One of my close friends was pouring his heart out a while back. He was going through a break-up. It was a difficult time in his life and wanted to share a few thoughts on the situation that he was in.
When he called me there was grief in his voice, sorrow in his sentences and I could definitely imagine tears in his eyes. After a couple of minutes of his tearful outbursts, the conversation took a turn to “how good the the ol’ days were”. We talked about our lives as young adults, the most irrational things that we did and how we were always curious, cheerful and happy. The moment we started talking about this I could hear the change in his tone and demeanour.
I had not realized this before, but later that night I ruminated on various such converstions I’ve had the over the past few months. What changed in the call that made either of the parties on the call feel better. It wasn’t time, the call was just for couple of minutes. It wasn’t any specific topics, cause they were all around the place. Then, it hit me like a freight train! Its was their thoughts! The thought made them feel blissful or miserable.
This reminded me of one of Diogenes’s tale, where he had a cup from which he used to drink. But when he saw a child sip water from his hands, he realized that he doesn’t even need a cup to drink, he can just use his hands. We all have our cups, which are containers for our thoughts and assumptions. We think that we need this cup. But the moment we understand that we can let go, that our thoughts are ours to hold or release, that’s when true freedom begins.