There is a question asked about a lot. What would you do with your time? I would answer it differently at different times because only time lends a perspective on what to do with time. At certain situation I would prefer to sing or to run or to even punch a wall or write or just sin in a dark or secluded place. But what I doo at that particular instant depends purely on the current situation.
Time it is said is fast flowing river. No one man has been able to even resist its flows leave out anything else. It affects us in every way, wearing us out, battering us down until we become fine sand on its banks. After all even a mighty rock cannot remain mighty before a rivers fast flow for long. There are however smooth passages for some of us and rather turbulent ones for some others. And if people criticize u for living your life a certain way u cant help them or yourself. The tools of trade given to each person are different, everyone is equipped to go through life differently. If you give a soldier a route to pass through hell look at all the security risks in it or the threats in it. The same route with a photographer would get him looking for breathtaking pictures to snap, to a traveler it would mean different cultures and to a cook would mean new stuff to learn. However to a scholar they would mean all of those, but the problem with us is that we are all scholars, we are knowledgeable about everything, especially our generation. We learn a lot, we learn one subject extensively, for engineers their stream for doctors their specialization, for a narcolepsic his sleep, but in other matters we retain minimal knowledge. Just because I know something well I cant endeavour to teach a fellow traveler my set of beliefs, it would lead to chaos in his life. All I can do is only advise him and trust him to use my advice if his situation suits him. However if everyone followed a given set of reactios to every situation we wouldn’t be humans all we would be is a pack animals who follow the leader even if he is as blind as a bat as deaf as a white cat with blue eyes.
Next I get asked what would be a situation that would force someone to do all the things uve mentioned above?
I will not be assumatory to answer for all the people who do that for hten I will be very wrong in everything I say but I can tell you about y I think they might do that based on why I would be doing that.
Running or any physical activity so to speak is one way people generally clear their heads. When u are engaged in any physical activity your brain rather empties out or only one thing occupies your brain. The physical activity itself takes up a lot of ur brains space and energy, since even biologically not much blood reaches the brain u stop thinking too much that u can normally do otherwise. The activity depends on a person of choice. I like running so I run. The reason people run is because you either need to clear your head or you need to focus your head onto something. It also has a few other advantages, if u keep running for long you’ll notice that you stop thinking about everything else exept the fact that ur running, the burn of your lungs as they draw air, the clenching and loosening of the muscles in your legs over time and the general sense of declining energy that u feel with each passing minute. All those combines clear your head as your mind starts to switch back to its most oldest and trusted instinct, survive, it’ll want u to survive by stop running, it’ll tell your brain that it cant take the abuse anymore and finally all your brain is filled with is the sting of your muscles and the sound of your breath. Later after u stop running when all the blood starts flowing to ur brain again u can relax and enjoy that moment of extreme mental clarity.
Punching a wall is out of frustration, its usually something I do when you cant do anything else. When I was younger u never are able to hold your own, your considered a kid. Hell im still considered a kid. The punching of a wall if ever you see someone doing that, then they are very angry to cause physical harm to themselves, and that they have no outlet for that anger, they can’t divert it onto anything else so they turn it onto themselves. I would say always be aware of such people for someone who can harm themselves would definitely not hesitate to harm you. However if someone they like is on the line there are the very same people who would not care for themselves but would rather care about their emotions their care and walk through hell if they have to for you. They obviously don’t care or think highly of themselves but the people they love are just the opposite to them, they value them with their lives and since they believe they aren’t much, they even put their lives on the line for their people. The second situation when someone would punch a wall is when he’s bored, he has nothing to do at all, he has seen movies and would rather spend his time trying to see if it was real and to see if he’s strong. I know it sounds crazy but the most insane of us are sometimes probably the sanest too.
The gift of language is one of the most tremendous achievement in human life. The tragedy of it however is the fact that not many people care to use it effectively or know how to use it effectively to communicate to more than a closed group of select few. That language is the only reason we unlike animals are able to progress forward. We record all our knowledge in some language or the other. You cannot pass on how to construct a proton accelerator through drawing simply now can u? We neither have enough colours to represent the elements to be used neither do we have enough place to pictorially represent ever thing in acute detail. The only reason we can pass on our knowledge from one generation to the next is because of language. Unlike animals who inherit instinct and spend a major portion of their lives only to relearn what knowledge their ancestors since ages past had possessed. The reason we write is because words are never overrated. People are shy to talk always, u can never tell all your secrets to a person and still expect to be comfortable with them. There are always a few last secrets to be held unto yourself. However when you have a companion you know wont talk to anyone else when u have an outlet where u can disguise, mask or even twist your words into a format which you are happy with you always do that. Writing is one relief, you seek to do through your characters all that you couldn’t do in your real life so far, or you bemoan the tings past that you wish would’ve gone better. Sometimes we even write down all the past try to analyze it get past it and maybe understand it. If not we hope that now that’s it written down in a format where u can recall it if necessary you hope you can erase those memories from your skull. The skill of writing is a rae one available only to a gifted few and one secret we always keep are what we write. We write a thousand words and the world sees only a few hundred it is only the people we actually trust and like that ever see the full extent of an authors writings. And we often search for either release or a sense of longing or some understanding when we write. We only write what we want in life or what we don’t have in life. No writer writes a true account of what currently is unless they’re writing an autobiography.
As for listening to music or singing. They achieve one purpose, to block all thought. A persons mind is his worst prison. Imprison a person in his own mind its more effective then the tallest wall or tower you can build surrounded by the deepest moat you can dig. The mind is a complex thing, its workings are very complicated to say the least. It keeps functioning continuously, even if we want it to or not. The thoughts of a person can sometimes become the very shackles he wants to avoid, that’s where music is the most helpful. To explain better, you have lost family or friends, you are sad but u want to get rid of that shadow and work forward however u neither have the time to indulge in heavy activity nor do u have the place. All you can do is to sit while you travel and listen to whatever songs you want at the highest volume possible. That in itself is very brain blocking. U cant think with that level of music, the music encompasses your mind and you sing, with the song you sometimes feel relieved especially if a song with a situational link comes up. That is way of relief. Another use of music is that if you find something distasteful in your surroundings then all you need to do is listen to music and ignore your surroundings.
And lastly why the dark or seclusion. You know two of humanity greatest fears? Darkness and Solitude. There are a lot of people who scoff at this but think back many people look twice before going into the dark because the dark is nothing to us and nothingness always held untold terrors for us. You are afraid that nothingness might contain something your afraid of. Solitude, well we humans are what we call social animals, no human with the agreed limits of sanity can stay secluded from society at large for extended periods of time without going mad himself and trust me no one wants to go mad. When you are in the dark you will face your fear and only someone capable of facing his fears can live properly for if you are afraid of something you will live in eternal fear of it, searching for it in everything you see smell or taste. The darkness along with solitude has one more unique ability it takes away ur most used sense, your eyes. Once its gone your perspective changes, you consider different things differently and hence you can think differently. That ability to think differently is what gives some people that edge, if not for it what would we be if not walking talking puppets.
Life may bring many more challenges but knowing when to fight and when to lie down and wait for a storm to pass over is important. You cannot walk through a sandstorm without getting buried now should we ignore a calm flat pool of water to swim across. However we should keep in mind that even the storm can pass given time and even the calmest of pool may be hiding the deepest of terrors in their depts. Some of us prefer to ride the storms out or some of us prefer to swim across the deep pools. Whatever we do, I would always want to trust my heart when in doubt cause instinct is what got us living for a billion years, more than logic has. So when in doubt between your heart and mind always follow your heart and respect others opinions and take their advice but whatever you do never leave your heart. If something feels wrong from the bottom of your heart, then it is wrong.
More of my work can be read on the blog www.destinysplays.blogspot.com
