My journey in gratitude continues ...

 This month has been a hectic one for me, especially at my work place, where there has been a series of meetings and programmes as part of our commitment. Also I was also very excited that the swimming pool started functioning from this month, so I enrolled once again for this year, and was happy to get back to swimming, which is joy for me. The very touch of waters sends me a thrill, and I love spending time in the pool.

I have been swimming  just a week, and I developed cold and cough, an pain in my throat, so I just gave a break for myself, I stopped swimming  for two days– instead visited the doctor to check if there was some infection, there was, so I am now on antibiotics. 

This morning, I got up after a good night’s rest, and as usual practiced yoga, without pushing myself too much, with doing whatever exercises I felt like doing, and spent some time in meditation, where I did some deep breathing exercises. 

I cooked and served healthy food for the family, sent my daughter Dorothy to school and spent some time with Rachael my 17 year old niece, who has come home to stay with us for holidays,   showing her some inspiring books that are with me to read, and what she could do at home while I am away for work.

To help myself, I packed a small box of raw food, containing, carrots, beetroot, and cucumber to my office, (whatever was available at home) with a small serving of chapatti and dal.  While I worked the whole morning, busy preparing for another workshop – the afternoon I took a short break, and sent some thank you notes to some of my friends, who were on my mind and who have been so much part of my life, that I cannot forget them. 

As my heart filled with thanksgiving, I quickly wrote what I felt to them with great love, and I sensed the energy level rise in me.  It has also been a long time, since I posted something on the blog, so I decided to post on my blog, what I experienced.  While I made a decision to be kind to myself – I have done everything to honor myself and keep myself happy.

I keep moving on ……. a journey of gratitude …. To dare to love, care and share what I have …

Be Blessed & Be happy!

 

Life is an Echo!

I came across a very interesting story recently – there is a belief that in our country,  taking a dip in river Ganges will purify and wash away all the sins.  Hence a lot of people go for pilgrimage to the  temple which is at the river Ganges. Ganga causes the remission of sins and facilitates the attainment of salvation or nirvana. This deep-rooted truth is proved by the fact that people travel from distant places to immerse the ashes of their kin in the waters of the Ganga at Varanasi or other places located on the banks of this holy river. 

There was one very inquisitive person who wanted to understand, how  river Ganga is able to hold so many people’s sins ?  So he went and spoke to river Ganges asking “ how is it that you are able to shoulder  so many people’s  sins ?,   aren’t you burdened, for which the river  replied, it is very simple, I do not carry any of the loads of sins of anyone on this earth, I just pass this loads of sins to the ocean.  

So the man went to the ocean and asked the same question “how is it that you are able to carry on so many people’s sin?  For which the Ocean replied, it is very simple, I do not carry any load of sins on myself, I just pass it on to the cloud.

So the man went to the clouds and asked the same question “how is it that you are able to carry on so many people’s sin?  For which the cloud replied, it is very simple, I do not carry any sins or burdens,  I just distribute what came to me back to the same people according to the weight of their sins.

Moral of the story – what we sow, is what we reap! Every one of us is responsible for every action in our life, I felt very amused at this story, I never heard it before, but I am happy to understand the concept of what we get is what we give.

Today I am reminding myself to give only what is the best – to do only good and to be good, not only to experience the goodness back in my life, to surround myself with only what is best and good.  For I live only once and I want to live well! 

Be Blessed & Be happy!

 

Empower yourself with Positive Thoughts

 I am glad to bring in small changes to keep my body healthy, but I am not only my body, what I think and what I feed by mind everyday contributes to a healthy mind, and there are plenty of information available and studies made on mind –body- spirit connectedness.   While I continue my journey of gratitude, I find that it is very important for me to keep my mind cool, calm, peaceful and think only positive and empowering thoughts.

Even though I know that I must not be letting my mind wander and move into past or think negatively about anything in general, it’s been a challenge for me; we cannot stop ourselves from thinking, and the mind is always busy, shifting from one thought to another.  

We are either thinking of yesterday, or we are busy planning for the days ahead, and in the process we find it difficult to live in the now. Allowing our mind to dwell on the past, and looking ahead of what is going to happen, robs us of the happiness that is available in the now.

My son’s death has been the most painful experience in my life; I could not help but give in to the thoughts of why it happened to me? Why me? What have I done? In what way I have invited this misfortune into my life.  There are no ready made answers in life, only questions are assured and not answers.  

Every time Emmanuel my son came to my mind, I experience pain, so deep, that it would leave me crippled and paralyzed.  I could not stop my thoughts from coming into my mind, every small experience with him has been stored so carefully, that it produced a variety of emotions all the time, sometimes I smile, at times I cry, other times I am amused and at some moments I am shocked, silenced and there are also times I am inspired.

I try every time to move away from these thoughts, which is not an easy task, as the thoughts keep coming and leads me further into the details of my son’s life, I need to make a deliberate choice, a choice to be kind and patient with myself, to accept that it’s ok to think about my son and grieve, but at the same time I need to also look at what my son has gifted me with, as he departed from my life.

The privilege to have given birth to an angel, for the opportunity to have spent seven years of my life with him as his mother, learning to understand the meaning of unconditional love, experience love so pure and liberating, challenging me to love every person who comes into my life not only those born with special needs, but also those who become special because of situations and events in their lives.

And above all leading me to meaningful and fulfilling work-  of listening to the students at my work place, communicating understanding and sharing their struggles and sorrows and helping them find meaning to their own problems. So every time, I am faced with negative thoughts, I become aware and replace it with positive ones, I struggle, but I do not give up, I continuously appreciate and affirm myself for being positive, for positive attitudes transforms life.

Simple ways to keep minds positive:

·         Deliberately use words as I am able, it’s possible, it can be done and I can and I will.

·         Choose to be happy at all times, smile more, be aware of happiness, and affirm yourself as divine and magnificent expression of life.

·         Be thankful to all those around you, even if they have done something very small, do not forget to thank and appreciate them

·         Refuse to think negative thoughts, and if it happens, distract yourself into an activity you love to do.

·         Watch happy TV serials/movies, comedy that will keep you happy always.

·         Surround yourself with people who are positive thinkers

·         Read inspiring articles, stories, magazines & books.

 

“When you have control over your thoughts, you have control over your life.”

 

Be Blessed & Be Happy !