Waking Up to First Day of the Year (1/366)

New year’s eve was a simple family affair. The day was filled with love, laughter and good food with family. As the clock ticked closer to 12AM, we sat together anticipating fireworks around us before calling it a day. That wait felt longer as it always does when you anticipate anything.

Kids started reflecting on 2023 which, for them, was mostly about their academic and extra-curricular pursuits. Interestingly, one of the high-points for my 11 yrs old son was getting a set of acrylic markers for his artistic endeavors! Kids revel in small joys of life that we grown-ups often take for granted. We took turns to look back at 2023 and express what we hope for in 2024. It is a powerful family exercise that I recommend we should do several times in a year. Collective expression of hopes, desires and fears only strengthens the bond we share.

At the end of it with just 5 minutes to go, one thing was clear. We were deeply grateful for everything 2023 had to offer. Despite all challenges including life threatening medical situations in the family, we were grateful for the strength we received to handle it all with grace, calm and a stoic focus on our circle of action. As they say, “All’s well that ends well.”

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can clearly say to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own..” – Epictetus, Discourses

Calm optimism and gratitude fills the air around me on the first day of 2024. That’s what a new year does to us. A new dawn that brings 366 fresh opportunities (thanks to a leap year) to embrace new experiences, follow your heart’s path and be kind to others along the way. A blank slate to write the story our heart yearns to write.

Wishing you a joyful, abundant and glorious 2024!

A New You, Anytime of the Year

Why wait for a new year to commit to being your better self and set goals/resolutions.

Dividing time into years and months is a construct created by us humans.

Remember: You can reinvent yourself any time you decide to. If anything is worth doing, it is worth doing it now.

Inner Boundaries

I played cricket after a really long time through participation in my neighborhood’s premier league. The opponent teams had players far younger than me with prowess to throw high-speed deliveries. The first couple of matches were really hard. I could barely guard the wicket for a ball or two before getting bowled out.

Third match was a turn-around. Before the match, I affirmed myself with the following:

You get bowled out, not by an opponent’s speed of bowling, but by your internal anxiety to perform. Let it go, calm down, watch the ball carefully and play it according to it’s merit. Defend good deliveries (read tough times) and wait for the loose ones (read opportunities) to take your chances. Let go of your need to show your performance and score runs. Focus instead on each ball, it’s trajectory, pitching and length before doing justice to it. Score can just be an outcome of your ability to enjoy the game.

In that match, I hit five boundaries and everyone around was amazed. The big lesson for me is: It’s always about conquering ourselves first before we can conquer anything in the outer world.

Seneca rightly said,

“A rational soul is stronger than any kind of fortune – from its own share, it guides its affairs here or there, and is itself the cause of a happy or miserable life.”

Ability to stitch yourself together when situations tear you apart is a life skill that no one teaches. We have to do it ourselves. Strengthening the soul is the work of our life.

We are in semi-finals as I write this. Outcome will not matter knowing that I crossed a few inner boundaries!