Kids – Life’s greatest teacher

Whenever we think of children, the word which comes to our mind is ‘mischief’ and ‘naughtiness’. But have you ever stopped and thought for a while, how much we can learn from these little kids around us. These little bundles of joy can actually give you an insight into your life... Everyday just watching them perform those small actions can teach us lessons of life which are unparallel and can’t be taken from any other source.
It has truly been a life changing journey for me since the moment my daughter was born. Fatherhood has been a truly transformative experience.
Thought it would be fun to share some of the personal growth lessons I have learned in my journey of last three years.
Always keep smiling: When kids find themselves in a difficult situation they usually smile and work around the issue. There are some things in life we just can’t predict. Even with a great deal of planning, it’s very possible that life will throw at us knotty moments. We need to greet those moments with a sense of good humor and proactive fascination. You will always find that smile on a childs face whatever the situation be. Its said a child smiles 1700 times in a day,a young adult smiles 17 times and a matured adult hardly smiles.We should just look into our kid and face every moment of our life with a smile.
2. Physical activity keeps you healthy: Kids are into some physical activity all the time, not because it’s healthy, but because it’s fun. They participate in sports, climb trees, run etc. Its also said in the Puranas and I closely watched it in my six month old daughter that for the first six months a child is always found in any of the yogic postures and mudras,thats also precisely the reason why in the first six months the mental growth of a child is maximum. Just watching them in the initial months can comfortably teach you all the postures of padma sadhana which is the best practice of a healthy living.
3. Love without expectation:Any form of love that a child shows is the purest form of expression.When a child hugs you,kisses you,looks at you with love.Its a 100% natural and its done with complete genuineness and without any expectation.Thus,a kid teaches us everyday life’s greatest lesson ‘LOVE’ and how to express it.
4. Living the present moment: Kids live by their instincts openly and without hesitation. They are enthusiastic about life, eager to learn, and curious about everything. They are not worried of the past or anxious about the future. They live every moment with awareness,enthusiam and complete consciousness. Watching them teaches you one of the biggest lessons of success, give 100% to the present moment.
5. Dance for yourself: Enjoy Life’s Simple Pleasures – Put a kid in a puddle and watch him cheerfully splash around. Or just tickle a kid until he is beet red from laughter. All of these are simple pleasures that children love to partake in. I think the biggest sign of a life well lived is to be able to dance at anytime, anywhere as if no one’s watching.Childrens do it all the time.
I’m looking forward to many more years together of learning with my two teachers of life my Angels Pia and Dia.I’ll also suggest each one of you to watch kids closely, learn from them for they are life’s greatest teachers.

Birth of a life -A PLANT!

More than three months back i had the privilege of attending a retreat with Thick Nhat Hanh the famous Vietnamese Zen monk.He gave us a small task,to plant a seed through the hands of our kid.

I did so and its been quite a life changing process for me as well.

I got some mustard seeds and told my three year old daughter, the size of the seed is what we all living beings are when we first form some shape of a being.I asked her to look at her four month old sister and imagine she was of the same size till about few months back.

Pia was told the way her sister survives on milk,air and sunlight similarly plant survives on water,air and sunlight.She was excited and said she will feed the seed with water the way mom feed little sister with milk.It was an exciting ritual from there on,when every morning Pia used to rush to the balcony to water the seed with anticipating eyes and unimaginable vigour.

First the sapling came out,then the leaves and branches.Finally,few days back a yellow flower bloomed.Pia's excitement knew no bound on seeing her dreams come true.She danced,ran all around the house and told the whole world of her success.She was now responsible for giving birth to a living being.

The whole process made me aware of the concept of birth,the existence of living beings all around us which we are some where completely unconscious of in our day to day living.

I promised myself,i'll sow more seeds and give birth to more life in this World of distruction.

My article published in Tickledbylife..i'm kicked!

I'm appending the article as it is....

It can be viewed by clicking intohttp://tickledbylife.com/index.php/addicted-to-the-snooze-button/

Addicted to the snooze button?
How to kick the addiction

By Kaushik Chakraborty, 9th January 2009 Email This Tickle

Since our early childhood we are taught ‘Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’. It’s also supposed to be the way to our finest life and somewhere we all want to live it. In this pursuit one habit which we all want to inculcate is the habit of getting up early. But this desire gets countered every day by one addiction, perhaps the biggest that has inflicted human race today - love for the snooze button.
The struggle happens every day when we fight and argue with our own foggy brain under the warmth of our blanket and try to present ourselves the gift of that extra ten minutes by hitting the snooze button. Invariably ten minutes do stretch and we find lifting ourselves from the bed dejected having lost the battle once more.
Let me try to list down some very simple ways to win the battle of the bed:
Be motivated to get up early: The force of a deep desire of getting up early is the best way to bring mind over mattress. If we are really motivated to wake up at a certain time, we will surmount all excuses of going back to sleep in the morning. If we really value the benefits of getting up early, we will make it happen come what may.
Getting up at the same time everyday: Whatever our pattern or requirement of sleep, it’s imperative for us first to set a fixed awakening time. It may be a bit difficult initially to hone in on the right range of bedtime for us. There may be huge oscillations staying awake too late or going to bed early some night but eventually a time will set in when we will know what time is best suited for us to go to bed. We will automatically go to sleep at a time every day allowing enough sleep to wake up refreshed in the morning.
Early dinner: An early dinner before 8 PM everyday gives you ample time to digest your food. It eventually prepares you for a more deep and sweet sleep.
Don’t watch television just before sleep: The biggest energy sapper in most lives today is the process of watching television. It takes a lot of positive energy out of us, makes us lounge till late night and gives us insomnia. We should avoid watching television just before sleep and replace it with other habits like reading books, playing or reciting rhymes to our kids. Let’s try and enter sleep with sweet thoughts which will help us eventually to get up early and refreshed.
Snooze button is kept out of reach: We need to keep the alarm clock away from the bed and not right next to us. It will force us to get up from bed and not hit the snooze button lying in the bed. Once you are up, in all probability you will stay up. The best way is to stretch your body completely for ten seconds and force yourself out of the mattress.Let’s now win the battle and join the esteemed “5 o’ Clock Club” to success.
In this journey to success, be guided by those words of Sam Veda: ‘A person, who rises early in the morning, feels energetic and remains active throughout the day. The mind remains fresh for the entire day. Therefore we should make it a habit to get up early in the morning.’
–
Kaushik is a Business Training and Development professional working with a well known MNC bank in India. His interests are reading, travelling, trekking, spirituality, photography, cultural and social activism. Reach him at k_cborty@yahoo.com

Start of the first weekend

Today was start of the first weekend of 2009, and thus wanted to make it a funfilled happy weekend,as they say the start of the year determines how you spend the entire year.

We went to Delhi South Ext market after completing some pending Banking work,did a lot of shopping,ate at the McDonalds and made the kids laugh a lot.

Now i'm back after a tiring fun day waiting for dinner to arrive.

Cheers to 2009!

We welcomed 2009 with a big bang.There was lots of dance,good food and drink in a nearby restro bar in Gurgaon. Went at 10 PM and came back by 1 PM, the best we could have managed with the two little one's.

Somehow don't know why inspite of all the turmoils around i've entered this year with a lot of peace,happiness and confidence.

Will surely make 2009 the best year for me and my family.