Hey ye’ all! 

How have you been? 

Our weekly rendezvous fills me with a sense of weekend mirth. It is as if Sunday comes sooner. I look forward to Wednesdays now. Don’t you? 

I mean there’s terrific reading material imbued with meaning and purpose at your disposal. Life hacks to add value. There are at least two wisdom posts by the best spiritual leader, our very own Swamiji, to keep us going until his Saturdays (Oh! The wait is hard but worth it). 

Now, it is entirely possible that the vacation feeling descends upon me rather early because I spend Tuesdays furiously collecting stories, adding and replacing posts on my list and typing away. The next day, I sit with my legs up basking in the satisfaction of having curated stories that move, inspire and motivate. 

Going forward, I’d also add paid writing opportunities. Let’s be clear though, ‘going forward’ doesn’t mean the next post but sometime in the near future. However, what the next post will have is an #OSME challenge, and a chance to win stuff. Exciting much?

Enjoy the weekly picks and don’t be too hard on yourself. We have a propensity to judge ourselves harshly. On our course, we collect idiosyncrasies and tendencies which are best shed. 

To help you overcome those quirks, I have some exceptional OSME posts. Each post will help you become better in some way. Each post will bring you closer to the power within. Happy reading!  

Wisdom from Swamiji

Life is Like…a Movie: …And you can play your life movie the way you want. You can even change the course and genre (from horror to fabulous). Swamiji shares an important secret to control the film, the setting, and even the terms. Come, have fun at the movies.

Ekagrata — The Practice of Concentration: If you can hold your concentration for as long as you want, you are at the verge of discovering meditation in its truest sense. Swamiji reveals four effective ways to build it. 

Transformational Experiences 

Dry Bite; Secret agent; and other terrific actual stories. tell a friend

Dry Bite: We have all heard of the placebo effect. Likewise, there is something called the dry bite. Viveka Goswami picked up the term in a not-so-exciting EVS lecture, and it stayed with her. Aren’t we all making our lives miserable thinking about the dry bite? Maybe the adversity is just a dry bite and we are far stronger than we think. Don’t let it kill you, says Viveka.

The FBI & RCA: This real story has all the makings of a Hollywood sleuth thriller. The FBI and the Customs together recruit former evangelist John Clark as an undercover agent. John meets the criminals as planned, equipped with wireless microphones. The trap has been laid. But who gets hoodwinked? Read the story for the inner strength that connects with God. 

A Frog in the Corner: On a rainy day, Brahmachari Prabhu checks a frog from coming inside his house out of kindness. Now you might wonder where the compassion is in this act. Read it. And maybe, discover your own tendencies in those self-sabotaging moves of a frog. Then, correct those tendencies. You are welcome.

Shiva and his so-called Drinking Problem: On her journey towards Shiva, Snigdha Ganguly has learnt to not let the judgements of others affect her. She doesn’t let those questions incinerate her heart anymore. In this post, she shares some comebacks, answers and a lovely poem. 

The Contrarian View: As per Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast And Slow, there are two types of thinking. Hetal Sonpal explains both using everyday situations. You won’t be reacting the same way after reading this piece. 

The Other Side: Roma Tambaku has a pair of cockatiels. Kooky, Roma’s favourite, falls ill. It pains her heart to see Kooky struggle. Redi, the aggressive one, gets reprimanded for troubling Kooky. Until one day when Roma discovers a life lesson through the feathery pair. Kooky and Roma are now becoming friends.

A Small Story: A tiny tale can leave a mighty impact. Anu Jain extrapolates a very interesting story of a sage and a king who suffers from leprosy to her own life. Her life has become better and she says she has “regained mental balance” and peace. You will benefit, too. 

बुद्ध: मेरेबाग़ीचेमें: Apni mand muskan se Budh kya seekh dete hain? Aditi attempts to demystify the calm that the Buddha bust in her garden exudes. The delightful poem with a lot of learnings. Shed the baggage, come to Buddha. 

These osme posts are bound to trigger thought and inner dialogue without being a bore. Now, start reading. And, keep writing to inspire the world, one post at a time. Do you have any suggestions for us? Drop them in the comments section.

I’ll leave you with this mesmerising bhajan, posted by Bhavita Vashishtha. And if you managed to miss the Zoom Live with Swamiji, catch the recording here.

Stay osme. Until next…   

PS: It would be lovely to mail my letter to you, so subscribe and never miss out on a great idea or an update (yeah, looks like this is our standard PS now). 

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