Seek Your Transformational Soul Spark

What's your inspiration? What is that moment or experience when you feel a rush of excitement deep within you? What is it that makes you want to jump out of bed and rush headlong into your daily life - that intense mental and physical "click" that makes you feel you can climb the Himalayas and deep-dive into the Mariana Trench? 

Do you've a focal point and a sense of boundless energy that makes you cross your uneasy beginnings and lights a blazing fire in your life? 

The transformational soul spark is present in all of us - some allow it to gather dust in the daily grind of life while others nurture and ride high on the realisation that life is not only about the troughs but also has the peaks - it depends on us, how we want to view it. 

The soul is our guiding force - that tells us that this life is not to be wasted in the inane and mundane and sometimes, the unbearable pain - but to move ahead and ignite the spark which can metamorphose our life into something captivating and meaningful!

Move forward! Gather all your grain and seek that transforming spark in your soul!

What's Your Spark?

What is your spark? What is that you are really passionate about - that special something that triggers your energy levels and ignites the joy in you? Does it illuminate your life - make it more meaningful and bring that verve to your daily life?

A spark is not that something that pigeonholes you into a niche corner. It opens a vista of possibilities as joy brings in an element of openness and understanding of the immense possibilities arrayed in front of you. 

It means finding your thing, a reason for being alive, useful, and purposeful. "Spark of Life" is all about the excitement and intensity, even and inspite of, in the mundane - not allowing thoughts like being bored or feeling uninspired creep silently into your life. 

This requires discipline, concentration, and the commitment to cherish some special moments in your life and develop an uncanny knack for celebrating even the smallest of achievements as a catalyst to take your life forward in a meaningful and sustainable manner.

Ignite the transformational soul spark in you! Today!

Gather All Your Grains

Life draws us to the wayside - it often makes us stop just short of our goals! We set aspirations and believe they cannot be achieved; every gap, every hurdle, every turn poses us a challenge! But what we need is the means to overcome those moments and gather momentum!

Some of our grains do fall on the ground! We can either trample on them or let others trample all over them. Or we can choose to gather all of them and bundle them to our safe bosom.

"The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it, but one does not use horses to grind grain." Isaiah 28:28 

Do not thresh the grain too much nor for too long; just enough to dust off the loose soil and mould them into bread. Remember that you are no husbandman to your happiness. Only you are and can be the owner of your own destiny. You have the first right to the land of your dreams and you need to plow and cultivate the harsh ground, so you can reap all the fine grain.

Burn the weeds, harvest all the grain, and convert them into a fine flour. Then, bake your bread and break your fast of sorrow!

Own Your Destiny

You are the Master of your world; do not choose to become the Victim. Life is all about your choices and your decisions. They determine your destiny; it is not something that others can or should write for you!

Some stars shine bright, others fall a little short of their own glory, but the purpose of all stars is the same - to throw light on the land. 

Every star is unique. Just like each person has fingerprints, each star has a unique spectrum that sets them apart. And remember, if there were no stars, even our Earth would turn into just a large mass of a rock with ice. 

Try to be luminous and glow in the celestial land of achievements. And only you can set the tone, the pace, and the final goal - for that, you need to set your navigation and move from a frame of inertia to a state of activity. 

Frame of Inertia

Do you want to be embraced forever in a frame of inertia or be able to make your own destiny? Your life will be set to the plans you make and the actions you take. 

"You are the architect and builder of your own life, fortune, destiny." - Alfred Armand Montapert (1906-97)

Control your own destiny or someone else will. Delving into the past can refresh some cruel lessons - it is sometimes better not to turn back and refer worn-out pages, but to write afresh on future ones. 

Learn to outmatch, outreach, and outpace the vagaries of life. You are the protagonist of your own story. Do not blame destiny for all that is not working in your world. Sometimes, all it takes is to move from the state of inertia you've allowed yourself to settle down into and set a new frame of reference for yourself.

Ride The Wave

Enjoy your period of success and good fortune! Life is a visually stunning and emotionally satisfying journey - with a voyage of discovery. Happiness and sorrow, success and failure, love and despair are the flip sides that life offers us. We need to take both of them upfront. It's not easy to separate out one from the other.

We cannot choose to only pick the good moments that life throws at us and try to get only the positives. Negatives are a part of the journey too! 

You may go down under a small wave - leaving you gasping, breathless, helpless but it's only transitory! Soon enough, a bigger wave will pull you to the top! 

Be aware of your emotions. Accept and tolerate all of them. Don't indulge in emotional avoidance. 

And experience those feelings fully - both good and bad - they are but a part of you! But in the end, learn to ride the wave of life!

Dare To Dream

Dare to dream and dare to turn that dream into reality! Life is not about making easy choices. Life is all about making the right choices!

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is one such example where thousands of players from all over the world have scripted their history, not by being passive recipients but by building the ability to withstand the lows and yearn every moment to scale the peaks.

And it's not just them who dreamed larger than life - it's their entire family, friends, coaches, Government, supporters, fans, and all those millions of people sitting hundreds of miles away who've stayed with the players every step of the way - cheered them at every victory, shed tears when they hurt, smiled with them, and sympathized with their limitations! No one gave up or we would not be a witness to all the sports contingents from every nook and corner of the world proudly representing their country at the games!

Fans, friends, and family - are the rock-solid supporters of your every dream! So, what are you dreaming about? Are you working towards converting that dream to reality? 

Get up and hustle! Chase your Dreams!

Drawing Parallels From Your Gardening

There is an interesting parallel between writing and gardening! While gardening, we use our senses to observe how each of the plants are thriving, which plants need more nourishment, which are being overwatered, what is the planting cycle, which soil and climatic conditions suit them best and what plants can be grown as companions.

Trimming trees, planting saplings, removing the weeds - is quite similar to what one does while writing! Just as you take control and make your own decisions regarding what plants need to be trimmed, what can be retained and which ones to weed out while gardening, so it applies in your writing! Each choice of words, each punctuation makes a difference to the way the words are threaded to make a cohesive whole.

Do you garden? What does your garden teach you that you can use in your writing?

Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

Whenever I get a little stuck with my writing, one of the things I do is make a pit-stop in my garden. Being with nature does a lot of good for the soul but it equally relaxes my mind and body too. I don't put too much pressure on my mind - just let my hands and heart do all the work. 

Nature soothes me with the gentle song of the birds, the swaying of trees, the symmetry of flowers, and the flitting of the insects. I don't set any expectations for myself but before I know it, my mind starts filling with hundreds of words, waiting to find an expression in my writing.

I go back to my desk with renewed energy and some fresh ideas inspired by nature. 

What works for me is the change in the surroundings. 

You need to explore the right boost to stimulate your mind. Is it a book, a walk, cooking, playing an instrument, speaking to someone close, catching a movie, daydreaming, exercising, or doing something else? 

Only you can find the source that will change every dimension of your cognitive process and get your creative juices flowing.

Using Creative Writing Prompts

As an author, I've often explored the efficacy of creative writing prompts. 

They work - for me!

When you read about authors who are able to pen 10,000 words per day and I'm barely able to get 100 words written on some days, then writing prompts come to my rescue. They are a great tactic to prompt me to do what I enjoy doing the most, i.e. writing. 

And yes, you can get a little sluggish even with things you love!

We all know that the same prompt can conjure varied scenarios, characters, and plots in different people's minds. I've taken that thought a step further. 

What I try to do is pick up a few random words from a book or a newspaper and try to string them together in different forms. New ideas pop out randomly and lo and behold, before I know it, I'm back to my favourite activity again.

Do you use creative writing prompts? And what is your secret sauce to get your creative juices flowing?

My Passion for Writing

Coming from a family of bookworms, 

I was bitten by the reading bug very early on. 

I did write in bits and pieces over the years 

but  it wasn't until a few years ago, 

I finally took the plunge and left a secure corporate world 

to move 

into a fictional world of words. 

It easily meant that the generous paycheque 

which I had grown used to would disappear quickly 

and instead of others looking out for me, 

I would have to fend for myself.

Not an easy thought to digest considering I was working 

for one of the best companies in the world 

but 

risk is a way of life. 

If not now, then when?

Has the risk paid off? 

No not yet - 

there are miles to go before I sleep 

but for sure, 

my creative instincts 

are being nurtured and soothed with each passing day!

That gives me a lot of happiness and inner peace!