Diwali or Deepawali is the festival of lights celebrated all over India ! As per the Hindu Almanac, it falls on the New Moon Day of the Kartik month which is usually in the month of October or November each year. Like any other festival, there are many stories connected with this festival. The key message behind all the stories is the victory of good over evil, victory of light over darkness and victory of knowledge over ignorance.
Today is Diwali, and the Universe gifted me something very special !
I got up this morning feeling rather sad, I was missing having my Mom and my extended family with me for Diwali. Being away from India during the festive season of Diwali makes it rather difficult. I was also missing my father and my sister who have moved on from this world. There are so many memories attached with this festival, but one important memory is creating Rangoli in front of the house. Rangoli, is an art form, wherein patterns are created on the floor or the ground using rice flour, chalk, sand and lots of powdered colors. During childhood, first day of Diwali always meant drawing Rangoli along with my sister. I was never good at it but enjoyed it so much. Not only did I copy designs from a book but would even copy the color scheme ! That was the extent of my creativity. But I enjoyed doing it very much and each time the Rangoli was completed, I felt so proud of my creation. It would now feel like it was Diwali !!
Though there was so much to do around the house this morning; cooking, cleaning, decorating the house for Diwali; the sadness in my heart was not helping me get started. My eyes fell on a pack of brushpens and a sketchbook; my daughter who is an Art student has her supplies all over the house, always ! And today I got lucky ! The brush pens reminded me of the Rangoli ! So I sat down to doodle and ended up doodling a “diya”, a lamp on this Diwali day. Here is picture of my amateur art work !
Before I knew it, the sadness in my heart just vanished. It was a matter of just a few minutes. The lamp on the paper was powerful enough to bring brightness back into my heart. The rest of the day went off so well for me. I did everything around the house with a lot of joy in my heart. What better gift could the Universe have given me on the day of Diwali. The Universe reminded me : IT IS WITHIN ME TO UPLIFT MYSELF ! I have added yet another tool to my toolkit today. My intention for sharing this with you is to encourage you to discover your own uplifting tools. Experiment with Art and see if it can be a tool in your toolkit too ! Share with me your experiences and the tools you use to uplift yourself.
To me this is both a lamp and a sail. What a powerful ship for sailing into the day with.