Sagar

300 Days of Training

On 07/31/2021 – I will be running the longest distance I have run to-date. It will be my first 50 mile race.

Today is Day 1 of the training regime in place to get my body to a place where I can finish a 50 mile race with both legs standing, with a smile on my face and joy of running in-tact.

The training will involve lots of running, many hours of gym training for the legs, core and the various other muscle groups, lots of yoga for healing the body and many other forms of healing for both body and mind.

In the course, I plan to run at least two runs of 30+ miles, a few marathon distance runs and many weekends of 20+ mile runs.

The training will also involve, for sure, a lot of mental processing to prepare not just the body but my mind for the endurance test. There will be a lot of meditation…both while running and while not running.

I will be logging the journey as I go through it. Much life will happen in 300 days.

Day 1 –

4 Miles, 49:07 Minutes

After a 14 mile run yesterday, today was recovery run on tired legs. No thought of speed or any other considerations, just pulling my legs along to be able to run was adequate. Ended the run with a sit down at the cafe for a coffee and toast on a sunday morning brunch!

Best!

Run around the Island!

I finished a 31.6 mile run/jog/walk of entire perimeter of Manhattan on August 1st. This blog is my experience from what was technically my first ‘ultra-marathon’ run all around the beautiful Manhattan island. The blog is divided into two sections. First I cover the ‘experience’ and then, I delve in to the details of preparation, route, logistics, challenges and such.

If you are already someone who has run marathons and ultra-marathons, I am guessing much of what is said here is probably a different shade of your own experience 🙂

Why? Why run 31+ miles on a summer afternoon all around the city?

Well, for me it is just because I love running and running is a beautiful expression of meditation in motion. That is my reason. Love for running is helpful when you have to stay on the road for 7+ hours on a summer afternoon. While short and fast runs are very useful for building certain parts of physical fitness, the joy and bliss of a long slow drawn run is quite something else for me. A protein bar can give you the calories and nutrition you need, but there is no comparison between a protein bar and a multi-course meal at a fine restaurant.

Secondly, I love New York City. This is my home for the last 17+ years and a place I hold very dearly in my heart. As I go into the challenges, this fact is quite a help in plowing through certain sections of the run and the city.

The loop run lets you enjoy the views of the city and its surroundings in a very different manner. In short, you take in a panoramic view of the city, and not just what you see with your eyes but the wide variety and array of flavors and contrasts in nature, wealth, energy, vibe, people, cultures and however else you personally process the world. New York City is probably one of the very few (if not the only) cities with people from every single country of the world. And that makes this place the true microcosm of the world as a whole. And a panoramic view of that microcosm is quite an experience!

Needless to say, this type of endeavor takes preparation 🙂 Both physical and even more importantly mental. When I say mental, I also include emotional and spiritual aspects.

The Mental Processes!

I used the word ‘processes’ for a reason. While you and I have very little control on what thoughts will pop up in your head at what point, we have a lot more control on what processes we follow in our mind. You can call them habits or processes or patterns, but when the body is tired, energy is low and you are doing things which you have no memory to tap into, these processes become saviors.

First, I had to define what my mental processes are that I will follow before and during the run. And then, stay very disciplined to follow those processes with all the focus of my mind and diligently to the T.

From my previous runs, I knew the speed at which my heart rate jumps into ‘red’ territory. While heart rate is required to be in this territory to do cardio workout, you cannot run with heart rate in red zone for 7 hours. Based on that information, I had a plan of the pace to run from start till end. Some math and I had a spreadsheet with minute by minute breakdown of what speed I will run for the entire 32 miles. I mostly stuck to my plan except of course, running in a city meant unforeseen changes to route and situations. But some rules I followed without fail to ensure no physical breakdown were –

Rule 1 – Never let my heart rate exceed 170 for more than a few seconds. Immediately slow down if heart rate goes over 170 until the heart rate comes back under 130.
Rule 2 – Unless the heart rate is comfortably under 140, do not exceed run pace of 10 minute mile. Immediately slow down if running faster than 10 minute mile even if body feels fresh and capable.
Rule 3 – Never run more than 3 minutes without a walk break of at least 1 minute even if the body is feeling fresh and capable. On miles 20 and above, never run more than 2 minutes without a walk break and on miles 25 and above – 1 minute is all I would let my body run at a time. For the first 10 miles, drink water on every mile completed. Eat something for every 3 miles completed. For later miles, sip at least one sip of water on every walk break.
Rule 4 – If there is a pain in any part of body, slow down, evaluate, do some stretching, re-run and re-check.
Rule 5 – If heart rate is too high or if the chest or upper body is tightening while running, slow down, let heart rate come down and then re-run, re-check.

As I mentioned the preparation also involves a spiritual component. The two emotions that I had to embrace very dearly were Fear and Pain. There is no running away from these two friends. 20+ years of meditation does help. There is a freedom in running with an empty mind bereft of the fear of mortality and a mind that loves the pain.

I am fascinated by how as we grow older from being little babies, our threshold for tolerating physical pain grows and quietly, at some point in adulthood, that threshold starts dropping off again.

As I ran regularly, I learnt to differentiate between the pain of strain and the pain of injury. The former is a friend, the latter is your foe. There is no joy with this body of ours without learning to fall madly in love with the pain of strain.

Preparation

If you are an experienced long distance runner, the first 3 sub-sections are probably very known material. I talk about the city route challenges in the fourth sub-section.

Pre-Run Physical Prep

First and foremost, you have to be physically capable of running long distances. That comes with practice. How much practice? That depends on you and your body. If you are a natural athlete, I guess it takes lesser preparation. But I am not. Far for it. It took me almost 1 year of continuous running every week to bring my body to a place where it can endure 31+ miles. To be precise over the last 48 weeks, I missed running for 2 weeks. I have been running at least thrice and sometimes more for the last 46 out of the 48 weeks. I was running on/off before that for the previous 6-7 years. However, the disciplined, “come whatever may – I shall not miss my run” was the last 46/48 weeks.
In addition to running every week, for the last 9 months, I have also been doing weight/strength and conditioning workouts on my muscles at least twice a week. And to top it, I make sure I do at least 10-12 miles of walking in addition to all the running. Walking and workouts ensure buildup of muscle strength and keep the key joints aligned. And finally, at least once a week – I use yoga postures to fix any lingering mis-alignments/brewing injuries etc. which has helped me to so far, touch wood, have no running injuries.
While this run of mine was not a competitive race, I have run a half marathon in a simulated race situation and running long distances at a full pace certainly helped me understand my body’s capabilities and limitations.
I also learnt to develop gears to my running. That means being able to run at varying speeds with varying levels of intensity. This comes into a huge play when you want to increase the distance without increasing intensity. High Intensity = Lesser Distance and Low Intensity = Greater Distance.

Nutrition and Hydration on Run Day

Common knowledge is that for any run beyond 1:30 hours, you have to drink water and eat on your runs. So, for a run like this, you have to naturally drink LOTS of water and eat LOTS of food. As the temperature was going to be in 80’s, I was going to sweat a lot. My watch at the end of run estimated I lost about 6.8 litres of fluids in sweat. Obviously, to avoid any complications of dehydration, I should be targeting a re-fueling plan of atleast 5 and even more litres of liquids over the period of run. Sweat takes out not just water, but also salts from the body. So, just drinking 6 litres of water won’t cut it. I have to combine some sports drinks, salt supplements into the water quantity. I used gatorade, salt tablets with water and water mixed with lime/salt for this.
Another common knowledge is when you are running on medium to high intensity, you are likely to burn approximately 200-300 calories and 40-60 gms of carbohydrates for every hour of running. So on a run of 8ish hours, you have to plan to eat atleast 1200-1600 calories which include about 160-200 gms of carbs. With that in mind, I used gels, seedless dates and protein bars in addition to the sport drinks. Earlier on the run, for the first 3-4 hours, solid foods are ok but as I went past the 5 hour mark, I just couldn’t eat the bars. I had to stick to gels and sport drinks thereafter.
I ended the run with no cramps. So I am pretty happy with my hydration and nutrition strategy. 🙂

Gear

Nike Winflo 5 Running shoes
Quickdry sweat absorbing t-shirt (carried an extra shirt for change at half way point. Absolutely made a big difference)
Running shorts and compression shorts with pockets to help with carrying water/phone while also sucking out the sweat
Sweat absorbing socks – 2 pairs, with a change at halfway point
A hydration vest that carries 2 litres of water, 2 small bottles, gels/bars and pockets for cash/cards/keys.
Not technically gear but a useful tip – pay attention to possible chafing. For a very long period, when the clothes keep rubbing against the body drenched in sweat, chafing can happen. For me, it’s inner thighs. So I did use shea butter lotion before and again at the half way point.

Route and Challenges

You will see below the strava route map captured from my garmin phone. It’s mostly accurate except for a weird slip up around WTC and also around east river park.

In summary, the route is –

Started at the entrance to battery park (intersection of west st and batter pl) and followed the bikeway onto the south st/FDR
The bikeway is straight without breaks (except for small construction around pike Pl) till you enter East River Park.
Followed the east river promenande to end of the park and continued on the bikeway till 34th st.
Turned on to FDR service road at 34th till 37th and turned to 1st Ave at 37th st
Followed 1st/UN Plaza till 53rd st
Followed sutton place from 53rd till 63rd st and then took the bridge down to river side John Finley walk
Here the walk was supposed to be uninterrupted till 78th st but a construction blocked the road between 76-78th st. This lead me to turn back and take the pedestrian bridge over to york ave and followed York till 79th
I rejoined the bikeway/walkway at 80th st entering the Carl Schurz park.
Thereafter the bikeway/walkway followed along the river till 116th st pedestrian bridge. Again, the walkway was closed here for construction.
I took the pedestrian bridge over to East Harlem streets and zig-zagged my way through east harlem till 155th and Frederick Douglas
Here again I missed the bridge which would have put me onto the Harlem River Greenway at 155th st – so I had to follow Frederick Douglas St for another mile and join Harlem River Greenway before the road merges onto the highway
Luckily Harlem River Greenway was a relatively empty and uninterrupted stretch until Inwood’s 10th ave
In Inwood, I criss-crossed over to the Inwood park for a bio break and a change of clothes. Also, this place has a lot of café’s and deli’s. So was useful to refill water and sport drinks.
From the park, I followed down on Seaman ave and turned onto Dyckman Ave before joining the hudson greenway using the ramp at the west end of dyckman ave
Hudson River Greenway is a mostly straight unbroken road all the way down to Battery Park. There are couple of possible mishaps if you are not watchful – one is around GWB and the other around 145th St where the greenway forks into Riverside Park. You would want to stay on the hudson river greenway at all times.

Some minor challenges while doing this route

East Side is the more challenging side. You have to zig-zag your way onto the streets and that means possible traffic and other such considerations. So, I chose to run east side earlier in the morning to keep the distractions to minimum.
Running/walking through East Harlem and Harlem is not a pretty jolly and jovial experience. The sidewalks are not always clean and you have to be aware of your surroundings. Just thinking of running will not always be possible. But keep moving is the best advice.
Constructions and walkway closures are to be expected and you have to think on your feet to detour. Hopefully without adding too many miles. The fear of adding to already long day of miles can be a little jarring to the mind. Be prepared.
In good old days, a starbucks would have been a good and easy place for a bio break, but now you have to map out the restrooms in advance. There are public restrooms in Carl Schurz park, east river park, Inwood Park and parts of Hudson river greenway (the piers). Most public restrooms in the city open around 8 am. So plan accordingly!
There are always café’s and restaurants within a quick detour except for the short 2 mile stretch on the Harlem River Greenway. So you are never too far into the wild. But detours add miles to your legs, so plan your stops as much in advance as possible.

If you have reached all the way to this line, read the whole post, thank you! And I hope you learnt something new and I hope you have a great experience if you chose to undertake a run like this.

Don’t forget you can also walk the whole distance. It takes a bit longer but I am sure it is as much fun 🙂

My Tryst with Gun Violence

On January 11th, 2019 at about 6 PM, My wife Shivani and I were just getting seated in the food court of the Newport Mall in Jersey City, NJ. At first we heard a commotion with people running and shouting behind us. For the first 5 seconds, we ignored this commotion, assuming it to be some kids having fun and continued with the food on our table. Very quickly, the commotion escalated to louder yelling and then to chairs and tables being thrown. This was the first warning to us that we might need to get up and be alert. The very next moment as we turned around to look what’s happening – were the first sounds of gun shots, followed by even more frantic panic yelling and commotion just a few feet in front of us.

I have, just as almost every one among us who lives in the USA, have a very sharp and acute awareness of the dangers and possibility of a mass shooting in our conscious and sub conscious mind. I have seen on the television, internet and the news countless instances of a shooter randomly killing everyone in sight.

In the few seconds following the hearing of the gun shots and the sight of gun in the air – all that I knew and read and understood about gun violence evaporated from my conscious mind. There was a blankness of thought, an immediate and instinctive switch to action without any doubt or judgement. I shouted to all around me – “Get down on the floor”, “Get under the tables” and quickly dropped to the floor along with my wife and a few others around us.

For the few minutes that I was aware the gunman still being in the food court – It felt that death was very very near.

Of those around me , there were a few who were in tears, a few trying to call their family/friends as quickly as they can, a few in total state of shock unable to process anything or do anything frozen in the moment.

I had never been in a situation of this nature before. Yet, looking back, all the many years of my practice of meditation and Sudarshan Kriya let me stay alert and relatively not shaken in those moments of imminent danger.

After a few minutes, and once the immediate commotion subsided, we got up from under the tables, looked around to see the mall security officers walking in. At this time we started to collect our belongings and walk down towards the exit. When we reached down to the 2nd floor walking through the blood droplets and bullet casings lying on the floor, as we stood in open with almost all the stores shut down, we heard a fresh round of gun shots, commotion of people yelling and running. The panic and the possibility of a shooter on loose were still there. We rushed to the only store half-open – A Pandora Jewelry store whose manager was about to shut down. The store manager waited a few seconds for us to run in to his store, closed the store and escorted us quickly into the back closet of the store where 10 others were already in hiding. As we stayed hunkered, we started informing some of our friends of our situation and their prayers and blessings helped our morale.

We waited out another 40 minutes in the closet while the Jersey City police showed in their gear and guns to scan and clear the entire mall of any shooter. And at about 6:55 PM we exited the mall escorted out by the police and mall security.

We came back home walking, did our evening meditation, ordered food from a take away, spoke to our friends and ended the day exhausted and still processing the events of an eventful day.

We later that evening found out more details of the shooter and the incident from news sources. That the shooting was a possible gang related violence and not a mass shooting.

Walking out of the mall and safely out on to the streets, and to this moment, I am grateful for the fact that we and many others in that mall that evening walked out safe and alive to live another day, to experience the beauty of this day.

The next evening, our life and our commitments to the life ahead of us meant we were back among our friends at the Art of Living center in New York working on wards to bring peace not just to us but those that surround us. The day ended with this beautiful moment sat in silence and love.

What comes to me in my life is sometimes beyond my control, like the evening of January 11th, which was neither in my plans nor in my wish list.

That evening brought to us the knowledge of impermanence of life and fragility of it in a very real and personal manner.

Yet, I am alive today, able to look beyond the event, be grateful for its lessons and be able to continue my life, enriched a little more and to be able to share my experience and learning into another day.

While the lessons of that evening remain, our life is in its unusual own way back to normal. And Shivani, my companion in life and that evening is back to her self re-telling the tales of that evening in her own trademark style. (Do ask her for her own recounting when you meet her next)

I do not know what comes tomorrow, but whatever it is, it will be life.

—————

My Journey with Information in Today’s World

Whether it is social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. or be it the regular media such as Newspapers, Television etc., there is in today’s world a great deal of opinion and bias that is masquerading as news, facts and truths. Objectively, there is always a grain of truth in all of these. But, quite possibly and highly probably, much of it is opinions and biases.

How to process this mix of information, facts, bias, and opinion?

The two extreme options – accept everything, ignore everything. Most of us obviously reject these two extremes and so do I.

The desire to stay informed and be useful in this world requires me to be open to information and hence I cannot ignore everything.

To the world outside, what I know is of less significance than what I do. And to my own mind, while what I know is important to grow, if I cannot process the information and improve my comprehension, new information adds little value and hence I cannot accept everything.

So where do I draw the line and how do I navigate this changing environment of information?

Skeptical Filter: Whoever says it and whatever is said, I first ask myself – Is this a fact, an opinion or a mix of both? If it is a mix, can I separate the fact from opinion?

Opinions while nice to read and absorb, are abundant and quite in excess in the world currently. Hence, if it is an opinion, I will take it with quite a lot of pinches of salt. And in most cases, stroll away to the next stop.

Action Filter: Can I act on this information now?

If yes, this information is useful to pursue further. If not, can I possibly act on this information in near future? Only then is there any need to use my memory for what I am reading. Else, time to keep moving.

For many years now, I have and continue to follow a simple principle before I say something – Ask myself if what I am about to say is going to do one of the three things –

Bring Peace to the mind of listener
Improve the knowledge of the listener
Ask for help where I need something from the listener

If the answer to any of the three is No, I prefer to stay silent unless it is not possible to do so by circumstance. In process, over the years, I might have not said and spoken when I probably should have but that is a price I am willing to pay for now.

And I continue to apply the same to even when reacting and communicating on the social media. In social media, in my experience the filters need to be even more strictly adhered to since the interpretation of what I say is in many cases beyond my control and damage is quicker and deeper.

So, keep questioning, keep taking in only that is relevant and if it cannot be acted upon, it is probably not relevant now.

Have Faith

I was listening to the “He lives in you…” song from the Lion King Musical. The entire song is a reminder of my self to my self in the most musical way.

My mind can worry all it wants but my heart must have faith that it’s job is done and that all desires have been fulfilled. My mind can scheme and make things happen but in my heart, I have nothing left to accomplish.

Goodnight!

Germany, Syria – The War and It’s path

Most great events do not begin by announcing and telegraphing before they begin. They gradually unfold like a stream that uses the rocks to gather momentum and become a river that gushes down the slopes and floods the plains until it meets the Ocean.

In December 2010, Mohammed Bouazizi set fire to himself in Tunisia. A catalyst to a fire that was already burning in much of middle east and the stream became a river very quickly and became what we now call as Arab Spring. Out of that Arab spring were borne many conflicts. One of them stole the headlines in 2011 and 2012. It was Egypt. However, the one that picked up the steam a bit late but exploded the most is Syria.

It has been 4 years since. The river has been picking up momentum ever since it began. Slowly and gradually it has been adding other streams to itself. That is precisely how a flood develops. And soon the plains will be flooded.

Great wars are every generations way to create a great metamorphosis that leads to a new beginning. The creation has never rested and will never rest. It evolves continously through the mutual dance of destruction and creation. Every great destruction leads to great creation.

In the 20th century, by the end of second world war – a new creation was borne out of the great destruction. The great power of the United States of America was born. It took shape through the rest of 20th century and blossomed through later decades and into 21st century. Has the wave that began in 1940’s completed it’s peak? Who knows. Time will tell.

In my opinion, the events of late 2010 and early 2011 have set in motion another wave of great destruction. Some will argue that stream began in 2001 on September 11th. May be they are right. We only know that the streams have become rivers and have started to flood.

So in 2015 August when Germany finally stepped in and took home the hundreds of thousands of refugees washing ashore to Europe over the last year or so, we have indeed entered a new phase of this great event of 21st century.

By the time the Syrian, Ukrainian, Iraqi, Yemeni wars combine and end, a new creation will be borne out of this great destruction. And there will be a leader who will take over the remains. And there will be a new generation of progress and blossoming in the years to come. It’s a circle of creation that has withstood the test of time.

When will this river reach the ocean? Who will be the leader to arise? Who will lose the most? We can guess based on history, our biases and our preferences. It sure will be fun to play the prediction game but the truth is we never know until the time arrives.

There are always early indications in every race. They don’t tell you will win but they chalk out the probabilities and possibilities. In August 2015, I think Germany just inched ahead in the new wave. Let’s wait and watch.

Contentment is Divine

“…….Contentment is what makes you divine…..”- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Walk into a room that is dimly lit, quiet, almost serene, empty space in the center and few places to sit in solitude. The light interplays with the darkness in a beautiful harmony to add to the silence. The few sounds mingle like waves with the total silence to give purpose to the sounds.

To me life is not a simple uni-color landscape where one attitude or emotion or philosophy will fill the entire life. Opposites are part of every bit of our life. The world is full of all types of people and our mind reflects the world we live in.

In our little world, we all need a place we can go where nothing matters. Past doesn’t bother, future doesn’t matter and there is a peace.

For some it is a physical place – a temple, a church, a park, an empty road, a quiet room in the house. For me, it’s a corner in my mind.

I want great things in my life and I want to achieve those great things.

Yet, i recognize that for great ambition to fulfill it’s place in my mind and in my world, I need a place that is the total opposite of it. A corner in my mind where nothing matters. Where there is total contentment!

Just as ambition cannot survive without contentment, contentment is meaningless without ambition glowing it’s flame in another corner of my mind.

For a few moments of the day, I live in complete acceptance with where, what and who I am. For the rest of the day, I plan, strive and execute actions that take me to a different place, make me a different person and change my surroundings.

In death, may be there will be only one of the two. But in life, they both exist in different parts of my mind.My two children. I love them both!

Can I comprehend the entire universe in front of me?

When I went to Jackson Hole, WY last year in June, I had the good fortune to view the mountain range at the Grand Teton Park. The towering Mount Moran over Jackson Hole, WY. It is a sight to behold. At nearly 13000 ft high, it is one of the highest peaks in contagious states of America. It’s less than half of the largest peak on Mount Everest but it is big still.

The view made me gasp in awe. It made my mind still and ponder on the grandoise of the sight in front of me.

We humans percieve size through reference points in the surrounding space and distance. How do I know that this laptop is small? Because it sits in a room and on a table larger than it. The laptop is smaller than my body. Hence, I deem it as small. The room, table, my body and several other objects in and around it were my reference points. I judge the size of this object based on all the reference points – visible and invisible. Invisible are the ones in my memory.

I have for years read of mountain peaks and their sizes. Mount Everest is 8,800 something meters high. 29000 something feet high. I have read those numbers before and do read them still.

But, until I saw Mount Moran from the road in front it in Jackson Hole, with the trees, the cars, the houses as my reference points – I had no real understanding of the size of that mountain. When that size become real with all the reference points. It filled me with awe.

Distance is another key reference point here. I was standing in proximity now to the mountain. The mountain was not out of my sight but right in front of me.

The milky way galaxy that we are part of is 100,000 light years in diameter. That is 946052840000000000 kilometers (approximately). There are 18 numbers in that size in kilometers. I can put any other myraid variety of numbers around that size. And I am only just talking one galaxy in what we know is part of some billions of galaxies. A billion has 9 zeroes after 1.

Those numbers are generally quoted to produce awe. To expand the mind beyond the petty. To understand the breadth of the horizon in which we are part of.

That to me is like looking at the height of Mount Everest on a computer screen. I can simply not comprehend 18 digit number kilometers without reference points.

I can pretend to comprehend. I can try to comprehend. I can imagine.

Yet, it is incomplete.

I have no reference point to comprehend the entire universe. My body was a reference point to comprehend the size of the laptop that I am typing this on. In a way, my body was a reference point to comprehend the size of Mount Moran.

I could stand on a road the view the entire Mount Moran in my eye sight. I was just far enough from it and not too far away from it to be able to view the entire mountain in my eyesight.

There is a sweet spot of time, distance and reference points in the space that are necessary for human mind to comprehend the size of any object, person or element in space.

And there must be such sweet spot for us to comprehend the entire universe in our eye sight. or Inner Sight.

Keep Exploring!

I need to write. Again.

Today is 6th September of 2015. I am 34 years old. I feel the need to write again. And for a change, the need is not borne of desire to convey or convince others but of one to give expression to my thoughts.

Much of my verbal communication or even written one with others is tempered to convey something to another person. When communicating with others, I am restricted to say that which will convey my thoughts in the best way to achieve the desired objective. That communication has a very specific objective. It is incomplete.

This blog is my communication to nobody in particular and hence lacks a specific motive. It has in it greater freedom of expression.

That which has no specific goal, the entire creation is it’s goal.

I meditate…Why?

I meditate every day. I have been doing it for 11 years.

My fascination with meditation has grown with time. My discovery of it’s depth and what it does to me has increased with every passing day over the last 11 years.

I claim to be no expert in this field but my experiences have sure taught me a great deal.

So, Why do I meditate?

One simple reason – It feels great!

That’s too simple, I agree.

Lot of things feel awesome, so what’s it about Meditation then?

Have you ever lied on the back staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep, thoughts passing through the mind. There in that empty space, thinking about some random event from years past. Thinking about that person who I want to forget. Thinking about what will happen if I do not get promoted this year. Thinking about what I am doing with this life.

I have.

I may safely guess, you have too.

The events that scarred our minds and hearts don’t leave. They make an impression and that impression stays.

Time is a great healer. But time unfortunately has a lot of time.

You and I don’t.

The greatest gift that I have found from my meditation in the the last decade is that meditation is a bigger healer.

The scars as young as 2 years old, as not so young as 7 years old and may be older than that have disappeared from my mind, from my heart and I owe a debt of gratitude to my meditation practice for that.

That is one reason I meditate everyday. There is more to an ocean than the shining pearls on the sandy beach. There is more to my meditation that the healed wounds of a decade.

More some other time.

***P.S – I practice the Sahaj Samadhi Meditation taught by my master Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of the Art of Living Foundation.

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