On New Awareness

Tags

awareness, moderation, softness, tenderness, travel, yoga

They say that it takes twenty one days to create a new habit. The corollary would be that it takes twenty one days to break an old habit, yes?

The sixteen days in India were a great start to breaking the habit of the need for hyper-connectivity and hyper-awareness of the events of the world around me. Awareness is a good thing, but hyper-awareness? Perhaps not so much. When does awareness turn into hyper-awareness? It happens when we engage with the granularity of the details of a particular event at a very fine level, when moderation falls by the wayside…

Take the war in Ukraine. We can make it a hyper-aware event in our life if we follow and then get caught up in the constant coverage of all the minute details of the major and minor incidents of the war. This can put us into a state of constant stress, with our nerve stretched out in a hyper-elastic state, ready to snap at any given moment. Despite my best efforts at self-moderation, I found myself moving towards such a state in the two weeks leading up to my trip to India.

Needless to say, this was having a negative impact on my daily life. I was finding it increasingly difficult to stay calm during my morning meditation. I was getting more and more irritable about inconsequential things. I was even considering postponing my long-awaited trip, driven by the fear of the possibility of ‘what if the war becomes much worse and we can’t get back to the USA?’

However, once I got on the first flight of the trip, it was as if I went into a wormhole and got transported into a different world. I quickly learnt that fear and hyper-awareness are close cousins. Sometimes, one needs to go ‘cold turkey’ to break the cycle of fear, and to allow for new awareness to come through.

Somewhat by design, somewhat by lack of connectivity, and mostly due to lack of time, I mostly stayed off of twitter, there was no TV news or NPR or perusing newspaper web sites to feed my hyper-awareness. The fire-hose of news and information got turned off, as my time and energy got re-focused on family and friends. I stayed in touch with the macro events, but the desire to know about every single detail fell off like a snake shedding its old skin.

As a result, I was fortunate to be able to quickly go from hyper-awareness to a new, simple awareness. The large-scale shift in focus towards the people in front of me, in-person sharing of our life’s major events from the past three years, mini-celebrations, laughter and tears, all created a new awareness. The cycle of fear-led hyper-awareness had been replaced by love-focused caring and connection.

One pleasant result was that I had some of the best morning meditation experiences during my two weeks in India. The second week was particularly spectacular, being that I was on a beach resort where the evening walks by the Arabian sea set up the morning meditations. The birds would wake you up way before sunrise, which was the perfect time to sit and practice. Morning walks on the beach with my sister followed, and were invariably accompanied by watching the sun rise over the coconut palms.

I was still aware of the world, but it was a different world for sure. The slower unhurried pace of people in the tropics, the softness of the sand and warm waters, the rhythm of the tides, the beauty of flowers woven into hair-braids, new friendships with staff and a cat at the resort – all created a beautiful new awareness. I became aware that kindness, softness, tenderness, grace, honesty, humility and beauty still do exist in the world – we just have to be aware of and then get out of the spiral of pain and negativity that we sometimes tend to get trapped in.

As I write this, I am exactly twenty one days away from when I first landed in India on the family trip. I have been back ‘home’ for six days. I remain keenly interested in the world, but my interest in it has shifted towards awareness of its goodness and love-filled-ness. These three weeks have been a reminder to me that the Yogi, the practitioner of Yoga, of union between the lower and the higher, is the one who can practice awareness without being driven to the opposite extremes of exhilaration or despondency. I have been reminded of moderation in all things, including and particularly in awareness.

It is perhaps in moderate living that lies our path to the state of awareness where truth, consciousness and joy become our permanent home. In that home, we arise to discover that the morning bird still sing while the dawn is still dark – in her knowing through and beyond faith that the dawn is imminent.

May that new awareness be ours.

Kumud

P. S. Join us for our weekly twitter chat, Sunday April 10at 9amET / 630pm India, with the #SpiritChat community. I am happy to be back hosting after a gap of three weeks, and am grateful that community leaders stepped up to fill the hosting gap while I was traveling. I will have new questions, new goodies, and new experiences to share. Namaste – AjmaniK

A new awareness… of softness and tenderness

Spiritual journeys and destinations by @merryb923

Tags

destination, journey, travel

Spiritual journeys and destinations (by Meredith Bouvier)

What is the role of a destination in our spiritual journey? Is it even necessary? Or important? 

As I think on these questions, I remember some of the spiritual journeys I have taken in life. Some didn’t start off as a spiritual journey, but became one. Others, were aligned with life journeys, such as a relationship, or a big move, college, being a part of a community, or during a trip of some sort. And then some were intentional spiritual journeys- studying and learning things I’m passionate about, and journeys within.

I think about the destination of these journeys- I remember some of the original destinations I had in mind, and most of the time the destination I reached was far different than the intended destination. A move to NYC to find a new life for me in New York, led to me finding a new life back home in Massachusetts. A visit to a meditation retreat to learn how to become a super meditator, and the result was the pride of an accomplishment and a testament to my tenacity and adaptability, a chronic sense of peace.

The role of the journey is not often questioned. The journeys shape who we become. They are our lives, our struggles, our memories, big truths and hard decisions. But what initiates the journey? Is it a destination we seek? And when do we consider our journey complete? Must there be a destination? 

As I prepare for a spiritual journey to explore the beauty of Scotland as well as a journey within next week, I invite you to explore your spiritual journeys and destinations with me on Sunday for #spiritchat

💕✨Meredith

Author Bio: Hiiii! I’m Meredith Bouvier : Cheerleader for love, kindness warrior, seeker of truth, a masterpiece and a work in progress. Most adored and important roles in life are leader, friend and mentor. Spreading love, kindness, light and humor on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat @merryb923 💕✨

Kumud’s note: I am excited and grateful that Meredith, a #SpiritChat participant for about ten years or so, is going to host the weekly chat on Sunday, April 3 2022 at 9amET. Please do join her for this wonderful journey! Namaste – @AjmaniK

What role, if any, can companions play in our journeys?

A Spiritual Homecoming

Tags

awareness, heart, home, homecoming, journey, travel

When he pushed his two suitcases through the sliding glass doors after the security guard had lazily glanced at his passport and matched the name on it with his Lufthansa paper ticket, he had no idea what kind of welcome, if any, awaited him on the other side of the Atlantic. He had just said goodbye – a very long goodbye as goodbyes in India on airports where a family member is headed into unknown and uncharted tend to be – to about two dozen friends and family. Some of them managed to smile, while others made valiant but unsuccessful attempts to hold back tears. 

They stood outside the glass wall which encased the terminal, cheeks pressed against the window, hands raised in goodbye and blessings for as long as they could see him as he finally passed out of sight through the Customs check-point (yes, there is a Customs check on departure in India). He had no idea how long it would be before he would see any of them again, so he waited till the final call for departing passengers to leave their sight. There was no way for him to know how long it was going to be between departure and the homecoming, because when you leave the safety of the shore and surrender to the flow, life happens. 

He landed in New York city’s JFK on a crisp autumn morning, took a bus to switch airports to catch a Piedmont flight to Roanoke, where he was received by some volunteers of the Indian Students’ Association. What a wonderful act of kindness that was, which brought much relief to a weary traveler after thirty six hours of traveling. It felt like a bit of a homecoming, to be surrounded by people who spoke your language. During orientation, half of which he had missed because he was late getting to the USA because of a visa delay, he ran into a very good friend who he had known since third grade! Another mini homecoming. And then, another friend from Delhi, who spoke his grandmother’s native tongue. An even bigger homecoming. 

Fast forward. 

In his excellent TED talk titled “Where is Home”, Pico Iyer says that “Home is where you Stand”. By that measure, I have had a lot of homes across the world. From the easternmost parts of Assam to some of the northernmost parts of Kashmir, I have stood and felt a connection to people who have extended great love with a welcoming heart. Criss-crossing the Northern states of India several times on multi-day train trips, I made an attempt to get off the train at every single station. Now that I think about it, it was as if I was trying to feel at home at every single pause of the journey as I felt my feet touch the platform. It was as if I was feeling the flow of the earth under my feet at every opportunity I would get. 

So, what does all this story-telling have to do with homecoming and spirituality? I had never heard of the word until I first came across it in the context of alumni returning ‘home’ to Virginia Tech during football Saturdays in the fall. Such a beautiful word. Homecoming. It creates a vision of those who have graduated from a station in life and traveled on to explore new frontiers returning home. A bit like the splashdown of the two American astronauts a few weeks ago after they had spent a few weeks on the Space Station. Or a bit like those who spend weeks preparing for, and then climbing some of the highest mountain peaks, returning home weary and falling into the arms of their beloveds and getting some well-deserved rest. Homecoming is thus a time for renewal, of sharing stories about our travels, and then setting out again on another new journey.

In a spiritual context, homecoming can be viewed as a return to source. It isn’t connected to a particular age or a particular physical place. It is connected to a return to the source that resides in our heart – not just the physical heart, by the spiritual heart that is our consciousness beyond the mind-matter complex. In fact, one could posit that in the spiritual context, there is actually no Homecoming, because we never really left. We may spend our entire life being unaware of who we are, and yet, the consciousness, the spiritual heart is always with us. At any given moment, when our awareness shifts to It, we are aware that we are home.

Home is where we stand in awareness.

Fast rewind.

It was twenty seven months before he returned. In the interim, there were short phone calls (they had to be short at almost two dollars a minute), long hand-written letters, bouts of home-sickness, regular instances of culture shock, many new friendships formed with Virginia natives, and an awareness that it was beginning to feel a little bit like a new home. He was beginning to enjoy the New River, the new flow, the new awareness of floating and letting be. 

Present moment.

What is your story of homecoming? What does the word mean to you, remind you of? What emotions or memories or awareness does it invite? Do reflect, and then share if you are so led to do so. 

Kumud

P.S. Join us in our weekly gathering with the #SpiritChat community on twitter to share some thoughts on Homecoming. We will meet Sunday September 6 at 9amET (almost to the day when I first landed in JFK all those years back). I will bring some questions that will act as place holders for the real conversation that will happen in the many tributaries of the main flow. Namaste – @AjmaniK

 

One of my favorite bridges — I instantly feel welcomed, at home, a sense of Homecoming every time I stand on it…

On Spirituality and Planning

Tags

guidance, planning, spiritual path, travel

I had the trip planned out perfectly, or so I thought. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, my brand new wife of two days old, and me, were going to go on a day trip from New Delhi to Agra, to see the famous Taj Mahal. Tickets in hand, we took a taxi in the wee hours of the morning from our hotel to the train station. We had no luggage with us, so all we needed to do was to find the correct “platform” from which the train was departing, and board the train. Being the local, I was “in charge” and so I led them out of the taxi into the “grand central station” like foyer. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hey coolie (porter). What platform number does Taj Express leave from?”

He looked at me with a look that I will never forget. He probably didn’t know how to say it, but what he did say still resonates. 

Coolie: “Taj Express? That train doesn’t go from here! It goes from Nizamuddin station!”

I used to live near Nizamuddin station. It was at least thirty minutes away from where we were standing. With the clock showing 525, it meant we had forty minutes to make it there before the train left at 605. I could see my meticulously laid plans vanishing like the early morning fog dissipates with the heat of the rising sun. But there was no going back – this was our only chance to see the Taj, because we were all leaving back for the USA the next day. I “led” the ladies out of the train station, through the throng of touts of taxi drivers offering to drive us all the way to Agra, two and a half hours away. No way I was going to admit “defeat” that easily!

Thirty five minutes later, after a taxi ride through Delhi’s early morning fog and traffic, we landed outside Nizamuddin station. Of course, the train was not on platform one, which would have meant a simple walk on to the train. We had to walk up a long set of stairs, then take another walk over multiple train tracks, and then descend to platform number nine. By the time we found which compartment we were supposed to board, the train had started to move. Twenty five years later, my mother-in-law still hasn’t forgiven me for literally dragging her, half-running in her high heels, to get on that train. I don’t think that the beauty of the Taj was enough for her to forget my immaculate “trip planning”. 

So, I have learnt that I am not much of a planner. I was never much into planning. In fact, I might be the poster child who contradicts the whole “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” adage. I have accepted the fact that my “lack of planning” isn’t setting myself up for failure. It is simply an acceptance of an alternate path through life for me. I would like to believe that I am not alone in this acceptance of life’s flow. I cannot think of a single significant “life event” in my life that was “planned out” by me. Engineering school, coming to the USA for graduate studies, meeting my spouse, buying my first home, getting a dog, starting #SpiritChat on twitter, and so many other events – all seem to have “just happened” to me. Maybe I am the poster child for “life happens to us when we are busy making plans”. Or the poster child for “delegation of planning” for many of life’s trips – in my case, to my wonderful wife. 

I am not advocating that we ought not to make plans. I am simply sharing with you that good things can happen to us and through us, even if we don’t plan meticulously. The decade of the 2020’s is upon us with great spiritual opportunity, just like the 2010’s and 2000’s were upon us ten and twenty years ago. Yes, as we embrace the new decade, it is a good time to pause and reflect on how far we have traveled this year, and in this past decade. Are we on the correct train station, the correct train? What is the journey we are taking, and does it have a purpose? What are the “constants” and the “variables” on our path? Who are our traveling companions? What are the resources that we have, and who will we ask for help or guidance when we need it? 

Yes. These questions may be worth considering as we step into the spiritual symmetry of 2020 and the decade ahead. The spiritual journey does require some commitment, and even a bit of planning on our part. Perhaps it begins with the simple commitment of buying a train ticket. Then, we can commit to be flexible, to accept change, to be the change. Then we commit to get to the train station on time — the correct train station!

And then, when the conductor blows the whistle, waves the green flag to announce “all aboard”, we can all travel together and see some of the most beautiful places in our hearts. Let’s plan the trip, shall we?

Kumud

P.S. Join us for a planning session for the next decade – Sunday, December 29 at 9amET / 730pm India – in #SpiritChat on twitter. I will bring some tea and cookies for the train ride – we can take a trip together as we ask some questions, share some answers. Namaste – @AjmaniK

From one of my travels…

On Traveling Light

Tags

journey, lightness, travel

The metaphor of traveling is often used to describe our passage through daily living, and our lives in general. Some folks take naturally to traveling, and even have a strong affinity and liking to it, while others are more ‘meh’ about the whole idea. Regardless of our preferences for travel itself, our experiences have taught us that ‘traveling light’ is much easier than traveling with ‘excess baggage’.

In the life-metaphor context, traveling light takes much practice. A lot of it. We tend to accumulate, to collect, to even hoard things like feelings, experiences, judgements, rejections and much more. Every so often, even on a single day that might have started off on a ‘light-hearted’ and upbeat mode for us, we find ourselves ‘weighed down’ by the end of the day. Sometimes we barely reach mid-morning and we are already ‘traveling heavy’. Have you ever had this experience? Have you ever wondered why?

It is easy to assign blame to the external world when we feel ‘weighed down’. Then again, the world is relatively agnostic to our inner state, i.e. our traveling preferences. The outer world provides us with all kinds of opportunities – both positive and negative – that can help us subtract from or add to our cumulative traveling weight. For example, the choice to take a short, brisk walk outside at some point in our day is as much available to most of us, as is the choice not to take that walk. In this case, our choice will determine whether we lighten our load or not.

What are some other daily life choices that can ehlp us lighten our load and travel light? Here are a few choices to consider…

1. Invoke Joy. When the world begins to weigh heavy on us with its demands, we can remind ourselves to invoke Joy in our heart. “I choose to do this with Joy” can instantly lighten our load.

2. Grow your Peace. When the world swamps us with its heaviness through discord and dissonance, we can choose to continue to plant seeds of peace within. This is where our commitment to our daily (spiritual) practice(s) can play a significant part.

3. Observe your patterns. Our thoughts, our food intake, our media consumption, our spending habits and more. They can all reveal the ‘traveling habits’ of our lives. Are our patterns trending towards increasing or decreasing complexity? Heaviness or Lightness?

4. Choose your energy footprint. Are we brightening or darkening the space that we enter? Does our presence weigh heavy or light on those we connect with on a daily basis? A quick self-check of our heart-state can often inform us if it is light or heavy. Rest assured that it is that very heart-state that becomes our energy footprint.

I am sure that you can think of many more choices that put you in a ‘light’ state of travel. The more aware we are of these choices, the better our odds of ‘traveling light’. And when we choose to travel light, those around us appreciate us more, we enjoy the journey more, and we arrive rested and relaxed!

Namaste, and happy travels!

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Please join me and the #SpiritChat community as we explore ‘Traveling Light’ – Sunday, December 3rd at 9amEST / 2pm UTC / 7:30pm IST on twitter. Thank you!

‘Traveling Light’ on a walk through the local Metroparks…

A Spirit of Serendipity

Tags

discovery, serendipitiy, spirituality, travel

It has been a year full of wonderful travel opportunities for me, whether they be for ‘work’ or ‘leisure’. My most recent trip was to the country of Brazil, and to what seems to be a country within a country – the southern state of Rio Grande de Sul. The primary purpose of this trip was to attend a family wedding, and it was a beautiful affair indeed. I had no idea what to expect, for I had never been to a “farm” wedding before, so I simply went with an open heart and mind – going with the flow. And I am so glad that I did go, for some of the lessons that I learnt after the wedding was done, will stay with me for a long time.

The simple, matter-of-fact, understated elegance of this family wedding in a rural area was very (refreshingly) different from the loud, over-the-top affairs that I have been witness to many a times in the USA and in India. Like every day of the year, the cows on the farm were milked by 5:30pm, and then, the father of the groom “cleaned up” (really well!) and drove us to the church so he could bless his son for his new journey in life. If he was nervous about the fact that his son was getting married, he barely showed it. He seemed to go about his business with nary a furrow in his brow, as if he had nothing to be concerned about. Everything was going to be okay – that seemed to be the message of his countenance, his attitude.

I decided to watch this man – my wife’s Dad’s brother – for the rest of the evening, and, for that matter, for the rest of my stay on his farm. I consider the lessons that I learnt from observing him, a beautiful serendipity of this trip. I went to participate in a wedding – I ended up learning so many practical life lessons from him. Sixteen hour work days, 365 days a year, with nary a complaint – getting up before dawn, milking cows, working the farm, milking cows again – the man never seems to stop. Some of you may remember that “Farmer” commercial during Superbowl 2013 – it was probably based on Ricardo’s life of hard work, simplicity, humility, self-sacrifice, respect for life, and devotion to his family and community – “somebody who would bale a family together with the soft, strong string of sharing…”

So, what does all this have to do with #SpiritChat and serendipity anyway? Well, let me try and tie it together. One definition of Serendipity is “a fortunate occurrence that happens to us when we are not expecting it”. We go in search for something, but end up finding something totally different in return – and that something different is our “reward” for having taken the journey in the first place. While it is good to live our lives with our beliefs, our values, our thought processes and our well-constructed plans, perhaps, we ought to leave room for serendipity – for it is in those moments that we have the potential to leap forward in our spiritual growth. How would you define ‘spiritual’ serendipity? Have you experienced it recently?

I hope that I have given you a little bit of insight into this week’s #SpiritChat topic of Serendipity. The word may be “one of the ten toughest words to translate” in the English language, but never mind. We were never afraid of tough challenges, were we?! So, I invite you to join us in #SpiritChat at our regular hour of 9amET on Sunday, October 27th. You may come primarily for a twitter chat, but who knows what you may leave with? 🙂

Kumud

P.S. And yes, his son – the one who got married – was milking cows and working on the farm the very next day after his wedding… walking his father’s footsteps!

The Journey of the Spirit

Tags

journey, path, spirit, spiritchat, travel

Summer is always a season when families (and individuals) tend to take some time off to relax, unwind and spend some time taking vacations. Some folks may even travel away from home – within the country or overseas – to explore new lands and destinations and engage in the joy of discovery. It can be an educational experience indeed to encounter new or different cultures with their unique perspective and ways of doing things. Food, clothing, housing, family life, community life – even minor differences between our ways and their ways can be an enriching experience for us.

The journey that our minds and hearts make as we travel, influence our inner core – our spirit – in different ways too. Some of us find inspiration in the mountains, while some may find it near the water. Some may find it in the simple things close to home, some may have to travel tens of thousands of miles to find it. Some may find it in solitude while some may find it amongst crowds of people. 

Whatever the case may be, our travels on the outside perhaps reflect, in some way, the journey that our inner spirit is seeking to make. Our spirit may have found its path, or it may still be in the process of seeking the path. Have you found the path that nourishes your spirit? How do we know when the path that our spirit has chosen is right for us? What recent “sights” have you discovered in your spiritual journey? What “travel tools” does your spirit use or need on its journey? Do you have a “road-map” for your journey with a destination in mind?

Join the #SpiritChat community on Sunday August 19th at our regular time of 9am ET / 2pm UK / 6:30 India as we explore some of these questions and examine our spiritual paths and the journey…

As always, travel well!

Kumud

Update: Transcript for #SpiritChat chat held from 9-10amET Sun Aug 19th. http://bit.ly/sc-tr-0819 . Here are the questions asked during the live chat. Feel free to respond in the comments. Thank you!

Ready? Q1. What does the phrase - to be on a spiritual journey - mean to you? #SpiritChat

Q2. Do we need a specific spiritual path or not? Why or why not? #SpiritChat  

Q3. What specific practices (sign-posts) help you along your journey? In what way? #SpiritChat 

Q4. What is most important fuel for your spirit - knowledge, action or faith? Why? #SpiritChat 

Q5. When you feel you are at a spiritual crossroads, what moves you forward? #SpiritChat

Q6. What insights has your spiritual journey revealed to you recently? #SpiritChat 

Q7. How does community impact your spiritual journey? Or do you walk alone? #SpiritChat 

Final Q8. What area of your spiritual journey needs the most work? How will you work it? #SpiritChat