The colored lens of life

Dr Sumedha Kushwaha *

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” - Rumi.

I quote this 13th century Persian poet quite often in my pieces because I think he wrote from where thinking ends. And when I look at life from his perspective or lens, all I can feel is bliss.

This week, I contemplated on this quote and understood that there is a fine difference between liability and responsibility. Where on one hand liability is imposed on us, responsibility is undertaken with a sense of commitment.

There are times in life when the difference between these two become sleeker and the gap lessens. These are moments of test and decision making. All we have is the ability to choose between our attitude during such times.

And it is solely our attitude that determines whether we will be able to make through this or get lost in the midst. Sometimes life gives us a hard time and its harder to make choices during this time.

When any experiment is done in the laboratory under controlled environments, it has a high probability to get favorable results. When the same experiment is repeated in a varied setting, it becomes difficult to replicate similar results.

Having written this line makes me understand that probably it is very easy to write, preach or suggest to someone but in reality very hard to practice. As human beings we set high goals for ourselves but what is the point if those don’t have any meaning or don’t excite us?

Every moment of life brings different situations for us and an option of decision. And we choose at that moment what is the best for us. This decision might turn out to be good or bad in the long run - you do not have control over that.

All you can do is to choose what is right, right now! There some of those same decisions which might become a responsibility on our shoulders and we bear them with pride example becoming parents. It’s a life changing moment when people decide to commit to something for a lifetime. These decisions are make it or break it.

But once we take the decisions these are the nidus of change which pave our paths in a direction which either help us fulfill our responsibilities or make us think whether we took the right decision then or not?

But a decision is a shared commitment between you and your life. Is it possible that you can betray the time and space realities and grow out of these commitments? Is there a chance that you might start to feel overwhelmed on the way towards fulfilment of these responsibilities?

Certainly yes, what seems like gold today might turn into dust tomorrow. But all those facts of life are the reality and should be treated with due respect.

When there is a fight for basics in life while fulfilling these roles and responsibilities, soon it will start feeling like a liability. However, if the foundation is strong of that decision, rooted either in practicality or driven in love and basic comforts are met- it lays down a beautiful path towards fulfillment of a shared commitment.

And what are emotions that drive us during our tough times- pain, agony, hatred, jealousy, anger. When we increase the vibrational frequency of our thoughts and emotions, the situations change in a moment.

Again, Rumi says “Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” And this is so true.