By Prem Rawat
We often hear that life is a precious gift so we should manage it carefully. But sometimes we struggle to see it as a gift and in the busy routine of everyday life we often forget that it is precious. Every day the alarm clock goes off and our routine begins. In our minds we know what we need to do – ‘I must go to the bus stop, I must get to the train, I must get to the office on time’. We all are in hurry. Why are we hurrying? Is our life managed? Because without this, it’s easy to leave out some fundamental aspects of our personal growth while overemphasizing the others.
The average lifespan is 70 years, that’s exactly 25,550 days. How will you manage this one? In a day, we look at a clock many a times. Do we understand what the clock says to us? It is telling us we will not be here forever. Time only moves in one direction and when our time is up there is no way to extend it. Time is an interesting thing. Sometimes it goes by slowly, sometimes it goes by quickly, but it doesn’t let you go any slower than it, or any faster. The purpose of this life is not to get to the end, it is in the moment that is NOW. It is to feel the peace within us, it is to enjoy every fractional moment. Each breath brings us life as it comes and is a true gift. We should pay attention to it as it comes into you. When you can feel your own breath ushering in life, it brings a comfort and a fulfillment.
One day a family of tortoises went for a picnic. They prepared the food and drinks and a blanket to sit on, and packed it all into their picnic box. They set off and walked along searching for an ideal spot to have their picnic. Being tortoises they walked slowly and so it took them a while to find the perfect spot. Once they had their spot, they went about setting up the picnic, laying down their blanket, unpacking the sandwiches and drinks. The mother tortoise said, “Oh no, I forgot the bottle opener”. She said to her eldest son, “Will you go back home and get it for me dear”? The son denied saying, “If I go, he will eat my sandwich” pointing at his younger brother. The discussion went on for some time, until eventually the eldest son agreed and then he set off for home. One week passed and the younger brother tortoise started to get hungry. He said, “Do you think my brother will really come back? I’m hungry and would like to eat that sandwich” pointing at his brother’s sandwich. The mother replied, “Let’s wait a little more”. Two days later the younger brother was famished, and he asked again, “Can I eat that sandwich now”? The father replied, “Well, your brother has been gone a long time now. Go ahead and eat it son”. So the younger brother picked up the sandwich and just as he was about to take a bite, the elder brother popped out from behind a tree, where he had been hiding the whole time saying, “I knew it! I knew you were going to eat my sandwich”.
This story shows how, at times, we are our own worst enemy. We have a tendency to not accept things as they are and we see everything through our own filters. We are busy pointing fingers at each other because our reasons and systems have become more important than the humanity itself. This is the root cause of the problems we are facing right now in our lives. When a problem arises, people tend to look for immediate solutions to the problems we face. When we fail to understand the true nature of the problems at hand, all too often we create even bigger problems with our short-term solutions. This ends up wasting our time and waste precious resources. When you think you have reached a dead end in your life, turn around and headback. Let that be the start of a new road. If you can live your life like that, everyday can be fulfilling. Even when things look hopeless, you can find something beautiful in that day. The life we see right now is the result produced by our actions. If we don’t like the results, then we need a new course of action.
The first step for individuals is to nurture and practice peace within their own hearts to grow as human beings. Growth is not a process of creating new scenery, it is a process in which you get to see things clearly, to see things as they are.
Our own confusion is what leads to bad choices and that is what creates most of our problems. When we can let go of our own ideas about how things should be, we can start to see things as they are. Then we have the full range of choice, it is like a lamp being lit. When a lamp is lit, no matter how small that lamp is, we can see things we couldn’t see in the darkness. Making conscious choice becomes your strength, your own lit lamp that gets rid of darkness and your life is then well managed and fulfilling. In life we must take along what’s good, and leave behind what isn’t needed. So, with clarity make a choice, then put it into practice. Develop your ability to feel what is going on within you and let that be your foundation in life.
