook dictates their lives, even the same hairstyles and clothing! ' ) situation. What could be more dull than a life free of adventures and challenges?

But, in the process of going for our dreams and catching ultimate 'happiness', are we missing out on things that can give us the same?

When we are busy sending away text messages and have enough time to entertain and get entertained by the vast online community, aren't we missing out on the beautiful, star studded night sky out there ? Or the glorious full moon hanging over our heads as if  'just for us' ? 

When we hurry off to our destinations in the mornings with thousand and one things playing around in our already clustered and confused little heads, how irrelevant and and unnoticed the bright hopeful mornings appear to us! We hardly appreciate it, leave alone the chirping of the happy birds, the rustling leaves or the beautiful rose that bloomed after a long time! 

I understand we cannot turn a blind eye to the reality around us and wander around with a Wordsworthian or Keatsian mind, but aren't we denying ourselves quite a lot by being absorbed in a world that is just not 'real' ? When we pour praises of appreciation for a photo of a friend who is a friend of your friend's cousin's fiance, do we even spare a minute of appreciation for someone who lives in our own house? How many times do  " You look so beautiful in this saree!"  appear in a 'virtual' conversation and how many times in a 'real' conversation?

Appreciating the photos of a hundred friends would go waste as dust if you fail to notice your mom who goes out for work clad in a beautiful saree. Small, regular, 'often-taken for granted' things deserve your praises too! Because those, I consider are the real,beautiful things!-  that you ought to be grateful for in your life!