Celebrating life

Believe it or not, happiness is in our hands, well, with a probability of 90%. There are certain external factors which could, not prevent, affect that from happening. But still the majority of it lies in our hearts, minds and thoughts.

Happiness is a state of mind, aided by you-get-to-do-what-you-want-to-do, of course!

As for me, there are very small things, or should I call them subtle, which provide me utter satisfaction in life. And for the most part of life, if we are satisfied, we are generally happy - that's a golden rule I tend to follow. For me general happiness lies in my living area/conditions. The township I reside in is one of the greenest places of the city. And no one can argue over the fact that experiencing greenery around your apartments gives a serene, peaceful feeling within ourselves.

Second thing to happiness is - de-stressing, which can in be many ways, like sports activities, evening stroll in parks meeting with friends and acquaintances. And all of it again conveys that the locality we live in should possess these amenities and help towards a happier society in general. A few of my ways of de-stressing include playing Badminton in the indoor wooden court, having chai-pe-charcha & a sit-together at shopping complex, all within our township. On weekends, there's either long distance cycling, or running at a sponsored event. All these activities, coupled with a few more depending on the time and situation, really help in busting the accumulated stress out of mind. (Mind gets stressed due to various factors pertaining to modern lifestyle and work routine)

Thirdly, there are some leisure activities like gobbling or easing through a novel; reading, listening or writing poetry which soothes the inner self and brings calm to the outer self in process. Savouring your favourite piece of music, movie or food also comes under this category. All these things eat up surface tension and make us happy without us even noticing it.

Last but not the least, a mind or a body deprived of proper sleep is bound to be irritated. Such a personality can never squeeze the happiness out of anything. In other words, it won't be able to properly process any cause of happiness to its 100% extent. And a well-maintained home (with proper sunshine and air circulation in the house taken care of) in a seemingly quiet surrounding / neighbourhood is quite more likely to aid in better sleep at night hours.

Celebrate Life being Happy!

P.S. -- #CelebrateLifeAtIvy by owning a dream home at Ivy estate, an 85 acre estate with 34 acres of greenery and open spaces. Join the 1600 happy families already living here. Check out this walkthrough video and decide for yourself.

Share load, share life

I have always advocated on the shared family-responsibilities between life partners, if they wish to maintain love in their sacred relation. There are many aspects to that. Traditionally, male has been taking the outdoor responsibilities head-on, while the female has been tackling indoor activities determinedly, pertaining to household chores. But the fast changing modern life has diminished the boundaries where activities like monthly ration, cooking, earning, washing are no longer restricted to any particular gender. I have always been washing my own laundry since I started college rather than giving it to the hostel washerman. It's a neutral activity for me - neither like nor dislike.

But the twist in the tale comes always once one gets married. And that's because the husband subconsciously shifts his indoor activities like cooking and washing to his wife, generally speaking. But that's where the two of us have no qualms about who will doing what. We have formed the basis of our marriage on sharing. 

Sharing the load 

by partners both 

dissolves differences 

doubles the happiness 

... is the mantra we have adopted in our married life. So when BlogAdda came up with #WashBucketChallenge, we decided to participate and #ShareTheLoad on a bigger platform. And here comes the proof... 

My experience with Ariel says that after washing, the clothes look bright and new and stain-free, in lesser amount of washing powder than other detergents; and the aroma is really nice.

The secret to easy laundry: 

The key is getting into (and sticking to) a routine. That way you’ll always have something clean to wear, and you can get your laundry chores out of the way before spending time on the things that matter, like meeting up with friends, going to the movies or spending time with your family.

You’ll find plenty of advice on Ariel site to help you find your way around your laundry. To help you get started, try these useful links:

Why it’s important to sort washing into whites, lights and darks.
Deciphering those confusing laundry symbols.
Help with removing stains.
How to make ironing easier.

Further, there are Laundry tips and Stain Removal tips available on Ariel website; here's the link --> http://www.ariel.in/en-IN/LaundryTips/index.aspx?pictures=ArielTips

Happy Shared Laundry!

P.S. -- 'This post is a part of the #WashBucketChallenge activity atBlogAdda.com is association with Ariel India'

Dil ki Deal on Snapdeal 1

Learning to play Flute has always been an aspiration which never got its due in my busy world, and it's not like I didn't try for it. It's just that I wasn't able to find any mentor nor a nice flute shop to purchase and start as a beginner. But last year I came across The Bangalore Harmonica and Reed Instrument Festival and I went for it without second thoughts.

Harmonica, or Mouth Organ, has always been my 2nd favourite musical instrument. And attending the harmonica festival and listening to so many wonderful amateur and professional players of the instrument, I made up my mind to finally give way to the longing musical earnestness inside me. And I ordered two pieces online. Why two! Well, it had a surprise attached with it then. A surprise leading to and resulting in Dil Ki Deal.

Later in that month, it was the birthday of one of my very good friends. And I had earlier mentioned to him that I was going to buy and learn harmonica soon and he had shown honest interest in that for himself too. Thus, buying two Tower Chromatic Harmonica (after much research and consultation) under Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF), an initiative by Google, got me a good deal online and some cashback as well. What I had planned after this I myself didn't even know. I think it was all in my subconscious waiting for the idea to take turn as the time comes.

I gradually learned the basics of playing harmonica online viewing youtube videos. Got the musical notes for a few songs like Jingle Bell, Twinkle Twinkle, etc. and learned to play them amateurishly. And after a month or so, the day came when I went to my friend's room and surprised him by playing Happy Birthday To You over Harmonica (not in perfect tune though, but the effort matters) and then gifted him the second Harmonica. He was delighted and spell-bound and thanked me enough for this Dil Ki Deal. Now whenever we get time, we try learning the instrument together sometimes. And we are planning to play it at the top peaks of mountains whenever we go for trekking next, or at the shore of a beautiful lake whenever we head for bicycling ride.

Life is never easy, it's made worth living by such Dil ki Deals creating and sharing happines, voila!

P.S. -- “I am participating in the #DilKiDealOnSnapdeal activity at BlogAdda in association with SnapDeal.”