school bags kids india image
kai_wahine
the families I'm visiting are low income and live in the rural south of india.
Answer
Hey come on guys, those are our families try to give your best to them....they might be worth of it. I have 70% of my family relatives live in Villages only. I visited India almost 5 times in 6 years. Each time I gave them different items. I preferred in the following way,
For woman --- The leather tiny hand bags which has mirror in it
For young woman staying at home---nice fancy items such as hair clips, nail polish etc
For young woman who goes to school---Nice pencil sharpeners, something useful for their studies
For middle age man---Buy some Nice cigerettes, or Cigars etc..if they smoke otherwise nice shirts of different sizes (m,l,xl)
For young man--- A belt, purse, or even a shoe, sun glasses....etc
For old age-- better buy some pain relief stuff like Bengay, heating pads etc
For Kids----- Have some characters like spiderman, superman etc, some nice little playing, try to avoid battery based toys.....
OTHER THAN THAT...CHOCOLATES ARE COMMON, THEY LOVE IT, AND BUY SOME CALCIUM CHEWING TABLETS CHOC FLAVOR to give to some to women who are suffering with their menstrual problems....
Well, I always plan 2 months ahead and wander around shops in sale season to collect the things of my choice.
Top of these, I prefer to buy lot of cloths like T-shirts, shirts etc to give it some miscellaneous relatives.
Hey come on guys, those are our families try to give your best to them....they might be worth of it. I have 70% of my family relatives live in Villages only. I visited India almost 5 times in 6 years. Each time I gave them different items. I preferred in the following way,
For woman --- The leather tiny hand bags which has mirror in it
For young woman staying at home---nice fancy items such as hair clips, nail polish etc
For young woman who goes to school---Nice pencil sharpeners, something useful for their studies
For middle age man---Buy some Nice cigerettes, or Cigars etc..if they smoke otherwise nice shirts of different sizes (m,l,xl)
For young man--- A belt, purse, or even a shoe, sun glasses....etc
For old age-- better buy some pain relief stuff like Bengay, heating pads etc
For Kids----- Have some characters like spiderman, superman etc, some nice little playing, try to avoid battery based toys.....
OTHER THAN THAT...CHOCOLATES ARE COMMON, THEY LOVE IT, AND BUY SOME CALCIUM CHEWING TABLETS CHOC FLAVOR to give to some to women who are suffering with their menstrual problems....
Well, I always plan 2 months ahead and wander around shops in sale season to collect the things of my choice.
Top of these, I prefer to buy lot of cloths like T-shirts, shirts etc to give it some miscellaneous relatives.
How do I find a true meaning in life?
chris m
It seems that every day, every week, every month is the same. Wake up at 7, drive to work, come home at 6, eat dinner, do some work at home, watch a little tv at night, go to sleep. Then on the weekends, wake up, do the chores, do all the kid activities (drive them around, watch their games), pay the bills, go to a dinner or lunch party with friends, etc.
It seems that it is always like this. Are we supposed to do this until we die? I just feel like I'm missing something, like there's a meaning that i just can't find. What am i supposed to do?
Answer
This is going to be a long one, I think, so buckle up your safety belt.......to be continued.....
Here it goes......
Some times life can feel a bit like we're on a treadmill in a hamster cage endlessly running and getting nowhere. This feeling usually hit's people just before they are 30.
At 21 we realise that life isn't all going to fall in our laps the way we thought it would.
At 25 we get a bit worried about what the future holds and become aware that we are no longer "young" and nature betrays us by making thick black hairs grow from our nostrils....Nobody warned us about that when we were at school!
At 29 we start to ask questions like the one you've just asked. I did. Everyone does.
I view myself as lucky because I chose to stay single and not have kids. I question this choice frequently and in some ways I envy people like you when I see them getting on with the chores taking the kids out etc. The grass is always greener on the other side.....at least it is in our imaginations.
At 30 I went to India for a few months. I'd been injured at work (I was a prisoner custody officer) and lost my job after 6 months as it had not healed. I had to sell my flat (apartment) and fortunately made enough profit to go travelling. I had the feeling you describe in your question: that it feels as though there is no meaning.
I should have gone to Jerusalem but Ariel Sharon made it all kick off again in the week I sold my flat and I didn't want to put my family through that worry. So I went to India - home of the global fancy dress party. The locals don't hold the party, the tourists do - choosing to try to adopt spirituality by dressing up in the relevant spiritual disguise but for the most part never going beyond appearances.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
I'd spent my six months off sick from work reading most of the scriptures of the world. While I found a certain ammount of peace after the storm of reading so much spiritual stuff. I still needed to see other things and be in other places.
I see all the things which happen to me as part of a path that opens up before me. Some of it, I choose and some of it is chosen for me. Whatever I do now is a part of the meaning in my life and it is regularly boring, repetative and frustrating - the same as every other human beings.
Have you ever bumped in to something because you weren't looking where you were going? or crasked in to the back of somebody else's car because you were looking at another part of the road instead of where you were driving?
We tend to think that "meaning" exists as an outside entity from ourselves and our lives. That's like hunting round the house looking for a TV signal instead of turning on the TV and tuning in to a channel. The first thing you have to do is turn on the TV in your mind.
Why use the comparison of TV? TV signals are all around us and even pass through us and it's the same with meaning in our lives. It's there but you have to tune in to it.
To tune in you first have to value everything, every moment, either awake or asleep, every mouthful of food, every breath, every bag of rubbish you take out, every person you talk to, every bill you pay, every dinner party, every kids football game, every time you help them with their homework etc.
Then realise that if you do the same thing all the time, at least 50% of the reason for that is because you choose to.
Ask yourself what you would like to do with your spare time and then do it in stead of telling yourself why you can't do it or haven't got time to do it. Look for ways to enable yourself to do the things you want to do instead of looking for the ways to imprison your mind and stop you living your life.
I have no idea what your financial situation is but if the thing holding you back from being free is the nice home, stable job, comfortable sofa and what the neighbours think of you etc., it's time to get rid of those things. Prisons protect you from the outside but they also make you unhappy and stop you going anywhere.
You can't buy happiness or meaning. They're both priceless but they cost nothing and they already exist within you.
There is a funny answer to your question about the meaning and purpose in life. It's in a book called "Scepticism Inc." by Bo Fowler. I'll leave you to find out for yourself. I don't want to spoil it for you.
Films you might like to watch:
American Beauty.
Fight Club.
The Matrix.
Dark City.
and read Scepticism Inc.
It's never painful to be anywhere, it's only painful to wish you were somewhere else.
Now ask yourself: where do you want to be and what do you want to be doing?
If you need specific answers/ help on what to do next, email me through Answers.
P.S. India is NOT now my "spiritual home" nor am I a hindu convert or drug fiend. My faith isn't really an important part of this answer and there is no category of religion that I fit in to. Some would say that I'm "confused"....because they are. Part of your life is your family so whatever you do you have to include them in your ideas and respect their choices.
This is going to be a long one, I think, so buckle up your safety belt.......to be continued.....
Here it goes......
Some times life can feel a bit like we're on a treadmill in a hamster cage endlessly running and getting nowhere. This feeling usually hit's people just before they are 30.
At 21 we realise that life isn't all going to fall in our laps the way we thought it would.
At 25 we get a bit worried about what the future holds and become aware that we are no longer "young" and nature betrays us by making thick black hairs grow from our nostrils....Nobody warned us about that when we were at school!
At 29 we start to ask questions like the one you've just asked. I did. Everyone does.
I view myself as lucky because I chose to stay single and not have kids. I question this choice frequently and in some ways I envy people like you when I see them getting on with the chores taking the kids out etc. The grass is always greener on the other side.....at least it is in our imaginations.
At 30 I went to India for a few months. I'd been injured at work (I was a prisoner custody officer) and lost my job after 6 months as it had not healed. I had to sell my flat (apartment) and fortunately made enough profit to go travelling. I had the feeling you describe in your question: that it feels as though there is no meaning.
I should have gone to Jerusalem but Ariel Sharon made it all kick off again in the week I sold my flat and I didn't want to put my family through that worry. So I went to India - home of the global fancy dress party. The locals don't hold the party, the tourists do - choosing to try to adopt spirituality by dressing up in the relevant spiritual disguise but for the most part never going beyond appearances.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
I'd spent my six months off sick from work reading most of the scriptures of the world. While I found a certain ammount of peace after the storm of reading so much spiritual stuff. I still needed to see other things and be in other places.
I see all the things which happen to me as part of a path that opens up before me. Some of it, I choose and some of it is chosen for me. Whatever I do now is a part of the meaning in my life and it is regularly boring, repetative and frustrating - the same as every other human beings.
Have you ever bumped in to something because you weren't looking where you were going? or crasked in to the back of somebody else's car because you were looking at another part of the road instead of where you were driving?
We tend to think that "meaning" exists as an outside entity from ourselves and our lives. That's like hunting round the house looking for a TV signal instead of turning on the TV and tuning in to a channel. The first thing you have to do is turn on the TV in your mind.
Why use the comparison of TV? TV signals are all around us and even pass through us and it's the same with meaning in our lives. It's there but you have to tune in to it.
To tune in you first have to value everything, every moment, either awake or asleep, every mouthful of food, every breath, every bag of rubbish you take out, every person you talk to, every bill you pay, every dinner party, every kids football game, every time you help them with their homework etc.
Then realise that if you do the same thing all the time, at least 50% of the reason for that is because you choose to.
Ask yourself what you would like to do with your spare time and then do it in stead of telling yourself why you can't do it or haven't got time to do it. Look for ways to enable yourself to do the things you want to do instead of looking for the ways to imprison your mind and stop you living your life.
I have no idea what your financial situation is but if the thing holding you back from being free is the nice home, stable job, comfortable sofa and what the neighbours think of you etc., it's time to get rid of those things. Prisons protect you from the outside but they also make you unhappy and stop you going anywhere.
You can't buy happiness or meaning. They're both priceless but they cost nothing and they already exist within you.
There is a funny answer to your question about the meaning and purpose in life. It's in a book called "Scepticism Inc." by Bo Fowler. I'll leave you to find out for yourself. I don't want to spoil it for you.
Films you might like to watch:
American Beauty.
Fight Club.
The Matrix.
Dark City.
and read Scepticism Inc.
It's never painful to be anywhere, it's only painful to wish you were somewhere else.
Now ask yourself: where do you want to be and what do you want to be doing?
If you need specific answers/ help on what to do next, email me through Answers.
P.S. India is NOT now my "spiritual home" nor am I a hindu convert or drug fiend. My faith isn't really an important part of this answer and there is no category of religion that I fit in to. Some would say that I'm "confused"....because they are. Part of your life is your family so whatever you do you have to include them in your ideas and respect their choices.
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Title Post: I'll be visiting some families in India and would like to bring a gift from the US for them, what can I bring?
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Author: Yukie
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Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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