Joy and Sorrow are Inseparable

“God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one” ~ Rumi

As the month of July ends, I can’t help but think of all the opposites our life is full of. More than half of this year is over and I am in a sort of introspective mood, about how much I have accomplished in the first half of this year. While there are so many goals that I had set for myself for this year, I knew realistically that I would put my full effort to reach them…and not beat myself up about not completing them, if I couldn’t. I’m happy that I am working towards some goals which will materialize at the end of this year..but there are some, I have not even begun. And that is ok too. All in good time.

Light and dark, night and day, happy and sad, negative and positive.

One is incomplete or rather unappreciated without the other. Continue reading “Joy and Sorrow are Inseparable”

The Challenge to Live a Phenomenally Miraculous Life

One of my all time favorite quote by Albert Einstein is, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” 

At first I thought, wow, pretty black and white, Mr. Einstein… What’s wrong with somewhere in the middle? Certainly everything is not a miracle. But over time as I have continued to ponder over the words of this quote, I have been pleasantly surprised at how miraculous our life really is! I then eventually asked myself, what is a miracle anyway? And what, I wondered, was Albert Einstein’s definition of a miracle? Continue reading “The Challenge to Live a Phenomenally Miraculous Life”

How to Starve the Ego and Feed Your Soul

“I fed my ego, but not my soul.” ~Yakov Smirnoff

When the ego recedes from our lives, we have space for the other to exist. A way of loosening the grip of the ego is the ability to recognize that others have a right to existence too.

This seems self-evident, but to the ego, only the self matters. For instance, recently in Mumbai, I traveled by the local train,which I usually avoid due to how over crowded it always is. When you enter a crowded suburban train in Mumbai, and dozens stream in along with you, pushing past with scant ceremony, it is hard to accept that they have as much right to get into the train as you do and that they are justified in disregarding your precious self. Continue reading “How to Starve the Ego and Feed Your Soul”