Eat well, sleep well, sit still and you will notice everything with clarity, joy and beauty. Master Trainer-Sufiee
Sufiee was rescued from a street when she was two months old and had lost her mother.She was found by a kind friend and I immediately wanted to adopt her,I had lost two street puppies to parvo a week ago.Sufiee is a healer,the moment she came to my Training Institute,she wanted to offer her love and presence to everyone out there.I just knew I had made the best choice, making space for a pet,a friend,a teacher,a companion.
Welcoming life with stillness adds such clarity and beauty,no matter how tough the past,the moment we start living fully -the now, the beauty springs,the joy springs and it is both within and without.
Sufie (the Indie-dog)and Fifi (the pigeon)were rescued from the street as babies and offer tenderness to each other.Fifi lost her vision, when she was less than a month old to pigeon pox.
Today,I am watchful of leftovers- the residues of past, the bits, and pieces I thought were over and perhaps stayed back somewhere somnolent.
Today, I choose to be watchful, curious and kind, non-judgmental overall of all that follows in the flashes, specks, memories, and words.
Tenderness begins right from where I am and in the whatever challenging manner I meet myself, let tenderness be my offering.
A few weeks ago, a 16-year-old boy was lynched by a mob in a train in North India.He was coming home to celebrate Eid with his family. While my Pakistani friend and I were sharing our grief at the tragic dousing of more than a hundred people in the oil-tanker episode, another close friend in the UK Ā battling her personal health issues shared her online request for sponsoringĀ baby clothes for a homeless Romanian woman selling magazines in the streets of Liverpool.
Our lives are so full.In a moment, there are multiple moments of hate, prejudice and charity.There is bleakness and uncertainty over political leaderships, there is flag-waving nationalism on the one side and there are xenophobic rages to wipe out the ‘other’ on the second.
We are in the crisis of choosing, holding and living.Adapting the meaning of life to mental, physical, political seismic currents; holding is the toughest exercise in disaster but utmost for survival.
I am shaken, saddened and petrified on a daily basis.Yet, as a Mindfulness practitioner I draw an image of circle around myself and ask: What does this current time of killing, chaos and bloodshedĀ mean to me.How do I see out of the circle when enough darkness and madness envelops my entire being.How Ā do I to tend to parts and pieces with trembling hands and not let the house, the planet, the country, the body, the voice, the skin, the friendships, the shakiness fall into the jams of crushing voices, noises, words and newsmongering.
The news media is filled with venom, the social media is replete with fear and abuse.
The times are challenging.I see many of my friends – protesting, posting, reaching Social Ā Media, joining people in the streets, holding placards and some Ā sitting confounded at their homes, some working in front of their computer screens- discussing how this is just not the way, asking relevant questions-how can this be averted,echoing-how can we do better at where we are now, feeling this Ā collective social distrust, fully within themselves and others.
The media is at war, the perceptions are unapologetically unleashed.There are questions and there are interminable tales of anger, anguish and skepticism.Everyone is hurt, the injuries are valid.Ā It appears, no more criminal to serve hatred and vainglorious war of words.Crime is played,used, made a selective tool to Ā feastĀ on some unquenchable thirst of human grandiosity, a historical crime we should know by now- how it serves none and destroys all.
Gathering ourselves like scattered pages from albums: the one who questions, the one who answers and the one who watches with eyes huddled , our hands crossed in fear, doubt and grief, we experience the depths of our sadness, no matter what opinion we hold and Ā where we are in the world right now.
The hub of our Ā presence is -harsh, shaky and glum.We appear deeply terrorized by humans,by each other.Measuring whatever we have, let’s- hold our hands, our hearts and Ā invite our minds to preserve ourselves and offer our presence as aĀ gift to ourselves, a gift that can be automatically shared by its beauty that has no agenda except compassionate flowering.
To cultivate our presence,to tap into our inner capacities,we can allow ourselves to Ā be open to a minute of STOP-a calm moment ,aĀ token to Ā just be with our breath and hold our heart to affirm-I am okay to be with myself in all that I am in,I am okay to be with others if needed to be and be a vehicle of support if necessary to be but foremost I am okay to be with my presence.
We can assure ourselves of our presence.May I hold my peace.May I hold my trust in myself if not in anyone else in the moments of deep internal and external war.May I nourish myself to be fully alive, awakened and healthy to do all that I wish to in these moments of strife.
Here is my Breathing prayer for us all:
Breathing in,I am peaceful.
Breathing out,I am centred.
Breathing in, IĀ recognize my deep pain and anguish.
Breathing out,I offer myself care and support.
Breathing in,I read uncertainty and chaos.
Breathing out,IĀ offer deep compassion to all of us.
Breathing in,I see the world in pain.
Breathing out, I offer to be mindful and giving.
Breathing in-I touch,hear,see and smell my pain.
Breathing out,I tap into my heart and offer moments of joy.
Breathing in,I am fully present for myself.
Breathing out,I am fully present for you.
Breathing in,I am fully present for myself.
Breathing out,I am fully present for you.
–
Fifi,our companion pigeon perched on a tree in Genjpauram village, I have been volunteering and teaching for six years.It was a delight to sit back and watch Fifi explore the branches,the ruggedness,the hopping and yet keep her mind focussed on my voice crying in happiness, guidance and affection.Fifi is blind,she is Ā an inspiration to feel,see, hear and believe.We may not have the capacity to define darkness but we have the capacities to explore, accept and live in it differently.Thank you, Fifi, for holding us in the murkier times and more so holding yourself through everything to be our support.
I have learnt many qualities from children while conducting sessions. I have noticed over the years that while adults unknowingly want to impress and easily feel alienated if they don’t connect or if their acquired layers of intellect are not accorded space in the groups, there is an unseen reactivity worth noticing in our pride, presence and heart ; whereas children usually with their rawness, their honesty of presence and openness of hearts easily sail through such difficulties where it takes grown-ups years to Ā find the shore.
How ironic that we often label certain behaviours childish and grant ourselves permission to be wise, mature and above kids, whereas we know how our very tantrums and machinations make ourĀ life equally difficult as those of others surrounding us.
ItĀ is a beauty to know nothing and remain open to what comes our way, childrenĀ don’t have to struggle with this ground, whereas we appear like we are stuck in the sand when we profess something and walk something.
There are many lessons in behaviour, good-will, kindness and heartfulness, we can learn from children, provided we leave our hubris of being an adult aside and just watch them at play.Most children are naturally mindful with their gifts of curiosity and generous openness to explore.
Mindfully spending a minute watching a young one playing, writing or eating can open many layers for us to reach.The key is to keep the adult, supervising, sermonizing aside and notice how the child opens a wrapped gift, feelsĀ the bite of their favourite food or gaily dance watching their favourite cartoon on screen.
My favourite is to watch them talk, notice their exchange, their ability to beĀ happy, unhappy, forgiving, compromising, celebrating in a minute.The idea of friendship remains the anchor, rest everything around keeps rising and falling into the ground of their play.
May our minds experience the child in us!May we taste the happiness of being a child in our hearts!May we know that not knowing is not painful and sometimes knowing can also be stressful!May we learn the mindful play of change!May we be the children of hope and joy!May we be happy and eased as we learn, walk and explore!May we thrive in growing, knowingĀ or not-knowing!
Children at VVIS offering Loving Kindness to the world.
A few days ago,while walking our dogs at night,we met a glow worm.My son hollered to warn,”There is some electricity falling out of the electric pole.Don’t go near”.”What?”,we answered in disbelief and my husband clarified.”Oh,that’s a glow worm,nothing to worry”.Our kid seemed mystified and worried at the small fly entangled in the wires around the pole.I walked closer to look at the little one Ā struggling.’Hmm’,I picked a tendril and used the leaves of the dry grass,to let her walk and escape.Ohh…she couldn’t.My son was enraptured and engaged as we both sat down to help the glow worm,unsuccessfully she did jump few times and Ā again fell rolling back.
I said ,”Perhaps the glow worm is injured and we may have to let it go”.It was all happening in seconds with emotions, decisions and sensations.We all three stood sighing with our dogs in consternation,wishing we could do more.”Ok,one more go”,I said and reached out to try few times with more focus and this time happily,easily we could free her from the wires to rest on the stem of a plant.
We stood switched in theĀ moment and the thoughts.The glowing insect had anchored us,we could feel and suddenly my son clasped me in excitement and gave me a loving hug.”Thank you for saving the glow worm ,I saw her for the first time”,he said in Ā an ecstatic cheering.
I hugged him back and we all hugged each other with our smiles.This Ā was a special walk.
I kept thinking for days,who was the glow worm?It must have been my son,myself or my husband,dogs or all of us or anyone-for we are all losing attending to smallest things and beings.The glow worm is our attention,our observation.The world is teeming with beauty and life,where are we?
It is certainly a time to bring our attention back to the glow-worm in and around us,to the beauty blanketing us and on the funny side,I am not even sure if it was a glow worm or any other light emitting insect and it doesn’t even matter.I just hope she landed safely,attentively.Gratitude for the luminescenceĀ we were provoked with.
Our thoughts ,very much like clouds change their- positions, shapes and colors from time to time.It is a unique and integrating meditationĀ to sit back and watch the clouds,from the comfort of your home,work,balcony.So,whatever works,make it work and watch.
You can gradually shift your focus from the clouds to thoughts and watch them together if you like or focus on each thought and let it waft like a cloud in front of you.
Sarabsri 