Yellow

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.” – Pablo Picasso

So its been too long since I’ve written something in this blog, was engaged with a lot of other activities most of them were academic, or perhaps I was just binge-watching TV shows or probably scrolling through social media looking at the numerous people through one screen, thinking about their attire, their degrees, the scenic places they’re visiting, the thoughts are endless. Not sure how many people out there would actually read this , but I would like to keep writing just for the sake of those times when I would come back and read these posts and recapitulate the times I wrote them, my thoughts and emotions of the time come gushing back to me. Sometimes reading something you wrote as a kid, or even going through your old photos makes you feel how foolish you were at that time. These old pages and pictures might have turned yellow by now, but reliving those moments makes you wonder if that same person is you, if that little kid still exists in there somewhere,were you a human who was as disturbed and worried as the way you are now?

The title, “Yellow” is not signifying anything specific, it’s just summer right now, and the weather is all sunny,  the Indian laburnum are in full bloom and it seems like there’s yellow all around. Well to associate something with yellow , the first thing that comes to my mind are the emojis, a very millennial behavior I suppose. Those little yellow circles, showcasing the various human emotions, helping you express your feelings to someone sitting far away. One look at the entire collection of emojis and you will notice how melodramatic the human mind is. Currently, I am reading this book called “The Untethered Soul” by Michael Singer, and I feel it’s a must read for any over-thinker like me. He describes very well about these extravagant emotions going inside us, how we get affected by any minor inconvenience that occurs, anything that happens against our wishes in the outside world, takes a major toll in the world inside us. He says that this over-dramatic mind of ours, producing these innumerable thoughts is not actually us, it’s just like a roommate who stays inside you and continuously blabbers stuff which intimidate you. You are stuck with this roommate for life, listening to it most of the time makes you depressed, angry, anxious, jealous and conscious- everything associated with fear . At other times it’s just defending your actions and making you protect that vulnerable part of you, only to make it more weak when there’s a much bigger strike from the outside world. All we can do is sit back and observe how this roommate reacts, and not immediately act in the way it tells us to.

The things outside are out of our control, but we are constantly trying to do things which will change the circumstances outside, rather than preparing and strengthening our inside. To impress every soul, to get everything you wish, to make everything work your way isn’t possible. It’s all in the perspective, during the stone age, people strived for shelter, food and clothing. Now that we have all of this, there’s the luxury to worry about trivial things like a stain on our shirt, a broken phone or even a pimple on our face. 

The book actually made me introspect all my thoughts and actions, every chapter discusses an issue that most of us face on a daily basis and is worth giving a read. At the end, sometimes how much ever we try, we may not be able to change the situation outside, you maybe loving the sunny weather outside, the flowers in full bloom, you plan to go for an outing, but suddenly dark clouds appear and there’s a huge storm, there’s no point in sulking about how your plans got ruined, you cannot change the weather. The sun always does its work of providing its  incessant rays of light, no matter what, we should try do the same, sit back and do our work. As it is said, we should create our own sunshine as there’s nothing that can stop the light that shines from within. Starting with a quote, would like to end with one by  Philippe Starck: 

“You create your own decoration. You choose your color, you choose your mood. … If you are depressed, you put some bright yellow and suddenly you are happy.” 🙂