'L'- For: Life And Love

Life And Love:

                                               The beautiful up and down road.

Life is full of ups and downs:  does it mean it is not good, life is a tragedy, we foolishly wish there was an even pace, giving us a feeling of stability, security and balance.
 However, we could look at it in a different way;

                                         All airplane pictures have been taken by our daughter

                                     New York city from the top taken by my husband

  Isn't it fun going up, there is a thrill when the plane takes off, we are suddenly so high, we can enjoy the beauty of clouds from close quarters, we can also see the beauty of  the ground, all the buildings looking so small , neat and cute, as if it is made of building blocks, you don't see the dirt and filth from such a height, everything looks so symmetrical and well laid out.

  We get to see  mountains, oceans, so big , yet so calm, cities from high above. Instead of enjoying all these things, we quickly say, "Oh plane journeys are so boring", for we never allow ourselves to see the beauty of nature spread before us. 

And the thrill, which one can experience as the planes starts to descend  down slowly, we can sometimes feel that the tall buildings are almost touchable.

                                                    View  of London, taken by my husband.
See how dull boring plane rides can be turned into spectacular rides, and in the end we can always thank the creator for giving  us the opportunity to experience such wonderful sights.

Similarly,  life is fun with its ups and downs just like a plane ride, ( that was just an example).
How many times we end up cursing the rain, when there is no need to curse, for it is just a season: rainy season. 

We can protect ourselves from getting wet by wearing the right clothing, and go about our life, we can even enjoy getting wet  in the rain, like little children and have fun dancing in the rain. 

It was fun getting wet in  Wayanad Kerala, when it suddenly started to pour very heavily

                                              Even umbrellas were found to be useless, so the next best thing was to enjoy getting wet in the rain

 Trekking in the rain

There is nothing good or bad in life, everything is made good or bad according to the way we decide to look.
I know, I was always complaining about the unusual heat of Bangalore, and soon I realized, that, instead of accepting it as an unusual, weather condition, I was unnecessarily getting agitated about it and getting all the more heated up. Instead,  I could be grateful,  I didn't have to go out and work in the heat like some people  have to do, I could be grateful, that I was not residing  in some place that was much more hotter than Bangalore. Instead of fighting the heat, I decided to flow with what was happening in the moment, and felt much better doing that. I may not be able to change the weather conditions, but I can surely change my attitude towards it. No point cribbing all the time, just think of doing some cool things and become cool all at  once.
I could totally relate to this quote: 
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”― Timmy Dean

Yes,  Life is full of ups and downs and I really like and enjoy  every bit of going up and coming down too.  Remember, how as  little children,  we used to love the Seesaw, didn't we enjoy the ride up and also the ride down?

Love:  
To me the true meaning of Love is beautifully summed up in these lines:

When the one whose hand you're holding
Is the one  who holds your heart
When the one whose eyes you gaze into
Gives your hopes and dreams their start,
When the one you think of first and last
Is the one who holds you tight,
And the things you plan together
Make the whole world seem just right,
When the one whom you believe in
puts their faith and trust in you,
You've found the one and only love
You'll share your whole life through.

I believe true love, does not judge, does not impose its will  on others. Love means to be together,  giving each other enough space to do what each wants to do, if for some reasons they need to go separate ways allow that to happen without clinging, and letting them go, there is no anger, there is no bitterness.

The beautiful and meaningful lines of the great Sufi poet, comes to my mind:

On Marriage
Kahlil Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.


Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. 

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Though Kahlil Gibran had  meant marriage, it can be applied to any loving relationship,  like this quote here says:

“A mother is someone who dreams great dreams for you, but then she lets you chase the dreams you have for yourself and loves you just the same.”

Life:

 is just like chapters in a book, some good, some bad, but all come together to create the story of our lives, we have learnt many things from each chapters and changed many things and are constantly changing, and  re-creating ourselves again and again into new personalities. Isn't it wonderful to say,  hello to a new person everyday, "the new me"?

Love: The magic words for a great relationship are: I love you just the way you are.

What are your views about Life and Love?
I would love to hear from  all of you.

'K' For Key: Key..... Key, Where is the Key???

The Car – That Car ! I couldn’t take my eyes of that car : it was a beauty beyond description. The colour, the contours, the sheen, the style, everything about it was so attractive. I was so happy and proud to be the owner of this magnificent car. It was a very special car with only one set of keys, for if it ever got lost no one could make a duplicate for it.

I let my imagination fly : now that I owned that car, such a special car, at that, it would give me the opportunity to show every body who I was and what I could do. Proud of all my achievements, proud of all the things I thought I was equipped with, I was raring to go. I opened my purse to take out that one and only key from it: but what HO !
There was no key in the purse !

I knew it had to be in the purse only, where I had kept it safely in a pouch. I did not panic, instead I emptied the entire contents of the purse and started my search again, but still the key could not be found. Then panic started setting in slowly : I became flustered, angry, insane with rage at having misplaced the key. May be I switched the hiding place, thinking that it would be safer some place else which I alone knew. But where?

Shoot ! How could I forget the place I had kept it for safe-keeping ?
 My mind was in a whirl, thinking about all possible places I could have kept it…..Oh, why couldn’t I remember anything at all. I looked everywhere , on the floor, near the car, anywhere and everywhere : I knew one thing for certain, I was going mad.

I spent hours searching, I asked whoever I met whether they could help me find the key, but alas, nobody could, or would. I was all alone, seeing my dreams shattering right in front of me . I have now spent days, years of my life just looking at that car, which I believed was loaded with everything I wanted in life. I knew it was just a matter of time, and I would be zipping away in my car : I only had to find the key.

So here I was, stuck, neither being able to move forward, nor go in the reverse. I was in a real fix. All I could do was go round and round, and keep coming back to the same place with no solution to my problem.

Soon, I realised I was so obsessed with this car, that I was coming back to this earth, birth after rebirth, with only one goal: to find that key to my special, wonderful car loaded with all the goodies in it. Although, I have lost count of the many births I have taken, I was not in the least bothered: it was as if that car had trapped me forever with its beauty, and the immense possibilities it offered.

I kept asking everyone I met, the only question I knew : " can you show me a way to find the key to this unique car which belongs to me ? Different people came up with different ideas, and some joined me in the search, but just for a while, and got bored and left. People kept giving me only negative ideas. They said it would be impossible to find a key, literally lost in a haystack, and when the haystack itself was not to be found. If a thing was lost it was lost forever.

But I preferred to believe in the kind of people who told me never to give up my search, and be focused on my goal, and one day, they assured me I would find the key that I was searching for. Never a defeatist, those were the type of people I put my trust in.

Then there came a new breed of people who propagated the idea: "Fake it till you make it". Their theory was, if you didn’t have something, don’t keep on saying that you don’t have it : this would be sending a wrong and defeatist message to the Universe, which in turn would really make it happen. My, my ,my…… No way I was going to send out such a message to the Universe.

By now, I had become mentally deranged- I was willing to listen to any nonsense advocated by anybody. Soon, I changed my tactics : I started visualising that I had found the magic key to my car, and I was proudly driving on the road to success. I visualised that all my dreams and wishes had come true, and I was having a wonderful life with my car. Every time I saw the car, I would force myself to think such thoughts, till I had become adept at self-deception. I would waste precious time imagining the impossible, with the false confidence that "Fake it till you make it " really worked. That was my new mantra and I was not going to give up.

Years, and several reincarnations passed by, with me nowhere near to finding the lost key. Sometimes I would feel very disappointed, but soon I would console myself with the newly learned art of self deception. This kept on repeating itself, until one day I could take it no more.

I knew in my heart that, one day, I was going to lick this problem which was eating away my whole life, life after life.

At this point in my life, I happened upon a very learned man, who was known far and wide for his vast knowledge and immense wisdom. I put to him my question. To which he replied that I would surely find the key, and would surely drive the car. But, he added - only when I was ready to drive. I explained to him that I was ready , able and willing to do just that for a long, long time, and that I had gone through so many births in this world, trying to find the key, so that I could drive off to glory in my wonderful car. I was ever ready, provided I knew where I had stashed away the key.

To that, he just smiled, and told me to think deeply, meditate upon my problem, and soon I would find my way to the key. I was disheartened and disillusioned with the Wise Crack. Here I was stuck in a quagmire, crying out for help, and all he could come up with was some crap called meditation. How was I to tell him I had tried everything, at sometime or other, in some birth or the other, and found no light at the end of the tunnel ?

After, some deep thought and meditation, just as the wise man had suggested, in a flash, I realized that I did not want to own a car for which I had no key, however beautiful and tempting it might look from outside : without a key, it was as good as useless. It might be fully loaded, hi tech, sleek and snazzy : it had kept me enamoured, enchanted and entrapped with its beauty, with its false promises for too long : but I realized it was not for me.

Not for me a car whose keys could be lost, and not be found at all. With that car I would always live in fear of losing it some day. I looked at the car, and to me, it was a movie screen, with all my numerous births flashing past, mocking me, laughing at me all the while. I then understood, and regretted the many lifetimes I had wasted on it: It was time to say goodbye and good riddance.

At first I was gripped with fear at the thought of abandoning the thing I had most cherished, the object of my unceasing quest over several cycles of birth : but I had decided to take the plunge and just jump out of this circle of endless misery, forever.

I had to listen to my heart, my soul, which were both screaming at me in unison to jump off, but my mind was full of confusion, busy, drawing pictures of my doom all the while, scaring me all the more. The din created in my mind became louder and louder, beating ever more loudly the drums of disaster, and soon the voice of wisdom was almost lost. But I could still hear it feebly, from far away, begging me to jump. To do or not to do, that was the only question.

It was when I could no longer hear my heart’s call, that I suddenly decided to leave all worries behind, ignore the confused signals from my mind, and just for once do the right thing in my life.

As I plunged forward, it seemed like I was going nowhere, everything was suddenly so dark and gloomy, and I could feel myself shivering with fear. But, by and by, the darkness cleared, and so too the darkness in my mind, I could see everything clearly, I could see my past, present and my future, and I knew the path chosen by me was the right choice.

With my mind free of illusions, I landed on the other side safely. Now I felt totally free, and as I picked myself up and started forward, I spied a car -just a car, with no pretensions, no frills, no fancy colour to lure anybody, as if saying, " take me as I am, or leave me - the choice is yours". Dear reader, as you no doubt know by now I had had enough to do with any car, but still, old habits die hard. I went a little closer to to the car to have a quick peek. I liked what I saw: it had no key, it had just two gears, on one it was written, "Man Power" and on the other, "Divine Power".

I came, I saw, I conquered and in the instant I sat in the driver’s seat, I knew what had to be done: I shifted the gear from "Man Power" to "DIVINE POWER", and zoomed away to eternal bliss.

(I simply love this blog written many years ago. I know many of you may have already read it, however, I thought some of my new friends might like it, and so the re-post).

'J' FOR : JOYS OF MY LIFE

As I get up in the morning, I  find joy in the knowledge, that I had slept well.  Somehow sleep is very important, and if we have had a good sleep the previous night, we wake up with a feeling of joy.
It is a joy to boil milk, and brew fresh coffee in the coffee filter of the south and wait for the decoction to slowly drip, and while I am waiting I find Joy in inhaling the aroma of  coffee wafting through the house.
As I walk around my garden, the  freshness of the grass  under my feet, and the scent of the Jasmine, drawing me towards it, brings joy to all my senses.
When I see a  rare violet color hibiscus bloom, and dancing shyly in the cool morning breeze my heart leaps with joy.
As I have my first cup of coffee, sitting under the morning sun, (soaking in all the goodness  of Vitamin D through the mild morning rays of the sun), that coffee does taste heavenly.

The sight of our bundle of joy, our sweet Lab, Bumbilli, rushing towards me and licking my face, to show her happiness is the biggest source of joy to me, playing  with her, cuddling her, is like a booster shot of joy for both of us.

Next daily exercise: I choose  from the various exercises I know, everyday it is different and exercising everyday, brings joy to my mind, body and soul.

I simply love jumping on a trampoline, higher and higher: It is indeed  pure Joy
I don't realize how much time has gone by, while I get into the exercise mode. After completing my exercises, the joy that comes from a job well done cannot be explained.

I start to cook something and it turns out well, and the expression of appreciation on the faces of the people who have tasted it is joy in itself.

Although, I have help who does a very good job of keeping my house clean, yet, I find tremendous joy in cleaning it myself, and I feel quite happy when she calls up to say she cannot come for the day.

I find joy when I see lots of comments on my blogs, and I find myself brimming with joy when I make some very good friends through blogging. There is joy in the knowledge that  I am meeting some of my blogger friends. I am filled with joy when I think of how some of my very close blogger friends kept their promise and came and visited me. It was a joy spending time with them.
I find joy  in reading a good blog, and I find joy  in commenting on that blog.

Sometimes, when I am overwhelmed with sadness, I find joy in letting the tears flow freely through my eyes.
I find joy in looking through old photographs. I find joy in writing about my parents, and my children

I find joy in watching the sunset  everyday from my house, and I find joy in capturing them in my camera.

I find joy in laughing by myself thinking of something very funny. I find joy  in giggling uncontrollably

I find joy in just people watching.

"Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are" ~ Marianne Williamson

The joy of knowing these fisher women

I find joy in my travels, for I get to meet new people, see new places, and experience new things.

 I love the sea

I  find joy in travelling on these mountain roads
Joy of walking in snow

I find joy in taking photos and also being in photos

Thinking of how I have overcome certain tough times in my life also brings joy to me.

To spend some time all by myself also brings joy to me. To indulge in day dreaming can bring immense sense of joy to me, for dreaming allows   me to go beyond time and space and there is truth in the quote: 

"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil."~ James Allen.

Joy is the feeling of not missing anything in life, and joy is to slow down a little bit to smell the roses too.
Enjoy  the joy  that  life offers us in every moment, and  be forever wrapped up in Joy. 

What brings joy in your life?

'I' For: I Believe....

I believe:
Life for me works on a simple logic: what we give out, we get back.
No one has any power over us, as we alone are the creators of our thoughts, experiences and our feelings. With every thought we are creating our own future, and there is truth  in the saying: "we are the architects of our own destiny". I truly believe in it.

I believe that the past is over and gone, no use thinking about it, and wasting precious time over it. Instead I choose to think of present, and in the present I have the power to change, my thoughts, change the words I use, and become conscious of the unlimited choices that I have.

I believe in feelings, for where there is thought there is bound to be feelings, and to experience good feelings, I choose  to have good thoughts. I know I get tempted by  negative thoughts, which can pull me easily to their side very often, however I choose to super impose these negative thoughts with positive thoughts as soon as I realize where they are leading me.
It is so simple to just change the thought, it is okay to have negative thoughts crowding our mind, for it is totally  impossible to always think positive, but if we become aware of where these thoughts are leading us, we can surely use this life lesson/ experience to change our thoughts, and we realize how things also change as soon as we think differently. If we want to move to another room, we have to get up and move step by step in that direction. The room will not come to us, nor can we just sit in our chair and expect to be magically transported to another room. Similarly, if we keep cleansing our mind of the negative thoughts, it will slowly start thinking in a positive way, consistency is the name of the game, step by step we have to move away from the things that bother us.
We can begin to feel free in this moment.

I believe, I am not a victim  of the past, if I had that belief, I would have long ago gone down the drain.
It was not easy, for such a belief, did not come overnight, it needed lot of working with myself, not giving up on myself.
When we are young we make a lot of mistakes, we are affected by each and every negative things that happen in our lives, and we keep creating the same things again and again in our lives, and end up feeling totally drained and worn out. We fail to learn what the Universe is trying to teach us, at every step.
I now choose self - approval, and self- acceptance, for they are the keys that  will unlock the positive changes in every area of my life.
I affirm:
         
          I now choose calmly and objectively  to see my old patterns
          and I am willing to make changes.
I am teachable, I can learn, I am willing to change.
       I choose to have fun doing this.
I choose to react as though I have found a treasure
        when I discover something else to release.
I see and feel myself changing moment by moment.
  Thoughts no longer have any power over me.
I am the power in my world. I choose to be free.
Today is a wonderful day.
I choose to make it so.

What do you believe in?
Please share it with me here.

'H" for Honored:

My  blog has been listed in the Directory of Best Indian Blog, 2012-13 edition. 


Indian Top Blogs to me:

Dear blogger friend,

We take this opportunity to inform you that your blog has been listed in the Directory of Best Indian Blog, 2012-13 edition.
 My blog  being in this list has really made me very happy.
Well, all I can say, is Thank you. I'm honored that you chose my blog