Dear Editor,
The Humanitarian Mission of New Jersey Arya Samaj Mandir, Inc and its Guyana Chapter, extend many best wishes for the New Year to the government and citizens of Guyana, and wish to thank Food For The Poor, Guyana, Inc and all of its donors, supporters and other NGOs in Guyana and North America. Without the support from contributors our mission’s work in Guyana would have not been possible. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
It’s important to start this wonderful year off with love. Until you love yourself, no one will love you. Until you understand what love is, you’ll never find it. As we step into the New Year, let us use any negative emotions as fuel to make positive change. So instead of using those negative emotions for destructive behaviour, use them in a way that moves your life forward. When things don’t go our way, we can feel super negative emotions, especially when the environment and people around us don’t seem to be supporting our happiness; it’s super easy to get into a low state of mind. But anger, resentment, frustration, all those emotions can be used for good. Emotions fuel us to take action.
Everyone gets messed up by what happens to them. The question is, for how long? The past is over. The future is not yet written. But the past isn’t really over until we stop bringing it into the present. Focusing on, staying stuck in and not letting go of past events do nothing to serve you in this present and make creating a compelling future almost impossible. When we let go and remain detached from the past, we free ourselves up to create an even better future. One reason many people hold onto the past hurts is because the familiarity of the old wound is much better than opening up and risking being hurt all over again by a new wound. But the truth is that if we truly want love and awakening in our lives, we must remain open. And when we remain open, we are open to both the love and the pain. But if we remain open, we can use the pain of the past as a way to guide us toward learning more about ourselves and realising that the spiritual path is one of turning pain into wisdom. Knowing this helps us remain detached from the past, actually grateful for what happened to us. If you want space in your life for something new, then it’s time to let go – now.
It’s okay to let go. True love is letting go. Freedom and free will are the by-products of love. So many of us lead our lives holding on so tightly that nothing new, nothing miraculous can find us. We have been taught for a very long time that holding on is what makes us strong, is what love is made of and is the best answer. But we are stepping into a new paradigm. We are stepping into a time where growth and love lead the way. This means we are constantly changing, evolving, dying and being reborn. What must come first is our own spiritual growth. This means listening to our intuition, trusting our gut and expressing ourselves authentically without hiding. Holding on to a broken relationship and past hurts and stunts our growth. You don’t get points from anyone for how much you suffer. The universe wants to deliver to you all that your heart desires. Our relationships have been sent to teach us, to mould us and to shape us. When we seek love, life experience sends us all kinds of relationships, sufferings, hurt and disappointment that bring to the surface all the blocks we have to love.
We must learn to identify when the lesson is over. Relationships are containers for growth, not opportunities to suffer so we can prove how much we ‘love’ someone. And a relationship isn’t full if both people aren’t in self-love and then sharing their love with each other from a place of overflow. Some people are sent to us for quick lessons, some are sent to us for seasonal lessons and some are sent to us for a lesson we are to be taught over a lifetime. Let us not try to learn and purify ourselves outside of love, but instead invoke love in our lives and recognize that the love and experience are the purifier and the teacher. The face of love may change, but the energy of love of never changes.
Let us no longer try to prove our love by how much we can hold on to toxic situations and people, but rather by how much we are willing to let go once the lesson has been learned. There is no rulebook for this principle. This is something we must each learn individually and grow into.
We have the choices to set up, so that we have free will to choose to connect to love, or not. We must give ourselves this freedom as well as all the people in our lives. For love does not seek to control, but rather gives freedom.
I remain the humble servant for the poor
Yours faithfully,
Pandit Suresh Sugrim
