A Soap Called Happy


Everyday, Musings / Friday, July 17th, 2020

Someone I knew used to love buying me soap from Kerala. Don’t ask me why. I don’t want to know. 

Now, it has been months since this person left my life for good. But the other day, before Bangalore’s second lockdown began, I went to my now-desolate apartment to pick up some books. When I opened my wardrobe to peek inside at the familiarity of what used to be, I found those soap bars . I got those back with me. 

When I opened the first one, I burst out laughing. Because, really, what was the Universe thinking?

This. 

A soap called Happy. 

It made me smile.

And then, as if I hadn’t got the message still, the same day I opened a long-forgotten teabag a friend had given me last year. 

This time, I smiled even wider when I saw the message curled up inside. 

tea message

Really, if life isn’t a box of delights like these, what is it? 

A soap. A message in a teabag. This is our life too.

I may be married to melancholy, but I felt incredibly happy when I came across these.

There are bigger things in my life, yes. Pressure. Stresses. The very struggle of just living and getting through each day with everyone you love being safe and well. The very real struggle of making money. The real struggle of managing relationships, banal, complex, and befuddling. Sometimes, I am so lost I don’t know if I can find my way back. It seems comforting to lie down where you are and forget that there’s this interminable journey we have to complete.

But for now, I think it’s good if we find joy in a bar of soap.

If we find our delights in a teabag.

In the swirls of puddles left after the rain. In freshly washed clothes. In maybe the way your partner wrinkles their nose while concentrating.

In the way a tail wags or a cat warms your feet. In the whisper of a leaf. In the caress of a tone. In the melancholy of memories. In the way dawns breaks. In the steam of a hot bath. In the magic of a word, a phrase, oh, a story that makes its way to your heart and hugs you.

Oh, the delights. Oh, the delights.  These delights of our one precious life.

Can we find our soap of happy every day? Would you share your delights with me? What delighted you today?

13 Replies to “A Soap Called Happy”

  1. Beautiful!
    Sometimes small things bring great bundle of happiness in our life. Like the sunshine which lasts for less than a minute amdist rain pouring in torrents or a gentle breeze giving you a feeling of refreshed on a sunny day or even a small toffee given by your loved ones when you are frowning and many little things which make you feel delighted

  2. Reminds me of this email subscription service called ‘Notes from the Universe’-have you heard of this? Here’s a link if you haven’t: https://www.tut.com/Inspiration/nftu/
    I had subscribed to this years ago, and I used to get tiny notes like the the ones in your teabag, and delight over them. 🙂

    I think life is beautiful as long as we’re able to delight in the small joys. But some times, I find myself overwhelmed by those big struggles, unable to open myself to see these tiny benedictions around me.

    1. Restless, yes, I had subscribed to ‘Notes from the Universe’ a couple of years ago. I had unsubscribed because my email was too spammy with too many newsletters. I agree with you – I KNOW I ought to be look for the little joys. And there are many when you do look for them. Somehow, it seems so much more comfortable to just be miserable. I don’t know why. But every minute I pause to see something, maybe a squirrel’s bushy tail, a myna’s tufted head, a wriggling caterpillar, or just a slipper on the road, I do think I am getting there. Life is long. The minutes many. We will be there.

  3. Wonderful !!!
    I am a soap-a-holic as I am a shower-a-holic partly because showering is one of the simplest joys in life to me and partly because I have OCD.

    I look for messages from the great beyond all the time, thru my dreams, thru a book, thru some scrap of paper rolling down the street that may say something to me that I needed to know.

    That to me is spirituality in action.

    Lizzie ( GR’s mouse whisperer !!!! _

    1. I agree. I am not religious, but I think we can see signs sprinkled everywhere. I think I am terrible at reading some of the signs, but other times, it’s fairly shoved in my face. The Universe speaks in magical ways. Thank you, Mouse Whisperer.

  4. Awww, that soap is both cute and delightfully thought-provoking at the same time. When we are stressed out over the large things, it’s these smallest of things that keep us going on. A day is built on the moments we string together, after all.

    1. I am learning from you, Birdy. You are an example in looking for the joys in life. I wouldn’t be sane without you. Hugs all the way to Dublin. And once this is over, I hope we get to hug in real life – whenever you can spend time away from your marriage so that it won’t “crumble.” *chuckles in helpless laughter.

      I will tease you about it for the rest of your life.

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