Last year, I decided to undertake a depth year – an entire year where I didn’t start any new hobbies or acquire new possessions that I did not need. You can read this post for more information on what a depth year is; I’ll wait!

And though I did not achieve everything I set out to focus on, and slipped up in some areas, the overall experience was pretty darn good. Which is why I’ve decided to do another year of depth – and I’m incorporating some of my learnings from last year when it comes to designing my depth year framework for 2020.Continue reading→

I’ve been choosing a word of the year since five years – this is my sixth – and it has been an intensely transformative journey. Which is somewhat magical, really, considering that the very first word I chose for myself five years ago was Transform.

Words, after all, are spells. They have an inherent magic and power that can work in ways you may never have anticipated to bring you the exact medicine you need at any point of time. And Transform is a spell that’s been woven into the very fabric my life, impacting it far beyond just one year.

Which is why I don’t take the word of the year practice too lightly. I need to be clear on at least some aspects of what I’m drawing towards me with the word that I choose. perhaps for this reason, it was much harder for me to tease out the word for this year.Continue reading→

October wouldn’t be October without….The Mindful Break!

Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking. It’s festive time, with Diwali – the largest Indian festival – around the corner. But for me, October has become synonymous with mindfulness.

Why I needed a mindfulness practice

October is a crazy-busy month at work. I’m usually up to my eyeballs in deadlines, with reports coming in to be edited faster than you can say Jack Rabbit. It’s also festive time, and I’m usually stressed about work, moping about not being able to enjoy the festivities, scrambling to keep up with Diwali shopping and decorating, and generally losing my sanity one moment at a time.

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Ladies and gentlemen, The Mindful Break is back! What started out four years ago from my desire to cultivate a mindfulness practice, has become a regular feature that I – and many of The Mindful Break regulars – look forward to each October.

The need for a mindfulness practice

And for good reason. For one, it gives us a chance to connect on Instagram in a stress-free way, taking a moment to pause and breathe and share a slice of our life and thoughts with one another. It feels like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stressful environment, as we juggle work, home, studies, families, social duties, and seemingly endless to-do lists. Instead of just vegging out on the sofa and binge watching Netflix, which just numbs us out and does us more harm than good, The Mindful Break encourages us to take a pause.Continue reading→

“At least three times every day take a moment and ask yourself what is really important. Have the wisdom and the courage to build your life around your answer.” ― Lee Jampolsky

We lead busy lives. Caught between work and home; juggling the needs of our family; and the incessant noise from addictive social media platforms clamoring for our attention, we often end up numbing out by binge watching serials on Netflix. It’s just so much easier to give in to the siren song of these companies after all.

And why wouldn’t it be easy? All of these companies – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Netflix – use subtle and not-so-subtle psychology to keep us constantly scrolling and addicted to their platforms. We’ve become used to the instant gratification of a flurry of likes as soon as we post that photograph on Instagram, or to finding the next awesome series on Netflix.Continue reading→