The Happiness Project

Letting go creates space for fresh beginnings: stripping you of what happened yesterday, and enabling the doors of brand new opportunities to open today. Letting go is about accepting what is happening right now and not worrying about what will come up tomorrow. It involves much more than just saying you have let go. It’s an internal process that must happen for you to truly feel better and get on with life in a healthy way. 

I think one of the most amazing things I have ever felt was ‘in the act of letting go’. Just imagine, like a huge solid rock is lifted from the very core of your soul. And you start feeling this lightness. That deep exhale. And once I felt that, I wanted to keep feeling that feeling. And then with steady practice, my brain would automatically learn to ‘let go’ every time something/ someone pulls me down.

As a gentle reminder, it’s important that we honor where we are on our individual journeys of letting go. This is a process that may be more challenging for some than others. Know that wherever you are right now, is okay.

Relationships can be one of the most joyful and fulfilling aspects of our lives, and they can also challenge us beyond comprehension. We've all heard that communication is the most important thing in any relationship.

Let’s consider basic human needs, as taught by psychologist Abraham Maslow. All of our behaviors are driven by our needs, and our needs are derived from our emotional states. After our needs of food and shelter have been met, each of us have very important basic needs—four of which are the need for attention, affection, appreciation, and acceptance. The ways in which we seek these things is dependent upon our level of emotional intelligence, our beliefs, and our core values. Following are some examples of how you can bring awareness to these areas and begin to practice being more compassionate in your relationship.

“The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.”

Lately, I’ve been feeling a sense of vulnerability that I always wished I could feel without being afraid. I have always wished I was one of those people who could show my authentic self to the world and still be able to look you in the eye after I let you see me, without quivering in shame or regret.

When I begin to experience negative self-talk inside of me, I seem to be shifting almost immediately to a place of self-love, forgiveness, acceptance, and compassion for myself. This inner awakening has begun to translate into a new perception of my outside world.

Instead of my usual thoughts and reactions that occur when confronted with less than ideal responses from the external world, I am able to see me in you and you in me.

Right away I begin to feel compassion, because I know that you hurt, just like me, and you feel joy, just like me. You worry and feel scared sometimes, just like me. You have bad days, just like me, and you have amazing days, just like me. You are seeking, just like me. You want to believe in love, just like me.

I look at people passing me by in the store, on the streets, or in traffic, and have a deep sense of knowing that they too feel separate sometimes, and they too have times when they fear they will never be enough—just like me.

The simple act of making a shift within has completely transformed the type of relationships I’m attracting. When you live from a place of self-love, the world mirrors love and compassion back to you.

When you give yourself unconditional love, compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance, you’re then able to give that to others.

Hello, welcome to another the episode on THP podcast. I hope you’ll are doing well and are excited to surround yourself with warmth and comfort by your loved ones. There’s no better time than now to let go off anything that is holding back your progress in life. And one of the things that pulls people back for an entire lifetime is ‘what others think about you’

Deep inside of us, along with our need to be liked, we also have a need to be authentic, to think and live in our own unique way. Nature made us this way so that we could think critically and develop creative solutions rather than rushing headlong over a cliff with the rest of the herd. If we all thought alike the human race would have died out long ago.

As Bertrand Russell wrote, "Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric." We thrive when we get along with others, and think and act independently at the same time. If you aren't doing both, you're out of balance, and your psyche will complain about it with either depression ("No one likes me.") or anxiety ("I have to get them to like me"). These are often warning signs, and if not heeded, things can get really bad. That's why it's dangerous to worry too much what others think about you.

The bottom line is we truly have this one life and life is short. Do you really want to spend even a few precious moments of that time worrying what other people think? To live a life where others tell you what you want? Or should you decide for yourself who we are and what you want and how you plan to go out and get it? You must make a conscious effort to let go what other people think. It's a skill that needs to be practiced, like meditating. But once you truly understand how to let go, you will see the world as entirely different. People will love you, people will hate you, and none of it will have anything to do with you. Make your  choices and live by those decisions, taking full responsibility for what you do and how you do it. When you do, you'll gain the self-esteem you need and the power to give yourself what you want, without blaming anyone for your mistakes. 

And I know how much resilience it requires for you to pull yourself out of this ‘rut’ and taking back control of how you want to feel. I have spent a decent amount of time thinking about what other people think about me and have sort of done things that would make others happy or actions that would allow me to fit in or simply for external validation. But as and how time went by, my interest in spirituality expanded, my support system kept getting stronger, I started breaking unhealthy patterns and slowly tried adapting a value system that was free from conditions, other people’s opinions and judgements, free from societal pressures and absolutely filled with things that I truly believe – I am still working on it, but I do see myself living an authentic life that simply makes my MYSELF. And I absolutely love that! And something that also helped me along the way were some words of wisdom from my nani (my grandmother) -she said, ‘you know how when you mix gold with any metal – the purity of gold always remains the same’; it’s the same with humans too – wherever you go, whatever you do – if you know you’ve pure intentions – the purity of the person that you are will never diminish. Even though sometimes having pure intentions may not lead to positive consequences (always) – you’ll not be guilt tripped into believing something that is not true. And that stayed with me forever! And that’s what is helping me get through life situations in a very thoughtful way. So next time, you feel you’re being judged – reflect back on your intentions and allow them to guide you!

I hope you go through this week tuning in with your intentions and let your intentions be a guiding force for the entire week. Until then take care and stay well!

Hello guys! How have you’ll been? How were the last two weeks? I guess this is the first time ever I entirely skipped releasing my podcast episode last week. Thanks for all the patience and support that you’ve been expressing all along. Off lately, I have been caught up with a lot of pressing things at hand and I am also venturing out and expanding on some ideas relating to my work. I will keep you’ll updated about all that is happening very soon. So what made me happy this week?! Umm – tons of moments. But I am going to share the one that’s given me immense joy. Many of you know that I have been working with a Cancer Trust where I practice Art-based therapy with kids who are suffering from Cancer from bone marrow to blood cancer. This is entirely on a pro-bono basis that I have been doing this. Initially, I was sceptical on how all of this would turn out to be but it’s been 8 sessions that I have done so far and well – I can’t begin to explain how incredibly nurturing this experience has been for me. From seeing the kids happy to spending time with them and just having fun. I may sound selfish right now but I absolutely love spending time with them – it really holds me together. It gives me a sense of satisfaction of doing something bigger than myself; of focusing on something that is not about me; something that is real; something that just grounds me and brings me back to myself. You know that feeling when your entire life is sinking – and then you meet these kids who are not sure of how much life they have got; imagine a kid who’s only seen Operation Theatres and Radiation rooms since the age of 5 – and I just don’t understand. Where do they get that courage from? To fight without realising that they are fighting. I remember everyone around me asked me a couple of times, whether am I sure? Am I sure of working with these kids. I understand their concern was majorly that it’s emotionally and mentally draining and I am way too sensitive. And without a single moment of hesitation – I said – for the first time I know what am I doing and why am I doing it. And yes, I am immensely sensitive but why can’t I use that as my strength and allow myself to step out of my comfort zone and use my sensitivity as an opportunity to connect with them at a deeper level. Why not?! I think the entire purpose of me doing what I am doing is getting to start becoming clear. Clear in my thoughts. Clear in my intention and absolutely clear at heart. I don’t know what else is above all this? So well, there is no bigger thing than giving. Giving solely with a heart of giving.

And just like Gautama Buddha says, ‘before giving, the mind of the giver is happy; while giving, the mind of the giver is made peaceful; and having given, the mind of the giver is uplifted.

I hope this week you simply try to give. Without expecting. Without holding yourself back and see how pure joy amplifies in your life.

I hope you’ll have an incredibly giving week. And I will see you’ll next week. Stay well, and just experience the joy of ‘life’ itself.

I hope you guys have heard my previous episode where I was interviewed by Global Women Power. In case you haven’t please listen to the 103rd episode on THP podcast. Well, this week for me was pretty exciting – from a random road trip to Rajasthan with my family to my sister surprising us all by coming back from London. We have all been having such quality family time together – I feel so blessed. It’s certainly the little things in life that matters so much. And since it was the festive season, it added so much of joy! So if there’s something that I would like to share is that sometimes we take a lot of experiences and people for granted and we fail to value all of this that we have. Everything will pass by us in a brink of a moment. So, say I love you often, be kind every day, let gratitude be a way of life, let ingenuity sparkle through your eyes, set at intention when you see 11:11, hug tightly, and most importantly believe that every single thing you do – do it with sheer grace! Life is too short to be living any other way.