Petals!

''Hey, you are Swapna, right?'' For the first time in over 30 years during my frequent visits to Puttaparthi, I was asked this question by a stranger.  I was taken aback because this is a very unusual occurrence for me in Puttaparthi.  My parents and I were about to sit down for dinner when the stranger walked over to us.  "I am Rakesh Menon, your husband's friend from Class 1,'' he said. Phew! Of course, I have heard about Rakesh Menon from my husband though the two friends have not met each other for over two decades.  ''Heard so much about you and now I finally got to meet you....the year was 1997. Sanand couldn't stop talking about you and I have heard so much about your romance...,'' Rakesh was smiling as he said this. I was literally squirming - it does feel a little odd to hear about my romance in front of my parents and my very curious 11-year-old son. But Rakesh Menon has this amazing way of making everyone ...

I asked my 8 year old son, “Frame 3 sentences quickly about your mother as a person.” This was his answer: 1.      Amma is a good cooker. 2.     Amma is beautiful. 3.     Amma works at..... Look at it from a language perspective and you know that the first sentence is not correctly framed.  But you also know one thing: it is straight from the heart. He meant 'good cook' and I burst into laughter because 'Amma is a good cooker' reminds me of my 2015 resolution: eat less, exercise more! Of the three sentences, the first one made me smile.                                                      It’s no different in our interactions with others. It’s not the “perfect comments/conversations” we recall. It’s the flawed, funny, heart-to-heart ones that stick like glue to the he...

We are all guilty of emotional eating at some point in our life. This is an area that we all need to look at closely because it affects our health.  How spiritual discipline can keep you out of emotional eating  While I was in my teens, I underwent spiritual mentoring that taught me how to control the mind and to discipline it.  Spiritual discipline required me to automatically stem any sense of taste with the power of the mind. It worked wonders for me because the moment I ate food, my mind had the power to block the sense of taste. I didn't have any craving to eat more. This technique also gave me control on maintaining body weight too.  When I let go of the serene spiritual world that protected me, everything changed. My eating pattern went for a toss and became influenced by my emotions.  I lost control of disciplining the mind, so did my control over maintaining body weight. How relationships trigger your emotional eating pattern Recall the year...