Hi there!
Thank you for joining me.
I hope you are doing great and celebrating wherever you are.
This is Diwali week in India, and so we are all putting up lights, cleaning our spaces and minds, and eating delicious food and sweets — all to celebrate the win of good over evil.
I have three thoughts to share today,
We can be honest in simple words. Such as: “I don’t like to eat so late in the evening.” “Though you resisted my suggestion, you know that’s the right way.” But when we are afraid of speaking the truth, we go around the topic and confuse ourselves and others around us. Instead of making excuses, or lying, we can be honest and tell the other person why we think/believe/do what we do. Maybe they won’t judge or criticise us as harshly as we think they would. And even if they do, it’s their turn to be honest now. We have done our part.
flowers from Vietnam
Everything looks different as time passes. Maybe something is bothering us or occupying our minds right now. Check back in fifteen minutes. Then in half an hour. Our opinion and feelings on the matter would have started evolving. Other experiences would have kicked in. We must be making new observations, too. The situation might seem pressing — we feel if we don’t clear up our stance, others would think we don’t care enough about the topic. But no one expects us to act at everything then and there. In most circumstances, we don’t have to react immediately. Instant reaction may seem like a painkiller, but if it is a painkiller, it is the one to which we can get so used to that our body might simulate pain just to get the medicine. In our urge to react, we would tell ourselves unreal stories of how we are in danger, our sense of self, security, and values are under threat, and so on. But if we step back, the narrative dies down, clouds clear, and we don’t need the medicine anymore. All we would need is a reasonable conversation or actions that move us forward through the marsh.
a moment of grace, from a classical Kathak dance performance in Kolkata
Celebrations are moments of coming together. We dance, sing, pray, cook, eat, go about, and sleep with smiles on. Festivals are our excuses to laugh without a reason, dance without ever mentioning we need to feel our body, and meet without saying we feel lonely. We don’t need faith to celebrate; we just need to keep our egos aside.
celebration. From another classical dance performance, Auroville, 2021
Do you react without thinking?
I am going to keep this newsletter short. So,
for this week’s letter,
Some of my writing.
Past Articles
Cultural Differences, a Friend For Life, and Diwali in Chile
This Diwali, I am reminded of a Diwali I spent with three crazy Chilean sisters in a country home of Chile six years ago. (Damn! It has been six years since I returned from that beautiful country.)
I hope you enjoy this story of my adventure in a bucolic Chilean home and see how different two cultures can be.
Click to read the travelogue now. Or Pocket for later.
Thank you for reading.
I hope your week goes merrily and that the mornings are sweet. Take good care of yourselves :)
Let me know what you think about this newsletter. Just press reply.
Yours,
Priyanka
Just a regular day in Vietnam. September 2022
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