Today is Micchami Dukkadam – the Jain way of saying ” To commit mistakes is human, hence I request your Forgiveness, if I have hurt you unintentionally by my words or Action”.

Like the American concept of Thanksgiving this too is a fantastic concept. It actually makes you introspect on all the negative actions that you did and accept responsibility for all actions. It makes you wonder how you could have changed things by your action.

However here is a SMS i got from a friend :

“We live in moments, but what we are is the sum total of all the moments we have lived since we were born. Many people with various schools of thought touched us and we absorbed what felt right to our heart and soul thereby making us what we are today. Hence all of us are so different because of the influence and absorption is so different. We can never agree or disagree on all points and in the process get happy or hut. Most of the time the hurt is not intentional, it is just because we are different, we react differently. We normally cannot choose what happens to us, we can choose how to react. We can keep our mind above all this!

But we frown, get upset, break relationships and what not. When I reflect on this, I feel life is not worth all these heart burns-  it is there to live…and make the most of every little moment. On this Universal day of forgiveness I beg you to forget and forgive and give me your heart, hand and smile and start all over a beautiful journey called life.”

Imagine I can start hurting her even while replying to this message! Instead of saying thanks I said “this is a lecture not an sms – of course I have made some additions and made it a little longer too…but so what!

Normally POSITIVE messages should contain only POSITIVE words. So instead of saying ‘we frown’ (which actually makes us react negatively) we could say “We do not smile” – the meaning is the same, but the VERB is positive. It is the verb with which we associate. We react to all words. Imagine reading: Positive, happy, great, creative, imaginative. Your mind smiles. If on the other hand you say…Oh God never mind!!

Ok all you Jains outhere who know me and read this post, MICCHAMI DUKKADAM! And the same thing to all the other readers…My apologies if I have hurt you!