Straight from my heart

Yoga is a way of living that aims towards ‘ a healthy mind in a healthy body ‘ .

Yogic exercises recharge the body with cosmic energy. A person feels rejuvenated and energized. Thus, yoga bestows upon every person the powers to control body and mind.

The art of practicing yoga helps in controlling a person’s mind, body and soul. It brings together physical and mental disciplines to achieve a peaceful body and mind. It helps manage stress and anxiety and keeps you relaxed. It also helps in increasing flexibility, muscle strength and body tone. It improves respiration, energy and vitality. Practicing yoga might seem like just stretching, but it can do much more for your body from the way you feel, look and move. Yoga asanas build strength, flexibility and confidence. Regular practice of yoga can help lose weight, relieve stress, improve immunity and maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Although yoga is not a religion, this acient practice can have an affect on a person in a spiritual sense. It helps people find the path to inner peace through love and compassion for themselves and others.

Yoga emphasizes the importance of regular meditation because of the way that it helps a person to keep their thoughts positive. Anytime that a negative thought comes through during meditation, it is gently pushed away by refocusing on breathing and relaxation of the body. This is very important to maintain emotional health, since many cases of stress, anxiety and depression are caused by the inability to see all of the good things in life. So by learning to guide one’s thoughts back to the present moment, these negative feelings will subside.

Yoga helps people to become more mentally and physically disciplined, so they can let go of fears or situations that have been holding them back from what they want to achieve.

To be a good husband and father, you have to spend quality time with your family and strive to be a loving role model. A good husband and father makes time for both his children and his marriage.

Children need invoved father who actively participate in their children’s lives and show love and support. An involved father takes outings with his child, is interested in his child’s education, reads to his child and takes a role equal to the mother’s in managing his child. Children whose fathers play an active role in their lives benefit both socially and academically.

A good husband and father creates a safe and loving environment for his wife and children. This means more than just financial support. Wives and children need emotional support as well. When a father takes an active role in his child’s life, the child displays a higher intelligence, better academic progress and better social skills. A father’s influence helps him deal with the stress and frustration that can accompany education. Fathers help develop and teach moral behaviour.

A father should respond calmly to his children when they argue or when things go wrong. He can be a shining example of self-control. Because of a father, child will know how to self-regulate and choose a wise response rather than reacting on strong emotions.

A good father always keeps his family on top priority and always make time to bond with them. Fatherhood is a hard job. It requires strength, gentleness, patience and time. It requires to elevate the needs of others above your own with a smile on face.

During this pandemic, many fathers have improved their relationship with their children. Staying and working from home has greatly helped in improving the bond with their children. It has brought a father and a child closer than before. Children freely share their thoughts with their fathers. They play games together. Fathers started participating in household responsibilities including childcare.

We are approaching a new age of fatherhood, one where dads can be the fathers they want to be and one where moms are not carrying a disproportionate load of family responsibilities.

Walking is one of my favourite form of physical exercise and if there is one thing I want to convince you to do for 10 – 30 minutes everyday, it will be to take a walk outside.
The health benefits of walking are really amazing. Walking is one of the best exercise. Just 30 minutes daily gives us a lot of benefits. Regular brisk walking helps in improving sugar level, blood pressure, maintaining body weight, reducing the risk of heart diseases and many more. It also helps in boosting immunity.
It is so easy to do, you can do it anywhere and it requires no special equipments other than a good pair of walking shoes.
Walking is one of the best things you can do to feel more energized and positive.
Here are a few suggestions for getting started :
● Find a time in your day when you can spend 10 – 30 minutes walking. Early in the moring, during daytime or after dinner. Having a regular time for your daily walk will help you fit it into your schedule.
● Listen to something you really enjoy during your walks. It is a good idea to have something that occupies your mind when you start.
● Take some deep breaths. The feeling of the air, filling your lungs is magical and will encourage you to keep going.

● Walking with a friend or a family member is an awesome way to do something good for you while catching up.
There are a number of ways to add more walking into your day. Try taking the stairs instead of the elevators, walk around while talking on the phone, prefer walking instead of using vehicles to your nearby shops.
I always feel more alive from my walks. And I hope you will consider giving this awesome habit a shot.

Nowadays, since childhood, children are surrounded by technology. This increasing trend of technology leads to a greater impact on children’s life.

Children are so busy in using phones and computers because of which they are not able to spend time in outdoor activities, which leads to their poor health. Also, using mobiles and  laptops for a long time causes headache and eye irritation.

Watching television for a long time or playing games on mobiles leads to a decrease in concentration power. Due to which they are not able to pay attention in their classrooms or any other work. Overuse of technology by children also leads to frustration and anger.

It doesn’t mean that using technology has only negative effects, it has some positive effects too.

There is a need to make some rules while using technology, so that children can have full benefit of it.

It is necessary to set limit of the screen time and avoid using mobiles and laptops before sleeping. Encourage your child to go outside and play with their friends. If they want to play games on mobiles, encourage them to play some meaningful games by which they will be able to learn something new. Always keep a check on what the child is watching. Encourage them to watch shows related to any physical activity like dance and ask them to perform also. It will also help in boosting their self – confidence. Always keep a watch that the screen distance is maintained at a minimum of 25 cm from the eyes. They should take a break of at least 5 minutes from their mobiles or laptops after every 20 minutes.

So, without keeping our children isolated from technology, we can teach them to use it wisely so that they can get the maximum benefit of it.

Since my childhood, it was my dream to visit Mumbai – The so-called most happening city in India. And I got the chance to visit there in December 2014.

I was with my family and we stayed there in Hotel Novotel.

It was the time of winters, so the weather was just perfect. People there were very helpful. No matter how busy they were, they always took out time to help us.

We visited religious places like the great Sidhivinayak Temple, Mahalakshmi Temple and the Haji Ali. We saw very  attractive and beautiful sight – scenes like Juhu Beach, Gateway Of India, Essel World and lots more. A visit to the Elephanta Caves was another enriching experience for us. It is bit far from Mumbai and is on small island.We took a ferry from Gateway Of India and it took around 1 hour to reach there.

We went to Juhu Beach which is also famous for it’s street food. There we enjoyed the famous and delicious ‘Vada Pav’, ‘Pav Bhaji’, ‘Missal Pav’.

The best place which amazed me in Mumbai was Marine Drive. Watching sunset there, left me speechless. The view was incredible. It was amazing just to sit and look deep into the eyes of ocean and think of nothing, only listen to the sound of waves. Marine Drive became my favourite spot.

Mumbai never sleeps! Shops and cafes are open till four in the morning. This city is safe for women even at midnight also. We did a lot many activities like cycling, late night walks. We enjoyed roaming in streets and pubs at midnight.

For all these reasons, I fell in love with Mumbai. Experience of my dream place was even better than I imagined.

Now, I always try to visit there atleast once in a year.

I remember the day when I first rode a roller coaster. It was at Disneyland in Paris. I was with my husband and I wanted to experience the roller coaster ride.

” Are you sure it is not scary?” He asked with a shaky voice. ” Trust me it’s nothing, you will enjoy it”. I replied.

We went towards the roller coaster and waited in the que. After waiting a little, we walked to a row of two seats. We tied our seatbelts that went around our shoulders. As one of the workers locked all of us into our seats, my hubby said, ” it’s not too late to change your mind”. I looked at him and said, ” I have never been to a roller coaster…please let’s do it”.

My heart started pounding as the ride began. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Our ride was just started and people were already screaming their lungs out. As we went higher and higher, I was able to see most of the park. People were looking like tiny ants from there. As we reached the peak, I shut my eyes and stopped looking down. BOOOOMMMM!!!!!

The strong wind pushed my head against the seat. My head banged into the back of my seat multiple times giving me a headache. I was scared but at the same time I loved the feeling. I opened my eyes slowly. We went up, down, left, right, upside down and all around.

” This isn’t so bad. Why was I even afraid in the beginning? I am starting to like this roller coaster ride”.My husband said.

After we got off the roller coaster, we realized that if we had missed it, we would have regretted it. We had such an extraordinary time. I wish I could get those moments back.

YOUR THOUGHTS DEFINE WHO YOU ARE,
SO THINK GOOD AND THINK BIG

Time is very important in our life. Wasting time means we are wasting our life. Our whole life revolves around time. We should respect the time and also understand the value of time because once the time has gone, it will never come back again. And when we realise this, it is usually too late.

We always think that if we don’t do it today, we can do it tomorrow. The problem is that tomorrow never comes.

We choose to waste time by doing things that do not matter because there is always a tomorrow. Suppose, if we have only 24 hours to live , then things will be very much different. Then, we will never waste any moment because our time is limited and when we know that our time is limited, we will never waste it. We will only spend our time on things that truly matter to us.

There are some people who are far much busier than us, but still they find the right balance to have a happy life. The secret is how they plan their lives. They wake up earlier than most of us and utilise the early morning hours doing something constructive.

For effectively utilising time, we must set our goals first, then prepare a to do list and then prioritize our tasks. prioritizing task is a very effective way of manging time as we will come to know the importance of various task and jobs.

The truth of the matter is that there is time for everything, how we plan or fail to plan our time is the problem.

To have a meaningful and balanced life, time should be planned wisely so that we can be successful in all the areas of life.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TIME WASTED CAN NEVER BE RECOVERED.

In India, arranged marriages are still the most common way people get married. Mine was also a typical arranged marriage.

One of my dad’s friend suggested a proposal for me. Our birth charts were exchanged and they got matched. My photo and bio – data were sent to them. However, I had not seen his photograph.

My parents went to his place to meet him and his family. They were very happy after meeting them and his parents decided to meet me.

I didn’t wanted to get married as it was too early for me. But my parents forced me by creating a lot of emotional drama and finally convinced me.

So, the day arrived. It was 28th December, 2003. I got ready to meet him and that too in a saree. The venue was HOTEL ALKA.

We reached there, our parents started general chit – chat. His sister took us to another table so that we can be alone for sometime. We had some talks. After 10 – 15 minutes, she came back and asked him whether it’s a yes or no. It was a yes!

Our parents ordered lunch and his grandfather gave me a little ‘shagun’. While our parents were having lunch, he asked me if we can go out for a little while. I asked my mom and she agreed.

I still remember the first thing he asked me after going out was, “Are you happy?” I thought in my mind, “Don’t have any option”.

After 10 minutes we came back, had our lunch and bid a bye to each other’s family.

That was my first meeting with my hubby, and now we have completed 16 years of our marriage.

TO MY DARLING HUSBAND: NOW I REALISE, YOU ARE THE ONLY BEST OPTION FOR ME.

Self confidence is an art of life. We have to make life as a game. We don’t have to be too serious about our life. Life is not a problem which must be solved. It is a game to be played. Like a game has some rules to follow, similarly we have to follow some rules in life.

To know self confidence, firstly we need to understand what is self esteem. Lets take an example of a game. Whenever we play a game we have to follow some rules of the game. We can’t do cheating in the game. That is called self esteem. The person with self esteem is so peaceful inside.Self esteem is important than anything else.

For building self confidence, we need to have a passion in life. Passion doesn’t means only having interest in a particular thing. It means we have to know all the pros and cons of it. For example, someone likes to play cricket. But he only likes to bat. And he hates balling and fielding. Then, cricket can’t be his passion. It means we have to be mentally prepared. And now whatever happens, we have to go on.

Then we have to start practising on our passion. For practising we must take an expert advice. We must have the right source of knowledge and that can be done by following right kind of people or a right kind of book.

Then to achieve self confidence, we must have patience in ourselves. We must not think patience as a negative word. It is an extremely positive word which makes us stronger. We must have patience that either we win or loose in short term, but we will definitely win in long term.This all makes us  stronger to achieve our self confidence.