A New Dream, A New World.

Pointless.

2010-10-27T14:14:00.002+01:00

It's been two months since I last blogged. Reading my previous entry, I want to start this one by first THANKING KARMA :D I'd reached a point where I was so fed up with something that I felt it was all out of my hands (which it was!) and I had no choice but to let it go and see where it ends up...Thankfully, that worked.

I've learned that in the end, no matter how many trials and tribulations you face, things are always okay! Does everything happen for the best? Maybe. There are still a lot of questions in my mind, still a lot of anger and still a lot of confusion...but I got what I wanted (with regards to my last blog entry) so no matter how it happened...atleast it's happened. Perhaps good truly does win over evil...perhaps loyalty isn't such a stupid trap to fall in afterall.

At the moment I'm still not feeling truly content or happy though... There's an uneasy feeling. That feeling when you feel you have so much to do that you just don't know where to start...and you're not able to make a start...so it all keeps building up, getting worse....... You keep thinking about everything and stressing yourself more by delaying everything further...even though you yourself know that the minute you make a start and just get it all done - all the stress will seem like a joke and you'll be able to look back and laugh at the state you got yourself into over it. Blah!

Okay so....There's no real point to my blog entry this time. (is there ever :| )....it's so pointless that I'm not quite sure what to title it haha...but I needed to vent out and ramble a bit, so I did! Anyhow....I'm going to end with a quote becauuuse I like quotes :p so......."Most of the shadows of life are caused by standing in our own sunshine." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Dear Karma, I'm relying on you!

2010-08-20T14:13:00.000+01:00

I hate today. I hate this ugly date and I wish it never existed. I feel all blehhhhhhh and I'm dedicating this blog post to that horrible feeling because I need to vent : )

I wish it was possible to pretend things didn't exist, to go back and change that one stupid second of your life which ended up affecting your life way more than you expected, liked, needed...

okay so I realise I sound like I'm exaggerating, especially because if I said what the actual problem is...it would sound so TRIVIAL...so stupid! But that's why it's so annoying, so pathetic...because it is such a small thing but it's made such a large impact (for the worst!)

Apparently "sin makes its own hell, and goodness its own heaven"...but is my wishing, that certain people soon find their hell due to their sins, a sin of mine in itself? It's not always possible to forgive and forget...is it? I try not to react, especially considering the thing in question is (like I already said) trivial! It doesn't exactly change my life and neither has it set me into a serious state of depression lol but stilll it's WRONG and they should be punished for bringing so much unnecessary annoyance and being so pathetic and heartless!

LK Jr famously said - "right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant".... so I'll stand strong today in hope that karma will make sure the evil is soon defeated....pshht! I've given up, Karma, it really is all in your hands now!

Rising Above Thought

2010-08-19T14:57:00.000+01:00

In his bestseller The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle says that "the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is (to) learn to disidentify from your mind." Easier said than done, right? Who wouldn't give their right leg or arm to be able to do this! I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most of the time it's human nature's worst habbit of overthinking that disables us from true happiness and"enlightenment".

Tolle advises his reader to stop taking their mind so seriously that it begins to define ones sense of self. However, how can it be that we can be anything but our thoughts? Is it not our thoughts that define our individuality and act as the reason why we are not just mere clones of one another? How, then, can we rise above thought without removing thought (which would be impossible)?

"Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people's thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful." (1)

We are not aiming to rise above thoughts which are necessary. Thoughts are valuable and you do not need to diminish them to attain enlightenment! However, there are necessary thoughts and then there are "repetivie and useless... harmful" thoughts, which is what many people find themselves trapped in at many instances in their lives. So how does one prevent such an instance arising?

"...by taking any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and giving it your fullest attention, so that it becomes an end in itself For example, every time you walk up and down the stairs in your house or place of work, pay close attention to every step, every movement, even your breathing. Be totally present. Or when you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sense perceptios associated with the activity: the sound and feel of the water, the movement of your hands, the scent of the soap, and so on." (2)

In the busy lives we lead, we allow thoughts to eat up our minds and to an extent take over our lives, but we forget to enjoy the small joys in life which help us understand our true sense of presence. Clearly, we give our past and future way more importance than our present. There's a famous saying along the lines of...“the past is history, the future is a mystery and today is a gift. That is why we call it the present"... then why is it that our ego has us constantly viewing our present with eyes of the past and expectation of the future?

Accoring to Tolle then, one can only attain true enlightenment when thoughts of the past and future are given less importance than the present moment we should be enjoying. Again, I'll repeat - easier said than done! However, it's food for thought and definitely something to make an attempt to aim towards.

The Power of Now, copyright 2005 by Eckhart Tolle, published by Hodder and Stoughton (UK)
(1) p18, (2) p17

Happy Independence Day, India!

2010-08-15T12:08:00.000+01:00

Though I've been born and bought up in England, I consider myself as much Indian as I am British! I feel blessed to be a part of both these beautiful countries and be able to balance a lifestyle which takes from both the cultures.

Today...15th August 2010...I'd like to wish INDIA, and Indian's all across the globe, a very Happy Independence Day! Today is a day to reflect on the past and present. Today is a day to thank all the freedom fighters who fought for the independence we have today. Whether we are living in India or elsewhere, we surely would not have been living the life we are today (or have the freedom of choice, thought, voice we are enjoying), had it not been for them, their determination and their sacrifice. TODAY is the day we should take a moment to think whether our "today", and India today, does justice to all that they gave up for us so many years ago!

Are we living life truly as 'good people'? Are we independent in our choices (without disrespecting anyone elses choices and feelings)? Are we making sure not to misuse or misunderstand the word 'independence'? Are we good citizens of whichever country we are residents of? Do we treat everyone equally..fairly..despite their nationality/race/sex etc?

I'm proud of my Indian identity and I think everyone who is Indian (whether they are living in India or outside of India) should vow today that they will try their best to be better people every passing day, live life independently but without hurting others..etc... so that everyone can always be proud to be Indian!

Nobody is perfect, and nobody will ever be perfect..In the course of life, we will be students forever...but today is a day where we can try and take one step closer to excelling :)

The Lost Ring (Eckhart Tolle)

2010-08-13T16:46:00.000+01:00

Following is an inspiring extract from A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle), which I found really useful in helping me prioritise certain things in my life, and realise the level of importance various things are assumed to have, do have and should have.

===

"THE LOST RING"

===

When I was seeing people as a counsellor and spiritual teacher, I would visit a woman twice a week whose body was riddled with cancer.

She was a schoolteacher in her mid-forties and had been given no more than a few months to live by her doctors. Sometimes a few words were spoken during those visits, but mostly we would sit together in silence, and as we did, she had her first glimpses of the stillness within herself that she never knew existed during her busy life as a schoolteacher.

One day, however, I arrived to find her in a state of great distress and anger. 'What happened?' I asked. Her diamond ring, of great monetary as well as sentimental value, had disappeared, and she said she was sure it had been stolen by the woman who came to look after her for a few hours every day. She said she didn't understand how anybody could be so callous and heartless as to do this to her. She asked me whether she should confront the woman or whether it would be better to call the police immediately. I said I couldn't tell her what to do, but asked her to find out how important a ring or anything else was at this point in her life. 'You don't understand,' she said. 'This was my grandmother's ring. I used to wear it every day until I got ill and my hands became too swollen. It's more than just a ring to me. How can I not be upset?'

The quickness of her response and the anger and defensiveness in her voice were indications that she had not yet become present enough to look within and to disentangle her reaction from the event and observe them both. Her anger and defensiveness were signs that the ego was still speaking through her. I said, 'I am going to ask you a few questions, but instead of answering them now, see if you can find the answers within you. I will pause briefly after each question. When an answer comes, it may not necessarily come in the form of words.' She said she was ready to listen. I asked: 'Do you realize that you will have to let go of the ring at some point, perhaps quite soon? How much more time do you need before you will be ready to let go of it? Will you become less when you let go of it? Has who you are become diminished by the loss?' There were a few minutes of silence after the last question.

When she started speaking again, there was a smile on her face, and she seemed at peace. 'The last question made me realize something important. First I went to my mind for an answer and my mind said, 'Yes, of course you have been diminished.' Then I asked myself the question again, 'Has who I am become diminished?' This time I tried to feel rather than think the answer. And suddenly I could feel my I Am-ness. I have never felt that before. If I can feel the I Am so strongly, then who I am hasn't been diminished at all. I can still feel it now, something peaceful but very alive.'

'That is the joy of Being,' I said. 'You can only feel it when you get out of your head. Being must be felt. It can't be thought. The ego doesn't know about it because thought is what it consists of. The ring was really in your head as a thought that you confused with the sense of I Am. You thought the I Am or a part of it was in the ring.

'Whatever the ego seeks and gets attached to are substitutes for the Being that it cannot feel. You can value and care for things, but whenever you get attached to them, you will know it's the ego. And you are never really attached to a thing but to a thought that has 'I,' 'me,' or 'mine' in it. Whenever you completely accept a loss, you go beyond ego, and who you are, the I Am which is consciousness itself, emerges.'

She said, 'Now I understand something Jesus said that never made much sense to me before: "If someone takes your shirt, let him have your coat as well." '

'That's right,' I said. 'It doesn't mean you should never lock your door. All it means is that sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.'

In the last few weeks of her life as her body became weaker, she became more and more radiant, as if light were shining through her. She gave many of her possessions away, some to the woman she thought had stolen the ring, and with each thing she gave away, her joy deepened. When her mother called me to let me know she had passed away, she also mentioned that after her death they found her ring in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Did the woman return the ring, or had it been there all the time? Nobody will ever know. One thing we do know: Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.