Lately, I’ve been struggling to find the quiet place I need in order to write. To reflect. To lay down my thoughts and calm down my mind. This place I’ve been searching for is not a meadow or a room or the softness of a bed beneath my limbs…This place I’ve been searching for, is the quiet inside me; drowned out by my human responsibilities… simply, a little out of reach.
Sometimes, I wish I still had a child’s perspective of life. Their approach to life is uncomplicated. They have a presence and an alertness…a certain live in the moment, the present, the Now mantra that we seem to discourage. There’s a thirst and a hunger for an understanding about their surroundings that we as adults have lost along the way. They are shrouded in innocence and unperturbed by superficial desires… unplugged from human distraction. They are in a state of being…where we, as adults are in a constant state of pursuit.
So often I get weighed down by the millions of questions…the Why and the How…because I am too preoccupied by trying to get through my list of chores. I realise I should be more present in the moment than absorbed in the doing. Nurturing my children’s curiosity about life is far more rewarding than having them get lost in the cycle of instant gratification…
Sometimes I feel like we are missing the point of Life. I think life has become about chasing things, pursuing goals, reaching deadlines, following schedules, rushing here and there. We are consumed with external factors, focused on fulfilling our physical roles that quite simply, we land up only fulfilling our human requirements, lost in our myriad of things to do, without nurturing our being. Our inner consciousness. Something that can only be found in stillness.
In some ways, I feel we are grooming our children for the same fate. Bombarding them with an equally hectic schedule as ours, that children no longer have the comfort of doing children things. We thrust them in this scheduled lifestyle from so young because we believe this lifestyle will better prepare them for the perils of real life…a life of constant pursuit. I can’t help but think our way of living is futile, because the real realities and awakenings in life come from a place of calm.
Life passes us by so quickly. The pace we are living at is so fast, that entire days are lost in worldly endeavours. Moments quickly become memories. Seconds completely escape our attention. By living for our tomorrows, we are missing out on our today’s. Sometimes we need to slow down a little in order to absorb our surroundings. So quickly our landscapes change without us having appreciated the beauty of things while they were in our midst. The truth is that none of these things we are chasing will ever amount to contentment or happiness. In the end, although our mortal roles requires attention and a certain amount of dedication, I think it’s important not to lose ourselves in them and rather find a healthy balance between fulfilling these human desires and nurturing our soul.