A couple of years ago I was going through a phase where I had shut religion out. My favourite question was “Why?”
Why should I wear new clothes?
Why should I burst crackers?
Why should I declutter?
Why should I light diyas?
Why should I distribute sweets?
What I ended up learning:
In a world where we are always doing, religion created a time to just BE. All celebrations are just an opportunity to take our happiness deeper. Our brain is wired to dwell in our negative emotions which is why if someone tells us how nice we are looking, we thank them and move on.
Whereas if someone asks us what happened to your hair/skin/weight, it stays with us for a really long time. So all religions created a concept called festivals, so that we can fix our moods and emotions, and come together to feast on food and joy.
And then religions realised festivals were not enough; rituals that can increase happiness will help people get out of negativity. So dressing up in new clothes & jewellery became a part of the celebration. Because when you force yourself to look good, confidence, self-esteem and happiness automatically increase.
Once you are looking good & feeling good, you want to share this joy. So going over to people’s houses bearing gifts and sweets became a part of the tradition. It helped people to reconnect; a break from the busy life to take out time for the people we care about.
And now that you know guests will come, a perfect thing to do would be to declutter and get your house to be guest ready! Hence the decorations, the preparation of sweets, the lights, the diyas, flowers, etc.
And once it all came together for me, I realised it’s so much easier to count your blessings and appreciate the life we live during festivities and celebrations, vs. complaining and blaming.
So now I go crazy during Diwali! If you met me recently you may have noticed just how happy I am! I decorated my house, am going out every night, playing cards, eating sweets, and doing every single thing that I used to make fun of because I didn’t understand its intention.
There is plenty in life that we stress over and feel bogged down with. Why not every now then create opportunities to truly allow happiness to go deeper?
Because happiness is a choice, a decision I make to truly take my joy to the next level.
It doesn’t matter how you do it. Just go into things that give you pleasure, and live there long enough that you can soak up the vibrations. The vibrations of positivity, love, compassion, appreciation, giving, joy, laughter, and connection.
And once you understand the essence of what our elders were trying to do, you don’t need a Diwali, Christmas, or Eid to be happy. For then you truly start to understand that LIFE is meant to be celebrated!
Unfortunately, in the society we live in now, we can be considered crazy if we look too happy for no reason. Therefore we have to thank our super rich culture that helps us truly to be happy in many ways on many days!
HAPPY DIWALI!