Mind Tales

Loneliness, most of us might have felt alone during some part of our life. We might have even wondered why we feel alone even when we are surrounded by family and friends. It has been identified that the generation aged from 16 years to 25 years are suffering more from loneliness. What is loneliness? Simply defined, loneliness is an unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation. Some people might say that it's the lack of friends or rather the company around you. A person might feel alone due to various reasons. One reason might be the lack of stable relationships. Some of us have the experience of having friends who have been present in our life since childhood while some of us find it difficult to maintain stable relationships with friends. It's mostly because of the quality of the people we associate and the lack of understanding they have about us. In friendship it is normal to be felt understood and respected. There are many occasions where I felt alone because I fe...

My meditation journey started six years ago. Back then I meditated on and off without any guidance. Looking at some of the Meditation videos on YouTube, I would sit in one place, close my eyes, and try to focus on my breath. About two minutes into the meditation, the first thought pops up. It would be something related to work or home. Now they say in meditation when you get a thought to acknowledge it, leave it aside and again focus on your breath. Well this never happened those days. Most of us haven't developed our minds to be that calm. Leaving aside my focus on the breath, I would wander in my imagination. This is when Meditation becomes daydreaming.  Ten minutes out and I start to realize that I am daydreaming. I fix myself again and start focusing on my breath. Five minutes go by and I feel my head nodding backward. I have fallen asleep. This continues for months. At some point I gave up and stopped.  Years went by and 2020 came. I thought I'll start my meditation journ...

We meet different people in life, and some of these people tend to make our life difficult. We might meet them at work, in classes or they could be our friends and family. We are not going to escape these difficult people, they are a part of our life. The only thing we can do is to learn how to live with them. Accepting that difficult people are a part of our life will be the first step in learning to live with them. Most of the time, it's not the person who is difficult, it's just that, they make life difficult. Usually each of these people who we label as difficult has their own story as to why they are like that. Mostly they are unaware that they are difficult to work with or to associate.   Before we go into a discussion of this topic, I want you to do one exercise. Try to think of a person who has been making your life difficult, now take a piece of paper and divide it into two, write good in one corner and bad in the other corner. First start writing all the good things ...

I stepped out of home at 7.00 AM today, which is to go to work. I was driving and I looked around to see how people looked. Everybody was wearing face masks and some were even wearing gloves. Everybody looked very concerned and I believe that it's fair enough. Traffic was very low, I didn't even see one bus traveling in my rout. Things have changed a lot. People are being very careful.  My phone started ringing, and it was a member of my staff, he said: " Ma'am the train has already left". His train was at 7.39 AM and he was at the station on time but the train has left early. So it's one staff down. I think to myself, that's ok we can manage. Then five minutes later I get another call. It's another staff, this one traveling by bus. She says "Miss I have been waiting at the bus halt since 6.30 AM but no bus. Now I am a bit annoyed, they say we can bring 1/3 of the staff to work but there is no way for them to come to work. I think, it's ok I c...

The way our eyes met on and off on and off  Mid-September at a coffee shop  The hesitation in your eyes  Gave me the answer I was looking for  We talked and talked and talked some more  Until our hearts met and the sparks went off  I knew it’s real, the feeling in my veins  The feeling in my bones and my breath    I don’t know what love is  But I think it might be you....  Cos it’s my heart and my heart skipped a beat  When I met you  I was looking for a reason to stay  When there were millions of reasons to walk away  Hold on, give time, stay  My mind kept playing again and again  No need to touched to be felt, no need to speak to be understood  It was a love like never before  and a love I will never let go   I don’t know what love is  But I think it might be you....  Cos it’s my heart and my heart skipped a beat  When I met you

May 10 of every year is known as Mothers' Day. I don't know why Mothers' Day is just one day. Mothers should be celebrated every day. We might not notice, but they are a unique set of individuals with superhero skills. They would shower us with unconditional love, and we wouldn't even notice it. They would cry behind closed doors, and we wouldn't even know. They would get sick but we will still get our meal on time. They will be tired but our clothes will be washed and the house will be cleaned. Here we are trying to compare yourselves to our mothers and its starting to look like a joke. How can we compare ourselves to a goddess?  Only my mother and I know about the things she had to go through because of me. It took me a long time to realize that all those things she did, she did to protect me. She was a working mother, I saw her waking up every morning at 4.30 AM to cook. She always listens to the radio while cooking and we would wake up just as the obituary notic...

Breaking out of recurring patterns We all follow a pattern in life. Most of the things we do has a pattern and it keeps repeating itself. The friends we have, the relationships we get into, our education, our jobs, and the people we associate comes according to a pattern which we have followed throughout our lives.  When I talk about friends who has walked in and out of my life, I have realized that most of them came because I was useful to them in some ways. They might not have realized it then and even now they might not know. When the need was fulfilled, they automatically leave. I do not say it’s their fault, they didn't even know, but somewhere along the way I must have had a sign that these people are actually using me, and I must have totally ignored that sign. Therefor I would say it is my fault. These types of people follow a pattern. They could be strangers at first, then you get to talking and become friendly. Then you start opening to them, your become all e...

Mid March Sri Lanka entered into Social Distancing due to the outbreak of COVID 19. We were all forced to stay home, work from home and not step out from home. We were asked to maintain social distancing, social distancing is just a fancy word for self quarantine. This mean, no coffee shop visits with the person who you secretly love, no McDonalds to fix your mood, no classes on Sundays, no coming home late and no getting up early and going to work. We were living in a defined box even though most of us didn't realize it. Now the box is no more, and we all feel a bit lost. This period of time made us realize a lot of things. Some of us learned how hard it is to live with your loved ones and some of us, like me, learned how much we love and missed spending time with our loved ones. Most of my married friends has problems living with their husbands or wives. Most of my unmarried friends felt trapped at home. My experience was a bit different. I started to learn, unlearn and relea...