The Art of Keeping A Journal

I have no issue in accepting that I was an extremely talkative kid. I used to gel up with everyone around me so easily. I had a lot of topics to talk about and I never heard the term boredom in the first ten years of my presence on this planet. As I grew up, my group started becoming shorter. I only had a handful of friends when I was in college.

And after that, I was on my own - sharing all the grief, all the love with myself alone. 

It's not like I was starving for a company or someone to roam around on regular basis. I was somehow happy being with myself.

When people grow up and start exploring society on their own, I have seen People becoming anti-religious or anti-corruption. But I became anti-bullshit. I couldn't take with people trying to condition my mind or putting negative (or positive) things in my mind. I wanted to (and still want to) see the world to gain first-hand experiences. 

But when you are alone, a lot of emotions creates turmoil inside you. You have an urge to share your thoughts with someone to feel a bit lighter. And it's a good thing to share what's troubling you. But we humans have a secret chip imbibed inside us, which always expects something in return for every ear or every favour. 

And I was done with all the exchange of advice. 

I have no problem in accepting that I went into this phase of extreme anger and sadness for a couple of months. I had a major problem in finding words in explaining what was running in my mind. I had this urge to share my thoughts and my confessions about the things which I shouldn't have been done. But I had nothing to give in return for that. And I had this constant terror in my mind that people will judge me. 

So when someone gave me a freebie on the new year and no points for guessing, it was a beautiful, hardbound journal.

In my initial days of writing a journal, I had no clue that what should I write about. Just like a secondary school student, I used to begin with 'Dear Diary'. And I couldn't complete a page in a single sitting in the first few months. I still had that lump in my throat of expressing myself but I couldn't. It became a daily duty for me to write it. I religiously did my duty but I couldn't avail any help from that.

One day, out of nowhere, I got this idea of leaving all the formats, all the decorum aside and start writing what was troubling me.

It was 1.30 AM when I switched on my reading lamp and wrote this sentence in my journal:-

Whatever I write here no one will be ever going to read it.

Trust me, I felt immense freedom as I wrote that sentence. All that fear of being judged went away. I started writing about a childhood incident that had an impact on me. I started writing about the dreams which used to trouble me more often. I started writing about my desires, my goals and whatnot. I wrote more than eight pages in that single sitting. When I switched off my reading lamp, it felt like I'm coming out of some therapist's office. I felt a lot lighter and much happier. I slept like a baby that night.

And from then, it became a ritual. I carry my journal with me anywhere it is humanly possible to take it with me. And I always take out some time from my schedule to pen down my thoughts almost every day. 

My family and I noticed many changes in me. I'm getting that glow back on my face which I had as an adolescent. I gel up with people and discuss things that are common between us. Of course, I'm still a proud Anti Bullshit guy, but I have become more liberal. I have acquired the subtle art of hearing without listening. 

And above that all, I learned a lot about myself. By writing in my journal, I took out time in understanding my reactions to various triggers. I discovered that there is a lot of knowledge that resides inside yourself, which is needed to be tapped. And you can tap it when you slow down and invest some time in being with yourself. It's sheer magic. 

There are innumerable benefits of writing a journal, some of them are listed down below

1) It makes you feel emotionally lighter. 

2) It makes you acquire self-knowledge

3) It helps you in developing a tangible thought process 

4) It helps you in building and maintaining a good relationship with the people around you.

There are many more benefits of writing your experiences and thoughts in a journal. 

Before ending this article, I want to convey a message to all my dear readers. If you ever feel that you are unable to deal with the situations by yourself, you should talk about that with your family or friends. And if needed, do visit a therapist or a psychiatrist. It is darn necessary to take care of one's mental health. And there is no issue in seeing a doctor. Trust me it helps.

All The Best with your journal writing journey. Do share your experiences of writing a journal with me on hrntales@gmail.com.

See you again

Love, Laughter, and Peace

HRN

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Connecting with the Mother Earth

Every day I came across many people who always complain. They complain about everything they come across – Be it their job or their home or their spouse or their neighbors and the list go on and on. But in their daily life and routine, they always miss the chance to say thank you to the almighty who has given us innumerable gifts which generally stays out of our gratitude list. So today, I’m going to talk about one of the greatest gifts to mankind – Nature.

My dear ones, every day we have to be conscious enough that our human body is nothing but an accumulation of the five elements or the Panch-Tattvas. The Panch-tattvas comprises of Water, Sky, Earth, Air, and Fire. No matter how much money we earn or many houses we build, no one can add another element to his or her body. In this blog post, we are going to talk about our connection specifically with Earth, because in the journey towards Minimalism, probably the biggest role is played by Earth.

This might sound a bit philosophical, but trust me, in your journey towards minimalism you cannot proceed without connecting with Earth. So sit back, relax and calmly touch your feet to the ground. As you touch your feet to the ground, feel the energy in your body. We need to understand that Mother Earth is the sole provider of energy. Pray to the Mother Earth to always keep us grounded. Pray to Mother Earth no matter how many worldly possessions we might have, one day, we have to sleep forever in her lap. May She never leave her little children alone. Say Thanks to Mother Earth for always carrying our burden on our shoulders. If possible, every morning bow to her for providing us nourishment, care, and love.

I know this may sound foolish in the beginning, but it is very much required. I have seen many people who constantly quote about simple living on social media platforms. But their lifestyle doesn’t support what they say. They are carrying the latest smartphones, wearing branded watches, uploading their pictures while donating food and stuff to the needy ones, and so on. The only reason behind this is they have lost the connection between themselves and the Mother Earth. They are busy polishing their roofs without gaining strength in their roots.

So let’s say that this is the first step in the process of living life simply and effectively.

Though I have missed this point many times, I want to say that I have no hard feelings for the ones who love gathering stuff and filling up their closet with what all they can. They have full right to live their life as per their will and we are no one to guide them or tell them what’s right and what’s wrong.

Let’s conclude this little post on the fact that no matter how many things we have, we can’t take even a penny with us to the other world. I hope this helps you in making you aware of the fact that we shall not run here and there with the purpose of finding God. God is here, inside us, below our feet, above our head, in each and every breath of ours.

Stay Grounded.

and yes, If you haven't read my earlier articles in this series, you can read Here :-)

Om Shanti:

Love, laughter, and peace

Himanshu R Nagpal (HRN)

Edited by:- Geetika Nagpal

PS- I'm Protected

Have you ever thought that is there any power which is governing us and protecting us at every turn of life? or are we all alone on this planet? How often we feel that there’s no one to protect us and care for us. And how often we feel that there’s completely no one who can completely understand us and feel for us.

Questions like who created this whole system of life and death and after death always appears in my mind. Who created our emotions? Who created these religions? and there are a lot more ‘Who’ in the list. And one thing which constantly appears in my mind is how can there be no errors or faults in the system? How everyone has to die, no matter sooner or later, no matter who you are, but one has to die. There’s completely no escape.

A few days back I was going through a little emotional trauma and was a bit shattered. I felt that there’s completely no one who can understand me or help me to come out of it. I felt naked. I felt Vulnerable.

But I’m very fortunate that I have some friends who, no matter what happens, never judge me. So, I texted one of my friends and I told her what I was going through. First thing She did is to wholeheartedly listen to me, which I think, made the major impact on my improvement. I felt relaxed and calm. I looked at her display picture. two fairies were standing. Out of curiosity, I asked her who are they. She replied that they are Archangels. I had no idea who Archangels are, so I tried to gather more information. She said that Archangels protect us, heal us and take care of our well-being.

“Is there any Archangel who is protecting me?” I asked her.

She said to me that I need to close my eyes and Inhale and exhale slowly. She asked me whether any picture or number visible to me. Honestly, there were none.

She told me to try again and this time I inhaled through my nostrils and exhaled through my mouth. Out of the blue letter ‘G’ was visible and then a word Gibrel or Gabril appeared in my mind. I can cross my heart and can say that I never heard this name in my entire life.

What she said next actually shook me up and made my eyes moist:-

“Archangel Gabriel is working with you”

Archangel Gabriel, as some of us know, is the one who Conveyed Almighty Allah’s messages to Prophet Muhammad who wrote Al-Quran when he got those messages. She also came to Mother Mary and gave the message that she is about to give birth to the Son of God – Lord Jesus.

Archangel Gabriel helps writers, Poets, Speakers, and communicators to convey their messages clearly and efficiently.

At that moment two things were so darn clear to me. First, that no matter what your religion is, you are not away from the divine grace. Second and most important – I'm Protected.

I felt delighted when I understood that there’s a power who is always protecting you. there’s a power who is there with you on your path. You are not alone my dear. You are Special. You are Protected.

I dedicate this article to Archangel Gabriel who helped me in finding words

Make It Simple Silly

Most of us are sitting at home during this lockdown period and must be thinking that when can we finally go out and carry on with our daily activities. Most of us might be getting sick of those funny, yet idiotic tik-tok videos or those silly forwarded messages, which are making fun of this whole situation. But my dear friends, don’t you think that whatever is happening is somewhat is the result of our own deeds? Our Lifestyle was so darn fast that nature was not able to tolerate more. And this is nothing but nature’s warning that we need to slow down. We need to stop for a while a need some time for self-reflection. We need to understand that there is no point in accumulating things and filing our drawers and shelves with the stuff which we rarely use.  As it was once said, “It is enough in this world for everyone’s need but not enough for anyone’s greed.”

So my dear ones, I’m starting with this little series of articles through which you can simplify your life.

Now let’s start with the understanding that what is the actual meaning of this simplification of life.

“Simplification of life is nothing but a natural state of being. It focuses mainly on understanding your wants without compromising your requirements. In other words, it’s a gesture of love towards the other beings residing with us on this planet as well as learning to love ourselves.”

Let’s break the definition now and try to understand it more deeply.

• It’s a Natural state of being

Since we were born, we started accumulating whatever life threw at us. Be it the way we talk or the way we walk, most of our gestures are accumulated. Our Subconscious mind is busy with recording the stuff which we see and we listen to. But when we talk about the natural state of being, we are talking about what’s genuinely ours. To simplify our lives we need to know ourselves inside out. We need to de-clutter those gestures, those emotions, those ideas which we have copied from someone else. Before proceeding in our respective lives, we need to know who we really are.

• Understanding Wants without Compromising requirements

Let’s learn a basic statement of Simple Living – ‘Less is Always More’.  Though I would like to talk about this concept in my future blog posts, For now, let’s try to understand that de-cluttering doesn’t mean that you should sell off everything and live your life like a monk. I’m sorry, no hard feelings for monks, but I haven’t lived that life so I’m not in the correct situation to talk about that life. Every person has certain dreams and requirements. One must think big and work hard towards achieving it. But bigger goals should never contradict your basic personality. In the process of achieving goals, one should not become someone who they are not. So the essence of simple living is the concentrated point between wants and requirements.

• The gesture of Love towards other Beings

This is the high time that we should genuinely understand that the resources on this planet are limited. No matter how much money we have in our banks or how many cars we own, we should always think about consuming as few resources as possible so that we can offer it to other people. So, Its high time to show some love to our neighbors, to our friends, to the animals around us, so that everyone can use those resources. There is another important statement I want to introduce here regarding the topic – “Sharing is Caring”.

 

• Learning to Love Ourselves

My dear friends, there is a tried and tested thumb rule. Though it took me a hell lot of time to learn this concept, and I’m still learning. So sit back, relax, and try to understand this. It is completely impossible to love others without loving ourselves. That’s the thumb rule. You can’t love/care of/ Respect others without first loving /caring for/ respect yourself. When we shed off what’s not belongs to us, we come to that point where we can reach the person who we really are. And that person is holy. That person is lovable.

So my dear friends, let’s start this journey of making our life simple and worth living. Let’s try to learn a lesson from this pandemic that one should stop for a while and devote some time to think that what we are doing and why we are doing it.

I’ll be coming up with more ideas to make our lives simple and happy. Let’s join hands and try to make this world a better place to live in.

Om Shanti:

Love, laughter, and peace

Himanshu R Nagpal

Edited by Geetika Nagpal