HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016

It’s been a wonderful start to the New Year 2016 and I want to wish you a very Happy, Exciting, Adventurous & as you make it to be; year.  Every year we go through a cycle of how our life is, and sometimes we inevitably go through the same cycle and realize that nothing really changed except the days and months on the calendar. Maybe if we introspect we’d find that there are a lot of learning’s we go through each year, if we take time to ponder, we will see how the learning impacts us and how it fosters newness in all that we do and how we approach our lives. The previous year has been a good year of learning, a lot has changed, not just my place of residence but also life’s perspectives and I’d like to list my top learning’s of 2015.

·      Be Open to Change: At the beginning of 2015, I was still in the old, trying to reinvent the old and survive. But if you want to thrive and not just survive, you got to be open to change.  They say life happens to you while your busy making plans, and rightly so, I was in midst of a meeting pitching for a project, when an sms with an opportunity appeared on my phone, I don’t know why but something drew me to it, I call it the Grace of God, so I politely changed the course of that pitch as listened to the voice of my heart and I am so glad I did. Change is hard in the beginning and it does get messy in the middle, but I can truly vouch for this, its glorious in the end.  

·      Stop Running: We are often caught in a trap of a race and we all seem to be running without knowing where the destination is. Even if we know the destination, it’s the journey that we need to look forward and pay attention too. It’s not necessary to live life chronologically, we are humans and not machines, but life seems to be programmed and we are doing things either based on our age or circumstance. We need to do the things we want to do and we’d love doing. We shouldn’t blame age or circumstance for it, for the same boiling water than hardens an egg, also softens a potato.

·      Benefit of Doubt: Many times most of our understanding of a situation/person is based on our perception and hence there will always be a gap unless we are angelic and have in us divine wisdom. As human as we are, we are going to err, therefore it is only reassuring not just us but to every situation/person we interact with to give me them the benefit of doubt. In doing so I found that situations and people stop getting complex and life becomes much more simpler.

·    Let go: I don’t quite remember the name of the movie, but I very clearly remember the dialogue, in which Aamir Khan’s character blurts, that we as human live with one leg in the past and one leg in the future and all we’re doing is piddling on our present! and how true is that. We got to let go of all that was in the past; it rightfully belongs where it is, from past relationships to old resentments to grudges. We got to learn to let go of all the could’ve have and should’ve and free ourselves of past burdens we cannot change. 

·      God is Good:  I saved this for the last, cos this had to be a show stopper, I mean we all pray to God, but do we in the truest sense really know who God is; perhaps most of us don’t cause if we knew who God really was, then we wouldn't hurt so much, knowing full that God has our best interest and has placed where we need to be. To me this year has been a year of knowing, trusting and having a deep relationship with God, I didn’t do it on my own, it was His Grace and the people around me that help build it. But it all began because I took the first step. It is said seek and you will find, which is so true, All you have to do is seek him and once you come to know of him, you too will say God is Good.

I hope this sharing inspires you to make 2016 a year that you want it to be, may this New Year give you ample opportunity to make it a better than your previous one and my prayer for you is to find motivation, courage and strength to seize those opportunities!

Cheers & God Bless,

Ash

The Message of Peace

The Easter season is a reminder to us that the resurrection brings to us Peace of the risen Christ. Whenever Jesus appeared to his disciples he greeted them saying “Peace be with you” for he knew the heart of humans, and how troubled they are and till date they still are. In today's world we all seem to be running a race, however no one is clued in, as to where is the finish line, and that is perhaps why there seems to be no peace. From fast food to fast cars and even faster lives, we're always in the pursuit of something and most often than not we're searching for it on the outside. One very essential point to remember is that your life's journey is how much you travel within rather than how much you travel to and from. So how can we bring ourselves to peace, perhaps to begin with we can start of with the following steps:

* Pray. Meditate: Unlike our general perception of God being like a headmaster or principal, who is always waiting to lecture, scold or punish us. He is far from that, in fact he is more like a friend. We seemed to be caught in too much of activity based forms of prayer and fellowship, which is essential, but should not be our only form of connect with our maker. How often have we heard that hymn “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief’s to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to him in prayer. The only question remains is how often do we set aside time for this our friend?

* Forgive: We all know that that even after being crucified Jesus pleaded for forgiveness for his perpetrators, and that example should be more than sufficient for all of us in the most difficult of situations after all Jesus was just as much human as we are. And surely at some point in time we are going to be rubbed or we might rub a bad shoulder with another. The key then to healing would be forgiveness, for often the one who forgives sets their own hearts free.

* Love: A simple tenet that sums up everything that Christ is, it’s also his greatest commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.” So think about it, Love is something that doesn't require things on the external, it is feeling and is in best effect when it’s genuine. And when you genuinely do, you will experience warmth that even a fireplace can't exude, Grace that is divine and an ease never felt before. Love is something that the more you give away, the more it comes back to you. 

To be at peace is to be in control of ones thoughts and emotions and that happens over time, therefore it is a constant endeavour which can come to being only when one takes small steps of change and that could begin with developing a relationship with your maker, Forgiving the ones who wrong you and by loving all. 

Peace be with you!

Open Letter to the Catholic Comedian: "With Great Powers, Comes Great Responsibilities"

Dear Jose,

It’s not that I am appointed by the Church to reply to your open letter, I do so as a fellow human being, an Indian and a Christian.

To begin with, yes it is not pertinent to know if the apology was asked for or given voluntarily, that it was accepted, reveals that our faith is about love, tolerance, and forgiveness. Let’s put it this way whether with intent or without one, if we were to hurt someone like our parents, spouse or friends, we would tender an apology, right? Or should we just leave it at that, as if it were a trivial matter and move on. Maturity does not come from saying big things; it comes when we understand small things, and it is in that maturity that the two parties came and sat across a table, voiced and discussed their concerns’ and have moved on with life.      

Yes, it is rightly said that laughter is the best medicine, but then to what extent can one go to make fun of or ridicule someone is what needs to be looked at. The stereotype that is really building is that, it’s absolutely okay to make fun of people, and not just that, if it is not funny you can go below the belt even to the extent of hurting someone mentally and/or maybe physically. My concern is, that when things happen too often they seem normal, thus setting a pattern, till a couple of decades back no kids abused in front of their parents, but today profanity seems relatively easy to use and to some, they even sound cool. Are we then waiting for more serious crimes to become normal?

The analogy of turning the other cheek refers to being non-violent, no matter how grave the situation is, and in this matter, the Church has always shown Grace even when she is being torn apart. So it is only reassuring that even in trivial matters such as these, the grace of God works, thus giving us the humility to ask forgiveness and the humility to forgive knowing that we need it too. To put this in perspective take a look at how the world deals with relationships today and we’ll realize the importance of humility. Yes, a couple of jokes cannot diminish our faith, but the humility that followed, will and can only strengthen our faith.

So yes, that is what the Church did; granted her forgiveness and will continue to do so, because that is what Love is all about. Acceptance. So tomorrow even if those that have vandalized the Churches in Delhi and other places realize their mistake and apologize, I am sure the Church will forgive. And let us not forget that, it is we as fellow Christians’ who make up the church and what we do reflects on society as who Christians truly are. Can we then say, they will know we are Christians by what we do?

As a celebrity, everything you express is lapped up by those who follow you; you have the power to form opinions and hence the adage “With great power, comes great responsibility” will always hold true for celebrities as well as the Church. Let’s not forget that, as little as seeds are, they can manifest themselves a hundred times over. What I have expressed is what I felt after reading your letter; I do hope you consider these thoughts, as they too come from a place of immense love and respect for our country its people and their beliefs.

Sincerely,  

Ashford Menezes