The art of letting it go.

You know you want it. You know you can’t have it. And this makes you want it more.

The heart is always the culprit in this kind of mess. The mind already knows that it does not belong to you and so there is no logic yearning for it. But does your heart listen?

Not everything in the world is for you to win and make it yours. Love. career, money, happiness, peace, comfort, luxury-there is no end to what this mortal’s heart wants. Often it happens, in this crazy stubborn want for “something” makes us lose what we already have and what is already ours. Want makes us blind and oblivious to the concept of “content”.

Our share in everything in this world is already measured and kept aside and will never change, no matter how much we fight and sulk. Wanting “it” which is not ours always leads to misery and ends in pain causing hurt and dismay. There are innumerable instances where ordinary men has turned into poets writing about their yearning and unfulfilled dreams. Pain has a strange beauty and emptiness has great inspiration.

Buddha has taught the Four Noble Truths: Life is suffering. All suffering is caused by some “want”. Suffering can be overcome and happiness can be attained. And there is a path to overcome suffering.

“Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.”~Dalai Lama

We all want to be happy yet we do things to ourselves that cause us pain. Man is a set of contradictions and never ceases to surprise ourselves of what we are capable of. The heart wants what it wants and it often refuses to give an explanation. There is no cure and there is no redemption.

Zen philosophy says that when you stop trying to grasp, own, and control the world around you, you give it the freedom to fulfill you without the power to destroy you. That’s why letting go is so important: letting go is letting happiness in.

Everything is an illusion. To be truly happy, you have to learn the art of letting it go.

Faith restored

It happened yesterday.

I was travelling back from an official trip, exhausted. The day started at 7:30 am and I took the cab from airport at 9 pm. On the way somehow I kept thinking how the human kind is selfish and becoming demonic in nature with each passing day. Neared my home around 10:30 pm and after getting in I realized I left my mobile in the cab. I rushed downstairs but obviously the cab had left. I panicked and without a mobile I felt helpless. Luckily my house owners were awake and I asked for their help. Called at my number around 15 -20 times but the cab driver did not answer. Then we called the customer care of the cab service twice and finally got the cab driver details.

He said that he has the phone with him but he is already on the highway so it is not possible for him to come back then. I offered to pay the fare and he said he will come back early morning. I hardly slept and woke up in the wee hours of the morning and waited for him to come. He came.

He came and gave me back my mobile phone. I said sorry that I bothered him. He said he is sorry that he did not check the cab after dropping me. I was grateful and relief spread over me.

There are still a few souls among us who are kind and honest. I have pushed my doubts some miles away for now. A simple act has restored my faith in our kind.