Many of us would have heard this saying that the grass is always greener on the side of the shore.  It looks true in life too.The poorest man in the world aspires to the be richest. While the richest man wants to the be the happiest person and so on.  None of us seem to be happy with what we have with us.  We always want what others have and we don’t.

Have we ever asked ourselves as to why this happens to most of us in life ?  Is it because of the way we are brought up in life ?  Is it because of our education system, which makes us competitive ?   Is it because we assume that status in life is determined by more wealth than others ?  I really do not know the answer.  But, the truth is that all of us go through this in our lives.

Let us start from our childhood.  We look at other children and always complain that they have better books, better clothes, better sports goods and so on.  We also have aspired for things we did not have.  Then if we move to college life, life has not been different.  The only difference is that our needs transform into greed.  We want a bike, an expensive mobile phone and a car since our college mates have it.  It really does not matter to us whether we need them or  if our parents can afford them.  Some of us have blackmailed our parents to get what we want by linking it to exam results and so on.

Now, let us move to our work life.  Many of us are not happy with our work, our boss and the the company culture and so on.   We end up changing our job or role or location.   It’s interesting that many of us have realised that when we move to the other side , it makes us realize that life was greener at our original end.

It needs a lot of guts to change.  It requires courage to challenge the status quo.  Some of us take the plunge and when we land at the other side, life looks no different – or may be it does look different for some of us.  But, as time passes, there are other shores, which again look greener to us.

So, this journey is elusive.  The destination is not definable.  Does this mean we should not dream of greener pastures ?  Of course, we should.  All of us need to aspire for betterment in life and living.  We should look and get inspired by people around us, who are our role models. But, we need to work hard to realize our dreams  and accomplish greener pastures.

The only lesson I have learnt is that in the process of aspiring for more and admiring greener pastures on the other side, we fail to enjoy the present.  We need to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.  If you can recall the last time, you travelled by train, you will remember that admiring the green rice fields, the tea garden on th hill slopes, the passing mountains and the vastness of the river along side the train tracks were as much admirable as the beauty of our destination.

“Contentment” is the art of being happy with what we have.  Easier to state than to live.  But, may be worth a try.  If we can be happy with what we have, we may get what we want in life.  Let us the enjoy the greenery in our existing life before we look at the other shores.

Admire and enjoy  your journey as much as your destination.

S Ramesh Shankar