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

Random Musings: Happiness

So often than not, the one thing that every human being is constantly searching is that feeling of Happiness, many mistake this feeling to the externals, like maybe winning a lottery or perhaps meeting a loved one, but the moment reality kicks in, i.e you have to pay the tax on the winning amount, or its time to say goodbye to the person, that feeling starts to lessen in some measure, even worse in some cases, it just goes away…  So what does one do, in order to stay happy??? One could find an answer to that in reggae town singer Bob Marley hit single ‘Don’t worry, Be happy’ a tune that puts a smile on many a faces, but this again translates happiness, to being momentary and not lasting. And this brings us to a conclusion which is far different than what we tend to perceive, which is, we tend to seek happiness in momentary situations and perhaps that is why it short lived.

Last night as I watched the television, I watched a reality show on a popular music channel, as the show began to progress I asked myself what and why is it that these guys are willing to risk it all, or painstakingly take the effort of participating in a show, when the chances are as bleak as 1% to any given contestant… are they seeking happiness too… maybe yes and maybe no… the irony because, you come there with intention a and what happens to you in most cases is perhaps beyond z, but then out of nowhere there is a radiant light on many a faces, even if they don’t make it, why ??? Because they have found themselves, they found who they really are and sometimes even that elusive noun called purpose… and that is what brings them real happiness, happiness that comes from within. So the next time you feel a little low and unhappy, maybe for temporarily relief you can tune in to the Marley song or perhaps a chocolate bar or tub full of ice-cream may do the trick, however at the end of it all happiness is where you are and what you ought to be, remember that, tomorrow is fuller than a thousand yesterdays. So take your chances, do the unusual, walk the tight rope, for the pursuit of happiness lies within you and in that journey inward you will find true happiness.