Preeti Shenoy's blog.

Dear You, In life sometimes,everything will not go the way you planned. You may not get that much coveted promotion even though you deserved it completely. Someone you trusted with your life may let you down. Someone you love(d) with all your heart may walk away. You may lose a loved one. Worse--you may lose yourself. It is okay to mourn when this happens. It is okay to feel sad. It is okay to retreat into your shell when life gives you a beating. But it is not okay to stay there for longer than is necessary. It is important to come out and FIGHT. It is important to live well. Do things that bring you joy.   Life is indeed short. very short. Whatever did not work out, accept it. This was just the way it was meant to be. You will see this for yourself, maybe two years from now. I know . I speak from experience and I speak from a place of deep pain. I have faced it--I have retreated , I have wept but then I have also fought and emerged stronger today, because of it.

To an increasingly large number of people out there, (and this is especially true of the times we live in) an activity which does not generate income is viewed as 'time-pass'. (a word peculiar to Indian English, if it must really be classified or its origins clarified ). Going by that definition, I love 'Time-pass'. I am happiest when I am doing time-pass. Except that I don't have much time to pass these days. In fact I have no time at all. Which must then explain why I am so unhappy ,in other words, stressed these days. It's all because of that elusive thing called time-pass. Take the mails in my inbox for instance. They have piled up like mangoes on the push-cart by the road side during mango season, or the Sadhus at Kumbh mela on the banks of Ganges, or perhaps the tomatoes at La Tomatina held at the Valencian Spanish town of Bunol.  You get the picture. I wish I could just think up replies in my head and they get magically typed and sent. No such luck.

It was in October 2006 that I started this blog. Today six years and seven hundred posts later, I am a published author of three best-selling books .  What an amazing journey it has been for me. One part of my success is definitely attributed to my blog-readers. It was only the love that i got here, which encouraged me immensely. I have now met so many of you, made new friends and even those I haven't met, we have a  wonderful relationship, don't you think?  As a thank you, to my readers I am giving away these three cards. (I do wish I could give one to all of you, but then I would have to make thousands!) Like I said before, I quill or make art, whenever I take a break from writing, Nothing gives me more happiness than sitting at my desk, creating stuff-- be it writing books, or making cards or painting. Here are three paper-quilled cards I made very recently.  They are fairly large in size (25 cms x 18 cms) and handmade paper has bee

How many times have you heard the words  'It's nothing personal,' and then the person has gone on to be very personal? How many times have you heard the words 'Don't mind but...' and then the person has told you something that really upset you? How many times have you heard the words 'Don't get emotional...' and then the person goes on to attack you (for whatever reasons) verbally? It happens to me many a time. I think it mostly happens to the 'nice people' (or so I like to believe). Chances are if you are helpful by nature, kind and sensitive, you get pushed around a lot. If you allow people to pick on you, they will. The trick here is to be assertive, not aggressive. (and sometimes aggressive too if the situation demands) and yet keep your cool. I learnt how to do this only over the years, after dealing with a huge variety of people. The selfishness of some people and the complete two-faced nature, still shocks me. I have now po

This morning, I found this visual on FB (have no idea who the image belongs to, as it has gone viral)  that I shared: I laughed in delight when I read it. How true this is. Why in the world should one tolerate the 'time-wasters'? The older I get, the more picky I become about who I choose to spend my time with. (I had written a post on this here )  "You are the average of five people you spend the most time with," said Jim Rohn , a motivational speaker. If you want a superb analysis of this statement, I urge you to read this well written article. I quote from the above article: You may be the most conscious and smartest individual around, but if you are constantly surrounded by negative, fear-based people in your life, it will have an impact on who you eventually become and your progression in life. If you are heavily rooted in yourself, there might be a limited downside that negative friends can bring you. However, you are also getting a limited

What isn’t love but feels like. There are these things I want to say But I am afraid how you will interpret them And whether I will ever find the right words To express what isn’t love but feels like. There are these things I want to do But I am afraid how you will see them And whether I will ever find the courage To execute what isn’t love but feels like. There are these pictures I want to paint But I am afraid how they will reveal My innermost self, my emotions To portray what isn’t love but feels like. There are these phone-calls I want to make But I am afraid how they can ruin A perfectly good relationship To expose what isn’t love but feels like. There are these poems I want to write But I am afraid how the words once spilled onto paper Will expressly in all their nudity What isn’t love but feels like. So I stuff my emotions back into my heart Shut it, tie it with logic and reason Stifle, strangle and choke it , hop