Weekly gratitude 2019 Archives - JAYANTHY'S FREE SPACE

Weekly Gratitude Post 7/52

Jayanthy Govindarajan — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 13:14:20 +0000

Life is incredible. I realize it now as my days are being spent alone. Though I love the people around me,there is something missing from my world. I miss my hubby a lot and I am trying to keep myself busy to stay away from drowning in a pool of self-pity.

? This week we had a wedding in the family that took my mind off loneliess. I got busy dressing up and enjoyed the process. I am really not the one who loves to dress up. I really don’t know why. I am unlearning that idea and focusing on relearning it. I love to focus on small details finally. I am changing and I love the process.

? Glad to have my phone back, but I am determined to handle it with care. Strictly, for phone calls and immediate responses only. Shifting most Social Media work to my Tablet. I hope this works.

? There is water scarcity around me. I cannot help but try and use very little. I am washing a load daily and I am glad it has helped reduce the amount of water consumed by my washing machine. It sure takes time, but that’s one of my most important tasks for everyday. Somehow I love washing clothes when baby girl accompanies me. It doesn’t look like a chore.

? Until last week, my yelling and cursing had reduced significantly. I made a small change in my bullet journal. Instead of the usual No Yelling and No cursing tasks, I made a minor change. I wrote Yelling and Cursing as tasks. This way when I remembered my task, I felt the need to keep it low. I think this is called reverse psychology. ?
? I learnt how to make a 30 Day Insta Grid with Shailajav and I feel so much better about my Instagram update now.

?️ Somehow my phone’s battery this week. I was sad and I had no idea what went wrong. A friend’s timely help saved me from taking it to the service center. He helped me with a new charger. Without knowing this, I accepted my husband’s gift. Yes, it was a gift from the husband which I denied earlier, but agreed to accept once my phone showed no signs of life. So glad for being able to recover photos from it and also to write in it.

?️ Water scarcity has hit Chennai. It is really difficult to manage for everyday chores. However, I am constantly reminded of ways I could reuse and save water. I am also trying to view videos and read up on the same. We all need to work on making things better by using lesser resources.

?️ After ages, my husband and I are having early morning conversations and it helps me wake up early.

?️ An automatic collage in Google photos reminded me how quick Ilakkiya is growing up. The journey is amazing and makes me love her more. I feel like I am opening up more with myself through her.

How was your week? I would love to know!

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Weekly Gratitude 5/52

Jayanthy Govindarajan — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 12:50:05 +0000

Gratitude looks very pleasant on the outside, but requires a lot of work on the inside. When I thought I would do the weekly gratitude posts this year, I was excited. I really wanted to note down everything I am thankful for, anything that makes me happy. What I realized as I write this is that I under estimated the power of gratitude.

? Gratitude isn’t appreciating the fancy things, it is about feeling intrinsically thankful for the good and the bad in our lives. Sure it isn’t easy. To me, it was a tough choice many times. Today I feel different after realizing this.

? Most days I am thankful for being able to run the chores at home and taking care of things that is needed just then.

? This week, I am particularly interested in praying for all those moms and dads who single parent their children. I am currently in that situation since hubby is away at work, but to do that everyday for years, you are brave souls. I pray you find great partners(in case you are looking for one) or do what you do bravely that you look back at your life feeling accomplished.

? The last two weeks have been fun, tiring and fulfilling in ways I didn’t expect. I returned from my Ooty Trip this week and all I could think was about the night’s sleep on my bed. By morning I was fresh and we sat and talked about the lovely times. I was thrilled about the pictures and immediately went to print the pictures.

? Thanks to mobiles, we all have an alarming list that is difficult to fulfill in a day. I managed to sort 110 pictures and the tech guy at Konica labs managed to sort them, align them and print them for me in 3 hours. I felt that was great and thanked him for his efficient work.

? I am trying to incorporate the Power of 3 in my daily life. It is about accomplishing 3 tasks in a day. Though we have 100’s of other tasks to take care of, these 3 will make your day. I am glad to make it happen on some days and on others I am not loosing my cool and moving them to the next day without guilt. After all, when I wake up the next day I have something to look forward to right!

? I always focus on using less water, but this week’s a little tough. I am finding ways to use lesser water. I wish to find ways to use water efficiently.

? I was gifted a small diary by my mom since I am a valuable / repeat customer of hers. I decided to use it as my gratitude journal. It comes handy and I love writing in it. It is definitely not fancy, it is the normal yearly diary, but it has what I need!!

? Ilakkiya had an amazing time in Ooty aka Queen of Hill stations, I wish I can write a separate post about the trip.

? Finally made time to write this post!! It has been a week since I wrote something on the blog.

? To those of you who noticed, the blog is undergoing changes and finally moved to a new home. Thankful to wonderful friends who are taking this effort to help me.

? February is here and so is the planning on my bullet journal. I love it!!

That’s it folks!! How are you doing this week?

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Weekly Gratitude 2019 2/52

Jayanthy Govindarajan — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 11:56:00 +0000

I wondered why I write these gratitude journals every week! Though it is only the second week of January and my second entry, the drab mood for 2 days made me think so much. That was enough to pull me into this melancholic mood. When I decided to maintain a bullet journal this year, I wasn’t sure of many plans for the year, still I wanted to work on one. A place where I plan the month, the weeks and my days in it. My journal became my blessing in disguise that I live in it nowadays. I am tracking some of my habits too.

January 2019

My journal is one of the reasons I am writing this post here and will do it for the next 50 weeks too! I dedicated a page on the journal for my blog posts and had these entries written on the ideas page. A book in any form is a best friend to a warrior, a lonely heart, a busy parent and serves as a motivation to me when I really want to spend my time well.

My little creative outlet where I scribble any little designs I can on my pages. My second week started with a bit of cleaning too. Though I couldn’t clean the entire house this Pongal, I did my share of cleaning whenever the baby girl was asleep. I enjoyed the cleaning process because there is something very lovely about having less things around. Truly, Less is More.

I planned Ilakkiya’s meals this week, I managed to give her varieties. I prepared a couple of new snack recipes – Bread Pakora and Besan Cutlets. She tasted both and ate whatever I gave her. I think that’s a sign she loved it!

I finished my first book this year, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. I wrote my review for the same on Good Reads. You can follow my reading journey there.

When Love is in the air, one doesn’t really think of logic. This is true for love at first sight and I enjoyed how the author has spun it beautifully with a touch of humor(in conversations) even in this sad tale. Teenage love put very well,

Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering.

I took this up knowing they die, but I wanted to know how they died! Well, that’s one reason I read this classic. Though reading it at 30 makes me feel this one is a silly tale, I cannot deny that life way back in time was more of love and death than living. Most love stories of the past trailed towards death. So I don’t find this uncommon.

Though it’s a sad tale, I enjoyed reading this one. This is only my second of Shakespeare’s work. The first one is “The Merchant of Venice” and I had to play it at school. Took me back to those times
Some day, I will watch these plays at the theatre!

Work was good this week. I had a chance to work on a lovely piece of writing. I am delighted for the opportunities I get and the what I learn when I work with others. Though I have self-doubts, I am glad I am open to learning and working on myself and my writing skills.

Image Courtesy: Google

Ilakkiya and I had a lot of fruits this week. So thankful for getting fresh fruits near home. When my basket was almost over, my parents refilled it as a Pongal gift. Thankful for abundance. Though we don’t look so lovely together, but children look adorable even in a mess.

I don’t know what to update about Ilakkiya this week. This week I learnt to let things be. I learnt that she is going to be okay and she will call out to me when she really needs me. Still, I need to keep my eyes on her without scaring her.

Image courtesy: Google

I woke up before 7AM on 4 days this week. I did Yoga on all 4 days. My first menstrual cycle after Ilakkiya’s birth arrived only when she was 1. Right from then, I suffer from a severe headache or stomach pain a day or two before periods. I am glad regular Yoga helped me deal with this problem. I am sticking to my yoga routine for three main reasons:

1. To calm my nerves

2. To calm my thoughts

3. To tone my body

See, more than actually toning my body, I need to CALM myself. Yoga helps a lot now! I slept much better than my previous week. When Ilakkiya follows my poses, I am a proud mother!

I wish to do all of this consistently. I hoped to keep my word of the year as “Consistent” because I lack it. However, something more important than that was calmness. So I chose Calm. I have a small black board in my room in which I have decorated the word and I look into it everyday. It is more of a reminder of what I must focus on even if I couldn’t finish the tasks in hand.

My yelling and cursing has reduced ~~from 5 to 4 times. Maybe,~~ from 50 to 49 times. Still, I see it is important. I track the days where I yell, get angry at the drop of a hat. I also want to track why I get angry. There are smallest triggers that pushes me to the edge. I really want to work on them. For now, I am glad I am down by 1.

For almost three to four months now, I am disappointed with many things around me. This week, I felt the need to detach myself from everything. There is slight improvement on my mood and “Let it Go” keeps repeating itself on my mind. I am happy that I have a song to sing all day!

I am glad this week ended on a bright note! I am enjoying the haiku challenge on Instagram. Follow me there.

How was your week? Share with me!

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Weekly Gratitude 2019 1/52

Jayanthy Govindarajan — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 17:57:00 +0000

Hello 2019!

*Morning* The cool air felt so good on my face. Reminds me of a fresh start again.
We all live with so many wishes and dreams. This year let’s have the constant aim and effort and achieve them with a strong will power. Let us all stay blessed this year. Happy New Year folks!

Coming to the blog, it was silent for the most part of December. Though I planned 2 more posts for it, I didn’t work on it.

This is the first post that is published this year. And, yes, I am so much delighted to post this. For almost a year and a half, I was posting monthly gratitude journals. I loved the journey and the time spent composing the post. It reminded me of the moments well-spent and the journey made me feel so much better throughout. In 2019, I am making another change. I am going to post my weekly gratitude this year.

For one, this will be the only year I can spend with my daughter fully before she joins school next year. So, I have made peace with the fact that I can only write short posts. I understood this last month. Though I planned the year in review like I had done in 2017, I really wanted to do it for 2018. However, the last month brought so much troubles than the whole year that I couldn’t sit down and write. I am glad I had my little one, she needed audience and I needed entertainment. It worked well.

I found the idea of a weekly gratitude journal so comfortable. I saw it at Sanch’s. I enjoyed reading her posts and felt there is always something to be thankful for.

How about a sneak peak into the first week of the New Year.

I managed to wind up by 11, but I wasn’t able to sleep for a long time. I contemplated on a lot of things when the New Year unwrapped itself. I did not attend calls or see social media. I was busy watching the ceiling when they started bursting crackers and the little one wondered if it’s Diwali again and then smiled at me saying Pattas. Well, that’s how we started our New Year.

A colorful New Year

The husband enjoyed the show at London Bridge and sent me the videos and photos which baby girl and I saw on New Year Morning. We were lucky to wish him before he slept again.

Calm!

I have chosen Calm as my Word of the Year for 2019. It could be calm down, keep calm, Calm it bud, anything, because I am boiling so quick that I am in shock. I really need CALM. That’s my bullet journal entry for this year. You guys know I am no artist, but I love to scribble stuffs like this. Oh, sure, it calms me.

I took my time with the phone and responded slowly to friends and family.

My New Year started with a bit of cleaning and I was happy that I managed it and felt better.

I am participating in the Write Tribe Reading Challenge 2019 and have planned a post for revealing my choices.

My #365HappyDays project of writing a Haiku a day is going good. I am enjoying it thoroughly. Follow my journey on Instagram.

Ilakkiya’s new obsession is watching Vaayadi petha pulla song from Kanaa. She loves watching it and tries to sing along. We do it together.

Baby girl is growing up fast and I see her with so much admiration when she sleeps. Well, at other times I am amazed, yet the anger part is a work in progress.

I am slowly writing about my goals for this year and I am working on my Vision board. I hope to put up a post for my word and the vision board along with it.

Heard about the demise of a family friend and I am in shock. Death in 40 is becoming common and scary. May his soul rest in peace. After all, health is the only thing that we must focus on irrespective of our situation.

I am surprised that I have so much to share in a week. I am sure this is going to be entertaining and interesting.

How was your week? Share with me.

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