Keep busy and you will never feel the blues, says REENA SINGH
This morning, as I was leafing through the pages of a tiny booklet entitled, Be Tension Free by Shri Shri Kinkar Vitthal Ramanuja, one tiny chapter within it caught my eye. It was entitled, ‘Happiness Through Contentment’ and the first line read:
‘One of the easiest ways to obtain freedom from tensions is to adopt an attitude of contentment. Sage Patanjali, in his important work, Yoga Sutras declares:
Santoshaat anuttamah sukhalaabhah or the greatest happiness lies in self-contentment. The author has added his own commentary to this line. He says, “You must try for the best in your material and spiritual pursuits, but gracefully accept whatever God grants according to your fate.”
That’s easier said than done. For most of us, this is difficult advice. When you have worked night and day in pursuit of one’s desire – perhaps admission in the university of your choice, success in an examination, or in a task at your workplace, it is not easy to stomach a disappointment. Some take it in their stride, while others try and shrug off their disappointment, pretending that it wasn’t too important anyway and that it certainly wasn’t the end of the world if they did not accomplish it.
A few choose to be fatalistic, saying “It wasn’t meant to be,” or say, “Something else will soon come along.” Someone older around you or a well-meaning friend will try to console you with the those oft-repeated words, “When God closes a door, he opens a window somewhere.” Or someone will tell you, “To every cloud there is a silver lining.”
Hmmmm…really, that doesn’t help. Are you really in the mood to hear all that?
So, what can put you in a better frame of mind? Another bit of sage advice comes through all those writers of self-help books. “Write a Gratitude Journal,” they scream at you, so you sit down with a blank page open in your diary and try hard to think of things you must be grateful for.
You write down (in that order):
A loving family
A cheerful home to live in
Free access to God’s sunshine
…A thought strikes you at this point. If this sunshine is free, why is it that so many of us are sadly lacking in Vitamin D levels? The stats for India are dismal. Between 70 to 90 per cent people have low Vitamin D levels.
‘This gratitude thing is not really getting me anywhere’, you think to yourself and abandon your fledgling list.
I now recall the time when I had been a part of a free meditation course by Deepak Chopra on abundance as part of a WhatsApp group. My gratitude journal that I so painstakingly maintained during the course of that meditation had this affirmation recorded on the opening page:
‘Starting today, I am constantly attracting abundance with my thoughts.’
This affirmation was repeated seven times, obviously the task for the day.
Day 2 had another task: Drawing up a long gratitude list of 50 people. I scanned the list I had made. Several, long-forgotten people who had contributed to my life, especially my English language and literature teachers in several schools that I had attended as an army daughter were there in my list. These teachers had taught me to appreciate this fine language and learn it together with its many little nuances.
But that wasn’t the point of writing this little piece that started with reading a chapter titled, ‘Happiness Through Contentment,’ from a little booklet called Be Tension Free. My point is that according to wisdom I have gleaned through the course of my own life and that of others who remain content and happy is to remain busy and active doing a fair mix of useful and practical things after you have taken care of all your duties and tasks for the day at home and elsewhere. Read good books, but also read racy thrillers to keep that adrenaline good.
Exercise, walk, take to gardening, grow kitchen vegetables and see useful YouTube videos on a host of things, some fun and some instructive. The great thing about today is that one can never be bored at home. There is always so much to do. I know of people who have taken to doing courses on Coursera and Udemy – there is no age for learning. And in this way, they keep young, motivated, and ‘with it’. These are not people who complain of life giving them raw deals, but they are people who are always on the go, waiting for an opportunity to do more, and to learn more.
That, according to me is what keeps you feeling good, driven and motivated about yourself. Turning 60, 70, 80 and even 90 is inevitable. But age has nothing to do with feeling old. If that feeling of ageing ever threatens to hit, get up instantly and take a walk. Then, simply get on to doing SOMETHING USEFUL. You will feel good about yourself. And infinitely happier.
Reena Singh has more than 37 years’ experience in senior editorial positions in The Times of India (TOI) and Genpact. She was Deputy Editor with TOI’s spiritual newspaper, The Speaking Tree, where she spent nine years.
Featured Picture: Sudha Murthy is 70 and on her toes all the time
Beautiful article. Contentment comes with acceptance of life as it keeps in unfolding. I have tried to live by this for a long time now and it allowed me to do things I had never thought of ever doing like writing, painting etc. I try to live by what makes me comfortable and not try to fit in the norms of the society. Happiness comes from
things that pleases you. I can also binge watch a series on TV and not feel bad 🙂
There is always enough room for a proactive person to be innovative, and it can be anything like the opening up the window to look afresh at goings on there outside, to engage in any creative work like experimenting in kitchen in making for the day just one-dish-simple-meal, or making a new friendship with neighbouring child…any thing it can be…
Just by getting up and giving it a go life reveals many a avenue where we can engage ourselves and gather new flavours that can add joy to our life…Petty pleasures prove to be pretty good often especially when zest & zeal keep waning away in later phase of life. Indeed, nothing like auto motivation and it works like a wonder to sail through smoothly in life.
True to the spirit of your post Reena ji, no helpers are really around, we only owe ourselves to be contented and genuinely happy.
Really a very inspiring article enjoyed it thoroughly.
Good message, remaining active in all stages of your life is the mantra to remain happy
Good efficient living results in successful better mundane living.
To cultivate a grateful mind and procure the costliest gem called contentment, one needs to look within and learn the subtle gems.
Nice discussion mam!