Thursday, April 9, 2015

The ordinary in extraordinary.




The other day someone asked me to make a list of my achievements. I gave it some thought, infact a lot of thought and could not come up with anything extra ordinary. 
So my life has been a waste, I have not achieved anything that would make me stand out in a crowd and have people applaud my achievements. I am just one of the seven billion blips around the planet. The fact that I have done nothing extraordinary makes my life even more insignificant! Or does it???? 
A few years ago; a thought like this would have gotten me into a tailspin of sadness and possibly depression. I would have mulled over my insignificance and my lack of contribution to making this world a better place or even achieving any kind of personal goals. 
Today however; I feel absolutely comfortable in my ordinariness. If I can be kind, compassionate, empathetic, calm and peaceful towards myself and towards those around me, I think I have achieved extra ordinariness.
Why do we as a society only applaud the outliers? Why are we made to feel insignificant and small if we do not fit in the norm of what defines success? Why are financial achievements or attaining any kind of fame the only yardsticks of success?
Why are we always measured for our achievements and not for who we are? 
Would it not make better sense to be applauded for who we are? How our presence in itself is a miracle and how our very being is a part of the cosmic success. We are all insignificant in the grand scheme of things and yet each one of has significance. Every act and every thought has an impact on the collective consciousness. If we all indulged in the very ordinary acts with extra ordinary passion and commitment would it not be of significance? In any case why are we so concerned about how the world views us? Why do we need validation for our existence? Why is our self worth directly in proportion to our net worth?
We as a society are becoming immune to our own real nature. Our very nature is expansive and all encompassing. We are all making ourselves smaller than who we are by measuring ourselves through our achievements. No way am I underplaying the value of achieving extraordinary feats. I applaud the outliers for they have allowed the expansiveness of their being to shine through, where as most of us have not yet explored its full dimensions.
But having said that, I feel there is so much joy in being ordinary, being the best ordinary that I can be, keeping in mind that I am a part of this connected universe and every act and thought of mine will have a direct impact or the extra ordinariness of the cosmos. My one act of kindness could have a ripple effect and so can my one act of terror or pain. Think about the German Wings pilot who took down with him 150 other people. Think of the cumulative pain in those families. One persons act has had such an impact. His personal pain translated into a nationwide pain. People who are terrorized generally end up terrorizing others, people in pain usually give others pain and people in joy will generally bring joy. 
Would it not make sense for me to be joyful and happy in my ordinariness instead of being miserable in my extraordinary ness? Maybe this is my cop out for a lack of societal expected achievement, but I am comfortable being ordinary. I am comfortable being a stay at home mom, I am comfortable in my lack of significant financial achievement. I am comfortable with my failures and my mistakes. I am comfortable in my humanness. I feel pain when another hurts, I feel joy when someone rejoices. I may not have well defined goals but my life is not without purpose. I may not have five or ten year plans but my today has a lot of meaning. I may not have made a significant contribution in any field but I have made a significant inroad into my inner peace. I feel ordinarily extraordinary.

1 comment:

Isabel Bent said...

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