Is Hope Making Your Life Miserable
Is hope making your life miserable?
Today I was listening to a speech from one of the spiritual gurus in India. He was addressing a crowd of around 200 people. One person from the crowd asked a very simple question to him.
“What are your views about positive thinking?”
The guru then replied. “Positive thinking is as bad as negative thinking. You must not think about everything positively. It is very subjective as one thing may be negative for one person but positive for another. You should see everything as it is. You should be in the reality. If you think positively about everything and anything then you are probably living in a dream world and you are not aware of your surroundings. So positive thinking is as bad as negative thinking because then you are not living in the reality.”
The disciple then asked a very interesting question “But isn’t positive thinking equivalent to hope?”
The guru agreed. Positive thinking is indeed all about hope. Hoping that something good would happen. Hoping that tomorrow will be better. He then added that if a person is hoping for a better future that means he is miserable right now. If someone is declaring they will one day have a better life that means they are not happy right now with what they have. The guru kept on explaining the concept of why Hope was making your life miserable right now and how you have stopped living your present in search of a better future but my mind had wandered off from what he was explaining and I had drifted on a different route.
His speech was making me brainstorm. It made me think, “Am I doing the same thing?” and I realized yes. Yes, I was doing the same thing. All I ever wanted from my life was the life that I am living right now and still I am hoping for a better future. I am still thinking about future. I am still thinking about that one day in future that will be better. But am I not living the life that I have to the fullest? I realized that is not the fact. I am entirely happy with my life and I am living it, I am enjoying it. And even though I love my life I am still hoping for a better future.
This is what keeps us going. I concluded in my head that I don’t agree with what this person was saying. Hope is what keeps one going. The phrase was just flashing in my head,” Ummeed pe duniya kaayam hai”( The world lives on Hope). If I am not hoping for a better future that means I am not hoping for a future at all. Then what am I working for? If I do not have a vision of tomorrow, then what is my world today? I agree that we should live in the present but aren’t we all living today to make a better future, to make a better world. If we do not hope that there will be a tomorrow, why will we ever think about conservation of the environment or climate change? Why would we think about building cities? Why would we think about progressing? Why would the whole world work if there is no hope of a better future?
I am not saying that anyone is wrong or that I am right but may be like negative and positive even right and wrong is different for everyone. Someone’s right may be entirely wrong for me and someone’s wrong may be right for my life.
I am happy with what I have and I still hope for a better future. Hope is not making my life miserable. It is giving me the light; it is showing me the path.
Divya
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