Outlook and outcome !

May we be able to appreciate how deeply we all are connected and how superficial our differences are ! May we have love, peace, harmony, kindness, empathy, compassion and acceptance for each other as we are !

A successful year without being on social media and away from news has helped me immensely to grow inside. We literally stopped watching news on television since last three years, no social media for more than a year, no newspaper for last six months and a strict no for news on internet for five months now, I doubt if I missed on any thing at all ! I wonder if I am not a well informed citizen of the world ! According to me the only thing I missed out on and am very glad that I did was getting scared and overwhelmed with not only the real chaos in the world but also the projected chaos through all these mediums ! I must tell you the 'projected' chaos is much more dangerous than the real one !

Not feeding my mind with the junk thoughts that arise from the information shelled out by these mediums gave me an opportunity to have some clean and healthy food for my mind  (my perception) .

Pema Chodron( a buddhist teacher) , Carl Sagan ( an astrophysicist), Alan Watts( a philosopher), J Krishnamurthy ( a philosopher), Gail Brenner ( a psychologist) are the prominent ones who helped me to expand my conscience. I am almost in love with reading. I am trying to grow my own food. I have more control over my emotions. I feel I am a better and stronger(emotionally) person in comparison to the person I was ! For me this is a good enough reason to continue on the path I am on !

Wish you all a very happy new year !



 

Life matters !

I am quite puzzled by the question I was asked last night by my twelve year old one,  after he killed a cockroach while I almost screamed in urgency asking him to do so.

"Why did you make me take the life of a living being that did no harm to me? Why?" He was quite disturbed to see the way the cockroach tried to escape as he could not kill it in one go. Even I felt bad but it was late to change the decision after urging him to kill it ! For some moments I had no words to utter ! We both looked at each other blankly. As it was his bedtime, I was told I made it difficult for him to go to sleep. We closed with a discussion on how to keep them away and letting them live their life !

 I might not have answers to such innocent but very meaningful queries but it makes me happy, sad and anxious at the same time, happy, as I see such moments as manifestation of being successful at my attempts, sad as I know he will suffer a lot and anxious for, if, I would be able to nurture and help him retain the attitude to respect life forever  !

A disturbing thought.

Our world, that is driven by the law of maximizing profits and drowned in consumerism, is certainly not going in the direction needed for the harmonious coexistence of the entire life on the planet.

Our  world, where the distinction between 'needs' and 'wants' is slowly disappearing, is sowing the seeds of destruction for the life on earth.

Our world, where greed of some is acceptable over the needs of many, is certainly steering  in the wrong direction. 

My wish for the New Year !

May all living beings have the strength to go through the motions of life.
May all living beings have patience, kindness and contentment.
May all living beings be able to accept each other as they are.
May all living beings love and be loved.

Simple rules

Isn't it strange that the same simple rules work for both - to sustain life means our existence on this planet earth( in a broader sense) and our own personal happiness.

Respect and appreciate life in all forms and banish the narrow limits of religion, caste, colour , region, nationality.

Ability to distinguish between our 'needs' and 'wants'.

It is easy for one more reason, it has to start with me only !

Simplyfy life - 2

What sister Shivani says, I am trying to put it down for myself to rub it it in more effectively.

What happens on the surface is- We face a situation and respond to it.

What happens inside is- A situation creates a thought, the thought creates a feeling and that feeling leads to the action- our response.

But all this happens so fast that we(most of us) don't even notice it. Our responses are automatic and very fast.

We do not even think if we had a choice to act differently. This type of automated response is reaction. As most of the others around us also act in a similar way we not only justify but accept our reactions as the only possible way of responding !

What it leads to is- feeling of powerlessness, no control and blame game.

The gap between the changing situations and our response is widening which leads to set of negative thoughts not only for the self but for others also.

We underestimate the power of self - after all what will change even if I do, how can this much change make a difference ? But the point is, not to get overwhelmed by such thoughts as for sure it will make a difference to you and the entire universe !

The idea is- a thought is a seed which grows into our action in general, our response here. We need to work very consciously on this step. We can start with situations which have passed and stop and analyze it in steps of thought-feeling-action and prepare ourselves.

We must realise and accept that the outcome which generally is pain does not come from outside, it is our own creation. 

In nut shell - out of the fight between the situation and the self, the point of focus and attention should be self- something which is in our control.

Simplify life - 1

The way life has become in this age of fast change, in spite of so many comforts, we feel some kind of pain, discontentment. This is an attempt to analyze and help myself to come out of it with the help of sister Shivani. I try my hand at reproducing what sister Shivani has to offer in her self help management series.

What actually happens in our day to day life is- we face different situations, small/big in both professional and personal life. It may be as small as your house help not arriving without notice, getting stuck in a traffic jam or much more serious as separation, relationship breaking, loosing a job or worst death of a loved one !

What is common in all these situation? It is the change, change from the state we get so used to !

Our general response to any of the situation is - discomfort, pain, to a different extent for different situations. Our ability to handle the situation dwindles down when we are in pain. The situation appears much more serious and big than the actual when we are in pain.

Why this happens? Because we focus too much on the problem/situation, which most of the times, is out of our control !! Instead,  if we focus our attention on the solution or even better our own response to the situation, we shall fare much better. This is where, we need to work mostly on.      

My response to the situation is the key point to ponder over and start with !
 
A nice thought I read this morning

Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated- Confucius