By Pooja Marwah
There is an adage that goes as such – If we were meant to be in one place, we would have roots instead of feet. (Rachel Wolchin)
It is a beautiful world out there and I fiercely believe that having been stationed in one place for months on end, our hunger has been left un-fuelled, for diversity that comes with travel and people… And, also for the multifariousness that arose within our own relationships.
The year, at its final bend seems to have silently taught us a very invaluable lesson. Nothing is ever written in stone! People adapted to be better or worse versions of themselves. Situations brought out the harshness or the calm. Time healed but also destroyed. And yet, everything kept moving.
When change is considered to be the one constant in life… then why is it that often faced with resentment? How difficult is it to accept that circumstances or experiences make people walk different paths? Even on a journey… or on a trip… sometimes we do take off the beaten path to explore a new street or farmland. We do let impulse reign its control over us… we do allow for a detour in itinerary, do we not?
Then why, when it comes to people are we quick to pass judgement when their thoughts and deeds traverse on a path that is different from the one they were on? People change… and it wasn’t just the previous year that brought it on but life itself. As we grow, we branch out on to newer directions in search of a dream or a goal.
A tree was once just a seed. Like all things living, they too have a life cycle. It begins at conception (seed), goes into infancy as a (seedling), and gets into the juvenile (sapling). From here on it (matures) to be an adult, and goes onto reaching the senior ages (experiencing decline) and finally death (dries up, rots or gets uprooted).
As it grows, it forms branches. Sometimes they are needed to be clipped but they grow again, in a direction they want to. The clipping is never the tree’s choice, but someone else who believes that it will grow better if it is tutored now. And it may… but it also may not.
The barks of trees in the same forest are not identical. The numbers of flowers or fruit it may bear aren’t either. Likewise, we live in a world wherein no two fingerprints are alike, then how can we attempt to lay down standard rules of life, where its design itself is asymmetrical. There cannot possibly be one rule that can be applied to all. Various degrees of permutations and combinations will exist and will also alter in consistency as time goes by.
Life today is technology driven and is powered with an array of choices. Now, as opposed to the earlier generations, when you ask a person what they do – the answer is never in a word or a sentence. It is long and as expansive as an eagle that spreads its wings. You can do more than one thing and there needs to be no connection in them, besides the fact that it is an experience you wish to pursue.
People are people the world over. Perhaps it is time to let each one reach their own Zen, in their own way.
(Pooja Poddar Marwah is an award winning author and Blogger. She writes an contemporary living and offers incisive reflections on the world around us. Her blog, Random Conversations is a go to guide to deal with the myraid stuggles we face each day.)
