Passion…unbridled

“Just one more, and that is all I need”

This heartbreaking plea is common indeed-

One more chance to set things right

One more attempt to prove your might

Just one opportunity to apologize

For hurtful deeds you were too late to realize

One last try before you give up for certain

One last act before life draws the curtain

One more lingering moment before bidding adieu

One more embrace to remember and carry you through..

 

Ah the tantalizing prospects evoked by this phrase!

Life can transform in a moment, it says

The difference between sorrow and happiness

Might lie in that one extra moment missed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nervous I was, afraid I would lose

My freedom, my ability to choose

How and where my time was spent

I’d need to plan when and where I went-

I worried about all that could disappear

The future was something I honestly did fear..

**

Then you entered my life and turned it around-

 

Instead of losing myself; a new me I found

Impulsive I’d been, patience I acquired

Where weak I had been, being strong was required

Never knew I could give of myself cent percent

For you I knew I would always be present

Time I had not valued in life previously

You taught me to use my time judiciously

To do the right thing always, you made me strive

In the throes of exhaustion, you made me feel alive

 

You make me feel beautiful every single day

Because I could create you, perfect in every way

Remember that forever I have lost my heart 

Wherever you go, of you it will always be a part!

 

 

 

 

 

All my life, by many different people I had been told-

The virtues of being organized had been extolled

It made one more efficient and be in control

Stress-buster it was for every single soul

It was a way to save time that was precious

Being organized was a universal trait of the ambitious..

**

I lamented the lack of that special gene

That would make me organized, I could not glean

How the rest of the world kept everything in order

While my life was in a perpetual state of disorder

**

And when I succeeded, for once, in organization

I found things were boring, I had the realization

That disorder made my creative juices flow

While orderliness gave my right-sided brain a blow

Organization seemed efficient but predictable too

While disorder forced me to find my way through

In the process, making me think and explore

And even though it might have taken time more

The passage of time would be unnoticed by me

Engrossed as I would be in unraveling a mystery..

**

 

So, if you want efficiency, being  organized might be the key

But unorganized mess lets you things in a new light see..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A moment of gratitude makes a difference in one’s attitude.”-Bruce Wilkinson

 I went through life, often irate and dissatisfied

Thought complaining about it was my birth-right

Most people complained, gratefulness was rare-

Channeled one day of the year as a special affair

When things, as they often do, went wrong in quick succession

I whined and complained some more- yes, hear my confession

I truly believed that sharing my woes in this fashion

Would alleviate my grief and lighten my burden

But instead I found myself spiraling  every day

Further into the maze of resentment, to my dismay

Though occasionally I’d be thankful  for my possessions

Finding imperfections largely occupied my concentration..

**

Fortunate I am to see in my professional life everyday

The vagaries of life and death in every possible way

Over the years many life lessons I’ve been taught

By patients of mine; based on the battles they fought

On one day that seemed especially depressing

When no positive thought I felt capable of expressing

I saw a sick patient, on his bedside table was displayed

A wooden plaque with the following words engraved-

 

“In everything give thanks..”- this message almost appeared

To be directed at me; even as my patient who feared

His surgery scheduled for the next day, shared with me

 

How he was still grateful to God in his state of misery

He did not know what tomorrow held in store

But he had today to give thanks some more

For being alive and in pain that he could still tolerate-

And here I was, complaining, in a much better state!

Wishing him good luck I went ahead with my day

Determined to bring gratitude in my heart in some way…

**

Whenever I feel negativity creeping up on me

All the blessings in my life I then try to see

Try to give thanks for what I’ve taken for granted

This gratitude then dispels those feelings unwanted

It has been an arduous task, I must explain

It’s hard to give thanks, when I want to complain

All I can tell you is that genuine gratitude 

Has helped me develop a positive attitude

Towards things, people, relationships, and more

I feel one step closer to the happiness door!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consumerism defines culture nowadays

Shopping for goods is a ritual in some ways-

Designer clothes, gadgets, luxury cars, and

A house in suburbs, you’ve “arrived” in this land..

Like a rite of passage, this is the minimum you must achieve

From here, your possessions grow, there is no reprieve-

Keeping up with the Joneses implies constant acquisition

Of expensive objects, and working to the point of exhaustion

To pay for unnecessary stuff that was on easy credit bought-

In an endless cycle of income and expenditure you are caught..

**

Work more than one job, buy, consume and die-

This is how we live, how greed we personify

The pursuit of happiness has been replaced by

The pursuit of material goods- “I buy,

Therefore I am”- is the slogan of modern age

But money can’t buy happiness- goes the adage..

**

We all are so much more as individuals

Than all our luxury goods and designer labels

Then why are we in this race to reduce

Our worth to our possessions, we should refuse

To have our identities to our wallets attached

And take a hard look at all the stuff we have stashed-

Many things would be useless, I can assure

We would be hesitant then to buy some more..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caught in the circle of life inexorably

Living a mechanical life, almost deplorably

With work, food and sleep alone on my mind

No scintilla of creativity I could find

Within myself, that well had already dried

Could not be channeled even if I tried..

**

Strolling aimlessly in the department store,

Trying to buy something interesting, something more

Than the objects on my list, myself I found

In the aisle for art supplies; all around

Me were brushes and paints, crayons and markers

What caught my attention were watercolors-

Twelve inexpensive cakes in basic hues

I grabbed them on impulse, didn’t have much to lose..

Also bought some brushes, the most basic set

Uncertain if any use they were going to get..

**

These art supplies somehow catalysts became

My dormant creativity was no longer the same

Boldly I dipped my brush and began to paint

Lacking confidence, my initial brushstrokes were faint

As I gathered courage, my strokes bolder became

Brighter hues emerged, more complex textures came

The thrill of creative effort spurred me on

The fear of a creative drought was all gone..

**

There were no masterpieces that I created

But at the end of each painting I felt elated

They were amateurish efforts, that was quite clear

It was not the result, but the process that I held dear

Immersing yourself in a creative endeavor can give rise

To unbridled happiness, this came to me as a surprise!

 

 

 

 

Zipping through my life I never realized

That I had lost myself, I was surprised

To discover that in running from one goal to next

I was meandering through mazes, perplexed

Where was the person that was supposed to be me?

Broken, scattered pieces of myself were all I could see

Floating in different directions, each pulled by

Different demands of the society, not knowing why

Unable to coalesce to give a form that was coherent

A form that could my life’s meaning represent….

I had lost myself inexorably, this was mere existence

Each fragment of me was separated by time and distance

The part of me left behind in school corridors

 

The part that I left behind on my country’s shores

The part that still lingers on the threshold

Of my childhood home, full of apologies untold..

I had been shattered into pieces infinitesimally small

I could try to put them together, or toss them all

 

Lost as I was completely, I had nothing to lose

I began to reinvent myself, became my own muse

In the midst of nowhere myself I had found

I would not lose myself this time around!

 

 

 

As children in our minds it’s drilled

Random impulses need to be stilled

Acting on impulse is irresponsible, unwise

Think before you act, if you want to rise

In a world that honors convention

Thinking before action avoids contention

Impulses are wild, untamed creatures

Destructive  could be their features

These base impulses you must suppress

Before they acquire the power to make you digress

From the safe path that is narrow and straight

Where every step is planned and deliberate

**

But if I ask you, can you deny

The thrill of doing something on the fly

Propelled by an impulse, throwing caution

Out of the window, to the winds of oblivion?

The impulse that thrusts you to take a chance

On someone, that leads to a lifelong romance

An artistic endeavor might have at its core

A creative impulse that made imagination soar

From the subconscious mind do impulses arise

Ignoring them constantly might not be wise

Act on your impulse, once in a while

You might be left with an unexpected smile!