Namaste

“The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present,”

― Alice Morse Earle, Sundials and Roses of Yesterday: Garden Delights Which Are Here Displayed in Every Truth and Are Moreover Regarded as Emblems

Recently a friend was speaking to me about his baby daughter –she must be five months old now. Mark is just besotted. He was talking about how absolutely everything fascinates her. He held the cat so she could pat it. She stroked the cat and with a look of total focus and concentration. He was saying how poignant it was to watch his child so completely immersed and it reminded him of how much he takes for granted and how much we stop being in the moment. We are told this all the time—that we are in the past, or in the future, but rarely in the moment.

That conversation made me recall my daughter at six or seven months of age, sitting and just watching a candle flame, mesmerised. I also remembered her looking at drops of water from the tap with utter fascination and absorption and trying to catch them. At the time I stopped and sat really looking at those drops of water with her, thinking how beautiful they actually were. Life takes over—the next thing to get done, the next job. These are mostly ticked off the list but then with no time taken to enjoy the moment.

Awareness or mindfulness, to be present in the present and to notice, requires vigilance on our part. It is so easy to constantly go over incidents and situations from the past and to draw the projected fears and concerns of the future into the present. Yet neither of these serves a purpose, other than maintaining the fear we feel. If either the past or the future fills us with excitement and joy and we are able to hold that in our present, then that is a powerful place for us to create!

If I asked fifty people what they want in life the answers would be as varied as the people. From health and well-being to a variety of material things, to partners, children, grandchildren. But if I pressed further and asked why they would want whatever it is they want, the answer would universally be, “because it would make me happy”. Yet the power to be happy resides within us at all times. We do not need to wait for something to show up to make us happy. If what we really want is to feel happy, then what actually stops us from making that our pursuit?

Being in the moment is to be fully engaged in where you are and in what you are doing. This is the best and easiest way to find that internal happiness. If you are having a conversation with someone be fully engaged and present. If you are making or eating a meal, doing some exercise—whatever it is you are doing—give it your undivided attention. Try it for a week or two and watch the shift in you.

Love and joy to you
Ranjani

On October 17^th  1995, identical twins were born 12 weeks prematurely in Massachusetts. The older of the twins was stable, but the younger was deteriorating despite all the medical care given to her. A couple of weeks later, she still had abnormal heart rate, body temperature and colour—and it seemed as though she would not make it. A nurse on duty asked the parents if she could put the two babies together in the same incubator. As soon as they touched, the thriving sibling put an arm around her ailing sister. The effect was immediate; all the vital signs in the failing baby stabilised. They are now 18 years old. (It has become a widely accepted practice to co-bed multiple births in NICU).

One of the things that always saddened me as a GP was how often I saw older people in our community who were so lonely and socially isolated. Even those with family and friends often spoke of everyone being so busy and not having time for contact. For quite a number, their visit to the doctor and the local shops were the only source of social interaction in their week.

In medicine we see patients survive and thrive even in critical conditions when they have strong social support. We also see the opposite where patients with minor diagnoses decline when they do not have a social network of care. It confounds us as doctors, making no medical sense. Yet there are deeper and more complex issues at play here—issues of connectedness, emotion, of one’s place in the world, which we do not fully comprehend.

Everyone is looking for connection. This is the thread of life. This is what brings well-being to the mind, body and spirit: spending time with someone, giving them a hug, affirming them. Deliberate kindnesses are powerful acts of love for both the receiver and the bestower.

Are you able to give and receive this love each day? Not just doing things as a habit, with no conscious awareness, but with intention so that you experience that warm glow viscerally. This can be with family and friends, in the workplace or even a random exchange of good will with a complete stranger. Make a commitment to yourself to experience this feeling in the engagements through your day.

Dr Albert Schweitzer (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952) said “Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes our deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”

Namaste
Love and joy to you
Ranjani

Let us imagine a scene for a moment:

You get up in the morning and head out to work just as you are, in your pyjamas. You don’t shower, clean your teeth, put on clean or ironed clothes, let alone use deodorant or cologne. You just get up and go to work.

Urggh, I hear you cry—there is no way I would ever do that. I don’t know of anyone who would do that.

You’re right. In our society, no one would consider setting foot outside their door without some attention to how they look. And, often, how they may appear to others. Even if someone is exercising they will wear appropriate clothing and be aware of their appearance.

Some only take a little time to groom while others take an extraordinary amount of time. But EVERYONE takes some time.

We are quite particular about our external grooming but how many of us take some time for INTERNAL GROOMING?

What do I mean by internal grooming?

To take some time each day to create mental and emotional balance. To set intentions and create how you would like your day to unfold. To set forth each day feeling centered. Mornings have the potential to be fraught with varying little family dynamics that can create a level of stress. In this state of tension any tiny mishap on the commute—say, with someone cutting you off in traffic; a delay with road works, or your regular train being cancelled, can cause anger and frustration. Most of us carry this feeling and let it colour our entire day. It can spill over into all our subsequent interactions.

So how do we internally groom? Doing a 20 minute meditation every morning and setting your intentions for the day is the best way I know to create inner stillness and peace. Meditation is a simple yet powerful ritual to practice.

A practice of daily meditation has such far reaching effects. It will prove to be the most beneficial 20 minutes you will spend!

Namaste
Love & joy
Ranjani

Two Zen monks were travelling from one monastery to another. On their way they came to a river swollen with the rains. By the bank was a young woman in distress. She needed to get across this normally accessible river to the other side and did not know how. The younger of the monks quickly assessed the situation. Picking the young woman up in his arms, he carried her across the river and put her down on the other bank. Taking their leave, the monks continued on their journey. They walked all day with the older monk becoming more and more distressed and agitated. Just before they reached their destination, the older monk could contain himself no longer and exploded

“Brother, how could you? How could you do that? It is forbidden in our order to touch a woman, how could you carry her across the river like that?”

To which the younger monk responded “Brother, I picked her up, carried her across the river and put her down on the other side. You have been carrying her all day.”

I first heard this story many years ago. It is such a wonderful illustration of the things we hold on to that have no possible benefit to us anymore.

Two people experiencing the same event will interpret and store that experience very differently. How we perceive something then becomes the story. We all have many, many stories. If we see the situation as negative or as a grievance, we then replay this story to ourselves many times and relay it to all who will listen. This is frequently governed by the fact that we feel we are RIGHT. The need to be right is so very powerful and drives many of our behaviours and choices. Stories are not easy to let go of—with the feeling of being right there is a sense of injustice that we hold onto, in the effort to find some resolution.

When we keep repeating stories from the past, we bring the experience into our present and keep creating it in our future.

It is worth asking “What stories am I repeating to myself and to those around me? Has the repetition brought me an outcome which as been beneficial? If not, is it worth letting that story go?”

Create a new story with the outcome you desire. Try telling that one for a while and see if there is a shift in what happens around you.

Remember:  Where attention goes

                    Energy flows and

                    Result shows!

You may as well give your attention and flow your energy to what you do want rather than sending it to what you DON’T want.

Namaste
Love & joy
Ranjani

When I was a 17 year old medical student at Monash, I went to a weekly yoga class for a while. At the end of the class we all sat in silence to meditate for 15-20 minutes. Other than being told to “quiet your mind” there was no particular instruction. I remember sitting there in utter frustration because I was not able to “quiet my mind”. Either my desire to experience this was so great or my need to succeed was the driver, but I was an absolute pain to my yoga teacher. I kept asking her how to do this. Her vague responses to “just sit” made me anything but peaceful. Eventually she got so fed up with my incomprehension that she took me to see her guru. He spoke things like “sitting”, “silence,” telling me it would come. None of it made sense to me. The silence did not come so I stopped going. Life took over and I did not even think about meditation.

The study of medicine is intense and we are taught about disease, diagnosis and treatment. I graduated versed in the science and slowly developed the art of practice as all professionals, in any field, must do. Medicine emphasises the rational. For me personally some part of my eastern heritage of mysticism was put aside to belong to this new way.

Over 20 years ago now, I was in an extremely challenging place in my life. Always given to existential questioning, I stood still for a time and scrutinised myself. Despite an unbelievably busy schedule and a little one, I explored intensely. One of the things I discovered in my search was meditation. I reconnected with it and, this time, made a commitment to myself to practice each day and to let it unfold. The thoughts were still there—I continued to sit. I soon noticed my life shifting. I felt different inside, calmer, more peaceful. In the early days, on the odd occasions that I did not meditate in the mornings, my very little daughter would say “Mummy did you meditate this morning?” Out of the mouth of babes! To this day, I still meditate mostly twice daily.

These last 18 months have been a difficult time for both my daughter and I—a time of losses and change. We both meditate (she is a bit less regular!). I know this sustained practice of meditation has allowed me to deal with these situations and return to a place of balance.

Because I experience such ongoing benefits from a daily practice, I am passionate about sharing the power of meditation and still run meditation classes. The other things I love about it are: no special equipment is required; you can practice anywhere at anytime you choose; there are no age limits; whether you are 8 or 108 it is easy to do. All you need is the desire and the decision to commit. It is worth trying.

Namaste
Love & joy
Ranjani