Reflections on Relationships, Childhood, Healing, Clarity, and More

As part of my morning routine, I love writing down my thoughts and they just flow through me. In this post, I mention some of the things I wrote in the mornings – these cover healing, inner-work, my childhood realizations, relationships, and more. I also add some great short writings from other authors that I’ve enjoyed. Personally, I created this post for myself to review some of the short paragraphs written by me and others. Why lose the track of thoughts? If at least one other person can benefit from this post, that’s all it matters to me.

Let’s begin:

“Spaciousness allows me to listen to my inner voice, my body, and the emotions I’m going through. To do nothing can be a challenge for some. I still struggle with doing nothing at times. While growing up, I never learned how to relax, how to enjoy the holidays, and mistakenly considered free time with boredom.Life isn’t rosy and flowery every day. I can choose the meaning I want to give. I can choose how I want to live. I can choose to create new possibilities even when I am afraid. I can choose to give way to my passion. I can choose to be with the unpleasantries of life. I can choose to stay with “It is what it is”. I can choose not to resist reality. I can choose and so can you.”

“I dislike the word ‘toxic’ when used to describe a human, attribute, or experience. The so-called ‘toxic’ behavior is usually a decontextualized threat response; usually a result of relational trauma or disempowerment. So when we label this person toxic, we disempower them further and perpetuate a systemic cycle of disconnection and shame.” — Natalia Rachel

“If you focus on what you have, you gain what you lack. And if you focus on what you lack, you lose what you have.” — Greg McKeown

“You can always look into the past. Past can never be changed, nor will the same experiences – good or bad will never occur again in the same exact fashion. I am looking at the past and smiling at it, and saying thank you for being a wonderful teacher. I don’t wish to have bad times for myself and others. I’ll say that I’ve learned the most and have grown tremendously in moments of emotional pain, breakdowns, and heartaches. Crises are the invitation to go within for introspection, learn and grow. Let’s enjoy and cherish the good times. Good or bad are just labels and are temporary. Good is followed by bad. Bad is followed by good.”

“I have to admit that I go through my own loneliness and depressive episodes. There are times I feel empty inside of myself. But, I don’t judge myself for anything. I seek ways to come back to the normal emotional and mental states of being. It’s Ok to feel low. There is always going to be low when you want to feel high. You can’t live in one state forever. If you laugh, you will cry. If you are happy, you will be sad. Why not just embrace the full range of emotions and be just human?”

“In times of challenging situations, ask yourself-What happened to me?-What’s my emotional reaction? How do I feel? What’s my opinion/interpretation/perception of the situation? This is a Compassionate inquiry exercise from Gabor Mate.“

“Every trauma has a negative ripple effect on other areas if not addressed properly. Growing up in India and while learning English in school, I failed the English exam at the age of 15. I had never failed any exam up until that point. That moment had a profound traumatic experience inside of me. My self-confidence, self-esteem, and ability to connect with others were shattered. I started believing that something is wrong with me. I felt I am ugly and lived with that belief for so long. Trauma is what happens inside of you. I lived with that traumatic experience until the age of 30. Now, looking back and trying to understand what happened—I can certainly say that It all makes sense and it is possible to reinvent yourself at any point in life at any age. I don’t wish trauma on anyone. Trauma can be a teacher for your greater good. Again, trauma is not something that happens to you. Trauma is something that happens inside of you. Healing is available to everyone. Healing is possible. Reach out to others if you are struggling. I am telling you – you will meet with an authentic version of yourself in the process of your healing journey.”

“Meditation is not all the answer of every misery. It’s not the cure for all the issues. What I can say is that it will help you to observe your own thoughts —your own distracted thoughts. Meditation may not seem to work for you in the beginning. Beginner’s luck doesn’t work in meditation —however, in the long run, it will give you benefits. If it is not for you, don’t fight it -try it and try something else. Today, I sat silently for 23 minutes in meditation. All I observed were racing thoughts, feel-good thoughts, unpleasant thoughts —so what? Shall I stop? No. There is no success or failure in meditation. It’s about you, and you and beyond success or failure. If you are a mediator, keep meditating. If you are not —at least give some tries. If you are a dabbler, the problem is not the meditation and the problem is not with you as well —something else needs to be looked into your daily habits, routines, and rituals.”

“Recovery and healing from any sort of addiction, trauma, or attachment wounds can feel like an arduous journey lasting for too long. We may say to ourselves, I want to be “better”, “healed”, or “cured” NOW…but we mustn’t forget, life doesn’t move that way at all.” — Dr. Alex Katehakis

“I can teach you just how to meditate, but if you don’t understand the why behind it, or what is the end result I’m trying to achieve from doing these mindful minutes when I do these mental push-ups, what is the end goal? Well, the end goal is to cultivate more present moment awareness so that I live in the moment with what’s going on right in front of me, instead of inside my mind.”

“When we start digging around in our pain— all roads lead to our childhood— to what happened there. I always say the presence of pain is the promise of change. If the rejection is very hard to get over, usually that refers to something that happened in your childhood that needs to be explored and investigated, and worked through. So that’s part of that becoming aware of yourself process that often happens after a painful ending.” — Daphne Rose Kingma

“If we still love each other, why do we have to say goodbye? Because circumstances reveal it. And, sometimes there is a larger thing that each person has to do that cannot be done in that partnership, and when you recognize that then there’s sorrow, but there’s also an acceptance.” — Daphne Rose Kingma

“It’s this pain in our life experience, which initiates us into this process of awakening.” — Daphne Rose Kingma

“Hope seems like a ray of light in the darkness. When it feels like “it will never happen”, hope feels like a balm on the wound. Hope brings comfort and soothing when things are not in favor. I am hoping and I will keep hoping with continuous action combined with rest.”

“If you’re a parent, would you want your kids to come up to you to share their feelings and emotions? Let me ask you this – as a child, when you were upset and sad, who did you talk to? Parents? Caregivers? If not, you learned to suppress your emotions and it’s called Trauma. I am the result of this trauma and I choose to walk on this healing journey and spread awareness for childhood wounds. If you’re one of the wounded, you can also walk on this healing path. It’s painful and teary, but worthwhile. You will meet with your inner child again and again who’s authentic and has a need for love, care, and attachment.”

“Overcomplicating your healing is something to watch out for. You do not need to overthink your past and repeatedly reimagine each trauma. Self-awareness has more to do with the present moment – if you can see yourself clearly now, you are more likely to act wisely. The best way to access and heal your past is by not running away from yourself in the present moment.” — Yung Pueblo

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