Shall we introspect just a little?
Millennials have apparently set new standards of living life to the fullest, choosing experiences over possession, looking for deeper meaning in all the aspects of life and so on and so forth. My question to you all is, are we really? I decided to stop pooping around deep thoughts and try understanding what exactly have we all been upto for centuries together. Though what I have typed down pretty much seems like some gyaan session but I have really tried to be as subtle as I could have possibly been :P
We like to believe that humans have been dictating the world for a long time, dominating over fellow living beings, progressing in all fields of life, technologically reaching the Jupiter or something but are we really leading the most ideal life? What’s the point if we rule the solar system but leave our homelands in a havoc? Culturally we have been trained to attain the unattainable, be the ultimate go getters, touch the zenith, blah blah blah… but we weren’t taught to be content.
We forget to indulge in the present while chasing the future every single minute. In any human’s life cycle, he/she experiences more than one emotion, then why do we all just chase happiness? Why weren’t we told to sit, sip on some coffee while the other emotions take a toll on us? We desperately want to skip through all the other emotions to reach “happily ever after”. Is that it? Will the ultimate, aspirational happiness help one own a content heart? Is happiness even a state of mind anymore or has gotten translated into state of possession? Do we manage to satiate our hunger for materialism? No, there’s always more.
According to Hindu mythology, there are nine distinct rasas (essence) that are essential aspects of energies that define a set of emotions and moods namely, Love (Shringara), Joy (Hasya), Wonder (Adbuta), Courage (Veera), Peace (Shanta), Sadness (Karuna), Anger (Raudra), Fear (Bhayanaka) and Disgust (Vibhasta) but seems like we have distinguished Joy as the most un-attainable. No matter what phase of life we are in, we always look forward to settling happily in our ‘oh such a perfectly gay world’. While I don’t intend to criticise the positive attitude, it just seems to me like a blur. All the above emotions happen to be a part of everyone’s life but we just rush through and not wait for it to sync in. We are just not ready to divide our attention equally and drink up each of the above rasas.
Right from a post-break up syndrome to mourning over someone’s demise, we are just sprinting across the battle field. How about sit, digest all of it, shed some good tears, bid a loveable farewell and then think of striking life back? Instead everyone around us is committed to getting us out of this phase and is dying to see us happy. It’s a mandate to go to a club, down some alcohol, dance like there is no tomorrow and probably look for another potential partner post a break-up, essentially JUST to be happy. The wound is fresh yet we want to swing the sword on the battle field, it is practically impossible to rise up like a phoenix the moment you burn out. So why can’t we just sit in the balcony, stare at the clouds and just let things pass by?
According to Forbes, ‘Happiness is the new success for Millennials’ but how does one define happiness? It is clearly not just a state of mind anymore, it has got to do a lot more than just experiencing the emotion. Why chase something that is so ridiculously transformational? I see a hundred posts flowing on the web saying ‘Mantra to happiness’ ’10 ways to be the happiest’ ‘The secret to happiness’ and everything that seems like a herculean task. ‘MOVE ON’ is the new cool and seems to be catching up faster than forest fire or wait, has it always been a thing? It’s a century old mantra which has been the sole reason for all the progress humankind has ever made. “Let go off the past and move on” has always been the only way of getting things done. Can we all just buckle up, enjoy the ride and fly with the wind while also trying to be content with wherever we are at the moment? We are lost in the digital black hole which has got us hooked on to instant gratification. What we all fail to realise is that reality runs parallel to the la-di-da world and it’s essential for us to slow down tad bit.
What we all need to do is, go to the country side, walk across a paddy field, watch the sun set, click a picture or two (and not post them on social media) and live the emotion of being content. May be that will help us actually live an experience over possessing one.
Hope you had a good read. Thank you :)
