Day 5 

They said that stupid thing because they had some garbage and they threw it out and you were there, ready to catch it, saying, “Oh, I won't give this away”. Why did somebody insult you? They insulted you because they were hurt, they had garbage in them, and they wanted to throw it out.

When they threw it out, you passionately grabbed it and kept it in your pocket, so and so hurt me. They did this, they did that. Come one, wake up. Get up and walk. Don't let your smile be snatched away by anybody. 

In the world, not everything will happen perfectly, all the time! In every action, there can be imperfections. Even the best or greatest of actions with good intentions, will have some imperfections. 

Unfortunately, the tendency is to go and grab the imperfection and make yourself, your mood, imperfect, make your mind imperfect, make your soul reel in this nonsense. Isn't that so? 

So we need to get out of these cycles and be strong and courageous from within and that, which gives you the strength, the courage and the smile, is called spirituality. Anything that helps you to become unconditionally happy and loving is called spirituality.

Part 2 - The Elderly 

Old people are not any different from children. You should treat them like kids. Like children, they are adamant and repeat the same things. They talk about the same thing over and over again, without realizing they have already said it several times. 

When a pattern sets in them, you accept them as they are. They are the best practical example for you to demonstrate that you have followed the first principle of the Art of Living - "Accept people as they are". 

They come into your life and make you realise that. You cannot change old people overnight, or even in a period of time. You need to accept them. That is how they are, and it is all right to have their point of view.

See, there is some wisdom in what they are saying. Sometimes, you are unable to see wisdom in what an experienced, mature person says. They speak from their own experience, over the years. 

So in dealing with them, you need to know that they are experienced and that they have a different set of experiences, much different from yours. So we accept them as they are. Second, we don't get upset because they don't change. 

If you get upset, it only makes it worse. By your not accepting them, they are not going to change So you accept them as they are because you are too small to change them, and you will find a miracle happening. 

The moment you accept them and give them a space of love and compassion, they slowly start changing. They do change! So you need to have a lot of patience. You will learn patience dealing with old people, with grannies, who have certain patterns. 

Also, don't take their moods too seriously. Suppose they're upset, don't take it too seriously because if you take it too seriously, then you are not able to communicate with them. Don't try to convince them too much. 

Sometimes, they just want to pour out their heart to you. If they are grumbling, they are just grumbling. They're saying it, but they don't really mean it. If they say, "I'm so upset" - they may say it, but they will still go and have their food, watch television and do all their things. 

But when they see you , they say, “Oh, I'm so upset, I never ate food, I didn't do this, I didn't do that”. If you take all their complaints seriously, you become miserable and life becomes miserable for you. So what should you do?

When they complain to you about how bad life is, how bad people are, how much worse the whole world is and how miserable they are, you should simply take it and all those words with a little margin.

Know that it is just their pattern. They're saying it, fine. It's okay. If you don't do this and take all their words too seriously, you can't sleep. You will lose your night's sleep and you will get depressed as well. You won't be able to help them.

People, who are very aged or sick, just want to communicate with you and in the process of your communication, what is it that they can share with you? When people don't have enthusiasm in them, they will only share their grievances. If they are piled up with grievances, they will only talk about this to you, but that doesn't mean that they are so miserable.

There is a corner in them that remains untouched by any amount of misery. I tell you this is a fact. Whether it is extreme joy or happiness or terrible misery, there is a part in every human being that remains untouched by that. 

We need to realise that we have such a part inside us. It is the same with people, who appear to be very miserable. In reality, they are not that miserable, but they talk, talk, talk and talk. The same people will have a party and will laugh, but the tendency of the mind is like that. 

Especially, when you know that someone cares for you, you don't always go to him (or her) with a smile and with joy. You go to him (or her) with all your problems and complaints. This is the normal course of things. This is what happens in the world. Isn't that so? 

Suppose you are at a big party. At that party, you will go find your very close friend and complain, "The party is good, but this should have been better and that should have been better. They should have put that thing there. 

This light is not good. That curtain is a little crooked and you know there is no salt in this food - did you taste the food?’’ Among the 20 items, you took one item and said, "Oh, this doesn' t taste as good. The party where I went on the 25th of last month, that was very good." 

These complaints, you only make to your close friend(s), and go blah, blah, blah. You will find them and you'll talk, but you won't talk to the host. Out of manners, you won't go and tell someone new. The same happens with elderly people.