Giving Thought to the Routine

I was sitting in an auditorium full of people, trying to concentrate on the play being staged. I couldn't. Then I noticed that I'd been subtly swaying from left to right and back again the whole time. So subtle that unless one deliberately observed, one wouldn't notice. It was a subconscious action, more like subconscious fidgeting actually. I looked around and was somewhat surprised to notice that almost everyone was unintentionally fidgeting in some form or the other. One person was clicking her pen on and off, another was oscillating his dangling legs and yet another was tapping his feet to a tune that ran only in his brain. Everyone was fidgeting continuously, routinely, but didn't know that they were doing so. My brain exploded with theories.

I began comparing all forms of routine actions. When it suddenly starts raining, the sound of the water droplets hitting the windows, roofs and Earth is striking. Often, for the first few minutes, this sound interrupts my thought stream and I get distracted. But let some time pass, and the sound of the pouring rain just subdues into the background. It's there, very much there. I hear it. But I stop listening to it, unless of course, I shift my attention back to the rain, when again the sound is prominent.Why? Maybe it is because the sound becomes "routine". And what is routine, we don't give much thought to.

I believe it holds true not only in abstract situations, but also in our interactions with people and our surroundings. My balcony overlooks a plush green lawn lined with tall trees. Beyond that, a wide road with little traffic. Sounds nice, right? I was impressed  too when we first moved into this house. Now I have been looking at the same scene everyday for the past 7 years. On most of those days, I only as much as glanced at the view. As for the other miraculous days, I would suddenly hear the twitches and jitters of the exotic variety of birds, I would look at the grass and marvel at the glistening dew drops and maybe even adore the freshness in the color of the leaves. And it would dawn upon me that I was looking at this beauty everyday but cherished it so little. Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I had to travel miles to see a view like that. Well, I do not. It is just that this view is "routine" to me. I just have too much of it.

In an episode of the T.V. show "Raising Hope", Virginia, Burt and their son Jimmy argue about the amount of responsibility each of them has in the household. Virginia and Jimmy nearly end up accusing Burt of not contributing enough. That is, until Burt explains how he wakes up an hour early to clean the bathrooms, iron their clothes, does a couple of odd jobs and puts in a lot of effort to wake up the "snooze-rs" Virginia and Jimmy. What I'm trying to say is that we also tend to ignore the routine love and care that our family and loved ones extend to us, just the way Virginia and Jimmy did. It was not until Burt re-iterated his routine contribution that the others acknowledged him for it. So what is routine, we also take for granted.

I wonder how life would change if we became more conscious of what we do, what is around us and who is around us. Maybe we would grow to appreciate the subtle joys of life. Maybe, we would become more considerate of others' feelings. Maybe, we would realize the value of every little aspect of life, from the breakfast this morning to the person who cooked it.