Author: Happiness Pathways: livinglifesanely

does mere physical freedom to go where you want confer freedom from fear? The real problem is that fear has constrained you internally and externally you would like to deny it through some physical action. By lazying on the beach or just walking with a crowd during a virus rage gives an illusion of overcoming fear. This is very natural and its how we try to overcome it. But it lingers on inside. This can be overcome truly only when a vaccine or a medicine provides safety from corona. However you exercise your freedom of choice by deciding to stay at a distance and stay home. Bravado is not bravery. One  can jump into water without knowing how to swim but thats foolish , its not a choice. It can appear brave but it is not bravery. It would be like a health worker entering a virus isolation ICU without a PPE. You can certainly sail along with fear without letting it defeat you. Love and affection and humour and music and friendship can all be your companions and buddies to sail along with fear and be sane and happy.

            After a long long time iam writing this blog. Its lockdown and time to share feelings and food and thoughts. When i read news about so many small businesses destroyed and livelihood at stake i didnt know what to think. what happens? How do they survive? what can anybody do? No iam not offering advice. I am trying to share your feelings. There was this great depression of the 30s and there are stories of such sufferings. It was a hard way out but they did come out of it. That gives hope.

A new deal is needed. New ideas to survive. maybe if i have a small sandwich shop and am broke , perhaps i can have a mobile van sandwich shop to deliver them to people in a neighbourhood. Ring a beautiful bell at a spot and tell people what you offer.Could we also sell books and magazines by hand moving around neighbourhoods?

Is it possible for the shark tank people to support small businesses? can our Social media share ideas on how to adapt to the new normal? Please share ideas and spread them on facebook, instagram, pinterest, blogs etc etc. Perhaps some will become reality and help.

You are prone to question ” do we really have choices all the time’? Yes and no. With a knife to your neck if a thief asks you ‘ you or your purse’ we do and dont have a choice. Yet sometimes you can give the purse and later catch him. That’s sane. There is this story told by an Indian spiritual master Sri Ramakrishna . ‘ A master told his disciples that every living being embodies god within.’ An ardent student walking on a street saw an elephant on rampage and running. He stopped without running and bowed to it, since it too had god within.He broke some of his bones. His master asked him ‘why did you bow to an angry elephant?’ The disciple replied ‘But master you said that all beings have god within and so i paid my respects’. The master shouted at him and said’ You fool , did’nt you here the mahout on the elephant shouting “run,run, move away?”. He too embodied god within’. Being sane and responding appropriately is the answer. Sometimes we  should respond and not just react. Our bio-systems have been built to react , like running when chased by a dog or quickly moving away from a speeding car. However we need to train our mind to thinking fast and responding. It is possible. All of us do participate sometime or other in intelligent repartee.

more soon on choices and desires. bye for now

My poem at kotagiri: (South India)

Why should I sing a song

When little sparrows chirp?

Why should I gaze at the clouds

When they shower droplets passing by?

Why should I look at the verdant green

When the wind blows through flowing by?

Why should I look at the distant mountain

When the peacock’s echoes keep calling?

Why should I stare at the cool sun

When he lazily rises yawning?

It’s morning, it’s morning

It’s callling , it’s calling.

For once i loved to live

when i saw a flower bloom.

( this is a haiku i wrote a long time ago and i wanted to share it)

There is beautiful poem in my native language where the poet says that its not stooping low when sometimes you needn’t show up who you are. Does not the mountain look small in the mirror ?

There are some important pathways to happiness . They have got to do with what you want or desire , how angry or short tempered you are , how obsessed you are , how egotistic  and how jealous you are. How loving , caring , kind and smiling , funloving and witnessing and friendly you are. I will be telling you stories on our trek and along the way you will be peeping into the rooms full of happiness within you and you will know where the keys to the doors are.They are custom made for you , with your DNA printed.

come lets begin the travel .

Lone wolfs or mad gone awry men shooting at everything . what can we do? first be vigilant . Have basic security improved at public places and schools. Now what do you do about places like busy markets etc . install public alarms and generally offer self defense training to school teachers and administrators and allow for armed security at schools. This may look stupid at the outset but just think , unusual times call for unusual responses and solutions. I think that the Government and the thinktanks across the nation and elsewhere have to work on this and come up with answers.

You are the center of your life. Your life is you, others and the world around every day. Your sleep life of dreams too, is yours. Get it? You can make it happy and edit it. I am talking about the normal life of normal people. Yes, there are circumstances beyond you and me; a natural disaster, maybe war or the economy going bonkers. Even then, and much more so during such times you need to think sanely. Agree? Yes, the others in your life and around you can mess up things and kick your ass for no reason. What then? You need to think, plan and respond. Make your life and those around you happier. So, let’s see what we can do. What choices we have. Let us explore what life offers.

Swapna, a handless painter from Kerala state in India is incredible. Just watch this. It was her choice in adversity.