Isn’t it high time to stop just “Existing” and “Start Living”?

As I see the thought “Existing” helps us just ‘Make a Living’ and the thought “Start Living” helps us ‘Make a Life’.

In the structured society (so called!) where in we live in a political, economical and social environment, we spend long years of our life in preparing for a degree .. a career ... or a job at best.  Most of us, are familiar with the world of making a living through services rendered to an organisation with its limited set of opportunities.We are certainly educated for the market and our skills are employed in productive activities. We are rewarded with salaries which help us sustain ourselves and our families.  But is this somwwhere making our goals narrow in view ?

Wherever we go, we take these narrow thoughts and goals with us. We thus, then end up just Make a Living, and most certainly not Make a Life. Very few of us, however, draw up goals with a far larger reach in mind.

As we evolve as Human Beings, we begin to realise and discover that what we have to really do is to ‘Make a Life’ and not just mere a Living. We cannot Make Lives by adopting high handedness. In making a life, you create your own responses and shape society in a way that is different. We may begin with rules and regulations, but we then have to move on to the more intricate complexion of life where boundaries are more fluid and flexible. A young artist would, for instance, begin with small and simple sketches and pictures governed by the rules of art. Once the artist discovers self and is able to express and create original works in a way born of interior motivation  rather than only by relying and adapting to the outside framework, he / she has begun the most important phase of his / her life journey.

This can only take place if each of us as individuals connect to a particular project or idea that makes our own heart sing. For me, I am planning to go, taking a little time out from my schedule and spend it with my parents in the Farm later this monsoon, and work on a kitchen garden. The idea is to “match make” myself with the fun of enjoying the earth and the mud and the fun feeling of being “Earthy” and at the same time spend some good moments together. Think of how much such a simple idea could change our life, at so many levels and moments.

So lets put our thoughts together and see and understand where is it that our real happiness lies. Is it only in the corporate board rooms or in the open space around us. The things we do, however big or small, are invested with a meaning.  So lets have the clarity to put our dreams and desires into action, and not just “Exist” but “Start Living”!

Cheers!