The Smile Test

The Smile Test

Can you smile if you lose everything?

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Let me put you in a hypothetical scenario. Suppose, you lose everything that you have in your life. Can you still smile?

Have you ever posed this question to yourself? What would you do? This can be a great meditation in itself. This is reflective meditation. Reflective meditation is a great way to understand and deal with the big questions of life. 

So, can you smile if you lose everything? 

What Are You Holding On To? 

What is it that you call your everything? Money, property, possessions, relationships, status, your body or what? Whatever it is, maybe all of these, ask yourself: if I lose everything, can I still smile? This is the Smile Test I’m proposing. 

It’s very simple. If your answer to the above question is ‘yes’ and you can see yourself smiling at the end of everything, you have achieved a great state: the state of freedom from attachment. Why is this important?

Well, what is the reason of our bondage? It’s attachment, isn’t it? Our attachments keep us yoked to this world of suffering.

Attachment is bondage. Freedom is the state of absolute non-attachment.

We are attached to a million different things, aren’t we? Our attachments become like anchors which keep us hooked to this world and never let us set sail in our journey to be free. With anchors put down everywhere, we’re foolishly striving to row our boats. Where will we go? Nowhere!

Last Words

But, if you can smile even if you lose your everything, even your prized life, then you are truly free. All your anchors are cast off, you are free now to begin your journey. Now, you just have to complete it. And that’ll not take much time.

So, what about giving yourself this Smile Test? Go ahead. 

Happy journey!

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Thank You.

Image Credit: created by Me.