What Can You Do Today?

A central teaching in most spiritual traditions is “what you wish to experience, provide for another”. Look to see, now, what it is you wish to experience in your own life, and in the world. Then see if there is another for whom you may be the source of that.

• If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another
• If you wish to experience that you are safe, cause others to know that they are safe
• If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, help another to better understand.
• If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger or another.

Those others are waiting for you now. They are looking to you for guidance, for help, for courage, for strength, for understanding, and for assurance at this hour. Most of all, they are looking to you for love. My religion is simple. My religion is kindness.
– Dalai Lama

I am inspired by the above lines, especially at this moment when I am experiencing grief, sadness, emptiness and void after the death of my son. I am beginning to realize, that these emotions too have their own purpose in my life.

I am glad for family and friends who are extremely kind and supportive, and I have allowed myself to be healed. Even though the memories of my son are fresh in my mind, and I get overwhelmed whenever I think of him, but I am happy for pain, as I am sure that it will fulfill a purpose on this earth.

I believe life is full of opportunities, I am responding to my call, how about you. What are you experiencing now, that you can provide for another?

Have a meaningful day !

Marriage Anniversary

Eleven years have passed by since my marriage. Time just flies. When I look back, there is so much to share. Marriage has transformed me and has given me a new definition of who I am, and it has made me sensitive, humane, courageous and responsible. Marriage brings in problems in perceptions of how one views oneself, life, God and others – and it becomes a challenge in accepting another person in our life who is very different from us, in every way.

Living together provides an opportunity to look at the weaknesses and limitations of our spouses, demanding us to accept and accommodate ourselves in the new situation in order to give a chance for the marriage to succeed.  

My experience says that only a happy person can be happy in marriage, as happiness is a choice and a decision one makes in life. I have come across inspiring persons who were happy as a spinsters and now continue to remain happy even after marriage. It's not that they are lucky. When we look at their lives, they are faced with enough and more challenges. They are happy because they have had made a decision to be happy,  no matter what happens in life.

Today I am thankful to God for the last eleven years of our married life, and all that marriage has brought in, a combination of joys, sorrows, sickness, health and above all learnings which has made me not only tough but also tender Marriage has also brought in beautiful relationships, deepened my faith in God and has taught me to enjoy the journey.

Today I am thankful for all the persons in my life who have accompanied me, my parents who brought me up and gave me space to grow, my brothers and sisters from whom I learnt the joy of sharing and caring in a large family, my husband and his family for their support while I worked, my friends for being my inspiration and strength.

Today I celebrate the joy of journeying together, sharing what I have received with love and gratitude.

May you be Blessed today!

 

Forgiveness – The Best Gift

It been more than one and half months, that David my husband is at home, and totally dependent on me, and it makes him feel very vulnerable, as he needs one person all the time with him, I see him struggle, as he was a very active person, and he does not rest even when he is ill. Now a fracture of his knee, he is forced to take  complete bed rest. He gets impatient, restless and anxious, as he is not supposed to walk, so he is counting days when the doctor will ask him to place his leg down, which will take another week.

As for me responding to him, and the kids and manage the kitchen and also help my husband with his paper work is quite demanding, while I strive for balance, I am challenged by thoughts of negative experiences, hurts and wounded situations, which gives rise to feelings of anger, revenge, hatred and unforgiveness.

The easiest thing to do is use this opportunity to give back what I have received from my husband and tell him how wrong he was, and settle the scores, as he is very vulnerable. But I do have a choice, wherein I could be kind and forgive everything, and move on, and I chose to forgive, once I made a decision in my mind,  my feelings changed, and there was only compassion that enabled me to see from the other side and understand.

I realize the best gift one can give especially to your spouse is the gift of forgiveness, living together is a challenge, and successful relationships are those, wherein there is not only love but also  forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a part of emotional and spiritual evolution.   When we fight off forgiveness we tend to lock ourselves in an emotional prison with the person we refuse to forgive.  Even holding on to simple anger and grudge will only hurt the one who is holding on to it.

When you forgive and move on, you are releasing yourself from negative holds of the past and freeing yourself from the burden of bitterness.

Today I make a choice to forgive everyday and renew my commitment to love, accept and forgive at all times.

Renewal in my life

Emmanuel my son has brought a renewal in my life. I say this because I had forgotten to sing and dance in my life. I used to be a very independent for too long and enjoying plenty of freedom, I enjoyed singing, and action songs, games and energizers, and also walking, meditating, and reading inspiring books. However, after marriage and the arrival of my daughter, things changed drastically for me, 

I had to learn to cope with lot of things in my life, and succeeded well in bringing in a balance to my life, of continuing my work, and also bringing up my kids in a joint family set up.  Over a period of time, with life getting tough - needed to manage career, family life, and kids - I found no time for singing, listening to music and reading and I required time to enjoy the company of myself and do all those things I loved.

I'm trying hard to raise up my kids, especially my son, who has frequent respiratory infections, cold, cough and  delayed speech. Amidst all this, he is a happy child, very much inclined to music and dance.

In order to respond to him, I've started singing and dancing again, and continue to do so as he  enjoys and  learns all the life skills with music and dance. Even if I have to brush his teeth, I sing, and while he wants to eat, play, learn, rest, everything is done by a song, dance and music. Singing, dancing and listening to music all the time, makes a lot of difference, and also keeps me happy and optimistic.

Now, music and dance has become a way of life in our family, and I owe it all to my son who brought in so much of positive energy, which energizes me and lifts me up with joy leading me to rejoice in small things and fills me with gratitude.

Be Happy!

            

Happy Birthday to my Darling Daughter

Today my heart is rejoicing as my daughter celebrates her 9^th birthday, I recall with gratitude the last 8 years that was filled with so much love, laughter and fun.  I also thank God and all those wonderful persons in my life who accompanied me in my journey into motherhood, and continue to remain a great source of strength to me. Here’s  a small note for my lovely daughter.

My Darling Daughter Maria Dorothy,

I am so happy to have you in my life, truly you are God’s gift to me, and you will always remain my first miracle of life that I held in my arms, even though, some times, your brother takes more attention from me, you will always hold a special place in my heart. Forgive me for the times, I have unconsciously given a little more of my time to your brother who has special needs.

On your birthday, I want you to know how special you are to me, and indeed the most beautiful, lovable and adorable person in my life, I want to wish you a very happy, joyous, and a meaningful birthday to you. May the Lord bless you, guard and guide you al l through your life.

With lots and lots of love and kisses from your mom,

“A daughter is a miracle that never ceases to be miraculous...full of beauty and forever beautiful...loving and caring and truly amazing. “  Deanna Beisser