“I know you love philosophy and so here is my present for this year’s birthday”. It was a ‘Book of Life written by J Krishnamurthy’. That gift was from my wife.
Contrary to my last birthday, this one I decided to enjoy. Whenever I mention this to my family they talk about my happiness triad – a coffee shop, a book store and a Kerala restaurant where you get fish. By the way, the last one was added recently. This time around also I didn’t disappoint myself from that routine. I enjoyed it in fact two days after my birthday as well. This time, two more things were added: a movie on my playlist and the special runner’s high you get when running inside a stadium. You also receive calls, messages and nice compliments from your friends and relatives. This time around, I had done quite a bit of introspection over the last year and had noticed that there are things which I have developed as interests.
I had started liking nature like never before, which is a big solace for my wife, who gets so inspired by it. When I was in my hometown, for the first time I went out and saw my mother’s vegetable garden and I appreciated my mother for the care and noticed the vibes she gets from the very act of gardening. Another interesting habit I have picked is reading on my Kindle daily. The book I am reading currently is Good Life by Willian B Irvine. As somebody said it best, ” A good book is an event in my life“. It draws a lot of parallels between Stoicism and Buddhism which to me was fascinating. A part of me also likes to see movies and I have a long list of movies on my watch list. One such movie was “The Imitation Game“. I was always fascinated with the music score of the same. I watched it along with my wife and younger daughter. I was so engrossed in the movie that I loved the below dialogue which appears repeatedly in the movie.
I am finicky about food. I have noticed that I am more attracted to Mediterranean cuisine most of the time. In fact that entire birthday week, my dinner was some kind of pasta. I noticed that we had three different outings to celebrate with three different members of my family. Finally, it has to be coffee. Over the last year, I would have tried different kinds of coffee. I must have taken different pictures and read about coffee. I am sure that is one of my passions other than blogging and family time. Apart from this, time with friends is something which I love very much. I had the opportunity to get a book from my coach-turned-friend. He is the one who has asked me to dig deep into Philosophy. He presented me with a book titled “Reality ++” by David Chalmers.
The birthday period brings a lot of attention to who you have become over the years. Call it serendipity when I saw this excerpt of an article in my inbox. The subject caught my attention, “The Ever-Changing You”. I am sharing the same which I believe is one reason I decided to treat myself this time around…
“The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment proposed by the Greek philosopher Plutarch about a story about the Greek hero Theseus. If every single piece of Theseus’ ship has been replaced gradually over time, is it still the original ship? You are your Ship of Theseus, constantly replacing your parts over the years (metaphorically and literally). But concerning yourself with the question of “who you are” at any time is inviting an unnecessary identity struggle. The reality: There is no original version. You simply exist. You never become, you are in a constant state of becoming. This means that you simply need to embrace all change and not worry about clinging to some old version that may have existed.”
“Waves move sands and time shifts stands”. With this reality, plus that you are not the same every year I decided to celebrate this time around compared to last year. I want to thank everyone for your birthday wishes and it was a pleasure to see all of you taking the time to wish me. One of my friends had come back from the US and despite jet lag, she spoke to me and I was very happy to hear from her. I am offering my sincere compliments through this blog.
‘Seize the moment’ comes from Carpe Diem, a Latin phrase coined by Horace, a Roman poet. He said, “Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero” meaning, “Pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the next one“. So I decided to treat myself as if life’s moments are important and should be celebrated in a wider screen mode.
