Going beyond the roles we play in life
I often wonder about what remains when we are stripped bare of all the roles we play in life. For instance what remains of me when I am no longer a doctor, writer, researcher, daughter, fiancé, sister, exercise enthusiast or a friend? The busy life that we lead today rarely lends us the time to think of the questions that truly matter in my opinion. Over the course of many years I have come to realize that what remains when everything is gone, is the light that I was born with, that we were all born with.
Thinking back to my childhood I truly savored the simple in life. My days started with going to school but what I actually looked forward to was the time when I was able to come home. Our home in India was filled with chatter and laughter from grandparents to parents to uncles and aunts, the kitchen was infused with the aroma of Indian cooking, and the family always came together for meals. My curiosity was encouraged and a simple game of hopscotch with my cousins made me feel fulfilled. When I was younger I was not entangled in the roles I was supposed to play, rather I did what came naturally to me and I harnessed the light that I was born with; I did what made me happy and I lived in the moment.
I believe now more than ever our world needs to get in touch with those simple ways again. With our lives becoming more convoluted now more then ever do we need to sit with ourselves and reflect on our essential nature, our light. We are all unique human beings who bring different attributes to the world. One is not better than the other; we all do things in our distinctive ways. When we can understand and respect this we will no longer feel compelled to compete and can rather collaborate, we will no longer have to play roles we don’t want to, and our work will no longer feel like work.
What remains when everything is gone is an essential question that one should ask of them self. Life is uncertain and things can change at any moment, however what always remains is that light within us. People usually have an epiphany when something catastrophic happens in their lives; however what I am urging us to do is to not wait any further. I am insisting that we slow down and start asking ourselves the hard questions now, so we can further enrich our today, transform our tomorrow, and ultimately alter the course of our lives.
Originally published at medium.com