Thoughts after seeing The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel

Strange not being able to see into the future.  Not that one ever really can.  We merely imagine a future.  Even tomorrow is mere fiction. Yet it is the future we propel ourselves toward. A vision. An idea. A hope. A dream.  There are those who say that the energy of  creative visualization moves us toward that which we dwell upon.  When dreams come true, life seems to have a perfect plan.  In hindsight we see how everything in our lives aligned perfectly to bring us to that moment. But when they don't - we are thrust into the abyss of uncertainty as if we have been robbed of something we deserved.  The notion that we "deserve" anything is problematic in itself.  Did any of  those poor souls from Syria who now sit in a tent in a refugee camp in Turkey have dreams? I'm sure they did. Have things turned out differently than they'd planned? I would guess so.  

I just saw the movie The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel.  The fact that I chose to see it on Mother's Day says something about the demographic I now find myself in.  While there were many wonderfully delightful and touching moments in the movie - I think what hit me the most was that we must choose how we go on in life. Certainly there are some things we can't choose - things happen to us that we wouldn't have chosen - but having an attitude of adventure and an outlook that embraces uncertainty and insecurity certainly makes for a spirit of openness and a strength that I admire.

In the movie, many of the characters had lost something - their position, their savings, their spouse, their health, their sense of purpose.  What struck me was how we spend most of our lives dreaming of a future of security and comfort. This expectation is bred and programmed into us. When our imagined future is dashed or taken from us we often feel cheated.   What, after all have we worked so hard for? What do we have to show for all those years of work?  

 As if the privilege of working in and of itself was not enough.

Yes, the privilege of working. The privilege of earning. The privilege of innovating and creating.  The privilege of opportunity.

We have come to rely so heavily on the dream of a secure retirement that we miss the point.

I don't know what the future holds.  I only have imagined one.  There is no certainty. There is no security. These are ideas.  My expectation of the future is but a dream which may become reality or may not. It is in the making peace with that - that I think ....we are able to go on.... no matter what.
So much of our expectation for the future  is tied to the desire for material possessions.
Yet once we get the thing - there is satisfaction for a while - and then the desire for something else comes in. This pattern plays out over and over again in our lives.

 One of the characters in the movie says, "I don't even buy green bananas."   She has come to that place of understanding that every moment - every day is a gift and so why not just enjoy it? Each of the characters in The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel is forced to face their imagined future and to own the truth of what it actually ended up being. And what it ended up being, was the present.

I'm going to take this to heart as we begin our grand adventure.  Be here now. Wherever that is.