Welcome 2022

 Another page rolled, another day started, another year has begun. Last many years, I welcomed with Open arms and a few promises to myself. I am never able to keep all promises that I enlist at the start of the year; however, each one of those is worthy of keeping. So if I am able to keep myself honest to even a few of those each year, that is a step in the right direction. So here we are with another recap and another list of new or revised promises

 2021 has been a 365 days long roller coaster. With ups and downs, slow yet labored ascend and steep yet sudden falls, triumphs and heartbreaks and so on. We humans have never been as connected in experience before 2021. So, in some way it has been a unifying year.

The year meant a lot for the world. The big fear of Covid continued to shadow our minds, our rituals, our festivals, and our life. Slowly but surely, we are fighting back, controlling the spread, getting vaccinated and hopefully soon getting a medicinal cure for the disease. 

Amid the scares of delta, delta plus and omicron variants the fight back with vaccines that rolled out throughout the world this year continued to hold the fort strong for the man kind in the battle of mankind vs virus. We are scared; no doubt, but we are not defeated, and we will not be defeated. We are a resilient race.

The World had few major sporting events this year, including the Olympics and Cricket world cup. Both managed and completed with right cautions and restrictions. Both provide much needed relief to the people globally in the form of their favorite sports. Our ability to adapt and adjust was on display along with the skills of competing athletes.  While the players had to adjust to empty stadiums and recorded claps and cheers; the viewers had to adjust to watching and cheering from the safety of their living rooms. We adjusted and adapted but didn’t give up on our favorite sports. We are a resilient race

Schools and business that had seen closures and operational interruptions through out 2020, and part of 2021 started opening with right cautions and adjustments to get back life to normal while still controlling the spread. The school going children, right from early elementary school showed great discipline in wearing masks and exercising caution with no complaints. It was surprisingly pleasing. The adaptability is not a taught trait, but something coded in genes for the entire human race. Afterall we are a resilient race. 

Also, a lot happened on personal front. I made my shortest ever trip to India, after the longest ever gap between the trips. It started a call from my cousin, whom I have not spoken with in more than 10 years. (We both were so busy with our daily lives that important things were forgotten) Her son was getting married in fall and she asked if I could come. I knew I had to go; her call had filled my mind with a million memories from our shared childhood. I met my parents, my brother, sister-in-law and most of my maternal cousins after so many

years. Teasing, laughing, dancing, sharing food, sharing jokes, and above all building a million new memories. With a heart filled with gratitude to almighty for the opportunity and my cousins, nephews and nieces who made it worthwhile with their presence; I returned.

I can write on and on for 2021, but this is about 2022 which started today, so I will welcome 2022 with hope for healing. Some learnings and promises to carry with me in the new year (some repetition from past years, but worthwhile to reaffirm)

Value life – Life is not just breathing and eating. Life is the experience, the togetherness, the warmth that comes with sharing. Value Life and value everything that life brings.

Be grateful – Gratitude is one thing that will never go out of fashion. I look around, there is so much to be grateful for. Right from the 1^st breath I take as I wake up in the morning to each morsel I eat to each email, text, call, I get or send, for my family and friends, for the roof above my head, for the technology I enjoy, for the work and the paycheck, for the health and so much more. I didn’t buy or own any of that. All this is given so all I can do is stay in gratitude for all this and more.

Value relations– Relations make the human experience unique. Many time in past years I have felt hurt or upset at what some one said or did. I repeat my commitment to not react and value relationship above any instantaneous reactions. Some actions can hurt but the relations heal. See keeping the health of relation above all other feelings is worthwhile.

Appreciate more – It is easy to find reasons to appreciate if one watches carefully with a hope to catch something good. I will continue to look for reasons to appreciate. I also will look keenly for moments and actions to appreciate.

No Grudges – Keeping grudges is easy but damaging in long run. So, I will not keep any grudges. I will speak and ask to have better understanding of “behavior blind Spots*” rather than keeping a grudge.

Stay Healthy- Health is wealth, as all of us know. Good health is a blessing. I make commitment to actions leading to maintaining good health and will try to suggest same to everyone around.

Celebrate – Celebrate life and celebrate moments frequently. Life is gift and so is each moment; enjoy it to the fullest

Pray always – Prayer is the most potent way to grow, heal, support and ascend. So keep praying. Not any particular/ religious prayers; my prayer is a dialogue between my heart and the nature almighty. Just share what I liked, what hurt me, what I want to change and what I want to continue, simple statements and then accept the answers received. Be grateful for those answers and continue to pray.

I will wrap this up here with a warm welcome to 2022. A year where we will have to overcome the fear of Covid, live life and continue with our resilience. Afterall we are a Resilient race.

DON’T FORGET TO CELEBRATE !!!

WELCOME 2022

 *behavior blind Spots reference from my recent post https://nuancesofbeing.blogspot.com/2021/12/unwet-fish.html