Kindness

When someone screamed at me with no fault of mine, instead of screaming back I gave them a glass of water, considering that maybe they are having a bad day. This is kindness!

When I saw someone without food, I shared my food with them while talking to them about their life & hardships. My intention wasn’t to demean them by giving them the food projecting it was surplus but instead was to share my food & their hardships so as to unburden both our souls. This is kindness!

When I saw my friend being insulted or mocked, neither did I participate in the mockery, nor did I defend the one who was insulted. I instead chose to empower my friend by making him realise that he was insulted because he carried some expectation of respect from others while not respecting himself. I taught him that respecting self takes one beyond anyone’s insult or mockery. This is kindness!

When I know my partner is lying to me, instead of confronting them or exposing them, I allow them to be. Once I understand why they are afraid of revealing their truth to me, I instill trust in myself & in them to face the truth. I walk with them holding their hand into their hiding & help them slowly walk towards their truth. This is kindness!

When I saw a blind man cross the road, instead of holding his hand, I walked with him placing full trust in his ability to find his way & yet knowing I can contribute when the universe wants me to. I didn’t want him to feel dependent on me & yet I didn’t want him to be hurt for being blind. I chose to become his eyes when he needs an extra pair without demeaning his current potential. This is kindness!

My child argues with me, fights with me, shows me how old, frail & outdated I am becoming. I see his struggle to survive with me, I see his need to break free, I see how tough it is for him to put-up with my old ways, I see how he is with me for he needs me. Yet, I push myself to give my best, I do my best to keep pace, I allow myself to be useful & I try my best to justify it through love. This is kindness!

My mind plays tricks with me every day, making me believe what it says is exactly what will happen today. Each day, it fails me since most of what happens isn’t what it tells me & most of what it tells me isn’t what happens. Yet, I forgive & forget each day to trust it all over again afresh each morning. This is kindness!

My destiny brings me hardships & challenges each day. I don’t usually get what I want and I don’t usually want what I get. I struggle very hard to come to a point where my life the way it is, is acceptable to me. Yet, I trust my destiny with my future & give it the power to create another lesson, another learning, another struggle for me to transcend, with grace. This is kindness!

Kindness is one’s ability to stay who they are & never allow the love inside to get tainted irrespective of their surroundings or their situation. It’s one’s ability to be anchored in love & be unreasonable about it. It is about uplifting others & self to continuously be rooted in compassion. Kindness moves & inspires people to recognise the inherent love that they carry. It allows one to go on, just on & on, like a love filled beautiful melody that fills the air with a certain peace & serenity while it lasts.

spirituality - is there a catch?

Spirituality - The word is so often used in front of us these days that its hard to understand if its actually a phenomenon or experience worth all the hype or if its overrated. One of Suman's posts about "fear" below has probed me to think that is it possible that all our enthusiasm about learning meditation, spirituality, past life regression etc is only a way to escape our innermost fears...of facing life's realities, of distracting from what is in front of us. Tushar left a comment regarding this on the blog and that also seemed to pull this question right on my face that could this be true that it is all about escape, about being able to convince yourself for everything that goes wrong in one's life, being able to find solace in god and spirituality.

I have really been thinking hard here. Do people who are absolutely happy and contented with their life get into spirituality and god? Is it a tool used by those who have issues addressing their lives and its realities? Isn't it true that if one has everything going perfectly great in their life and all areas are working, they tend not to give a damn to spirituality unless some beliefs have been inculcated into them through inheritance or sufferings? Is it that our mind tricks us to give itself some peace in times to suffering by saying if we are happy within ourselves, the rest of the world wouldn't matter?

Well, I think all of the above doubts can be faced by anyone who is new to this path of spirituality or whenever your mind puts you into an argument to prove its worth. After much of thinking and understanding things, I have realised that yes, for people who have some sort of suffering or when circumstances are unfavorable, its easier to get pulled towards spirituality, search for the inner self & meditation. It is also true that initially, one might use it as an escape to get out of the rut and get detached from relationships, life or situations so that the affect is the least felt but once you start discovering this way of life, it pulls you towards it and ultimately one does realise that it was god's way of getting you here that he gave you the respective circumstances in the first place.

Meditation or spirituality in no way teach us to run from our life and not face the realities of life, but in turn they alleviate our conscience and make us understand that we are all a part of divinity and its important for us to be whole and complete within ourselves for us to be able to do justice to the people and relationships around us. It gives us the little amount of detachment which is required to be able to look at our own self and thoughts from the outside, in order to do what is right or what will be universally acceptable. It gives us the connection with our inner self, with our guardian angels which help us to stay focused on the path planned by our own souls for each lifetime.

It's not an escape though many times, it could be triggered by the need to be at peace.