Acknowledging Progress
One month of this newsletter!
Hello from a rainy, thunderous Pune!
I hope you’re safe & well. This last week was about acknowledging progress & celebrating the process of getting there. Today’s newsletter is short & quick.
Have a nice read!
Learning & Questions for the week:
Thinking, Fast and Slow
I spoke about this book last week as well and I read deeper into it this week. If you’re planning to pick it up, give yourself time to really understand it. It is heavy, no doubt! Don’t rush through it. Here are some questions for you to ponder upon:
1) “If you can’t solve a problem, there’s an easier problem you can solve; find it.”
More often than not, our biggest problems can be solved by getting to the crux of them, identifying the smaller problems and finding necessary solutions. What big problems in your life have you not been able to get past? What are the smaller problems that you can solve to help yourself?2) “The world in our head is not a precise replica of reality; our expectations about the frequency of events are distorted by the prevalence & emotional intensity of the messages to which we are exposed.”
I’ve always maintained that the world is much better than we think it is and that people are much nicer than we give them credit. How do you look at the world?What are you doing to break out of your conditioning & the social bubble you’re in?3) “Our emotional state is largely determined by what we attend to, and we are normally focused on our current activity and immediate environment.”
It is normal to get affected (in a good or bad way) by the immediate environment we’re in or by what we’re doing. (for eg: I feel terribly unproductive when the weather is dull & grey). It is so important to do things that bring you joy & create an environment around you that fosters growth. What can you change around you to enable an environment that fosters care & growth for yourself?
I would love to have a conversation with you about everything above.
DM me on Twitter or IG!
What are you reading? Drop in suggestions!
Mental Wellbeing tip for the week:
We can get lost easily in the whirlwind of thoughts that keep us from doing what we really want to do. Mental growth happens slowly, it is a process. But taking action is at the core of this process. You want to write a book? Stop thinking about the whole story & just write a small paragraph. You want to learn a dance form? Stop thinking how to perform a whole song, just learn 1 step. Apply this to anything you want to do in your life.
Remember, fear often disguises itself as procrastination, laziness or even comfort (that you don’t want to break away from). The only way to get past this, is taking action. Don’t think about what you want to do. Do what you want to do.
Making a French friend in Hungary
KARAVÁN and Szimpla Kert are absolute must visit places if you ever get the chance to go to Budapest! Amazing food, superb atmosphere & incredible crowds from all over the world!
In the November of 2018 I travelled to Prague, Budapest & Athens - memorable destinations, all of them! I was travelling alone (which I love doing). One of the nights in Budapest, I walked across these two places and fell in love with the vibe.
I happened to meet a person from a small town in France who takes time off every year to travel to a place she has never been before. (I guess it is far more common to do that in Europe than what I’ve witnessed growing up in India at least). We spent the night talking about stereotypes about each others’ countries, what she knew about Indian culture (& movies!), the little I knew about French culture, her perception of Indians in France, and everything we could possibly find in common.
The best part I love about traveling is these short encounters which teach me so much more about the world than I’m aware of. It gives me reason to believe that people across the planet are nicer than we think of them.
Acknowledge Progress, Celebrate the Process
Let me take this space to say STOP judging yourself if you aren’t actively engaged in a physical routine or a fad “diet”. You do you!
PS.: My updates aren’t polished to look perfect. You’ll see me fail. I hope you stick by anyway!
My reflection for the week:
This week I attempted to run 10KM for the first time and managed to do it in 66:09 minutes. Some days ago I decided I want to push myself to be able to run 10km in under 60 mins by the 29th September (my birthday!).
It’s not just a goal though. I want to give myself a birthday gift of progress.
The thought behind it is not to pressure myself into achieving a particular milestone, but to look back on the process that got me close in the last couple of months.
Past two months have made me realise how much I can push myself to do. Sure, there are thousands of people better than me.
But the most important point to acknowledge is that today I am better than me a year ago. That’s the only comparison that matters!
What can you do to be a better version of yourself?
DM me on Twitter or IG!
Plant-Based Diet:
Today is not a recipe day, but I wanted to add in some links (in India) that could help you transition if you want to move to a plant-based diet some day!
Here are a few essentials in my vegan cooking lifestyle & links where you can buy:
Vegan Ghee - Regular part of my everyday cooking. Growing up in an Indian household, ghee is almost always in every meal. I replaced it with this!
Vegan Butter - EXACTLY like butter, and no milk! You can sauté, toast, grill anything you do with the regular butter.
Alternatives - A lot of vegan alternatives here that you can use to cook, bake, drink as beverages!
Websites that I browse for essentials:
Vegan Dukan, Good Mylk, Urban Platter
Remember though, these are only a small part of what I eat :D Most of my shopping happens at a local fruits & vegetable market!
Snippets from my personal thought journal
The childlike excitement in me when I saw M.S.Dhoni walk out on a cricket field again after 437 days was a definite highlight of this week! I’m a huge cricket buff. But more than anything else, this man has taught me everything I know about leadership, hard work and elements of stoicism. I’m pumped to see him play over the next 2 months!
Do you watch the IPL? Who are you supporting? Comment below or DM me on Twitter or IG!
I am grateful for you all who signed up for Project Safarnaama.
One month ago I started writing this newsletter. Is it the best out there? Surely not. But like I said above, the best way to learn & grow is to simply do. I started doing this and you all have sent amazing feedback & precious words of affirmation that make me feel humbled.
Thank you :’)
What were you grateful for in this past week? I urge you to express it.
Thank you for reading & talk to you next Sunday!
In the meantime if you like this, show some love & tell your friends! ♥️