Take yourself out
because weary senses need wandering and wondering
Leave the usual for a bit.
Your eyes want to look at new paths, new places, new people.
Why do you deny yourself this pleasure under the garb of discipline?
Maybe there is a flower waiting to bloom in the seed of desire - the very desire you condemn and put aside because it seems frivolous.
Try local dishes and realise yet again that if you can see vegetables growing right outside the door, it won’t take much to make a delicious meal.
It is said that the natives here created dishes inspired by ingredients brought by distant travellers on the Silk Route. Pasta carried by the Europeans for survival got absorbed in broths made by the Ladakhis for nourishment.
Perhaps the locals, who would have known all too well about wandering through challenging terrains and weather conditions, incorporated foreign elements into their familiar concepts on purpose - not only because experimenting with new ideas is fun, but also out of a sense of generous hospitality and service for the passers-by.
Those who have endured difficulties usually like to help others in the way they would have liked to be helped.
Perhaps they knew that food is the best way to remind travellers that however far home may be, it can still be found in faraway lands, in unexpected forms.
Recognise that creativity originating from a sense of service has the power to invent things that become a daily ritual for generations.
Thank the stones by the river, the sparrows for their melodies, the wildflowers whose names you will look up later, the trees generous with their seat and shade.
Say goodbye to them knowing you will never see them again. Or perhaps you will, when it is your turn to be a stone or a sparrow.
Cry for those you couldn’t say goodbye to. Offer your tears to the river. Pray that the water washes some of the heaviness away.
Thank them again for listening to you with patience only non-humans embody.
Thank them for seeing the version of you who is unchanged with the passage of time, and the version even you struggle to believe you once were.
Thank them for holding who you have been, and for affirming who you are becoming.
Listen to humans of different accents. Laugh at the awkward translations.
Talk to the woman at the painting class and learn that she is from a country that is in the news for waging a war on another.
She tells you that she met the Dalai Lama. He blessed her with prayers for peace for both nations.
“How did you feel?”, I asked, sensing her overwhelm.
“I got quite emotional…I cried.”
Notice that it was a moment of vulnerability by a stranger. Understand that nuanced conversations can be had with grace. We are all just a couple of remorseful souls seeking absolution.
Feel an unexpected warmth towards someone you met only hours ago.
Say goodbye knowing you will never meet again.
Remember it is a gift to be able to say goodbye.
Wonder if it is a greater gift to not have that choice.
Postpone the decision to come to a definite conclusion. Black or white answers are usually dishonest. It may take a lifetime to begin to understand, and even then I suspect the answer could be that it doesn’t matter either way.
Promise yourself to find places and times that either clear the outside noise so that you can listen closely to the soft inner whispers, or amplify the messages inside to resounding echoes that are strong enough to drown out the din.
Allow yourself to wander and wonder.
Say goodbye, and when the time comes, say hello.
What a delightful read :)
This was mesmerising! I felt like I was walking with you through this magical land. Amazing writing!💗