Let's Capture Time in 2022

 Hello 2022! 

A week into this new year now. The planner is here and it has been duly filled out, true to the spirit of any bullet journal enthusiast. Sans the creative decorations of course (just not my thing). 

A ritual 10 point resolution has been written down. And it features the usual suspects- health, self love, peace of mind. Three very loaded aspects of life that I've tried to translate into easy-to- practice rituals. I know we all need an escape from time-to-time but if everyday living can be made a little light to bear, perhaps the need for an escape won't be felt so severely.  

2021 had been challenging in its own way. And not just because of the pandemic.  We've all lost,  or known someone closely who has lost, a dear one. It really brings alive the value of time. To the point where it stops being a concept and seems so real you feel its passage in your bones.

There really is no greater way to show your respect towards life than to live it. And even though life has been in a kind of limbo for the past two years, we need to find our little moments and celebrate it with abandon. Perhaps that is the lesson Iam meant to learn amidst this global mayhem. 

And this is where I find social media so powerful. Sure, many might argue that the most candid shots on Instagram are often the most painfully rehearsed, therefore, it promotes vanity and artifice. But for the bulk of the junta,  it is really about finding and recording the moments where they've truly lived it up! 

And that fascinates me. What have I done today that I would want to record for posterity and share with the world, just for fun? Never mind that my eyebrows look like mating caterpillars or my face looks like what's leftover on the frying pan after making begun bhaja. If I'm having a moment of joy, it must be celebrated with something as simple as a second glance. 

If time is what is so limited.  Then time is what needs to be rewarded, celebrated, lived up and lived well.  And to that end, my blog serves as my cathartic practice, and my Instagram serves as a reminder, that life is a collage of cherishable, beautiful moments, rather than a stinking pile of stress, fatigue and a sense of having lost something.

 2020 stunned us all. It taught us the importance of valuing and prioritizing what really matters in life. For some, this was family, for many others it was a hot meal. 

2021 came to us as a lesson in patience, discipline and making the most of a glimmer of sunlight on a cloud day. 

So I hope that in 2022, we will finally be able to live and celebrate the everyday comforts. That we are able to respect our time here and celebrate the small wins instead of waiting for that perfect moment. 

On that note, go read that book (or write it), learn something that excites you, meet people with interest,  pray with humility,  serve with gratitude, smile at yourself before you smile at others. 

I hope 2022 makes up for all the drama we've all endured.