The journey of one hundred thousand paces begins with


I try to have a few more meditations on Christmas Eve. It’s a good feeling as the world slows down and becomes a little more reflective.

With the sun setting below the hills, I closed my door and burnt some incense. The pungent fragrance filling the room. Settled in the chair I felt unusually receptive for meditation. I started to chant AUM, AUM, AUM … – when from above, I heard an unexpected sound.

“The journey of one hundred thousand paces begins with a flat tyre and a broken fan-belt.”

The dulcet tones of Les Barker (comic poet) was blaring out from my father’s stereo. At the exact moment my meditation commenced, he had decided to play “the Verb to be.”

The poem continues in a similar vein:

“Never criticise your fellow man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. Then if he doesn’t like it, you’re a mile a way and you’ve got his shoes.

In a different frame of mind, I may have been frustrated. But, there was a certain comic timing – which I found quite funny.

In the world of poetry, I also agree 100% with Les Barker.

“I have tried to write good poetry;
At last I feel I’m winning –
The secret is to put the end
Close to the beginning.”

Les Barker – 2003
Happy Christmas!

Related Christmas

  • The Son – A play by Sri Chinmoy about Jesus Christ

The message of Jesus Christ