My goal is not about getting ahead at any expense and making it in this so called rat race. It is more important to impress the higher self than the materialistic world, where sadly success is measured by temporary gains such as who makes the most money, who gets the biggest promotion or which kid comes out first in third grade.
I might’ve learnt self love early on watching Oprah in my mid 20’s when she was all about self love concept, law of attraction, positivity etc. I had just graduated and used to spend my mornings in my tiny apartment applying for jobs and my afternoons were inspirations I took from watching good old Oprah on cable.
I often come across beautiful souls who continuously marvel at how it is that prayers are replied to; how impatient they become and think about how long it will take for prayers to be answered; and whether their prayers will be answered at all.
Amongst many things on the list of a person living on the edge and with immense curiosity seeking spiritual connections around the world, Vipassana was not on my list. There is a hermit side to me that led me to believe I did not need the challenge. I only chose to go for the very ‘shallow’ reason.
On Mar 20, I woke up in the middle of the night on a serene island, south of Thailand, with a pit in my stomach that I will get locked out of my home in Dhaka, away from my family, without a time limit.  I was in Thailand for follow up medicals and the usual yoga, meditation etc that we love to be on the beach for. The media was continually rolling out the news about the rapid spread of the coronavirus, number of cases going up exponentially in Italy and elsewhere, WHO was now calling it a pandemic, airports being shut down, travellers being stranded etc — and yet, I felt untouched.Â