#482 Nurturing healthy habits with family

 

Nurturing healthy habits with family

                                                    Image Courtesy: Google image

"Habits are the invisible wires that move us." - George Bernard Shaw

Habits are the routines and behaviors that we perform on a regular basis, often without consciously thinking about them. They can be good or bad, but they all have a powerful impact on our lives.

Good habits can help us to achieve our goals, improve our health and well-being, and live more fulfilling lives. For example, the habit of exercising regularly can help us to lose weight, reduce our risk of chronic diseases, and boost our mood. The habit of eating healthy foods can help us to maintain a healthy weight and reduce our risk of chronic diseases. And the habit of getting enough sleep can help us to improve our concentration, productivity, and overall health.

Bad habits, on the other hand, can hold us back from achieving our goals and living our best lives. For example, the habit of procrastinating can lead to missed deadlines and missed opportunities. The habit of overeating can lead to weight gain and health problems. And the habit of smoking can lead to cancer, heart disease, and other serious health problems.

For me habits play a very important role in shaping my day. Here, I am penning down the routine that I follow in form of habits regularly with my family.

1- Wake up early: I get up early in the morning followed by taking bath and performing the ritual of praying to God.

2- Having breakfast and lunch together: I am blessed that I live in a joint family where we have a custom of having breakfast, lunch and dinner together over the dining table. We discuss many issue together while eating and enjoy the food together.

3-Helping my mother in cooking: My mother cooks well. But, I feel privilege to help her in cooking. I ask her out the menu for the lunch previously and cut the vegetables. I prepare the masalas and curry also. It not only reduces the burden over her but also helps in saving time.

4-Going for an evening walk: I go for an evening walk daily with my father. We daily cover around 4-5 km. It makes us feel energetic and active. Evening walk is the most exciting habit that I follow.

5-Meditation: I like to do meditation in my free time, as it ceases the thought process to zero. It also relaxes mind and energizes the soul. I like to follow mantra meditation.

Habits make us feel connected to ourselves in a number of ways. So, why not nurture healthy habits to stay fit and fine.

#HealthyHabitsWithHappinetz

SWETA SARANGI

16-9-2023

 

#481 Bonding

Bonding

Once upon a time, there lived two creatures named Mr. Fool and Ms. Phool in a planet called “Andromeda”. They were dissatisfied with their daily chores as they were going through lots of situations which were out of their control. In order to feed their minds with relevant answers to the questions, they wanted to visit different heavenly bodies in universe. The condition was that wherever they found happiness and peace, they would settle there.

While roaming around the universe, they found a celestial body which was estimated to be around 4.543 billion years old and having a radius of about 6371km. It looked blue and often referred as ‘blue planet’ due to its abundant water, with approximately 70.8% surface covered by oceans. It was a planet called earth which was rich in flora and fauna with abundant natural beauty. It has a very close connection with sun and moon. Both of these creatures got attracted to the beauty of planet earth, its day and night, seasonal changes, vibrant colours around and made their mind to visit it.

They met a very fascinating creature called ‘owl’. It has distinctive appearance, including a large, broad head, upright stance and binocular vision. It has the ability to locate prey by sound.  It has feathers adapted for silent flight. The uniqueness it had, the ability to rotate the head to 360 degrees.

Mr Fool: Hi Owl, we want to be friends with you and wish to know more about earth.

Owl: Hi everyone!! Welcome to earth. Earth is a lovely place to stay in. We enjoy living here.

 Ms Phool: Are you happy here?

Owl: Of course, yes!! For me happiness is spending time with my family and navigating this sky. I am a nocturnal bird, so I like to stay awake and active mostly at night. Happiness is all about enjoying little moments in life at present without thinking much about future.

Ms Phool: I am amazed to know about your viewpoint on happiness.

Mr Fool: What do love and bonding mean to you?

Owl: Love is a most important part of happiness which is run through a two-way junction- give and take. Foundation of love is sacrifice from which happiness manifests. Let me explain it with an incidence. I saw a pair of pigeons in brilliant mood. My heart brimmed with joy and laughter by seeing them. I saw them making their shelter out of straws over a flower pot. Both toiled throughout the day for collection of straws in their tiny break. I felt so obliged to see them making their shelter day by day. Then came the role of mother pigeon to lay eggs over the shelter. Father pigeon would take care of the eggs as well. These eggs got hatched and squabs came out one by one. It was the day a joy for the birds.

There was a cat nearby, which was constantly keeping an eye over the squabs. One day the same cat fought with father and mother pigeons to eat those squabs. The fight kept on continuing, in the end both father and mother pigeons gave their life for their kids but it was too late and the small squabs became the pray of cat.

The entire family unified for happiness, grow for happiness and end their life for fighting for happiness together.That was very painful to watch. But I could not help except seeing the entire incidence. I found the love and bonding between these two pigeons was the main lesson to learn. 

Both Mr Fool and Ms Phool got emotional on listening to the entire story. They understood the real meaning of life and decided to settle in planet earth forever.

 

SWETA SARANGI

15-9-2023

#481 Habits for a lifetime

 Habits for a lifetime

Source: Google Images

There has been much emphasis on social media regarding building habits rather than chasing goals. I strongly agree with this statement. Chasing goals might bring disappointment when it is not attained but building habits is more about adopting positive practices every day without stressing over the result. The result from a habit on a daily basis is negligible but the compounding effect of habit over a span of time is profound. Having said this, I would like to share my story of building habits and the reward that it has provided me.

Learning a new language

Souce: Google Images

I have been learning German for over 2.5 years on Duolingo App. This could be possible because of my intense desire for travel and an urge to alleviate boredom. Let me elaborate on it a bit more. Somewhere, during my Masters, I came across the fact that the German Passport is the most powerful one in the sense that it gives the owner access to travel maximum countries in the world. When I researched further, I got to know that to acquire a German passport, one must be fluent in German. This planted the idea of learning German. Even though I started with the task of installing the DuoLingo App on my mobile, I could not be consistent during that time because of other engagements.

Source: Google Images

Fast forward to 3 years, I was lying on the bed of the isolation chamber of Princes Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong after being detected as COVID-19 positive. There was nothing else to do for the entire day. I started learning German from DuoLingo App to get rid of the boredom. I tried devoting, on an average, 30 -45 minutes every day to DuoLingo. Initially, it was a little boring as the pace of learning was very slow and words were repeated in exercises. After 2.5 years of learning regularly on the DuoLingo App, I realized the importance of repetition to improve retentivity. For a solo learner like me, with no one to practice with, I needed to repeat the words to get them absorbed in my memory permanently. Learning anything new requires a lot of patience and perseverance but it’s worth all the effort. Currently, I am on Day Strike – 759 and I also started learning Finnish a year ago along with German. In this era full of distractions in social media, I am proud to say that I devoted my time to something productive and I absolutely enjoyed this journey.

Meditating

Souce : Google Images

I am a beginner in meditation now. I started meditating a week ago, to be frank, but I got highly benefitted by meditation during my school days. As a student, I used to meditate regularly, and its results were reflected in my grades. Over the years, I developed an ON-OFF relationship with meditation. I have realized to implement a similar logic of learning with meditation. These days, I am not too busy not to be able to take 10-20 minutes from my daily routine, for meditation. When I am fully convinced of the long-term effects of meditation, why should not I try to meditate to live in the present moment and focus on important aspects of my life? As a beginner, I have started using Medito App for guided meditation sessions and want to develop this habit by taking #30DaysOfMeditation challenge. I am sure that, by the end of the 30^th day, I will be able to meditate without any external assistance.

Self-care

Souce : Google Images

It is important to take very good care of your mind and body. These days, I am devoting a few minutes every day to my hobbies. I have always enjoyed hobbies like reading, singing, writing, and painting. I feel that hobbies rejuvenate me and help me to connect with my inner child. I make sure never to give myself any excuse for not brushing my teeth twice or not exercising, even for 5 minutes. I am mindful of what I eat, read, and consume on the internet. I try to breathe in fresh air and practice gratitude.  I believe that the initiative for a healthy and happy life in the future must be started from today.

Source: Google Images

Habits can be regarded as tiny bit-sized practices done day in and day out. These practices if continued for a lifetime, can have a life-changing experience. There’s no denial in the fact that positive habits build a positive life and who doesn’t want a life filled with happiness and prosperity?

 

#HealthyHabitsWithHappinetz

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Swati Sarangi

13.09.2023