A message of happy new year

Today is the last day of 2016, everyone is talking about their plans to celebrate 31st and their plans for the new year. Why not write a short letter to the new year??

"Dear 2017,

We welcome you with new hopes and aspirations. One more year has passed and though 2016 was not an easy year for me, I survived. At times during the year, I thought I wouldn't make it at work or health or some other areas of my life till today. But here I am - standing tall and strong and still smiling. 2016 taught me something about myself - that despite the challenges I faced, my willpower to keep fighting through the struggle really helped me grow.

The situations where I thought "I can't do this" or "I don't know what to do", I was able to find a way. I made mistakes, maybe hurt some people, felt unappreciated at times, and very angry too. But through all this clutter I heard my inner voice that kept saying to me "you are stronger than this problem, you got to keep the fight on".

There were also some wonderful things that happened to me this year, I finally started my blog. I want to really thank all of my readers who supported me through my first year of writing this blog, who helped me inspire people and to inspire myself. I express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone of you who liked my page, read my posts, shared my posts for being part of this journey.

I hope 2017 will be a positive year with no accidents, no wars, more smiles and fun and lots of love for all. I pray that this journey of inspiration will continue to grow and more people will join our mission to spread positivity, joy and enthusiasm.

Thank you 2016, I am grateful for everything I achieved this year and I welcome you -2017 with a new zeal and new aspirations."

I wish you all a very happy, healthy and inspiring new year. I request my readers to write their own short notes or letters to 2017 in the comments box. Let's inspire and be inspired.

My Cousin Dennis

I had a cousin whose name was Dennis,

He was so sweet and never a menace,

He stayed far away from me, in a different country,

Yet when we met, I felt so great,

When he shifted to the city few blocks away from me,

We were too busy to meet to have a cup of tea,

Years have passed since I saw him last,

Time seems to have passed too fast,

Today I got a message from my mom about his sudden death,

She said your cousin Dennis breathed his last breath,

I could not believe that I would never see him again,

Nor hear him call out my name or pass by my lane,

I wish I had called him earlier, 

I wish we had met when our houses were so near,

Life is so short and we often don’t realize,

Now he is gone and I didn’t even get to say goodbye,

He was a nice guy always greeted me with a smile,

I admired him a lot for his willpower and drive,

He was in the hospital for quite a while,

But he fought till the end with persistence and tenacity,

Although he is not present with us today physically,

He will always be remembered for his determination and simplicity!!

I wanna be ME!!

The thing that I want more than anything else today is to just be ME!! We are always playing some roles in life - like being a mom, a dad, a husband, a wife, a friend, an employee, a boss, a writer, a reader, a filmmaker, an actor, a lawyer, etc. Since we spend most of our day hours in playing one or more of these roles, we often forget to be ourselves. Have you ever paused for a second and thought about what you really want in life? I was thinking about this question and my thoughts took me to a point where I began to think what have I become? Is being a lawyer or a writer or a wife or all of these what makes ME or am I more than just these roles that I play for most of my waking hours?

As we are engaged in the rat race of life everyday trying to meet ends or to excel in our chosen fields, we tend to forget about the things we enjoyed when we were young and carefree, about the things which made us happy. Every once in a while, one should pause and look back at those things and maybe do one of those things - like play a sport you loved or listen to the music that made you forget all your worries and dance or the silly jokes that made you laugh till you cry!! The people who made you so happy once may now just be your facebook or what'sapp friends, but why not, every once in a while, get off the internet and go for a walk with those people or give the, a call. These people may remind you of things you forgot about yourself, things you loved once, the person you used to be. Once you know what makes you truly happy, the just go and do it. Don't wait for retirement or a future date to be able to do what you can do today. No one knows what the future holds, so NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU AS THERE MAY NOT BE A TOMORROW. Stop for a second and do what makes you happiest every once in a while.

The story of transformation

Today I am going to write about a dear friend of mine (who I consider like my little sister). Urvashi - the girl in the photos in this post had an amazing breakthrough recently, which I would like to share with you all. This story is not about how much weight one can lose in X months and how to do it. This is a story of a girl who transformed her life with sheer willpower and dedication.

Urvi (short for Urvashi)was always a 'fat kid' just like me and many of us. Although she was very good at academics and is a fashion designer now, the weight was a constant struggle. I know her from the time she was born, but to me she was always my cute lil sis!!

One fine day this lil girl decided she had enough bullshit from people who think a person's body determines her personality. It took a while  and a lot of dedication to go through the journey of losing 33-34 kgs in 18 months. Most people who know her may never believe she did this without some kind of surgery or treatment, but SHE DID..

Urvi transformed her life with a single minded focused approach and by changing her lifestyle and choosing healthier food options rather than binging on junk food. She didn't spend thousands of rupees to achieve this phenomenal success, all she did was to remind herself every day that "I CAN".

By telling you this story, I just want all my friends and readers to know that Nothing is Impossible, We are what we think we can and not what others say about us. Don't give up on your desires and dreams just because someone called you a fat kid or a loser. You have the power to be what you want to be and never give this power to anyone else. It's your life and just like my lil sis Urvashi decided to take control of her destiny despite people telling her they don't think she can do it, we all can transform our lives too.

Fake it till you make it!!

“You must be the person you have never had the courage to be. Gradually, you will discover that you are that person, but until you can see this clearly, you must pretend and invent.” - Paulo Coelho.

In simple terms, the above quote means why not fake it till you make it? Our minds can be tricked and trained to believe or to disbelieve and this is why we easily slip into a zone of negativity when things aren’t going our way. During tough times, instead of looking gloomy, sad and apprehensive, why not  try to look happy, cheerful and confident?? You may think that this is a silly theory coz how can you feel something but pretend to be something else!! The good news is that you can. Think about your difficult situation as a theatre. You have been given the role of playing a positive and cheerful person though you don’t feel this way in reality. As an actor your job is to act. When you are nervous and you pretend to be confident or when you are tired and act like you are energetic, your mind is tricked into believing that your pretence is your reality!!

When the going gets tough, pretend that it is easy;
When the seas are rough, act like you are in the midst of calm oceans;
When the money is tight, stand upright;
When your confidence is low, buoyancy you must show;
When your body aches, fake wellness;
Although you are feeling blue, you must look fresh and new;
Rather than changing from the inside out, you can bring the outside in!!

On days when you don’t feel like exercising, just put on your walking shoes and go out for a walk and keep faking this till you start to feel like you want to exercise. This also applies to our nervousness before an important meeting. When I feel nervous to even enter a meeting room, I simply enter the room pretending to be confident and within few minutes I actually start feeling confident.

So all you guys out there, stop making excuses of “not feeling well” or “not being a confident speaker”, and just fake the feeling of good health and confidence till you make it to feeling positive and happy in reality.