“Home is not where you were born. Home is where all your attempts to escape cease.” – Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer We escape all the time To addictions To our fantasies To hedonistic escapes To spirituality sometimes To gurus and cults Is there a place, a being Where we cease escaping Feel Content. Tranquil. That’s Home. Wisdom is – To know where home is.
The big macro world can be difficult to fathom. It moves so fast and in so many directions that keeping track is challenging. One must understand the macro world and its shifts. But we must also curate our micro world – A small fireplace around which things are familiar, comforting and nurturing. A small community of close friends A small hobby to indulge in A small art or music class A small garden to nurture A small balcony with plants A small bookshelf with books that bring joy A small list of inspiring newsletters to read The big picture is
Most of us think of Life as a Line. A line with goals, milestones, markers. Measures of success are speed, distance, awards… And the linear life theory makes sense. But we can also think of Life as a Circle. Circling through rhythms of yin and yang. Success there is – Finding the Centre. A centre that is still and tranquil. The fact is – Finding that Still Centre is a milestone. A centre from where life ‘plays’ out. In 2022 – I wish you meaningful milestones. I wish you your Centre. Motion. Stillness.
We are stuck in the ‘everyday’. Every day looks like every other day; that looks like every other day. And we crave for the new and the exciting. Yet, if we refocus our lens, we can see things that we haven’t seen before – In the same relationship, in the same room, in the same balcony, in the same friend that we talk to every day, in the same bookshelf… Stories lie in the nuances, the edges. The laughter, the smell of fresh laundry, the crust on the cake, the song playing in the neighbours’ house and memories attached to
What if You posted a blog and didn’t check on the number of likes it got. You went for a run and never measured the distance and speed. You wrote a letter and didn’t worry about getting a response. You learnt music, not thinking about performing ever. You started a company not thinking of an exit. You donated a bunch of money to a charity anonymously. You invested in your partner without expecting a thing in return. What if you loved and never expected anything in return. What if you lived one-way.
At a party thrown by a billionaire friend on Shelter Island – Writer Kurt Vonnegut informs his friend, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, has made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his famous book Catch-22 over its entire history. Heller responds, “Yes, but I have something he will never have….enough.” Enough: Is one of the simplest yet one of the most profound words in English. Enough wealth. Enough food. Enough clothes. Enough connections. Enough information. Enough growth. Enough speed. Enough productivity. Enough is the end of fear and scarcity. Enough is
The genius mathematician Ramanujan died very young. On his deathbed, his friend and mentor G.H Hardy came in to try to cheer him up. He said, “Ramanujan, I came in on a taxi and the license plate, it’s very boring. It’s 1729.” And on his deathbed, Ramanujan still had the wit and faculty to say, “Oh, that’s not boring. It’s the sum of two cubes in two different ways” That was Ramanujan’s relationship with numbers. It was not his business or work. It was something more. Numbers were his art, poetry, joy, play, music, love… They consumed him. What is
To intently listen without absolutely any judgement. To be able to observe oneself while being in the middle of the action. To be able to remain in solitude for an extended period. To disagree with someone and yet understand their perspective. To be able to go to bed without carrying a problem in the head. To be in deep love and yet not be attached. To read, listen and learn without a goal in mind. To be comfortable with ambiguity for a while. To stay on the path without any need for external validation. To look within in search of
