Butterflies Reborn In a Beautiful New World

This is our time for Metamorphosis. 

This is our chance to transform into beautiful butterflies reborn in a beautiful new world. 

In this lockdown period, let's dive deep within, reflect, and make a self-promise to become better human beings who respect Nature and fellow humans.

With such a pure and  powerful promise, we shall definitely overcome this pandemic. 

Light and love to all!

10 Ways to Hygge at Home for Emotional Wellness

Recently, I read a book called "Hygge: The Danish Way of Living Well" by Meik Wiking. Hygge [prononounced Hoo-ga] is a Danish word for finding happiness in simple and little things in life such as candles, flowers, sunrises, sunsets, a cup of tea, old songs, a cozy reading corner, classic books, etc. 

In the current scenario of the Corona Virus outbreak, when we are compelled to stay indoors, it is the best time to find and discover our hygge -our safe haven. And once we discover that sweet place, we can enjoy this chaotic period instead of panicking. Everything that is related to hygge makes us feel happy, calm, and safe. 

Hygge is a situation where there is a lot of relaxed thoughtfulness. Hygge is about being kind and loving to yourself. Danes believe that their homes are the best place to practice hygge. They put a lot of effort into making their homes hyggelig. 

Let's take a look at the 10 ways to Hygge at Home for our Emotional Wellness:

1. Light an aromatic candle

According to Danes, Hygge is incomplete without candles. Every evening, light an aromatic candle and meditate for a few minutes. As you inhale the aroma of the candle, imagine divine light healing your mind, body, and soul. Envision your heart radiating love to everyone in the world going through some suffering. Inhale love. Exhale anxiety. 

My favourite scents are lavender, sandalwood, rose, jasmine, and vanilla. 

2. Make a playlist and share with your friends

Create a hygge playlist of 20-50 songs that make you feel happy, safe, peaceful, motivated, and inspired. Share it with your family and friends. Music is a great way to connect to your own self and with your loved ones. 

3. Enjoy Board Games

Spend the time that you are getting with your family by indulging in board games. Whether it is Ludo, Carrom or Chess, engage in a game for that sweet feeling of nostalgia and uninterrupted bonding. 

4. Cook a special meal together

Make an evening special by cooking a special meal along with your family and friends. Time spend with loved ones creates a warm and relaxed atmosphere. 

5. Bring out those photo albums

One of the best ways to hygge at home is to take out all the photo albums and watch them with your family. Relive the most beautiful moments, laugh together and spend a memorable evening. Alternatively, you can arrange your digital photographs in various folders and start a slide show. 

6. Write Notes of Gratitude

Hygge helps us to stay in a state of gratefulness everyday because it is all about savoring the simple pleasures of life. It is all about making the most of the moment. You can start your day by thinking of the 10 things that you are grateful about. You can write little notes of gratitude for your family, friends, acquaintances. Email it to them or give them when you meet them the next time. 

7. Curl up with a Classic Book in a cozy reading corner

Create a beautiful hyggekrog in your home, which means a 'cozy nook'. It is the place in a room where you would love to curl up with a book and a cup of tea. You can put a blanket, a few cushions, and fairy lights to make it your comfy place. Now read that classic book that you have been longing to read for a while. I recently read all the 7 Harry Potter Books within 20 days by creating a cozy nook in my room. And I enjoyed every minute of it. 

8. Get back to a hobby

True happiness and satisfaction in life depends not on what we have consumed but what we have created. When you are compelled to stay indoors, befriend an old hobby. Start painting or calligraphy. Play a musical instrument. Dance like no one is watching.

9. Start a Hygge Journal

A Hygge journal or Happiness Journal is for preserving the most beautiful and endearing moments of your life. They need not be extravagant moments, but rather sweet, simple, heart touching moments that make you smile again and again. 

Write the most beautiful moments that you have experienced in the past month or year. You can relive them whenever you feel a bit low. Alternatively, you can make a bucket list of happy, hyggelig moments that you would like to experience this year. 

10. Appreciate Nature

Slow down and look at the beauty of Nature comforting us unconditionally. Enjoy the breathtaking sunrises and sunsets that we so often take for granted. Bask in the moonlight. Gaze at the stars. Water the plants in your garden. Appreciate the flowers blooming and the birds chirping without any complains. Get one with Nature. Take plenty of photographs. 

These are some great ideas to hygge at home. Hygge is a way of life, a feeling, and a mood that helps you to remain happy with the things that you already have in life. It is a great way to boost our emotional wellness. Let's go within and find our hygge. 

This post is a part of Blogging with a Purpose series in association with Blogchatter. My theme for this year is Physical, Mental, and Emotional Wellness. 

#CauseAChatter

Mythological Monologues : A Poetry Series (Theme Reveal #BlogchatterA2Z #AtoZChallenge 2020))

April is almost here and I am thrilled to reveal the theme of my A to Z Challenge 2020. 

This is the 2nd time I am taking this blogging challenge. In 2018, I experimented with 26 forms of poetry in my poetry series "Letters from the Soul".

My theme for A to Z 2020 is Mythological Monologues - A poetry series.

This year, I will be doing a poetry series on Indian Mythology. I will be giving voice to various characters in Indian mythology such as Ahalya, Shikhandi, Draupadi, Gandhari, Sita, Urmila, Eklavya, Karna and many others. I will be penning down 26 dramatic monologues of 26 iconic characters from Indian mythology. 

Indian mythology has always fascinated me since childhood. Therefore, I decided to give my voice to some of the most beautiful characters in Indian mythology that has stayed with me over the years.  

Every day, on the month of April (except on Sundays), I will be writing one dramatic monologue. Dramatic Monologue is a poetry form that was popularized by the famous Victorian poet, Robert Browning. Although I have earlier written dramatic monologues, it will be exciting to blend mythology with this poetry form. 

I hope you will join me in this thrilling poetic journey on the month of April. Wishing the very best to all the fellow bloggers who will be participating in A to Z 2020. 

8 Things my Grandmother taught me that made me #TheWomanThatIAm

After my mother passed away when I was twelve, my maternal grandmother became the mother figure in my life. Despite battling with breast cancer and losing her only daughter, she made a vow to live for me, to raise me as a strong, independent woman and only leave the world when she has done her job successfully. It was because of her tremendous will power that she survived several operations and became a breast cancer survivor.

From a grandmother to a mother to a best friend and guide, she played various roles in my life. I would like to mention 8 things that my grandmother taught me which made me the woman that I am.

1.Never give the driver's seat of your life to anyone.

During my late teens and early twenties, I often relied on others for making important decisions. My grandmother taught me to control the steering and drive my own life. She taught me to make my own decisions and never give that power to anyone else, no matter how close they are to me or how difficult it is for me to make the decision. She taught me to take full ownership of my life and responsibility for my actions so that I never play the blame game or behave like a victim. 

2.Faith will take you anywhere you want to go.

Today, I am a huge believer in the law of attraction. It is from my grandmother that I learned faith can make anything possible whereas doubts can ruin everything.

3.Nothing is stronger than your willpower.

As I already mentioned, it was my grandmother’s willpower that helped her survive many operations.  When I was giving my class 12 board exams, I was suffering from a chronic migraine that hardly allowed me to study. I thought I would fail in my exams. It was during that time she told me that nothing is stronger than willpower. And true to her words, I managed my studies by sheer willpower and passed the exams with flying colors. 

4.If you want to know whether a person or place is good for you, observe how you are feeling within when you meet that person or visit that place. Your intuition will never lie.

During my early twenties, I made too many mistakes in recognizing people. As a result, many people took advantage of my goodness and betrayed my trust. That is when my grandmother gave me this beautiful pearl of advice, which has helped me over the years to understand people better.

5.People who love us unconditionally never leave us. They live within us, providing courage and strength during the hours we need it.

Whenever I missed my mother, my grandmother comforted me with these words until I realized how true it is. 

6. Life is an echo. What we give, return to us manifold. Bless everyone and blessings will return to you manifold. Talking negatively about anyone will make that person talk more negatively about you, thereby making the relationship bitter.

Whenever I felt someone wronged me and talked negatively about them, this is what my grandmother told me. And after many years of ignoring it, today I live by this advice and try not to think/talk negatively about anyone. 

7.Tears are not a sign of weakness. The person who can cry without inhibitions can laugh freely.

After I lost my mother, I used to try to maintain a tough exterior. I used to feel ashamed of crying. When I used to see my grandmother in tears, holding my mother’s photograph, I used to feel uncomfortable. That was when my grandmother taught me to embrace tears with the same ease that I embrace laughter. And that has helped me laugh and live life to the fullest.

8.Honesty is the best prayer.

My grandmother was a very spiritual person. I had never seen her telling a lie. When I asked her how she manages to do it, she told me that the best way to be close to God, is to be honest. Satyam Shivam Sundaram! Truth is God. Over the years, as I became more spiritually inclined, these words of my grandmother got ingrained in my mind and helped me become a better person.

My grandmother left the world in 2017, when I was twenty six, but her life continues to inspire me. Just like Mahatma Gandhi said, “My life is my message”, my grandmother’s life was her message to all her loved ones. She was my grandmother, mother, friend, guide, and soulmate combined into one. She lives within me and her love sheaths me from every danger.

Blankets of snow

Fail to smother the warmth

Of my pashmina shawl

That my grandmother

Weaved for me

A decade back.

How adeptly

Her labor of love

Defeats the frosty thorns

From stinging me today.

Love alone triumphs!

“This post is a part of ‘The Woman That I Am’ Blog Hop #TheWomanThatIAm organized by Rashi Roy and Manas Mukul #RRxMM. The Event is sponsored by Kraffitti.”