Lessons Learnt Until now... #BlogChatterBlogHop

It's no secret now that I celebrated my 40th birthday last month :-)

Aging gracefully with wisdom. 

I won't say, Age is just number as if aging doesn't impact us in anyway. Aging changes us. I see a few grey hair which are prominent now. My knees and legs pain when I dance like earlier. 

After so long, I am gaining weight easily now. I couldn't easily gain weight from childhood till 1 year ago even when I eat more. My weighing scale never changed more than 1 kg except during pregnancies. Lol! But, I have matured a lot mentally. Learned many lessons in life. I feel more confident myself than ever in my life. I have my goals clear now. 

So, here I am following the Blogchatter's prompt to share a few Lessons learnt from life.

Kindness is the King

I learned that kindness matters a lot for everyone. 

Not being judgmental, 

showing compassion, 

having empathy, 

being sensitive to matters which hurt others - I feel, all these are great qualities.

What do you think?

I believe in this - 

Help others as much as can. If you cannot, re-direct them to any other person who can help. Be patient while listening to their problems and view points. Don't expect anything in return for helping.

Slow down and be mindful

Being a working woman with 2 kids and a dance school, I was going too fast in my life. I realized, this won't work on a long term. Being ambitious is fine, but being mindful is very important.

With this rush between work, family and hobbies, I realized that  I am losing wonderful moments in my life. I am not cherishing my time with kids, I am missing out guiding them, playing with them, learning from them, observing them blah blah. So many wonderful moments to cherish and these times never come back again. 

Now a days, I enjoy hiking in the nature with family. I don't want to hurry. I want to walk, explore , discuss our ideas, ambitions and enjoy the weather and nature.

Ask for help when needed

I learned an important lesson in life that we should ask for help when needed. Be it from spouse, parents, siblings, kids, and friends. When things go unexpected and overwhelming, talk to people, share feelings and ask for help.

Even the most educated people tend to forget this fact they cannot achieve everything on by own and it's ok to ask for help. What do you think?

Health is the greatest Wealth

I learned how food, and our mind impacts our health and overall well being. I respect my body, and nourish my soul with yoga. Daily walking, yoga, food with more vegetables and fresh fruits are a part and parcel of my life.

After covid, we all realized how important is the health of ours and our family's. Won't you agree?

Until next time,

This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop and link it to www.theblogchatter.com

The Views from the window #BlogchatterBlogHop

Mindfulness is the new way of life. Many of us know that being mindful and present at the current moment is very important.

Do you agree with this quote?

This is the new mantra in my life recently. Enjoying little things like watching the colors in the sky, tending to my plants, observing the weather, nature around me etc., give me happiness and satisfaction in life.

The view from our window is wonderful most of the days. 

Image by Joe from Pixabay

Summer Sky

I am saying most of the days because here in Austin, summers are quite harsh with temperatures going above 100 F.  It is usually a clear sky and less clouds on a bright sunny day as such. 

I wonder how plants survive this heat.  Plants in our garden like mint quickly die due to over heat until unless protected indoors by watering twice a day. We experience the dangerous heat conditions from June to August end. Those are the days we don't venture out until the evening when the earth cools down a little around 7.30 PM. 

Rainy Days

I love the rainy days. Thunderstorms, downpour, Strong fresh breeze, Lightenings, Sun peeping behind clouds, and A Colorful rainbow :-)

I wait like a child for a rainbow after every rain. When sky puts up on a show, how can I see somewhere else? Event from the window or driving in a car, I always search for a little sun shine and rainbow.

The colors of rainbow make my day.

Lovely rainbow on a rainy day

Freezing days

It is not common to see snow or freezing temperatures in Austin. But, we experienced freezing temperatures the last winter and the view from window is enchanting.

The plants, grass blades and leaves shined with freezing ice. Even with temperatures in single digits, we couldn't stop ourselves going out and capturing photos. The driveway and footpaths were frozen and slippery. However, it was fun to watch the ice embracing everywhere around.

How beautiful are those views just form our window?

Sunset

I like the golden hour in the evening. The time when the sky changes colors from orange shades to deep reds. Some days, we get lucky with this kind of Sunset view.

So, what do you say? Aren't these little things wonderful?

Do let me know in comments.

Until next time,

This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop.

Top Gun and The Great Indian Kitchen #MondayMusings

 It has been 3 weeks since we returned from India, still, our brains are set in Vacation mode. Not our fault, when we are pampered so much by the family members :-)

We took one week of complete rest watching just movies and tidying up the home. Overcoming Jet lag also took around 5 days, so you can guess that one week has gone so quick.

So, this post is about a relaxing week that we had and 2 movies that I watched.

Top Gun

Have you watched Top Gun by Tom Cruise? It's an old movie of course, but fortunately, I managed to watch it along with my kids. 80's movies are much different than our current movies. We all loved it. The plot, actors, photography, and action scenes are very good.

Since Top Gun: Maverick (sequel to Top Gun) is released the same week, we all watched our first movie after covid in a theater. It's a great experience. The first half is a little slow like 80's movies but it slowly catches up in the second half. 

The combination of emotions and action is well depicted. Like everyone else, I also couldn't see much difference in Tom Cruise when compared to part 1. Part 1 spirit is maintained and emotions are carried from it.

It is not that easy to explain war strategies to the movie audience in an engaging way with emotions. Top Gun team has done well in that aspect. The background score is a big plus to the movie. 

Overall, a must-watch for anyone who loves action with emotions. 

The Great Indian Kitchen

This movie is on Netflix and you can catch it in Malayalam with English Subtitles if you haven't watched it yet.

What's the movie about?

There are only a few characters and the female protagonist is an educated lady who enjoys classical dance and teaching. It is her story of trying to be a submissive wife married to a person in a traditional Kerala family. Like any other bride, she tries to adapt to new customs and traditions but reaches a saturation point atlast. 

This is directed by Joe Baby and it is critically acclaimed for the way it is bang on patriarchy and the rules set for women in the majority of traditional families.

This movie talks about many subtle things about patriarchy that women can relate to. Cleaning the dirty dining table , washing the dishes, mopping the floor, cooking, and performing Pooja in the evening.. there is no end to the list of tasks that we see the protagonist performing.

The movie also touched on the traditions related to menstruation. The age-old practice of sleeping on the floor during periods, and not being allowed to touch anything, etc., The scene where the woman is scolded for trying to help her husband get up when he falls from the bike sparks our thoughts on why menstruation practices are considered more important than taking care of another person.

I also liked the way the movie ended. The man marries another woman and our heroine takes out her anger on her in-laws and starts her life as a dance teacher as she wanted to. It feels bad that the man marries another woman, but that's how society is and the movie didn't try to hide the truth for a good climax.

Overall, it's not an entertaining movie but a natural movie that Indian women can very well relate to. This movie tries its best to show the ignored unpaid work done by homemakers with a zooming lens.

If you are an Indian woman, then it's a must-watch. If you don't prefer natural movies with social issues, this is not for you.

Until next time,

 

Linking to #MondayMusings hosted by Corinne at everydaygyaan.com

The White flowers from the Heaven #MondayMusings

I am not sure why I am crazy about the snow.

While it snows, I feel like beautiful white flowers are falling from the Sky.

As per the scientists, the white color is formed by the combination of all rainbow colors. Is this the reason, nature looks divine and peaceful after the snowfall?

Tree covered with Snow
Pc: www.pixabay.com

While it is fun to be under the snow catching those white flowers who are as light as cotton balls, the temperature might be freezing to play outside. But, What I observed is that the time before it starts snowing, temperature falls down reaching 0-degree Celsius and weather becomes foggy or fills with mist. The visibility slowly reduces to zero and it will be freezing at this time to go outside without proper winter wear like the scarf, cap, jacket, socks, shoes, and gloves.

Snowflake
Pc: www.pixabay.com

After it snows, it seems like the whole Earth is wearing a white blanket. The serene scenery cannot be explained with words. The rooftops of the houses and the tree leaves shining white with the sunshine look pristine.

It will be wonderful watching the snow fall from the window sipping a hot coffee/ Hot chocolate. I always think - while nature is this beautiful, how can we work on our routine things without stopping for some time and enjoy the beauty. My heart will always be outside when it snows and I just want to be a spectator and enjoy the experience.

How do you feel about snow? Or Am I the only one crazy about snow?

Until next time,

Linking this to #MondayMusings hosted by Corinne.

Time is the Most precious thing in the world #FridayReflections

I always believed that time is Gold. From childhood, I gave more value to time than money. I think, If we love someone, the best gift that we can give them is 'spending more time with them'.

Friends used to tell me during my school days that I manage my time well. I am good at planning, scheduling, and organizing.

The below quote changed my perspective of time. Of course, time is precious but why it seems to go fast when we are with someone we love and seems to go slow when we are bored. After all, time is different for everyone in the way they see it. Time might depend on our perception. 

Time is too slow for those who wait,too swift for those who fear,too long for those who grieve,too short for those who rejoice,but for those who love, time is eternity. ~ Henry Van Dyke

Beautiful quote, right?  

These days, I am struggling to get time to write. The common reason is that I don't get time due to household duties. After an exhausting India trip, there is a lot more to clean up and prepare for the children's school year. I have resumed my dance classes too after getting over my jet lag. The housework doesn't seem to end and I get a feeling like I am yet to complete loads and loads of syllabus before exams. 

But then, as per the quote - Time is eternal for those who love. I think I should love my daily work and enjoy every minute without cribbing for less time.  
What do you say?

Until next time,

Linking this to #FridayReflections hosted by Corinne at Everydaygyaan and #WritingWednesdays hosted at Writetribe.

It's never too late to live your life

Life is beautiful! Did you ever realize it?

 I read somewhere that we are busy with studies in childhood, with career and marriage in 20's and 30's, with responsibilities till 50's or 60's and when we see backwards after all these years, we realize we didn't live our life as we wished for. Even though it's good to live life in our own terms enjoying each moment, it's never too late to get that realization.

I am already in 30's and even though I am grateful for my life so far, I have many things to check off in my bucket list. I believe that life is short and we have to utilize every minute of it. Feeling grateful and being positive are my only mantras to a happy life. What are yours?

We all make mistakes, take risks, face failures at many stages of our lives which is not uncommon. But, staying positive and moving on by learning from failures seems like a sensible step. Do you agree?

Writing this short post for #QuotedStories and Blog adda's WOW prompt.

Until next time,

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.