Gem of the day

What we have once enjoyed we can never lose.
All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.

- Helen Keller 

 

Unforgettable Elephants

Elephant emotions and why they are such wonderful creations

Embracing otherness, embracing myself

Thandie Newton explores the 'self' and how its annihilation can lead to oneness.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Poems

Written by Javed Akhtar. Read slowly and savour, for each is a gem -

Poem 1

Ik baat honton tak hai jo aayi nahin
Bas ankhon say hai jhaankti
Tumse kabhi, mujhse kabhi
Kuch lafz hain woh maangti
Jinko pehanke honton tak aa jaaye woh
Aawaaz ki baahon mein baahein daalke ithlaye woh
Lekin jo yeh ik baat hai
Ahsas hi ahsas hai
Khushboo si hai jaise hawa mein tairti
Khushboo jo be-aawaaz hai
Jiska pata tumko bhi hai
Jiski khabar mujhko bhi hai
Duniya se bhi chupta nahin
Yeh jaane kaisa raaz hai.


Poem 2

Jab jab dard ka baadal chaya
Jab ghum ka saya lehraya
Jab aansoo palkon tak aya
Jab yeh tanha dil ghabraya
Humne dil ko yeh samjhaya
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai
Duniya mein yunhi hota hai
Yeh jo gehre sannate hain
Waqt ne sabko hi baante hain
Thoda ghum hai sabka qissa
Thodi dhoop hai sabka hissa
Aankh teri bekaar hi nam hai
Har pal ek naya mausam hai
Kyun tu aise pal khota hai
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai


Poem 3

Pighle neelam sa behta ye sama,
neeli neeli si khamoshiyan,
na kahin hai zameen na kahin aasmaan,
sarsaraati hui tehniyaan pattiyaan,
keh raheen hai bas ek tum ho yahan,
bas main hoon,
meri saansein hain aur meri dhadkanein,
aisi gehraiyaan, aisi tanhaiyaan,
aur main… sirf main.
Apne hone par mujhko yakeen aa gaya.


Poem 4

Dilon me tum apni betabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Nazar me khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise aazad rehna sekho
Tum ek dariya ke jaise lehron mein behna sekho
Har ek lamhe se tum milo khole apni baahein
Har ek pal ek naya sama dekhe nigahein
Jo apni ankhon mein hairaniyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum
Dilon mein tum apni betabiyan leke chal rahe ho, toh zinda ho tum

Innocent, doomed and dying

They too deserve a life ......

Maybe we can help by spreading the word, by giving them a voice ......

KISS

Keep it Simple and Spiritual!

Always come from the Loving Field of your Heart! Simplicity rises in Authenticity.

~ Ray Ash on FB

Saturday sparklers :)

Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash, was one of the greatest political sages America has ever known. Here's an example of his western wit -

- Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.

- Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.

- There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works.

- Always drink upstream from the herd.

- If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

- The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back into your pocket.

- There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.

- Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

- If you're riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there.

- Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin it back.

- Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it's called golf.

And finally,
- After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral is . . . . . When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.

:)

Transformation

The giving up of personality traits, well-established patterns of behavior, ideologies, and even whole life styles...these are major forms of giving up that are required if one is to travel very far on the journey of life.

Self-Observation is itself the Beginning of Transformation

(source - FB)

Being here, now ...

There is nothing like finality to bring one into awareness and bring the present into focus. Ever since I decided to leave India and go back Down Under, I have found that the present has come into startling focus. So far, all the sights and sounds around me which to my ordered mind seemed like so much crazy chaos, now feels like glorious chaos. I go outside and revel in the variety, the multiplicity, the aliveness of life being lived out in a large disorganized city.

When I am driving, the guy who cuts into my path does not bother me anymore, I let him get his way. I wait for pedestrians to cross, cyclists to take their time and I desist from trying to teach insouciant auto-drivers lessons in safe-driving. I no longer expect courtesy from bus and lorry drivers and wait at traffic signals patiently, happily watching the swirling mass of human and vehicular (and sometimes animal) traffic dancing a gay dance of bedlam, before plunging into said bedlam with gay abandon when the lights change. Even in matters of relating to others on the personal front, things that used to disappoint or bother me before, I now view with fond acceptance. I make lists of things I must do before I leave, things I must relish one last time.

I believe, this change has come about due to the often sub-conscious and occasionally conscious thought that very soon this will not be a part of my life anymore. This single thought has changed my responses from suffering (non-acceptance) and indifference to acceptance and enjoyment.  

I guess, death too has the same effect. If we were to be told that we only have a few months to live, then we too would live life in the present, vicariously and thoroughly enjoying and relishing every moment, not sweating the small stuff, not holding on to anything, and accepting every which thing that comes our way, in full knowledge that the human experience we are going through is going to end soon and we have no clue what is going to happen thereafter.

Isn’t this how life should be lived anyway? For who knows which moment will be our last? Does any of us know our expiry date? Shouldn’t we be living as if today is the last day that has been given to us to experience human life? Immensely grateful for each moment, for the chance to express our uniqueness and humaneness in this very moment, in every moment. To live in loving acceptance of ourselves and every other self that crosses our path. To accept and embrace every human foible and flaw, every thought, no matter how dark, every emotion, no matter how painful. To live as though there was no yesterday and no tomorrow, for in reality, there isn’t.

For, the Now is too gloriously alive to be ignored and passed over. As Thoreau put it so well in ‘Walden’, “ In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line.” Amen.

INSTALLING SANITY

███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

44% DONE. Installation failed. 404 error: Sanity not found. The piece of mind you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please try again...

Footnote : So please beware, I am only partially sane ...

Inception

You can have what you want, do what you dream, and brave what you fear, if you first see it done in your mind.

- Mike Dooley

People

"There are three types of people in the world. Those that can count and those that can't." :)

And, even better -


"There are 10 types of people in the world. The ones who understand binary and the ones who don't."

(pinched from FB :)))

Belief testing ...

A candid look at religions of the world

(I know you will like this one, Genie ..... :)

Rebirth

In the dark cradle of the night
when impish dream sprites play
outrageous, outlandish movies
on mind-screens of men, sleeping.

And a pearly moon hangs there, coy
and serene, allowing herself
to be unclothed and reclothed
by merry, mercurial clouds.

And the day is a germ of a seed
in the womb of the horizon
and is a long way from gestating
into a full-blossomed dawn.

Into my heart, open, unguarded,
you slip in, silent, unbidden.
Would it be pain, that ensuing pang,
or the joy of meeting you anew,

I never could tell. As memories
tumble, tinkling, into that cavern
still raw from the whiplash of parting,
and lit with glowworms of longing.

The music that rises from heartstrings
now troubled into trembling aliveness,
with the searing ecstasy of pain, must
surely awaken the gods from slumber.

But what could they do, those sleeping,
disinclined designers of destiny,
taciturn, tight-lipped, tongue-tied,
who refuse to emerge from mute forms.

As we, unmindful of our power,
flounder through life, with each
stumbling step, seemingly seeking
joy, while fatally courting sorrow.

Until, learn we must, with each
fateful whip-stroke of fate, that
a joyous soul lies waiting, to be
uncovered, owned, embraced.

And so, in the womb of the night,
pain transforms and sprouts wings
and births itself as a splendorous
being, of rapturous, dazzling joy. 

~~~

Breaking surface

Let no one keep you from your journey,

no rabbi or priest, no mother

who wants you to dig for treasures

she misplaced, no father

who won't let one life be enough,

no lover who measures their worth

by what you might give up,

no voice that tells you in the night

it can't be done.

Let nothing dissuade you

from seeing what you see

or feeling the winds that make you

want to dance alone

or go where no one

has yet to go.

You are the only explorer.

Your heart, the unreadable compass.

Your soul, the shore of a promise

too great to be ignored.

~ Mark Nepo

The flight between trapezes

Now that I am faced with yet another change, it has become very clear to me, that my life is not meant to be lived in the comfort zone. I notice that every time I settle down into comfort, circumstances change or events happen that pitchfork me from comfort into chaos. Then for a large period of time, I stumble and curse. I kick and scream and tread water, trying hard not to drown, just simply to remain afloat. Needless to say, over time all this abates and I settle down comfortably into aforesaid and previously markedly uncomfortable circumstances. Then, guess what happens next!

This chain of change and settling in and then change again, I began to find a bit bothersome, until recently I came across a reference to a trapeze jumper. And I thought about how, when a trapeze jumper lets go of the bars that his legs were hitched to and reaches for the hands or bars that will hitch him again, there are a few seconds when he is not supported by anything. This is the time when he is actually flying, in the air, on his own. The little gap when he is greatest at risk of falling and also the time when he is most alive. When he is supported by nothing but grace.

When I apply this analogy to my life, I find that it applies to me too.  For me, one of the stimuli that gives me the experience of feeling alive is change, of facing the unknown, of pitting myself against challenges not certain if I can meet them and yet certain that everything is going to be alright. Risk-taking releases adrenalin, that gives a high, and from time to time, I crave that high.

Change also brings out various hidden facets of my personality or adds new ones by forcing me to acquire skills that I previously didn’t have. Even though the change may sometimes not be to my liking, I like to think that I am evolving with change, growing roots, branches and wings, that it is taking me closer to fulfilling my limitless potential. 

A poem by Mark Nepo

Having loved enough and lost enough,

I'm no longer searching

just opening,

no longer trying to make sense of pain

but trying to be a soft and sturdy home

in which real things can land.

These are the irritations

that rub into a pearl.

So we can talk for a while

but then we must listen,

the way rocks listen to the sea.

And we can churn at all that goes wrong

but then we must lay all distractions

down and water every living seed.

And yes, on nights like tonight

I too feel alone. But seldom do I

face it squarely enough

to see that it's a door

into the endless breath

that has no breather,

into the surf that human

shells call God.

~ Mark Nepo

Accepting this

Yes, it is true. I confess,
I have thought great thoughts,
and sung great songs—all of it
rehearsal for the majesty
of being held.

The dream is awakened
when thinking I love you
and life begins
when saying I love you
and joy moves like blood
when embracing others with love.

My efforts now turn
from trying to outrun suffering
to accepting love wherever
I can find it.

Stripped of causes and plans
and things to strive for,
I have discovered everything
I could need or ask for
is right here —
in flawed abundance.

We cannot eliminate hunger,
but we can feed each other.
We cannot eliminate loneliness,
but we can hold each other.
We cannot eliminate pain,
but we can live a life
of compassion.

Ultimately,
we are small living things
awakened in the stream,
not gods who carve out rivers.

Like human fish,
we are asked to experience
meaning in the life that moves
through the gill of our heart.

There is nothing to do
and nowhere to go.
Accepting this,
we can do everything
and go anywhere.

~ Mark Nepo

Speech

Before you speak, ask yourself,

is it kind,

is it necessary,

is it true,

does it improve on the silence?

~ Sai Baba.