Letting go of… all of life’s overwhelm… for only a moment

Yesterday was a very emotional day for me. Coming to terms with a surgery I have tried to avoid for the past several years is not easy. But that is little reason to being grumpy all the way to the pre-surgery appointment, dabbing your eyes during appointments, or grabbing tissues one after another when the nurse is talking to you.

I remembered when as a child, my sisters would call me Meena Kumari (a Bollywood tragedy queen of yore). This would be one time when my melancholic being was truly worthy of the title.

Appointments, blood draws, paperwork… as I stood at a counter, a sign caught my eye. “Thank you for your SMILE. Your smile has helped my day”.

So I looked at the lady behind the counter (who thankfully was not the overly cheerful kind) and I smiled. I gave her the best from-the-heart smile I could muster. Probably for the first time in the day and probably for the last.

It was sheer fresh air. It was like opening a window and realizing that the flowers, trees and mountains were still there. A sigh later, I probably shut that window again. But the memory of the momentary relief lingered with me.

Today I think back of its power. Maybe that’s all we need. A few moments of an open window without any attempt at keeping the window open forever. No matter how brief. No matter how quick. Maybe one quick glance at the azure can put all the clouds into perspective.