Theloopylululog

The best advice I give to anyone younger than me pertains to the heart, mind and the body. Advice I wish someone older had given me when I was just picking up the pace in the marathon of life.

Young ‘uns! If you are listening, consider your life to be a safari in the Maasai Mara. In the great grand adventure of your life, these are the Big Game you need to keep your eyes peeled out for!

The Rhino: Listen to your heart

Your heart speaks the language of God. Listening to one’s heart has become a skill just as endangered as the Rhino. Lucky for you, you belong to a species that ain’t under a cloud of extinction! So no fears when you can revert the stats of the dying skill.

Whenever your mind battles your heart, train yourself to seive the chaos of the mind. What remains once the loudness disappears is the truth you have been seeking all day. Possibly all week.

Your heart is where every piece of who you were born as resides. All the pieces you had to hide, all the pieces you had to shear and all the pieces you will ever need to be whole and alive.

When the going gets tough, lean into your own personal North star, your heart. Don’t let anybody shame you into doing something that will haunt you for the rest of your life.

The Leopard: Movement is medicine.

Move! Move! Move!

Move that body. Run, jog, lift, a bit of a bend here and a bit of a some pilates there; choose whatever rocks your boat. Get down to shake that body. If nothing piques your interest, just walk. The decor around you does not matter. A park, a forest or a deignated walking trail helps, but is not essential. What is, is your body and the readiness to spend some quality me time moving anyway you please.

Believe you me, movement is medicine. Do not led hindsight whack your fat butt into guilt. Go, move NOW so you don’t repent in leisure at 60.

The Elephant: Meditation is panacea.

Before you bolt your way out and leave me hanging mid-savannah, give peace a chance. Meditation is more than mere silence. It is neither about crossed legs nor about chanting Om.

Meditation is the peace you seek everywhere outside you except the one place you never bother to look. Yourself. Within you is a reservoir of stillness that only solitude can lead you to. A stillness that speaks the language you are uniquely meant to decipher. That unlocks the code to the meaning you have been searching for…probably will forever.

You are the only one who will walk with yourself till the end of your time. You better make your company fun, safe, rock steady and trustworthy. The only one you will keep coming back to at the end of the day is YOU. Be the home filled with light and peace that you will never stop loving to return to.

So put that screen aside and peel the layers of the onion that you are through tears and fears. Your mental health is in your willingness to help yourself find that quiet corner of your life that smells like patchouli and looks like a soft cushion.Don’t thank me when you find the key to your life long quest and attain Buddhahood. Pay it forward please!

The Buffalo: Be kind to yourself

You are your best friend. You are your worst enemy.

Between the poison and the antidote lies the entire sky of who you are, the roads your tread, when you pivot, where you fall and how you rise: guilt, shame, blame, regrets et al.

How you learn to live with the choices you make becomes the leading vein of your life that gushes with the blood of your sacrifices and the earnings of your windfall.

The only thing that you can do to keep your head held high irrespective of how hard you fell on your face is to be kind to yourself. Despite the mistakes you gawk at in hindsight, inspite of the questionable decisions that makes you want to vomit in retrospect.

Immaturity is often the first step towards responsibility. And first steps are baby steps. You will falter. You will fail. But you will learn to walk with a steady base underneath you. What breaks you moulds you into the titanuim you are. So shed the weight of every failure you will inevitably go through and make them the foundation of your success.

Being kind to yourself before showering the world with kindness is non-negotiable.

The Lion: Keep dying to your past.

Remember, you did what you did with whatever you knew when you did what you did. Hindsight will always remain a bitch putting you to shame. Life will seem worthless many a times; you wondering what’s the point of it all if all there is, is falling and failing no matter what you do.

Please learn to forgive yourself. The only thing that matters is that you keep trying. Someday when you look back and connect the dots, you will find the same life worthy.

NOW is the only moment that exists…everything else is just invisible smoke. Stop smelling the rancid fumes of what was, thus ruining the aroma of the here and now.

Your past belongs there. Do not let it write your future. Keep walking to the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Life is long. Let it be filled with adventure and fun you are not left regretting in your death bed. Forget FOMO! What you miss out on was never meant to be yours!