Handpicked

You cherish the Earth's palette: mud's earthy brown, leaves' vibrant emerald, sky's brilliant blue, ocean's soothing aquamarine, and sunset's golden hues. Though you have been buying sarees only for a few years, you are quick to choose drapes that you like. 

Your eyes settle on a saree that captivates you and the motifs tells stories to you. You marvel at how the maiden proclaims her love through blowing the trumpet while the rest of the crowd dance to the tune. You think of your own love and how you basked in his attention in the early days of togetherness. 

You remember the first time when you had worn a saree he had selected. You recall his gaze and how he had looked at you with wonder. Inspired by this memory, I choose a blue drape with neelakurinji motif on it just to bring that same awestruck look on his face. 

The Unsent Letters

Notes to the Self

Note 1: Survival 

I have written to you erratically, forgetting the resolution I once made to write at least a page every day. I have changes waiting for me in the form of a new location, new surroundings, new people, and a new version of me that will learn how to survive. 

I do not know whether I will be able to adjust to the changes in my schedule or find it easy to speak to the people around me. I have always been an awkward social being, more comfortable in my own little world. 

But change is on its way, whether I am ready for it or not. May be this time around, I will learn how to belong not just to survive in the new world. 

Notes to the Self

Note 2: Gratitude

I am grateful for the little pleasures that make up life. Here, I am transplanted to a new place and before coming I was worried about how I will be able to survive in a new location. 

I am grateful for this beautiful place that looks like a picture out of the photo album and the shrub of neelakurinji on the wayside that has flowered after twelve years. 

I am grateful for the necessities that become visible once I search for them and for the things that are placed along the path as if by the hand of Providence. 

Notes to the Self

Note 5: Changes

I was always scared of making changes and took decisions to avoid changes in my daily schedule. However, this year has been an year of changes for me. Here, I am trying to adjust to a new locale, a new schedule and a new way of life. Sometimes, as I walk along the daily paths, my thoughts wander to the life I have left behind. 

I tell myself that I need to learn new roads, new faces and a new schedule. Though I am completely surrounded by changes and it will take sometime to get used to the new schedule, I am happy that I have learnt to accomdate them. 

Notes to the Self

Note 3: Soul Food

I have loved reading starting from a very young age. There were times when I was weary with life and felt that I could not go on. Surprisngly, I felt comforted by a book. The words written by some wise person living in another place or time had the power to turn your life around. 

I read these words of comfort as if they were written for my eyes only. I felt sustained by their wisdom and they added to my knowledge by helping me gather some jigsaw pieces coming together. It felt like these words were set before my eyes to nourish my strength and I am grateful that I tided over the crisis. 

Notes to the Self

Note 4
I sense an epiphany when I think of how humans have imposed a sense of time over the endless days on this planet. Time stretches across changing seasons, nights and days, while humans measure it by the calendar and the clock.

I feel grateful for the hours gained in activities that make me forget time. I feel most alive when I am thrown into a world of complete absorption, where the clock seems to disappear and I lose myself in the moment. I emerge from those hours feeling rested and grateful. May be living is about spending your time wisely but also losing your sense of time. 

Female Icarus

Your soul was a huge flame—blazing bright, leaping toward the sky in its effort to stand for what you truly wanted. You fought for your dreams until the end. But after many ups and downs, your soul grew weary. In the struggle with life, you lost the joy of living, and your spirit began to feel the heavy angst of existence.

When you look back at the years that have passed, you remember that you are like Icarus at heart—always flying above your mazes in your quest for freedom.

There were times when this soul was too silent, too shut away, too withdrawn—unable to find meaning in life. Yet over time, you learned to read the mazes and fly out of them. This dash for freedom began to feel effortless, even natural.

Still, the soul yearns for those yesterdays—when, like Icarus, you escaped the maze and conquered difficult situations with courage rather than caution. You were full of ingenuity and bravery, and though it took time to heal your hurt wings, you eventually dashed into the wild skies once more.

 

Evenings at the Indian Coffee House

In this middle age, I wonder how life has turned out to be, so different from the images that I had when someone asked me to imagine how life will be after ten years. I have always dreamt of you at my side as my life-partner, with two lovely children of ours to greet the days, a comfortable set of old friends to grow old together and a cosy little home that I took time to decorate with curios from the places we visited together as a couple and a huge library of all the books that we used to read. 

But when I reached this milestone all I have is a history of losses- the disappointment of a broken love that almost came to fruition, the years spent trying to pull yourself back together, the indifference of your loved ones, the absence of real friends and the lacks that are spelt so clearly and in bold letters everyday. It has been years since you called anyone a friend as you have only acquiantances and you never offer a shoulder to cry as you used to do before nor ask solace from anyone despite of being miserable and broken. You wear a brave face in the crowds and break down miserably in your solitude as you plod on with your busy everyday life. 

Then in the evenings and weekends you form a bond with your workmate and share the same sense of joy at the aroma of freshly ground coffee and piping hot Masala dosa at your favourite haunt, the old Coffee House in the city. On some busy days, you have to scream to make your companion understand what you are trying to say, all amidst the hustle and bustle of the staff in the old Coffeehouse, full of life. 

Over a period of months, we form a unique bond, minus our histories and sad luggage, looking forward to what is served on the menu only with a common love shared for solitary hangouts be it an evening by the seashore or a quiet swim in the nearby river. Gradually, your sad face attains a brightness of being loved in return without knowing any of your past  wounds and your time is spent in tasting the old brew of hot coffee and eating the same Masala dosas. We write a life of being in the moment -looking forward to our days of favourite comfort food at our favourite hangout.

Letters to the Self

The Manual of the Warrior of Light

A warrior of light knows that certain moments repeat themselves.

He often finds himself faced by the same problems and situations, and seeing

these difficult situations return, he grows depressed, thinking that he is incapable of

making any progress in life.

'I've been through all this before,' he says to his heart.

'Yes, you have been through all this before,' replies his heart. 'But you have

never been beyond it.'

Then the warrior realises that these repeated experiences have but one aim: to

teach him what he does not want to learn.

slow down

99 Positive Affirmations

1. Asking for help is a sign of self-respect and self-awareness.

2. Changing my mind is a strength, not a weakness.

3. Every decision I make is supported by my whole and inarguable experience.

4. I affirm and encourage others, as I do myself.

5. I alone hold the truth of who I am.A sticky note held up reading, "I alone hold the trust of who I am". 

6. I am allowed to ask for what I want and what I need.

7. I am allowed to feel good.

8. I am capable of balancing ease and effort in my life.

9. I am complete as I am, others simply support me.

10. I am content and free from pain.

11. I am doing the work that works for me.

12. I am good and getting better.

13. I am growing and I am going at my own pace.

14. I am held and supported by those who love me.

15. I am in charge of how I feel and I choose to feel happy.

16. I am listening and open to the messages the universe has to offer today.

17. I am loved and worthy.

18. I am more than my circumstances dictate.

19. I am open to healing.

20. I am optimistic because today is a new day. A sticky note being held up to the sky, reading "I hold community for others, and am held in community by others".

21. I am peaceful and whole.

22. I am proof enough of who I am and what I deserve.

23. I am responsible for myself, and I start there.

24. I am safe and surrounded by love and support.

25. I am still learning so it’s okay to make mistakes.

26. I am understood and my perspective is important.

27. I am valued and helpful.

28. I am well-rested and excited for the day.

29. I am worthy of investing in myself.

30. I belong here, and I deserve to take up space

31. I breathe in healing, I exhale the painful things that burden my heart.

32. I breathe in trust, I exhale doubt.

33. I can be soft in my heart and firm in my boundaries.

34. I can control how I respond to things that are confronting.

35. I can hold two opposing feelings at once, it means I am processing.

36. I celebrate the good qualities in others and myself.

37. I deserve an affirming touch on my own terms.

38. I deserve information and I deserve moments of silence, too.

39. I deserve self-respect and a clean space.

40. I do all things in love.

41. I do not have to linger in dark places; there is help for me here.

42. I do not pretend to be anyone or anything other than who I am.

43. I do not rise and fall for another.

44. I do not rush through my life, I temper speed with stillness.

45. I embrace change seamlessly and rise to the new opportunity it presents.A sticky note held up reading "I nourish myself with kind words and joyful foods".

46. I embrace the questions in my heart and welcome the answers in their own time.

47. I grow towards my interests, like a plant reaching for the sun.

48. I have come farther than I would have ever thought possible, and I’m learning along the way.

49. I have everything I need to succeed.

50. I hold community for others, and am held in community by others.

51. I hold wisdom beyond knowledge.

52. I invite abundance and a generous heart.

53. I invite art and music into my life.

54. I leave room in my life for spontaneity.

55. I let go of the things that sit achingly out of reach.

56. I look forward to tomorrow and the opportunities that await me.

57. I love that I love what I love.

58. I make decisions based on a good gut, I make changes based on a growing heart.

59. I make time to experience grief and sadness when necessary.

60. I nourish myself with kind words and joyful foods.

61. I practice gratitude for all that I have, and all that is yet to come.

62. I release the fears that do not serve me.

63. I respect the cycle of the seasons.

64. I seek out mystery in the ordinary.

65. I strive for joy, not for perfection.A sticky note held up, reading "I welcome the wisdom that comes with growing older". 

66. I tell the truth about who I am and what I need from others.

67. I uplift my joy and the joy of others.

68. I welcome the wisdom that comes with growing older.

69. I welcome what is, I welcome what comes.

70. I will allow myself to evolve.

71. Letting go creates space for opportunities to come.

72. My body is beautiful in this moment and at its current size.

73. My body is worthy of being cared for and adorned in beautiful garments.

74. My feelings deserve names, deserve recognition, deserve to be felt.

75. My heart is open to helpfulness from myself and from others.

76. My heart knows its own way.

77. My life is not a race or competition.

78. My perspective is unique and important.

79. My pleasure does not require someone else’s pain.

80. My sensitivity is beautiful, and my feelings and emotions are valid.A sticky note held up in front of a brick wall, reading "My sensitivity is beautiful, and my feelings and emotions are valid". 

81. My weirdness is wonderful.

82. Saying “no” is an act of self-affirmation, too.

83. Sometimes the work is resting.

84. There is growth in stillness.

85. There is peace in changing your mind when it is done in love.

86. There is poetry in everything, if I look for it.

87. There is room for me at the table.

88. There is something in this world that only I can do. That is why I am here.

89. There is strength in quiet, there is vulnerability in being loud.

90. Today I celebrate that I am younger than I’m ever going to be.

91. Today is an opportunity to grow and learn.

92. When I feel fear, I feed trust.

93. When I focus on my reason for being, I am infinitely brave.

94. When I forgive myself, I free myself.

95. When I release shame, I move into myself more beautifully.

96. When I root into the earth, the earth rises to support me.

97. When I speak my needs, I receive them abundantly.

98. When I talk to myself as I would a friend, I see all my best qualities and I allow myself to shine.

99. Words may shape me, but they do not make me. I am here already.

Dreamtime

 

This is the part of the dreaming earth that you become part of when you sleep or when you reach the ecstasy of creation, the place from where you learn the mysteries of the universe, from this deep slumber where you wake up refreshed and rejuvenated. 

The place where your flow activities take you, where you lose your sense of time and you step into kairos time and return back to chronos time having been part of creative forces. 

The place where your body rests in the rhythms of nature, in the cycles of sun, moon and the transits of the planets and you feel one with life in the universe. Then, this food that you eat and the love that you cherish becomes medicine that feeds your joy of living. 

You learn that all this knowledge shared in the times about this universe is all relative and arbitrary; that you need to learn wisdom from the wise to help you live better and to trust your own intuition so that you can recognise what your heart wants. 

This rest, this break, this act of doing nothing but rest and sleep and restore has been nothing but magic, of trusting in the divine timing of the universe. 

best

Love

Dear Self

Shivsakthi Talks

The Unsent Letters

 

 

Dear Sean, 

Just the other day, I heard the song Phir Le Aaya Dil from the movie Barfi on the radio. I was transported to the time when we were head over heels in love with each other. When I think of our days at college, I wonder how naive we were and what a beautiful bond we shared. 
 

For me, you were a refuge from the troubles of this world and your hand held unconditional support in those days. Now, in an era of infinite longing, I am reminded of those good old days of togetherness,whenever I hear this song. 

Love

Berry 

 

The Unsent Letters

Dear Sean

Do you remember how you had given me a CD of popular songs and soon they became my favourites as well. It was your way of making people happy that made you a favourite among them.  I was smitten by your charm and what was missing after you were gone was your ways of making one feel special.

The OSTs from popular movies were my favourites- be it Titanic or Armageddon or Robinhood. Our world revolved around discussions about books, films and music. This year, as I am making a playlist memories of our candid chats pop up before me and once again I feel happy to have met you though we lost touch somewhere along the way. This year, I will create a playlist for you so that you will get a chance to listen to my favourites and croon them in your melodious way.

Love

Berry