David Whyte has written an interesting read that you can find here. Here is my reflection on the article:
​Feeling lonely, disconnected and depressed is sadly growing more in our society. We are born by intimacy, we survive by intimacy and thrive by intimacy. We need to open our mind and heart to be connected with the world of nature and others like us. We need to make a shift from I-It to I-Thou.

How can I relate to the world of sound if I keep my ears plugged? How can I listen to the live silence of nature if I keep my mind noisy? How can I smell the fragrance of blooming flowers if I keep my nose plugged? How can I feel the warmth of your touch if I keep my hands off? How can I feel your presence if I am not present with you?. How can I see me if I am not awake? The universe offers countless gifts to us. We need to empty our task -loaded hands to receive them.

Three days ago my grandson invited me to do mindfulness meditation with him in the early morning  hours. We sat in our front yard sitting silently with open heart and open mind. During the twenty minutes of mindfulness meditation, we got deeply connected with the touch of the cool air, the enchanting fragrance of the  blooming flowers , the sight of the rising sun and  the chirping of the birds.We also felt joyfully and deeply connected with each other without words.

Everything is waiting for us. Yes. We need to say YES to it and gracefully welcome it.

Click here to read a nice article written by Timber Hawkeye. Following is my reflection on the article:
This writing by Timber Hawkeye reminds me of St Francis of Assisi's Peace Prayer. It begins with," Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon;  where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy." And it ends with these uplifting  words: "for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal life." This is the spiritual dimension of living. Knowing it and practicing it, contemplating and acting, extends and expands our awareness leading to pure awareness. As the Budha says, "Asho dhammo sanatanaha. This is the Eternal spiritual law." When I am quiet not justifying my wrong doing or reacting to other's wrong doing, I see the light of this spiritual wisdom. I understand my wrong doing  empathically as a human being and of the other too like me as a human being. When I see myself  and the other with the sense of empathy and compassion, I hear the underlying cry for love behind anger and hatred and violence.

This is an ongoing journey in my life and I am going through it slowly and steadily. My path gets more enlightened with each step and I am grateful to great spiritual teachers for guiding me in the journey of my life. My journey becomes a pilgrimage.
I would like to conclude with the words of wisdom by my favorite Russian author Leo Tolstoy: " Love is the only way to rescue humanity of all its ills."

Namaste!
May we sow love where there is hurt, hatred and injury!

I read a wonderful article by Elizabeth Gilbert. You can read the article here. The following is my reflection:
​How sad it is that  as we grow up we get put down and self degrading messages from the people who also love us and care about us. Such messages grow like bad roots in our unconscious mind and have a significant impact on our sense of self. This touching and beautiful story teaches us to welcome the innocent stranger, our own future mysterious and blameless  self, to befriend him or her, and extend our conscious hand of affection. We may not be able to do something about our bruised past self but we can welcome our self to come with loving and kind tenderness.

There are times when I have beaten myself for making big mistakes such as hurting someone close to me. What has helped me to meet and be my innocent mysterious self is the kind and loving people in my life for accepting me  with affection as I am. I have been practicing loving kindness meditation. Being compassionate to oneself and to others has helped me to stay rooted in affection and sympathy toward my future self.

May we be open to welcome our innocent stranger!

Here is my reflection on a wonderful article written by Pablo Neruda. Click here to read it.

 Poet Pablo Neurada remins me of a poem written by an anonymus Zen master.
                                     Sitting by the river
                                     Doing nothing,
                                     Spring comes
                                     The grass grows by itself.
Such words of wisdom have been sign posts in my life, a daily reminder to count up to twelve, be in the zone of being, letting go of my busy and often noisy world of doing and having. Such words remind me to pause, feel and be with my natural rhythm of life giving and life sustaining breath, to count up to twelve, to stay in the being zone. Such words have been my daily prayer washing  away the noise of irritation and agitation, frustration and anger, and fear and anxiety. Such words open up the door for meeting my being without craving and without holding.They create a wide open space  filled with unseen beauty, unheard sound, and unknown strangers. Such words take me to a land of emptiness filled with fullness,a land of formless forms, a land beyond space and time. This is my daily prayer, a meditative prayer creating birth of joy, awe, joy, fufillment  and gratitude in my daily living.

May we take time out to count up to twelve everyday to be connected with our being!
Namaste

This is my reflection to an article by Lisel Mueller. The original article is found here.​

​The world is in the eye of the beholder. So true! There are two worlds-the outer world and the inner world. When I see the outer world with my outer physical eyes, I see parts of the world distinct from one another. The outer world is made up of natural objects like trees, leaves of trees, flowers, waves of oceans and streams of rivers. The human world is filled with all kinds of differences. If I see the world with outer eyes, I see the world of separateness and divisiveness. Black versus white, rich versus poor, east versus west, life versus death, me versus you, my religion versus your religion.These differences create distances , conflicts and wars. We lose the seamless thread of the reality, the oneness in manyness. When I see the same world with my inner eyes I see the interconnectedness and even oneness in the apparent divisiveness. The world appears as we see it.

In my daily life, when I see the outer world with the eyes of my heart, I see the interconnectedness of life. At times I experience the outer world as an integral part of my being and at times as an extension of my being. Seeing people with the eyes of my heart, with empathy, kindness and compassion builds a bridge between the seer and the seen. This way of living enriches my inner life. I find it difficult to relate to self-centered and unkind people with empathy, kindness and compassion. I know I am not perfect. I am working on myself. Loving Kindness " Metta" mediation helps me to relate to such "difficult" people.

I have been practicing Mindfulness way of living. Such a way of living helps me to develop interconnectedness with life, oneness in manyness, and unity in diversity. It is a life-long journey and I am not in a rush. I remember and implement the wise saying, " Hasten slowly!

Namaste!

I read a thought provoking post by Margaret Wheatley. Here is her post

Who Do We Choose To Be?
My reflections to the above post is as follows:

There are leaders who create islands of insanity and there are leaders who create islands of sanity.  I have witnessed both kinds of leaders. When leaders relate to  people as human beings and not as units, they create change in the society. They deeply care for them and bring about large changes.We are blessed to have such leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and Maria Montessori to name a few. Such leaders choose a path of serving people with courage, patience and perseverance. 

I participated in Free India movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. He initiated the path of non-violence
against the mighty British empire He chose the path of changing the hearts of the rulers. He worked tirelessly for the wellness of all people of India, especially the poor farmers, laborers and untouchables.He inspired many leaders in many lcountries to follow the path of non-violence against social injustice and exploitation.

I agree it is not easy to blaze new trails.It is hard to make significant and grate change against establishment and against self-serving and power -hungry leaders. Great leaders awaken the people and create movements that result in a big change.We need such leaders in all parts of the world. 

May we have leaders who create islands of sanity for the well-being of all people!

Here is a nice article by Jane Brunette that I would like to share :
Dropping Out, Like The Buddha
And, my reflections to the article are as follows:
​ Middle path provides a transcendental perspective and vision. Either or is a dualistic perspective causing split, divisiveness, imbalance, separateness and disharmony. These are the ingredients of pain, suffering and destruction. Religious, political and ideological wars have been wedged through out history by holding on to the bipolar extremist  and rigid positions.The perspective which mindfully relates to opposite perspectives opens an avenue of inclusiveness and connectedness.

I have a few friends who hold  the extremist view"our way is the only right way" for every one's salvation. Sadly, such a view excludes others like me who have a different spiritual orientation. It is my position that Truth is one which is realized and expressed in different ways by different people. Dalai Lama calls it "secular spirituality". According to Dalai Lama anyone can follow their chosen spiritual path without  judging and putting down other's spiritual path ways. This is the middle way, a way to create universal harmony.

May we relate to others who are different from us with mindfulness, open -mindedness and open- heartedness!

I read an amazing post by Jack Kornfield. You can read the full article here.

My reflections on the post are as follows
"Reading Jack Kornfield's writing makes me feel at home. It is like home coming. I was raised in a  poor family of nine members: father, mother and four brothers and three sisters. In spite of poverty, we felt spiritually whole and wealthy.Our parents embodied spirituality in everyday living. Every evening we used to go to the nearby temple to pray and worship. Our parents made a little shrine in our home and we used to pray every morning.Our home was our temple, Love, truth,compassion, grace and forgiveness were the foundations of our family temple. That became the way of our living.We were blessed to live near the Gandhi Ashram and used to attend evening  spiritual gatherings in the presence of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji inspired us and reinforced our spiritual way of living.When a journalist asked Gandhiji, "What is your message?", his answer was simple and profound, " My life is my message."

Almost every Sunday morning, I go to a community church with my daughter and her family. She is married to a Catholic gentleman. I listened to the pastor's sermon. The message is the same that I learned as I was growing up in India.Spirittualty is the way of living, the 'Path of the Undivided Heart." Let everyday be a Jesus Day or Buddha Day or Krsihna or Rama day. Material wealth and material possessions, and our out word appearances and religious dogmatic beliefs may divide us as me against us, or make us believe  we are greater and better than others.The spiritual reality or truth is that we all are one family, that where we live are is our temple.This is my understanding of spirituality, of living spiritually 

My everyday spiritual practices, prayer and meditation, help me to live from my undivided heart. My work is my worship. My living is my prayer.

I would like to conclude my reflections by quoting Chief Seattle: " We do not weave the web of our life; we are merely the strand in it. Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves."

May we make our New Year's resolution: let our  home be our temple and let us embrace spirituality with an undivided heart!

Namaste! ​"

• What do I care about beyond myself?
• What small action can I take today that is in line with this belief?
• How will my actions affect the world in the long run?

    Then take these values and turn them into verbs. If you value family time, start putting smartphones aside during dinner, create a plan for a monthly family outing.... If it’s the environment, consider volunteering your time or donating money to an organization that supports that cause, or both.

   3. Be generous: it’s contagious. There is no experience more uplifting than giving. At the base of generosity is compassion, which research finds has a direct impact on well-being. You know what’s cooler? Generosity is generative:The more you practice, the better you feel and the easier it becomes to be generous! Plus, it’s contagious. Your act of generosity very well might inspire someone else to act kindly toward another....Or get more connected.Try smiling at a stranger, tell a friend that you appreciate them, or tell a loved one how much they mean to you. It all adds up- and adds to your happiness quotient.
Remember. Real life isn’t all rainbows and kittens, but real happiness is always
available, even in rough times.

My reflections on the post are as following.
Reading this article reminds me  of a wise statement written by Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl. "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Our  mind is hijacked by our emotionally disturbed mind causing harm to us and others connected with us..This is where we need to pause to create that space which frees us from the grip of the reactive mind.

I  need to be mindful of how much unnecessary stuff I keep on buying crowding my external space. How much I hoard invading my own room. Likewise, I need to be mindful of how much junk I stuff in my mind in the form of destructive thoughts and destructive emotions, holding on to the past and narrowing  my inner space. Sadly, we create our own pathology.

We need to wake up and attend to the accumulation of the external stuff and the internal stuff. We need to learn to let go of the stuff that we do not really need. I can be my own killer and I can be my own healer.  It's my choice. It's up to me.We can do that by learning and practicing how to create that space that slowly and gradually helps us rest, rejuvenate and heal. We can and need to start  it doing now.

Practicing mindfulness mediation regularly has been a blessing to me.It has created a stream of wellness in my life. My wellness affects people in my life in a positive way. We all are together to help and heal each other.

May we help us and each other to create the healing space within us to fill it with joy and fulfillment!

Namaste.