Contemplations

But why do we need to do that is the question ?  More often than not, we as a human race are mostly sitting on judgements of each other and discussing mostly behind the persons back as to what all is wrong with him / her / them.  Either we choose to ignore the good in the person or we are too occupied and overwhelmed seeing the bad or the worse, that there is just no desire to see the better aspects of their personality.   Everyone without any exception needs praise, appreciation, love, support and constructive criticism to grow.  Genuine appreciation and praise is an investment in the emotional bank of a relationship where as criticisms are withdrawal from the same bank. So the longer one criticizes, the greater the withdrawals in terms of emotions. And that is surely not dependant on how the criticism is done, for example mocking, sweet talking, being straight forward, passive - aggressive, in your face or behind your back. Good feedback is after all the keys ...

Let's start with my visit to the Spice   Plantation .  Kerala is known as the SPICE CAPITAL of India and the spice plantation in Munnar is one of the major ones in Kerala  Getting a chance to witness the growing spices in raw, pure and unadulterated form was a captivating experience. Taking you through some pictures that I got a chance to click and probably you can see why I am feeling so exhilarated. Javitri  Ajwain  The gorgeous Bamboo My knowledgeable guide sharing valuable information on Clove farming  Green Cardamom being grown Never ever seen such Cocoa growing on trees Lemon Grass in abundance and in great health  Raw coffee beans in my hand here. The warm climate, the abundant rains, and the rich soil all contribute to the variety and the quantity in the production of spices. After exploring the entire plantation, there is a shop where one could purchase natural ayurvedic spices and medicines. They seemed to be having a solution for everythin...

 Land of Coconuts, Land of Trees, Spice Garden of India, God's own country, The Jewel of South India and counting ;  How can one state be known by soo many names. But one has to really experience it, travel far and wide and cover the length and breadth of that state or atleast a part of it, if thats even possible. It's mesmerising  It's calming  It's beautiful  It's soothing  It's enthralling  It's spellbinding  And it's also unfair that one place gets to have soo much of everything in abundance. Travelling is certainly therapeutic; new sights, new smells, sounds, conversations and definitely new energy, culture, experiencing different ways how people live their lives in such a diverse country like ours. It makes you happy without a doubt. Among the many lessons, one of the most important lessons that you can learn from travel is that you are much more capable than you give yourself credit for. It also teaches you that you can make new friends, be...

 IS ONE DOOMED BECAUSE ONE IS A PART AND PARCEL OF A Dysfunctional Family NO, the answer is a loud NO  Lets see what can be done about it  Become AWARE of what causes the dysfunction. DO NOT BE IN A STATE OF DENIAL  Focus on creating balance and doing everything in a balanced way Stop being a perfectionist and demanding the same from others. It adds to a plethora of negative emotions. Everytime, you feel like criticizing, look for a positive trait in other. Appreciate, and if it's not coming from the heart, indulge in some soul searching. Until then stop all criticisms. If you can't say something good, stop yourself from saying something bad. Become the agent of change in your family by taking responsibilty of breaking the cycle.  How to break that cycle is by reading - applying, processing - applying, praying - taking action, taking help - following up on that diligently, having open hearted conversations with people who are close to you and who can provide em...

 Now, this is a difficult topic for blogging by all means.  When I started researching on it, i found out that almost 70-80% of Americans consider their family dysfunctional. Could not locate any such data of India, but that surely doesn't mean dysfunctional families don't exist here. In fact, it's quite the opposite.  Characteristics of a functional family include support, love n care for ALL the family members, willingness to listen and learn from all, making each member of the family feel respected, important, valued , loved and safe,  open communication , treating each child as an individual in their own right, having realistic expectations of one another and creating a safe environment that allows members to grow, thrive, express and explore. Mistakes are looked upon as learning experiences and each member is able to openly express their displeasure at anything they are uneasy about while feeling completely accepted at the same time. Being a  Functional Fa...

  Failure is simply the lack of success. It is setting a goal and not achieving it. Let me give me few examples of goals : 1) walking 5000 steps in a day  2) studying hard to achieve an x percentage in finals  3) being able to make and deliver a killer of a presentation which is liked and appreciated by all  4) sticking to the pre-decided restrictions on  eating and drinking, etc  Taking the first example , if one is not able to complete 5000 steps is a day or a particular week, would one be considered as having failed ?  Naah, don't think so because goal achievement besides being subjective and dependant on numbers in a few situations, is not so black and white. Going back to the same example , say the person wasn't able to go down for walk at all and then decides and motivates herself / himself towards physical fitness , tries hard and makes effort towards the same , those 3000 or 4000 steps cannot be termed as failure because the desired outcome is ...

Inspiration like success comes in many different forms. Inspiration occurs spontaneously, without intention. So, it's likely to feel like something that happens to you, rather than something that you choose or plan to experience.  Before she became a dear friend, she was a woman with tattoos for me. Each time I met her I would come back feeling more and more inspired.    Designed by her own self My body is my journal, and my tattoos are my story . Johnny Dep   I love this man but that story is for another time to tell.  Tattooed by a female tattoo artist from Bali Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past.      Jack London   Her tattoos too tell a story, a story of the kind of the person she is, to what she likes, her designing skills, exploring different parts of her body for the purposes of tattoo, her bindaas nature, living life on her own terms, the courage to stand out in the crowd and the fact th...

Disclaimer Alert : This is a fun blog. The contents of this blog are only for creating a bit of amusement and light heartedness that one may be in dire need of, if you have a teenager at home. Anyone who tells you that there are no special skills required in raising and coping with the teens, either hasn't been with one or is not telling the truth.  There is not one but plenty of skills required besides the usual of being wise, calm, assertive, inculcating discipline, good eating habits, creating boundaries and rules for usage of technology, language, bullying or getting bullied and spending wisely, amongst others. This skill set is a "must have" from the parents side. That's about the skill set, let's talk about the concerns now.  Here goes ...  Concern no 1 : This is a fact, they are way ahead of us in terms of life preparation.  So, how do you prepare someone with life skills because they already seem to "KNOW it ALL" 😀😀 Concern no 2:  Cleanliness ...