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Appreciation, a boon or a bane?

Age is not a factor when it comes to vying for appreciation. An infinitesimal chunk of humans have overcome the lure of this approval. Even the ‘enlightened’, ‘intelligentsia’, the humans labelled as ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’ by the first couple of categories, look around for admiration in one form or the other – some veiled, some normal and some brazenly displayed. A nod, a smile, a pat, some kind words and of late, a smiley or an emoticon evoke exhilaration of varied degrees. This sense of feel-good is an inbuilt system – human nature, as we are wont to say in colloquial parlance. Nothing wrong with that!

What happens after the feeling ebbs? ‘Doer’ship takes a predominance in the thoughts. Craving for more such pleasure is sought. How is it satiated? The “act” is replicated again and again to get a similar result. Does it happen always that the replicating process produces the same result when repeated? For putting the act together are we the only doer? When the spectacles of “me” centred-ness is adjusted to see the role of other factors in the act, we can see how intricately designed that act was. The prelude, the situation, the people around, then environment … a myriad of factors contribute to the success of the act and above all the Force that makes all of this work. When we accept that the major part of our ‘doing’ combined with the minor but equally important part of other factors actually make the act a success. Is it possible without the minor contributors? As we become aware of this role of the Force behind all that happens, this sense of doership turns into gratitude. In this gratitude, when we keep doing all that is required of us to live a fulfilling and meaningful life, experience of life becomes a joy, a boon, isn’t it?
Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

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