NO PROMISES

He made no promises
of saying
Yes
to wants and desires.
But he promised
to give
what we need.


He made no promises
of freeing
us from hardships and pain.
But he promised
to give
choices at every step.


He made no promises
of bestowing
requited love and everlasting happiness.
But he promised
to give
unlimited capacity to share.


He made no promises
of ensuring
life would be fair.
But he promised
to give
justice in his kingdom.


He made no promises
of liberty
from uncomfortable and painful feelings.
but he promised
to give
the challenge of inner reflection.

Can we separate our aspirations from our ego?

To live in denial about the presence of your ego or in ignorance of its existence, both attitudes are self defeating in achieving your aspirations.Many of our dreams and desires are influenced by the times and the society we live in.The desire may vary in scale from the longing for the limited edition of a designer watch,first time ownership of a car to contesting elections for the highest political office in the country-- but they all are arise from our ego which gets its nourishment and identity from the social and economic systems we inhabit.If we are honest with ourselves then to delink our dreams and desires from our ego is a mammoth,uphill task.And if we are successful in doing so then we can classify ourselves as monks.On the other hand to live hedonistically as a slave to our ego's demands would be to devalue our soul and the higher purpose ones life.We need to strike a balance somewhere in between recognising the presence and the influence of the ego, and giving in to its demands with an alert discerning mind.This is one of the spiritual tests, of decontaminating our soul from materialism, we have to take as humans and pass it with flying grades.

What is happiness?

I know one thing for sure that happiness is a determined choice to feel upbeat and good in our lives. It is not something that happens in the future if certain conditions are fulfilled.It is action and thought in present tense.It requires the hard work of introspection to understand that "why" we do things is more important than "what" we do.Happiness needs constant effort in continuing to believe ,in the magic, that our lives are being lived under the guidance of forces beyond our control and comprehension.It is experiencing positive emotions by engaging in sharing, inspiring,empowering,making a difference in the lives of others and in the process growing yourself.Happiness is in accepting the unpredictabilities of life with grace, dignity and humour. It is unquantifiable and cannot be benchmarked against the joys of others but engages the creative process of having dreams and goals for yourself.Just having something to look forward to is enough to engage us in tiny bubbles of joy filled actions to make our dreams come true.Happiness is in those courageous bubbles of potential that we create in our lives.

FRUGALITY

To be
frugal in dreaming
is to
limit your potential.


To be
frugal in affections
is to
limit your joy.

To be
frugal in forgiving
is to
limit your peace.


To be
frugal in adventure
is to
limit your experience.


To be
frugal in compassion
Is to
limit your humanity.


ANJALI KUMAR

What is reality?

Reality is what we see,experience and feel.Is your reality the same as mine?Is the reality of a gazzele grazing in open African grassland the same as that of a lioness crouching in the tall grass waiting to pounce on her? Is the reality faced by a tiger in the zoo the same as that of one in the widerness?Has the reality faced by the Homo Sapien species been the same over the centuries? There doesn't seem to be an abolute, constant reality for everyone.Reality is influenced by our early conditioning of childhood and youth which impacts our attitude, behaviour and ethics which we carry into adulthood.We in turn then have our own perceptions of the world, create our own experiences and the reality as we face it.To have a broader, indepth and varied perception of reality we need to break free of preconcieved perceptions, attitudes and behaviour.In simpler terms we need to keep challenging ourselves with a different vision of how things can happen.Creativity and innovation is the answer.From a spiritual point of view if we can put ourselves in the shoes of others, that is,be able to empathise with anothers circumstances,that is also a way of glimpsing a different reality.Maybe, God gives each of us different life experiences so that we can learn to empathise understand that there is no one reality.

Are you plagued by self doubts?

Whenever we embark on a new venture there is the promise of excitement,adventure and new learnings.Yet, at the same time there is this gnawing fear of how the outside world would percieve, accept and appreciate the tryst with your dreams.This fear is not about your capabilities or enthusiasm to attempt the impossible but the fear of judgement and living upto the expecations of others.Also, along with the fear is the ego wanting recognition and applaud further complicating the emotional mess one already is in.So how does one deal with this? When a painter paints he has a vague mental vision of what his painting might look like and he paints one stroke at a time,sometimes repainting over the past strokes and painstakingly completes the canvas.While he is in the process of painting does he constantly keep thinking about what the finished painting would look like,which art gallery would display it, what kind of reviews it would get or what its market worth would be.He just focuses on getting each stroke as perfect as possible.We too, need to just concentrate on attempting to achieve the best possible strokes for our dream.Feel free from the pressure to perform.Enjoy the journey.You will automatically arrive at the destination.