It’s all in the nurturing Plant a life in hope Nurture seeds of compassion Water it everyday with kind deeds Nourish the roots with care Enrich it with love for life What you plant in your heart becomes you And you reap what you sow
Now the question is what are you nurturing in this now ? And what do you want to nurture today?
There is always space to learn and understand more
Space to grow and evolve
And it all starts with a little shift in perspective.
A little rebalancing from the way things are…
Work & life
It often amazes me to see the adulation that certain people have for being the first to arrive and last to leave their workplace. I wonder if anyone has cared to check how their families feel about this?
Many on the so called respected and admired list, are people who are workaholics, burning out by the minute.
They are there, working beyond the call of duty perhaps out of personal passion, sense of ownership and responsibility or even perhaps because they feel they can’t afford to fail, may be even because it gives them an edge of pride to be known as some one who is committed.
However life is about balance and simply put, more of one leads to less of another. The trick is the wisdom of balance and steering clear of extremes.
To every workaholic out there here are few reflections…
☆Avoid stretching yourself too thin.You are already on razors edge and you are hurting one part of your life, if you continue to do what you do. Reclaim your life. Find other passions and take care of your health. Stay safe than sorry.
☆Your personal life is at stake and is also your responsibility.
☆Bringing home the money and comforts is just one half of the whole. Your family is best nurtured by your loving presence in their lives.
☆Your absence at home and family/ social affairs is missed at first and then adapted with along the way to a point of being indifferent to your presence in time. Because you are never there for them.
☆ At a certain point in life, lack of care and connection begins to show and no amount of money can be valued over time .
☆Money cannot buy love they say and it certainly becomes true, as people begin to use you for your money and you will never feel fulfilled and content after spending it.
☆Everything around you becomes materialistic to the point of manipulation and its your own doing as you threw in the money and comforts where ever and whenever your time was required or requested.
☆Relationships become meaningless without a sense of togetherness. Missing out time with another in the excuse of being busy for years will take a toll on personal life. People will get used to you not being around for them and then expecting them to be there for you when you need them is a selfish ask.
☆Your children will be affected by your continued absence . Your presence in their growing years is very important for their holistic well being. Your partner will be angry or isolated with you. And expecting things to be different as you continue your ways is not going to change anything.
☆However in recognizing the signs of workaholic and your choosing to balance different aspects of your life will start making a meaningful difference.
☆For starters acknowledge your value for your time and energy.
☆Speaking of your energy , if you have spent most of your day at work , how will you find yourself able to give more of you as you have exhausted yourself
☆Recognize where it’s slipping away and start to chalk out a balancing plan. It can transform your life and those around you.
☆Find moments that are solely yours and use it for your personal development.
☆Your career is only one part of your life. It helps you sustain your life but the relationships you have nourishes you. Without it you have no true sense of purpose.
☆If you are one of those who are thinking of grabbing opportunities and climbing the corporate ladder acknowledge that you may possibly often have an unsatisfactory family relationship at the end of it all.
☆Your passion for your work may begin to affect your health watch out early signs of strain and stress and care to take help .
Thankfully today the world is more aware of work week and many countries are Consciously doing something about it. How it affects productivity in time will be seen and how much it could contribute to work life balance, but it definitely is time reclaimed for family.
The truth is its about prioritization of what’s important for well-being in life. Personal and professional lives both are important and have demands that need your time. So balance is the key.
Sometimes good work needs appreciation… And that becomes a source of inspiration to do more … Today I am sharing a few of my dear daughters social work experiences at her stint with the HOPE foundation in India, in her own words that she had expressed about the satisfaction and contentment from the heart in doing good and sharing goodwill with the world around us.
I hope it inspires and motivates more in the path of positive intentions and acts of goodwill.
Have been working with an non profit organisation called H.O.P.E for almost a year now.Even though I focused primarily on events , I did want to try helping in their other verticals like Ad Care ,which was basically teaching shelter home children , academically as well as non academically.
Now, the children here hated studying and upon entering for the first time , all I noticed was books thrown outside the window! So we decided to use glitter pens and stickers to motivate them.
I was one such volunteer who taught English through games and then I would draw something for them on their hands because they loved the idea of ‘glitter tattoos’. Everytime I’d do so, all the kids would lineup to get one of their own and I honestly enjoyed the process every Sunday even though I sucked at drawing(I literally drew the kid version of a bird but that would still make them happy). Soon it led to me writing their names for them glitter pens in different fonts.
Coming back to the photo, this was clicked a day before Christmas and I was writing their names in different fonts when two kids asked me to write their parents names as well. This took me by shock as most of them are orphans or have been abandoned by their parents. Nevertheless, I did write their names the way they wanted and it lead to a moment that crushed my soul.
I watched them both High five after the tattoos for the fact that both of them had never seen their parents and they abandoned them here. I was truly appalled as I saw them jump in excitement and running down the hallway.
When I was leaving , the kids came to me and asked me to click a photo with them and asked me to spend every festival with them as they felt lonely. Kudos to our team and H.O.P.E for making a difference! 🙂
Allowing the art to speak and acknowledging its flow is of essence, to sense and enjoy the art itself.
Learning to dance & dancing socially comes along with many lessons and learnings…
In any partner dancing its important to respond than simply react to the movement direction from the partner in the flow.
The cultivation of the ability of any dancers acknowledgement & appreciation of their dance partner or other dancers, differences in movement speed or artistry not merely as tolerable, brings on the required humility and grace in the dance.
This is in itself the essence of a rich and rewarding social dancing experience.
Ideally you learn because you are curious to know more and not because you have to finish a degree.
What is the reason for the learning?
Earlier at least in India the aspirations of parents were the reason of choice of what the course of learning would be . The options were limited and no one bothered to check whether the education even resonated with the learners.
How does it make you feel?
Have seen many sensing disconnect as they are pursuing careers in fields which have no connection with their earlier Education.
What way do you apply or use your learnings?
Often most of our prevalent education systems seems very transactional with marks and percentages with the purpose having no significance.
However degrees become meaningless if you do not use your learnings to make a positive difference.
Personally speaking
I believe to learn is to share and to share is to learn some more.
You are given an opportunity to travel to beautiful locales on work or pleasure ,in a country so far away from your own Everything is wonderful and picturesque…
Yet, you are traveling along with people/ or paired with a person of completely different interests.
What if….
If you are a morning person and they are late risers
If you like walking and they like to rest more.
If you like to explore museums and art scenes and they have no interest in anything art
If you want to experience new culture by meeting new people and connecting with them than simply trying out food .
What if you want quick bites on the go and they like fancy dining experiences.
What if you want to start early and you are exasperated as they prefer late afternoon after a lazy lunch…
What if you are up and ready to go and they take a really long time to get ready 🤔
You like to capture experiences and rejoice in the memories and they have no particular interest in photography.
When you like to have a conversation freely and they are too busy or too silent, you often realise its better to remain silent unless spoken to even if there is company.
What would you do …
You make things right for you!
Let’s see, it’s not all that bad You are in a new location….
You realise its better to have some company than traveling alone in some places at least. You begin to appreciate the environment and yourself in it. You appreciate others who are around. You pay extra interest in people and places, the quirkiest, even the strangest and most peculiar things as much as the ordinary seem to matter somehow. You try to find happiness in whatever you see. You adapt to things as it comes. You accept everything, as your life’s myriad moments. You remember to focus on the positives acknowledge the good in them and move on…
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