THE DIARIST REFLECTIONS
Staring at the Stars and Finding Our Inner Light
Reflections on May 16, 2024
I am lying on my balcony.
It’s 11:00 pm. Beads of sweat are running down from my left temple to my cheek.
I am staring at the night sky.
It’s clear. Not a tinge of clouds.
The Indian summer is coming to an end.
I see thousands of stars blinking at me.
I feel a moment of deep bonding.
I wonder can they see me?
If yes, am I a shining star to them?
Could be.
We were all shining stars when we were born.
We were made to believe in the rules and laws of society.
My mother told me I was not allowed in certain spaces because of my low caste.
I was made to believe that we were poor. “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” she used to yell at me when I asked for some money. I feel the pain even now. She was right. Being from a low-income household, she had to get us everything through loans.
Now I don’t believe in any of those lies. I believe I am the maker of my destiny, and for that, I need to connect to my deepest self.
Recently, I walked into a library and saw a book on Abe Lincoln.
I thought of him for a moment.
Had he been told to believe in his limitations by his parents?
Certainly.
But Lincoln knew he was a shining star.
I wonder, “How many of us are wasting our lives by not connecting with ourselves?”
Aren’t we a shining star to someone?
For example, to our kids, friends, family, the coffee shop we frequent, the grocery merchant, or the taxi driver we hire?
Could be. No, we are.
I remember the first nursery rhyme my teacher Kamala taught me when I was four:
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.”
By Jane Taylor
Since then I have been looking for a star in the far distance without realising I am a Star too.
You are a star too…
In search of a star that has been a “wonder” to us, have we forgotten to look at ourselves from a distance?
So, reader, I conclude with the poem that sparked my muse today:
As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Be a gentle, humble, shining star!
Look within and find your worth. You are a shining star to someone.
I hope my editor Me and My Muse will make this available to you because she is also a wonderful, luminous star spreading the light of hope…
Thanks for reading.
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