Alisha Gorder's Article  is very interesting and instructive. Reading and reflecting on this article makes me think about how to live wisely. According to my understanding, life is fleeting. We tend to live in the delusion and fantasy that life is eternal. This delusion keeps me abiding in darkness and I forget that life is fleeting and one day my body and mind will go away. This article makes me think and live with a clear understanding of how I live my life. My life is very precious. It is very important. Today I am here and tomorrow I may not be here. This is the truth. Realizing this truth makes me live mindfully. Every breath of my life is precious and to breathe wisely. Today is the day. I may not be here tomorrow. Knowing this truth helps me know how to live daily and fully. Each day is a good day. Each day is a God's day. Each day, each breath is very precious. Seeing many people passing away in my long life has taught me how to live my life everyday. I have come to realize how to live everyday and every night. Today I am alive. Tomorrow I may not be here. Knowing this truth I have come to see the value of living everyday mindfully. Realizing the impermanence of life keeps me awake and mindful of living my life meaningfully. May we realize how to live fully and gratefully. This is my prayer. Amen.
Namaste.

​Below is my reflection to the article by Brian J Plachta:
Life is like a river flowing through ups and downs of living and I need to go with the flow. As a human being, I have gone through many ups and downs in my life. Rather than fighting against the ups and downs of life I have learnt to accept both. When I accept both I do not block the flow of energy. I accept the ups and downs of the current of the river in my life. Maintaining a dynamic balance between ups and downs saves my energy and it helps me to go with the flow. As a growing human being I have learnt that to err is human and to forgive is divine. When I err I do not deny my error. I forgive myself, learn from my errors and move on. I do not create a wall of denial, deceive myself and continue repeating the same cycle of misery. From my experience, I have learnt the lesson of not to stop the river of life flowing. From my experience I have learnt to let the river of forgiveness flow. Forgiving myself and the others in my life and loving myself unconditionally has lightened the burden of living mindlessly. I practice the art of living mindfully accepting the truth that I am not perfect and other people in my life are also not perfect. We all are on the path of learning and transforming ourselves from darkness to light. May we all join our hands and walk on the path of learning, growing and relating to each other as children of God.
Namaste!

Based on the poem from the book- Wild Honey, Tough Salt by Kim Stafford, here is my reflection to it:
Like a bird I sing my own song. it is natural for a singing bird to sing. I sing my song not for an audience. I sing my song because it delights me. A song represents me. A song sings my authentic self. When I sing a song from my heart, it expresses me. It is my own song. It's my own life story with different colors. Each color of the story represents different emotions. It's like different colors of a rainbow. Different but real. I like the phrase " unity in diversity." Each color represents its own unique and authentic story yet each color has something in common. I describe it as "oneness in manyness." Like all human beings, I go through a wide spectrum of emotions-glad, mad, sad. I have learned that all emotions are sacred. I have learned to accept them without resistance. Accepting all emotions mindfully frees me from myself-created bondage and helps me fly freely in the sky. In my opinion we all go through ups and downs in life. Life is not like a straight line. It has its own curves. I have gone through many curves in my life. By the grace of people who love me unconditionally I have gone through difficult life cycles and my faith in the awakened self and in the goodness of people around me have helped me grow holistically.
​Namaste!

Below is my reflection to the excerpt of Jac O'Keeffe:
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Our mind gets attached and addicted, not our body. The desire to eat sweet or fried foods arises in the mind, not in the body. We have five senses: smell, taste, touch, hear and see. The mind may make harmful choices and cause problems for the body. Mind is the cause of physical problems. So it is up to Buddhi, the intellect, to discriminate between what is helpful and what is harmful. Discretion is the key that opens or closes our mind's doors. Mind is the cause of freedom or bondage. We need to make wise choices for our physical, mental, emotional, relational and spiritual well-being. It took time for me to go beyond my self-centered ' I story'. I have been practicing the path of going beyond "my my, me me" walls and embracing my "us us, us us" self. Walking on this path creates a deep sense of oneness, a sense of unitive consciousness. Practicing mindfulness in different areas of my everyday life helps me walk on the pilgrimage of my life. It creates and sustains joy, love, and serenity. May we all find and follow the path of liberation, union, and harmony!

Namaste! 

Who am I ? Am I fully present with my body, with my breath, with my emotion? With my thought? With my being? All these parts of myself are inter- connected. This is an experience of unitive consciousness. In that state I feel one with myself, with nature, and with human beings. In such a state of consciousness, all man- made differences fade away and I feel oneness.
When I do Yoga and Meditation I feel oneness with myself and with others. We are capable of having such experiences. Practicing nonjudgemental mindfulness helps me create and sustain the flow of unitive consciousness. It helps me to be connected with myself and with others in my life. It is a blessing.

Namaste!
Above is my reflection to Judith Blackstone's excerpt posted on awakin.org 

Robert G. Harwood is an author, and retired builder. Excerpt from Pouring Concrete, A Zen Path to the Kingdom of God is posted on awakin.org and below is my reflection to it:

There are two worlds we live in: one world is a world of sleeping; the other world is the world of awakening. The the first world is a world of illusion, the world of darkness. The second world is the world of light.
In the first world of sleeping, I am ignorant of my True Identity. Who is Mu? Who am I? The first world is a world of separation, a world of disconnection. The second world is a world of union, a world of harmony.
The first world is the world of bondage, the second world is the world of freedom.
In the first world I am bound by a gate of separation. The second world is gateless, a world of union. In the gateless world I feel oneness and harmony.
Life is a journey with ups and downs. When I am awake I realize the difference between freedom and bondage, Gate and Gatelessness. At times I lose my awareness of the Gateless Gate and create walls of separateness. When I get awakened I see the Gateless Gate and live with freedom. I live in the world of connectedness and harmony. Awareness of the world of Gateless Gate and living with that awareness helps me not to be bound by the Gate of separation. This is my pilgrimage and I am not in a hurry. May we all find our path of awakening, a path of Gateless Gate.
​Amen! Namaste,

Based on the lovely poem written by Chelan Harkin, here is my reflection:
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According to my experience prayer creates intimacy and a sense of oneness with existence. Prayer has helped me to be one with me, a sense of wholeness with existence. Prayer helps me to see the truth. Prayer takes me to a place which is beyond right and wrong, a place of oneness. When I was a child every evening we were chanting Divine songs. We were doing what we call Kirtan. Chanting together created a sense of intimacy, a sense of oneness or "onening". My childhood experiences have built a spiritual foundation of my life. This foundation has helped me go through thick and thin times of my life. It has helped me go through all seasons of my life. I love to read spiritual books and articles, reflect on what resonates in me, have discussions with friends and family members and regularly practice Mindfulness Meditation. We have created a spiritual community, a sangha where we virtually get together once a week for practicing Mindfulness Meditation and have spiritual discourses. Such weekly spiritual gatherings have helped us in our journey of life. May we all find our way to walk steadily in the journey of our life! This is my prayer.
Namaste!

I deeply resonate with the wise words of the author, David Bullon in this passage: " But a silent voice lures me inward. The deep -now seeks to liberate my meaning -seeking mind." I have been learning the value of silence. Our conditioned mind tends to oscillate between past and future and gets away from the deep flow of here and now. The past is already gone and the future is yet to come. The challenge I face is how to remain centered and go with the flow of the here-and-now consciousness. I have been learning not to get attached to the past experiences and the future aspirations. I have learned to be awakened and say good bye to the past and hello to the present. Such an understanding of the deep now helps me to step outside of my echo-mind and go beyond a search for meaning. I realize it is hard to break the old pattrens of dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. I am gald to know that I am on the path of freeing myself from the grip of the past and the future. I have leaned how to live in the here-and-now consciousness. May we all learn how to flow in the river of here-and-now consciousness!
​Namaste!

Below is my reflection to the Sufi teacher Pir Aga Mir's excerpt:
The foundation of all religions is spirituality. If our religious practices are not expanding our circle of empathy, compassion, love and care , what is their purpose? We need to join hands with each other to create Heaven on Earth. Living in Heaven is living a spiritual life here and now. Being contextually relevant means being relevant to the present times, people, and events, and the world at large. Past is gone, future has yet to come. Living spiritually is practicing spirituality in the here and now.
According to my understanding spirituality is responsive, not reactive to what is happening. Reactivity breaks bridges. Responsivity builds bridges. I daily do self-examination to be aware of my inner world: How am I responding to people different from me in many ways? Am I reacting or responding to people with different religious and cultural orientations? With different political ideologies? The world we live in has been divided into different and opposite worlds generating frustration, anger, and hatred-Me against you. Spirituality, not religiosity, can build the bridges. History shows how many religious wars have been created in the name of religion? How many religious conversions have been made by religious leaders? Spirituality unites, religiosity divides. Heart-to- heart connections with open heart and open mind are the ways to build the bridges of compassion and kindness. May we join our hands with each other to create a peaceful and blissful world!

Namaste!