Gerald D'Cunha

T oday is Good Friday... Thought, I would repost this Blog, which I had first posted in June, 2022. Though the subject of the Post relates to the last hours of Jesus Christ – widely known as ‘The Passion of the Christ’ – strangely, I had Posted it in the month of June, when the Holy Week was long behind... But, today, when I revisited this Post, it surprised me and prompted me to ask the same question, which had prompted me to write this Post four years ago: “What it means to live life passionately?” Hope you find the Post relevant... A blessed Friday to all... May peace prevail both inside us, and outside us... as we step into the fullness of life...   STEP INTO THE FULLNESS OF LIFE “It’s only by owning who and what you are can you step into the fulness of life.” Oprah Winfrey   A s a child born and brought up in a Christian (Catholic) household, observing the solemnity of Lent – particularly that of the Holy Week – was an integral part of my faith. The ...

  “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” Edmund Hillary   I started a little late for work, this morning. I wanted to take a long walk through the pleasant winter-sun… I love the winter sun. On my way, I met a man (who’s in his mid-forties). He, too, was sitting on a bench and soaking in the pleasant rays of the winter sun. As I hadn’t seen him for a very long time, I said, “Seeing you after a long time… Were you out of town?” I sat next to him on the bench. The man said, “I was very much in town; in fact, I was inside my house for more than three months, now.” He lived on the 3 rd floor of a   building which had no lift. “I find difficulty while walking, particularly while climbing the stairs,” he said, “Today, I, literally, forced myself to step out of the house.” “How do you feel about it?” I asked. “Good… Very Good,” the man said. Then, the man added, “There was a time when I thought ‘Success’ meant accumulating wealth. I never thought ...

  “Relax… Nothing’s missing.” Maxime Legace   T he other day, my son said this: “Dad, I do not know if it’s your quote, but I find sense in it: ‘Wherever you go, you carry yourself’.” My quote? Come on boy! I am too small a man for ‘inventing’ such a profound wisdom. But, I am big enough to realize how age-old and ageless that wisdom is!  I have been telling everyone, that it’s a Zen quote. But, by Zen, if we mean wisdom, let Heavens take the credit… We humans, here, are too small beings to claim the copyright for such a priceless wisdom… REFLECTION: If we are unable to find success and happiness right here, right now, right with whatever we have… then, no matter where we will go, when we will go, and what we will have, success and happiness will only be illusive! GERALD D’CUNHA Pic’s: Pixels: 1.  Duong Nhan                        2.  Oleksandr P         ...

“N ature always wears the colours of the spirit.” Probably, you have just missed the meaning of what Ralph Waldo Emerson says here. So, let’s read it, once again, slowly and together: “Nature always wears the colours of the spirit.” To understand what ‘spirit’ is – call it ‘spirituality’ – all about, I think, we do not have to open the Holy Texts or listen to the discourses of Masters… Suffice it is to sit quietly in the midst of Nature – the robust trees and the fragile grass, the busy brooks and the serene lakes, the roaring waterfalls and the glorious rainbows… the antelopes and the butterflies… the flowers, the leaves and the exploding skies… the night, the stars, the sun and the moon. Yes, suffice it is if we sit alone and see Her glory, listen to Her songs, Her whispers… without judging… just let them be… let it rain, let it snow, let it heal… let it recreate. To me, this recreation inside my bosoms, amidst the recreation of Nature, is what sp...

“A smile is happiness you'll find right under your nose.” - Tom Wilson W e miss simple joy of living – call it happiness – when we plan too much. Really, Life is what happens to us while we are busy making our ‘other plans’… For some days now, my wife and I have been ‘planning’ for a short vacation, this summer. We were checking on the Net, talking to our friends and, still, have not been able to take a decision. “Just pack up and go,” a friend of mine told me, “You shouldn’t plan too much.” A week has already gone by, meanwhile! I was to attend an important meeting at Fort area, this noon. It was a scheduled for today more than a month ago and a great deal of planning and preparation had gone into it. I was a bit tensed this morning, and had kept the rest of my work on hold. Around 11.30, I was on my way to the meeting venue… I received a call saying that the meeting was postponed. I couldn’t believe it… and, ...

H appiness and peace are not same; they are different. This is Lent… Jesus Christ’s suffering – through physical torture and humiliation – comes before me. On this earth, He wasn’t God; He was like you and me – a mortal soul. So, He went through all the feelings that you and I would go through in times like the ones He had gone through before He was crucified - fear, doubt, helplessness, shame, betrayal and isolation… Yes, He had to experience all these feelings in order to conclude, “Father, it is not my wish… It is Thy”. Nobody can experience happiness when humiliated and tortured. Certainly, Jesus Christ amidst pain and fear was far from happiness. Had the ‘test’ been taken away from Jesus by His Father, perhaps, He would have felt happy. So, Happiness depended on that condition… But, when the ‘Test’ could not be taken away, Jesus surrendered to the will of God… With that came Peace… The struggle to undo the “Test’ by oneself is how it starts for all of us...

“Don't ever save anything for a special occasion… Being alive is the special occasion.”  ~Author Unknown W ell, this Post is not about dying… It is about living… living with gratitude, joy and no regrets… Yesterday, in our Tai Chi class, we saw our oldest (youngest!!) student Sundandaji – who is some 80-plus – after a long absence. As soon as she arrived, she handed to our sir, Rakesh, an envelope containing fees and started explaining to him why she had been absent for such a long time.  There were so many genuine reasons… Sunandaji lived alone… Despite two maids at home, the situation was as good as having no help at home… “I end up doing everything,” Sunandaji told us. Rakesh sir doesn’t make any fuss about our absenteeism, even though commitment and continuity are of utmost importance in his view. When we all come out with our excuses for our absence, he is really cool about it… “Now that we are here, let’s make the most of it”...

Pic.: Ivan Mahias A n hour ago, Vivek, my friend, called me to check if I had taken my lunch. I hadn’t. So, he said he would be coming down (He lives in the same building where I have my office) with some dal and rice. In ten minutes, Vivek came to my office with a plate … Some basmati rice, black dal (both steaming hot) and a small quantity of beet-and-onion salad flavored only with lemon and salt. That’s all … I was hungry and I wanted to eat it when the food was still hot. “Sit down, will talk as I eat,” I said to Vivek. “No sir, you won’t be able to fully relish your food if we talk while you eat,” Vivek said as he started to go back, “Please relish it ‘fully’ … its color, the aroma, the taste and  even the beauty of the plate …” “You have nailed it on my head, Vivek,” I confessed, “I need that piece of advice not just while eating, but also while bathing, breathing or walking.” “Sir, I tell my 13-year-old twins the same thing … “Please see the colo...

Pic.: Chandrasekhar Varier T wo days ago, a doctor-friend of mine had invited me for a dinner in a nice restaurant. We were three of us, the third one being a lawyer-friend.  We spent more than two hours… and, during this time, I sent only one message, but didn’t pick up a single call … My doctor-friend picked up one call but did not read or  send any message… and, my lawyer-friend seemed as though he was not carrying a mobile with him. Yes, it was so peaceful and so free from the endless encroachment which we all are so used to… The lawyer-friend was not on Whatsapp. The doctor-friend told us that he had got fed-up with the ‘groups’ and found such kind of communication to be an unwanted source of stress and anxiety. “I have informed all concerned that I prefer sms’s and I may not read the Whatsapp messages,” he said. Technology has come light-years ahead. It was supposed to make our life easy and comfortable. It has. But, it has, also, brought a...