Life plants you to bloom with grace

I just adore propogating and raising plants at home garden. It gives me immense pleasure to see new and full blooms on my flowering plants. I especially enjoy watching vines, like my potted coral honeysuckle. To see her grow unruly yet maintain a certain elegance in her wildness makes me smile. The colors and beauty of the passionflower are hypnotizing. The smell of a gardenia bloom is intoxicating. Lavender steals the show when I drop it into my green tea.

Begonias are gorgeous. This year I brought a few in for the winter to see if they can make it to Spring. They are now companions to my ponytail and baby jade. People like creating and nurturing. It might be a reduction of procreation. I like making plant babies year round. It is an accessible, affordable and sustainable activity. It feeds the senses in multiple ways. It is an activity that is inevitably enjoyed by passersby. It is nature at the fingertips of this city dweller. And that’s delicious. I have done vegetable gardens in the past. There is nothing like eating and cooking with home grown veggies have you triend chillies, tomatoes and the rest.

The meaning of life is to suffer. Does not matter if you are rich or poor, white or black everyone has to suffer. A friend of mine said, “Why do you work so hard? Cant you relax and just enjoy life ?” “Why do you take on so much stress ?”. My response was simple, I replied “One has to suffer in life no matter what, so why not suffer for a cause or to achieve something?” Dear friends, suffering is not optional however we can choose if we want to suffer for a meaningful cause or to achieve something.

To understand this let’s take an example: There are two guys A and B. A is highly ambitious and can suffer to any extent to make his dreams come true. He wants a great career, a great physical and mental health and hence works hard at his work, also works out regularly and meditates as well. All this days are spent grinding working towards his goals and desires. B on the other hand is someone who is trying to avoid suffering, he is lazy and wants to live comfortably. He thinks that suffering comes from desire and hence keeps no goals or expectations from life. He chooses to stay at home not taking a job because he thinks money is not important nor is career.

Now B thinks that he has escaped the suffering, however life catches up with him soon. He gets bored sitting at home all day and has no friends. His health starts to deteriorate as he is not getting any kind of exercise. His parents taunt him for laying on the bed all day. He gets bored sitting idle all day but still cant do anything as he has no money to pursue his hobby. You see what just happened there ? Both B and A are suffering, however A at least has a positive outlook towards suffering and is making the most of it. B on the other hand is suffering for no reason. A at least is getting something form his suffering while B is there sitting idle and suffering and does not get any output.

And the only way B can avoid suffering is to become a saint and live in mountains away from people. Now this was a hypothetical example, however if you look around the people in your life you will notice that everyone has to suffer, even if he is rich or poor. You wont find a single person who is completely free of all the sufferings. Which means that one cannot avoid suffering and hence instead of complaining about it, one must suffer for a purpose. Suffering isn’t bad, it’s a primary source of your happiness:

Now imagine if you are sitting in an air conditioned office for hours and someone offers you a glass of cold water. Now imagine if you are working in a farm for a couple hours on a hot sunny day and someone offers you a glass of cold water. Which of the above two scenarios you think would you feel more satisfied ? The second one obviously, because the suffering is what made you appreciate that glass of cold water. Suffering might sound negative but it is the one which gives meaning to other terms as comfort, happiness and satisfaction. Cheers!