Saturday, September 30, 2023

Surreal September












Surreal September

Aah, September…I love this month (for those who aren’t aware, it is my birthday month)! Even now, come September, I’m as thrilled just as I used to be when I was younger. My enthusiasm hasn’t ebbed a bit! Though, growing older, my excitement is attached with a lot of gratitude :-)

Balance – a word that I intentionally include in my thoughts, feelings and actions with myself and everyone around me.

Energies and vibes are words and themes that I have mindfully included in my life, and I consciously strive to work towards the right ones!

September this year has been a fantastic, different, positive, and surreal month for me and how!

There was a beautiful blend of family, friends, and community throughout the entire month. There was also an idyllic balance of fun, partying, crazy long hours of dancing to good music, soulful conversations, along with traditions, rituals, and spirituality – back-to-back, in parallel – and a seamless amalgamation of all of them!

It started with a lot of birthday celebrations – before, during and post the date - with my life P, my girls, family, fabulous old friends, amazing new friends and my soul-shares, D and J.

We also decided to get Lord Ganesha (Ganpati Bappa) in our home this year, for the very first time! It all started with some conversations about energies, and what Bappa stands for and means to us and what having him in our home would bring in our lives.

Folks who know me, know that I seldom get involved in creative activities. This year, with the help of D, I went to the local markets to choose decorative items and spent long hours to design the backdrops and platforms for the Ganesha idol. I glue-gunned my way into a new world of inspiration.

This was a first for me! However clueless or overwhelmed I may have felt during the process, I thoroughly loved every bit of learning, trying, and doing new creative bits for making Bappa’s home on my own.

During this week of Ganpati Chaturthi celebrations, participating in community activities, in parallel, involved a lot of preparations and rehearsals. I even took part in dance performances during the cultural events as I love dancing. I must admit though, that all my passion for dance slipped right through my toes, after seeing the audience. Even though it went well without us missing any step or sequence, the actual dance performance was hilariously intimidating for me, especially since I was performing in front of an audience after 15 odd years.

P and I also did a Satyanarayan puja at home, on the day of the “Visarjan” (immersion of the idol). Again, a first for me! I have never really initiated anything overly religious on my own and everyone knows that I always lean towards the spiritual aspect of things a little more. I’ve had close friends and family ask me in jest, if I was doing fine or feeling older – they couldn’t understand this “new” me or maybe their own perception about me.

For the puja, I knew I didn’t want to miss any rituals or traditions as I wanted to go by the book. But I knew clearly that our intent was pure, and we were doing it with the right spiritual energies of positivity, peace and gratitude.

The feeling of sitting during the puja is quite indescribable – there was such a strong flow of emotions rushing through my body, mind and heart - overwhelmingly happy, sad, grateful and yet calm and peaceful – all at once. That experience and that moment, so surreal and unreal, yet overpoweringly real and truly my own to cherish!

I even got a chance to take part in a small puja in one of the city’s top Ganesh temples, completely unplanned and a beautiful culmination to the Ganesha festival, for me this year.

As someone very close says, “Jo mann kiya, who karna hi hain!” - but with pure and right intent always!

September, this year, has been all the above and more – fun, exhilaration, positive vibes, learning new things, facing my fears and going through with things new and different, attracting good energies, passion, love, peace and a lot of gratitude.

It has also been about mindfully focusing on myself with patience and kindness, and simply doing what I love to do – whether it is dancing for hours to good music, helping people and community or purely directing my energies towards the right people, positive experiences and joyful memories.

Surreal, happy, newness, crazy, grateful, peaceful, and through all of this – rightly balanced!

A Super September it has been!

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Do visit my blog, "Being" at https://mindfullyheartful.blogspot.com/ for my other posts.

"Mindfullyheartful" is now a registered trademark owned by Minal Kering.


 

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Surreal September

Surreal September Aah, September…I love this month (for those who aren’t aware, it is my birthday month)! Even now, come September, I’m as...