The Last Word ?
… or a satisfaction with the last but one
A few summers ago, sauntering along Main Street of little vacation town, came across a sign which read ‘I can resist anything but temptation’. It was on the glass panes of an ice-cream shop. What happened next needs no guessing! Yes, the phrase stuck a chord and entrenched itself into the confines of a little corner of my mind. An apt description that many of us, the mere mortals amongst us at least, fall prey to many a time.
… and oh! you thought I had given in to getting myself an ice-cream ?
Over time, I have tried adapting that phrase into many situations beyond what was on the other side of the glass pane. When was the last time you felt you held yourself back, mindfully ? Be it a knee jerk reaction in a situation, or giving unheeded advice, or to set the record straight when you are misinterpreted, or … and the list can go on. Off-course, one may have many many reasons to stick it to the other. From simply trying to make a point, or validating your point of view at the expense of it being the only one. Or feel the ‘victory’ of having silenced the critic.
It is just being a quintessential human.
How many times has a sense of ‘if only I had .. ‘ been an equally tempting thought minutes later ? Or a count to ten the best alternative, if not better, in retrospect. Each person is entitled to a perspective. Their perspective. Just as you think you are entitled to your own. Well intentioned words can be taken out of context. And often are. What often starts as a simple conversation can soon morph into a breathed mumble and before you know it, into a cyclic set of rebuttals. A war of words. Little realizing, it was only a skirmish with words. Only a couple of scratches. It could have remained just that had you chosen to not indulge in having that last word.
Silence works, instead. Again, the situations these quandaries present themselves can be vastly different — they can crop up while interacting with strangers in a public place, or close home in much closer relationships. Or even on the road.
To lose patience is an open gateway to lose the battle with that last act.
Of yours.
Like a bee that collects a drop of honey from each flower patiently to store in the honeycomb, so too should one cultivate patience — to control oneself in mind, in thoughts and actions, to act and not react. To use each situation that daily life throws up as a chance to measure your own progress. It is a process. It will take time and repeated effort. It is a test of trust. Unfortunately, most times, we end up trusting our ego and not in the miracle of life. Some shortcuts and hollow victories are not worth it. You only have to remember that the last thought, the last word, no matter how silly or serious it was, will eventually vanish into silence with time.
Time and patience are indeed virtues. Like sleep that seems useless yet essential, patience is what gets you to that state of silence and lets you enjoy the resonance of the music of life.
Once you are on that train (of thought), you begin to ‘resist anything AND temptation’.
Aboard anyone ?
