They always say that Life is like a Sine wave. It has its
crests and troughs. I have had a lot of troughs in past, but somehow this
trough seemed like the hardest to me. I had been facing disappointments in each
and every walk of life, be it personal or professional. There were times when I
just wanted to sit in my car and cry (and I have done that quite a few times).
I was in a ‘Rut’ as one of my friends told me. Portraying to be a strong woman
has its own setbacks, doesn’t it? Makes you want to hide those vulnerable areas
of life and pretend to be rock solid. I was rock solid all this while, whilst combating
this huge forced sabbatical, at the same time stealing those little moments of
breakdown with my own self. And all this on the month of my birthday and I was
like,” ‘Why God why?’ It’s such a wrong timing to be feeling what I was.”
Talking of timing- then happened ‘The Perfect Timing’. I
kept dwelling on this defeatism until one day I came across this wonderful speech
by Angelina Jolie for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award she received at the
2013 Governor’s Award Function. She said, “Somewhere across the world there is
a woman just like me with same abilities, same desires, same work ethics, and
love for her family, who would make better films, and probably give better
speeches. Only she sits in a refugee camp and she has no voice. She worries
what her children would eat, how to keep them safe and if she will ever be
allowed to return home. I don’t know why this is my life and that is hers. I
don’t understand that. I feel that myself and everybody sitting in this room
are so fortunate to have food to eat, shelter over our head, safe place to live
and the joy of having our family safe and healthy.”
Hearing this two minute speech, apart from giving me goose bumps,
made me realize suddenly how vain I was being. How self centered was my
universe and how I was worrying and blaming God for these little temporary setbacks
in life. All of a sudden I started counting my blessings. And that’s when I
decided, that this birthday is going to be about being Thankful. I am going to be
thankful and appreciate all the wonderful things that I have been blessed with.
Suddenly it dawned upon me that the most precious thing that I have is a Voice that I have never had to suppress. The voice that I know is heard by people around me, and even if that voice falls to one thinking mind it would be a wonderful thing. I was browsing through my blog and I realized how I have been given an opportunity to express my thoughts and how appreciative my readers have been and how encouraging that makes me feel to keep getting inspired, thinking, and writing.
Apart from my Voice another great gift that I have been given is the Strength. The strength that I feel knowing that I have such an amazing set of parents, a reassuring sister, my girlies and my friends. The strength and the spirit that keeps me going and never lets me Give up.
The third greatest gift that I realized that I possessed was my Vision- to see what exists and the foresee the unseen . Literally I experienced a great activity carried out by the Blind People’s Association in my city where they make you experience the ‘Vision in Dark’- which is you experience absence of light in your life for a little amount of time. It makes you aware of the fact that we make use of our vision for about 80% of the time. Using the sense of seeing is so convenient that it’s only when we are deprived of it, is when we realize there are other senses too. I feel so lucky to have all my senses intact.
I also feel happy to have a cozy and warm home where I feel safe, I get nutritious food that nourishes my palate and my body, loving family, friends I could always count on, have interacted with some amazing people in different walks of life, freedom to be myself, a good set of skills, amazing people who have shaped my career and the list was endless.
Suddenly it dawned upon me that the most precious thing that I have is a Voice that I have never had to suppress. The voice that I know is heard by people around me, and even if that voice falls to one thinking mind it would be a wonderful thing. I was browsing through my blog and I realized how I have been given an opportunity to express my thoughts and how appreciative my readers have been and how encouraging that makes me feel to keep getting inspired, thinking, and writing.
Apart from my Voice another great gift that I have been given is the Strength. The strength that I feel knowing that I have such an amazing set of parents, a reassuring sister, my girlies and my friends. The strength and the spirit that keeps me going and never lets me Give up.
The third greatest gift that I realized that I possessed was my Vision- to see what exists and the foresee the unseen . Literally I experienced a great activity carried out by the Blind People’s Association in my city where they make you experience the ‘Vision in Dark’- which is you experience absence of light in your life for a little amount of time. It makes you aware of the fact that we make use of our vision for about 80% of the time. Using the sense of seeing is so convenient that it’s only when we are deprived of it, is when we realize there are other senses too. I feel so lucky to have all my senses intact.
I also feel happy to have a cozy and warm home where I feel safe, I get nutritious food that nourishes my palate and my body, loving family, friends I could always count on, have interacted with some amazing people in different walks of life, freedom to be myself, a good set of skills, amazing people who have shaped my career and the list was endless.
You must be thinking
to yourself, ‘Ya so, we all have them, please stop with this thanksgiving
speech. You are no Angelina Jolie.’ I know I’m not. But I just want to make a
point that it is such a great feeling to be thankful and appreciative of these
little things that we take so much for granted in life that it would help you
spring back to enthusiasm in days of setbacks and in days of joys, would make
you feel even more joyous. Like they say every cloud has a silver lining. The cloud
can’t see it, but it’s always there.
