Amore

It's in the dissimilarities you find similarities

In separation you find togetherness

In sorrow you find joy

In entrapment you find freedom

In pain you find comfort...

And in the midst of it all, over, above, through and through

As high as the bright blue sky

As deep as the emerald green ocean

You experience love in its truest, purest form

You are love, just as I am love

We are love

From the heart of a 16-year-old

Life is about coming's and going's, but the beauty of it all are the memories. For me, all memories are good, even the one's that pain, because if they weren't as good, they wouldn't be my memories, would they? Friend's, our little angels on earth, are some of the most treasured people we're gifted.

Exactly a month ago, a little girl sat next to me at work. I wished her a good morning and after the initial introductions and small talk, got on with "emails for the day". Little did I know that during the course of the month, the rest of the team and I would be close to an adorable little 16-year-old girl whose morning chatter about life in general would be the beginning of all our days. Of course, lunch was a picnic with a mix of food, but what all of us will miss the most is a look at life through a 16-year-old's eyes, a view and belief that we must try and recapture. Here's what her going away email said to us all:

• Sara :) you're just the cutest. I love how romantic and adorable you are, and how sweet and helpful. The sweet things you say, the lovely things you wear and the most wonderful optimistic strongest outlook to love - you're gorgeous, don't forget it :* 
• Ela :) you're also such a sweetheart, you're lively and engaging and interesting, and Ela is just the nicest name. :* you spoke to me the first, and i wrote/ helped you with some of your articles- such an experience. :D 
• Leena :) you're too considerate and you have the funniest stories to tell. talking to you makes me smile :) 
• Roshni :) you called me 'the new girl' the first time you saw me. love your humour, sarcasm and sense of freedom and fun. Blackberry Love Forever :* 
• Sharmishta :) you're so quiet and cute and dedicated to what you do- you're too nice. :) 

Love you'll. thanks for being so much and making a month WORKING instead of watching an 11am movie, full of laughter and fun. i've made new friends and heard new stories and met new people and i love you'll for that :* gonna miss you guys, tons. keep in touch.

Love forever,Avanti

I shall read and reread this note often, because this shows me life through the eyes of innocence... an innocence that I hope shall live on forever.

Sweet little Avanti,All of us miss you tremendously too, and there are but a few words that truly do justice to the joy and happiness you've brought to our lives.

Lots of love and blessings forever,

All of us

xxxxx 

Faith, Faith in our God

The eternal looked upon me for a moment with his eyes of power, and annihilated me in his being, and became manifest to me in his essence. I saw I existed through him. 

~ Rumi

A fabulously beautiful morning everyone. I feel like there's a beautiful ocean gushing through me this morning. Each wave is sweeping through my being, cleansing me, emptying my soul of any negative thoughts (doubt, worry, distrust, assumption, over-analysis etc.) and leaving me with quiet peace that comes only from God. God, our creator, teacher, saviour, best-friend. As I think about the quote above by Rumi, I realise how easily we let God down.

Think about it - most of us believe in ourselves, believe in our friends, family, pets... why then is it so difficult for us to believe in God, trust in him and believe that everything coming our way has a lesson for our soul. As I close my eyes and feel the seed of doubt wash away, I let my soul rest in God' presence. Yesterday, the seed of doubt threatened to find its place in my heart based on an assumption - this negative emotion disturbed my peace and while I recognised the cause of my spiritual discomfort, my soul had a wrestling match within. I was determined to let good win and when it became too much for me to handle, I left it all to God. I spoke to him and told him that I loved him and that I left everything to him. I believe in his plan for me and I was following his lead. I went to bed and woke up at peace this morning.

As I greeted God, life and my guardian angel a very good morning, beautiful peace encompassed my being and my faith in the good Lord has been re-enforced. This is the magic of God, the beautiful mystery of his very presence, the sanctity of his love for us, his beautiful gifts in the form of our guardian angels, family, friends and people we meet who influence our lives in one way or another. God wants us and hopes that we believe without seeing and this is what we must do. As the calm ocean in me continues to cleanse my soul, I feel nothing but grateful for experiencing God's love.

So many look externally for love, peace and happiness, but all you need to do is look internally. You'll experience God right there, in you. And if you simply must look outside, then look over your shoulder and you'll see your beautiful guardian angel flitting its wings, look at your family and friends who will always be there, look at a stranger across the street and smile... and when he/she returns your smile, you realise how beautiful that smile is, a smile - a quiet sign of acknowledgement and very often a quite sign of God.

I am thrilled that God washed away the evil seeds of doubt. You see sometimes, what starts as a small doubt grows into something that we can't even imagine. What's worse is that if a doubt is based on an assumption (most often than not it is), then the reason for doubt itself is a fallacy. Doubt feeds on doubt and before we even know it, it grows into something we fail to control. This ugly growth then consumes our being, our very soul and we live life trying to protect and/or change situations based on a doubt that was born from assumption in the first place! This sort of life is a lie and any lie is harmful for our soul and spirit. 

So instead of letting this grow and take hold of our lives, why don't we get rid of it at the root? It's simple talk to God, believe in him, request him to work through you and he will. Remember, God made us all in his likeness - whether, it's Bhagwan Shri Krishna, Shri Ramji, Saraswati, Jesus... they were all human whose purity and goodness transcended this world. The teachings, the written word is based more on life than religion. And if you find reading holy scripture too tedious, just call on God in anyway you can and any way you want. He is listening to you - all he really wants you to do is call on him in faith - believe in him and leave the rest up to him.

I like life to beautiful bouquet of red roses - it has lovely soft petals, the straight hard stalks and thorns. The lovely soft petals represent the happy, good time, the straight stalks represent paths that we choose and the thorns represent some of life's hardest but most important lessons; we may get pricked, bleed but it's through those droplets of blood that we learn our lessons. We're all here to fulfill our own karmas and help others fulfill theirs too. God wants us to follow his word, spread it and sow the seeds to faith - first in ourselves and then in everyone else. Faith, we often make it seem like the hardest thing, but it really is the easiest thing to do. Faith in our creator who put us here in the first place - because of whom we experience love, peace, joy, pain and a lot of other emotions; because of whom we experience a new day (no matter how that day may unfold), because of whom we are able to enjoy the chirping of a bird, the flitting of a butterfly, the roar of a lion, the feel of raindrops and so very much more. Our creator, our God, has given us so much, so come let's all believe him in faith. Let's all sow our seeds of faith today... let's begin with ourselves and them helps everyone else who may have a problem sowing the seeds. We know God through ourselves because this is where God is, God is with all of us, at all times. 

God is waiting for his beautiful garden to bloom even more than it already is... let's sow our seeds of faith in God and water them with belief and love.

Have a fabulously blessed day everyone. :)             

Happy Teacher's Day, Life

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." ~ Henry Adams

Indeed, when Henry Adams wrote the quote above, he was probably referring to a fabulous teacher and life. It's 'Teacher's Day' today, and while we thank our parents, grandparents, friends and professors for teaching and guiding us, we must remember to thank 'life' - the quiet teacher who has an eternal job. We're all permanent students in 'The School of Life' and while the journey is far from smooth, the lessons are invaluable. Life is one teacher who never fails us, no she doesn't. Very often, we choose to fail life. However, the beautiful part is that no matter how often we choose to give-up, life just does not allow us to.

We may not always get what we want, but life makes sure that we get what we need. Our time on Earth is not meant to be just a smooth highway sans the speed-breakers; it's a mixture of everything, the smooth highway, bumpy roads, twisted mountainous terrain and sometimes a dry, barren desert with no concrete path in sight. Life wants to understand that we need to accept and take all these paths in order to fulfill our destinies on Earth. While, most of us hope for a smooth, hassle-free highway, we learn priceless lessons from bumpy roads and barren deserts. The smooth highway blesses us with unbounded carefree joy, bumpy roads strengthen our will to accept hardships, twisted mountainous terrains sharpens our will to perceive things before they happen and a pathless barren desert urges us to take the untrodden path - the path less discovered. Indeed, our physical life is about spiritual growth, and it's this growth that this great teacher, 'Life' is shaping.

We've been blessed with a heart, mind , soul and spirit. (All of us have a spirit, but we are a soul) Life's aim is to help us realise that all these four integral parts, work in cooperation with one another. They may be different parts of one body, but they have one common goal... a peaceful, happy life, accepting the hardships as a part of life's examination, learning from the pain, growing during our healing and relaxing during our happy times. While we may not get enough of the good times, the hard ones sanctify our spirits.

In addition, our great teacher has blessed us with the ability to be able to help ourselves and use our resources for the betterment of mankind, nature and animal-kind alike. This school teaches us lessons in love, caring and sharing. And when we see an injustice, the good Lord has blessed us with a brain and the ability to try and right a wrong. Indeed, 'life' teaches us that loving oneself is nice, but loving everyone else is even better.

Life is stage with all the elements of drama. Our beautiful teacher hopes that we accept our lessons as a part of fulfilling our destinies here on Earth. We're all temporary visitors, with limited time. However, we must focus on our lesson, with an occasional eye on the ever-ticking clock.

Thank you my dearest life, thank you for the happiness and joy when I've laughed with carefree madness, thank you for all my tears because they truly purified my soul, thank you for all the pain because its those times that sanctified my spirit, thank you for my family and friends who've all had a part in making me who I am, thank you for a chance to think for myself and sometimes for others... but most of all thank you for giving me the chance to be able to help (mankind, nature, animal-kind), the will to want to better life for everyone and the belief to know that no matter what, life revolves and lives on love.

There's a lesson in every moment; they may not always be lessons we like, but they sure are lessons we need. What we choose to take from it is really up to us. Life - our greatest teacher awaits us with ever-open arms of love - are we listening already?

Have a fabulously blessed day everyone. :)