Goodbye

 Wow, I just saw that I have 4 posts this month and I had thought the previous one would be the last post of this year. 

But my mind has been buzzing and been craving to write since morning. It is strange how I feel so different after writing a post. So here it is. 

Another year has gone by, years keep rolling by, with no care as to who is there and who is not. As the day began, I had a mixed feeling, it was neither happy nor sad! I have come to learn to let any emotion/thought/feeling pass through me and learnt to be patient for it to move out! It is such a powerful hack! So now I am just patient with myself, as I know whatever thought/emotion that has entered my mind will eventually go out - it is exactly like breath in and breath out - air that enters in also goes out! 

We don't have to forcefully do anything here. Just knowing that everything has a fixed timeline, everything is temporary, everything changes - good and bad, postives and negatives, happiness and sadness - should help us in balancing our life!  

To prove my point, I had the experience of my dad's ceremony and mom's birthday falling on the same day. It was not a big deal, it was just another day!

Standing tall and strong

Spreading the wings and flying high

Sitting on the branch with no fear that the branch may break as it trusts its wings

Patient and powerful

Free, light and floating

Wishing Everyone A Happy Blissful Healthy Everyday ❤

 

Common or Different

Oh the famous holiday season is here - end of the year holidays / Christmas holidays / the holiday of cheer!! And what is one expected to do during holidays? 😇 I won't answer that, but it is definetely the most talked about or planned holiday of all times in the whole world. 

For each one of us any holiday season holds different meaning or no meaning. I guess for me, holiday season means more time to think 😝

So beginning of this week, I was thinking about the upcoming holiday season and it made me wonder if -what is common or traditional is generally easier compared to what is off-beat or different! 

I know it is a very random or vague statement, but take anything, standing-out from the crowd versus being similar to everyone else around you are not the same. As I am typing this I am realizing that most of us may feel that we are different. True, each one of us is an unique individual, but I am talking about the lifestyle. Again each lifestyle is different but do we pause when there is a huge crazy difference between us and the world outside? It may sound like a silly thought, but it is not. Because it is easier to blend in when it is similar compared to blending into a contrasting group. May be only people who experience or are different from the general group understand what I am saying. 

In any case, being different, or having an unique experience is not a bad thing. It may just take a little bit longer time to understand or accept. I heard someone say this earlier in the morning - have all the experiences without being bitter. So important to embrace everything with a heart felt smile 😍

Heres to a cup of good cheer everyday 😍

Well as it turns out, my holiday special has become doing 108 suryanamaskaras! 

Merry Christmas!
Coffee alone
Dosa with family
Lunch, brownie, ice cream with friends
Tea, samosas with a dear friend
Fruits with aunt
Plum cake alone
😝😍💞

The pink after 108 suryanamaskaras

Wanted to take a picture with Christmas tree today,
Mom being my rock solid strong supportive Christamassy tree 😊

LetGo

 What does letting go really mean?

We hear this so often right. And I have been told to LET GO the most. Of course I have been trying. We all try to. But what do those two words mean in our day to day lives?

Everything is so connected in this universe. Our emotions are connected, our experiences are connected, our situations are connected - basically all things are entangled / intertwined / chained together / connected somehow! How much ever we say we are not attached, the attachment exists in this universe - it is different for each person, it varies for each person, but it exists. So how is it even possible to not let something that happens to someone else not affect us, let alone not get affected by something happening to us!! Am I making sense? Don't we feel sad at least for a micro second when we see a sad news on TV - about a complete stranger? So you know what I mean! 

So as long as we are alive, everything will affect us 365 days a year. UNLESS we consciously keep telling ourselves that IT's OK, life is what is, LIVE for TODAY - once we start this habit, at some point in our life, we will be able to LET GO naturally!

Let us try 😊

Overcoming our fears also a part of letting go!
This picture has so many stories 🙏

The Power

One small incident or even one single word uttered by someone else can trigger so many thoughts in our heads! Just few thoughts may not do much harm if the thoughts stay for a short time and they move out. But that is hardly the case! The thoughts stay in our heads for days together and sometimes even years. Just one single word can make home in our mind forever and in turn spoil the beauty of everything else. And this word was said by someone else, may be just an acquaintance. A similar thing happened to me recently and it suddenly hit me how much power I am giving this person over me. Of course all of us have heard about this topic too many times as everything revolves around how to live these days. But I really understood the intensity of it this time as the word POWER hit me. 

We keep hearing about free will versus destiny - and keep getting confused between the two as well. There is absolutely no control over anything outside us. But we DO have the power over ourselves - power on how we react, power to take actions, power to control our thoughts, power to ignore, power to live the way we want within the existing capacity, power on which thoughts I want to keep in my mind and which I want to throw away - the list can go on. But the most important power is to not give any power to someone else - close or far - our own child/closest friend/colleague/stranger. And this holds good for both positive and negative scenarios. Feeling great and validated when someone else praises us is equally a dangerous one as we are again giving the power to someone else to make us feel good/happy.

Before I stop, I have to write about a conversation I had last week with someone. I have been in awe about this person for the last few months due to the way she handles herself and has been living her life. I never get into specifics but I have to say this here just to explain the sitaution. One of her children cannot see - and I do not need to say anything more. I am sure as a mother her challenges are plenty. But not once have I seen her complain about a single thing and I have always seen her with a huge heartening smile! I guess she has not given the POWER of her life to the circumstances surrounding her. 

Let us take back the power which is ours! We have to keep taking pauses to do this as otherwise we do not even realize when we are giving the power away.

Below are a few of my favourite things 😀

We got to see the whole process 

One December Morning

 I have missed writing though it has been just over a month since my last post. And yes, I went for a walk this morning and it seems like my morning walks trigger most of my posts 😀 But I don't have any topic this time, no agenda, no realizations, no to-dos, no this way, no that way 😊

After a bumpy and long November I am feeling the freshness of December. The chilly mornings, sunny afternoons, pleasant evenings and cool nights, singing our favorite Christmas songs, looking out for Christams decorations, relishing the rum soaked plum cakes and sipping hot chocolate!! The list can go on and on, meeting friends, family, traveling......

I guess every month can be or actually is a Christmasy month 😆 if we think so. 

Heres to a Christmasy life 😉 Let us make the most out of everyday!

Enjoying my 9.8 km Sunday morning walk

Sunny and bright

Feels like the sky is showing me the whole universe/life

My coffeeeeeeeeee 
❤ reflection of the sky on my floor ❤

Skandagiri

Went on a short trek after a long time - a sunrise trek to Skandagiri hills.

Like any other sunrise trek, we had to start early in the night to catch the first sun rays. We left home/Bangalore at 1.45 am by car on a Sunday morning and reached the foot of the hills around 3.15 am. Skandagiri is located near the Kalavara village in Chikkaballapura district. 

There were a lot of trekkers that day and by the time we started our climb it was 4 am. It was a narrow trail and it gets steep after a short distance. The initial stretch had us climb via a small stream and trying to find dry stones to place our feet to avoid getting our shoes wet. It was not a very easy trek and we thoroughly enjoyed the climb. 

Beautiful crescent moon

The sky started changing colours slowly as time passed and we reached the top around 6.30 am,  just in time to see the gorgeous sun peeking out. 

It was windy and climbing some more distance led us to a slightly higher elevation with a beautiful Shiva Linga temple located on top.

Shiva Linga temple

We sat at the top for one hour, enjoying the view and the cool breeze. We started getting down at 7.30 am. 

It took us 2 hours to come down and by 9.30 am we were at the entrance. 

It was a very good trek 😊 with good company and we covered a total distance of 9 km during the trek. We stopped at 'Paratha Point' for breakfast before heading back home 😀