Soulful Sunday :)
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” – Luciano Pavarotti
Recent Posts
Happy Holi :)
Photo courtesy: Balakrishnan K | www.utopianhere.com May this Holi bring lots of colors in your life and wash away all the sadness, misery and evil thoughts. May you be able to accept that we are all equal. May our mind know only one word – freedom, and …
Home Is Where The Heart Is…
Of late I had been reading lots and lots of blogs. And somehow without any connection the bad feeling of home sickness has started kicking in deep inside me! The feeling to go back to my roots… the feeling to get back everything which I left and came to explore this materialistic world… I want to go back and get all that love, feeling, happiness, contentment, glory, hope, belief and the most important, peace, in my life back.
Photo courtesy: Balakrishnan K | www.utopianhere.com
I have started yearning for everything back at home. I miss and yearn to see the early morning sunlight trying to pierce the dense trees showering the golden dust on everything in its golden perimeter… I miss how the earth looks so joyous, colorful, heavenly and content in that glorious time… I miss the crazy birds, chirping loudly and joyfully outside my window every morning, calling all the gone residents of the city to come back and enjoy the laid back and peaceful life… I miss the different shaped clouds which would form following the amazing scenery when it used to rain… I miss the hailstorms, the cheerful shoutings, the mango flower’s soothing smell… the cuckoo singing… the fireflies spreading tiny sparks of hope in the old wrinkled eyes… I miss the crickets in the shrubs chirping and calling for its love… I miss the smell and the soothing low lights of the kerosene oil lamps and lanterns spreading the aura of love and togetherness… I miss the smell of old books and the numerous stories following it… I yearn to walk on the topsy-turvy roads remembering the good old past childhood days… I miss the clear dark sky full of shattered stars and the moon shining happily in-between them bathing every surrendered soul in its composure and calmness… I miss the most appetizing food cooked with tons and tons of love poured without any adulteration… I miss talking and listening to all the nonsense conversation, laughing over silly jokes, finding and seeing old photographs, meeting old neighbors, relatives and friends who I know care about me… I miss how the smallest of small things give utter joy to kids over there… I miss the dirty, crowded and the congested roads which always led to a friend’s/relative’s house… I miss the divine smell of the incense sticks, camphor and flowers walking on the streets at dawn and dusk… I miss the loud sound of the conch being blown by someone during the morning and evening prayers… I miss the steaming cups of tea in the earthen pots served with so much generosity… I miss the primroses swaying and dancing in the spring breeze… I miss running, playing and exploring the big old house whose every wall says a different story…
Oh… how I miss… EVERYTHING!
It has been a really long time since I visited my hometown. Something or other always came in the way of me and myself going to the place I love; the place I belong to…. Yes, I know I could and should have gone and have visited my home if I have been feeling so “homesick”. But then, I gave more importance to the materialistic things in my life. Maybe I was wrong but not totally…Sometimes you have to lose something to gain something… Be it for family or yourself! Sometimes you have to just keep aside all the thoughts and work like a machine, do whatever has been told to you and just follow the robotic life you have chosen… But then, it is not going to last long. No, I can’t keep on doing this to my life… I want to live, I want to love, I want to pray and I want to laugh… most of all, I want to embrace and know that I am going to start another day in my life in the place I felt myself to be a part of… it does assure you of happiness that can be found in small yet meaningful things which can’t be brought to you by million sparkling treasures.
I can’t wait to be back!
Spring, Love And Happiness :)
Photo courtesy: Balakrishnan K | www.utopianhere.com “It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke
The Day of Love 💕
Photo courtesy: Balakrishnan K | www.utopianhere.com It was Valentine’s Day yesterday and the air was filled with love and happiness. People were celebrating this day of love everywhere. The question which arises in my mind is – “Is a day in an year enough for showing …
Life Happens… When You Stop And Listen!!
“So many reasons for you to be happy…So many reasons for you to be smiling
But you’re not about to see ‘em,…You’re not about to feel ‘em,
You’re not about to be ‘em….if you don’t believe them…”
Life happens… when you stop and listen!! Its’ amazing and magical when you stop and start listening to your life. Its’ life changing…its peaceful and meaningful. Life always tries to talk to us, in different ways. Its’ just us… who don’t stop for a moment to listen to it! It has happened lots of times to me, I have heard and ignored these magical words. But this time, it was for real! I was able to make sense out of a string of seemingly random events, that might not make sense to many. But to me it did… it did this time… when I bothered to stop, listen, and check in with my heart. Let me tell you how.
I have recently joined a new company and my office timings have changed. I start early in the morning and come back home around dawn. One of these days, when I was returning from office, I was so tensed and engrossed in my own thoughts about the amount of work, tension and tiredness I feel in my life all the time. Whilst all this, my bus stopped in the signal and I saw a place where a building was getting constructed. It was dawn and all the workers were wrapping their work. They were happy, content and were preparing for a happy evening with their family and friends. These workers stay near the same building in a cemented house which is their home till the building is complete. I saw those workers and their wives, daughters and kids… how happy they were… Everyone was doing their own chores happily…The ladies didn’t mind cooking for their family even when they too had worked the whole day with their men! One of the lady came out with the oil lamp for doing the evening prayers.. following was the conch’s loud and soothing sound… The ladies didn’t mind men eating and throwing the green gram pods on the floor… kids were happily playing with the men.. I could see the stealing expressions of a newly wed couple… Everything was so normal… but still so magical… it changed something in me.
This sight is common.. and we see it often while travelling in Bangalore roads… But what I realized this time was, how happy and content these people looked. Even when they have so little in their life! They don’t have a permanent place to stay, they have to change their home with their work, they earn so less, they have no luxuries in their life, their children don’t go to hi-fi schools, they can’t go and buy whatever they want all the time… the limitations are endless… but does this stop them from being happy?? From just living the moment? From just cherishing the little things and joy they have in their life?? NO!! I know these people will have their own sorrows, but this time I saw something different! I felt guilty for myself! What am I doing with my own life and the people who love me? Why I don’t cherish the joys and moments which I have in my life? Why do I compare and get upset? Why can’t I see the husband who unconditionally loves me and feeds with his own hands every single morning before I leave for my office?? I loathe what I have done or am doing to my life!
I firmly believe that to show us the direction of our heart’s desire, the world is always sending us hints, messages, views and prompts, or whatever we need… We just need to stop and give an ear to these messages… The more you listen to life, the more peace, happiness and meaning you will have in your life. This world is always talking to us. But we are so busy trying to survive life, that we don’t have time to listen to life… We all can benefit by listening to the passing moment, the moment we are living now… right now… instead of getting trapped in our own head. Come out from that confinement, start living and enjoying the moment and you will see a much beautiful, colorful and a meaningful life in front of you… you will see how a more content life unfolds in front of you!
Taking a walk early in the morning, seeing old couples walking together in the park, fresh supply of vegetables arriving, spring flowers dancing with the wind, the fresh air, morning dew, children going to school… believe me its’ too soothing to the eyes as well as your soul! See the happy life around you, the positiveness calling you to embrace itself, listen to the universe trying to send signals for you to grow and flourish, listen to your heart and your inner soul… Understand that the world exists only in your head between your eyes… its you and only you who choose how your world is going to be!!
Hope
“Don’t wait for your feelings to change to take the action. Take the action and your feelings will change.” ~Barbara Baron
Peace, Chai And Om Namah Shivay :)
Finally, the “New Year” has arrived, and here I am wishing every blogger and reader “A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR”. 2013 had been a tough year for me and my family. But, it also taught me how to be patient and going in …
Ditch The Stress, Breathe And Let Go…
Oh God! I am stressed out! I want to blame all sorts of things in my life from loads of work, tough clients, financial pressures, wierd situations etc. Generally, I think I am just pulled towards being more stressed than others and my husband agrees to this! Stress and worries are rambunctious creatures in my life. One of my close friend recently said that – “With the kind of personality you have, you will always take on stress.” I sighed because I knew she was right…
It is not that I love being stressed, but I can’t deny the fact that even the tiniest things like Mycoplasma Gallisepticum can give me stress of some sort!! Oh My! I try to be positive… but then I do tend to loose it at times. After all I am human with a bit less patience and more worries. I try hard to stay calm and see the postive side of each situation which comes in front of me. And most of the times I fail because my worry and stress takes over! Once while having a casual talk with my mom she did mention that – “Money is not everything in life. It will come and go. Stop chasing that! You have to find the joy in little things and allow those little joys to take your stress away. Be it watching a beautiful flower blossoming in the pot, gazing the clear blue sky or listening to the birds chirping! Anything which is readily available or just gives peace to your heart, mind and soul.”
I know there is no point in being stressed out. I have to learn how to fight my stress, how to turn it into happiness, breathe and breathe and let the stress melt in the process… It doesn’t have to be the nemesis in my life. Thoughts and life are malleable… and I am trying hard to make it a beautiful and happy one 🙂
It is tuesday and the soft, motherly breeze outside is calling me… It seems like it is singing and telling me…
“Take a moment to notice
The beauty of the trees.
Sit and take a look
At the dancing leaves.
Note the little child
Laughing, playing with a toy.
Always so full of energy;
Humongous amounts of joy.
Don’t crush the insects,
Who are 1/1000ths of your weight.
They may creep up your path,
But don’t decide their fate.
Life’s not about avoiding storms.
Instead, dance in the rain.
The Earth is so beautiful;
Why must we cause it’s pain?
Take time off your busy schedule
To glance at the starry night.
Because nature is genius.
So pretty, such a sight!”
– Miranda A.
Have a great week ahead people. We started our day with some lovely potato poha and steaming cups of chai.
May you all stay positive and blessed!
Friday Inspiration
Success can’t be measured by how much money you have, but by whether you have inner peace in your heart… ♥ ~ Dalai Lama