Mind

 I heard someone say in an interview today that they wrote because it helped them. It is so true. Writing gives clarity. It is like when the weather is foggy, there are windows when it keeps clearing up. Writing gives space for that clearing when the mind is foggy. 

I feel that my mind is always foggy, full of mist - a misty weather gives the feeling of a dreamy and cozy world. Hahahaha. I have never used these two words to describe my mind. The difference between the two words - fog and mist is as follows - Fog is dense and feels heavy and lasts for a longer duration; Mist is thinner, feels lighter and clears up quickly. 

Wow! Isn't all our minds in one of the above two states all the time? Point to ponder is which state we want our mind to be in most of the time. The answer seems very easy - misty mode. We want to feel light, want thoughts to clear up fast, so new thoughts can take their place, which helps in accepting the new thoughts easily, and not holding on to old thoughts (memories/traumas etc). 

I guess when the mind is light, what we think, what we say and what we do matches - and right there is harmony in ourselves. Of course a totally clear mind would be ideal, but is it possible to have a clear one all the time? Nature shows us that the weather has to keep changing and we need all types of weather 😊

I had an interesting conversation with my kids yesterday. We were talking about something which led to me asking them on a scale of 1-10 how happy they are. They gave me a number which was not 10 and I again asked what according to them would make it a 10. They gave a few examples, but finally they said they don't want it to be a ten, the reason being a ten would be boring. They continued to say that they have to experience everything and only then can one be happy. 

They said it in such simple words and as a matter of factly. Well.......... We know what state their minds are in 💗💗😀

Fog or mist, I exist

Bold and solo

Actual or reflection

To sit
An observer

                                         

Spread my wings
Keep flying

Without this

this is not possible

Every step matters

Playful and Fun

 Today is Krishna Janmashtami. Two words kept coming to my mind today very strongly - Playful and Fun!

I told my kids that from today let us try to bring back more fun and playfulness in our lives! Lately I find myself wondering how life has become sooooo serious. Or rather I should rephrase it - how I have become very serious and take everything so seriously. There is nothing wrong in being serious, but I personally do not want to be serious as it makes everything in life super heavy! 

There is no dearth to triggers that can cause us to either feel low or worry or feel anxious or feel scared. But just asking one quick question, may help us in pausing and helping us to throw that emotion away. And that question is - SO WHAT?

I am going to try this everyday. Just adding SO WHAT in front of whatever the situation is can help us in quickly thinking of our worst fear at that point, and throwing that fear away, because when we articulate that worst fear, we feel that we can deal with it if it actually happens. 

SO WHAT ................................... , let us still have fun by being playful. What does that really mean? Because most of the time, when we are in a low phase, fun and playfulness are the last on our minds. But just shifting the questions we ask and the answer we give, helps in taking that situation lightly. 

So what? It is ok, it will be ok.

Being playful and trying to have fun in every situation is the key to living a content life. If this doesn't come naturally, trying to find ways to lighten the moment is essential. 

Let us all make life funner in our own unique ways

Here are my attempts at becoming playful and finding fun in every situation 😊

The courage to be me

 Woah, WOW, is what I feel right now. Everyday is a new experience in life for everyone. Even if it is the same thing we do every single day, there will be a difference in each day, maybe subtle or strong, but it is there.

We had an exciting one week at work - 

sports week - Monday to Saturday

whole group energy

physical activity

sun

sweat

fear of rain

warm up dance/movements

Friday - whole day fun

Saturday - cross valley run of 5km, events, obstacle race, muddy puddle jump

class after work

Though it was a packed one, we did not complain in spite of the extreme exhaustion.

The reason for this post - building confidence in myself. I have been told to do things as if no one is watching by many as I am very self conscious. My lack of confidence shows up in various forms everywhere. 

I often seek company to do everything even though I have done many things on my own and alone. It is not about doing many things, but even after doing things alone, I have not been confident enough to do it again!

The fears and doubts show on my face. I am wondering about the reason. One major fear is about others judging me. I give a lot of importance to others! 

Even though I have a crazy number of fears and doubts, I am doing it. I guess that's the important part - doing it in spite of the fears and doubts.

Ok, this post has been more about working backwards as though I wanted to write about my excitement, I was not sure what I wanted to convey! Now, after typing the above I can say that this post has been about realizing that I have the courage needed to be myself, of course with a lot of help - help at different stages, help from different people, help in subtle ways, obvious ways, directly. 

Thank you

Ending the week with my favourite 

Keeping the balance

Seesaw

 Ok, so my journey last week has been from a bud to a fully bloomed flower!

Continuing my conversation from my last post, I realize now how a gorgeous lotus plant has become my buddy at work. How can a plant become or replace a human being as a friend? What is a friend or any relation? Anything that we show care for. So in that sense, the amount of time I have spent thinking or caring for the plant has made it my best friend. Of course, I have not done anything physically - I did not plant, I did not do anything physically to make sure the plant was growing well. The only thing I did was my thinking about it during the whole journey. I don't know if it did anything to the plant. But it did something magical to me, especially when I was muddled up in my own drama.

Everything we do in life is because it does something amazing to us. Everytime we do something for others, it is because it is fulfilling something in us, and hence we even think of doing. So, the next picture that comes to my mind as I write this is a picture of a seesaw. One end/person is always up or down. Everything in life is so frequently defined as either 

up or down

glory or condemnation

success or failure

wow or blaa

....list can go on.

What I am trying to tell myself is that just because something is considered superior, does not mean everything else is lower and just because something is considered lower doesn't mean everything else is superior. The balance of the seesaw is very important and the moment we start seeing everything and everyone in one perfect straight line we have created that balance in life and are in perfect harmony with everything  

                                            

The lotus kept changing direction every few hours.

And one by one, all the petals fell

While the lotus became my buddy at work, the gorgeous Brahmakamala became my companion at home.

Tried drawing a lotus, but flopped

A SEESAW 😀

Balancing the seesaw 😀❤