Gift from the Sea

 Ever since I have got onto the path of Self Introspection it has been quite a journey in the last 3 years. The struggles are many even today as I move in and out of being assertive, giving, receiving, being compassionate and loving, letting go off my anger yet displaying it if that is the need of the hour. Many a times I could see that people were walking all over me simply because I was providing a space of acceptance to them irrespective of their attitudes and behaviors. Last month I was in Mumbai and got to spend some time with my mentor. My first question to him was ' Is there a way out of this path? I sometimes feel my earlier self would have handled things better and put people in their place not bearing all the insults that now people easily hurl at me.' . There were many others reasons why I asked that question and I was given a one word answer which was a clear 'NO'. This was an experience of 'Choicelessness' though I do understand that the true gifts emerge only with patience and endurance and at a time when you are least or not expecting it at all. This passage also reminds me of a 'Gurukul' system that prevailed wherein the time spent by each student was basis their journey and not as per the schooling system we now have. I yearn for such a system today as that is similar to lying choiceless waiting for the gift to emerge when it has to.