Intricacies of Life

 A specimen of a perfect real life story is something as given below. The story of a day from a teenager's life:

The midnight dreams that slip through the thoughts like dollops of butter sliding on the frictionless floor carry with them a pleasant scent of self satisfaction and contentment.  The euphoria soon shatters by a cry of an Egreet passing by the saffron and yellow rising sun. And then while brushing up the teeth, "I must have spoken up that day at the theatre."  While bathing in the clean water, "The girl seemed trustworthy but she revealed my secret." And then is welcomed a sorrowful visage. But until the clothes are on, a feeling of rhapsody knocks. "That victory was perfect." During the bus journey, "But why did my niece do that? The teacher shouldn't have scolded me. That uncle is a jerk, he says I must turn up to my place by eleven." The English teacher begins teaching, " I made a new friend yesterday." The swimming lessons, "But why did Roma leave the prom that night. The servant showed his impertinence to me though I am his master." The sun sets whilst the dinner is served, "Rohit calls me a nerd, though I am not." And while sleep tries entering the eyes, " I don't think I could buy a gift for Stanley's birthday, I couldn't go there empty- handed. I spent my pocket money at Steeming's Street corner bar.....And....." And a snore lets the sound sleep welcome the unreal dreams that give the pleasant sense. And this cycle continues.

 Isn't this a very good story? Or rather a baffling one with a jumble of pieces of different jigsaw puzzeles? The story is a simple and smooth one, in which a teenager gets up from bed, brushes up, bathes, travels to college in a bus and attends the English class and the swimming lessons and then dines at night and goes off to sleep. As simple as that. But then those sentences in quotes? Those are the unlinked thoughts that occupy the mind throughout the day. Those are just a pile of certain incidents that cause mood swings and interrupt our being in the present. If a paragraph- long story could become complex and puzzling when sudden thoughts without linkage are introduced into it, then how complex could our real life be when we keep thinking of past incidents. And then we add up to the air of complexity by complaining of the complexities itself. 

 Can we keep up with the events in the story when we read through the paragraph? Then how can the person in the story keep up with the tasks he performs. How can there be an improvement in his English when the young adult keeps thinking of something else throughout the lecture? And later he would complain about difficulties in English. And... the problem in his English skills would add up his thoughts, gradually diminishing the simplicity of living and entangling his thoughts. This is how  he has made his "Life in a Paragraph" complex. And this is how we make our lives complex, ourselves.

 

 The barraging of thoughts is as fatal as the barraging bullets on the war field. Unlinked contemplation could trap up the best of intellectuals into its mingling. The trap not only interrupts the mental productivity, but as asserted, it leaves the individual physically in the middle of nowhere, bubbling complexities in the simplest of lives. It could decrease the working efficiency by complicating the scenario.

 Every problem that originates is destined to have a solution that could pierce its convolutions and opens up a dimension to comprehend the simplicity of the problem. In a quite similar manner, the real problems of life could also be solved by simplifications. Thoughts do possess the power to cool the volcanoes and melt the glaciers, but only if they are channelized. So, to get rid of the intricacies of living, whipping on the thoughts is a solution. Whipping on, doesn't point at abstaining from repertoire of thoughts, but finding the right time and right matter to think of.

 Just like the master chefs, if anyone uses the right ingredients at the right time, a savor dish of thoughts could be cooked. Assign the ingredients the designation of thoughts, and think of the chef preparing the Pizza. If he thinks of cheese and then sugar and then rice and then salt and adds them into the pan, an erratic dish of worth the bin would be cooked.

 All these paragraphs might also could seem to be complicating the matter, if they are not integrated into a single point. So, the gist of all these lines is that we need to possess a control over our thinking, by indulging into ourselves and building up an imaginary press button switch in our minds.

How thoughts entangle in our minds

 If the child in that perplexing story drowns into thinking of the grammar in the English class, he would excel into it. Thinking of Roma in the English class wouldn't help him. If he would have channelized the thoughts about Roma while at the prom, then maybe, she would not have left abruptly.

 Every labyrinth has its way out. Once it is found, it would be a leisurely experience to stroll into the maze the next time. Similarly, if we comprehend the solution to the complexity of life, no numerical of high- level scientific application too would seem complicated. Life would be much easier to live. The word "complex" would become an imaginary word in the dictionary.

 But these "would"s and "could"s could not be achieved by simply stating the remedy to solve complexities in brief. Every panacea must be a detailed description of procedures of following the remedial measures. So, if we get into channelizing of thoughts' procedure's detailed description, it would lead us to those very common terms- Self-Assurance and Realization.

 

Concentrate and Meditate

 Self- assurance requires assuring ourselves that we possess the ability to control our thoughts. So the first step would be to gain that confidence by believing strongly that we can control the thoughts that strike us. The next step would be the very popular one- befriending ourselves and peeping into our being and knowing what we actually are. Knowing what thoughts suit us, and what thoughts might harm our being.  Then comes the step of marking preferences. Once the preferences are marked, then comes the realization part. We need to realize, which thought is to be put under which preference at a particular time. And once this assigning is done, we may start thinking freely about that point, leaving aside all other thoughts.

 This method might seem to be obstructing free thoughts and annexing from our minds, the freedom of thinking. But actually, it does not do so. This is because our thoughts itself would regulate the arrival of thoughts. Moreover, its not about stopping the thoughts, but waiting for the correct time to pour the water out from the pots, so that it doesn't mix with the other liquids already poured. So this method would help us to solve the toughest puzzles of life. Because is all about being in the present moments. So, if we can direct our thinking to be in the present than all our energy would get directed to solve the problems of the "present".

 Once all the filaments are untangled, the complexities would disappear and life would seem simpler. So life is all about directing thoughts. Once this trick is mastered through concentration, life would be enchanting and elating. We would gain a power to stand like boulders in the toughest of situations and focus our thoughts like the coherent laser lines onto overcoming a particular situation. And ultimately we would be able to taste the sweetest essence of simplicity in our lives.

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Gross Domestic Happiness

The words from a speech at a State level Debate- Premises of the speaker: Vrushti Trivedi

Gross Domestic Happiness is more important in judging the well being of a country than Gross domestic Product.

   We all know that GDP measures the number of goods produced and thus, the economy of the country. But do we know the actual meaning of the word happiness? Happiness is a state of mind. It does not depend on acquiring material products. If to be rich were to be happy, then why do we see stress, depression and suicide rates rising even though the economy is growing? Just see Japan, according to the World Bank it ranks third in GDP in the world. Then why does it have such a high suicide rate of 26 persons per 100,000 individuals? So, even if a country’s GDP is high, but GDH is low, we cannot say that the country is in a state of well being. Though Hitler succeeded in increasing the GDP of Germany from the Great Depression to particular normal levels, yet we all know that Germany under the Nazis was not a happy Germany.

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The importance of happiness has been comprehended years ago. The sages spent their entire lives in   the forest. Did they ever worry about their trading concerns or their means of earning a livelihood? No, because they had understood that the ultimate goal of life is the bliss of the soul. So, this idea of GDH is in accordance to the ancient Holy Scriptures which encourage humans to be happy.

The term GDH was actually coined by Jigme- the ruler of Bhutan. And today, Bhutan is the happiest country in the world. It measures GDH on a certain scale based on equitable social development, cultural preservation, conservation of the environment and good governance.  This policy has attracted other countries which are also developing such Indexes because they have come to know that socioeconomic and cultural development is much more important than simply economic development.  Gross Domestic Product could measure amount of goods and services and so on.  But it could not measure the health of an individual or the quality of education provided to the students. It could not measure the joy, the rights, the ideals and the beliefs of the citizens of a country. In short, it could not measure all the factors that make our lives worth living.

People say that health could be achieved by spending money. But actually, our mind is much stronger than our body and controls each and every aspect of it. This is proven by a research by Julia Boehm and her colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health which says that “Positive thoughts and a happy mind could reduce the chances of getting strokes and heart attacks and so is the case with other diseases.”

A cake adorned with artistic icing may appear to be very tempting but ultimately, it is the taste which matters. So while GDP is the icing, GDH is the cake itself. So, an increase in GDP would not necessarily buy happiness . But yes, an increase in GDH would definitely increase the per capita efficiency of the individuals and hence increase the GDP of the county.

To summarize, I would say, that every country must be judged on the basis of its GDH rather than GDP, so that the policy makers could concentrate more on GDH levels of the country. Was King Midas happy by the touch of gold? Similarly, no country could be happy by increased levels of GDP only. So, we should all try to be happy and contribute to the growth of the GDH of the country.