Luxury Of Mind

Zia Darakshan 

Srinagar 07 April :We all get overwhelmed at some point in life. We seek validation, even if we don’t admit it. And there is nothing wrong in that. After all, we all need small breaks from life to detox ourselves from the negativity around us.

That negativity does not come from one place. Sometimes it comes from the environment we live in. Sometimes it is something we keep nurturing within ourselves through our own thoughts, our own presumptions.

The world is getting complicated with every passing moment. Living in it feels like a constant struggle. We often think it is only adults who carry this burden. I don’t agree with that. Life is changing too fast.

It is not just adults. Children are carrying this heaviness too, in their own ways. Older people are struggling in ways we often fail to see. Every generation, irrespective of age, is dealing with something. The weight is different, but it exists for all.

What changes is how we cope.

And today, one of the most common ways people cope is withdrawal. They step back, disconnect, and shut down. They distance themselves from people they believe are responsible for their negativity.But this is where the question begins.

Is this really coping?

Because many times, the people they blame are not even the reason for their misery. They have no role in shaping that pain. It is just that certain situations, certain words, certain moments trigger something deeper something from the past. And suddenly, everything becomes a flashback.And instead of dealing with it, we withdraw.We shut down.We disconnect.

Unfortunately this is  not strength. It is the weakest form of dealing with life. Because instead of facing our own battles, we start assigning them to others. Toxicity does exist in people, yes. But not always. Sometimes, it is our own inability to cope with what we carry inside.

Blaming others  for our emotional struggles, is the easiest form of escape. It frees our conscience without actually healing it.

Deep down, we know this.Yet pride does not let us accept it. And the more we avoid the truth, the more vulnerable we become.

There is, however, another way of realising this and believe me this is the luxury of the mind.

It is the ability to pause without running away. To step back without shutting down. To detox, not from people alone, but from the chaos within. So treat your mind gently.

Sit with a cup of coffee under a deep blue sky. Let the morning sunlight fall through your window and just watch it. Look at the sky the vastness it carries, the silence it holds. Watch the birds. They struggle every single day, yet they don’t make noise about it. They live in the moment.There is something to learn from that.

Think of a place like a prison, where even a single ray of sunlight barely reaches. Where people don’t have the freedom to pause, to breathe, or to look at the sky. And then think about what we already have.

Our mind is our greatest luxury. It does not need people to make it happy or sad. It only needs awareness. It needs stillness.

If your mind learns to find peace in these small things, then no matter how complicated the world becomes, you will still be able to live with a sense of quiet luxury.

Because in the end, life will not get easier. But maybe, we can become stronger in how we hold it.