Celebrating femininity

I read somewhere recently that in all our attempts for equality for men and women, we've really only pushed women to have to be more like men. More ambitious, more aggressive, less willing to let up on her physical limitations. And while this has had the positive effects of giving women a lot of freedom and independence, on another level, this has created an imbalance in the masculine-feminine balance of the world. The qualities of gentleness, compassion, unconditional love, the more feminine aspects of human nature, are overpowered by greed, lust and compulsiveness  And mind you, by masculine and feminine I'm not indicating men and women, but the aspects of masculine and feminine that are in us all.

So, going back to what I was reading, the text said that when the balance of the world tips to being more feminine, that's when our suffering will diminish, that will be the first step toward a peaceful planet and a flourishing, nurturing humanity.

And so I say, let's explore and express the gentle, compassionate, loving qualities in us and in our women. Let's celebrate femininity.

Of cooing babies growing up

Lots of people around me are having babies. Well, not directly around me, but in my social circles, far and wide as they may be. And at the same time, lots of people around me (me included) are pretty, fairly, honestly, lost. Our value systems are eccentric, our ethics are questionable, our priorities are selfish. And so when I think about the next few generations to come, it scares me.

I'm not a parent yet, and while my friends are all turning into loving, giddy-eyed parents, I hope and fervently wish that they take some time to really think about what kind of people they want their kids to grow up to be. Not what professions they choose, or what hobbies they take up -- but some of the deeper stuff. Like how they will treat those less fortunate than them. Or how they will treat the planet when her meager resources depend on the choices they make.

So don't put an ipad in their hands before you put some discipline in their heads. Don't teach them to be cool before you teach them to be humble. Don't expose them to fantastic superheros before you show them some real heros. Give them the chance to grow up knowing that life gives back what you give life. That way they don't grow into confused, superficial people to whom life is about as interesting as the next funny tweet.

Borrowed -- Autobiography in 5 chapters

1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost . . . I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I see it is there.
I still fall in... it's a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street. 
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk around it.

5) I walk down another street.

by Portia Nelson from the book There's A Hole in My Sidewalk. 

Excerpt --

"Perhaps the deepest reason why we are afraid of death is because we do not know who we are. We believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity; but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our "biography", our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit cards... It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely on our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are?"

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

No regrets

I have always, somehow, found the phrase "no regrets" vaguely disturbing. And I've heard people assert it so strongly, that it was easy to ignore that vague feeling. It's definitely one of those mantras about life that get tossed around so flippantly, and sometimes consolingly - "oh, dont regret anything."

This book I'm reading though, quoted a buddhist poet who said, "My religion is to live --and die-- without regret." That line rang a bell, and made me stop for a second.

Yes, I've done things I regret. And even though eventually life turned out ok, I still regret some of the things I did. So here's a mantra I'm willing to take up -- Not "don't regret anything I did" but instead, "don't do anything I'd regret."

What's it going to be?

The Northness

Look how north I am --

Red line = Seattle

Green line = Mumbai

I'm norther than ANY part of India and most of China.

Comparatively, the latitude I've lived most of my life, is the southern tip of Mexico. Bloody hell.

Love, by Neelix

"Commander, I don't think you can analyse love. It's the greatest mystery of all. No one knows why it happens, or doesn't. Love is a chance combination of elements -- any one thing might be enough to keep it from igniting. The mood, a glance, a remark. And if we could define love, predict it, it would probably lose its power."

 -- Neelix

Time to look up. Look ahead.
There's nothing to gather, nothing to take.
Nothing to learn, nothing to break.
Time to be grateful for what stuck around.
Time to say hello to the moment.To now.
Time to be clear. Time to be fair.
Time to stop trying to be somewhere.
Somewhere else but here.


 

Excerpt - the unknown

What do I mean when I say "everyone seeks samadhi?" Not just through yoga, the slow, sure, safe and proven method. People seek samadhi through drugs, alcohol, the danger of extreme sports, the romanticism of music, the beauty of nature, and the passion of sexuality. There are a thousand ways, and they all involve the transcendence of the suffering ego in a blissful fusion with an entity much greater than ourselves. When we shed a tear for the two lovers united at the end of a film, or for a character reformed and redeemed, we are expressing our own longing to flee the confines of self, to unite with the greater, to discover through loss of the known, the endless, gorgeous horizon of the unknown.

Light on Life -- B.K.S Iyengar

Once again...

No words, no sense flows out of the broken mind.
Conflicting emotions, a roller coaster of turbulence.
A moment of joy, a moment of pain, a moment of real insane.

To pin it together, to pull it together, to rise above
Over the moon and way beyond.
To find once again, where I belong.

I need some bollywood.

"The elephant's trunk is six feet long and one foot thick and contains sixty thousand muscles. Elephants can use their trunks to uproot trees, stack timber, or carefully place huge logs in position when recruited to build bridges. An elephant can curl its trunk around a pencil and draw characters on a letter size paper. With the two muscular extensions at the tip, it can remove a thorn, pick up a pin or a dime, uncork a bottle, slide the bolt off a cage door and hide it on a ledge, or grip a cup so firmly without breaking it, that only another elephant can pull it away. The tip is sensitive enough for a blindfolded elephant to ascertain the shape and texture of objects. In the wild, elephants use their trunks to pull up clumps of grass and tap them against their knees to knock off the dirt, to shake coconuts out of palm trees, and to powder their bodies with dust. They use their trunks to probe the ground as they walk, avoiding pit traps, and to dig wells and siphon water from them. Elephants can walk underwater on the beds of deep rivers or swim like submarines for miles, using their trunks as snorkels. They communicate through their trunks by trumpeting, humming, roaring, piping, purring, rumbling and making a crumpling-metal sound by rapping the trunk against the ground. The trunk is lined with chemo-receptors that allow the elephant to smell a python hidden in the grass or food a mile away. Elephants are the only living animals that possess this extraordinary organ."

via  The Art of Looking Sideway

Confessions of a Misfit

I think I've always been a misfit. Such a misfit that I don't even fit among the misfits. And unless you looked really carefully, you'd never think so.

I'm a ordinary looking girl, with a supposedly nice smile and a possibly naive air. Around some people I can talk and make jokes, and around some more, I can listen and laugh. But very few to whom I can talk my mind, and even fewer who actually listen.

And under all that, there's an awkwardness in me, so subtle that most don't feel it, but so strong that I can't shake it off. It's in the way I feel about myself... so deep rooted, that it's in how I walk, how I meet someone's eyes, and how I talk. Not visible enough for people to shun me or mock me. And not strong enough for others to welcome me. But it's certainly there.

There are those best friends though, who are happy and whole enough, to not care about how and what I am, but just have enough room in their hearts to love me. And those are the hearts I miss, here, in the land of lonely, floating souls.

I'm not unhappy with my misfitedness. I think it's part of who I am. But maybe I've not embraced it fully. I've held it and and worn it awkwardly, and I have a feeling that maybe its time to grow into it.

Just saying

Star Trek - The Next Generation: maybe about exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and civilizations, but essentially, it is about being human.

I think I haven't been blogging as much coz I haven't been drinking as much. Kinda sucks. I will try and eliminate the co-relation and just blog more.