Life happens. Like a gust of wind it sometimes swoops down, unannounced and takes you by surprise. Love, loss, heartache, pain, happiness, suffering, highs, lows...... thy name is life.
It cannot be tamed, it cannot be controlled, some believe it has to be endured. But the art... the art of life, is living it. To simply be.
We all have a fair share of life, in all its flavors. Love, loss, happiness and suffering all are old friends. In elaborate performances we have tangoed away loss. In great depth have we commiserated with suffering. Like bubbles in air, we are enchanted by happiness. And such is the thing called life.
In my years, I have by turns battled, endured, shied away from and turned my back on life. It was exhausting. I was bruised and baffled. Defeated and brought down to my knees. And then one day as I sat outside and gazed at the trees I understood. I watched the branches simply swaying in the breeze. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and exhaled slowly. And just sat there. That was when I learned the art of living...
Like the wind passing through the trees, does life happen our way. Like the branches gently swaying along with the wind, should we just "be". If a branch were brittle and did not bend and did not sway, it simply snapped off in the wind. To fight life is futile. To shake one's fist at it is vain...
Life has to be accepted. Life has to be understood. Life has to simply be lived. It is not the enemy. It is not a friend. It is unexpected, it is magnificent. It is simply.... life.
Being no exception, I have blundered and made mistakes. I have jumped high, and reached for the sky. I have fallen, been beaten to the ground. I have won and I have lost. I have seen glimpses of heaven and once I even stood at the brink of my own hell and looked down into the maw that sought to engulf me.
Some days, like a sailor lost at sea, the winds of life have torn at me so that I hold on to my sanity by a bare thread. Some days life overwhelms me with a bounty I feel is more than my share.
I have sought to learn from my mistakes. I have made choices knowing the price that I pay. I have vices that I enjoy. I have regrets. I am imperfect. I am happy. I choose not to settle for less. I forget. I am vain. I choose to be selfish. I do good. I live life on my terms....
And then there are days.....
And yet there are days......
When life just happens. And then I sit down. I take a deep breath. I close my eyes. I exhale. I see the trees and how they sway gently in the breeze.....
Those are the days when all I can do..... is just Be.
8 comments:
And then there are days...
And yet there are days...
Indeed!!! :)
Ahhh...
Who are you? You got the gist of the entire piece. I must at least know the name of the kindred soul whose understanding resonates with mine...
Wrote this when I was 16 -so excuse it being a tad immature but the sad truth is I don’t produce similar stuff now – duniya nain teri (literary/intellectual pursuits!) yaad say begaana kar diya; tujh say bhi dilfareb hain gham rozgaar kay)….anyway …let me share it with someone who seems to think alike!
You take for granted
What you can see
And yearn for life
As it would be
If you could see beyond the wall
Thus you fail
To see the glory
You don’t know the language
- can’t read the story!
of life - it's splendours and all.
Life may be a treasure but the loss of one such treasure is of little, if any, consequence to the rest of the world. Such is the narrowly conceived view or the so-called “practical” outlook. That this life is temporary and as such not worth having is a creed supported by those whose particular subterfuge is religion.
Many are the authorities on the actual worth of life yet anyone who has breathed the cold morning air into his lungs will speak of a cleansing that leaves the soul bursting with eagerness and the body tingling with expectation. Anyone who has felt the merciless rays of the afternoon sun beat upon his body will speak of how the soaking heat erases all conscious thought, leaving behind just a sensation: that of the presence of a force, within him and around him. Anyone who has felt the cool breeze of the night lazily flit across his face, lifting his hair for the brief second in which one can catch the unguarded expression, will tell what the expression was the sum of: of peace, of pride and a quiet happiness.
I think no one can be an authority on life. Life is an authority by itself – an authority of our own choice.
Hi Shahnaz! Did I got the grist of the entire piece. Are you sure? But indeed these two lines are perfect. I'm not a poet not even immature, but the words seems so straight and simple with a great depth.
Who am I? Well, this is Sikander. I wrote you once in facebook and told you that anecodote with my father about that drama series you did decade ago. I also found your blog and recited your own words!
:-)... I hope you don't mind?
And today when I hooked again after a while with internet and looked into my favourites your blog address was there which I think I added couple of months back.
How are you these days?
Sikander
"I'm not a poet
not even immature"
hilarious!
to be sure
correction is a
boring chore
..not conceit
just amusment pure
forced me to
write some more
for I too am
"immature"!
(Got back in late today - this came to me on the job site:)
Kindred Souls
O Humane one
I thank thee!
What did I ever (“House” excepted)
On youtube see?
“You seems hurt”…
Said your blog to me
As I stumbled onto it, or
It stumbled onto me
O Mother of two
Wife of one
Beloved of none
Come and be..
..an immature poet!
I did “a math”
Fine! Said I!
Lets see!
kindred souls come in
different shapes and sizes
(and boxes)
Almost thirty! Almost forty!
They’ll even delete a post
Or not add one…
Humane one…
Thanks!
My dear Anonymous...
You crack me up LOL!
Hope all is well. And behave!
Hugs
Moi
Not Important aka Sikander
Hi! Some days I just accept comments meaning to come back and reply to them but some slip through and never get attended to.
I apologize for the delay. Yes you did get the gist of the piece.
And then there are days
And yet there are days....
Simple but deep.
I discovered that is the essence of life.
Simple yet deep.
Thanks for visiting...Hope you are well.
Take care,
Me
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