Messengers

       In our lifetime we meet many people. Not everybody stays with us forever. They may come for few days, few months or few years and very few stay till we live. There is a purpose behind each and every person we meet. Everyone comes in our life to teach a new lesson or reinforce an old learning. People come for a reason and leave when their part is over. We can say that people are like messengers of God. God chooses normal people to guide others, to help others, to make a difference in other persons lives. We all believe in God to some extent. At-least we reach out to him in case of crisis. I feel our belief in God is based on our experiences. I feel God is a best creator, may be not a good manager but definitely a good friend. We chalk out the plan for ourselves by our thoughts and actions. We create our destiny knowingly or unknowingly. God guides us through different channels but the plan is ours. If we ask God for patience, he gives us situations. He doesn't spoon feed us but gives us experiences to learn and draw our own conclusions. He makes all of us messengers for someone else at some point of time in our lives.

Its not important who came in your life or who left; what is more important is did you grow because of them?

  We get hooked on to people and forget that life is about growing. If we are not growing, we are not living; we are just existing. We should not get depressed when we lose somebody because of breakups, divorce or death. Their part was over, let them go. Life becomes much simpler this way. Nobody makes you complete or incomplete. It's just our attachments which don't allow us to see beyond.

       I feel any person who touches your soul and teaches you something is a Messenger. I met 5 messengers of God who changed my life, taught me the greatest lessons of life, made me a completely different person. One messenger of God was harsh but he made me the strongest. I hated him a lot for many years but today I am thankful to him. Life has been a roller coaster ride for me like everyone. After so many ups and downs, I used to think about doing something big. But I was not sure how. I am still not clear 😊 I wanted to show my gratitude towards those 3 messengers who helped me to be positive and see the brighter side. I also wanted to tell the harsh messenger that I have grown a lot in life. I constantly dreamed about being interviewed and about mentioning the names of all the people who helped me grow. In few months of time, I got busy with my job and completely forgot about this dream. One fine day, I got a call from an NGO I work for, to help a reporter complete his thesis. It didn't strike me still. When I met the reporter, he interviewed me and listened to my entire story. Then I realized God sent his 5th messenger to fulfill my earnest desire. Reporter not just fulfilled my dream but also gave me a different perspective towards life through his questions. As he has spoken to thousands of people, he was able to give me a broader insight about how people deal with their difficult situations. We all know that responses for the same situation change from person to person.

  God sends his messengers to guide you. Some messengers are sweet, some are harsh but they all have a goal - to make you grow. Acknowledge the messenger and be receptive. Harsher the situation or the messenger, better you grow. Nothing goes waste.

       Probably, I am a messenger for you right now 😊

Meaning in Life

Our journey from birth till death is full of surprises. Some experiences are sweet, some are shocking but life never stops. Many times we feel lost and directionless. That's when we need to take charge of our lives and keep going. However, we want our lives to be exciting to keep us going. Isn't it so? How to achieve this? How to make our life meaningful when nothing is making sense? How to overcome our fears and rise up? To understand the answer, let's see how our teenage Kanika made her life worthwhile.

Kanika is a sweet girl who lives next door. She loves to dance on the tunes of Bollywood music. She is a victim of child abuse and molestation. She did not tell what happened with her till she was 15. In these years, she went through cycles of shame, depression and self-harm. Somehow she survived and was alive. At the age of 15, she met Asha, a social worker, who was spreading awareness about sexual harassment. Kanika opened up for the first time. Her tears were not stopping. Shame and disgust was not letting her speak. Asha had to push a lot so that she pours her heart and speaks what she has been hiding for so many years. Asha explained the situation to her parents who were not able to understand her sorrow all these years. Her father was fuming with anger after listening to the entire story. But it was too late to do anything.

Kanika was taken to a counselor. Kanika’s smile returned. She started appreciating things around her. However, she became dependent on the counselor. Once the counselor had gone on vacation for 2months, Kanika's mental health deteriorated. She used to get lost in her thoughts and sleep all the time. Till now Kanika's education had affected a lot. She was not good in her academics except Mathematics. It was her favorite subject. Teachers said she lacked confidence. 

Her mother took charge and decided to fix things. She wanted Kanika to be able to help herself and rise above all the negativity. Kanika's mother knew that Kanika loves to dance. She took her to a good teacher and requested to train her daughter rigorously. Kanika's mother sat beside her and explained - "Kanika, whatever has happened, has happened. We cannot change it. But you need to rise up and make your life meaningful. Dance is like breathing for you. You radiate when you dance. Live your life." That night Kanika could not sleep. She knew she doesn't want to be in this state forever. Now that her parents were also with her, she told herself she wants to be happy and do something in life. She decided to become a professional dancer and earn money so that she can help underprivileged girls, rape or molestation victims, get higher education.

Next morning, Kanika danced like never before. Her mother and dance teacher were very happy and surprised with her progress. Then there was no looking back. Kanika practiced every day and performed exceptionally well in the annual function. As she was focused in life and was doing well in dance, her confidence increased. She was able to do well in academics also. Now Kanika was on her own, strong, self-motivated and passionate towards her goal.

Kanika turned the ugliness of her past into inspiration for others. Her goal of helping other victims gave her an objective. Having a purpose in life can make your life worthwhile. Mark Twain has rightly said “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why”. Live your life before it passes away. You have only one life. 

                             

Acceptance

Friends you must have heard the phrase "Accept and Move on" and would be wondering if its really possible. Lets try to understand "What is Acceptance?" As per the definition its the "willingness to recognize the flaws in oneself & willingness to tolerate a difficult situation" and only then one can focus on his/her strengths. I feel acceptance also means seeing things the way they are and getting in touch with reality, even if the reality is hard to accept. 

To keep moving in life, we need to accept our flaws and also the difficult people and situations in our life. Once we have completely accepted them and made peace then they don't bother us. To make it more simple, lets look at the story of Mr.Ramaswamy (name changed). 

Rama was an average person with more inclination towards music and wanted to make music as his career. He had a very strict mother. She believed that he was good for nothing as he completed his studies with great difficulty. She used to only find mistakes in him. Rama's self esteem was very low. However, he used to be at cloud 9 during his singing sessions. He needed his mothers support and wanted her to understand his choices. Everyday he had to listen to her demotivating words and used to further lose confidence in himself. This went on for a year. In this year he was not able to progress much in life. 

One day he got a chance to be part of a big musical night. One band wanted him to be part of their group. With reluctance he said yes. On the day of the event, he was very anxious. However, as the event progressed, he got more and more confidence. Constant applause from the crowd, encouraged him to perform his best. He realized music is his life and he does not need anyone's approval to pursue it. He accepted that his mother may not be able to believe in him until he reaches a milestone. He decided to move on and forget about what she thinks about him. He never looked back. Kept on working hard and never bothered about her opinions. Just in an year's time, he emerged as successful singer.

Friends, 'What cannot be changed has to be accepted!' Accept with a positive mindset, leave the negativity behind and move on. See your weakness as a strength and believe in yourself. You will surely see the difference.