I turned Seventeen !

"I am sixteen going on seventeen
I know that I'm naive
Fellows I meet may tell me I'm sweet
And willingly I believe

" -sixteen going on seventeen 

                                                                    (The Sound of Music)

I just turned seventeen last Sunday! The worst part about turning seventeen is well, firstly, I have to change my blog's description which means I have to think of a new one !Whew! If you're wondering why, well the description currently says" a sixteen year old girl who fell in love with words"...And now put seventeen in place of sixteen! Check! How unpoetic ! I am someone who swoons over Bukowski and feels blissful reading Silvia Plath on a rainy day. So I need a new description. Secondly, the worst part about being seventeen is, you don't get to be sixteen anymore(why am I blabbering shit!). One year of your life has passed you, and you haven't achieved any of the glories that a sixteen year old's supposed to! I remember feeling miserable on the night of my birthday. Not that I had a bad day. My friend came over. She had baked a chocolate egg-less brownie cake( I'm a vegetarian) specially for the occasion because she's a real sweetheart ! And we also got the chance to get wet in a mid-afternoon shower. We watched some classic movies like" The Runaway Bride"and "Sweet Home Alabama".. Later I went for a movie with mum (Jurassic World) and we ordered Chinese at a take-away restaurant. So, not a bad day at all , but there you go- I was filled with a feeling of deep dissatisfaction about everything. In brief, I was thinking about the popular kids at my school and the big fat parties that are held on their birthdays! That's when I looked up birthday goals on Google. And I found this site where the author writes about his dissatisfaction over the year that's gone by and as a consequence he sets a few goals to accomplish over the next year. Its certainly a cool idea.I think I'll follow it. So I guess my next blog will be on birthday goals. Stay tuned! Oh I also got To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in The Rye as presents. (Yay!)

Being Happy

 It's funny how being happy can sometimes be the hardest and the easiest task at the same time. All it takes is a change in perspective. I somehow believe happiness is a choice. I've been going through a really tough time lately, with a skin disorder that has been taking a toll on me. And today, I broke down. I couldn't take it any more. I cried. And I don't think I was being stupid. I'm a sixteen year old girl who is supposed to hang out with friends and enjoy life at its very best rather than rubbing a hundred ointments on her skin daily and sitting in the sun to cure her skin problems! Plus, I had a really bad day. And I realized that I was simply focusing on the negative side of things. Which was of course the easier thing to do at the moment. But once I unloaded my  heart, I realized that life can't be perfect. But that doesn't mean one can't be happy. You can be happy if you choose to be happy. As the saying goes, "The optimist and the pessimist both die in the end. But both would have lived lives in a completely different way." I conclude with one of my favourite quotes by Parker J. Palmer ~ " Wholeness does not mean perfection. It means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. ". So today I choose to be happy.

Small Deeds of Gratitude

"All we have is all we need. All we need is the awareness of how blessed we really are."~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

No matter where we are, or how we're doing in life, each and every one of us have something to be grateful for.

Since my childhood,  I've seen my mother throwing crumbs of bread on the window sill every morning . It's the first thing she does after waking up.Seconds later, a flock of crows  gather to feed on the crumbs. I never understood the underlying reason behind such an act ,until recently. A few days back,I accompanied my mother to the terrace where she would feed the crows (she has started feeding the crows in the terrace of late after a few people in our apartment complained that they apparently had a problem with my mother throwing crumbs on the window sill ). I realized that the crows waited in anticipation every morning. They began cawing with fervor as soon as she stepped into the terrace. 

I then asked her why she's been doing this everyday. "My mother used to tell me, man has a duty to fulfill towards all other beings on this planet. You must begin each day with an act of gratitude by helping your fellow beings . I'm doing my bit." , she smiled.

I was filled with a new respect for the person my mother is. I also decided at that very moment that I would carry on this tradition after my mother. Yes, we all have something to be grateful for. Each day is a blessing. It's just that some days, we have to look harder!

Live life the real way

Nowadays you find people everywhere busy looking down at their phones. In a generation of selfies and free messengers like Whatsapp, Hyke,etc., we often forget to enjoy the moment as we're busy clicking a picture in order to show the world how much better off we are than them! At the end of the day, whose validation are we seeking ? You don't need to get a thousand likes on your profile picture in order to reassure yourself how beautiful you are. That's not living life the real way. Nothing is as powerful as an eye contact. Interact with the people around you. Look a person in the eye when you say how much you love them or when you apologize. Life is too short to waste its precious moments preoccupied in a virtual world. Love passionately, laugh wholeheartedly, live fully!
One of my friends shared a beautiful video which seemed to say it all ! It put a smile on my face. So I'm glad to share it with my beautiful readers here! Have a great day !