what is your gift?

since returning from ladakh more than a week back, i have been down with what wezz and danny (my physicians! :P) call 'a severe infection of the upper respiratory tract'. in other words, a running nose, lots of cough, mild fevers, a pounding headache and tons of phlegm :-)

i havent done much apart from sleeping through all this, however though i did manage to read parts of one of the special editions of Vimukt Shiksha. The issue with personal stories of some people who have chosen to walk paths outside the stifling confines of conformity and narrow notions of 'sucess' , in search of a deeper meaning of life. while shilpa's story has been a perennial favourite , it was marianne's that was very refreshing this time. wish i had read it much earlier. the following is an excerpt that i found very meaningful, esp at this time when am actively looking to chuck the job and search for a more meaningful life.

"Go to where your heart bids you go. Do only what fires you up. Find what you really care about and live a life that shows it. Live with the tingling!

Know that your life is meaningful, and that there is a special reason for you to be here. Find that meaning, and let it transform your life.

Find your gift. What is your gift? Give it to the world. Express it. Sing it! Sing it loud and clear. Go only where you can exercise your gift.

Choose who you want to be. Where are you going to draw the line? Draw it! And don’t cross it.

Simple and yet incredibly tough.

Find a friend, find many, who will support your crazy explorations, who are there to tell you that you are not insane, who are there to tell you how great you are even as you go against the ideas and expectations of the entire world.

And when the going gets really tough, take time for silence and connection to the vaster space inside and around you. Go for a walk in nature, meditate, go for a run, take a hot tub bath. Whatever it is that you do to wind down. Don’t turn on the TV to zone out instead of zoning in.

Come into the moment. Take time to arrive wherever it is you are. At the breakfast table, marvel over the beauty of the food before you, in the board room, what have you gathered here today to do, in groups of friends, at the communion you share.

Live now, with consciousness.

Embrace yourself as the miracle you are. Allow yourself to shine (shine on you crazy diamond!), to laugh and to love. Embrace yourself as the miracle you are.

Today. Not tomorrow. Today. Tomorrow does not exist. It slips into today forever evading us."