os.me Digest: One For All, All For One!

What is it that makes os.me a unique home? The same thing that makes the islanders on Japan’s Okinawa live much longer — a sense of community.

Being here feels like we belong to each other. It’s like there is someone who understands the vulnerability. That it is ok to be in the comfortable PJs because we are with people who care for us and not for what we wear.

The power of a supportive community is what makes os.me home.

It gives us the strength to face the struggles of life bravely. It is comforting to know that we can come back to rejoice and cry freely at the end of the battle. That when we are stuck, we can find guidance here. That we know we are not alone. We draw power to surmount obstacles and overcome challenges from each other’s stories.

The OSME community has been a friend, philosopher and guide. It’s enriching to be with people who share the same principles of truth and kindness, who have the same faith — Om Swami.

Being together is magical. It helps us develop emotional and mental resilience. It gives a sense of security. It’s a blanket of warmth and comfort.

And this week, we will take it a step forward actively. Last week, I invited you to poll on one of the three themes: struggle, love and health. The clear winner — Struggle.

We will do a 5-day writing project themed Struggle. I will give you a prompt for each day. I invite you to share your real-life stories that go with the theme. In these 5-days, let’s come together to inspire and motivate each other with the small and big challenges that we have faced. Let’s move each other with the pain we struggled with. Let’s heal ourselves with the cathartic act of writing about our wounds. Let’s move, motivate, inspire and belong — let’s write.

The details of the writing week after this selection of weekly highlights.

Transformative Ideas

Failure is not a Full Stop: The writer has been trying to pass her driving test. Until last year, she didn’t even know how to drive. However, in these few months, her friends threw their support behind her. From learning the basics to retaking the driving test, she has moved a long way, all thanks to the loving community of friends. 

Five Self-Love Reminders: Surekha Chandrasekhar has made self-loving a doable task with this effective to-do list. If you follow this list every day for the rest of the month, you’ll be much happier, confident, and kind to yourself. Take notes and start loving yourself a lot more! 

Spirituality and Sexuality: Healthcare professional Navjot Lidder writes about the time when a baby with ambiguous genitalia was born at her clinic. The midwife on the case didn’t know how to announce the birth because we are used to announcing ‘it’s a boy’ or ‘it’s a girl’. In this case, the midwifery community stepped up. They engaged experts from the transgender community to make the experience a positive one for the parents. Delightful. 

Happily Divorced: Hetal Sonpal shares the latest life update in this post — his divorce has come through. He is set to start this new phase with the same positivity and enthusiasm. Was it hard to accept it? Was it difficult for his daughter to deal with it? Does he see his marriage as a mistake? He answers all these questions in this blog. 

Simple Ways to make a Difference: We all struggle with making changes to our lives or daily routine. That’s when Narendra’s blog comes in handy. He makes some practical suggestions and book recommendation that will help take back control of your life. Thank you to the community member for the pointers.  

The Impurity of Boys: Apoorv Gour’s sister’s excitement was unbound about Diwali puja. She made decorations for the altar and decked up the idols and the temple with much love and carefully handcrafted pieces. She stitched dresses for Lakshmiji. However, on the day of the puja, she was prohibited from it. Apoorv writes about the long-standing ill practice of secluding menstruating women. Time to do our bit for our community and do away with such practices.       

11 Years: In this free verse, Sadhvi Nishtha Om recalls the 11 years she has spent with the ashram. She captures the journey of the ashram from a mud cottage to how it stands today. Although the resources at the ashram were limited initially, the love and kindness has always flowed in abundance. 

तुम चाँद बनो!: Nandkumar’s beautiful verse infuses one with motivation and positivity. He makes the moon his muse to show us the way. Sample these lines: 

 तुम चाँद बनो, 

 गहरे अंधेरों में किसी का साथ बनो, 

 अकेलेपन में किसीकी याद बनो, 

 तुम चाँद बनो

Watch it Now!

Wisdom from Om Swami

The Journey of Life: We all go through bouts of existential crisis. Even when everything is going great, we don’t feel okay, fulfilled or complete. So how do we fix this? Read spiritual leader Om Swami’s piece on contentment. 

You are not Weak: “Strength does not come from hiding who we are and what we are feeling. Real strength comes from being honest to yourself, it comes from acceptance and understanding,” writes spiritual leader Om Swami. Vulnerability is strength. 

Write Together

It’s time to create magic with our words. Share your words, thoughts, feelings, ideas and experiences on the theme of the day.

Against each day, you’d find the prompt mentioned. Below that, you’ll find some ideas to help you start. Further down, you’ll find the hashtag and a line for each day. Don’t forget to use these hashtags and the prompt line.

Details

What’s Happening? Community writing activity. 

 Who can participate? os.me members. You don’t have to be a writer, just os.me member. Not a member yet? No problem. Make a free account now! 

What are the dates? Oct 15, 2022 to October 19, 2022 

Theme? Struggle.

Prompts for each day:

• Oct 15: My struggle with standing up.
  Ideas: Write about the time you were victimised by someone. Write about the time when the circumstances and situations made you a victim. What did you do? How did it make you feel?
  In your blog: Use the line ‘I struggle with guilt’. And in the tagline, #writewithosdotme
• Oct 16: My struggle with forgetting and forgiving. 
  Ideas: Who is it that you are unable to forgive and why? Who did you find difficult to forgive? What is it that you can’t forgive or forget? What is it you’d like to forgive yourself about? This is the time to write your heart about the guilt, the struggle with forgiveness and forgetting.
  In your blog: Use the line ‘I struggle with forgetting or forgiving ‘. And in the tagline, #writewithosdotme
• Oct 17: My struggle with spirituality.
  Ideas: Write about your struggle with spirituality. Write about your struggle with sadhana. Write about finding spiritual leader Om Swami (a favourite topic, I know). Write about the changes spirituality brought in your life. Wrote about the challenges you face when observing sadhana or spiritual practice.
  In your blog: Use the line ‘I struggle with spiritual health (add whatever works for you) ‘. And in the tagline, #writewithosdotme

• Oct 18: My struggle with relationships.
  Ideas: Write about your struggle with a loved one, a spouse, a lover, a parent, a colleague or just relationships in general. Write about your insecurities, anxieties, trust issues, abandonment trauma and childhood abuse. Offload all the weight you are carrying on your chest today. Embrace your vulnerability.
  In your blog: Use the line ‘I struggle with relationships. And in the tagline, #writewithosdotme

• Oct 19: My struggle with self-love.
  Ideas: That time when you should have prioritised yourself. That time when you laughed at the jokes they cracked on you because you wanted their approval. That time when you let your health/emotional health/mental health deteriorate. Write about your struggle with depression, trauma, confidence. Write about the times you had demean yourself for their approval. Write about learning to love yourself. Write about drinking enough water to keep yourself hydrated. Big or small, struggles and lessons on self-love are all welcome.
  In your blog: Use the line ‘I struggle with self-love. And in the tagline, #writewithosdotme

 

Together we will share, heal and inspire. It only takes a comment or a post but could make a big difference in someone’s day.

Are you brave enough to be vulnerable and share your story? Join the os.me “struggle week.” Be part of something special. Share your truth now! Why? Because we care, we heal and we love our community. Time to walk each other home.

Write your thoughts below.

Until next…

PS: Did you find this Digest useful? Let me know in the comments. Know someone who’d find it helpful? Share this post with them and introduce your friends and family to our phenomenal Karma program.