Fast Paced Lives..

I grew up in Shillong, a small hill station filled with trees, greenery, flowers, clear blue skies, fresh green grass.  I have been used to being in Nature ever since. We had a garden which had all kinds of flowers and we had a few fruit trees also.

When I looked up at the night sky, I saw the stars and their constellations clearly. I would converse with them at times. I also felt they replied. Such was my connection to Nature.

Life was slower at that time. Technology hadn’t progressed so much. Computers and mobile phones were really rare. Video games were there but I wasn’t really interested in them. I liked being outside, with the plants, with the birds, with life…real life…

Now, I see buildings everywhere.  The beautiful trees, fresh air and big gardens are replaced by walls, pollution, crowds and vehicles.

I feel the connection that we had to real life and Nature has reduced a lot today. Irrespective of the city we live in or the background we come from, we seem to be losing connection with the natural flow of life. Everyone is in a hurry today. Rushing towards their goals. Job goals, relationship goals, gym goals. People are connected to each other via the internet and social media at all times but the basic human connection seems to have gone missing. We have a large friend’s list on facebook, but not all these people are our real friends. We earn more money than our parents did, but life has become a never ending race for most of us.

What went wrong? What happened to this world?

Even students are loaded with so much to study and are forced to excel in extra-curricular activities.  They don’t enjoy their hobbies anymore.  It’s all a competition to do better than the others in their class. It is quite the same with the job world. Promotions, salary hike, etc. keep people on their toes. No one remembers to enjoy the food they eat. No one remembers to hum a song while they are traveling to work. Everyone is in the process of weaving a plan for their success.

May be we should just be.  We should slow down for a while. We should take in the aroma of the tea we are having. We should go out and say hi to the night sky…

We need to get back in touch with Nature, with our hearts, with our lives…

Technology is nice upto an extent. May be we should make it a point to call and speak to our old friends and those who matter to us.

May be we should wake up in the morning and just watch the sunrise without any plans or goals in mind.  And we should go on a small holiday to some new place if just for a while…