Tea Strainer & Life

I am very fond of tea and my mornings don’t begin unless I make and have a cup of tea.Today morning I was not able to find tea strainer. My tea was ready and was so inviting. I somehow found the strainer and the heavenly tea was in my hands. Every sip of tea was cherished after the efforts put in to search for the strainer. Friends a small thing like tea strainer becomes so important to have that 5 minutes of happiness for starting a peaceful cheerful day.

I guess in life too we need such strainers to enjoy the events and form beautiful memories. Every day is filled with some good and some bad events. How do we filter and close the day entirely depends upon us.

Tax audits for we chartered accountants and their trainees means a whole string of late night sittings, erratic schedules and eating outside at odd hours. But if we do a survey, majority of them enjoy and look forward to this period of year. All staff in office is motivated by special targets and that united working fosters friendship, understanding and lifelong bonding among everyone in office. I guess after some years we all remember only the fun, the jokes, the quality time we spent. We sieve away the stress associated with it.

We friends during our graduation days had gone to a small tour together post a students’ outstation conference. It was difficult to convince and obtain permission from all parents and teachers. But we somehow managed making all possible adjustments. We had made all bookings within our limited budget and limited holidays. We had a superb carefree tour full of fun and masti. Now after so many years we have fond memories of that special tour. The constraints before tour, the difficulties if any have been filtered away.

The first day I took Car out of parking for long distance driving I knew it won’t be easy. My target was to reach office which was around 5 kms away. My kid sat beside me with seat belt and I started driving. I was so engrossed in driving and full of anxiety that I forgot to open the windows and din't turn on the AC too. My daughter tried to speak up but I asked her not to disturb. After around 15 mins when we reached ,I realised that we were sweating. I felt so bad and guilty but my daughter completely ignored this and enjoyed my achievement. She was glad that mom drove her to office. She had unknowingly taught me to ignore small things to enjoy the larger event.

I guess it all depends upon us, what is filtered away and what all is cherished. Ask any rank holder or topper in exams of the effort he or she is required to put to achieve the pinnacle. The joy ,the glee on their faces makes it evident that if the end is sweet journey is enjoyable. They will never complain about the tight schedules, the dedication, concentration and sacrifices made to achieve the targets.

I guess this must be the reason why devotees wait for several hours patiently to take darshan of God at temples. The satisfaction and the consequent peace must be unexplainable and so they must be motivated. It makes them forget the pain of standing and waiting. What they take with them is positive energy and happiness associated with Darshan and not the time taken or the difficulty faced.

A very peculiar example in India is of marriage celebration. Ask any couple. They have whole bunch of memories associated with rituals and events involved. Traditional marriage ceremony is culmination of some untoward incidents, surprises, some misunderstandings, beautiful moments, food, music ,dance, some humour and so on. There are people who keep complaining throughout their lives while there are some who leave behind the sourness if any and paint a beautiful picture of important event.

Same is case of childbirth. Nine months pre delivery and around 2 years of post delivery are like a rollercoaster ride for parents. But every couple has beautiful memories of their dear child. The pain the stress and the complications involved if any are filtered and only beautiful moments linger.

For any relation to sustain we need to filter away bad conversations, bad incidents and concentrate on the positive lot. Families can stay intact only when these strainers are effectively used. Even in friendship there are bound to be ups and downs. Human behaviour is unpredictable. Important is intention and character. If we strain mistakes or small reactions then only we can have lifelong friendships.

We should be able to filter people around us. We should screen and do away with people bringing about unnecessary negativity in our life. We should surround ourselves with people who motivate, who boost positivity and who love and care for us truly.

For enjoying a good quality, happy and peaceful life we need to effectively develop strainers to filter our energies and thoughts. I feel just like we avoid junk food for healthy body we should do away with negativity on a continuous basis. Our thoughts shape our behaviour and future. We are able to see, feel and enjoy the magic of life only when we have proper filters at place.

Gautam Buddha had rightly said, ”Your mind is a powerful thing. When you filter it with positive thoughts, your life will change”