George Santayana, the Spanish -american philosopher, poet and novelist had rightly said- ‘The earth has its music for those who will listen’. We are all so caught up in our everyday mundane activities or work schedules that we often fail to notice the the abundant beauty of nature which surrounds us. Rather than popping pills for hypertension, break free from the vicious clutches of house chores for an hour or at least a few minutes everyday and choose a path that leads to peace and joy. All you need to do is take the first step. Be determined and step out and take a walk in a beautiful park or lake side. Listen to the earth’s melodious music and be healed and addicted to the soothing goodness for life. Well, I did just that yesterday and went for a long walk to the beautiful Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh (India). I was rewarded with clean fresh air, a spring in my step and some beautiful sunset pictures. This coming new year if you have to make a resolution, open the door to happiness- by embracing nature. Click on the following link to see those beautiful pictures.
Category Archives: INSPIRATION
Open Door To Happiness: The Nature Connect
George Santayana, the Spanish -american philosopher, poet and novelist had rightly said- ‘The earth has its music for those who will listen’.
We are all so caught up in our everyday mundane activities or work schedules that we often fail to notice the the abundant beauty of nature which surrounds us. Rather than popping pills for hypertension, break free from the vicious clutches of house chores for an hour or at least a few minutes everyday and choose a path that leads to peace and joy. All you need to do is take the first step. Be determined and step out and take a walk in a beautiful park or lake side. Listen to the earth’s melodious music and be healed and addicted to the soothing goodness for life. Well, I did just that yesterday and went for a long walk to the beautiful Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh (India). I was rewarded with clean fresh air, a spring in my step and some beautiful sunset pictures. This coming new year if you have to make a resolution, open the door to happiness- by embracing nature.
Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh
These pictures were clicked with an Iphone 7, and they came  out so good that no filter has been used.
George Santayana quote picture source: Buzzfeed.com
Book Review: Dying to be Me by Anita Moorjani
Right from the beginning I was intrigued by Anita Moorjani’s book, Dying to be me, after I had seen an interview of the author on a Philippines news channel. In fact I was literally dying to read the book for two reasons. First it was the title of the book, Dying to be me which is I believe every person can relate to and is well justified in the book. As Anita Moorjani rightly points out, we are conditioned right from our childhood on account of our culture or religion to live in fear. Fear of what others may think of you. Fear of not being able to live the life you wish to live. Suppression of the self and being made guilty about not always yielding to others’ commands slowly stifle one’s persona and the fear manifests itself in the form of disease. So in a way the book strongly suggests that in order to live a disease free life one should learn to overcome fear of any sort and be the real person you are, with no expectations of pretense.
The second reason I wanted to read the book was obviously to know how she bravely overcame a near death experience and came out victorious after a fierce battle with stage four lymphoma. After suffering for nearly four years she went into a coma, with the doctors almost declaring that she would not survive. But then, something magical happened. She became aware of her own infinite self. Unconditional love of her family and her own understanding of her self brought her back to life healed and cancer free.Â
The book is quite interesting, written in simple language and is very easy to follow and does not bore you with details of complex medical procedures or jargon. The best thing about the book is that it brings a message of hope to millions of people suffering from cancer. In general it also inspires you to live your dreams, be bold and live a life without fear. Have No Fear!
P.S- Most of us fear God. Why not befriend God or the Spiritual being you believe in? Listen to your conscious and then do what you think is right. I can assure you life becomes a lot better. This is my personal conclusion. What do you think?
NaBloPoMo: A Giant Step towards Substantial Blogging!
NaBloPoMo? Not ever heard of this word? If not then perhaps you are new to the blogging world. NaBloPoMo is actually an acronym for National Blog Posting Month. November is the chosen month and one is supposed to make a blog post each day of this month, even on weekends! Sounds exciting isn’t it? It definitely is provided you are willing to take up the challenge. NaBloPoMo is a challenge because in order to write good, interesting and quality posts you need to keep the fire burning inside you for 30 continuous days. As for me I love accepting challenges. Mind you, it does wonders for your blog winning you new readers, creating a bond with the community as you share your experiences besides giving you that much needed jump in views on the stats page. My phone never stops buzzing on the WordPress app I have downloaded on my phone, whenever I publish a new post, signaling a new like or comment. It is a tremendous boost of confidence in your abilities as a writer.
Who thought up NaBloPoMo and why?
Well, I’ll answer in the words of Eden Kennedy herself, who thought up the brilliant idea of NaBloPoMo in the year 2006 ( The following excerpt is taken from an interview by Deb Rox)
‘A lot of people don’t sort of take blog writing all that seriously. A lot of blog writers don’t take it that seriously themselves because they are posting links to current events, or using it as a discussion forum rather than as a place to thoughtfully express using good interesting verbs or good descriptive writing of what’s going on in their life or in their brain. I thought let’s just focus on that part of it, see if you can sit down and write something everyday and throw it up there. What happens after you do that for a while and you are doing it publicly it’s not like you are writing it in your diary everyday, you are throwing it out there for between 10 and 100 or 1000 people to read depending on your traffic. Your barriers start to come down and you start that perfectionism thing and start to loosen up for better or worse sometimes worse.  Sometimes you end up posting up stuff you never thought was worth writing about and it turns out “Hey I really liked writing that post and I want to explore that more.” or you get more feedback or whatever. It’s just a way of loosening up that nasty perfectionism thing if you have that.’
The biggest advantage of being a part of NaBloPoMo is to ingrain in you the writing habit. Write whatever you like on any topic that catches your fancy. You may even just publish some eye catching pictures of your travels or the blooming flowers in your garden with some small details. You can look for inspiration on ideas to write even on The Daily Post or BLOGHER. Once you have developed this habit your hands and brain will itch to write and slowly but surely NaBloPoMo becomes a prominent factor for your personal growth. So say good bye to procrastination forever and register for NaBloPoMo here, preferably before November 5. It will take you a giant step forward towards substantial blogging. Enjoy!!
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New Beginnings (Tanka Poem)
New and old co-exist,
Though new always excites and enthralls
For it signals hope,
For better tomorrows and new beginnings,
Bringing, fresh energy even to old!
!
Musings (Tanka Poetry)
Musings to think that life is not really a struggle, the ‘Tanka’ way!
Life is boring?
Add spice,be mysterious.
Rise from the mundane,
Travel,capture and conquer.
Yet strive for peace with inner-self.
A tanka poem comprises 5 lines of 5,7,5,7,7 syllables each in that order. Write and read tanka to make life unboring!
Bechara Dustbin Kya Kare?
How often we blame the government or the administration for not providing enough dustbins for maintaining cleanliness in parks and other public places. But what about the citizens’ responsibility? Why do some careless people throw debris ‘around’ the dustbin rather than into it? Are they afraid that their hand will catch some queer sort of infection if it goes too close to the bin?
It’s all a vicious circle. The scattered dirt will attract flies and mosquitoes and stray dogs- which undoubtedly will result in people catching various diseases like malaria, dengue, now the threat of Zika virus! It also explains to some extent the increase in the number of incidents of dog bites in many regions . So much is being said about the dream of a clean India (swachh Bharat) everyday. Isn’t it time people wake up to their own social responsibilities? What say ?
A Time To Give Back
I received a most amazing New Year gift on the last day of year 2015. Guess what? A surprise nomination for an award by dear @mescalime (Psychochromatic Inception). The best part was that she very graciously permitted me to choose between 3 different awards she had received herself, namely : Sunshine Blogger Award, Liebster Award and The Word Magician Award. I have accepted the Sunshine Blogger Award as I can identify with it. I truly believe that a blog should be inspirational and spread some joy!
As per the ‘general rules’ of awards, I shall nominate 7 more bloggers for this award whose posts I enjoy reading. Mind you this is a tough task as each and every blog is fabulous in its own way.
My nominees:
Many thanks to the whole blogging community and wish you all a very happy and fulfilling new year 2016!
December Blues (Haiku)
Blooms of flame orange,
and dewy pink rose buds,
uplifting my mood.
How about a walk in the nearby park to ward away the winter blues? The sight of the lovely flowers is almost like a sure short guarantee to be able to cheer up any nature lover. See the beautiful picture (featured image) I captured with my Iphone today in the expansive Rose Garden of Chandigarh. While walking, this little poem started forming in my head and I kept on repeating it again and again like a nursery rhyme lest I forget; making the child in me alive! Finally, here I am, wasting no time at all in sharing it with all of you lovely people!
Walking Barefoot On The Dewy Grass
Hey it’s time for festivities! The festive season has arrived- Halloween just went by and now its time to look forward to Diwali, Gurpurab, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. One just has to strike the right balance in terms of eating, partying and exercising in order to stay healthy. All the hectic preparations can at times be immensely exhausting!
One way to keep a balanced head on your shoulders and keep the health quotient up is walking barefoot on the dewy green grass every morning. It will calm your mind, soothe the nerves and have a cooling effect on your body. It is also believed to have a good effect on the eyesight. Walking barefoot also helps to strengthen the ankles and will help you to achieve beautiful toned legs. Undoubtedly you will be burning some calories too (So important in this festive season!). This technique of walking barefoot on grass or even sand is called ‘Earthing’ or ‘Grounding’.
“It is well established, though not widely known, that the surface of the earth possesses a limitless and continuously renewed supply of free or mobile electrons as a consequence of a global atmospheric electron circuit. Wearing shoes with insulating soles and/or sleeping in beds that are isolated from the electrical ground plane of the earth have disconnected most people from the earth’s electrical rhythms and free electrons.
… A previous study demonstrated that connecting the human body to the earth during sleep (earthing) normalizes the daily cortisol rhythm and improves sleep. A variety of other benefits were reported, including reductions in pain and inflammation. Subsequent studies have confirmed these earlier findings and documented virtually immediate physiologic and clinical effects of grounding or earthing the body.”
So ladies and gentlemen, tip toe on the balmy, dewy greens and topple the worldly worries away!
P.S: One word of caution though. Limit this exercise to a few minutes only in very cold weather or you risk a runny nose!  Further, it is advisable to  stuff some tissues in your pocket to wipe your feet clean after the exercise , before slipping on the shoes again.
riturang 