We have a festival in India called Ganesha Chaturthi/Habba .
It is a Hindu festival celebrated in honour of the god Ganesha. He is known as
the remover of obstacles and the god of beginnings and wisdom. So from when I
was a child whenever we celebrated this festival we’d keep a silver plate under
the idol with a book or textbook of the toughest subject we had in school.
Hoping ,you know, that he would remove it from our lives or ,like our parents
would assume, we hoped to get better at it. It’s a simple tradition that gives
us a little hope to get better at what we do each year, or a little boost of
self confidence to help us overcome whatever ‘obstacle’ we are facing in our
lives.
Im not a typical god believer but I do believe in the power
of people and nature to change us when we let it. A little spiritual. I let
feeling guide me. So I do partake in most of the festivals that happen in my
house because I belive that they bring
us closer, give us a break in our mundane lives, they make us do small exercises
that help us with so many things in our lives that we never realize. They give
us hope when we are down. They make us realize we need to be grateful for
people we are around. There are mantras and poojas that are performed in that I
don’t know much about (but lately have ben a
little curious to learn) but feel like they bring some kind routine in
our lives which I call stability. They also make you fit! I remember my feet
were burning after sitting on the floor for just 30 mins. My grandpa and
grandma used to sit on the floor for an hour when they were 90yrs and 80yrs- I
just 24! So basically ive had a bunch of
realisations.
So I realized I need to be the remover of my obstacles and
and needed a beginning with the little help of a little faith from the good in
this world. It was a symbolic tradition that came to me at the right time in my
life. I keep trying to start and I keep slowing down, but im not giving up, I just
need to start doing.
When I did the pooja this time, I didn’t keep a book of the
hardest subject in my life but I did
keep my camera battery and wrote a little prayer to myself on a piece of paper. A small wish I made to
myself to begin with even if its slow
GIVE ME THE STRENGTH TO LIVE OUTSIDE MYSELF
AND
SEE PEOPLES STORIES AND CAPTURE THEM AND
MAKE IT THEIRS.
HELP ME UNDERSTAND HOW TO LOVE AND CHERISH AND BLOOM IN WHATEVER SURROUNDING I FIND MYSELF IN.
WHAT AM I DOING-
on a yoga mat, sitting in the sun and soaking it all up. :)
