Seriousness… where?

2017-44/365

Ah! friendships. It is not only amazing to have friends, I mean people of you own age who know what the world is and can totally relate to you on every level concerning today’s times and scenarios, but it is kind of unreal. I mean in a world full of strangers family is something we were given but friends we get to choose and that in itself gives us the ability to pick the ones we like, the ones we click with, and the ones that take you away from everything else into a world where only you matter.

It is like love but without all the “compulsions” or “formalities” I mean you are in sort of an open relationship where you can be with one person and still enjoy the company (platonic company) of other people of your choice.

The most beautiful aspect of this relationship is the very absence of seriousness. I mean every group of friends that I have ever come to know has their own language, codes and various other ways of communication and also a mutual encouragement and appreciation for each other’s thoughts and opinions which at times could be utter bull-crap. 

I met my school friends today. It has been 7 years (there is a song with this name) since the time we would be in one room sitting and chatting, studying and spending most of the day with each other.

And today we spent the entire noon and evening at a local bar and it was a journey from past to the present to the future and regardless how many struggles we have in our personal lives, nothing mattered and time slowed down and the best part was there was no seriousness at all, only fun on a crazy level.

I am so grateful that I have made amazing new friends but even after being in separate countries with full time jobs whenever I meet my old-friends, like once a year or so, we do not have to give each other a recap at all because we just know each other’s lives and that is like amazing friendship, right? You meet and talk like you were together last evening too. Yes the technology plays a part but its all up to how strong a relationship is.

And that feels like being in the element. Playful, grateful and happy just being in the moment as it should be every moment each day.

Awareness

Be aware or not the sun shines above us at all times. 

2017-42/365:
Randomly took this picture while I was waiting for my friends. I was just aware of the sun shining through, after all it is too conspicuous even if you are trying to hide, it will find you out. We had fun today, they same old meeting, walking and eating with some serious talks later on about true friendship. Either we have grown older and perhaps wiser or we were just aware of the fact that, what ever was being said was one’s own opinion or grievance thereof and we must accept people and the differences as they are.

Now going on with the same theme… I believe awareness comes in two forms, as is with many things in life, external and internal. It is easy and one must know their surroundings, not necessarily everything about it but every detail about the little bit of what they know, but what we do instead is fill ourselves with the next information that comes our way so while we are looking at the forest we forget to see it for the trees.

It is easy to be aware of what crosses your filter with physical information because we are good at categorising it. The problem comes when we try to be aware internally. It is good and easy to make healthy life choices, but how many of us make healthy emotional choices too? Not many in my opinion. I have realised that only a person who is aware internally can make those choices.

This is because any one who is aware of himself does not act out of feelings rather he would take a back seat and watch his thoughts like an audience to his own turbulent emotions thus seeing more than one option for his course of action. There is a difference between flowing in your emotions and watching your emotions.

This by no way means that one is not allowed to feel their deepest of emotions. One must let them flow but by being aware you row your boat in the currents of your feelings instead of your feelings deciding your course. Honestly, that sounds like true power to me.

The only way to achieve this awareness is to do the exact opposite of what we do when we  are making choices (externally) and that is to not make a choice at all. Just take a back seat. I have seen that not holding onto feelings is better in the long run, you are truly burden-less and what else would you need?

Being internally aware requires a pause not a filter, it requires prirotising not categorising, it requires attentive processing not ignoring the emotions (being aware) thus allowing a response and not a reaction.

 

 

2017-40/365

So here is another cover of a recent song by my friend and that is what is up. Pretty good for a self-taught if you ask me.

 

I see it now. Do you?

2017 – 35/365

I do not care how many times people say do not judge a book by it’s covers but when it comes to reading people I’d be doing it during the very first meeting. I do have this sort of a habit of recognising telltales in the behaviour of the people around me. Uncanny but mostly I am on point. It is scary!

It is almost a bad habit because I see one red flag and I refuse to even open the book, let alone turning its pages. What is the point right? Some people act so fake and you know it is gonna go down hill and when your gut is telling you to run away, being a sensitive person, all you can actually do is run away. Seems like a good idea to me.

Yes, you might miss a lot of goodness hidden behind that red-flag but also you save yourself from the pain. It does seem a little pessimistic but then again everyone is so self-indulged and self-obsessed that the fear of being hurt by others has become prominent, keeps one from even getting any further than the introductions.

Who even trusts friends anymore? Talk about strangers!

Take any story and you would see that once burnt would never go near the fire the possibility of playing with it is next to none. Why can people not just tell things as they are? Some hide, others lie and for what? To fulfill ulterior motives? Sad.

But do not lose all the fun being too cautious though. When you learn cycling for the first time, you stand after every fall and that is all we can do – give it another chance. Understand that some one is being an ass, someone broke your heart because THEY have some real problems not YOU.

You are not the victim, they are so, at least release yourself of the pain because I see it now, I know it and I can say that you could invest yourself a hundred percent and get nothing out of it, rendering you with an ability to read those patterns and recognise the possible cause of a future hurt.

Only suggestion is that be sure that it is your choice and not your fear that led to your decision. And that you are acting on what your seeing and not what you thinking. It is better to learn to recognise instead of assuming.

Overwhelmed!

First of any thing can make us so nervous that it can be overwhelming. But remember that a seed sown turns into a tiny, meek plantlet before it stands tall and strong like this gigantic (probably old) mango tree.

There was a time it had to be fed, now it feeds us.
There was a time it needed a cover, now it shelters us.
There was a time it needed so much water, now it helps in rain.
There was a time it could have been easily crushed, now god forbid it falls on anyone.

So everything, everyone, you, me – we face many a struggles as overwhelming as they can be (we all know about that) but they are shaping us, in a way making us stronger.

Just stand your ground!

Tall and strong

Cleaner

2017 – 33/365:
More pictures from the vacay-vacay. These are some clean shots. Up here the air is definitely cleaner, a little colder but I am not complaining!

Foggy morn 🙂

Reach the sky.

P.S. The fog, the cold winds, the greens, the lighting, the birds, THE TREE okay what’s not to like? I love this one.

2017 – 32/365

That was a long break. Well, I have new experiences, a few more stories to share, and new pictures of my most favourite thing the wild, the nature, the blues and the greens.

First and foremost everyone’s fave – sun!

The fascinating thing here is how you can’t really tell whether it is a sunset or a sunrise by just looking at the picture. At least I can not, can you?

That is a clean road  and a tiny sun.

This was taken from a moving car, through a windowpane, from a mobile phone but timing is everything 😉 and voila!

Exquisite views/2017 – 15/365

Weather has been strange this past couple of months. It was not as cold during December even the beginning of January made every one believe that it is just going to be a dry winter this year.

Personally, I was getting disappointed, but finally it snowed and quite a lot compared to last four years. The Himalayas from upper mountain ranges to the lower foot-hills are all covered in snow in keeping with the name Himalaya. And the chill can be felt across the country. It is cool literally.

On the funny side of things, people in the city are complaining about it getting colder than usual while some of them do not mind visiting a hill station to have that fresh snow-fall experience. Anyway too cold it is a problem. Too hot it is a problem. The insatiable nature of us humans hehe.

I am more of winter person so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow… Late winters, now that is something exquisite.

Foggy fog

It is cold outside!

And I love it.

2017 – 14/365

Had sort of a disagreement with my friends over my attitude concerning another friend’s behaviour. We have had disagreements before but this seemed like a fight (we have had those too). Come to think of it, in any group dynamics or relationship building, the foundation stays weak or vulnerable if it is too smooth – must have cracks. You need to have a healthy and open environment for confrontations and confuting lest the group becomes used to groupthink.

Okay that is too much psychology but it is a known fact that no love exists without clashes. And what is a relationship without complete honesty and if you are totally honest then you can not really please everyone, as much that is a sign of individuality it also teaches others to be tolerant (or shows how much they already are). So I guess it is useful to bring it all out in the open. Today we are stronger than before.

Acknowledge, accept, process and let go – Insach

 

2017 – 13/365

Happy Lohri guys! It is that time of the year in the north. The winds are soon gonna change and with the passing winter solstice, winter is officially in its mid-phase. I love the chilly winds and they came pretty late this year so I do not really want winter to end this soon. But it is what it is and the festivals are mere reminders of the new-ness that we must maintain in the mundane life.

Festivals should not just be a reason to be happy, rather celebrations should be the way of life. Something this country knows how to do. We never fall short of festivities or reasons to celebrate.