Category: religion

July 22 – U

On By randysanghaIn 2016, 365 days, 365 days of gratitude, 80s, 80s music, accounting, aging, appreciation, art, aunt, babysitting, back handed gratitude, bc pavilion, beauty queens, blue collar, bonds, Bootlegger, brother-in-law, brothers, bullies, burnett, canada, charlies angels, classroom, clone club, coaches, confidence, cousins, cyberworld, dad, daughter, David Bowie, delta kappa epsilon, Disney, doctor, education, elementary school, england, entertainment, ethnicity, europe, extended family, facebook, family, females, first impressions, football, former student, fraternity, freud, friendship, Gilligan's Island, golden years, grad date, grade 12, gratitude, gratitude blog, growth, gym, happiness, high school, Hilary Duff, hockey, hockey dad, I Dream of Jeannie, iggy azalea, india, Indian, indo-canadian, inlaws, inspiration, instagram, internet, landlord, learning, librarians, life, mariah carey, McDonald's, mcnair, mental health, mentors, Miss India, Miss Universe, mothers, mulder & scully, mumee, music, neighbour, new westminster, niece, nursing, orphan black, outside comfort zone, parenting, photography, plus sized, Pokemon Go, pop culture, Prince, professors, psychology, punjabi, Quebec, queensborough, reality tv, religion, renters, reviving ophelia, Richmond, richmond high, robert bateman, robin thicke, role model, rome, sarcoidosis, schizophrenia, secretary, senior citizens, separation, service providers, sesame street, sibling, Sikh, sister, sisters-in-law, son, soul mate, speech pathologist, sports, Star wars, steveston, strangers, student, student teacher, students, Survivor, tatiana maslany, tattoos, taxes, teacher, teaching, technology, teenagers, tenants, thanks, the truth is out there, therapy, Thompson, Thompson Twins, top model, trans, true to yourself, tyra banks, Uncategorized, uncle, Universite de Laval, Universite Laval, vancitybuzz, vanessa williams, walking dead, weight loss, westwind elementary, white boys, wife, witness, women, xfilesLeave a comment

363/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me.  Wow, only 3 more gratitude posts left including this one!!  When I started this journey a year ago, I was a little nervous as to if I would have 365 people to thank.  I didn’t want it to come down to posts such as thanking my mailman for the flyers he delivers in that they were the ones that led me on to some awesome deal!! ; )  Early on in these posts, I started hearing from friends that so and so had made “the list”.  I didn’t understand what that was until I was told that it was my “gratitude list”.  That put some pressure on me to say the least as there was now a “list”.  I didn’t want it to be a list and I didn’t want it to be some type of contest.  Then I heard that some people mentioned they were in the 80s and others were in the 200s!  I do have to make it clear that I haven’t had an order as to who I thank and thus whatever number gratitude post it was has no relation to ranking.  Most posts are the night before or a couple of days before.  Yes, I saved my dad for his birthday as I did with my children for theirs, my mom was first because well she is my mom but save for them and the final two gratitude posts, no one had a day or a number.  The list by the end of Sunday is far from complete.  I could thank another 365 people who got me to where I am today and this is what today’s gratitude post is about – to all of the people I didn’t name and there are hundreds of you that have impacted me!  So many former students, co-workers past and present, family members, inlaws, bosses, professors, fellow students, random strangers, neighbours past and present, friends, backhanded gratitudees (bullies and the like), service providers, celebrities etc, etc – just so many people who have made me who I am and to all of you un-named in this past year, you are part of this gratitude journey just because you were not personally mentioned here doesn’t mean you weren’t recognized by me.  To all the new people that will come in to my life, thanking you in advance as some of you will change and influence me in new ways.  Thank you to all of you who came along with me on this 365 day journey as well.  Your encouragement and support has gotten me to this end point.

March 27 – do you believe?

On By randysanghaIn 2016, 365 days, 365 days of gratitude, aging, back handed gratitude, bonds, confidence, cousins, culture, daughter, ethnicity, extended family, family, friendship, growth, haters, Indian, indo-canadian, inlaws, inspiration, life, morals, mothers, mumee, neighbour, religion, role model, sibling, sister, son, strangers, students, teaching, the truth is out there, true to yourself, UncategorizedLeave a comment

246/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me.  As people sit down this Easter Sunday with their families, I’m assuming a lot of them are celebrating Jesus’ resurrection while others are using the holiday to be with their families be it having lunch, hunting for eggs, getting their chocolate on etc.  On these “holy-days”, I often wonder how many people are celebrating the true nature of the holiday be it Easter, Christmas, Labour Day or whatever you have and how many are using it just as a long weekend, yard work day, shopping day, extra respite from work day and so on.  I’m in the latter category but that is because of a conscious choice – I am agnostic in my personal belief system (only one in my family) but I am very encouraged by and impressed by people who have their beliefs and live by them.  In my life, with family, friends, acquaintances, I have seen hypocrisy in that one thing is preached in respect to others’ behaviour based on personal belief systems but exceptions happen for personal behaviour.  This is no attack against anyone’s religion but more of the way one chooses to follow that religion – that was one of the reasons I made my personal choice.  However, I also understand people need something to live for/believe in providing values and a way to live one’s life.  I could never live my life that way and I can admit it but I do have examples of those rare exceptions who follow their faith and live their life truly by it without judging others.  You are also in my life as family, friends and acquaintances and I am thoroughly impressed by the way you live your lives and you also have also shaped me as I know I haven’t got it in me but I am encouraged by your choices.  You have not judged or criticized me on my choices and that is one of the things that I appreciate the most.   As they say, to each his (her, their) own – you keep doing you and following your belief path and I will keep doing me and following mine and still maintain our bonds 🙂  Thank you both groups for shaping the way I choose to believe!

January 19 – getting my tradition on

On By randysanghaIn 2016, 365 days, 365 days of gratitude, aging, appreciation, back handed gratitude, bonds, ceremonies, culture, dad, ethnicity, extended family, family, first impressions, gratitude, gratitude blog, Hindu, india, indo-canadian, inspiration, judgements, life, morals, outside comfort zone, passion, religion, Sikh, traditions, Uncategorized, valuesLeave a comment

179/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. My family background is quite diverse. My dad’s side of the family is smaller and although they are from the Punjab region of India and Sikhs in their beliefs, the physical proximity of my dad’s village is closer to the Himachal Pradesh area of India (foothills of the Himalayas) which is predominantly Hindu and many of their beliefs have been filtered down and embraced in my dad’s family even though they are Sikh. I am more than a bit of a skeptic when it comes to religion and religious traditions – yes, heresy in some people’s minds – and have a difficult time believing in and observing some of the ceremonial customs that I must participate in. Upon various trips to India, I have had to walk barefoot through mud to a temple to make offerings, I had to take a 3 day pilgrimage up a mountain with my mother and uncle to the Chintpurni temple, I had to have my head sheared (I refused but did compromise), I had to bathe in water that I knew would never pass a sanitation test here in Canada, I had to sit in the back of a crowded truck full of people with no personal space whatsoever on a week long tour of temples, I had to dance with Hijra/Khusras – the list goes on. However, even though I fight the cultural obligations around religion and ethnic tradition that I must partake in, I realize that they have meaning to my family and thus, I honour them by (albeit reluctantly) doing what is expected of me. The more I reflect on it, the more I know that the Indian traditions and beliefs of especially my dad’s family have had a positive impact on the man that I have become and I can appreciate (whether I agree with them or not) what believing in and respecting does for self, family and community. Thank you to my dad’s family for instilling in me the values of Mother India!