3 keys to a spiritual life in the age of Netflix and Chill

 

If you are reading this, that means, you are one of the people who have made it to or past the Corona age. The world is a zombie movie on lockdown, only the virus does not come hunting for you but creeps on you slowly through a touch or a cough. Or lingers in certain places where you might visit to inhabit your body. Sounds scary right? 

 

To cope with the boredom and escape the feeling of isolation, the world looks on to the Risen Saviour? Uh, oh, no unfortunately, we seek solace on binge-shows and excessive social media viewing. But, amidst all this, deep inside many of our hearts, we know that the end is near. What we have heard for so long from the preachers in our churches is happening. It’s like watching the book you read being acted out in a movie, only, it’s even worse than what we’d read or heard because there’s more deaths than you can count. The end is near and deep inside, some of us are afraid that we are not ready. 

 

It’s easy to live in de-nial, do what we wanna, and defend ourselves saying ‘Hey its a difficult time, and this is how I am coping with it, so just let it be.” But, then again, ask yourself – is that lifestyle giving you peace? The true inner peace that emits joy and love. A peace that “feareth not death”? I guess the answer would be ‘Nah.’ Because I’ve been there many, many times. 

 

Personally, I’ve been having a rut trying to reach the next level in my spiritual journey with the endless hours of entertainment and infotainment available on my hands. For a short period after the lockdown, and Corona hit millions in days, I felt the end near, and started worrying but felt helpless because I was scared but didnt’ know how to attain the spiritual height that I needed. 

 

These are some of the things I have been trying to practise and hopefully, they come in handy for you in some way. 

 

First off, for me, I have found that the key to a good spiritual life is – one thing we have a lot but just cannot handle well – time management. Once we learn to manage time and divide our work hours, devotional hours and family hours, it gets a lot easier. 

 

See, the thing is, we cannot wake up, scroll through Whatsapp for the latest news and memes, then have breakfast and netflix and chill through most of the day, or maybe work until you can netflix and chill, get busy with whatever we are doing with our kids or chores, pray and read the Bible for like 15 minutes somewhere in between and expect that somehow, we will reach new spiritual heights. 

 

Experts have suggested that to adjust to the Coronavirus pandemic, everyone needs to practise, ‘behavioural change’, the same goes for our spiritual life. 

 

1. End the night early

A lot of people would say, start the morning right, and that’s true but to start the morning right, we have to end the night early. Get a good sleep so you can have a fresh mind to commune with God. This is something I struggle with daily. See you cannot stay up till 1 looking at memes and wake early the next morning hoping to have spiritual elevation. Set a time to complete all your tasks at night also, leaving time for devotion before you sleep. 

 

2. Routine, routine, routine

            A routine is everything, it’s something my mother made us practise as kids and has been effective till today. Set a routine to follow for the day, you might not follow the whole routine, but it gives you a sense of order to atleast follow a few. This year, I came up with a routine to follow for everyday of the year and put it up on my wall in February. But work schedules and appointments vary everyday so it was impossible to follow it. What I’ve found is, it’s best to rough out a routine for the next day before you sleep at night because you probably have an idea of all the things you need to do the next day, by that time. Keeping a routine helps our spiritual life because we can make sure we are not wasting our time on unnecessary things and also sticking to a devotional session period without having to worry about time constraints. A lot of times when I’m reading the Bible, I find that I think about all the things I have to do through the day amidst the scriptures. When you have a routine, you know when you will do what and it leaves your mind open for a complete concentration on your devotion. 

 

3. It’s not all about the food

If you know me, food is the key to my happiness. And that’s okay, I guess but it’s not okay to indulge in our appetites to a point where we destroy our body because that is a major conflict to spiritual growth and for overall health. Ellen G White suggests fasting to gain spiritual growth. In Counsels on Diet and Foods, she writes, “Now and onward till the close of time the people of God should be more earnest, more wide-awake, not trusting in their own wisdom, but in the wisdom of their leader. They should set aside days for fasting and prayer.” If ever there was a magic potion that could uplift one’s spiritual journey, from what I’ve found would be – fasting and prayer.  Having control over one’s diet, you will find, also helps you practise self control for the other aspects of life. 

After reading of the necessity to set aside time for fasting and prayer, I have started scheduling two periods in a week for fasting and prayer, and these are the times, where I get to have a really close view of Jesus love which prepares me for whatever I have to face. And man, Jesus loves me so much, I’d be a fool not to feel his love. Ignoring Jesus is like the perfect love story where the Prince is totally in love with you and legit gave His life for you but you missed out on enjoying a happily ever after in lovely bliss, because, you didnt spare time to know Him. Once you get to know Him, you’ll find that all this fuss is more than just about being in heaven, or having a close view of the stars. You might find new interest in Him when you start fearing the fiery flames of hell. But once you know Him for real, you will find that its His love, His love that will change the way you look at the world. That will change you. 

 

A Merry Demonetization to you!

(originally published in The Mizoram Post,  December 22, 2016)

Mizoram is a state which survives the eleven months of the year to make it to the 12th month, December. While crowds are few in the market area the rest of the year, come mid-December and one hardly has space to place their feet.  It is a state where you can feel the essence of the Christmas spirit in whole, little children hugging tight to plastic bags filled with “Krismas kawr mawi,” styled up teens going out in groups and hanging around Millennium centre with the holiday cheer all over their faces, and of course, the young couples whose love blossoms with the festive cheer.

But this year, Christmas comes a little harsh on the hearts of the Mizo people. There is a gloom in the air evident in the glum faces of sales persons as you walk around the busy market area. It’s a gloom of demonetisation.

For the business-dealing men and women in Mizoram, Christmas is the ‘boost period.’ It’s the time where there’s a smile glued to the face of their profits, probably enough to keep them going in bits for the rest of the year. But this year, it’s a whole different story. While it’s a story of lives lost in long queues in other states, it’s the heart of the sales factor that is being mourned this Christmas in Mizoram.

The Mizoram Post met with sales women in the hub of the main market, and they had much to say about the state of their affairs. Lalthanmawii, a 62-year-old business women from Dawrpui said, “Our sales are down to a minimum. Even those who earn one lakh can only withdraw Rs. 24,000 a week and it takes a whole month for them to withdraw their entire salary. So, no one is brave enough to splurge. The Christmas air has become a troubled one for us.”

With only Rs. 24,000 withdrawal a week permitted by the bank, one has to pay rent, buy amenities, household needs and there is little left to spare for buying clothes, highlighted Lalrinmawii, a clothes dealer at Zion Street.

The saleswomen seated inside the cozy clothing stores at Bara Bazaar agree that their sales have been decreased by half. “Even those who can afford more only have enough to spare for sale discount items. Most people who come and take a look at the goods only put focus on the discount items,” said Mafeli, a shoe seller at the market.

One saleswoman told of an experience she encountered the other day where a young girl was insistent on buying a coat that cost Rs.2000 but if she bought it, there would be nothing left for the younger sibling and the ATM withdrawal limit did not permit any extra for the day. Goods suppliers who have come a long way to earn their money are putting out their items at wholesale rates and big discounts instead of going home empty-handed. On what they see as the best solution, these saleswomen say people should be permitted to withdraw the amount they require, let them buy what they need with what they have earned.

 

It is not just the sellers who have a dilemma, even the consumer part of the market has their share of troubles. Lalruatliana, a resident of Zonuam veng said, “We put aside our important jobs to stand in line at the bank for the whole day where we receive only notes of 2000. And when we buy something that is below the rate of 2000, we get change of old 500 or 1000 notes for which we have to put aside our jobs and stand in line for another whole day to deposit.”

 

The clothing sector has been hit hard what about the others such as gadgets? Lalthanzuala of Israel Mobile Store, with a cheerless tone said, “Our sales are badly affected, customers are few. It’s down by about 50% for sure.” Another sector that is down by 50% is the motor dealers. Lalfakzuala Hauzel, Managing Director of Khaia & Sons Hero Showroom and Worskshop, Vaivakawn, said, “The sales have dipped by 50%, the larger part of the population is only comfortable with cash. There are few who use cheques or ATM debit cards for transaction purposes. Even the income from workshop repairing and motor part sales has come down.”

 

While many are experiencing the gloom of Christmas sales, there are few who seem unaffected by demonetisation. The sofa business seems to be in good spirits, Lallawmawma Hnamte owner of the prominent Victor Sofa, said, “We have not faced much challenges. People pay us by cheque so that makes it simple for business.” Another business in good spirits is the taxi sector, “I have not faced any difficulties, people don’t pay us in bulks of 2000 or such and they seem to have more change than ever these past days. So we have not felt the load of demonetisation as of yet,” said Lalrammuana of the Durtlang Taxi Stand.

 

On the part of the banks dealings with the Christmas cash demand and demonetisation, Narendra Sonowal, Deputy Manager Operations, Axis Bank Chanmari Branch said, “We work atleast 2 extra hours everyday. There is a rush of customers and a high amount of transactions. The biggest challenge is the denomination, there is a big scarcity of small denominations.”

 

The demonetisation gloom of the festive season does not end at Mizoram, sweets sales are down at Kolkata, at the favourite holiday hub, Goa, the hospitality sector is impacted, even in Tamil Nadu, the sale of Christmas decorative items has hit a big low. On Wednesday, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, CM Chandrababu Naidu stressed, “More than 40 days after demonetisation, there are still a lot of problems, but there appears to be no solution,” and there appears to be none now for the Christmas spirit at Mizoram because what can the people do but grieve among themselves and hold tight to the scarce pink notes in their purses. While Modi has strived for eradication of black money, he has eradicated a huge amount of smiles in the Christmas town of Aizawl.