Tuesday, October 25, 2016

How to think positive?

I know you and I have heard elders asking us to think positively. I have always wondered HOW can I think positive when nothing happened in the manner I wanted them to happen.

How can I think positive about my relationship with those who doesn't seem to understand me? How can I change the negative feeling about them?

I have realised that Yoga helps a person to understand one's own self, which in turn helps to understand others as well.I am glad I learned Yoga.

Thanks to Migraines. I learned Yoga to get rid of it and have become a much better person now.

I guess it is because of Yoga, I have learned the 'HOW' to think positive, finally, at the age of 48!


Father has passed away 8months back. Now, at the age of 48, I live with my Mother, two of my siblings, two little nephews, elderly in-laws and my husband. There are many experiences in life that have taught me how to think positively and am going to share a couple of them with you. If that helps you and if you start to think positively then I will feel very happy.

The other day I went to meet the class teacher of my 7year old nephew. There was another parent also waiting for the teacher. Her little daughter, my nephew's classmate was also standing with her.

She said to her daughter,"It is so fortunate and that you are lucky your dad didn't come to sign your report card. You would have got nice thrashes from him for your poor marks." The little girl looked at me with a sad face.

I turned to her mother. She looked at me and said,"She has scored very poor marks in all the subjects."

I said,"You should have taught her well at home. It is your duty to see that she studies well. She is just a little girl."

She said,"Oh! we do. Myself and her dad. She answers all the questions correctly at home. So we knew that she knows all the answers. But she is not writing them on the answer paper."

I said,"Then you have to make her write all the answers on a paper at home. She is good in saying but not so good in writing, which means she needs more training in writing down whatever she knows. So, you have to make her write all the answers. Cultivate the habit of writing on a paper. Beating and scolding are not going to help her. Why would you or your husband beat her when you guys don't even find the reason for her poor marks in the exams?"

I got a very meaningful and thoughtful look from the lady. I know that I have triggered a positive thought on improving her daughter's abilities.

Here is another incident. It has always been a habit in our household to point fingers at others when something goes wrong. I think it is the same in every household. When good happens, everybody feels happy. When bad happens then nobody would like to analyse to find out what went wrong and how to correct it. The first thing that they do is pointing fingers at someone or the other.



 My sister is the one who cooks at home. She is a better cook than me. She kept some liquid mixture near the stove to be poured into another mixture that was boiling on the stove. I wanted to heat my morning coffee. So I kept this aside and replaced my coffee there and switched on the stove. She stood up from the floor and put the curry leaves inside my coffee. Then she reached to the shelf to add some pepper powder into it.

It looked funny to me and I laughed. She was puzzled and asked me,"Why are you laughing?"

I said,"Looks like you are making rasam out of my coffee."

She said,"Why would I? I only threw the curry leaves into the tamarind juice that I kept here."

Then she realised what has happened and looked at me and said,"It was your fault."

I said,"huh?"

She said,"It is you who kept the coffee there where I kept the tamarind juice. Wasn't my fault."

I asked her,"What would you do when you find out whose fault it is?"

She looked at me quietly for a second and said,"Right."

I took the curry leaves out, heated my coffee and walked towards the dining table to drink it.

She shouted from the kitchen,"It has become a habit to point fingers at others instead of finding what should be done to change the scenario quickly. I should have taken the curry leaves immediately. How does your coffee taste?"

Since I don't add sugar to my coffee, it had the taste of curry leaves. But I didn't say that to her else she would feel guilty. I said that it tasted good.

I would really love to read positive experiences that have inspired people. Or the negative experiences that have made a positive effect. Please share your stories with the virtual world. Let us spread positivism around us. Looking forward to reading your experiences.


Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Saturday, May 14, 2016

A Teacher’s Ownership!



I saw a first-grade teacher peeping from the front gate of my nephew’s school with a little girl tucked between her thighs. When my nephew saw me walking towards the gate, he ran towards me and thrust his bag to me and ran towards his classmate who was walking ahead with his mother. I smiled at my nephew’s former teacher and asked her, “Hello Miss! How are you?”

She said, “I am good. How are you?”

I nodded my head towards the little girl and asked her, “Is she your daughter?”

She replied, “No. She is not. She is my student. I am waiting for her parent to come and pick her up.”

I smiled at her and replied, “Oh, that is so nice of you.”

She smiled and said, “Until one of her parents come to pick her up, she is my child, of course.”

I felt very happy to hear that and said, “I really appreciate your kindness and accountability. Every teacher should think and act like you.”

She said, “Thanks.”

When I bid her bye, I saw my nephew’s teacher watching our conversation standing a little distance away from us.

The next day when I went to pick my second grader, I saw my nephew’s teacher standing inside the school near to the first-grade teacher holding a little kid's hand, obviously waiting for the kid’s parent. I was happy that I could make a person think about accountability and responsibility.

Earlier, I have heard from many parents that the second-grade teacher is not approachable and not available for any discussion.


Though I have never seen her interacting with any parents, I have never hesitated to go after her, after school hours whenever I needed any clarifications about tests and other extra-curricular activities. And I found that she is not bold enough to talk to parents. When a teacher hesitates to talk to the parents, there could be just two reasons. She is either not so confident about her abilities or just don't care for her students. What do you think? 


Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Your Army Boyfriend and Your Love



I received a message in Facebook from a girl who read my answer to one of the questions on Quora about marrying an army boyfriend. She asked me to help her to understand the situation and her expectations. I have replied to her based on my life experiences.

This was her question:

I had always desired to marry one and even had a boyfriend but we never lasted long it was because he never loved me. But I still wants to marry one, mam the issue is after my last relationship I broke and found myself as emotionally too weak, we often had fight for not being in conversation much, lack of concern and care from his side, he never made effort to make the relationship work and had attitude of accepting his fault.Afterwards seeing my condition my friends asked me not to look for a man from army asked I.need emotional support and they believe that this kind of behaviour is common for all of them, which made mean wonder should I marry them, r they all so cold, I do understand the problem of their being busy but r they all so cold I know it's little awkward to ask stranger such questions but still if u could help me.

I am giving the screenshots below. I thought I can share this with my readers. It could help someone else who are also in the same kind of situation in their life.




Luv u all
Uma

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

3 Easy Steps to Transform Your Body and Mind


I was asked to reply a question by a Quora member.

The question was  How should one motivate oneself for physical transformation when it seems really tough?

I have shared a short para here. You can go here to read my full reply.

DO NOT CARE ABOUT OTHERS - Do not worry about the people who look at you while you walk or jog. When you look at others, chances are more to get demotivated. Concentrate on YOUR body and YOUR mind.
People WILL make fun of you, even if you look good. I have come across guys who laughed at me for jogging early in the morning though I was lean. But I do exercises to keep me fit and feel great. There were comments like," I don't even know why she is running." Another comment," She is wasting her energy." One more comment," She is growing old. Why should she continue jogging even now."  And then this happened.
Read More


Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Is This Why your husband beat you?


One of my best friends live away from her husband. The only complaint that she has against him is that he beats her. He beats her kids. He is a very angry and a very short tempered person. Otherwise he is a very nice man. All he want from her and her kids is to listen to his words, either they like it or not.

I know most of the women out there face this problem with their partners. Sometimes it would be the other partner. The wife would be determined to see that her words are heard and listened to. I guess it depends on the dominating personality.

I had an opportunity to stay with this friend for a week. I observed that she didn't bother to recycle the left over foods that laid in the fridge for two days. I asked her about this.

She said,"Oh, every morning I only think about giving fresh foods to my kids. So I keep forgetting about it."

I asked her,"What would you do now that the left overs are rotten."

She replied,"I will dispose it."

I asked her,"Does your husband approve of  wasting food now and then?"

She looked at me quietly for a full minute. I said,"Maybe this is one of the many reasons he beat you. You shouldn't waste food like this. Food is money. Nobody likes wasting food."

She said,"It is not that I do it in purpose. I want my kids to eat fresh food everyday."

I said,"You will have to plan the meals accordingly, so that you will have no (very little) left overs."

I took one look at the shelves in the kitchen. She said,"My husband used to arrange them neatly for me once in a while. But I don't follow the same arrangement. And I ask him once in three months to do the arrangement again." She paused thoughtfully.

I said,"And."

She repled,"He used to yell at me to not to make him work in the kitchen just because I find it difficult to work."

She continued,"I think I understand SOME of the reasons for his beatings. I should learn to be a better wife to him before expecting him to be a better husband to me."

Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

Thursday, April 7, 2016

The Best Way to Build Better Relationships


I am the eldest of 5 children. So I have grown up to become a more mature person now when compared with my younger days. I am proud to say that my siblings, as well as most of my friends, don’t think twice before approaching me for any suggestions or whenever they are challenged by the situations in life. If you are the first female kid with more than two kids after you, in your family, you will agree with me that when your siblings grow up, they look up to you for all the help.

I have learned to stay calm and quiet when I know that am right and others are wrong. The learning process was a hard one. But am happy that I learned the hardest of lessons in my life. Now, I have become a calmer, more matured and more enlightened person. 

During the learning process, I found myself being tested and taunted. There were instances when my silence was taken as acceptance of my wrong, when I believed that I was right. My quietness was considered as a weakness when I didn't want to show that they are the weaker ones in reality. My quietness was misunderstood that I didn't care about their opinion on the issue. But finally, when the cloud cleared everything got cleared between me and them. They understood me well. It WILL take time, a week, a month or maybe years. 

People change. Their thoughts change. Their actions change. They WILL understand you better when they grow and when they understand their own self. Until then you need to be patient and quiet.

Patience and quietness are the most important traits to build ANY struggling relationship, stronger. But trust me keeping quiet is THE BEST way to solve a burning issue. It couldn’t be solved then and there. But it would eventually get solved at the right time. And YOU will be the winner.

Here is an example:

I soak the clothes of my little nephews and my brother's dresses in a detergent before loading them in the washing machine. Both my nephews and my brother never get tired of playing football and cricket. So I soak their clothes in the detergent for fifteen minutes. It is me who do the soaking, loading and drying the clothes. I do the soaking early morning as soon as I wake up. So that I can load it in the washing machine after I brush my teeth and had my coffee. By the time I get ready to go to work, the washing would be over.

That particular day, I got up late. So, I requested my youngest sister to put the soaked clothes inside the washing machine while I was getting ready to leave to my office. I instructed her to load the heavy clothes first before loading the lightweight clothes. I told her that she has to put one cotton white pant and two dhotis first. She started loading the lightweight clothes first that were on top of the heavy ones. I said, “That’s ok. You can now put the pant and the dhotis and push them below the light ones.” She took the pant and put it inside the washing machine. She then said,” Sis, there is just one Dhoti.”

I was still getting ready and said,” No, there are two Dhotis. I soaked 2”

She again said,” Nope, there is just 1.”

I knew she was either feeling lazy to dig deeper into the tub or she wants to just complete loading as soon as possible.

If you were me, how could you have reacted?

1.    Yelled at her saying,” You are a lazy girl! Why don’t you search for it? It was me that soaked the clothes. Won’t I know what I did?”
OR

2.    Yelled at her saying, “Come on! Do you think that I am blind? Do you think that I am telling lies to you? I should have got up early this morning to do it on my own. I know that this is what will happen when I ask for help from someone else.”
OR

3.   Stood by her side, patted at her back, made her bend lower to search and say,” Now that you are a little bit closer to the tub, you will find the Dhoti.”  Stood near her until she found the Dhoti and gave her a taunting gesture to make her feel bad?
OR

4.    Would you just quietly continue getting ready to work and wait for her to find the second Dhoti?

Let us analyze what would happen when you chose the  

Option 1:
Firstly, you wasted your time saying all those negative words about her.
Secondly, you called her names - ‘lazy girl’ and ‘not good at searching’
Thirdly, you spoke high of yourself – ‘I did it’ and so ‘I know it’

The Result:
You have lost a few seconds of your prep time. You have lost your nerves and energy by uttering those negative words. You have spread all negative energies around you.

It was YOU who got affected due to your outburst and not her.

Option 2:
Firstly, you wasted much of your time uttering more words in a harsher manner.
Secondly, you said that she was ‘blind’ and ‘telling lies’.
Thirdly, you wanted her to feel bad for doing it less efficiently than what you would do.

The Result:
You have lost a few seconds of your prep time. You have lost much of your nerves and energy by uttering those harsher words. You have spread all negative energies around you and around her.

It was YOU as well as HER got affected due to your outburst.

Option 3:
Firstly, you wasted your most precious, the TIME.
Secondly, you manhandled her.
Thirdly, you made her feel worse.

The Result:
You have lost a few minutes of your prep time. You have lost your nerves and mind by saying those words and pushing her to bend down. You have spread heat and negative energies around you and her that is going to linger for quite some time.

The day is going to be very bad for YOU and for HER.

Option 4:
Firstly, you didn’t waste a single second of your prep time.
Secondly, you have kept your cool. You didn’t lose your nerves and mind.
Thirdly, you knew that you were right and she was wrong. So, you waited for her to find the Dhoti on her own. And when she finds it, she will know that she was wrong. She would naturally realize the reason for your quietness so she would come back to you and say, “Sorry Sis. It was down there under all those light weight clothes. I have loaded it.”


The Result:
You were all set to leave your home for work by the time she completes the loading. Both you and your sister were happy. There were positive energies around you both and a good understanding relationship is developing between the siblings. Both your day and her day is going to be good for sure.

If you asked me what was my reaction, it was Option4.


But, I have to admit that I have chosen all the options before finding that ONLY Option 4 is the best choice to have a healthy relationship and build a better understanding between me and others. 

If you come across such situations in life, please chose Option4. Trust me, people WILL find your quietness misleading. But eventually, when the truth comes out, they WILL come back to you to apologize. All that shouting and throwing tantrums WILL only make more damage to the relationship. It might even go to the extent of breaking the relationship. So please try to calm your nerves and stay quiet.

Trust me life is neither about making money nor about building homes. Life is all about building and nurturing relationships. 

Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer