Saturday, February 26, 2011

Finding happiness in breathing clean air


On the Descending Day of the Lord Buddha, I and my family went to Tandin Ney. On the way up, we saw a group of students sitting around in a circle in the beautiful meadow, eating snacks. From one of their mobiles came the modern music and they seemed to enjoy the environment, the song, and the friendship. When I see such scene, this nagging thought of how they might dispose their waste weigh me down. And that morning too, I wondered about it till I saw what they had done with their waste on my way back home. The wai wai and lay’s cover lay on the beautiful meadow on which they sat. They seemed to plead us to take them with us and so we did. 
I stay in a crowded area in Changzamtok where the urban planning hasn’t really laid eyes on. On the half a kilometer long rough road breeds the filthiest smell. God knows how many times I have wished that a city corporation or any other concerned organization would at least blacktop this stretch of road, which to me appears like not a costly activity. In the hope of teaching the people in this community a lesson of having a clean environment, I organized cleaning campaigns but that hasn’t helped much. I think it is true that most people get the feeling that, there is someone who will clean up their waste—which is a totally negative attitude.
And I wish the doma eaters had at least the common sense and uneasiness of splattering their doma spit on the clean steps in a building. I wonder what feeling they get on splattering red doma spit on the otherwise clean step. 
It is not so much how much waste you produce; it is how you dispose them. Think of living in a smoky, thick environment where you have this crunchy feeling of being smashed over by something really heavy. I don’t know if you would enjoy that, but I feel there isn’t any greater feeling of joy than sipping a hot mug of tea, watching the clean environment around you, and breathing in fresh air. 
The method of waste disposal is one of the indicators in Ecological Diversity and Resilience domain of GNH.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Finding happiness in valuing life


Have you ever wanted to die because things aren’t going the way you plan? I recently read an article in www.nopkin.com about a writer trying to think of what thoughts might precede before committing suicide.  I know how desperate and disappointed we can get, especially when something turns out totally opposite to what we expected. But that isn’t the reason to die. We are here for greater purpose than to take our own life. People with positive outlook on life do not usually think of committing suicide and even if this thought pops up, in a flicker of a second, it vanishes because they have the belief that there is more meaning in life. 

People who commit suicide or think of committing suicide are those who are mentally disturbed and are not able to hold their emotions and view them positively. What is very important is what values we practice and uphold. They put in us the perception we hold towards life. 

When you are going to your office in the morning, if you mercilessly run your car’s wheel over a pigeon, you will be haunted by the guilt of not having saved its life. If death is what we all look forward to, why should we even think that killing a bird is bad? If life isn’t what we should value, why should we even fear falling sick? We nurse our health, we eat healthy food, we take medicine when we fall sick, and we look for at least a day more to be in this world, simply because living is an important phenomenon where we have the opportunity of fulfilling the purpose of every higher conscience. 

Even if we have a mild headache, smile vanishes from our face. And the instant we feel better, we feel light and happy. Imagine how much happier we can be if we value this life and not think of ending it, brutally cutting off the possibility of fulfilling our dream. 

Occurrence of suicidal thought is one of the indicators in Psychological Wellbeing domain of GNH.

When I was on the Verge of Quitting

I am writing this post one year and one month after my last post. I buried writing as a past hobby, or a habit. I buried my urge to write as...