First tete a tete with the baby

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I simply cant believe its been an year today with You..... YOU, my dear girl , my heart, my soul, my life,...
I never thought someone could change my life upside down,..the way you did.
My principles, priorities , likes and dislikes changed...And All of it was done so beautifully  and poetically and I could never complain. You are a magic to me. I am in a spell and I have no desire to come out of it.

While going through my journal today, I found the below,...my first letter to you while you were still inside me. I don't know if I will turn out to be a decent mother for I have so many shortcomings.
But I promise you again, that I will Try my best.

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Hello Baby,

This is mama's first letter to you.

It was today morning at 5 am that I and your papa found out about you.

I was first in disbelief., impulsive as always but your papa the more perseverant one, waited on and talked sense to me. Soon the two vertical bars appeared in purple dye and confirmed your existence.

I love you. As much as I love your Papa. I love your Papa more than anything else in this world and am proud to carry his baby. His and mine. I hope you grow up to emulate him.

To feel to have a part of him living inside me completes me.

I am not an ideal lady. I am flawed and imperfect. I am not sure if I am worth you. But I will give you all the love and all the happiness that I would be able to provide in my capacity and perhaps beyond. I am sure your papa would reciprocate the same.

Love,

Mumma,

Accept. Do not Judge

The following are the excerpts from the speech I made at the RBS Toastmasters meet yesterday.
Sharing it with you all:

I am going to talk about Judging. It’s a topic I have been reflecting about a lot lately.
Now Let’s face it. We all do it. We judge.
We are all different in mindset and upbringing. We judge and are being judged. It’s a vicious circle which creates negativity and discomfort.
Someone cuts me off in traffic? I mumble, "What an idiot!" I see someone wearing something odd?  I think, "She needs a makeover!"
We like to label others. We don’t like “undefined” people. We extrapolate based on our interactions and observations.
Judging makes us feel safe and comfortable because we have “defined” a person and because we have that definition, we know how to act accordingly. We move on to the next person and do the same until our entire social circle is defined. It helps give us a sense of control and safety. But judging perpetuates stereotypes, which is not a good phenomenon.
We often tend to project our own values and beliefs on others and if others fall in line with what we believe, we judge them as “good” and the rest as “bad”.
Judging is something which we do without thinking. It has become a habit. When you talk about someone else, most people will gladly join in. There is a bonding that comes with judgment. But consider that this bonding is based on false pretensions and would be short lived.
Despite our best efforts to judge, we all know deep down inside we can’t really judge another person.
And why is that?
Because Who are we to judge?
 Seriously!
And then there is another reason not to judge.
That is: We don’t know the whole story.
It’s foolish to assume we know everything there is to know about a person without knowing their story. Few observations, interactions, actions become the basis for our judgments.
A person I consider stingy, he might be saving for a good cause. I person I consider rude, he might have had a tough life which might have hardened him.
You may see a woman with rumpled and stained clothes coming to office and may remark how clumsy she is. But she may be a working Mom like me who has just come to office after feeding porridge to her child, remains of which are still visible on her dress. She had no time to smother her dress because she was doing a last minute nappy change.
As Henry David Throreau said It's not what you look at that matters. It's what you see.
Its very easy to state someone wrong. But its another thing to step into that persons shoes and see what he or she is going through.
Everyone has a story. And we may not know about it.
So how do we free yourself from this natural urge to judge?
We must consider a few points :
Firstly, Nobody has the ABSOLUTE right to judge.
And second, that everybody as a story.
Instead of judging, just accept. Acceptance is the key.
If we are into judging others, it is very easy to judge ourselves and there’s way too much stress in that. For example, If you judge what other people wear, you would be extremely concerned with you wear. You would do this less if you didn't judge others so harshly.
If we accept and understand others, it’s so much easier to accept and understand yourself.
Once we become more comfortable with who we are, we judge others less.
We become less influenced by the judgment of others because we realize that nobody has the right to judge another and even though people still judge us – they don’t know the whole story so their judgments lie on faulty foundations.
The “social weight” of fearing how others will judge you evaporates. You feel FREE.
You can be yourselves.
Let me tell you about an instance which happened while I was at Miami, I once visited a new friend’s house and everyone in the family was shorter than me. Since I’m the shortest person in my family, I never felt too tall.
When my friend’s mother met me at the door and said with a slightly disappointed tone, “Oh, you are so tall,” it didn’t affect me. I was aware that she had some discomfort with my height, but I didn’t take it personally.It was because I was comfortable with my height.

When we stop judging, Opportunities come knocking down your door.
I have realized that people are one of the greatest gateways to opportunities and when we ACCEPT another person, we open a door instead of closing it by judging. In this process, we get a lot of goodwill indirectly, which can translate into opportunity.

So, set yourselves free. Accept not Judge.

Deceiving yourself with lies ?

Why does one have to lie to get false respect from others? What good does it do?

Does it raise you self -esteem?

A great good you can do to yourselves is to cultivate and nurture yourself respect…reinstate your faith in yourselves…

Does others praise or their envy bolster up your faith in yourselves?

No. It does not.  It may provide illegible food to your ego. But false praise from people, who hardly know you, understand you, would never help you reinforce your faith in yourselves.

So, folks let stop lying. We don’t need it.

In awe of you

I am "in awe" of my husband.

In love , ah yes of course, .....I have always been in love with him.
Back when a smile from used to make my heart flutter.  An appreciative glance from him used to make my day. A slight touch and my heart used to skip a beat.
But lately, 2 years into our marriage and birth of our baby girl, I am increasingly growing in awe of him.
He is simply awesome. I knew him since the last 7 years but it is after our marriage that I "discovered" him. I knew he was a good person. But post marriage, he has been responsible to "up the ante" of my understanding of the term "goodness" .
I would consider a person good if  he or she would not wish ill for anyone. But my husband,  he never ever sees any ill in anybody. He says people are only different in their opinions and mindset but not necessarily wrong.
I have explored his goodness in his day to day activities. From guiding strangers to their destination in sheer good faith, to respecting elders, he is an epitome of being genteel.
Ever since our marriage and courtship period, he has been my pillar of support. He has never has he stopped me from doing anything I want to, however silly it might sound. His faith in me has kept me going. He has encouraged me to do well at office and shares my workload at home. Unlike many a male chauvinists he shares the responsibility of bringing up our daughter and running the household.

The way he supported me during my pregnancy, the childbirth, the pains, incision and the surgery is what no words can describe. He, who never took a single day off from office, took a week off for me. He, who works on a 5 year old laptop at home, refuses to spend money on a more up-to-date model, scoffs at the idea of buying a new shirt, decided to book the best child delivery package for me at the hospital. And that was despite me being quite vocal about my apprehensions of us exceeding our budget. But he said he didn't care about finances. He is not stingy, he is simply very well organized and is ideologically against any unnecessary expenditure or wastage.

He is emotional and sensitive and yet he is quite practical as well. Despite all his goodness, he doesnt let people take undue advantage of him. He knows how to speak his mind but is never impolite or rude..

I was and I am in love with him but now I respect him more than ever. He is my inspiration and ideal.
I have been lucky enough to find my spiritual partner in my romantic partner.  

Go Paleo !!!

I recently bought a copy of the book "Paleo Beginners" at amazon.com and wrote a review for it.
Consider the link below
Paleo-Diet-Beginners-Complete-ebook

And here it goes:

Being a foodie, I am always looking out for new recipes and cuisines which would please my fine tuned taste palette but without compromising my health. I had heard about Paleo diets. I was interested to know more about them but I did not know where to begin with. I stumbled across the book "Paleo Beginners: The Complete Paleo Diet Guide With 30 Days Of Paleo Recipes" while browsing at amazon and it was the best thing that could have happened to me in the last few days. This is the first Paleo diet book that I have read and it has fueled my interest in the Paleo lifestyle.

The book is very engaging. Not for a minute did I want to put down the book while reading it. For the book is not only about recipes and cooking but it was like exploring a philosophy. The philosophy of healthy dieting and lifestyle. It was about the philosophy of Paleo living, which actually signifies the very of life of our rough and tough ancestors.

The book helps provide tips for a gradual transition from our dietary habits of eating preserved and processed food to eating the unprocessed and unadulterated food filled with nature's goodness. The book describes the correct approach for shedding pounds and living healthy and optimally. It stresses about dieting correctly without suppressing hunger or going low on energy. I got to know how simple and effective the Paleo diet really is. There are also tips for shopping and stocking Paleo diet items, such as what kind of organic food to look for and where, thumbs up!

Another thing I like about this book is the Paleo recipes. Pancakes, muffins, casseroles, deserts, you name it! How often are you allowed to eat these food when you're on a "diet". I'm thrilled! They are actually fairly simple recipes. I tried my hands on a few dishes and I am planning to try out a recipe a day (to mark my Paleo month). Perhaps, I even could maintain a journal about my culinary experiments (the "Julie and Julia" way). My personal favorites from the book are Almond power pancakes and Whipped sweet potato casserole.

The book is written in a friendly and considerate manner. It is opt for Paleo beginners like me who would not feel very comfortable with jargon and esoteric verbiage. The authors really knows their stuff. I also found that they have penned half a dozen cook books on Paleo diet. Maybe I will try them out as well.

The Art of taking rejections,...

I wonder why is it so hard to take a rejection.

Perhaps, because we all think very highly of ourselves. We often take ourselves to be the center of the universe. We put attach undue importance to our woes and worries and treat them to be over and above those of others. We often think that world has been unfair to us, without ever contemplating on what we have or could have done to make it fair. We all need to feel special, loved and appreciated to get going. To achieve this, we shy away from our shortcomings. We picture and project ourselves as something or someone what we are not. All that to seek acceptance. It is therefore that a rejection hurts us.
However, if we had been more comfortable we what we are, it would have been more easier to take rejections. Knowing our strength and weaknesses , accepting and cherishing them is the key. We should accept ourselves as we are, rather than seek acceptance. Be loving rather than seeking it out. There is absolutely no harm in getting inspired from and appreciating others. In fact it a very enriching process.
Its okay to be rejected, move on and work harder. Rejections and failures accelerate our learning. But, only if we are will are willing to learn and improve , rather than being in denial of our shortcomings.

It is only by accepting our shortcomings that we would overcome them. Rejections are masked opportunities to contemplate, introspect and rise.

Being comfortable with ourselves, we would never mind other's perceptions of ourselves. It would not bother us that much. If we know ourselves well enough we would know how to differentiate between constructive and destructive criticism. We would then benefit from the former and reject the latter. We could simply take things in stride rather than creating a hullabaloo about our wounded self esteem.

Instead of feeling "Rejected" or be dejected we should reject the feeling of being insulted or hurt due to other's perception of us or of our work. Nothing is absolute, nothing is completely objective. Life and perceptions are subjective. There are shades of grey rather than everything being in black and white. What someone may perceive as ugly may be perceived as beautiful by the other. Know your worth, be comfortable and confident, consider the fallacies of life and be accommodating. See if rejections still bother you.

The Woman of Tomorrow

The Woman of Today took efforts to nurture her self esteem. Her efforts have paved a way for the Woman of Tomorrow.

The Woman of Tomorrow knows how to start afresh and is willing to take chances.

She has long broken away from the painful, binding and demeaning bonds which were pushing her backwards.

She is independent and liberated. The world welcomes her arrival.

The Woman of Tomorrow is sensible and is aware of her capabilities.

She trusts her intelligence and instincts and knows how to tap her abilities to move forward.

She is full of aspirations. She has the freedom to enter the "man’s" work force, freedom to hold bank accounts and get mortgages and loans.

Her financial freedom enables her to play a greater role in society. She is a potential contributor to country's development and social welfare.

She is accountable, assertive and confident.

The Woman of Tomorrow is kind, compassionate, accommodating and empathetic.

Rather than ignoring, she actually acknowledges her sentiments and emotions. She knows that they drive her towards empowerment.

She is good manager at home and at work. She loves her family and respects her work and colleagues.

She is more comfortable with herself and her surroundings than ever.

The woman of tomorrow is open-minded and progressive.

She is not afraid to put forth new ideas, experiment and be a trailblazer. And yet she is equally enthusiastic about other's ideas.

She respects and considers the perspective of others however conflicting the perspective might be.

The Woman of Today is challenging and questioning the society. She is pushing the society towards introspection.

The Woman of tomorrow is bound to take legacy forward. She would work towards improvising the society.

The woman of tomorrow knows that her role is changing and it is changing for the better.