Mom Says Be Grateful..

With the world coming to a standstill and most of us locked inside for about 60 days, there was a different question every day, wondering how to survive. 

Many of us were serenaded with messages from loved ones, and we fervently even returned the favour. Everyone had the basic 101 survival lesson copy-pasted learnt and implemented.

But there was a different kind of manual that helped me in particular.

Yes, I prayed for things to get normal, for lives to be spared and majorly for the panic to end. When our basic existence is threatened it is only then we begin bowing our heads down to the Supreme Power above. 

My Moms Wisdom is what finally rescued me. Everyday I would speak to her and unlike all the negatively sourced information we were plagued with, it saved me and lead me to awaken certain aspects of human life we have forgotten about.

It wasn't that we just played ludo or scrabble and spent time that made me value my new found realization. It was the sheer simplicity of her words, listening to them, adhering them and deciding to pen it down now.

So she began

We sat down as usual for our evening cup of tea, chatting of course and eating biscuits. I was as usual on my phone, scrolling some chat about school that I had missed. I was clearly not valuing every minute so she caught my hand and told me to set it down. She wasn't technologically challenged but she detested phones apps and the whole lot that was keeping us even more preoccupied during this lockdown.

She saw me in the eye, the most respectable way of having a conversation according to her was always to be mindful and listen deeply while maintaining eye contact. And she asked a very simple question, "Have you been thankful today?" I was at a loss of words. Maintaining a dignified posture I recollected when I had thanked the lord the last time. She went on, "You must say thanks everyday not just to God, but the Plants, the Air, the Sun, and everything that the Universe gave us." Hers is an all encompassing view. 

Gratitude! "You must have gratitude for every small thing and be thankful to all who make it happen."

Her words struck me, maybe in all the rush of the world, and the kitchen duties and diaper changing and the school assessments I had forgotten what she had been telling me since I was a child. Inculcating a habit we outgrew when we went on in the world on our own. 

She goes on, "Anura, every morning you must be thankful and every night as well, even more now, for surviving with dignity in a world plagued with fear."

I had read in the paper how practicing gratitude can boost one's immunity. I don't know how that works exactly. But maybe being thankful released happy hormones like endorphins and dopamine in our blood that have obviously been replaced by stressful ones.

So I tried it, I sat down at night that very day my mother had told me to. I listed out every thing I had enjoyed every perk yet available and realized it was a long itineary by the time I finished. 

Beginning with food as many times as my hunger had to be satiated, specially in times when the poor were famished walking endlessly for days and nights. 

My comfortable space, a cool room with all the electronics that helped me unwind and relax after a busy day.

The laughter of my children playing house or running on the floor hiding and seeking as they wished.

An endless list in my mind. By the time I was done, I felt sleepy. Anxiety melted away, my mind feeling calm and composed. I hit the bed and had a more sound sleep than I had had in days.

An Exercise for the soul is   Practicing Gratitude. 

When I began it made me feel lighter, it makes one realize how we are the speck in the universe despite our mighty I's and Ego's we really are no one to make anything happen in this universe; how our designs can fail us and how a virus an invisible organism has made life hellish for man who saw himself as God's choicest creation. 

My mom asked me again the next day, if I had said thanks. I smiled this time and set my phone aside and spoke to her. She was happy and grateful that I had done so. 
Our souls meet each other when we bond, without us knowing our conscience sends signals to the others soul of how we have found each other in tandem, how something has connected us, even if its just a simple word of thanks.

Maybe we were running races of time, of places to go to, of things to do. And now when we are being put in our place, set off our high horses, it is the best time to go INWARDS and give our soul the time it needs.

Gratitude infuses the humility we were born with, yet somehow we lost along the way. Finding time to be grateful is as important as breathing! Even our every breath demands us to shed our ego and be thankful that we are alive and safe. Still yourself and be thankful, in the process fears shall be shed and we shall be basked with feelings of love, compassion and kindness for others as well.

Thank You Mother Earth for your warmth, Thank you Universe for this beautiful planet! Please let it and its beings all survive this particular time. May we flatten the curves that scare us everyday. Thank You for all the health workers and care givers, Thank You for everyone that has braved the odds and done their duties, Thank you to the trees that give us fruits and Thank you for all the loved ones!