By Asad Mirza
Indeed the human mind is very fickle. When we get what we are constantly bemoaning about, we very quickly start disliking that gift. Perhaps nothing else illustrates this fact better than the time to kill during the nationwide Lockdown, imposed to counter the Corona pandemic in the country.
A few days back we were bemoaning about lack of time at our disposal and a constant hurry to juggle various tasks during the very little time we had at our disposal.
Come Saturday and everything came under the Lockdown till 31 March and then the PM extended it for another 21 days. The initial euphoria or the resolve to handle the situation resolutely changed very soon.
What we fail to realise is that perhaps nature has given us this time to take a break from our daily humdrum and ponder over those issues, which are constantly at the back of our mind, but we never find time to ponder over them.
While nature has given time to Mother earth to heal it itself, in the absence of humans scurrying and utilising its resources. Nature has given humans this break in our daily existence to devote not just some time but full time to ourselves. This has happened at both physical and mental or spiritual level.
Physically we now have more time to spend on that exercise regime, which we had been ignoring constantly taking shelter behind lack of time in the early morning.
But now we can get up early in the morning and after praying or meditation, can start out a new exercise regimen, which was ignored earlier. Try to involve your wife/husband and kids also to be part of this and instead of an individual one make it a group exercise plan. Remember this is also necessary, as during the lockdown our physical activities will become nil, so it is imperative that we chalk out a plan, which helps us to maintain our physical fitness. After the prayers and exercise, we can enjoy a leisurely breakfast, which most of us used to skip earlier.
Afterwards, we can easily find enough time to do those chores, which we always neglected or rushed through, citing lack of time. You can clean up your attic, wardrobe, study table, almirahs or even the whole house or just rearrange the furniture to give a new look to the house.
Besides this, you can devote more time to pursue your hobbies, which were always sacrificed at the altar of professionalism. Now you can start painting, writing, and composing songs or whatever you wish to excel in. You have enough time to make your body and mind adjust to the new regime and believe me after 21 days you’ll be able to squeeze out more time for yourself.
Mentally or spiritually, these 21 days give you enough time to ponder over those spiritual issues about which you always wanted to read and study in-depth but were never able to focus on. Now you can ponder over your existence, your role and duties as a human being. How you have spent your life so far, etc. Go through the scriptures, not in a rush but try to find the real meaning of every word and phrase and ponder over their relevance to your life etc. etc. You can read the holy Quran with meaning and correct pronunciation or cantillation.
In these spiritual pursuits, you could involve your family too. You can take guidance from your elders and teach your kids and clarify their doubts about your faith. All this will also help to establish a stronger bond with your elders and youngsters and kids, besides providing them also an opportunity to grow spiritually or study matters related to your faith. And the end result will be a healthy and stronger family both physically and spiritually.
Asad Mirza is a senior journalist based in New Delhi.
