|
My 2009, New Year Resolutions
New Years' are great aren't they? From one point of view it is just another day. I mean, January 1, 2009 would be nothing if we decided the new year fell on February 1, 2009.
For me the greatest significance of a new year day (or the eve) is that I review and tie-off the loose ends of the previous period of time we call a year and look to new beginnings. The best part of this is that despite whatever the foercast for next year may be, the eve of a new year and new year day are times of renewed inspiration and celebration. It is a positive time and we reinforce this positivity collectively by wishing all our loved ones and acquaintances a very Happy New Year. Even for those in the midst of tragedy, trials and tribulations, there is, even if it may be only a slightest sliver of a glimmer of hope, it is some hope and positivity nonetheless. Thus it becomes a duty for all of us to wish each other a Happy 2009. This is our collective commitment for this year and let us all join together in prayer and action to see this positivity and inspiration through in our lives.
As usual on New Year's eve and the day, my mobile beeped away with text greetings. Usually after sending the reply, the messages gets trashed. I always thought it a pity, trashing these messages, as many of the them took a lot of thought to compose. So this time around, as I list out my resolutions for this coming 2009 in this the first of the Pondering article, I am going to insert these greetings here and there in an effort to save these greetings for posterity.
"Before the sun sets in this year, before the memories fade, before the networks get jammed. Wish you Happy Sparkling New Year '09."
My First Resolution: Recycle, Recycle, Recycle
I have always loved the beauty of nature. If I was given a choice to tour a city or go to nature park, the nature park will always be my choice. From a young age I have always been concerned about the condition of the environment. When I meditated on the what should be my first resolution, I had a vision of our benevolent Mother Earth from space. Except that instead of her beautiful sapphire blue, white and green scape, She had grey clouds, vast barren tracks of land and sickly green seas!
It is time, we as humans took a collective stand and got serious about conserving our resources, cleaning up the environment and saving ecosystems. As a spiritual mission I am going to make an effort to recycle every piece of trash and decline the use of plastic bags for ferrying things around as much as possible. I have already given up my car and mainly use a bicycle and the public transport to get around. Now I am going to go fanatic about recycling. In my community service, wherever I go in my outreach missions or in casual conversations with people I am going to bring up the environment and talk about recycling and conservation. I not trying to be 'Al Gore' kind of serious, but more like 'think globally, act locally'. I am also going to dedicate a section of MyHInduPage to promote environmental awareness and nature conservation.
This will be a crucial part of my mission from this year. I believe we should all look at the state of the environment and nature around us with as much seriousness as we take economic conditions and see what we can do to reduce our environmentally destructive footprint. I believe even a little effort on our part will go a long way. Lets not wait for governments to push us. We can be waiting and waiting until it is too late. Let us impress in ourselves that our children's futures are SERIOUSLY AT STAKE. Our survival as a species and our way of life are in the balance. THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW. LET US MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
"May all your Hopes, Aspirations, Wishes and Prayers be fulfilled in 2009. May you also be blessed with Good Health, Wealth, Peace, Joy and Harmony. Wishing you and your loved ones a truly Happy and Prosperous New Year 2009. God Bless."
My Second Resolution: Time of Transformation
Somewhere along the way last year, the Mr. Bulls' of the 'Wall Streets' around the world lost their...well...gusto and ran away from the reservation. Now everyone is crying and praying for his emergence. I say, it is time for the world to worship the Lord Nandi!
Sorry, I couldn't help it, even if that was lame. Though, it is not entirely out of context of my second resolution. There is no doubting that gloomy economy has arrived and one way or another we are all going to feel the pinch. However, when I contemplate the situation, I see so much potential for the positive. I can see a phoenix rising from ashes of this gloom. I am using the imagery of Lord Nandi to represent a spiritual solution. I am certainly no economist to give financial advise.
My guru thought me to embrace challenges. He often affirmed, "stress makes me strong," when we went to complain to him about anything. When he trained his monks, he taught us about the power of perspectives. The world is what we make it out to be. We do have the power over our destiny and we can make the best of situations if we see it from the light of spiritual progress.
This current challenge we are facing seems so material, so 'dollars and cents.' What has spirituality got to do with it? The way I see it, it is all about taking the negative energy of gloom and transforming it into positive force of spiritual transformation. By spiritual transformation I mean transforming fear, worry and stress into confidence and accomplishment. There is much more I would like to write about negative energy, because negative energy is not all bad. In fact negative energy contains more positive potential than positive energy ever can. For, it is when we are challenged that we come up with the most genius of solutions and transformations that takes us to the next level of advancement in any field.
As a resolution, I will be sharing this philosophy in all my classes and seminars this year. I feel the world is poised for positive transformation, one that is possibly beyond our imagination at this time. This economic downturn is the catalyst for this. This year I am going to increase the output of my outreach. Develop and share more modules like the Seminar on Concentration on the web as virtual seminars and actual seminars. So stay tuned for more content updates on MyHinduPage.
"May the New Year bring good blessings and a fruitful year ahead to you and Family."
My Last Resolution(s): A Whole Bunch of Stuff
These resolutions came out of the blue. On new year's eve I was at a gathering hosted by my close friends, Ratna, Bala and their family. After dinner they had a game for us. They had a deck of cards (nope, not the gambling kind). These cards had an activity in each of them. Mostly quite simple stuff like enjoy kite flying, write a letter to a newpaper editor or forgive your parents. There were a few peculiar ones...I think I won't get into those. Anyway each of us at the gathering had to pick a few cards at random in turns, and commit to doing the activities written in them sometime in the year. These were the cards that I got and I am adding them to my list of New Year resolution 'To Dos' with some modifications.
1. Go Fishing? The card says I am supposed to go and enjoy fishing. Well, being a practitioner of ahimsa, even catch and release is a no, no! So instead sometime this year I am going to go snorkeling with an underwater camera and capture some fish in pictures instead!
2. Find answers to important life questions. This is perfectly up my alley. There will be a lot of answers in the Q and A section. (This link will be up soon.)
3. Forgive your parents. Easy, nothing to forgive. I wouldn't be here today if not for them. Lots of gratitude for that. I also consider my guru, Satguru Sivayasubramuniyaswami my spiritual father. I would not be doing what I am today and enjoying it, if not for him.
4. Letter to Editor. I actually wrote one last year. It is is an article titled Is Yoga Hindu? I will just have to wait for some issue to turn up this year for another letter to an editor. Perhaps I will write a praise letter instead of a complaint.
5. See Seven Natural Wonders. More than happy to do this, however, I am not going to all the places recommended in card. All too far away from Malaysia. Instead I am going to choose one or two Malaysian Natural wonders and go see them this year. I think I will start with the world's oldest rain forests in Taman Negara.
6. Fly a kite. This year when I go on my mission to the rural estate villages, I will enjoy flying a kite with the kids there. It is interesting that these days I hardly ever see kids in the city flying kites. It used to be a favourite pass time when I was a kid.
7. All Day in Bed. This is probably the toughest of the resolutions to complete. I think I will do this when I get the flu!
"Peace in your heart. Health in your body. Wealth in your life. Joy in your Home! May you always be blessed with these priceless treasures. Happy New Year 2009."
Thanks to everyone who sent me New Year greetings. It is a Happy New Year indeed. Let us all work together to make this a GREAT YEAR. Perhaps the greatest one yet!
|
