Celebrations :)

Yesss, this is my moment of glory. My first 50 followers here on this blogging platform. Never scored that much ever in cricket :)

Three years ago in Sept 2016 when I published my first blog, I had never imagined I will be writing this long.

Initially, I used to write on and off but even those on and off writings were appreciated and maybe that kept me going. The knowing that yes even if not many but at least there are some who are reading my post regularly.

I enjoyed writing and for me, this served as a way of connecting with my inner self as in meditation. Yes, writing gives me that feeling of meditation where once I start writing all my energies get streamlined in one direction, and thoughts are just poured out without much thinking.

The momentum picked up since June 2019 and the frequency of writing and publishing my blog posts increased gradually. Also reading other blogs especially those from the long term and consistent bloggers motivated me.

Reading blogs of these bloggers gave me a sense of direction and it dawned on me that if I have to be here for long I needed to be consistent. So now I try to post at least two blogs in a week.

When I looked back today after seeing this badge (50 followers) I found that I have written and published 38 posts in just 3 months. My total published post count is 76 out of which one is a reblog of a fellow blogger and one of my earlier post so that actually comes to 74 posts.

From 74 posts in about three years to 38 posts in just three months is a major leap for me and this alone is enough of a reason for me to celebrate, 50 Followers badge is like a cherry on the cake :)

I take this opportunity to thank all you amazing people across all the blogging communities and platforms who took out time to read, like and share comments on my blog posts. Your support, feedback, and suggestions and encouragement has helped me come this far.

On this note, I remember the famous lines from one of the greatest poets of our Indian film industry Majrooh Sultanpuri Sahab...

"Main Akela Hi Chala Tha

Janib-e-Manzil Magar

Log Saath Aate Gaye

Aur Caravan BantaGaya"

Humbled

Love and Gratitude

Nilesh Sharma

I am taking my blog to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa Season 4 organized by #BlogChatter as #nilesharmaawrites :)

From My Diary- Choices I made ~ #5

In this series, I am sharing the choices I made as far as my professional life goes.

Why I took up my 1st job at the age of 17 is answered in my earlier post  "From My Diary - Choices I made ~ #1" and then why I moved on to my 2nd one and why I left that can be read here >>. "From My Diary - Choices I made ~ #2" 

My journey onto becoming Self-employed could be read here "From My Diary - The Choices I made ~ #3" and From My Diary- Choices I made ~ #4

2009 was the times of turbulence and because of the troubles at my personal front, I was finding it hard to concentrate on my work. As a financial advisor especially as a planner concentration and focus is very imperative. And this is where I was having difficulties.

No amount of talking or discussing was helping me and eventually, after trying hard overcoming it, I decided to take a sabbatical from financial planning.

I went to all my then clients and expressed my incapability of managing their portfolio at least till the time I recover from what I was going through.

Many of my clients told me that this is my biggest mistake and that it will be too late if I do not change my decision. I had an idea what I was about to lose, yet I found it to give in to something for which my heart did not allow.

Very few understood me and pledged their support and stood with me. I told them that I may not be able to advise them on any new investments but I will service whatever I have done till now. They said okay and remained with me.

Now that I was no more advising and had lost a good chunk of my clientele income needed to be compensated.

In my working with clients in financial planning, I had helped a few with buying and investing in real estate. Because of my people's skill, I had also managed to stay in touch with few brokers. After some thinking, I ventured into real estate. My work helped me see most of Thane so I had a good idea about localities and the price range for most of them.

The most important factor being there was no long term commitment. Once a deal is done very little was left to do. Slowly and steadily I learned the finer details of this new business and was doing okay. Because of good work I started getting referrals and there was no looking back :)

Even today I do real estate business but now it is very exclusive. I only take an assignment if it comes with a recommendation. I have helped my clients buy properties in as far areas as Bangalore, Pune, and Hyderabad.

The most cherished client of mine is Mr. Amitava Banerjee. He was referred to me by his colleague when he first time-shifted to Mumbai. I helped him find exactly what he was looking for. He liked me so much so that when he was transferred to Pune he insisted that I find property for him in Pune. I did not disappoint him even this time. Now he is again in Mumbai and this new property is again something which I helped him with :)

He has already told me that he wishes to buy a house here within the next two years and I have to help him with that too :)

Such good clients and referrals coming my way I am the most happiest person :)

My sabbatical from financial planning lasted for about 4 years. Now I am back into financial planning and all my clients who stood with me in my turbulent times are still with me and most them say we knew you would come back :)

Financial planning is your forte and you are good at it, you should have never left it. All I can say is each phase comes with its blessings. The lessons I learned passing through that phase taught me one of the most important lessons.

What was that lesson and what price I paid to learn that is something which I will share soon. Stay tuned for one more post on this series "From My Diary - Choices I made #6"

"From My Diary - Choices I made #6" I will share about various other short term jobs I did and what each of it taught me.
Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my story. If you have something similar experience and wish to share your story with me do write to me at "nilesharma@gmail.com" I will be happy to read and respond to it.

Happy Day :)

With this post, I am taking my blog to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa Season 4 as #nilesharmaawrites for #BlogChatter

Ever-expanding horizons

I started blogging in September 2016, and then I had no idea what to expect. But then I also live by the philosophy of doing things without expectations. And as always the rewards I reaped were beyond imagination.

My journey to blogging started with blogger (blog-spot). I used to write posts as and when I felt like and that's it. I hardly read posts from any other bloggers. This continued for a long time. Writing brought a sense of fulfillment to me and so I focussed more on it. But then as they say to be a good writer you first have to be a good reader. So I started exploring the web to find other bloggers and what they write.

It was then that I came across IndiBlogger. I found that this is where most of the bloggers upload their content. I registered my self on IndiBlogger and started submitting my posts here. My blog's viewership reached out to more people. They read my posts and shared their thoughts. This gave me the opportunity to visit their sites and read their content.

I discovered that many of them used WordPress instead of blog-spot. I created my account on WordPress and did some experimenting before I migrated from blog-spot to WordPress.
The transition was good and more rewarding. With Indiblogger I could only read Indian bloggers content but WordPress gave me exposure to the global audience :)

Add caption

As reading increased newer discoveries came along and one such was BlogChatter. BlogChatter became my platform for Book Reviews. I have written two book reviews so far and this led to the addition of one more category to my blog "Reviews".

Here is the link to the Book Reviews I have written for BlogChatter "Book Review Program"

Book Review~ Missing Presumed Dead (Kiran Manral)

Book Review~ NOBODY'S CHILD (Kanchana Banerjee)

One of my well-wishers asked if I would be interested in participating in #MyFriendAlexa Season 4 campaign. I asked what it is all about and she explained to me all about it. I enrolled for the campaign and voila am I happy :)

Source~ Google Images

Why???

In addition to the blogs I follow now I am also able to read at least 8 more new blogs about which I had no idea. So yes I am now reading much more than I used to do earlier. Making news friends sharing notes and suggestions. This community has given me so much more and is helping me learn more and know more about so many things.

My gratitude and thanks to all of you who have supported and motivated me to write more. Special thanks to all who have helped me improvise my writing skills and language and for suggesting tools to keep in check grammatical mistakes. Aesthetics of this blog site could also be enhanced only because of keen observation and constructive feedback from one fellow blogger and for this, I will ever remain grateful.

Blogging has not only helped me share my experience but has also enriched me from the collective experience of all the fellow bloggers who share their stories and work.

I intend to take my blog to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa Season 4 organized by #BlogChatter

Teacher's day Special

Source~ Google Images

Today on this special day I wish to share with you all various teachers who taught me one thing or the other, and touched and transformed me to become what I am as of today.

First and foremost is without saying my Parents, who were instrumental in bringing me into this beautiful world. The value systems they passed on to us (me and my siblings) we are now passing on to ours. The love and respect towards each being is something which forms the core of their teachings.

Teachers from school and colleges had their own role to play.

The most I learned in my former years of career is from is my Boss Mr. Kailash Nath Sharma, he taught me things very invaluable which helps me even today, and helped me survive in toughest of times.

Through my childhood friend I learned the most important and the most difficult lesson that which most find difficult even today to implement and practice and that is "LET GO"

From my dearest and best friend, I learned the art of not giving in to temptations.

My ex was instrumental (indirectly though) in teaching me the importance of compartmentalization in my case keeping personal and professional life totally separate, irrespective of whatever the circumstance and challenges life throws at me.

Positive and long term benefits of the ethics and principles in business came from the insights of my ex- LIC mentor Mr. Deepak D Sawant.

The true meaning of the phrase 'Knowledge is Wealth", 'I think therefore I am", "Its never too late", "There is no age to learning" and many more was shared to me by my dear friend, guide, philosopher, mentor, Guru, Mr. Krishnan Raman Vedant. We met in 2001 for the first time and even to this very day he enriches me with his wisdom and knowledge.

These as mentioned above are some of the most important people in my life who played a very significant role in my life and shaped me into the person that I am now.

Then there are so many more with whom I crossed the path and they either learned something from me or managed to teach me a few things.

Then there are few lessons which no one can teach us but only comes from the mistakes we commit and these my friends is something worth living and cherishing all our lives.

Time as they say teaches us all that we need and being in tune with mother nature only adds to the learning. 

I think of me as a humble "Student of Life' and today by way of this post on this special day I am paying my tribute and gratitude to all who touched and shaped me in this life journey so far.

Thank you all for being a part of me and my journey.

I am taking my blog to the next level with #MyFriendAlexa Season 4 a campaign organized by #BlogChatter as #nilesharmaawrites

Until then...

Let days of togetherness

And all the beautiful moments

Once you shared

Serve as fond memories

From what you had.

And the pain and heartache

They gifted you

Be the learning lessons

From the journey

In your search ahead.

Let no amount of setbacks

Crush your dream of love

Love will come finding you,

The one you truly deserve,

If and only if

“YOU”

Believe in Love.

Until then

Just hang in there

"May ALL have"

Today I had a meeting with one of my recently acquired client. As we were discussing and working on our agenda she received an important phone call which she had to attend to.

Since the call was taking long, I started looking at the kind of books she read, and it was then that I saw a frame in one of the corner racks just behind the Ganesh Idol. On a deeper observation I realized that their were some words, she had got framed and kept there.

It was at some distance so I could not read clearly (or may be my eye sight is getting weak), so as soon as she finished her call, I asked her if I can see that frame closely. She turned her office chair around reached out to the frame and handed it to me.

I read the whole thing and found some greatly profound words. I could not stop myself from asking a copy of it. She gladly obliged. I asked her if they were her own words, to which she said NO, she got her copy from her boss for whom she used to work in the early days of her career. So I could not find who wrote these words :(

If any of you have any idea , kindly share with me in the comments section or on my social media account.

Sharing with you all the "GOLDEN" words, copy of which I acquired from my client and she from her boss.

It is only because someone cared to share it at some point of time  with somebody and the circle grew. Since my client cared to share with me this today, I am just continuing the tradition.

I take this great opportunity to share if further with you all. If you resonate the same feeling, then my humble request to you is this >>> please play your part and let the circle of sharing grow and  go on and on, forever and ever.

The copy I received was a black and white print, so I tried my bit to enhance it further by adding colors which came to my imagination with every sentence I read.

I love sharing, do you too ?

Happy Life !!!

Nature's Jewels- The Orchid flower

As you all know I have a love for photography too. Although not with a professional camera but every now and then when I see something pleasing which makes me happy and smile I capture them on my smart phone camera.

I love nature and have shared some snaps from nature in my earlier posts. If you have missed them below is the list and links for my earlier posts on nature photography:

Sun Soaked Leaf

Amazingly Beautiful Skyline

Rain 'N" Clouds

On A Rainy Day Along The Creek

Invisible Butterfly

Today I am sharing with you the pic of an orchid flower from the gardens of one of my family friends with whom I stayed for two days during my road trip. They live at Pallakad in Kerala, India.

Orchid Flower

Isn't it a lovely and beautiful sight? Something that brings smile on your face :)

The Green stem is the slender body and the arms adorns the white flower signifying purity, and the buds represent a new life in progression. The subtle pink shade giving the impression that having known that I was admiring its beauty the flower seemed blushing, aware of the fact that there before her is someone who admires beauty. 

Yes or no?

If not let this pic and post be your reason to smile and acknowledge yourself for being the beautiful person you all are.

Beauty is all around us be it in stars, or in skies, flowers or birds, oceans and waterfall, people and their souls. Just put on the lens and look for the miracles unraveling itself everywhere.

Happy Day :)

Don't loose yourself, while pleasing others

Relationships are meant to help us grow and enjoy the company of the person with whom we are. The one where the involved person's are in a happy space and look forward to spend good time together. Isn't it?

And here I am not referring to any one particular sort of a relationship, I am talking about all kinds of them, that as a couple, or  friends, with siblings, and parents, your clients, colleagues etc...

Well it does not always happen that way, right?

Generally I am a happy go lucky person and believe in having meaningful and long term relationships and associations, yet their were instances where I had to turn harsh to the extent of being rude and let go of the person I once liked and was fond of.

Why I am writing about this ?

Well because often I see people doing more harm to themselves, trying to be nice and pleasing when they are suffering and in immense pain inside.

And why so ? So that they are looked upon as being a good person who care.

It makes no sense to be in such a relationship which is only doing more harm to you then good.

Source- Google Images

 I remember cutting myself loose of some people whom I had known for some time and even several years, one to the extent of almost 35 years of my life.

The person in question was someone I had known all my life and although she never did or intended to do any harm to me, but her pessimism and negativity was taking toll on my emotional well being.

I always patiently listened to her problems whenever she discussed it with me, and gave her solutions as to how she can do certain things in order to overcome them. I constantly tried to motivate and inspire her by citing examples of other people in similar or worst situations, but then came a time when all she wanted to see and talk about was negativity.

Finally one day I told her on her face, your negative approach towards life is not going to help you, but you comparing our situations ( I was also going through some tough times myself then) and blaming destiny and all is affecting me and I do not want to be party to this any more. If you can not stop doing that I will have no option but to tell this that "Please do not call me ever again"

It was that day and till this day,  I never heard from her nor did I called or asked about her to the people known to us.

Source- Google Images

Yes, it is not good to break any relation but if it becomes a threat to our sanity and leads you to depression and becomes an emotional burden then its always better to drop the baggage and walk off.

I never thought ill of the people with whom I cut off and I will never ever do that, its just that now I will never go back to them and its better this way.

If you have something similar to share please write to me I would love to read your stories.

Happy Friendship Day

Source - Google Images

We are all busy with so much in life that seldom do we find time to unwind or connect with our friends.

My close friends are from my college and school days. Few I made in the course of time while working. Most of them are married and are working 6 days a week. And since we all stay at different locations within the same city, so coming together makes it all the more difficult.

But then these are also the kind of friends who have seen me and been with me for most part of my life, so even if we rarely talk or might meet only occasionally it does not make much of a difference.
What remains important is that when we connect, we start from where we left and the time lapse just vanishes.

Today on this special day, I  called most of them to wish them "Happy Friendship Day" either over phone or text message and email :)

Did you wish 'Happy Friendship Day"?

Book Review: "Missing, Presumed Dead" by Kiran Manral

Book Review by Nilesh Sharma

As much as I love reading books, there are some books which leave an impression and even when the read is over the mind still stays glued to it, and the characters within the story.

Kiran Manral's book "Missing, Presumed Dead" is one such book, which left me thinking for a long time. It's a Mystery thriller, categorized as "Fiction" series and is published by "Amaryllis" (An imprint of Manjul Publishing House Pvt. Ltd)

To begin with, the 'Cover page' of the book itself is quite interesting. A female face revealing only the lips and nose overshadowed by the valley and trees. It gives the hint that the story is about a female who probably lives in fear and isolation.

The book is written in two parts :
"Book 1" reveals the story of "Aisha" the mentally disturbed mother and a wife who has suicidal tendencies.
"Book 2" gives way to  her husband "Prithvi" who is an academician working on a private project for a US based organization who has opted to stay in small Himalayan town away from city hustle bustle.

Aisha and Prithvi were in love who gets married and have two kids, elder daughter "Maya" and a younger son "Aryan"

The trouble starts in their marriage more after the birth of Aryan and this makes the plot of this Novel.

The distance between them grows to an extent that their relationship has come to a stage where Aisha wants to flee with her children to some far off place where she could not be found. Prithvi too is sick of Aisha and wants to get rid of her.

"Heer" Aisha's half sister (her father's illegitimate daughter) whom she had never seen before, arrives one day all of a sudden at her house, which is located far from town in isolation.
It was raining and the weather too bad, but Aisha needs to go to town to collect her package. Road leading to town is closed and she can go no further unless she march on foot.

"Daljeet" who is in the town for work sees Aisha and offers help by driving her to town in his SUV.
The weather makes it impossible for Aisha to return home, and she stays with Daljeet in his summer home which is a closely guarded mansion.

Daljeet is a divorcee and Aisha a vulnerable woman, two broken hearts reach out to each other. A perfect setting for two strangers who will never see each other again, leads to series of steaming sex.
But little did Aisha knew what she was getting into, until the day she found herself confined to a dark and isolated out house.

Heer in Aisha's absence takes charge of the house, and kids and most importantly Prithvi.
From the time Prithvi lay her eyes on Heer he wanted her. Aisha's absence made it all the more easier for him.

A local shepherd finds Aisha's wallet lying on the road where the bridge was broken, with a suicide note in it and hands it over to the Police. Inspector SD Pant calls Prithvi enquiring about Aisha.
The story takes a new turn, now that Aisha is declared "Missing, Presumed Dead" by the police.
There is an ancestral Kothi and other properties which belonged to Aisha. Prithvi wanted to sell it earlier but Aisha was against the idea.

The plot gets so intriguing that as I kept reading further and as new facts revealed themselves I kept wondering, and tried fitting the pieces together ( in my mind) as in jigsaw puzzle and kept asking myself, what next? The characters and their behavior is very unpredictable, and kept me hooked to the book. I finished book in one go with little breaks.

Only when you will read the book will you unfold the mystery which will keep you spell bound in a way you won't even imagine...What was Heer's motive, why did she come all of a sudden to Aisha's house? Why Prithvi kept his family out of town? What happened to Aisha? Was she really dead or managed to put her plan into action? Why was Daljeet in town, and was it just a coincidence or a well laid plan to bump into Aisha? 

Kiran Manral's book will keep you hooked till the last page, the suspense keeps building as you progress reading to find out more. Well defined characters, with intricate details of their surroundings and locations and a gripping story, is what you will come across.

The writing is elegant (with some heavy words) and I enjoyed reading this riveting book thoroughly (all 260 pages of it)

My rating for the book is good 4/5 and I strongly recommend that you read this book.

Order your copy now at Amazon and do share your reading experience. 

P.S: This book review was part of "Blogchatter" 'Book Review Program' 

To each his own...

Have you ever been in a situation where you have been advised not to do a particular thing and yet you ended up doing just the opposite?

I bet we all have, Isn't it?

Wisdom of knowledge is all around us and has been passed onto us from centuries to centuries, generations to generations, and yet seldom do we take it.

At least I have not taken them at their face value, but had to conclude at some point or other and agree to the wise words only when it passed through my personnel experience.

There have been so many instances where-in, either I have advised some and then there were times when I received some.

Over a period of time I have realized that it's best not to offer any advise (even if asked), instead be there as a support for the person who entrusted you with their concern.

I have come across very few people who are wise enough to not commit any mistakes, they believe in learning from others.

But then these same people have missed out on the experience which otherwise could have changed the course of direction of their life.

For instance, I know of this one person who never entered into any relationship neither did he marry, all because he has seen too many unhappy couples either suffering in their respective marriages or had decided to stay separated or got divorced.

Agreed there is no sure shot chances that all the relationships, be a marriage or live-in or the one in the making  will end up as an ideal one, the one which can be referred to as "Marriages made in Heaven!! 

We all wish to live a Happy, joyful and fulfilling life full of smiles, but then how will one know Happiness without experiencing the pain.

Pain and pleasure are like two sides of the same coin, one cannot exist without the other.

[caption id="attachment_398" align="alignnone" width="960"] Image Source - Pixabay[/caption]

We humans as creations, have been blessed with the sensibilities to feel  different kinds of emotions. The experience of all of them is vital for our growth and thus in bringing balance in our life. Isn't that what all the great saints, and yogis and enlightened ones have devoted there whole life to teach us.

But then again, as the title goes "To each his/her Own"...

You need to be an experiencer, only then will you fathom the crux of what our predecessors had passed on to us. Such is the circle of life, it goes on and on...

I am playing my part and doing my bit

I would love to read your comments and thoughts, please write to  me or email me at "nilesharma@gmail.com" and I surely will reply

Stay tuned (follow/ subscribe) for more

Happy Day, Happy Life:)

Who First ??

Me First!!!

It took me a long time to realize that this is possibly the only approach to embrace life in order to stay happy. 

I may sound selfish here, but then I need to be. 

Who is responsible for your well being and happiness if not you?

So yes, I am selfish

Like many of you, in my earlier days I too was a carefree and merry go lucky person, who found it difficult to say NO and believed in pleasing everyone.

When you have good intentions and wants to help everyone, usually people start taking you for granted. And most of the time the people who take you for ride are your near and dear ones. 

Then comes a time when you reach a point and you say enough is enough. 

All of a sudden you start saying NO more often then YES. People around you find it difficult to understand this new version of you.

As long as you were saying YES and agreed to do things there way things were fine, the moment you started saying NO and went into rebellion mode you became a problem or a threat. 

But then soon you realize that this too is not the perfectly right approach. 

So what is the right approach?

This is the time when you go into self introspection mode ( I did ), if you truly wish to seek the answers to what went wrong. 

Soon you get enlightened and understand that it is not because of others that you suffered, it was all because of you. 

From this point on you take charge of your life and the greatest revelation of this life dawns on you.

And what is this grand revelation???

"Balance"

Yes balance it is.

And this lets you learn and cultivate the art of saying YES when you truly want to say yes, and NO when it is absolute necessary to say so. 

I have learned a lot from mother nature, as even there you see how beautifully life is balanced by nature amongst the five elements viz Fire, Earth, Air, Water & Ether.

Any imbalance any one leads to natural calamity and destruction. That is the way of mother nature to bring back the equilibrium and such is our's. After all we are part of this divine creation.

Ever since I understood the power of this mystical wonder, my life changed and it changed for good :)

One other thing which I have made my life philosophy and have learned from our life cycle which I practice every moment of my existence is in the following order.

First comes "ME" then my "FAMILY" followed by "FRIENDS" and the last one in the order of priority is "WORK"

Why the above?

Well you will agree that only after YOU are born, does your FAMILY becomes relevant, then as you grow FRIENDS come in and then comes the necessity to WORK in order to make money 

to buy comfort and convenience. Isn't it so???

Whether you agree with me or have difference of opinion it does not matter, all that matters is you find your way of creating a balance in your life, 

I would love and appreciate if you take time out to drop your insights and comments.

Happy day, Happy LIFE!!!

"Insecurities and Possessiveness"

Today I am finding it very difficult to find the words for the feelings and emotions that I want to express, yet I can not stop myself from giving up on writing this post. So here it ....

I want to start with a question?

Do you have a spouse or are you in a relationship where one of the spouse is so in-secured and or possessive that he/ she won't let you have relationship outside the family???

I guess there are many....

In arranged marriages it is quite possible that you never got the chance to learn about this aspect of your spouse before your marriage, but I guess in love marriages you spend enough time with your partner in knowing them before you take the plunge.

One of the mistakes which most of the couples in love do is that they think I will change him/ her my way or things will change after the marriage. Does it???

I had an arranged marriage and my would be wife came from a very conservative family. 

I would not say I belonged to a progressive thinking family, but yes my parents were I guess open minded. May be that is the reason we never felt that it was inappropriate to have friends of the opposite sex, because we were never told not to speak or make friends with opposite sex. 

For us friend is a friend male or female doesn't matter as long as you know where to draw the line.

All my life I have had friends from both the sexes coming to my house, but that got significantly reduced after my marriage and I guess you all know why???

After few months into marriage my then wife asked me if I ever had a girlfriend before marriage. The answer was NO because I never had one. It does not mean I did not wanted to have one, it was just that the girl I was interested in was not interested in me :)))) 

The other question she asked me after this was a googly, she asked Will you remarry if I die???

Hard one wasn't it??? 

I tried to dodge that one and tried to change the topic, I mean I never thought about it and here she was hell bent on getting the answer, so after thinking for a while I did answer her.

She got me sweared and wanted an honest answer, which I gave her. 

It was YES, why not? 

I guess this was the first hint she threw about how possessive she was which eventually showed its face after few years into marriage. 

As mentioned already that I had friends from both the genders whom I continued meeting outside of house.

Of these one was my female friend whom I had known since we were kids and hence we gelled well. I would go to the extent of saying she is my soulmate. Before you jump to any conclusions read my post >>>"Soulmate"

She did not approved of my keeping any ties with her, may be because she was single (she still is) and I did not take her advise. 

According to my limited knowledge the foundation of a successful and happy marriage are  based on four key things. To know what they are as per me please also read "Marriages are made in HEAVEN"

Source: https://asriran.info/lists/b/broken-mirror-reflection-wallpaper/

I did not break my friendship to save my marriage. 

I am not seeking any endorsements from you for the decision I took, but yes one thing I wish to ask you all reading this mail is this... Why should any or both the partner expect that there should be no one else in your respective partners life while dating or after marriage? And by this I am not referring or promoting extra marital affair or adultery. 

What harm in having a platonic friend. Is it that difficult a fact to digest or do you belive that such kind of friendship's do not exist? 

If you are possessive as a partner or are in-secured about your relationship it's time you ask some tough questions to yourself and to each other.

Above all if you find it difficult to trust your partner despite all their assurances which actually may be true, then I guess it will be wise of you to "LET GO" off one of these two, your INSECURITIES or your PARTNER

Not all relationships have Happy endings but each one of us is empowered to make a choice of living a Happy life.

How??? go figure out..

I shared my story as I think there are many out there who either had gone through the same experience or are going as you are reading this.

What did you do or what do you think you want or wanted to do? share your thoughts or ask me if you want to know from my insights.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post is solely mine and the sharing is from my personal experience and is not to be construed as a PROFESSIONAL ADVICE 

Book Review: 26 Days 26 Ways for a happier You (Priyanka Nair)

Book Review

Cover Page of the E-Book

Book Name: 26 Days 26 Ways for a happier you (An A to Z guide to Self- Help and Self - Awareness)
Author: Priyanka Nair
Genre: Self help
Pages: 72

Review: 
The book offers its reader a chance to amend the ways of dealing with self, people, relationships and our emotions.

As the name goes the book offers 26 insights into various aspects of life which affect our mental health, relationships and  above all our self esteem and confidence.

Topics like Acceptance, Letting go, Negativity, Stop Pleasing and many more which often some find difficult to overcome are beautifully dealt with and written about.

The Book not only talks about the issues but also gives practically tried and tested solutions as it comes from Priyanka's (Author) own life experiences.

At several instances Priyanka has very beautifully used idioms and quotes to put her point and perspective across for the readers.

The easy flow of words and simple language makes it a smooth read powered with loads of impact.

I have been through the same set of experiences and learned a lot from my own experience, back then knowledge by way of internet and social media was not within reach of most as can be seen now.

This E- book can be your source of learning and inspiration to avoid the pitfalls and/ or come out of them using Priyanka's Wisdom as a guiding star someone else's Wisdom force.

Why read this book?
Each day brings with it challenges and opportunities, but seldom do all focus only on opportunities. Instead all the attention stays on the hardships and the struggle that each  life comes with. We all have a choice to to design our destiny. I have shared one such in my earlier post "From My Diary- Choices I made ~ #1

This book offers you all the simple key to unlock the gates of opportunities and perspective you never might have thought of. This book comes handy by way of its 26 ways to take charge of your life and design your own destiny the way you always wanted.

About Author:
Priyanka Nair is a full time blogger and a Vlogger now. Before venturing into the world of blogging which according to her is her "Happy Space" she worked with various multinationals for over eight years.

Priyanka battled with depression during her critical illness and it was during those days she got the time to introspect and analyse her life and then decided to take charge of herself and had to take some tough decisions to make amends in her life and come out as a survivor.

From her interactions on people through her blogs Priyanka realzed that their are lot of people who are in the same boat as she once was in, so she actively started sharing her story and this helped people thus contributing towards the betterment of people and society in general.

She got so involved that she got motivated to acquire a skill set in tthe field of Mental awareness that Priyanka is now also pursuing her Doctorate in Pscychology.

To know more and connect with Priyanka choose your preferred medium from any one or all of the below:

Blog: https://priyankaspen.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VirtualSiyahi/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VirtualSiyahi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtual_siyahi/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/priyanka2323

Rush and get in touch NOW with Priyanka Nair to grab your free copy of her e-Book "26 Days 26 Ways for happier you" (limited period offer)

Do read her book and share your feedback and comments with us. If you like it please share and subscribe for more

Happy day :)

Strange Journey with a Stranger...

Daily walks is one of my favorite rituals. Earlier I used walk in the vicinity of my residential complex, but now I go out on the roads often changing routes. This way I get to see more of my town. The new happenings and the changes taking place.
I had to buy something for the dinner and so I went by walking. The distance back home is about 4.5 Kms. As everyday today also I went out for a walk a while ago. But today it made me feel special !!!
So what was so special about today?
Well it was nothing much if you think, yet a deeper pondering will surely help you resonate with my perspective.
As I was returning back after the purchase and was only about 750 meters away from my house, an auto rickshaw stopped by and asked me to hop on. I said no it was okay and that my house is at a very close distance.
The good soul auto driver still insisted that I sit in and that he will drop me wherever I ask him to. This was a very kind gesture and I did not wanted to disappoint him. I saw the goodness in him and the way he spoke, saying no to him would have meant I am saying no to goodness and kindness of humanity, so I sat in.
It was barely a two minutes ride, yet we managed to exchange few words. The commonality we found was that we both had the same native.
He called me 'Maharaj" a very pious word commonly used for the spiritual and enlightened souls, and called himself a "Bhakt" (a Devotee)
"I do not know what he saw in me, whether it was something in my appearance or something beyond... "
I got down and we both bid good bye with folding hands to each other and a smile on our faces :)
In those very brief moments, we did make a connect, that of mutual trust and respect and one of Love for mankind. This small yet uncommon incident instills my faith in humanity and belief that goodness is all around us, all we need to do is keep ourselves with both our heart and mind open.
If you too have experienced such wonderful moments, I ask you to please share them, I will be happy to know more.
Thank you so much for reading this post. If you liked reading this article please share with others. Happy Day :)

My friend is also my new teacher...

Meeting friends after a long time is always fun, isn't it ?

But if they add some value to what you are doing it makes the meeting even better :)

Today was one such day...

A very good friend of mine came down to Mumbai today. He called me and asked if I was in...

I did not have much to do and so when he called in asking about my plans for the day , I immediately asked him to come down to my place.

He came and we caught up on several things. 

He loves trekking and travel and has passion for it, and hence started his own venture and is now doing what he loves doing the most. Yes he too is now doing what I do, following one's passion. The movie #3idiots is my all time favorite and I learned some very good and important lessons for life after watching it, following my passion being one of them. 

My friend is an events organizer at Hyderabad Trekking Club -HTC and does off site programs for corporate clients and also for individuals in small groups on weekends in and around Hyderabad.

Having known this, I asked him how is he managing to get the crowd and all....

Although he had a bus to catch in about two hours, he was kind enough to share with me his learning's. I am very grateful of him for doing that.

In very simple way and just few minutes he showed me how he created his facebook page and promotes it. He gave me a tutorial on this and that helped me in understanding the basic idea behind creating the page and how it helps get a bigger audience :)

He also shared with me his other social media presence where he can be found and he was all over, and now I know his twitter handle is @itzmesrikanth , and click here >>> for his Instagram where he shares the photographs from his travels and events.

I was always media shy, so much so that I do not like posting even my own pics anywhere on social media or in personal collections of even my friends and families.

I started writing as a hobby and it turned into passion which I pursued and this resulted in my writing blog posts. Initially my audience were limited to my few friends and clients through whatsapp, but very recently I did took to social media platform.

I try to share my experience and learning's and want to help others in the situations who find themselves where at some time in life I was in, and the things I did to sail through them and emerge out as a better and wiser and stronger individual. The things which worked for me may or may not work for all but it will give the readers a certain direction to move forward.

So in order to reach out to a larger audience I took to social media and now I have my facebook account and have created a twitter handle too :)

Today my friend helped me with how to create a facebook page tutorial so that I can reach out to even wider audience globally. So yes, do not be surprised if soon you receive note from me about my new facebook page :)

But I first need to do some more researching and exploring and experimenting before I finally launch it.

Keeping oneself open to new learning's not only expands our spectrum but also is a great adventure and fun. And in doing so I can see the child in me again who is ever curios and excited to know more.

The journey so far was very exciting and fun, and I look forward for much more adventure and new learning's as I travel this path of life with you all as my fellow traveler's and companions :)

Please leave your comments on this page before leaving this page :) Thank you so much for reading this post and even bigger thank you for sharing this post with your folks.

P.S : Do watch this video in case you want to find out how to figure out your calling. I loved seeing this video.

Source: Priya Kumar youtube channel

#Studentoflife #friends #love #teacher

Marriages are made in HEAVEN !!!

I have often heard the saying ‘MARRIAGES ARE MADE IN HEAVEN’ have you too??? Yes.

And if this statement is as true as it is meant to be, then why do people tie the Knot here on Earth???? 

Probably because it is the norm of the society. Everybody is getting married so I should too, right? 

Well I don’t agree. You may ask me why? It is because I have my own reasons to say so and if you want to know what makes me think so, then please continue reading…..

I am always interested in learning and understanding about lot of subjects and things of which I know nothing and the ones I am particularly interested in. So I ask questions sometimes to myself sometimes to others, and sometimes observing from nature all around us. 

The questions I asked with regard to Marriage are as below:

Who created this norm? The obvious answer was us the humans.

So why was this institution created? Probably because we were moving towards civilization, and civilized beings like to have things in order, or else what will be difference between humans and animal’s right?

Okay got it so far, so what is a marriage? This I asked to people, some friends, relatives, colleagues and likes in general. Almost everybody except me seemed to know the answer.

Some said marriage is a bond where two strangers come together and decide to spend rest of their lives together. Stay together take care of each other in good and bad, rich and poor, health and suffering and so many more things, the more I asked more were their opinions. Good, so what are the core ingredients of a marriage? Again the unanimous answer mostly came down to the following four things:

LOVE, TRUST, UNDERSTANDING and RESPECT.

Wow, now this is a sure shot recipe for a successful marriage and it sounds so right and logical too, isn’t it? So, my next question was, if people already know so much about marriage, then why are most of the couples not happy??? Why do I see so many sad faces of married people? Why are they not happy? Why are divorce rates going up? Why families end up as a broken family…..Why??? This is one side. But on the other side I also see some happy families too, very happy in fact. And when I look at them I feel as if they are made for each other. And looking at these kind of families and marriages, I understand the meaning of the saying “MARRIAGES ARE MADE IN HEAVEN”

So what is it that these people are doing differently which others are not because of which some are

happy and most of them not ??? Listed below are my observations, let me know yours:

When I observed closely, this is what I found common, in all the Happy Marriages. And it all works on the same four ingredients which I mentioned earlier. 

Each of the partner LOVES each other unconditionally, So LOVE is…

They TRUST their partner completely and support their every decisions even if sometimes they do not agree with them. They understand each other so well emotionally, intellectually and physically that they sometimes do not even need words to convey what they want. And lastly but most importantly they RESPECT each other for what they are and treat each other as equals.

 It does not matter who is earning how much? Who has what educational qualification? And who is managing the house? Each one shares the responsibility equally.

What all these happy couples do, and have in common is the knowledge, understanding and application of all the above four basic ingredients. So in my words, I like to put it this way, LOVE, TRUST, UNDERSTANDING AND RESPECT, are the four pillars on which stands a very strong building of a relationship called MARRIAGE. At least one of the above is needed to sustain a Marriage, and if you have all of them you will be one of the happiest and the best couple, the blessed ones who are made for each other “TILL DEATH DO US PART”. Happiness Forever 