Z is for Zen.....

Zen is a total state of focus that incorporates a total togetherness of body and mind.  Zen is a way of being. It also is a state of mind. Zen involves dropping illusion and seeing things without distortion created by your own thoughts. You become fully aware of your present and live in the now! Each moment is filled with profound clarity and peace. Each moment has significant, and precious. Zen brings us face to face with our true nature and lets us condition it into what we want it to be.

For me, this month has been nothing short of a Zen experience. I superseeded my own expectations of what I thought this month would do to me! I had imagined it to provide a catharsis for my feelings but instead it gave me so much clarity on what I wanted in life. It helped me get over a lot of feelings and nurture new ones. As I wrote about Appreciating whatever I have in life, and Believing in my own self, it gave me Courage to Dream and strive to make it a reality by Empowering myself. I realised the burden I was carrying by habouring hatred for those who had hurt me, and the best way to unload that burden and be at peace would be to Forgive. Likewise, sharing and Giving would be the best way to Happiness! I reiterated my faith in not losing my Innocence, and trying not to be Judgmental. The laws of Karma helped me heal, and also helped me in Letting go of the baggage I was carrying. I learnt to keep my faith in God, and learnt to look at every moment as a Miracle. Being Nonchalant in the face of anger, Organising my living space and my mind, Being Positive in the face of adversity, the ability to enjoying a few moments of Quiet every day, and prioritising the pair of spokes on the wheels of Relationships, added great value to how I led my life. Slowly but surely, the Smiles returned and I decided to keep my Trust in people intact, realising that I'm as Unique as anyone in this world. That was a huge victory over my fears and doubts and VIBGYOR was not just the colour of the rainbow but my life as well. I could now be more unabashed in Wishing for love, striving for Xcellence or just happily Yap about it all. It wouldn't be wrong to call this the Zen month. 

I read Shreeja's amazing story of love, Beloo's thoughts on putting India back in Indian education, Shilpa's A-Z for a happy marriage , Soumya's candid opinions, Ushaji's comprehensive list of Indian festivals, proactiveindian's short but thought provoking anecdotes, Ankur's heartfelt poems,Swati's short stories with thoughful endings, and the sunday vistor's diary , before I ended the day with David's soulful music. And when these guys came visiting they left behind heartfelt comments that infinitely warmed me up! Aparna, Peevee, kathy, lynda, Bikram,rajlakshmi, natasha, aditi, sheetal, and so many others kept up my journey alive with their comments and kind words.  I am guilty of not having replied personally to each valuable comment, but I want you all to know, that I read every word gratefully and it made me incredibly happy to see you keep visiting and commenting on my space.

I am happy I took up this challenge and finished it too. it put an end to my dormancy besides giving me the much needed insight into my own life!  

Y is for Yap..

There are people who talk and then, there are people who TALK. 

I obviously belong to the second category! It does not matter whether you are a known person or a stranger, whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, or whether you even want to talk in the first place! Nothing can stop me from from chewing your brains off with my incessant chatter! Sometimes I feel, the term, 'nineteen to a dozen' was coined just for me!

No new place is new enough for me to keep my mouth shut. And no person is new enough for me not to begin talking to them. I can be at ease anywhere, with anyone. My mom says, I have the ability to make walls talk, if there's no living soul around! I often wondered if being this chatty was a disorder. I wondered why I have this urge to keep conversing?  For quite sometime I thought it was normal to be able to converse. But many stiff upper lips and polite smiles later I realised, that it wasn't!

I'm definitely not boring and don't talk nonsensical or hurtful things, but I always manage to find something in common and starting a conversation is never a difficult job for me. There are friends who've told me they are usually introverts and are amazed at how they could converse so much whilst with me. There are friends who wait for me to turn up at parties. It great to hear these things, but at the same time, I also wish I'd learn to tone down a little bit.

Hubby dearest once secretly recorded my conversation with our friends and later played it back to me. I was horrified, to say the least! Though it was an engaging conversation, I was yapping away like there'd be no tomorrow! I am sometimes amazed at the sheer amount of things I speak!

Blogging has definitely helped me channel all that I want to say. I wouldn't say I talk less now, but yes, it is way lesser than it used to be! 

X is for Xcellence

I have a helper at home, who helps me with the household chores. She is a bright, young girl, who works to support her college education and she is a total delight to have around the house. She works so systematically, putting things in order, removing every speck of dust, and cleaning the vessels to a sparkle. You will never hear vessels being dropped due to careless handling, or a drop of water spilled anywhere. In short, she is extraordinarily meticulous! The chores she does are mundane everyday routine jobs, but she does them with excellence day after day, and that’s what sets her apart. I have had helpers before; careless ones, the ones who brought their problems to work, and the ones who thought this is just another house, another job. And that is why, this girl not only gets paid more, she gets my respect and love too. She is just like family. I don’t mind giving her an entire fortnight off when she has her exams, because I know when she comes back, she will be ticking like precision clockwork!

While she does her job, she gives me an important lesson to learn. It doesn’t really matter what your field of endeavor is, the quality of your life is in direct proportion to your commitment to excellence. However “Excellence” does not mean “Perfection”. There is a fine thread that divides both; while excellence is a positive trait and it motivates you to do your best, trying to be perfect could be demotivating to the point of being frustrating. You don’t have to be perfect at all. Excellence does not mean being the best. It simply means doing your best. It means that you care for things more than others think is wise, risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical and expect more than others think is possible.

So, how does one achieve excellence? There is only one difference between just doing a job and excelling at it, and that difference is attention to details. This involves discipline and a tenacity of purpose. And by excelling in whatever field you are in, you become a yardstick of quality. Your value is automatically way above the rest. We have been raised to be competitive and life often becomes a competing ground, but aiming for a win or success is not as important as aiming for excellence. So keep your intentions high, your efforts sincere, and the execution intelligent and that will determine your destiny. 

"Going far beyond the call of duty, doing more than what others expect.....Is what XCELLENCE is all about".

W is for A wish.....

I wish you’d gaze deep, into my kohl lined eyes,                                            
Call them pools of silver, shining in the moonlight...                 

   

I wish you’d know when my eyes glisten, a tiny lake of shimmering gold,  
 Begins to form at the cusp, sidestepping the threshold....

I wish you’d cup my face, in your warm and strong hands,                  
tenderly kiss my eyes, freezing every pearl that lands....

 I wish you’d let me cuddle, rest upon your hairy chest,                                 
 let just the silence speak, and clear my muddled head...

 I wish you’d let me lie still, feel my breath waft in and out,              
connecting the life to love, to the rhythm of the pulsating heart....

I wish you’d hold me tight, embosom me in the warmth,                                 
 of your sensuous embrace, shattering the sky and earth....

I wish you’d make me smile, just to see my cheeks dimple,                        
spread to a mile and make, the corner of my eyes crinkle...

I wish you’d cradle me on your lap, smother me with tickly kisses,              
and make me break out, into oh so girlish giggles....

I wish you’d touch my lips, with your cupid’s bow, entice,                     
burning hot with desire, turn me into molten ice....

Are you listening to my wishes? Would you make it all come true?
'cause I love you with all my heart, and so do hope you do too!

V is for VIBGYOR

I had taken my kids out to the park, and it suddenly started drizzling. The sun was still out and we had not expected a shower at all. While I was feeling bad about an evening ruined for the kids, they excitedly pointed out to a beautiful rainbow sweeping across the sky. A ray of sun through the tiny drops of water breaks into a colourful jig of seven colours, VIBGYOR as we know them. The sight of a rainbow was enough to turn those frowns into smiles.

The Seven colours, each bearing a different significance and meaning, invoke feelings and beliefs unique to each of them. What the colours symbolised looked like a summary of what I had been writing all month long!

Red is the colour of love, passion, energy and enthusiasm.

Orange symbolizes creativity and playfulness, bringing about a balance of both in life.

Yellow is bright, chirpy and happy and symbolizes vibrancy, energy, and wisdom.

Green has a calming effect and is the colour of fertility, and growth, good health, harmony.

Blue is soothing and relaxing and is the colour of divinity, the colour of peace, understanding and communication.

Indigo symbolizes infinity, mastery over the self and intuition.

Violet symbolizes royalty, and spirituality.

Together they symbolize how much infinite potential lies within each one of us; the potential to love, to be creative, to be happy, to grow, to understand, to be playful,  to be vibrant, to be wise, to be harmonious and peaceful, and finally to have control over our self and to be one with God!

The rainbow is a symbol of hope; it tells you how a ray of light can bring out the brightest of colours from a single colur- white….and how you can choose to be that light in someone’s life, turning their world colourful or trust someone to be that light for you!

What took me a month to say, the rainbow said it all with its band of seven colours!