It has been a long time since I wrote a blog. Life has been full. Where have I been all these months? Someone wrote and asked, “Gita, are you OK? Have not heard from you....”

For those of you who thought that perhaps I fell off the side of the planet, well, I am still here, working too much and trying to get too much done in any given day. I have enough work here for at least another three people like me. I am well and fine and have had a busy and very interesting few months.

Here is a quick look at what has been going on here:

• I launched Torkom's Blog in February and it is proving popular and a beautiful way to share some of his writings. I really like the way it looks so I wanted to update the look of my blog too...so started working on it. Also, the Spanish version of Torkom's Blog is now being prepared...coming soon.
• I started to do the first reading of Torkom's Autobiography, which is more of a diary, and I was riveted and moved in ways that I cannot explain. It got me to thinking that I need to start recording my life experiences. I could see through his eyes how a person grows and matures and makes the decisions in life that lead to the vision and purpose of life. I began to see the thread that unites all our life experiences and began to understand why I am so committed to this work and what really drives me. I started to see the linking threads of my life. The most interesting parts were his travel diaries and how he viewed the people and the life around him as he flew to Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Europe, and back to the US. He observed everything and held everyone in his compassionate heart but also kept his vigilance and discipline. I started also to think, what happens to me when I travel, meet new people, give lectures and relate in new environments? I do keep a travel diary, but never look at it once I arrive back to the office. It is so interesting to note that when we read inspiring and deeply charged books, they open doors deep into our own consciousness. I suppose that is why we are so drawn to great writings.
• I prepared a four day conference with two lectures each morning and various events in the afternoons. The conference is our annual Wesak retreat and was held this year at the end of April. The topic was building our psychic immune system. It was a life-changing experience for me to be able to research, write, and build these lectures in a comprehensive and sequential manner. I have been giving these kinds of conferences for 11 years, and each year has its particular rewards. This year it was a deep inner realization and an inner stabilization that I had not experienced as fully before. There is so much work that goes into every hour of presentation. What I deliver is just the surface of all the work that I did for each hour. I learned that it is not the amount we talk but how we communicate from a place of knowing and fullness that holds the key to its comprehension.
• I started to re-frame the purpose of TSG and where we are going. Every year during the Wesak period, I deliberately go through a re-focusing process. The questions I asked myself are: what is my focus in life? Where do I focus most of my daily time? My daily focus may not be on my real focus at all. The third question is how do I maintain a spiritual tension on the focus of my life that will help me accomplish it? This is such a deep topic that I prepared a separate lecture just on this part alone. Pondering on these questions helped me tremendously.
• I started thinking how I am going to inspire a higher commitment of support to TSG and its financial needs. This is really taking up much of my thinking these days. We need serious financial support for the long term longevity of Torkom's work. In this climate of fear and sense of lack, it is important for me to keep the vision and not succumb to doubt.
• I started thinking of all the topics I would love to write about and it grew to be a huge list. So, I decided to simply let life unfold and let all these events sort themselves out as I held them in spiritual tension. I learned that spiritual tension is not the same as being tense. Spiritual tension is seeing the big picture and putting into place the activities that will be the causes for the effects you need in life. It means you are fully awake to the events and opportunities around you. Being tense is trying to push a certain agenda irrespective of the larger dynamic forces in life. So, enough trying to manage and control everything in my life. It is exhausting to be such a pushy project manager, the project being my life!
• I also continued with my daily office work, writings, editing, classes and so on.

Today, something else happened early on in the day to make me start writing my blog again. What started out as a simple telephone call catapulted me into writing and thinking about much bigger issues.

Coming up Next: The Art of Communication: Part 2: Bad Communication