Diwali, the festival of lights symbolises brightness and happiness. The big question is how many of us feel our lives are bright and happy? Cliched as it may sound, it is we who can add the zing to our lives to make it happy. While there are multiple ways of doing it since everyone defines happiness differently, I think the easiest way to do it is by not sweating the small stuff. Especially in relationships, if we stop sweating the small stuff, we can bring in a lot of love, peace and harmony. The next step is to define ‘the small stuff’. What is ‘small’ and what is ‘big’? Again, this is completely individual, though if try to perceive most of the things as small and irrelevant (after a lapse of time), we can make our lives meaningful with zero scope for mental disequilibrium.
By focussing on not sweating the small stuff in relationships, we can go a long way in beating stress. Getting hassled about why your spouse/partner was rude? Why did he/she not respond to your text? Why did they pay extra attention to ‘that’ friend? Why was your partner not in his elements? Why did he/she refuse to go out when you were so keen? Why did they play a damp squib when you were so excited about planning an impending trip? Why did he/she appear so withdrawn? Why was their behaviour cold? The ‘whys’ can be countless. If we try to address each ‘why’, not only would we stress our partner, but also ourselves and in the process our relationships. Everyone has a bad day – our partners and us included. If we treat them with understanding and an open mind, we can deal with the situation better. Both partners need to realize the triviality of things. Conflicts always stem from trivial issues. How we filter these issues matter.
If we train our minds to stop sweating the small stuff, we can make a lot of difference to ourselves and our lives. The feeling it generates is second to none. But I wouldn’t recommend following this for ‘bigger stuff’ – be the fire cracker of Diwali to blow up your bigger issues if required. Otherwise don’t sweat the small stuff. Hope you feel light during this festival of lights. May this Diwali illuminate your life. Wishing you a bright and sparkling Diwali.