Zenith

The ache
to
reach the Acme
and
the clinging thereafter…
No,
Not for me.
I reach the zenith
when
I leave the zenith.

Tasting Silence

Slices of sunlight
scatter
on dust and grass
The flickering shadow
of a butterfly’s wings,
comes…goes…
And something happens
The poem
drops midway,
even the full-stop
ebbs away,
perchance,
changes into Light…
Ah!
the taste of Silence
is indeed silent.

Unwritten Poems

Intensity beats the air.
Hiroshimas explode silently.
And -
words crumble.

Atlantic emotions
flow freely.
Language throws clumsy nets –
catching nothing.

The ocean
sieves through.
Only drops linger on -
as poems.

Harvinder Kaur is a writer and educator, currently heading an international school in Mumbai.

An Existential Invitation

Far,
From mad-paced lives,
Bruised egos,
Broken hearts,
From loud vacuities,
dead routine,
In the quietness
that lies between
the in-breath
and the out-breath,
between shadow and shine…
The Silence is ready
To stir and spill
Receive it if you will…

Of Letting Go

Yes, yes I know
Love means
letting sunshine and sand
slip away from your fingers
… and more.
But now and then
I just want to
clasp you tight
and sob,
loud and hoarse
saying only one thing,
“I don’t want to let you go.”
Even though I know
I must

Existential Bullshit!

Let’s not try to
drown it all,
in loud music,
cheese omelettes,
non-veg jokes,
cuddly toys,
or forced letters to far away parents.
Let’s just acknowledge
it hurts a lot,
and weep.

Harvinder Kaur is a writer and educator, currently heading an international school in Mumbai.

Tell yourself…  “Do Not Panic.”

When in distress this is the very first thought that should emerge from your brain.
To you.

So, go ahead…and train the brain.
Get it ingrained.
As it helps.
A lot.

Half the battle is won once you assertively tell yourself. “Do Not Panic.”
Whatever be the situation.
Calmness gets restored.

The brain and its thinking machinery tend to get jumbled up when they find themselves in unusual circumstances.
When they get presented with situations that are not arranged in a logical way they are used to.
All logical thinking comes to a grinding halt.
And… you tend to panic!

Don’t.

You need to sustain logical thinking coupled to quick reactions to over come a disaster/emergency.

Thoughts precede action don’t they?
Hence, this command from you to your brain…makes it hold ground.
Stops it from going haywire.
Calmness gets restored by the by.
Makes the brain remain functional under adverse situations too.

When you say these magical words “Do Not Panic”
You get to regain control, and are back in the driver’s seat…it may not be the usual… calm drive, but a jerky murky one.
All said and done you get to getting the hold back on the situation on hand.

A deep breath, if not a few of them, also help, in remaining calm and cool.
Deep breathing under adverse circumstances is indeed a rejuvenating effort.

Once you are in control and not panicking, get down to conscious, regular deep breathing.
All your senses will thus get to get a good supply of oxygen and will work better.

As Combat Pilots, we are trained and mentored, to work through emergencies.
Any emergency that we would have in the air, has/had the potential of getting disastrous results, if, as a pilot one panics/panicked.

Hence, when we not only get to tape up the emergencies we also make it a habit to utter these words ” Do Not Panic” right at the very beginning of any emergency related procedure.

Since having stopped fighter flying decades ago, I have forgotten almost all the emergency procedures, but this beginning line “Do Not Panic” has been deeply embedded in my consciousness.

With my feet firmly placed on “terra firma” ever since I hung up my gloves…”Do Not Panic” …has helped me on several occasions when I have been in tight corners.
So also has deep breathing, as a sequential effort, after uttering “Do Not Panic”

Keeping the eyes closed for a few seconds…if the situation permits…once you are back in command along with deep breathing, helps you normalize the situation quickly.

Let’s take a very small but a common example, when matters could, did and do get worse, if one panics… i.e. when you have a power outage, all of a sudden,

We are ensconced in darkness…do we panic?

No we don’t…not any longer.

We know that either the UPS will take over or the captive power will.
If the two don’t…we will have to light a candle/lamp.
Don’t we get up and light a lamp/candle?
If neither happens?
Yes we do…without panicking.

The frequency of this action being staged, in day to day life, used to be more in the yester years when power outages were so common.
UPS and captive power generators were luxuries, then.
No more.
But, the sequence of events and actions that need to take place to dispel darkness, are by now so well taped up…to this generation too that
They don’t panic any more like their ancestors did.
They act and react calmly to this situation as and when it happens.
Had they panicked …instead…they would/will create a chaotic situation as their ancestors did.

Now…after a lapsed period of time, our body, systems, react calmly to this situation…as the sequence of what to do next, have/has to happen and will happen, are so well known, to the human mind as a mindset.

Similarly ,it is possible to train the mind to get over exigencies when they happen!
Provided that procedure is known to you.
And you have been over that procedure again and again and acted accordingly in a simulated environment.
Like Fighter Pilots all over the world do.

Since, we do not have all the procedures well written for all the emergencies that do happen in day-to-day life…at least the first line, of those, should have been written, and learnt as a procedure, should be by hearted by one and all.

It should get taped up in memories too.

That signature line is called:

“Do not Panic”

You won.t if you tape it up…and God willing, come out of the situation calmly too.

As well begun is half done.

–

Arun alias Axee  is an ex-combat pilot turned executive life coach. He is actively involved with Brian Tracy in a novel learning initiative, iLearningGlobal.biz/axee. Contact him at emarshalarun@gmail.com

Than all alarm clocks put together

As I woke up, each morning,

To the melodious tune of the cuckoo bird

Nesting in the bushy branches of the pine tree opposite my house.

The youthful tree with its lush green, needle-like frondescence,

Haven to the birds, which chirruped and chippered,

Perching on its beanpole branches.

The pine tree stood alongside a busy street,

As a silent spectator to the evolution and enlargement of life around it.

I spend hours knowing it,

Relating its existence with my own.

I attune myself to its complacent nature and we grow together,

Understanding and entertaining each other

In silent communion through the years….

Searchless

I went searching for
Life’s deep moments
in the whirlpool of a passed past.
I was a fool, or maybe just young.
…As if,
they come by searching
or even wishing …
They come, because they just come.
Like tripping over
on an oyster pearl
suddenly,
sans the struggle, or
the panting desire to have.
Of course, you have to be in the ocean.

Holding unto Light

I wanted to hold
The sunbeams in my hand,
To clasp them tight,
And pack them away
In the old school-bag…
… the sun beams of sunny days.

But, of course, the sun set
As the sun always sets.
Only,
It left its warmth with me,
Till the moon rose
To give a cool, comforting embrace.

Light comes in different forms.

Harvinder Kaur is a writer and educator, currently heading an international school in Mumbai.

To Follow:
Training, Rituals, Rights, Maps, Diagrams, Advice, Instructions, Trends, Rules, Policies, Procedures, Instincts, Music, and now also, one of the very latest of them all… trends, Twitter, etc.

As we learn to follow, we need to learn to adhere to some of them as well,
To lead and and not to bleed.

To fulfill needs.
And not to fulfill greed.

To stand out as an outstanding Human Being.
And not to standout as a standout.

Since birth, through childhood, and until we grow up, we follow and learn basics, till we learn them well, and master them.
Till we “stand up on our own feet” so to speak.
Thereafter, we decide to be selective as such, on our ‘following instincts.’

To Follow:
Intelligently, instinctively, or blatantly! Is now left to us.
Our choices and not our chances pave our way.
It is either us, only me, them, or they.
As we make our life like hay,
To our delight or much to our dismay,
Day after day.
Till we find ourselves turning gray…
In our relentless pursuit.
To follow and be followed,
And to be …. somewhat hallowed.

It’s then that we look back and introspect,
We do mull and we also inspect,
And discover a rather hollow hallow,
In us, as a fellow, who did follow,
As we swim and as we wallow,
In life’s depths both deep and shallow.

As we prospered and prospected, all the while,
Were it the choices or the chances, that made or marred our days?

As a nerd, was it worth it to be a part of a herd?
A question we seldom asked then, to be heard.

As a geek, why did we not tweak….
To shine, outshine and stand out,
When we had both the wherewithal and the clout to flout?
While we were nerdy within the herd….unheard.

Did we squeak or shout to tweak….
As a bold soul and not a meek?
To stand apart, instead.
By following our own… heart?

Follow the heart!
We must….
Trust the heart.
We must….
Take care of the heart.
We must….
Stand apart!
We must!

Life begins with the first heart beat.
Life ends with the last heart beat.

Therefore:
Choose the right path…follow the heart, always.
You see, life is always lived out of choices and not chances,
Choices made after hearing the inner voices…made by the heart.

Firstly:
Do you have a heart to do so?
To stand apart?
To live long and to belong and longed for?
To be loved, kissed and missed?
To be bliss and blessed?

If you have one…Follow that heart please.
As it is given to you on lease.

Follow it always.
Listen to the inner voices it makes, and follow them blindly,
Make the right choices….
You will live life…so kindly,
As it was meant to be.

7 reasons to buy yourself and your favourite friend a copy of John O’Donohue’s Beauty, in the words of the master poet himself: We live between the act of awakening of the act of surrender.

In a sense, all the contemporary crises can be reduced to a crisis about the nature of beauty. This perspective offers us new possibilities. Perhaps, for the first time, we gain a clear view of how much ugliness we endure and allow. The media generate relentless images of mediocrity and ugliness in talk-shows, tapestries of smothered language and frenetic gratification. The media are becoming the global mirror and these shows enshrine the ugly as the normal standard.

Could it be possible that a landscape could have a deep friendship with you? Perhaps your favourite place feels proud of you…it will miss your voice, your breath and the bright waves of your thought, how you walked through the light and brought news of other places. Colour is the clothing of beauty. No-one wants to remain a prisoner of an unlived life. The imagination has a deep sense of irony.

The who-ness of someone can never be finally named, known, claimed, controlled or predicted.

The who is beyond all frames and frontiers and dwells in the mystery of its own reflexivity and infinity.

Who has no map. … Beauty is the inconceivable made so intimate that it illuminates our hearts.

And the opportunities seem chosen,

The melodies from life seem stolen,

And the morality of people seems fallen….

But when I look into your eyes Dear

I see the world is still Shining.

When the compassion in people seems dried,

And their judgments seem all tried.

When the lips of truth have cried,

And the rights of humans denied….

And I am all helpless

To help my helplessness….

And then when I look into your eyes Dear,

I see the world is still Shining.

Thanks for giving me joys and smiles,
Thanks for being with me through hard times,
Believe me! You are everything to me;
Me, my heaven and my smiles!

I can’t imagine a life without you!
My life’s rainbow is pale without you
You are my strength, my wings, my air!
This little bird is flying because of you.

To hear you I can wait forever,
To see you I will not blink ever,
I will walk with you, rest of my life
You are mine and I’m yours forever!

Together side by side, hand in hand,
We will find our perfect land;
Land of love, peace and happiness,
Beyond the moon in a fairy land.

You are my God’s gift to me,
To share the beauty of life with me..
To spread the happiness around the world,
In my eyes only “You” others can see!

I leave a door to the future… ajar,

Feeling kind of… drifty, thrifty and nifty.

Wondering pondering, from here to where?

Do I dare?

Or do I care to go, where I care, with care.

Minus the natural dare.

Alone and not as a pair!

Here, there, everywhere.

Life’s certainly been a tutor,

Hence, now I live in the now and not in the past/future.

However, now I am beginning to wonder

What’s in store out there in the yonder,

That is no longer as invigorating, as it was then.

As a feeling of ‘seen-all, done-all’ prevails now

And nothing seems to be like, the then “Wow.”

Since, I no longer wield the shiny sword,

And have instead chosen to wield, the humble pen.

To gong, the gong of the bigger, bolder, big Ben.

Nobody knows,
Life’s throes,
Gives us a rose,
With a thorn within,
To pin prick you,
And make you finally begin,
To listen,
To sounds of silence…
After a journey of love, losses and pains,
Strains and other energy drains,
Wherein one loses so that the other gains,

Minus the pains.

The gainer not knowing,

That to lose and be called a “perpetual loser”

Was part of the grand plan,

Executed without any fanfare or elan.

So that the gainer is neither pained, nor maimed.

Ever since losing,

I have stopped choosing.

As I am seeking

An answer to-

From here to where?

Wherever now, I don’t care.

As it is no longer a snare.

But a confident march towards the truth,

Now unfolded…. thread bare,

Thanks to my self-empowered dare.

When birds sang and the moon shone,
And flowers grew upon the thorn;
The moment when stars smiled
Then surely I was born!

When people are smiling and sun is shining,
And silver streams can dive;
The moments when roses are dancing
Then surely I am alive!

When clouds will weep and forest will cry
And there will be tears in every eye;
The moment when heaven will call upon me
Then surely I will die!

–

Result-oriented human resource professional with four years of generalist experience in strategic recruitment, employee relations and employee development, Ghazala is a Human Resource Manager. She is a hobbyist writer and poetess since her college days and her work has been published in magazines.

THE WALK

I looked all around me, there was no one?
I was alone within the four walls.
From deep within, this voice cried out –
Go out into the open, you will feel better.

So, I went out for a walk –
Amidst the trees I walked and heard the whispers of the wind,
The birds chirping away making merry,
The rustlings of the leaves – I heard them all
It was like a welcome song.

There I stood in the open, surrounded by greenery, the blue sky above me,
The gentle waves came towards me as though to gather me in their arms.
And standing there amidst nature, I heard all of them say to me
You are never alone; we are always there with you.

BIRDS

The birds flew above the trees, chirping away.
I watched them fly, so carefree they seemed.
Lucky them to have wings, take off anywhere, any time
Without a worry in their mind.
They always seemed to move in flocks
Displaying the ability of trust in their kind –
A lesson for sure we humans could learn.

I watched them fly, towards the sky
Oh! What a feeling it must be
To soar high above towards the sky.
But I don’t have wings to fly.
From deep within the Inner Voice said,
You too can soar high my child,
Your wings may seem invisible to you,
But they are very much there if you care to look.
Your special skills and talents when used rightly
Will help you soar towards the sky,
Just know the potentials within you which dormant lie.

ACCEPTANCE

I know myself better than others do; yet I need assurance from them,
I’m good in this, good in that. WHY?

This is the reply I got:

You claim to know yourself better but in actual fact you are still groping in the dark.
You are aware of your strength & weakness,
You have accepted your strength but not your weakness.
If you cannot accept yourself as whole, how then can you expect others to accept you?

Thus the constant need of other’s assurance,
With their assurance I feel accepted.
It went on till I read the line
“Lift yourself by yourself, do not condemn yourself.”
(Bhagwad Gita Chapter 6 V 5)

The veil of ignorance is lifted
My weakness is as much as part of me as is my strength.
I acknowledge them and work towards overcoming my weakness.
I accept myself as I am; now I don’t need assurance from others.

–

Arpita Ghosh conducts various  training modules on communication skills, goal-setting,  developing leadership skills, Life is A Blank Canvass – Create Your Own Picture, Follow Your Heart and many others at college and corporate level.

Out I walked and decided to take a public transport to work that day as the cobblers were located in that direction.
It was around 9 AM, as I briskly made my way through the lanes leading to the main road, peering over, hoping that the cobbler would have opened his shop.

As soon as I reached the main road I could see his roadside shop, and sure enough it was closed.

There I was regretting my decision not to do it myself.

Disturbed and very uncomfortable, as my conscience was now being mired by an uneasy feeling of donning shoes that were dull and bereft of a deserving shine.

Luxuries and me we were never friends.

I crossed the main road and walked over to the bus shelter…and within a minute I could board a bus.
That promptitude of arrival of a bus helped me forget the bugging concern, on the top of the mind.
The bus was full of students, who disembarked within a minute, reminding me of a crate of fish being offloaded on a ship’s deck, after a healthy catch.

Once on board, the journey took around 15 minutes to cover the 5 kms to my office.

As I disembarked my thoughts returned to the shoddy looks on my feet.
My eyes and my brain started wondering where I would find a cobbler in this last stretch of 400 meters to my office block.
As I normally took a cab to work I never noticed one earlier.
As I walked, I noticed a road side cobbler shop, one across the road.
I also saw, to my delight, the doors being removed and the shop being opened by the owners.
With a new found bounce in my steps, I crossed the road and arrived at the shop.

As I reached there, I noticed that it was being opened by an aged man and inside the shanty shop was another aged woman, quite aged, sweeping the floor.

The man himself was removing various stuff from within the confines of the interiors and arranging them outside on the pavement.
Out came the old metallic folding stool, which was quickly put into its slot for the customers to sit.

I did not.

Then came a couple of boxes and cartons with odd stuff stuffed into it.
This was followed by an old plastic can that they would use for storing water; it was placed outside too, in its designated place.

The team consisted of this man and woman going about this pre-opening chore, with clockwork precision, as a second nature, due to that fact that they were doing the same stuff over and over for years.
Not a word was exchanged between them.

In and out, as I watched, they would go and set the shop and its handful of wares in place.

Just then I noticed that the woman had picked up all the essential tools required for polishing shoes, and was now busy arranging them on the foot path outside.
I thought she was clearing the inner space as such, as she was half way through with her brooming ritual.

The broom was dropped.
She had stepped out too.

The man had moved in, in the meantime.

I thought I would wait for them to complete their ritual and then expect a shoe shine to happen.
As I was the first customer of the day and they had not opened the shop as yet.

They needed to go through the daily ritual of cleaning and also praying, before commencing work, and they were at it.
As was apparent from the first looks.
I did not feel like disturbing them at all and decided to wait it out.
As I had time too on my hand…plenty of it.
The office was 200 meters away from this spot.

I continued to watch the daily activity hoping to see the shop being cleaned and wares getting displayed in next 5 to 10 minutes. By these two seasoned pairs of hands that had been running this outlet for God knows how many years.

As one, united for the cause.
Making a living.

My mind wandered at their lives.
Wondering how did the two spend their life as they were both almost old?
Was it a grind for them in the past too, as in the now?
How will they do the same grind too, in the years to come?
Did they save enough?
For their well being in the years ahead when the limbs would give away.
How would they sustain life…has the recession hit them too?

As I was mulling over these thoughts I noticed an old moped parked beside the way side work shop.
There I was mapping up their economic stature and marveling at their ability to travel together on that moped to work, and back home at this age.
He would drive and she would sit behind.
Contended…enjoying the drive clutching a steel tiffin box, full of food while coming for work, and empty, while going back home.

From the looks and the bearings offered by the two while going through the routine of every day, it did not indicate to me that life for them, was a grind, even though they belonged at the lowest rung of the society, as they had to earn their wages daily, by using their hands.

My thoughts were broken suddenly by the woman who had by now squatted outside and was ready to shine my shoes.
She indicated accordingly with her dark eyes clouded with rings of cataracts.
I was a bit shaken…as I was expecting the man to do so.

Instead the roles were reversed, and the man was now within the confines of the shack, sitting on his haunches and wanting to light incense sticks.
He was searching for a match box.

I removed my shoes and a pair of hands quickly grabbed them.
Woman’s hands.

She picked up a brush and deftly cleaned the dust away from the top of the shoes…within a minute or two.
Next she picked up the polish and swiftly applied the same on both the shoes…and set them aside to dry the polish before setting about to get to shine them.
As they were drying she arranged the tools and the other stuff around in an orderly manner.

The old man had by now, found the match box and had lit up the incense sticks.
I was looking at the graying mane of hair on both of them, in awe.

Life, as it was, unfolded in front of my eyes today…both the past and the future through the eyes and the activities of this couple living on meager incomes, as a coupled up cobbler couple.

Satisfied.
Contended.
Resigned to their own life style of years.
Happy too…as they worked in unison, silent unison, without a freckle or frown on their face.
A form of communication that is seen only in teams that have a passion for what they do.
As a team…life long, and love it too.
Silent, coordinated, synchronized activity that had reached a zenith.
Minus any formal costly corporate training.

Life’s ups and downs and their will to go about things as a happy couple, had ensured one thing for sure to have emerged with time.

Quality, and respect for others’ time.

The shoe polish had dried up…and the old woman was busy brushing it up to a wonderful shine.
With pride reflecting in her eyes as she went about it, too.
Her body swaying and swinging with every stroke.
Her head bobbing side ways, as she brushed, and her hands clutching the shoe as well as the brush firmly enough, lest either of them get to slip out of her seasoned hands.
Practiced to perfection over the years the shoe shine had to emerge, thanks to these deft pair of hands.

A shining pride that had transcended and emerged from within her, onto my pair of shoes.
As shiny as I would make happen too myself, after 40 years of experience.
I was delighted for having got what I was used too.

I was a bit disturbed though, as it was received from a most unexpected pair of hands.
But then it that was beyond my control…an act of chance and destiny.

What do I do now?

As there was no verbal communication so far and yet as I was a thoroughly satisfied customer, do I appreciate…if I do, how do I?
I would have to break the silence…and I did not want too.

Hence, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a bill of twice the amount that normally shoe shine costs, and handed it over to the old man who had by now emerged from the shop.

I smiled at him and he saluted me with gratitude gleaming on his face and that bill, held in his hand.

As I walked past my eye caught a crescent like smile parked on that woman’s face too, that had shone my shoe, that day.

They made my day…but did I do that too?

I will come to know for sure when I get to visit them next…as I am sure they would welcome me again with a smile…if they happen to remember me.

That’s the challenge…a failing memory on them, due to old age, on one hand, hundreds of customers per day on the other…and my being the first one on that wonderful morning.

–
Arun alias Axee  is an ex-combat pilot turned executive life coach. He is actively involved with Brian Tracy in a novel learning initiative, iLearningGlobal.biz/axee. Contact him at emarshalarun@gmail.com.

But How?

To reach God: you need to communicate with him.
To communicate, you need to pray as you don’t get to him by any other way.
A prayer bereft of feelings of Love is like…a lake without water.
Love flourishes when it is propagated with humility.
Humility nourishes the mind…individually as well as collectively, when it is executed in a group by a set/sets of minds too.

That’s how it gets to happen, it can be safely concluded.

Then why the confusion?
Through thoughtless intrusion?
Why the intrusion of non loving negative thoughts into the human minds, mindsets?
They bring in negative energy…and no synergy with the creator.
Ultimately; they get us to sap our energy.

On introspection it dawned on me that such attacks are meant to happen.
By nature…and get to happen too…as they need to be zapped by the 4 problem solving tools we have at our disposal, 24*7.

As a solution, gift, from the almighty.
As an armor…to wear.
And to smear…on our consciousness.

In any part of the world and in any language one common feature does happen.
Humans communicate.
In whatever language they have developed over there over centuries.

But all over the world there is only one form of communication that can happen without any language, and that is:
Love.
Love is a feeling and needs no language to propagate or to happen.
Love is humbly reached, reaches, helps reach, binds, bonds,  finds, and helps find too.
Love is omnipotent.

Hence God must have chosen this medium to enable us to reach him.

Only those who are humble get to love and be loved too, as true love is encompassed only within the confines of humility.

To be humble one has to be more of a giver and less of a taker.
As the more you give the more you get to get.
Love begets Love.

When one gets to that stage one is on the path of spirituality.
Away from desires…wants, and closer to needs.
As God fulfills needs.
As you would have by default, by then, bridged the gap between him and you.
Whew!
What a lovely view.
From the spiritual pew…for all and not for few.
One begins to perceive and see the shape of a bridge.
Resting on the ridge.
Connecting.
Beckoning.

A bridge that spans its way to the almighty…A spiritual bridge.

Spirituality is the bridge between mankind and the almighty.
Spanning towards him invisibly, but firmly.

As bridges are built on pylons.
Pylons bear the loads and shape the bridge.
Visibly speaking.

The four main load bearing pylons of the invisible bridge that connects us, to our creator, are:
•    Prayer
•    Communication
•    Love
•    Humility

It’s this bridge that bridges the gap between the creator and the created.

Bridges are built on ridges or, over water bodies…as water is a force to reckon with.

Problems also are forces to reckon with.
Perpetual in nature.
They tend to revolve.
Hence they need to be bridged too…with a firm resolve.

To solve…evolve…and to stop the revolve.
Using the invisible bridge.

No wonder then, problems get to dissolve as they take the shape and state of water under the bridge, when one begins to walk/ stumble upon/trundle/scamper/run on, or begin to get to go, in some way or the other, towards, or on,this bridge.

The invisible bridge, on the ridge of problems, that leads to the almighty.

The connector…to the nectar.

–

Arun alias Axee  is an ex-combat pilot turned executive life coach. He is actively involved with Brian Tracy in a novel learning initiative, iLearningGlobal.biz/axee. Contact him at emarshalarun@gmail.com.