Everyone of us,
go through various emotions every day, and have different experiences that we
learn from. Sometimes, nothing seems to happen, no matter how hard we try – be it
our career plans or personal relationships. And if it continues to be so for a
long time, we get frustrated with life and believe that we are unlucky.
Unfortunately, during such times we allow several unfortunate events in our life
to affect our feelings about ourselves and to dictate our future. Because we
believe that we are unlucky and that bad things happen to us on a regular
basis, we attract the very things we wanted to avoid.
It
is important to realize that each of us have the power to be successful at
anything we put our mind to. The Laws of Attraction, will explain how what one
focuses on is what one attracts. In actuality, we are very powerful at
manifesting things and our "bad luck" is proof of that. The problem is that we keep focusing our energy in the wrong direction.
For
those amongst us, who are going through a trend explained above, I wish to
propose a little exercise. Allow yourself some time; sit quietly for a moment
and look into your heart to find the thing you most desired to do with your life
right now. You will have to think about things that might help speed up your
path of being what you wish to be. Come up with a list of daily activities to
move towards your goal. And finally it is important to realize that gratitude has
the power to attract abundance into one's life. It is important that you frame
your daily routine as follows:
1. Spend
several minutes every morning before getting out of bed imagining your life as
someone you wish to be.
2. Then be
thankful to the universe that you were good and well-paid at what you want to
be, even though it hadn't happened yet.
3. And at
some time each day, try to do at least one activity that will move you towards your
goal.
It is a six weeks experiment, which you will have to follow and
you will come to see how you can make your own magic happen, if you just
continue to focus your energy in the right direction. Anyone who chooses to
follow the three steps outlined above can create their own magic. So the next
time you experience a burning desire in your heart, I suggest you give it a try
and watch the magic happen
Friendships and emotional connections have an influential role over our health.
In fact, our relationships are apparently even more important to our
psychological well-being than our careers. Such relationships for the elderly
who remain emotionally active boost their cognitive functions and help them to
stay healthier and live longer.
However, we all can enjoy the
benefits, but we have to invest time and energy into developing and maintaining
them. I know that sometimes this is easier said than done, but it is well worth
the effort.
I am going through a transitional
thing now. After you called, I decided to get on the plane and get here and get
you back. I hate to fly often, but I told myself that there is no way that
everything we built will come crashing down just because of someone, who wants
to steal my woman. I bought the ticket, got on the plane and somehow made it
across the big blue ocean.
Then the most extraordinary thing
happened…everything went wrong...I was on the street feeling cold, without a
hope in the world and let me tell you, you can do a lot of soul searching in a
time like that. I realized I spent most of my adult life trying to protect
myself from exactly this situation and you can’t do it.
There is no home safe enough, no
country nice enough, there is no relationship secure enough, you are setting
yourself up for a even bigger fall and having an incredibly boring time in the process...
Continued....
P.S.:
This blog post presents a first view/glimpse of the chapter titled 'Formulae: To Unlearn' of my book (not yet published) titled Precocious
Truth: Unrequited Love. You may read the prologue for the same here.
Disclaimer: If you are here expecting to read about an inspiration - As butterflies flutter, so does the freedom to see our dreams take flight, this post will be of little or no use.
About couple of
years ago, I was 22 years old and had many ambitions. I was standing in the bathroom
looking at the mirror on the blank white wall, with multitude of thoughts in my
mind; I was confused and did not have a sense of direction. Then I thought,
“Well, what do you expect? You are just 22 and you still have to learn a lot,
before you can declare that you have arrived! It is supposed to be challenging
path ahead.”
Now, as I stand
in front of the same mirror; mosaic of words, emotions, and feelings fill my
mind. But, I am not confused anymore, about what life is about and about me – I.
It was no longer just a blank white wall. Now it was a wall holding the mirror
reflecting my personality – solutions lie within us. I’ve always believed in emotions.
I’ve always believed – and been interested in – the emotions that most people
pay no attention to; ordinary emotions – including emotions that frame casual relationships
with strangers. We all experience them every day, but give little or no thought
to how much power they carry. We can all agree that inspirations happen from
everyday experiences and change our lives, but we usually take emotions for
granted. There is a necessity and you’re supposed to study your own emotions
and when it’s time, it’s time. This is what I believe in. Two years… and I
understood, the only lesson to learn is to understand emotions. It’s my
religion.
It gives us great pleasure to announce that SimplyJITH is now partners with Zillion Arts. The partnership will provide
subscribers of both SimplyJITH and Zillion Arts with opportunities of creating
synergies through the various joint projects that will be rolled out in the
near future. Adding to our existing array of programs, this effort of ours will
help nurture the creativity of youth, give wings to their imagination and
transcend the skies. We invite our subscribers to explore possible
opportunities through this partnership.
About SimplyJITH
SimplyJITH is a belief enterprise with emphasis
on youth engagement and empowerment. It is a collection of various initiatives
and partnerships, including a Blog
which remains our flagship project, now enjoying readership in around 158
countries, with over 32,000 subscribers from various countries; SimplyJITH
Creations; a Grant
– Partnership Project; SimplyJITH Character Institute amongst others.
About Zillion Arts
Zillion Arts is a central hub to
all the concept artists. Zillion Arts offers a single stop gallery for
beautiful and inspiring works of various artists from all round the world.
Zillion Arts also has a collection of insightful interviews to learn from. This
is the place where you can learn, discuss and participate in topics related to
concept art and nothing else!
Today, I like to write about my personal thoughts on dignity based approach towards destiny. I have been practicing it for a number of years and have
always found it a useful tool for becoming more aware of our environment
and for learning how to make it more harmonious.
This approach can be especially helpful for creating balance and
harmony in relationships. I have yet to come across someone who hasn't been
interested in either having good relationships or attracting the right
relationship, and it is nice when I can help them do that, so I wish to write about it.
It is important to realize that when we are to follow dignity based approach, it is important to understand that it should be our only choice. You may probably think, when I say it should be the "only choice", it means one thing to do, then how can "choice" be true? We are talking about the approach, but not the means. To follow a certain approach, you may subscribe to various means, suitability and necessity of each of them are to be evaluated and it is our choice.
I wish to draw your attention to one of the areas, where we can begin and learn the difference. When
dealing with a relationship area, it is good to think in twos. If you are to place dignity of being a couple ahead of yourself, you will not have to wait for long to see what effect it
might have. Without the clock ticking away in regard to forceful existence, you will begin to cherish the emotion.
While my article may make this approach sound like a quick
and easy fix, it is an ancient practice that works in mysterious ways.
If you are curious about it, why not take a look at your own
relationship corner. Give it a good cleaning out. See if it seems cozy
and if it is well represented. All the best!
When we are children, people say to us, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" At that age, we usually have dreams. We know that we want to reach the Moon, or learn to fly the fastest aircraft in the world, or save endangered animal species, or make some brilliant scientific discovery that will transform human lives. We are not yet old enough to worry about job markets and balancing budgets and supporting ourselves and our families. We are true to our intentions and so we find many admirers. We have only our dreams and the secret certainty that we are unique and have a very special thing to do in life. Even if our parents have different dreams for us, we know the difference between their dreams and our own. When we are children, we are still capable of hearing the voice of the soul.
As we grow older, the questions change. People say to us, "You had better start thinking about what you want to do with your life. How will you make a living?" There is no longer time for dreaming; we must now "face reality" and think about how to survive in the big, bad old world. The inner sense of specialness fades before the numbing evidence of high unemployment figures, stiff competition for every job application, and economic swings and downturns which make us feel we are fortunate to get any kind of work at all. And if we find ourselves discontented in that work, or we lose our jobs, we feel demeaned, devalued, and unable to trust our deepest dreams and aspirations, because there might not be any other work. And even if there were, we have probably long since lost that inner connection which could tell us what makes our heart sing and restores the sense of having a very special thing to do in life.
Each of us sees the world differently, and feels strong and competent in some areas and uncertain or ill-equipped in others. No person is perfectly adapted to every sphere of life. Finding the right direction may depend partly on your knowing how you evaluate and adapt to life, and finding an outer situation which matches your fundamental outlook. Of course it is not as simple as just looking for a place where you can exercise what you believe to be your strengths and avoid what you perceive as your weaknesses. Sometimes, working to develop sides of your personality where you feel unsure can generate the greatest feeling of accomplishment. But it does help if your perspective on life is in harmony with what you do, and you can therefore feel confident and able to meet the challenges which your work offers. It can also make a difference if you are able to remain loyal to your values, people in your life and needs, rather than accepting a situation where you believe neither in what you are doing nor in the people you care for.
In this post, I wish to share few lessons of Higher Consciousness. And when I say lessons, these are not observations of myself - a single individual but by a group of individuals, for lessons can only be appreciated by a collective approach to understand them. I invite you to read, participate and comment on them. The process of learning is an eternal one and your comments will definitely help us learn more from our experiences.
Lesson # 1
We are not here on earth to struggle for a satisfying existence, or just exist aimlessly to the whims of our destiny. The Vedic view is that cessation of all misery is the purpose of human birth.This can be achieved only through complete liberation of our consciousness. Good and evil, happiness and misery only exist in the mind of the observer. The conditioning of the mind is dictated by the manner in which we live. No one on earth can live a self-indulgent, indiscipline and want-on life and hope that this lifestyle will not affect his state of mind, for it would impact all his perceptions and circumstances.
Even our subsequent departure from this world would not alleviate our distress, because the cycle of birth and death is endless. Only Self-knowledge can free us from miseries. Self-knowledge can be achieved by living right. According to the Vedas, there are four values that are to be cultivated by any individual for living right.That is, there are four main purposes to human life. They are: Moral perfection, worldly attainment, fulfillment of legitimate desires and liberation. The first three values have meaning only when they are aimed at the fourth one. Only when the major aim is liberation, can an individual remain centered while following the other three tenets, else he may tend to become arrogant, greedy, power-hungry and immoral.
Lesson # 2
We live a life of moral perfection when we live in tune with our real Self, thereby always being in tune with the rhythm of life. We discover how to function in an optimum manner, and have the full support of Providence to evolve because Nature is always inclined towards progression. This is also known as 'the righteous way to live'. Our behavior then becomes constructive, life enhancing and appropriate. When we have a harmonious relationship with the Universe, it provides for all our needs. Whatever is required to make our lives satisfying, unfolds spontaneously. We are always in the flow of harmonious relationships and supportive circumstances. But we should also cultivate the faith that whatever is showing up is for our highest good. Impatience does not have spiritual virtue. With unshakable faith in God, we should be joyous and enthusiastic always.
When our life-enhancing, legitimate desires are fulfilled, life is fulfilling, enjoyable and we can devote ourselves to higher learning and practice. As spiritual beings we have this ability to have our desires fulfilled by gentle intention. We do not have to apply great effort or struggle to have them fulfilled. As our awareness increases we are naturally in a state of fulfillment. We only need to acknowledge our desires and have complete faith that they will be soon fulfilled.
Lesson # 3
As spiritual beings we cannot be satisfied only by living a life of contentment, worldly attainment and having our desires fulfilled. Without spiritual unfolding of our consciousness, we would always remain disgruntled and despite the fulfillment of the first three ideals, we would still be prone to getting waylaid. The first three practices make our lives satisfying so we can devote ourselves to the fourth and most important ideal. All four resolutions are interrelated and work in conjunction. We can demonstrate commitment to spiritual practice by making it the focal point of our lives. All actions and thoughts should be conducted from that platform. As we keep progressing on our path with full dedication, we are forever assured of a graceful life.
Rachel closed her eyes, and was gasping for breath. The letter she was holding in her hand was the last that Albert wrote to her. She struggled to breathe normally, her pulse rate was high, and she could feel her heartbeat. She thought about how she put Albert repeatedly through emotional pain - with her blatant lies. The painful days after every discovery of her ways of life, were blur to her now. Now, what she has done is beyond repair. Rachel, slowly turned over the envelope, and opened it. She pulled out the letter, and immediately stuff it back. She was fragile, and did not have the guts to read through the letter.
She started breathing heavily, as if she needs to catch up with her pounding heart. Well, the very least she could do to understand the pain she has put Albert through was to read the letter. That is all that she has to go through. She pulled out the letter...
Dear Rachel,
Our relation has been a gripping portrayal of my courageous struggle to deal with a vicious cycle of your conscious prejudice. It is the journey of how my tolerance is sniped at both by your acts of indecency and desire to live an imposturous existence. I approached our relation as a temple of trust, seeking refuge from the falsehood all around me. Ultimately the trust I sought was met with revelations that the differences that blind us both actually span a far smaller divide than we could have ever recognized. Yet, your intention not to reveal widened the gap, which underlines the clichés influencing your sensibility of and respect for my emotions.
Continued...
P.S.: This blog post presents a first view/glimpse of chapter titled 'Dignity March' of my book (not yet published) titled Precocious Truth: Unrequited Love. You may read the prologue for the same here.
I begin this letter with a bit of hesitation: Should I begin this letter with dear you, or rather stick to just you, I do not know whether I continue to enjoy the privilege to do so, or am I stripped of it? I choose the latter…it represents the necessary you and that will stand forever.
As a child, once spring came around, my mom would throw open the windows to air outside the house and give the place a good scrubbing from the attic down to the basement. While I'm not as much of an enthusiastic for spring cleaning, I do have the urge to clear out clutter and do a bit of cleaning once the weather warms up and the world outside starts turning green again. And it happened every year.
Our lives and relations are similar, we enjoy a relationship…living within closed quarters and need nothing else, completely absorbed by the warmth of it. And when it does not work out…when we throw open the windows; we are lost in transition…absorbed by the dust...painful remains of long structured emotions. We fail to notice the sunshine through the windows, and then we want to close the exposure…remain in our quarters...away from the light.
Life was and is just the same. For a while, I valued our quarters more…life had the same respect for me all through and even now. I learnt… and I shall look through my window…and embrace the warmth that life offers me.It was the same day then; same day now and it will be same again tomorrow. Yesterday, I failed to realize it. But today, I will not ignore to embrace it.
I realized there's nothing like the freshness that life presents us with … to go along with the fresh breezes of this spring…and I hope it will be a new start this spring…
Emotions and subsequently relations take birth through communication which is a result of interplay between significant gestures in the form of symbols and appreciation. The most important category of symbols is language. One’s senses and assimilation of such communication are characterized by the processes of understanding the meaning of one’s reflection. I wish to propose a reflection theory of emotion: The reflection of any emotion is the value of appreciation needed to maintain a relation, if it exists.
If relation does not exist, then the value of such an appreciation is the effort needed to create one. A possible anomaly is when individuals under the influence of their intentions put up a ‘front’ through disturbed patterns of socialization and act to standardize their behavior while others come to believe it to be true, only to be deceived later.
Are you familiar with the expression "to live in the moment?" This is the ability to be fully present and aware of yourself and your surroundings as you live each moment...with a pleasant mood and have a happy living experience. Rather than as few unfortunate and confused souls think “to live in the moment” is to live the present, and do not really worry about what lies beyond. Achieving such a state requires observation, appreciation, patience, quiet, and the ability to turn off the clock and put away the calendar. In this post, I wish to discuss how it is indeed possible to work on our moods...and reflect on living every moment to the fullest.
While most of us don't experience such times frequently, this is when we feel the most alive. In theory, being present involves learning how to pay attention, and the process of getting there is far easier than you might think. Before we proceed, I wish to present a small experiment that you can try right now to help yourself and pay attention to your life experience in a very positive way.
Set a few quiet minutes aside each day to close your eyes and take stock of what you are feeling, no matter how good or bad those feelings may be. Don't judge your feelings, just allow yourself to become aware of the emotions behind them.
Next, send your attention outward and become aware of things around you. Notice if you feel warm or cold, what your clothing feels like against your skin, the feeling of the air moving in and out of your lungs. Let the sounds around you filter through you and notice the underlying noises that you may have been tuning out. Next, open your eyes and notice the colors and sights around you in this same subtle, attentive way.
By the time you are halfway through this little experiment, you may be surprised at how much you actually notice about your internal and external presence. If you try this, you will probably find that "paying attention" will take on a whole new meaning, and it will be a very nice one at that.
Coming back to what I want to present in this post, I think it is a fact of life that every once in a while we find ourselves in a bad mood. Sometimes we know why we are in a bad mood and sometimes the reason may not be an evident reason at all. Even though we all certainly experience times like this, it doesn't mean we have to be stuck in them. Bad moods are often an indication that we need to check in with our feelings and do something about them or take action to shift our energy in a more positive direction.
If you are not sure why you are in a bad mood, imagine what you would say if you were allowed a very secret few minutes to complain about anything that is going on in your life. Chances are the things that come up may be tied to how you are feeling. The good part is that once you pinpoint why you are in a bad mood you are in a better position to do something positive about it.
Sometimes when we are in a bad mood, the energy we give off simply attracts more negative things our way. That's why some “bad mood” days can spiral even further downhill with problems and annoyances that appear to validate our discontent and frustration. When this happens, consider doing something nice for yourself. Enjoy your favorite beverage or snack, find a funny movie or sitcom to watch, or just go for a walk in the park. Allowing yourself the time and opportunity to do something pleasurable is a positive step that could help to break the negative energy and hopefully shift your mood.
Sometimes, we just have a day that isn't so great, but if you find yourself in a bad mood, there is a need to look at the bigger picture. There is enough reason to be happy...for now and beyond. It is for us to seek!
Obama: Holy Lord! I never knew technology got us connected to hell! Why don’t you leave US alone?
Osama: Hell? Me? Ok if it pleases you. I never say no.
Obama: WHAT?!?! Never say no?
Osama: I understand these little games of polity.
Obama: Polity? You are a serious treat! And we got you! (signaling for the phone tap record) God bless United States of America!
Osama: Running for your second term, no credible success stories, huge unemployment figures, invested 1.3 trillion USD over 10 years and Pakistan feeding on you for nothing. You needed me, and I never say no.
Obama: Non sense! What do you mean?!? I said yes I can!! And we got you!
Osama: Morphed Images of beginner level Photoshop, DNA link up with about to die sister (did she die yet?), Buried near the Sea – Shutting down with dignity and saving money on Pakistan for free!
Obama: We got you! And it is true! Why would a self respecting dignified American lie? And for you! Never!
Osama: Dignified Americans wont, but politicians do – running for the re-election is never easy! I helped Bush too! I never say No!
Obama: Why did you call me now? What is it that I can do?
Osama: Yes you can! And remember, I never say no.
***
It is a rarity that I write about polity and related issues on my blog. But ever since I heard the news and facts associated with it, there was a possible theory hitting my mind, with an explanation: How the entire episode can truly be stage managed, and more so it has far reaching effects. Running for the second term, with little or no success story to claim – Brand Obama needed a jolt, to revive ‘Yes we Can!’ Passion. Costing over 1.3 Trillion USD for ten years now, with Pakistan feeding on American Aid, there should be a way to end all this in style and dignity – save money, claim the honor, revive One America Spirit – get re-elected!
With morphed (may be?) Images as proof, DNA sample tested against a dying sister (No trace of her soon?) and burial by the Sea (Nail any possible evidence?) – scripted perfectly and Director Obama charms us all! Yes he can!
Disclaimer
This post and the transcript is a work of fiction. If the content, despite being fictional, proves to be a little offensive to few parties; I apologize for hurting your sentiments in advance. After all, it is works of fiction so do not take it seriously.
There is an inspiration behind every action/inaction in our life. There is a necessity to hold ourselves true to our belief, and learn from lessons, nature presents us with. To be or not to be is a question that will stay with us forever. To grow into a new person, become better is a constant struggle everyone of us are going through.A true account of reflection written by a friend of mine, inspires me to understand the struggle of being a woman. I hope it will inspire you too!
-Abhijith
***
I was brought out as a little girl into this world
Little bells tied to my feet, a woman she will-be, thought all
Life went by soon, like just another girl next door
Soon came the youth, bringing in discoveries untold.
The mind then slowly got clouded with the deceptive world
And the heart paced faster than the little bells of gold….
Nothing to stop, none to hear, no men, dare to come near….
Just an intellectual drive which knew only to raise the gears
The world filled with men, bothered my feminine pride n ego
A mere shallow thought that my ‘self’ could not let go
Until one fine day, I happen to stop by mirror that traced me
It reflected but strangely no little bells as far as I could see……
Instead a image, dark, neither a woman nor man, partly a beast;
There was sharp pain inside, could feel, the little bells, falling apart:
When sudden came a hand that strokes my fontanel heart:
I woke up, and found lying in front of the mirror again
Dreading to face the fierce I, me and myself in strain
But what revealed upon it was a vision beyond my human conceit
There I was, the ‘true’ me and the little bells sparkling thru my feet.
A sister, a wife, a friend, an aunt, a Mother- embrace to your will
Jingled loud and clear, to me, each and every little bell,
A toast to womanhood within, till my heart came to a peaceful Still!
Although the hand that caressed both me and my heart
Have left to another manifestation, dimension and beyond
She returned to me, the little bells, those I’d lost and ’ve found again
The bells now have found, both in feet and heart their designation….
For now, Am More of a Woman, am still within ,
And herein lies my journey as well my destination!
The expectation and thrill of the 'instant attention' drives anxieties for an 'instant gratification' culture. When it is necessary to use our moral education, to judge and act; most of us are happy to go with the flow rather. There is a necessary check that one should not skip: give yourself a minute before you commit yourself to act on some thought, or emotion. Because, when one is associated with an action, she/he invariably rubs off its effects onto others in her/his life. We do a fair bit of intellectual jugglery about (wo)man as both aggressor and victim. We have a moral consensus on the essentially scandalous nature of our actions by force or choice (intent). Yet in our desire to seek social consensus, we act beyond what our morals preach and live a life of duality. And pacify ourselves citing it as a reason for aesthetic consensus, allowing this strange contradiction to be glossed over in - and as - cultural migration, freedom of personal choice and being an independent wo(man).
Let divinity bless us with brains, to save ourselves and live with dignity.
From the Garage of SimplyJITH comes a new initiative, SimplyJITH Longitude – A Research Study Initiative about Hispanic Immigrant Integration into Main Stream American Society. This initiative is led and driven by a group of SimplyJITH Subscribers based out of San Francisco Bay Area, CA – USA. In line with our belief to actively reach out to varied cross sections of society and engage with them on a more pro – active basis, SimplyJITH will support this initiative.
At present, a team of 5 are associated with this initiative on a pro-bono basis. I believe this initiative will be pursued with belief, focus, and in complete honesty. The initiative deals with a theoretical approach to the scenario and related implications. If you are interested to learn more about initiative or opportunities with SimplyJITH Longitude, please feel free to drop an email at info@simplyjith.com.
Subscribers and members of target group are invited to share their experiences and suggestions through above mentioned email address.
Do so by the subtle trace of what that humor knows..."
Four years... and I stand here again. In my quest for honesty, I stand again at your footsteps to seek answers. It’s easy to lose a part of oneself as one travels through the by-lanes of life. As emotions and adult responsibilities edged into my life, I have drifted away from the joy of living. Now, I seek to experience the door-opening power ofreconnecting with what I truly cherish – to be myself again.
During the past few years of turbulence, part of me felt unwelcomed or suppressed as a child not able to voice his opinion. I have lost my special quality – inquisitiveness, friendliness, spontaneity, confidence or another related trait – for it was frivolously put to rest by factors which held a special space in my life.
Every day, I wake up to realize that I don’t know who I am. With a feeling of emptiness, I don’t even like myself…feel like running away. I want my real self back, but who is that, anyway?
Lost in transition…I wait here for my angel…my angel who will be my wings and help my dream of being myself again, take flight!
They say, all things become clear when one is about to die. Rachel even at 82, can give young women run for their money; yet because of her frivolous and undignified actions throughout her life, she had no one by her side : someone who truly loves her. Her hair, pitch black in her prime attracted attention from every man around her, turned into chalky white now. Her pale cheeks, battered by men in frustration : who fell prey to her charms, only to be cheated by her later. Shifting uncomfortably in her bed to avoid memories that are sweeping her mind, struggling to gain strength; Rachel looks at the flowers on the window sill, sent as a token of sympathy few days ago. With the freshness lost, flowers were dry and the parchment paper beneath them absorbed all the wetness. Long lost memories from the lanes of the past, she remembered few lines written in her honor...
"Seasons come...
... and go.
Seldom do we realize the...
...taste of our first kiss.
Seek it together, shall we...
...that state of eternal bliss?"
Her face filled with a strange sense of remorse : Did she do the right thing, to cheat on someone who probably loved her for what she truly was? Rachel lived all her life creating significant false impressions about herself, never being true to anyone - may be she should have been true with Albert? He was the only one who loved her even after he knew that she cheated on her - thrice. Children lie, to cover up mistakes and faults, but they lie also as part of an evolving inner universe—this is where the convoluted stories come from. They’re discovering new things in the outside world, and somehow want to make it their own. Rachel grew up living a life of duality. She was never been able to develop a sense of truth and falsehood—something any average adult is expected to possess. This was probably the reason, she always choose to lie, than to speak the truth. She always feared, if she presents her true self, no one will ever love her. However, Albert was a different guy. He loved Rachel, even before he knew little about her. Even before their relation went to the next level, Albert perfectly knew Rachel was the kind of woman he wanted in his life, to grow old with. Rachel, being her usual self, had no reason to treat Albert with any special care : all through her relation with Albert, she continued to lie and live a life of duality. She wanted to keep Albert away from her real life, but destiny had other plans.
May be, if everyone of us, were to run dry just like the flowers, then probably what I did was right?
May be, I am not the right woman for Albert and destiny pushed me away? I am not to blame.
May be, people were correct in calling me a Geisha?
Rachel's mind had a myriad of questions...thoughts...memories...pouring in.
Continued....
P.S.: This blog post presents a first view/glimpse of last chapter (Last Dance of Her Life) of my book (not yet published) titled Precocious Truth: Unrequited Love. You may read the prologue for the same here.
Sun: God Ra: Rays of the Sun are considered as the source of life and health on Earth. Rays of the Sun are a great source for Vitamin D, and help in our healthy living. To speak of an analogy, with their purity (of the rays), we are cleansed off our indignity and selfishness. Today, I wish to discuss the flip side of this analogy i.e. if rays of the sun are corrupt and maligned with scent of selfishness, indignity and callousness; they can pose a serious threat to ethical well being of our society.
Devoid of responsible behavior, Rays of the Sun corrupt with selfish impulses will cast a negative shade – A gray day. It will be particularly inspiring to see how Mother Nature will offer a backup plan to this natural disaster. With the rays touching each and every element of our nature, it will be a great disaster: When every being on our earth will have no honor or respect for emotions, rather is selfish in regard to their own existence and happiness. The most interesting observation will be, even withstanding the grand remedy plan of Mother Nature, one devoid of any ethical well being will suffer – finding reasons for happiness, but never being happy. There are remedies to help combat these "gray day" influences – Nature can be very calming, but during the times of calamity, can stand tall and put to rest any of its elements which will act against the grand plan. Remedy – Earth destroying the Sun? May be.
In the past few days, we have seen a string of protests across the World. From Jasmine revolution, Egyptian Uprising in the Middle East and Africa to fight against corruption in India. There is a growing deficit in ethics and moral conduct of leaders, elite of the society and the common man too. One of the prime factors which will influence the development of a country or a target group is by creating an environment for responsible change, inspiring them to seek not just social innovation but also a responsible one.
Responsible Change will inspire sustained growth along with social development.A sustained growth pattern for a country can be achieved when both fiscal and social growth go together. There is a greater need to encourage entrepreneurs to work with this integrated growth approach to build self sustaining enterprises along with contributing towards healthy society. In the era of glocalisation, with such an approach, we can see integrated local communities interconnected globally.
Other stakeholders, such as civil society representatives, NGO Groups and Media also need to work with moral responsibility towards a positive living experience for everyone.
Refreshed are my memories everyday...memories that continue to breathe life into me. Your memories sweep my consciousness…with a longing to be with you again. Memories…not about the usual activity that frames most of my life… but memories of you...simple memories...walking by your side looking into your eyes glowing with a sparkle, sailing on the river cruise...I wish I could tell you that every defense, every facade... every insecure exaggeration of my life stand stripped away…A day by your side, each moment has its own value. Morning brings hope, afternoon smiles with warmth, evening shows tenderness and night caresses with tranquility. I wish to be by your side now…and forever! I truly do...
Note: This blog post is a salutation to Team India - World Champions 2011! and to Indigo Child, now a Demigod - Sachin Tendulkar.
Cricket speaks to our nation in a way our government never has. Dhoni and his boys are held responsible by the nation in a way no other office bearer of any public franchise (including politicians) is. In a country where every stream of activity is related to (at least remotely) to this sport, and the performance of Team India - from office hours, volume of business conducted to living choices made by people, cricket is religion, and every player is a representation of the faith - with over 1.2 billion followers. Politicians from Prime Minister to President resort to cricket as a diplomatic option, goes to show the status the game has achieved in our country. Our eyes filled with tears and our hearts with love and strange sense of pride, when Dhoni hit the ball out of the park for a six - we are the world champions! Each and every Indian will be proud of our entire cricket team!
Celebrations love company, and everyone wants a reason to celebrate. There have been a lot of social networking advances such as twitter, facebook etc which have brought people from various walks of life closer, with celebrities and politicians interacting with the common man - but the sense of national pride that cricket unites us with, still continues to top the charts. And victory at the highest level - World Cup, brings a strange sense of warmth amongst all of us. More than the passionate patriotism that comes to the fore, it brings a sense of national unity - from Team India to Demigods of other spheres such as Rajnikanth (In continuation with famous Rajni jokes - A new cry line took birth : It is impossible for India to lose when Rajni Sir is here), Celebrities by luck - Pratibha Patil, Celebrities by hard work - Aamir Khan and common man. It goes to show how every element has had its influence/prayers on this moment to come true.It was surreal. This only goes to show what cricket means to us and the massive void it fills for our nation.
Victory comes with a set of expectations (A Spin-off from what Navjot Singh Sidhu says - Adversity comes with instructions on hand), which unfortunately fail to go beyond the sport. The expectations on the team to maintain the richness continue into the future, while the sense of national pride and unity fade out - If cricket is our religion, we need to be true followers of the faith and continue this sense of pride and belonging well beyond cricket and showcase that in our daily lives. Congratulations to Team India, for making us proud! Now it is upon us to reach out, continue to celebrate the unity and national pride and contribute our bit in transforming a possibility - India : A Indigo Child, into reality.
Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal, Jan Lokpal Bill has been refined on the basis of feedback received from public on website and after series of public consultations. It has also been vetted by and is supported by Shanti Bhushan, J M Lyngdoh, Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare etc. It was sent to the PM and all CMs on 1st December, last year. However, there is no response.
Anna Hazare has announced fast until death from April 5, 2011 at Jantar Mantar - New Delhi
Anna Hazare’s appeal to the people:
When I sit on fast (unto death) from 5 April, I urge my fellow countrymen to:
* Join me in fasting for one, two, three or whatever number of days you can comfortably fast.
* Along with fast, please pray to God (whoever you believe in) for better and corruption free India.
* Write an impassioned plea to our Prime Minister that we look upon him to pass “Jan Lokpal Bill”,else we will be compelled not to vote for his party in next elections.
* Remain calm and peaceful and develop the courage to go to jail, if required, in this next freedom movement.
Note: This Blog post is issued to disseminate information.
The Pixel Project, a global volunteer-led virtual non-profit organisation working to end Violence Against Women (VAW), invites you to take part in our first ever Celebrity Male Role Model Pixel Reveal campaign which launched on the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. This campaign aims to raise US$1 million for the VAW cause while inspiring men and women worldwide to work together to end VAW. This year’s beneficiaries are Malaysia’s Women’s Aid Organisation and the U.S.A.’s National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
The campaign encourages a global audience to collectively unveil a million-pixel mystery collage of 4 world-famous celebrity male role models by donating US$1 per pixel. The distinguished line-up includes a Nobel Laureate, a Pulitzer Prize Winner and superstar Environmentalist. These world-exclusive portraits are taken by award-winning international photographer, Jillian Edelstein.
Our male role models have also recorded exclusive public service announcements speaking out against VAW which will be launched as each man is revealed. By highlighting positive male role models, we aim to galvanise men and boys to get on board the cause by demonstrating that they have a major role to play in ending VAW.
P.S: The Project and related Website is owned and operated by Pixel and its licensors, and the Information and Services (and any intellectual property and other rights relating thereto) are and will remain the property of Pixel and its licensors and suppliers. The trademarks, logos, and service marks displayed on the Website (collectively, the “Trademarks”) are the registered and unregistered trademarks of Pixel, Pixel licensors and suppliers, and/or others. SimplyJITH wishes to support the above project and this post is issued to disseminate information, for which necessary permissions were taken from The Pixel Project.
Often I find myself pondering over this question, even when my life offers me all that I possibly want, there is a sense of loss...why? What am I destined for? Do you sometimes find yourself praying for a positive encounter about understanding your destiny? Many people find destiny elusive and capricious, and it's true that while some people seem to be naturally blessed to seek their path, others seem to get no help at all. In my opinion, destiny is much more than just a cosmic whim. I feel our relationship to destiny is strongly aligned with our own attitude towards it and that the choices we make can actually go a long way into creating our own path.
For example, some of the people have actually paved their path by looking at problems and stumbling blocks as opportunities. These people just don't give up when things look bleak or walls seem insurmountable. It is true that when trying to tackle a problem, there is always the possibility you won't overcome it. That said, if you quite before you even give it a good try, you are most likely eliminating any chances to excel. You will have to win over yourself first.
Being aware of the pros and cons of opportunities that come your way is a very important part of creating your own destiny. A good card player knows when to stay in the game and when to fold his cards. Often what we mistake as destiny, can be simply the fact of having experience and using good judgment. People we may perceive as being destined could just know how to pay attention and to do their research. In this way, they have become good at judging when to move forward and when to step back, thus improving their chances. You need to take ownership of your actions.
Many people we look up to, are just very good at preparing for success and they are not afraid of hard work. Preparing for success also affects how often one enjoys what we perceive as nature's play. If you want to become an actor you take acting classes, have head shots taken and look for a good agent. Prepare yourself by working towards your goals. Then when an opportunity comes you'll be ready to shine.
If you want to seek destiny, you need to win over yourself. Make up your mind and go after what you want, and take ownership of your actions and consequences. And as Paulo Coelho puts it, universe will conspire itself to make you reach your destiny.
P.S: This post is an amateur attempt at numbers. I wish to present my understanding and lessons I learnt from number 9.
There is a certain charm in the number 9. I wish to consider the word SimplyJITH, to present my observation. If we are to list the number equivalents for each alphabet, add the resulting series of numbers and then we continue this schematic with individual digits of the sum total we obtain from our earlier exercise, until we reach a single digit, we end up with digit 6.
Alternatively, if we are position/replace each such number equivalent with corresponding difference between a suitable multiple of 9 and itself, and continue to narrow down with the summation schematic explained above to a single digit, we will again end up with 6. Please see illustration for reference.
Number 9 presents a strong significance in the play of numbers. It is important for us to realize the absorption capacity it showcases. It teaches us an important lesson of magnanimity, to stand up to any moment of adversity or success with the same outlook and balanced spirits, absorb any happening into our stride and move on. Further, it presents an important lesson in parenting, to pass on this belief practice onto the next generation : multiples of 9 showcase the same trend.
Let me present another interesting behavior pattern of number 9. This pattern is essentially the basis for the observation presented above. Nevertheless, it stands out with its own lessons to teach. Consider any number, let me pick 73 for now to illustrate my point. If we add the two digits in the number, we end up with 7 + 3 = 10, going further till we end up with a single digit, we end up with 1. If we add 9 to 73, we end up with 82. Further, if we apply the same schematic presented above, we will again end up with 1.
Number 9 presents the divinity in forgiveness and the needed ability to remain true to yourself, rather than being driven by external factors. Number 9 will give no distortion to any number, rather it leaves the number with its own shades and continue to remain unaffected. It is important for us to forgive anyone and let him/her be with his/her shades rather than trying to influence/disturb their lives. More so, it is important to remain true to our intention, continue to strive for spiritual excellence and inner purity; rather than being carried away by external influences.
When you meet up with old friends after a long time, the conversation usually covers a wide range of topics. It is probably because each of us wants to give a complete update in a brief time capsule, that we package various threads into a single fabric. I was part of such an entertaining episode recently, and I wish to record it as a tribute, for it was an enriching experience. I wish to explain the rather not-so-obvious title for this post, before the readers walk down the wrong lane of thought. The phrase which is listed as the title for the post was presented by one of my friends. And the first word comes with a symbolic undertone: people who have little or no regard to moral values, rather than the usual meaning.
“Money is the root of all evil and that all rich people get snobby and unfriendly…”
“I do not think so, it is more to do with the greed, to have more…”
“When one is not true to his/her intentions, and wants to deceive others, he/she may see momentary gain, but on the longer run will be left with reasons to live with…”
“If all the bitches earn riches, why should we have morals? ”
“You are you, and not someone else…live your existence...”
“What’s wrong if I be the same? At least I can enjoy, what have I got by being me? ”
It is important to understand that to pass through a phase of grief, emotional turmoil and despair without taking to drugs, alcohol, over eating or indulging in practices which are rather not common or moral; one needs to become a spiritual champion. I belief, the pay off for enduring suffering, for soberly embracing the inevitable bouts of emotional pain that nature or others bring , is wisdom and serenity in the face of calamity.Having said that, it is important to note, the work of a champion is beyond just plain simple or easy and needs support from people around us and also from within.
It is important to notice the dual role of nature in regard to good cop – bad cop schematic in any calamity that we are subjected to. It gives us an opportunity to learn, presents us with a lesson, but what we learn from it and how we act upon it is what defines us. With increasingly fragile relationships that we seem to entertain and subscribe to, the principle of mutually respecting one another and their emotions by being true to each other – through the trials of life, is slowly fading away. What goes around… comes around. It is important to respect Nature, and understand the necessity to stay true to what we are. This gives us immense happiness and a sense of dignity for our existence. To seek beyond nature – to deceive others through immoral practices will only see nature punish us…the cruel way.
Place: Le Meridien – Jakarta
Date: 14th March 2011
P.S.: The credit for the photo reference goes to another close friend of mine.
The eschatology that binds Hinduism, Christianity and Islam as one—vis-a-vis the final events in history, i.e. fulfillment of a divine plan for humanity, and the immortality of the human soul—is congruously and collectively fulfilled by the Divine Feminine (Adi Shakti).
Adi Shakti is a concept of Hinduism, of divine feminine power. Adi Shakti is responsible for creation, is an agent of change and has the potential for self destruction. The generic approach to independent existence, and thus a false belief of empowerment has lead millions of women to fall into a downward spiral of questionable character. The power and the grace of feminineness, comes with a potential to ignite the flame of dignified individuality. It is important for men amongst us, to understand its sanctity and give every woman with such a flame the respect she truly deserves. At the same time, the potential if put to use in an adverse way, will lead to self destruction. Any woman who seeks to dishonor the dignity of the flame and put it to a non - righteous use, will be reduced to a state of submissiveness—slave of selfishness and being objectively worthless forever.
Celebrate dignified feminineness complimented by fragrance of purity, selfless love and righteous existence; failure of which invites introspection of self, marred by the smell of disgust and selfishness, forcing us to reason, if there is a necessity to continue such a worthless existence.
There is a strong belief, that no truth is ever lost - that every word ever spoken, every act we were a part of, every emotion we lived with, still exists and when that truth comes calling, one should be able to face it, and continue to respect oneself. This is possible when one did not cheat oneself and others in their life....
Rachel heard voices from her past, but they were muffled and fragmented, and they filled her with remorse.....
'Mom, I found Albert fun loving, caring and he loves me.. and is probably the one who will love me for rest of my life. I want to call off my engagement with Paul, do not want to be with him anymore'
'Albert, I have been cheating on you betraying every ounce of trust you showered on me.'
'Relations need more maturity and nurture, I hope my daughter knows what a relation is about and what she is doing.'
'I know mom, I need my man to shower me with a teddy every day and lots of love. Remember the teddy Dave presented me on our secret weekend trip to Cheney? But then, he was not as charming as Paul was.'
'Do you know you're a very special girl to me Rachel ? One I seek to grow old together with, I felt it from the first time I saw you....I shall always hold you.'
'It's over Albert, I do not wish to marry you. I'll be happy if you do not call me anymore. I found someone else now...Charlie has been taking care of me, while you were away.'
'Rachel, I know you are an innocent girl lost in the lonely lanes of youth. I shall relocate, distances have put us away for long....'
'Mom, Albert had been irritating me with his phone calls all through my Amazon trip with Charlie, I do not need his love anymore, can you tell Albert not to disturb me anymore?'
The voices would not stop. Her past became a kaleidoscope of shifting images that kept racing through her mind. Such recurrences have become more common these days. The Pagatele women were never known for their fidelity, but Rachel's case was rather unusual - behind the facade of fame and glamor (which were the usual reasons for Pagatele women to cheat on their men) lies a hidden web of unmatched selfishness, addiction and fallacious reasoning to justify her actions.
Continued...
P.S.: This blog post presents a first view/glimpse of third chapter of my book (not yet published) titled Precocious Truth: Unrequited Love. You may read the prologue for the same here.
2010 was a year for immense learning and new horizons, for us at SimplyJITH. In addition to our various programs and their affiliated projects, we have been working hard, to create a platform for youth, for them to understand the importance of values, and moral wellbeing. We wish to lend a friendly support and facilitate the flowering of immense potential that every youth has, in order to successfully navigate through the turbulent and disaster-prone,yet very promising period of youth and beyond. I take this opportunity to express my deep and heartfelt gratitude to each and everyone for their valuable contribution in this effort.
It gives us great pleasure to announce the launch of SimplyJITH Character Institute. Adding to our existing array of programs, this effort of ours will strive to mold youth as a perfect blend of academic excellence and value education for character well-being. We are honored to receive your continued patronage, which inspires us to strive towards even higher standards of human excellence.
An Enterprise is only as successful as the society it serves. We, with each effort of ours, engage in a mutual learning model, and encourage our patrons to support us with your feedback and valuable opinion. It has always been our endeavor to enhance living experience of our patrons and ourselves. As we step into 2011, we look forward to providing you with a bouquet of learning opportunities through our efforts.
May I wish you and your family a year of peace, prosperity and good luck!
Today, I wish to discuss about fears of our spiritual self. Before I proceed, it is important to clearly differentiate between fears of our spiritual self and the usual fears of our mind. I wish to put forward, a simple exercise for this purpose: To begin, please go to a calm spot where you can sit quietly, breathe deeply and think about what is making you feel fearful, examine your fear(s). Is it the fear of losing a job, not being able to pay bills, being thrown out of your home or of someone harming you? These are the fears of our mind, solution for such fears is simple: One needs to identify each of his/her fear and then consciously make an effort to face them. This post will be of little or no help for such fears. Rather, while you were thinking about various fears, if you have had this situation, '....I am well off in regard to every necessity in my life i.e. a suitable job, enough monetary resources to meet one's needs and pleasant living experience, yet I feel a lacuna within myself, that needs to be filled...for embracing happiness and I fear....', these are the fears of the spiritual self. Please read on, I hope this post will be of some help to you.
I wish to talk about an important concept which will give us a better outlook about the origin and a possible solution for such fears of our spiritual self. Just as gravity plays a vital conceptual role to explain various aspects of physics in the material world, it does so in the spiritual world as well. When one is not well grounded spiritually, he/she is floating in mid air, and is susceptible to be thrown by a strong breeze towards one side for a moment, and onto another side the next moment. This irregular motion of our spiritual selves, will subject our mental and bodily selves to many collisions, which will effect our momentum towards life, thus reducing our vitality and happiness. Hence, it is essential for us to understand the importance of spiritual gravity and work towards being well grounded spiritually.
The method of approach for such an exercise is simple. Ask your spiritual self if the thing you fear has actually happened or if you are projecting something you are afraid could happen. Next ask yourself how realistic that fear is. The purpose of this exercise is to remind yourself of the many times your fears haven't come to be, but have simply resided in your psyche, haunting you like the monsters that were under your bed or in your closet when you were a child.
It is noticing what you have been through, that is the primary focus of this process. Take a look at each event that is now your past, understand how you dealt with people who were in your life in the past. Take time to count them and understand where you stand in regard to each of such events/people, and where did you leave them at. The necessity for such an exercise, is as simple as understanding how one can find something, at the same place where he/she has lost it. To be spiritually grounded, one needs to settle each element of fear/doubt to rest. To achieve it, we need to understand and appreciate the fact that, we in our life, have left many actions and emotions incomplete, allowing them to float around, we need to work towards a possible closure for each of such events...to be grounded spiritually.
A big part of this exercise is to learn that the answers to what influences our present lie in our past and to enjoy our present, we need to respect our past and put it to rest with complete dignity. This is actually a very good remedy to stave off fear of hypothetical future situations. The next time you have one of those moments when fear overtakes you, I hope you'll try my suggestions to look at what is making you fearful, consider it and work towards a possible closure (which will allow you to let it go) so that you can focus on what is really important -- making the most of your day.
When I was a kid, I was told...to forgive is a divine gesture, but I was never told when I shall need it, and more so in what circumstances it is an option that I may exercise. During my turmoil over the past year, I knew that things were not as idyllic as they appeared on the surface. I observed the signs of impending doom not because I was so much more perceptive than others, but simply because I had the opportunity to spent time with myself.
Through my journey of discovering myself better, I understood most of us live - both physically and emotionally in a very restricted space of our possibilities. We all have potential reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not really know. After going through each memory, I have realized everyone of us decide and act upon a particular issue, with the knowledge we have, to the best of our ability. This indeed, was a great learning, I realized why I did not understand the way people acted/reacted earlier. Anecdotes often present us with lessons, that nature wishes to bestow upon us. Earlier one day, as I was looking at my reflection in a hand held mirror, it slipped my grip and fell to the floor. With a quick jab the mirror broke, into tiny shards. I realized how each piece was able to forgive me and yet reflect me the way it did earlier. I have understood that, to seek inner peace, it is essential to forgive others.
Today, as we sat at Zitouna Mosque, my friend talking about the Tunisia struggle for democracy said," ...If they are willing to go, we can forgive our leaders because the past cannot be corrected, but how can we forget the pain that they had put us through? ..." This statement has given me the path I needed. I have come to realize that forgiving does not necessarily erase our bitter past. My soul seeks healing, and forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. So, I will have to forgive others and forget (release) memories associated with them. I realized that I have to release memories of my past for seeking inner peace. Allow me to fan my tiny inner spark of possibility into a flame of achievement. Please release the memories of my past and set my soul free.
Were there times you felt that you needed some space? Actually, we all need some "space," some time to ourselves and some place to recharge our batteries and renew our spirit. When we look at it, we are all occupied with our usual aspirations and challenges, that we tend to forget the deeper meaning of our existence...our attempt to be at peace with ourselves.
It is important to realize that there are three facets to a well developed personality i.e. mind, body and soul. In our daily routine, we tend to focus on one or two of them ignoring the importance of striking a balanced approach towards all the three. It becomes essential that we seek time for self, immerse in understanding ourselves better, thus reconnecting with our inner selves.
In such an attempt, we are making an effort to look within us, thus reaching out to the greater thought. Thoughts are never owned by one single person, rather thoughts have no limitations in regard to space and time. Methods of telepathy showcase how thoughts can reach beyond boundary definitions, while the emotional turmoil one passes through, when he/she is deeply involved with a collection of thoughts, speaks of their power to control us and subsequently define our actions. In our attempt to reconnect with ourselves, we are essentially, gaining greater control of our thoughts, and thus gaining control over self.
In ancient times, places where one could reconnect with self were considered sacred and were often found in nature – a grove, a hill or valley, or a mountain. But you don't have to go outdoors to find a sacred space. You can create a sacred space right in your own home. It doesn't matter how small your living quarters are, even a corner of a room can do. A sacred space is an area where you can sit and contemplate, or let your mind wander and relax, ponder, and dream. You need to let go yourself, to pursue a thought, follow a thread. Such an activity will help discover yourself better, thus establishing a greater connection with self.
Your sacred space is where you shall seek answers to strike the right balance amongst the three facets...where you can find yourself again...where you shall find your peace.
As we enter into our 5th year, I wish to thank each and everyone who was with us, all through since our inception in 2006. It has been an exciting journey, as we grew from being an entity on blogging space at start, to a collection of ventures now...which includes a blog, a graphic design activity group and a youth partnership grant schematic to support talented entrepreneurs from Africa.
It gives me pleasure to report that SimplyJITH Blog which remains our flagship project, now enjoys readership in around 158 countries, with over 32,000 subscribers from various countries. In line with our attempts to be a helping hand to the Generation Next, and to lend a friendly support to facilitate the flowering of immense potential that every youth has, in order to successfully navigate through the turbulent and disaster-prone, yet very promising period of youth and beyond, we will soon be launching SimplyJITH Character Institute. Through talks and interactive sessions, we wish to engage youth in a meaningful dialogue to understand their aspirations and themselves better.
Further, I am happy to introduce our new logo for SimplyJITH brand which is designed by our branding partner Dhatri Advertising Private Limited, I hope you will like it! I hope SimplyJITH will continue to enjoy your support and best wishes in the future as well.
Today, I wish to record my learning, as I stood by the doorway of my memory, and observed all the events from the past year cross by, in a single file. Shadows are not mere coincidences, and I believe they are not just a reflection of our bodily selves, but also our souls. As our lives are unfolding before us, emotions stand to be eternal and so are our shadows.
As we live through various memories, our actions and emotions; we earn experience, and learn more about others, and ourselves. One's shadow reflects their learning, with each of their actions filling in a shade to their shadow...and it leaves its trail on our life.
A mere thought alone, brings glory and utmost bliss to me, and life seems to smile back. When I think of that memory: looking at me in my eyes, saying just that, what I wanted to hear; my life seems to have been rewarded. I stand here to understand the actuality of this emotion.
Destiny creates drama when it wants you to know so, else you may lead an ignorant life until death. I seek to forgive and forget, for when I close my eyes now, those memories relax my soul. I would want to meet again, no matter, whenever that happens. I shall omit all rules in such a possibility...
If I know of love, I know of how you did...I believe; it was no ordinary an emotion. Let the destiny know how strong our connection is. My Shadow carries your scent, and without you, I do not enjoy the sweat of my shadow anymore.
Failure... for most of us goes beyond being just a word. Sometimes, it is important that we stop giving words more power than they truly deserve. I wish to speak about my observations/ways to transform oneself from being someone who is struggling with a fear of failure into a confident being.
For an unsuccessful being, everyone around seem to be frustrated with him/her as he/she was always trying, but never saw anything go through, because once he/she started, he/she became paralyzed with fear that he/she would fail. I sympathize with this anxiety about failure. In my experience, it is quite common to be worried about failure and the idea of disappointing others, so it helps to address it.
There is a necessity, not to give more weight to words than that they truly deserve. To me, it is impossible to fail. You can't even call it bad decision-making. You make a decision, evaluate it based on what happens, and then make another decision based on the results. If something doesn't work out, you learn as much as you can from it and either find a better way to do it or do something else. That is all you can do.
There are two possible ways of looking at it. Either allow the negative results of your decisions (your "failures") to knock you down and keep you from trying anything new, or you begin to count your failures as successes. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense to look at the plans that don't work as a positive, because they usually direct us off in another direction. And there is always the possibility that the new direction will provide the results we are seeking.
Behind every failure is the potential for success, and if we give up too soon, we may never know what wonderful thing we could have accomplished. There is a story involving Edison, which illustrates this point perfectly. At one point Thomas Edison was supposedly asked by a reporter how it felt to have experienced 1,000 failures in inventing his light bulb, and the inventor allegedly replied, "I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to not make a light bulb." Can you imagine what life might be like if Edison had given up on the first try?
Plan and try... and believe that failure is just one learning step in life, while Success is only one step away.
Note:This blog post is a short story, presented in two capsules. The present blog post presents the first half of the short story.
Everyone has their own story to narrate, and I have mine. I am a Tissue, and this is my story...I come soaked in rose water with scented fragrance, packaged in a thin plastic wafer…tear along its serrations and I am ready for use.
Today, I want to share my story. A story, that was far different from what my peers were used for. A couple of months ago, I was born in a small factory on the west coast, and I was shipped to mid-west, and was stacked along with others from my fraternity…ready for sale. While waiting to be picked up, I heard from other tissues around me, that most of the time we are used to carry the dirt and grease that our owners greedily wish to get rid of; of course no one really knew their definite use.
One day, I was pushed onto the front row, since others ahead of me were picked up. A lady, probably in her mid 20’s, lean and short with long hair…talking on her phone, pushed me and a couple others into her cart, in a rush and dragged on. As I sat on the upper clip of the cart, I started to notice my owner. A wheat complexioned young woman, dark brown eyes and black curly hair (straight at the roots) falling down on her shoulders. She was on the phone all through with her mushy talk, until she reached the billing desk. She said a sweet bye, and flipped her phone. As the guy on the other side of the counter, started to tag each item in her cart, she had an innocent face with a mischievous smile…and started to flirt with him. I was put into a shopping bag, and I never knew what happened after that, until I was pulled out from it and put in a container on the bathroom rack along with others.
Every night, she carried the container into the living room, and placed it beside herself. She cried, mostly aloud and in silence at times. Day after day, me along with others, waited patiently, listening to her, seeing her cry, until we were picked up. We could do nothing, except for feeling sorry for her…and helping her in our role, in a small way. I always believed that, my job was of a noble doing, since I was of some help to someone to let go their dirt, grease or may be their grief too. As we sat in the container, I wondered what event put my owner through such turmoil, that she needed us, ones with fragrance to comfort her, rather than our peers who came without any fragrance, and as I was told earlier were more suited for her need.
One day, she came running towards the rack, picked up our container and ran into the living room. She emptied our container, and all of us fell to the floor. Today her emotions were out of control, far worse than usual and she was weeping probably from long. She picked up one of us closer to her reach, and pulled out the tissue frantically and wiped her eyes and face clean. As she bundled up our friend into a rag-ball and threw it onto the ground, I heard a faint shout from it, “Her Soul smells worse, more than what I could handle with my fragrance… may be I am the worst used in my community”.
She hurried into picking us one after the other, and yet her grief had no end. After a while, she got up and looked around to find a letter that was crippled. She picked it up, and sat down on the floor closer to me….
Credits & Note: This argument is an attempt to extrapolate the concept presented in Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. In my attempt, I wish to draw a possible explanation and method to seek a better understanding of human emotions and thus excellence in handling relationships. My argument will be presented as a collection of three blog-posts, this being the first of them.
Before I proceed, allow me to present my reasons to justify why such an extrapolation is justified. The reason is based on my belief that the sequence of influence and repercussion of emotions on our actions, if computed by means of suitable indicators, can be effectively studied and analyzed. Nature is an interlinked space with each thread showing us a method to understand itself and beyond. One such analogy, to compare our maturity levels with the help of indicators from study of linguistics was presented here. Here, I attempt to present my approach to draw an analogous similarity between blue ocean strategy for businesses and a possible strategy to understand human values and better handle relationships.
I begin with stating my hypothesis for the argument, 'Among individuals, the respect to other people's emotions is the only solution for inner peace.' Most of us, who are focused on continuous improvement (Self), instead of on continuous redefinition of our approach towards others, and search for blue ocean run the risk of being the best as we are, yet become irrelevant to the world. And the most interesting observation, is that most of us, no matter how evolved we are in our abilities to understand emotions, are immune to this.
....to be continued.
With a hope: Life around me has breathed easier because I have lived....I live, with my inner peace.
All children 6 to 14 years old have the right to free and quality education under the recently passed Right to Education Act.The RTE Act specifies minimum norms in government schools. It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats for children from poor families (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan).
The Act also provides that no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them up to par with students of the same age.
The RTE Act is the first legislation in the world that puts the responsibility of ensuring enrolment, attendance and completion on the Government.The Right to Education of persons with disabilities until 18 years of age has also been made a fundamental right. A number of other provisions regarding improvement of school infrastructure, teacher-student ratio and faculty are made in the Act.
To make the Right to Education Act successful, it is important that each one of us knows about it so that every child who is not in school can be sent back for free and quality education.
The time is NOW! Make a difference.
Stand up and make some noise! Join the Awaaz Do movement by signing up now for India's children. Ask your friends to be a part of getting every single boy and girl into school. Do it now for India's future.
Come forward and donate to UNICEF to help change 8 million lives.
Spread the word to your family and friends. You can SMS, e-mail, share or just talk to them and ask them to speak up and raise their voice for children. One voice makes a difference but together we can help change the fate of 8 million children. The time to begin is NOW!
Find a school near you and make a visit. Check if the school has:
• Separate toilets for boys and girls.
• Drinking water and places for students to wash their hands with soap.
• Playgrounds for playing sports and having fun.
• A school library for students and their teachers.
• Mid-day meals for children.
You can meet the school head, teachers, community members and even the parents of children enrolled there and talk to them about the RTE Act. Let them know about the highlights and let them know how every child can benefit.
Awaaz Do!
Copyright Note: This Blog Post contains information to create awareness regarding Awaaz Do Campaign of UNICEF. UNICEF reserves all copyrights on the material including the photograph and graphic design.
During the spring few months ago, I was particularly thrilled when I went for a stroll in the park to see small new shoots popping up from the soft damp earth and new tiny buds opening on the trees. Actually, I love tuning into nature. It fills me with excitement and makes me feel more vibrant and alive. And becoming more aware of the earth and its rhythms is something I strongly recommend, especially given that we live in a world with so many distractions. It can be easy to forget we are part of a larger living thing that is called Mother Earth...my teacher.
Any time of the year is a perfect time to really get out of doors somewhere in a natural setting for an invigorating walk. And when you do, keep all of your senses open. You'll probably be surprised at how loud the bird chirping becomes, especially in the absence of loud, distracting noises like roaring motors, screeching sirens and honking horn and blaring radios. You may be especially aware of the warmth of the sun, or if it's a cloudy day, the depth of the colors all around you. When you breathe in this fresh air, chances are that you will experience a plethora of smells – damp plants, soft earth, tiny wildflowers and more. And be sure to be watchful of life during your walk. If you are lucky, you may spot something really special. These happenstance encounters with life around you will provide answers you always sought.
As winter is awakening in all of its glory now, I feel the buzz of the life force humming all around me. As I sat in the park, greeted by warm sunshine and cool breeze, surrounded by green and thriving plants and their luscious aromas, I was introduced to a new understanding of self. After years of following nature's rhythms around me, I can easily visualize how me...myself was transformed and have come to become myself now.
I was at a constant battle with two methods throughout my life. One to seek for myself, and the other to be, for others in my life. Most of the issues I had to address, and situations I was in, came down to picking either one of the above mentioned methods for a solution. I was always occupied in picking one of the two, which will suit best, rather than attempting to integrate both the methods. Marvelous are the ways of nature, I learnt an important lesson. Love and understanding for self should be a sweet compromise, not a painful surrender for the sake of others.It is possible to integrate these two methods, to find yourself in the joy of others.
Tuning into mother nature on a regular basis will help you to feel more alive and more connected to the earth and the other living creatures on it. It is definitely my prescription for heading on the right track. I found my answer..and so will you!
When we are to live through an unresolved emotion, life becomes rather chaotic.Our regular routines are disrupted by recollection of memories...bringing back images...of living these memories, more often than during usual times. It becomes important with all of this extra hoopla and frenetic activity, that we learn to keep the peace within ourselves.
I just want to clarify, that being at peace and being happy aren't necessarily the same thing. There is a definite difference between our feelings and the state of our inner being. The state of inner being is what helps us maneuver through life in a calmer and more peaceful way, regardless of what may be happening around us and/or how we feel about it.
Experiencing inner peace comes from practicing the art of letting go. When we hold onto feelings and situations, reliving them over and over in our minds and feeling the feelings again and again we keep ourselves in a state of inner turmoil, even when some of the situations and feelings are happy ones. So how do we get to a place where we can achieve inner calm? It is actually through our ability to acknowledge our feelings about the things that happen to us and around us and then we can let them go.
This may sound strange, but in actuality nothing ever stays the same. No matter how happy or sad we may feel in any given moment, no matter what may be going on in our lives, it will always change. So hanging onto resentments, fear, and anger or trying to hold fast to feelings of happiness and joy actually keeps us in a state of inner turmoil. Acknowledging our feelings and then allowing them to flow into our past frees us to live in peace. This is the art of letting go.
I wish to share an exercise with you in the event you would like to try this. The next time you find yourself in the midst of turmoil, find a quiet spot and close your eyes and breathe slow deep breaths, for just a few minutes. Allow any feeling that comes up to wash over you and then flow away. Then take a really deep cleansing breath and return to your day. Do this as often as you need to and you will discover that you can do it faster and more easily each time.
Inner peace is the key to living a better, more fruitful and comfortable life. If you practice the art of letting go, over time you will find yourself doing it quite naturally. You will discover that there are times when you become consistently peaceful from within and don't even have to pick up and feel feelings before you let them go.
I sit here...with an unresolved emotion...seeking answers to fill my empty heart with hope, to seek inner peace. And so can you!
Life is a collection of shades, we progress as we move along. The term 'Youth' portrays a confusing shade. It speaks of both the needed energy, and priority in approach at the same time. Nevertheless, it is the shade which each of us wish to remain with. The legend of Ponce de Leon, the Spanish explorer speaks of how he was supposedly looking for the fountain of youth and discovered Florida instead. Well, he certainly wasn't the first person to be lured by a dream of eternal youth. There are numerous stories about powerful figures in history such as Alexander the Great and Cleopatra who also sought to hold onto their beauty and vitality. And the search for youth continues. All you have to do is to turn on the television or open a beauty magazine to find advertisements for miracle hair tonics, wrinkle cures, stomach flatteners, etc. It seems we are still looking for a fountain of youth, but this time it is through creams or supplements or health regimens that make extravagant, unproven claims. However, I don't think that is the right way to stay young.
It is more about growing from within that is needed, we need to connect with nature. Staying physically fit is important, but so also is keeping mentally and emotionally fit. We need to handle stress well and need to let go of our worries at the end of each day. Each of us, have our difficult or challenging experiences, but it is our positive response to these difficulties and challenges that enable us to carry on.
So there may be a fountain of youth after all, but not exactly as we envisioned it. As the "ageless" Sophia Loren has said, "There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age."
Now that's a fountain I think we can all dip into....
Every day, there are things in our lives that we dismiss as luck or chance or simply take for granted. Certainly there are times when events throw us completely off balance or make us feel vulnerable or afraid. But I think that most of the time we are so involved with our daily routine to be successful, whether it be with work, errands, chores and the like, that we forget to notice the things around us that make our lives better.
The truth is that, no matter what is going on in our lives, there are no ordinary moments, no minutes or seconds that are meaningless. And most of all, we will never get back those moments that pass without recognition. So, that is why it makes sense to look for and acknowledge the daily gifts that come from the universe.
In our everyday struggle to define happiness.. a happy future for ourselves, we are missing a basic requisite for our struggle.. to be happy. We fail to notice everyday events in our lives. At first glance these things may seem rather unimportant, but when I think about what life might be like without them, I appreciate them all the more, and the bigger and more wonderful they seem to be. And if you think about it, you may agree that the little things are what either drive us crazy or make us happy. So, the little things in life really are important, even if they may not seem to be at the time.
For me, the best thing about recognizing such moments is that when I pay attention and open myself up to them, I notice them all the more and feel like I may even attract more of them my way. The end result is that I am happier and more content with my life and consider each day different in its own way. I am happy now... and I seek...to be happy in the future.
Little miracles happen every day. Flowers bloom, babies are born, the sunshine warms our skin and we get to be a living, breathing part of the living, breathing universe. I hope you will take the time to recognize the warm, special moments that make you feel good about yourself and the world around you. It is time for you to come out of the desperation cottage..to seek happiness, and notice that happiness is around us.. here and now! Live the moment!
As I look out at the misty weather and see the leaves coloring the branches while the drizzle glues the fallen leaves to the ground, it is clear that we are in the middle of the fall season and frigid winter days are soon to come. In spring, we see the buds popping open on the trees and new plants push their way up through the soil to enjoy the sun's fresh kiss. The fall is just the opposite. It is a time of retreat from the growth cycle.
Some people experience sadness with the changing of the summer season to fall, but I think it is a wonderful thing. The shifting seasons bring us variety and provide us with the changing backdrop for our lives. The autumn has its own kind of charm. It marks the harvest of the spring and summer seasons and it brings a rich palate of various shades of orange, red, yellow and brown to the terrain. These elements are reminders that we are of the earth, and it is through the earth that we receive sustenance.
Fall is the time to pull out your favorite scarves and wool jumpers as you make the transition to a warmer wardrobe. Head for the park where you can enjoy the crispness of the air, the smell of the earth, the beautiful colors of the fall leaves and the fall chrysanthemums.
Every season has its own charm, likewise every phase in our life has its own charm...we will have to learn the beauty of it..live it and enjoy the warmth!
Today, I want to write about transforming what we view as failed experiences into valuable fodder for our future success. Naturally, it is never pleasant to experience failure, but that does not make it a bad thing. As hard as it may seem to believe, there are benefits to experiencing failure. We can learn valuable lessons from these experiences that can benefit us in the end.
It is important for us to look at our life situations from different angles, by finding opportunities and learning lessons when things don't come out as planned. I wish to elaborate on this point, by narrating a short story.
"...her hope was to become a fantasy novelist, but that dream was compromised when every agent and publishing house she contacted rejected her first novel. When I first met her, she was in a frustrated and dejected place. So, my advice to her was to keep trying and to also explore other ways to utilize her writing talents.
She decided, she needed to take a break from focusing on her novel, so she put it away and began volunteering at a local children's hospital. She became a storyteller and made up all kinds of fantastic adventures to entertain the kids in the children's ward. She was well received as a storyteller and was soon writing her stories down to share at other local hospitals.
Interestingly, this gave way to a very promising career in the area of writing and publishing. She became a very fulfilled and successful children's author and is now very happy that she "failed" at writing fantasy novels. Her story is proof that not only can failed experiences encourage us to be more flexible and determined, but that they can also point us in the perfect direction..."
I hope this story will remain with you so that the next time you feel yourself struggling with the idea of "failure," you will think differently about it. When you open yourself up to the gifts the universe brings, you can find amazing opportunities. Give yourself a pat on the back for moving along the right path to success and keep moving on until you get it right. Reflection is a transformation of what is...into what it is truly meant to be...I understood my reflection...
When we encounter someone new, we quickly seek answers to two questions rooted in the evolutionary need to make correct decisions: What are this person's intentions towards me? and is this person capable of being true and act on these intentions?
Because we lack the brainpower to weight someone's true merits quickly, we seize on our sometimes mistaken answers to these questions and rate the person high or low on imaginary scales of intention and capability. Moreover, intention and capability assessments influence how we intend to interact with others. We like to assist people we consider to be warm (intention) and avoid people who we see as not being warm. We desire to associate with people we consider to be capable and ignore those whom we consider to be otherwise.
To further add to our parameters of assessment, we tend to find clues on people's race, gender, nationality, their brought-up and the social environments they were part of. Thus our decisions about whom to trust, doubt, defend against, are based on faulty data. The intention/capability approach helps us understand a lot about others. Why people disrespect the elderly while feeling positive towards them (they are seen as incapable but warm). Inaccurate intention-capability judgments can lead us to trust untrustworthy associates or undervalue potentially important connections.
It is particularly interesting to note that we can observe a gender polarity to this trend. Men normally attach more value to capability component of the judgment while women value the warmth (intention) component. More so, the way we see others is a reflection of how we ourselves. Men normally tend to understand themselves and others by their capability to be true to the intention/emotion, while 'warmth' component comes second. While women normally tend to value 'warmth' more, thus associating with people who show more concern/warmth towards them, and whether or not the other person or they themselves will remain true about intentions/emotions is always a secondary point of concern.
".....In the ancient Tibetan tradition, a wind horse known as 'lung da', a beautiful steed was regarded as a sign of happiness and good fortune (symbolized by the jewel on its back). The image of the wind horse is used on prayer flags in households. The movement of the flag by the wind sets the horse in motion, carrying prayers for happiness and good fortune in various directions...."
"Is this story talking to me? Will this help me solve my problem? ", He thought....Events of the past few days, have taken their toll on him. Whatever he did...whatever he read, brought back her memories. He had many answers to seek.
In the heat of the moment, he felt her indifference was a sign of a battle with her that he needed to win. He was carried away in figuring out how to put the blame on her for things that went wrong. She did not love him anymore. Her ambitions and impressions of life were different. She did not like someone bursting her bubble of artificial truth.
It is important to realize that we create our storm, and our sunshine. Love is what remains after beauty has passed. Love is not the same as admiration. Love is growth, love is evolution, love is a lesson, love is in allowing and is in granting others to be...what they wish to be...
He closed his eyes, he wanted to push her memories away. It was hard to separate himself from her thoughts. They were united into a single soul...to dance together forever. Life gave him a chance to seek his companion, and to push her away...will only hurt him. Was there any love left? Is this a story of love?
Therefore, it shall exist...as a story, a story to live with...without any love in it.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." - Genesis 2:24
Life is a mixed bag. It brings us joy, contentment, happiness, love, friendship...sorrow, deceit, hatred, fear, grief. Living our life regularly, most of us are afraid to accept our feelings and thoughts. We fear to ask ourselves the question, " Am I a bad person ? " And on this subject I wish to talk about in my post.
This question is particularly important to understand how sensitive we have come to become about ourselves and everyday happenings around us. Besides, I think I am right in saying that our feelings and our emotions have been sorely understood by us. Each of us have gone through a period of doubt. It is during such a phase in our lives that we wish to ask ourselves this question. We begin to reason out a possible answer for the question.
My experience: The answer I sought helped me change the way I look at life...fill it with a positive vibe...just as visions of angels show positive changes through the intervention of fortunate events....Events in our lives are mere reflections of our thoughts. We need to fight the fear within...we need to ask ourselves this one question everyday, to put ourselves on the right path...reach out to life with full enthusiasm and cherish our existence. Lets live a happy life!
Nobody has a generic formula for happiness, at least not one that does the trick for everyone. But everyone of us is privileged to have a common teacher: Nature. It is important to realize that each and every event in our life, is a lesson nature offers us to learn from. Hard to believe?
"How can everyday events possibly affect us? They're of no significance", my critics may roll out that argument. It is important that one needs to connect with nature to understand and explore the possibility of learning from it. Allow me to present a simple method to begin this journey...
Open your eyes on a starry night. What do you see? A vast, luminous space, full of shadows and light. Now close your eyes so tight they ache. Where are you now? What do you see? Again, a vast, luminous space, full of shadows and light. Consciousness and cosmos are structured around the same laws, follow the same patterns, and even feel pretty much the same to our senses. "As above, so below." Just as the starry night awes us with its vastness, there's something infinitely deep inside you, a place you go when you close your eyes, a place that's beyond being yourself. At the most profound level, you will begin to connect with nature. It describes a series of experiences which, if you're brave and open enough, will trigger certain states of consciousness in you -- states that operate like powerful spiritual catalysts, vaulting you into higher levels of being. This will help you learn who you are, by warning you about the comforting lies we all tell ourselves, and by illuminating the experiences that trigger your most explosive leaps in awareness.
Life around us is a reflection of what we are from within. Connecting with nature will help us redefine ourselves...our lives....and thus seek happiness.
Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you realized that they were looking at you while you were talking but weren't really listening? Nobody likes that feeling, but the simple truth is that most of us are better talkers than listeners. So if we want to work on our communication skills, we can take the initiative to start with our own listening skills.
The art of listening has a lot to do with the difference between hearing what someone is saying and actually paying full attention to what they are saying. What we simply hear can very easily come in one ear and go out the other, but when we really focus on listening to what the other person is saying, something physiological happens to us. We may register that information physically, emotionally, or intellectually! That is because when that information captures our attention, we involve ourselves with the information that is being shared with us.
When someone else is talking to us, it is important not to interrupt them. It is true that we all have our stories to tell, but when we are listening to someone else talk it should be about them, not about us. So the next time you are listening and have the urge to interrupt them, take a breath and refocus your attention on the other person. You just might learn something important, and at the very least the person you are with will appreciate your attentiveness.
Being a good listener is to abstain from holding judgment. The minute our judgment kicks in, our listening usually stops. That is because it is hard to pay attention when we become preoccupied with our personal opinion over what we are hearing. Moreover, putting aside our judgment puts the other person at ease and helps them feel more comfortable and relaxed, so that they can be open and honest with us.
By becoming a good listener ourselves we set an example for those around us and create a better opportunity for ourselves to be heard. And on a side note, one of the better benefit of being a good listener is that when we apply these principles to listening to our own inner voice, we gain access to a world of wisdom all our own. Explore yourself!
Last night I could barely sleep, I felt like a little kid again, filled with anticipation and expectation. I was filled with thoughts about various episodes in my life. Two hours later, I started to appreciate my existence and opportunities thereof. Life presents each of us a breathing chance to stand up and compete. Many a time, I have heard people talking about how life is a compromise and that we are to make choices accordingly. I have come to believe that life is not a compromise, rather it is our dignity and our belief in the same which creates the difference.
There is a growing concern these days to maintain vitality and enthusiasm for life. But all the multi-tasking and constant rushing about we do on a daily basis makes it difficult to keep our enthusiasm going. When you think about it, with so many balloons in the air and such high personal expectations, it is no wonder that people feel very sympathetic to their plight, and rarely understand the role of dignity in our lives.
Most of us feel that budgeting of our dignity is one way to make things better, and needed for a better life. Rather, it is important to realize that dignity plays a defining role in our actions and accommodate it accordingly. For your life to be everything you'd like it to be, everything it should be, you must face the world with every possible strength and tool, armed with the means and the determination to succeed, blossom, triumph, and prevail... and dignity is an essential part of it to remain in your best shape everyday, for rest of your life.
Today, I wish to talk about my understanding of happiness. It is an interesting observation, to note that our gratitude level can directly affect our wealth and happiness. Now that may sound strange, but I have seen it time and time again in my life.
To begin with, I like to know how grateful would you say you are for what you are today? Before you answer this question, it is important to understand what we speak of when we talk about gratitude. The basic premise of gratitude is to acquire a more positive and receptive state of being.
We can begin the journey by being grateful for the smaller and more immediate things like having a place to live, food to eat, and a car to get around, etc. By placing ourselves in a positive frame of mind through gratitude, we open ourselves to all the good things the universe has to offer. That is when we can actually begin to attract good things towards us. As you become more comfortable with the positive things that basic gratitude brings, you will likely find yourself feeling grateful for even bigger things like being alive, learning hard lessons, your past mistakes, the freedom to make choices in life, and more. This type of gratitude catapults you even further along the path to a successful and happy life. That's because you begin to lose your fear of change or loss and you begin to develop a deep appreciation for the exciting adventure that life truly is.Once you reach the point where you remain in a constant state of gratitude, you will become a magnet that attracts the positive things to you... the things that resonate with who you are and what you desire to do with your life.
If you are ready to enjoy more happiness and wealth, I challenge you to take some time to note those things that you are grateful for, from the smallest little gifts to the bigger ones. And may you attract the most wonderful and beneficial things into your life.
Certain anecdotes often influence us to rethink our approach towards life. I believe, each action of ours results from a collection of such experiences. Today, I wish to talk about my experiences with the notion called 'Tragedy'. Before I proceed, I wish to impress upon the reader that I thoroughly understand and respect the belief that each of us have had our share of joys and sorrows, and there is no common scale for comparison. This post will be my honest attempt to record my experiences and my actions thereof.
Everyone's life is similar to waves on the ocean floor, with characteristic highs and lows, and my life is no different. I have had my share of highs and lows, today I wish to talk about my struggle during one such low-phases in my life. When I was first introduced to the situation, my view of issues had various elements to it : distortions, fixations and compulsions amongst others. I lost my hope on the future for some precious moments in life, which I cherish till date. I have noticed that our ability to think objectively will take an hit when we are going through a tragic phase. Every thought, has a previous condition to work with and build on with little possibility for freshness in our approach.
It is important that we clearly understand that there exists a distortion in our perception, and come over it. Our actions are influenced by the values we are attracted to and prize. Each of us, enjoy certain aptitude and ability to work with, and devise a possible remedial action to the best of our knowledge.While all of these endowments and values are present as potentialities in our core self and while we are capable of appreciating and actualizing all of them, temperamentally we favor some over others and our responses stack into a hierarchy, with one or a few being more potent than others.During such a phase, there is a possibility we feel sorry for ourselves.It is important for us to realize pity is not what lessons of tragedy or actions bring to people, but it is a mistake that comes with such lessons. We should be able to identify it and look beyond the notion of self-pity.
It is always important to appreciate yourself and realize nothing is worth more than your free will. In short, as Friedrich Nietzsche puts it in his work The Birth of Tragedy : No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. I understood, nothing else weighs heavily on us, compared to confusion and loss of consciousness for our depressed soul . I negotiated a truce with tragedy...I own myself now and I am proud of it.
Note: Today, I wish to present before you, an unique observation about emotions. In this post, I shall examine how the emotion 'fear' is a driving force for various emotions.
Fear is an interesting emotion...The more we try to understand the root cause for any emotion and actions related thereof, fear features as one of the influencing factors. Voices of fear from within, which tempt us to lie, cheat and deceive people in our lives...voices that never help us realize that a relation is a promise... a promise of trust, never to lie and be true to each other...can only be dispelled by trusting the voice that comes from the heart...voice that shall help us understand the essence of living with virtue...like a beautiful rose, with its fragrance filling the space around us.
Love and compassion for others, for the world itself is what we need to respect and try to imbibe into our actions. This alone will help us grow over the fear of unknown, fear of losing what you have or of not getting what you want. Try it!
I always wondered what my dreams mean? I have come to believe that each of my dreams give a peek into what the future holds for me and people in my life. Today, I wanted to share one such dream of mine, that turned into reality.
A prisoner was seated at a table, and an officer of merit was standing across the table. After few moments of silence, a conversation ensued. The prisoner said, "It is a tremendously hostile world that I endure...I am here to survive. It is natural that everyone has an instinct to survive. I learnt to live my life the way I do, after understanding what tremendous feats human beings are capable of once they abandon dignity." Both were silent for a while, and then the officer said, "Acquire a heart...only then you can call yourself human, and understand what suffering means. And what you call a tremendous feat, is in reality a heinous act."
And then I woke up...
Today, I understood...she was the prisoner, and the officer was me.
I always trusted that our relation may tend to unite in a bond of close affection; with mutual respect, concern and appreciation ranging from the highest to the humblest. I always felt our relation shall be an example for great principles of liberty, equality, and justice; and shall promote our happiness, and add to our prosperity, and welfare.
However, with your incredible acts of stupidity you have positioned yourself beyond doubt that you never really understood : people are meant to be loved, while things are meant to be used. You always entertained a confused self, used people and continued to love material things around you. I fail to understand your justification to seek forgiveness, when you shall be presented to Almighty.
With no regard,
Victim of your selfish intentions/lifestyle.
Confidentiality: The contents of this mail are intended for HRH The Duchess of Nothingness. It contains information which may be of a confidential and privileged nature.
" You are what your silences are... All the noise you make is for the World..."
You are one of the intentionally best-kept sinful secrets of your world. No one can really tell what you truly have come to become, for you never spoke the truth...all you knew was how to deceive, but not how to love...Allow me to share your story today...to not hold such an ugly and sinful truth close to my heart, to not cheat or deceive others for protecting you, to seek beyond you is, a multitude of unique blessings.
New to your ways, I remember the delicious agony of waiting through a seemingly interminable night for the magic dawn of morning. In my eager anticipation of the wondrous surprises awaiting us, I forgot the painful events that the long night presented. While living through the night, there was darkness all around with no logical reason for your actions. The agony to seek a plausible reason for the same is beyond my faculties of description. In my anxiety to marry happiness I neglected the many unique indications to protect myself, not only from such a false hope, but from a deceiving exaltation. To live through the night, to see the light of the day...to realize that all you possibly can do is to deceive your parents and those who love you is such a learning experience.
I learnt my lesson, to look for answers...not in what others say, but in their silences....you and your heinous existence are merely an instrument for this lesson. May the Lord show mercy on your parents, for they are not at fault for what you are today - a sinful existence worthy of death and nothing else...Amen!
I always felt, my sense of existence was because of you...one I love, to be by your side through thick and thin, never let you cry...never let you sigh. Life is a jigsaw with blank spaces to fill, it is up to us to figure out how to pick from choices we have. All I always wanted was just a little something...beautiful and sweet to fill the void. I wanted you to add meaning to my existence...to look beyond the blank space, to absorb happiness from around us...to complete my picture.
This was my method for happiness. Spaces once filled add meaning to picture...my life. To hold more than one piece to fill the void, is to hold too many to paint a beautiful picture. To place one over the other, spoils the picture and nothing else.
Learn to turn around and seek with honesty. Life is like a book, what matters is how good it is, not how long it is...it is about how beautiful is the picture you make of it...Life is a switcheroo.
I always felt that actions were a secondary representation of an emotion, just as speech was a secondary representation of thought. The speaker has something in their mind; words were found to express that thought. The effectiveness of the words should not be a parameter of evaluation for the thought. Likewise, intention plays a primary role to understand the truth of an emotion.
This kind of a schematic in regard to emotion, will speak of a comparative approach. Actions frame a method to express our emotion, and their effectiveness is a step towards the truth involved in our intention. Sometimes, our actions are a poor representation of our emotion, the farther we are away from the person, the less we are understood. If we compare relation to a statement in literature, the philosophical bases of an emotion and a relation provide perhaps the most elaborate critique of the logocentrism involved.
For a relation, it should not be a forceful communication of the essential truth, since understanding and respect for each other should come from within. All communication, be it spoken or written, merely convey fragments that might help one acknowledge the inner truth one already has, thus respecting each other. Similarly, spoken and written words might convey not only thoughts but also are in themselves a kind of practice, and actually following the practice will lead to understanding.
Let us appreciate the linguistic behavior of the statement : Relation.
Somewhere in an unKnown City—during a winter night,he stood outside on an empty street—for years he will remember the wait.With energy drained, and his fingers failing to recognize themselves, he was treated by a lopsided gesture—snow and silent tears. But as he stood to turn cold, his inner voice said in rather non-preppy terms, "There was no way that you are treated with dignity—even if you have come from a far-off land, you still are a stranger." If he was told earlier, it would have been a discounted experience from his life.
This was not how it was supposed to end—23-year-old darling with the fairy-angel looks, the outlandish wardrobe and the very improper private-school vocabulary. She was born in Peru, the lady of his dreams for years. but she grew up in Houston— fashioning an attitude which he tried hard to understand—never understood.Though he was also 23, had fared just as well as anyone else in life, he was treated like a foil by the flashy, Peruvian-born American.
She led a life of ingenuine primer, albeit with dark secrets. He was clearly the aggressor and sought the ring from the start. Even in the early going, before he could truly understand her, she seemed listless, with her spark or rather purposeful activity. He showed great support that was expected to keep faith. She responded with indignity and callous affection.
He kept staring at the deserted road, filled with snow. His two fingers clinched, and he started walking away—she betrayed him again. He hesitated a moment and then turned back—struggling to say goodbye. But things have come to an end—deceit and a string of lies did the trick. She continued to relax with a warm cup of tea, reclining with her right arm over the couch—with little or no concern.
Though he stood by her during the storm—expecting a return of favor was a sin. By that point she deserved the hype—scoring for the current favorite. And then she said to herself, "This is all part of being young and ambitious. I nibble on the innocent ". She continued to seek her life, with all respect and glory.
He is lost in search for his consciousness, even till today—July 4th.
As environments increasingly become complicated for interaction, people characteristically take on the features of written forms of expression. Although ideas and arguments are being presented in written form, the life takes on a weird tone quite different from that of traditional forms of expression of love. While this happens to be the trend these days, few amongst us stand as an example for souls blessed with little or no character. Perception and respect for emotions are necessary ingredients which happen to be missing in relations these days.
To use and play with emotions of someone, to lie and betray are considered evidence for lack of critical reasoning about self, and little or no intellectual growth and thoughtful contribution to self development.
Discipline and respect for emotions and others in our lives, can effectively help us grow stronger as a being and communicate our emotions in a better way, even if we are to subscribe to non traditional ways.
As online interaction becomes more widely used these days, and as more people of all age levels participate in electronic discourse, it is important for us to consider how to respond and cater to emotional conversations rather than lie and betray people in our lives. In addition to examining our self, and perhaps more importantly, we need to understand how these changing conventions may be contributing to the construction of our personal lives these days, and more so, why we are turning to lies, and betrayal needs to be understood. Let us respect emotions, people in our lives. What we are today, will pave way for our future.
I wish to record one of my empirical observations today. My experiences tend to align with the thought that divinity seeks democracy in regard to choices we make. I have observed that religious people are more democratic in regard to options they are presented with and choices they make. They associate an element of control with a superior power in regard to how a decision swings their chances of success.
It is important to notice the new theological thought which is observed these days. It is a blend of classical Christian thought of righteous living with a self styled approach about morality. People hardly give any thought to the building of character, rather subscribe to an eroding school of value education.
I learnt that our innate ability to seek purity in our thought will help us look upon the invisible elements of nature as though they were clearly perceptible to our senses, making us more receptive to human suffering, giving us strength to walk the path of respecting human emotions.
According to Hindu philosophy of karma, we are to enjoy the positive and negative reflections of our deeds, and that each action of ours and its reflection will get accrued. Today, we are enjoying/suffering from the reflections of our deeds from the past, and what we choose to do during our life, will cast its reflection on our future and beyond. There are numerous threads of religious beliefs, and each of us have our unique thread to tag. I have chosen my thread.
Our deeds might be short lived, but their reflections will stay forever and shall tell the tale of our character...
Its been seven years....I still have the rose in my hand, while I am waiting for you. For seven years, I knew it was love when nothing I did felt better than being together with you. I do not know if being in love meant holding hands, but all that I know is with you...my gray skies turn blue. Seven years...my love for you speaks of every day spent together, with excitement of an approaching spring. I wait here, with roses for you ..albeit not as fresh as my memories of your kiss that made me see beauty in everything around me.
I stand here waiting for you, to find myself again...in the shadow of my love for you.
Accompanying you at dawn...I had the pleasure to seek the elegance of your charming face, as beautiful as the full moon on a summer night. Your hair as black as night, and eyes as sharp as a blade of grass and dark to cast shadows hiding your emotions. Your smile seeks beyond the beauty of a blossoming rose.You fill your kiss with life and embrace with warmth.
Be my friend in my loneliness and exile; allow me to embrace the sweetness of life. I happen to exist having forgotten the taste of my own soul, guide me to find light. Dry the tears rolling from my eyes, comfort me to seek warmth of your embrace...allow me to be lost in the celebration of our emotion. For what you mean to me, words fail to explain.. for us I shall happily let go...everything except you, because with you by my side, I have nothing else to seek...Accompany me, my love... till I shall walk into the dusk....
Note: My journal entry of Simply Me! circa July 2009
Life is more about living an emotion than anything else. Expectations of my emotion run beyond the tenacious ridicules. I suffer in pain to seek perfection, to grow over my anger..to walk past the water's wall to seek you.
You...
With no sincerity, dazzle me with false cries. Riding a false wave of desire, seek beyond me. Understand from the wrecks of such lost wanderers of the past, seek light for the entire journey over momentary excursions.
Us...
I still hear your false cries ringing in my ears...I remember the lies you whispered in my ears. I lived a never ending tale...never loved...Today, I realize that death is not the greatest loss in life, but it is when an emotion is butchered from inside...we cease to exist even when we continue to live...my death. I realize when everybody is failing to understand the emotion...wish to seek an alternative, draw lines to go beyond, someone will have open his heart, undo the lines, stand his ground, support everybody to rise...and suffer the pain alone...and I am ready to be that someone, for there was never Us to live for...
There is always a burning desire, to understand normative approach to someone's behavior (For the uninitiated, normative theory in regard to ethics is a concept which speak of a method to morally investigate the set of questions related to particular action(s)) I am not trying to pass a moral-value judgment, but I am trying to understand the reasons behind such an action.
Often, it is important to understand that perception and intention play a vital role in understanding a behavior of a person. To consciously create an emotional disturbance, speaks of one's nature, and their attitude towards others. To seek such a treatment, and yet forgive...speaks of divinity of our souls...
As they say in Italy, 'Vitiis nemo sine nascitur...Vivere commune est, sed non commune mereri...' which explains how no one is born without faults...everybody live their life, even if everybody do not deserve to...Everyone of us have shades of negatives and positives..our existence is more about which of the shades we wish to showcase when we live our life...and that is all that matters...
'Veritas vos liberabit...' Only the truth will set you free.....
Note: This post is dedicated to my friends in Italy.
A phrase often used, yet never really understood,"Nice talking to you...". There is a subtle difference when one uses "Nice to talk to you..." as against "Nice talking to you..." . The former means "It will be nice to talk to you, now that we've finally met", and is normally said at the beginning of the conversation, whereas "nice talking to you" means "Our conversation has been very good", and is said at the end....
When we wish to live a life, with little or no time to enjoy what we truly cherish, and when we wish to live a life filled with emotions ..and without words...if phrases like "Nice talking to you...." greet us...it hurts...
Silence often gives us enough time to understand what is now past, and what we wish to seek, to be our future. Bless me with patience, to live... to be greeted by "Nice to talk to you..." and courage to forget the greeting, "Nice talking to you..."
I wish to record my understanding about how emotion "love" as it is felt/understood today, lost its much needed trait of selflessness and has become a skewed emotion. When I speak of love, it is not just the usual context of young couples, but also familial relations which I wish to speak of. When we speak of love today, what is that one essential quality of that emotion, which comes to our mind? More or less, most of us will have our answers speaking about how it helps us grow as a person/ seek a better existence for ourselves. This speaks of how we have grossly misunderstood or rather forgot the essential aspect of love...selflessness. Today, love is seen as a comfort quotient for a happy existence for self, and nothing beyond it. As long as it satisfies the needed support function, we entertain the emotion. This nefarious existence to callously exploit others, speaks of our beguiling approach towards us and others.
It is important that we realize, true love seeks selflessness in approach...when you are ready to seek beyond your ability to see the perpetual smile on someone's face. It is unfortunate that most of us today, are living an artificial/false emotion and are cheating ourselves and others.
Note: I am solely responsible for the opinion expressed in this post and it is quite possible that I was put on a different train of thought (than most of my peers) when I was born. If you happen to have a divergent view, I invite you to share it.
Universal Soul...to you whom I belong and to you I shall return one day, I dedicate this post written in all sincerity to thee.
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For the first time, I understood...what Alfred Hitchcock wanted to convey in The Man Who Knew Too Much. It again happened to me...I fail to recollect an instance to convince myself that this person ever spoke the truth...The truth, they say, shall never die. It is such an inherent virtue that everyone seeks it in our quest for justice. I sought the truth, but all that I am rewarded with was pain and deceit...but not happiness. When it happened to me for the first time, I lost a lot, but I understood that it was never meant to be...all that remains of it is a relation of indifference....I could forgive and forget.Second time, it was a twin blow, successive attempts to seek selfish gains...pushing me into a situation to reevaluate every human relation...I lost the start to push my life into a better zone of comfort, I could forgive...but I shall never forget. Then, it was a mix of circumstances and ego, that created a passion to destroy me, I shall never forget the moment.
All these moments, were intense yet short experiences....but what happened today, is a long drawn one...possibly because I was foolish enough to believe the story all through. I now understand, winner is a relative term, we ought to define the sphere of influence in defining a winner. It is not possible to win in every sphere of life...Today, I admit...my belief in people failed me...because of two rather unfortunate souls...one happens to be a disgrace to the thought of dignified existence and other happens to be a disgrace to parenthood and parenting. How often do we find someone who is challenged in regard to value education be blessed with parents...one of them is an equally unfortunate soul in regard to judgment, and the other...a mute spectator of their disgusting traits, kept in the dark by these blemishes on social fabric? I am no one to judge them, they will suffer for their deeds. I am stuck dad, show me the way...to understand the truth...and walk the right path.
- abhijith
Note: This post/entry belongs to Simply Me...my personal diary.
It is important to understand at a game of chess, it is the struggle of negotiations that will win the battle. I wish to speak about the needed ability to understand and tackle a situation. Growing beyond the game, let us understand the needed ability to be an emperor...more than the accepted honor of authority, it is a title of nobility : conviction to lead by example.
Several moments in our lives, we would probably see ourselves at that stage of the game, when all our trusted men (resources) are down and we are left alone to seek a way forward. We are reduced to believe that all is over and we are bound to lose, it is easy to lose one's grip on life. Am I to change my beliefs with which I led my forces ? I realize, because of constant loss of support, I surrendered my soul and my corporeal self can be understood as a mere synecdoche for a society.
I need a revival, to seek my lost ground ...all by myself, live by my principles and lead by example. To surrender my soul, was probably a mistake...but I am a true warrior and shall contest to conquer...Every move shall be a calculated one to destroy the fatal forces, weave a rich and a balanced tapestry of comfort for my bleeding soul. I shall seek to play the critical move...for I am the emperor!
Note: I am not an expert authority in Chess, but these recordings are what I have learnt from my experiences with Chess. Though the analogy presented will need little or no knowledge of chess. Recorded : Dakar, Senegal.
Shifting uneasily on my bed, the dream of yesterday night still playing on my mind...I woke up with a start, only to find the sun shining into my line of vision. I clear my throat and shake my head, "what a weird dream!" Perhaps, promises were never meant to be part of reality...or probably it was just me, with rather unpleasant experience of a promise.
A Promise ruled my world of imagination and fantasy with its stories which were far from true...yet it captivated my soul and gave me warmth. For what the truth was, what it has come to become...and what will remain, my emotional attachment is too profound to be ignored. But there are certain situations in life when it is better to cut clean and acknowledge their true self...the promise will remain a disgusting epitome of morality. It pushed me beyond the need to recover from hurt and disappointment. Nothing will ever take away the value for each happy and memorable moment I experienced, and the promise will remain a promise to remember...a promise never kept.
It is always a tough choice to make, when we wish to understand who in our lives can be trusted upon, and whom do we have to be careful about. Today, I wish to present my argument and a method which will be helpful to understand and to space people in our life accordingly.
My concept of belief and trust is a continuous process of placing people in our lives in a certain circle of trust, depending on our experiences...as and when we encounter them. We have four circles of trust to accommodate everyone we know, strangers...new acquaintances, new people in our life enjoy membership to this circle of trust, then we have trend based friends...trend here means a particular phase in our life, while at certain workplace, certain school of study... we make friends, who we know better compared to people who are strangers, but we are not completely comfortable with them to enjoy a greater rapport, they come in this range. The next circle of trust is good friends..friends whom we grow with as a person and whom we have come to believe in....and finally, core group.. family and other significant people in our lives occupy this circle. As I said, no position is permanent, and we always understand and grow as a person...as and when we realize or understand someone in a better way, they will either continue to enjoy the same circle of trust, or move to a different circle depending on whether our learning about them is positive or negative.
I wish to discuss how people belonging to these circles can be understood, and identified...strangers represent outside world, they are influenced by competition and our personality.. they always tend to pull us down by being negative in their remarks....as we move into the trend based friends circle... these people tend to be generic support function...people who will have no real benefit or loss, when we win or when we lose..they enjoy the protocol principle of being polite and positive.. they support with a word of encouragement when we are depressed and a congratulatory message when we win.. it means nothing to them.... people in good friends circle tend to be critical in their view, they hold us when we are unrealistic, they tend to guard us against arrogance, they will be negative in their view and try to present the other side of the coin, so that we will be cautious and take the right decision...Finally, people in the core group support you even when you cheat on them, hurt them..they stand by you during your toughest times, even when you hurt them badly....speak about the brighter side of life...to instill in you faith and confidence...
On any given day, it is not bad to lose someone from the stranger or the trend based friends circle....probably painful to let go a true friend....but to lose someone who stood by you even when you hurt/treated them badly ....I shall not consider myself worthy to live anymore, because I believe one can keep his billions only if he is careful about his pennies...I shall rather die...
P.S.: I treat everyone with the respect they truly deserve...
Today, I wish to write about my experiences with Jealousy...As Françoise Sagan once said, " To Jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter", it is always important and interesting to understand the delicate nature of emotion one needs to deal with, when someone in our life is jealous and we happen to be the object of interest. It is important for us to decide which side of the argument we wish to support. I wish to focus this attempt of mine to dwell on various aspects of jealousy...possible influences and reasons for sustaining itself.
It is important that we need to understand the difference between the experience and the outcome of a certain situation. It is important that we need to try recreate a moment of confidence...a moment of belief, which will remain in the memory of the subject, and will help her/him to understand how she/he is wanted in our lives. While it is important to instill confidence, it is always important to understand the basis of such a belief. Life is a journey.. a journey where we need to make choices... choices which will influence how we which to decorate our lives...decorations which we wish to live with...It is a pleasant feeling to appreciate the emotion of being cared for, and it is always important to realize the necessity for us to keep the moment alive...with our sincere efforts..
Jealousy...is a dangerous emotion, if handled well, it will help us grow as a person to seek the beauty beyond doubt...if we do not happen to respect the emotion, it will be painful...possibly beyond human comprehension.
I dedicate this post to a friend of mine...I wish to draw your attention to a realization of mine, which I have to come believe in rather reluctantly, What we are as a person, is what we are...doubt and trust are important facets of any relation...what will be ...will be, it is important for us to understand the value of life and value of ourselves... and others in our life.
" Children...Today, I shall tell you a story...a story about a butterfly...my butterfly!
When I was a small kid, just like you. I use to be as playful as you all are...mischievous and naughty. I wanted to explore this nature, every beautiful creation and every offering of it. But, I never knew how I can grow closer to nature....until one day, while I was playing in the balcony...a young butterfly rested on my shoulder. She had vibrant wings, a delicate lace and an immersing grace...I was fascinated and amazed to see her, just as you all are to listen to my story...I extended my arm to reach her....she rested on my finger with an easy motion...I understood...we were friends now!
I went on to explore the nature through her stories and her flight...through the trees, through the rivers...into the busy lanes...I lived moments learning the greenery of life, busy ways of people, innocence of a child...until one day, when the butterfly decided to fly away....I was left with no reason to understand....
I continued to explore the world I was introduced to...to live with memories, with hope that she will return. Few years later, as I rested on the green meadow...I was greeted by her again...my butterfly...who rested on my forehead....
My joy knew no bounds, I was happy to see her back in my life...I was excited to think of life I shall live with her as company...we were friends again...I was happy to see myself immersing in life again...reaching out to various gifts of nature...listening to the music of the gentle breeze, the warmth in the rising sun....chill that the winter rain brings....
One day, as we were about to set out ...she was cold with no emotion...she no longer responded my calls to pave the way...neither was she interested to hear my stories...she wanted me to let go...she wanted to fly away...
When I want to explore this nature any more, I will have to do it on my own again...I understood, I ..me ...myself will have to set my life free, if it happens to come back...it will be forever...and if it did not, it was never bound to be.
I set her free...with a flutter, her wings flapped...and she rose, higher and higher. My heart palpitated as I stood watching her move away....will I ever be able to see her again? I never know "
The Children continued to stare at me in amazement...one of them raised his hand, but he was silent with his innocent gaze fixed on me. For a minute, he spoke nothing... and then he said, "Will the butterfly come back?"
" I do not know, I have all my life to wait...with hope", I said.
Rubric Note: There are no great debates against the argument which is presented in this post. Hence, it is a sincere request that you should not, therefore, find yourself in passionate disagreement with the post. However, try not to find yourself in passive agreement with it either.
I wish to speak of that phase in my life, when I had a sense of insecurity, along with guilt, pain, stress and lack of love...The foundation that one needs, to understand, grow and condition themselves to take on responsibilities is always crucial. It becomes important to understand that our actions will always have a bearing on our future. I seek to learn from my mistakes, respect life and the lessons I was offered to learn from. My early years were greatly influenced by my father, and I still continue to appreciate and feel his presence, I understand every experience I am put through is an attempt to help me grow as a person...I lived my early life with a sense of carelessness, and then with a sense of caution...and for few years now, I allowed my heart to guide me...I have had immense happiness to allow myself to immerse into life with completeness and sincerity. I realized that, where there is light, there shall exist a shadow. Shadows tell a tale of light...they speak of absence of light, dark spots caused by impenetrable emotions we choose to hide. In this world of manifestation, there exists a constant struggle between shadow and light. And in my struggle, I lost ...shadow won...Now, I stand emptied seeking light....
While most of the people who went/ are going through this phase hustle through their lives to seek a new beginning...but I chose to stay even when I was treated with no respect...to understand, respect the moment... and if possible rekindle hope, but I understood that it is very difficult to rekindle hope if one carries around anger, frustration and disappointment...I learnt to forgive myself, forgive others and set them free...only then I understand I will be more willing and open to accept life and enjoy it. I do not regret my decision to stay...I learnt life...and wait to see light of the day again.
Today, I wish to speak on a topic which is often discussed...and yet there is much left unsaid and for us to learn...Love.
I have always believed emotions are very powerful and it is beyond human capacity to truly describe them. With this said, I wish to make a humble attempt to speak of love... Love is an emotion....emotion that shall bring value to our existence...emotion, thought of which gives us the strength to seek beyond what is humanly possible.Thoughts that will never seize to bring a smile on our faces...an emotion, essential to grow with, live on and to rest in peace...love...
Today, I wish to tell an untold story...a story that had everything but time, time to allow love to blossom into its full strength...a story, about the perfect love we all seek, the imperfect love we all live with...a story, with emotions that must be kept in cages, forever now...a story, full of hope, but tethered down...a story, dignity and love do not blend well, nor do they continue long together...a story, with fears that are gathered in the darkest corners, unspoken and hidden away forever...
- Abhijith Jayanthi
October 2009
P.S. : This is the prologue for my book with the same title (not yet published). This work has taken a long time (from being just a draft)....7 Months. Emotions occupy a special space in my heart...so does this post.
It is indeed an honor and a privilege to stand before you today. I am asked to talk on 'How non-Islamic youth see Islam and its influence on the present day world ?' Before I proceed to share with you, the influence of Islam to provide the rationalefor individual and social behavioral patterns in the present day world, I wish to draw your attention to an important, and rather unnoticed aspect of our life... the divide between all external factors including society (you) and you as a person, your consciousness (me)....
One of my favorite authors, Paulo Coelho, in one of his works said, and I quote; "If all the words were joined together, they wouldn't make sense, or, at the very least, they'd be extremely hard to decipher. The spaces are crucial" It is important that one understands the space between the social setup we have all put together for ourselves and the true and innocent consciousness of our own. In living our lives, we are always through a constant struggle to learn, understand and live by various rules of society. In our attempt to be an acceptable social being, we never really explored the basis for all these so called rules. Sea happens to be a collection of drops of water, and is nothing if we try to see it without understanding the value of every individual drop. Similarly, society is a set of people.. a set of individuals like us. When we see society as a collection of such individuals, we start to recognize that all the social patterns are nothing but opinion of various individuals...To understand and respect the power or the consciousness of a society...we need to understand and respect the individuality of every being.
The belief that each and everyone of us are an essential part and a manifestation of the universal light (Allah - may His name be praised) is seen through the five pillars of Islam. The first of the five, speak of how Allah - may His name be praised has chosen Prophet Muhammad to lead others to understand the beauty around them. The second, speaks of recognizing the power of collective worship..to understand that each and everyone of us are a part of the Universal light and respecting everyone's role in the act of worship is recognizing the marvels of Universal Light (Allah - may His name be praised). The act of charity and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan speak of our respect for each other...to understand that each and everyone of us are here with a purpose and that we all are manifestations of the Universal Light...it becomes important for us to consider and understand the various aspects of life...to truly understand how we are spaced in our lives...and to respect in complete honesty ...dignity and individuality of everything around us. The act of pilgrimage speaks of our acceptance of Universal Light (Allah - may His name be praised) as the sole authority and that this society...a set of individuals who are a part of the Universal Light and that their opinion (rules of society) are all in a way...acts of guiding us by Universal Light (Allah - may His name be praised)
Friends, no lamp is lit in order to hide it behind the door....each and everyone here is a manifestation of the divine light ...with a purpose, to reveal the beauty, happiness and joy around. I invite you to explore this thought, understand your purpose and lead others...Let there be light!
I have been a firm believer that status quo is not a pleasant option and that dialogue helps us find a solution. In regard to any issue, my primary approach was always to establish dialogue and understand the objectives of both the parties involved. It is important that we initiate a dialogue and arrive at a consensus.
Friends, from my experiences...I have understood, to initiate a dialogue will show a sign of weakness and people do not seem to respect your interest to seek a possible solution, but you might well be subjected to false accusations. and any ensuing dialogue...your attempt to bring out the reality will be seen as an attempt to
explain your reasons for something which is not true in the first place.
It is even tougher when you wish to initiate a dialogue with parties that believe in double standards...different rules for self and others. The dialogue will always leave you with a taste of grief. It is always a tough choice to make..whether to initiate a dialogue with a possibility that you might lose your respect (be falsely accused or seen as a sign of weakness) or do nothing and live in pain....
Please Note: This is an open letter dedicated to all Lousy Souls...The letter has enough suggestive description, if you are wondering who is such a soul... If you happen to know any lousy soul, do not allow them to miss this dedicated letter of mine....
Dear Lousy Soul,
Only if you could have told me about things honestly (I understand you do not have the habit of speaking the truth ever and nothing about you is true)... things would have been just the same as they are now... but more at peace and I would have not felt as being used at least...
I am not writing this letter to vent my emotions, threaten you or to ask you to consider anything. I feel it was not your fault..but mine.. I lost sight of reality and the real you...and when I think of it...it definitely was not worth my struggle... For you as a person, I have nothing against you now...let god alone judge you...
For the stories you have told me, I understand they have no significance anymore but even then ... I am not really sure if any of them is indeed true... but I understand my story was painfully true and I am put through it for a reason... and you happen to be a mere instrument to make me learn something...
I want to thank you for it...I am not really sure if you will read this letter ever....but even if you do...you will never change from being a lousy soul... will you?
I wish to call this phase of my lifeas "Cleansing Self" . Anecdotes often influence the decisions we make in life. Today, I happen to read the commentaries by Adi Sankaracharya (an Indian Philosopher who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta) According to legend, while on his way to the Vishwanath Temple, Sankara came upon an untouchable (people who were traditionally regarded as low caste in those days) accompanied by four dogs. When asked to move aside by Shankara's disciples, the untouchable replied: "Do you wish that I move my ever lasting Self (Soul) or this body made of flesh?"
This incident made Shankara realize the meaning of life. He went on to write a commentary on Arishadvarga — the six passions of mind (desires), which are kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (pride) and matsarya (jealousy), the negative characteristics which prevent man from realizing his destiny. Lust and anger are responsible for all kinds of difficult experiences which we have in our lives.With the false ego up and active, all our acting in the world becomes selfish and evil. Hence there is no other factor causing the illusory duality and the repeated pain and delusion it entails than the psychological ego-sense. When the materially identified ego has sided with the materialistic forces of creation, it is said to showcase evil passions, man's spiritual heritage constantly gets looted by these internal influences (and their numerous variations), causing him to lose knowledge of his true self.
I have come to understand more about what I am as a person, and where I stand at present. Since past few years, situations and events in my life transformed me from being a purer soul to someone I don't identify myself with. I have had people in my life who have taken advantage of me and my emotions. I have myself to blame, for I was weak and factors of trust, doubt, hatred, anger, pride, jealousy and delusion controlled my emotions, thoughts and hence my decisions. All these negative emotions have made me weak as a person, susceptible to others. Through this years, I always thought why others were behaving the way they did and I was trying to correct them. This resulted in a lot of negative thoughts being build up within me which include frustration, sympathy for self, helplessness, rejection of self. I was not able to forgive others, holding them responsible for the actions.
I now realize that I was wrong. It is not for them to change, but that I need to change. I have allowed myself to be used, abused (mentally and emotionally) because I was driven by the thoughts of deceit, hatred, self pity and no self dignity. I have given away my power and allowed others to destroy my entity because of these negative thoughts.
I wish to learn from my experiences....But, before I proceed, it is important that I make a conscious attempt to forgive those, who have had the opportunity to hurt me. I realize that it is not their fault but mine. I understand from what I learnt, I do not wish to hold anyone else responsible, I wish to take responsibility for my actions and my life. I want to work on growing over my negative influences and seek purity of thought.
When do we decide it is about time to seek change? Before we get there, we should probably be discussing the issue of reality. Only when we understand what reality is, we can do justice in regard what needs to change. Friends, what is reality? It is important to understand that what we see/hear is not reality...fools and fanatics are always certain of themselves/ their beliefs, but wiser people question what is presented to them and then evaluate. I invite you to take part in this social experiment...evaluate people/issues in your life to understand this idea.
Let me elaborate further, before you proceed to understand people in your life...it is important to notice how the factor of trust is intertwined with respect for our own mental faculties. We tend to create a bubble of comfort around every relationship in our lives. We tend to believe in...trust the other person... respect what is told to us on its face value and believe that it is true...or strictly avoid a certain person depending on the kind of bubble we have created for our relationship with that person...There will be instances when people whom you had faith in...give you enough reasons...not to trust them anymore...thus, breaking the bubble...Now, please look into your own lives and evaluate your bubbles of comfort with people around you...people who matter to you....
Do you find every bubble is what it is truly worth ? I appreciate your faculties of judgment...Do you find few bubbles have a scar or two ...and then you wish to work on them ..to restore them, back to normal? Are you responsible for the scar ? Are you willing to change? It is possible...and this is the change you need to seek... If you are not responsible for the scar...are you ready to forgive? This is the change you need to seek...All the Best...
Did few bubbles get burst? Did someone repeatedly puncture your bubble of trust ? This is not reason enough to be harsh on your own self and question your faculties of judgment...it is an indication to let go...this is the change you need seek...Intelligent people learn from their mistakes...never to do it again...and last but not the least...if you happen to be someone who can never be trusted , you have lived a life of deceit hurting others and your attitude is beyond repair...then it is time you do some serious introspection...this is the change you need to seek ...and I invite you to read one of my other posts here which might be of some help to understand my reasons to a possible question of why you need to change?
Please Note : This post is to record few principles of what I see as my faith. I invite the readers to examine it and present their opinion.
Before I proceed, I wish to spend some time talking about my definition of faith...The noun fish can be construed as singular or plural. Similarly, faith is a combination of beliefs, principles and values. We as social beings, live in a religiously pluralist world, with each and every one of us interacting with different religions/ teachings in our own way...and all our experiences frame our faith which is our own.
I believe every being is a small component of Universal Energy, which is seen in/as various forms according to different religions/beliefs. As a newly born child, each of us is given a role to play, a puzzle to answer, a task to complete. In our efforts to achieve what we are destined for, we are allowed to make choices...This I believe is our real test called life. I have come to believe with my experiences...God (Universal Energy) is always kind...we are never tested/judged on whether or not we will be able to identify our destiny...our duty for which we are given an opportunity..but we are judged on the choices we make. in our efforts..I have always believed to see the bigger picture...with every moment...every experience we encounter, as a hint given to us to seek our destiny...
While our choices frame one half of what we are judged on, emotions make up the other half of judgment... our intentions are more important than our actions...when we are to choose, it is important to respect emotions...sincerity and honesty in our intention will always reflect on our respect for emotions. When you fail to be sincere and honest in your intentions, and hence show no respect for emotions (of your own and that of others)...your soul loses its purity and thus punished...
It is always an interesting question to ask, when others around us have no moral values, are ethically challenged and have least regard for my emotions, why do I have to still respect their emotions? Everyone of us is given a role to play, and we script our own ways to achieve what we are destined for....we are not asked to judge others, we are to be sincere in our efforts, honest in our approach and respect emotions...thus grow closer to Universal Energy and possibly reunite with it...while those who fail to be sincere and honest...will lose respect and dignity... and will be punished in a befitting manner....for impure souls will burn in the glow of Universal Flame (Universal Energy..which is purest in its behavior and judgment...we all need to strive to achieve its purity to reunite with it)
This is my faith...I always choose (to the best of my knowledge) to be sincere and honest in my approach and intention...respect emotions...and those who wish to not value my emotions...I believe will be critically punished and awarded with the kind of respect they truly deserve...
India, as a country represents multitude of thoughts, variety of approaches for solving pressing issues.One such issue, is the system of dowry. For the uninitiated, Dowry is the payment in cash or/and kind by the bride's family to the bridegroom' s family, one of many practices which are seen as rather, a normal routine during an Indian marriage. The practice of dowry abuse is rising in India. The most severe in “bride burning”, the burning of women whose dowries were not considered sufficient by their husband or in-laws. Most of these incidents are reported as accidental burns in the kitchen or are disguised as suicide. It is evident that there exist deep rooted prejudices against women in India.
Cultural practices such as the payment of dowry tend to subordinate women in Indian society. Worse still, women who might have been subjected to this practice do not invest time in thinking twice, when it comes to marriages of their sons...
We wish to gather the support of all those who think that this system is a curse to humanity, and those who pledge to stand against this system prevalent in the Indian society. Let us all join hands against this crime, become more socially responsible for a happy existence for each and everyone of us. Be human and let us spread this word as much as we can.. Show your support, join us on facebook here
Elegant shades on any canvas...speak of varied influences (both negative and positive). I present my true reflections of such influences on my canvas..influences which have destroyed/ cut short my growth as a person...influences which helped me grow as a person. I wish to acknowledge both these influences...I understand without the negatives...I probably will not have been able to appreciate the positives in my life....I understood there are emotions which are far more supreme than trust, love, betrayal and hatred...' Dignity of Thought & Soul ' is the theme for this edition of Avowal Series... I salute and respect everyone for their influences on my self...This work is my dedication for your support.
With dignity...
Abhijith
Photo Credits: The image on display is the cover image for the second edition of Avowal Series. It has been designed by Tripti. Copyrights Reserved.
One day, I woke up to a text update of status tags...The line happens to be the status message on my sister's facebook account...What in life is worth a wait? Interesting question....
Time brings back anecdotes to celebrate the moment... and certain lines like these add value. I have come to believe in destiny with complete faith. Most of my life, events / moments have been so random that when I tend to see them piece by piece they would make no real sense, but when I wish to put together a chain of events, it brings me more happiness to see how destiny has been playing a silent game of putting together pieces of jigsaw called life for me.
I wish to talk about moments which I had to wait for 8 years to come true... and I shall cherish them for rest of my life and beyond. Moments which presented me with happiness of thought and my existence. This post is to record my emotion of existence : March 11- 14.
Each emotion is filled in with moments...I have seen the high and understand every true emotion will touch a low...not to die down but to rise again to give us the freshness of it and cherish it even more. Destiny happens to be a critical examiner...pushes me deep into thought before presenting me with happiness of emotion....I have come to believe in destiny, because I strongly believe in my emotions.... Destiny demands patience and sincerity, and then shall place back the moment, and let in freshness...
Friends, this in life is worth a wait...and I shall wait...
