Soul Kadee

After the 7/11 Mumbai Blasts, there are a LOT of angry people out there talking about revenge and retaliation. Why do I think this is not going to help?

First, revenge and violence is easy - it’s the coward’s way!

If you want revenge, and need some place to vent your anger (without taking it out on more innocents) join the army and ask them to post you to the border. If you want to be a true hero, and be martyred, that’s where you’re needed.

So go - use your anger where it will make a difference. Only cowards talk of revenge, destroy public property, start riots and harm innocent people.

Terrorists are cowards. Their only aim is to stir up more hatred and create the potential for more violence. If you give in to hate, you’ve let them win. If you want to sink to their level, follow their lead.

Why do so few people advocate restraint and self-control? Because it’s hard! Restraint takes courage.

I’m proud of the Indian government for not reacting like the US government did. I know that when the time comes to act they WILL respond - and no one will blame us for doing so.

I believe in karma. What goes around comes around. Terrorists and people who do bad things will get what’s coming to them either in this life or the next. It’s not up to you or me to judge or punish them.

Trust in the wisdom of the universe and the fact that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes things get worse before they get better. Accept that this may be one of those times.

People who are discontent become terrorists. If you want to prevent terrorism, help those who are unhappy improve their lives. Join your mohalla committee or work in your community to help people who are disadvantaged.

If you REALLY want to make a difference, you need go no further than your own home and community. That’s where real change starts.

If you want to use your anger for something positive, help those who have been working against communal violence since the 1993 riots. Or join organisations like AGNI, that have been working to improve the lives of Mumbaikars for years.

I don’t understand people who advocate violence. History has proved that violence never solves problems, only creates more of them.

You may not believe in what Gandhi said, but if you respect a person for what he achieves, at least respect the fact that he, almost single-handedly, united Indians and freed a country. If that’s not an achievement, what is?

Instead of advocating revenge, violence and retaliation, try to achieve a 1000th of what Gandhi did for India. And I will call you a true hero!

Tags: terrorism, mumbai blasts

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Click on the image above to Light a Candle for those who were killed or injured in Mumbai’s bomb blasts.

For every candle you light, CNN-IBN and Channel 7 will donate Re 1 for the relief of the victims.

Thanks to Ajay Sanghani for this link

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A day after the bomb blasts in Mumbai, the city is back at work. Trains were back on track just 12 hours after seven devastating bomb blasts tore apart first class compartments and their passengers at evening peak hours.

There was no dearth of heroes among ordinary citizens, like Mr. Salunke, who was interviewed by several news channels for his role in ensuring that the injured were taken to hospitals. I was even more impressed when he insisted he was only carrying out his fundamental right.

Sadly missing in this whole scenario was much-needed leadership by Mumbai’s business barons and politicians. There was not so much as a peep out of the business leaders who use Mumbai as their base.

No words of solidarity, of condolence to the families. Not even a single initiative that could have generated goodwill for their companies.

Their well-worded platitudes on corporate social responsibility are only for the benefit of five-star seminars on corporate governance. Where are the so-called “leaders of industry” when they are needed?

Ordinary citizens became the heroes of Mumbai’s blasts yesterday, dispensing water and food to commuters stuck in traffic, lining up to donate blood, dropping people home in their cars.

Doctors and medical personnel stayed up all night at hospitals tending to the dying and injured. At least 30 Mumbai-based bloggers are collaborating on the community-based blog Mumbai Help to help the city through its latest crisis.

And the city once again showed it’s spirit by bouncing back just hours after the tragedy. The optimism and courage demonstrated by ordinary people here in times of crisis is one of the reasons why I love this city and never want to live anywhere else.

I salute Mumbai’s unsung heroes, and am glad that people like them exist. They are what makes this city truly great!

Links on the Mumbai Blasts:

Mumbai Help Blog

Mumbai Blast Resources for journalists

Bloggers posting about 7/11:
Mumbai Blasts
Desipundit
Dilip D’Souza
Metroblogging Mumbai

Tags: terrorism

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I never really liked Deanna Troi, the empath in Star Trek, but I just discovered that I have more in common with her than I thought. I scored 100% on this sensitivity quiz that told me I’m a natural born empath.

Not that I was surprised by the discovery. I’ve always known I was extremely sensitive. My mom comes from a family of highly sensitive people that my Dad politely describes as “high-strung.”

But now I have a word to describe that uncomfortable feeling of being “different.” And I know it’s not a disease, but a gift. And even though it comes at a high price, that realisation has made a whole bunch of things fall in place for me.

The word “empathy” derives from the Greek words “empatheia” meaning “passion” and “pathein” meaning “to experience, suffer”.

According to Miriam-Webster’s on-line dictionary - “Empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.”

Most empaths are more attuned to emotions than thoughts. To be an emotional empath is to experience the emotions of others - the positive and negative - pain and suffering and as well as love and compassion.

As a child I knew I had difficulty disconnecting from the emotions of people, even if they were only fictional characters who inhabited the world of movies and books.

When I was in school, I would cry if one of my siblings got hurt. As a mom, I shed tears every time my tiny, colicky daughter screamed in pain, when gas bloated her little belly.

I can sob uncontrollably when I see or hear about an act of cruelty, as I did when I read about the horrible woman who brutalised and tortured a 10-year old girl to death. I could almost feel the pain the poor, helpless child suffered before she died.

It made me sick to my stomach. I simply cannot comprehend the mindset of people like that. Especially since the perpetrator had three daughters of her own.

I guess being an empath is what accounts for my acute sensitivity to negative thoughts, negative people, bad news, and even depression. But at least I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. As the article here notes:

Empaths are sensitive to TV, videos, movies, news and broadcasts. Violence or emotional dramas depicting shocking scenes of physical or emotional pain inflicted on adults, children or animals can bring an empath easily to tears. At times, they may feel physically ill or choke back the tears. Some empaths will struggle to comprehend any such cruelty, and will have grave difficulty in expressing themselves in the face of another’s ignorance, closed-mindedness and obvious lack of compassion. They simply cannot justify the suffering they feel and see.

But empathy also gives me the ability to connect to people, the compassion to see things from their point of view, and ability to build rapport almost instantly, traits that have served me well in my personal and professional life.

It accounts for my natural desire to nurture people around me, be a healer and caregiver, and for my interest in healing arts like Reiki and Tai Chi.

It also gives me the ability to be open and share my experiences on this blog, show spontaneous warmth and affection to people I barely know, express my creativity in writing and music, love animals, Nature, and cherish my space and solitude (sometimes to the point of becoming a recluse).

As most empaths know, the gift can be a double-edged sword. We can get so swept up in the emotions of others that we lose sight of our own boundaries, and forget to care for our own needs. Although we may have many friends, we tend to form “close” friendships only with people we feel safe with.

But knowing the truth of who you are can be very empowering, if a little scary. At least I know there are ways to deal with the downside of being an empath.

Regular meditation has helped me get centered, ground my energy, and get in touch with my inner self. And there are always ways I can protect myself from being overwhelmed by other people’s energy. My energy healer friends have been teaching me these techniques for a while now.

If you’re an empath or have special abilities, do share your experience here. I’d love to hear from you. But then you already knew that, didn’t you?

Resources:

Empowered by Empathy : 25 Ways to Fly in Spirit

The Universal Empath 101

On Being a Natural Empath

Recognizing Empathy in Yourself

The Empath: The Fourth Chakra Dominant Individual

Essential Practices For Empaths

The Highly Sensitive Person’s Survival Guide: Essential Skills for Living Well in an Overstimulating World

The Highly Sensitive Person in Love : Understanding and Managing Relationships When the World Overwhelms You

The Highly Sensitive Child : Helping Our Children Thrive When the World Overwhelms Them

The Highly Sensitive People website

Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight : What to Do If You Are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World

Becoming an Empath (Audio CD)

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I’ve always loved the monsoon in Mumbai. Thunderstorms, lightining and thunder, blackouts and candlelight, my little girl splashing in the puddles.

The monsoon is a time of renewal, of fresh hope. When new life bursts forth in every little nook and cranny of the city, when even the filth and muck can’t detract from the smell of rain hitting dry earth and the trees look fresh and green.

I took this picture of Mumbai’s skyline when the pre-monsoon showers hit us in early June and thought I’d share it with you here.

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My little girl, Sara, participated in a program called “Reach for the Stars” by Rael Padamsee’s Academy For Creative Expression (ACE). She was the Frog Prince in the play of the same name. Her doting mommy was there, of course, every step of the way.

One of the songs the kiddies danced to was a favourite of mine called Bring It All Back by S Club 7. I love its upbeat music and lyrics that go like this:

Don’t stop, never give up
Hold your head high and reach the top
Let the world see what you have got
Bring it all back to you

Hold on to what you try to be
Your individuality
When the world is on your shoulders
Just smile and let it go
If people try to put you down
Just walk on by don’t turn around
You only have to answer to yourself

Don’t you know it’s true what they say
That life, it ain’t easy
But your time’s coming around
So don’t you stop tryin’

Don’t stop, never give up
Hold your head high and reach the top
Let the world see what you have got
Bring it all back to you

Dream of falling in love
Anything you’ve been thinking of
When the world seems to get too tough
Bring it all back to you

Like I said, I don’t believe in coincidences, and having been through a bit of a personal crisis (entirely of my own creation) recently, I took the song as a message from the Universe, and it cheered me up no end.

It’s just the sort of message I’d love my daughter to hear from me

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I moderate a women’s network on Ryze and decided to organise a series of workshops - The “Empowered Women Workshop” series, to help women solve issues in their lives, and empower themslves to become whole and complete people.

I believe that change comes from within and that only when we feel good about ourselves can we give our best to our families, children and careers.

The first Empowered Women Workshop is on Aura Reading and will be held on June 11, 2006, in Mumbai. My personal healer and friend, Leo Velloz, will be leading the workshop. An Aura Healing demo will be held and Leo will be available for consultations after that.

Leo helped me deal with a lot of anguish and pain that I went through after I lost my husband in June 2005, and I am happy to recommend his services to anyone who needs them.

Introduction to Aura Reading

Every living organism is surrounded by an electromagnetic energy field, called an Aura. This field vibrates at different frequencies and reflects your State of Mind, Body and Inner Being.

The human aura is considered to be the field of energy around our physical body which contains all our information past, present and future.

Your aura is a set of cascading colored outlines emanating from the surface of your body. It is a result of the emergence of chakra and it mirrors the supernatural energy field that surrounds and penetrates everything.

Each layer of aura is separate and distinct yet connected to all the remaining layers. By understanding the aura and its various colours one can unlock valuable information about ones self and gain guidance from it.

The meanings of the Aura

The aura of a person is considered to be a way to read one’s thoughts and to identify a liar when his words contradict the messages his aura says.

There is no way to change one’s aura. It is considered to be a universal spiritual signature. Only through conscious control can the aura be used to -

• identify a malfunction of the body and
• heal oneself.
• The emanating colors of the aura sometimes are tied to special or hidden meanings.

Until now, the seven colors consisting the aura that emanate from the surface of the object are mystically tied to many other things, like the planets, days of the week, and the musical notes.

Every color has a different Vibrational Frequency and is associated with various chakras or energy centers in your body. Your Aura Colors are determined by physical, mental, emotional and spiritual states of being.

The Colors of your Aura are neither good nor bad, superior or more spiritual than another. Every color has a polarity and unique representation relating to the individual.

If you live in Mumbai, register for the Aura Reading workshop here. The timings and venue of the workshop will be announced to registrants.

From time to time I’ll inform you of new programs and workshops that we organise. Do feel free to suggest themes for workshops that you might wish to attend.

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It’s Earth Day today and to celebrate I’ve started a new blog called India Green Guide.

I will be posting a lot of information from my now-defunct environmental portal at makingindiagreen.org

Check out my first post about Earth Day and find some cool resources and tips to make Every Day Earth Day.

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