Responding to Life…

Have you ever noticed what is your usual response when someone asks you… 'How's life?'

I know it is so automatic and default that noticing it is the last thing we have on our mind. But let’s take a moment to really recollect what we or others around us really respond with when someone asks them – HOW IS LIFE?

I don’t know….….….  Life, what Life? ….….…. It’s Boring….….…. It’s a total waste….….…. Just got better….….…. nothing much, going on….….…. Perfect, just like me….….…. Am sleeping, stop bugging me….….…. Impossible….….…. Interesting….….…. Much better than yours….….…. Dude, do your work….….…. Its OVER!!!

Interesting responses… aren’t they?

But wait, some of these actually look like a reaction more than a response…

As if someone is threatening or hurting us… as if we need to justify... as if we need to lie or hide how it truly is…

Some of it is pained / troubled… some of it is avoiding… some of it is disbelief… some of it is denial… some of it is total disinterest… as if life is just something we are waiting to get over and done with….  

Well, you must be wondering why this sudden interest I have of how I or people respond to the question “How’s life?”…

Well, sudden as it may be, but if you look closely, you will see that our response to this question actually resonates with how we respond to what we call “life” and how our “life” occurs to us…

Since last week, I am closely observing my ‘responses’ to life every moment of every day… And when someone asked me how’s life… I suddenly had this to say…

Life is as it always is and it has always been...

Full of surprises and things that are unseen...

Some days, it brings us the best of what it has got...

And some days, to live we have to give our best shot...

Life is about experiencing, not about anything to do...

How you see every moment is completely up to you...

A burden may occur like a duty to someone...

A privilege may feel like dependence & burdensome...

May be what you call 'truth' is a personal interpretation...

Your view point based on some thought, some sensation...

Thus, living each day of this experience called life…

Can either be described as a victory or a long strife…

But in all this never forget one very important thing…

It is you and only YOU who is giving it any meaning…

~~ Written by Shweta Bashani ~~

Fill the Void, Train Your Voice…

Have you ever wondered what is that single most thing that makes you so happy and joyful that you keep marching ahead on a path that seems endless, even through pain… or dare to try again and again even after repeated rough experiences?

I suddenly realized what it is for me…

Yesterday, during a conversation with the man I love, it suddenly struck me that deep down in my heart the sound of his voice in my ears, saying “I am proud of you baby” is what energizes me… pushes me… tells me that all my efforts, whether big or small do not go unnoticed. Someone, at least one person, is watching carefully, is interested and appreciative of all that I do or attempt to do.

What is my experience? Of course total bliss or maybe more… something that I can never ever understand or express. There is a surge of passion and determination to do all that I can to make him proud of me.

As I sat in silence, pondering further over my discovery, flashes from the past kept appearing… and most of them came with a reminder of the void or absence (more than the presence) of such an experience – of being accepted, appreciated, and acknowledged for all the sincere efforts that may not have ended in victories or of the victories that came after tasting many failures…

I am sure while reading this you can experience something too… maybe discovering what makes you move in life or the one voice that you keep waiting to hear with words that energize -- a father, a mother, a sibling, a teacher, a boss, a lover, or a friend…

My moment of discovery was also marked with a sad realization that major part of my life I have been waiting (though unconsciously) for someone or the other to fill that void… to be that voice that tells me how proud s/he is of me… little did I realize that the more I search the more it eludes…

But wait… Was it really that a voice was absent to push me? Or was I not ready and willing to listen?

No matter what, there is one voice that has always been with me… my own voice…

What has it been telling me?

A tear rolled down my cheek and there was a sudden jolt in my body… I sat startled to the core at what my voice has been telling me and what I have been listening to… “You are bad… You do not deserve”

And surprisingly, the voice has been so loud and speaking for so long that it has drowned all the other voices that have been telling me how proud they are of me… no wonder I felt a void…

But won’t that be the case every time… my voice will always overpower the rest… Nothing that anyone says will resonate if my voice is saying something different…

So what if no one really notices my efforts or my victories… So what if there is no voice to tell me, “I am proud of you”… I guess the only way to fill the void is to train my own voice…

To fill the void forever, there is only one way

It is time to train my voice to repeatedly say

I am proud of you, every moment of everyday!