Beauty of 'Routine'

 I was commuting in my morning bus ride to work when I saw the bars on the window. And I thought, someone must have needed to attach these screws by hand. And then I saw the whole bus! Someone must have needed all day to do all these attachments. After all not everything can be done by machines. And then it occurred to me that someone must be doing this all day, everyday as a part of their job. 

 I looked out of the window. I saw houses being built. A little later when we left the city I saw fields. Inter city taxis and trucks on the road. Made me think again. Thats what most of the adults do. They do the same thing everyday, every week, every month, every year. To a mason it doesn't matter how beautiful the house they built is, they're not attached, they build houses everyday. A farmer grows the same crop year after year. Taxi drivers drive the same route everyday. Heck I teach the same subject every year too. 

Interestingly we wake up, eat, work and sleep everyday. Usually in the same place. 

And yet people yearn for change. Something different. Cause routine bores them. There's a need to eat out and go on a holiday every once in a while. They get lost in the world of social media, movies and internet. Because it's exciting. I feel like slowly we have come to hate the routine and love the excitement. It is only natural. A person inclines to wherever they feel good. The only problem is, they get so inclined to the excitement that they start hating the mundane life. And then stuff goes downhill.

You know why? We are peaceful beings. No matter how exciting one's life might be, they need to go back to the simple routine. It's not just physiologically difficult to live an ever excited life but also against human nature. We might party all night, but we need peace the next morning. One can't listen to a loud concert 24*7. One can't remain angry all day, nor run all day just like one cannot remain enthusiastically happy every minute. Wars can't be faught day and night, cause in the end everyone yearns for peace. And believe it or not everyone yearns for the mundane routine. Waking up at home, same place everyday, eating the food you've always had for years, meeting the same bunch of people, and ending the day feeling content. 

Excitement every once in a while is good, but it seems like everyone feels like they are supposed to reach for the stars and be the best somehow or be loved endlessly or achieve something great in life. It is believed to be kind of sad if a person has no excitement in their life. 

"It's no bad thing to celebrate a simple life" - J.R.R. Tolkien.

Honestly for me, it's such a gold to carry. 

And I have never been healthier if not happier. We are one with nature. We are a part of nature after all. And nature has a rhythm, a routine. Whether it’s the revolutions or the rotations of the planet, the seasons or our own circadian rhythm. We were meant to live peacefully and in a rhythmic routine. It’s actually beautiful. 

The way we feel mesmerised by the sunrises and sunsets, we are supposed to see them. Not spend time stuck indoors while that happens. We’re meant to eat the food of the season, try it and see what wonders it does to your gut and overall health. We need to spend time alone with nature, try it and see how it affects all your interactions. We need to simply walk. Because being able to do the same things everyday is a privilege denied to many. 

With great power comes great responsibility

 The title must have reminded you of this guy...

Well thanks to some encouragement from a friend and inspiration from mom I am back at writing this blog. 

The thing is I keep learning so many things so often in life, might as well share it. 

Alright back to the topic.

    'With great power comes great responsibility'

You know we might feel like we, normal human beings are powerless. But that's not true. I just realized we don't need to be bitten by radioactive spiders to gain super powers. Some of us have some powers from birth and the most of them we acquire as we grow into better people.

Let me give you examples of those powers. Starting with the god gifted talents one might have - be it intelligence, aptitude for music, dance, art, writing, public speaking or for sports. There are other powers too -  like the power to face, power to withdraw, to tolerate, to cooperate, to adjust, to discern the right from wrong. The first list some of us are born with, but the latter every one can develop. 

I always thought that the talents a person has are for his/her own happiness, for their own benefit. But no matter what one does, be it making a song or painting a masterpiece, it always feels incomplete if there's no one to see it. As a matter of fact, creators have this urge to showcase their creations to the public. Only when someone sees it and praises it, it feels well done. One is happy. If others don't like it the creator isn't happy. As a matter of fact the brilliant artist Vincent Van Gogh killed himself out of depression despite the infamous brilliant paintings he made. 

    This implies the talents we have are not for ourselves? 

    Perhaps..... that's right. 

    

    Maybe the powers we have are meant to be used for others.

    

I recently realized the importance of the powers and talents. For instance I can never get over the huge effect stories have on our lives. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are the most popular stories in India. And every person in India somehow knows whats right and whats wrong because of them. They are epic stories of goodness winning over evil. We know its right to take care of our elders and family, that brothers are supposed to have each others backs like Rama and Laxman. We also know that ego, greed and desire are bad cause we know Ravan and Duryodhan. How impactful!

The movies too are very powerful tools, 3 idiots changed the way we thought about studies and the rat race. Tare Zameen Par gave an idea about dyslexia, Swades inspired us to love our roots and our motherland. But sadly they do have a negative effect too. 

I think same goes for any other talent one may have. A small IG reel showing pani puri oh so artistically might make ones mouth water. And another one showing a person shooting an animal mercilessly for fun might inspire the same. 

Coming back to the point, 

Talents and powers have been given to you not for yourself but they are meant for others.

If you can create something create something that inspires good. Because what's the point of being an athlete if you can't help anyone with that strength of yours. Or whats the point of that beautiful sketch/song/intelligence if it doesn't inspire anyone. You know the rest right?  So please remember this, if you have something others don't, it is for them and not yourself. If you can do something that others can and still bad things happen, then that's on you. Haha that's another spidey dialogue. 

After all with great power comes great responsibility.