Nourishing Reads For Mental Well-Being

  Tasks, chores – big and small – take a major chunk of our attention and energy every day. It is but natural that we start feeling overwhelmed. The tragedy is when we start waking up with the only purpose of attending to chores, and not to live and enjoy another day of life. I am often overwhelmed and lately with the tiniest of things. I have attempted certain hacks that help me most of the times to deal with the day. I am sharing the same here: Planning: There is a famous quote by Alan Lakein – ‘ Failing to plan is planning to fail.’ I heavily rely on planning. I have set out weekends only for the purpose of planning for the coming week. Recipes to try out, the kid’s studies, my blogs – I plan for all of these. It simplifies my day to a good deal when I know which meal to prepare, which subject the kid would study and on what topic I should write upon on that particular day. For me, planning gives a solid foundation to start my day. Planning also helps me to be prepared. An...

  If asked, what is faith, people would reply according to their own interpretations, and probably everyone will be right. But I believe that most of the answers will be, believing in a higher power that is watching over and taking care of us. The other day, I watched a very interesting video. A devotee requests his favorite deity to visit his home as his mother wished to see Him. The deity agrees on the condition that the devotee must take His place in the temple. The devotee agrees. So, the deity dresses up His devotee as Himself and leaves for his home with these parting lines – ‘Just stand in place and let the people bow and pray to you. Do not be granting any wishes, for everyone will get their fair share of Karma.’ I believe this will come as a shock to all those who place their faith on divine powers and believe that they will be granted everything they wish for. Last night, I watched the movie Mahavatar Narsimha (which is a splendid, spectacular creation that people m...

In my previous two blogs, I wrote about two rituals that I follow every night to calm down my mind, i.e. practicing gratitude and forgiveness. There is one more ritual I follow that completes the trilogy and that is – surrender. The spiritually wise would say that the term ‘surrender’ is a misnomer, for, to surrender something, we need to own it in the first place and we really do not own anything in the universe. We came empty-handed, we will depart empty-handed, what is there to surrender!? We may not own anything but our mind sure gets attached to things, events and people and forms impressions that last for a lifetime. While past regrets and worries for the future pose a challenge to living a peaceful life, it is the everyday little things that consume a lot of our mental resources and leave us feeling drained at the end of the day. Many years ago I had read a book on positive thinking and I came across a delightful ritual followed by a man who had a lot of responsibilities u...