"Be positive!" ...even if your tail is on fire?

As you can see, my posts are getting less frequent. Am I busy with other things in life? Do I have no time to blog? Have I stopped taking pictures? Yes, no, and no. I have plenty of things to do but I also hate the phrase 'I have no time'. I guess if we love something strongly enough we will always look for ways to find time for it. Oh yes, I still love blogging but now there are quite a few other things I love that I am giving my time for.

Since a couple of days I have been trying to give this blog a makeover in terms of look and feel. I just realized it is not very easy with the limited choices in templates and what all you can do with them (when you have a limited knowledge of HTML!).

I also realised one thing about this blog:
I have been writing less and posting snaps more and it started getting pretty monotonous! So, for a change, I have been looking for something that would make me write and here it is:

Just this morning I read this interesting post at http://positivesharing.com/2009/11/the-happiness-hat-will-hurt-you-until-you-smile/ which got me thinking about this 'Be positive' phrase that you must be hearing very often.

I think one of the problems in simply saying 'Be Happy!', is in the way it is said. Saying just that without 'Real Caring' (a phrase so nicely put by one of the commentors on that blog), makes it insensitive and therefore more irritating and depressing. And people who show you Real Care do not need to say 'Be Happy!' ever. They spread happiness without saying it!

The phrase 'Be Happy' itself gives us a very important clue about what it is, which we often miss. We 'be' happy, we never 'do it' like it were some work. So it is not like we have a happiness switch that can be turned on and off! And sometimes the pain that precedes it is important to let us know that there maybe something we need to sort out before we feel that bliss. Yes, it is sometimes important to make good use of the wisdom we gain from a bad phase! And when we are happy it does not mean we would be grinning from ear to ear 24/7 either! :)

Monsoon Calling

This silent valley has so much to say

A million shades of green and blue

The mountains spout a hundred waterfalls

of cool crystal hue

As the monsoon comes calling

Watch the green grass wave happily in the wind

and dance to the raindrops falling

I have been to this place again, again, again, and again. It just keeps getting better :).

Back to the Roots

He made sure he is financially secure for a lifetime and took an early retirement. He has romanced the sitar for about 30 years now, a little more than for how many years he has run the company he started from scratch. Now he has broken free from the responsibility of co-owning that company. Now he has gone back to the sitar once and for all. He has gone back to what he loves most.

Road to School: Memory Lane

It was sometime in '94 that I walked down this road to school. About a week ago I went down that road again. It is as beautiful as ever. The green tree canopy is greener. Totally another world.

Lace Curtains and Wind Chimes

I always wanted to have lace curtains and a wind chime right along... now I do :)

She

Silence and the River

"Be passive--as you sit by the river and the river flows by and you simply watch. There is no eagerness, no urgency, no emergency. Nobody is forcing you. Even if you miss, there is nothing missed. You simply watch, you just look. Even the word watch is not good, because the very word watch gives a feeling of being active. You simply look, not having anything to do. You simply sit by the bank of the river, you look, and the river flows by."

-Osho

Ant Safari

I was in Mysore a few weeks ago. One dull boring afternoon, I set out into the 'vast expanses' of the portico of our home in search of some interesting ants. When you are looking for ants even a portico is a very very large place... except that you can easily cover it in less than an hour. :D

Framing a fast moving ant is not very easy...


Sometimes you realise that the huge orb that it is about to bite is actually your toe... you see the butt of that ant sticking from under the toe? I made a quick retreat after that shot...

Here is an ant in what is maybe the one of the most exotic locations it could be in... a pink hibiscus... my mom hates it when I crop the flower like that!! :D