A famous quote “Enjoy the little things in life, for one day when you look back, you will realize they were the big things” by Robert Brault, has always been my favorite one and has sunk in deeply in my mind. I realized it quite a few years back, started noticing very carefully and became convinced that many of the little things which happen in our lives actually become the most cherished memories later!
The so called big things are normally associated with events like Passing out the high school exam, marriage ceremony, getting a good job, a promotion, buying a car, a house and other materialistic things in life.
However, strangely the “other smaller incidents or things” keep coming back to our mind. We cherish and wish to relive those moments, much more than the fading memory of the big things!!
When I was a kid, I always thought that the time is unlimited and s and I would always have time to do big things. But with passage of every few years, my belief became just the opposite and I started cherishing the small things in life and feel very comfortable with that approach.
I am sure all of us cherish some compliments received from some known or not so well known person in life and love to relive those moments and reconstruct the same scenario in our minds and try to visualize the “compliments” and persons associated with them.
A conversation with some strangers during a train journey might have become part of your golden memories of life which we like to cherish every now and then.
A telephonic conversation which occurred years back may become a pleasant echo forever in our ears which we like to keep reminding ourselves hundreds of times.
Playing with a small child for hours and making him/ her smile and laugh loudly, gives us immense pleasure and we always LOVE those moments for many years in future.
A proud smile on the face of our father or mother, due to an achievement of ours, gets embedded in our memories forever.
A laughter to the extent that stomach starts aching, on a silly joke, somebody’s tripping or an event with your close friend may become part of your life which you like to revisit again and again!
An old song from FM radio or TV suddenly takes us back to the nostalgic memories of several years (or decades) back and we somehow want to go back to the same scenario with the same person/ persons.
Getting an unexpected smile from someone special is likely to remain embedded in our minds for many years and we play the replay button in our mind hundreds of times.
I have no doubts that majority of us can relate ourselves with incidents/occasions like these and cherish them over and over again. “ It is funny how it’s the little things in life that mean the most, not where you live, what you drive or the price tag on your clothes” – Zac Brown ! So true, in fact how many times we remember the so called “Big Things “ compared to these little things in life ?
We must appreciate that life is made up of thousands of moments bundled one after the other together. We tend to think of life as the passage of days, weeks, years and decades. Always waiting to reach the next milestone like high school, a good degree from a reputed institute, a good job , buying a good car , buying a house , getting married and so on …and feeling sad or depressed about having not yet reached the next milestone !!
In the process we forget to LIVE the tiny moments everyday !!
This is where we go wrong ! Life is a journey to be enjoyed and not a destination to be reached. The destinations will anyway be reached sooner or later but in the process we should not let go the joy of those moments associated with small things in life and always remind ourselves ….In the end, “we regret those little things which we did not do than those which we did “.
While on the subject, I reminded of the great lines sung by golden voice of Jagijt Singh : Ye Daulat Bhi Le Lo , Ye Shohrat Bhi Le Lo………Magar Mujhko Lauta do Bachpan ka Sawan; Wo Kakaz Ki Kashti , Wo Barish Ka Pani !!
