“Where are you?”

I have not been the same this past month.

I haven’t been eating a lot, in fact, I only eat in the morning and not because I’m hungry, but because I needed energy.

I’m always online just in case “someone” had sent me a message.

Sometimes, I find myself staring blankly in my bedroom wall, and I find it very weird of me to do such thing, I’m a thinker and a worrier but I never stared blankly at a wall before.

I’ve been also singing and listening to songs that I haven’t listened to in the past 10 years and those are the songs that I have long deleted because I needed more room for happy love songs

Nah…but I feel like a total crap. I feel kinda depressed.

I never really thought that I’d miss someone this bad

I’m still confused.

“Where are you?”

Late Bloomer

Not all of us are quick off the mark and succeed early in life.

Some of us are like slow-boiling pots, who need time to gather wisdom and make sense of the world around us.

But watch out when a later bloomer finally gets it - late bloomers are often the driving forces in the world because they have spent a long time digesting ideas, information and knowledge just to come up with some amazing solutions to the world's problems.

Shut up! Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

• Shouldn’t you announce your goals, so friends can support you?

• Isn’t it good networking to tell people about your upcoming projects?

• Doesn’t the “law of attraction” mean you should state your intention, and visualize the goal as already yours?

Nope.

Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed.

Be Selfish In Love

Who comes first, you or your relationship? Although answering “the relationship” may sound honorable and based on a deep level of love and commitment, its an unhealthy and destructive way to live. It is only when you can honor and love yourself first, that the relationship can be a truly loving one and not one based on need, dependency, fear, or insecurities. When each partner comes to the relationship whole, the relationship becomes an enhancement of your life and not life itself.

Most of you have flown on an airplane. Have you ever wondered why they tell you to put your OWN mask on first, before you help your child? Seems kinda selfish, doesn’t it? I mean, we’ve been taught that the ultimate in love is self sacrifice, right? Why do these airlines tell us to save ourselves first?!? There’s a practical reason they instruct you to do this. Think about it. How can you help someone when you’re unconscious or struggling for breath?

Love is similar to that air mask. You can’t fully love another unless you love yourself FIRST. Strap that air mask on good and tight, and you can love an endless amount. If you don’t love yourself first, you have no love to give. If you truly put yourself first in love, nurture yourself, honor what you want, and make YOUR happiness the number one priority, you are better equipped to love others. Love deeper. We love others to the degree we love ourselves.

And as I've said, part of loving one’s self is accepting (being okay with) who we are. Consequently, we love to the degree we’re happy. While we are unhappy and attending to our fears, we are not loving. The self is always crying out for acceptance. When we deny ourselves that acceptance, life gets twisted. Our attention gets sucked into a void inside ourselves, leaving nothing left to give to another.

What Is Happiness?

Happiness and unhappiness are opposite sides of a judgement about your situation. If you judge your situation as bad for you, that's unhappiness. If you judge a situation as good for you, that's happiness.

The experience of happiness is one of those general terms we use to say, "I feel good emotionally." People use different terms to describe what feels good for them. For someone it might be excitement, passion, exhilaration, fulfillment, freedom, feeling fully alive with inspiration and joy. For another it might be more peaceful, content, capable, hopeful, satisfied, and comfortable feeling. Whatever you call it, it just feels darn good.

Our natural state of being is to be happy. When you remove all the uncomfortable emotions we humans can experience (and they are numerous), you're left with happiness. So it's easiest to define happiness by what it is not.

Happiness is what you feel when you're NOT feeling....

self doubt
depressed
hateful
fearful
worried
unsatisfied
bored
grief
shame
guilt
discontent
anxious
annoyed
angry
irritated
stressed
frustrated
upset
down
sad
envious
or
jealous.

Whew! That’s a long list!

Pleasure vs. Happiness

Happiness is not pleasure although they can appear similar. Pleasure is enjoyment of an outside stimuli. You might find pleasure in buying a new car, or in going on vacation, or having friends over for dinner, or having sex, or....the list is long on what you might enjoy experiencing. Pleasure requires an external stimuli for you to experience it. Happiness does not. Happiness is a belief about yourself and the outside world. You can be doing something you normally experience as pleasurable but not be happy! Pleasure is born from the external world, happiness is born from the internal workings of our own minds.

Does Guilt Work?

One day I was feeling particularly miserable and guilty about not working hard enough. I was so sick of feeling guilty I just wanted the feeling to go away.

It was in the summer of 1996 that I decided to put guilt to the test. I wanted to completely understand guilt. Why I felt it, why these feelings were encouraged by others, and what effect it was having on my life.

I do some of my best thinking when surrounded by nature so I put on my sneakers and went for a long walk. A 5 mile walk to be specific. I decided the best way to look at my guilt was to examine specific incidences where I felt guilty. As I made the turn down the street onto the gravel path, I went back to my earliest memory of guilt.

I chuckled as I remembered an early memory. I had gone outside in my bunny slippers when my mother had told me specifically not to. I remembered feeling "What kind of person was I to disobey? There must be something wrong with me. I must be a bad person." I didn't know it at the time, but I thought if I could feel bad enough, maybe it would make me act "right."

In college, I had an 8am Art History class across campus. I wasn't a morning person, the classes were in a dark room, and didn't feel like walking that far. After a month or so into the semester I started missing some classes. I felt guilty every time. I thought about how I was wasting my parent's money, how I was not disciplined enough, how if I was a "good" student, I would MAKE myself go. Consequently, I felt bad every time I skipped Art History.

So I thought of those experiences and every specific example I could remember from age seven on. The examples were numerous. After each example, I asked the following questions.

1) Why did I feel guilty in that situation?
2) What did I hope to accomplish by feeling guilty?
and
3) Did feeling guilty help me accomplish what I wanted?

As I went down the list, the answers surprised me. The reason I felt guilt in ALL the situations could be narrowed down into three categories.

To get myself to behave differently.

I thought that's what I good people were suppose to feel.

To show others that I was a caring person.

The most popular reason was to try and get myself to do something I thought I "should" be doing, or stop myself from doing something I didn't think I "should" be doing.. Now here's the clincher.

Did Guilt Change Me?
The answer was a resounding, NO. In all the cases I could remember, guilt hadn't motivated me to ever make any lasting changes in how I thought or behaved. In some cases I had changed in the short-term, but in all the examples I could think of, I inevitably went back to the behavior I was trying to stop. This made me ask, then why use guilt if it doesn't work? The only times I stopped behaviors was when I simply didn't want to do them anymore or changed my thoughts/beliefs about the situation..

Did I Have To Feel Guilt?
Was there some requirement that necessitated me feeling guilty? I couldn't think of one valid reason to feel guilt if it didn't work! If it wasn't functioning as a tool for change, then why use it? Why feel miserable if it serves no purpose?

Did Guilt Show My Caring To Others?
Unfortunately, sometimes yes. We belong to a culture that believes guilty feelings are a sign of a caring and thoughtful person. But most of the time it was difficult knowing what others were thinking. Most times they could care less what I was feeling. The ones who wanted to try and manipulate me to do what they wanted, liked the fact that I felt guilt. The ones who loved me, and wanted me to be happy tried to reassure me that there was no reason to feel bad. I decided I didn't want to spend time with people that supported me feeling guilty.

Take Your Own Walk
Don't trust my answers for your life. Take your own walk and examine your experiences. Put your guilt through the wringer. See what answers you find using the same questions I did. Look at the long-term results. The answers you reveal will have a profound effect on how you view guilt. And I suspect, like me, you'll discover just how useless the emotion of guilt really is.

Is Love Painful?

Who hasn't experienced the pain of love? Or is it the pain of rejection? The pain of self doubt? The pain of fear? It's important to distinguish between love and totally separate feelings.

When it comes to pain surrounding love, we're more likely referring to the “add-ons” of love. The love baggage, we might call it. For some reason, many people assume negative emotions are a part or element of love. But experientially we know this isn't true.

Love is not painful, it feels incredible. The pain and hurt we feel doesn’t come from love, it comes from our doubts, fears, anxiety, perceived rejections, broken trusts, anger, jealousy, envy, etc. So why do we as a culture lump all those other feelings in with love?

Perhaps its because we feel these uncomfortable emotions most often in association with our love relationships. Our primary relationships are important to us, so we assume these doubts and fears are all part of the loving experience. But is this really true?

When we are fearful, angry, anxious, unhappy, or jealous, are we truly experiencing a state of love? They sure feel different, don't they? Love feels warm, open, joyous and filled with a deep sense of appreciation. Pain steps into a love relationship when you switch it from a "wanted relationship," into a "needed relationship." You don't NEED any one relationship. Want? Yes. Need? No.

If you go into a relationship not feeling terribly good about yourself, you're more likely to become dependent on your partner to help you feel good about yourself. If we felt empty before they appeared in our lives, we fear the emptiness returning if they leave, so their staying with us becomes paramount. That dependency can create all kinds of fear and unhappiness when there's a perceived threat to you staying together.

If we aren’t giving ourselves the acceptance we crave, we look to those around us to provide it for us. Again, none of this has a thing to do with the love you feel, but everything to do with the fear you feel.

If you really want to remove the love baggage of fear and unhappiness, the first step is to improve your self awareness and self acceptance.

Affection

• In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.

• Most people would rather give than get affection.

• The affections are like lightning: you cannot tell where they will strike till they have fallen.

• wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art.

• Every gift, though it be small, is in reality great if given with affection.

• We may not return the affection of those who like us, but we always respect their good judgment.

• The hardest of all is learning to be a well of affection, and not a fountain; to show them we love them not when we feel like it, but when they do

• You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

• A slight touch of friendly malice and amusement towards those we love keeps our affections for them from turning flat.

• Caresses, expressions of one sort or another, are necessary to the life of the affections as leaves are to the life of a tree. If they are wholly restrained, love will die at the roots.

• Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted.

Acceptance

• The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.

• One must not attempt to justify them, but rather to sense their nature simply and clearly.

• Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

• The strongest and most effective force in guaranteeing the long term maintenance of power is not violence in all the forms deployed by the dominant to control the dominated, but consent in all the forms in which the dominated acquiesce in their own domination.

• We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.

• The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

• Accept everything about yourself I mean everything, you are you and that is the beginning and the end no apologies, no regrets.

• Happiness can exist only in acceptance.

• Some people swallow the universe like a pill, they travel on through the world, like smiling images pushed from behind.

• We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.

• I wish they would only take me as I am.

• The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

• The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

Abuse

• One may be continually abusive without saying any thing just, but one cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty.

• Whipping and abuse are like laudanum, you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.

• An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

• I do not waste my time in answering abuse, I thrive under it like a field that benefits from manure.

• We like so much to hear people talk of us and of our motives, that we are charmed even when they abuse us.

Touched By An Angel

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

I am Much Too Alone in this World

I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone
enough
to truly consecrate the hour.
I am much too small in this world, yet not small
enough
to be to you just object and thing,
dark and smart.
I want my free will and want it accompanying
the path which leads to action;
and want during times that beg questions,
where something is up,
to be among those in the know,
or else be alone.I want to mirror your image to its fullest perfection,
never be blind or too old
to uphold your weighty wavering reflection.
I want to unfold.
Nowhere I wish to stay crooked, bent;
for there I would be dishonest, untrue.
I want my conscience to be
true before you;
want to describe myself like a picture I observed
for a long time, one close up,
like a new word I learned and embraced,
like the everday jug,
like my mother's face,
like a ship that carried me along
through the deadliest storm.

Were it not for
the excess of your talking
and the turmoil in your hearts,
you would see what I see
and hear what I hear!

When My Beloved Appears

When my Beloved appears,
With what eye do I see Him?

With His eye, not with mine,
For none sees Him except Himself.

Reason says love says

Reason says, "I will beguile him with the tongue;"
Love says, "Be silent. I will beguile him with the soul."
The soul says to the heart, "Go, do not laugh at me and yourself.

What is there that is not his, that I may beguile him thereby?"

He is not sorrowful and anxious and seeking oblivion
that I may beguile him with wine and a heavy measure.
The arrow of his glance needs not a bow that I should
beguile the shaft of his gaze with a bow.

He is not prisoner of the world, fettered to this world
of earth, that I should beguile him with gold of the kingdom of the world.
He is an angel, though in form he is a man; he is not
lustful that I should beguile him with women.

Angels start away from the house wherein this form
is, so how should I beguile him with such a form and likeness?
He does not take a flock of horses, since he flies on wings;
his food is light, so how should I beguile him with bread?

He is not a merchant and trafficker in the market of the
world that I should beguile him with enchantment of gain and loss.
He is not veiled that I should make myself out sick and
utter sighs, to beguile him with lamentation.

I will bind my head and bow my head, for I have got out
of hand; I will not beguile his compassion with sickness or fluttering.
Hair by hair he sees my crookedness and feigning; what's
hidden from him that I should beguile him with anything hidden.

He is not a seeker of fame, a prince addicted to poets,
that I should beguile him with verses and lyrics and flowing poetry.
The glory of the unseen form is too great for me to
beguile it with blessing or Paradise.

This is to Love

This is love: to fly to heaven, every moment to rend a hundred veils;
At first instance, to break away from breath --
first step, to renounce feet;
To disregard this world, to see only that which you yourself have seen I said, "Heart, congratulations on entering the circle of lovers,
"On gazing beyond the range of the eye,
on running into the alley of the breasts."
Whence came this breath, O heart?
Whence came this throbbing, O heart?
Bird, speak the tongue of birds: I can heed your cipher!
The heart said, "I was in the factory whilst the home of water and clay was abaking.
"I was flying from the workshop whilst the workshop was being created.
"When I could no more resist, they dragged me; how shall I
tell the manner of that dragging?"

Ghazal

You who are not kept anxiously awake for love's sake, sleep on.
In restless search for that river, we hurry along;
you whose heart such anxiety has not disturbed, sleep on.
Love's place is out beyond the many separate sects;
since you love choosing and excluding, sleep on.
Love's dawn cup is our sunrise, his dusk our supper;
you whose longing is for sweets and whose passion is for supper, sleep on.
In search of the philosopher's stone, we are melting like copper;
you whose philosopher's stone is cushion and pillow, sleep on.
I have abandoned hope for my brain and head; you who wish for
a clear head and fresh brain, sleep on.
I have torn speech like a tattered robe and let words go;
you who are still dressed in your clothes, sleep on.

Ghazal

I don't need

a companion who is

nasty sad and sour

the one who is

like a grave

dark depressing and bitter

a sweetheart is a mirror

a friend a delicious cake

it isn't worth spending

an hour with anyone else

a companion who is

in love only with the self

has five distinct characters

stone hearted

unsure of every step

lazy and disinterested

keeping a poisonous face

the more this companion waits around

the more bitter everything will get

just like a vinegar

getting more sour with time

enough is said about

sour and bitter faces

a heart filled with desire for

sweetness and tender souls

must not waste itself with unsavory matters

I Was Dead

i was dead
i came alive
i was tears
i became laughter

all because of love
when it arrived
my temporal life
from then on
changed to eternal

love said to me
you are not
crazy enough
you don't
fit this house

i went and
became crazy
crazy enough
to be in chains

love said
you are not
intoxicated enough
you don't
fit the group

i went and
got drunk
drunk enough
to overflow
with light-headedness

love said
you are still
too clever
filled with
imagination and skepticism

i went and
became gullible
and in fright
pulled away
from it all

love said
you are a candle
attracting everyone
gathering every one
around you

i am no more
a candle spreading light
i gather no more crowds
and like smoke
i am all scattered now

love said
you are a teacher
you are a head
and for everyone
you are a leader

i am no more
not a teacher
not a leader
just a servant
to your wishes

love said
you already have
your own wings
i will not give you
more feathers

and then my heart
pulled itself apart
and filled to the brim
with a new light
overflowed with fresh life

now even the heavens
are thankful that
because of love
i have become
the giver of light

There Is A Candle In Your Heart

There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?
You feel the separation
from the Beloved.
Invite Him to fill you up,
embrace the fire.
Remind those who tell you otherwise that
Love
comes to you of its own accord,
and the yearning for it
cannot be learned in any school.

I Am Part Of The Load

I am part of the load
Not rightly balanced
I drop off in the grass,
like the old Cave-sleepers, to browse
wherever I fall.

For hundreds of thousands of years I have been dust-grains
floating and flying in the will of the air,
often forgetting ever being
in that state, but in sleep
I migrate back. I spring loose
from the four-branched, time -and-space cross,
this waiting room.

I walk into a huge pasture
I nurse the milk of millennia

Everyone does this in different ways.
Knowing that conscious decisions
and personal memory
are much too small a place to live,
every human being streams at night
into the loving nowhere, or during the day,

in some absorbing work.

Ever The Same Again

Ever the same again,
My lost Truth rediscovered.
Ever the same again.

Ever the same again,
My forgotten Self remembered.
Ever the same again.

Ever the same again,
My lost Goal regained.
Ever the same again.

Never The Same Again

Never the same again,
Lost peace restored.
Never the same again.

Never the same again,
Lost joy regained.
Never the same again.

Never the same again,
Lost power reborn.
Never the same again.

Quotations

As I was walking up the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd go away.

We have met the enemy and they are us!

the high cost of
living isnt so bad if you
dont have to pay for it

Those who gave away their wings are sad not to see them fly.

Clouds, birds, tree tops
The freedom of being on high
Closer to the sun
Further from the slum,
But farther to fall when they die.

I believe if I should die, and you were to walk near my grave, from the very depths of the earth I would hear your footsteps.

You are sad because they abandon you and you have not fallen.

My great day came and went, I do not know how. Because it did not pass through dawn when it came, nor through dusk when it went.

The only interesting answers are those which destroy the questions.

Within your lifetime will, perhaps,
As souvenirs from distant suns
Be carried back to earth some maps
Of planets and you'll find that one's
So hard to color that you've got
To use five crayons. Maybe, not.

No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.

The Great Way has no gate.
Clear water has no taste.
The tongue has no bone.
In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.

Alas! must it ever be so?
Do we stand in our own light, wherever we go,
And fight our own shadows forever?

You purchase pain with all that joy can give, and die of nothing but a rage to live.

We dance round in a ring and suppose,
But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

My whole life is waiting for the questions to which I have prepared answers.

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all life really means.

Now that it's all over, what did you really do yesterday that's worth mentioning?

Never miss an opportunity to make others happy, even if you have to leave them alone in order to do it.

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.

We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood.

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.

Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.

People cannot go wrong, if you don't let them. They cannot go right, unless you let them.

I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are

Face what you think you believe and you will be surprised.

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice that which we are for what we could become.

Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time.

Decorate yourself from the inside out.

Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts.

When you start treating people like people, they become people.

If you have to do it every day, for God's sake learn to do it well.

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

Quotes on Loneliness

Loneliness

Is
An island
In
The middle
Of
A sea of people

Loneliness is part of being human.
It reminds us that we are not
Complete in ourselves.

People are lonely because they build
Walls instead of bridges.

“We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone.
Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.”

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”

“Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.”

“What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?”

“Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone”

Peace

"Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed
or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually.
Peace, for example, starts within each one of us.
When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us."

Prayer for Peace

Send Thy peace, O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting,
That our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may think, act and speak,
Hamoniously.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may be contented and
Thankful for Thy bountiful gifts.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife we
may enjoy Thy bliss.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may endure all, tolerate all
In the thought of Thy grace and mercy.
Send Thy peace, O lord, that our lives may become a divine
vision, and in Thy light all darkness may vanish.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, our Father and Mother, that we
Thy children on earth may all unite in one family.

Thou Art My Salvation

Thou art my salvation and freedom is mine,
I am not, I melt as a pearl in sweet wine!
My heart, soul, and self, yea, all these are thine;
O Lord I have no more to offer!

I drink of the nectar of truth the divine,
As Moses thy word, as Yusuf they shine
who walk in thy ways; and Christ is thy sign:
Thou raisest to life everlasting!

Thou art as Muhammad to them that repine,
My spirit is purged as the gold from a mine!
I only know that my heart beats with thine,
And joys in boundless freedom!

You Alone exist

You alone exist; I do not, O Beloved!
You alone exist, I do not!
Like the shadow of a house in ruins,
I revolve in my own mind.
If I speak, you speak with me:
If I am silent, you are in my mind.
If I sleep, you sleep with me:
If I walk, you are along my path.
Oh Bulleh, the spouse has come to my house:
My life is a sacrifice unto Him.
You alone exist; I do not, O Beloved!

No Other Thought Exists

Repeating the name of Ranjha

I have become Ranjha myself.

O call me ye all "Dhido-Ranjha,"

let no one call me Heer .

Ranjha is in me, I am in Ranjha,

no other thought exists in my mind.

I am not, He alone is

He alone is amusing himself.

My Eyes Pour Out Tears

He left me, and himself he departed;

What fault was there in me ?

Neither at night nor in the day do I sleep in peace;

My eyes pour out tears !

Sharper than swords and spears are the arrows of love !

There is no one as cruel as love ;

This malady no physician can cure.

There is no peace, not for a moment,

So intense is the pain of separation !

O Bullah, if the Lord were to shower

His grace, My days would radically change !

He left me, and himself he departed.

What fault was there in me ?

I Have been Pierced by the Arrow of Love

I have been pierced by the arrow of love,

what shall I do ?

I can neither live, nor can I die.

Listen ye to my ceaseless outpourings,

I have peace neither by night, nor by day.

I cannot do without my Beloved even for a moment.

I have been pierced by the arrow of love,

what shall I do ?

The fire of separation is unceasing !

Let someone take care of my love.

How can I be saved without seeing him?

I have been pierced by the arrow of love,

what shall I do ?

" Bullah has fallen in love with the Lord.
He has given his life and body as earnest.
His Lord and Master is Shah Inayat
who has captivated his heart."

Bulleh Shah

" Alif -He who meditates on Allah
His face is pale, his eyes bloodshot.
He who suffers pangs of separation,
No longer he longs his life ~ last.
Say -Soulful is my love for you,
Whom shall I go and tell?
In the swelling waters of a river at midnight
A wailing swallow fell. "

The World is Never Far From Him

He who is perfect in the Path of Faith

Will never be deceived by Adam’s clay:

He will always see the Light in Adam –

Its brilliance will not remain a secret.

In stone, wood, straw, or mountain

He will at all times see nothing but God.

Didn’t Bayazid himself see God in all things?

He saw the Face of God in the tiniest leaf.

The world is never far from Him:

Could its perfume stray far from the rosegarden?

He who is deprived of the sense of smell

Cannot distinguish fragrances

Just as the stream-bed isn’t conscious

Of the water always flowing through it.

If I revealed any more about these things

The two worlds would disappear

And I would become His enemy

And he would light a fire in my soul and body.

Even if You Lose all you have

Learn the meaning of that secret

That God revealed in the Koran:

Whether He makes you happy or unhappy,

Whether He makes you sad or gives you hope,

Even if you lose all you have

Or suffer extremely in the spirit,

Be patient: a hundred divine graces

Are coming from His hand to you.

He who endures patiently the pain

That is sent from God

Will, it is certain, obtain

The strength and truth of faith.

Marvelous news is sent to the patient;

They will win a great joy.

You must be able to perceive grace

Even when His divine anger lashes you,

And think of Him always with serenity,

And always, whatever happens, cling to Him

With all you heart and all your soul.

Taare Zameen Par

Taare Zameen Par, the much awaited film of the year, has been released. And the reviews are about average! Though the first half keeps you on the edge, the film starts to lose steam somewhere around the middle. The entire movie revolves around the life of a child, Ishaan (Darsheel Safary), who is shown to be suffering from dyslexia. Through Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan tries to make us see the world, as it looks from the eyes of a child, who is a bit different from the other kids of his age.

The entry of Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) is just before the interval. However, the drama that surrounds the entry clashes with the theme of the movie, which had a much more realistic look till then. Though Aamir Khan has tried to move away from the masala entertainment that has become a symbol of Bollywood, he hasn’t been able to do away with it completely. The whole concept of Taare Zameen Par is quite good, but the Indian audience has to make an effort to completely understand what it is all about.

The ending of the movie doesn’t take you by surprise. Infact, it becomes quite predictable in the second half itself. Nonetheless, one has to appreciate the efforts Aamir Khan has put in for making a film that goes totally against the current tide of comedies and thrillers, gripping the Indian audience. On top of that, he is not playing the central character. This is what is more interesting about the film. Unlike majority of the films of this genre, Taare Zameen Partotallyfocuses on the child, it is all about.

As far as performances are concerned, Darsheel Safary definitely deserves applauds. He does complete justice to his character of a dyslexic child and gives us no reason to complain. He manages to convince the audience completely and is like the show stealer. Aamir Khan does not have a dominant role in the film and limits himself to few shots only. And, as usual, he manages to sweep the audience off their feet. Infact, none of the actors in the film look out of place and all of them completely merge with their characters.

Taare Zameen Par has failed to completely explore the beauty of a teacher-student relationship. Both the artists share a very good chemistry and do make an impact on the audience through their onscreen relationship, but the problem is that they have very few scenes together. The animation put in the movie, on various occasions, boast of being some of the best to be seen in Bollywood movies, in the recent times. In short, Taare Zameen Par is a good effort to explore the sensitive issues. If you want to see good performances and are bored of the mushy scenes and exaggerated melodrama, this movie is just for you!

Belief

Forever nameless
Forever unknown
Forever unconceived
Forever unrepresented
yet forever felt in the soul.

Dreams

All people dream, but not equally.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind,
Wake in the morning to find that it was vanity.

But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people,
For they dream their dreams with open eyes,
And make them come true.

Love

Are you fleeing from Love because of a single humiliation?

What do you know of Love except the name?

Love has a hundred forms of pride and disdain,
and is gained by a hundred means of persuasion.

Since Love is loyal, it purchases one who is loyal:
it has no interest in a disloyal companion.

The human being resembles a tree; its root is a covenant with God:
that root must be cherished with all one's might.

A weak covenant is a rotten root, without grace or fruit.
Though the boughs and leaves of the date palm are green,
greenness brings no benefit if the root is corrupt.

If a branch is without green leaves, yet has a good root,
a hundred leaves will put forth their hands in the end.

When the Rose is gone

When the rose is gone and the garden faded
you will no longer hear the nightingale's song.
The Beloved is all; the lover just a veil.

The Beloved is living; the lover a dead thing.

If love withholds its strengthening care,
the lover is left like a bird without care,
the lover is left like a bird without wings.

How will I be awake and aware
if the light of the Beloved is absent?
Love wills that this Word be brought forth

The Meaning of Love

Both light and shadow
are the dance of Love.

Love has no cause;
it is the astrolabe of God's secrets.

Lover and Loving are inseparable
and timeless.

Although I may try to describe Love
when I experience it I am speechless.

Although I may try to write about Love
I am rendered helpless;
my pen breaks and the paper slips away
at the ineffable place
where Lover, Loving and Loved are one.

Every moment is made glorious
by the light of Love.

Past

We all have a ‘past’ some of the memories are
very happy and positive but other memories may not always be so happy.

In fact, they may have been downright traumatic.

However, one thing to always remember is that we cannot change the past,
all we can do is change our perception/attitude.

Let Go

We all have a ‘past’ some of the memories are very happy
and positive but other memories may not always be so happy.
In fact, they may have been downright traumatic.
However, one thing to always remember is that we cannot change the past,
all we can do is change our perception/attitude

After Many Days

I wonder if with you, as it is with me,
if under your slipping words, that easily flow
About you as a garment, easily,
Your violent heart beats to and fro!

Long have I waited, never once confessed,
Even to myself, how bitter the separation;
Now, being come again, how make the best
Reparation?

If I could cast this clothing off from me,
If I could lift my naked self to you,
Of if only you would repulse me, a wound would be
Good; it would let the ache come through.

But that you hold me still so kindly cold
Aloof my floating heart will not allow;
Yea, but I loathe you that you should withhold
Your pleasure now.

Don’t Gamble With Your Life

Many people gamble with their lives. By that I mean that they don’t plan a single thing. They just cruise along allowing life to push them in whatever direction it fancies. Now this may not seem too bad, if you don’t mind being pushed into situations which may or may not be to your liking. However, it is far better to have a life plan. That way you KNOW precisely what you want, where you are going and how you are going to get there.

Just think for a moment, you wouldn’t start a long journey to an unknown destination, without first planning your trip. You’d study your journey first, plan it out, book your accommodation and do all that was necessary to ensure that your trip was highly enjoyable.

So, why then would you gamble with the biggest trip of all YOUR LIFE!.

By not having a plan, you are allowing the winds of fortune to blow you every which way and you can bet that often those winds will not be gentle breezes but massive hurricane force winds. And we all know just how destructive hurricane force winds can be.

But I can hear some of you gasp a little. Does this mean every single moment of my life has to be planned to an inch?. No, not at all. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not regimented that is for sure and as an Aquarian I can say with complete clarity and honesty that I just love spontaneity and dislike regimentation. Just ask any Aquarian friends if they like being regimented if you don’t believe me:).

However, we all do need a life plan. We need to discover our own passion. By doing that we are guaranteed to stay on course. For by discovering what our passion in life is and then making a plan to follow that passion, we can develop a business which we will not only love but which will definitely be highly profitable.

All successful millionaires discover that passion within themselves. What that field is is irrelevant, it maybe internet-marketing, sports, writing or any one of a thousand things but that passion is what keeps them motivated and on track.

By discovering your passion, you will not be a slave to fortune. Your life will have direction and therefore you will, instead of being blown around by the winds of chance, have a fully fulfilled lifestyle.

So, don’t gamble with your life. Discover your passion. Make your plan and allow the Universe to work for you in achieving abundance in all areas of your life.

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