From Deepa's Desk

Allow yourself to grow. Often we are impatient with ourselves. We want to develop, but we want it to happen quick and fast. There is no harm in wanting to reach quickly, where we want ourselves to be. But we would be losing something very important if we rush ourselves. What would we lose? The lesson, that, our journey is where we learn the most, not at the origin, not at our destination. It is the journey that would change us, mold us into our future selves and prepare us for our destination!  When you plant seeds in the garden, you don't dig them up every day to see if they have sprouted yet. You simply water them and clear away the weeds - you know that the seed will grow in time.  I personally believe that planting and gardening are excellent teachers of patience and forbearance, both of which used to be foreign concepts to me in the past. My mother has an interesting story to share about me. She says, when I was about ten years old, I planted a mango-seed in the tiny gard...

I recently came across this wonderful quote - 'Balance is not something you find. It's something you create.' I couldn't agree more with this statement. There is no doubt that life has become hectic today. Crazy and rushed mornings, stressful afternoons and chaotic evenings reign over the day and ultimately end up in troubled and disrupted sleep at night. We do not deserve to live like this! Of all the basic necessities required to live, one of the most important among those is a peaceful mind. It is not too much to ask for, is it?  We need to bring a semblance of balance in our days. The chores are important; so is our physical health and mental well-being. Our work, whether at home or in the office, is important; so is spending some quality time with our children. It is important to earn money for sustenance; so is pursuing our hobby or taking time for whatever makes us happy.  As I reflected upon the said quote about balance, I realized a few things that often disrup...

It is already that time of the year when morning breaks out late and evening is in a hurry to rush in. There is something soothing and calming about Autumn. It seems to bring in a period of calm and rest. You do not feel like rushing into anything. You relish sipping the hot tea/coffee for a long while, wishing that it would last longer. The chores do not seem as demanding as they usually seem like. Even the birds seem to chirp a bit more lazily and at ease in the morning! As I collect flowers from the plants of my building compound in the morning, I see some Parijat flowers fallen on the compound of the apartment next to mine. These flowers have been a constant companion during my childhood. There was a parijat tree in the compound of my parents' home. Every morning we would find a lot of flowers having fallen on the ground. Many more would still be on the tree. We would tell my uncle to gently shake the tree so that we could get more flowers. My uncle would shake it so strongly t...