I want to be a child again

I can’t imagine the number of times I have said this to myself. and its called "Self realization". Come to think of the word “Impossible” and its one of those things that can never happen again at least not in this life for me.

Now that I have 2 boys who are the apple of my eye, so I can indirectly say that god has given me an opportunity to full fill this dream once again. Kids are god’s biggest blessing in this world to human’s. There is so much to learn from them. There have been times when I have said to me “Wow, how can a 5 year old think like a grown up and teach me a valuable lesson”. This past weekend we were driving to a dentist appointment and we were listening to songs on the CD. one of my son's favorite songs started playing and at the very same time me and my wife started talking, my son sitting in his car seat says cutely from behind "Mummy you need to concentrate on being quite as i need to concentrate on this song and daddy needs to really concentrate on driving so we can get to the dentist as fast as possible" and we couldn't stop laughing for the rest of our journey.

So what are these things that we have forgotten in this world full of stress, worries and responsibilities?

Having pure, simple fun – If you have carefully noticed a 5 year watch his favorite cartoon or make a funny face and moo like a cow, or play peek a boo, you will know what I am talking about. What ever they do, they are fully engrossed in it unlike adults who have a million things going on in their mind all the time. Our mind is always preoccupied with the stress of work, relationships, money, mortgage etc. "The more the merrier" has become our lives motto due to which there is always something which takes higher priority over enjoying the life truly like a child. We are stuck in a rut. We have forgotten how to live in the moment. How many times have you stopped to enjoy the sun rise or waited for the sun set or for that matter visited a scenic place to cherish the nature? I drive on the same highway everyday to get to work in the wee hours and I have never ever bothered to appreciate the beauty of sun rise. My mind is usually preoccupied with planning for work or figuring out which lane is going faster or getting irritated over why people do not indicate before changing the lane?

Unconditional love – For this you have really got to be a child. The love and affection that a child depicts whether its towards his parents or his friends has no strings attached to it, this is something which grown ups probably never do. We tend to measure our love with how much is reciprocated back to us. Why do we do this? Why can’t we stop being selfish for once and learn the true meaning of unconditional love.

Forgive and forget – Now this is really a child’s prerogative. Have you noticed how many times we shout at our children and they simple forgive and forget all those times? Do you ever do that if another grown up does that to you or you boss shouts at you for no reason or a fight with your significant other? Now some of you will argue against it. Look deep inside and be honest with yourself. Do you really forget these incidents or do they keep haunting you again and again?

Express your true feelings – How many times have you truly, honestly expressed your feelings to another person? A child lives in present. Past or future has no meaning to a child. When he is upset he will not think twice before expressing it. Do you "call a spade a spade"? We as grown ups tend to weigh every word we speak and our every action although this is easier said than done because sometimes we just speak and regret it later. "What will the other person think of me if I do this or say this" - the simple thought of this prevents us from being honest. My point is that a child never ever cares, he is honest and speaks from his heart.

Sleep like a baby - How many of us are blessed with sound 7-8 hour sleep every night? There are so many adults who suffer from insomnia or other sleep disorders. Most of these are related to stress and worries which is related to not being able to shut out mind when trying to fall asleep, in fact a lot of us stay half awake worrying about whether the alarm would go off in the morning or not.

We all have an "inner child" inside all of us but we do not let it out for several reasons. I can go on and on but these are some of the important things that matter the most.

So I will end this post with me and my son's favorite song from the "3 idiots" -

“Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance, I want to grow up once again!!”

Are you happy with what you have? -Yeah Dil Maange More

It's a question which i guess we all ask ourselves from time to time? At least I have asked myself this question over a million times. The question and its answer could be relative to a lot of us.

Some of the related questions which come to my mind are:

• Why is it that we run after that 5% that we do not have instead of enjoying the 95% that we have?
• Why is the grass always greener on the other side?
• Is more of what we want the right answer?
• Are we measuring our satisfaction based on our desires or our needs?
• Why do we always say that if I have more clothes, more money, better car, bigger house, 1 million $$ in the bank - I will be happy.

Do we know how much is more? I haven't seen or known anybody who has a million dollars and is the most content and happiest man. In fact i don't even understand the word "More" as over the years it has lost its meaning to me.

The problem is that we keep running at 100 miles/hour because everyone else is doing so. We think if we don't keep up with this pace we will not be able to survive in this world. There is nothing wrong in running at that speed every single minute of your life but the question is how long can you keep doing that? One day your body will give up. Wouldn't it be better to take a break and stop for a moment and think what is really important to you?

Jobs will come and go. No matter how important you think you are in the place you work, nobody and I mean nobody is indefensible. It won't take long for your company to find a replacement for you if you weren't there. Does that make you feel happy or sad?

What really matters to you?

• Your health
• Your family, your wife, your kids
• The happy time you spend with your loved one
• Your friends
  
• How well so you manage stress?

and what is it that you really want from life?

I once read a great post "Stress" which goes something like this

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "how heavy is this glass of water? " Answers called out ranged from 8oz. to 20oz.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance." In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. " As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can."

"Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!"

Here is another such great post about happiness :

BURNT BISCUITS..............

When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"

You know, life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else.

What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults - and choosing to celebrate each others differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!

We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own."

I remember my grandfather so much when I talk about all this above because he was one man who knew how to stay happy and content with what he had and if i could be 1/100 of what he was I would be the happiest person on this earth!!

Is being materialistic the way to happiness?

I often find myself asking "is being materialistic the way to eternal happiness?" I have never found the answer and yet i end up moving forward on this path to find happiness someday.
I love reading quotes and phrases. There are innumerable quotes on several websites about happiness. They will give you millions of reasons to feel happy and content but are they real?I don't even know how to define happiness anymore because the definition is so convoluted.
One often finds oneself buying materialistic things thinking it's gotta make me happy like clothes, cars, electronic gadgets, house etc. One often find oneself comparing to the next well known person , thinking that if i can get what he has I will be so happy. The grass is always greener on the other side. Well i do this all the time but this sort of happiness has a very short lifespan. You eventually loose the interest in the thing you sought and then again start searching for the next best thing and then this cycle keeps on going. Its a vicious circle.

"Money can't buy you happiness ... but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery"

The real happiness lies in small that happen in our life which we tend to ignore or don't even take notice of for e.g. the day your child walked for the first time, the day your child accomplished something on his/her own for the first time, the day your wife smiled and reciprocated her love because you noticed the change in her hair style or complimented the dress she was wearing etc. We(mostly men) all complaint if the food on the table doesn't taste good but do we ever appreciate if the food is delicious. We tend to take it for granted that our better half will always make it right and that this relationship gives us the right to complaint. Instead if we change our attitude and learn to appreciate life better then it will result in an enormous change.

“You may have occasion to possess or use material things, but the secret of life lies in never missing them.” ~Gandhi

Think about it............