Simply Positive Thoughts

I was watching Disney’s famous movie “ Inside Out ” the other day. Those of you who are unaware of what it is, let me give a backdrop about this movie. It is a story of a young girl Riley and five characters that live inside her head namely – Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust. This movie depicts how these five emotions control the life of Riley. It was hilarious to see all the emotions materialize as characters. Can you imagine Sadness saying, “ Remember that funny movie where the dog died? ” Well, that’s what happiness must be for Sadness. Haha! And what about Fear trying to quit his job out of Fear? Poor guy later found out that he is an important emotion and cannot quit. Anyway, every time Riley got upset, Joy would try to force happy thoughts on her. Joy tried, with all her might, to seclude Sadness in a corner while she made Riley’s life joyous. She assumed that keeping Sadness at bay would keep Riley cheerful. Later in the movie Joy realized that Sadness is compassionate and ...

“What have I done to deserve this?” “Why is God punishing me?” “I was born with bad luck.” “Why do I face so many hurdles while others get everything easily.” “Why is it always me?” I’m sure we’ve said similar statements at least once in our life. Some find it easy to divert themselves while others over think and get stuck. All of us know that gravity keeps us on the ground. But to propel a rocket and make it leave the Earth’s gravitational force, we require a force equal to the gravity but in the opposite direction. We achieve this force by moving at a very high velocity of 11km per second. This velocity is also called Escape velocity. In the same way, we need a similar force to free ourselves from the mental strain that keeps us locked up inside our head. We need our Escape velocity which can come from two sources – internal or external. Internal force drives you in whichever direction you want. Internal force includes the strong will power and a cool head in the heat of th...

Some of you might be aware of the term Zugzwang. For those of you who know it already, I ask you all to be patient while I give a brief explanation. Zugzwang is a German term related to the game of Chess. It means a situation wherein one player is in such circumstances that it is his turn to move and all his moves are bad, i.e., he will lose the game whichever way he moves. It sounds bad, right? I want you to give it a moment’s thought. You are stuck and there is no way towards victory. You are at a place where you are safe and staying there won’t make you lose. But can you stay stuck at that position forever? Let’s put it this way - only after that game is lost, only after that chapter is closed, you will have an opportunity to start a new game. With the new game you will have an opportunity to play once more. This time you are equipped with the knowledge about which moves will make you lose the game and to avoid those moves and try the new ones. This is one step closer to winni...

The one thing that has been constantly coming across my way is the fact that everyone is rushing all the time but getting only one of the two things – either tired or nowhere. Being a Sherlock fan-girl, I decided to enter my mind palace and use the Science of Deduction to understand this unsatisfied thirst to run. My crazy-twisted-out-of-the-box thinking has helped me conclude that one of the reasons for failures is poor sense of judgment and a rush to jump to conclusions (ironic much?). Let me put it this way, any action requires to go through 3 phases before we declare it a success or a failure. These 3 phases are: -           Debate before decision -           Decision -           Implementation The first phase is very simple (but also simple enough to overlook) but the most important one as it involves weighing all the pros and cons of making...

I hav e picked my pen up after a  good 5 year break. I didn’t realize that being Ms i-don’t-have-time-to-write was going to lead me nowhere. Covid-19 pandemic has led me to pursue every minute habit of mine that I had time and again in every phase of my life, some of them being the simple ones like painting and gardening and reading, others being adventurous (as adventurous you can get while at home) such as cooking (talking about a person who had entered kitchen in her life only to gobble food down!) and playing cards (I wonder why I never learned that before), woke up one day and chopped my hair owing to the lock-down madness, and of course, the gym-freak girl has finally learned to meditate (talk about extremes!!). The introvert version of me who yearns for a peaceful life has had all her wishes fulfilled. This person, who’s life’s aim was to stay locked up at home, is finally materializing at least one of her dreams. I look back at the last 60 days of staying locked up at home ...

When you think you are all alone in a crowded street. When you are screaming your lungs out, but no one can hear you. When you begin to feel that you are invisible. When you think no one cares for you. Even worse, when you think everyone is conspiring against you, how do you come out of this situation? If you let this moment get to you, you will feel the end nearing and that maybe you won’t be able to pull through. But this is what needs to be understood, that this moment you’re trapped in, is just a moment, a mere phase, which too shall pass. A speed breaker is there to slow you down, not stop you. But a red traffic signal asks you to stop before you can proceed. Tough situations may slow you down, tougher situations might stop to. But there’s always a green traffic signal that will allow you to proceed. In such situations, just cut the engine, sit back, relax, think over all the things that made you reach to this place. Why have you stopped at this point in space and why you sh...