MOONLESS, STARRY NIGHTS

Why moonless? you might ask. Because the moon is such an attention-grabber, hanging there in the sky shining resplendently. On full moon nights, the moon looks so captivating, like a milky pearl, drenching everything in its dreamy light, that we fail to notice anything else. But imagine a night when there is no moon and no clouds either, then you will see the night decked out in all its diamond jewellery, some twinkling mischievously, some soft and benign, all precious pinpricks of light in the inky sky. The sight of the stars opens up our vision like nothing else, for isn’t that the universe over there spread out above us,  stretching towards infinity. Makes me feel like an insignificant, miniscule speck among the mind-boggling, glorious vastness of it all, instantly taking me out of my self-centred self and completely wiping out my arrogance.

It even gives a different perspective to the concept of time and of Now. For even as the light from the stars reaches our eyes, it has left its source many light years ago, and we can never know if the star that emitted the light still exists or has died as we are gazing at it, or moved from the position we think it is at. Reminds us that things are not as they appear to be, and perspective is only that, not necessarily the truth.

But most of all I am grateful for the fact that when I stand under the canopy of the jewelled sky and bask in the soft starlight, I am filled with such awe-filled joy, that I forget that I am a limited human with a body and mind, almost completely lose the sense of ‘I’, and I am transformed by the sense of vastness and infinity which arises within me and that which I intuitively know to be my real nature.

ILLNESS

Why would I be grateful for illness when just yesterday I was feeling grateful for good health. For precisely the reason stated earlier, that I take good health for granted, and unknowingly push my body beyond its limits, or abuse it in many ways. The biggest abuse I can give the mind-body mechanism is stress. Stress as we all know lowers the immune system like nothing else, allowing the host of germs that are attacking us at any given moment an easy entry into our system. Unresolved stress, in the form of painful issues tucked away out of sight due to our hectic lifestyles or constant low-pressure stress that we get used to, is unrelentingly chipping away at something or the other in our systems, only to surface years later as tumours, ulcers or chronic illnesses like hypertension, heart disease or diabetes.

Some years ago, after a tumour was removed from my spinal chord, I was keen to know how it was caused so as to prevent it from ever forming again. A spiritual healer said something that made me sit up and take notice. She said, ’do you realise that the tumour was found in your spinal column in the area right behind your heart? It seems as though for years you have been tucking away stuff too difficult to handle right behind and out-of-sight of your heart’. Some pretty loud wake-up bells went ringing!

Therefore, when I fall sick, I know it is time slow down and take stock of the factors that are non-conducive to my continued well-being and try to eliminate them. Illness, it seems to me, is Nature’s wake-up call. So when it comes, I am grateful, for I know I have not been kind to my habitat and it is time to take remedial measures.

GOOD HEALTH

Something I’ve taken for granted all along because good health is hard to notice and even harder to be grateful for until we fall sick. When I was a biology student I learnt that the human body is a masterpiece in design and engineering. In fact it is simply astounding the way it is all carefully crafted and wired together, and the interconnectedness, symbiotic relationships, the complexity, the brilliance of it all, is just mind-blowing. We create a machine with say ‘n’ number of parts and it fails to work or falls apart after some time. The engineering at the macro level and right down to the sub-cellular level in the body is so brilliant and so intricate, that not in a million years will we be able to replicate it. The whole mind-body machine is one well-oiled, superbly working mechanism. And yet we carry this loyal tool around without giving much thought to its upkeep, and blatantly abuse it with all kinds of toxic foods, thoughts and emotions, poor diet and hectic lifestyles, over-medication and under-exercise.

I had reason to think about all this lately when I went to visit a doctor for a throat infection. Curious chap he was, he had an instrument with which he poked me, sending some kinda waves through my body and the results of which he read on his instrument. He proclaimed that except for the infection and cold I was in excellent health considering my age :))) He went on to say that I don’t look as old as I am and that I have maintained my self well. I don’t know if that was a compliment or a medical statement but I briefly considered telling him about my two surgeries. But then I thought he must have meant that I don’t have any chronic illnesses that start to beset people of my age. Anyways, came away feeling very blessed and extremely grateful :)

SUNDAYS

are for -

• coming apart on the couch
• cooling ignoring that cruel taskmaster - the clock
• casual, lazy brunches
• crazy trips of the imagination into uncharted, adventurous waters
• chilling out with music, dance, books, movies, and other fun things
• crunchy savouries with masala chai
• calling long-distance to far-away family
• comatose indolence
• charging my flagging batteries
• coming alive in silence away from the maddening world
• connecting to my inner self
• calming full-stop in the busy sentences of my life.

certainly grateful for Sundays :)

BABIES

If I ask anyone if they have noticed babies, they would probably nod in agreement. However, if I ask them if they have noticed themselves while they were in the presence of babies, they might not be so sure. Babies have this almost magical effect on me. The moment I spot one, my face breaks into a smile and if I happen to be talking to the parents, I then ignore them completely and focus on the little one :) (the parents don’t seem to mind this :) ) Unknown to themselves, babies hold this little invisible string that invariably draws me closer to my inner child. In their tiny hand they hold an unseen chisel that instantly cuts away at the masks I wear until I face the little one unmasked and totally myself. Their pure innocence and unaltered genuineness reminds me of those precious qualities that seem to get lost in the adult race for survival. Theirs is a pure beingness that is almost equal to godliness. No wonder Christ said, ‘Unless you become like a small child, you shall not enter the kingdom of God’.

Little ones from the animal world have an almost similar effect. Kittens and puppies have brought tears to my eyes. Tiger cubs and baby elephants on TV make my heart glow with love. Even tiny saplings, little sprouts pushing up from the earth, all connect me to the tender, the vulnerable, the loving and compassionate in myself. Yes, thank God for babies, we can see His face in them so clearly.

DAWN CHORUS

Back in NZ, the dawn chorus was a big production by itself. Hundreds (or so it seemed) of birds woke up and sang to herald the dawn, trilling, warbling, tweeting, it was as if the dawn itself was so excited to arrive that it had found a voice and decided to announce its own coming. I would just lay in bed and listen and soak it all in, and as humans are wont to do wonder what it was that they were all saying to each other. It was the most uplifting experience.

Here in India, it is a muted affair, sparrows chattering busily in the tree outside with an occasional crow-call to add bass. However, since it is hard to hear and almost gets drowned in the morning noises of the city I have to focus in order to stay with the music. That in itself is a lesson in being present in the Now. So I am grateful for the dawn chorus (God bless their little hearts) wherever I am.

THE BEGINNING

Today is the Chinese New Year and I thought, what a propitious time to start a blog, that too one on a subject that is so close to my heart.

At the start, I must admit that this has been inspired by the TED talk by Neil Pasricha -  http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome.html  and by his website http://1000awesomethings.com/

 Actually the motivation was something deeper. On a particularly depressing day when all was going badly and I was kind of thrashing impotently in frustration, a small inner voice whispered, ‘count your blessings’. That made me stop in my track of spiraling gloom and cast my mind around and pick out the positives. They were like shards of light that I caught and held on to, one at a time, that pierced the darkness and which quickly blossomed into this light-filled bubble and which effortlessly lifted me out of the darkness.

So, on this blog I shall attempt to count my blessings, which as I quickly realized is countless, so I am hoping to keep counting as long as Blogger is standing and doesn’t fall over.

GOD

Since this is the beginning and since everything began with God and in the mind of God, it is but natural that I begin with God. Actually, the whole blog can be encapsulated into just this one entry. For, isn’t God in everything? So I shall start my gratitude journal with being grateful to God.

But I’m grateful for a little something extra…

Every time I think of God, a quiet peace descends, the tensions my body holds dissolves, my heartbeat slows down, my mind almost ceases its endless scurrying and my heart fills with so much joy that it brims over and spreads to fill my entire being with rapture… I willingly and wholly surrender to God’s loving  presence, wrapped in a bliss that cannot be described, wanting it to never end …