Category: nature

A walk for peace

95002417-B8A1-4929-80CF-40528BC991BFHave you ever met anyone in your life who doesn’t like nature, flowers, flowing rivers, starlit sky, mountains and lakes… At least I haven’t! No matter how depressed or upset you are, there is an instant relief and soothing feeling the moment you connect with nature.

Few days back, when I felt exhausted after handling my kids all day long and the endless house chores, I decided to pass the buck to my husband and go out for a lone walk. While I was relishing the cool breeze and beautiful colorful trees on my way, a thought struck me hard – if the green trees and blue sky created by God gives me peace and calms my mind, why His other and most amazing creation human being doesn’t do the same? Why did I run away from my kids and husband to get peace from nature? Aren’t they a part of this nature too? Isn’t your ‘hard to please’ mom in law or your grumpy boss created by the same Supreme power too? Then why don’t we feel the same tranquility in their presence?

Now, it took me a few days to get the answer but I am glad that I got! I came across a video which explained that we accept everything in nature as it is. We don’t judge a tree by how crooked its branches are. We don’t find faults in the waves at the beach. Nor do we complain of how tall the mountains stand. We don’t want to change how things look and work in nature. But for the people around us, we want everybody to change. We complain, we nag, we criticize, we judge constantly! We don’t accept them, their imperfections and their behavior. So how can we enjoy something which is not acceptable to us.

I loved the concluding words of that video – the moment we accept the universe as it is, we become happy effortlessly. So just by keeping in mind that our family members and the other people we deal with everyday, are a part of this universe too, we might start accepting them and we won’t have to run away from them for peace.

Looking for a little positivity in your life? Try these simple tips!

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No matter how charming this word ‘positivity’ sounds, we still strive hard to make it a part of our thinking process. And anything that takes effort is mostly ignored or postponed by all of us. The roots of our attitude lie in our thoughts and thoughts cannot be changed overnight. So how to get there? Step by step probably! So here are 7 little tips that might help you boost your inner self and make your mind more calm and at peace.

If you feel overwhelmed by the tips or it seems like an uphill task, take and implement one tip at a time. Follow it for a week before picking up another tip and within few weeks, you will see a positive change in your life. So, lets get started:-

  • Wake up 10 minutes early each day : It might seem a bit clichéd, but trust me, rushing in the morning hours does impact your whole day because the very first thought you create after waking up is bound to be a negative one. Getting late for work/school, missing breakfasts, and forgetting things at home are just physical things. The damage at inner level is much more severe specially when done on daily basis.
    Tip: Initially, you can give yourself the liberty of waking up late on weekends/holidays but once you understand the benefits of waking up early, you will surely change your habit forever 🙂
  • Sound mind resides in a sound body : Health is the topmost thing that we ignore in our stressful and busy lives but it only increases our stress levels which further degrades our health. So it is a loop. And you have to break it. Either start looking after your health OR stop taking stress (I think the former is easier).
    Don’t worry if you have no time/money for gym. Just a 20 minutes walk daily, yoga or exercise at home thrice a week, playing outdoor with your kids or pets, anything that moves your body will work. Even better, while you talk on cell phones (I know you do it for so many hours each day), make it a habit to walk and talk 🙂
    Drinking a lot of water, eating fresh fruits and veggies, not skipping meals (specially breakfast), do I even need to tell you this?
  • Smile more often : It doesn’t cost you anything, it only makes you look even more beautiful 🙂 So never miss a chance to smile, even at strangers. You never know who you smile at, might be in dire need of a little positivity and your smile shows him a ray of hope.
  • Spend time in nature : There is nothing more rejuvenating for anyone than to walk in a green park, sit under a shady tree feeling the cool breeze (in summers) and soaking in sun (in winters), sitting on grass, looking at the hills, listening to the waves of the sea at beaches, there is no end to what options our bountiful nature has given us to relax our mind.
    Although doing this on daily basis will do wonders, but if you don’t have much time, at least once a week, treat yourself to the beauty of your surroundings.
  • Output is directly proportional to the input : Now, if your mind is constantly creating negative thoughts throughout your day, you need to check on what are you feeding to your mind. Watching/reading news (which are mostly negative these days) the first thing in the morning or the last of the day, will fill your subconscious mind with a negative image of the world and this will block your positive thoughts.
    Starting your day with a prayer/meditation or even sitting with family (without phones) on breakfast table will surely help to kick start a positive day. I know it is difficult to take out time for reading good books (which surely helps), instead you can start watching a 10 minutes positive video everyday before going to bed or whenever you are online.
    Tip: Subscribe to positive video channels on YouTube (like TED talks) or follow inspirational pages on Facebook so that you come across such uplifting content more often. 
  • Gratitude is important : Are you grateful for the breath that you just took? You better be, because every second, 2 persons die in this world. Are your limbs all functioning well? Are your loved ones alive? Do you have work to earn money? Do you have food on your plate and clothes on your body? Do you have shelter to sleep safely? If even one of the answers is YES, then you should be grateful. Trust me on this, the more you fill yourself with gratitude, the more you will get AND the more you complain, you will never have enough! Contentment doesn’t mean you stop working to achieve more, or don’t aim high. It just means, not to lose yourself in the path of achieving more.
  • We rise by lifting others : I had to save the most important one for the last! By being kind to others and by helping the needy ones, you not only open the gates of receiving blessings, but also your attitude towards life changes to a great extent. You will find more meaning in your existence, and without any extra effort, your life will be more positive than ever before! Remember, no one has ever become poor from GIVING.