The Superhero

She's from Bhuvneshwar. 

She works as domestic help. She has no family. She isn't educated, doesn't speak/understand our language much.

She earns just over 5500 a month.

She is poor, but she has empathy.

Last night, when the news of Amphan got worse, she arranged to send a tempo-full of essentials to her village. I asked her how she managed it, especially in these times when the households she works at have halted her services.

"I took a loan", she replied.

"Why?"

"Because didi, this year, the world needs hope more than ever before."

Some hearts know no boundaries. Some hearts are just ordinary, with such extraordinary depth of courage that knowing them becomes a privilege.

Self Improvement in The Times of Corona Pandemic : ReEducating the Mind

Do you miss your school? Those stomach-rumbling noises of inside before exams? The excitement of stepping into a new class, feeling of how you covered one more year, crossed one more hurdle &; are nearer to the goal of becoming what you dreamt? 

I am reminded of those days again. Corona pandemic has reintroduced exam-time house-rest in our lives except that this is the time to check how much better each of us has become individually. 

Some lines of being successful, rich, or poor have blurred. We all have come to the same platform of self-discipline. Getting up early even when there is no office, maintaining a routine, helping family members and keeping control over self on not getting addicted to Netflix or smartphones are just a few things to be learned.

The current education is of building habits & becoming a better version of ourselves. We literally have the most valuable resources of our lives on our hands – ‘Time’ – Lockdown has given us loads of it. 

How we use it well, is what the trick is all about. 

I personally like these peaceful days. The freelancing gigs have dipped because the world has kind-of stopped, but the spirit is ever spirited. In my humble experience, there are 3 steps that can help us to use this second lockdown to build new habits. 

Suggestion 1: Morning Meditation: One of the habits I learnt by observing Brahmakumaris is getting up early. When the day starts at 3:30 or 4:00 am, you get time to do more in the same 24 hours. Morning meditation is one of the easiest habits to start your mind on a healthy note. 

Early morning is the time when the cosmic energies of the universe are in total sync with each other. The physical disturbance of other human beings is lesser as compared to the rest of the day, making it easier to find peacefulness around that time. 

To build a meditation habit:

·     Create a meditative corner in your home. It can be your sofa, temple, terrace, balcony or any place you find peaceful. 

·     Get up half an hour to 45 minutes early from your usual time. Use this time to connect with God, a point of light, ocean infinite energies. Feel the power of God around self and your family members. Give everyone you know vibrations of peace, tranquillity and happiness, for we are living in the times that these three things are needed most by all of us. 

    Suggestion 2: Chuck-Out Desires: We have been given this golden opportunity to evaluate what is important to us and build our habits around that. Make a list of your desires and see how much of them are truly needed for you to be happy. 
      Examine your daily routine and find out the ways in which your mind thinks excessive wasteful thoughts. Don't let TV, Netflix, or your smartphone ruin your thinking process. Learn to tune-out from the negative news or cheap comments in the name of humor. Read, learn a new skill, talk to your parents, clean your wardrobe, cook for your family - build productive habits that make people those around you happy. 

     Suggestion 3: Accept The New Roles: Once eating out 3-4 times a week was normal, but now people are happily accepting simpler meals and luxuries of home-cooked food. Those who had chauffeur-driven cars are cleaning utensils at home or children who talked to their friends throughout the day are helping parents in managing the chores of their homes. A lot of our roles have reversed or changed and hence the mindset should change too. 

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Read More:

• 26 Hacks for Self-Motivation – Motivate Yourself Everyday
• Forgive, Forget and Move on
• Stress Management through Worry Management
• Spiritual Quotient Learning
• http://offbeatspirituality.blogspot.com/2009/12/spiritual-quotient-learning-iii.html

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Only those who can change with time can stay afloat when the tides rise. If you want to be a better version of yourself, grab this opportunity to do something for which you’d always feel nice about yourself. Start by getting up early, knowing your priorities, and accepting the changing roles. This is the need of the hour. Whether you listen to it or not, that, of course, depends on you. 

Peace & Smiles,

N

Originally Published Here: ReEducation in The Times of Corona

26 Hacks for Self-Motivation – Motivate Yourself Everyday

Have you ever had a day when you had a lot of things to do, but didn't have the motivation?  I live plenty of those days.  Sometimes, I am so unmotivated that I allow my work to pile up like crazy.  And then the next few days are spent in the great agony of running to complete deadlines, with no time for fun or enjoyment of any kind.

Motivation means different things to different people. To some, it starts with getting up on time in the morning and running their day like a clock. While to others, it could just be that extra cup of coffee that keeps them going. Over the last year, I have observed people around me and have come up with a list of things that keeps them self-motivated.

26 Ways You Can Motivate Yourself

1. Start small: Big is dangerous. It needs preparation - both physically and mentally, whereas small can be done with only a minute change. You want to leave sugar, don't go from soda and ice creams to buying non-sugary fruits in one day. Give your body some time to adjust. Start small, but keep it consistent.

2. Remove distractions: It works big time. I, for example, like to read witty comments in my Twitter feed. So the moment I allow myself to switch it on for a moment, other things attract me and soon I find myself looking at latest shoes or cute buns for short hair that I know I am never going to be perfect at. Your distractions will  not be many if you can make a list and dedicate time towards them out of your work hours. 

3. Engage in small dares: Sometimes, a little adrenaline is what is needed to move us out of our comfort zone. You can dare yourself to face your fear, play like a kid, take a dance class, wave hello to random strangers, drink 5 glasses of water without stopping, try a sexier dress (even if you don’t want to buy, try it at least!) – do something that makes you live in the moment.

4. Try makeup: A new hairdo, eyeliner or a plain cherry color for lips – a change in how you look sometimes boosts mood and makes one feel happy. Focusing on self-care produces good feelings about the self and the nearby environment.

Read: 10 Commandments to Be Happy

5. Tell yourself why you are wonderful:  This was a creative writing exercise that my language teacher used to make us do in the class. We were given an hour to write wonderful things about ourselves in a poem and create a vision of the future.  It sort-of made us touch our motivational resources and invited us to express ourselves.

6. Declutter your life:  Simplify your surroundings, weed out the activities that do not add anything positive to your routine/life. In her book Brain Building in Just 12 Weeks, Marilyn vos Savant notes that effective living is simple living. To strengthen intelligence and expand positivity of mood to carry on with a task, go easy on what you do and focus on doing only one thing at a time.

7. Write a letter to self: Use the days when there is not much action around to go into a journey within. Word it around the strong set of core values that define you and allow it to cover your hopes and ambitions. Use it to cultivate a sense of identity,  re-evaluate your current friendships or how to take better care of yourself.

8. Write your contribution to the universe: Sometimes, you need to expand your point of view to see what value-addition you are doing to the universe. It can be something as small as sending vibrations of peace, praying for a friend or feeding a poor. 

9. Do a model runway walk: Put on some peppy music and get your modeling figure into action. Go nuts with your outfit, put on some bangles/jewelry/high heels and groove with the tone of music set by your system.

10. Try poetry: Poetry teaches us to live. Random words, verses, sentences bring in rhythm, shedding a sideways light on the world around us. 

11. Do it for 5 seconds: Sometimes, a moment lasting as short as 5 seconds is what you need to get up and go. If you have any thought or instinct to do something, do it within 5 seconds or your brain will cut it out.

12. Let go of the waste: Waste thoughts, emotions, habits make it overwhelmingly hard to move on. Create a list of actions and chunk out the stuff that is not needed, including memories of previous hurts. Let them go.

13. Get your groove going: Play funky music, get into the beats, let the rhythm of it take you over. Listen to the lyrics, allow them to speak to you as if the song was made especially for you. 

14. Visualise your goals: This is one of the oldest tricks in the sack. Write down your short-term and long term goals, visualize the satisfaction that you will feel after achieving them and use that feeling to get past your fears and doubts.

15. Reward yourself: Every kind of motivation works well then there is a reward attached to it. The reward can be something as small as a cookie or something big like buying a new car. Regardless of whether you are at the half-line or have already finished the marathon, reward yourself with something that motivates you to carry on.

16. By psyched up about yourself: You are unique. You can search the entire universe, but will not find anyone else exactly like you. God gave you life for a reason,  and it is your duty to find it, live it and be psyched about it.

17. Do an inner dialogue: Inner dialogues and positive self-talk can have surprising benefits. When you say things like "I am the best", "I like myself", "I can do it" or "I deserve this", you tend to reinforce the positivity around you which matters better by creating an aura of hopefulness. 

18. Call someone: Your mom, buddy or neighbor next door – speaking to someone who makes you feel better about yourself is an instant motivator. Sometimes somebody else, a different person, can see what you are good at rather than you yourself. When you get such kind of positive people, even if it is for 2-minutes, their positivity tends to impact you too. 

19. Read: A seemingly unrelated article/book/note can push you to do something that you have been trying to do. To make it better, develop a daily reading habit. It is going to put a long-lasting impact on your personality as well as how you perceive yourself. 

20. Positive quotes go a long way: Sometimes reading the right kind of quote is just the motivation that you need to get up and get going. Read it on your phone, laptop or get a book. Read. 

21. Find a visual motivator: It can be a photograph of self when you didn’t have that much weight around your waist, a stack of books that you want to read along your study table or a list of new healthy recipes that you want to try on. When you walk by your visual motivator every morning and night at least 10-20 times a day, the thought of it starts to get reinforced in your mind unconsciously. Find one thing, one big impact that you should focus on, and get a visual motivator to put it by your study table or near the place you sleep at. 

22. Investigate: Why to keep a clear outlook right, why you should do that work or why you should lose the weight or why it is important for you to close the credit card debt? This physical activity builds in motivation for long term behavior.

23. Make a list of what makes you smile: Those little moments in your day that really brought you joy or made you feel excited. It sometimes makes it better to write them down so that you can instantly feel that rush of being happy. 

24. Practice gratitude: From the moment we open eyes in the morning, we run towards what is important in the day. In the process, we sometimes forget to be thankful. Practice gratitude, say thanks to God, to nature, to your higher energy and use that gratitude to build up the motivation to get along with the day. 

25. Face your fears: Think of the last moment when you decided to procrastinate something and how it made you feel. Use that guilt to get up now and get moving. 

26: 20 seconds rule: Get just 20 seconds of insane courage to do something. Be bold about it, get ahead and do it. Be it about sending an email to a prospective client or going out for a jog, just use those 20 seconds to focus on one idea. Have the courage to go about it, and keep on doing it again and again and again. 

Corona – Our Generation's Epidemic

Life's painfully halted,

No more travel to fulfil my fantasies

People, professional, young & old plaguing themselves

Corona is our generation's epidemic.

Mission is to stay calm and judge priorities,

Serving success is not earning silver spoons

Indulging in insecurities is hard work,

Being loud is our generation's epidemic.

Me before you,

Confusing emotions corrupt our kindness.

Nagging, abusing, letting others down

Selfishness is our generation's epidemic.

Positive Words To Live By

A friend has Dyspraxia and struggles with balance, co-ordination and spatial awareness. He started driving lessons when he was 17. He struggled straight away and was extremely frustrated. He tried to pass his driving test until he was 23 when he finally succeeded, so this was 6 years in the making.

How did he succeed? He made a list of positive words. Every morning he read them aloud, even if he didn't believe in some of them. It made him feel good and with time he started feeling calm and as if nothing could stop him! He felt powerful and confident. He finally discovered 'The Power Of Encouraging Words'. 

The City That Ran (Short Story for Kids)

Once there was a city that was alive. It breathed through winds and was aware of what was happening inside it. People who lived in it were happy and took care of it. They planted trees, kept their houses and streets clean and followed a disciplinary approach to live in it. The city in turn gave them fresh water, fertile land and lot of resources that made their life beautiful.

With time people got tired and started ignoring the needs of the city. They still took whatever they needed from it, but no longer did their duties towards it. For years the city ignored their awful nature and continued giving them fresh food and shelter. However, when the cracks of buildings began showing in open, it decided to teach them a lesson. So once night, when everyone slept, the city woke up and ran. It locked its roads and travelled north for days. When the city finally stopped, the people discovered that they were surrounded by bitter cold.

“We have always lived in spring. How do we get back?” they asked each other as they explored the surroundings.

After searching for days and not finding any way to go back, they decided to speak to the city.

“So this is how you take care of us when we show our trust in you?” They said. “Well, get ready, because we know how to bring a city to its knees.”

In the weeks that followed, the people and the city had a rough fight. While people tried to open the blocked roads, the city did everything to stop them from getting out. In the middle of the fight, the cold started to freeze the homes of people and crack the walls of the city. When they had nothing left to eat, the people – masters of the city – realized the only way to win is to make peace. And so they began cleaning the streets and repairing the damages. The city also noticed that it liked the refurnished look and began easing out its anger. Soon enough, the town began sparkling with cleanliness. The city got so happy that one night; it ran back to the country it belonged to.

They arrived just before dawn, delighted with the little trip they all had taken together. The lasting pristineness meant the city could finally rest in peace.

The only thing known about the city now is that when it grew old, it was taken down wall by wall and distributed all over the world. Some stones from those walls could well be part of your town today, so don’t forget to take care of it so that the old city is forever happy.

Not Giving Up

One of my acquaintances struggled with cancer before losing life to it. On this World Cancer Day it seems fair to share something we wrote together as a tribute to her & thousands like her who make us realize how precious being alive is!