Baby, you make me sing!

It is amazing how a little human being with tiny feet, pink cheeks and hair like strands of silk, can make a singer out of anyone.

The beauty of singing for a child is in its spontaneity. You have no idea whatsoever of what you’re singing; you just start ‘la-la’ing off to make the baby stop crying. And when it seems to work, when the frown is gone, and the eyes shift focus on to you, or close peacefully in slumber, you suddenly realize that the gibberish you sang was really a tune. And you sing it again and in loop. Right then, at that point, you become a singer. No matter how harsh a voice you think you have, when the baby in your palms will start to cry, you will sing. And that song will be the most beautiful, because you will have no idea of where the song came from, and you will want to sing it again and again, just to re-experience the joy of having relieved the divine little being of its restlessness.

Maybe you are not needed

‘But they need me.’

is, many-a-times, a good enough reason for us to stick around doing things we don’t really like, with people who don’t really value us.

And yet, we insist on continuing to assume that role, just a little longer, just until the dust settles, and then we can let go and find ourselves. Because we are the managers, teachers, the parents or the likes with ‘great responsibilities’, and though we wake up everyday imagining a different life for ourselves, we somehow decree that ‘now’ is a bad time to take the next step towards it.

Well, maybe reassess. Maybe your school will still have great teachers on-board to care for the students. Maybe your subordinates do not need your exaggerated effort to keep them together. Maybe your successor, no matter what role you pursue that your heart doesn’t, will do much better than you do.

Not being needed gives you the freedom that you need to walk away. That makes you dispensable – and indeed, available to the things and people you love.

Well sure, we worry all the time that we might look like quitters. But what do we see for ourselves? What would you like to be?

 

 

 

 

The year of showing up

Don’t show up three times, and people will stop asking.

I haven’t shown up for an awful lot the recent years – not to the gym, not to my team’s outings, not for a few friends’ weddings…and the fine is too huge!

2016 was about realizing how just very few people really miss me, and crying a little bit about it. But then it dawned on me: How’ll they miss me if I’m never there?

I’m sure we all say no to a lot of things, we have our own priorities set. But when one or more of the forts of friends, family or the personal self is crumbling, it is surely time to re-assign the priorities.

2017 is that year for me. I have seen forts cracking in their pillars. Forts of personal, professional, financial and social forts. (Yes, ALL of them.) I need to renovate a little – by showing up, by catching up with lost opportunities I still miss today.

And showing up doesn’t mean being everywhere – it means showing up for what or whom you care.

It means being there for those few people, to whom your presence has no substitute.

Wine and the other shine…

Tonight when I come home, darling…
we’ll switch off everything, save the darkness…
Two glasses of red wine,
your glowing eyes and mine,
will go searching in the skies..
For stars in disguise..

Then we’ll talk about the passing of life…
and how everything fits in perfectly fine…
Two more glasses of red wine,
your embrace and mine…
and we’ll beautify the skies..
With the stars in our eyes..

Find yourself at home…

I got my first sneak peak into the Zen philosophy yesterday; just a soup in the food for thought.
And it was disturbing. And then marvelous.

Disturbing, because it is most inconvenient to fathom that all you are, and all everybody around you is, is mind-body – the co-existence of certain hardware and certain software.

Marvelous, because thankfully

Send them love

“Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that’s all. You can’t see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.”

~ Mitch Albom

It breaks my heart to have parted ways with so many dear people…people that used to be such a tremendous source of belonging in my life. I don’t know what the future brings, whether these paths might converge again, but I cherish them, I miss them sorely, and I send them love.

5 Questions…

– If you were to wake up tomorrow with only the things you were grateful for, would you be satisfied?

– If money didn’t exist, would you still be doing what you do for a living?

– If every word you said would get inscribed on your skin, what words would you speak?

– They say that it’s likely that at least one person thinks of you every night before going to bed. Do you know who that could be in your life? Do they feel loved in return?

– What if, with all the good and bad stuff that makes your life right now, life is just as good as it gets? What if you wake up every day for the rest of your life living today over again?

What do you want for your birthday?

“What do you want for your birthday?”

I was asked.

“A nice day!” I underplayed.

I love surprises. A midnight birthday cake-cutting, some nice little surprises here and there…

But that’s not how it’s going to be every year, I know.

So this time, I said, “I want a nice day! I’m going to buy myself something new, get out into the city, buy me some flowers and do something nice!”

I did buy myself something new. I got a few lovely gifts from my folks, too. I went out with my best friend aka my hubby for a playful afternoon, a long walk and some awesome burgers…and spent dinner-time with my family. (And of course, hubby bought me a box of chocolates and a rose with pretty purple flowers around it.)

I did, have a nice day! 🙂 And the after-glow is going to last a while…

Have you met this friend yet?

The whole world, dear, just maybe your friend,
so don’t try too hard, don’t pretend,
don’t be afraid of every stranger…
not every darkness must mean danger…

Don’t be afraid to feel satisfied,
it’s alright to want just enough…
having a lot doesn’t always feel better…
unless it’s a lot of love…

Why walk on streets like you might be attacked?
Why hold a straight face? Why not smile back?
Why feel obliged to conform and agree,
when speaking your mind is what sets you free…

Don’t draw back the hand that your heart wants to lend…
For the whole world, dear, just maybe your friend…

We’re all here to wander, then why compete?
Why weigh ambition, why trap it in concrete?
Know that it’s ok to give up the climb,
And your heart’ll know where to land when it’s time…

Share while you can share, mend while you can mend,
Then the whole world, dear, just maybe your friend…

Be surrounded by things you love,
Or feel surrounded by things you fear,

And if love is what you fear, if you brace your dear heart,
Let it slip away, surprise you, lead you to embark…

On a love that is so clear, you don’t see an end,
Then the whole world, dear, walks with you, as your friend…

What will stay?

Let it all go…see what stays.