The Concept of Friendship

All through my life I have loved being with friends and striven to form valuable friendships...The need for friends arises because of the society as well as because we are social beings. For me, it was more about doing things which I could not do alone...Sounds selfish, yes it does. Although I began on a selfish note after a lot of years of striving to form friendships I have come to realize the real meaning of having friends. Friends who are true to you and there for you in your time of need and with whom you can share so much.. Makes your life worth living!
The concept of friendship is very complicated.We meet a lot of people during our lifetime and form friendships with them. Some stay on and some move on. Nevertheless, all of them teach some lesson or the other. They give you the greatest lessons in life...especially with regard to who to trust and who not to trust.

Relationships which make you feel Unloved!

I keep reading Positive Thinking blogs and I feel they always inspire me and have given me valuable insights into my life's struggles. I recently came across a blog by Iyanla Vanzant, "Unloving Situations". It just felt like the Divine was reaching out to me through this blog. 
It made rethink and realize that there are times when we are in the most unhappiest time of our lives and we latch onto people and relationships, who give us nothing in return. We treat them just as emotional anchors. And I am totally guilty of it! 
Its like a vicious circle. You love someone who doesn't love you back the way you want them to and there is someone who loves you like crazy but unfortunately there is zilch attraction between the two of you. How much ever you try, it is very difficult. Love is so tricky! Phew!!
Yet we can still break this vicious circle by getting out of relationships which are unloving, disrespectful, inadequate and do not honor us as human beings and for being part of a relationship. A relationship should make you happy, help you grow as a person and not make you feel sad and inadequate for most of the time. It is not right to let another person walk all over you for the sake of love.Where they are not clear on your role in their life and they keep you on the sidelines and keep you hanging. Love is beautiful and it is the only thing that helps you grow as a human being. Then why should you compromise on this most beautiful thing in your life. It is better to be alone than be with someone who does not value you and does not respect you. Unless and until your heart is in doubt the relationship cannot grow. And if you keep getting the feeling of inadequacy and anxiety fills you up, it is better to move out and than prolong the pain of being in another inadequate relationship. Because it is not possible to make another person happy if you are unhappy in a relationship.
We meet people who really love you but unfortunately it is not possible to love everyone who loves you but yes, we can let them go to find the person who can love them back. Its better to be upfront rather than keep them hanging. 
Neither of the above situations can make us happy. It is not loving to convince yourself that it is okay to stay in a place where you are not loved, honored, and valued the way your heart tells you you deserve to be. 

Love is the greatest healing power of all.

‘’Love is what we were born with.  Fear is what we learned here.’’ Marianne Williamson.

LOVE BEGINS WITH YOU: Your inner voice is where your story of love begins: It is hard to feel worthy of love if someone is criticizing you all the time and especially if that someone is talking in your head.

True love isn’t about being inseparable; it’s about two people being true to each other even when they are separated.

Love and kindness is a way of living.  Where there is love, there is no judgment.  Where there is judgment, there is no love.

Love is the great transformer ,  the greatest medicine to heal the whole world.

Love is something you and I must have.  We must have it because our spirit feeds

upon it.

Love is the greatest healing power of all.

Love fuels passion, hope and desire. It generates creativity giving us purpose and making us feel alive.

 All your love matters and makes a difference.

 Love is accepting others as they are, allow them to be themselves and stop trying to change them.

From  Neale Donald Walsch, in his best-selling series Conversations With God, he shared one of the most profound solutions to any challenge you may ever be faced with. He gives us one of the most powerful 5-word questions you will ever hear. This is a question that you can ask yourself if you ever feel a need to react to someone else's unkind behavior. Here's the question: What would LOVE do now?

You can ask this question the next time you feel challenged to respond or react to someone who, you feel, has wronged you.

You see, love truly is ALL THERE IS. The Beatles sang.

Love is the path of joy. Love is the building block of life. Love takes the form of thoughts, words and deeds. Choosing love is like exercising any muscle. The more it is repeated, the easier it becomes.

Karina Loureiro. 

l'amour est éternel

Love is Eternal........Its Everlasting...! We were all born to love. Love gives immense pain and joy. We all seek it throughout our lives. Its the essence of the soul. Everyone wants it, some are afraid to feel it. Being in love is the greatest feeling on this earth and yet we are saddened when its unrequited. We hurt each other in the name of Love.

Here is a poem by Christopher Setturland

 Love is eternal. Though the body is not, the spirit is willing. Love is eternal. Not just a hug and a kiss, love is a deep ocean for the people we miss. Love is eternal. Behind the eyes, in between mind and soul, so sacred a place where it lies. Love is eternal. A moment or an eon, time is no restraint, that love you feel lasts forever. Love is eternal. Everyone wants it, some are afraid to feel it, just comes down to trust and faith that it will find a way. Love is eternal. Through the light of heaven it still shows, so pure, so deep, this emotion, straight through the heart it goes.

Love is the beginning and the end, a birth and death intertwined as a maze called life. Love is courage, the bravery to open those locked doors, to hold on to those moments like never before. Love is fighting, not a war, but for every second more, every single instant worth fighting for. Love is saying no in the face of death. a sacrifice of all you have for that someone’s happiness.

It’s in each sunset, the colors so vivid and beautiful, in every star that dots the night sky. It’s in the first smile, first 20 words of a child, first kisses, all of the euphoric highs and near misses. It’s in us all when we think of you, so strong and deep it can only be true. We’ll remember that love and give thanks at each new day, to the sunrise we know you help show on its way.

Love is eternal, though the body may bend, when from here we go the love does not end. Love is eternal, though breath may cease, love is the one thing, the one part we do not release. Love is eternal, from all of us to you, no matter when or where, always know we will feel it then too.

Love is eternal...

What If I Die Today.....

What if I die today?!! This thought came to me when my flight was searing through the clouds and was under turbulence due to bad weather...Several questions arose in my head....Will my parents, friends and those people I care about, miss me or cry for me? May be they would for sometime but then life will go on as usual. Life doesn't stop for anyone....
Will I regret not having my so-called set wishes/goals/dreams of having a loving husband, having kids, having a business of my own, traveling the world, etc, etc,get fulfilled?? Such significant questions but do these things really matter?! I questioned myself. Is holding out on my present for these wishes/dreams to get fulfilled, the right thing to do?
Then it dawned on me, the only thing that I have in my hand, is my present...Nothing can take it away from me...I only have this very moment. Who knows whether I will live to see my tomorrow...
People talk about manifesting their wishes and dreams, and I do agree this can be done but life sure does surprise you and has different plans written for you. Probably what is good for you. So I guess I have decided to take this very moment and make it my own and work slowly towards achieving my goals, ambitions, etc, but not by losing out on my present. Letting life surprise me everyday and taking things as they come 'coz probably I, ll not live to see tomorrow...Who knows!!

Today I Know That...

Today I know that I cannot control the ocean tides.
I can only go with the flow of life.
Today I know that I cannot control the consequences of the choices I've made in the past. Life doesn't happen to me , it happens because of me. Is what I choose to think, do and create in each moment.
Today I know that I cannot control people .
I can only control my attitude towards them and their behavior.
Today I know that I cannot change people , they are on their own path.
I can only act in kind, loving ways toward the people around me.
Today I know that we are our experiences and that love is the only answer I was looking for my whole life and I can only find it within myself.
By Karina Loureiro.

Forced Spirituality

I have nothing against spiritual organisations.... In fact, I have been part of couple of them in the past 2 years or so.
I found my spiritual path or the quest for the same some 2 years back and since then have been seeking answers to a whole lot of questions. I have also found some answers and some answers received, have confused me as well. Realizing that answers come to you when the time is right.
I have also realized I am unable to stick to a particular spiritual organisation for long. It made me feel so guilty! But then again spirituality is a personal thing. Its about finding the Divine and your inner self and a better way of life and much more, whatever works the best to find them. Feeling guilty and sticking to spiritual organisations (which are sprouting in numbers) doesn't solve our problems. We need to find what works best and then proceed ahead without any guilt.
I have been a part of a spiritual Buddhist organisation lately, whose ideals are great but the practice does not appeal to me anymore. Its about chanting and spreading the organisation further and bringing in more people underneath its domain and improving your karma.You are supposed to attend meetings, go for house visits, chant with people as much as possible, etc., etc...The doctrines of this organisation are too good and the chanting has truly given me a lot of positivity and strength but when people chase you to attend meetings, talk about having bad times if you are not studying the texts and not attending meetings, not respecting your time, etc.. etc..Then surely this doesn't remain a spiritual practice... It becomes a forced practice.A spiritual organisation which propagates a philosophy that if you do not practice, harm will come to you, then it certainly gets off its purpose...
A lot of times, organisations are marred by the so-called members' wrong practices, since they forget the actual purpose and mission of the organisation and only take up practices to solve their own life problems and improve their so-called karma.Its really sad that they do not acknowledge the discomfort or respect the time and space of people.I had joined this practice with a lot of enthusiasm but have totally become disillusioned.Friends who introduce you to such practices are only doing it for their own personal welfare and not for the other person's welfare, although they make it a point to ensure you feel its for your own good.
Spirituality has become a money-making business of selling books, publications, products, etc instead of guiding people to live better lives. Gone are the days when we actually found real mentors or gurus who would guide you to your spiritual path.
But then all is not lost. I am a spiritual person and also do believe in a lot of people who have propagated such wonderful ways of life and met some of them who have truly inspired me. But still think the spiritual path is your path to walk on and should not be marred by negativity and disillusionment. And its important to try and test and find out what works for you best....