Unfamiliar Lines:

image credit: bipasha m

The end of this particular year deserves a post. This has been a special year, for me, and for many people like me elsewhere. In the sense of regular living, nothing has changed on the surface. But I am not the same person I was at the beginning of this year. The year, at one level, seems to have gone by in a flash. But I can recall every day of every month with crystal clarity because I lived all the days at nature’s pace – without any hurry.

Some of the lessons that I have learnt this year are simple yet so critical – to become human in the real sense; the importance of which I cannot stop emphasizing. The list of lessons that I have learnt can go on to fill pages, but here are some of the most important ones that I want to share.

·       Remember the movie Tamasha by Imtiaz Ali? Everyone is born with one gift in the least which is unique like every individual. Find your gift and let that gift lead you in life. Your gift is not about being a leader or an orator or a team player or money manager. Think subtler, something which you have buried deep inside and forgotten. Are you intuitive, a healer, an herbalist, a singer, a dreamer, a storyteller, a person who connects dots, a performer? Go back to your childhood – who were you then, what did you do naturally, what were you drawn to naturally? That IS your gift – hone it, live it. Just like the movie!

·       Humanity’s potential is vast, like cosmos vast. With the kind of life we are living now, we barely have scratched its surface. No, it’s not about being a CEO of a company or a world champion or a beauty pageant or earning like the Ambanis. Human potential is about the power of the subconscious, and the power of your heart. We have immense capacity for love (not the jealous possessive kinds), compassion, empathy, intuition, 'psychic' abilities, creating magic, self-healing, connections to each other and other sentient beings!

·       Reconnect with your heart and listen to what it says! Stop thinking with your mind or brain. Your heart knows what is best for you and will guide you accordingly. Use your mind to implement what your heart says and watch how everything changes around you. We have collectively used our brains for way too long and we are nowhere near being happy. Just look at the state of our world!

·       Move your body. Dance. Yes, dance! Switch on the music, switch off the lights, close your eyes, place your hand on your heart and let your body respond to the music. We need to know and love our bodies, just as it is. We are as disconnected from our bodies and we are from our hearts. If you have the strength, stand in front of a mirror naked and look at yourself. Acknowledge yourself for who you are.

·       Fall in love with the night. Don’t rush to switch on the lights when dusk approaches. Watch the day merge into the night. Watch the stars, reconnect with the moon. It’s powerful!

·       Heal yourself. We carry tons and tons of emotional baggage – from our childhood, current life, from our parents, ancestors, and even past lives. Do whatever it takes to heal, drastic or slow, skydive from an airplane or go for vipassana. Just do it! You owe it to yourself to become who you truly are.

·       Live with awareness. Live in the present. As an Alaskan indigenous community leader mentioned – past makes you live in guilt and hurt, and future makes you live in fear. We need to be present to the present (as my late English teacher always used to say) to know what love and compassion is.

·       Let go and stop controlling things. Nature flows and does not control. Don’t go against the rhythm of nature. Respect it. Observe and learn from it. Nature’s wisdom is immense and deep.  


2019 is a year for new beginnings, but only for those who are willing to let go of everything past and step up to a new life. So wishing everybody the best for another shining year.