what do you say? Can you do it?

[Chandrashekhar Vairale(Samidha)]

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to feel the straps on your shoulders. Feel them? Now, I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life. You start with the little things: the shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, collectibles. Feel the weight as that adds up. Then, start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop applia

nces, lamps, linens, your TV. The backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. Go bigger. Your couch, bed, your kitchen-table; stuff it all it there! Your car, get it in there. Your home, whether it's a studio apartment or a two-bedroom house. I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now, try to walk. It's kind of hard, isn't it? This is what we do to ourselves on a daily basis. We weigh ourselves down, until we can't even move and, make no mistake; moving is living. Now, I'm going to set that backpack on fire, what do you want take out of it? Photos? Photos are for people who can't remember. Drink some Ginkgo and let the photos burn. In fact, let everything burn. And imagine waking up tommorow, with nothing! Is kind of exhilarating, isn't it?

This is how I start every day of my life. Now, this is going to be a little difficult, so stay with me. You have a new backpack. Only this time, I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office. And then, you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your cousins, your aunts, your uncles; brothers, your sisters, your parents. And finally, your husband, your wife; boyfriend, your girlfriend. Get them into that backpack. Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to light it on fire. Feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake, your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. You feel the straps, cutting into your shoulders. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets and compromises. You don't need to carry all that weight. Why don't you set that bag down? Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star-crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not those animals. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans. We are sharks.

~`Ryan Bingham

[Assunta Napoleone]

Well, 15 months ago I did just that. As a personality trait I never stay in one place too long. last year though, I went a step further; left everything behind and took off for Italy, rented me a place and been living there since. Italy is a struggle in many ways, but very non demanding! I cannot go to the mall everyday, in fact in 15 months I have seen only one mall, which, is far from me. In 15 months I have bought 2 t shirts and one coat. Life there is making a homemade meal, go for walks, swims and hikes, teach my belly dancing class and read, study. The stress level is down to zero or close to it. I have no friends there as everyone is VERY close minded, but that is not a bad thing, I have time to go within, meditate and be okay with the quiet that is inside and all around me. I have returned to the States for only 2 months and plan on doing so again, until I get bored.

Relationships are hard, one has to compromise so much, what for??? For fear of being alone? I have now done it for 15 months and love it! Partners require time, effort, decision making, life changes. I am not wanting to give up what I have to please someone else!...selfishness?...so be it!

[Chandrashekhar Vairale(Samidha)]

Assunta,

There something called 'self introspection'. This is done by ex communicating yourself from everything around yourself and being in Nature by yourself and then asking yourself questions about yourself and your actions and replying to them honestly...

This exercise tells you a lot about logic,reasoning,ethics, morals and the unnecessary attachment one has in one's life.It is a way of cleansing thought.A lot many people live to impress,some to pamper their own ego,some to follow rules laid by society and therefore live in fear of being left out or ostracized.. Life is about your own choices and likes and dislikes .. it is unfortunately lost in living ending up in running after livelihood.

I write this just to invoke within you another perspective of LIFE.