Posted in Happiness & Inspiration

Sister-sister

As a woman, here are my two cents on this International Women’s Day! It is unfair to put all the burden on men to empower women. In my opinion, even when some women talk about equality, they are still subconsciously carrying thoughts of comparison and damaging competitiveness with other women. As a mindful exercise, we need to scan our minds and actions to see if we inadvertently have such feelings when interacting with other women.

You can start with simple mindfulness of your emotions and energy around other women or while thinking about them. To visualize, imagine a successful woman who gossips about other women with her male partner. If another woman is doing better than her in any avenue of life, then she will find faults in her out of jealousy while having a drink with her male partner. Here’s another negative picture, if a woman is going through some health issues, then another female coworker will “help” her by surprisingly taking over her coworker’s tasks without discussing them with her to show their leader that she is not productive. Or, when you complimented a woman on her purse, did you have a feeling of jealousy or did you compare yourself to her?

Where is the change needed the most?

It has to start at the grassroots level – in women’s minds and hearts. It is not easy to shed centuries-old belief systems. However, you can try it even with minor things, like if a woman is standing on the wrong side of the line at a cafe, politely guide her to the right side. Maybe you can take a genuine interest in learning about a woman’s interests while also sharing with her about your own so that it can help you both to build a good rapport with each other. Or, if you like a woman’s outfit, you can give her an appropriate compliment without any comparison or judgment of her body size.

Change starts with us. We need to support the right things, even if that means supporting another woman and not supporting a man you know. Some men help other men even when they are wrong. Generally, men easily buddy up with other men, and they are not concerned about what women think, even when a man is unjust. Therefore, women need not worry about what men will think of them.

Here’s is a beautiful quote worth sharing, “Be the woman who fixes another woman’s crown without telling the world that (it) is crooked. … Be kind! We never know the battle others are fighting. I hope that we can all find a way to lead with an open heart and assume positive intent.” – Leslie Littlejohn

Celebrate your sisterhood with other women every day. Will you be there for other sisters and show the world how beautiful and robust sisterhood can be?

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Posted in Happiness & Inspiration

“Mind-Blowing” Exercise

Do you sometimes find yourself in a sad mood, feel sullen or just do not know why you are unable to keep yourself happy? It is normal to sometimes feel low and feel the need to have someone make things right for you or just make you smile. However, unless you live in a fantasy world, it is not possible for someone to always be there for you. It is fabulous if you have someone who is close to you by heart but they might not always be able to lighten up your mood. One of my favorite life mantras is that, only you can make yourself happy and if you realize this, then there would never be any situation from which you would not be able to lift yourself up. In one of my previous blogposts, I wrote about how you can have a happy state of mind to keep yourself happy. Today, I am going to share another way of how you can make yourself happy. I am going to term this as the “Mind-Blowing” exercise. Following are the steps for this exercise:

  1. Just sit in your most comfortable position and take a few deep breaths.
  2. This might sound a little unusual and will take some effort but start blowing your mind (reflect back) by trying to think about all your achievements, starting with the oldest one that you can remember.
  3. Note: you might not always remember all your achievements but sometimes visuals can help. For example, a photo of you when you participated in a school program or in a work event; a paper that you wrote; your kid’s photos; a thank you e-mail from a volunteer organization; or if you are at home, then just look around and acknowledge that you have a place to live.
  4. Thinking about the past can bring up some bad memories as well. However, it is up to you to utilize those memories in a strategic way. Just briefly pause as you recollect your past memories.
  5. Do not dive deep into the bad memories but just pause enough to acknowledge the struggles you faced, the situations you lived through, the obstacles or the hindrances that you overcame, and any negative vibes that you had around you.
  6. Now just in your mind, put together all your achievements and your struggles. Think about how you worked through all your struggles and negativity that happened around you in the past and you still had those “made it” or “successful” moments.
  7. Finally, take a few moments to be proud of yourself (not cocky), realize all that you have achieved, feel where you are today and understand how far you have come.

After step 7, you might actually want to spend some moments to celebrate your life. Blowing your mind strategically to reflect back on your wonderful journey will steer your mind away from any negative thoughts, any unhappy vibes or any anxiousness. It will make you realize not just all your achievements but also your capabilities, courage, potential and all of that will fire up your confidence and make you happy. Take it as a blessing if you ever had an opportunity to experience any kind of hardship. If you have surpassed hardships and achieved things in the past, then you probably have learned from your past experiences and have fueled your potential to achieve even bigger things.

©️2018 Yuvika @Big Life. All rights reserved.

Posted in Happiness & Inspiration

Mindful Word Exercise

How to engage your mind and overcome negativity or anxiety? Here is one simple way for doing this – Mindful Word Exercise. (Note: not tested on anyone, just my idea.)

  1. Think of a positive word and write it down. Let’s call it our main word. For Example – MODEST.
  2. Let’s look at each letter of our main word – M, O, D, E, S and T.
  3. Now, let’s write down a positive word starting with each of these letters. For Example – Mature Mind, Original, Decent, Elegant, Simple, and Temperate.
  4. Finally, let’s just take some time to be mindful of our thoughts about each of these positive words.

Here are my thoughts. Being modest has no age limit. A mature mind and an original self bring out decency and temperateness, which are simple yet elegant.

#Modest #SimpleThoughts #Soulful #SoulfulSaturday #SimpleVibes #Calm #KeepCalm #Positive #PositiveWords #OvercomeAnxiety #OvercomeNegativity #FeelGood #Vibes #Modesty #Mature #Maturity #Original #Originality #Decent #Decency #Elegance #Elegant #Simple #Simplicity #Temperate #Temperateness #Life #Live #BigLife

©️2018 Yuvika @Big Life. All rights reserved.