Love, Actually, is Everywhere!

Where do you think one should go in order to see emotions, real feelings and true Love? To a newly born baby who is safe in his mother’s lap, to a wedding where two people are tying a know for lifetime in front of a hundred other people who do not care about anything other than the wedding dinner and cake, to a restaurant full of young couples sipping a milkshake in one glass with two straws, to a college where people walk with hand in hand in the garden and bunk the classes, to a movie theatre where people take corner seats and never really watch the movie, or to a school where little children throw pieces of paper at each other without even knowing what and why are they doing? Or to a place where people meet and depart, plan next meetings, cry for the moments that have gone and smile for the time that has yet to come, enjoy every minute of being with someone without knowing when it is going to be the next time they meet again. A place where affections turn into love, moments of happiness turn into moments of sadness, moments of waiting become those of meeting….is there such a place? Where there are big tight hugs, there are tears in the corner of the eyes, there are bright eyes waiting for someone, there are sad faces bidding goodbyes to close ones, there are happy faces saying hello to close friends, there are smiles, there are tears, there are heartbreaks, there are get-togethers, there are take offs, there are landings?

Yes, there are more feelings on train stations and airports than there are at weddings! And you know why it is so? It is because one realizes the value of something or someone only when either they go, or they come back after a long wait. There are a million times we fight with the ones we love, drift away from a loved one for no reason. But when we are not together with them, we realize that to be with them is more important than to prove our point and there is no way we can afford to lose them just in order to prove that we are right. We realize the importance of their company only when they go away, when they have left, and we are left waiting for them or only expecting that they will be back. And all these situations can be seen at their best and in all the different ways they can ever exist, places where both of these extremes meet, and that is to go to a place like an airport or a train station. People hug the ones they love, at times, regret and confess, feel guilty for what they have done or not done, realize that they love someone more than anything ever, or that we were expecting too much from someone that does not deserve, or see someone for the last time, for the first time, or hold a placard and wait for someone unknown. In fact, life itself is like an airport. We are all holding placards in the name of someone unknown, and living with the hope of seeing the one that is made for us.

So in fact, love, actually, is everywhere, even where we cannot see it. It is just like the air, that exists everywhere, but we cannot see it with our eyes, it just does what it has to, and stays there forever, it is just a matter of realization. We cannot survive without air, but we realize it only when we are short of breath and are dying. And the good thing is that when we get something after such a long wait, it seems to be the most important thing to us and we look for ways to never let it go, ever again. For now when we know it is something that we cannot live without, it becomes even more essential a part of or life. We are normally okay with whatever is happening, but once we get what we were always unknowingly craving for, we cannot live without it. There are so many people who get the love and lose it. It is not just because they have not realized its importance. Sometimes life shows us its ultimate power of taking and giving things to and from us. For even life needs to make us realize its importance at times, when we begin to forget what is our raison d’être and start giving more importance to ourselves.

And then there are times when things happen for god knows what reasons, and the phrase “Everything happens for good” begins to look like the biggest lie to us. But I believe whatever happens has a reason behind itself, and though, being humans, we cannot realize it when our vision is blurred with the tears of regret, guilt, shame, sadness or even love, it still is true. For truth doesn’t change with our ability to see it, it is truth and it is complete within itself, it doesn’t need a proof, it doesn’t hide itself like us humans, when there is no one to believe in it, it is open and in front of us all the time, we just need to understand that it won’t change just because we do not like it. I know that the last thing I said is sort of “Easy to say, difficult to do”, but as I said, this is also a universal truth and we have to accept it no matter what our heart says, for our brain knows what is the truth. The same goes for love. It is there, it always exists, it never fails to do what it has to, and it doesn’t care whether we realize it or not. It is there. Love, if nowhere else, is actually within us. No matter if we do not realize it, or we keep saying we have lost it, or we have never seen it. It is there like the air that we can never see. It is there like God. We have never seen him but we always pray to him, we always believe in him, in what he does, or can do. God, actually, exists within us. And no matter how much we criticize him, or complain of him for not being there with us, he is there, always. We only realize his importance when something extraordinary happens, some miracle or some magic happens. The same way, love, is always there, with us, within us, for us, among us, but we never realize it until either it goes away, or comes back, until there is a miracle which makes us say, “Wow! So here I am, looking at what I was waiting for since forever! This is it!” got what I mean to say?

I say love exists everywhere, we don’t need to touch it, feel it or see it to believe in it, we just need to understand that Love is everywhere and just like god, it doesn’t need to prove its existence to us, and when it does, it leaves no mark. We just need to be satisfied that we are alive. And that is only because we L.I.V.E., we love the life, no matter how much it hurts us, how much it kills us, we are still alive, and there is love within our souls. It doesn’t matter which form it is in, it doesn’t matter how much it is, it is there, and that is all what matters. So, Love, actually, is everywhere. And it is not dependent on us to believe in it. So keep believing, and one day, without a notice, without a horn, it will crash you, and you will open your eyes in a whole new world, of miracles, of the extraordinary, of the unbelievable and of L.O.V.E. J Just keep Living, keep believing, keep Loving.

No good deed ever goes unrewarded! Do good, feel good!

You must have heard “No good deed goes unpunished”. And it is a normal thing that human brain tends to remember negative things more than the positive ones. So, have you ever heard, “No good deed ever goes unrewarded”? Yes, you must have, somewhere, but must not remember it very clearly, because it is also a common tendency of us humans to ignore all good that has happened and remember for a long time all bad that has been done to them, forget all rewards and remember all punishments. But I say, “All good deeds get rewarded by one means or the other, irrespective of our realization of it”. Yes it is true! And I can prove it to you. Whatever good we do never goes in vain. It might feel like this is just a thing to say and doesn’t really happen. It just seems to us that nothing good is happening to us in return for whatever good we are doing or have done. But the reality is that it is just that whatever we do, good or bad, keeps getting stored and sometimes we get the return for it when we are not at all expecting it. Sometimes, helping a blind old man to cross the road, a little kid to solve his puzzle, helping your mother to make the food, just letting your little sister write on the postcard to your grandpa, using your pocket money to buy a poor kid some food, sharing a chocolate with your friend, all this seems to be very little to be noticed, and very less to be of help to someone. But not always what we think is true. Sometimes what we think is of no or little use turns out to be the biggest available help to someone.

Have you ever thought how your little piece of advice works wonders for someone you barely know and who hardly expects anything coming from a stranger like you? How can something so little and so unexpected help him in such a great way? The reason is just that we do not notice small things that we do, and that matter more than bigger things at times. The things we sometimes think are useless turn out to be the most useful of all, and the ones we think are the most useful turn out to be the most fruitless of all. It is just like a pinch of cinnamon added to grape vine, the one pinch that we think won’t at all affect the drink, but when we drink it we get to know what the cinnamon was capable of doing! This is only because we never know the taste of the drink until we have a sip. Or like a tinge of white in red makes it pink, but when we see the white alone, we cannot see the pink that it is capable of making, we cannot see the real colour until we actually mix the two. But whatever noticed or unnoticed, the cinnamon in the vine and the white in the pink never get wasted, they always manage to leave their own mark wherever they are used. For even Saint Basil has said, “A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love”.

It is all true! But sometimes, out of the frustration of always seeming to get something negative or bad in return, or the disappointment that life gives to us instead of so many good deeds that we have done, we begin to think there is nothing like getting good in return for whatever good we have done, it is all a lie, an illusion, and Shakespeare, Saint Basil, Vincent Van Gogh, all were just writing about good deeds in order to sell their words! And it is natural, to get such thoughts, and it is not easy to overcome them as well, but it is essential to avoid them in order to save ourselves from the negativity that stops us from doing the good. Because it is anyway not that great to stop living for the fear of dying! So why stop doing something good for the fear of not getting anything in return?? The good deed itself turns bad the moment we start thinking of the benefits or the return we would be getting out of it. The more we think of getting something, the more we are driven away from it, the lesser we expect something to happen, the more it is driven toward us. This is a fact, though it has no evidence, everyone must have noticed it once at least. It is just like the more you wait for your order in a restaurant, the more time it takes and the more you are indulged in talking and chit chatting or playing games the lesser time it seems to take for your order to reach you. It is just a matter of expectation. Expectation, the root of all misery, the mother of all pains, expectation. Thus, we say, the lesser we expect, the more we get, and after all, a good deed is good only until one does not expect any return from it. In short, only a selfless deed is a good deed and a good deed, in turn, never goes fruitless!

So, a selfless deed, which means a good deed, never goes unrecognized, unrewarded or unnoticed. Where, being recognized or rewarded does not always mean to be known or rewarded by humans who are benefited by the deed, but by GOD himself. We need to understand that our deeds, good or bad, do not only make and break our own self, our life, they also are responsible for the creation and destruction of the world as a whole. So we must realize the fact that whatever good or bad we do affect the world around us. Whenever we do something good or bad, we work on a sea saw of good and bad that balances and imbalances the world. So when we do something good, we make the world a better place to live in, and when we do something evil, we take a step towards its destruction. So there’s a fair deal of expecting a reward and thus quitting on doing good things, and doing only good without expecting anything and understanding that we have paved way for the betterment of the world. And what is a bigger and more satisfying reward for anyone than the feeling of making the world a better place, of returning the world back what it has given to us! There is nothing else that can make us happier than this, and not reward bigger than this in return for a good deed.

So as I said in the beginning, no good deed goes in vain, just keep doing what you think is right, help people, make sad people smile, share your excess, work towards the betterment of the poor, give, love, understand, smile, pray, live….and never expect! For what you are going to get in the end, is worth all the pains you take for any good you do! Just as I said, the lesser you expect, the more you get! Be happy, smile. For even a smile you give to a little baby, or even a piece of bread you give to a poor child, a hug you give to an old friend, a lift you offer to someone in need, a call you make to your parents every week is a part of what you give back to the world in return for letting you enjoy the beauty of it! Do good, be good, feel good!