Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Make your last thought a pleasant one

Also posted on my blog.

What is the last thing you think about before you embrace sleep?

I usually review my day or make plans for the next one. If there's something nagging my mind, I try to see it o
bjectively, rationally.

This i
s the time when my mind wanders wantonly. Without structure. Without boundaries.

I float back and forth in the past and present with a part of my brain looking through a keyhole into the future.

Last night, as I was tossing and turning after a rather aggravating day, I decided to focus on one thing: the one positive highlight that made me feel good inside. That introduced joy to my heart. That
made me smile.

It was a tiny green hummingbird outside my office window. It flitted above the flower-less bushes just long enough to leave me mesmerized. Even if for a couple of precious seconds.

Wound up in all the commotion of the day, I hadn't even given that short-lived
experience a second thought. Until that time in bed.

I recapt
ured that moment in time. Rewound it and saw it in slow motion. Lived it again.

I felt peace sweep over me.

Content, I drifted off.

This morning I decided I would make it a nightly exercise. When reviewing the day in bed, I'd think of the one thing, as trivial as it might be, that gave me a moment of happiness. A sight, a
smell, a taste, a gesture ...

Small things sometimes light up the gloomiest of days. Things we most often fail to
notice. Things that register, but not quite.

It is in the simplicity of everyday moments that life's true beauty is revealed.

I'll leave you with a poem I wrote many years ago about the essence of life:

A cuckoo on a mango tree;

A spider’s web; a buzzing bee;

A blooming bud on a thorny stem;

Dewdrops sparkling like little gems;

The sun rising in the eastern sky,

Flocks of birds soaring high;

The full moon spreading its radiant glow,

Stars that shine all night through;

The neighing of a grazing horse;

Walls covered by a carpet of moss;

An ant carrying a grain of rice,

Ever heard the talks of mice?

Butterflies romancing with the flowers;

Buffaloes chewing the cud for hours;

A kitten’s purr; a sparrow’s chirp;

Snails crawling round a herb;

A rabbit twitching its pink nose;

Water in the river that incessantly flows;

Wind blowing the pollen grains;

The smell of the earth when it rains;

A puppy lapping milk from a bowl;

Ever noticed the burrow of a mole?


Life is work and work is life,

Man always walks on the road of strife,

But – pause a moment and look around -

A treasure of beauty you will have found;

And you’ll cherish these moments for a long time to come,

These gifts of nature can never be summed.

The burden of work is overwhelmingly gripping,

But, these are the things that make life worth living!

© Mansi Bhatia.


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7 comments:

Beth Chapman said...

Mansi - as usual, well said and beautifully written. I started ending my day with my little "giving thanks" blog. Some have tripped over it but it is mainly for me. It's amazing the little things during the day that assuming we do notice, still go unnoticed. I really enjoyed the mental picture of the hummming bird zipping into you mind as you went to sleep. So cool. Thanks and pleasant "wonderful things" tonight.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful poem and a wonderful practice for a bedtime ritual.

Marla said...

What a great idea. Thank you for sharing it and the awesome poem. So positive!

Lorenza said...

The amazing thing is that the last thought we have before falling asleep, is also the first thought when we wake up the following morning. This is the importance of bringing peace to our souls when we fall asleep.

Love & Rainbow

Miss Kaye said...

Its a great idea to do. Every horrible day can have at least one glimmer of hope... even if your positive was 'having my umbrella on me when it started raining'.
I started keeping a gratitude journal when struggling in a seriously depressive state. I aimed for three things every day that I was grateful for (as simple as smelling the lilies when I leave the house, and as complex as my family!) and on the really bad days, I decided to write something that someone else (a collegue, my boyfriend, a homeless person) may have been grateful for that day. It gave me that positive mindset that I needed just to sleep.
Love the poem! :)

Mansi said...

Thank you, all. Your positivity and support continue to inspire me.

Wanderlust said...

Mansi, what a nice reminder to focus on something relaxing and positive while drifting off to sleep.