Sunday, June 28, 2015

Thank you once again!

Another milestone reached today - 7500 views.

This is a blog I started to share the experience of silence and the wealth it brings. I do not know if this blog means anything to anyone else, but to me it is my place of peace. I enjoy reading what I have written before and to compare it to my experience at the present. Often I am surprised at my own writing - not because it is good or bad, but because I am not sure where it came from. I write not with a pre-plan. I feel the urge to write and I simply let my thoughts express themselves through my fingers rather than with my tongue. :) I am a writer, not a talker.

Silence has brought me joy and an awareness of myself, my environment, other people, different perspectives and a deeper understanding of life in general. In silence I am not running the rat race, rather I am watching it and learning how to be and how not to be. Over time I can see that it is not circumstances that change my viewpoint or decision - it is the awareness of who I am that directs me. I may do or say something that is out of character but if in retrospect I see that, it is not difficult to correct myself and get back on track again. I have learned to value my emotions and feelings and direct them to improving myself as a person. Each day I ensure that I live by the edict of being kind rather than right. I respect myself and others and if push comes to shove I always stand by the underdog. Sometimes life decisions may be good for many but bad for one and such decisions have to be made, but even those can be made with empathy.

I have one hole in my life and it comes from a very personal spot that I am unable to share publicly - simply because it would be hurtful to others. Only my soul mates - and I have a handful of them - are aware of it and help to fill that gap with love and understanding and it is because of silence that I was able to identify and deal with it.

This blog is definitely my place of peace. Thank you for visiting and I would love for you to comment on my writing, share your views, your stories, your thoughts. 

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Gratitude

"Thank you for the world so sweet;
Thank you for the food we eat;
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you God for everything."

That was a prayer we said at lunch when I was in school.

Saying 'Please,' 'Thank you,' 'My pleasure,' 'Sorry,' were taught as 'good manners,' then. That was the ABC of the words. As I grew older I recognized that these are more than good manners. They are what opens the window to knowing oneself. Gratitude, empathy, humility, grace, and more are what the words relay.

Lessons we are taught as children often stay at the 'kindergarten level' with many of us. In reality everything we learn as children need to be re-learned as we grow older so we get age appropriate lessons.

I was taught to pray before exams and so I did. I even believed that all that was really needed was to pray and all would go well at the exams. In my innocent mind studying was secondary. I read, wrote and did math because I liked to. The exams I passed because I prayed. If I did not fare well, it was because I had not prayed hard enough. Very soon though, I came out of that reverie. For many years I prayed knowing fully well that it was just to be a 'good girl,' in the eyes of others. Prayers had little meaning for me. I even went through spiritual initiation to find out 'what it was all about.' I chanted and said prayers, read holy books, all with the intent to know more, never quite able to figure it out till years later.

It is the same with every life lesson I get. There is something much deeper than the superficial 'event' that I go through. Every event is a lesson that teaches me about myself. My spiritual journey - the path that takes me towards my inner being. I do not know what that inner being is. All I know is that I experience 'aha' moments multiple times in a day - if I keep myself open to the experiences. Some days, though, I live life moment to moment by rote and only recognize lessons in retrospect.

Gratitude is a lesson I learn and draw from every day. Being grateful keeps me joyful, satisfied, in abundance, and wanting to share the abundance. I thank people all the time, not because it is good manners, but because I am grateful for the grace that makes my life as beautiful as it is.

A prayer taught in school that simply heralded the lunch break, now means so much more. Thank you, for everything. :)

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Impatience

Impatience can bring stress and negative results. I got a glimpse of that this week.

A customer was very upset and disappointed with one of our service reps and wanted to cancel doing business with us. Someone who has been a client for over 5 years now. To me that was an indication of poor customer service and I took it upon myself to successfully bring the customer back. 

His service was to be restored yesterday. I kept an eye on it and was fully cognizant of the fact that the work would be completed yesterday, but did not have a definite time line. The customer called me over 10 times during the day, wanting me to give him a time line and every time I told him it would happen - he just needed to give it a chance. Eventually around 4:00 PM he called very upset and said, "Cancel the order!" At that point I decided it was simply not worth trying to reason with someone who was not willing to understand that when we have to depend on others to get a job done it requires us to give up control. I did not cancel the order as I wanted to see when the job would be completed. Sure enough about 20 minutes after his call the service had been restored. I called the customer simply to tell him that he could use the service till he got new service and that we would not charge him till such time - a few days. He refused to hear me out and said, "I already have new service." I was more than taken aback. How could he already have acquired new service? But I still asked, "Then I can go ahead and cancel as per your request, right!" 

His response, "Yes go ahead and cancel," still quite rude and short.

So I canceled the service.

15 minutes later he calls, "I don't have the service anymore?"

"The new service?" I asked.

"Yes, what did you do?" he says.

"You would have to ask your new service provider that," I said. "I canceled your service with us as you requested."

"No, I asked you to cancel the order, not the service," he shouts back.

Huh? 

Too late! 

Now if he wants our service it will take another 5 to 7 business days! What an absolute waste of time and energy. Patience and the willingness to depend on those who do the work, would have meant he and his family would be surfing the net today. :(

I guess the real reason he was canceling was not poor customer service after all. :)

46 years ago - today.

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