Based on the article written by James Parker, here is my reflection:
​I expect success or good results from what I do. The same way I expect success or good results from what others do. There are times when my expectations from me and from others were not realized. When my expectations from me and from others were realized I felt happy and gratified. And when they were not realized I felt disappointed and unhappy.

What have I learned from my reflections on my satisfaction and dissatisfaction is to have realistic expectations from me and from others. This is better than being bound by my expectations from me and from others. However, the best way is to do the best I can without expectations of any kind. To do what I can do without being attached to the expectations of my own actions or the expectations of other's actions. This way of living brings fulfillment, peace and happiness. It helps me to live in actuality and in freedom.

Below is my reflection to the excerpt written by the author J.Krishnamurti:
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Where there is no fear, no doubt, no hesitation, no conditions there is love. Such love unites us and creates unbroken and undivided oneness. As I understand from my own experience, such love creates unity and oneness within and without, personal and interpersonal. My mother used to tell me, "You cannot love others if you do not love yourself." She was a living example of such deep, pure, truthful and blissful love. My mother planted the seeds of such pure love and the seeds and they grew into a fragrant and flowering plant. I have been blessed to be with people who has opened their arms to welcome me with deep affection and love. Mind can be our friend and mind can be our foe. When I use my mind to understand what causes disunity and what causes unity, my mind is my friend. I also have come to understand the power of heart, the power of kindness, compassion and love. We need three H's to live fully: Head, Heart and Hands. We need to cultivate intellect, love, and skillful hands to live a life of selfless service, unconditional love and purity of heart. These are the foundations of intrapersonal, interpersonal and communal wellbeing. And we all can do this.
Namaste! 

I love to read and re-read this beautiful poem Look Around In Wonder by Davis Griswold. It's a song of Wonderment, a song of Wow. The Wow experiences are happening in the Outside Natural World as well as in the Inside World, the world of the Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual dimensions. Both worlds offer gifts of surprise, wonderment and inspiration. It's a dynamic world with its own rhyme and rhythm.

The following four lines of the poem touch my heart and inspire me to live a life of wonderment:
Look above and look below And look at last within.
You'll see a river there,
And when you do, jump in.

The inner river is the river of delightful surprises, amazement, and fulfillment. I have been blessed to have such wow moments when I am in the midst of nature deeply enjoying the wonderful Divine creation and in the company of loving and caring people. It happens when I am walking on the spiritual path, receiving and offering gifts of unconditional love. Wonderment happens when I do not live in the past or worry about the future. Past is gone and future has yet to arrive. Living in the present moment mindfully with an open heart and practicing meditation regularly keeps the flame of curiosity and wonderment alive and unflickering.

​Namaste!

Below is the reflection based on the article written by Gangaji:
To me vigilance is to remain awake and aware of the reality unfolding right in front of my outward and inward eyes. When I keep my outward and inward eyes clear I make wise choices. Light of vigilance helps me see things as they are and not to be deluded.

It is very important to me to remain awakened and aware of the physical, mental, emotional, behavioral and relational dimensions of my life. When I am vigilant about how I relate to these dimensions of my life everyday living becomes joyful and blissful.

As I have mentioned before awakening and awareness helps me live blissfully. Light of vigilance helps me to live mindfully and fully.
Namaste!

Gamble On Humanity written by Ayisha Suddika presents a bold, brave, and courageous perspective on dealing with serious problems we have been facing in the world: problems like social injustice, racial and other forms of discrimination , and world wide pollution. There are different ways of dealing with such problems. Such as ignoring them, having an 'ostrich mentality', or taking revengeful actions.

Great contemporary leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Dalai Lama and a few others have taken a different route: a route of non-violence, demonstrations, compassion, service, and unconditional love. Such leaders have taken road less traveled even at the risk the of being assassinated. Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, India followed the path of civil disobedience and non-violence. He took a gamble, a bold innovative step. We followed his path of non-cooperation and no-violence and got liberated from the grip of the British rule. I have been following this path in dealing with social and political injustice. Building my "house" on this foundation and living in it with firm determination helps me commit to "Life unto life." Let me conclude with the words of wisdom spoken by Mahatma Gandhi : "Eye for an eye will make the whole world bind."

​Namaste! 

Based on the excerpt of Gal Beckerman, here are my reflections:
I always value a balance between talking and remaining silent; a balance between open mouth and closed mouth. I apply this principle in my communication with people in my daily life. When I do not have such balance, my communication with people becomes shallow, superficial, and inauthentic. In order to have a deep and authentic communication, we need to learn to listen attentively, to be silent to process our ideas, thoughts and feelings. Between stimulus and response, there is a gap and in that gap of silence, deep and genuine communication is born. Silence, reflection and empathic understanding are the core ingredients of deep and genuine communication. I have learned to create dynamic balance between talking and maintaining alive silence. In my couple counseling sessions, I teach this balance and I see how this practice helps the couple to be engaged with each other in deep and meaningful ways. When and why seeking solitude is very important. The purpose of seeking solitude is not avoid engagement with each other. The purpose is to take time out to have a quiet space to reflect deeply on what works and what doesn't work in remaining engaged with each other. This way seeking solitude is not a trap but to enrich relationships. It is a blessing.
​Namaste!

Here is my reflection to the article posted on awakin.org: 
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There are two sides of the Self: selfish and selfless; greedy and generous; sinful and sinless. When we are born There is pure self. As we grow we are conditioned by outside sources which create an imbalance between me and the other. The innate oneness and wholeness is fractured or divided. So we wrestle with ourselves, between the wrong side of ourselves and the right side of ourselves. We live in a divided inner house which drains our energy. When we wake up and see the light we see our Real Self-beyond dualism, beyond boundaries. And that's who we are. We become 'me we'. Life is a journey with ups and downs. There have been times in my life when I lost the dynamic balance and harmony in my interpersonal relationships and cause suffering in me and in others who loved me. I learnt the right, the wholesome way of relating to me and to others close to me. There is HOPE for evolution and transformation. It is an intrapersonal and an interpersonal dynamics in relationships. Look within with open, clear, and unbiased eyes to discover our True Self, our pure consciousness and live life in accord with our True Self. Daily uninterrupted practice called nirantara abhaysa and non-attachment called anasakti, and of remaining awake and aware of my thoughts, emotions and actions helps me walk on the path of liberation and peace.

Namaste!

Isira is a indigenous wisdom keeper from Australia. As a young adult, Tibetan Lamas, recognizing her as an important incarnation, travelled to bring her from Adelaide, South Australia, to the Himalayas to be ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Based on the writings by Isira, below is my reflections:

Relationships give birth. Relationships nourish life. Relationships connect us. How do we relate to each other makes a big difference. Relationships unite us. Relationships divide us. Relationships become a friend. Relationships can be an enemy. Healthy relationships create oneness. In wholesome relationships me becomes you, you becomes me. There is no dualism in healthy relationships. There is Divine union. Our True Identity, our True Nature has no divisiveness. Body and mind have forms. Soul is formless. When we perceive the Realty this way it becomes a gift. Life becomes a blessing. I felt oneness between me and my parents, me and my spouse, between me and my friends, between me and a stranger, between me and nature. In such relationships, I felt oneness. Daily meditations have opened the door of Oneness for me. When we do weekly satsanga we feel such oneness. In such experiences the individual self becomes the universal Infinite Self. It is an experience of Unitive Consciousness.
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Namaste!

As the author Carrie Newcomer says, either "overwork (the most revered attention in our culture) or a selfless form of not taking care of myself (a revered spiritual misconception in our culture)". Living this way creates perpetual imbalance in our life. It creates and perpetuates an energy draining cycle. According to me, a wise way of living is creating a dynamic balance in my life. Another lesson I learned from this story is how to connect with the deeper inner part of my being. As Thomas Merton calls the "True Self" or as the Quaker calls "The Inner Light" or as the Vedic sages call "The Light Within." All of us have the inner trusted "spiritual good bones". We are born with this inner gift. And all of us have some trusted outer resources. A wise way of living a happy, creative, and peaceful life is creating a dynamic between these two trusted resources. We need to wake up from our sleep to see the inner light and remain awakened. Like any other being, there have been times in my life when I have made harmful choices, creating suffering in me and in people close to me. I learned valuable lessons from my suffering. I woke up and saw "The Inner Light", my "True Self". We create our own internal messiness and we create our own burden. What helps me to end my suffering and be free from it is introspection, compassionate mindfulness, and remaining awake. Living my life this way requires self work: patience, endurance, open-mindedness, and open-heartedness. When I live this way my life becomes a blessing to me.
​Namaste!

Reading this passage by Danusha Lameris reminds me of two of my favorite authors: F.F.Schumacher who wrote 'Small Is Beautiful' and Mother Teresa who wrote 'Be Kind Anyway'. Kindness done from our loving heart opens the door to Divinity, "the true dwelling of the holy." We get many opportunities to receive and express gifts of small acts of kindness everyday of our life. Such gifts bring joy and happiness to the giver and the receiver. It creates holy or spiritual connections regardless of outward differences-financial, political, racial, or religious. I was born and raised in a relatively poor family. Financially we were poor, but inwardly we were affluent. I saw my parents giving small amounts of food to hungry people. Seeing them happy by these small acts of kindness was a blessing to us. This gift of giving has opened my heart and has made me very happy and enriched. I am blessed to have such parents for teaching me the value of acts of kindness. They provided good modeling and I am very grateful to them for giving me the gift of kindness. May we all do small acts of kindness in whatever way we can.
​Namaste!