In trying to understand...

a country which does not believe that women can have rights, especially the right to live with dignity, I came across this link:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/kunal-nagar/an-inspiration-an-autobiography-of-sohaila/138161469675620

An Inspiration, An Autobiography of Sohaila

I'm also trying to understand a country whose principal deities are all goddesses, but in daily living considers women as chattels to be treated in all ways other than with respect...

It's a strange thing...

Change...

We all know that there are aspects in us that need to be changed....we also know when things don't work out, that change is required - in our attitude, in our behaviour, in our thinking, or in the way we are. We cannot hold how we were in the past as our point of reference, because the context was different then...the context keeps changing...every day and maybe many times a day....and so we have to bring about, effect changes in us, as and how and whenever, so that we feel happy and satisfied at the way we are---for it is only and only and only then that we can bring happiness to those who we love and who love us.

Statements like...

There must be more to life than this

There has to something more than where I'm at

or others in a similar vein are futile...

We are all in exactly the place we were meant to be....

But, what we can do is to make that place a lovely one to be in...

Two thoughts...

different, but with the same solution:


A Cherokee Legend 
"Grandfather Tells" (also known as "The Wolves Within")
An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, "Let me tell you a story.

I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times." He continued, "It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing. Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit."

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one wins, Grandfather?"

The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, "The one I feed."


From my Kabbalah meditation---
We worry. We think about it. We over-think about it. We wade in our emotions and feelings about it. In the process the problem becomes much bigger than it is - but, in comparison to everything that is happening around us and the vastness of the universe, our problems are really the size of a grain of sand.

And so just like there is often a terrible fight between two wolves - One evil, who is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego, and the other good, who is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith, and the one we feed is the one that wins, likewise, when we focus on our problems, we feed them by thinking and over-thinking about them till they become so big that they block out everything else.

Solution: Feed only the good wolf. Do not feed the problem.

In fact, do not focus on the problem at all.....leave it be, do something else, and take another look at the problem only after an hour (at least) or two (or more).

By not feeding the issues we have in our lives with unnecessary energy, we can stop buying into the illusion that they are huge...

I hope...

that even as you set aside time for doing the zillion things that need to be done, you are also setting aside time for doing nothing...

I'd read about this concept of setting aside time for doing nothing, and while it appealed to the deeply unconventional side in me, the conventionally conditioned side would have nothing of it...but, since the idea would not let go of me, I decided to fight the conventional side....and finally actually spent time doing nothing. It was not easy, not at all, but it is getting easier slowly....I just suddenly stop at any point of time in the day and use that time on doing nothing, and best is that I'm starting to feel really good about it......and feel a lightness too...

India's braveheart...

is gone...my days and hours were spent in just trying to comrehend that kind of physical, mental, emotional, psychological pain the girl suffered....her mother's gut must have been torn out looking at her little girl....there were no words with which to pray to heal the girl or her mother or her family...

So many questions still flood the brain.....and there are no answers....

Together Nirbhaya and Malala have changed the face of womanhood.....and have forced the world to look at its women....no more and no more and no more can any girl child or teen-girl or woman be forced under the carpet or pushed behind doors or hidden away....no more....

I just hope that Nirbhaya felt that every girl in India, and possibly world over shared her terrible, terrible pain...

It's just another day...

but it's the first day of the New Year and one cannot help the quickening of the heart and the sudden intake of breath when the two needles of the clock come together on 12 and the calendar clicks to 2013...

It is just another day, but one cannot help hoping that the New Year will erase all that was sad, bad, and hurtful - no more dark or even cloudy days - and there will only be sunshine and happy days...

It's just another day, but one wishes that people all over the world will work towards peace - we just have to ensure that there is peace in our immediate vicinity, no matter where we are at the moment - and the collective effort will bring a measure of peace to the world...

It's just another day...of hope, of fear, of anticipation, of doubtfulness..........for the 365 days ahead...

It's just another day, but we can make it better for someone...and we can make it better for ourselves...