7 Tips to Help You Stay Focused #MondayBlogs #MondayMusings

7 Tips on Help You Stay Focused

“Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” — George Lucas. 

Have you experienced this? On some days, you might very well try to put in eight hours and not achieve anything substantial, but on other days you might just be on your productive best. Within 2 hours of great concentration and focus, you’d be able to produce fantastic results with which even you’d be surprised.

For someone like me, who has to don many hats at different times within a day, focus easily wanders. From preparing meals every day, taking care of the home, making time to read, write, practice yoga, to spending quality time with the kid - be it playing or sitting down to teach him things if I am not disciplined enough, my to-do tasks inadvertently spill over the next day. Truth be told, it gets the better of me at times and I hit a low.

It is seen that productivity is usually not directly proportional to the time spent on a task on a given day. It is the focus or the lack of it that determines how productive or efficient you can be. While I do not always measure my day by how productive I am, but getting things done at the right time makes me feel happy and content. Certain things have helped me stay focused and get things done efficiently, thereby helping me make time for things I like to do in leisure like reading, making art, or playing with the kid. I am listing them my 7 tips to stay focused below.

Of Sea, Sand and Sunsets - Reflections #GoaDiaries #MondayBlogs

“Every sunset is an opportunity to reset.”– Richie Norton

One of the best feelings in life is to watch a sunset over the sea. It’s a splendid sight to watch, how the blazing sun gradually dims, appears to dip into the sea, and the sky gradually changes its hues. That’s something I relished witnessing on our first getaway of 2021. Last week we were in Goa for a much needed short holiday, and it was a very welcome break for all of us. 

Whenever we are in Goa for a holiday we prefer to have a relaxed stay by chilling on the beach and enjoying the sea. So instead of going and rushing around places, we try to in soak in the sun, have fun in the water, watch sunsets and unwind. With a kid, it makes more sense to keep things simple and it works for us very well. Sharing a few pictures and some musings and reflections from the trip here.

37‌ ‌Things‌ ‌I‌ ‌am‌ ‌Grateful‌ ‌for‌ #WrappingUp2020

 

I have been cultivating an attitude of gratitude for years now, and 2020 has been a year when its meaning took a whole new level. 2020 has been a year like no other in our lives, and it only makes sense to bid adieu to this year while counting our blessings. I have been thinking about it ever since Corrine had suggested this prompt for early December linky, but I could not get around writing it then. But, hey, can you be ever late in counting your blessings? Yes, it’s never too late to be grateful and count our blessings. In case you are wondering why the number 37, well I turned 37 years fabulous and wiser this year. Considering one blessing for each year I have lived till now, listing 37 blessings is not too difficult. Isn’t it? I must add here that adding this number was also Corrine's idea and a fun one at that I say.

When You Change The Way You Look at Things, the Things You Look at Change #MondayMusings

I have been meaning to write a post about living in the pandemic times since long. In fact, this post was lying half-written in my drafts for over a month now. The thing is when you are leading a quarantine life, things seem to move rather slowly (at least so has the case been with me). It has been more than 5 months since our normal lives were replaced by the lockdown/quarantine life. While we are living safe and sound (*conditions apply) within the comforts of our homes, but life is not the same as before. Like most of us, I prepped myself mentally with the mantra - this too shall pass and for the most part, I like to believe that I did fine. There were some days in between when despair and anxiety would take hold and I would step back and just breathe and let things be.

Gearing up for The Write Tribe Reading Challenge #MondayMusings

4 months of the year has already passed by and I am miserably lagging behind in my reading goals. I didn't aim for anything too far fetched as a part of the GoodReads challenge - just 2 books a month. Should not have been that tough right? But it is becoming so, given the fact that I am also putting my hands into a number of other things. So, to get myself back on track, I am signing up for another reading challenge. Although I am pretty late for it already, Corrine of Write Tribe has been kind enough to let me into 'The Write Tribe Reading Challenge 2019'.

As a part of the challenge, I am hoping I will be reading 24 books (book lover level) of which 12 can match up to the book prompts listed in the challenge plus I will be posting a review of at least 1 book a month. Of course, there will be some catching up to do. But then, that's my intention for taking up this challenge.

Looking Back - January to March 2019 #GratitudeCircle #MondayMusings

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous

A gratitude post and a post about life, in general, have been long due on the blog. The first quarter of the year is done and dusted with. So it makes sense to look back at the months gone by so far this year. I have had a lot to be thankful for, quite a few things to ponder about and lest I forget about it as the year goes on, I should make a note of it here on the blog. So, I will not beat around the bush and straight get to the point.

The year so far has been a happening one. Of course, there were highs and lows too. And there were things to be grateful for. The universe keeps people aligning on my path to show me the way - to say the things I need to hear, to get the lessons I need to learn to grow and most importantly to not give up on trying - opportunities are just around the corner. We just need to make sure we aren't just walking straight.

Where Are You From? - Some Pictures From My Jan Assam Trip #MondayMusings

This January I made my annual trip to my mom's place. Some of my new friends and acquaintances asked me to share some pictures from my trip. That is when I realized I have never really shared anything about my hometown in this space. This space has been primarily for book reviews and sharing recipes, so I guess I had never given it a thought. Now that I have voluntarily taken a break from food blogging for a while, I guess it is fair enough to share some snippets from my life here to keep the blog going.

Where are you from?

This is one of the common questions I am often asked whenever I make new acquaintances. For that matter, I think it is one of the common questions posed to most people. For me, however, the answer is not as simple.

On Decluttering Memories - Does it Spark Joy?

On Decluttering Memories - Does it spark joy?

It was early morning and my boy was blissfully sleeping tucked in the blanket. My mom was in the kitchen busy preparing breakfast. So, I thought it was a good time to check out my things in one of those tiny shelves upstairs. I donned my fleece jacket and wore my socks – it is quite cold at this time of the year (January) in Assam and when you just get out the blanket, you feel the chill all the more. So, I dressed right for the weather and made my way upstairs.

It has been a kind of ritual for me whenever I am visiting my mom’s place to go over all my old books, diaries, knick-knacks and that special pouch that safely keeps old greeting cards, scrapbooks from schools, letters and notes that I loved exchanging with my friends. It serves as a souvenir of sorts for me – a lovely reminder of the good old days. A large part of the so-called letters and notes came from my best friend from school; ironically she is someone with whom I am barely in touch these days, despite the convenience of being connected on social media.