Hey guys! Hope you had a great weekend and it was filled with deliciousness & good vibes. I went for the Sound of Music play at Tata Theatre which was outstanding. It’s one of those productions that never gets old, no matter what age you are and/or the number of times you’ve seen it. While every rendition has its own charm, one scene that particularly stood out to me was one performed by kids from The Victoria Memorial School for the Blind. Once on stage, the kids sang & played the flute and did an excellent job overall. This heartwarming scene was incredibly eye-opening (no pun intended) yet also a somewhat smack on the head.
Amidst the unique set of quirks, talents, skills & passions that we each possess, we tend to also have some sort of weakness(esses). That could range from anything be it, physical, mental and/or emotional. Whatever its degree, this particular weakness can have the power to take a toll on the quality of our life. The beauty is that whether or not it does really boils down to us. We can choose to either lean into that weakness or focus on cultivating our strengths. I really admired that these kids chose to lean into their talents rather than lament over their situation.
Another lesson I took out of the evening involved the practice of gratitude. Whether you speak to life coaches, spiritual teachers, successful entrepreneurs and/or CEOs, or Oprah Winfrey, they almost always attribute their success to gratitude. One of my favorite quotes from Oprah was at her speech at Skidmore College: “I practice being grateful. And a lot of people say, ‘Oh Oprah, that’s easy for you ’cause you got everything!’ On the contrary, I got everything because I practiced being grateful.”
Without that conscious awareness to make it a regular habit, gratitude tends to be somewhat of a seasonal practice i.e. when ‘big’ moments occur in life like getting a job, finding a new home, taking a holiday and so forth. In the process, we unknowingly rob ourselves of the experience of joy that could otherwise be derived from the little things in life, like the perfect cup of coffee, traffic-free roads, a smile from a stranger and so much more. Seeing these blind kids on stage really left me with an overwhelming sense of perspective and gratitude for the one blessing I tend to take for granted: Sight. While sunrise & sunset occurs daily, how unbelievably lucky are we to even be able to witness them. The awesome thing about gratitude is that it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy i.e. if you focus on the positive, more positive outcomes tend to occur.
Back to work but I just wanted to share these thoughts while they’re still fresh on the brain. On a nutrition-related note, check out my inputs on cooking with oil on Vogue India. I have a 5 km run as part of an event at my gym tomorrow morning. Given I tend to only do sprint intervals these days, this is my first ‘long’ run of 2018 so wish me luck!
What are you grateful for today?
What’s your favourite song from Sound of Music?
i just finished a run, which was a surprise to myself also but its mind over body right? also, running with no expectation was great.
good luck on your race.
Khushboo, thanks for the article post.Really thank you! Great.
Hey Lilach!You know what helps me with such bad days? Focusing on the positives and gratitude. More than anything, gratitude helps a lot. When you are grateful for the little things in life, you start to realize and feel how blessed you are to be alive and have what you currently have. When you are thankful, you get to remind yourself that other people around the world are living in such worst situations and they really got super bad days more often than you do. It”s all about working on your mindset. Bad days come and go. But, you remain here living life and in control of how you want to experience each moment! Thank you for sharing this! Best regards! ?