I can feel that bliss and joy already:-).

Yes, perhaps time to wind down a bit and make more time to smell the roses. Even the young ones could do with a bit of slowing down:-)

Thank you for your email. Yes I do believe that we have been instructed not only at home but more so at school by our teachers to do our best. In my case it was my Irish principal who always said ‘there is always room for improvement’. Somehow those words have been well penetrated in me and I never forget them. It would be nice to just let go and live with the flow for once. Even my doctor said I was always in a hurry, dashing from one place to the other, trying to do too much in too short a time. I need to wind down a bit – moreso now that we are all getting old. Let the young ones do the running I say!

I was amused to watch the Bollywood films on U Tube. How Indian dancing has changed to become more westernised! Of course I have forgotten the Hindi and was reading the sub-titles! Thanks again.

Warmest regards,

Anne

So much of this resonated with me… I’m learning to flow more with life and resist the need and the expectation in this goal obessed world to achieve achieve achieve… after years of doing so, im done !

There is so much inner peace that comes from releasing our own expecations and letting joy flow in – thats the meaning of life ultimately – to feel bliss & joy huh ?

I like the analogy of the good warrior resting for the next battle. That is just what I will be doing over Xmas and getting ready for 2010.

Yes, let us focus on the beauty within us and others, rather than looking for perfection which is just not possible.

If we saw every person we meet from this perspective, our world wound instantaneously transform!

Everyone is doing hte best they can at that particular time.

I acknowledged as an adult, that my father lost his 2 little sisters (5 and 7 years in one week) amongst other losses.

It would seem for me at least, when I stopped looking at my father as my “father, ” and instead viewed him as a human being, struggling with the best of human experience he had gathered, to do his best.

It is as you often say about seeing the “good” and disregarding the rest in others.

Your father, like mine “did his best”. That’s all that counts.

It is usually remote people (e.g. my father) that have a greater need for love than those that can show it freely. Being “not pefect” allows others to come close to us, as they know we won’t judge.

Coming from an Indian background, I know how so much is expected from the boys and so little from the girls. However that is all changing rapidly as more and more women all around the world excel in their chosen fields.

High achieving women should not worry about ending up as loveless, childless old maids if they are to follow their dreams. I for one actually prefer to be with someone smart, ambitious and go-getting, and I am sure many other men out there are the same:-)

I am sure your father loves you in his own way – he is just not able to express his love the way you would like him too.

I too felt the same about my late father – yet two years after he left us, I can really feel his love for me and I know it will always be there. I guess he too was terrified to show his perceived weaknesses i.e. true feelings for us.

It was only after he passed away that I learnt more about his chidlhood and how he had lost his own father at the age of 7.

You make a great point about how high achieving and self critical people having equally high expectations of others. I hold up my hand here and I can confirm that it is so tiring. I guess all part of my journey to have that self-awareness.

I had better stop there – I am a man and we dont talk as much as you do:-)