22

The person in the picture is me 2 days ago. I turned 22. I actually felt happy. This birthday was different, special even, at a personal level. I didn't feel like I had to celebrate it or party, I didn't feel like I needed loads of attention and presents. This is not due to me thinking/feeling that I am growing up and 22 is 'adulthood'; this was due to another reason. The crux of the issue is freedom, or rather our lack of it. Most people feel overwhelmed about the nature of our crazy world, about what we are doing here and about why things happen the way they do and why they feel how they do. Unfortunately, most people ignore this or avoid this and seek momentary methods of happiness to deal with this and deal with the overwhelming-ness of it all. That means that we are never free, we are always entrapped in cycles, in worries, fear and what not. This day, this time and specifically on this birthday, information and not things are coming, and it is far more fulfilling. I keep the stream flowing, I am informing myself all the time. First, you don't have to accept things as they are, keeping an open mind is infinitely more valuable that a set of hypocrite values and informing yourself means that you cannot be so easily manipulated, which is not uncommon in our world. Everyone tries to tell you what to believe. The world is not simple, but it can be felt and understood. So this birthday out of all birthdays, my heart was looked after and I received truth.