Gerald D'Cunha

T omorrow, early in the morning, I will be leaving for our annual, 2-day Tai Chi camp in Lonavala. This will be my third camp in a row. During the earlier two camps, I had published two of my books. First one was ‘Flowing With The Wheel’. The second one was ‘The Dragon Tail’. This year, I have no plans to publish any book… Patterns and compulsions, in life, are, always, counter-productive. They drain our energy and make us deviate from our authentic, joyful living. Yes, a couple f times, I did contemplate on working on a new book to be published during this year’s camp. But, I wasn’t feeling strong about it… The call did not seem genuine… Yes, I did not feel, that I was flowing with the wheel! So, here I am… On the eve of our Lonavala Tai Chi camp… feeling excited about the camp… but, not bad about ‘missing’ a new book… I have nothing to prove to anyone… and, nobody expects me to do that, in the first place, you see! A fter our morning walk, sitting with...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza M y day, so far, has been quite peaceful… even though I have been doing, today, the same activities which I generally do… the same kinds of interactions, the same kinds of situations and provocations… Yes, even though life-situations have remained the same, today, life-quality has been way better, today… Peaceful to be precise! How come? Well, I know the answer, as most of us do: I have been throwing least resistance to the situations popping up before me, today. There is a silent acceptance in my heart of those situations which I know I can not change… So, this is one of those rare days, when, amidst the same hustle and bustle of life and same roller-coaster rides, my mind has chosen to be more meditative than reactive… Blame comes from my reactive mind… Panicking comes from my reactive mind… Anxiety, fear and worry come from my reactive mind… The feelings of victimiz...

“Our deepest fears are like dragons guarding our deepest treasures.” –         Rainer Maria Rilke When my thoughts come, they just come. They neither seek my permission before they come, nor before they leave. Like clouds in the sky, they come… wearing   a hundred different hues… stay as long as they wish… and, then, they go… only to visit again… then go, come, go, come… over and over again! Like clouds wearing a hundred different hues, I said… They are my happy thoughts, sad thoughts, thoughts of love and insecurity, thoughts of courage and fear… Hope and despair, hatred and compassion… All kinds of thoughts visit me, a thousand times a day… when I am awake and asleep… when I am working and resting… when I am alone and in company… when I am young and old… Yes, they visit me all the time, all my life… So, what am I supposed to do with them – these ‘peculiar’ visitors...

S ome days ago, we had our area Mass. After the Mass and the dinner were over, some of us sat back and were having a nice discussion about our lives. Lona* told us about an elderly gentleman she had happened to meet once. She told us that this man looked extremely fit, positive and happy. “What is the secret, sir?” Lona had asked him. The man had pointed to a wall-hanging in his office. It said, “Drop your expectations… to drop your sorrows.” Lona was quite impressed not only by the zest of this man… but also by the ring around the statement. “Drop your expectations… to drop your sorrows.” Many ladies in the group immediately agreed with message conveyed by the statement. “True,” they all said, “our miseries are always linked to our expectations. We need to drop them.” “But, madams, how can you drop your expectations?” Neslon * asked. “Come on, we can’t drop them the way we drop a hot potato from our hand!” “Why can’t?” was an angry reaction. “Of course, we can drop our expect...