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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I love Play Doh

Have you ever played with Play Doh? Not as a child but more recently? Which color do you prefer? What shapes do you like to make? How soft do you like it to be? Do you hammer it, pull it, stretch it, pound it, or roll it? How long do you hold on to it? How does it smell? Do you like your fingers sinking into it?

Precisely, do you like Play Doh? And why?

Aaaaah what again? Not played with play doh ever? You are lying! Why, you ask?

Let me tell you why. I think you are lying because I see YOU as play doh yourself. Not weird, at all. Picture this. The hand that pounds and stretches the play doh is LIFE that stretches you thin with its problems. At first you resist. You remain hard. Then gradually you learn your ways through it. You become flexible and malleable, something that easily adapts, and does not appear uncomfortable.

Doesn't life hammer us with problems forcing us to become stronger? Doesn't life roll us over with its incessant running around? Doesn't life pull at us, forcing us to make certain decisions, tugging us in all possible conflicting directions? Doesn't life poke us, prick us, and abuse us sometimes? And yet we sail along. Some of us take a bit longer, and some of us sometimes don't (like the play doh that has been left out too long to dry). But the truth is that most of us do.

We hear ourselves or others saying, "I am never going to fall in love again" after one heartbreak. And yet, after some time, we realize it was a phase.

A very dependent girl married into an abusive home may never think that she would be able to survive on her own, and yet when she chooses to leave her husband's home for her own safety, she has adapted to life and is able to make the right choices.

A young girl enjoying her teens and dreaming about crushes may never in her nightmares imagine that she would get cancer, and yet when she does, she bears with the unusual circumstances of being in a hospital day in day out rather than attending proms and parties.

So you see. Never underestimate your power. If you feel that life is hard and that its knuckles may break your bones, think once again. Maybe they will, but the fractures will heal and you will be up and running before you know it. Keep that chin up. You are adaptable and now you know it.

67 Words of Wisdom:

A said...

This was so so true!

Nice post!

Satanic Angel said...

Lovely post, beautifully put. Guess shud put it up sumwhr in my room so tat i can get back to it whenva am low. Am all charged up to play the play-doh :)

Keshi said...

**The hand that pounds and stretches the play doh is LIFE that stretches you thin with its problems.

I love how u put it. Beautiful!


I agree..somehow we move on.

but tell me, what happens when u hit a wall..a dead end?


Keshi.

AmitL said...

Lovely comparison,Solitaire..life with Play doh!I never really considered it that way,but,yes,life is all about stretching oneself to the limits. Moulding oneself to it's vagaries,I'd say.:)And,the human mind is the biggest part of the play doh-shrinks or expands as per our will(Or,won't!)!

Pri said...

have the same question as keshi...

Impressionist said...

I cant agree with u more!
U said it all, and in the best way possible!

-I

Satish Bolla said...

what's this "play doh"? never heard of this thing.
anyways, from what u wrote, i understood a li'l bit of it. very nice comparision. a moral "boost"ing post.
pssst: OMG, did i say that i'm missing my boost frm the past 3 days?

darkling said...

ooohh goshhhh how many blogs do u own!!!!!!!!!!

Deepti said...

amazing .. and all of it is so true .. love the way you've interpreted situations in daily life with Play doh ...

Anonymous said...

hhe
yes what u say is true life hapmmers us n makes us learn we like dough adjust with the problems

but i wish that were the player n the life was the play dough.. you cough simply mould ur self as u wanted..yea yeah they say mazza in unpredictability of life n stuff.. but sumtimes i wis it was the other way round... nice post neways...
cheerz...:-)

Toon Indian said...

..what an analogy..beautiful.

the more we play...the stronger we get

Rakesh said...

awesome presentation...last paragraph is really good...agree with ur view point.Sometimes pitch is low....sometimes high.

Pavi!!!! said...

I like the comparison. Its so real!

Life does teach us about shapes n sizes that we cld never imagine we would get into.n Life never ceases to surprise us rite? I've handled certain issues in a manner that i would have never expected myself to. In this game, underestimation and overestimation happens all the time.

Gayatri said...

The only phrase that kept flashing in my head when I read this post was "this too shall pass"

That phrase has been flashing way too often in my head these day though :D

gypsy said...

got only one wrd...


BEAUTIFUL!!!

rayshma said...

beautiful.

IncorrigibleV said...

haa that made me smile... "up and running" i sure will be
lovely post sneha :)

P said...

Very inspiring. Thanks so much!

Solitaire said...

@ Anjuli, good! Now when you are down and overwhelmed, read it again!

@ Elusive, good for you!! Go do it. Its fun!

@ Keshi, when you hit a dead wall, you take a u-turn and take the right bends and turns. And if along the way, you find out they are not right, you turn back again until you find the right one. But you don't stop!

ceedy said...

Not sure if I agree with you - if I am a play DOH then and if Life is pounding me to shape it as it comes - then are we not weak....dont we want to take life and mould it our way - make it the play doh.....just wondering

Solitaire said...

@ amitL, Yeah. The human mind is just a tiny little thing but capable of soooo much.

@ Pri, read my response to Keshi.

@ Impressionist, thank you!

@ Satish Bolla, Here is a link on wikipedia that explains it well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play-Doh

Solitaire said...

@ Darkling, hahah!! don't worry about that. Tell me do you like them? do visit them. :)

@ Deepti, thank you!

@ Samby, we can turn it the other way around. We can make the play doh problems and us the hand, hitting and punching it and making it lose its power!

Solitaire said...

@ Rahul, true. Thanks!

@ Rakesh, thanks!!

@ Pavi, yeah!! Who would think that that lump of play doh could turn into a catterpillar or a beautiful butterfly or a ladybug!

@ Gayatri, and it does. Doesn't it?

Solitaire said...

@ D sinner, Me or the post? haha! thanks!!

@ Rayshma, thank you!

@ Vandita, thank you. You are a huge play doh right now right?

@ P, not a problem. :)

Solitaire said...

@ Ceedy, there are many ways of looking at it. You are probably thinking the way Samby did. (Look at my response to Samby). I prefer to think as being flexible to be a good quality. I do not like rigidity. I would rather adapt to life than adhere to strict policies and end up being unhappy.

ceedy said...

I agree - but and I like your response to Samby.

Its not about being rigid - what I meant is we have to have a focus of something - then we can mould life in that form - if not we become weak and like many people do with their hands on their head - oh!!!! this is the best that life has given me....dont know if i am able to make sense....

i think life dishes out what we want - and when it does we may or may not like it - but subconcious mind is very strong in motivating our actions (sorry if this is too long - just had a very boring long meeting)

WritingsForLife said...

very interesting and empowering :-)
I liked the post... a lot

Mind Curry said...

like they say..God only gives you what you can take..and its always to prepare you for better things..great post! loved it..

Mysterious Mia said...

Hiya! thanks for stopping by dear, and I must say that you make so much sense and. Very well articulated.

Rho Tau GWIS said...

So true Sneha! What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger!!

aneri_masi said...

Yeah, life hammers you, sometimes in the form of people around you. They try to mold you into becoming what THEY like, you try to accommodate everyone, and end up being a shapeless mess of play-doh :(

hey, what happened to STOP?

KAYLEE said...

great post :)

kyamaloom said...

Okay! This time you DO deserve a praise from me.

This was the BEST post I've EVER read on any of your blogs. Strong and True! I guess this one certainly did raised your level for me.

The content makes me feel happy and so does the above stated fact. ;)

Keshi said...

ok good answer. but I've got another qn now. :) if when I keep cruising, I dont see any meaning in it unless I stop, what happens then?

Keshi.

Satish Bolla said...

thanx for the info. checked it out

Solitaire said...

@ Ceedy, I think I am understanding what you are saying. What I am trying to say is that when life comes at us with its problems, instead of being rigid, we ought to bend, so that they do not hit us so hard. For example, if a very rich family is now bankrupt, instead of keeping up their lavish lifestyle, now they will have to adapt to the newer situation, and be frugal.

Sam said...

Like we usually try making the best out of the play doh, probably God gives us choices, makes us go through hardships and heartbreaks to make the best out of us..

Solitaire said...

@ Raaji, thank you!

@ Mind Curry, And if it is something that we can not take, God has blessed us with the flexibility to do so if we choose to use it.

@ Anvita, thanks for visiting. Glad you liked it.

Solitaire said...

@ Sam, yup. God wants to see if we are high-quality play doh or not!

@ Keshi, then stop, observe, hear, believe in your gut, trust your intuition, have faith in yourself...and cruise again! :)

@ Rohit, oh. And everything I don't, huh..mr. stickler for perfection. :)

Solitaire said...

@ Kaylee, thank you!! Can you identify with it?

@ Aneri, what a twist! What about stop? Its got updated posts!

@ Carolina, yup. Exactly.

Occasional Brilliance said...

beautifully written... its so true that we adapt. no matter how tough the situation or how much it hurts... a for playdoh... my fave is greet... dunno why though... :)

Setu said...

Hi.. I am into psychology. In fact, I am doing a course in psychology to learn more.
Although my major is mathematics.

Mez said...

The optimisim that u display is remarkable. How have u become like this or is it th pschy. talking?

kyamaloom said...

Nahi its not that you don't write good. Its just that I don't easily like things. :P

And btw, there's nothing such as "actual" perfection. Its just a mere illusion, depending on your perception. :)

Shiva said...

Mould - remould - die - ressurect -
day in and day out.

A good analogy...

Cheers -

Sam said...

agree with you over here!!!
human beings have an amazing healing power.. the mental one i mean!!
it does help them to come up from the dumps and shine again.. it will take time and hard work... but it can be done!!

Gunjan Aylawadi said...

waow...hw cme i never thot like dat...y do problems seem unsurmountable all the time!
i knw it gets ok sooner or later...but at that time, it seems like a rock on my head!
thanks fo this post :)

Karthik S said...

After reading ur other post "Panic - never ended", I read this. You have that flair of writing ya. Whatever you write you make it more personal means...you made us involving in ur experiences or thought processes...and this post is AWESOME.

Karthik S said...

I think the comparison was fantastic. The metaphor - life as the hand and ourselves as play doh-absolutely good. We are all limited and we are not playing with life instead life is playing with us. We have to adjust ourselves to the situations. You can't mould life. Where u born, what is ur talent and ur atmosphere surrounding - your parents - its all decided by ..... we say what??? God.... LIFE. With all these hindrances WE STILL ABLE TO COME OUT WITH COLORS.

Preeti said...

We hear ourselves or others saying, "I am never going to fall in love again" after one heartbreak. And yet, after some time, we realize it was a phase.

Oooohhh yea! now do i knw that or do i know that! :)

we r play doh...all of us...we gt moulded with every gentle caress, punch, pat the world throws at us...n this goes on forveer...cuz change is afterall the only constant thing in the world!

Damn im wise ;)

Vishesh said...

if it weren't for pain we wouldn't know we are alive....hmmm... yes we are rather like doh...reflecting one thing...so we are actually that and at the same not.....:)

Cinderella said...

I wanna play some now...

ceedy said...

@solitaire

I think we are both eluding to the same thing in different ways - kinda behaving like the Play Doh...and trying to explain our ideas and not be adamant(rigid)that one of us is right :)

Sweetstickychewy said...

A fantastic & encouraging post Solitiare.

Loved how you use play doh.:)

Hiren said...

we all play doh in the hands of LIFE ... hmmm .... i agreee ... and also feel that there can't be any player of play doh better than life ... :) it uses all its means (hammering, pulling, rolling etc etc etc) for moulding each one of us .. and prepares splendid pieces of art ...

btw if possible chk out my latest post ... would like to have a psychologist's point of view on it :)

freesherry said...

hey!
I have started a picture deication thread an my blog

someone has dedicated a picture and a message to you at
http://sherryrowl.blogspot.com/2008/03/say-it-with-pictures.html

your dedicator is waiting for your reply
take care

gP said...

hey guess what! if blogrolling iz not working properly, Google just got something better rolling out.

read the current post in http://buzz.blogger.com/ and follow the links!

Solitaire said...

@ Bubbles, green play doh? Maybe signifies growth and prosperity?

@ Setu, gimme your email address?

@ Mez, what makes you think I have "become" like this? Is the psychology talking, you asking? Does it really matter? Its me, nevertheless. Its a part of my identity. Does not matter where I got it from.

Solitaire said...

@ Ghost, thanks for the link. But got no more patience!

@ Rohit, come on now..I was only teasing you since apna Aamir is also that way.

@ sherry, who is that someone? Vandita?

@ Sweetsticky, thank you!

Solitaire said...

@ Hiren, thank you!! Will come as soon as am done giving everyone replies!

@ Ceedy, bound to happen..two Capricornians talking..

@ Shiva, you put it up very well too!

@ Cinderella, go for it!

Solitaire said...

@ Vishesh, yes so true. We are so many different roles everyday.

@ Preeti, good for you!! :)

@ Karthik, thank you so much for your feedback! Your understanding of the entire concept is perfect!!

@ Gunj, has that rock in your head budged somewhat??

Solitaire said...

@ Sam, yes we do!Sometimes we need help and sometimes we don't. But we can all go through it if we work hard enough.

vasanth said...

Yes, we are like putty inthehands of the Creator and also moulded into all weird shapes by circumstancess. Some people say Zindagi hai Yo-yo.
More appropriately it is Plasticine.

Macadamia The Nut said...

Whooo! that was pretty impressive comparison... and know what? It makes a lot of sense too!!

gP said...

gujjuben...where r u?

Mampi said...

Wonderfully written, so true...

Mampi said...

Philosophic, and True...