It was in my heart to help a little because I was helped much. Part 3

Point to Ponder: You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. - Khalil Gibran

Story Line: As we entered the minibus in Auckland, a couple inside greeted us with a smile. They were part of a tour group to Hobbiton. While walking around in the park, noticing that they were taking selfies or picture of one of them at a time, I offered to take their photographs. The conversation that followed after a few camera clicks resulted in us discovering the common interests. After a long successful career, Santosh had sold his company and ventured into the next phase of life; 50 days excursion in New Zealand and Australia with his wife was the first part of this phase. They were from the east coast of USA and they had some friends from school days who lived in the Silicon Valley. At the end of the day tour, we exchanged contact information and sent periodic messages.

We met again when they visited San Francisco a year later and continued our friendship with more interaction through frequent messages and phone calls. Last year Santosh travelled to Rishikesh in India to learn various meditation techniques.

A few months ago, in one of our phone calls I mentioned to him that the current Covid crisis, political situation in our country and bombardment of negative news had taken its toll on my moods; feeling anxious, edgy and worried. Santosh mentioned that meditation might help in calming nerves and he graciously offered to do weekly Zoom sessions and teach me what he had learnt.

Since June1st, we have had seven sessions on every Monday; followed by me practicing the learnings every day. With change in diet, thought process and breathing techniques, my blood pressure has gone down on average 15 points and pulse rate by about 20 points. I don’t recollect being this calm since my college days. In last few weeks, with Santosh’s blessings, I have shared his teaching and advices to friends who too have benefited.

All these because of a chance encounter in a tour bus in New Zealand.

Reflection: I have been incredibly fortunate in my life journey to have met so many kind, caring and helpful individuals; most of whom I have met through chance encounters. They have all played a significant role in the wonderful life I've led.

They have enriched me with an enormous wealth of experiences and stories that have been shared in Friday Reflections through the years. I wouldn't have had such a beautiful career and life without the help and encouragement from so many people. I express my sincere thanks to all those individuals and the readers as we are ending the last week of the 35^th year from when Friday Reflections began (August 5, 1985) and 15^th year since they went on internet.

It was in my heart to help a little because I was helped much: Part 1 and 2 were published in 2017.

https://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2017/08/it-was-in-my-heart.html

https://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2017/11/it-was-in-my-heart-part2.html

Comments

[MC]

That’s a beautiful story! Karma.

[Humble Warrior]

You certainly have the knack for chance encounters ;)

I read so much about the benefits of meditation, breathing exercises, heart rate, etc. You've inspired me to finally give it a go!

[EastCoast]

My thought, a quote which I assign to St. Vincent de Paul, is “You can’t do charity work unless you get your hands dirty.”

[Sharon Johnston]

I love Gibran. I wish we had been alive at the same time. I understand him far better than Rumi, but love him too.

[BHSC]

Wonderful… you found a very wise and productive way to deal with the pandemic stress!

[Levi's]

Congratulations on this FR anniversary.
I always enjoy reading all of your personal stories, and I really appreciate how you are able to connect with strangers and make lifelong friends out of them.

This year, we have fewer opportunities to make such connections because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, I am thankful that we have internet and social media to keep us connected and keep our lives and businesses running. Somebody somewhere joked that if this pandemic had happened just 20 or 25 years ago, we'd be stuck at home with dial-up modems and Nokia phones that could mostly only send text messages or play the snake game. ;-)