Day 300 (Simplify yourself!)

Ever since I started a book club in my apartment, I am so inspired to read more than ever that my reading speed has increased threefold and I am finishing up books like magic and feeling so content after each book.

Seeing me read every other minute, while cooking, while feeding my 3 year old son, while getting a 5 mins break or basically on every other opportunity, my son is also getting more than curios than ever before about reading everything in the world. 

He has always been a reader (since he was 1 year old) but there have been phases when he wasn't interested in finishing the story and just making a game out of a book. However, these days he even wants to read what I am reading and sometimes I can sense him feeling "insecure" (in a child's way) expressing to me that I should read with him and not ever without him. He feels he is missing out on "books" if I read in his absence.

Remembering one such incident, I was reading this book last month "Death" written by "Sadhguru". I was in the initial 50% of the book and I had never followed or watched too many videos of Sadhguru before so I didn't know if these things are already said before at many occasions word to word and the book hadn't reached the stage where Sadhguru declares himself the supreme Godman or maybe God himself and so I had my interest glued in the book and I wasn't able to put it down. I was reading in between working as well, I got that obsessed.

One such incident, when my husband is busy in his usual never-ending office meetings, my son is roaming in the house. I am partially busy in office but the work I am doing is a process-work which in between gives me 5 mins here, 10 mins there while the data is processing.

So in those short breaks I was reading the book. My son kept observing me for a while and then eventually came to me and asked and I quote:

A: "Mumma, what are you reading?"

Me: "I am reading a book beta"

A: "What is this book?" (which meant what is this book about)

Me: "It is a story beta"

A: "Story on what?" (which meant story on which topic).

Me (puzzled and not wanting to share the title death): "Beta, it is a story on life".

A: "And what is life?"

Me (stumped!): "Life is a lot of things."

A (confident): "No!! It (Life) is games!"

And he laughs and runs away!

We all complicate ourselves so much , reading , hearing, watching and then going on a quest to find "the meaning of life". It is true that any complicated question can be answered by a kid and you will realise that it couldn't have been a simpler question to be so puzzled about.

You don't have to be a genius to define your philosophies. You just have to be a little naive and a lot more innocent. 

You had a fight with someone? Go and talk to him next time as if nothing happened and see things untangle themselves.

You are feeling low? Just give yourself what your heart desires, what you truly like starting right then without calculating the repercussions.

You feel tired? Sleep.

You miss someone? Call them.

It is that simple. But as we turn adults, we decide to un-simplify things! And that's why it is such a thoughtful question to us when someone asks "What is life?"