“Until I kept on chasing happiness, it seemed to be an illusion. And then, I OWNED it.”
The most beautiful thing about life is that it keeps surprising us at different occasions in a variety of ways - the only condition that applies is:
You be an open observer, and let it perform its dance.
And observing this dance is a thousand times better than watching its drama..Isn’t it?
Though my life started to change when I attended a 10 Day Vipassana Course for the first time in October 2020, soon after COVID panic settled a bit, a whole lot of drama had yet to heal.
The journey that I began with leaving my lucratively paying corporate career with an intention to follow my heart, live my IKIGAI, and serve the humanity with my natural gifts soon transformed into scaling up my online business, calculating cost per lead, working hard day and night to meet my revenue goals, and everything related to business, money and reputation.
So, what was all that doing to me?
This everyday stress of running in the rat race was killing my inner soul a little each day.
I knew intellectually that the outside success that has nothing to do with inner peace, and that comes from accomplishing things that don’t really actually matter to us, is just an illusion.. Just a trap.
And when we liberate ourselves from the external fake identities, the real effortless success starts emerging.
But somehow, I just couldn’t practice that experientially.
The story that I kept on telling to myself was that once my worldly desires will be fulfilled, I would leave everything to advance in my spiritual growth journey.
Honestly, I was not sure if that “so called success and achievement” would entice me to be a part of another bigger race or not..
Then, one day while sitting in my meditation I got this calling to visit a serene and holy place that’s known as the capital of Yoga and Meditation in India - Rishikesh.
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This is how I got healed in just One Hour
This place was too crowded during that time because of some religious tour going on, and I could not even find a good place to book online.
A stopping voice in my head said:
“Wait.. don’t rush through it. Let it be over”.
Before I could get convinced to cancel my solo journey, a friend who’s a spiritual teacher too, called, and said:
‘Don’t cancel or postpone. If you have decided, then buy a ticket right now, and rest will be taken care of.’
Immediately after I hung up the phone, I bought the ticket for the next day.
Spoiler Alert: We often do this - ignore the inspiration and follow the mind.
The next day, when I reached Rishikesh with just a small backpack and no laptop or gadget (When I say No Gadget, I am not including my phone :), no place to stay, and no one I actually knew in person.
But I could sense that serenity, peace, and a strange trust:
“I am in the right place at the right time”.
I lived there (yes!!! I actually lived) for 2 days spending time on the bank of holi Ganga, trying street food, chatting with strangers, witnessing Ganga Aarti, absorbing the natural beauty, and asking a lot of (spiritual) questions from the Local People.
My friend was right. The universe was taking care of everything for me.
It was too hot, and I could only find a Non AC Room in a small Guest House, but I didn't care.
Because somewhere deep inside of me, something of huge significance was happening. I can’t even name that feeling. But it was feeding my soul.
Then, the day I was coming back, I decided to spend my last morning sitting by the river Ganga.
At 6 AM while gazing at the flowing water, I had this realization which changed everything for me..
I came back, and canceled subscriptions to my digital business tools. Discontinued my paid ads. Unpublished my very ambitious online course project that I had created in months.
Why?
Because a large part of what I was doing was just a product of conformity.
That didn’t actually resonate with who I actually am - someone with multiple skills to serve humanity who loves to create deep connections with people, and nurture them unconditionally.
I was underplaying my true nature and high potential by limiting the ways I can serve people, and by making myself expensive and difficult to reach.
So, what realization did I get that morning which transformed not just my thoughts, but also my actions so profoundly.
A river just flows.. It’s only being the way it is.
People do tens of different things with this river..
Some worship it with deep beliefs..
Some take a dip into it believing that would wash their sins away..
Some wash their clothes in it..
And a few young ones play in it..
This holy river lets us do anything and everything while being itself.. Not changing its true nature.
If we are hungry, it won’t go out of the way and give us food..
It will just be what it is..
It’s nature is just to keep flowing without turning back to see what happened behind.
That one hour I spent at the bank of Ganga taught me this profound lesson so spontaneously, that we just need to be ourselves flowing in our true natural state without changing our true nature to fit ourselves into what’s trending.
I came back with a part of me healed.
I had created a few identities and was getting too attached to living those identities - a Bestselling Author, Podcast host, Coach, Daughter, Sister, Linguist, and so on..
One thing that I forgot was that I am just a LIFE ON EARTH.
And my true nature is to experience this life with all my consciousness with NO JUDGMENT.
Just being myself, I will impact people in many different ways with who I am, what I have learnt and experienced in life so far..
And that’s enough.
I will still be continuing coaching amazing people, writing books, chatting with great guys and girls on my podcast, being with my family and close ones, playing music..
But no more attachments to these identities.
I don’t really need to try hard to do and achieve anything.
I have just got to be.. Me and just me..
And that’s pretty simple and easy, right..
No complications..