For November 2011 - are you going to finish strong?

Man! did i really need a wake up call this month!! This link did it for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOlTdkYXuzE

For October 2011 - Go Not To The Temple

For the last couple of months, instead of writing my own articles and muses, i decided to post those that have made an impact on me the most, one for each month starting from August 2011. Here is one for October

For September 2011- Let Go

Which line is your favorite from the post below? I like 'em all but loved the last one - to let go is to fear less and love more which i am still working on!:)

To let go does not mean to stop caring, it means I can't do it for someone else.

To let go is not to cut myself off, it's the realization I can't control another.

To let go is not to enable, but allow learning from natural consequences.

To let go is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To let go is not to try to change or blame another, it's to make the most of myself.

To let go is not to care for, but to care about.

To let go is not to fix, but to be supportive.

To let go is not to judge, but to allow another to be himself.

To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to affect their destinies.

To let go is not to be protective, it's to permit another to explore himself.

To let go is not to deny, but to accept.

To let go is not to nag, scold or argue, but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires, but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

To let go is not to criticize or regulate anybody, but to try to become what I dream I can be.

To let go is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the present moment and the future.

To let go is to fear less and love more.

For August 2011 - BITCHOLOGY !!

BITCHOLOGY !!

When I stand up for
myself and my beliefs,
they call me a
bitch.

When I stand up for
those I love,
they call me a
bitch.

When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts
or do things my own way, they call me a
bitch.

Being a bitch
means I won't
compromise what's
in my heart.
It means I live my life MY way.
It means I won't allow anyone to step on me.

When I refuse to
tolerate injustice and
speak against it, I am
defined as a
bitch.

The same thing happens when I take time for
myself instead of being everyone's maid, or when I act a little selfish.

It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won't become anyone else's idea of what they think I "should" be.
I am outspoken,opinionated and determined.
I want what I want and there is nothing wrong with that!
So try to stomp on me,
try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me.
You won't succeed.

And if that makes me a bitch ,
so be it.
I embrace the title and
am proud to bear it.

B - Babe
I - In
T - Total
C - Control of
H - Herself

B = Beautiful
I = Intelligent
T = Talented
C = Charming
H = Hell of a Woman

B = Beautiful
I = Individual
T = That
C = Can
H = Handle anything

FORWARD THIS OR…..

1. You’ll have bad luck for X number of years
2. You won’t have any money for “__” period.
3. You’ll never find love in life
4. You will have “_” and “_” and “__” happening to you in the next (time range can be anywhere from next 36 seconds to 10 years!!)
5. You will die.

Sounds familiar? I am referring to the chain mails and messages that land in your in box (and who hasn’t been a victim of one of these!).

Mails and messages that come up with stories ranging from needing money to prayers to horror stories to what ever that can play on your emotions and if you don’t…..

The operative words here are if you don’t…

I hate, abhor, detest, dislike, can’t bear, can’t stand, loathe, and despise chain mails. And these words aren’t enough to describe how I feel about them, especially the ones that speak of bad things happening to you “if you don’t.”

Even worse is when they come from people I’ve known for ages, who do know that passing it on will cause as much irritation/anxiety/negativity to the person receiving it.

So what is it that makes people get the mails forward this to their friends? – Blind superstition? (We have a lot of those going around)
Why leave anything to chance? (Oh come on, shit happens, life goes on anyways)
Hope that if I do, I may get something? (Yeah right!),
For Fun? (GET A LIFE!!)
Fear….? (methinks this is the basis for a lot of those mails).

Whatever is the reason, when people I know send such stuff, to me it translates into just one thing

“I do not value you as a person.”

And that’s not a pleasant feeling.

Earlier, I used to get upset, rage at the person sending it, feel shifts in my mood once I read them and experience a wide range of emotions – none of them productive.

Today I deal with it better. Whenever I get a chain mail or message, I just send one right back saying,

If you send anymore chain mails or messages to me, you will be cursed with “___” (add curse here and boy! Have I been creative with the curses I’ve sent back.;)

Result? No more chain mails or messages:) and peace and goodwill on earth (that is until the next chain mail/message from someone else).

Note to readers: Anything you want to comment on this, you are most welcome. Just don’t ask me to pass them on or else...:)

Picture that left me speechless!

Mothers - what would the world be without them!

Ask me what I think of the whole theory of “love at first sight” (or nearly) and I’ll probably say bah! Humbug! Its absurd how one can instantly feel strongly for a person to a point that
Your very interaction with them makes or breaks your day? That you go through emotions that you can’t define, that you crave to be with the person, suffer separation pangs even when you hardly ever know very well? That if the person isn’t in your life, something in you simply dies? - I dint write this – books, movies and people have told me :) and I always say, Bah! Humbug! :)

Love between people, according to me, needs to be built over time (make that a very, very long time) for it to be really called love.

What I didn’t know was I had just tickled god’s goofy sense of humor and naturally something was waiting to prove me and my cynical thoughts wrong, like it usually happens in life.

I got ready to start the day (ugh! Monday) like any other. Wake up, clean up, dress up and get up (rather reluctantly) and get going to (double ugh!) office. You got it. I suffered from the Monday blues like most people.

Just as I stepped out of my house, I noticed a van parked opposite to my house. “LION PACKERS AND MOVERS” it read. “New neighbors” I thought to myself “and let’s hope there is an interesting male I can meet” *grin to myself* as I hurried off to office.

After a rather hectic day at work, I get back and I did notice that there was indeed a male in my neighbor’s house. Only he was just about four months old. The tiniest, sweetest, cutest, most adorable four month old baby boy. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

They stood at the gate every morning, grandpa and grandson. What I can say. It was love at first sight for me. Without realizing it, I showed all the symptoms – the craving to see the kid everyday, waiting for me to give me a toothless smile and if I dint happen to get it, it resulted in me being a lot less cheerful during the day, the two minute encounter where I waved or smiled and got one in return gave me a high on my way to work. Like some people do with caffeine and others who look forward to little daily gestures from people they love, I was unable to kick start the day without my customary wave and smile to the baby.

Days and months went by with not more than a “hi” or “bye” exchanged, never interacted beyond the smile and the wave. Baby boy, whose name I got to know, “Abhinav” made progress from a little soft bundle that needed to be carried to watching him take his first step, to uttering sounds to actually lisping words. It was sheer delight to watch his every developmental milestone though it was all watched from opposite my house.

Life went on and I went about my daily routine, wake up, dress up, get to office and work, work and more work, get back evening, rest a while, have dinner and hit the bed, except to add to the routine was the two minute encounter with Abhinav that happened nearly every day on my way to office.

Work demanded that I go out of town for a week to attend a corporate training program. I went. Details omitted here. All I can say it all seemed very clinical to me. I couldn’t wait to get back to home, to my routine.

Or was it something else I was missing back home?

When the training was over (finally!), I reached my city late in the evening. I prepared to go to work the next day. I woke up, and after the usual morning rituals, set out of home

And stopped short!

I saw a van “LION PACKERS AND MOVERS” standing in front of Abhinav’s house. Abhinav and his family, who I never got to know, were moving out. (Later, through the neighborhood grapevine, I got to know that Abhinav’s father had been transferred to another city).

From the time I spotted the van, I wanted to scream and tell them…well..what could I say? Don’t go? That I needed the two minute interaction with their baby? That he made my day with a smile better than any substance that could ever give you a high? That he remain the same age with the same toothy smile and wave I so looked forward to? That I want to stop time and freeze that moment forever? That I regret not spending enough time to stop, play, and get to know him better?

Who said that one does not suffer from separation pangs unless you know some one really well? All symptoms listed above, I felt it.

I stood staring at the van for a long time, then hurried on, though not with the usual bounce in my walk.

I was getting late for work …….