Put Your Family First

The family is the magic circle where all wounds are healed. There should be one person who can be a shock absorber in the family. Someone who is not too busy to listen, to support, to manage the daily tasks of living. This could even be a paid caregiver or a cook. Networking is the key for working mothers. Networking with parents, in-laws, neighbors, domestic help and friends. Spending more time with the family is a rule that should be non-negotiable.

Children however need the security of a simple, dependable schedule. Ambiguity or lack of dependability in family life is known to affect the individual’s capacity to live in a secure long-term relationship in the future. Helping a child with their homework not only allows you to spend time together, but enables you to see what they are learning and how they are doing academically. Many children have extracurricular activities like sports or dance. By involving yourself in these activities and praising them on their participation you are helping build their confidence as well as strengthening your bond.

Sacred Place

When you consider yourself as sacred, you will treat yourself well. The space around you, your house, your office needs the same kind of careful attention. When a space is sacred, it magnetizes wonderful people and attracts beautiful events into it.

All religions sanctify space by holy water, prayer, dress and conduct. Hindus draw sacred symbols on the earth with rice flour or chalk (kolam) and a particular space can be set apart for the gods and prayer. A sacred space is defined by the rules of conduct laid down for those who enter, as in a court room, a church, a temple, or the parliament. Very few misbehave in such places. They are rarely able to cast away the weight of laws and customs built up over centuries around them. Some religions lay down rules of cleanliness and dress to enter sacred places, including a purificatory bath. A person who maintains such dignity and decorum in such a place, may be totally different in a bar or when at a party.

This is true about people in different interactions. Some people create a field, which accesses the best in us, while others access the worst. If you learn the secret of positive fields, you can improve your Happiness Quotient.

Keep Fit: Body, Mind and Soul

Yogasana is the science of beauty of form which combines effortless postures and definite stances in the projection of a healthy and striking personality. Yogasana covers the harmony of bodily stances and breathing techniques that mould, every part of the body to its ideal contour. This is possible through various postures incorporated into daily actions like standing and sitting. These asanas also subtly aid in the development of a new and striking personality. Asanas are thus not merely yogic postures but they embody the proper physical and mental disposition through the harmony of body and mind. Some of them you can do in bed as soon as you are awake. So exercise your mental options.

Exercise increases the brain growth factor and receptors, prevents the stem cell drop in middle age. A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the brain of a mouse and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.

season of Hope

Easter Sunday celebrates the themes of hope, regeneration, resurrection and the possibility of eternal life. The day is a joyous one, celebrated with a feast of Easter eggs, coloured red, hearty meals, games and family reunions. The Russian princesses exchanged golden jeweled eggs made by the fabled jeweller Faberge. This day follows 40 days of the Lenten fast.

On a personal level, it reminds us of the cycle of time which moves inexorably from fasting to feasting, from sorrow to happiness, from defeat to victory, from darkness to light and death to eternal life. It is a reminder that neither good times nor bad are permanent. As the Bible puts it, “This too shall pass”.

We can take the Easter message to heart as we dive into a new financial year on 1^st April. Here are some of the lessons:

1.       Everything changes

2.       The kalachakra or wheel of life takes one through the ups and downs of life. Neither lasts. Both are temporary.

3.       Have faith that good things are waiting round the corner. Meanwhile, work hard and hope.

4.       Celebrate the dawn of hope and move forward.

5.       Transformation is awaiting you if you are willing to allow your old self to die. Just like a seed transforms from being a seed, to become a plant and a mighty tree.

So, roll up your sleeves, close your personal and corporate accounts as the March 31^st deadline approaches. Pay creditors. Make up with those with whom you have had conflicts. Reach out to enemies, if any. Thank God for the blessings of the previous year. Get ready for a brand new future – the season of Hope!

See how skillfully March 31^st avoids major holidays like Christmas and New Year. Notice how it takes into account the unpredictable outcome of the February-March crop. Celebrate the past; clear the decks for a bright and prosperous, financial year ahead.

Principles of Emotional Well-being

 •Listen to yourself.

• Live in the present moment. Now. Every minute.

• Discipline yourself—it will give you true freedom.

• Do not pretend to be in total control.

• Allow yourself to be vulnerable sometimes.

• Ask for help. Network.

• Reinvent and renew yourself periodically.

• Explore the concept of acceptance of self.

• Love yourself. Accept yourself, your body and mind, as you are.

• In your quest for self-improvement, affirm and love yourself as you are today, here and now.

• Accept your life, good and bad as it is now, as a divine gift.

• Love another. A gift of yourself is the greatest gift you can give.

• Keep the child in you alive. Cuddle, nurture and liberate the baby in you.

Principles of Healthy Living

Start the day with a glass of warm water and a dash of lime.

·         Eat only freshly-cooked meals, not refrigerated leftovers.

·         Include one green vegetable and one yellow vegetable in every meal.

·         Go on a ‘juice fast’ for a day. Start with vegetable juice, and sipfruit juice for lunch and dinner.

·         Kick the old coffee-drinking habit. Have a glass of fresh fruit juice instead.

·         Make every meal an enjoyable experience. Set dishes out attractively and chew slowly to appreciate the full flavour of the foods you eat.

·         Make every meal an enjoyable experience. Set dishes out attractively and chew slowly to appreciate the full flavour of the foods you eat.

Beware of Happiness Traps

• Expecting too much from others.

• Not accepting yourself as you are; demanding too much of yourself.

• Not being content with anything.

• Feeling you are not contributing.

• Feeling excluded.

• Playing politics and being manipulative.

• Feeling you cannot prevent another’s suffering.

• Constantly craving for food.

• In a rush all the time.

• Excessively or often angry.

• Full of lethargy and inactivity.

• Having too much tiredness.

• Ignoring others.