The #DoWhatYouLove Mantra

Let’s give it a shot. Let’s close our eyes for a brief moment and envision our life with each action as a result of #DoWhatYouLove chanting in our hearts. How beautiful would it be to really manifest #DoWhatYouLove in each thought and action? A musician expressing ardent desires of his heart through his music, an artist expressing his ecstacy through his art, a poet weaving words into poems or maybe a designer designing his imagination. How wonderful would it be if each person chants the mantra of #DoWhatYouLove as a sacred song of the soul.

It amuses me to even think of a world where each individual wakes up to #DoWhatYouLove playing in his/her head or for an ‘out of the box’ thinker, the mantra dancing as alphabetical expressions. Where each individual dances his way through the day with no remorse or regret, but constant happiness. I wish and hope to see one such world some day. A world where each individual does what he/she loves the most. A world where people express their passions, needs and desires through what they love. A world without the judgments of profession, a world where passion replaces profession, a world where the joy of doing what we love replaces the anxiety of work hours, a world where interest and commitment drive your day, not money. Such a world is where I would love to live in. And guess what? I am doing what I love. I am living among people who are enchanted by the rhythm of the #DoWhatYouLove mantra as an initiative to make existence passionate. Do you wish to live in one such world too? If yes, time for you to let yourself flow to the rhythm of the #DoWhatYouLove mantra and break free of whatever holds you back from taking that one step towards doing what you really love to do.

Do what you love and not what they want,

Do what you love and break free of the bonds,

Bonds that hold you and hinder your growth

Do what you love to make existence passionate

And a world worth living, for you and I, both.

A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness.

Going beyond

Let’s go beyond what holds us back,
Let’s go beyond the definitions of the society,

Let’s topple over gender, let’s break free of the restrictions,

Let’s look beyond the horizons, Let’s jump over the oceans

Let us let love be our guide,

Let’s walk barefoot and raw on the roads of passion,

Let’s let our work be our divine offering,

to our hearts and souls and in turn to the Universe,

Let’s choose to be a gift to the world,

Let’s promise to nurture ourselves

Let’s choose to do what we love,

Let’s grow in the shade of contentment

Let’s pave a new way for morrow

Let’s not fear today or tomorrow,

Let’s pledge to grow as we go,

Let’s pledge to Go..
Beyond what stops us from being ourselves,

Beyond what seems a distress,

Beyond what shadows my rise,

Beyond the societal ‘nice’
Beyond where the horizons meet,

Beyond to the place,

where I can discover ‘ME’.

For there lies fire and bliss in you! Explore.

Author: A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness.

All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage..!

The lines, “All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage, 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery and I promise you something great will come out of it.” by Benjamin Mee, in the movie ‘We Bought a Zoo’ had me captivated for a while. It was only when I was contemplating my life, that I realized what it truly meant. While I was busy contemplating my existence and its very purpose, something in me asked me to get up, pick a diary and a pen, and write! The idea seemed insane to me as I had never really wanted to express myself through my writing, but those few seconds of (different) contemplations led me to where I am, writing a blog today!

It surprises me to look back and wonder, how just 20 seconds of insanity has shaped my life. Today, I can stand right here, dealing with all that life offers me with utmost honesty, without a pinch of stress. You know why? Because, now I have my only stress buster working for me. I have a pen and a paper to vent out each of my worries and it never seems a trouble to write anymore, because it’s what I love to do and I am doing that. As mentioned about the#DoWhatYouLove mantra in the previous blog, it seems to me that to do what you love,you require the realization of your most loved work. Once you acknowledge your ‘beloved’ work, then, spare yourself 20 seconds of insanity and wohoo! You are on a roadway to doing what you love which is a roller coaster journey that only takes you up, my friend! Cheesy? Well, love and cheesy go hand in hand, ha-ha.

As insane as it may sound, but I urge each one of you to add 20 seconds of insanity to your schedule every day and explore your potentials. Psychology says that there definitely lies latent potentials in us, which if explored, could turn into our most adored assets! I urge each one of you to go head over heels for your passion. Find your love in doing something that even if you were asked to do 24*7* for the rest of your lives, you wouldn’t get tired of. Find the insanest possibility out there, which doesn’t seem practical at all, but, once you invest 20 seconds of insane courage into doing what you love, you shall achieve heights. I urge you to take the road not taken, to go beyond whatever stops you and holds you back. I urge you to live your life by doing what doesn’t seem a tiresome job to you. With the hope of the#DoWhatYouLove cupid to hit the entire humanity soon, I sign off for tonight. Forget not, just 20 seconds!

Author: A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness.

Are you a change maker or excuse maker?

I believe that we are all surrounded by two kinds of people. The first who see the world only through their own eyes and limit others around them to see and do what they think is possible and what they think is not possible. The second are those who see the world through their own eyes but also through the eyes of others around them. They explore new possibilities and opportunities for growth and action.

Let me put this in perspective. Why I am talking about this is because everyday I come across bright, young and ambitious people with brilliant ideas to make a difference and make our world a better place. However for many of them, the biggest reason they don’t follow their heart, do what they love and get into action is that they don’t feel accepted in their family and social circle. Yes, they as individuals don’t feel accepted, not just their crazy ideas. Unfortunately for many people they perceive that this lack of acceptance is for their ‘unrealistic’ ideas, only to eventually realize that people around them were just struggling to accept them as an individual; their own unique identity.

I got reminded of this reality around me once again when I decided to watch ‘Joy’. It is a story of a struggling mother and bread earner of an American family (Jennifer Lawrence who was nominated for Oscar for best actor) who despite being a naturally creative person finds it difficult to make ends meet. This is not new for many creative people but in her case she was also good in accounting. By the end of the movie, she ends up being the inventor of more than 100 creations along with securing their patents.

Interestingly, the movie is based on the life of a real entrepreneur, Joy Mangano, who is the creator of the ‘Miracle Mop’. Joy invented a detachable, self-wringing mop and overcame significant obstacles to develop a wildly successful enterprise, first with QVC and later with the Home Shopping Network.

I read this quote as a teenager and it changed my life for the better.

Being realistic is the most common path to mediocrity. — Will Smith

The story of Joy is similar to the stories of many entrepreneurs who feel they are not accepted as individuals by their inner social circle. This extends to the rejection of their ideas and how they would like to make things better.

Like a wise man once said — First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

If you relate to this story and are struggling to find acceptance for yourself and your ideas, then I would love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts in the comments or simply drop a mail to me at kamal@humancircle.in.

#DoWhatYouLove

Kamal Seth

Founder & Chief Happiness Officer

Human Circle

http://www.humancircle.in

Happiness is not a circumstance, it’s a choice!

While the topic is a little too philosophical and I may not be able to do complete justice to it, I can completely do justice to my belief that happiness does not lie in a circumstance or a situation, it lies with me and within me.

During my teenage years, I went through a lot of ups and downs (like every teenager, really). I would depend on my friends to make me happy, I would depend on materialistic things to be happy, on my family and what not? My happiness was always in control of somebody else. I would get upset if I didn’t get anything, or somebody didn’t talk to me or behave with me the way I wanted them to. It was only a little ago, that I understood the value of ‘I’. On my journey to explore who this ‘I’ is, and how would I want to define it, the process made me become the owner of myself. The ‘I’ taught me how to take responsibility of my own emotions, thoughts, choices and feelings. The process taught me that if I want to be happy, I could be happy at any moment without depending on anyone. The ownership made me value the “I” or my own self. And now, this explored ‘I’ believes that you could do it too.

 

The above mentioned equation is a beautiful portrayal of how our happiness is indirectly proportionate to what you want. The greater the desires and longing for what you want, the lesser you value what you already have and hence, the lesser the happiness. There is an ardent need for teenagers to understand the difference between ‘wanting’ or ‘needing’ something. While researches prove that shopping does help in elevating your mood, I ask you, till how long would you want to derive momentary happiness out of the materialistic things you keep spending mindlessly upon?

In my opinion, everything ‘new’ does magic to lift up your moods. And shopping does the same to us. Each time we buy something new, we (our brain in the hypothalamus) release oxytocin. Oxytocin is the hormone of relaxation, feeling good about life, feeling whole and connected.

While many of you may consider shopping to be one of the ways to release the hormone and feel good, and an easy way of course. But just to bring clarity to the thought, it’s not shopping that releases the hormone. It’s the idea of novelty, financial independence, ownership, self reliance that comes along with shopping which help you release the hormone. The idea of dependence on shopping to feel the above mentioned things becomes a major factor which drives the retail therapy.

It’s not just shopping that we have tried to manipulate with. It’s food, sleep, outings. Ordering a pizza from Dominos on a dull day cheers you up. Sleeping and shutting the world off the world, helps you feel better. Outings with friends is also one way in which we as teenagers feel better. While it may be considered a natural behaviour, happiness coaches have observed that frequency of such behaviour rising in teenagers with each rising day. Sit back and ask why?

It’s because, we as teenagers, fear to take responsibilities. We run away from them. To check the number of whistles of the pressure cooker gives us anxiety. If such a little job makes us panic and we don’t want to do it, how about taking the responsibility of our emotions and feelings regardless of the situations? A person can choose to be as calm as a river even in the situations of turmoil. Effective management of our emotions is the key to achieve Emotional Intelligence and long lasting happiness. It’s only when you master your emotions, you’ll be the person everyone wants to be around and be the star of the show.

Signing off with a hope to have enlightened the choice of choosing your happiness and a hope to see smiling faces of each reader reading this blog. May you have an ever lasting happiness.

Author: A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness.

It’s never too late!

It’s never too late to start all over,

It’s never too late to start whenever

It’s never too late to realise your passion,

It’s never too late to get into action!

It’s never too late to choose to go for it,

It’s never too late to choose to grow for it!

Age, height, weight or distance are just numbers,

Let’s kick aside whatever it is that cumbers

I shall always be the liberated

For I shall be the liberation!

For when I choose to go for it,

Each cell in my body shall be filled with passion,

Be it a thing, an activity or a person I love

I shall always be the embodiment of devotion.

I shall pave my own way to happiness!
I shall discover true ‘success’.

I shall be the crazy one for the society!

I shall be the one exploring variety,

of ideas, thoughts and actions.

I could be the muse to music,

I could be the rhythm to dance,

I could be the taste to cooking.

I could be the knowledge to teaching,

I could be the logic to science.

I could be the innovation to art,

I could be anything under the sun,

All that matters is when,

I choose to START.

Picture Credits: Garvit Madaan, Happiness Team Member, Human Circle

Author: A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness.

A tribute to NATURE.

Picture Credits: Divyansh Madaan, Happiness team member, Human Circle

While the entire world celebrated April 22, 2016 as the Earth Day, I wondered what the point of celebration was? The planet that has given us so much has been put to trash for money. I would love to quote Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “There is always enough for everyone’s need, but never enough for anyone’s greed.”
Back in time, our ancestors would use each resource mindfully, making sure they are leaving enough of everything for the coming seven generations. It aches my heart to claim, that today’s generation doesn’t even think about tomorrow let alone, for the coming generations. And then the gen Y would say, YOLO. I do agree that you only live once, but so do others.

To our future generations, for their only chance at living, all we would have to say, would be a SORRY. It pains me to realise that our actions aim at earning more money, who itself, have a lot of leaves printed on it. The pace at we are cutting trees, polluting the oceans, destroying the planet, I don’t think there would be any place for our future generations to even exist. The blog shall not talk about the various ways in which we are ruining human habitat, but, shall talk for you to introspect.
A great sage says, an error doesn’t turn into a mistake if it’s corrected. And guess what? Each one of us knows how to correct and cut the damage being caused to our only habitat. What are we doing with it though? Nothing, I believe. The planet, on this earth day doesn’t require fancy quotations or celebrations. The planet, requires CHANGE. And trust me when I say this, if we all join hands, we can redirect destruction. The first and foremost change is to be brought in our perception of ‘progress’. We are treading on paths of self destruction which in no means suggest, development. While there are many other things that we need reformation in, the one on priority should be our choices that we make towards our environment.
I shall conclude this with a very beautiful quote by an American rapper, Richard Williams,

“We must globally warm our hearts to change the climate of our souls,

And realise that we are not apart from nature,

We are a part of nature,

And to betray nature is to betray us,

To save nature is to save us.

Because whatever you are fighting for,

Racism, poverty, feminism, gay rights or any type of equality,

It won’t matter in the least

Because if we don’t work together to save the environment,

We will all be EQUALLY EXTINCT.”

Author: A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness.

Everybody dies, but not everybody lives!

Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five”

~Benjamin Franklin

This blog owes its courtesy to another Richard Williams video that I watched the other day. It surprised me how with each word I could really relate to the things being told. I could not only introspect but I retrospected upon the fact that…. a lot of us barely live before we die. According to a survey done on ‘near to death’ men, it was reported that on asking what would they want to do if they had another life, most of them replied, they would want to live it rather than just running around for job, success or money.

THIS is the reason why I thought it was really important for us to live before the life is gone and we lay there, on our death beds, wishing for another chance at living. And so, I want to fill this blog up with all the positivity that I wish (I really do), leaves an impact and makes you want you to do what you love to do, something that leaves you no regrets, something you have always wanted to do. YOLO afterall? So here are a few quotes that moved me.

“The only dream worth having, I told her, is to dream that you will live while you’re alive and die only when you’re dead.”
~ Arundhati Roy

“Just because you are breathing, doesn’t mean you’re alive”

“Better to die living than live as if you’re already dead.”

The point I am trying to make is that, it’s here. EVERYTHING. You can’t go change the past neither can you go and help your future, so the only choice you are left with is to live the present. I believe if we could leave all the regrets and remorse to the past and worries and expectations to the future, our present could really be a present to us. The fact that we are all human beingssays for itself that we are supposed to be there in the present. Each day we are ‘be-ing’ human, it’s an act of the present. It’s only when we let go what’s weighing us down, be it the past or the future, that we really begin to live. How long can we dwell in our childhood and miss the adulthood, and then when we are old, we dwell in our adulthood and miss the experiences old age brings us and when finally we are dying, we see, we haven’t ever lived. We have just dwelled back in time. Or maybe the opposite, dwelled ahead of time worrying about the future. I remember reading this quote somewhere that said, worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but takes you nowhere. I leave you guys the opinion and choice whether to sit at one place and regret when it’s all over, or get up now, and LIVE. Because c’mon,YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE. Let’s for once, choose to be mindfully alive.

Author: A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness.

Pave your own way to success!

This blog shall, in priority, target the students who have just got their board results and are in a continuous state of anxiety, confusion and anticipation. If it makes you feel any better, know that what you are going through, is absolutely normal!

Yes, I say it’s normal. Each Indian student goes through similar emotional phase after getting their board results but to varied extents. While you must be very busy scanning through all the possible courses that you could pursue, last year’s cut offs, different colleges, decisions to move out of your town or not, and a several things more… While you are busy with all of this, I want you to be consciously aware of the fact that, YOU PAVE YOUR OWN WAY TO SUCCESS!

This might not have come as a really new thing to hear, since we as Indian students, do grow up hearing a lot of these things from our teachers, parents and ‘relatives’, with a suffix though, which makes it, “you pave your own way to success, BUT if you don’t study or score well in class XII, you might lose the track to success.” While, in a way, they are right. Their words and strictness does act as external forces of motivation, but I request you to not let that take control of you!

This time, is really crucial. Here is where you take one big step towards how you are going to spend your entire life. And the life down the line, shall be happy, peaceful and worthy, only if you choose what you love doing. Let passion be your anchor through this storms of confusion. While that seems a hard task to do, it might be simpler if you spare yourself ten minutes each day, to just be with yourself. Amidst all the chaos of career choices, it becomes even more important to talk to yourself. And by talking, I mean deep communication.

Here is what you could do!

1. Every morning, as soon as you wake up, before engaging yourself into any human interaction, which means even before you check your phone for the notifications, sit up on your bed, take a few deep breaths, and imagine your life 10 years from now. What is it that you can see yourself doing happily? Does it coincide with what you have been wanting to do after your results? Is it the same thing that your parents expect you to do?
2. Make a diary! Take notes of each and every important thing that you come across. While bookmarking the webpage seems an even easier task to do, writing down what new you find out, shall began a churning process within you. It may prove to be insightful and a good tool so that you never miss out on anything that you read or came across.
3. Explore people who have been in the field of study you want to pick up! Nothing speaks more than experience. It really is a good option to read about the people in the same area of career that you are looking forward to, or maybe find someone around in your social circle, with whom you could share a talk and get a first hand insight to the kind of career you are choosing for yourself. You could talk to the students already pursuing the same course as you want to do, find professionals who have put the degree to build out professional careers, or people who can really give you a clear picture.
4. Talk to your parents and be very clear about what you want to do. As rigid as Indian parents can be sometimes, they have to let you pursue what you want to do and be supportive. Make sure you are clear about the things that you are planning but are NEVER dismissive of their opinions. There may be a clash of ideas, but it’s best to know that they have best concerns for you. Talking back rudely, or walking out while they express their opinions shall not be the best way to deal with things.
5. Visit a counsellor. In case you and your parents’ ideas do not seem to coincide, it’s always a good option to visit a counsellor. It is very important to have the communication gaps bridged.
6. Before you drift off to sleep, put aside your phone, and have an honest conversation with yourself. Scan through your day’s events, reconsider your arguments with your family, recall all the information that you gathered and be honest in accepting where you were wrong and choose to embrace the suggestions and possibilities. Rigidity ain’t taking anyone anywhere.
7. Just as you are done with everything, after you close your eyes, tell yourself 21 times every night for 21 days, “You are going to make a sensible decision for yourself. Whatever happens, happens for the best!” This works wonders, tried and tested. Believe in yourself and never ever let anyone’s opinion of you become your opinion of you!!:)

Hope you have a happy exploration!

 Author: A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness.

What stops you?

Today, the blog shall be introspective. Give yourself all the time and space with this blog to contemplate, WHAT IS IT THAT STOPS YOU FROM BEING HAPPY?

Take a deep breath. Now ask yourself the following questions:

1. Am I happy as of today?
2. Am I living this moment? Why not?
3. What does it take to be completely stress free and at peace with myself?
4. What is it that I love doing?
5. Why am I not doing what I love?
6. What support do I seek to do what I love?

I urge you all to sit, relax and think about the above mentioned questions. Give yourself the space, time and honesty with these questions. Use a pen and paper if you want Scribble your thoughts down. Make a check list of what you want to do and what you don’t. Sometimes it is very important to stop and think where am I going?

Happiness is the fuel that shall take you miles! I hope these questions come in a little handy to ignite the fuel a bit! I found them helpful, hope you do too! Happy smiling!

Author: A blog by Bhavya Arora. Bhavya is a psychology student who holds keen interest in interacting with people as much as she can. She communicates through her words,write-ups and actions. Her love for the virtue of love defines her the most. She holds a passion for living life, a life lived to spread happiness. She is a member of the ‘Happiness Team’ of Human Circle.