Spiritual Journey

 Life throws you challenges, some very tough, in order to strengthen you and to also show  you where you need to change your path.

I think of life as a crowded street where we have to constantly be aware of where we are going, whether we are stepping  on anyone’s toes, how we are weaving ourselves in and out of situations and working around people. Sometimes, we need to step aside to allow others to pass. And sometimes, we need to forge ahead on our path while politely asking people to give us way by stepping aside.

This is a way that works for me when I remember to use it. Each morning, put yourself in a white light bubble and make the intention that your space within this  bubble will not be disturbed while you live out your day. Keep checking the bubble and reinforce it during the day . You will know when it is wearing thin as soon as you begin to feel any negativity.

Do try it and tell me if it works for you. We all need it  for our spiritual journey.

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

Speakingtree Blog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Attitudes in life

 When we get tired of sitting in one position, we change the angle . When we are sleeping at night, we change sides frequently. All this in the name of comfort…

But, when it comes to negative thoughts, why don’t we change them into positive ? Why are we unable to change the angle here ? Why do we look at only one side and let it disturb us ?

 Isn’t really it odd ? More so, because we are disturbed when we don’t want to be. And yet, even for our own sakes, we won’t do anything about it. We will hold on, and keep holding on to every burden , carry it on our heads, refuse to off load it, and on top of it, cry foul ! Blame others and situations for our wrong attitudes in life !

Where then is the flow, the harmony in our lives ? Try walking in a river with a huge burden on your head ! You can’t even walk straight, let alone swim without a risk of drowning with that heavy burden like a weight pulling you down !

Teaching oneself to be sensible, even selfish in the right way would be to teach them just two words : LET GO !!!

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

Speakingtree Blog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Responses

 Whether peace, conflict, anger or restlessness, life does not stop for anyone. You get over grief ( mostly) . You experience life in many shades. You love, you lose, you win, you battle. But at the end of the day, nothing pleases more than peace and harmony. And in learning that this is what you ultimately wanted, you have almost completed this journey.

But that is the law of life. You learn what NOT to do very late in life. You keep repeating wrong patterns of thinking and acting . Why ? Why don’t some of us learn what works for us and just work with that ? We create conflict situations and then we do it again and again because our responses don’t change. Our perspectives don’t change.

But as they say, better late than never. So, a change in favour of establishing better patterns is welcome at any time. And the sooner the better.

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

Speakingtree Blog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Quote of the day

 

Quote of the day

 

Insecurities

 

Relationships and insecurities go hand in hand. When you are trying hard to secure relationships, you are also communicating to yourself a need within you. A need to be liked, a need to be popular, maybe and a need to belong somewhere, probably because the idea of belonging to yourself is alien.

But it is true that if you know how to belong to yourself, then you can go anywhere and there will be only a lightness of being. At that time, you won’t bother to even think of what people say or think about you.

Every day, there are situations in our lives where we could react and react strongly sometimes. But that, we must be aware, would be our insecurities speaking. There is great merit in being unfazed by the episodes of active energy around us and remaining steadfast.

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

SpeakingtreeBlog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

Encouragement

How many things in life can we laugh about? How many things do we take in our stride? And how many times do we get affected?

If you can laugh about things which hurt earlier, then you are more evolved because such people are lighter in energy and a little detached as well.

If you are taking things in your stride, then you have learnt to balance your emotions out. And you have learnt when and where to use them.

And if you get affected by things, then you have not learnt your lessons well. It is always in the moment of imbalance that we are dominated by our emotions. You are still too dependent on what is outside of you. And the external is not always dependable whereas you are looking for support and encouragement from there only. Shoulders may be taken away. Rugs can be pulled from under your feet.

In all this, you can only depend on yourself and your wisdom in living, dealing with people and situations. Just like no one can attend school as a proxy for you to attain the knowledge, no one can improve your life but yourself.

Men may come and men may go,

But "I" go on forever.

So, if "I" go on forever, where lies the need to lean on an impermanent, destructible world?

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

SpeakingtreeBlog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Quote of the day

Talent and creativity

Sometimes, when you go to a show expecting nothing, you get mesmerized by the fantastic unexpected as I did this evening and as did many others.

The one hour, one woman play "Elephant in the Room" by the incredibly talented Yuki from Bombay was a treat that I was happy not to have missed. For the first time, I witnessed a touching portrayal of the human side and the anguish of Lord Ganesha as a little boy who had his head severed and replaced with an elephant head. Within this theme, Yuki weaves many characters and many little stories through Ganesha setting out to find his original head. She also touches upon contemporary topics brilliantly.

To keep the audience fascinated through her impressive and effective body language. acting, dance postures, incredible voice modulation for every character she played, from a hunter to a spider to a hyena and more , is certainly not a mean task. And Yuki did it with aplomb.

With simple settings and improvisations of characters with just a robe or a stole and super lighting and sound effects, the show is truly an unforgettable one.

FLO chose a daring, modern play but the Chennai audiences have come of age and responded with a thunderous applause between every scene and at the end of the show.

What talent and creativity can accomplish!!!

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

SpeakingtreeBlog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

The best of times

We humans are so brilliant at forcing things to happen. Actually, we don't realize it but we are forcing the hand of God. Everything happens at the right time but patience is not a virtue at the best of times.

Remember the story of the cocoon that was forced open before time for the butterfly to emerge but it resulted only in its destruction.

Everything happens as preordained. The birth of a child, the ripening of fruit on the tree, the rise and set of the sun , the waxing and waning of the moon, a wedding of two people, dawn and dusk... even our destiny unfolding. It is such an egoistic illusion that we do anything.

Forcing something before time upsets the natural balance and the order of things. If we look back, we can remember several such incidents. The only way it works is watch as life unfolds and let it determine the direction of the flow.

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

SpeakingtreeBlog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

Consequence

I read somewhere that grief is unproductive. And frankly, I have to agree at some level. Though grief is the most intense form of loss, it can also be felt for lesser types of loss in the larger context. For example, loss of Jewelry would be a lesser loss than the loss of a loved one. However, it is often very difficult to qualify grief because it is directly proportionate to the attachment levels. It can be an extreme form of a deep wound or hurt. A deep disillusionment about a loved person can result in grief.

What is really the dangerous consequence is the depression, the loss of hope that could set in. It can lead to mental disorders of a serious nature. At such times, a strong faith is the only guide that keeps you going. And the fact that even if there are underlying threads of grief which are permanent, there can be a recourse to other things which can engage the mind to disconnect with the grief if we can attempt this.

I try to give myself the advice I give to clients and that is challenging. It is so easy to guide others but when it comes to ourselves, don't we often fail to take our own advice?

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

SpeakingtreeBlog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

Group behavior

The human mind can be really fickle if we don't watch out! Its likes and dislikes oscillate much more than the changing seasons. Maybe, in current times, the seasons are also becoming as unpredictable as people.

We must really ask ourselves why we are so lacking in consistency and why should our will prevail each time? This seems to be a huge reason for our inconsistency. "I"..."Mine"...Yes sir! We salute you. It is and has to be only you and you... amazing! And this would also be fine if there were no frequent variations in what came out of that "I" and "mine". But the inconsistencies within short term consistencies which I am calling "fickle" here seem to be endless.

Especially when in a group. Group behavior, if you notice, is a typical example. A few days back, I wrote about insecurities. Frequently changing parameters of emotions are directly linked to the very same insecurities.

Often, we misinterpret, and sometimes, wantonly misinterpret the words or acts of people we are not too fond of or are even envious of. Where is the core issue? Of course, within us. We actually don't have the courage to be ourselves and fall short in our own eyes.

So, fickleness leads to oscillations, and this soon becomes a chain. Like riding a bike downhill without a break. We don't know how and where we are going to end up. Because the bike is driven by "I" and "mine" whereas the consistency is due to the ability to control the brakes .These are the "we" which we fail to activate.

Surekha Kothari

www.BodyMindSoulCentre.com

surekhakothari.wordpress.com

SpeakingtreeBlog: www.speakingtree.in/public/surekhakothari