Happy Sunday!
And welcome to today's edition of 'Conscious living with Purnima'. I turned 41 last week and have been reflecting on some of the most significant lessons that I have learnt over the years. Today, I want to share them with you. They are listed in no particular order. Do let me know which one of them speaks to you the most.
Greatest riches are not money, popularity or status. They are peace of mind and contentment.
Be yourself even if it feels hard and you fear rejection. There is freedom, peace & long term happiness in living without pretense.
Don't try to change the world. Instead see the world for what it is & learn to navigate through it skillfully.
Things are not as they appear. You don't always know what's behind the happy pictures you see.
Hold on to your goodness no matter how harsh the world treats you. There is a special kind of power in not letting the ways of the world kill your goodness.
Don't rely on others to make you happy. Learn to create your own happiness.
No one can steal your light away from you. Don't feel pressured to prove yourself to anyone overnight.
Beware of the two D's - Distraction and Delusion. Distraction from what 'your' life is all about and delusion that we are separate from each other.
We are all sailing in the same boat. No one is better or worse.
You create your own suffering. By the way you think.
Simplicity and humility are the most attractive qualities in a person.
Work with your limitations but also keep building yourself. Self sufficiency is key to long term happiness.
If you can sit with someone in silence without feeling the need to fill the space with talking then hold on to that person. Such people are a blessing in your life.
Resist the urge to make assumptions about someone based on what they write or post on social media. You know a person only by spending time with them not otherwise.
Pay attention to who supports and claps for you when you do well. They are the most secured people who don't feel threatened by your success.
Be mindful of what and how much you share with others. Not everyone (and this includes family and friends) has your best interests in mind. And prejudices are easily created but difficult to break.
Set boundaries. With everyone. But remain flexible about reassessing those boundaries.
Don't be stingy with your appreciation, and support for people. Be generous. You may think your gesture of support is inconsequential but it can mean the world to someone.
Hurt people hurt people. Don't take anything personally.
Security might be in worldly things but Joy is always in the small things - seeing your loved ones happy, belly laughs, smiles, spending time with a close pal.
Whether you like it or not, you have exactly what you deserve - nothing more, nothing less.
There are no mistakes. Only lessons.
Be choosy about who & what you give your time, attention and energy to. A lot of what we give our attention to shapes us.
Before you take care of others take care of yourself. It's great to help others but do remember to ask yourself, at what cost you are doing that? It's not always wise to give all of yourself.
Ask yourself often, what do I care about? What matters to me the most? Remind yourself of that. It's easy to forget it in our noisy world.
Two most powerful words to use - "So what?"
Failure is not a bad word. Don't be afraid to fail. Most of life's learnings come from failures.
Life is too short to hold on to grudges. Let go of stuff that weighs you down.
Don't ask yourself, ‘why this happened?’, ‘why that happened?’ instead ask ‘what should be done?’, ‘What are the possibilities?’ and ‘what is the way forward?’ Replace your why with what.
The greatest teachers are your own daily life experiences. Pay more attention to them over the words you read in self help books or the messages you listen to by motivational speakers.
Don't chase anything. Focus on alignment instead. Your ultimate goal should always be long term happiness.
Be a beginner at something. You will learn something about yourself and it will also help you build self-compassion and empathy.
Give yourself as much time as you need to learn. Everyone's learning curve is different. Honour yours.
Shift from 'controlling & resisting' to 'receiving and flowing'. Trust the universe more than yourself.
Don't attach worth to your accomplishments. Your accomplishments are a result of the efforts that you chose to put in, hopefully towards something that adds meaning to your life. Beyond that they don't mean anything. And if someone attaches worth to your accomplishments, do not internalize it.
By all means respect and value people, but don't put them on a pedestal. When you put people on a pedestal you risk losing sight of your own value.
Growth can only occur outside your comfort zone.
You can attain anything you want - health, wealth, enlightenment, you name it. You just need to want it 'bad enough'.
The three most courageous words - “I need help.”
You will not always have answers to all of life's questions. Make peace with that.
Life is a journey of getting to know yourself, losing yourself and finding yourself over and over again!
Good Collection of thoughts!
Another wonderful post - as always. Nicely articulated. While some may seem obvious, we tend to lose sight in the daily rigours of life. Wishing you again many more years of good health and happiness.