Mira Prabhu's Blog, page 57
January 7, 2016
Wall Street Addict in Harlem
Note: All the facts regarding this man’s story have been altered to protect his identity. The Twelve Step Program insists on anonymity to protect their members, and for good reason; however, I personally feel that the stories of many inspire others to begin their own quest for peace and joy.
Years ago in midtown Manhattan I had the terrific opportunity to hear a man—once a big wheel on Wall Street, but who had nearly destroyed himself with cocaine—speak at a 12-Step meeting. His story was dramatic. An attractive and eloquent fellow of upper middle-class origins, he had risen fast in his career and was soon earning the big bucks. He bought a fancy apartment on the upper east side and had a cool live-in fashion model for a girlfriend. He dined at the best restaurants in the Big Apple, jetted around the world on company business, and hobnobbed with the rich and occasionally the famous. Then a so-called friend introduced him to cocaine…and so began his rapid dive into a living hell.
His addiction was so destructive that within a year he’d lost his job, his apartment and his woman. His family, sick of his conning ways, wanted nothing more to do with him. He ended up homeless in Harlem, where he used to cop his drugs. One late evening he found himself sitting on the dirty littered floor of a burnt-out tenement with not even a few bucks on him for a vial of crack, worse still, he had not a shred of self-respect.
Then a mouse darted out of a hole in the grimy wall, grabbed a crumb of food that some other poor addict had dropped on the floor, and darted back into the hole. Watching this he felt a sharp stab of envy – for the mouse! That lucky critter had something to eat and a home, he thought; as for me, I have nada, zilch.
Then he started to cry, great racking sobs that shook him to the core and echoed through that deserted building. He jumped up and began to search the tenement for a way to kill himself. But there was no knife to slice open his veins, nor a rope to hang himself. He thought about going up to the roof to throw himself down, but someone had blocked the entrance to the stairs and he didn’t have the strength to break through the barricade. So he sat down again in his old spot, shut his eyes and prayed intensely for help.
A great clarity came to him then: he knew he had to make a choice. Either he could figure out a better way to die, perhaps to dive into the Hudson at night with his ankles weighted down with rocks, or he could resurrect himself from the ranks of the living dead.
He chose to live. His journey upward was painful, humiliating and difficult. No, he never returned to Wall Street,nor did he want to: That particular bubble had burst forever. Instead he joined the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous, and, with the support of new friends, he remade himself. He found a simple recovery job and began to share an apartment with a other recovering addicts. He attended sober meetings and did a Fourth Step – which encouraged him to take a searching and fearless moral inventory of himself, to make amends wherever possible to all those he had hurt in his downward spiral, and to ask the Divine to bless him with peace. He learned how to calm his body and mind with Tai Chi and began to meditate regularly. Most of all he stayed sober. Once he started to do well again, he found a job as a social worker and began to help those who were as helpless as he had been. And he never forgot that little mouse that had woken him up.
Someone once said to me words I never forgot: that the events of our life can either make us bitter or better. This is true. Many suffer greatly, often through no direct fault of theirs, not counting the karma that we bring into our current lives. Some lose beloved children, mental, physical or emotional health, money, reputation, possessions. Others are betrayed, cheated and vilified for no good reason, sometimes by those closest to them. But no matter what happens, we all have a choice: to grow from our pain or to sink into the living death of despair.
For me the greatest antidote to the angst I was born with has been the path that leads to knowing who I AM beyond body and mind. I began my spiritual journey with the philosophy of hatha yoga, moved on to Zen Buddhism, then dove into Tibetan Buddhism, Sant Math (the Path of the Mystics), dabbled in Sufism and Taoism, then circled back to a path that had always held an incredible appeal to me—Ramana Maharshi’s Direct Path or Self-Investigation.
The Direct Path appears to be simple, and so it is, especially for those who, in their desperation to find an answer to the various and endless pains of living in the mundane world, have plunged into the waters of philosophy and mysticism. In my personal experience I feel all the other paths were like rivers that led me into this ocean of wisdom. In essence, the Direct Path leads us from our finite mini-me self to the immortal and blissful grandeur of the Self that we all are—and this for me is the final answer.
Photo Credit: Berndt Kalidas Flory
Lead me from ignorance to wisdom
From darkness to light
And from fear of death to knowledge of immortality.
Brihadharanyaka Upanishad
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December 27, 2015
Monday Funnies
I love to have a good laugh and Aunty Acid certainly triggers that! Thanks, Chris Graham, and a very happy new year and beyond to you!!!
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
December 20, 2015
The Fascinating Saga of Scheherazade, by Peter Malakoff
I met Peter Malakoff recently, here in the mysterious shadows of Arunachala, and was amazed by his rich and rare gift for story-telling.
Peter describes himself as a Religious Studies Scholar, Poet, Storyteller, Ayurvedic Consultant, Ghee Maker, Teacher and Woodworker. In 2011, he left the United States to live in India, a country whose stories he had loved since childhood. As Peter says, these ancient tales carry the Wisdom of the oldest, still-living culture on earth and are the vehicles that have brought its teachings to its generations for eons.
Here is his superb retelling of the tale of Scheherazade, a harem Princess who staved off her own death for a thousand and one starry nights with her own magical gift for spinning a saga; in this way, Scheherazade saved not just her own life from a monarch embittered by the betrayal of a lover, but also the lives of her harem sisters. By her act of creative bravery, her loveliness, determination and angelic spirit, Scheherazade resurrected her monarch’s dying spirit. He fell deeply in love with her and made her his Queen; gradually, with this united couple at the helm, a realm devastated by the punishing darkness of a royal heart that had lost its ability to feel, rose to an even greater glory.
Please watch this glorious piece and leave a comment for Peter, so he knows that you enjoyed it, as I am absolutely sure you will! (Oh, and by the way, check out his website if you care to: www.petermalakoff.com, as well as his blog:
http://peterindia.blogspot.in/2011/04/how-my-head-got-i-tigers-mouth.html).
And now for Scheherazade, click on this link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFY7pRoRzRUCached
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December 18, 2015
The Benefits of Reading Books Infographic…
I’m a voracious reader…as a child, after “lights out!”, I would sometimes sneak a flashlight with me to bed, and hide under the covers to read…books have seen me through my darkest corridors of time. I see every good book as the encapsulated mind of a human being. What a treasure! Now here’s Chris Graham’s infographic on why we love – or should love – books…
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
December 16, 2015
James A. Michener: “I’m an excellent rewriter.”
“I think the crucial thing in the writing career is to find what you want to do and how you fit in. What somebody else does is of no concern whatever except as an interesting variation.” – James A. Michener
Thank you for this interesting post, Ronovan Hester!
“I think the crucial thing in the writing career is to find what you want to do and how you fit in. What somebody else does is of no concern whatever except as an interesting variation.” – James A. Michener
James A. Michener may just be my hero when it comes to beginning a career. Why? His first book came out when he was 40.
“Sitting there in the darkness, illuminated only by the flickering lamplight, I visualized the aviation scenes in which I had participated, the landing beaches I’d seen, the remote outposts, the exquisite islands with bending palms, and especially the valiant people I’d known: the French planters, the Australian coast watchers, the Navy nurses, the Tonkinese laborers, the ordinary sailors and soldiers who were doing the work, and the primitive natives to whose jungle fastnesses I had traveled.”
This was Michener while on assignment in the Pacific…
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December 15, 2015
The Best Crime Authors in the World and Why They’re so Good
Natasha Orme on what makes a crime novel “unputtdownable” (or not!). I’m currently writing one myself, but with a seriously metaphysical twist (KRISHNA’S COUNSEL)…i call it “a novel of obsession and illumination”…been on quite a journey with this one already, and still working to make it as good as I can. All I can say is that while writing a crime novel is bloody hard work, its also a whole lot of fun! (Thanks for sharing, Chris Graham!)
Who would you say are the best crime authors of the day? If I asked you to write down 5 names, I think I could probably guess most of them:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Agatha Christie
P.D. James
James Patterson
Patricia Cornwall
You might even have some other well-known names on there: Peter James, Erica Spindler, Mo Hayder, Lee Child, Stephen Leather, Ruth Rendell, Mark Billingham, Tess Gerritsen, Karin Slaughter, Martina Cole, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid. Seeing some familiar names there are you? If you don’t recognise at least half of those names, I suggest you take the time to Google them, and if you can only claim to have read maybe one of these authors then you should probably reconsider your reading pile.
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December 14, 2015
Instructions for a Bad Day
Instructions for a bad day!
Thank you D. Wallace Peach. I had a strange day myself!
It’s one of those days when the blogging brain is still in bed. The Overlord stayed over last night (without his mom and dad), and it’s like sleeping with a bandaid, his little body stuck to me all night.
So, today my sleepy head offers up a spoken word poem by Shane Koyczan entitled Instructions for a Bad Day. Not that I’m having a bad day at all – we’re going to make “dirt soup” in the garden and feed the ducks from the fish deck. Yet all humans have those days some point, don’t we? And there are times when the world weighs a little heavy on the heart.
This is one of those inspiring treasures, perfect for any day. I recommend a listen. It’s worth every second.
Credit: A compilation of worldwide YouTube content, the crowd-sourced documentary “Life in a Day” by Kevin Macdonald, and local footage…
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Ever had days like these??? Part ONE…
ha ha ha…good ones for all of us computer mavens.
Thank you Chris Graham!
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
If not, you haven’t had a computer long enough.
December 11, 2015
Tales from the Garden – Guest Post by Sally Cronin
Sally Cronin’s “Tales from the Garden” is a collection of fairy stories and 80 illustrations, for children of all ages, from five to ninety-five that will change the way you look at your garden forever….please, if you have children (little or grown) who love the magic that happens in a well-cared for garden, please consider introducing them to this gorgeous book.
Thank you so much to my much loved friend and talented author Sally Cronin, for being my guest here today to introduce her new book, Tales from the Garden. It’s full of wonderful, and sometimes wistful tales, as well as gorgeous photos. It’s joyful to move to exciting new climes but also a little sad to leave behind old friends. This is a beautiful book. I’ve been dipping into it now and will review later, but already I recommend it heartily. I’ll be back to normal transmission here tomorrow by the way, and catch up with comments, but for now Sally’s in charge. Over to you Sal!
Tales From The Garden – Behind the scenes – by Sally Cronin
My deep thanks to my friend Jo for hosting me today. Also for all her support over the last two years for my blog and other projects that I have been…
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December 9, 2015
Dorothy Kilgallen-Her Pen was Her Scalpel.
Fascinating post on Dorothy Kilgallen…now here’s a woman who was most likely murdered for her brilliant and incisive reporting…this can be a cruel and merciless world to many who dare to speak up. Thanks Ronovan!
“Why can’t I be the adorable one?” Dorothy Kilgallen
It’s doubtful many of you have heard the name Dorothy Kilgallen. The shame of it is you should have. Moreover, if born in the right generation, you couldn’t wait for Sunday nights at 10:30.
Groundbreaking journalist, TV legend, and hard as nails crime investigator, Kilgallen was generations and decades ahead of her time. If not for her, Harrison Ford wouldn’t have a hit in The Fugitive.
Kilgallen’s testimony is the reason Dr. Sam Sheppard received a new trial for the murder of his wife, and ended up released from prison. Forensic advancements years later proved Kilgallen was right in her deductions of Sheppard’s innocence.
She dissected crime reports and testimonies like a skilled surgeon. Her abilities amazed millions, yet she wanted more. She wanted to be the girl next-door people loved for being adorable, cute. However, her wit, her intelligence…
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