Spirituality

Book of the Month – March 2025 – As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

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“To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to achieve.”

“You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration:”

How the author had managed to deliver so many helpful lessons in so little number of pages seems most incredible. Self-help or Self-development books are often long and descriptive books, typically attempting to orient the reader along a particular school of thought (which is not a bad thing). But this book is an exception to that rule. An incredible amount of principles are explained in this tiny book, and in such a clear way, with all the characteristics of any other self-help book. I’m certain that this should be a must have book for anyone whose interested in this genre. It won’t take you more than an hour to read the entire book, but you will be surprised how much you’ll come across.

– Tharindu

Ageing is not for the weak

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“Aging is not for the weak. One day you wake up and realize that your youth is gone, but along with it, so go insecurity, haste, and the need to please… You learn to walk more slowly, but with greater certainty. You say goodbye without fear, and you cherish those who stay. Aging means letting go, it means accepting, it means discovering that beauty was never in our skin… but in the story we carry inside us.”
– Meryl Streep

This is a beautiful reflection on aging that touches on several profound truths. The passage eloquently captures how aging brings not just physical changes, but also emotional and spiritual growth – a kind of wisdom that comes from life experience.

I particularly appreciate how it reframes aging as a process of gaining rather than just losing. While youth fades, the text suggests we gain valuable traits like:

  • Self-assurance that replaces insecurity
  • Patience that replaces haste
  • Authenticity that replaces people-pleasing
  • Wisdom in relationships – both in letting go and cherishing
  • A deeper understanding of beauty as something internal rather than external

The metaphor of walking “more slowly, but with greater certainty” is especially powerful – it captures how aging can bring a kind of confident deliberateness that youth often lacks.

Would you say this resonates with your own experiences or observations about aging? I am curious know how this perspective compares with common cultural narratives about getting older.

– One Tusk

Book of the Month – January 2025: The Heartfulness Way by Daaji

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Your long search for a simple book on meditation ends here!

I am inspired to write this because this book is a gem and shouldn’t go unnoticed by any sincere seeker. I really loved the simplicity of this book in explaining an esoteric subject as meditation. Every concept of the heartfulness meditation practice, its tips and tricks are spread out in simple terms before the reader by this loving guide without any secrets being held back as was the tradition in ancient Guru-disciple relationship.
I have been meditating for a few years now and I should say that I learned a lot of minute details from this book which I was not aware of but which could improve my practice manifold. The examples given here are also very practical that we can easily relate to and hence flows seamlessly from start to end.
Overall, a must read for anyone contemplating meditation, a good starting point for beginners and also a great tool to move ahead for pros. Thank you for this wonderful book!

Thought of the Week – 13th May 2024 (3)

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Photo by Marco Meyer on Unsplash

We are all “heroes in training”

Heroism is rather a mind-set or an accumulation of our personal and social habits. It is a way of being. And it is a special way of viewing ourselves. To be a hero requires taking effective action at crucial junctures in our lives, to make an active attempt to address injustice or create positive change in the world. To be a hero requires great moral courage. And each of us has an inner hero waiting to be expressed. We are all “heroes in training.” Our hero training is life, the daily circumstances that invite us to practice the habits of heroism: to commit daily deeds of kindness; to radiate compassion, starting with self-compassion; to bring out the best in others and ourselves; to sustain love, even in our most challenging relationships; to celebrate and exercise the power of our mental freedom.

“Isn’t it amazing?” she said. “The worst brings out the best in us.”

– Philip Zinbardo