Creating the Positive Field

Around every person or place there is a field of emotional energy. Positive emotions like love, courage, humour, compassion wonder and peace create a positive field. Energy causes all beings to act in this world. The higher the level of energy, the greater the accomplishments. When we are tired, our energy level plummets and we do not feel like doing anything. When the field around is negative with hurt, anger, possessiveness, greed, jealously, fear and abhorrence, we are less able to act with speed, effectiveness and efficiency. These emotions suck the energy and life force out of us. All beings have within them, the all-pervading life force or ‘prana’, the same force or energy that creates and sustains life in the universe. The capacity to enjoy the free gifts of Nature—sunlight, rain or flowers—allows the chemicals of bliss endorphins and serotonins to flow.

“In quantum physics this interdependency being of a thing and its overall environment is called field, and the implications of it are vast, both for our whole conception of reality and for our understanding of ourselves as partners in that reality,” writes Danah Zohar. Interdependence is key to a holding environment, where the true self can be shared.

Shangri-La

There is a place in the distant mountains which is always calm and peaceful, where the earth is laden with luscious fruit and wholesome grain, where people are vital, healthy and happy. Where every edifice is artistic and beauty clothes every home in the loveliness hand made artifacts and the community is one happy family. Lush forests, dazzling with their painted butterflies, exotic animals and birds from distant lands. The air is fresh and the water is pure and the sound of holy mantras is carried on every gentle breeze. This is the mythical Shangri-La…..

Shangri-La is the result of Mankind’s desire to create this happy town, city and finally nation. Shangri-La is not really a place. It is inside everyone’s own heart. The dream city is only a reflection of our own peaceful, happy heart.

1.            Make many friends, who get together to laugh, work, read and share.

2.            Plant more trees.

3.            Clean up the roads.

4.            Start walking and playing together with the kids on the street.

5.            Share the knowledge, play, beauty and wisdom. Create the ‘village’ which is needed to raise a child in your community.

6.            Use garbage to create gardens and get everything bright and blooming

Celebrating Summer

Summer is waiting, crouching in the shadows to leap upon us with an orange roar of colour, heat and sweat. In the drama of the four seasons, summer is the brightest. The Kashmir valley celebrates the Tulip festival in April at Siraj Bagh, clasped in embrace of the scenic Zabrawan range, in Srinagar. Nearly 60 varieties of beautiful Tulips worship the sun in over 5 hectares of land.

Imagine a living carpet caressed by the cool summer breeze, woven by the great Architect of the Universe Himself! It is a changing kaleidoscope of red, yellow, variegated pink, white, orange, light blue and magenta. The Kashmiris celebrate this event by displaying their handicrafts and cultural programs. Authentic Kashmiri cuisine is part of the festival. After last week’s events, I wonder whether blood is good for the Tulips to grow? Vibrant life and the tragic death of beautiful young people lie so closely woven together, here.

Summer too is like that, let us decide to enjoy the joy and vibrancy of the season and push the discomfort to the back of our minds. Welcome and celebrate the summer. Plant the colourful, short lived summer flowers. Float them in water, in artistic mud, wide mouthed, pots.

Celebrate summer in the evening breezes in flower strewn gardens and lazy beaches. Celebrate with raw mango juice and lime sherbet. This is the season for a luxury bath – set apart time for your tryst with cool water sprays in the pool and in the bath. Emperor Akbar had to get his ice from the Himalayan glaciers on elephant back. We just need to keep the fridge well stocked. Wear a cool attitude and retreat to cool air conditioned spaces at noon, instead of testing your tolerance with outdoor tasks.

Create a water spot for people who walk past your house. Fill the bird baths and set out water for the squirrels. Happy summer holidays!

The International Family day

The International family day is on 15^th May. As the world becomes more and more self centered, and people shift to a more solitary and independent way of life, it is a way to remember the most important bond in human society. It is the family that is holding and protecting the human society through the ups and downs of the human life cycle

This day highlights the importance of this relationship which is the birth right of all. It also focuses on important issues that can strengthen it – equality, sharing of domestic responsibilities and work life balance. The family is the most important institution that has existed from the beginning of human society.

The family today has undergone many changes, but it is usually made up of married adults, and their children, living together and enjoying economic co-operation. Here are some steps we can take to strengthen the family unit.

·         Enhance the bonds of mutual affection and goodwill by organizing annual get-together, pujas, prayers and religious festivals like Diwali, Eid, Bakrid, Good Friday, X’mas, Mahavir Jayanthi, Guru Nanak Jayanti, etc and also other festivals like Pongal, Onam, Baisakhi, Ugadi, Holi, etc.

·         Ensure that caring adults in the family shape the lives of children during the first three years which are spent at home. Elders should help young parents to accomplish this, especially if both parents are working

·         Enjoy and celebrate successes in the family digitally. Comfort each other through loss and failure.

·         Ensure ‘family time’, good work-life balance and proper sharing of work at home.

·         Celebrate the contribution of care, wisdom and love of elders to the family. Teach respect for them, from youngsters, by setting an example in your behavior towards your elders.

The family is the most permanent institution in human society. Make sure that it remains strong and stable for the well being of future generations and Mankind.

Proactive Change

The results of transformative change are all around us this summer. Sunflower plants busting out from seeds where they have slept tightly curled, butterflies leaving behind their worn out cocoons, flowers dressing up the bare limbs of trees. This time as the financial year begins, it is the time for proactive change.

Change is the only certainty in an uncertain world. This year you will change, merely because everything around you will change. What you can decide is, whether you will lead the change or become a victim of it.

Think about proactively changing things in the following areas of your life.

1.      Personal

2.      Family

3.      Professional

4.      Social

Things will change anyway. Make sure they change in the way you want. And remember a butterfly is not an improved caterpillar. Just as a sunflower is not an improved seed.

Family Bonding

‘The family is the shock absorber of society, to which the bruised and battered individual returns after doing battle with the world,’ wrote Alvin Toffler in his classic ‘Future Shock’. The breakdown of the joint family has led to a loosening of extended family relationships. The large, amorphous, supportive joint family that supported a wide variety of people and bestowed unconditional love for the crippled, the old and the helpless, has been reduced to the nuclear family where everyone is in sharp focus.

It is our mission to restore the family to its traditional role as a place of rest and healing, in a new paradigm. There should be one person in the family who can cushion the blows of the outside world. Someone who is not too busy to listen, gives support, and manages the daily tasks of living. This could even be a paid caregiver or cook. Networking with parents, in-laws, neighbours, domestic help and friends is the key for working couples.

Why Regret?

Imagine a buttoned down, French stock broker, suddenly flying off to the South Sea Islands and becoming a famous painter. Paul Gauguin a Post Impressionist painter, who influenced many modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse is an unusual case of having achieved his dreams in mid career. I am sure he died without regrets. It’s never late to follow your dreams. If only, or it might have been…. are the saddest words in the English language.

Most people, on their death beds do not regret what they have done. Most regrets are about all the things they have not done. So it is important to do all the things you want to do, by preparing a to-do list. This is a human privilege, because humans are the only living creatures who are able to plan for the future.

The best way to be happy is, of course to live intensely in the present. That is why it is called a gift or a present. Plan at least 6 ‘happiness breaks’ every day. Because research shows that it is many small, minute-to-minute happiness creating activities, that lead to a happy life rather than the one big, award or achievement.