Wake up and smile: You have to actually do this!
Embrace the weather: Come rain or shine, enjoy what the new day brings.
Experience the day mindfully: Remember that the day will not return, so explore every minute fully.
As I get older, I understand the journey of life better. I learn to be in the moment and truly enjoy the present. In 2016, I did the Camino walk in Spain. I was on a fourteen-day walking pilgrimage or a padyatra. They were long days, spent walking thirty kilometres. When I finally reached and walked into the cathedral at Santiago, Spain, where the bones of St James are encased in a cave below the church, I realized that I did not feel the elevation that I had expected. I then spent time reflecting on the journey—the walking, the conversations, the scenery and the joy of actually having walked the entire way! I then realized that it is the journey, and every moment of the journey, that defines the destination.
Don’t expect the destination to provide you with more joy or meaning than the journey you take to reach it! I would like to share two more instances of enjoying my day. One from my youth in India and one from a day in Mexico. In 1979, I was dating Vikram Gandhi, my high school sweetheart. He was the man I later went on to marry. I have three children with him, although we went through a divorce in 2013, thirty-four years later. In any case, I remember a day during the monsoons when I went over to Vikram’s parents’ apartment in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai. We had planned to go to the Naval Sea Club in Colaba, which was the swimming bay part of the Naval Officers Club that my father belonged to.
It was raining quite hard and the rain showed no signs of letting up. Vikram was disappointed that we could not go to the club in Navy Nagar; I was a little disappointed as I don’t like to change plans too much. But as we both sat there and looked out of the window at the torrential rain, we became mesmerized by it. It is an understatement to say that we became one with the rain in the most platonic and simple way. Two 15-year-olds just staring at the rain! I can still vividly experience this quiet moment of stillness and happiness. We felt the sheer simple joy of watching the downpour from the apartment’s living room window, of hearing the sounds of the majestic pelting, and the claps of repeated thunder; and watching the darkening of the sky. It was nature unfolding in all its mystic beauty. We sat there for hours, silently watching and admiring the beauty of the rainfall. Yes, that day still stands out in my mind. It was the sheer joy of watching nature.
I still think about that incident, sitting and experiencing nature. Even today, when it rains or snows I am spellbound, watching in sheer wonder.However, in Tulum one afternoon, I was down with diarrhoea and cramps. I was quickly sent to my room to take two tablets of Treda. I had gone there for the yoga classes at Amansala, Tulum, which I love. Now, knocked down by Montezuma’s Revenge—as it is called here—I was stuck in my room. I took the two tablets and opened my curtains and realized that I was right on the beach. I realized that I was literally living in a thatched roof shack on the beach with azure views of the Caribbean Sea. This was something I had always wanted to do.
I took a deep breath. I had been here for nine days and all that time had been spent in running from one class to another, leaving me with virtually no time to stop and soak in the most stunning views and sounds of the ocean. But the ocean is so divine! After a few days, I woke up in the morning having entirely recovered and full of joy.
My illness had forced me to relax and to take the time to soak in the energy of the blue ocean, the soothing sound, and the mild breezes that sway the palm trees outside the terrace. It was all just so beautiful and stunning! All I had to do was to enjoy it and just take it in. Wow! The timeout taught me a lot.
I reflected as I enjoyed my last day on the beautiful Tulum beach. If I had not fallen ill, I would have missed these sights and this experience.
