Anuradha Sridharan

  There are different ways to reinforce our learning and understanding - we can read the same books that made an impact OR we can hear the same perspectives shared by different authors. My motivation to pick up this Tamil book " Udalin Mozhi " (Language of the body) stems from the second category. The author Accu Healer Umar Farook explains how we interfere with the natural functioning of our body and how we let toxins accumulate within. There are multiple forms of external interventions that we have agreed to bring into our lives. synthetic nutritional supplements choosing foods based on specific nutrients taking pills and painkillers that suppress the language through which our body communicates its needs excessive sterilizing and disinfecting due to fear of germs The author points out how we have been ignoring the basic communication signals from our body - hunger and thirst. The search for understanding the world external to us has preoccupied our minds so much, that we h...

 As you grow up and take on more responsibilities, every decision becomes a matter of opportunity cost. It is extremely challenging to accomplish everything you want to do in a given day. At the end of the day, it comes down to our choices and how we weigh them. Planning helps us to make the right choices, but at the same time, there should also be room for spontaneity and surprise in our daily routines. Let me elaborate with an example: K goes for a walk in the morning to a nearby lake. It takes about a hour, covering a distance of around 4.5 km. He would ask me to join him, but most often, I would say, "Not today, I need to do Yoga and then cook breakfast". Yesterday, I decided to join him for the walk. Breakfast wasn't ready, but I decided to think about it later. It was a beautiful track to walk, with plants and trees all around, fresh air, and recently laid roads en route to the lake. It felt so refreshing and rejuvenating within 15 minutes of the walk. I even sugges...

 The onset of winter is making me reach for something warm and cozy. Yesterday, I shared a pic of my comfort beverage. Will write about comfort food, comfort books, and comfort music some other time. Today's post is all about comfort movies. As I think about movies that have a high repeat value for me, Vinnaithaandi Varuvayaa, Swades, Wake up Sid, and Mouna Raagam come to the top of my mind. There is also an exclusive collection of movies that I absolutely cherish. I may not watch them often, but whenever I do, the emotions they bring out are of the same intensity as when I watched them for the first time. This collection I'd like to call - Doordarshan(DD) movies or the 70s Bollywood. Classic movies, brilliant acting, soothing music, memorable dialogues. For the past few days, I have been watching one such classic - "Anand" (It is rare these days that I watch a full movie in one sitting, it takes a few sessions!🙂 ) I remember watching it for the first time back in th...

Sip your favorite beverage and read this post slowly :-)  "An idle mind is devil's workshop" - I wrote about this quote two years back. I shared why being in a state of constant busyness isn't the right way to address the repercussions of where our thoughts might take us. I have also realized something contrary this year. Our mind loves to solve problems by default. These could be related to our work, career, education, relationships, health, parenting, community, etc. Observe your thoughts on a random day - see how many problems your mind brings up to the conscious level. For some people like me, this amounts to a large number. It could be due to our childhood conditioning, thought patterns, and beliefs. On days when there are no significant problems to solve, our mind blows up a small issue into a large problem. If we are not aware, we end up nitpicking on minor issues and creating conflict in our relationships. A casual, snide remark from a dear family member that...

  I take my commitments very seriously - commitments to work, family, and myself. Though it helps me get things done, I also end up getting into a state of overwhelm at times. And I notice that I often get caught in similar patterns and similar challenges. Instead of overthinking or overanalyzing the situations which I used to do earlier, I now find it liberating to embrace a state of acceptance. The last couple of weeks has been super hectic on multiple fronts. With the cold, gloomy weather, most of Saturday felt so dull and lethargic. Instead of resisting the day, I accepted that there is no point pushing myself to be productive when the weather gods decided to give a break to my body (and my overworked mind). I woke up very late this morning (8:45 AM) without an alarm and without any guilt. Made myself a nice cup of chai, as usual, sat down, and sipped slowly. Made breakfast - hot pongal and sambhar to fight the weather. Washed a load of vessels (No househelp on Sundays). Read 3...

  In Nov last year, I shared my thoughts on the joy of learning and being a lifelong learner. Learning doesn't stop after our formal education years. As long as we learn, new synaptic connections get formed in our brains. These connections get stronger as learning becomes reinforced and repeated. The word "boredom" disappears from our vocabulary, when we embrace learning. How to make learning a priority in our daily schedule? There are multiple strategies one could try. Here's a simple technique that I follow: Allocate 1 hour every day for learning. Split this hour into three blocks of 20 mins each. Dedicate these three blocks to learning in the following three categories: Topics that you are curious about Topics that might help you in your profession/career Topics that you had learned about earlier If you are in a state of "flow", continue learning the chosen topic without worrying too much about the time blocks. On days when it is not feasible to allocate...