Subtle things

I  enjoy receiving and giving gifts. Who doesn't? The moment I say gifts, our mind draws pictures of birthdays, weddings, or major cultural festivals where we exchange gifts with our loved ones. Sharing presents has become a tradition for these occasions.  While this is all great and fun but I prefer to practice another model of sharing presents, which is driven more by thoughtfulness. This is the model where you not only recognize the conventional moments such as birthdays or graduation but are also mindful of the other occasions. These other occasions may not necessarily come wrapped with a tag of celebration or an explicit call reaching out for something, but you know that those occasions hold a special meaning in the other person's life. When you follow the latter case, you are giving (or receiving) purely out of your care for the other person and not out of any give and take protocol or bound by any tradition. And to add to that, the surprise element. If you are on the r...

Have you come across moments in your life when you recognize presence of something very subtle and trivial, something that you never wished for, but now that you have it - it has earned a special place in your life?  In my experience of life so far, while our core values and innate nature always stays the same but our priorities, personality, habits, our likes and dislikes all of these elements tend to evolve in some capacity. Over the time I have recognized how certain things that I had never thought about or wished per say, have suddenly turned into things that I deeply cherish. As I share what they are, you may wonder what's so special or endearing about having them? And I would respond by agreeing with your concern but my idea behind sharing those here is to highlight not the absolute value of certain things but the importance that we need to pay in noticing these smallest yet newly emerging joys (life's whispers).  Quite often, we tend to focus and celebrate only the high...