The L2 Effect ...Unlimited !

For all the innumerable learnings that I have got from Life , this seemed the apt title for a blog post after a long hiatus . Just the other day as I was sifting through the pages of an inflight magazine, I read something that altered the way I felt about meditation ! “Most of us think about meditation as being complicated and time consuming . Not really ! It is nothing but simply being fully aware of something and concentrating on that – be it the barking of a dog , the sound of a fan or the movement of your breath “

 

This was really simple I thought, as the author went on to say that one must keep the spine and neck straight while we absorb the sights and sounds around us . In my yoga class the next day, I was definitely more relaxed and did not try hard to ward off the avalanche of thoughts that were being hurled at, in my mind. I just let them be and succumbed to the L2 learning of the day !; L2 being Life’s Lessons J

 

Have you ever noticed in the airport, at the security check , the CISF personnel do flash a smile as they beckon you for the frisking process. Yes , it’s nothing but  a routine job for them and a drudgery for those of us  who constantly travel. But the moment even one of them flashes  a broad smile and thanks me  for allowing them to do their job, it makes me feel so much happier ! This might not be a common sight but the fact that even one among them makes an effort to do so , makes all the difference to me, and it teaches me to smile at my customers even if it is through a phone call !

 

Till last December , the date 16^th was to look forward to surprises, gifts , loads of love and blessings , but 2012 Dec altered it completely . The untimely death of my daughter’s close friend in a car accident and the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi on the same date, tainted 16^th Dec ! But soon, it made me realise that on every birth date , there are sad and horrific incidents that are bound to take place and there is no stopping it ! This  L2 learning filled me with a strange sense of calmness difficult to explain. And a couple of weeks later, when my daughter asked me “ Ma , can we celebrate your birthday today ? , I gave her a tight hug and said yes ! That day we just celebrated the feeling of being together , the fact that it was not my birthday didn’t matter at all !

 

Just this morning , I had the good fortune to see a Marathi film “Astu – so be it “ which is a story revolving a father who loses his memory and wanders off . His relationship with his daughter who looks after him is engulfed in many a flux and the film connected with me in more ways than one ! There is a line in the film when the daughter says that the children can serve their parents only till the crematorium …how true ! When they are around, we don’t seem to have much time for them as we are also busy with our own lives ! The biggest L2 learning that I have had is never to multitask specially with regard to your parents ! I used to put my amma on speaker phone at nights and have my chats with her while I went about the chores in the kitchen. Little did I realise that I was not giving her a 100% audience and that she always had to repeat herself the next day to me on the same topic ! How I yearn for those conversations now !

 

I could go on and on but it is true that every episode in my life has left me with a positive L2 effect and here’s hoping to many more chapters which will hopefully make me a better human being !