Remembrance

Are you feeling zapped because nothing is making sense, and your mind is constantly trying to connect the dots, trying to find a pattern, anything that can tell you that you are on the right path? Usually, when I face such a situation I sit quietly in a corner and ask myself, "What should I believe, that which I can process through my mind and senses or that which my inner self is telling me to be true?" The acceptance of the outcome of that question is never easy, because as much as I usually want to believe what my intrinsic self is telling me, my mind definitely try to make a compelling case against it. It is only when I calm myself down, and see beyond reason, that I become at peace with myself and accept what I know to be true but have no way to prove it.  This constant I vs. I definitely is tiring, but that exactly is the process through which you know what you really want in life. Somehow, we all know the answer, it is often we ask the wrong questions. Probe yourself, ...

Life is a gift, isn't it? Living could be awesome too, as long as you decide to live it, good or bad, no matter what. I am grateful for this life and somehow, being in the present is a beautiful way of enjoying this gift, isn’t it? I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I don’t know if I will ever have so much time to do everything that I want to do in my life. But I do believe that if I have been able to live today in the best possible way that I could, it should be enough. If I could live being grateful for what I have, always be kind and compassionate - no matter the person at the other end - and remain open to welcome happiness and sadness equally, that should be enough.  And, each day, I learn something new, and each day I try to make myself a bit better. Every moment I spend with myself, I like myself a bit more too. Nope, not turning into Narcissus, thank you so much 😄 Yes, living isn't easy, but it is our choice how we want to live it. I choose to live it with a smile,...

If you could start again from the beginning what would you do? If you are given a choice to wipe your slate clean and start from the word 'go' what all will you change in your life? Often, we have a long list of regrets that we want to forget, there are things we wanted to do but couldn't, some mistakes we wanted to rectify. Whatever happened in the past cannot be changed, but living in regret forever or cursing oneself or feeling bad about the decisions that were not taken isn't the solution.  If you truly want to start over and wipe the slate clean, start with forgiveness. No, not forgiving others kind, but forgiving yourself, the most difficult kind of forgiveness. It is often easy to forgive others, but to forgive your own self, that's the most difficult thing to do, especially if you are someone with a strong sense of conscience. However, if you do not forgive yourself, you will never be able to find out who you are, as you will always be under the burden of yo...

We are always so guarded and being constantly asked to wear a mask in front of others, never to show our real self. No one will understand, society will make fun of us, we will be judged and isolated if they find out who we are. Being vulnerable and true to ourselves are seen as weakness.  However, it is the converse that is true. Vulnerability has certain power. It makes us brave and not weak. I first learnt about the power of vulnerability when I heard Dr. Brené Brown in a Ted Talk. She had rightly said, "Vulnerability is our most accurate way to measure courage...We can measure how brave you are by how vulnerable you're willing to be." For her and her researchers, vulnerability was a measure for assessing fearlessness.  Thus, if you are vulnerable, it means you have the courage to be who you are, you are not scared to showcase to the world the real you.  It is of course, not easy to be vulnerable. We are conditioned to hide our emotions, feelings, dreams and anyth...

Have you seen the Cadbury ads, based on the theme of "Do nothing". It is just such a nice thing to be useless at times. I mean why have that burden of being useful always, why do this and that and why have that constant pressure of being right. Sometimes, not doing anything and being useless could help in de-stressing too and just be with your own self. There are studies now which says "Doing nothing" at times may help in increasing productivity and lessen burnouts.  I like that philosophy. At times, being useless rather than being useful helps me in avoiding certain stressful situations or demanding work, wherein I know I will get exhausted just so that I could please the other person. What about my own peace of mind? That's when being useless could get you out of the situation. Of course, if the situation is urgent and demands immediate attention, you cannot be indifferent about it. You need to know what you want to do and what you want to avoid.  Point is, it...

I love it when people make intelligent, yet witty remarks. It makes you think to actually get the humor. Okay, I may sound like an intellectual snob, but it's tough to talk normal at times, listening to people as they bitch about other people's lives and stuff.  I am kind of nerdy. I love pop-culture, latest technology, Marvel movies, DC movies, sci-fi and dyspotic movies, science in general. I mean I sometimes read Quantum Physics just for the heck of it. My mind is always buzzing with something or the other. It needs constant intellectual stimulation, and it just bores me out to talk normal, most times. Reason why, I am not that social. Yes, I have my spurts of making an appearance, doing chit-chats and then sliding through the exit for some peaceful mind-wanderings. It's tough to be an introvert, who loves to talk too. Yeah, ironical, but it's true. I would love to talk to someone who is also crazy enough to talk about everything under the sky, and would jump from on...

This is one topic I don't talk about much, and seldom publicly. Maybe, discuss it with a very select few, and that too, in a measured manner. Why? I believe spiritual journeys are immensely personal in nature. Everyone has a different journey chartered for them, and no two paths are same. It could have similar features, and sometimes, two people do walk the same path for some time, but at the end of it, it is an individual's journey.  I get a little jittered whenever someone talks about spirituality. Often these people sound so condescending or pompous, making the other person uncomfortable. I usually act dumb with such people and let them carry on with their long-speeches filled with jargons, theories and opinions that they think are right, and that everyone should follow them. I had a particular mentor who wanted me to follow some daily practice that he was hell-bent on teaching me. I was not comfortable and hence avoided him altogether.  Not saying that there aren't any ...