The games period I can't remember any kid in the school who didn't wait for the games period. It didn't matter how good you were at cricket or football, or if you got to bat or not. You wanted to be out there, playing. Why then are
Rest Play Rest That's what kids do. That's what pets do. They play wholeheartedly. And when they are tired, they rest. And then it's play again. Does your BodyMind feel like playing or like resting? Are you willing to listen to it?
You matter. Do any of these feel true to you? What if you allow them to? You are meant to be at peace. You did nothing wrong. You are not in trouble. You are safe. You are loved. You belong. You are matter. You matter. All psychological suffering is an illusion. It&
Taking a day off It's so hard to do when you are your own boss. When you are not, you can turn off your phone and email. But what do you do with the voice inside your own head? How do you take a break from that? What you can do is
Complete the step. Years ago, when I started learning to dance, I had all these "hell thoughts" in my head... You can't dance. You are a pain to watch. Why are you making your teacher bear this? Why don't you just quit? My teacher saw me do
The gift of 'no'. Saying no doesn't look like a gift. And, for sure, it doesn't feel like one. Because it's hard to say no, we say yes. Or stay silent. Even when we don't want to. We put saying no off for later. For a
The realists. “Often, the person in the group who articulates the possible is dismissed as a dreamer or as a Pollyanna persisting in a simplistic “glass half-full” kind of optimism. The naysayers pride themselves on their supposed realism. However, it is actually the people who see the glass as “half-empty”
Two things at a time. It's tempting to try and do this. It feels productive (read: busy) and important. However, it usually means nothing gets done. It is also a good place to hide from the hard part - the decisions that need to be made to move things forward. As Seth says in
Living by exception. When you don't have a system, everything is an exception. It's not building towards something. It's just one thing after another. Systems work because they compound. The next thing adds onto the previous one. Things become elegant. A garden doesn't grow by
Wants to... A rested body wants to work out. A rested mind wants to create. A rested heart wants to love. You can force them to do these things. But you can't force them to want to.
The tight grip. The tighter you grip, the harder the fight back. The harder the fight back, the tighter you make the grip. What if you loosened the grip? What if you allowed yourself to breathe? Creativity thrives when there's space to move. Not in claustrophobia.
Rocket, plane or F1 car? All are designed to be fast. But you can't put an F1 car vertical and expect it to reach space. Or put a rocket horizontal to win a F1 race. Who's it for? What's it for?
Go, sleep! We might say this to a friend who's tired. But we rarely say it to ourselves. If you are feeling tired, go, sleep!
Where's the traffic? Last week, a flyover was opened up in Goa. It's right next to where I live. For the last two years, it's been under construction. We have had traffic hassles day in and day out. This road is closed. This one is jammed. And on and
"I want ice-cream" It was so simple, wasn't it? All you had to do was to say, "Mummy, I want ice-cream!" Not just that, you knew exactly which one you wanted. You trusted that if you said it, she would figure out how to get you the ice-
Space-time travel Pick a place you want to travel to or move to. Be specific. Even if you like where you currently live, pick another one. Now imagine being there in 6 months (or five years if 6 months is too close). What do you take with you? Who do you take
Mind or world? We feel the way we feel because of how the world is. The world is how it is because of how we are feeling. One gives us agency. The other takes it away. What colour glasses are you wearing today?
In exchange for joy. What is worth exchanging joy for? Money? Sex? Status? Companionship? The predictability of the status quo? Delaying fear? The discomfort of a conversation? Without joy, nothing matters. There is nothing worth exchanging joy for.
The heart's yearning. What does your heart yearn for? This question from Martha Beck breaks through the cultural conditioning. Most of us yearn for peace, joy, love, connection, nature. Rarely, would an iPhone or a Mercedes show up as an answer to this. So, what does your heart yearn for? What tiny step
High Tide. Low Tide. Ships respect the tides. They have to. Why don't we? When the body wants rest, we push it to do more. When it wants to do more, we push it to rest. We can align with the tides instead of fighting them. When we do, the ship sails
Let's race! But why? In my swimming class today, we tried something new. Instead of focussing on the technique, posture, etc., we did a lap with a timer on. Three people go to the other end and come back and someone is measuring the time. Immediately, everything changed for me. The joy
After an accident. After an accident, the last thing on your mind should be the report you had to send. The only thing that matters is that you get back to safety. Accidents can be physical or emotional. And wounds can be physical or emotional. Just because we can't see some
At the receiving end. We feel acceptance and understanding are ways to give kindness to others. Even if they do things that aren't kind. This is not integrity. This is a way to lie to ourselves because we are too afraid to stand up for ourselves. Would you do the same unkind
Changing the weather. You might like how the weather is. Or you might not. The fact is that the weather is what the weather is. What you can do is choose what you wear or change the temperature of the room. We spend too much time trying to change the weather and too
Friday cleanup. What needs done today so that it doesn't show up in your weekend? What if you can't open your MacBook for a day? It's easy to make an exception and say it's just one email. It's hard to give yourself
