Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. — Gustave Flaubert

Today, I bring you beautiful real short stories from my trip to ‘Land of High Passes — Ladakh’. Also termed as Broken Moon since its remote & inaccessible, sitting at an average height of 6000 meters accessed through several mountain passes.

I recently finished my travel to Ladakh— A terrain filled with arid mountains, barren yet beautiful region, dramatically crowned rocky outcrops, picturesque Gompas, high altitude dessert, meditational mani walls and multi hued flags are few of the many sites that exemplify the beauty of this place.

The travel left me little speechless and I felt it’s even making me a better storyteller! I am trying to bring back to you few of the interesting short real stories of the people & place from my experience of being there.

STORY ONE: “ITS THE UNEXPECTED THAT CHANGES OUR LIFE”

Woke up early morning, rushed from Turtuk (Northern last village outpost in Ladakh, India) to Diskit Hospital in Nubra Valley. My fellow traveller had to go through a mandate X-ray for his continuous pain in ribs after a bike fall last evening. Since this hospital was advised to be equipped with right facilities and to my surprise it also had an in-premise Canteen It brought big smile to my hungry tummy!

I rushed in to check if I can get something hot to eat with a good cup of tea. The COOK said he can make Alloo Parantha & Tea. What more I could ask for!

Bring it On! While my friend went for his med appointment, me being the only customer in the canteen, I was intrigued to ask the COOK more about the place & it’s people. To my surprise, he kind of started telling me about him instead as if he wanted someone to hear what he has to say.

He was a business man & studied artistry after his school life — Yes , you heard me right, ‘An Artist’. He did his after school education from somewhere in south of Karnataka and opened his own Artistry business in Himachal Pradesh, India. At some point of time had his own crew and they all use to make sculptures, paintings etc.

I had series of thoughts running in me: A hospital canteen cook who is very averagely rather shabbily dressed with his deep greyish blue eyes, sweet smile yet holding some pain & discomfort deep inside — What the hell he is doing in this remote hospital’s canteen after working as Artist his whole life? The two different professions were very much un-relatable to me.

And he continued telling that ‘Life can change your trajectory at any point of time’. You should not be afraid of the change — however I was lil fearful when it happened. At times future arrives unannounced. By this time I was all ears to listen what’s he has next to say! and he went On…

I was diagnosed with an Eyesight issue and my eyesight kept on going down every month since my work required finer details as an Artist. My doctor advised to refrain doing it if I want to see World for rest of my life. Hence I have to take some tough calls.

I hardly use to see my family in months in my earlier profession. With this unannounced change in my life, I had to be back here in Ladakh which is my birth place and started living with my family more.

His family was living in a small remote village in Tso Moriri, Changthang Plateau in Ladakh in Northern India. Hence he decided to pick up profession of cooking in peace for a hospital canteen near his village in Diskit and now he travels every weekend his home to meet family & lives happily with what ever small he makes working here.

He also taught me two very deep lessons with his life story:

First: Every day is Gift from God, learn to thank the Giver while enjoying this Gift.

Second: Life is so much Simpler when you stop explaining yourself to people and just do what works for you!

Hold On! There is more….

He offered me 2nd cup of tea, mentioning I will not charge you for this. Just to make sure I heard him right I asked him for the final bill and yes there was no mention of it in final bill.

I kind of insisted him to take the full amount for food & his humble sweet service but he was nodding completely in left & right in a Big NO.

Since he knew in our conversation, that I am heading next day to Tso Moriri which is his current and forever home, he returned me INR 10 from what I gave him and told me — you are like younger sister to me. When you reach my village — pls have chocolate with this money.

I had a no reaction face for few minutes, completely frozen & thinking deep — what on earth makes him say that! What material is he made up of? Where such people are manufactured?

Looking at his wrinkled face, reading his shiny bright eyes filled with happiness — I learnt his heart is so contended & has no sign of wrinkles at all!

He is offering me free tea & also some money from his earning so that I go & have chocolate from his village.

My Take Three:

Having a Big, Contended, Peaceful, Satisfied Heart is never wasted. It always make a difference! It blesses the one who receives it and I bless you My Dear Giver!

May you get all what you gave me!

Stay Tuned — Continued…….

Are We Giving Birth To Another #Pandemic — FEAR! Change The Equation & Welcome Good Health, Good Life & Happy Planet

You might have read a story which said that in Medieval Europe, whenever there was an epidemic or disease breaking in even before it entered the city, a few christian monks stood at the city outskirts guarding it before that illness entered the city. They would stop it & ask — How many people will you take from the city? And often illness is not alone. It would have two companions — Death & Fear.

The monks then asked illness, death & fear — How many people will you take with you?

The illness would say — I will take these many people.

The death would say — I will take some % of what illness will take.

The fear would say — I will not take anyone.

After this all three would be allowed to enter the city.

After the epidemic would spread completely & after these three were taking back people then What The Monks Saw Was That — illness & death were taking away people as they promised earlier but FEAR was taking away the maximum number of people. So the monks asked FEAR — you promised you will not take anyone. Why is that maximum number of people behind you?

FEAR answered: I am not taking them. They are voluntarily coming behind me.

Today there is a similar environment getting created — “FEAR IS OVER-POWERING US RIGHT NOW”. Since it is happening, an inevitable question arises — What should we do now? How should we handle the situation? What is to be done? Why is it happening? We can’t understand! And the situation is perceived to be helpless one by many people.

For the first time ever something as small as an unknown virus came & had hit not a person, one place but the entire World. The level of effects in terms of fear, anxiety, stress & panic it has created on everyone’s mind is not yet measured, registered & calculated yet since we are still fighting the situation.

Also let’s understand the chain of events of life within us & how it affects others:

#Healthy Happy Life = Sound Mental Health + Sound Emotional Health + Sound Physical Health.

Also if any one of the above loses its balance we lose all of them. For example: we can not think of having a balanced state of mind if we are deeply hurt at an emotional level. Also we can’t achieve a healthy body if our brain is continually filled with negative thoughts like hatred, fear, jealousy, anger, panic, anxiety etc.

And now think of this one healthy life as part of a family, city, state, country, nation & world. Imagine the ripple effects this one person can create in the entire world with his/her positive happy, healthy state of well being or vice versa i.e. if it’s One Unhealthy life (combination of poor physical health, distorted mental state & weak emotional health).

So here are a few tips on what we can try to do in order to stay happy & healthy in times of crisis.

#TIP 1: RECHECK & CHANGE EQUATION IN RIGHT WAY

First equation we need to create right is: That the situation is here whether it is as small as getting stuck in a traffic jam while driving to the office before or as today it’s a Virus. Both are situations of-course one is very big, yet both are situations which are ‘Outside’ and our State Of Mind is ‘Inside’.

All these years while growing up we had been feeding that “OUR STATE OF MIND IS DEPENDENT ON SITUATIONS” and hence our behaviour to create Fear, anxiety, panic & stress is quite normal in current situation.

Let’s recheck the situation today: Situation is outside and my state of mind is mine. It’s inside. Situation does not create my state of mind. My state of mind is able to influence my situation.

#TIP 2 : CHANGE YOUR VOCABULARY OF THOUGHTS & WORDS

When we remember and revise everyday #TIP 1, we will be able to first change our vocabulary of thoughts & words and in turn our language. Then we can not say — I feel like this because of the situation. Instead we will then say: Yes, there is a situation but I will take charge of what I should think in my mind. Try it for 21 days, it will become a practice soon.

#TIP3 : CORONA VIRUS & VIRUS OF FEAR

By this time we all know what to do to protect ourselves, our family, our country & world from this virus & we had quite understood & taken proper care, following right protocols, maintaining social distancing etc.

We all know that Coronavirus hits the physical body, affects health and as mentioned back 3 things — disease, death & fear. Now since we are thinking, speaking & discussing all the time only about this virus we are inviting & spreading the 3rd factor of FEAR as we think it’s natural.

And also re-touching upon a chain of events of life from above: If we see we are in fear or it’s in the 5 people at my home then it’s also in the 138 crore people of our country and present in the approx. 800 crore population of our world & we feel this is normal! Fear hits our immune system so basically we are helping the actual virus to be more strong and giving invitations to it to come & hit my weak body & weak immune system easily.

Let’s try to Remain Peaceful, Remain Stable & To #Be Fearless to end this chain of mental stress, fear, anxiety & bring a healthy balance.

#TIP 4: WE ALL HAVE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Use social connections & media diligently to avoid spreading anxiety, stress & fear globally. #Being Aware & Creating Fear are two different things!

We are living in a time where we are overloaded with information compared to quality of information. Filter, choose & share wisely!

Since the source of our thoughts is information we consume on a day to day basis and health of mind is affected by the kind of thoughts we generate. Take charge of the kind of information you absorb on a daily basis.

#TIP 5: THINK RIGHT!

Add think right in your list of Do’s & Don’t.

We need to clean our hands from time to time but also let’s integrate to continuously keep our mind clean. Washing hands is physical activity but cleaning the mind is washing fear, anxiety & all other negative thoughts out. Day after day our thoughts shape us like dripping water shapes rock. Pay attention to what you are habitually thinking about — are your thoughts serving you well?

#TIP 6: YES, IT’S LOCKDOWN AND THERE IS SO MUCH LIFE AROUND YOU.

Last but most important, there is life in everything around us. After work hours & over the weekend — Sit, relax, & enjoy some nice family time together which you might not have done in decades. Look around other forms of life around you — plants, flowers, birds, sun, sky, moon, stars. #Life is happening all around you daily. Enjoy it in peace. This situation can be seen as a blessing in disguise!

Read, take online classes, workout, meditate, blog, learn to cook something nice, work on your hobbies and share happiness to yourself & around. Here is a snapshot of life @ my home in general. It motivates me, hope it does to you too!

Peace has power to change world for good. Being Peaceful is what all of us crave these days . Madness to run towards many things, achieving many things, stepping over others to achieve what we desire has become normal.

Pause, think for a second — Is this the way we want to achieve our existence in this planet with others & with nature? Ruin everything to achieve your own state of peace and yet not peaceful.

What do we need to do to be in powerful state of peace? Do real work towards your ‘BEING’. Once you start doing it, you will start observing the right things happen automatically around you. You don’t realise but in your honest efforts you end up taking some rights decisions for yourself & others around you. You will find yourself more in sync with deep inner world of yours and start getting answers to co-exist — learning how to align, stay stable, be at peace & yet very happy forever and figure out the best way forward for your success & others including nature around you.

Have you ever thought — Why do we have natural tendency to go to mountains, rivers, trees & be surrounded by Greenery, nature, blue sky, chirping birds, less noise etc etc while we take holidays and not rush to places filled with litter, garbage, bad odour & chaos?

Your physical state even craves for Peace in its own form via your sensory organs (Eyes, ears, nose etc)— cleanliness, plants, trees, flowers, sun, natural beauty, absence of noise to feel refreshed & alive away from your mundane routines. Do you know how miraculous it will be if each one of us only take 10% of our overall life time on this planet & take efforts to make our place of living, our house, our locality, our building, our society, sector a clean place, a green place & equally educate others? Or do you think it’s always responsibility of society secretaries, your area government to do what is required.

This land, this planet — all of its area in length & breadth belongs to us till the time we live here and not just our house.

Look at the giving capacity of Mother Earth — from ages she has been just Giving, Nourishing, Providing and we humans have always been Takers, Pickers from her.
After all these years of being a GIVER with no complaints — Do you think EARTH is more peaceful? Has more Patience? Do you think she conspires to provide us with some ulterior motive?

Imagine the effort required for achieving the CALMNESS, PEACE & GIVER state like her and that is one of the reason we call her ‘Mother Earth’.

“Ever imagined, what energy it will take to be like her?” unlike us as we shout out loud if Fan of our room stops working for 10 mins and we start blaming people responsible in our family, building, locality and at times even God for a difficult situation in our life.

Be Responsible! Be Responsible for your own acts — Be Responsible for your own life, actions you take and repercussions of those! The day you start being responsible for your actions & start doing the self introspection, you will start understanding value of how important it is to inculcate practice of self transformation & How much you need it in different areas of your life?

Peace is basic fundamental requirement of life rather than a goal to be achieved. Neither it can be kept by force, rather only achieved by understanding, discussions, a system of give & take (Help & get helped). Keep good intentions while you do so as deeper inner intentions do matter in every transaction of life.

Pause for a minute in silence and Think. Take a pen and paper and write a number:

1. What has been your role so far in inculcating, bringing happiness in someone else’s life ? How many lives? — Write that number down…
2. How many times have you lived with concept of co-existence and tried building a common ground for everyone in your family, neighbourhood, workplace with harmony (Along with number, write your experience doing so?)
3. What all positive efforts you took for Environment, Nature in any form?
4. What all you plan to do this year from all bullets above? Think, Plan & Write that down..and ACTION

Trust if you have not tried that so far, try doing it for once, you will learn to be happy, content & peaceful above few pointers will make you automatically without doing much thinking in how to achieve that state?  Your happiness hormones are going to bless you for helping them get released naturally rather than to be forcefully happy by watching a movie, or going out for a not required shopping day.

Give yourself some nice self affirmations: I am avatar of peace, took birth in this body to remind myself that Peace is my birthright. I came from a peaceful abode, took a human cloak to stay or learn to stay peaceful and make everyone aware of being in peace & importance of being in peaceful state with all 5 elements, with mother earth, with all living being, with land, birds and so on….

Look at center of your forehead, how I am shining bright light of peace, start spreading light in all 4 directions, spreading message of peace, love, happiness to everyone around you. Focus, & watch your self for 10 mins — keep giving yourself these affirmations. You are an avatar of Peace. You are an avatar of Peace.You are an avatar of Peace.You are an avatar of Peace.You are an avatar of Peace……………………………………

As you learn all above, you will see some great positive shifts in your life in just 10 days of regular practice. Try at-least 10 mins a day. Feel free to share your experiences, I am all up to listen the beautiful things that come out by applying all above!

As you keep moving towards harnessing peace within you, you will gradually see a strong, best ever possible bank balance of unshakable, most stable version of PEACE within you, which is unaffected by situations around you and you step ahead towards being ever peaceful, more balanced, more successful, more powerful…

If you find it beneficial, don’t hesitate to share it with others too We can’t sit & wish World to be a peaceful place automatically. It will require effort — From me, From you and From each one us.

May you always carry fat bank balance of Peace within you while you are living & breathing

I recently finished a ‘Kids Summer Camp’ this weekend and feel so lucky that I was nominated to be associated with it as part of my Social Services contribution this year. With kids, it’s been an experience of immense learning, awakening at a different level altogether for me.

I literally had such fun time interacting, teaching & playing games with them “We try to teach children about LIFE and children teach us what LIFE is all about!”

1. Always be happy for NO reason. Ever smiley & shiny faces….
2. To always be busy with something. Gods knows what is so important to discuss in their life that the chatter even with strangest pair given to them never seem to end.
3. Bag full of positive energy, freshness & powerful vibes.
4. Ability to ‘Think Different’ as to them ‘DREAMS know NO boundaries’.
5. They bond so fast with everyone around with their wicked energy & innocence.

I had to pick & run the 2 days camp over weekend. Topics being ‘Happiness’ & ‘Believe in Yourself’ and then closing day with parents interactions.

With each activity given to Kids, they were able to bond so well & so fast with each other that in few hours they ended up making friendships may be for life time knowing they belong to different location, different school, different age group, different cultural backgrounds. Nothing matters to them, its pure open heart & mind which led to dissolve all the barrier of mind which generally adults fail to do at such a pace.

Kids teach us well that:

The sky is not the limit, your MIND IS! and The World is a ONE BIG FAMILY, we need to learn from each other…

Children are far smarter than us, especially this generation. But there are places where I feel they need some help & assurance from adults:

1. Shower Love, they will bloom like divine, sweetest smelling, pretty Red Rose.
2. Build concepts of ‘Faith & Hope’ with them.
3. And Be Someone Who BELIEVES in them always.

Quick tips for parents from my experience:

1. Give time to your kids, they deserve it!
2. The way you will talk to your children will eventually become their inner voice.
3. And it’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men!

If you find this read interesting- drop a clap & your views on this topic! I will read all of them personally.

Thanks much

Ever had been in dilemma or doubts that your qualities, your value system is not something important to hold on at! Since every other person around you surprises you with their declining moral standards.

Does it forces you to copy their behaviour or become a reflection of way someone behaves with you?

Ever thought what kind of world we will end up with if we start giving revenge for being revengeful, turning more negative after encounter with a negative person! and only behave or believe in doing good when we encounter good from others.

It’s quiet right to say that every human encounter can leave us with a feeling of bitterness, sweetness, inspired, egoistic, angry, frustrated, loved, calmer, confident, motivated, understood and so on based on interaction with them. Experiencing these feelings is ok since there was an energy exchange while you communicating but keeping these feelings for life long with you and letting them effect your rest of life will be a question you can ask yourself!

To be our better versions, we don’t need to gain much, but we just need to ensure we don’t lose what we already have — Our Virtues.

Each time we copy someone’s incorrect behaviour, thinking this is how the world is! I should better start behaving like this too else my goodness will be used against me always is a mistake we do. Doing so, you may reap short term benefits for sure! But gradually you start moving away from your virtues, start not trusting your own good qualities.

Remember, that your values, moral excellence, so called qualities and ethics are your biggest strengths. Even if no one around you is using them and think they don’t work in this modern age world — let’s not give up on them!

Goodness & virtues starts showing its impact slowly just like adding spices to food, flavours it gradually.

How to find or uncover your virtues?

Time you have lived on earth has layered you with many experiences — both good and bad. You need to work on un-layering or unburdening yourself with so called World’s experiences and come out finding your true self.

You can always work to uncover hidden, un recognised virtues in you — Yes! the one for which you say I want to do this but my inner conscious is stopping me to do so and I am so confused who should I listen to!

And once you figure out and start living, practicing your virtues in real life, independent of people & situations around you — you will see your value system will reflect your Powerful Personality!

I wish all of you figure out the hidden values in you and stop copying & layering yourself with how the World around you is behaving. Trust yourself & your superpowers which you have lost over time. You will come out nice, shiny, powerful & more loving as you do so.

If you like what you read — drop a like button and keep following me to read more of writings. Loads of love and thanks for reading

Stop Labelling & Stressing Out! Recreate Yourself Daily.

Learn to label right — “I am Undefined & Infinite”

Have you ever experienced that people around us see us through the filter of their own personality and perceptions and so do we see ourselves through certain labels that we tend to put on the ourself at times!

And What if some of these are negative labels? I am not good enough, not smart, careless, not talented etc. You will realise it will slowly become part of your identity & belief system.

Our thoughts about us create our reality and actually helps to intensify that behaviour in us. How you choose to define yourself?

Who you are Vs. Who you are not! (based on your appearance, your conditioning, your personality or even achievements)

How many times have you seen yourself through labels other people gave you? and ever you tried checking how many of these are negative?

PAUSE for a minute…….Take deep breathe……Breathe Innnnn….. and Breathe Out…..Run a quick check!

You will find out that some of these labels add up different dimension to your entire identity. And living with such negative labels impacts entire life — your mind, body, soul at a different level all together .

“Our Labels Create Our Destiny”

So what you should do?

Next time someone tries labelling you and even if that someone is YOU YourSelf! Try changing your Vocabulary for yourself…

Replace every single negative label with a pure, powerful, positive label.

Keep telling yourself daily those positive labels to become your REALITY.

Remind Yourself — I am Aware that my Labels Manifest my Destiny.

And you will see, as you keep reminding yourself right positive, powerful labels everyday you are able to create good quality thoughts & ultimately good vibrations around yourself.

This eventually signals your brain, body and the universe. Your each good thought & vibration will eventually influence you reality.

If you are labeled BOSSY — Keep on leading right!

If you are labeled DIFFICULT — Keep telling the Truth!

If you tend to get in Awkward situations — keep asking Hard Questions!

If you are FAT — Keep taking up that Space You Need!

Don’t SHRINK yourself to make people HAPPY — BE YOURSELF, BE BEAUTIFUL!

Closing with a 5 min excercise. Try Practicing!

PAUSE……THINK……REFLECT…..& MANIFEST WHAT YOU WANNA BE!

Hope you LABEL yourself & others RIGHT

Ever imagined how a bird flies? It needs two working wings in finer balance with each other for a good flight. Do you think it can fly with one broken wing?

Same is case with meditation, it’s incomplete if you don’t do service. It adds more merits & good experience to your meditation. When you bring relief and freedom to someone through service, good vibrations and blessings come to you.

I am going to share with all of you my beautiful experience of being a Dhamma Sevak this time and feel honoured and privileged enough to help run this particular Vipassana meditation batch. Trust me it was not easy task plus a path full of learnings (Understanding human behaviour & psychology even better along with some real good practical exposure to dealing with all sorts of situations on the go).

Do you often feel humanity is in deep sleep and sinking in ego battles? Try practicing selfless service for once! You may end up checking your patience towards people behaviour & demands.

Do you feel your mental batteries are drained & you lack required strength & courage? Try practicing meditation — Turn inwards towards your true self!

Keep reminding yourself: I am working so that others may benefit from the Dhamma. Let me help them by setting a good example, and in doing so, help myself as well.”

We have to educate and culture our individual consciousness to expand over time with knowledge — to change from “What about me?” to “What can I contribute?”

Few Learnings being a Dhamma Sevak / Server:

1. What you see outside might not be the case inside. External looks are so deceiving. What is going inside everyone, can make you feel surprised in all possible ways!
2. People do change gradually if you keep giving them balm of compassion, kindness and a listening ear. Of course it’s a game of time & patience.
3. You tend to look around all kind of sickness which shows up in human behaviour as you interact with them.

As it’s said — Correct your mental actions. Mind is first and foremost. Deeds of the body and speech are offspring of mind.

4. It’s an opportunity to express gratitude by helping people as they learn Dhamma, without expecting anything in return.

5. Helps dissolving the habit of egotism in you.

Well coming back to how everyone was feeling in first 5 days of the course

I was able to sense pain, panic & a wave of slight dis-comfort specifically in new students in meditation hall from Day 2 till Day 5 as everyone was undergoing a chance to meet themselves in so many years. All possible old Sankharas (संस्कार) were bubbling up of-course mix of good & discomforting-one’s. Patience & giving oneself the required time was the only key to reach ultimate destination to kill all the misery around.

I had to practice my learnings of all these years of consulting, influencing, persuading, collaborating, conveying just right to make everyone sit tight with patience to meet the fruits of labour as everyone completed 10 days.

Also since everything is momentary. It has a phase which comes and goes — how long it stays depends on you! Give it some time with full faith, patience to work towards a solution.

Quiet cyclic in nature — Anger comes and goes away, similarly darkness can not be forever, sun will rise next day bringing more light, love & brightness.

You need to learn to enjoy the phase of being a ‘caterpillar’ and not just the being ‘butterfly’. And learning to be “Equanimous (समभाव) in every situation” is biggest take away.

Think of it like this:

If nothing ever changed there would be no such thing as BUTTERFLY. Butterfly symbolises acceptance & deep faith that everything is happening for larger good with each new phase of life.

Similarly sitting in meditation for hours requires lot of patience, faith, going through that pain of sitting in Adishthaan (आधिष्ठान) position aka position of Establishment.

Having all that learning to be in Equanimity (समभाव) as you pass through good and painful feelings helps you to wash away all the Old Sankharas (संस्कार) — making you reach Nibban (Nirvana) aka state of complete happiness and peace.

Last but not the least, I feel everyone should try doing Seva once in lifetime. If you can do more — nothing like it!

It will give you practical experience of many leadership, people management and other so required management lessons. No theory or certification can teach you that.

As I always believe you learn more by practicals than sitting in a classroom, reading theory

Hope all of you get the right, balanced working wings when time comes for you. If the reading was worth it, please don’t forget to like.

भवतु सब्ब मंगलम्

May all being be happy!

Thanks much! More love & compassion to each reader

After meditating for last 10 years. Travelling, Exploring & Learning different forms of meditation in India. Also Googling, You-tubing, Reading, Meeting so many other meditators, Gurus, I was able to teach myself this great art. Seva Bhav aka Services become inherent part of you if you get touched by right energies. I had taught this art to many in need and almost eating up entire possible internet content on this topic — I understood that this is the ultimate cure of all modern day diseases & its such a soothing balm. I can also say, it’s THE BEST MEDICINE for all issues. It works and sorts all issues at possible human states — Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual state….

I feel pride that I have learnt, experienced & achieved a state where I understood this divine connection of our beautifully designed body with the positive energies around us & ultimately with our Universe.

Why this blog?

I am writing this to help all those who have all sorts of basic beginner level questions on “Meditation”. I am trying to make it easy for all of you to at-least start practicing it daily…

Q1: How to Start?

First of all, you need to have an intention to learn it as it requires tremendous patience and WillPower to sit and do nothing  Think of how many times in your life you have actually done that before! For most of us nowadays having free time means either Netflix, WhatsApp or any Social Media platform updates/gossips..

Just be PRESENT in the moment and keep signalling your brain, your inner consciousness that I am aware and fully present in this moment. Living, Breathing, Enjoying this moment….

Stay calm, Stay AS IS and try NOT to think anything. A state with No Thoughts — Simply sitting in most comfortable posture you can be in.

If you have just started, having a Quiet place is boon.

You can also use some light, soothing instrumental music to help you stay in that position for long.

Try 10 mins initially and gradually increasing this time to 30 mins, an hour and so on…depending on your own willingness & ability to learn & sit in a certain posture.

Q2: What is Meditation?

Meditation is an ancient practice that is believed to have originated in India several thousand years ago. Throughout early history, the practice was adopted by neighbouring countries quickly and formed a part of many religions throughout the world.

Meditation is an ancient technique used since thousands of years to develop awareness of the present moment. In midst of demanding, busy & stressful life it teaches the art to bring yourself back to roots — Back To Inner Balance.

A state where all Universal energies play right. In synch With The COSMOS, With YOURSELF which eventually helps you feel happy, lighter & more energetic and adds more years to life.

It’s just like charging your phone batteries everyday. Since we humans even need right amount of energy to carry out our day at our best level.

Quick view of Sleep vs Meditation (however both are equally important): With sleep consciousness is suspended on contrary while meditating mind is purposefully focussed and hence more aware resulting into increased level of healing hence ultimately increasing brain memory & overall brain health. Once own MIND is in CONTROL, all of us know — no one can stop us from achieving what we want in life.

Q3: What benefits will it give me short & long term?

A person doing right form of meditation can achieve state of having Asht Shakti i.e. 8 Super Powers.

Remember: You can’t always change situations. You can never change other people. The only thing YOU CAN CHANGE IS YOURSELF.

• The power to withdraw is the ability to step back and disengage from the world around you
• The power to pack up is the ability to bring things to an end and to stop wasteful thinking
• The power to accommodate is the ability to expand and accept the presence, ideas and desires of others.
• The power to discriminate is the ability to discern the subtle, and separate what is true from what is false.
• The power of judgment is the ability to assess the quality of choices, decisions and actions in yourself and in others.
• The power to face is the ability to confront and resolve external and internal obstacles, tests and challenges.
• The power to co-operate is the ability to give attention, time, experience and wisdom in the service of others and to work alongside them.
• The power to tolerate is the ability to respond to external and internal events positively, yet not be affected by them.

Other Long term benefits include:

Meditation improves physical health by boosting the immune functions, regulating hormonal discharge, and decreasing cellular inflammation.

Researchers even found that long-term meditators had more disease-fighting chemicals in their body than non-meditators or beginners did.

Long-term effects of meditation even show signs of elevated brain activity within the cerebral regions associated with relaxation, happiness, concentration, self-awareness, and other positive emotions and qualities.

Let’s try it out right now to see the magic!

1. Let’s practice to sit for 10 mins in this very moment.
2. Pick up a comfortable position for yourself.
3. Use instrumental flute music or guided meditation if you are new in this game (you can get plenty on Spotify, Youtube, many meditation apps like — Calm, Headspace, Unplug etc).
4. Stay in the present, right in this very moment. Whenever you feel your mind is over powering you with thoughts, keep telling it to come back into this moment.
5. Keep a phone timer for 10 mins so that you know when to finish.

Hope this blog helps you start with meditation on the right note! If you enjoyed reading it, feel free to drop a like.

I wish more bliss & more meditation hours to all of you. May you all crack the code of getting aligned with right & positive energies in your life and relations.

If you have any question, drop them here! I would be happy to answer them back.

Have you ever imagined, what you are made up of apart from the ever changing physical form of you with time?

Our size grows from a simple life cell form to an infant baby and keeps growing taking its full form & shape over the time. Infant > Child > Youth > Adulthood > Old & then one day like magic you are gone — Puffffff!

Humans (Us!)

Some of us discovered that ‘We are just StarDust’,

Some of us researched at Elemental level and say ‘We group & take a human form from the five elements of this universe namely Earth (Bones and Muscles), Water (Blood), Air (Breath), Fire (Heat), and Space (Vast Emptiness within)’,

and Chemical compositions define it differently saying ‘We are about 99 percent made up of atoms of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen and also contain much smaller amounts of the other elements that are essential for life’.

At the Biological level, we are even more complex: From Head to Toe, Nerves and organs, spine and skull, plus all the gooey stuff, gastric juices to our amazing brain, things that fascinates all of us like digestion, including waste and smelly business.

There are Philosophical sides to our nature which even involve Neuroscientific level!

We have a bundle of characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, which we are said to have naturally. Also attributes such as reasoning, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations, legal responsibilities.

Yet all of us have different personalities, which makes us different from each other. All of us think, feel and act differently in the same given situations. Our thought process, behaviours, attitude, way of expressing emotions, problem solving capacity also varies person to person.

Oldest human remains confirm that we have been on this planet Earth since 300,000 years ago and claim to be the most advanced & developed form of species among all others since then.

But when we say humans it defines a category of species yet we all are totally different from each other in every sense unlike when we characterise & talk about an animal. For example let’s say Lion, we club some traits together and see every Lion with the same set of data without knowing his mood swings, personality, whether he is hungry or what kind of environment he was born, brought up & lived in his life so far. Possibly a Circus Lion would behave totally different from a Jungle Lion but we still call both of them Lion. Isn’t quiet, funny & interesting equally

Do you think change of one factor i.e. physical environmental from list other socio-economic factors (Demographic, Cultural, Physical environment, Economic & Political factors) can bring change in life of an animal and can equally affect personality & behavioural formation of advanced species like humans too?

It is an established fact that there is an intimate connection between our beliefs and social institutions, our values and social relationships. Values, beliefs, ideas, institutions are the basic elements of a culture. Certainly, all cultural changes involve social change.

Also Social and the cultural aspects are closely interwoven. Thus, any change in the culture (ideas, values, beliefs etc.) brings a corresponding change in the whole social order.

Let’s also quickly look at the HDI ‘Human Development Index’ which is a scale that uses statistics for life expectancy, education, and per capita income to rank countries into four tiers; “very high, high, medium, low”. Examples include → Being: well fed, sheltered, healthy; Doing: work, education, voting, participating in community life. Now I know most of you will rush to google where India stands here? Refer snapshot  supposed to stay at 129 by year end of 2020 as per forecasts.

These are very high level statistics (at World & Country level).

Let’s go back and walk through at even more granular level of human life i.e. How & what kind of homes, society we live in? What are cultural beliefs around us? What we are feeding our mind daily with? What & how do we consume our body fuel (Food)? What we really learnt from education imparted to us? What kind of friends, work partners & relations we have & deal with? What is the culture of our workplace? Has there been change in your belief system as you grew up since you started finding your own definitions of truth compared to what has been taught to you from your surroundings, environment, schools, teachers, parents, friends, loved one’s? And Did you ever try finding the truth behind many unanswered questions from your day to day life that led to change of YOUR THOUGHTS this day and in turn YOUR BELIEF SYSTEM and YOUR REACTION to Worldly matters around you which will in turn be defined as YOUR PERSONALITY which will differ from someone else around you?

Too much deep ask — right! Try doing that if you never have time to ponder upon before — you will definitely reach some form of well defined answers about yourself.

Interesting thing to note here is whatever happens around you triggers a ‘#THOUGHT’ which leads to some belief & reaction to that and it will differ from time to time, as you Age and based on your experiences of Life & Situations around you and you will be termed as Wise or Unwise by so called World

So basically we #Humans have been gifted with a ‘BEAUTIFUL TOOL’ called ‘THOUGHT’ and probably we need to LEARN to use it properly.

Eating, sleeping & procreation — these are three things which are common in humans. This is what all animals also do their whole life. ‘What is it then which makes humans so special on this planet? What differentiates us from other species?’

It is the phenomena of Thoughts which happened in humans that makes them so special. But unfortunately for the majority of people in this world Thought means Problems, Stress, Anxiety & Worry. They all want to get rid of thoughts so that they can lead their life Peacefully, Happily. In order to achieve above, what people do to get rid of Thoughts for some time is really heartbreaking. Humans tend to use easy mechanisms to get rid of Thoughts for some time by drowning themselves in alcohol or drugs not knowing at all that in fact they are aggravating the problem. It might help for a small period of time as you forget everything but after the effects disappear they are back into the World of Thoughts which brings them back more problems to solve, stress to deal with, Anxiety to be controlled and endless list of worries and then they again consume Alcohol, Drugs to get rid of and then it becomes a Vicious circle i.e. part of life. Easy way to get rid of Thoughts. Those who do not use these ways to get rid of Thoughts since have not learnt to harness positive energy from their Thoughts keep wandering more confused and caught up in stress which gets generated from too much overthinking on Thoughts.

They keep doing so because they never dive deep to understand their own Thoughts and for the majority they never believe that Thoughts can have any significance even! They believe Thoughts are INSIGNIFICANT and real TROUBLEMAKERS.

Thoughts are not at all PROBLEMS and cause of suffering that you go through, neither it’s a CURSE. In reality “Thoughts are BEST BLESSINGS of the Universe upon Mankind”. Arising of Thought in humans is not a small thing, it’s a big event because it has taken millions of years of evolution to bring humans to this point where they can know who they really are beyond human form. Without Thoughts this would have been an impossible task and you would never know your true divine nature.

On a side note, I am currently working with well known, IT consultancy named ‘#THOUGHTWORKS’ and trust me this name fascinated me a lot the day I was approached for interview here and made me think deeply at the time of joining even, that this company owner had that great realisation already: What THOUGHTS can do and named it wonderfully and “YES, #THOUGHTWORKS REALLY WORKS BY MANIFESTING GREAT IDEAS & THOUGHTS EVERYDAY”.

THOUGHTS ARE LIKE A TOOL. A TOOL HAS NO POWER OF ITS OWN, IT’S HOW YOU USE IT MAKES IT WHAT IT IS!

For Example: You can use a Knife to cut fruits and the same knife can cut you if you don’t know how to use it. Another beautiful example: For cooking you need tools like fire, utensils & raw food items but if you don’t learn how to cook over time you may end up having different results every time. You can make a great dish or even burn your fingers, Food can be over or under cooked or can even burn, can have no or full taste etc.

In above examples: You can not blame tools if a knife cuts you or you burn your fingers while cooking. Similarly it’s not the Thoughts that make you SUFFER. It’s your inability to use this tool called Thoughts that make you SUFFER. All physical comforts that you are experiencing right now are in your life are the result of thoughts only — be it your House, Car, TV, Bed, Gadgets and even this tool where you are able to read this blog. Everything you see is a result of Thoughts only. You can use Thoughts to create comfort for yourself and you can also use these Thoughts to create suffering for yourself.

BUT the question is how to deal with Thoughts in the most effective manner and how you can use Thoughts to experience peace & abundance in your life?

You need to learn to HARNESS this RAW POWER OF THOUGHTS within you by giving yourself “ME TIME DAILY”. By doing SELF INTROSPECTION, SELF REALISATION and SENDING POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS daily. Be kind to yourself and give yourself some time.

As slowly with patience you learn how to cook good food, it will take time & practice to reach a stage when you can learn, excel to harness the POSITIVE ENERGY FROM YOUR THOUGHTS and apply it in your CREATIONS, RELATIONS, WORK & WORLD AROUND YOU.

You can learn different forms of #Meditation available — journeys you travel within you to know yourself. I believe we are still fortunate enough to be born in a country like India which still is able to preserve meditation in its purest forms since meditation was developed here itself a long time ago. Oldest documented evidence of the practice of meditation are wall arts in the Indian subcontinent from approximately 5,000 to 3,500 BCE, showing people seated in meditative postures with half-closed eyes.

OUR THOUGHTS AND FEELING HAVE ELECTROMAGNETIC REALITY. MANIFEST WISELY!

WHAT YOU THINK YOU CREATE, WHAT YOU FEEL YOU ATTRACT AND WHAT YOU IMAGINE YOU BECOME!

So I hope all you by this time know how to attract Abundance in your life by just simply knowing yourself to become a better version of yourself everyday! Conquer yourself rather than World

As our #FatherOfTheNation (#MahatmaGandhi) also said: You must be the change you want to see in the world

I would like to wrap myself with this phrase.

It makes more sense because we get so many lives between birth and death. A life to be a child. A life to come of age. A life to wander, to settle, to fall in love, to parent, to test our promise, to realise our mortality- and in some lucky cases, to do something after that realisations!

With no denial 2020 is a ‘Year Of Change’ in many terms, be it forced changes but all of us have understood that adapting, unlearning, learning is required to sustain & keep moving.

Like most of us, I had been trying to keep myself busy in 100’s of things during lockdown too — be it work front or home, by choice or by circumstances around! What I am trying to discuss in my this blog is around one of my recently developed hobby of Baking. It came from nowhere but need within my house from the lockdown situation. My mom’s b’day in early April pressed my brain to keep thinking of many options to make a cake like stuff for her (Yeah — I say cake like stuff because so far I never knew how to bake a cake?) to make her feel special. I had been thinking of some shortcut options from more than 2 weeks before her B’day. Some of the ideas running through my brain were….

• Just place some biscuits, layer them with chocolate sauce and lit a candle — Too Kaam Chalaaauu stuff — Naaaaa….’UnTick’
• Make Suji Ka Halwa and decorate with dry fruits and lit a candle — Super desi idea….but super flop equally as mom cooks halwa like in 5 secs — what is so special in it? ‘UnTick — 3 times’
• What about cutting some bread in heart shape & layer it with different kinds of jams at home — lol very funny Rajani! You are grown up & these funny ideas will look so stupid because this year you cant just rush to bakery store to order a nice cake for her. And as compared to last year when you & your sibling planned a surprise Terrace Party for her with all music, food, readymade cake, balloons, lightning and making her feel super awesome.

Well, the cake turned out to be nice to my surprise! Yes — both taste & the look to an extent (attached picture). I was worried about experimenting it in the oven hence chose to make more kadai cake on flame gas. My mom was so happy for the efforts and like every Indian mother she was even more happy with the fact that my girl entered the kitchen and came out learning something new. I was slightly ‘confused & equally surprised’ since I could not believe myself that the stuff in front me was like a real cake & ‘Happy’ because I could see my mother’s lovely smile while we all gathered and celebrated her day together.

And my day had some learning for myself: Don’t worry about achieving, don’;t worry about perfection — Just be there every moment as best as you can. This is all you can do!

So basically with quite a motivation (feedback) from family & my creative cells jumping left & right to know more about this baking world I thought to jump full fledge into it and kept my experimentation ON for next two months in my free time. Learned & managed to bake different types of cakes, cookies, breads, pizza dough, muffins, wraps base etc this time in Oven (check some snapshots below) and each time I started reaching more towards perfection I realised I kept learning each time — Right quantity matters, Time is most crucial thing, Patience is key and most important was — ‘It’s best baked when it turns golden brown’ and also learnt the fact that each time I was impatient or over confident I landed making a mess of the dish.

Well, the cake turned out to be nice to my surprise! Yes — both taste & the look to an extent (attached picture). I was worried about experimenting it in the oven hence chose to make more kadai cake on flame gas. My mom was so happy for the efforts and like every Indian mother she was even more happy with the fact that my girl entered the kitchen and came out learning something new. I was slightly ‘confused & equally surprised’ since I could not believe myself that the stuff in front me was like a real cake & ‘Happy’ because I could see my mother’s lovely smile while we all gathered and celebrated her day together.

And my day had some learning for myself: Don’t worry about achieving, don’;t worry about perfection — Just be there every moment as best as you can. This is all you can do!

So basically with quite a motivation (feedback) from family & my creative cells jumping left & right to know more about this baking world I thought to jump full fledge into it and kept my experimentation ON for next two months in my free time. Learned & managed to bake different types of cakes, cookies, breads, pizza dough, muffins, wraps base etc this time in Oven (check some snapshots below) and each time I started reaching more towards perfection I realised I kept learning each time — Right quantity matters, Time is most crucial thing, Patience is key and most important was — ‘It’s best baked when it turns golden brown’ and also learnt the fact that each time I was impatient or over confident I landed making a mess of the dish.

And Big Kudos to my family they kept trying my experiments with lesser complaints and less genuine feedback at times when it went wrong — all out of love! Family where life begins and love never ends — Eeeks I am not typing the clash of clans stories here

For example this “Banana cake” (Attached picture) looks nice but you will find it tough to chew with your natural teeth (Not sure how many of you have seen Anchor toothpaste advertisement, I quite relate it to that). But my mother nicely complimented me — Beta, we can use this as Rusk with evening tea and I could see my brother nodding his head in a Yes to that. I bursted into laughter and my ribs still hurt Maybe all moms are made up of such material that they never see flaws ever.

I always had passion to cook food in my free time (just like food meditation — It’s my ‘Me time’) Though I am not like a master chef but try to experiment & cook food which is not part of our regular Indian meals and lately able to relate cooking with my new hobby of Baking — Bake chickpea flour till it turns golden brown to make best Besan Ladoo or Halwa (Indian Sweet), Fry onions till they turn golden brown and each time there was different set of learning which I would try to implement back into my work & life in general. At times when I was eager to get the final outcome in hurry I realised I missed some important step and the dish ended up to be less tasty.

Well, I believe it’s just like — All of us need to go through the mud to get to the gold. In my case ‘Golden brown’

Life’s basic elements are the same for everyone, everything, every situation. It’s just how we apply from what we learn matters! The struggle lies in managing your time for everything around and how much you devote to reaching the Golden brown stage.

I am delighted to share what baking & cooking taught me so far (Helping me to progress to reach my golden brown stage and journey is still ON!):

1. Carry Learning attitude & just to remind learning is a continuous process regardless of your age & gender.
2. Keep adding flavour of your own creativity.
3. Keep the motivation ON! If you are losing it, have company of good people who are there to motivate you and not to drill you down and make sure they keep eating what you cook (Lol)
4. Patience & Hard work is the key! And don’t forget to bring your soul to your work.
5. Keep No regrets! Just lessons learned.
6. Not everything will work out the way you planned. And it’s ok!
7. Be courageous — Go to bed and tell yourself I will try it again tomorrow. Leave outcome for people who will taste your dish (Lol)
8. Adaptability — What if you don’t have cake flour ? Can you use wheat flour?
9. Devote quality Time for what you want to pursue (maybe you never know your hidden talent or passions)
10. Feedback matters — Listen to the people who tell you what you don’t want to hear (Ofcourse, not all of them — you know who matters)
11. Keep reminding yourself — You are ‘Young at Heart’ to learn everyday. Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 70. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.

And here goes some out of box learnings:

1. Kitchens are meant to bring families together & I believe important life lessons are learned at the dining table. Make sure you cook something for each other & thank god for food on your plate & enjoy meals with your family in this lockdown (Do you have any other option?)

2. We are what we eat & think, so don’t be cheap & fake.

3. Respect the person who cooks for you. It’s not that easy job to do everyday.

4. And last but not the least, (I read it somewhere) Real men wear Aprons with no shame. Cook or learn to cook wholeheartedly for your very own family.

And don’t forget to check…..

“Are you baked enough to turn Golden Brown? “