What is that incident, awakening or dawn of thought that turned the course of your life? Not necessarily an external incident but how you reacted and dealt with it. Have you already had that life changing moment? The one which defines your life as before and after. Maybe a single point in time or a string of situations which echo significance over everything else that happend in life thus far.
A new dawn
That phase which shaped you into the functioning adult you are today. Drawing the line of emotional adulthood , psychological sunrise and spiritual growth. Or it could be that period of life where you (re)discovered yourself, gained exponential growth or overcame your darkest demons.
Maybe you found answers for the questions lingering unanswered, the tough ones always pushed down the list, sent to the back of the pile as they may open a pandora’s box. And sometimes even unseemingly, commonly insignificant choices could be life altering – how we choose to spend our time, what is a priority over the pile of tasks, a reconnection with a lost friend or an insight into how another cohort functions.
Life is growth – steady drumbeat of gaining experiences, knowledge and accumulating memories. Find your inflection point, don’t chase it just enjoy the ride uphill!
Curiosity, eagerness and inquisitiveness are what separates humans from other earthly beings. It is these that set us on a path of evolution, discovery and invention. Sans these traits, humans would have existed as other living beings and not made strides in every sphere of science. So in all fairness, curiosity did not kill the cat. It rather made it nimble, wiser and more equipped to live to the fullest.
To ask, enquire and search is a direct function of this curiosity. It’s present in every being in varying degrees towards numerous subjects – from the gawking neighbours to the quiet loner – everyone wants to know and know more. Whether the queries are superficial or deep, materialistic or spritual, exploratory or definitive – it adds dimensions to our lives. It fuels growth and advancement at every stage of our life.
Fuelling the brain
Curiosity is what makes an infant learn. It feels, hears, touches and even tastes the world around it to form a better understanding of how to navigate his or her surroundings. Overprotective parents and caregivers may act as a barrier to this crucial learning and in more serious cases can cause development milestones to be missed.
As a child, curiosity to search results in multiple ‘why’ questions. This helps develop analytical skills and boosts critical learning. Ofcourse traditionally education goals reward rote learning and scoring marks more than one’s inquisitiveness.
Even as grown-ups, the eagerness to seek beyond obvious keeps the intellect fuelled. While most finding adulting itself a challenge, once you are past it then it’s time to find focus, chanellize discilpine and start spending time in the search of questions unanswered.
So replace the scroll which stems from boredom with search which stems from curiosity. Let your knowledge be challenged, stand corrected and augmented with an active quest for the truth. Rather than letting your brain rot with the countless, senseless content being thrown at you by algorithm. Scrolling is a nice cool off once in a while but a rather unproductive utilisation of your day hours for sure!
In the age of information overload and over-stimulation, how often do you find yourself clawing for stillness, for rest and rejuvenation. And after spending time (and money) on a well-deserved break do you still feel burnout. Ofcourse life can’t be interspersed with holidays and breaks too frequently so how about building R&R into daily routine?
Firstly your body and its various systems need reset periodically. Quality sleep, intermittent naps for your circadian rythm. Light to digest, fresh and nutritious food for your digestive tract. Deep, concious breathing for your lungs and chemical free skincare routine can give you a nourishing break.
R&R reimagined
Secondly your mind which yearns for a pause. Build in some think nothing, do nothing periods during the day. A simple tea break could be a mindful time away from screens, when you just sip and see – hold onto no thoughts. Start practising meditation to build emotional muscles – it is strength and conditioning for the mind.
Lastly caress your soul by detaching yourself from titles and roles. Learn to dedicate sometime away from material things and attachments. This could be your time to fixate on the higher purpose of life – speak to God in your own ways. Find solace in prayers, journalling or tending to plants – to each their own.
So when was the last time you planned a break for your body, mind as well as soul?
Just depends on what is being snacked upon! Snacks here isn’t a bite sized serving of food but a small consistent serving of that activity that you are unable to devote time due to your ultra busy schedule. ‘I am too busy’, ‘I don’t have time’, ‘Where can I fit this in my packed day’ – the answers to these lie ahead.
No time to exercise. Run outdoors with your pet. Have a quick round of a sport with your kids. Put on favourite music and dance within the house. Turn social time into active time like bike riding, swimming or walking trail across the neighbourhood; just ask your friend/date/partner to meet with walking shoes on rather than consuming calories (in a pretty cafe).
I don’t read enough. Start with reading for a 15-20 minutes or whatever tiny sprint of undistracted time suits your lifestyle. Don’t start with big bulky bestsellers, start small with newspaper, magazines. And if you can get your hands on print rather than digital that’s even better for building a screen free habit.
My podcast playlist is never ending. Put on a podcast from your ‘saved for later’ playlist and hear it out for 5-10 minutes while you deep clean a corner or headout for groceries. Every chore around the house like laundry, loading the washer presents an opportunity to start consuming from that playlist.
From hobby to side hustle. If you have been postponing your side hustle ideas for ages now, start small but start now. Scribble down your what problem would you solve by it, how and when – just a 30,000 feet version of it all – no details required. Outline the rough structure of your ideas and keep coming back to it in short iterations. Remember progress over perfection.
Meditation is not my cup of tea. No time for full blown meditation session, start with mini-bout of sitting still focusing on your breathes. Start practising mindfulness by sitting quietly by yourself with nature. Find a spot around a tree or water body and sit still for as little as 5-10 minutes.
Indeed these tiny spurts of activity can trick you out of excuses and start building micro-habits today!
Yes you read the title correctly. Disconnect right now to connect in real life or IRL as the GenZ say. We all know the dos & dont’s of devices. The best ways to utilise screen time is by heart to us. What is missing is putting these hacks to use. So now that you are here, read through to know how to trick your mind to getting away from the enticing screen of your laptop, tablet, mobile phone and multitude of other devices.
Here and Now
Get smarter than the smartphone – While we are quick to install the latest apps, there are plenty of built in features to keep a check on your digital heallth. Start with basic app locking feature to deter re-opening. Mute notifications from all apps save the real time connect one’s – making calls, instant messaging and 1-2 more of your choice. Ofcourse you don’t need that notification of ‘price drop’ from e-commerce app or leisure app you have signed up for. Gaurd your sleep and nap schedules by using bedtime mode which greys out the screen making it instantly unappealing to use. Setup time limits to regulate app usage for the time-guzzling ones. One hack to re-wire your brain is to hide them from showing up in your device menu. If nothing works then deletion of app temporarily is also a viable self-discipline option.
Write it down – Agree not everyone is a born writer. But we all love task lists and to-do’s alright. So start engaging your mind to write the mundane daily stuff – grocery list, weekly meal plan, family schedule, mini-project and diy ideas. Get cosy and pen cute reminders, make a warm card or a fuzzy note to someone. If writing to express to others is not your cup of tea, start with writing for yourself – journal your thoughts, write letters to yourself and document your life goals. Keep a few notepads and pens handy in every corner of your home. Easy hack to trick your brain out of the excuse ‘I can’t find pen & paper but my mobile phone is handy’.
Move around – Movement is liberating. Movement is engaging. Movement takes the dullness away and gives enough stimuli for our brain like screens do. Just head out for a walk in your neighbourhood and make small talk with the folks you bump into. If in a sporty mood you could bike, slide, run or even take a short walk in the woods amidst nature. Or if weather doesn’t permit put on your favourtise music and make a waking trail within the house itself. Music is a good way to hack your mind into making this activity more enjoyable and less lonesome.
Get handy – Engage in a eye-hand coordination activity. It doesn’t have to be complex like knitting, crocheting, pottery or investment heavy like jewellery making, creating murals, cooking an exotic meal, home improvement projects. It could come off from the list of things to do around the house that you have been pushing back – that plant you wanted to repot, that corner you have been meaning to deep clean, that wardrobe sorting which is pending since spring or that ‘needs repair’ stash you have been stowing away.
Congratulations on making it through to the end. Now all you need is adopting atleast one of it and starting to disconnect rightaway!
Social media has its roots in building community. It all started as an alternate avenue for people to talk to others, share their thoughts via words and pictures and build virtual digital community. The early days of IM aka Instant Messaging and even Facebook was to bring people together by consuming what’s happening in their lives.
See me, don’t see me
Fast forward to today. There is no ‘social’ aspect left in the social media platforms being used nowadays. The goal is for all to reach all with the objective of either sharing knowledge or sharing pure fun and joy sometimes even meaningless stuff. This in some of the formats which aim at making information available to anyone and everyone, there is no aspect of social element left. The invisible string of algorithm controls what we see and what we do next. In a way associations are getting replaced by algorithms. Connections are getting replaced by content. Interactions are getting replaced by influencers. Relations are now replaced by reels. Listening to each other is now replaced by livestreams. Videos have taken place of visits. Number of shares have taken place of sincere genuine talks. Face to face conversations are not displaced by chats.
Not that we are not to be blamed. Collectively we have started harnessing the power of this tool to assimilate knowledge about even mundane, unimportant and trivial topics. Now that information is available at fingertips, we don’t think but look it up instead. That too on specific social media platforms; ofcourse we know where to get genuine current affairs and hacks to develop a green thumb! Thus we are slowly confining our creativity and brainstorming ability to discover the ‘how’, the process on our own. Even if some of us awaken to this aspect of our over-consumption and try to interact with these tools in the true, primitive sense the smart algorithms we built act as deterrents.
But hope is not all lost. There is a silver lining even in this dark cloud. As hyper-capitalists we now have tools to connect to each other in real life this giving rise to apps for dating, social meet-ups etc. More on that in the next one!
As soon as possible or asap in corporate language calls for immediate response and attachs the tag of urgency to every task. Do we really need this sense of haste and immediateness in every action? Is this mindset leading to burnout? Can we reset our thoughts, beliefs and actions from this ‘asap’ culture?
Never ending to-do list
As simple as possible – neural decisions to uncomplicate words, tasks and thoughts. Adopt the simplest thoughts, the boring words, the un-adventurous and the tried & tested ways of accomplishing.
As soft as possible – sprinkling kindness into our deeds, relations and views. Taking an antagonist stand is ‘in’ but being kind is the new cool.
As slow as possible – embrace pause and cultivate reflections to your reflexes. Life is not a game parlour where the fastest reflexes always matter.
As sincere as possible – add a dash of honesty to your connections, a splash of genuineness to your conversations and see how deep and fulfilling moments can seem.
As steady as possible – preserving one’s inner peace and happiness. Practising dettachment to deflect other’s energies from disturbing your state of calm.
As sustainable as possible – identifying quick dopamine fixes from the long term habits. Bring longetivity to your fleeting thoughts. Evaluate emotions that ebb & tide for their depth.
Let us choose from the many forms of asap and let As soon as possible die a natural death from our mindspace. ЁЯл░
All things legacy are gold. While it’s great to embrace one’s background and origins, evolutionary growth calls for mindful pause. Concious reflection and deeper analysis are key ingredients to bring meaningful change. Only then can you hit generational reboot in a lifetime.
Old is gold. New is platinum
Be it what you consume – food, media, information, material things. Or how you organize – parenting, relationships, possessions. Known habits lead to known outcomes. If you desire change in the results, the same inputs won’t work a miracle. A change of process only can deliver differently from the herd.
Break the mundane. Ponder why, draft how and outline a fresh blueprint for refreshed end results. Pause. Rethink. Reflect. Reboot.
As I sit down with my coffee mug, I am reminded yet again that tomorrow is a special day. A day when I officially finish another revolution around the sun – a year older and wiser. Reflecting on the past 12 months, I realize it’s only befitting to pen a letter to ‘a year younger’ myself. It’s like an annual ritual now; an yearly performance appraisal of sorts.
Starting with the count of what was accomplished; many firsts that I did the past dozen months. Attended a dance workshop which helped pick up my childhood journey of classical dance lessons I used to take in middle school. A micro-trip all by myself, stepping stone to a full fledged solo trip. A soulful reconnection with a friend from the past, tricky waters but glad I could swim across the current. Increased executive presence at workplace, executing critical decisions and owning up the outcomes. Egged my spiritual side by exploring unanswered questions with the help of a guru. A few impromtu travel plans with the clan, historic moment for a Type A personality mom who overplans even intra-city drives. Lost just over 10 pounds; gained improved immunity, energy levels and a new found love for this form of self care. Overshot personal goal to read and write consistently; this also motivated my boys to develop a reading habit. Priortized people and connections by spending quality time over talks, food and togetherness.
And then a deeper reflection of what helped me accomplish these. Improved conversational skills to navigate tricky and sensitive topics with close ones. Pause before responding by weighing in my thoughts as well as words. Smiled more often and smiled for no reason to protect my calm and peace. Developed routines with flexibility to enable consistency yet leaving room for exploration
In short a year of growth and adventure. As I put my pen down, the coffee is cold but my soul is nourished to welcome what the next year holds for me!
Like the weary desert traveller longs for a drop of water. Like the grass on the other side always seems greener, fulfilling and enduring. The same way those diamonds shining ahead, luring you of miraculous happiness may just be nothing but broken shards of glass which may cause bruises and immense pain instead.
To not give into the allure, to use wisdom in the eye of quick pleasure. To not trace back your steps and repeat the same errors. To pull back to the reality of life, to find solace in not rocking the boat. Comes but not naturally. It is strenous, arduous and a knotty path. Drowning in the past and the future is easy. Stay afloat in the present.
Nidhis.daily.blog 