Some of the Things I Am Grateful For in Life Image by bess.hamiti@gmail.com from Pixabay “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”  Willie Nelson I am grateful for the sun and for the light and warmth the sun provides.  If there is no sun, I am grateful for the clouds that give us rain and enable us to grow our food. I am grateful for the patch of grass in front of my house or behind it.  If there is no grass, then I am grateful for the lonesome tree.  If there is no tree, I am grateful for the cement paving that helps me walk with ease so that ..read more

Breaking Habits Image by Emmerich Jörg Herrich from Pixabay “Our life is the creation of our mind.” Buddha It’s important to look into different ways of doing things, simply because we are unaware of our habits, and we get so used to doing things in the same way.  We become trapped in our patterns, we fail to take the time to step back and see what we are doing.  By stepping back we can find the crack of light to be able to see what is happening, by creating a new perspective we can begin to breakdown old habits and create new patterns. When we look at ourselves in a new way, from ..read more

Being Carefree Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay There is a beautiful Indian expression “sach to bitho nach”. Which means the soul who has truth, (speaks truth), dances.  Hence, there is a strong correlation between truth and being happy and carefree.  The one who has nothing to hide is free to express any emotion.  The one who has a guilty conscience is apprehensive. It is indeed an art to be carefree when one has a huge responsibility on one’s shoulders.  We usually become carefree when we have set things in motion or put things in place; when we have organized everyth ..read more

Our Final Farewell to Dad Vasrambhai Karsan Ladva – (1932-2024)   The soul of Vasrambhai Karsan Ladva, my father, left his body on 2nd February 2024.  He had just turned 91 years old in December. Anything can become a reason for the soul to fly away.  In Dad’s case, it was a fall and a mild heart attack which he survived, but thereafter his health declined and he could not recover the strength to conquer the various complications in his body.  He was in hospital for a week, where the staff looked after him very well, but that was not enough and the soul flew away. Until hi ..read more

You Can Never Really Lose Your Light Image by Yuri from Pixabay Our world today needs so much light. In the midst of all the darkness there seems to be in the world, all of us are trying to hold on to the light we have inside. That does not seem a very easy thing to do. If you think of taking a lighted candle from one place to another in a storm, how difficult that is, and how much attention we would have to pay to keeping it alight. Yet, it seems that this is what we are all being asked to do right now; to keep hold of our sanity amidst all the sorrow, suffering, upheaval, animosity, anger an ..read more

New Beginnings … “There is no protection in these walls, only in virtue.” Brahma Baba   The month of January is significant for many people in some way or another. January marks the start of a New Year which stimulates us to begin new things or start over.  This may take the form of a change in our diet; creating healthy new habits; deciding to go to the gym; improving our relationships; or letting the past be the past.  January stands out as a pivotal month on our calendar, whether we choose to take benefit from this time or not, the New Year ushers in some form of newness. Ac ..read more

Goodbye 2023 – Hello 2024 Hello Folks, Greetings for the season and wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.  Instead of my usual New Year letter, I decided to do things slightly differently this year.  After many years living in various countries, it is now a year and seven months since I returned to the UK. So rather than share the numerous travels and events of the year, I would like to share a few of the many equally important stories, quotes and learnings collected over the past 12 months.  In some way these have helped shape my thinking in a new way.  It’s b ..read more

Bless the World this Christmas and Bless Yourself   Image by Thomas Vitali from Pixabay Sprinkle some love, peace and happiness this Christmastide… This is the time of goodwill to increase our compassion and generosity for others, and we should not be too limited in sharing our blessings.  Christmas is the season to open both our heart and our hand, a time to uplift other souls and raise our vibrations with pure good feelings.  Everyone wants to receive blessings and good wishes, and we all need to share these good feelings far and wide, not just with our friends and family, but ..read more

Mind Your Mind “Words are things.  You must be careful, careful about a calling people out of their names, using racial, pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance.  Don’t do that.  Someday we’ll be able to measure the power of words.  I think they are things.  They get on the walls.  They get in your wallpaper.  They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally into you.” Maya Angelou Image by valentime_AI from Pixabay Maya Angelou understood the power of words and she knew that “words are things”.  Anyone who cam ..read more

Peel Off Those Labels Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay Just how many labels do we wear?  No, I am not referring to branded goods!  I am talking about the number of identities we accumulate over time. In fact, each and every relationship we have reflects something about our identity back to us through other people. Each identity is telling us something about the kind of person we “perceive” ourselves to be. For example, if I am a daughter or wife, sister or friend, all these are roles I play.  This is how I relate to others. Now we can understand why the sages and saints o ..read more