My relationship with January 1st evolved with my journey in Energy Healing. Before Healing, I used to be be excited to set resolutions for Jan 1st . I was so naive to think that January 1st will suddenly make me an angel.So, I created all the resolutions passionately like – not becoming angry, not speaking harshly with anyone,waking up early etc. Every Jan 1st, I believed that it will be different this year and thought I will keep up my resolutions till December 31st. To my dismay, I broke these resolutions in just 2 days. I was disappointed with myself year after year for not keeping up my resolutions.At that time, I did not understand that January 1st cannot suddenly change me.
After I entered Healing, I understood changing my negative behaviors and attitudes takes time and its a long-term process which needs concrete tools. So I stopped setting any resolutions on January 1st. I also realized it is the only day in a year which is celebrated by the entire world irrespective of gender, caste, religion and other biases. Its a day that brought new dreams, resolutions and hopes to billions of people across the world. For billions of people, most of the days of a year are normal days – nothing glorious but Jan 1st is a day that brings excitement and euphoria.And entire Earth is in a kind of festivity. From Healing background, I understood this is a very important day to meditate because of these positive thoughts and emotions present in the aura of planet Earth. So, with this understanding, I made sure that I meditated every January 1st and January 1st became a special day for me.
On December 31st 2015, unexpectedly I got a hefty bonus in my job. My husband and I both felt we should celebrate it with a gratitude dinner. That’s how we went to a Chinese restaurant(Chinese because our Guru is a Chinese man).We ordered food as per our heart’s desire. We also kept a seat vacant for our Guru because we heard somewhere that he loved noodles(I don’t know the truth about it). My husband and I both listed out all the good things that happened to us in 2015 and thanked our Guru for blessing us with all these blessings. We gave a generous tip to the waiter(because our Guru told us to be generous and we also wanted to pay bill for our Guru’s invisible dinner) and ended our 2015 with lots of gratitude.
My husband and I both loved this gratitude dinner and continued this every year as December 31st ritual.On every December 31st, We went to a nice restaurant, kept a seat vacant for our Guru, listed out all our blessings, gave generous tip to the waiter and welcomed new year with meditation. This year, we modified gratitude dinner to gratitude lunch as we wanted to sleep early and wake up early for group meditation during Sunrise.
So, we went to a nice restaurant for gratitude lunch.We started our lunch with a simple prayer amidst the party mood around us and invited our Guru in the vacant seat infront of us. We listed out all the good things that happened to us in 2019 in various categories like health, wealth, relationships, experiences, material things etc and we felt very grateful for 2019 and simultaneously we had a lavish lunch to our heart’s desire. We also expressed gratitude in advance for December 31st 2020 and wondered what all good things will happen to us in 2020. We blessed all the staff of the restaurant and the restaurant for serving such a nice lunch,payed the bill and wanted to give a generous tip to the waiter but the waiter told us that no tips are accepted in the restaurant.
This disappointed us and we left the restaurant wondering how to pay our Guru’s share. We wanted to give the money to someone but did not know whom to give. When we were exiting the place, we saw a lady putting rangolis to invite guests into the restaurant for December 31st night. She looked very thin and tired and looked like someone struggling financially in life. We got the flash and striked casual conversation with her. After our initial rapport with her, we gave her the generous tip we planned earlier as a gift for her children. She happily accepted the money and smiled very big.We stayed there for few minutes and all the while, she continued smiling big. Her smile lasted as long as we stayed there. My husband and I could not stop feeling happy seeing her joy. We felt as if our Guru himself gave us this opportunity through her .
By seeing this lady’s joy ,we understood its equally joyful to receive and give. Receiving and giving are like two wings of a bird and a bird cannot fly with one wing alone. We felt grateful to this lady for accepting the money we gave. If she refused to take the money, probably we would have come home not so happy. I heard an anecdote about my Guru where he said something like its a great fortune to find someone who can take money when you want to give. Today, we understood his words.
We left amazed thinking how much our Guru’s teachings transformed us. I was a very stingy person and never liked to give money in tips. Even 10 rupees as a tip felt too much for me and my logic was – we are paying bill and why should I pay tip? But our Guru taught us repeatedly to be generous with time and money and share atleast 10% of our income with others(concept called tithing). This tithing transformed and enabled us to share our prosperity and blessings with others. Our Guru taught us not only to share our blessings with others. He also taught us to enjoy our prosperity and be grateful to the abundance in our lives. That’s how our gratitude dinner took birth.
Dedicating our December 31st 2019 gratitude lunch to our Guru who taught us to respect, save, enjoy,invest,donate money. Thank You Guru for all your teachings and for the way you transformed our lives. Thank You for everything. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.
Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthu
