The other day, on a sultry afternoon, I was out to
visit a book-store in the upmarket of South Delhi. The purpose was to spend a couple
of hours to keep myself abreast of
latest books in the town, especially in
my favorite genre - Self Help, Brain Power, Health/ Fitness, Happiness.
When I entered into that basement book-store, I
felt the ambience soul-lifting. The fragrance of fresh -print-books was
elating. The air-conditioned bookshop did not tire my legs when I snaked
through the shelves, sometimes standing to take a glance of couple of
pages of books and some other times bending my back to take a quick look in the
bottom racks. For a bibliophile it is like a pilgrimage in the new town which
I quite enjoyed.
The Book 'The
Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin is # 1 New York Times Bestseller in
2009. It is a reprint of 2011 edition. One interesting fact about the book is
that the author has spent twelve months test-driving the wisdom of the ages to
know first-hand of how to be happier. The cover flap depicts that she found
novelty and challenge as powerful sources of happiness.
Much before I saw the Rubin's book, I have already
embarked my own journey of happiness in April, 2013 with a dedicated note book meant for noting best quotes on happiness
culled out from the sayings of wisdom masters.
The main
aphorisms of happiness are universal across
all cultures.
While reading the book when flipped through the pages, suddenly my
heart-beat stopped for a while when I found pages 125 - 126 of the book
terribly torn . Much to my dismay, the succeeding pages 127 -128 also damaged
partially leaving no words to describe my agony.
I could not exchange the book as I wrote down my
name with date of purchase. The title of the book suggested me not
to react wildly. I stood silently for some time to come to terms. I thought what best I could
do to get over the situation is to subdue my negative emotions. Soon enough, I
pat my shoulder that I should not loose peace for the thing happened.
After a while, the solution was seen round the
corner. The Zen wisdom convinced me that
I should not worry for the things which I could do nothing. But I desperately
felt the need to vent my feelings , but how ? Suddenly I got a flash of
insight. It is my blog where I could pour out my heart.
Writing these lines gave me the much needed relief. It acted like magic pill to sooth my raging
nerves. I find that peace can not be either bought or brought from outside and
it is well within me. What I need is only to give a command to my own self with
love like a ring master does to a roaring lion in the circus !
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