Lessons on Mindfulness from My Son

Lately, there are too many things we are going through, and this continuous bombardment of information and news is creating anxiety in us.

The bills to pay, job pressure, traffic jams, inflation, retirement planning, health concerns, and the regular issues of the new age, such as the looming threat of “AI is coming” and the need to upgrade ourselves almost every day, are all added to the list.

This turns our brain or mind into an industrial boiler, heating at a high temperature, churning everything, and creating a mess of thoughts.

The other day, I was walking with my 14-year-old son. As his exams are going on, as a change, I asked him to accompany me for a little walk after dinner.

Though I was having a little chat about his studies and exams, the above-mentioned issues were constantly going through my mind.

Then I don’t know, but I started that he has to study hard, competition is heating up, and he has to be number one in whatever he is doing.

There are no options. As kids started using GPTs as well, I told him to see how the technology is changing, and we are getting challenged.

By the time he is out of college, we don’t know what the situation in the world will be.

Whether jobs will be there or not, what can be the earning sources, and how to fulfil the daily needs.

I was explaining everything in detail to him, thinking he was also giving a thought to all this.

We were just near a shop, and looking at the ice-cream deep freezer, he asked me, can we have ice-cream?

I was angry initially that he was not at all listening to me, but we both bought the cones and walked back home.

Then he started, Papa, do you know, I like Butterscotch flavour the most, though sometimes he prefers chocolate and pista flavour as well.

He was telling me, it’s good that we bought cones, it’s easy to carry, and we can have it on-the-go.

Then he said, once the exams are over, what other things he needs, and he also wants to go to our native place for his holidays.

It made me think, how easy it is for the kids to remove the clutter in their lives and think for the present, for JUST NOW.

In-fact he and I both will have to face the unprecedented situation, because of the so-called AI and other things, but he was in his own world.

By the time we reached home, I was getting jealous of him.

As soon as he entered home, he told his mom about the ice cream and went to study for tomorrow’s exam.

I just sat there fiddling with my mobile with all the clutter, still in my mind.