How Do You Live?

Wake up in the morning, get sandwiched in a crowded train, start work, deal with some amazingly stupid people/ situations, ponder over what to eat for lunch, leave work, stuck in the rush hour traffic, reach home, eat whatever that is on the dinning table, if you have kids, you try to bond with them but really, you just want to plant your fat ass in front of the telly, taking in whatever crap that is shown on it because your mind is so drained that it probably couldn't take in anything intellectual anyway, the last thing you feel like doing is shower and then curled up in bed. Next day, you repeat these acts again, while at the same time, you are praying for weekends/ your day off to descend quickly.

Finally, weekend/ day off is here, before you can milk it or at least make it seems anywhere close to being productive, it's gone! And the scariest part is - it didn't end here, you have this going on for months, years or decades.

I believe many people can relate to the above. Don't get me wrong, I like stability, and routine suits me quite fine, but having life repeating itself, put me in some auto-pilot mode, before I know it, I'd stopped feeling and when I feel, it was only frustration.

I thought my recent trip to Japan gave me a good break from my monotonous cycle. I was hoping for it to spark off some insight to my repetitious life, it had, but it wasn't enough for me to figure out my own bafflement. Then came this video. (If you are reading this Robyn, thank you.)

Before you sign this video off as sort of bullshit and believing "this must be some happy dude who didn't understand how crappy my life is", you better know that David Foster Wallace was tormented by years of depression before he finally end it all by taking his own life. It's an irony, I know, but if a sick man can, try as he might, to control his mind, the healthy ones have absolutely no excuses.

With the media splashing our senses with crimes and corruptions in Malaysia; brought to new heights by the recent election, I couldn't help but ask a Malaysian, why would any decent Malaysian citizens want to continue to live in such a decadent land. She explained that beyond all the madness we read about her country (which to certain extend is true), "Malaysia is still a nice place to live in" - her own words. And I thought I saw twinkles in her eyes when she spoke about her country.

It becomes clear to me - Every cities, every towns, every country, just about any parts of the world, there will NEVER be a perfect place. But we have the ability to exercise the control over what we want to think, and how we want to feel. We only see what we want to see, it's just that simple or is it?

I know, it can never be easy, coz most if us just want to see things negatively most of the time, maybe is the default way we view life. We just have to remind ourselves that our paradigm can be shifted with the right choice of thoughts and we are the master of our own thoughts.

So it's about time to turn off the auto-pilot mode, 'wake up' and take charge, regardless of where or how we live.