1. I feel the same today as I felt exactly a year ago on my last birthday :)
2. Children will surprise you with their perception, reasoning skills and sense of humor.
Laughing uproriously along with your children will give you a sense of wonder and hope like nothing else.
3. If you smile at somebody, they will smile back at you.....mostly. I have had people look blankly at and through me when
I smile at them,
which used to leave me feeling very foolish indeed, but I dont let it bother me now !
4. Read and teach to children to read. It would also be wondeful if they enjoyed it :)
5. Learning to cook and bake from scratch and then serving it to friends and family gives me joy and a sense of accomplishment. I think its a very important skill to learn..I dont have to be a gourmet chef or know hundreds of recipes to enjoy my kitchen !
6. I was never a collector - I didnt buy hoards of clothes or own 20 different purses and 20 pairs of shoes (!!!?!). The only thing I did buy was books and even that has reduced after I subscribed to the excellent libraries in the US. But in recent years I have noticed that I have absolutely no interest in starting up that hobby after all. Doesnt mean I plan on living like a hermit, but I find that I am very easily satisfied with minimal purchases !
7. I speak 4 languages, one dialect. I can also read and write in all those 4 languages. Mind you, three of those are languages spoken in the Indian sub continent, but they still count ! I would love to learn more languages, because however beautiful and melodious a language is, its basic function is to help us to communicate with another human being. I think we should not forget that.
8. The sound of water, the presence of lakes and ponds calms and soothes me. The best memory I have of Jackson, Mississippi is sipping hot coffee on the shores of the Barnett Reservoir on a cool evening !
9. I love the smell of the earth after a rainy day and after the lawn is mowed. There is just something so earthy and elemental about it..I wish I could bottle those smells and use them as room fresheners or mood enhancers !
10. Being across the proverbial seven seas from my family makes me realize how much I miss them and would enjoy having them nearby. American holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, centered as they are around family, make me feel very homesick.
11. Having close friends nearby is the next best thing to having family around.
12. I have found that books provide me with an inexpensive and exhilarating way of reenergising myself. I can lose myself in a good book and emerge feeling refreshed and happy.
13. As a mother of two active boys under the age of 10, I have found that taking a little time for myself everyday, be it with a book, or a cup of tea or even gardening, gives me the patience and enthusiasm to listen to everything that my little ones have to share, irrespective of how tiring my day has been.
14. On the same note, gardening gives me a lot of pleasure. There is something life-affirming in seeing new buds,leaves and flowers sprout on the branches of a shrub or a tree after the long dormancy of winter. That in itself is a metaphor for life - alternate periods of bounty and scarcity, life following death and happiness always following despair.
15. The best relationship that you can work on ( and it is one that you will always need to work on) is the one with your spouse. Your spouse is literally your life partner, another human being with thoughts, values, feelings, emotions and opinions with whom you will hopefully live out your entire life. It is in the best interest of everybody involved to make this relationship the most important in your life.
16. Playing with my children and being silly with them is good for me, and for them :)
17. Planting a vegetable garden and visiting it everyday with my kids is worth all the time and effort that I put in it, even if all I ever harvest is a few bunches of greens and a few tomatoes. Thankfully I always have more than that, but I feel good about growing veggies myself. It connects me in a small way to my ancestors who lived off the land and it shows my children where food comes from.
18. I like grocery shopping (my husband doesnt). I like looking at all the fresh produce, all the raw ingredients that could be used to put a healthy and delicious meal on my table.
19. I have become very careful about avoiding processed food. I try to avoid packaged food with mile long ingredient lists because I have come to firmly believe that you are what you eat. I think most of the health problems that people are facing world wide are due to lack of nutritious food.
20. I try to avoid going to the doctor's office. I believe and I have experienced that small ailments like a cold or a cough or even slight fever can be easily treated at home with ingredients found in your kitchen.
2. Children will surprise you with their perception, reasoning skills and sense of humor.
Laughing uproriously along with your children will give you a sense of wonder and hope like nothing else.
3. If you smile at somebody, they will smile back at you.....mostly. I have had people look blankly at and through me when
I smile at them,
which used to leave me feeling very foolish indeed, but I dont let it bother me now !
4. Read and teach to children to read. It would also be wondeful if they enjoyed it :)
5. Learning to cook and bake from scratch and then serving it to friends and family gives me joy and a sense of accomplishment. I think its a very important skill to learn..I dont have to be a gourmet chef or know hundreds of recipes to enjoy my kitchen !
6. I was never a collector - I didnt buy hoards of clothes or own 20 different purses and 20 pairs of shoes (!!!?!). The only thing I did buy was books and even that has reduced after I subscribed to the excellent libraries in the US. But in recent years I have noticed that I have absolutely no interest in starting up that hobby after all. Doesnt mean I plan on living like a hermit, but I find that I am very easily satisfied with minimal purchases !
7. I speak 4 languages, one dialect. I can also read and write in all those 4 languages. Mind you, three of those are languages spoken in the Indian sub continent, but they still count ! I would love to learn more languages, because however beautiful and melodious a language is, its basic function is to help us to communicate with another human being. I think we should not forget that.
8. The sound of water, the presence of lakes and ponds calms and soothes me. The best memory I have of Jackson, Mississippi is sipping hot coffee on the shores of the Barnett Reservoir on a cool evening !
9. I love the smell of the earth after a rainy day and after the lawn is mowed. There is just something so earthy and elemental about it..I wish I could bottle those smells and use them as room fresheners or mood enhancers !
10. Being across the proverbial seven seas from my family makes me realize how much I miss them and would enjoy having them nearby. American holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, centered as they are around family, make me feel very homesick.
11. Having close friends nearby is the next best thing to having family around.
12. I have found that books provide me with an inexpensive and exhilarating way of reenergising myself. I can lose myself in a good book and emerge feeling refreshed and happy.
13. As a mother of two active boys under the age of 10, I have found that taking a little time for myself everyday, be it with a book, or a cup of tea or even gardening, gives me the patience and enthusiasm to listen to everything that my little ones have to share, irrespective of how tiring my day has been.
14. On the same note, gardening gives me a lot of pleasure. There is something life-affirming in seeing new buds,leaves and flowers sprout on the branches of a shrub or a tree after the long dormancy of winter. That in itself is a metaphor for life - alternate periods of bounty and scarcity, life following death and happiness always following despair.
15. The best relationship that you can work on ( and it is one that you will always need to work on) is the one with your spouse. Your spouse is literally your life partner, another human being with thoughts, values, feelings, emotions and opinions with whom you will hopefully live out your entire life. It is in the best interest of everybody involved to make this relationship the most important in your life.
16. Playing with my children and being silly with them is good for me, and for them :)
17. Planting a vegetable garden and visiting it everyday with my kids is worth all the time and effort that I put in it, even if all I ever harvest is a few bunches of greens and a few tomatoes. Thankfully I always have more than that, but I feel good about growing veggies myself. It connects me in a small way to my ancestors who lived off the land and it shows my children where food comes from.
18. I like grocery shopping (my husband doesnt). I like looking at all the fresh produce, all the raw ingredients that could be used to put a healthy and delicious meal on my table.
19. I have become very careful about avoiding processed food. I try to avoid packaged food with mile long ingredient lists because I have come to firmly believe that you are what you eat. I think most of the health problems that people are facing world wide are due to lack of nutritious food.
20. I try to avoid going to the doctor's office. I believe and I have experienced that small ailments like a cold or a cough or even slight fever can be easily treated at home with ingredients found in your kitchen.
My Daily drive to and from work - the quality of the picture is not very good, plus it was slightly drizzling when I took it !
21. I love driving on empty tree lined roads with my favorite music playing on the radio. The only hindrance to this is finding that empty, tree lined road and err...gas prices and the fact that unnecessary usgae of the car is not very environmentally friendly (ahem).
22. Music is a balm to my soul. Whatever my mood, I know I can improve it and enhance it with music !
23. I have realized that if you love what you do - whether its a job or tasks at home, it never seems like a burden or a compulsion !
24. A deep breath and a moment of holding my tongue have helped diffuse many a tense situations !
25. Over the past few years, I have realized that I was pretty naive about a lot of things..I wouldnt say that I am necessarily wiser, but I have learnt to think from another perspective which has opened my mind quite a bit :)
26. Talking to my mother and father always puts a smile on my face. Always.
27. I adore long and thick hair. Alas, mine doesnt come close to this description. I usually dont bother too much about appearance and the like, but if there was one beauty wish that I could have been granted, I would have wished for thick , black and long hair :)
28. I am creatively challenged - I am extremely left brained and when it comes to come up with creative ideas or do some craft, I am all thumbs. I admire those people who whip up amazing scarves, shawls and jewelry in a jiffy !
29. For as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a doctor. Many people who grew up in India will say the same thing because parents in India are slightly obsessed with having their children become doctors and engineers. I couldnt become one and hence I now compensate by trying out natural remedies at home !
30. I am slightly obsessive about spellings. It irks me no end to see words spelt incorrectly. I mean, how difficult is it for editors of news print, books and ads to run copy through a spell checker ???
31. I didnt have a mobile / cell phone for a very long time even though everybody around me at that time (in 2000 - 2003) proudly sported the latest. It was only after I got married in 2003 and my husband wanted to be able to get ahold of me from the US that I got one. I was working in India at the time.
32. I love a good murder mystery. Be it books or movies or series, anything that can keep you guessing till the end satisfies me immensely. Agatha Christie, any one ?
33. When I was of school going age, I loved the freedom that riding my bicycle gave me. I rode it to school, to my friend's house, to nearby grocery stores :) Then when I turned 16, my dad bought a Scooty for me. Its a lightweight scooter that could easily manage on the busy streets of the city !! I was thrilled ! I rode it everywhere !! I miss it now !
34. I am a software developer by profession. I took breaks when my children were born, 2 years the first time and then a longer gap of three years the second time. Although I realize that the breaks affected my career, I do not regret my decisions and I would do the same thing again if I had a do-over !
35. I was very introverted as a child. Books were my friends. I am still quiet as a rule now, but I am better at reaching out to people and making conversation. I think the major reason for this were the first few years after I started working when I was a part of a boisterous and wonderful group of trainees in a software company. I had no option but to come out of my shell :)
36. And last but not the least, I love to write. Not that you would know by the sporadic amount of writing that I do on the blog. But I dream of writing more and hopefully can motivate myself to do just that soon :)
I know this was a long, rambling post. Hope it wasn't too boring to go through, but it did give me a good insight into
myself ! Maybe you ought to do it too !
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