Fading and Fresh flowers!

During my walk in the garden yesterday, the sights of fading flowers and fresh flowers held my attention!

I have had to take extra care during the week to adjust to my pains and aches in my body reminding me of the ageing factor that would inevitably have a bearing  on my bodily  wellness. 

But just beyond the two flowers that were fading away, there were two flowers which were fresh which captured my attention. 

As the body bears the marks of ageing, the inner being can have new and refreshing orientation to life!

A mother and her daughter while sharing tearfully the story of stressful experiences they were going through,  what restored their hope was the renewal of efforts still possible to find a way forward amidst the frozen situation at home. 

Life is beckoning us to live beyond the present. The signs of stress and distress might be knocking at our door, but what can still hold our attention is our inner self which would live beyond all the transitory experiences of existential life!

A child reminded me of this experience yesterday. He brought a car with him into the  consultation room. While playing with it, one of its wheels broke away. He without any obvious reaction gave the car to his mother and turned his attention to the hammer that I was using to examine his knee reflexes. A short while later he left that too and wanted to go away to the children's corner outside the room, where children congregate to play, while waiting for consultation. He knew that there was something beyond the present!

The opposite view that the present alone matters is the instinct, which makes the president of Russia to invade Ukranian territory, killing scores of people each day. Th pain and ruins created by bombing and aggression don't seem to touch those who advocate for war, because the now and the immediate alone seem to matter to them.  A generation or two of families would stay suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, while living in other countries as refugees and displaced people on account of war! If only the Russian authorities had a faint view of this disaster,  they would have agreed for a cease fire by now! 

A preoccupation with the present is a denial of the whole truth about life and its purpose. 

We have a future even while we live on the face of the earth. 

Each day I return from work and go to work, I feel challenged by this invitation: to live in the present keeping the future in sight!

All of us who are involved in alleviating the suffering of others who seek health care, ought to believe that even beyond their physical suffering, they have an inner life which can be redeemed to a level of peace and hope even when the physical challenges might not have a reasonable liberation!

One clinical condition in children which manifests with 'autistic' features is a situation, when parents need help to look at the future and prepare the child to explore and exercise his or her special abilities. 

The second photo in this blogspot of a flower in transition is a message to me. From the time  we are born we are in a transition from one stage to another. The present is not a stationary or permanent phase. The present season in life is a transitional stage. So why get preoccupied and self absorbed in the present alone!

That is why turning my attention to the bright flowers was a reviving experience for me yesterday. 

The latter days are likely to be better than the former days! If not we can turn them to be so because humans are destined to live with hope!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)