Early morning musings

It's been very long since I last wrote on this blog. Life has happened in the past year and half. A precious little life has become part of our family and my heart. Loved ones have gotten married and found happiness.  I've known the profound, yet quiet joy, of living with my soulmate. Friends and acquaintances have met with success and some, unfortunately, with their maker. In comparison minor, though still impactful for me,  trials have come my way. Introspection and self-analysis have brought me maybe a sliver of an inch closer to the purpose of my life, the meaning of happiness, the struggle towards contentment. In all this, my steadfast partners have been my family. They have shown more loving patience towards me than can ever be expected out of anyone. If I was a poet, I'd write an ode to them. They teach me everyday, that the center of our world cannot be ourselves. You might've noticed that "I" featured prominently in the first few lines of this paragraph. Indeed, "I" has featured prominently in my life till now. Not out of willful selfishness, but out of a tendency to constantly achieve, strive, improve, build-upon. But now, this "I-focus" has started it's journey towards insignificance. We are but a mere part of this astounding universe. So many things are so much more important, and to so many other life forms, than our struggles and challenges and our individual fates. The "I" leaves no room for the journey of life - the intense pleasure in living it. Our efforts need our 100% focus - be if efforts to enjoy a walk with your spouse, to make a cup of tea for your mother-in-law, to write a grant application for research funding, to listen to music, to give a comforting bath to your child, to learn something new. Whatever it is, joy of work and efforts must supersede any sense of "I".  In Indian philosophy, "karma yoga" is a path to nirvana. It is one of action and thought, oriented towards your role and function in society, that is untiring and beyond a self of self or reward. That is where happiness and satisfaction will come from - a job well done, to the best of my ability. These might be pointless musings of a jet lagged mind, but feels good to have it out.