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Optimism and Hope

A few days back, we welcomed a new year. 2022 has started, and we are already halfway into the first month. A new year brings with it new resolutions, hopes, and aspirations. Most of us set targets that we hope to achieve during the year. Most of us also end up forgetting all about these goals even before the year is halfway through !!What is it about the New Year that makes us so optimistic?The pandemic has impacted lives across the globe and is now in its second year. It is also showing no signs of easing off. And yet, we still wish a ‘great new year’ to all our near and dear.Where does all this optimism come from? Is it that we humans have over the centuries developed an innate quality to look at only the better side of life, mask the pain and sorrow, and hope that we… Optimism and Hope

Worrying Mindfully

I was just back from a ten-day mindful meditation retreat. Ten days of no talking, no contact with other humans, just plain and simple worrying mindfully. All that we had to do was concentrate on our breath.It sounded simple in the brochures but turned out to be complicated stuff when put into practice. Ten days later, I returned refreshed and recharged.Before I could ring the bell, the door opened, and my wife rushed out.“I have to go out to buy the groceries,” my wife said, managing a smile. As I closed the door behind her, the bell rang.It was the watchman with a handful of bills.I was checking them when my son opened the door of his room.“The roof is leaking. I have moved my desktop for now. You need to get the waterproofing done.”I was back in my world of mindfully worrying!

Never give up

If life has taught me anything, it’s to never give up. But this lesson didn’t come easilyI had to learn it the hard way. Decades ago, I was a government employee stationed in a remote village nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. It was a place far removed from the comforts of modern civilization. There were no proper roads, no reliable way to communicate with the outside world in an emergency. My office and residence were one and the same: a small bamboo hut with a corrugated steel roof that rattled in the wind. The village itself was modest, with no more than ten shops lining the dusty road. Among them was a tiny tea shop run by Anil, a man about my age. His shop was a simple one-room setup, rarely visited by customers. Anil lived behind the shop with his wife, and over time, we became close… Never give up