“God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy, went on to become one of the best sellers and making her an eminent name in the world of writing. But what is Man of Small Things all about. Man by no means is a trifle being. His is the creation of consciousness and experience, of feelings and actions.
When he is part of that magnificent One (pure energy) why associate him with small things? It is so because major part of our life is made up of small incidents and similar thoughts. If these very little things are lived in a big way, the reasons to smile will not have to be searched high and low. Special events or life defining ones do not happen every now and then. Although in effect every moment is significant because we can feel differently with each passing moment, but to our untrained minds they seem routine and mundane. But the fact remains that big events do not occur big time in our lives. Thus if we wait for specific occasions to rejoice, celebrations will be few and far between. However, irrespective of our stature, age or profession, all of us have experienced this queer exuberance where we wanted to call our bosom friend in the middle of the night and share the secret reason of our excitement. That piece of information may not be really consequential in your life but at that point of time it was the genesis of all vivacity.
The good news is that such moments of sheer delight are not numbered; they are born out of OUR DESIRE to enjoy life and hence can be countless. We may not wake up our buddy very often from his slumber but there is no stopping us from feeling exalted on our own.
But life does not always present itself in the way we picturise it and so are our situations not always conducive to our wishes. But we still have a free will to exercise, i.e. the choice to paint the picture with our own colours. When the circumstances are undesirable there are two options, either to grudge about them or to accept them. The first option is a natural reaction wherein we feel stifled and frustrated in the uncongenial condition. And most often we crib and carp. But this will not be a wise man’s choice.
Accepting things and looking for reasons to be happy in them is a sign of maturity and accomplishment. But it would be grossly wrong to mistake acceptance to surrender. We are not talking about being cowed down or intimidated by the wrongs of others. To be unjust is certainly derogatory but to tolerate injustice is a crime. And yet I am sure we have experienced such times and people which were beyond our power of will and reform. But still what is possible is changing our perspective towards them i.e. from that of cribbing to cajoling.
A beautiful prayer reads as follows, “God give me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, give me the courage to change the things I can and give me the wisdom to know the difference.” Acceptance of situation is definitely difficult but mere acceptance is a passive approach. We are humans with the ability to think, act and experience. How quickly we adapt to the situation and create reasons to smile in them is a test of our determination towards being happy.
Florynce Kennedy laconically remarked, “Don’t agonize, organize”. And organizing requires action, action towards living life and not simply surviving it. A conscious act of laughing and living is not restricted for tough patches of life alone. Even in our daily lives, very often we lose the zest because everything seems usual and ordinary and we are simply chugging along. It is true that we don’t have adventures to look forward to or weddings to celebrate everyday but the fact that we wake up everyday to a new sunrise is evidence enough that each morning heralds a beautiful experience for us somewhere.
In the humdrum of our lives, we take a lot of magical things for granted. How long has it been since you observed the buds blooming into flowers or changing hues of the leaves. They are little things but if realized and relished can induce a flow of immense serenity. This is not confined to nature alone. Pleasure can be sought from our own nature i.e. our temperament or conduct. We do not need to wait for Christmas Eve to let our hair down and tap the feet or for Valentine’s Day to enjoy a candle light dinner.
To put it more practically, it might ill afford your pocket to plan a trip to Hawaii but wearing a floral head gear and a garland if you can prance around in the courtyard and feel happy, it might give a lot of vicarious Hawaiian experience and pleasure as well. Life is all about looking at it with cheery eyes and in all nook and corners. It is a progression of moments, how many of them we make special and joyous is our discretion.
Spotting happiness in the simplicity of life will lead to bigger and better things ahead. The ultimate goal of self is experiencing eternal bliss and just as drops of water make an ocean and grains of sand make a desert, so will these tiny reasons of joy make way for everlasting ecstatic soul. So live and love life for it’s a lovely lullaby.
