In this post I would like to share some of my philosophy of life and how I put it into practice.
Many of you know that I live in India. My life is very unconventional, and it became unconventional because I followed the call of my Spirit rather than the demands of the world.
I love my life and I live the way that I want to. I never fear any change. If something goes against my Spirit, I stop doing it, no matter what the outside world threatens me with, be it loss of funds or loss of face.
I experienced quite a few “threats” from the world. I lost many of my readers, and I lost a lot of my income due to staying true to my Spirit. But because I never feared material losses, they were replaced by spiritual riches.
Like Jesus says, “The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to.” This is difficult for the people of the world to understand. They want everything consistent and permanent, but that’s not how the Spirit works sometimes.
So sometimes you are urged to make a quick shift in your life because this is required for your personal progress. The masses are frightened at the change, as this often threatens their beliefs or just their accepted way of functioning.
Thus, due to following my Spirit, I alienated some people from my life and lost some material goods. But thanks God that I did, because what I have now is so much more than I did during those days.
Because I don’t go against the wishes of my Spirit, I am protected, every day is filled with more awareness, and the quiet joy in the background never leaves. There is definitely a lot more purification to do, but I’m at peace with myself and I know that my awareness unfolds as it should.
My life is very simple. I stay in simple places in India that are full of greenery and fresh air. I take daily walks in nature, enjoying the sea breeze and now the cloudy monsoon sky. I feel happy to find myself in places quiet and green, and quiet places are abundant now in Kerala, since it’s not a tourist season (during which I leave to escape the crowds).
My days usually don’t differ much from one another, with the exception when me and my boyfriend decide to take a day off work and go to travel or visit a nearby city for ice-cream and shopping. Also, my routine is broken when my Indian visa is about to expire and I need to leave the country to apply for another one.
Apart from that, my days don’t differ much from one another. I write, create videos, do life assessments, take long sunset walks in nature, have a meal in a local eatery, read a few pages of some astrology work, and stay still without any thoughts, enjoying these moments the most.
After the start of my spiritual practice false desires started falling away; for some time I went completely natural, not even wearing any make up. This later became a statement and I knew that I went to another extreme, so I adjusted this now.
I don’t have the desires of the masses, like for more fame or riches. I have enough and I’m happier not to be noticed than to be noticed. I don’t even like to put my pictures as video thumbnails, but then sometimes my YouTube viewers do not know the video is posted by me, so that’s why I do it.
I’d rather not be recognized but be a face in the crowd. I like to blend in with the environment, just being. That’s why walks in nature on my own feel so much in harmony with who I am. I can just be, and nature just is, and I don’t see any roles being played.
I find happiness in very small things, like the monsoon rain, the greenery of nature, night stillness, the cloudy sky, the presence of my sweetheart. I feel grateful for the fact that I have enough to afford food, that I have a roof over my head, and that I can live in my beloved India.
I believe that beautiful experiences come into my life because I already feel the fullness of life. Like it’s told in the Bible, those who have will get more, and those who feel like they don’t have, even that which they have will be taken away.
That’s what I find true in my life. From the feeling of fullness, more fullness comes. I feel myself complete, and then experiences reach me that are absolutely fulfilling and totally in harmony with who I am.
I believe without this kind of state of mind, already knowing that the Kingdom of God is within, I would not be able to attract my partner. We both treasure the time we spend with each other, and we know that human life is fragile and uncertain, so every moment together counts.
Today, after eating in a local place, I came back to my guest house, and after relaxing in my room, I went out to check the fish pond on hotel grounds. I love watching fish, it’s so relaxing. I stayed there, enjoying the playing fish, gentle breeze and palm trees, being protected from the Sun by the hotel’s veranda roof.
Then my boyfriend suddenly jumped from the roof down, right next to me, hugged, kissed me, stayed with me sweet-talking for a few minutes, and then went back to his work which is nearby. I love when he makes surprise visits like that!
Then my sweet guard-dog came, an old dog that befriended me and now sleeps in my room:) I got some food from a local place packed for her, so I gave that to her and, after enjoying the nature and the fish-pond a little more, I went to my room to work on this piece.
That’s my life. I would not change anything about it. I love the way it is. It’s simple and happy. I don’t want the riches the masses slave for. I don’t want any status. I don’t want to live in some prestigious neighborhood. I’m happy with the life that I have.
Sometimes the mind wants to worry about whether I will have enough to continue living like that, and how much would I have to spend when I go to London at the end of the summer this year.
But I know that these are the thoughts from the scarcity-driven ego, so I don’t identify with them. The Universe provided for me for so many years, why would It suddenly stop doing that now?
Whenever such thoughts come, I get still and stay in the present moment. This gets me in touch with that assuring place within, the Kingdom of God, and then I know that all will be well.
I’m painfully aware of many personal shortcomings, so my days are also filled with self-observation, as becoming conscious of negative patterns is the first step in dissolving them. Some patterns are persistent but at least I’m aware of them.
I find that I no longer take seriously the negative personality traits that sometimes arise, even those that are persistent, and this makes their manifestation weaker as there’s not much energy fueling them. But the ego is a tricky entity and I by no means am under any sort of delusion that it’s easy to get rid of it.
I love staying in ashrams and monasteries where one dedicates all one’s time for spiritual practices like to dissolve one’s ego; but even the busiest day can be spent in self-watching, noting negative traits and allowing them to start diminishing in the light of your awareness, as darkness cannot survive long when it’s constantly exposed.
Every day is a step away from ego identification and towards more liberation. I enjoy each moment of my life, even the times when I’m in some sort of trouble. I know at the back of my mind that it’s a game, that it’s a play of the Universe, so even sad moments have some magic in them.
And when life becomes too serious, I know it’s a sign I have identified with my thought processes rather than that which is; so then I stay still, and relax into the present moment, and the magic of this reality comes back.
Many people are on the same road, we are just walking at different paces. At first, spiritual practices are divorced from every day life. Then they become more and more integrated; then one understands that life is Spirit.
When this realization comes, it’s very likely that the person is disidentifying from his mind and making peace with that which is. The joy and spontaneity of life begins, as then worry is quite gone, and you stop blocking life but allow its manifestation in any form that it may come.
Life then changes, becoming fun, joyous and fulfilling. You no longer want to be in the past or future, but you start gaining happiness from the present. You feel the sacredness of each moment and this is the Kingdom of God talked about by Jesus.
You relax into life and trust that all will work out. You don’t identify with worry though it can stay as a surface thought or feeling. You get rooted in your being and you start taking action from the inner impulse rather than as a result of the dictates of the world.
That’s what I call true life. And it doesn’t even matter where you find yourself then because your life is colored by your consciousness.
So the more liberated you are from the egoic mind, the more meaningful and fulfilling your existence becomes no matter in which corner of the world you are at that moment.
Beautifully expressed..such sincerity 🙂
Thank you, Jayn.
Beautiful. Life is about enjoying the moments as they are, not getting to identified with it personally, and appreciating nature and the sacredness of life. <3
So eloquent as always, we are on similar paths! I love reading your posts
Thank you, Jennifer!
You’re such an inspiration 🙂 Thank you for sharing, Simona.
Thank you, Isabel:)
love it… keep sharing more like this
Thank you, Sarthak.
Hi Simona
Not everyone in world can live like you as your life choices are very different from rest of the people. Most people have their jobs, young children, elderly parents, grandparents, spouses to take care and many other responsibilities to shoulder so they do or have to do what they are doing to fulfill their responsibilities. Since you don’t have any of those so you can live the way you want. To live in present moment is very easy for you as don’t get distracted by daily hardships of a family person. Earlier I used to get impressed by such narrated account as of yours and longed to live a life like yours but in past couple of years I have realized that the real happiness and awakening is to live in present moment amongst your own circumstances no matter how idyllic or hard they are and not longing to go away or run away from them. Realising this fact has eased my life a lot and made me neutral/ nonreactive and calm. I hope you and others would agree too if they realize this
Thanks
Hansa
Hansa, this article is to inspire people to live life on their own terms rather than following the model of my life:) And yes, it’s about living in the present moment no matter where you are. Some people live similar lives to me not because they chose to run away from responsibilities but because they avoided the creation of such responsibilities in the first place. So thinking (that is, if you do think this way) that people who live peaceful lives in nature somehow ran away from their responsibilities is not always right, though surely some do so:)
Further that’s why it’s said those who they think they are enlightenment after staying and meditating in caves or forests or in other solitary places for years, their enlightenment is not real, unripe and self-decepting because when their so called enlightenment and awakening in the real world is testing with humans and real circumstances, most of them fail and cannot cope up. That’s is why most of these saadhus, yogis, gurus are indulged in heinous crimes like rapes, politics, smuggling, drugs, and doing corporate like business activities as they suppress their worldly lusts and desires under fake spiritual enlightenment practices and hence fall big way when exposed.
Thanks
Hansa
Hansa, people who are touched by the void (those who experienced themselves being pure consciousness) can no longer commit such horrible crimes. If they were really touched by the void, they would not be able to intentionally take the life of a mosquito, let alone do anything worse. So it’s not that those yogis became worse because they no longer live secluded lives in nature, but because they weren’t in any way awakened in the first place but are simple conmen preying on the ignorance of the masses about whom I wrote here.
But there are also those yogis not fully established in stillness, and they leave their places of seclusion too early to go out into the world to teach, and they again get seduced by the world of forms and sensations. But if they were even once touched by that place of stillness, they would not become evil, just distracted from their spiritual path.
Yes Simona, This is entirely true.
Thanks
Hansa
Splendid….remember you writing on the same lines when you were alone in kerala. Now even if you have your partner still you have found the balance in your life….all the best Simona
Thank you, Champika:)
i know and understand u must be getting many messages or emails from thousands of people each day… i would request to have 5min conversation with you.
amazing you actually gave me some hints of life, where i missed those things in ignorance .
awesome work
Your writing touches me Simona. I can feel your energy from here only. I can feel the peaceful, gentle smile that the Buddha always had on his face and I can compare this article to that❤. I know what feeling you are talking about. I am living a conventional life, as like other people. I am jobless from a year, my parents want me to marry the guy of their choice (you know how arranged marriages happen in India). I lost all my college buddies because I realised those were superficial friendships and I am looking for authenticity and meaningful relations only.
I was identifying myself with all those negative insecure thoughts. I had reached the lowest point in my life. No social life, No job, No love life plus living with all the societal pressure to marry. I am 26 and everyone tells me “the clock is ticking”. So, yeah I had reached that point and was suffering from clinical depression.
I was advised by a lady (a Lord Shiva devotee) to pour panchamrit (milk, butter, honey, jaggery, curd) to shivling. I did this remedy sincerely on Mondays. I completely healed. I feel that somehow Lord Shiva took my negative thoughts away and I became very calm and centered. Believe or not there is some science behind this remedy. Honestly, I started to hear my intution and it told me to not look for a job for sometime. My dominant thought here was ‘my life is already at the lowest, now it can only go up’.
It told me to focus on developing something like working on an idea from home only. I started working on making a blog, I started working on my writing skills. You know, I was tired of applying at offices that don’t even care about people. I always had this idea of a blog but somehow dismissed it because I got distracted by day to day activities. I started to meditate and chant mantras. I now realise that there is no point in fretting about love life or social life. I am happy on my own. Though society would feel that I might be lonely. This is a very spiritual experience, I am not looking for happiness outside. The world outside didn’t give me anything. It was all superficial. I completely want to live life this way. I am just flowing with my soul’s calling. Yes, people do think that I am a looser because I don’t have a high paying job and because I sit at home.
All my life, I’ve been chasing people and experiences. My astrological chart clearly shows struggle, depression, anxieties. I think I finally became tired of all that “chasing/seeking”. I have journyed from “The Secret” to “The Power of Now” (u know what I mean). “The joy is within, in the present moment and here you will find your soul’s whisperings.” And when we go with that, most of the people find us to be stupid.
I too find happyness in simple things like my morning cup of warm tea and looking at parrots in my balcony (I feed them) and yes reading your articles ❤
Thank you for this beautiful writeup, Kratika. Yes, the Indian society puts so much pressure so that everyone fits into a certain box. If you’re different, you’re going to experience lots of pressure from everywhere until you stop caring about what others think. And I guess you have reached that point, so congratulations! I wish you to deepen the state of presence and I hope your blog will become very successful as you writing is beautiful already.