" Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle"
-plato
The usual Sunday night and while browsing the usual channels, I chanced upon my all time crush "Mel Gibson" and it was one of his cutest movies "What Women Want". I remember watching this movie as a child and was intrigued with the idea of reading minds of other people (wicked).
In case some one has not seen the movie then brief is here -
Mel Gibson, a typical MCP and at a high post in advertising, hits on a weird road in life when he accidentally start hearing all the thoughts of women in and around him, ranging from gardener, house maid, boss to his own daughter only to find out that he is being disliked by the majority of women. The man then decides to use this for benefit only to understand at end the pain and worries of women and finally he succumb to the goodness and becomes a "good guy".
The movie was funny and all I took from the film was the ability to read minds. However, I just felt that there was another take-away from the film which I completely missed and that was the fact that we all think too much. I am not talking about only we as in "women" here. We all as a species started using the power of brain to our benefit and discovered the word "multitasking" only to get trapped in the thick walls of unnecessary thoughts.
I wonder if we were always like this or was there an apocalypse of calm living. Mostly as per whatever I have read I feel that humans were always in the process of 90% thinking + 5% analyzing + 5% contemplating. We were happy as a species and more and vast knowledge slowly made us scared species. We are always scared and worried and the fears are almost the same -
"what if dad will get to know about my exam results", "what if she/ he will like someone else in school", "I can not live without him/her", "I need good grades", "what if I will loose him/ her","what if I wont get a good job", "what if I won't get hike", "What if my child is in danger", "what if my insurance will not cover my family" in short WHAT THE HELL.
I am sure you would have noticed at one point or other the face of random people walking on streets. Haven't you? Then please do it. It will showcase the perfect today man to you. They all are day dreaming, thinking, worrying and are in short, stressed. But why? Are we really that stressed of a generation?
Aren't we listening each day about some or other celebrity suffering from either Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety attacks or Post traumatic stress disorder. I am no subject matter expert here but as a human I do feel sad looking at my favorite actor's sufferings. These things are serious and yes traumatic for the person suffering from this and their families too. How can we forget the shocking news of celebrities who have all facilities in the world but still go through sufferings like Selena Gomez or Catherine Zeta Jones. So this basically means money can really not solve STRESS.
Instead of gagging the topic lets go straight to the findings. Do you know according to research a human brain can think limited number of thoughts at a time? To be precise, its normally 4 thoughts at a time and what are we doing then with ourselves?
Ya I know we all need to think and plan about lot of things but are we really planning? Well as per me , NO. We are either brooding about that fight with our partner or sulking about not responding to the boss or ruminating about an ongoing family issue and these all things are sapping us from all the good energy which we can use for some happy and fulfilling activity in that day. Yes ofcourse there are major problems in life but the answer is clear in the quote by shantideva "If you can solve you problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you can not solve it, then what is the use of worrying?"
I learned in my Art of Living course, the magic of being in the moment. Its a well known fact but we give less admiration to this. We human beings are either living in the past or hopping to the future and are hardly thinking about present. Even if we are thinking about present, its actually more of a future plan like if I complete this file today then I will be able to get my work completed before weekend and then I can easily go out for a movie. This is not being in the present and now you will ask why? well, present moment is "THIS". Right here at this very moment when you are reading the words is your present moment. Are you absorbed completely in the reading or you are already making second plans in head? This moment will never come back and it passes you by in a fraction of seconds, in a snap of your fingers. HOLD THIS THOUGHT HERE AND STAY WITH IT FOR A WHILE. SEE HOW MANY SUCH MOMENTS YOU MISSED UNATTENDED.
In my personal experience if you focus and when your brain shuts the multitasking mode and is in present then in reality the world looks brighter and happier. I am not boasting this. Please go ahead and see it for yourself. Really stop the thinking process and be aware of each moment passing you by. yes, there is it, the calm and beautiful you.
Give it a thought.
If its tough then do it like a meditation for 1 minutes after every 1 hour.
If you still can not get to the understanding of "present moment" then I will give a very simple trick. Listen to Pharrell Williams songs "Happy" and see how you instantly feel at the moment you listen to the lyrics and the music. That is exactly what you need to do without music. Is it difficult? well you deserve to see the brighter life and hence its worth a try.
Happy Living.
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The references were from -
http://www.informationweek.com/humans-can-only-think-about-four-things-at-once-study-says/d/d-id/1063868?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2329492/Catherine-Zeta-Jones-gets-normality-leaving-rehab-following-month-long-treatment-bipolar-disorder.html
You mights also like reading -
http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20669377_4,00.html
http://loveandlifetoolbox.com/being-in-the-moment-and-why-it-matters/
