In the windmills of my mind

I have no idea who you are.

I know what it is that you do,
and where it is that you go.

But I have no idea of how you
face the perpetual challenge
that each day brings.

Or of what it is that
hurts your heart.

Or gives your very soul
cause to wake.

And in not knowing you,
there is a part of me
that will lie
forever asleep.

Of this I am certain.

(Source: soulbiographies.com)

(via usgroovykids22-deactivated20130)

Even after all this time
The Sun never says to the
Earth: “You owe me”
Look what happens
With a love like that;
…It lights the whole sky!

(via quote-book)

Feel. Live. Learn.

(Source: leilockheart)

Day 1 - where my feet and mind shall take me

Apart from aforementioned cat, everyone in my house share here in Delhi seems amazingly interesting! :) Varied backgrounds (Australia, Colombia, Germany, France, Denmark, UK) and varied missions (students, workers in embassies and the tourism industry, travelers, drifters). People seem welcome all the time and everyone seems to be at ease with one another. In case you’re picturing it in your head there’s like a European hipster vibe going on. I think I’ll love it! The feel reminds me of the Aldea Yanapay hostel in Peru and the people are beautiful and amazingly friendly!

I’m sharing a room with another girl that came today which I quite like! The house is SO big and the rooms are SO overwhelming that having another person and their things in it makes it seem homely and lived in. :) There are 4 floors to the house each with its own kitchen and living room area. Each room has its own bathroom. A family from India lives upstairs and they do all the cleaning, laundry and cooking. They have a charming young son! I hope I’ll be able to get to know them better. Internet and electricity are temperamental, I am told, but it exists. It is in a gated community which is good too.

My housemates (that I have met/ can remember) are:

1. Pernilla from Denmark who’s studying Bollywood films (too cool!)

2. Morgan from France who is studying business here for a while…but majoring in development at home (err…my type of girl obviously!)

3. Maria from France who is working at the tourism board (so wonderfully friendly!)

4. Luca from Colombia who works at the Colombian embassy in the commercial trade department (beautiful stranger type who’s been here the longest and a lovely girl!)

5. Andy from Germany who wrote his thesis here in India and now is getting a bit into learning Hindi, acting and some other things of that nature (TOTAL dude, captain of the house and gets invited to embassy dinners on a regular basis from what I can tell - he’s at the Russian Embassy’s late Xmas dinner tonight.)

6. Sarah from Australia who’s working with me (total star in sorting out the accommodation so obviously a legend and also just generally cool!)

We went to get copies of the keys made this afternoon as well as running some other errands. I discovered my Hindi is beyond appalling and I should probably keep my mouth shut but inevitably it is assumed I speak Hindi so I am spoke to in Hindi. I pretty much understand everything that is said to me but I cannot manage to articulate the worlds in my head fast enough to respond in any meaningful manner. So it all comes out sounding a something like “hanh”.  Will work on that.

Managed to find a dingy little restaurant behind a cake store/ supermarket which stocks only foreign goods (Nuttella, yum!) where we ate Masala Dosa for lunch/ dinner (double yum). Also managed to get a phone, blankets, pillow and breakfast!

Now I am freezing in our living room as it is BLOODY COLD outside! Time for hot shower and bed, me thinks. Some touristy doings tomorrow.

Thoughts on Delhi: Pretty much none so far. It falls into the standard nondescript developing world city space. People seem friendly enough (maybe because we so obviously looked like tourists today). Will have more tomorrow once I’ve actually seen some of it.

Giving away our power

In many ways, we are taught from the time we are children to give away our power to others. When we were told to kiss and hug relatives or friends of the family when we didn’t want to, for example, we were learning to override our inner sense of knowing and our right to determine for ourselves what we want to do. This repression continued, most likely, in many experiences at school and in situations at work. At this point, we may not even know how to hold on to our power, because giving it away is so automatic and ingrained.

To some degree, giving our energy to other people is simply part of the social contract, and we feel that we have to do it in order to survive. It is possible to exchange energy in a way that preserves our inner integrity and stability. This begins in a small way: by listening to the voice that continues to let us know what we want, no matter how many times we override its messages.

Other examples of how we give away our power are buying into trends, letting other people always make decisions for us, not voting, and not voicing an opinion when an inappropriate joke is made. But with not giving our power away we must also be aware of the opposite side, which is standing in our power but being aggressive. Being aggressive is a form of fear, and the remedy is to let our inner balance come back into play.

As we build a relationship with our power, and follow it, we begin to see that we don’t always have to do what we’re being asked to do by others, and we don’t have to jump on every trend. All we have to do is have the confidence to listen to our own voice and let it guide us as we make our own decisions in life and remember the necessity for balance.

(Source: dailyom.com)