Anuradha Sridharan

 I stumbled upon this quote credited to Steve Jobs -  "If you are working on something that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you" . As I thought about this quote, memories of certain times flashed. The late morning hours when I would rush to the supermarket to take pictures of nutrition labels and rush back to research the ingredients and write blog posts The times when I used to take orders and cook weekend breakfast and lunch menus as a home chef The late nights when I would write SQL queries to crunch data and analyze the nutrition intake of app users in my role as a product manager for a health startup When you do what you love, external motivation or micro-management isn't required. You experience a state of "flow" and are fully immersed in the process. But such moments are rare and precious. Many times, you end up trying to "love what you do". You try to rationalize the reasons and convince your intellect. ...

 I used to crave a cup of hot coffee or chai by around 11-11:30 AM whenever I used to work for an employer. The key reason behind this craving was that there would invariably be a few meetings lined up between 11:30-1:30 PM. Such meetings not only require focus but also a few other qualities like taking initiative, planning, negotiation, constructive feedback - both giving and receiving, deciding the next course of action, gathering perspectives from others, etc. Some meetings would also involve facing an egoistic attitude from others - unexpected backlashes, interruptions while you try to convey your views, blame games/passing the buck to different teams, etc. As I thought about this need for the extra cup of tea/coffee, it wasn't because I was feeling sleepy, lethargic, or tired - to conquer the tamasic qualities. This craving was my system's indication to increase the percentage of the Rajasic component. Action, passion, aggression, impatience, power-mongering, ego, achievem...

 Many of us tend to adopt one of these two mindsets depending on our life experiences - victim mindset and savior mindset. As I observed my thought patterns over the past few years, the dominant one between the two is often the savior mindset. I'm not sure about the origin of its roots, though I have a few guesses. One probable reason could be that I have grown up watching Director Shankar's movies 🙂 Embracing this savior mindset is one of the important reasons behind situations that trigger me. Though I'm a calm person by nature, I get angry when I see situations where people get exploited due to their insecurities and fears. As I knew the reason behind my anger, I curtailed most of the sources where I get to receive such information. Social media, specifically Instagram, is the only source where such information hits me. As I mulled over this trigger in the past couple of weeks, I understood all my posts related to packaged foods, types of influencers, and their marketin...

 A few weeks back, I started reading "The four chapters on Freedom" by Swami Satyananda Saraswati. This is a commentary on Maharishi Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Around the same time, I stumbled upon Roopa Pai's latest book "The Yoga Sutras for Children". Her earlier book "Gita for Children" is one of my absolute favorites as it simplified the sacred text with a lot of relatable examples. Her style of writing demystifies scriptures and makes it easy to approach them without any trepidation due to the lack of knowledge of Sanskrit. Her version of "Yoga Sutras" is a commentary on commentary by various other scholars. She has brought out the essence, making the reader feel more curious to go deeper. Though it says "for children", it is certainly relevant for adults too, as the issues being brought up related to mind control are something many of us face today. She starts with the objective of Yoga and its role in expanding our awarenes...

  In 2016, I wrote a post on why it is important to find your slash - different identities separated by / In 2022, I shared about how identities (labels) prevent us from connecting with the Universal consciousness. Two completely contradicting thoughts. I used to display the slashes in my bio earlier. I no longer do so as I'm trying to disassociate myself with identities I have clung to. Long way to go in this journey! As years go by, we change as individuals - our mindsets, priorities, and perspectives go through a shift. This is a natural process as we evolve through life experiences. This transition accelerates when we consciously avoid being on auto-pilot all the time. Social media has provided a platform for us to share our changing perspectives over the years. So it goes without saying that what we see on social media isn't a true reflection of the person. So it is better to take everything with a pinch of salt and add a "conditions apply" disclaimer internall...

 Over the past few days, I have been grappling with this thought of "being influenced" and the factors that lead us in that direction. In our parent's times (80s and 90s), it was television and advertisements that played a huge role in shaping their thoughts and decisions. In our present times, it is social media and the so-called influencers. While reading "Wisdom Bridge" a few weeks back, the author spoke about how there is more involvement and more intensity in today's parents because of a lack of access to the "village" (a.k.a family support) and wisdom that used to flow serenely from one generation to another. " Prepare is the new care " => He laid forth this apt statement. It is not only the preparation of our children for better opportunities and skills. It also means preparation undertaken by parents ourselves, so we feel equipped with the "right" knowledge. Fair intentions certainly, BUT have we evaluated our approac...

  Sorry for sounding harsh. I happened to watch a video that exposed the truth behind parenting influencers. I don't follow the content of these influencers and so I had no idea about the issues that this person who exposed the truth talked about. As I was watching the video, there were quite a few thought-provoking and disturbing revelations that were brought to the limelight. He also brought out many pertinent questions that were running through my mind as well over the past few years. We say, in Tamil, "Emaravanga irukkara varaikkum emathuravanga iruppanga" (As long as there are people to be fooled, there will be people to fool them). Just like food influencers, influencers are sprouting across every aspect of life. There's no way these so-called influencers are gonna take social responsibility. They will continue to launch their expensive workshops, write books, travel the world, buy second homes in exotic beach locations etc. It is up to the people who are getti...