I am participating in the #WordsMatter Blog Hop for December 2019 hosted by Corinne, Shalini and Parul. The prompt for this month is “If I could give/receive one gift….”.
A happy memory is a wonderful blessing because every single time we reflect upon it, a sense of joy unfolds and fills our soul with positive emotions. As I sift through my favourite memories, I chance upon a beautiful sunny day in the hills, where we lived, and how a red diary that popped up from a box that day introduced me to the art of diary writing and journaling. I couldn’t have asked for a better gift as a child. My collection of books and my red diary were my pride—one that I treasured beyond measure and which in many ways led me towards the love for the written word. But, more than that, it made me reflect on things around me. It was just the beginning, of course, but a beautiful start to a journey that taught me to introspect on the bigger picture of life. That gift changed my life in more ways than I could ever have fathomed then.
Years later, every time I’ve thought of gifting something to someone, I’ve had to spend hours deliberating upon the perfect item—one that would really make the receiver happy. With varying choices and multitudes of options to choose from, it has now become a tough call to zero in on the perfect gift to give. So many choices and so many options to choose from. And, if I do find the right gift, the question that most often pops in my head is—Would the person be really happy to receive this gift?
So, today when I had to share my thoughts on the one gift that I’d like to give/receive, I decided to change my perspective and look at our lives in a slightly different way. And guess what, I came up with something completely different. I surmised that since there is no dearth of things we aspire for, our longing for objects/things will also never cease, and our sense of discontent will continue to find a home within our hearts, lurking forever in some corner of our souls, destroying our peace, leaving us unhappy.
A perfect foil to that would be a sense of contentment within our hearts. That would be the best gift ever.
See, it’s not actually the gift that makes us happy. It’s how we receive it. It’s all in the frame of mind that we possess when we receive it. Even as we continue to progress through life and work on bettering ourselves every day, it is important to be happy being who we are and content with whatever we already possess. Only then, can we work on being the best version of ourselves. It may not happen right away, but over time, if we start believing in it, and apply ourselves to it, it will reflect on all aspects of our lives, fill our souls with gratitude and leave us much happier than we can ever imagine, even if we possessed all the precious things in the world.
Contentment brings us peace and lets us enjoy being in the present moment, it encourages us to savour the precious minutes with our loved ones, helps us treasure what we are already blessed with and not continue to live in the distant future that forever eludes us. Life is here and now. And what we have is enough. What we are, is enough to make us happy. Contentment lies in the mind!
Leaving you with a few things to ponder upon this nippy Friday morning and a beautiful thought-provoking poem as well. Do read it aloud if you can and see how it wraps you up with the most wonderful feeling—yes, that’s what contentment is like!
The Joy Of Little Things
It’s good the great green earth to roam,
Where sights of awe the soul inspire;
But oh, it’s best, the coming home,
The crackle of one’s own hearth-fire!
You’ve hob-nobbed with the solemn Past;
You’ve seen the pageantry of kings;
Yet oh, how sweet to gain at last
The peace and rest of Little Things!
Perhaps you’re counted with the Great;
You strain and strive with mighty men;
Your hand is on the helm of State;
Colossus-like you stride . . . and then
There comes a pause, a shining hour,
A dog that leaps, a hand that clings:
O Titan, turn from pomp and power;
Give all your heart to Little Things.
Go couch you child wise in the grass,
Believing it’s some jungle strange,
Where mighty monsters peer and pass,
Where beetles roam and spiders range.
‘Mid gloom and gleam of leaf and blade,
What dragons rasp their painted wings!
O magic world of shine and shade!
O beauty land of Little Things!
I sometimes wonder, after all,
Amid this tangled web of fate,
If what is great may not be small,
And what is small may not be great.
So wondering I go my way,
Yet in my heart contentment sings . . .
O may I ever see, I pray,
God’s grace and love in Little Things.
So give to me, I only beg,
A little roof to call my own,
A little cider in the keg,
A little meat upon the bone;
A little garden by the sea,
A little boat that dips and swings . . .
Take wealth, take fame, but leave to me,
O Lord of Life, just Little Things.
Now, I’d like to ask you—what’s that one gift that you’d like to give/receive and why would it matter so much to you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
************
I am participating in the #WordsMatter Blog Hop for December 2019. I received this tag from Jyothi Nair who blogs at MyBucketListDiary.Com It’s my pleasure to pass on this tag to Menaka Bharati who blogs at SimpleIndianMom.in. There are 25 of us on this Blog Hop and it will be spread over 3 days – December 6th to 8th, 2019. Do follow the #WordsMatter Blog Hop and prepared to be surprised!
Happy New Year Esha! Hope 2020 brings you a lot of peace, joy and contentment. Your blog is just so beautiful to look at. It’s a pleasure to visit you.
Contentment! Truly the best non tangible gift . By it’s very definition, it means you don’t need anything else!
Thank you Sunita! Glad we agree on this.
Esha, I think the same that the most precious gift in life is the contentment within ourselves. It is important how we perceive things and feel about them.
True that, Geethica! Glad we think on similar lines here. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
Well said. Contentment is the most important gift to have/receive, You can own everything in the world but if you lack contentment, you’ll never be happy. Loved reading the poem. Thanks for some food for thought 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Shilpa! And, so glad to know you loved the poem too!
Contentment is what I would like to have, too, Esha! There are times when the mind is restless, the heart is full of discontent, and I keep yearning for this and that, giving little importance to what I already possess! 🙁
I know what you mean. Our sense of discontent is never-ending, at times. I think being content can solve a lot of our issues at one go. What say?
Thanks for stopping by, Shilpa!
That is a beautiful post and a lovely poem to read. Contentment is really important because it is always easy to want more but being content with what we have and cherish what we have often becomes difficult in this materialistic world.
Thank you, Reema! Practising contentment is one of my goals for the year 2020! I see no other way for myself, going forward.
So glad to see you stop by the blog.
Being content, living with cherished memories is all that matters in the end. How smartly life teaches us to seek contentment in little things.
You said it, Pragnya! Life teaches us wisdom through each of our encounters with reality. It is upto us to listen to that and act upon it. The idea is to learn and grow with time.
Thanks for stopping by the blog and sharing your thoughts here. 🙂
Contentment, to be happy with what we receive, is important indeed. 🙂 I loved your thoughts, Esha. And I was trying to imagine the sunny day that started it all.
Thanks for stopping by the blog, Vinay! I’m glad my thoughts echoed with you.
Being an avid diarist myself, I sometimes feel contentment comes with pouring out your thoughts on a page….
Oh yes, that is also another way of finding contentment when life gets a little overwhelming!
Glad to see you stop by and share your thoughts, Pragya.
Contentment, oh, Esha, that’s a powerful feeling. The joy in little things always brings out the best feeling, even if we don’t appreciate it with all our heart. I bet, if we keep acknowledging most of the lovely/normal/not-so-normal things/feelings we have, we do, we see, I think i’ll have atleast a small dose of contentment in my life. Nice one Esha.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Jayanthi. I couldn’t agree more with what you said. Contentment is after all, an inside job. We have to work at it constantly, to meet our needs and keep greed at bay. Not always easy, you know!
It is so difficult to be content in life. So right you are! The gift of contentment would be a good one to receive. All anxiety will be lost and there would be peace. Yikes, that actually rhymes. 🙂
Haha…nice rhyming, Jyothi! You are spot on with what you said. It is a thought that sounds easy to follow but takes a lot of resolve and determination to actually implement it internally! But, at least, this is something that I’m working on already so, I shall say, it is not impossible at all.
Oh yes! Contentment is what we all really need. To savour each day and to create memories with our loved ones. Because in the end, that’s all that matters. Thanks for sharing the lovely poem, Esha. I hadn’t read it before.
So glad that we seem to echo a similar strain here! It does matter when we savour the moments that we experience on an everyday basis, with those who matter. Contentment is an inside job after all!
Thanks for being the first to leave a comment here and for sharing your thoughts here, Corinne! 🙂