A Few Handpicked Letters #14

A Compilation of Some Immensely Beautiful Messages For Life

Dear Reader,

The response to the previous letter was heart-warming. That many of you found my letter to be a glimmer, was a glimmer for me. Thank you for sharing the light with me.

Due to an overload of information (in my head) and overwhelming feelings, I am not sending you a traditional letter this time. But amidst the promises of warm hugs and fuzzy messages, I had promised that you will find something of value from these letters. I am keeping that promise!

It should be because of my quest for answers, I have been coming across some extremely useful messages phrased in a way that resonates with me lately. The problem with coming across too many thought provoking messages is that, you tend to forget most of them if you don’t record them and re-read them. So I thought I would compile a few here so that I could come back and read them, while also sharing these insightful messages with many more of you:

1. Shi Heng Yi, the Headmaster of the shaolin Temple in Europe had this to say when he was asked what the meaning of life was:

   Stop thinking so much about life. Life is made of actions. It is not going to fly around somewhere for you to grab it by luck. You find something and give meaning to it, something you like to spend your time with, something that gives you purpose. Then no need to wait for the sense of life to come.

   With all the ‘30 things to do before you are 30’ lists, and ‘life begins at 35’ phrases being thrown around carelessly in the internet, life seems like an event that we need to rush to. Not to mention the eligibility criteria we lay down to attend the event; a job that gives you way too much money, prestigious position or fame, a partner, a house, a car, occasional hikes, promotions, 1 million followers and so on. It has been wired into us that life begins when we get to these points. I am writing to myself as much as I am writing to you. I forget that three decades of my life have passed, and it doesn’t feel like ‘life’. Maybe it isn’t success or goals that we need to redefine, maybe it is the definition of life that we need to redefine.

   So let me ask you, and myself this, ‘What do you want to fill your life with? What was it filled with until now? How can you make it better?’. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll answer these questions in my next letter. Meanwhile, will you send your answers to me by replying to this mail/post?

2. Today, when I sat to write this letter to you, I found this message from Notes From the Universe in my mail

   You don’t take "baby steps" for the distance they cover, but to put yourself within reach of life’s magic.

   Just like you don’t hoist your sails to move the boat, but to put yourself within reach of the wind.

   I found this simple, and beautiful. You could cover the distance in any direction. But the steps in the right direction puts you within the reach of life’s magic. I resonated with this because sometimes we flail about in all directions aimlessly. We put in a lot of effort for nothing. And reminders such as these come to us at the right time. Like they did for me, today.

3. I leave you with one last thing that I read, that forms the essence of everyday living:

   If you just did something like going to the supermarket, and experienced it fully without the goggles of habit and categories, you would go crazy with pure sense and joy.

   I have experienced this many times. I get lost in a supermarket, seeing all the things I could need, and that people could buy. I love how I can change my soap and get an entirely different one with a different color, texture and fragrance, I could find new facewashes, I could find new silly-useful things for home, like new kinds of hooks or clips or containers, I could buy new sauces and ingredients for my sandwiches, I could allow myself to buy noodles, bread and salami for lazy nights, I can restock my supply of cheese cubes, chocolates and coke, and in the end grab some mints and gums from the counter. Supermarket is a wonderland of possibilities, but also, I can resist my temptations, and there is power in being able to do that.

   While I am still learning to translate this joy into other daily habits, I absolutely enjoy my supermarket visits.

I hope August treats you kindly. I am looking forward to a beautiful month, mostly because it is my birth month.

Like always, I am leaving behind this beautiful picture that I shot during a morning walk in Bangalore. While I loved everything about the walk, I love this picture for the perfect contrast of colors and the composition.

Until next time.

Sending you Love, Thought-hugs, and Glimmers

Ranjini S✨