As a Hindu, we believe that a person’s body is temporary. It’s simply a vessel to carry their athma, or their eternal soul. Your soul stays consistent but comes back in different forms in different lifetimes but the goal is to escape samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth, and achieve moksha. Your actions and words is what will dictate whether you are reborn again, and in what form, or whether you are liberated from the cycle and achieve moksha. This ties in to how Hindu funerals are conducted as well as the grieving process. In Hinduism, the body is cremated and then ashes are spread at a sacred body of water or some other place of importance to the person who passed. At the funeral, you wear white, there are prayers conducted asking for liberation of the person’s soul and acceptance of them. You wear white. You share memories. And you pray.
When Did You Become a Reader?
My friend asked me today when I became a reader. Truth is, reading has always been a love of mine. I can’t remember the exact moment I became a reader, but it was sometime before high school and then again after I started working post-college. It might have been The Babysitter Club or Sweet Valley that sucked me in, but Amelia Bedelia was my friend way before that, right around the time that Curious George and I met. And then after I survived the mandatory readings in high school and college, it was Dan Brown and Keith Follett that brought my love back into my life. As I got older, I discovered non-fiction and what beauty it could bring into my life.
How Questions Strengthen Relationships
My favourite part about meeting someone is getting to know them and their story. What are the events that have shaped them? What are they most excited about? What and who are the most important things in the world to them? Their quirks and their strengths and their weaknesses–I can’t get enough.
Reuniting Never Felt This Good
Yesterday was a good day. I finished my first solo shift. I helped two different families semi-reunite with missing loved ones. And I held back tears as a wonderful soul shared his story and experience fleeing the Taliban with us (covered in a later post). This is why I’m here.It was my first day of working solo and working an evening shift. And 5/6 people who were working were new. With so many volunteers coming and going, this is pretty typical but it also means you need to think on your feet and just figure things out. Challenge accepted.
Rookie Mistakes, Problem Solving sans Tears and Hitting the Ground Running
6 flights, 5 bags (including my purse), 4 days. To say it was a journey to get here would be an understatement. Things were going fairly smoothly, though I am super grateful for some travel tips I follow and kicking myself a bit for some rookie mistakes that I made: