THE UNBECOMING

I recently connected with a friend after a long time. We connected again after loosing contact for almost 5 years. We were so glad to get in touch and talk about the old days, and before we talked on the phone, she happened to have read my blogs and instantly she knew I was not the same person, so who was I? When we finally spoke, her conversation invoked a certain understanding about lifestyle and spirituality. Her first reaction on the phone was, 

"After I read your blogs, I thought you have become a serious monk and probably walk around with beaded malas on the wrist, but then I was awestruck when I saw your bikini pictures, with a cocktail, so what's the story? "

Her comment not only made me chuckle but also inspired me to write yet again about Spirituality. What she asked me was not wrong, it's the way we have been conditioned to see things around us, that inspires the question. So my response to her was, Huh, I must be the first and if not the first then one of the-spiritual person who walks around the beach wearing a bathing suit, enjoying the sun, listening to the ocean waves with a Mojito in my hand, and yet I feel connected to the world around me. I feel the power out there who is controlling the very ground I stand on. My spirituality, like I have mentioned in my previous blogs has nothing to do with my everyday life and at the same time it does... Spirituality to me, has nothing to do with giving up life but instead it is to do with embracing. Just like everyone else, I also believe in the power of some unknown, but for some reason no religion convinced me enough to come out of my Doctrine and enter theirs. I never believed in that. And then I realized I do not need to believe in anything, only and only one fact, the power of life and everything that happens around you, you are a part of that happening. The day when you involve yourself in a silent moment of others' suffering or troubles, you will automatically feel the shift in your own understanding with the world. I live in reality of this chaotic world that I have nothing to do with, but I have found a track of silence and wisdom through it. Growing up, I thought spirituality is like religion, do this and do that and you are on board. It has been detached from religion and stand alone and only alone on the basis of values and humanity. Spirituality teaches patience, tolerance, mindfulness, inner piece and most of all ethics and morale. Religion could be practiced in few days, spirituality is a practice of lifetime. It grows with you, it's not a moment thing, it's a lifetime of experiences that shape up your mind and who you have become. The best way to know is by seeing the change in the way you view your life and everything in it. In fact every struggle, mishaps or unfortunate circumstances look like a lesson, a teaching, your reaction time is slow and wise rather than fierce. And especially in times of crisis, the becoming becomes the unbecoming, you transform and grow in unforeseen directions. When we reject negative thoughts, we begin to understand the feelings and emotions of people around us, we adapt to changes without much struggle or fear of the unknown, we learn how to heal.  I am not saying I walk around like a monk, and I don't think I ever will, I love my life too much to give up anything, but then again like I said spirituality has nothing to do with giving up instead it's about connecting to yourself, the invisible force that guides you to an understanding of anything is possible in this little world of ours. The problem with the world nowadays is the ego-based society, ego-based perspectives that creates limiting beliefs and habits. Everybody wants to be the best, wants the best and think they deserve the best. Well 'knock, knock', who's there? A slap of reality!!! 

And the slap of reality is, when you walk on the path of ego-based understanding, you got nothing but failure waiting to serve you dinner at the end of the day. All these little experiences are nothing but a teaching. It's not just about connecting to the world and nature but just as much to yourself. The only yardstick is my own level of awareness and how I feel. Paradoxically the more I am content with what I have, the more I am growing, it's a beautiful process. Your mind feels free, you feel the air of lightness around you. But before all that, connect to yourself. You could be surfing with a bikini, sun tanning with your boyfriend with a tequila shot in your system, and yet be a spiritual person ( A person who knows how to handle life in the most serene way and learning that if tomorrow never comes, I will be ready to embrace it). Spirituality has no Dogmas, Taboo, restrictions, uncertainty or Indoctrination. It's like a bird, you learn the landing in the smoothest way and go on from there. It opens up your heart to things you never paid attention to. Just like meditation, you learn to welcome the bad feelings, understand it and then letting it go. The victims are the ones that try to fight fire with fire instead of learning to quell the flames with water. It's easy to complain than to fix it. When we shift our perceptions, we can move mountains, and only from that space we can move forward to be the light we wish to see in the world. Inspiration comes from within. We learn to cultivate the resilience to face our demons, we can recognize the emotions that weaken us, we become sensitive to disparities happening around us, we learn to bridge the gap of right and wrong. So when you start feeling the subtle changes in your mind, you are probably on your path to spirituality, and don't worry, you don't have to give up your bathing suits to do that!!!

ME, MYSELF AND I

We were a group of six deciding on what to do on a Friday night. Well the group was split in two and so were the decisions. Three of us wanted to go to a quite dinner and three of them wanted to live it up in a black hole of noise and loud music! Well, so what do we do now? Eventually that's what happened, the group split in two for the night and we all went our separate destinations. While on my way to a quite dinner and drinks with friends, I was pondering on the fact, how quickly I was to give in to the thought of partying it up and quickly resigning the fact. I have nothing against partying and loud music, but as time went by I got to a mental mode of "Been there, Done that" personality. When you have already been there and done that, then what's the point of doing it again? But it's also true, life changes and mind set changes. We all go through a phase, some people keep going through the same phase and never live a different day but some of us come out of one thing to go to the next. My teenage years, I spent doing just that, HAVING FUN !! And for a fleeting moment, I almost gave in to my mind and indulging in a night out with the same drama, until a week ago, I finally gave in to my "what used to be" situation and went out with few people I know from my work place, and sitting at the bar and watching the rest of the monkeys act on their society circus show, I was happy to be out after a long day at work, but silently realizing how could anyone flail their bodies to a bunch of rhythm-less tune and still pretend they are feeling and looking cool, and instantly I realized from all the 30 people in the room, I am the odd one out and this is not for me. I am not the circus type, I carry my age with me, I carry my sense of credibility with me all the time, and in turn people can see that in my personality. And now, I decline most offers that do not suit my mental persona, I do not give in to my "What used to be, to what is". And with time, there's a sweeping realization on who you are and what you want. Now in my mid 30's, I now have a specific belief on my thoughts and who I interact with. I have no problem interacting as my job demands and my acquaintances, but on a personal level, I have now surrounded myself with a bit of unique people. Sometimes, I am forced to socialize with people I have the least interest in, but as society demands.... But are we really tuned in to society? I personally don't think so, but then again, I have designed my life in a such a way that society to me is pretty much non existent. I live my life on human to human interaction. Every word exchanged is exchanged only with that individual, so where did the society come from? I remember growing up, as all teenagers do, we get encompassed in certain behavior pattern or likes and dislikes to get accepted in a group or by certain friends, and to my surprise I still know people even in their mid 30's, still influenced by that thought process to be accepted, but is it really necessary, if you have your own belief system and confidence to back you up. Living in the west had taught me to understand my space and respect it. I do not change my plans just because someone I know wants otherwise, I do not give in to my understanding because we have over used the word compromise, I do not get emotionally black mailed easily by certain people and I do not get easily impressed either, but all this is not because of any ego problems or thinking high of myself , it's because life is a lesson everyday and maturity is a part of it. Practicality is the mantra of the 21st century. And I was able to have this confidence in myself and my personality through the kind of people I hung out with. I surround myself with people who are different and make a difference, either through their writing, photography, literature, music, public speaking, political debates, or just regular people with a clear mind and understanding of being straight forward and not beating around the bush. Like the saying goes "You are known by the company you keep". The problem is we don’t think much about what exactly constitutes “that” and so we’re prone to dismissing, just by association, a whole lot of experiences that maybe are for us. We lose track of ourselves and what we believe in. Your thoughts, interest, and association created YOU. Who you are is what you are surrounded by. At the end of the day, I speak my mind, I live with my thoughts, I love my friends, I smile a lot, I read a lot, I spend time in healthy debates rather than personal offense, I do what I feel like doing, and connect to everything that makes sense to me!! Besides that, we are all on a journey heading somewhere, I have planned mine on a different side of the universe, Where have you planned yours?

WHAT WE REALLY ARE....

What is Lisa Simpson trying to say? I think she is talking about the Sub-conscious mind. A place where our real existence, exists!! Sub-conscious mind a whole, entirely different entity, that co-exists within us on an entirely different level. It's a place where our real existence is, how we think, what we think, how we say things, our interests, likes and dislikes, emotions, understanding etc,etc... Optimistic and Pessimistic couples live in that little hub as well, even though they sleep on different beds. We all know, we use our subconscious mind for everyday tasks, even though it's secretly doing a lot more on the inside than we can imagine. It's a guide, that makes things easy for us without actually working on it. When you get in the car, you already know where the ignition is, there is no actual concentration needed to do so or when you leave your house everyday, you are already conditioned to lock the door, so what is that conditioning? Where is it coming from? It comes from the subconscious into the conscious for our physical bodies to act on. But the sub-conscious is not just that, it's a place where intuitions, habits, addictions, feelings, social norms, spirituality, creativity is born. Whatever a person is, he/she is coming from that little enigmatic place. It’s the moments when there is a sudden flash of inspiration or clarity and it happens at the strangest times. The belief system I grew up with was, our mind are the creators of everything, it's the double-edged sword, it's where the good and evil take birth. There is nothing else in this world to get inspired from but from what you take in to project out. We as humans go through our reality, based on our reaction to stimuli from the environment. The outcome is sorted out by our senses and our brains and then presented to the mind for decision making, for storage as memory and for putting together the puzzle of our lives.I recently read a quote by Robert Collier, " Our subconscious minds have no sense of humor, play no jokes and cannot tell the different between reality and imagined thought or image. What we continually think about eventually will manifest in our lives".Now, I know the above statement contradicts the previous statement by mixing up the two, but in reality I am blending the two. We have no control over what happens to us or projected at us from our environment, but what we can do after that is what matters. Do we hold on to the thought and shape ourselves or bring forth the understanding of letting it go. So even though our reactions are based on our environment and based on what we hear, say and feel, it's the thought process that either makes you or breaks you... And where do thoughts manifest? I always see it in a humorous way, I see the conscious as a naughty, sensitive, obnoxious kid that runs and complains to the subconscious, and the subconscious as the leader either getting influenced by the young or using it's old age wisdom. The conscious is taking in all the data for the midnight gossip and the subconscious silently taking in things, now whether it's taking it in wisely or foolishly, that's where the Dilemma begins....  Growing up I was always lost somewhere, only because I was renewing my belief system with every new experience. And in continuously doing so, the universe opened the gates for me. And today, I am not lost anymore, because I have fixed the glitch in the sub-conscious, it's a never ending trial but now I am free of randomness, restlessness and hardly get affected by people's words or norms, only because I follow the disciplined rules of the mind.  Subconscious mind had numerous branches of complexity, and every branch is intertwined with the next. I believe when our negative environment starts to leak into the subconscious, that's when you better watch out, but when you are able to move on and let it go, your mind opens up to the next level- the level where intuitions and premonitions reside.Just like Earl Nightingale said"Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality". Your subconscious belief has to match your conscious desires, in order to create and bring forth the desire itself into reality. We have heard stories of cancer survivors, who used their will and mind power to heal themselves, sadhus and monks sitting naked in extreme weather conditions without being affected, these stories are not just inspiring but also a poke of realization on what the mind can do, and we only use few percent of this enigmatic, powerful organ. Dr. Orison Swett  Marden once said "It is psychological law that whatever we desire to accomplish we must impress upon the subjective or subconscious mind".

I believe everything in life could be fixed, overcome or solved by using the true side of our mind.

You’re subconscious beliefs must match your conscious desires in order to create with certainty, more of what you desire. - See more at: http://www.tonyfahkry.com/the-infinite-power-of-the-subconscious-mind/#sthash.r9mC02rq.dpuf

You’re subconscious beliefs must match your conscious desires in order to create with certainty, more of what you desire. - See more at: http://www.tonyfahkry.com/the-infinite-power-of-the-subconscious-mind/#sthash.r9mC02rq.dpuf