Let The Life Flow

With most of our lives spent indoors, the space we occupy has major role in our psychological behavior and well being. I stumbled upon this fact through my years of  meditation and healing journey. Any blocked memory that I have come across and healed, not only had emotional charge attached to events or persons but also elements and spatial dimensions.  So when I started learning and practicing  Interior Design, I tried to understand more as to how we are interacting and getting influenced by our built environment. And from the perspective of a practitioner  of meditation and healing,  I was curious to understand if our raised vibration has the potential to transform the energy of any built environment.  My curiosity to learn more on this lead me to a subject called Architectural Psychology or more popular term Environmental Psychology.  This branch of psychology looks into the interaction of people and the spaces they inhabit; both built and natural. ...

Today is a different day than my recent time normal day. Today in a Google meet I got chance to connect with former colleagues with whom I worked while posted in  Bhubaneswar Regional Office of Action Aid . For me it was first of its kind, as I had not yet participated in a digital video meeting like this. I have attended digital classes and seminars in recent months where you see the presenter in the screen and your participation is through the chat. But seeing all participants in the small windows together with your own image and talking to them was a first for me. I liked the experience. It was profound for me in the sense that as I saw them, each one in a box disjointed from other boxes, yet all together in a larger frame; similarly for each of them I have a separate box in my memory though all are part of my experience in that single frame – that office. I realized we might have interacted with people in a group, but we form our memory distinct and separate for each of the...

Ever since we remained confined to home after the declaration of nationwide lock down, it seems the subject of ‘food’ has taken a prominent space in our daily activities and communication. Food definitely is and has been basic to our existence. But never before was it in the forefront of our awareness. We used to see our existential pride in many other activities and skill sets than our culinary skill: except for those in the food industry. But once we became confined to the home, the significance of food took over a vast expanse of our perceptual canvas if not the entirety of that space. That is what it seems to me. Let us see, if my thought on food gives you some more food for thought! The moment nation wide lock down was declared; probably the first thing we thought of is food. People queued up the grocery stores for food items to stock up before midnight. Government authorities quickly responded to this panic and very next day assured people that both durable and perishable ...

My parents are ardent supporters of a political party whose ideology is different from what I and my siblings stand for.   So at times a discussion on political scenario in the family gatherings generates heated exchanges. During one such discussion my mother declared that she hates Muslims. It gave me a punch for thought. I stopped for a moment and then asked my 72 year old mother, “Have you been harmed by any Muslim in your life Ma?” And it was her turn for a pause. She finally said, “No”. But her antipathy towards Muslims decides her political perception and may be some other life aspects. And ‘a realization’ knocked me like a bolt. She has not been harmed nor done any good to her by any Muslim. She in fact has interacted with only one Muslim family in her entire life. And I know that interaction was always cordial till it lasted. They were neighbor to her brother’s family. When her brother’s family shifted out to some other place this interaction ceased.   Where from...

Recently I went for a get together of my high school batch mates. Never had thought a possibility of that exists and when it suddenly came to my conscious it was definitely a surprise. But joining and experiencing the high energy of that congregation was a pleasant surprise. I could not recognize most of the male batch mates at the first sight. But it was not awkward as the non recognition of the other was mutual in most cases. And that made the reintroduction process a fun game of guessing and failing and re-guessing and at times failing and at times shouting out their names with sheer pleasure of recollection of their names. What was surprising however to me was towards the end of the day when I looked those faces I felt there was not much change in their facial contours from the memory I had of them. Amazing! My mind had mapped out the new faces with the old ones stored in my subconscious and all the changes that seemed discords had been overlooked…! The impact of more than t...

Since childhood I was curious about existence. Who am I?  I remember as a child, probably when I was 9/10 year old I used to ask other friends, “Who are you? “The friends used to say “I am X, Y or Z”. My second question used to be “where are you?” The friends’ usual answer was “I am here.”  I used to ask “how do you know you are here?” Either amused or irritated the friends’ reply used to be “Cann’t you see? Here I am” pointing a finger at some part of their body, usually chest. My counter used to be “That is your chest. Where are you?” If the friend used to show me any other part my question used to be again “You are showing your --- body part. Where are you? It used to end in a irritated response from my friends like “Ok, ok do not try to be smart” or “ Ok, we know you ask smart questions”  and so on. Invariably there was no answer. I did not have an answer nor them. I used to ask this question to myself. This is my hand; this is my leg, my face and so on....

Almost a year and I had not even visited my page. Its like a pause. No movement here. Nothing changes in this limited space. But was it really a pause? When I stop in one point, that does not stop everything. That only showed to me that my movement has changed direction. But life moves all the moment, all along. I was engrossed learning the nuances of designing interiors and it was fascinating. In fact now I understand there is nothing in this life; which when I take interest and get into is not fascinating. So many possibilities life holds in one moment. And when I put my choice on one, it opens up again numerous possibilities and it is a continuous game. Only I need to have the intention of playing. I was not writting - pause. I was sketching so many lines and curves to get so many different forms and shapes on paper. Hours and hours moved on. My mind was not thinking of words- pause. In stead it was visualising spaces made beautiful with different forms and colours - moving on ...

Grey raincoat with collars and pockets is not something to be ashamed of. But this statement did not make any sense to me then – way back when I was a child of six years. That was my first year of going to school, probably first month. Everything was new experience for me. Back then in my town rare parents were coming to the school to drop their children and take them back home. Children generally used to walk to and from the school. My father had taken me to the school on the first day, dropped me at the school gate and I went in with the usual apprehension and fear a child would have in a new and unfamiliar environment.  But I did find my class room and thus began my new journey.  I being the eldest child was the first entrant to my school from my nuclear family unlike some of my friends in the neighbourhood who had elder siblings to give them company and help them in the school to be familiar and feel comforted. in the new environment.   Added to this b...

Wow! I have reached. I am now truly functional and great going Life Coach. I have already helped six clients achieve exceptional results in discovering and believing in their natural strength, true potential and go through their career and relationship transition goals. It feels so good when I hear and see them smile and thank me for being part of their success journey.  And I am only a month away to become a Professionally Certified Coach. And think of it, only two years back I had come to know about it and had put it in my dream list. I had no idea how to go about it except for a passionate desire

Just because it is 'Pakistan' an-other country, it’s so easy to speak of war or debate on war – or for that matter think and worry about war. The overriding emotion is -Punish the offender, teach a lesson for the hurt generated, give back as much hurt if not more and so on. It’s always easy to talk about ‘other’ than the ‘self’; irrespective of the situation involving individual issues or collective issues. If my watch falls from somebody else’s hand and gets broken, then I become livid and may even slap that person for being careless. If it falls from my child’s hand, my reaction is less hurtful, but I may still vent my anger and shout at the child. But if the same watch is dropped from my own hand, I do not slap or shout ‘me’. I accept ‘my fault’, try to forget the incidence by searching for an alternative and resolve to be more careful. When it is ‘Pakistan’, we are so unified on our offensive. It should be war, teach them lesson. Whom actually war will hurt? The peo...