On Life

LIVE... while you’re still alive!!

On Decor

• “Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is.” —Charles M. Schulz

P.S. I'm doing up my room. 
• 
  

Priorities

Family matters!

Unfulfilled Needs

I came across this powerful quote today, “There are no bad children, only unfulfilled needs.”  Something to ponder on.

What IS

To know what we see, we have to know what we think...

Payoff

This is going to be cryptic but sticking to habits, works. 😊

Friendships

There is a certain comfort in friendships that go back to our childhood... you literally can pick up where you left off... or can you?

Validation

Deciding on cultivating a habit is far easier than actually cultivating the habit (Duh!! But you knew this). 🙄

And so, as part of the process of stepping up I have decided to write a blog post daily (!!!) and meditate for 10 minutes daily (!!!).  So here I am writing this post.

Today’s life lesson is around the realisation that as an artist and unlike a regular corporate job, one is producing output which could be outstanding, every single time. This can lead one to expect applause 👏🏻 every single time... a little tiring and annoying for the audience, don’t you think? And so seeking validation can be a recipe for disappointment and maybe even heartbreak.

I guess the remedy is to expect outstanding work from oneself and be ones own champion.... Sunday night musings. :)

Off to meditate now...

Looooong time.... no see!!

Wow!! The last I blogged was on 18th May 2014!!!!

So much has happened since then, so much has changed and I'm sure there are parts that have remained the same.

So well, here I am, with the new intention of blogging everyday. Not my idea, following what Seth Godin says :).

Soo.... today was a day of many firsts. I finally got down to crafting my desired reality. Something I have been resisting since 2014 (at least). Not sure if I'm going to share it here :)

Anyway, the plan is to follow through this time.... let's see what happens. :)

A Creatives Quest...

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

― Ira Glass

Goosebumps!

The Invitation~ by Oriah

A friend shared a beautiful poem yesterday and this is how it goes...

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know 
if you will risk 
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are 
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you 
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know 
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone 
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

Some more Hafiz....

"When all your desires are distilled

You will cast just two votes:

To love more and be happy."

~ Hafiz

I can't help myself....

Irreverence makes me smile - BIG! :D

I want to be seen as run-of-the-mill....

There are times when I want to be seen as run-of-the-mill. I don't want to be seen as special, as something less or something more, than others. 

These are the times when I'm barely keeping it together or I'm figuring things out and at times like these, I will lie to you about how I'm feeling and what's on my mind. I will smile as I lie... Maybe even chuckle... 

I will lie, because if I don't, you will look at me differently and like I said, I don't want to be seen as special. 

Somehow, you seeing me as run-of-the-mill, helps me pretend my life is all figured out and well put together... just for a while...

The Lightness of Being...

Soul Song

They're Singing Your Song 

From a story told by Alan Cohen

in his book: Wisdom Of The Heart

 

When a woman in a certain African tribe knows 

she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness 

with a few friends and together they pray and 

meditate until they hear the song of the child. 

They recognize that every soul has its own vibration 

that expresses its unique flavor and purpose. When 

the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud.  

Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone 

else.

When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child's song to him or her. Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child's song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come

together and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song.

Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person's bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life.

To the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community

form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them.

The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.

A friend is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it. Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.

You may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you at crucial life transitions, but life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn't. In the end, we shall all recognize our song and sing it well. 

You may feel a little warbly at the moment, but so have all the great singers. Just keep singing and you'll find your way home.

I have learnt...

.... we only envy what we can't understand. 

It is Grace...

If it goes your way, it is Grace.

If it doesn't go your way, it is Grace.

It is Grace, every step of the way.

Who graces and with what could have as many as 7 billion answers. What matters is, it is Grace.

But, Grace doesn't have a face or a smell or a shadow. It's a nudge, a whisper, a near miss.

If you recognize it and acknowledge it, you will always live in Grace...

If you fail to sense its presence, you will, still, always live in Grace... 

You see, Grace is cool like that. 

To catch Grace in the act... it's ineffable... That you are the center of the Universe and that it exists for you, only you... this is the closest description I can think of...

Today, I caught Grace in the act... :)