Weekly Photo Challenge: Optimistic

Two years ago, I put birdhouses on some old posts that were standing in a corner of my back yard. Last fall, I looked inside of the birdhouses and discovered there was a nest in one of them.

Yesterday when I was talking on the phone, I happened to glance out of the kitchen window. I saw two small birds flying around the houses. I even saw one of the birds look inside its potential home. I was so excited!

I am optimistic that there will be baby birds in the birdhouses this year.

Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Optimistic

Advice to New Bloggers

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Today’s prompt from The Daily Post is called “Key Takeaway” and the instructions are:

Give your newer sisters and brothers-in-WordPress one piece of advice based on your experiences blogging

This is a topic very close to my heart. First of all, I’d like to welcome all of you who are new to the blogging world. I have found blogging to be one of the most rewarding experiences in my life and I hope the same for you.

My advice is to celebrate when friends, relatives, colleagues and members of your personal community are interested in your blog, but don’t count on it being the case. See blogging as a way of building an additional community for yourself, as a way of sharing information with like-minded people, and as an opportunity to communicate with those for whom your thoughts and experiences are an exciting new world.

I have learned so much from reading other people’s blogs and I have developed new and treasured friendships within the Word Press community. Blogging has expanded my own world and I know that others have learned from reading mine. I will be forever grateful to my son Sreejit (The Seeker’s Dungeon and Where Love Meets War) for encouraging /pushing me to start my blog.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Inspiring and Thought Provoking Videos

Friends have sent me two powerful and mesmerizing videos recently. I thought both were excellent and hope you find them to be as valuable as I did.

The first is a talk by Dr. Vadana Shiva. She has been described as an author, activist, pioneer, scientific advisor and mother.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crP5EVZdvLE)

The second is a September 12, 1962 speech by President John F. Kennedy. As you listen to it, consider how we can apply his words to solving the problems we are facing in the world today.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZyRbnpGyzQ)

What Does It Mean to Be?

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Being

What does it even mean to BE,
free?
Doing, doing never done,
run.
That is all I’ve ever known,
moan.
Body, mind, and soul yearn to rest,
quest.
That new goal must be addressed,
professed.
Heart caught within the mind’s net,
reset.

Written for Challenges for Growth Prompt #3: Learning to Be
Photo Credit: W ikimedia

Challenge for Growth Prompt #3: Learning to Be

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Learning to Be

This week’s challenge is:

“Today when there is nothing to be done I will do nothing.”

In our over-doing world, many of us have lost the ability to simply BE. Our days are filled with doing things and our minds are filled with thinking. We may be bombarded with electronic stimulation such as radio, television, emails, texts, video games, internet surfing, Twitters, Facebook, Instagrams, Linked In, etc.

Too often when we are not over-doing, we are over-thinking. We rarely have new thoughts; usually we are just recycling the same thoughts over and over.

It may be that when we are quiet, we are uncomfortable with the feelings and thoughts that surface. We try to shove them down by potentially addictive behaviors like over-doing, substance abuse, obsessive thinking, and over-eating. We can learn to see those uncomfortable feelings and thoughts as indications that there are changes we need to make in our lives.

Most of life’s peak experiences happen when we least expect them. In addition, bliss is unlikely to come when we are thinking or over-doing.

This week, for one, two, three days or longer, focus on being rather than doing. If there is nothing that NEEDS to be done, don’t do anything. Take the time as an opportunity to simply BE. Watch the internal messages and impulses that come up when you do that. Note them, but don’t act on them. Allow yourself to continue being.

Consider making a commitment that during your being time you will not use the phone or computer and will not have any electronic music, television or radio going on in the background. If taking being time sounds impossible to you consider starting with five minutes- or ten minutes- or fifteen minutes a day. You can build up your being time slowly if you need to.

Sometime during the week, write a post about some aspect of this topic or about your being experiences. Feel free to use whatever form you desire: i.e., prose, story, poem, photograph, etc.

I look forward to seeing where this challenge takes you.

The article that you link to this prompt should be a new post written specifically for this challenge.

General Prompt Information:

New prompts will be posted at 5 a.m. (PST) every Wednesday.

Since it is easier to make behavioral changes if we focus on them one day at a time, each of the weekly challenges will start with “Today, I focus on…….” It will be up to you to decide how long you want to focus on a particular challenge— one, two, three days or even longer. At some point during the week, publish a post that relates in some way to the subject of the week.

Link your post back to this prompt post. If the pingback doesn’t work, then leave the link to your post in the comment section of this post. Be sure to include “Challenge for Growth Prompts” as one of your tags.

Throughout the week, I will publish the links for the posts that were created as the result of this prompt. I will also post the links from those who participated the previous week. That way they will be seen by anyone who comes to this page.

If you don’t have a blog, please feel free to submit your contribution to the prompt in the comment section below.

This week’s contributors to Learning to Be:

What Does It Mean to Be? – Living, Learning and Letting Go

Painting Our Illusions- Where Love Meets War

Failure to Be- Nik’s Place

Being Her True Self- Traces of the Soul

Learning to Be- Journey of a Warrior Womyn

How about you?

Last week’s contributors to Looking for the Good in Others:

On Humans and Humanity- The Seeker’s Dungeon

Today I look for the good qualities in others- Journey of a Warrior Womyn

There is No “Other”- Living, Learning and Letting Go

Khuśiyōm Kī Bahār- Living, Learning and Letting Go

Through the Shadows- Nik’s Place

finding the light side (free verse)- Traces of the Soul

Challenge for Growth Prompt #2- Annette’s Place

Wordless Wednesday

Memories of the 60’s

My friend Kathie from chosenperspectives published a YouTube video today that really moved me. I thought I would share it with you.

(If the video doesn’t come up you can find it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-0NvkuPHZI)

I felt some sadness as I listened to the song, because these last eight years have shown how much work we still have to do in regards to racial relations. At the same time, I know the words are as true now as they were when it was recorded.

In another post published today, Kathie also shared personal memories of what she was doing during the Civil Rights period and on the day that Martin Luther King was assassinated. Check out her post at In Honor of Dr. King. I think you will be glad you did.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Alphabet

In the early to mid 90’s, I made a needlepoint piece to frame and put in Amma‘s room the next time she offered a retreat near Seattle. It consisted of a note that said “Amma, may each day we become more like you” and then listed the names of many of the local satsang members. It was written in Amma’s language, Malayalam!

At the end of the next retreat, we discovered that Amma had blessed each of us by putting some sandlewood paste next to our names.

The handiwork is now hanging at the site of our future Center.

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Living and Learning in Amritapuri: Wrapping Up My Nov 28, 2015 to Jan 11, 2016 Visit

Since Amma was on the North Kerala tour, my last days in the ashram for this year were relatively quiet. As soon as she left, I started cleaning up my room and storing my belongings. I also worked in the cafe, and had some special time with Chaitanya and Sreejit (my daughter and son). In addition, I reflected on my trip as a whole and pondered changes I would make once I returned to Seattle

Tai Chi

You might remember that my Tai teachers had returned to their respective countries. Dave departed just before Christmas and Stefanie left soon after New Year’s. Our class had decided to practice on its own, but a man we met just before our instructors left volunteered to teach us. He was a very kind and knowledgeable man, but his style was so different from what I was used to. Among other things, he taught us about 1) chakras, 2) giving gratitude to our organs for serving us year after year and 3) how each of the moves related to either bringing chi into our body or sending it out.

Like Dave and Stefanie, he often showed us how the movements we were doing related to the martial art form of Tai Chi. The information he shared was fascinating and valuable but we stood in one place while listening to him talk for an hour or more each day. My swollen feet didn’t do well with that. I tried sitting on the ground or on a step from time to time but that didn’t work for me either. He used quiet guided imagery a lot. I became agitated, wanting to be doing the beautiful Tai Chi moves. The rest of the class was thoroughly enjoying his class, though, so I began to think about dropping out.

I noticed my body was beginning to get stiff and was reverting to the way it had been before I had started the Tai Chi classes. One day, I decided to go to the beach early and practice the movements I had learned. I enjoyed doing that so much. That practice was followed by another day of standing still for over an hour, so I decided to drop the class.

Each morning until I left the ashram, I took the elevator up to the 15th floor of the building I live in and then walked up to the roof. As I did Tai Chi on the rooftop, majestic eagles flew over me.

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(I realize some of you may not be able to access the slide show so I will post one of the photos below.)

During the last two days of my stay in Amritapuri, I purposely left my camera in my room and experienced the eagles for myself. One day there were six of them flying over or near me! That truly felt like heaven.

As my time to leave the ashram approached, I started doing computer searches to look for teachers in Seattle. I plan to take my time in choosing a new instructor. Dave had suggested we look for teachers whose movements flow and who has noticeable chi themselves. I added another criteria to that list. I want a teacher who emphasizes practice over theory.

There is one Tai Chi story I have meant to tell you in past posts but kept forgetting to do so. I have shared many photos of the beautiful beach where we held the class. What was also true about that beach is that we were learning in an area which was used as a parking lot during Amma’s public darshan programs. On those days, there were as many as four large buses and numerous cars parked in “our” area. That space was also the thoroughfare for pick-up trucks and bicycles going to and from the food composting center. We definitely had plenty of practice in staying flexible and patient. The whole scene became funny at times.

Seahawks

Another subject I haven’t mentioned at all is my love for the Seahawks. I have had a life time distaste for football but all that changed in 2013 when I became an avid follower of our Seattle team. I love the sense of community supporting the team brings to Seattle, and our whole region for that matter. Last year I purposely woke up early when I was in India to “watch” some of the games. (I say “watch” but that really means I was watching the score.) This year I was content to just look at the scores when I woke up, but the team was still very much on my mind. I would be returning at the same time the playoff games started. In fact, the first play off game would take place when I staying in a hotel in Dubai, so I planned to “watch” it there. (Photo Credit: Ginny Gensler)

Trip summary

I decided to make a photo gallery that represents many of the highlights of my 2015/16 visit to Amritapuri:

Time with Amma

Time with Chaitanya

Time with Sreejit

Time with Akshay

India

Sunrises and sunsets

Beautiful flowers

Writing my migrant farm labor series

Costumes with Sumati

Costumes with Jani

Sabbath dinner

12 foot high Goliath puppet

Saul’s army with David

John the Baptist

Jesus is home again!

(Hover the cursor over pictures to see the captions; Click the gallery to enlarge the pictures)

There are, of course, many other people with whom I had special times on this trip but have no picture of them to put in the gallery. I will keep the photo below separate from the gallery since I didn’t take it in Amritapuri. It portrays a pancake I made when I returned to Seattle; one that was inspired by the breakfasts my friend Lalita created each morning. I appreciate her positive modeling of healthy eating and all of the wonderful conversations we had during that meal. The pancake I made is topped with yogurt, pomegranate, bananas, chia seeds and hemp seeds. I will eventually look for ragi flour and try to replicate the cafe’s ragi pancakes!

January 17 Epilogue

I left India on January 10. On the way back to Seattle, I stayed 14 hours in the Dubai airport hotel and did indeed follow the first Seahawk playoff game while I was there! When I was still at the airport in India, I was thinking about the game and noticed that Skiddles were being sold there. I’ve never had a Skiddle in my life, but I knew one of our players often talks about them (I think they are one of his sponsors). I decided to buy a package of Skiddles as a symbol of support for my team. When I mentioned I had purchased them to Sreejit and Chaitanya they both told me how bad they were for my teeth! I thought it was funny to get that kind of feedback from my kids.

I arrived in Seattle on Monday morning and on Wednesday morning checked out my first Tai Chi class. I liked the class but I want to experience some other teachers before I make a decision about an ongoing classes. I have picked classes to attend on the 19th and 21st.

I spent this weekend attending a Sanskrit workshop. I love being with the Samskrita Bharati family but in the future I will remind myself not to participate in a workshop so soon after my return. (I’m still only sleeping 2 or 3 hours a night due to jet lag.) My friend Yashas took the workshop with me and he loved it. That really made the weekend extra special for me. Hopefully in time we will be able to speak Sanskrit together. (As an aside, the 2nd Seahawks playoff game was during the workshop. I know I was not the only person in the room who was surreptitiously glancing at their phone to check the score. We lost. Bummer.)

My visit to India was challenging but I learned so much and will be eternally grateful for the opportunities I have been given. Thank you for reading my posts and in so doing taking the journey along with me.

To see the earlier posts in this series go to: https://livinglearningandlettinggo.wordpress.com/india/

Khuśiyōm Kī Bahār

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The first bhajan (devotional song) that Amma sang after giving her New Year’s Message was Khuśiyōm Kī Bahār, a beautiful, heartfelt song. Later I looked up the meaning and discovered that the translation is as moving as the tune.

Khuśiyōm Kī Bahār

May all beings be happy and without sorrows.
May all see only the good that is in everything.

May the spring of joy burst forth.
May the world be filled with peace.
O Lord, may we become selfless and free of desires
and thus may we progress steadily towards You.

Let all people in the world be content.
Let them see the divine spark in all others
and let the light of love shine in their hearts.
May all live in harmony.

Let us pray and hope together.
We will chant constantly the divine mantra
that is a prayer for the entire world to be happy.

Source: Bhajanamritam 5:98-99, Mata Amritanandamayi Center

Posted for Challenge for Growth Prompts: Looking for the Good in Others.