Manifestation

For anyone visiting India, whether as a foreign tourist, a traveller from another part of the country or even a local, there is one place that is difficult to avoid—the temple.

Some go to admire the architectural work and skills of the people who built them centuries ago, others to appreciate the remarkable abilities of our ancestors, while some are drawn by religious faith. For others, it may simply be another place to visit and tick off the list.

For me, it is a little bit of all of these.

The last time I visited one such temple in southern India, I had a rather strange realisation.

But before I get to that, let me bring up something else that has become remarkably popular around the world today, particularly among coaches, motivational speakers and self-help gurus.

Manifestation

The basic idea is quite simple: what we repeatedly think about, believe in and consciously work towards can influence what eventually becomes our reality. The concept has found a huge following, with people being encouraged to define what they want, visualise it, believe that it is possible and keep their focus on the desired outcome.

Whether we call it the power of intention, positive thinking or manifestation, there is something compelling about the idea that our thoughts and beliefs can shape the way we live and, in turn, the reality we create.

And that brings me back to the temple.

Sitting there that day, watching people pray, make offerings and being part of this culture myself, I became aware that many devotees are there to ask the Lord for something they deeply want.

I could also see some coming back with their promised offerings, perhaps because their wishes had been realised and they now wanted the Lord to accept them.

No wonder some of these temples have accumulated such enormous wealth from devotees who considered their wishes to have been blessed.

And suddenly I wondered whether we had been practising something remarkably similar for centuries to what the world is catching up with now.

Could our prayers, faith and rituals be another form of manifestation?

Could it be that we got what we asked for simply because we believed we would?

Family And The Godfather

This post responds to a prompt Friday Writings #245: Family

One of the greatest movies of our time is The Godfather, frequently referred to when masters discuss cinematography and direction. For us it is the story, characters, performances and sheer brilliance of the filmmaking.

I wonder if there is another way of looking at The Godfather—through the lens of family life.

The obvious reaction will be: but it is about guns, crime and violence. Can we put those aside and look at the family itself?

The Corleones are remarkably close. They celebrate together, protect one another, respect their elders and have a powerful sense of belonging.

But there is a catch.

Family first—but at what cost?

The strength of the Corleone family comes largely from loyalty. When one member is threatened, the others rally around. Nobody is expected to face a crisis alone.

Every family needs the confidence that someone will stand beside us when things go wrong.

The burden of protection

Michael Corleone's journey shows how one person becomes the protector—the parent carrying the financial burden, the elder sibling looking after everyone, a person the family depends entirely on them.

Responsibility is admirable, but a family is healthier when it is shared.

When loyalty becomes silence

Their world also operates on secrecy and silence. Certain things are not discussed, questioned, and loyalty demands obedience.

Our families are worlds apart from theirs, but during difficult times, some decisions may need to be taken unilaterally, and everyone's views may not be useful.

But silence does not always protect a family. Honest disagreement does.

Love without control

The Corleones genuinely care about one another, which makes the story more interesting. Their bonds are not entirely artificial. There is affection, pride, tradition and belonging.

Yet those same bonds become controlling. Love should give us roots, not chains. A healthy family is one where everyone feels safe enough to be different.

So, what can we learn?

The Godfather gives us an interesting mirror. It shows the immense strength that can come from loyalty, belonging, responsibility and mutual protection. It also shows what happens when those virtues lose their moral boundaries.

Family matters deeply—but so does doing what is right.

The Corleones understood the first part exceptionally well, but they forgot the second.

The Fairy Tale Continues

Written in response to Friday Writings #244: If the Glass Slipper Fits

The Fairy Tale Continues

Our dream world is made of faith, of trust,
Of Beauty and her forever love,
With glimmers rising from the pixie dust,
And happiness being blessed from above.

We wonder if forever happiness lasts,
Cinderella’s slipper continues to fit?
or they must compromise and adjust,
To Goldilocks’ middle as their life knit?

Collect every moment with love and trust,
because they are your ‘forever’ someday;
Have good and fair and what is unjust,
Accept everything that life brings our way.

Stay enchanted and let the years unfold;
For ‘forever’ is created through what we hold.

A Ledger, a Father, a Child

Responding to Friday Writings #243: By the Numbers









We waited for one baby step,
one tooth, one word, and one birthday.
One became two, and two became four,
and soon came the first day of school.

We counted grades, scores, and years,
and counted our failure in each crush.
Then came paychecks, houses, and more,
and we kept counting what came next.

Now it is time to count eighty candles,
having mastered the art of counting.
We counted everything around us,
except the moments we were living.

Now I look back at the ledger,
wondering what I could not count—
the days we missed laughing together,
the hours we could have loved more.

The Power of Perspective: How We See the World Shapes Our Reality

Writing in response to the prompt Friday Writings #242: Perspective

Last Sunday wasn't exactly my day.

My team lost the match. I missed my train. And to make matters worse, I missed a get-together with an old friend I had lost touch with and was really looking forward to meeting.

On my way back, sitting in the train, I noticed the person sitting next to me. He was cheerful, smiling and thoroughly enjoying himself.

We were sitting in the same train, travelling through the same city, on the same Sunday. Yet, somehow, we were experiencing two completely different worlds.

And that got me thinking about perspective.

We like to think we are seeing the world as it is. But are we seeing the world around us—or our interpretation of it?

Two people can stand side by side at exactly the same moment and inhabit completely different universes. One sees an ending; the other sees a beginning. One sees chaos; the other sees possibility.

The same rain can ruin one person's day and make another feel romantic. The same empty road can feel lonely to one person and liberating to another. The same setback can make one person give up while another sees an opportunity to start again.

Two people live through the same day. One finds boredom; the other finds beauty. Same city, same job, same circumstances—and yet, completely different meanings.

Because meaning doesn't simply arrive. We make it. We build it. We breathe it into existence.

Nothing is entirely fixed. Every event is, in some way, a mirror, reflecting the observer as much as the thing being observed.

Perspective does more than colour reality.

In its quiet, relentless way, it creates the reality we experience.

Living the Change

Posted in response to Friday Writings #241: Change

Epigraph

Perhaps the deeper part of living an authentic life is accepting its inherent brokenness. We are constantly told that, given enough time, all pain will heal, and that we should emerge from suffering stronger and better than before. But some pains do not heal—and they do not have to. Grief, betrayal, shame and profound loss may remain permanently etched within us. Acceptance is not resignation; it is learning to live with what cannot be changed, and finding the courage to build a life around it rather than against it. Perhaps that is what it means to thrive: not returning to who we once were, but becoming fully, unmistakably our own.

Living the Change

Some pains may never heal, and that's alright;
losses that leave a silence, we must let them stay.
Grief, shame, the sting of betrayal from the past
may make a home just below the surface.

We love to believe that time will erase each scar,
that healing will return us to who we once were;
every wound must somehow make us stronger,
suffering must teach us how to live better.

We need not aim to erase what once broke,
nor make every wound a source of strength;
for acceptance of scars and grief is not giving up—
it is learning to live with what cannot change.

Keep the Window Open

 

Keep the Window Open

Despair may sneak in with a setback or bad news,
but delight always finds its way in through the smallest openings.
All that is required is acceptance.

Despair does not always knock.

Sometimes it slips in quietly,
holding hands with a setback,
and takes over my world.

It tells me to close the curtains,
to count what is missing in life,
under the pretence that it is wisdom.

But I keep the window open.

For delight to find its way in—
with the scent of fresh bread,
on a raindrop kissing thirsty earth.

In a child's carefree laughter,
or in an old photograph,
bringing back fond memories.

Delight does not ask.

If the sadness has left,
it finds the smallest opening
and slips through.

Despair may be all-dominating,
but delight is soft and sweet,
asking me to give it a chance

by keeping my window open.