Ignatius Raphael - cosmic traveller

Day #100:  Our Creator (100 days gratitude challenge) Today is the last of the 100-day gratitude challenge and it is dedicated to my Creator, the creator of all that we see, hold, enjoy and experience. He is the reason that I am here, you are here and we are having this conversation (or monologue). He is the reason behind everything in my world and yours. The minute I say that then a few bright minds ask, “Is he behind the murders, the crime, the poverty and the ills that ails our world?” Why would a God do that?  Answer: The beauty of our creation is, he made us in his spitting image and gave us free will to do as we please. So we wield as much power as He has but since we are a prisoner of our collective consciousness we are unable to see our pure potential and live bounded by the mediocrity and weaknesses of our flesh. I am grateful to our Creator for making us the way he did and giving us the power to become Him. I am discovering more and more in myself and ...

Day #99:     Murali Sundaram, Happyness Coach (100 day gratitude challenge) Do you want to be happy in your life? Stupid question, right? But stupid or not, most people have forgotten how to be happy. They need to be reminded of the little things that they can do that will bring back the smiles to their face, a lightness to their step and a pitter patter to their heart. And to remind us of these little things, we have a Coach called Murali Sundaram who has made it his life mission to reach one million families and help them find the happiness that is waiting within them to be released and experienced. I met him 11 years ago and we have worked together for the last 10 years in different capacities. As a child he has shared what he has learned in school with other kids through free tuitions. He learns more so he can teach more. What he learns he implements in his life, so he can speak from experience rather than from the head. He is loving, loyal friend who is ...

Day #98:     DeMartini (100 day gratitude challenge) Two days ago I received a package from Success Gyan, my friend Suren’s company. It contained a thank you note and a pen drive. The thank you note is a detailed note from Suren thanking the Universe for all that it has done for him and acknowledging everyone in his life who shared this journey with him in raising himself from where he was at the age of 19 when he lost his father to what he has become today because of his intention to keep his mother like a queen so she would never again suffer the way she did during the traumatic early years. The note was beautiful and inspiring, but the pen drive contained something even more valuable. It had an audio message from Dr. J Demartini ( https://drdemartini.com/ ) on staying focused on goals. It’s a short but powerful message on what we need to do to achieve the goals we set at the beginning of the year. If you would like to have this I can email you a link that yo...

Day #97:     Sharing (100 day gratitude challenge) There are people in this world who genuinely want the best for you and willing to share what they know and their time to grow others. I can name many and I’m sure you would have your own list too. But today I would like to thank one person who shared this post on facebook so thousands of people who read it and implement it can benefit from the nuggets of wisdom. She’s someone I met a few years back and has always come across as someone who has the best of intentions towards people she meets. She is Puja Kapoor Gupta. I’m glad to share her post here so you can benefit too from this simple but powerful technique. The three easy steps to the best way to set goals for next year:  Are you ready? Clarity is key  🔑 Quickly do 3 rounds of walking in whichever room it is that you are sitting in Go get a paper and a pad Get into your most Happy energetic self Get your heart pumping ...

Day #96:     Rituals (100 day gratitude challenge) The rituals associated with the passing away of a family member are elaborate in most customs. The Indian Hindu customs are very elaborate and spread over a longer period than for us Indian Catholics for whom it is just 3 days of mourning and then life gets back to normal. There are a funeral service and a third-day memorial mass. The family stays together during this time. There are lots of discussions on what happened, how it happened, old memories, recent memories and a lot more so it takes the mind off the subject for the grieving members of the family. They get time to grieve heal and adjust to the new reality of a life without this person who was an integral part for so long. My sister and her sons were dealing with all of this that the shock of learning of the passing of the man of the house was cushioned and they could slowly wrap their head around the fact that he was no more amongst them. Rit...

Day #95:     Passing away of a loved one (100 Day gratitude challenge) This month on 26 th December my sister lost her husband (just 57 yrs old) and their sons lost a father, I lost a brother-in-law and we all lost a family member who has been with us for close to 30 years. It was sudden – a heart attack and a flesh-and-bone person who was amongst us celebrating Christmas the previous day was no more in this world and has moved on during his sleep. This man was one amongst us in our Christmas get-together the previous day, talking, laughing, eating, and participating in the family discussions. The next morning he was gone. The connection to life is so tenuous that we never know when our time will come or the time of a loved one will show up. We take for granted that we will be around for a long time and people we love and care about will still be with us and we can make our mistakes now and later we can correct them. But sometimes the later is not there. And t...

Day #94:     Christmas (100 Day Gratitude Challenge) You may be wondering why I’m writing about Christmas a full 5 days after it has passed. You will discover that in the next post of mine (Day #95). This Christmas was a lovely one spent with family – from Christmas eve to Lunch the next day, we have had fun – Church, food, chatting and more. The lights, the decorations, music and general festivities evoke memories of younger days when Christmas was a really important event annually in our life. It draws memories of a time when relationships were built on face-to-face interactions, handshakes, hugs and cozy togetherness rather than emoticons and hurried messages passed through electronic devices. I’m grateful for Christmas day. Though it’s symbolic of the birth of Christ, there are so many stories and legends around this day that it’s rich with stories and traditions that fire up the imaginations in our mind. It is also the season where one can give thanks, t...

Day #93:     Sapiens (100 Day Gratitude Challenge) Yuval Noah Harari’s book, “Sapiens – A brief history of mankind”, is a rare book that gives a glimpse of how we have evolved to what we are today. Our worldview and how we approach it will change radically when you read it – at least it has for me. I’ve always had the weight of our history on my mind and am curious on where we are headed to from here.  This book has shed a lot of light on the subject and I’m looking forward to completing it and taking on its sequel “Homme Deus” This book takes me on a journey to the beginning of time and when and how humans have developed to what we are today. Many of our assumptions are questioned. It dispels many of our ignorance on who we are, and how we have developed to what we are today. It starts with “100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one.” I’m grateful to this author and the book for throwing light on s...

Day #92: Love (100 days of gratitude) I love, love. It is the most powerful emotion that I can have. It helps me move mountains, overcome obstacles and move towards my destiny. It helps me connect with people and create relationships that last over many lifetimes. It helps me overcome gravity and fly. It helps me be who I am and become who I can be. Love is the most endearing thing in my life. I’ve been in love all my life. When I was a kid, I loved the Church, Mass, the readings, the retreats and the thought of working for God for the rest of my life. When I became an adult, I loved college, meeting girls, falling in love, adventure and more. When I started working I loved my work – the creativity, the discussions with clients, the ideation and ultimate production of the concept. I love creating something out of nothing. So I love start-ups, learning something new, meeting new people, new discussions, new ideas, new books, new songs, new businesses and more. I’m grateful...

Day #91: Plum Cakes (100 days of gratitude) Plum cakes are so synonomous with Christmas and celebrations. And when the plum cakes are soaked in wine for weeks and baked, it is so yummy that we can keep on belting it till the last crumb. This season too we have had our tryst with some yummy plum cake. One such was given to us by my sister who had got it from a baker in Perambur. This was the best for this season. I’m taken back to the time when cake making was ritual in our home every Christmas where my mom and her little helpers gathered around to prepare the Christmas delicacies. We took turns whipping the batter, tasting it when it spilled over on us, separating the egg whites, preparing the mix and finally watching the cake brown inside the oven. The special cakes where the ones where dry fruits were added. They were not just dry fruits but dry fruits soaked in wine or brandy for a few weeks. The aroma was heady and the fumes could give a high. There were so many family...

Day #90: Backspace (100 day gratitude challenge) Most of us type out messages and documents on the computer. Do you remember the time when we had the typewriter to type out our documents. If we made a typo we had to remove the paper, use whitener to mask it and type over it again. Any mistake was costly and the correction took time. Today with the computer we just use the backspace key. It’s convenient, fast and hassle-free so making mistakes is not a big deal as long as you notice it and correct it soon enough. I’m grateful to this little innovation in the keyboard that makes life so much easier for me. How I wish we had such a key in our life too. We make mistakes in relationships, at work, and at various areas of our life that sometimes cannot be just wished away or struck out with a backspace. We sometimes say the wrong things, do the wrong things and hurt people we love. Once done it is not so simple to undo it. Our backspace in life is to be authentic to our feel...

Day #89: Water (100 days of gratitude) There is one substance in the world which connects all of us together when we are alive. It is literally the substance that determines whether we are alive or dead. When we search for signs of life in other planets this is the substance that we search for to check whether there is life in it. If we don’t have enough of it in our body we will die. We need to ingest it and expel it regularly so that it flushes the toxins from our body and keep. I’m grateful for this magical substance that connects us all together – water.  In its purest form, it's odorless, colorless and tasteless. It's in our body, the food we eat and the beverages we drink. We use it to clean ourselves, our clothes, our dishes, our car and everything else around us. We use it to consecrate places and people. It is an essential part of all religious ceremonies. We can travel on it, jump into it, float up into the air using a balloon, drive an engine to t...

Day #88: Two Fat ladies (100 days of gratitude) Today’s gratitude is not for two fat ladies... no! Have you played housie or tambola? Two fat ladies is the number 88. I’m remembering an old aunt of mine who is 88 years old now. When I was a small boy she was old. When I became a young adult she was old. Today I’m over five decades old and now she is still old maybe a little older than a few decades back. I’m grateful that death does not claim people in their 50s and 60s as much as it used to happen earlier. You can grow old but still be an active and healthy member of your family and community. She is still mobile and moves about though her movements may have been slowed. She is still an active member of the family and participates fully in its happenings, goes to church and interacts with people though with less vigor than before. Our lifespan is increasing as we speak and technology and quality of medical care will continue to increase it more and more. We can safely ...

Day #87: Jim Reeves (100 Day Gratitude Challenge) Have you listened to Jim Reeves? If never, look him up on youtube and put on your headphones and listen to his evergreen numbers. If you have heard him long, long ago, you could also do the same. It’s been a long time for me and this week I’ve been listening to some Christmas songs and I stumbled upon his songs again. It brought back lots of long lost memories. It reminded me of a time when a song could be enjoyed with just a voice and a guitar. We didn’t need technology and synthesisers to create hits. The lyrics, the voice and a string instrument and an occasional percussion is enough to mesmerise you and take you into fantasy land. As I’m writing here, I’m listening to his “Twelve songs of Christmas” and being transported on a magical journey across yuletide land. His voice is what one can die for. It makes my heart pop out and go pitter-patter over his words. I wish i could be born again with his voice. God must have...

Day #86: (100 day gratitude challenge) Happy birthday to me... happy birthday to mee.... happy birthday to mee.... mee... happy birthday to meeee.... Weird, right? That’s how some people celebrate their birthdays, alone, no one to share with... no one to wish them. There are billions of people in this world but many individuals are alienated and feel all alone. Sometimes it is driven by the desire for privacy. Sometimes it is because they really don’t have so many friends that they feel that their life is full. But it need not be so..... Yesterday was my birthday. I see myself as a private person, But still, over the years, I seem to have built a large base of friends, relatives, colleagues, neighbours, clients, vendors, acquaintances, FB friends, etc. I was literally flooded with messages on FB, FB Messenger, Linkedin, Google messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS and calls with some people using 2 or 3 mediums to reach out.  I remember my birthdays in the 20s when I ...

Day #85: (100 day gratitude challenge) “Adjust maadi....” This is a term we hear often when someone offers you a shoddy service or product and expects you to accept it without raising a stink.  Or when you are in a crowded bus or waiting room and the person next to you want to accommodate one more person on the seat. So the term is pretty obnoxious to those who expect quality in their life – whether you are a business owner or a consumer. In this context it is a very negative word that can get your goat and raise your hackles. But when it comes to a relationship it is considered a virtue by most people when we “adjust maadi” (maadi = do). When a newly married girl comes to her parents and complains about her obnoxious husband or his relatives, she is asked to adjust and put up with it. The stock answer is everything will work out fine given some time. When a child is put into a new school or college and complains about the new environment, he or she is asked to...

Day #84: (100 day gratitude challenge) It is nearing the end of the year 2017. This is a time when we look back at our year and see the hits and the misses that we have had. This part of the year can be fantastic for some as they look at the huge progress and successes that they have scored. For some people, it could have been a really bad year and they are able to see only the losses and failures that they experienced that year. For some others, it could be bittersweet where there have been some successes but there have also been some losses that hurt. But invariably it is made up of gains and losses, successes and failures, love and rejection, and hurt and happiness. Depending on what we remember, the emotions associated with it well up and we look at our year through those glasses. But whatever we experienced is in the past. If it powers us to perform better it is fine to remember them. But if it hurts or pulls us down it is time to let go of them and move on to more empow...

Today for the first time in my life I attended a program in Tamil. Initially I was reluctant to attend this. But since it was being organized by my friend venkatesh's company I decided to attend.  The program is called kannavu meiypadda.. dreams to reality. The speakers were Tmt Praveen Sultana and Thiru Kaliyamurthy. It was a riveting morning and both the speakers were on fire. For the first time I realised the beauty of my mother tongue and I could understand most of the language. When they switched from English to Tamil I noticed that it is true that English was moving my mind while Tamil was touching my heart. I'm grateful for my mother tongue Tamil. I wish I had learnt it from childhood... Especially bharathiyar and thirukurals The words flow so easily and  the poetry flows like water over a brook. I love Tamil and I'm grateful for this language Would love to learn it properly at least now

Yesterday I was going through tnagar area and the narrow roads and crowds were so suffocating  that I wondered why I ventured here. This is close to the heart of the city and is a thriving and sought after area. However commuting a km here can take as long as driving 10 kms on OMR The city is getting more and more crowded and I wonder when it will choke up completely. We either need to stop using private cars in the city centre and use only public transport or taxi or we will end up choking our city. I'm grateful for roads such as OMR. They are the only ones worth driving in.

Day #81: My reading glasses (100 Day gratitude challenge) A few years back I was struggling to read visiting cards. I was wondering why people are printing such small size fonts nowadays. Terms and Conditions, Credit card, restaurant bills and even some books were becoming difficult to read and I was convinced that people are not designing well or printing well. Then I realised that not everyone was struggling to read this information. It was only then it struck me that the problem may be with my eyes. When I asked my friends they laughed at me and said that I must grow up and realise that I was over 50. Their argument was that most people over 40 require reading glasses and that that I should not be surprised with the deterioration in my eye sight. So that is how I visited an optician and did an eye test to find out what was wrong. My friends were right and my vision was not what it used to be. So I got my glasses which I was supposed to wear while reading and while driv...

Good morning. Today there is a thick veil of fog over the horizon when I look out from my balcony. Visibility is down to 40 feet or less. For Chennai that's severe. There's  something mysterious and magical about such days. It reminds me of scenes from Harry Potter. Possibilities are endless. Anything can happen. There's a yearning for some magical transformations that will bring more excitement into my life. Life without imagination, hope, anticipation and a bit of tension is not a life at all. The victory of good over evil, strength over weakness, fight over surrender is what life is about. Fog and mist hides more than it reveals. The anticipation and mystery makes life thrilling I'm grateful to the foggy morning. May there be magical transformations waiting within. Have a beautiful day.

Day #79:               Christmas Carols (100 Day gratitude challenge) Yesterday a group from my apartment complex came to our neighbour’s home to sing Christmas Carols. They are doing it for the last 3 days going door to door. I remember as a kid we used to have people come to our home to sing Christmas Carols. I remember there was a group which used to come in a lorry to our home. Over 20 people carrying different musical instruments – drums, guitars, harmonium, etc., all youngsters brimming with joy and the Yuletide spirit. For many decades after that I have not had the opportunity to have any carol groups visit home for singing carols till yesterday. This is such a beautiful way of welcoming the Yuletide spirit into our homes. With the advent of technology and the internet age, people visiting other people’s homes itself has come down big time. Now that we keep in touch using messaging apps, we don’t need...

Day #78:               Laptop 100 Day Gratitude Challenge I was not born with it. I’m not going to die with it or take it with me when I’m done on this earth. But still it is an integral part of my life nowadays and life will not be the same without it. I’m grateful for my laptop. It helps me work wherever I am. I do not need to sit at my desk and work on my desktop. In fact, I don’t even have a desktop anymore. My laptop is able to help me accomplish many of the things I need in my work.  It helps me keep in touch with you and many of my friends who are scattered all over the world. You will not be reading this if not for my laptop. I can sit on a beach, in a park, in my balcony or in a car and still connect to my work and the world. We take this machine for granted. But life will not be the same without it. And it’s tough to imagine how we managed before this.  Thank you dear lapt...

Day #77: Hugs 100 Day Gratitude challenge When was the last time you were hugged by a friend? If you are living in Chennai and you are a Southie it will be a long long time back. Punjabis and several north Indian communities have a habit of hugging their friends when they meet them.  In my community during a festive carnival day there was this group of people giving away free hugs. Most people including me tip toed around them so they wouldn’t find us and hug us. I did it because I had come without having had a bath. So didn’t want to get hugged like that. But I think even if I had had a bath I may still have done the same. We’re shy to be hugged. But when it happens it feels really good. We feel warm and fuzzy and the world seems just right. Hugging is easy and highly theraupeutic. I hear it has healing properties too. Humans are social animals and we need to feel loved and cared for. A hug does that for us. Hugging therapy is definitely a powerful way of healing. Re...

Day #76:               Generosity 100 Day Gratitude Challenge In my office building, we have a cafeteria where there are different food outlets. I normally buy lunch from one of these outlets. It is managed by 4 ladies who run it like it’s their mission to feed all those hungry souls who stop by for a meal there. They serve meals, dosas, pooris and aloo parathas for lunch and some assorted snacks like medu vadai and masala vadais. When we ask for masala with dosa, they generously serve that too even though it is not part of their package. And do you know how much we pay for the plate of dosas? Rs 20/- for 2 dosas. And they serve chutney, sambar and when we ask even masala. Two of us can have a meal for Rs 40 or Rs 100 depending on what we eat. I would call these people extremely generous. They are giving more value than they are receiving. They are happy and pass on their smiles to every customer. They c...