One amazing article a friend emailed me today –
My Friends,
Money has no memory. Experience has. You will never know what the total cost of your education was, but for a lifetime you will recall and relive the memories of schools and colleges. Few years from now, you will forget the amount you paid to settle the hospitalisation bill, but will ever cherish having saved your mother’s life or the life you get to live with the just born. You won’t remember the cost of your honeymoon, but to the last breath remember the experiences of the bliss of togetherness. Money has no memory. Experience has.
Good times and bad times, times of prosperity and times of poverty, times when the future looked so secure and times when you didn’t know from where the tomorrow will come… life has been in one way or the other a roller-coaster ride for everyone. Beyond all that abundance and beyond all that deprivation, what remains is the memory of experiences. Sometimes the wallet was full… sometimes even the pocket was empty. There was enough and you still had reasons to frown. There wasn’t enough and you still had reasons to smile. Today, you can look back with tears of gratitude for all the times you had laughed together, and also look back with a smile at all the times you cried alone. All in all, life filled you with experiences to create a history of your own self, and you alone can remember them all.
The first time you balanced yourself on your cycle without support…
The first time she said ‘yes’ and it was two years since you proposed…
The first cry… the first steps… the first word… the first kiss… all of your child…
The first gift you bought for your parents and the first gift your daughter gave you…
The first award… the first public appreciation… the first stage performance…
And the list is endless… Experiences, with timeless memory…
No denying that anything that’s material cost money, but the fact remains the cost of the experience will be forgotten, but the experience never.
So, what if it’s economic recession? Let it be, but let there not be a recession to the quality of your life. You can still take your parents, if not on a pilgrimage, at least to the local temple. You can still play with your children, if not on an international holiday, at least in the local park. It doesn’t cost money to lie down or to take a loved one onto your lap. Nice time to train the employees, create leadership availability and be ready for the wonderful times when they arrive. Hey! Aspects like your health, knowledge development and spiritual growth are not economy dependent.
Time will pass… economy will revive… currency will soon be in current… and in all this, I don’t want you to look back and realise you did nothing but stayed in gloom. Recession can make you lose out on money. Let it not make you lose out on experiences… If you are not happy with what you have, no matter how much more you have, you will still not be happy.
Make a statement with the way you live your life: How I feel has nothing to do with how much I have.
If you remember I had something similar to say on one of your post. Yes, “This too shall pass. “ Nice post! Keep writing.
this is one of ur very good post sakshi ..really experience and feelings are priceless ..
Thanks guys… Of course I remember Shivanand!!!
ANd yes Sourabh…they indeed are priceless!
I really love this post, it really speaks to how we just need to be truly grateful and live life no matter what. Keep writing I love reading your work.
what a thoughtful mail you got. thanks a ton to your friend and thanks to you for sharing. smashing!
i dont have a blog of my own, otherwise i would have written a post on this. well, since i have something to share too, to add another dimension to the story, i am going to abuse the option of comments here.
the other day, i was debating with my guide about the impact of recession on development of green technologies and the campaign against global warming. for her age, she is a phenomenally optimistic person and a real positive thinker. in short, she said that this recession and the gloomy days, will bring home the point for the masses that real happiness never depended on how good or bad their investment portfolios did.
The real happiness resides elsewhere! It depended on how good we did as human beings. It will make us rethink that the American model of happiness has its fatal side effects for the humanity. The mad race that we were engaging in during the last few years was a bubble long overdue for its burst.
just like your friend, she has a point. I hope this recession will make ppl think again and will make them change their lifestyles.
maybe ppl will move towards a less materialistic yet more loving, value based society – one which knows whats more important than the BSE Sensitive Index is our own personal sensitiVITY index; one that is concerned about improving both its GNP and its GNH (Gross National Happiness) simultaneously.
But mind it, just as the money has a short memory the public memory is even shorter. history is full of stories about these cycles. we keep repeating our mistakes. we will be back in the field again.
a foregone conclusion>
We will forget this fall; the lessons learnt and the experiences gained. We will start it over with new vigor, rather with a vengeance (like an ex-smoker), we will again pay a visit to the very same pitfalls, will reflect, repent and reach similar conclusions – only to embark on the same journey, reaching the same destination albeit via another detour!
cheers
Youngcel…thanks
Sanju – Wow… this is amazing! I wish u had a blog… it would have been so much fun to read what you write
Its so true… we keep repeating the same mistakes… but that’s what’s called ‘human’…hhahaha
Such beautiful thought. I read it aloud this beautiful Saturday morning and could feel gratitude for my blessings and am thankful to my friend who forwarded me this link.
Keep Smiling
Thanks Vineet…
You keep smiling too…it doesn’t cost anything