Happy New Year to all Ilites

Hi Sonia
Let me wish u and all Ilites, Happy New Year, once again.
The presentation slides are really nice.
Thanks for sharing with all Ilites.
Keep sharing...


Gayathri.

Hi Ladies,

I'm back after a month. We went to India & really had a terrific time. We enjoyed there throughly. Meanwhile how are u ladies??? Well India has changed a lot since our last visit, big-2 shopping malls, more restaurents etc etc.

This time i am really missing india very much. We had a good time with our families & that realize me how important is ur family in ur life.

What i realize "East of West India is the Best". Hopefully sooner or later we'll go back to india for good.

WISHING U ALL HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007.

Hi Cheer,
welcome back..we all missed your posts..Happy to know that you have enjoyed your vacation very well..

Hi all!

Belated I know, but better late than never Wish you a very very happy new year and the very best of the festive season!

Having said that, let me share with you some of my thoughts related to the end of one year and the beginning of another...

Have you seen Dreamworks Animation's movie Madagascar? Marty the Zebra is one of the most unforgettable characters in that movie, the protagonist in fact. Somehow, just as we are about to see the end of 2006, I am reminded of how Marty gets quite depressed on his birthday since nothing had changed in a year... It was the same old grass, the same old trot, the same old smile. (Well, all it took was that thought and a dream to spark an adventure ride later, that's another matter!)

If you have similar sentiments about the year gone by and feel nothing has changed, try this little exercise... take a sheet of paper and try to jot down the most important events that happened - trips you made, vacations you enjoyed, anniversaries you celebrated, conferences you attended, projects you completed, acquaintances you made, etc. Phew, you will be amazed at how long that list will be. But well, it does seem like an achievable task, to jot down a recap of the completed year. Try this now... take another sheet of paper and try to list out the lessons that life taught you last year! After attempting this exercise, I am sure, you'll never say, "Oh, what's so great about it all... just one year gone by, another in sight!"

Every year in our life is extremely precious, valuable, a blessing given to us. And so much does happen every year; it's just that sometimes we are so in a hurry to whiz past that we do not have time to stop and relish the Kodak moments. We do not have time, as they say, to stop and smell the roses. Or so we think. We do not have time to wave and say a cheery hello to our neighbours, or so we think. Oh, we will be shirking our duty if we step away from our computers on a rainy day to stand in the balcony and hear the pitter-patter of the raindrops, or so we think! When they are around, we treat friends and relatives as pieces of furniture only to miss them when they are no longer around. We think it's all too "high" to just spend a few moments meditating about experiences to derive lessons from them. We think it's prodigal to spend a few hours at a concert when we can after all, listen to music on the iPod when we are working (if that's what you think, then trust me, it is not the same feeling!) Why, are we all so obsessed with being "perfect" in the eyes of the world, that we do not have time to pamper ourselves with these little joys? Now, that's something to leave you thinking about. If, at the end of it, you resolve to spend a little more time appreciating life and its joys and lessons in the coming year, I would have achieved my aim in writing this email (and more so, you, in reading it... I know it's a rather long new year greeting... apologies for that )

Wish you a very very happy 2007, brimful of joy, laughter, courage, peace, good health, prosperity, success, perfection (and imperfection), goodwill and everything else that you might ever wish for.

I'll sign off now with the following extract from Harold Kushner's article that appeared in the February 1998 issue of Reader's Digest...

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Life is not a trap set for us by God to catch and condemn us for failing. Life is not a spelling test, where no matter how many words you've got right, you are disqualified if you make one mistake. Life is more like a football league, where even the best team loses some of its games and even the worst team has its day of brilliance. Our goal is to win more games than we lose.

When we accept that imperfection is part of being human, and when we continue rolling through life and appreciating it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to do. That, I believe is what God asks of us - not "Be Perfect", not "Don't ever make a mistake", but "Be whole".

And at the end, if we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfilment no other living creature will ever know.

We can re-enter paradise.

The Wholeness of Being

I took my test from a little book called "The Missing Piece" by Shel Silverstein which I can describe only as being a fairy tale for adults. It tells the story of a circle that was missing a piece. A large triangular wedge had been cut out of it. The circle wanted to be whole with nothing missing, so it went around looking for the missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way; it chatted with worms; it enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces but none of them fit. So, it kept searching.

Then, one day, the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now, it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll fast, too fast to notice the flowers or talk to the worms. When it realised how different the World seemed when it rolled quickly, it stopped, left its new-found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away!

The lesson of the story was that in some strange way, we are more whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways poor. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never have the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he always wanted but never had.

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With warm regards,
Janani

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Janani Gopalakrishnan
http://gjanani.googlepages.com
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“If it had not been for the wind in my face, I wouldn't be able to fly at all.” - Arthur Ashe

Dear Janani,

I must tell you.....I saw the notification of this post on my email this morning and was so very impressed and touched by it. I thought it was extremely well written and timely. I decided to immediately log in to IL and reply to this lovely post. It was only then that I realised that you may be the same Janani who is dishing out all those technical know how to us. You can be really proud to posses not only a technically shrewd mind, but also a beautiful mind with lovely thoghts! Surely, Ananthakrishnan is one lucky young man:) Once again, all the very best to you two.

Now coming to this new year post, as already mentioned, it is full of positive energy and positive thoughts. What you wrote is very true. On the outset, we think nothing siginificant has happened in our lives. But the fact is, very often we fail to recognise the wonderful lessons and experiences that life is dishing out to us. 'Stop and think' is a jargon worth remembering. I shall be forwarding your words and the adjoining H Kushner's article to my friends. Thanks for the post.

All the Very Best to your future.

L, Kamla

Dear Janani,

Reading your post, It was so refreshing and it made me feel really very very good...

Each and every word in your post is highly true...I was so impressed with your posting that I wanted to almost immediately reply, but got held up with work and now only writing to you. Kamla overtook me in expressing her views, which were as close as mine.

Every year when it ends, does end with small/big, good/bad experience which is a learning in every possible way to us. I always look back at the year that ended and briefly make a list of the good and bad that I had experienced during the year..Sure, both the list will be reasonably big...but the compare and contrast always helps us to understand our motives, our intentions, our attitudes better...and set a target for the coming year...

One big good thing that happened in 2006 was my entry into this beautiful site , thro which am seeing lots of positive people, with positive attitude and thoughts, which has definitely changed me for better and made me to think more on the positive lines...the learning out of different forums, different personalities had been so good and encouraging to me...

I wish this year brings you all goodness to you. Keep more articles (with positive thoughts like this) and keep spreading your positiveness to all of us and make us feel good (as you had always done)!

Good Luck, Janani.

Love,
Preethi

... so much for your good wishes Kamla and Preethi! And wish you the very best that life has to offer too!

Cheers,
Janani

Thanx Safa,

Yep we really enjoyed. Happy New Year .

Originally Posted by safa

Hi Cheer,
welcome back..we all missed your posts..Happy to know that you have enjoyed your vacation very well..