I have asked this question so many times. At times I feel that I understand what it is and at other, I don’t. This time I planned to write down what I understand about meditation and maintain a record and refer back to this in future. We have a monkey mind, as Mingyur Rinpoche calls it. It likes to talk and gossip and keep suggesting things based on its likes and dislikes. When we forget that we are not our thoughts and become the slave to whatever we think bad things can happen. Only when we realize that thoughts are just a form of suggestions, mostly based on past experiences and survival needs, we can free ourself from the slavery. When you know that you are not the thought you avoid being influenced by it and let it be. Our monkey mind has one very bad habit that it loves to work and solve hard problems. When we don’t have any real problem in our life it will try to exaggerate the small ones and try to solve them. Mingyur suggests that we need to make friends with our monkey mind and give him work. He has to do some work, the question is either we give him or he chooses what to work on. When we decide to employ the monkey mind and give him work we are his boss and things start to fall in place. And the best work to give to our monkey mind is meditation. ...

A relationship should be one where you’re not afraid and have the courage to speak the truth. Not with an intention to hurt but with an understanding that it’s ok to be wrong. With a confidence that the person will accept you and understand. You acknowledge how bad it can feel when you speak your heart out but you know you’re appreciated. You feel the depth of hurt it will cause and you make sure not to ease any of the pain. The only resolve that you make is not to cause such a suffering again, for in speaking truth the pain is more yours than theirs. The only thing you expect from them is faith that’ll you improve. ...

I shared my side of the story. How I feel the pain and cheated but I know mistakes were made from my side as well. I might not be able to do all the justice to her feelings but trying to say everything that she made me known. I don’t want to write much concrete details here but the lines below should be enough to tell you my flaws. You told them everything, And called me names, But did you forget about your games? ...

I’m not hurt, not most of the times or so I say to myself but when I hurt it hurts real bad. There are very few things and very few people who can hurt me. I’m also aware that it’s I who is giving them this heart-shattering power, yet I do. Some of them know to value and keep my heart safe while others juggle is down every alley. Today I’m hurting again and this is a hurt of a long lost love. I guess I’m over her but only my heart knows what’s the truth. The problem I guess here is with my expectations and I forgot that if you love someone that doesn’t mean that the other person will love you the same. If you remember from your experience you will also know this. In your school days when the person, you called your best friend named someone else as their best friend. It felt bad, but that’s how reality works. Today if someone wise would have to say the same thing he would say, “If you are a vegetarian and won’t eat a lion, that doesn’t mean the lion won’t eat you as well.” ...

This was the first book by Murakami which I read. There are certain characteristics of his writing that I would like to bring up. This will help us appreciate and understand his work better. Firstly, Murakami is a great observer. He talks about daily affairs in such light and detail that you will wonder whether you are living life in the right way. His stories don’t need any fancy setting or place. All he uses is an old rusty car or a simple bedroom with a perfectly common ceiling. Secondly, you can find him using vivid dreams and imagery. His dreams are very real and you will find him using different creatures like cat, fish and snakes to add some tinge to the story. Thirdly, there is a sense of enigma in his writing he makes you ask questions and then takes you on an incomplete journey to find the answers. I personally love this as he gives us enough context about the riddle we are trying to solve but no more. We are all free to come to our own conclusions as we see fit. ...

We are all opinionated and most of the time these opinions are not our own. They are thrusted into our consciousness by the people around us, the media and the general ideology of the society. I believe opinions are neutral just like smartphones which are neither bad nor good on their own. There are other sources of opinion like from books, family and friends. What I’m trying to get at it is that there are varied sources of opinions and it differs for each individual. ...

We all know so many people around and we think and treat each of them differently. We have different roles to play. I think the thread and the life are very much related. I find them a lot more similar than distinct. Everyone is connected to every other person via a thread so fragile yet so powerful. Consider a man seeing a woman suffering from a severe chronic disease. They don’t know if they will even see the next day. Both the person try to live happily and a very simple and drama free life. What is happening here is that the thread is always fragile and in this relation the parties realize this. They realize how delicate and uncertain life is. Just like a bubble in the water, which burst into nothingness without any warnings. ...

When things are good, express gratitude. When things are bad, practice patience. When things are average, show staisfaction. Situtations can be either good, bad or average. I know this might look like I am judging how things are. I also know great people talk about equanimity in all situations. I’m not there yet, though I want to be. I tend to get sad at times just like every other human being. I know it is a part of the life. Just like the darkness gives meaning to the light, the sorrow gives meaning to the happiness. I think, the most important things to learn in life is to learn handling rejections. ...

I’m not very romantic by profession, which is engineering, but if this post gets you somewhere, believe me, it’s not me. Have you felt the tingling of heart in the presence of a certain someone? The tingling that sends blood rushing throughout your body. When your veins are screaming the constant melody of your heart. If you know this feeling, you will know what I’m saying. When being close to that person makes your mouth go dry, no it is not your subconscious intentions(preparations) for the upcoming kiss. It is the heat that he feels from your subtle presence. You must have seen her speak so much, but when the season is of love, you will hardly hear her utter words. ...

I have been trying to define life for a very long time. All this started when I felt pain for the first time, I don’t remember the reason for my pain, but I was suffering. I was trying to see through it and had some realizations. When I am ill I can see that I’m in pain and my body is not working as it should, but it doesn’t affect my mind. I can still choose to smile. At moments others can’t even tell if I am unwell. The only way they could know is to see my running nose, find me sneezing or touch my face and see that I’m burning. There have been other times when I’ve been in emotional pain. These feelings are yet more subtle. It feels like everything is fine around but the mind is not at rest. It is unsettled about something. On closer inspection, I saw that whenever my mind is disturbed I have a series of thoughts, uncontrolled, which leads me to all the suffering. But that was about suffering and not feeling good, but what of life? How do you define life? ...