HAD been invited to speak at a book-launch and during the evening asked the new author when he planned to write another book, “I plan to take three months off, and go to some place quiet, where I am alone, and write!” he said.
“Don’t take three months, take three years off,” said his wife, much to the amusement of all the others listening. I pondered over the statement and realized that this was something many of us feel; that to do any creative activity we needed to get away somewhere. “Why don’t you put your interesting life story down!” a successful businessman is asked. “When I retire!” he says, “Now there’s no peace and quiet!” And thus, we all look for that utopian peace and quiet, to find not just the right time to write but the right time to do anything, and in all probability that book or that peace and relaxation we look for will remain a dream, and end with a sigh of sadness by a wife or family members as one is lowered into his or her grave. The right time to do anything is now. Yes, right now. The right place to do anything is here. Yes, right here.
I have to write a play for a school, and between the time I write my book, my daily column, do my inputs of readings and research, and yes, slip in a movie, was wondering when I would think out the scenes. Then I found that the time I spend with my little one and a quarter year old granddaughter, I could keep her entertained by enacting portions of the play as they started appearing in my mind, and what a time we are having.
I have no doubts that she will be able to say some of the lines or the lyrics I am creating by the time I have finished, and we are having fun. When? Now! A certain nobleman was raised to his grand and exalted state from very humble surroundings. He had been a shepherd in his earlier days, and never forgot the experience.
When asked how he managed to retain his calm in times of stress, he replied, “In the corner of my head I’ve built myself what I call a ‘shepherds’ room’ In that room are hills and valleys and streams and sheep. There I carry a staff, and wear clothes I wore as a shepherd. And whenever I get stressed or feel I need a place of quiet, I go into that room, and am rested!”
Now, doesn’t that sound easier and more convenient than disappearing for the all evasive three months or retirement time? Create a place of peace and quiet in your mind, and disappear, which I do, and also like I do with the little one, enjoy those happy moments, and use them as a platform for creating happier ones…!
