My Only Prayer for 2022- For You, and For Me

 Hello,

It's Sunita here.

My only prayer for 2022 is a prayer for love.

I pray to remember and retain the hard won wisdom to know that love is the most powerful force in this world.

When I take the opportunity to look back at my life, every moment of significance that I can recall has been one, either full of love, or devoid of love.

Not feeling love left me lifeless.

Feeling love gave me life. 

How we go about seeking and building relationships is the most honest indicator of our health and vitality.

As this year comes to an end, and we stand at the welcoming edge of another one, all I wish for is a year full of love.

My work, my interests, my creativity, my intelligence, my hobbies, my mission, my purpose, my passions, all align optimally and joyfully when I feel loved, and have others to love.

So, my first priority is my relationships.

Love doesn’t just happen- I have found love to be a discipline of mindful intention.

Love requires our time, attention, energy, and devotion. And it humbles us, because it can only thrive in a relationship, with a mutual agreement.

Over time, love demands infinite patience, and a continuous investment in understanding. Love only blossoms when we learn how to welcome conflict with grace, not trepidation or avoidance. Because conflict gives us an opportunity to heal each other- but only if we have put in the time to develop the trust and self confidence it takes to hear another’s point of view.

And, I have discovered, that love means having compassion for our own shortcomings . Not being perfect, and offering our imperfect selves to another to love is vulnerability.

There is no love without the terror of exposing our imperfections. But, that is what love ultimately is. Being accepted, cherished, valued, and adored, despite our failings.

When we have people in our lives that love us like this, we are truly living. Then, our work gets better. Our health is good. Our load is lighter, and bearable. There is joy.

Love.

 

That is what I wish and pray for the most. And hope for you as well.

Here is the complete poem by Rumi. I hope it inspires you to treasure such love. 

BECAUSE I CANNOT SLEEP

Because I cannot sleep
I make music at night.
I am troubled by the one
whose face has the color of spring flowers.
I have neither sleep nor patience,
neither a good reputation nor disgrace.
A thousand robes of wisdom are gone.
All my good manners have moved a thousand miles away.
The heart and the mind are left angry with each other.
The stars and the moon are envious of each other.
Because of this alienation the physical universe
is getting tighter and tighter.
The moon says, "How long will I remain
suspended without a sun?"
Without Love's jewel inside of me,
let the bazaar of my existence be destroyed stone by stone.
O Love, You who have been called by a thousand names,
You who know how to pour the wine
into the chalice of the body,
You who give culture to a thousand cultures,
You who are faceless but have a thousand faces,
O Love, You who shape the faces
of Turks, Europeans, and Zanzibaris,
give me a glass from Your bottle,
or a handful of being from Your Branch.
Remove the cork once more.
Then we'll see a thousand chiefs prostrate themselves,
and a circle of ecstatic troubadours will play.
Then the addict will be freed of craving.
and will be resurrected,
and stand in awe till Judgement Day.

Love. In its deepest, truest, most passionate form. The love that envelopes the whole of us.

Happy New Year!

Until next time,

With my love,

Sunita

#selfloveselfcarefirst #SLSCF #love #happy new year #rumi #poetry #life worth living #2022 #blessings #friendships

I Know Myself- That's Good Enough For Me

 Hello,

It's Sunita here.

I'm not here 

To make it 

Easy for you.

I'm here 

To make it

True for me. 

 

If only..

If only someone had shared this truth with me earlier in my life.

Well, now I know, so I share.

My poetry is my guide. My unconscious holds the wisdom and knowledge that I was born with. My lived experience is what informs me. My commitment of making my unconscious more conscious every moment of my life is my resolve.

‘A Hard Conversation’ is a poem I wrote a few years ago. It is in my 1st collection, ‘Stripping- My Fight to Find Me’. 

I believe this poem should be taught to, and memorized, by everyone at a young age, and recited out loud regularly throughout life. Especially the last verse,

“I know myself.
That’s good enough for me.”

Today’s post is in honor of my daughter, Simrin. 

You are my hero.

Love you,
Mommy

#selfloveselfcarefirst #self love #self care #self discovery #poetry #unconscious #muse #create #freidrich Nietzsche #know yourself #strength #power #empower

One Among Many?

Hello,

It's Sunita here.

The odds.

The odds of me being created were numerically insignificant. For me to be born was a miracle.

I was created unique.

There is no one else like me.

Nor will there ever be anyone like me again.

That fact is not a part of marketing campaigns or advertisements. I am led to follow the subliminal, and explicit expressions of conformity that are present every where. It is almost inescapable.

Our need and desire to belong is expertly exploited to push us into a herd like mentality and on to a path of conformity. This leads to a distracted and passive existence that becomes all about fitting into a box that doesn’t exist- an illusory world built on lies and deceptions.

I refuse to go there.

I am unwilling to be one among many.

I sincerely hope you are too!

Because we need your uniqueness. 

We need your one of a kind gift.

We need your unique voice.

Until next time,

Sunita

#selfloveselfcarefirst #self love #original #do your own thing #unwilling #authentic #just say no #self care #self discovery #unique

Good Morning

 

Hello,

It's Sunita here.

Good morning!

I find there are so many hacks to start the day ‘positive’. It's almost as if the day is ruined if we don't wake up cheery and ready to go on a fun fest. Must we plaster a smile on our faces and tape it there at bedtime, so we may wake up grinning?

I prefer to feel what I am truthfully feeling and let those emotions inform me of what is going on in my life. I don’t call that being negative or positive.

I call that being in touch with myself and my inner world.

We experience a bundle of emotions, and none of them are good or bad. They do make us feel good or bad- or in other words result in our experience of pleasure or pain. We don’t want pain. We want pleasure. But that’s not life. Nor is it the path towards enlightenment.

We must develop the fortitude to weather our painful times, because there is no escape from suffering. And we must gain wisdom to avoid unnecessary suffering. This resilience comes from experiencing hardship. Not from hacking our way through life by following nonsense.

Reframing our situation is a much better, and a powerful way to start our morning strong.

For instance, if you are heartbroken about a break up, illness, or death of a loved one, unemployment, or any other troubling situation, you will have to surrender to your pain. Not acknowledging and respecting your agony will lead to problems that will not go away. But after you stop to grieve and give your suffering the time and honor it deserves, you can tell yourself,

I will come back to you, my grief, but now I must get up and face the day. I have other responsibilities, and I deserve to find joy today, even as I mourn. Dear pain, I’ll be back later and give you my attention until you are done with your work with me. I promise I will not put you under the rug. Nor will I pretend you are not here. And yes, I will not laugh you away either.

Get up. Go for a walk. Go to work. Dance. Work out. Smile. Take care of your kids. Play with your pets. Do whatever you must do.

Whatever is going on in your heart, accept it. Feel it. Deal with it. Learn from it. Be strengthened by it. Then move on with the business of finding and creating joy for yourself and others.

 

And have a good morning!

Until next time,

With my love,

Sunita

#selfloveselfcarefirst #self love #sunrise #good morning #self care #emotions #truthful #strong #experience #no hacks #feel #deal