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On Oct 15, 2018 Abhishek wrote on Intentions And Effects, by Gary Zukav:
Reminds me of what Jayeshbhai often keeps telling us....to purify our intentions! I've found that the journey between thought and intention is that of gross to subtle....intention to me is almost at a level of instinct, it is without words, almost like a sense of energy.....to reach there though isn't an easy journey for me because it is often mixed up with so many primal desires, conditioning and "mixed signals"
Thats probably what purifying intentions mean - to connect more and more to the essence of that intention...
Equally at Blue Ribbon we're experimenting with what does shared intention look like - the one that is arrived at through non-violent consensus....seems that the journey itself has its own gifts
On Mar 4, 2018 Abhishek wrote on Do A Nice Thing For Your Future Self, by Elizabeth Gilbert:
This thought evokes a tenderness in me - the idea of a future self I don't know yet am deeply connected with....playing across time like this has a very humbling effect, also reminding me of the impermanence of it all (including my current self that may seem so SOLID at the moment!)
On Feb 4, 2018 Abhishek wrote on What Breaks Your Heart?, by Maria Shriver:
What a powerful question!
For me seeing individuals tap into their potential heals my heart - seeing it wasted breaks my heart. There is also a 'melting' of the heart that happens when something is unfolding. In my case individuals stepping up to do something of service, collectively and their small initiatives melt my heart.
They make me go "Awwww" and thats when it feels right too!
On Apr 14, 2017 Abhishek wrote on Touching the Earth, by Tracy Cochran:
From a desire to fly high, my intent has moved to being rooted to the earth.....my Mother the Earth is what holds, what sustains when the winds change direction....
Being rooted, I try and experience my one-ness with everyone and everything else rooted in that same mother-energy.....I feel home.
On Nov 3, 2016 Abhishek Thakore wrote on The Glass is Already Broken, by Stephen and Ondrea Levine:
Thank you Annette!
I was initially unsure whether to post it or not, but glad it was something that resonated :) Hugs and Lots of Love
On Oct 28, 2016 Abhishek Thakore wrote on The Glass is Already Broken, by Stephen and Ondrea Levine:
A side-benefit of feeling suicidal occasionally is that the impermanence of life stares in my face. And ir works!
From the stoics to modern philosophers and from Yama's dialogue with Yudishthir to Shamanism, a rumination on our mortality is a great pathway to living every moment fully. We've banished death to dark corners and private discussions.
Perhaps, putting it into the center will allow us to experience the tenderness and impermanence of this moment! :)
On Oct 16, 2016 Abhi wrote on Destiny is Within Us, by Hawah Kasat:
A useful hack in such moments for me is to look for Universal 'winks' - hints by Life on which direction to take. In a situation that the author describes, I would intensely look for some sign; see where the attention is going in the moment, tune into body sensations.
Invariably, something is revealed and I chase that direction.
Rather than being arbitrary, I feel that this approach takes the 'rational mind' out of the driver's seat and makes it only one of the many variables that go into the decision.
After that, it is all about how congruently I chase it. That is where I find the internal-external dichotomy loosen up a bit.
On Oct 7, 2016 Abhishek wrote on Reengineeing Our Patterns, by Eknath Easwaran:
Being in presence (and in present) is a requirement for being able to sharply distinguish the baggage activities (tasks we may be robotically continuing, needless and indulgent activities) vs the essential.....I see it as a practice, the indication of it working is that what I do starts becoming more 'concentrated' i.e. more intentional, more leveraged and more impactful.
One of the things that works though is not a very mindful cutting out but moving in a flow, where what is important playfully emerges based on where the awareness flows....this is a curiously different way of moving to the essential, where it is what the moment presents (which for me in the moment is this passage!)
Is it essential to reflect and share - maybe not. But then as it pops up in the flow, I trust the Universe to organize it for me!
On Sep 26, 2016 Abhishek wrote on What is Meditation?, by Vimala Thakar:
I love the link between meditation and freedom - indeed, ever-present watchful awareness seems to be a pathway to having atleast some degree of choice in our reactions and responses.
For me, meditation from sitting to carrying it with me through the day has been a practice....it leads to some pauses and silences at times that others may wonder about, but it is typically me checking in with my body, breath and location of where I really am in the moment.....
Easier said then done of course, but actions springing from inner states, and meditation / awareness as a way of cleansing that inner state means that access to the way I act lies in the space of awareness
On Sep 4, 2016 Abhishek Thakore wrote on Simplicity of the Heart, by J. Krishnamurti:
This morning, a friend cited Krishnamurthi as a defense for him not engaging in social action. My invitation to him was to connect to a 'larger' cause, to respond to the challenges and avoidable suffering that he sees rather than a self-indulgent form of spirituality.
Krishnamurthi and Gandhi both seem to be approaching Truth from different ways - here, there is a tangential reference to Gandhi's experiments with truth as yet another 'trap' of the mind, a non-simplicity of the heart that desires to be 'more' virtuous
That seems like the scientific method, though in that method too is a 'desire' to arrive at Truth, which Krishnamurthi insisted is a pathless land. Though again I wonder if Gandhi's experiments were with the intent to reach a land of bliss or just to arrive closer to Truth?
Moreover, in K's observations is an inward-outward, me-other dichotomy, that I guess disappears in some way in a beyond-language Truth-land that K speaks about. The irony seems to be the challenge of communicating about a reality beyond language, through concepts creating potential verbal traps (like the seed question itself?)
On Aug 30, 2016 Abhishek Thakore wrote on Taking a Stand, by Lynne Twist:
In this really powerful passage, I find the distinction between stand and position very important.
In the social change space, finding my own voice (in presence of so many beautiful and authentic voices) has been a journey in itself.
As I do that, the 'stand' is a choice that I am makig...how close is it to Universal principles and how close it is to what the local 'me' embodies?
And from that stand, am I comfortable taking a range of positions on issues, consciously choosing the tones and framing of what I communicate?
This is a delicate and nuanced journey that I have found can't be copied or faked....it is lots of digging and meeting the implications of different choices.....it is all a wonderful work in progress :)
On Aug 12, 2016 Abhishek wrote on My Work is Loving the World, by Mary Oliver:
Beautiful poem...manages to capture that space of stillness in some ways for me....
As a part of nature, I try to think of myself as a leaf of a large tree....the leaf that will fall off eventually but the tree will go on....we live in each of these different ways, as plants and birds and as you and as me.....and the beauty to me seems that each of our experiences is a unique localized one :)
Regularly pausing or sometimes being jolted into the wonder and strangeness of the world around....that for me is living deeply......for now, with the whiff of the biryani smell, the kiss of the wind punctuated by stray horns, headlights of hurried cars, a playful mosquito and my fingers as they touch the keyboard... :)
On Apr 17, 2016 Abhishek Thakore wrote on Relationships Make You Conscious, Not Happy, by Eckhart Tolle:
Personal relationships are the real "labs" of growth - where the talk meets the walk. And if we are able to remove the criteria of "happiness" that is so deeply embedded in an 'ideal' relationships, there is a sense of relief.
Indeed, no better place to discover ourselves than in relationship with one another, as well as in our relationship with ourselves :)
On Mar 18, 2016 Abhishek wrote on What We Need Is Here, by Wendell Berry:
Being clear in eye
Ah! that is surely worth praying for
Because I have eyes upon eyes upon eyes
Lenses upon lenses
Filters on filters...
In fleeting moments
I'm stripped of them
By a sharp sweet wild grape
And I glimpse raw reality
Uncut by words
Uncoloured by "me"
Each time I tried
To develop those eyes
I loaded with more and more
already-always "seeings"
But in rest and surrender
A rude shock of love comes
Sweeps me off my feet...
And tells me all I need is here
On Jan 17, 2016 Abhishek wrote on Absurd Heroism, by Margaret Wheatley:
What if what seems like 'absurd heroism' is actually a spiritual practice? That it is not about the boulder or the gravity, nor about the objective of putting the boulder up the mountain, but just deepening oneself as one does that?
I feel unequipped to judge Sisyphus.....and if we are not vigilant, can't 'everything emerges' become another kind of absurd heroism? The one where we relinquish action trading off one belief for another?
In my journey I found myself pushing the boulder, putting it down but then picking it up again - this time, not because I wanted to put it up, but perhaps because I wanted to play with gravity, to see what pushing it makes me (as a person).....it was from feeling that whether its a boulder or a stone or a pebble, whether it is a pushing or a pulling....it is anyways Life acting on Life as Life
On Nov 8, 2015 Abhishek wrote on Organic Gift, by Parker Palmer:
This passage has the potential to save a lot of 'heartache' for a lot of 'givers' - but alas! the path is best walked and realised...
I can relate to this transactional giving - the one that creates an invisible expectation and eventually resentment if the 'gap' is too much....
Indeed, the giving that comes from gratitude and fullness has a different quality, a different ripple - the question though is do we wait till we fill full or do we start giving and realize our fullness in the process
Charles Eisenstien recently announced a course on Masculinity and offered scholarships - most people choose to take the course fully free or just pay 10%....in a Facebook post, Charles reflects on this attitude he encountered, in his giving....
To me, while his giving may come from fullness, yet it did have traces of burnout - essentially, there are no 'settled' answers for all of us, they have to be discovered as we walk the path and carry out newer and more radical experiments in generosity
On Oct 30, 2015 Abhishek wrote on Be with the Magic, by Steve Karlin:
I resonate with this! Animals and I did not share a very comfortable relationship till recently - and yet over the last year or so, my comfort and love for animals has really expanded.....I can sense a very primal and pure love and a connection with Life in its rawness....
At the same time, a recent low brought me to the space of what I can 'deep chill'. Deep chill is a space where there is absolutely nothing to do - no pull, no tug, no agenda, no alarm at the end of the hour....just purely and solely sitting with the grief (or whichever experience) that is arising.....
I guess it is easier with grief (other emotions have an action-like quality to them)....
But yes, from a space of deep chill, there is an intimate connection with all of life (extending to plants and even inanimate objects).....Animals were for me a first-step in that way :)
On Oct 11, 2015 Abhishek wrote on We Are What We Choose to Be, by Dawna Markova:
Aliveness is a sign for me, of being in alignment with Life....and actions that are born from that space have a different flavour....
But when I think about "We" are what we choose to be, I also wonder who is this "We" (or I)....because if the I is the local ego then it is not really free - it is dedicated to its own survival and will make choices that allow its dramas to continue....and hook us....
On the other hand if the I is beyond, perhaps, we have a real choice.....how much of that 'unconditioned 'I'' we can access is also a question...and a journey to be lived.... :)
On Oct 4, 2015 Abhishek wrote on Humility Really Cannot be Considered a Virtue, by Swami Dayananda Saraswati:
So true! And yet it leaves me wondering the value of individual action - and how we 'uphold' actions of individuals, acknowledge them and their achievements all the time.. :)
Holding this polarity I guess is the practice....to recognize people for their beauty and actions, and yet remember that the most Beautiful of all is existence :)
On Nov 9, 2019 Abhi wrote on Staying Small To Stay Safe, by Peggy Dulany:
And then, once in a while, they erupt (or might)....This happens for me with anger...with magnificence it is still a more complex web of humility, my own smallness et el