No Mud, No Lotus #GratitudeCircle

Everything we experience makes us stronger in some way or other. When we have downs, the ups become even more precious.

No Mud No Lotus.

No rain, no flowers.

I realize this every single day. Life is the biggest expert curveball thrower I know, and rather than worry about it, I’ve decided that with many things, it is better to go with the flow, and if necessary, just let go, slow down, and focus on the good stuff.

Here we go!

Happy travels

I’ve made it a sort of tradition to spend New Year’s Eve and the first 3-4 days of the New Year on my son’s campus for the past three years since he started college. This year was no exception.

We landed there on 30 Dec, and my son was all set for the new semester, which he assumed would begin on 1 Jan as usual. My original plan was to spend 3-4 days there, getting some work and planning done. I even carried my laptop with me this time, something I never do when I travel. As it happened, my son’s classes were rescheduled to 4 Jan, which meant a change in plans.

My laptop sat on the table, unopened. I focused on spending time with my son and our friends, taking long walks on the beautiful campus, enjoying the freezing weather, laughing a lot, crying a little and generally slowing down and having a pleasant time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BddIFlzBMo9/

I met a lot of people. If there was one regret, it was this: I did not see a single peacock this time. I did hear that they were around, but for me, seeing them was not to be. Ah, perhaps next time. So grateful for this wonderful week with friendly people and watching my son settle down. Oh, we did binge a little on some TV shows, notably Mom and The Mindy Project, and a few animated movies. We have a penchant for those!

An award!

Oh! On 30 Dec, when we were on the flight, Indiblogger announced the #IBA2017 Awards. I am thrilled to be chosen as the winner in the “Self-Improvement” category. How exciting it was to arrive at my destination and see this news! Grateful for the recognition!

My husband had left for Delhi the day I returned home and I was super-thrilled to come home to food in the fridge and an empty sink, and stacks of washed and folded clothes on my bed. So sweet! So grateful for this, and a flight that was on time, considering the rampant delays I was hearing about from others who were traveling at the same time.

A lovely outing on my own

Chitra Santhe is a one-day celebration of art at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath every year in the first week of Jan. This year, it was on 7 Jan. I had a great time visiting and looking at the artists’ work. It is always nice to see that entire road blocked to traffic and teeming with people enjoying themselves.

Oh yes, clicked loads of photos. A wonderful afternoon spent walking around in the warm sunshine. Soon, I’ll write a post about it with more photos. Grateful for that little break.

A health scare

I’ve mentioned the hospital visits in connection with my husband’s treatment. Well, things turned scary when he became severely breathless and dizzy– we thought it was serious. We were advised a full cardiac evaluation, and the tests came out okay. Yet we returned home not feeling better. More sleepless nights later, we finally we rushed to our GP–probably something we should have done in the first place–and learned that all these symptoms were because of the medication prescribed. Sigh. So, he was advised to stop the medication and started treatment for the symptoms. Feeling much better now, as in back to work. Crazy three weeks–grateful for the recovery. What about the original treatment? We will wait and watch and decide.

With all this, we had a mattress problem and a clogged drain to deal with! All well now.

Our attitude? This too shall pass. We are grateful for what we’ve got.

On the work front

I am always excited to be mentioned under the “acknowledgment” section at the beginning of the books I am editing/have edited. So grateful to do work I love and the authors I work with.

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A couple of weeks back, as I was playing with the young lady next door, my neighbor told me that her mother-in-law and she loved reading my blog. Well… what a happy moment that was! I confess I got all teary-eyed! So touched!

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By the way, I’ve been writing on Medium on and off, and in the beginning of this year, told myself I’d write more frequently there, following a discussion with my friends. So imagine my happiness when one of the largest publications on Medium asked me if they could feature my story titled The Magic of Routines So grateful to have my writing noticed.

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I can’t help smiling when I think of the lists I made during the first week of January. Had to put them all aside because of the health scare. But I am not stressing over it. I am happy to think that I am focusing on the priorities and believe that everything will get done, in good time. I trust that Universe will make it happen.

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As always, my deepest gratitude to my dear Vanita, who’s always there for me–absolutely non-judgmental, always encouraging, always ready to listen, and often ready to deliver that much-needed kick-in-the-pants to get me back on track. Yes, our souls are very old friends.

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My special gratitude for some of the lovely comments I’ve been receiving here.

As usual, I can go on and on, but I’ll pause here.

What are you grateful for this January?

What was memorable?

Join me!

Welcome to the January 2018 Gratitude Circle blog hop!

Write your post, add the badge and add your post URL to the linky below.

You know you are amazing, don’t you? ♥