HostAsha

Heather : that's perfect, you nailed it thank you for another beautiful view point which makes me go YES Asha

I am spiritual being having this human experience. & I like to read, watch & learn from this thinkers who have spread their knowledge through religious books or spiritual books. I love reading, watching & listening & learning from this books. Today heard good line from our hindu bhagvad geeta book where God tells his disciple who was struggling with tough questions in his life. God tells him that start looking at every event in your life without labeling it as good or bad & then fighting against it & creating unhappiness in your life, instead just accept them as they are, without any label & you will always find joy. This made me go AHA isn't that truth, we don't know the future so even the event which looks very bleak right now can also be bedrock of maybe breaking you open to the new way of life which might be more fulfilling than just rushing through the life.& who knows something which seems good & desirable right now maybe will be the worst thing for you. so It is always good idea to look at whatever is happening in your life without labeling it as good or bad & just say thank you to cosmic powers who still gave you new day here to learn & grow from it. I know this is very hard thing to do but its good practice to follow. " I should just do my part & then don't worry about the results & take all results with same emotions not very happy or sad about outcomes.

I agree Sue : If any one of you know technical side then please help out since the site is run by volunteers, I don't have this kind if IT knowledge to help debug the issue, so I volunter here as chathost & as a member, I think same with Kelli she along with volunteering here working so won't have time to monitor. I think sometimes instead of just sitting in sidelines & giving suggestions its better to jump in & help out more as a volunteer. advise & suggestions are easy. Asha

Sue you nailed it to for me. I get real amazed by serendipity of events how sometimes right people, right books comes along where I am supposed to be, and when I jump on in those events or opportunities something amazingly beautiful comes out, finding this site helping brother, our son's school when he was little, now recently met my childhood friend unbelievable. Asha

Will : we have scheduled chats every day afternoon 3-4 EST in survivor room #2 & in the evening we do have chats on M,W, F from 8-9 EST though friday's chat is in coffeeshop rest all are in survivor room #2. Sue : welcome, you will be amazing chathost with your kind & compassionate nature, so looking forward to meeting you more often now. Asha

Happy New year every one. I am not into making new years resolutions though I like making one word resolution for a new year, but I have never done any, I am always go with flow person & incorporate any good thing I like in my day, recently I have started doing guided 10 minutes meditation on weekend along with my floor exercises, now I have added doing rosary two times a day in the morning & night, it re-centers me & makes me happy starting day on a positive note. I am realizing we got so lucky with our India travel, we attented two weddings traveled by train, plane to village & US respectively & stayed safe. Now I am hearing so many covid cases within close family members, luckily all are doing well. recently watched Gary Zukav discussing his old book seat of the soul with Oprah on her Super soul Sunday series. Some of the things he was mentioning was similar questions I struggled with after my stroke, 1. what is the purpose of my life, 2. how do I know what I am doing is right or wrong, both questions I struggled with & found answers on my own which I find always gets validated by these great thinkers, I found these answers by struggling , and fumbling with dark thoughts then finding joy, so want to share so that others don't have to struggle & find it readily. answer to my first question was purpose of life was do the roles you are playing in life with full honesty, it could be mother,wife,sister, daughter, employee, volunteer any role you are playing in life, do it with full honesty,kindness,cheerfulness. second question I struggled with when doing something for our kido & in his younger years when he would fight & resist that he doesn't want to do any new activities like his violin practices, sticking with any sports if he is not yet very good, & I wasn't sure myself whether I am doing right thing or not. I was sure about education but extra curricular activities I wasn't sure. but I realized after struggling & seeing the results now I realized always check your intention whenever you are struggling with some questions, if you have good intentions behind it then stick to it & things will turn out to be just fine & this is what Author Gary Zukav was also mentioning in his book seat of the soul, so I feel good that I was on right path. Anyhow hope you all have healthy, happy & prosperous new Year. Asha

sun is shining & you look happy what more one can ask for, enjoy everydays blessings. Asha

Janelle : for the first one I did not feel a thing & never even thought about doing any cleaning at home, second shot felt lousy with chills & headache for a day & third was breeze too felt nothing. doing organization is never my forte I will rather avoid & sleep then organize anything.need to organize my clothes closet hubby is complaining for too long now. Asha

oh wow Nancy : I am so glad you took second opinion & that doctor turned out to be better educated & treating patients like human beings, I so pray that laser surgery helps Dan which will improve quality of life for both of you. Asha

Thank you Pam for such a sweet comment made my day & Christmas.

We are back home now & getting acclaimed to US again. we visited India for 4 weeks this time. Hubby's eldest brother passed away in his sleep in August of this year, so hubby wanted to visit India when this covid gives us some break, so as soon we got our booster shot, we decided to visit India our family & village-home our brother in law bought & renovated for us. the visit was awesome, hubby loves his village & I love it too, in village people are not in any rush & things move at slow pace. actually weather wise also it was perfect fall kind temperature so you enjoy the day. used to love sunrises we could see from our home terrace every day & night sky with so many stars & milky way you can see was so beautiful. We bought modern day conveniences for us so I can stay there easily & enjoy getting old with hubby there, bought washing machine, microwave. hubby had always told me once he decides to retire it will be in his village home & I admire his decision making skills. he is never afraid to make a decision, thing I love about him that he is not afraid to make a decision since if it goes wrong then instead of blaming any one or himself he looks into how to correct it & stand behind that decision, & moves forward. versus I get stuck in blaming myself for any wrong decisions, so I am afraid to make any decisions. Anyway in this trip to India we had so much fun attended wedding of my nephew & then had prayers done for our new home in India & most of our family was there, so it was beautiful fun trip, we visited white desert festival which is basically saltwater which dries up & shore looks like white shore on which you can walk , drive car or do camel ride, we did camel ride on it & it was beautiful. picture taken above was at the sunset how desert looks like in the evening, Asha

I so agree with your physio I believe doing things in moderation & enjoy every bit of it so if I die this instant I will be happy one ate well, played well & slept well, though I don't have diabetes or any other illness except stroke. Asha

Sue : it was so shocking to hear about bonnie through her daughter on facebook. I had met her in seattle on the roadside few miles from her home while going for our Alaska vacation. She was kind soul. I have met some very brve souls trough this site. & they have given me strength & courage when I had low in my initial survivor days. Asha

Tracy : so happy to hear all your small wins all in right direction. I have also learnt when I do things in my control & then surrender to God, things work out in my favor & even if they don't right away, I know in the long run that's in my best interest. thats biggest teaching of hindu religious book, do your karma without any expectation or attachment towards the results, Giving results is in God's hands, he knows what is good or bad for us, So just take everything that comes in your life as a God's gift or we call it prasad without labeling it. keep on doing right thing & everything will work out. Asha

I from time to time look back on my life's journey & realizing one of the best quality of myself which is going with flow & have lot of fun in all situations. I do get upset when something does not go according to plan, like my stroke or breakup with girlfriends in college, I have realized after struggling for few days or months based on the crisis I am in, for example stroke crisis took me 9 months to get out of that despair mode & find my even keel to be able to go with the flow. I have realized when I have stopped resisting change & allowed myself to go with flow something really wonderful has come out. Though I do feel I am very impressionable in a way that if you say something negative about that trait then I will not value that trait as much, but I am realizing as I am getting older my life is so much full of joy because of that trait. Asha

thats very good one love it, now I will quote tracy too Asha

right after my stroke I struggled with depression & I depended heavily on spiritual books & biography of inspirational people, they gave me strength to go on, when I could not find any in my own, that time I read victor frankl's mans search of a meaning & it resonated fully with me, I needed purpose bigger than myself to give good fight to stroke & that I found in my 7 year old son. some of the quotes of victor frankl which resonated with me I am noting it here so that I can also come back & refer to 1. Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lied our growth and freedom. 2. when we are no longer able ro change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves 3. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. 4. “Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’. 5. “Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater.” 6. In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice. 7. “Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality.” I know for me all these worked till I found my inner strength through these great authors

GreenQueen not able to see your faces properly was very weird I was trying to peek up to see faces lol glad you had good time. Asha

willis : this is so exciting, I so agree with you memory is in heart & not in four walls, & you & April will be creating wonderful memories in your new shangrila. you got some great neighbors. Asha

Sue : I am so sorry about lockdown you are facing right now, today we are grieving loss of my brother in law, hubby's oldest brother who was 76 year old & passed away in his sleep, his wife was sleeping next to him & did not realize till the morning. We had all talked with him on weekend sharing fun stories of our vacation & promises to meet soon in November & spend more time in our village together. I understand it was ideal death for him, no pain or ay suffereing, but so sorrowful for his family who is all left behind not able to say proper goodbyes. I realize thats how life is, it does not come up with any guarantee, we are not guaranteed single day on this earth be it in lock-down & not in lock-down, better enjoy the day we are given to fullest. Asha

Sarah : I am glad you were able to celebrate Gary's life with your loved ones. glad lot of your family members were able to join. Asha

We are back home happy & safe, this year we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. I am usually vacation planner at our home, I wanted to go to Greece, but due to covid uncertainties hubby's suggestion was we should go somewhere in USA only. one of our earlier vacation we took in USA is California with our son who was still baby & was in car seat & in diapers, we had drove from sanfranscisco to Arizona covering all national parks,17 mile drive in Monterey Bay & had so much fun, We wanted to create same adventure this time just two of us. so hubby planned the trip with just rough idea that we will do 17 mile drive on our anniversary & then drive north on pacific crest highway on route 101. hubby did plane tickets booking, rental car booking & 1 day of hotel, I stayed completely out of it, & off we went, & it turned out to be the best vacation of our life. At the airport rental car guy gave hubby ford mustang convertible instead of ford fiesta car, I was in total shock, asked hubby did you find out how to open this hood, hubby is like no we will figure it out at the end of our trip. I am like what the heck, so I googled & lo & behold we found the YouTube video & learnt how to do it, from then on our trip was with no planning or booking at any hotel, we will just wake up have breakfast & go & visit the location for few hours & then just drive on north pacific scenic highway going north & we picked furthest town in northern CA, did lake tahoe in CA & in nevada both. we saw mother bear with her three baby bears crossing roads in lake tahoe then saw so many Elks & mooses in crescent city & in Eureka, we saw sequia state park & drove through biggest redwood forest. At the end of every day while having dinner at 5:30-6 hubby would book our next hotel. We met great people along the way. on our 30th wedding anniversary we went to indian temple near by to thank God for all of the blessings in our life. I am now looking forward to our 40th,50th anniversaries together. I feel so blessed to be married to my husband. feel so grateful for this second shot at life

Tracy welcome back, we missed you around here & your part 1 was quite coherent, I was able to follow it through. For me coming out of this stroke ordeal alive helped me realize I am stronger than I give myself credit for. you are still here for a reason & there is room for improvement as long as we are willing to work on it. who knew as we get older g through so many losses & joys through life & gather wisdom for lifetime. Enjoy the journey Asha

Mark : you were adventurous I could never do tent camping after my stroke, though I wanted to do it, so I opted for cabin camping which was doable for me & it was fun experience. Its good to be able to laugh on our mishaps, I bet things would be lot easier now if you try again. Asha