Hello,

When you read the title, what conjures up in your mind? Take a moment and do it. Think about feet. Do we really think of feet?

I was amazed that the more I thought, the more images, stories, quotes, customs related to feet and their footprints began to unravel in my mind.

Here are some of the things that entered my mind. Did any of these enter your mind?

Traditions and understandings

Krishna’s feet – On Krishna Jayanti, small footprints are made resembling a toddler Krishna’s footprints, heading from the door straight to the kitchen. In reference reads, I have included a post I found on this.

Lakshmi Charan or Paduka – Goddess Lakshmi is a goddess of wealth. Generally, a symbol of her feet or paduka is kept at the entrance to our house. It is to signify that the goddess has entered spreading prosperity in our home or to welcome Lakshmi into our homes.

Touching someone’s feet means to show respect – It is an Indian tradition to touch your elders feet and take blessings from them.

In the same way, kicking or touching with your feet is a sign of disrespect. Hence, children are taught not to touch your feet to food, books or instruments of learning.

Stories

Story of Rama’s sandals and Bharat in Ramayana – When Bharat learned that Rama was banished to the forest, he was very sad. He went out to meet Rama and urged him to return to the kingdom. When Rama refused. He came back with Rama’s sandals and installed them on the throne. He ruled only in the name of Rama till his brother returned.

Quotes, sayings and general terms

“To walk in one’s footsteps” means to follow the same path or follow the same culture, actions or learnings as someone else. Generally, it is used in the context that, children walk in the footsteps of their parents. (Yes, I said generally!)

“Lives of great men all remind us, that we must make our lives sublime, and departing leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.” from the Psalm of life, one of my favorite poems

“Leave footprints of kindness and love wherever you go”. Found this when I googled 🙂

“A carbon footprint” – is a derived from “The ecological footprint”. The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems. A carbon footprint is a measure of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.

Actions

Foot imprints of your child –  Many parents like to take an imprint of their baby’s hand or foot onto clay. As the years pass and our kids grow up, it reminds them of this tiny, vulnerable bundle of joy that entered their lives, to change it forever.

Pedicure – One of the beauty rituals which are not only necessary but, completely relaxing. It’s our feet we always ignore. Go for it now. Love your feet.

There are some more but, now is my time to share with you.

When I was in school, I had a poster in my room with a story. I have read it so many times and each time, it helped to read it. I hope it helps you too. When I searched for this story again, I found many authors to it. I am not sure who wrote this. For me, I simply want to share a good story.

Footprints

One night I had a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my god. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, One belonging to me and one to my god.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked god about it. “God, you said once I decided to follow you, You’d walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

God whispered, “My precious child, I love you and I will never leave you. Never, ever, during your trials and testing. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you.”

  It was then that I carried you………….

Do let me know if you thought of “feet” today 🙂 or any experiences you want to share.

Love,

Poornima

Reference reads:

Krishna’s footprints

Pedicure at home from Prats musings.