Things that are important to me

You grow up in a society which notifies you early on in life about the things that are important.... the things that you MUST have to have a complete life... they include education (absolute necessity), house, car, enough money, spouse, children.... and sometimes in the quest for those very things we forget why it is you need these things... we all just go about it in a perfunctionary manner - something we just have to do .... but I think it is important to recognise the few fundamentals that you live by so that you realise how lucky you are or how unlucky you are....

Things that are important to me are:

a. My own identity - I dont believe anybody can take away your identity without you yourself wanting to lose it.... but still there may be situations when you might be forced to give up things that are important to you in order to adjust/compromise with someone you love. I just hope I dont have to give up my identity for any reason.

b. Ability to go out alone - this is absolutely critical for me I think... I dont think many people would enjoy the same things I do and somehow I feel obliged to entertain them while doing things I like doing... something like shopping, or even sitting at a coffee shop.... or even going on my crazy photo tours.... I just like the fact that in mumbai I can go alone to all these places... many people would judge me for being alone... but thats the way I want it

c. Ability to help people important to me - Its important for me that I am able to be there for my loved ones... and there are few of them in my life that I absolutely treasure and I hope I am able to be there for them as much as I want to

d. Being with trustworthy people - I am by nature very naive... though I have learned from my mistakes that not all people who come into your life wish the best for you I have steadfastly hung on to the belief that most people are trustworthy.... and the sad reality is not many people are.... and now even more than anything I hang on to the people who I trust the most ...

e. Its important to be true to yourself... even if you behave as if you are the queen with others... you must be true to your self... yes I screwed up in the past and now I am making amends for it... it actually lessens your stress.....

f. Its important to realise that you are quite dispensable .... no matter what the situation everybody moves on in life.....

g. Its important to get hugs from children once in a while.... they are innocent and when they hug you that means they love you.... and It is important to feel that once in a while ...

h. I think it is important to love with all your heart ........ whatever it is you love - your job, your partner, your siblings, your books, your alone time......

i. Finally it is important to realise that there is always someone better than you and someone worse than you... it is important to realise that someone somewhere is always going to be better than you and someone somewhere is going to be worse than you... it is important not to get overwhelmed by both....

I dont know whether I will practise any of the above... but it is always good to have a list of important things in life.....