Krishna's Musings on Life

I know, I know. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles out there describing happiness and what it means, how to discover what makes us happy etc. etc. I’m not here to talk about any of that. Let’s play a game instead. Ready? And I want you to really play it, not just read it. Let’s begin. Think of someone you admire or love. This person could be a fictional character from a favourite book or TV show; they could be a celebrity, an entrepreneur perhaps. They must be someone though who is not accessible to you in daily life. You don’t have any chance of meeting them or speaking with them but you really wish that you could. Have you thought of someone? Okay, good! Now, take a few minutes and make two lists – five questions you want to ask this person and five things you want to tell them. And as you jot each down, imagine yourself asking or telling them these things; imagine also their reaction. How would they respond to your questions? What would they say to your sharing? I wan...

Before the COVID-19 pandemic took over and plunged the world as we knew it into chaos and despair, there was another pandemic which was prevalent. This pandemic has existed for years, even centuries, and continues to be on the rise. With the advent of the digital age, it is especially present in Gen Y and Gen Z – the no-focus pandemic . Do you know the average attention span for a human being now is only 8 seconds? That’s less than the attention span of a goldfish which is 9 seconds! With the sheer volume of information that our brain is forced to process on a daily basis, it is only natural that our attention would become divided and scattered. In the time that it has taken me to type the above paragraph, I have paused to quickly Google and read an article on attention spans which is where the goldfish fact came from. I have opened my email tab to see if any new emails have arrived. I have taken a big gulp of water, adjusted my hair and my eyes have darted around the screen a dozen ti...

  If you are married, this post is for you, obviously. If you aren’t married, stay with me. I promise you’ll love it. We all know what a marriage is – two people leading a life together, building a home and perhaps a family, living out their lives until death. There are tears, laughter and all the usual memories that make up a relationship. This is the kind of partnership that requires constant work on that evergreen question – how to have a happy marriage . But that’s not the marriage I’m here to talk to you about. I’m here to talk to you about a different kind of marriage altogether which ended up saving the one with my husband. The marriage with my best friend. I often wondered why my relationship with her was so simple – it’s easy and breezy and flowy – while my relationship with my husband felt like ‘work’ a lot of the time. What was present in my relationship with her that was absent in the one with my husband? They were both people. They both loved one awesome person, me. T...

Now, any commonplace piece might begin by defining meditation or analyzing the practice before delving into details. But this isn’t a commonplace piece. And you’re certainly not visiting a commonplace site. So, let’s cut to the chase. This piece is for those looking to understand more about their lives. Perhaps you want to begin meditation, maybe you’re looking for a change of pace or career, maybe you simply want to bring some calm into your life, and peace. But to do that, sitting in one place for any amount of time, eyes closed, sounds not just downright torturous but also alarming. I hear you. I feel you. I was in that exact space. Why does sitting quietly with the eyes closed sound so restricting, even confining? My answer may not surprise you even though I was certainly taken aback when insight dawned – restless energy. You see, I was geared up to move and my body couldn’t sit still. Every time I sat down, within a couple of minutes, I’d feel unbearably restless like I wanted to ...

Is there someone you’ve been thinking about a lot lately? Perhaps you’ve had a fight, perhaps you’re falling in love. Maybe your mum’s birthday is coming up or your dad’s. Maybe someone’s been diagnosed with an illness or you’ve had a falling out with a friend. Chances are high that at any point in our life, there will always be one person who will take up space in our mind for most of the day. Today, it’s our spouse. Tomorrow, it’s our boss and the day after, it’s our best friend. This is how we function. People beget people. It’s what makes the human world go around. Our minds are designed to latch onto people. So, here’s what I propose. Five simple steps: 1.   Focus on the person you’ve been thinking about a lot lately. 2.   Why have you been thinking about them? State the reason clearly to yourself. 3.   Whether the reason makes you happy or sad, this step is simple – communicate . Reach out. 4.   Once you have texted, called or emailed and heard back, send them ...

  A few years ago, I read a life-changing book. It was called Fast-track to the Stars . Allow me to briefly give you the essence of it. There once lived a monk who had two homes. One was a hut deep in the Himalayan Mountains. The other was a loft in downtown New York City. She lived a life of two extremes – six months of the year was a pristinely quiet and slow life in the mountains, the other six a fast-paced and harried life in the city. The two lives were so different; it was hard to even begin to correlate the two. Where she would softly bathe in a gentle stream near her hut and drink directly from it when she was thirsty, she would have a hurried shower and purchase bottled water for $1.50 near her apartment. Where wild fruit and her own organic vegetable patch sustained her food intake in the mountains, pesticide-sprayed fruit and wilted vegetables with marked-up pricing got her through in the city. Where her slow mornings in her hut would begin at 5:30 AM with the sunrise; a...

I n the heart of Rome, there is a magnificent fountain. I remember riding by it numerous times, the year I spent in Italy. I’d envisioned life a la Elizabeth Gilbert, putting on 25 pounds because of all the delicious pasta and pizza, falling in love with Italian guys, learning Italian and discovering my wild side. What happened was just slightly different though. This fountain, I found out in my second week there, is called the Trevi Fountain. Popularly, it’s known simply as the wishing fountain because of the water that gushes from it? It’s magic. Day after day, as I rode by on that Italian classic, a Vespa , I watched people toss, flip and fling coins into the water. In earlier times, I would have been right there alongside them, not only throwing a coin but making sure to do it the right way, according to superstition and tradition. The coin was meant to be tossed over the left shoulder only, with one’s back to the fountain. One coin meant one would return to Rome. Two meant not onl...

  “Modesty is the colour of virtue.” The essence of this saying by Diogenes, a Greek philosopher, has likely shaped our growing-up years. Indeed, to be modest and humble was the very definition of a talented person. The more intelligent one was the more modest one was expected to be. Like anything though, modesty is best had when served in moderate doses. Swing too far the other way and we’ll hit the first of the building blocks that make up our personality – self-esteem. Why is self-esteem important? Quoting Brene Brown, an American professor and author, “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we are supposed to be and embracing who we are.” High self-esteem naturally breaks down barriers and allows us to step into vulnerability. And what is vulnerability? Accepting ourselves as we are at any given moment. The more vulnerable we allow ourselves to be, the more authentic we become. And this root of being oneself stems from the value we give ourselves – in...