#569 Diamond PAINTING

 Diamond Paintings

Source: BlogChatter

This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla

One thing that I learned quite early in life is that pursuing hobbies always brings joy to one’s life.

During my school days, I invested much energy and time in developing various hobbies like singing, painting, writing, and reading.

I realized that I always had something to engage myself in, and that supported my introverted self. It was like quenching the thirst of my reticence through creative activities.

Over time, I learned to balance hobbies and academics so that my spare time would be occupied with hobbies when I was not studying.

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I carried those hobbies to my college, and very soon, I realized that there were very few like-minded people.

Instead of getting involved in hostel or college politics or gossiping with a group of girls, I tried to explore my hobbies and derived an inexplicable happiness from them.

I don’t support being anti-social in college life, but being with a group that doesn’t nurture your potential is simply a waste of time, and everyone should be very judicious about how they utilize their time in their college days.

The outcome of any creative pursuit is always so satisfying. Anything originating from the purity of souls touches the hearts of many.

With the passage of time, I realized that someone can never be bored in his life if he has learned to enjoy his own company. This skill of enjoying my company came in handy when I started living abroad, where the society wasn’t social or interactive at all. By then, I had developed a level of comfort in spending time in my own company.

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Learning Diamond painting has always been on my bucket list, and I am happy to say that I got to explore that this year.

I had already purchased some diamond painting kits but always thought it to be a work of patience and precision, which it is actually, but one day, my inner self motivated me to try this after getting help from a YouTube video.

A diamond painting kit comes with

• a canvas with small squares with numbers or letters written on it. These small squares have glue in them
• holder; diamonds are placed on it
• a small wax strip as a glue for sticking diamonds to the tip of the pen
• a pen for placing diamonds on the canvas

Picture taken by the Author — Diamond painting kit; wax strip, canvas, diamonds, pen, holder

Diamonds are sealed in different packets with numbers or letters written on them. You’ve to map these numbers or letters of the diamonds to those of the numbers or letters on the canvas and place the diamonds accordingly.

I started with the canvas of the smallest dimensions, 13cm * 18cm — A hummingbird, and it took me around 1 hour to complete it.

First Diamond Painting by the Author completed on 02.11— A Hummingbird

After completing my first diamond painting, my confidence increased, and I felt that I should try again. I purchased some more kits of the same dimensions 13cm*18cm and started working on them.

Unlike the first painting, other paintings took more time ( between 2 hours and 3 hours)because of more canvas coverage.

Second Diamond Painting by the Author completed on 06.11 — A rabbit with its baby

Third Diamond Painting by the Author completed on 11.11 — Face of a Cute Kitten

I ordered a few kits of dimensions 20cm*20cm and 20cm*30cm and tried my hands on them. Note: I was not completing these paintings at a stretch; otherwise, it would have been too hectic.

Fourth Diamond Painting by the Author completed on 18.11 — Siblings with their pet

Fifth Diamond Painting by the Author completed on 03.12 — Eiffel Tower

An exhibition of diamond paintings in the Author’s room; pic taken by the Author

From trying something new like the Diamond painting, I realized that we must not jump to conclusions about anything when we are exploring the unknown.

The perception of the Diamond painting being so tricky or challenging didn’t let me try it while the diamond painting kit lay idle in my drawer. Such a perception was broken after I started working on it.

So, let’s not get chained up by our prejudices or preconceived notions and look at the world from the perspective of absolute truth.

What did you try new this year? I would love to hear about it.

© All Rights Reserved!
Swati Sarangi,

19.12.2024 

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P.S: 

This is the one completed on 23.03.2025 and I named these cuties as Lemon & Kiwi!

 

                                        This is diamond painting I completed on 24.04.2025

                                This is how my collection of diamond painting looks like 

#568 The intricate threads of FRIENDSHIP

 The intricate threads of friendship

Source: BlogChatter

Some friendships are unexpected, and you get to meet those people, in your life during adversities, something that you can never think of, but life has different ways of surprising us. When it brings adversities, it also brings gifts, but we’re so immersed in grief that we barely notice the gifts lying there right in front of our eyes.

It’s easy to befriend others when the situations are favorable or you’re at your best, but during adversities, you’ve to put in extra effort to reach others. That’s when God sends such friends to your rescue because he feels that you need to be heard. These people had once been in your situation before and realized how much someone’s kindness changed their life. Now, they are doing their part in your life, amidst all the challenges in their lives.

These friendships are like intricate threads because they’ve not been born out of expectations. I regard them as intricate because they could’ve been easily broken but that bond stays with you silently even when you don’t talk with or text them every day, but when you do they’re there to listen to your stories and comfort you as much as possible, without any judgment. They might drop some messages just to check in with you when they’re not calling you.

Life has been too challenging for me lately. No sooner did I recover from one unfortunate incident in my life, life threw one more curveball at me. Sometimes, I feel too overwhelmed trying to balance myself before falling down or getting hit by such curveballs. During such dark hours, I saw those friends throwing light at the end of the tunnel, to show me the way to come out of it.

I knew I had to come out of that infinite tunnel that life placed me in, but their little acts of kindness made all the difference. They need not be present physically, but I felt their presence in the form of their genuine concern.  

Those are some of the unseen ties that drove me home and made me believe in the goodness of this world.

Source: BlogChatter

© All Rights Reserved!

Swati Sarangi

14.04.2025 

 I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025 

#567 EMBRACE the echoes of life’s Warnings

Embrace the echoes of life’s Warnings

Source: BlogChatter

Life endows us with several responsibilities and with time, we forget to do them.

We may forget our duties due to distractions in this digital era or prioritize other tasks over them.

Then something unfortunate happens that stirs us up completely and shifts our focus to those areas that always needed attention.

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Life gives us warnings in subtle ways that we must learn to listen to them.

We can not afford to miss those warnings because when life starts teaching us, it teaches us the hardest way, or probably the harshest way.

Life is like a strict teacher, and it has no room for excuses or doesn’t lend a shoulder when you regret later for not listening to it.

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If you’re single, I feel that you have greater control over your life as you have a limited responsibility to take care of.

On the contrary, if you’re married, you need to work as a team with your spouse because I feel that marriage is like teamwork, where both husband and wife should work as a team. They should know that if any of them make mistakes, the team suffers, and both will have to bear the weight of the consequences of their actions. There’s no point in blaming each other.

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Lessons from life when come through life as a teacher, may appear to be so harsh like a slap on your face but they make you humble in the long run. If you’re a sincere student, it won’t take much time for you to get a grasp on those learnings.

These life lessons may appear something so obvious that we miss paying attention to them in our day-to-day lives and unconsciously attract such events that remind us of the importance of such lessons.

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What’s important at the moment is to take a pause and ask yourself about what needs to be learned by you today.

Did you take enough care of yourself or the people you’re living with? There may be people living away from you who have connections with you. Did you care about their well-being?

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Being kind is the most underrated skill to develop and it costs nothing. So, be kind not just to others but also to yourself whenever needed.

Source: BlogChatter

© All Rights Reserved!

Swati Sarangi

24.03.2025
You can support my work through Buy Me a Coffee.

   I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025 

P.S: This article has been inspired by my conversation with my father, who encouraged me to write down my thoughts. My father is an intellectual who reflects on life's incidents, and each conversation I have with him is like a treasure to keep for life. What can be a better way to treasure all conversations other than documenting them?

 

#566 Anagram of your NAME

 Anagram of your Name

Source: BlogChatter

I came across the word ‘Anagram’ for the first time when I was in my 8th standard.

It was when I was so dedicatedly working towards building my vocabulary. I would write down every new word that I came across in my diary and search for its meaning in a dictionary that I won in a competition previously.

Remember, it was a time in the early 2000s when the internet was a relatively new term, and not many had access to it. Even though I had access to the internet at my home through a landline connection, I was more acquainted with reading physical books.

Anagram according to Merriam Webster means,

a word or phrase made by transposing the letters of another word or phrase

I had started journaling in a diary that was gifted to me by my uncle a year ago. I was amused by my new finding and wanted to explore it a bit more.

My curiosity led me to try forming an Anagram of my name; after several hit and trials, an Anagram that got approved by my mind was

Saiga Strawin

This name is formed by jumbling the letters of my name: Swati Sarangi

Woah! I got a westernized version of my name formed from the letters of my name. How cool is that!

The next thing I did was to note it down in my journal.

Whenever I felt demotivated, I would look at this Anagram in my diary and would console myself by saying,

How can I ever fail when there’s a win in my name?

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Year after year, as I climbed up the ladder of life in the form of advancing age, many diaries got filled up in which I journaled about my aspirations, fears, ideas, findings, joys, and sorrows.

My mother preserved all my journal diaries so lovingly despite moving apartments until I made all of them flow in a nearby river a few years ago.

I made them flow not because I hated my past but because I felt a need to move forward in my life from my glorious past in which I lived each second of it to the fullest. I no longer wanted to dwell in my past but appreciate the present and hope for a better future.

So, I give you, my readers, a little task to form Anagrams of your names and share them in the comment section. I can’t wait to find those fancy formations of your names.

Source: BlogChatter

© All Rights Reserved!

Swati Sarangi

 03.03.2025 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025 

 

#565 Social Media as neighbours WINDOW

 Social Media as neighbours WINDOW

Source: BlogChatter

Recently, I watched an Oscar-winning short movie Neighbor’s Window on YouTube, as suggested by my husband.

Of course, an Oscar-winning movie can’t be just ordinary. I had to watch this movie.

This 20-minute movie shows how we tend to look out our Neighbors’ windows and forget to consider what’s happening in our lives.

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The movie shows an apartment where a family of four, a couple in their 30s with their kids, live. These couples observe that the apartment, just in front of their own, has recently been occupied by a young couple who seem to be enjoying their lives. They’re not conscious of privacy as they don’t have any curtains and are engaged in intimate acts which makes the couples in their 30s jealous.

The couples in their 30s feel that they’ve lost the spark in their lives being burdened by the responsibilities of raising the kids and taking care of other household chores.

All they’re interested in is looking at what’s happening in their Neighbor’s Apartment using binoculars. That would entertain them as they find the young couple’s life more happening.

Days pass and the act of looking at their Neighbor’s window continues whenever they get time. Sometimes, they would find some gatherings of friends and family members or some events being organized at the apartment of the young couple.

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One day while looking through their windows, the couple in their 30s found the young man had no hair and was sleeping in a bed that resembled that of the hospital’s. They frowned at this sight.

A few days later, they found a gathering of some people who were carrying bouquets and consoling that young woman who was seen crying.

After a few days, when the lady in her 30s returned home, after bringing the children, went close to the window to look at the Neighbor’s apartment, and she saw that two men were carrying that young man along with the bed.

On seeing this, this lady in her 30s, rushed downstairs to learn more about the actual situation, only to find out that the young woman’s husband died of cancer and she confessed that they dreamed of having a happy family like that of theirs.

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This movie made me think aren’t we like those neighbors peeping into each other’s life through social media, while assuming that their lives are better than ours?

Are we mindfully living our lives, living in the present by not comparing it with others?

The reality is that social media is an illusion, what we see on social media is a fraction of other’s lives. While social media may portray the happy and rosy sides of other’s lives, we must not ignore the blessings that are parts of our lives.

Unreasonable comparisons, originating from social media, are the primary reasons for our unhappiness. Let’s be mindful about what we’re consuming from social media.

Source: BlogChatter

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 Swati Sarangi

 22.12.2024 

  I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025 

#564 1500 SPOKEN words to live

 1500 SPOKEN Words to live

Source: BlogChatter

Recently, I came across a short movie on Youtube; 1500 words. This motivated me to write this post and wonder about my situation if I were the protagonist of that movie.

Imagine your life depended on the number of words you spoke!

For instance, during a visit to the doctor, you receive the astonishing news that the length of your life is limited to 1500 spoken words.

You’ve already used up a lot of words and now, the only way to survive is to avoid exhausting the remaining 1500.

What would you do?

Would you cut off from the world and go into an isolation or depression?

Will you talk the way you’re now?

Will you try to ease your regrets, knowing your end is near, by expressing the things that you’ve left unsaid?

Will you set aside your ego and apologize for the mistake that is still hurting you deep inside?

Would you still argue, gossip, or complain?

Think about it!

In a world, where every word counts, perhaps we would choose to speak mindfully and support truth. Maybe, we would argue less and forgive more.

Let me know in the comments: what would your last 1500 words be?

Source: BlogChatter

© All Rights Reserved!

 Swati Sarangi

 09.11.2024 

  I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025 

#563 ONE Month Later

 One Month Later

Source: BlogChatter

It’s Spring here, but, today, the sky looks dull and grey. No trace of sunlight can be found anywhere. Since the end of March, it has been sunny for most of the days of the week, but today it seemed a bit gloomy. Everything seems so quiet, even during the working hours of the day and I can hear the sound of ticking off the clock. Was it reflecting the state of my mind?

One month has passed after that tragic event and I feel that a part of my life has gone still forever. Just like the weather, there’s an inexplicable heaviness in my heart and I’m starting my day with such a gloomy feeling. I’ve never felt so sad before and I am just experiencing this abyss as it is, without putting much effort to ward it off. Now, I don’t feel emotions as intensely as I used to when the sadness dominates over the other, or perhaps it will take a while to be back to absolute normal, or never, I don’t know.

I’ve observed that I’m getting to see more dreams in sleep than ever before. Today, just before waking up, in my dream, I saw that I was traveling with my sister. I couldn’t catch the train that we were to board together and boarded the immediate next train going to the same destination after 2 hours. During the entire journey, I kept worrying about my sister as she didn’t have an internet connection. Before we could meet, I was awake. That made me think if that dream indicated that I had to let go of a part of me that was once so dear to me, to fate.

I had an appointment with the doctor yesterday. I would always look forward to appointments with my doctor earlier, but these days, it makes no difference. The doctor’s words of consolation have no effect on my internal state of mind, although I appreciate their care and concern. 

My faith in Karma is at stake now after having faced a lot of tragic events one after the other within a month! I don’t know what’s God showing me.

Some things can’t be fixed through external intervention, perhaps, a divine intervention is all that is needed. I am still looking for some answers and will continue to do so!

Source: BlogChatter

 

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Swati Sarangi
10.04.2025

  I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025 

#562 Am I an INTROVERT?

 Am I an INTROVERT?

Source: BlogChatter

Recently, I was asked in an interview to grade myself on a scale of 10 to quantify my level of extroversion. Of course, this was a question asked to assess my personality.

My response was 7/10 based on my level of comfortability with people around, so that puts me in the category of Extrovert, right?

However, I feel myself to be an Introvert who enjoys my spare time engaged in reading, writing, painting, singing, or playing chess online. Along with doing all these activities, I also like exploring new places, meeting new people in social gatherings, and striking a meaningful conversation.

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My recent experience of attending my first social event in the Netherlands tells a different story. No, I wasn’t stuck in my seat all the time, sipping coffee to avoid meeting people. I approached the attendees and speakers and initiated a conversation.

No, I didn’t rehearse the dialogue in my mind, I just spoke with them. I came to know that they were from Venezuela, Ukraine, Slovenia, Siberia, Nepal, Brazil, etc.

So, what do you think I am, an introvert or an Extrovert?

Isn’t it a confusing state for not being able to decide my nature?

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I hail from India and if I were to rate myself on the level of Extroversion; I would’ve rated it 5/10.

During my school and college days, I limited my interactions to a group of 5–6 people. I was engaged in my studies and spent my spare time collecting my ideas into articles or poems.

I developed a lot of hobbies during my school/college days like reading, writing, painting, singing, or playing Table Tennis, basketball, or chess.

I was always more comfortable in my company than choosing the company of others which made me independent. I wouldn’t fear traveling to different cities on my own, when I didn’t have anyone to go with me, for writing exams or appearing in interviews.

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Fast forward to many years, I took my first international flight to Hong Kong, all alone, on my own, during the Pandemic Days in 2021 to relocate with my husband who was working there.

Then began my search for a job in a new country, I would explore the city, mostly on my own, during working hours when my husband wasn’t available.

I would discover a new route, the fastest way to reach the venue of the interview, and later workplace with the help of Google Maps.

Life presented its plans to me for which I got a chance to live and work in Finland and the Netherlands, where I’m based now.

I continued my exploration of finding a new place, Cafe, Indian Grocery Store, social events, or meeting new people. This process made me very comfortable with any place and my acceptability of uncertainties increased.

I met many people and formed connections for life. I, no longer, hesitated to start a conversation, no matter how small it was, and those small conversations peaked up their momentum to some deeper discussions that I always craved for.

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I feel that all those experiences, that I was exposed to because of God’s plans for my life, evolved me into a more mature and adaptable person.

I consider myself an Introvert for an Indian Society and an Extrovert for a European Society.

Sometimes, it becomes a little challenging to define my true nature.

That’s because I feel that I’m continuously evolving and the answer to this question, say, after 5 years, will come out to be completely different than what it is today.

Till then, I let myself be completely soaked in the experiences of life.

Source: BlogChatter

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Swati Sarangi

27.11.2024

 

  I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025 

#561 NIGHT sky & a shooting star

  Night Sky and a Shooting Star

Source: BlogChatter

I saw a shooting star
I closed my eyes and prayed hard,
To get back what I lost, 
The grief of which just can’t be told,
Fireflies are like stars on ground, 
Bright, tiny, or round?

Immersing myself in a love
That I had never felt before,
How blessed my life seemed to be,
Just a few days before,
They say, “It’s a divine plan.”
I wish I could at least ban(it).

The hope that the night sky gave
Like a million memories to save
Moments are like stars on mind,
They come and go when they can
All I imagined was a parallel Universe,
Happy feelings but with tears.

A Universe where I can enter,
To witness everything happening
At the time, when it couldn’t 
Happen in the world I live in
Soaked up in the aura of gratitude,
I chose my present, to continue.

If you can read between these lines,
You’re so empathetic
‘Cause that might not seem so easy,
As it’s so cryptic in reality,
Could the reason for my grief be unveiled?
or something that others can feel?

I saw a shooting star,
I closed my eyes and dreamed hard,
Just met him in my dream, whom I lost
Sharing moments of immense love
That heals my heart a bit more,
The closure that I was looking for.

Source: BlogChatter

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Swati Sarangi

07.04.2025

  I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025 

#560 ULTIMATE Truth of Life - Death

 Ultimate truth of life – Death

Source: BlogChatter

As the title suggests, the ultimate truth of life is death. It is inevitable or unavoidable. It is said that life and death are the two sides of the same coin. We have no control over them.  

Death is the topic that I’ve neither written anything about nor would like to write but something unfortunate happened recently in my life. It takes courage to touch such a sensitive topic, perhaps I didn’t have that courage earlier. I am trying to share my realization from such an incident.

It completely altered my perception of life, having observed death so closely, recently. I had never imagined the intensity of grief that would follow the aftermath, and I would struggle to move on.

Writing has been an important part of my healing process. So, I am writing on topics that are running through my mind, which I would’ve hesitated to write about, earlier. For someone like me who writes about inspiration, hope, or optimism, discussing death is something so contrasting but how can I write about happiness while dealing with gloom in my heart?

For most people, death represents loss, rare are those who think of it as a way of liberation; liberation from this materialistic world or physical body that’s subjected to decay due to time and disease. I believe in rebirth i.e. life after death and the one who has done enough good deeds can escape this cycle of life and death.

As many Hindu Scriptures state the purpose of life is to get salvation; Moksha which can’t be possible without facing death. So, death is a kind of exam that everyone must face whose result can be salvation for the selected ones.

Knowing the fact from the Bhagavad Gita that the soul is indestructible and gets its physical form through different bodies, gives a bit of comfort, but inviting that soul into this material world when it has the chance to attain salvation seems to be a selfish desire.

I may not frame perfect conclusions for my articles these days but it seems to be a bit struggle for me, at the moment, to elaborate beyond the will of my mind, so I have to stop here until any new idea comes up.

Source: BlogChatter

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Swati Sarangi

06.04.2025

  I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2025