Stillness ...

Is it possible to be happy all the time? And can we be happy at will? And can we be happy now, right now? But we first need to understand what this happiness is. What do we mean when we say that we are happy? I think it is to be at peace. At peace with ourselves and everything around us. To be okay with what is happening right now as well as whatever is going to happen. It is also okay to be at peace with own shortcomings or deficiencies. It is to be happy devoid of any conditions, pre-requisites or dependencies. Not to crave, hanker, seek or chase something, or cling on to something.  It is to be in a flow state just like the river. It is to be in the present and not to live in the past or in the future. It is still to be actively participating in the activities and the world, doing what is required of us to the best of our abilities. It is also fine to have expectations about the results and outcomes, but not getting fixated at them. If we are not happy, then we are worried, anxi...

Diwali is celebrated big time everywhere in India. But being in Gujarat during Diwali has one additional advantage. Generally, you get 3-4 days officially as Diwali break from the work. This time it forced me to think deeply about the importance or utility that the vacations have in our lives.  There is no doubt that our daily lives have become much more stressful, or at least we believe it to be so. We associate much of this stress with our demanding Worklife. But on a vacation, we don't feel the usual stress at all, but on the contrary, we feel elated. So, is it possible to reverse this, i.e. in our everyday life, can we feel like vacation? If we observe our states of mind in the two situations, we will find that the mind is in two completely different states. Can it be cultivated to feel every day or every moment as vacation? Can vacation be a state of mind to live the everyday life with? I think that we feel good on a vacation, mainly because of the following reasons: 1. There ...

I have two identities. I operate at two levels. I feel that I exist at two different levels. One is real and the other is non-real. One is original and the other is acquired, manufactured. The one that is original has been forgotten and the non-real one seems to be real.   When I interact with the world, I operate at one level. At this level, I think and worry about my profit and loss, my future, my image, my position. I have views about people. I have an image of the world in my mind. That's how I look at the world and interact with people. I collect inputs about the world through my five senses. When I interact with someone, I interact with that image that I have in my mind about the person. I have my opinions, beliefs, biases and prejudices. When I have to act, I use and move my hands and feet. I can hold on to things in my mind, things that are of interest to me and the things I like to think about for long. Then based on the need, I shift my mind to another object that I ...