- Indian Rheumatology association
Sharath Kumar MD, DNB (Rheumatology)
Consultant Rheumatologist, Optima Super Speciality Hospital, Bengaluru
A Buddhist parable starts with a man who comes across a tiger while crossing a jungle. As he flees from the tiger, he comes onto a cliff. He notices a vine going down the edge of the cliff and decides to use that to hang off the cliff so that the tiger cannot get to him. He notices that the cliff is quite high up and he is unlikely to survive the fall. The tiger was waiting for him on top of the cliff. The man was distraught till he noticed a single strawberry on the vine. He plucked it with his free hand and ate it. It was delicious!! The story ended there. I heard this story for the first time during a stand up comedy show by Kannan Gill.
Figure 1. Zen/ Buddhist parable emphasizing the power of now.
https://embracemindfulness.org/2023/01/18/the-tigers-the-strawberry/
Figure 2. Trekking inspired me to focus on my health.
Starting an article on trekking with a man hanging on for dear life off a cliff was possibly a bold choice. However, in this metaphor, trekking was my strawberry. Trekking enriched my life in several ways. I started exercising and eating better.
The vast mountains helped me realize how truly small and insignificant all of us are in the grand scheme of things. Thus it helped me disconnect from our innate sense of self-importance which seems to heighten all of our problems.
Figure 3. Trekking in the Himalayas next to vast mountains helped me realize how small all of us truly are.
Figure 4. Despite “knowing” it was just a weather phenomenon, it “felt’ awe inspiring and joyful to “experience”
My last major trek was to Kumaraparvata. I went with a group of people, almost all of whom I was meeting for the first time.I was better prepared for the trek compared to the others. As all my teammates gave up and started turning back it was only me who was left climbing on. I climbed in solitude with mental and physical effort. I was not able to make it to the top in the time that was available to us as per the rules of the forest department. I turned around reluctantly and started walking back. As I turned around the slightly cloudy weather cleared a bit and a few beams of light poured out from the sky and lit the ground below. The beauty of the moment was surreal. I have never witnessed something so joyful and beautiful. The picture, of course, does not do justice to the real experience.
Of all the things I am grateful to have received from trekking, the thing I value the most is the ability to focus on the now. To be mindful of my own existence, to experience, to savour and to relish. These are all gifts I used to disregard in order to constantly focus on a future in which I will “finally be happy because I have got ______”. I realized that “”the now” is where happiness lies. I realized that our minds, in conjunction with the circumstances of life, always makes us feel we are stuck. Stuck like the man in the parable between the tiger in our past and the fall from the cliff in the future. The parable helped me realize we are all endowed with the ability to relish the now.
Suggested reading
1. Is This It? – Full Comedy Special | Kanan Gill 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh0Ru6LjBAY
2. Forest Bathing: What It Is and Its Potential Benefits. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-forest-therapy-can-be-good-for-your-body-and-mind
3. Courage To Be Disliked, The: How to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness. Hardcover – 30 April 2018 by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga (Author)
4. The Science of Happiness. An online course exploring the roots of a happy, meaningful life. https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/what_we_do/event/the_science_of_happiness
