HELLO JI!
ON A FULL CHARGE, A MILLION MILES OF HAPPINESS
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could store all the solar energy we soak up on a beach?” A beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Image credit: PAT SLEIGH on Unsplash.
While R&R is most commonly used when referring to the rest and recuperation troops need after being deployed on the front lines, my friend has her own version of what it stands for: recharge and refresh.
After a glorious ten days in a sun destination, the cold and grey of early February hit me hard. I grumbled long and hard about how long and hard our winters can be.
My friend has her own winter woes. She understands. “Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could store all the solar energy we soak up on a beach?” she asked. “Like a rechargeable battery!”
Turns out we can.
Dr Sanjay Gupta writes about “savouring” in his book, It Doesn’t Have to Hurt (book review on page 15). Among the several strategies he shares for pain management or elimination, there’s one that’s perfect for those whose minds linger on the beach long after the bodies are back in the deep freeze.
“Your brain is capable of producing that feeling on command,” he writes. “Savouring isn’t a passive emotion; it’s an action. It’s something you do, and you can do it with greater intention for even greater effect.” He encourages readers not to be a killjoy by dismissing this pleasurable exercise as naive or a waste of time. “It isn’t. You’re actively rewiring your brain to counter pain in ways that strengthen with practice. This is nature’s evolutionary gift to you.”
The best part? You can indulge in this exercise, recreate the calm or joy you felt, with any happy memory. The subtle hues of a flower, a child’s delight, a stranger’s kind word, or a neighbour’s helping hand, as Dr Gupta points out.
I think of how my brother and I played Do-You-Remember on our holidays together last year in Thailand and India. The silly pranks he used to pull; the time I was voluntold to accompany my kid brother to a Laurel and Hardy film at which we laughed so hard that he actually fell out of his seat; of the impromptu driving holidays our family took off on for a few days up in the mountains or on a beach; of our cats and dog; of favourite holiday rituals and foods... Each session left us laughing or weepy (in a good way), and so thankful for each other. It’s the same feeling when old friends visit and we can stay up all night talking about our school days as if it were yesterday, the memories bright and clear. Or when I go through old photo albums – and as the family record keeper, I have a bookshelf full. Flipping through them is enough to transport me to a different time and place. Sometimes I will take a photo of a photo and share it with my brother or a school friend and off we’ll go again, hand in hand down memory lane.
Take the time to savour special moments, big or small. Store the memory in your brain’s hard drive. So you can close your eyes and bask in the memory. What better way to recharge and refresh for Spring?
Happy Holi! Eid mubarak!
Shagorika Easwar