Sunday, 27 June 2021 | Pushpa Dhami | in Guest Column
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Pushpa Dhami
For many who complain we do not have time for self-reflection, Covid-19 in hindsight has offered that hard to find time for exercising our creativity and dig down the mud of our pressing schedules and claim the unique gift we forgot we were born with. Yes, we are all born with a gift that will help us live our life with utmost joy and satisfaction. This gift is our passion and it is unique for each one of us yet often we fail to recognise its uniqueness and bury it inside the mud of every day’s engagements that comes with the unfiltered external conditioning of the fast-paced world.
The external conditioning compels us to tightly schedule our days and get consumed in the work to the point that we fail to realise we have a gift that needs to be unpacked for a better world. Every day we also get bombarded with a lot of distractions, negativity, pretense and unwarranted addictions that try to steal our consciousness and push our inherent gift even deeper into the mud of non-existence.
Our consciousness in solitude, therefore, acts as a shovel that digs out these layers of mud and allows our suffocating passion to breathe in the life it deserves. It helps us to redefine our attitude which knowingly or unknowingly has been maligned by our unfiltered thoughts. Buddha said, “Our attitude in life is shaped by our thoughts: we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” Where other than in solitude could our mind be so pure? We human beings are 70 per cent water and it is the tendency of water is to take the shape of anything it comes in contact with and this is the reason, it has been echoing in eternity that we should choose our surroundings wisely because with two-third of our composition as water, we can easily take up the attitude and behavior of people we come in contact with. In solitude, we experience a direct connection with the higher source of creation. When connected deeply, we can easily redefine the attitude that is not serving us and others in any way.
Remember, the gift of passion we are all born with often gets unpacked by challenging circumstances of life that direct us in solitude for self-reflection. So, whenever we face challenges in life, which we inevitably will, which the entire humanity is now facing in the form of Covid, remember it is there to unpack our gift, our passion, and once we claim it, this gift will bring utmost satisfaction to us and this state of mind will bring joy all around us.
Aristotle said, “Whoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or god.” So, use this Covid imposed solitude to translate what has been dormant into something dominant that can change your whole perspective about life and leave you with a redefined attitude to find blessings in disguise in everything you encounter with.
(The author is a spiritual seeker who is a PhD research scholar in food & nutrition, climate change & disaster management)
