A peaceful mind can do wonders. It can boost your performance at work, concentration in studies, achievement in sports and vigor in act. While the benefits are known well, it is often very difficult to reach the state of peace of mind. There are factors which impact the peace of mind, some of which could be money, family life, religion, discrimination at work, etc. Loss of peace of mind could result in depression, agony and misery in life. In order to alleviate this distress, people take a break and search for this peace of mind.

People are known in history to have travelled far and wide in search of the peace of mind they have lost. We all have heard of a great prince who was moved by the sights of old age, disease and death; and gave away his royal abode in search of peace. This is the story of the transformation of Prince Siddarth to Gautam Buddha. King Ashoka won in the battlefield but was moved by the death and mutilations caused by the war; and embraced Buddhism in search of the peace of mind he had lost. Obviously, people such as these are born once in several millennia; so mere mortals can neither form religions based on peace so often, nor can they preach and spread peace.

The corporate world brings its own set of challenges that invade your personal time and impact your life beyond work. The competitive nature of work and the pressures of maintaining and growing the pecuniary gains makes it very stressful and can cause you to lose your peace of mind. People then take break from work, go on a vacation to gain this peace back and supposedly come back rejuvenated and at peace, to go through another round of stress and work pressure. This cyclic nature of trying to earn peace of mind often is not sustainable and hence some people are known to retire from corporate work sooner than usual and take up responsibilities that do not demand such involvement.

But is this the only way of life? Is this the only way to quit? Is it not possible to ably manage the stress at work and still have the peace of mind that will keep you going and keep you young at heart, so that you can eventually retire as a happy, content person? For me, the answer is no. As a content family man, I derive my peace of mind by being close the family. My weekends are entirely devoted to my family; and every small moments of joy, occasions that make me smile and the coziness and warmth of a closely knit family are enough to last me the entire week. Hardly ever have I taken a long break from work; and this year I will take one only because it has been made mandatory.

Any special occasions take it even longer. And so, as my younger son Bhargav celebrates his 4th birthday today, the delight of getting gifts and playing with them was instantly reflecting on his face. Those expressions of excitement and content cannot be captured in a camera completely, but can be definitely preserved in the depths of memory. Enough to offer a peace of mind for a sufficient period of time, until next such occasion comes up and revitalizes me again.