The Dream of the Closed Door!

It felt like a nightmare. I was standing in front of a beautifully carved closed door, frantically trying to open it. But it was not opening. I was knocking and screaming. But nothing… I was not getting any answer.

I was stuck, obsessive and angry. Was I incapable, unworthy and a failure? Why was that closed door not opening for me? Why were others getting access to it? Why, not me?

I couldn’t explore anything else because I was stuck with this one. And it won’t open. And this was the only reason for my not moving on – because it won’t open. I had a vague idea that there was ‘That’ behind the closed door. And I wanted ‘That’ like others.

Finally, my ego couldn’t take anymore. So, I broke open the door. And enjoyed breaking the damn door. But when I broke the door, something broke in me too.

And what did I find behind the door? Nothing! A partially dark room with no outlet. It was stifling and suffocating. Those walls had imprisoned me.

Who was playing such ghastly tricks on me? I had seen a group of revelers go inside through the same door, just a while ago. I had heard blissful chanting from inside. They had all got ‘That’. But I was being denied! I felt unlucky and miserable.

Just then, I heard a voice. A shadowy character appeared in the empty room.

“What, how did this closed door open? Wow, there is nothing here!”

“I broke it open. Yes, there is nothing here for us. But I think others got access to ‘That’,” I said quietly.

“Ah, I see! This door wouldn’t open for me too so I moved on. And found ‘That’ through another door. I am glad I didn’t waste my time here. This door was never meant for me.”

“Why didn’t you come earlier? I wasted my time staying stuck and then breaking this damn door,” I cried.

“May be you were supposed to break it…”

The shadowy character disappeared and I stood there startled. “May be I was supposed to break it…!”

But how was I to go further from here? There were just four walls around me and no doors.

I had nothing to do so I started fixing the broken door. It felt good. Then I painted a bright red sign on that door using my lipstick.

If this door opens for you, it’s great! But if it doesn’t, that’s even better. Accept it and move on or you will be stuck.

It was funny. After years of struggle, anger, frustration, defeat, ego crush and emptiness I was doing some fixing job on the same door that had brought me so much misery.

Just then, I became aware of light in the room. There was a small closet towards the right wall. Light was coming through there.

With great effort, I said good bye to the now fixed door and entered the closet.

The closet opened to a corridor on the other side. There were many people and many doors. And they were all trying to open doors.

Unfortunately, everyone was busy knocking at the wrong doors. Some like me, were obsessed with the wrong door. Others were simply stuck.

But I had learnt my lesson. The only way to find ‘That’ was to move on and explore. My door was somewhere near. I felt like a little girl on a mission…

I was fearlessly liberated after a long time, open to every kind of experience in my journey towards ‘That’.

And the best thing was – I had learnt to gratefully say ‘Thank You’ to every door that was closing on me.

It was not a nightmare, rather a beautiful dream!

(Image courtesy Google)

Just a Thought – Rejection

Every winner reaches the top by climbing a mountain of rejection, refusing to get buried after an avalanche of disappointments. And then, getting up to climb back again with renewed determination.

Winners know that reaching the top is not in their hands but climbing up is and that is what they do till the end… relentlessly, tirelessly and zealously.

Winners do not fear disappointments or rejections. They know the mountain of rejection is sacred, because the process of climbing, falling down, getting hurt and starting again shows them what they have got and what they are made of…!

No, nothing can break their spirit… let alone the mountain of Rejection. Because winners know that nothing is more stronger than a resilient will made of their unyielding spirit! They will just not give up!

Get up and keep climbing friends, that is the most important part!

Images courtesy Google

Just a Thought – Control

The more we try to control people, thoughts or circumstances, the greater we are controlled by them. It is always a two way arrest game. Handcuffs are on both the arrester and arrested. But if we let go of control, it’s not that we will be at inactive mode but we would do our jobs blissfully, freely without thinking of controlling the ‘result’. The RESULT is anyway, NEVER in our hands. No?

Some people try to control in a positive way, out of concern but some use negativity as their power. This quote explains the negative types.

But flow is always more powerful than control. Hope we learn to let go, because there is nothing blissful, joyful and liberating than complete surrender! Exhale…!

Images courtesy Google

How to ‘Just Be’!

I have heard several discourses and sermons teaching us to ‘just be’. But how to ‘just be’? I have been told miraculous physical and psychological benefits if you practice stillness. Now, with so much technology and entertainment overpowering our mind, there is not much scope of it. Is it? Stillness in chaos?

Well, recently I came across a remarkable person (He wishes to be anonymous), who showed me steps as to how to just be. I will talk about this anonymous writer some other time. But for now, here are the steps. Read slowly.

1) Initially sit calmly, in a quiet place. Once you get the knack of it you can handle even a fish market. But in the beginning, avoid disturbance. Now, close your eyes, listen to sounds around you. The clocks tick tock, humming sound of refrigerator, sounds of vehicles etc….

2) The moment you start relaxing, thoughts will come with hammers to bang your head. All past, present and future thoughts coupled with disturbing intrusive talks will crowd your mind. Hmmm…never, ever block them or react to them, they are just passing clouds. Just observe them and let go. They will pass, you’ll stay. They mean nothing.

3) Now, you are an observer, just observing yourself. Deep breaths will start coming on its own. You will relax. You are a part of larger consciousness. It will take care of you and take you in. Breathe! Breathe deeper again.

4) You will start to enjoy the process. But after sometime thoughts return, egoistical and supposedly positive ones this time. You will feel you are gaining super natural powers or great superior things will happen to you etc! Just observe them with equanimity, do not get carried away, remember you have to just be! The deceptive thoughts are taking you towards result, towards future. No, just enjoy Now! Just keep listening to the sounds….just listen to sounds. Just be! Breathe…

5) Hmmm…so, what now after ‘just be’ state? Well, nothing… nothingness! You just said hello to yourself. That’s it! This is not a result oriented practice but it does bring far better results than anything else. But try not to concentrate on the result part. Just enjoy being in Now and at peace with your surrounding, enveloped by an enormous consciousness! The consciousness will take care of you and everything. Never worry! Have you observed a baby? He is naturally a part of the larger consciousness and so are you. You just have ‘to be’! Let thoughts and disturbances come and pass, ‘just be’ for some golden moments everyday. And say – Hello, Me!

I really enjoyed learning this from my friend. Just felt like forwarding the information and sharing it with you. Love always, dears! May you, just be!

(Images courtesy Google)

Can you stand up for a cause? Alone?

Consider this – You are in a bus. And you see a lecherous man eyeing a lady. He is sort of checking her out. He even tries to get cosy with her. The lady is ignoring him. She obviously doesn’t want a scene. It has nothing to do with you. But will you stand up and do something?

Second situation – There is a serious tussle going on between your loved one and a neighbor. You feel your loved one is not right. But objecting will mess up with your own relationship. Will you stand up and take the side of the outsider and hurt your own?

Third situation – You know your teacher is being mean to your friend. But revolting would end up in an ugly situation. Will you stand up with your friend against the teacher and possibly earn the wrath of the school authorities?

Honestly, in such situations, I would personally not like to invite trouble. What will you do? Will you stand up or remain seated like me. I guess, we the common people like to be seated. We have a hundred chores to do, mundane jobs to take care of…we are already burdened and do not want to bring on more problems.

We witness everything but turn our faces away. This is the reason why ‘saints’ like Ram Rahim continue to rape women for decades or little kids like Pradyman Thakur get murdered in school premises. We forget that a witness to crime also partakes in the crime and shares the ‘paap’ with the perpetrator.

But just in case, if you belong to that rare species of human beings, who just cannot stand injustice, then good luck to you. You will be perceived as a dimwit. Your standing up will come at a great cost. But then, we the seated lot might look up to you and may join you against injustice.

I earnestly hope, you the reader, belong to this rare species. Just be at it my friend! Only a few have your courage, only a few have your integrity and only a few know what is right and what is objectionable. The world needs more people like you.

Images: Google

From Mad Man to Mountain Man

Dashrath Manjhi sat viewing the mighty mountains surrounding him. They were the barriers, the hurdles, who had played with the lives of so many of his loved ones.

The mountains arrogantly stood between his village, Gehlaur and the nearest town blocking medical and other facilities. And not long back, the love of his life had slipped from one of these rocky terrains, leaving him alone.

He wanted revenge now! It was his will against the daunting mountains. Angrily, he took out his hammer and chisel and began to hurt the mountains. 

The villagers called him mad. But he just stopped listening. For twenty two years, he single handedly struggled against the mountains. 

Finally, he succeeded in carving a path 9.1 metres (30 ft) wide and 110 metres (360 ft) long through a hill 7.6 metres (25 ft). The distance between his village and the town got reduced from 55km to 15km.

Today, the world knows him as the noble Mountain Man!

(The picture reminded me of the poor labourer Dashrath Manjhi from India, who spent his entire life doing a noble task. His life has inspired many documentaries and films as well as stories.  In August 2015, a Hindi movie Manjhi – The Mountain Man, based on his life got released and was well received.)

(This is my entry to the flash fiction challenge, Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers hosted by the lovely Priceless Joy. We are given a photo prompt and approximately 75-175 words with which to create our stories. This challenge is open to all who would like to participate. Please CLICK HERE for more. Thank you Grant for the image!)

Can we reset our past?

Can we change our past? Most of us would answer an emphatic ‘No’ to this question. We have always been told that our past can never be changed.

But this particular quote by the great Richard Bach got me thinking. 

You are always free to change your mind and choose a different future, or a different past.                                                                     

Choose a different past, really? What made Richard Bach write that? I thought.
Further research made me smile. I got my answer! Bach was right! Our past can really be changed. I learnt that our past is energy and made up of our experiences…of what we have gone through in our private world. If we change the way we look at our past, our past will take a different shape… thereby liberating us in our present and changing our future for better.

Even if two people were a part of the same incident, their perspective about it would differ from each other. Past is a variable…If it was invariable, every person in a particular time and place would have undergone exactly the same kind of emotions, same sort of feelings and level of trauma. But everyone has a different past. You and your sibling’s past could be similar but not same!  

I learnt that our past can be changed by changing our perspective towards it, through creativity, positivity and visualization of the event. It can be changed through different ways, which you can read in this inspiring post here. (http://simonarich.com/change-your-past)

Dear confidantes, if something about your past is troubling you, take this journey – Go back in time, look at the incident as an observer and try to help your ‘stuck’ self there by being positive and strong. Tell yourself – you will emerge stronger after this! Be creative and strong as you live through it!

We derive strength from our past when we have a grim present…why not the other way round? Everything is possible! 

We are always free to change our mind and choose a different future, or a different past.

Images courtesy Google

In search of a story idea!

Not far from where we live, there is a patch in the sky that holds ‘Thought’ clouds. You can call it the Thoughtland!

Whatever thoughts you’ve had today or in the past, travels to this place and sticks there. To be frank, it is quite a confusing world comprising of jet black, white, grey, orange and blue clouds.

Dark clouds comprise of sad or wicked thoughts while white clouds are inspirational. Grey clouds are filled with tragi-comic thoughts pertaining to ups and downs in our mundane lives. Orange clouds hold thoughts by people from the past while blue clouds, which happen to be my favourite, hold brightest ideas.

That day, like most thinkers, I unwittingly entered the ‘Thoughtland’ while looking for a story idea. I got carried away, flew and flew, and reached the cloud patch. It was totally chaotic there…as thought clouds flew past me whispering of bitter sweet things.

I found myself amongst the grey clouds first and read a few thoughts of a teenager – “Why do my parents keep finding faults with me? I will grow up and take up a job and live far away from them!” Then, there was a housewife’s thoughts – “Thankless job I have been doing! Since morning till night, I am working. Cooking meals, washing, taking care of kids. But no respect, no joy! I will have to do something about it!”

I steered myself towards white clouds and read a few happy ones. A girl was going on a date with the guy of her dreams and she was thinking – “May the fairytale I am living today never ends.” And then there were thoughts of a little boy who was going to Disneyland and he was dreaming – “Tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life”.

I read a few black thoughts too and felt revolted. Stopping myself from reading further, I attempted to catch one of the blue clouds because I intuitively knew they held the story idea I was looking for.

But the blue clouds were the naughtiest ones! The moment I tried to get near them, they vanished, and my own dark and grey clouds, blocked way. Some of the dark clouds screamed, “It is useless to look for ideas and inspiration. Get used to your mundane existence. It is stupid, tiring and hard to try. You are born unlucky. Just give up!”

It was difficult to breathe when the dark clouds started bombarding me with negative thoughts. The naughty blue cloud had floated away. I felt like being trapped in an ocean of depressive thoughts.

Somehow, a lone Orange cloud appeared out of nowhere and whispered – “All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark. Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak.”

I remembered reading this quote somewhere. I guess it was by the great spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda! His lofty thought had stayed in the universe to inspire people like me. I chanted the thought like a drowning person holds on to a branch.

After a short while , I felt something wriggling in my hand. The tiny blue thought cloud was resting calmly on my palm. It had come to me on its own! I understood! The idea got pulled to me when I was chanting a positive thought. A bright frame of mind attracts great ideas!

I came out of the ‘Thoughtland’ holding the precious tiny blue cloud. An interesting story idea was already taking shape in my mind. I resolved to work upon it as soon as possible…because guess you know, great ideas often vanish quickly without a trace.