ART OF LIVING......MY WAY

A friend of mine has been coaxing me into joining The Art of Living. Much As I respect the teachings and methods of such a course, I find no need to take it. To me the art of living can not be preached, but it can only be learnt and realized from within.

Living is an art, there will be stress, unhappiness, sadness, but then there also is joy, happiness, laughter and all that is positive to view. I myself have to have the mental and emotional clarity to be able to take the good with the bad, happiness with sadness, pessimism followed with optimism and so on.

Life is meant to be lived to the fullest. It is full of surprises, sometimes there is more sadness and less happiness, but then we have to know how to make the best of both. You have to be able to stand firm and take all that life bestows, the expected and the unexpected.

What is the Art of Living to me, I have been asking my self. Have I learnt from my mistakes? Am I a pessimist? Do I keep seeking more, than be satisfied with what I have…questions galore…but one thing I know for sure, I am mostly a happy fun loving person. I always find something to laugh about. If God was to ask me to make some changes in my life would I want to live this Life again……YES, I say. I have a few regrets, I would do something’s differently, but I would want to live this life again and again…..The changes I would make are within my own self, but not ever would I change my family, my friends, my life…I have it all…..am mastering the Art of Living. What does the Art of Living mean to me….in my Quest to understand myself……?

Art of Living to me is…….

Living one day at a time. I live to live, knowing one day I shall die. But as long as I am living, death does not concern me, because when death does come I shall not be alive. If I live well, I know I shall die well too.

I try not to cling on to the sadness more than I cling onto happiness. Happiness and sadness are like children, who you have to let go when they grow up.

All that I have today is, all that I had hoped for yesterday…….so I cherish my today.

When faced with sadness, deep within me I know Happiness shall follow, as I have seen in life the two always balance each other.

I have discovered the capacity within me to enjoy the simple things, feel deeply not for myself only, be needed, and give happiness when ever needed.

I have learnt to laugh at myself more than I laugh at others. My best jokes are directed at myself and this always gets me heartwarming laughter.

To me the art of living is to make the good out of the bad. I firmly believe that whatever happens happens for the best.

I try never to go to bed angry, resentful or mad. What comes with today goes with today. I do get mad, but I also get over it.

My ego. I have realized, always shuts me from people when ever it raises its hood. I am learning to surrender it. It can be big, but am learning to move beyond it. ..Relationships I have realized cannot be built and conflicts not resolved with ego.

The years in my life have gone by, but am glad I gradually learnt to add life to those years. When I look back, I know living has been worth while.

I am gradually learning who I am, and as long as I do not fully discover myself I am curious. But I know for sure my life does not belong to me alone. I am learning to touch lives with warmth and compassion. I do not want to exist, I want to live.

I have learnt to love solitude. When all is still, I feel no anxiety, loneliness. I look within and I feel more acceptance of myself. My inner peace guides me.

My friends and family I cherish, every interaction with them teaches me a little about myself, a chance to build myself as a better human being. They give me trust and joy and make my life rich and abundant.

My soul guides me and my heart tells me that if it is the source of worry, contentment also rises from there. The choices I make, the reactions I give, will define the human being that I am…Yes, am slowly but steadily mastering the art of living…my way at my pace. The overall picture of my life shall be the way I paint it. The way I live it.

HEART VS HEAD

My husband often tells me…Why do you think with your heart? Think with your head. Do not turn it into an emotional issue.’ And Now, my daughter tells me the same…’Ma, why do you always think with your heart? Their tone sometimes makes me feel guilty……all for being emotional? This heart vs. head battle is never ending in my house.

It’s not my Menopause that makes me all emotional…This Is Me. The facts of life make me all emotional….and sometimes I express them through my words, but at other times through my sighs, sounds, and mostly through my eyes, which get misty, teary, blurred.

My emotions are always very close to the surface. Is it because I think with my heart? - an organ that just pumps blood. If the heart is the core of human existence. , why do we give it less importance than the head? I think, express, emote, perceive all with my heart. My heart is never in sync with my head

So many times I have seen in life, what my head does not understand, my heart does. It does not ask for logic, analysis…it just understands. The spoken and the unspoken. And then I just act on what it says, sometime impulsively to others, but to me it makes complete sense and sounds right. I let my heart lead the way.

Why are emotions or feelings from the heart not considered logical? What is so ridiculous about thinking from the heart ? The solutions that the heart gives may not always have reasons, but it always does have actions, and more so positive. Because this is where care, pride, joy, love, gratitude nest. And these emotions exist noiselessly….. so quietly they grow with every heartbeat. They swing, swirl and tangle within the heart. The degree of these emotions cannot be measured like the knowledge of the head, but they help in creating the world around me. Only the thoughts from the heart can stir emotions which the head never can.

So Dear Husband and Dear Daughter, I think with my heart because….

My head can confuse me, but my heart never lies to me
My head can hide facts, but my heart exposes them.
My head governs my soul, but my heart connects to it.
My head may know too much, but my heart feels it all.
My head can get all hard, but my heart forever stays soft.
My head can build up words, but it is my heart that phrases them
My head can make me see all, but only the best is captured by my heart.
My head can sometimes make enemies, but my heart always makes friends.
My head can sometimes miss out on Love, but my heart forever conserves it.

Above all…..

My head can only capture images of you my most loved, but my Heart is where you live. While my head constantly worries for you, my heart silently prays. My head measures the distance in kms. between us, but my heart only sees the bridges, giving me the feeling of Oneness.
So my dears, I can ignore the reasoning of the head, but never the feelings of my heart. Yes, I think with my heart not my head…..it causes no discomfort. For me the feeling of my heart is the existence of my being.

SOUL MATES.............

Down the hill S went…..H followed

S like the dark clouds

H the rainbow behind them

‘I want to be you H’ said S

‘But why? Nobody would notice me, if not for you S

Together we are a roller coaster of emotions

So wherever you Sadness shall go, me Happiness shall follow’





My Second attempt at 55er. I am liking the attempt to say a lot with few words


A literary work will be considered 55 Fiction if it has:


• Fifty-five words or less (A non-negotiable rule)


• A setting,


• One or more characters,


• Some conflict, and


• A resolution. (Not limited to moral of the story)

[Image courtsey gallery.photo.net.In case of objection , image will be removed ]

LIFE.........AND ME

I just read this quote by Dr. Phil on my blog………'Life is a marathon, it's not a sprint'
Set me thinking........

Really………The meaning of life is different to each person…But To Me Life is …

Life is making mistakes, and learning from them
Life is not only being busy but also being able to do nothing
Life is being honest and fair...and yet also faking it at times
Life is sometimes easy, most of the times difficult. I have learnt how to glide thru
Life is made up of big sorrows and small happiness. The small always outweighs the big.
Life is living your dreams, and sometimes chasing them
Life is never the life we imagine, we just keep moving towards our imagination
Life is supposed to be short, but never long enough to pursue our dreams to our hearts desire
Life always gives situations, easy to get into, but difficult to get out of
Life is making plans, but getting surprises.
Life is full of dreams, but demands action
Life is not only wanting happiness, but also giving it
Life is full of passion, and understanding of joys and sorrows
LIFE IS LIFE……SPRINT OR MARATHON…..
It just is worth living...and I make it so, I choose to look for the rainbow behind the dark clouds, I look for the smile that follows the tears. I think of my friends, who brighten my being; I cling on to the memory of my children, grandchildren, to keep the child in me alive
I decide to live it as new everyday….I laugh and breathe life. I am my own spectator of my own life..................and I love living it.

What makes ME HAPPY.....Part 1

"what makes me happy…..and that’s what my next post is going to be on……"

Many people see my constant, happy smile and make instant assumptions about me...I am a happy person...I am happy for all that God has given me, and also Happy to be Me. I see the people I luv, and my face lights up, I see the videos my kids send me of themselves and My lovely grand daughter and I smile foolishly, start imitating her gurgles, and the computer screen gets all messy what with my sudden need to just plant her face with kisses, the tears get mixed with my slurpy kisses and I feel relieved, thankful, grateful for life and its blessings.

The joy of being alive catches up.....I feel love for everything around me, and I also feel luv for myself. Looking into the mirror was always a glance, but now I make time to look at my self, and I smile. to myself.....It makes me happy that I am alive, to have experienced life the way, I have...I feel like the chosen one, to have experienced extreme sadness and then, so much joy, and I luv the person life and circumstances have created by becoming the Me I have.

So what makes me happy besides my family and friends and all the people who have touched my life in their special way, besides all that God has given me, besides the life I have...am going to try listing them....

It makes me happy to look at myself and know that I am beautiful on the inside too, and I do not need validation from anybody.

It makes me happy to not let my husband complete his sentence; his frown follows with the realization, that I just completed what he wanted to say. I luv that look, of his.

I am happy talking to myself, knowing I would not be interrupted, and thus sharing my concerns with Me.

I am happy at the fact that I have not let the child in me die...it gives me much joy and happiness whenever it visits me.

I am happy acknowledging the mistakes I made in my life..They have shaped "the Me".

I am happy with the the relationship I am developing with myself. It too has become as challenging and significant as the others I have.

I am happy being the woman I am; knowing I shall never be perfect.

I luv the fact that I am learning to ignore people who make me feel bad about myself. It’s their free time, if this is how they want to put it to use... so be it.

I happy at the fact of not knowing where I am going in Life; Life shall take me there………

[that’s it for now, more shall follow, as my quest for happiness..is never ending.]

WHY????????? THE NEED TO DISCOVER ME

"my Me is growing, wanting more for itself, already getting greedy….but still loving myself. "

I have lived life, dancing to its tunes, moving with the rhythm, sometime flowing with the tide sometime against it, but have survived it all. There have been times when I have felt restless, scared, and emotionally so insecure…and then have felt this desire to break free, and be my own woman, my own person.

I am troubled by my own mind, by my own thoughts..Why do I feel this need to be my own person, why am I feeling this way? My husband has always encouraged me to be a person in my own right, but there have been times in life when I have let go of my own belief and followed what has been expected of me. It might not have been the right thing I would have done, but I sure did what was expected of me. I did it not becaz I wanted to, but it did make people around me happy. I did care about their judgment more than I cared for my self.

Deep down I still care about what people think of me, I want to always please them….But now I also want to please myself, I want to unlock all the doors to the person in me, to the woman in me..There is so much within me that is untouched. Midlife crisis it sure is not, while to others that’s what it may seem.

I am trying to evaluate my own thoughts, why this sudden need to be happy with my self for myself, and also by myself. Like most of us, I too have always depended on others for happiness. Their responses to my acts have given me happiness. But now I am going to stop looking for validation. Just for the fun of Being Me ...I shall play along to my own inner voice and the reactions it gives to certain situations and emotions…I shall try listening to it and may be follow it…I might rock the boat I sail in, but that’s a chance I want to take..And I will becaz I have to know for my self who I am.

Discovering my own Me…this thought is so exciting, fresh and maybe radical. But then that is the only way I can acknowledge the Unique ME. I am more than I know myself to be…..and I shall discover that for myself, for Me… I am just very very curious. If I do not find my Me, I shall create it, and may be then I shall discover myself….


{It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes me happy…..and that’s what my next post is going to be on………}