Health is wealth

We all know what is wealth. While the perception of wealth varies from decade to decade, this decade is very precious in a way that, we are defining wealth very differently. Health is wealth is a saying, that our generation forgot and ran towards other things assuming they are more important than the real wealth called health. But, coming back to again.

I learned it a hard way too. I cannot rest. I cannot take a breath and step back. This was me. Even after big surgeries and eventful days in life, I turned my laptop on, the curse of working from home. 

The little thing that puts us rice and dal (I will say bread and butter, but, its not soemthing I fancy in the morning or evening or for any meal of the day) in our plate and of our family at the start of every month, the wonderful machine of electronics and internet that makes the world so small, falling in the lap could only keep me running, sorry sitting. Part of me, making myself unhealthy was the fascination towards what's not yet discovered in my stream of work. 

Part of the reason was some toxic people at work. Once I found out, I quickly moved out of them. But, they had taken enough of my health along with peace of mind when I worked with them. I had been in my unhealthiest of times and continued to be, for a long time, because of that.

Personal losses also were a reason. Stepping in to help my family was the bravest thing I did, while dealing with toxic collegues at the same time.

There were clear signals from my body to take a step back and rest during these days. I ignored my health, because, they were the most important loved ones in life and I could not stand away from them when they were in their toughtest times.

And then my body said enough. 

The hard way.

Because, I did not rest. I did not breath. I did not sleep for long days in a row. While I said no to toxic people at some point, they had already taken the energy off me, when they were with me.

Today, I sit writing this because, I feel, there are many like me, who are putting up a brave front to the world, saying no to their health, while, saying yes to things they feel is more important, at this point of time.

Trust me. You are wrong. If you have a home and family and food on your plate the for your next meal, probably, you need to rest. You need to breath. You need to take a step back and see what you have done to your body, in pursuit of what you assumed is important.

Somedays, when I try to sit and relax on a guided meditation, I feel heavy on my shoulders, the soul feels trapped in this painful body of mine. But, I know, for sure, I was the one, that made it that way.

So, these days, I give my body the attention it needs. The love it needs to love others fully. The work I need to do put on it, to work on missions I feel is important in a long run. Sitting on your desk for 70 hours is a punishment to the body and your soul. You can take it now. And then, your body would also say no, strongly, like it did for me. And then you would realize you were wrong. 

I know and have talked to people like me. The high achievers, who would take more than what their body can and I know for a fact that they are in pain too. They try to kajol their body too to make the soul feel less trapped on a painful body.

But, if you are not yet there and you feel your body is giving you signals to take a pause, PAY ATTENTION TO IT. Because, wealth is not in money. WEALTH is in GOOD HEALTH - both mental and physical.

Few of the thinsg I do to let my body know that, I recognize and love it these days are:

https://youtu.be/2eA2Koq6pTI?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/bO_oRNtGIvs?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/SqbQ1QrxhB4?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/EwQkfoKxRvo?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/meWTyd7vY6I?feature=shared

Screens to Writings to NLP - Passion is always a way of life

Starting from Television's to smart devices that provide Virtual reality experiences, the screens have been a great role player in our everyday lives.

When Philo Taylor Farnsworth invented and demonstrated TV in 1927, I am not sure what his vision was. But, whatever it was, it has become a success. 

I had been a TV lover since childhood. My childhood, along with my sister, who used to be indoors because both my parents worked most of the day, consisted of fighting and pulling and making each other mad for reason. Only thing that connected us was Television.

My mom would instruct us to read and write home works and I as a big sister would give all false promises to take care of everything. I would use the key, that's provided for me to connect the cable again in our terrace and come back diligently sit with my lovely little sister to watch TV, until we hear our mom's bike outside. The moment we hear her, we would pull of the plug, take a note or a book and would start (acting to) writing or reading.

From those days to now, scrolling in small screens until someone actually catches the attention ik real life, life has evolved so much but the addiction to screens has remained the same. While remeber those childish days as funny ones, now I don't cherish the addiction to screens as much. It's not because I have a kid. It's because it's not doing any good. 

Watching those videos endlessly, window shopping on Amazon and Flipkart, we have become emotionless. 

When they told chatgpt can write, i thought I would write endless books with it's help. I still can. But, it's not me. This is me. 

The flawed, addicted, back paining, daughter loving ❤️, fighting, achieving, failing, succeeding, cooking, working, automating , ranting (and many more) is me. 

My prompts might be me. But, the endless amount of chucked human data is not me. And cannot capture my emotions through its writing.

If only writing can give me happiness, why would I use the NLP based Transformer to do that for me?

Friends

Friends

They make or break the life.

I have had friends all through my school, college and work life.

But, very few make a lot of difference in life.

I would like to present this blog post, to one of my good souled friend Merin💖

We were together as a gang at Cognizant Kochi for a very short period of time ⏲️.  But, the unconditional support from her as a friend in all ways stumped me many times.

I was in a club in my office where we would present things based on a given topic. When I joined, she also joined the club out of her own interest. When one day, I presented my topic, there was this one person, who literally was commenting on it, on a very personal level. That was very inappropriate on a professional setting and when many people who had the power to shush or point out it was innappropriate remained silent, she said in the forum, infront of everyone, that she liked my presentation and added, that a person should not talk like that in a professional setting, the way he was talking. 

We find very few souls that become an epitome of real friendship in a corporate set-up. If you find one, cherish it for a lifetime.

And though myself and Merin are separated by distance now, after her marriage and aspirations, I do think of her as one of best people I had in my life.

Until next blog

Shree/KP

The WFH problems

Hello and welcome back to my blog. While I love to be back, because writing is where my soul is, I had missed it. Missed many of the things that I would usually love to embrace.

I had written about the endless scrolling in my LinkedIn post. Well, I think the main reason behind scrolling is being worsened by WFH aka Work from home - the famous work culture after covid.

Do you remeber anybody with a back pain before covid? I don't remember, at least within my own team. Because we had the ergonomic chairs and desk set-up.

We had actual people to talk to, apart from meetings - not just about work and boosting up our career. We had coffee  or tea together, lunch together and a great chat. I had even written a nice poem about how beautiful Cognizant Kochi was on a rainy day with one of my good friends.

I had a very tough post pregnancy. But, my work and office and people there made it easy for me. 

The first time, going to office, after 2.5 or 3 years to work was exciting but was over driving my mind, because I have not heard so many people talk to me in past 3 years in one single day. It was so overwhelming that, I was hearing voices and words that were spoken that day repeating in my head. I couldn't sleep.

But, I made sure I went to office atleast once a week to actually cope with social anxiety.

And come on, this Nov 2024 just ruined all my plans. While work from home gives us a lot of privileges to take care of so many other things, many people, who would actually pitch in to help and take care of things has backed off. The support for working mothers, the safe haven, is no longer a reality.

Wake up early. Walk or exercise. Cook. Clean. Eat. Work. Teach kids. Repeat.

This endless loop of things has made many lives lonely. The conversation they have is only on meetings and just to keep their kids life going, they talk to some auto Anna's and Vegetable vendors. 

And then this Blinkit and Zepto and Swiggy (though I secretly love and order in them very frequently) has reduced the human conversations even at retail stores and vegetable and fruit shops. By this much automation and sophistication, what are we trying to achieve?

Why are people not even free to get their own stuff in actual shops and cook their own food? 

If you talk of a social lunch and a movie time - spoilers- Zomato, Swiggy, Netflix, Amazon Prime, the list is endless.

With all this screen time and again sophistication and offers on all these platforms, what are we trying to achieve?

I hope we find the answer.

Until next rant.

Shree

Did I dilute mother's day?

In my previous blog, I mentioned that there are momma souls, that needs to be celebrated. It's not just your mother. Oh! Did I just say, not just your mother? Yes, I did. By saying so, did I just dilute mother's day? I did not.

My mom taught me to include every loving soul in my 💓 life to make life more easy. Or let's say more livable. She used to or is still admiring little things like a blossoming flower and the red ball that sets on the west in the evening. She learns something new everyday and never stops believing that she can make a difference in someone's life, at least in small ways. She does for sure 👍. You can get that from the people, who she crosses.

She also taught me another thing. That we have to love everyone. We have to see good in everyone. This, she did not say explicitly. She lived and is living as an example. So, when I say, I see "momma souls" in many people, she would be proud of me. Of course, no one can take her place. Because, she is the one, who in first place helped me see them, through her deeds. But, I do see momma souls and it's an extension of her and not replacing her.

So again to my mom, who helped me in seeing them and to the momma souls themselves, "Happy mother's Day".

Mommy souls

I have been in this earth for 26 years and all these years, I have never felt that, I was alone. Not even a single time. Except for few days, in which I over think. Thanks to those mommy souls. Who are these mommy souls? Let me introduce them. These are the souls that never let you feel alone. My mother is a one of the example. 

What's called unconditional love? How does that look like? Well, if you want to know, just look at your mother. That's what they say. Don't they? No, look at the soul. Look at any soul, that's so pure to you.. Have you ever seen one? I have seen many. Believed may existed. But, they don't. There are only few. Have you ever looked at someone and felt, oh! They love me so unconditionally? May be, it feels so poetic. But, it's not. There are such kind of people and if you look at them, you will know that they love you unconditionally 💞. They show you. In every little way, they show you. They don't leave you for your mistakes. They don't leave you because, you shout at them. They don't leave because, you are boring. And they don't need a reason to stay. They stay because, they love you. They protect you in ways, you don't even imagine. They teach you to learn and love unconditionally. They nurture you to love people, with flaws - because, people are flawed. They are flawed too. But, they love them so much that, they let you be loved by them in ways you cannot imagine.

To all those precious, very rare, pure, unconditionally loving souls, thanks for making me believe in this world.

My parents, my husband, my sister, my little girl, my mother in law, my father in law, my uncle, my aunts, my mentors and my friends! Who are imperfect too, but beautiful souls because of being a mommy soul, Happy mother's day!

This is a day to celebrate

Today,

31 years ago, a little child was born. He was the world ❤️ of his parents then. He is my world now. 

What would a man do to impress a gril these days?

Buy a ring?

Give them roses?

Say them that he loves her every single day?

Put posts on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp every now and then on how she is important to him?

Buy them OnepPlus or Apple products?

My husband did all these too. But, I ll tell you detail how he did this in a realistic way.

He bought me a ring, where I felt secure and loved as in my mother's womb. He tries every single day to gift a diamond ring of love, by bringing our parents together, which is very rare trait in this era, where people want to move away from all the known, to be independent and free of all responsilities.

He gives in roses on my way, by helping me in my daily chores. I promise you, to every girl who dreams of red bouquet full of roses, for valentine's day, in this real life the sharing your work load at home and your professional stories and carrying your dreams as their own are much more important than the red bouquets.

He tells me that he loves me every single second. No, not in words. But in deeds. When he places my career over his, when he supports in shaping my dreams, when he forgives me for not wishing him happy birthday because I was very tired waking up in the middle of the night, he says he loves me. Every single second.

He gifts me the peace by being away from all types of Social Media. If we want to say, "I love be you", we say it on the face. If we want to fight, "We fight on the face and laugh about it at the end". WhatsApp fight are a history, since it's the worst way to put your emotions to the other.

To Praveen,

Thanks for coming in to my life. I want to celebrate 100 more brithdays with you. And forget to wish you on time. And apologize to you 1000 times on that day. 

Love you 

Happy Birthday 🎂🎈🎉.