Anuradha Sridharan

 I read Mark Manson's " The subtle art of not giving a f*ck " last Sept. It was hard-hitting and clarified a lot of niggling questions in me. I loved the book and I'd re-read it soon. The author's second book "Everything is f*cked - A book about Hope" is yet another hard-hitting one, questioning many of our preconditioned beliefs. He starts with the importance of hope in our lives and how it helps us to deal with the Uncomfortable Truth. As he expands on the factors that bring hope, the chapter on self-control was full of brilliant insights. He correlates our Consciousness to a car. There can only be a single driver, who takes decisions on which direction to go, where to take a left/right turn, when to stop etc - is this driver our Thinking brain or Feeling brain? I was honestly surprised by the answer. The author says, " The Feeling brain drives our Consciousness Car because ultimately, we are moved to action only by emotion." He also reitera...

 A few months back, I came across a post from Dr. Nicole LePera ( the holistic psychologist ). She stated that our triggers are our best teachers. It was an amazing insight that left such a deep impact on me. Triggers help us to identify what we value the most. For eg, I get triggered quite a bit when someone schedules a meeting at a particular time but delays without informing me in advance. What do I value in this scenario? Time and Respect. I also get triggered when someone in my family wastes a resource (food, water, money, reusable stuff). What do I value in this scenario? Effective use of resources and opportunity cost incurred in procuring the same. Once this awareness came in, I started noting down the triggers and my associated values. This exercise helped me understand myself a little deeper. The trade-offs we make in every decision also help to determine our values and the order in which we rank them. For eg, if I get triggered by a family member for wasting food, I'm ma...

My uncle visited me after many years. And this is the first time he tasted my home-cooked food. He was very appreciative and said, "romba nalla pannirukke" ("You have prepared well") after every meal. He was also pleasantly surprised to hear that I make all spice powders and staples at home. His perception of me was based on his earlier interactions with me as a child, a teenager, and a young adult. But I have changed a LOT in the past 10 years. As I was thinking about what changed in me, the answer that popped immediately was "taking on more responsibilities". I have always been a responsible person with respect to my studies and career, but on health, family, cooking, and other home-related aspects, it started only after D was born. When does a person become responsible? "Responsibility comes automatically when there are no alternatives/options". I expected a few people from my family to support/guide me when I had just delivered D. But I ended...

 Energy - the word, the feeling, the concept that I'm super curious about. Spend an hour with a person who laughs, smiles, exudes a lot of love, actively listens and shares interesting insights, and shows mutual respect for everyone and everything - you feel energized at the end of the hour. Spend 15 minutes with a person who criticizes you for who you are, blames everyone and everything, has a grumpy face, feels entitled, and is egoistic - your energy is zapped within a few minutes of interacting with such a person. Our energies not only get impacted by others in our day-to-day interactions but also by our thoughts, words, and actions. For the past couple of days, I felt exhausted and drained. My quick energy charger is to go for a walk on the terrace, but the continuous rains spoiled all chances to step outside my home. Instead of resisting the feeling, I accepted that I was low on energy and took it easy. As I woke up this morning, I felt a sudden rush of energy through my nerve...

 This book often pops up as a recommendation by bookstagrammers and so I was curious to read it. And I must say it didn't disappoint. It is a short, easy-to-read 130 pager. The author succinctly conveys four guiding principles that lead to personal freedom. These are based on wisdom passed down from the Toltec philosophers of Mexico. The four agreements though might sound simple, are extremely impactful when practiced on a daily basis. Be impeccable with your word Don't take anything personally Don't make assumptions Always do your best As the author explains the context behind each of these agreements, I'm sure most of us would nod our heads as these are relatable to our lives and situations we have faced. Apart from these agreements, the one idea that made a strong impact on me was about the domestication of humans and our belief system. The author correlates our beliefs to a Book of Law that rules our mind. The inner Judge uses this Book of Law to judge everything w...

  This book had been on my wishlist for a while. And I finally bought a copy and read it over the past few weeks. #notsponsored If you find prices of certain books on Amazon/Flipkart to be high, then do checkout 99booksstore.com This site offers some good deals and discounts. I bought this book for Rs.199. Essentialism provides a neat 4-step framework to simplify our life across multiple aspects with a core theme " Less but better ". The framework doesn't stop at a conceptual level. Rather, each step is explained through a series of actionable verbs. The author has shared multiple anecdotes to explain the framework. What surprised me the most is that he gives a lot more emphasis to our work lives and how one could go about separating the vital few from the trivial many. He sets the context of the Essentialist mindset right from the beginning - " If you don't prioritise your time, someone else will ". Social pressure, increased number of choices, opinion ov...