Shruti Nagar Dave's Blog, page 3

14 Feb- A new context to celebrate

This is more than a book, it is my effort to be courageous and…

She is here, soon will be available on amazon, visit this blog on 14th feb to get link to get a copy. I am excited and nervous, I trust you will be kind to me and feel the purpose and intend over language and words. Cant wait to hear your reviews if you come across this book. With help of Author’s copy I will read some of the poems to give you a blurb on The Soul’s Mind.

The life becomes purposeful if someone who seek god dedicates all the actions to the divine lotus feet of Radha-Krishna. This day is to celebrate ‘Gopi Prem Diwas’! There love in the world is a give and take sort of business, the real love is only the divine love. Love is a selfless act, to only serve Krishna. (I am grateful to maharajji) To have been graced with this little view and turn all the worldly duty and action to divine context.

Overjoyed to share this blessing where I could express my ongoing journey into this path and turning conflicts into a poetry that leads to self love and love for god.

My first book is releasing on 14th February 2021. It will be available on AMAZON to purchase. The book is a symbol of the willingness to desire love for god, I really recommend and suggest each one of you reading this blog to own one and place it on the shelf. when time comes, the book will read herself to you.

-Shruti Nagar Dave

From Showy to Low Key

HAHA! I am not sure if I am eligible to write about this, well honestly I am a newbie in the world of staying low key, but could not wait to express the impact it has made in my mindful lifestyle practice just in few days. I used to think that people who do not share much on social are not so expressive or may be they aren’t confident about themselves or may be conscious of putting things out there. But hey! hey! hey! it did not take long for me to break this ice in my brain.

I was too consistent lately on instagram as shared in my previous blogs where I posted something daily, so number one it was about sharing what good I receive and some mindful practices and thought and second was to just be there so that people who follow me do not leave my group. (the people who I do not even know that well). Anyway, that obviously added to my anxieties, irritation and frustration and found myself too occupied and honestly got quite away from myself. I got of instagram and facebook as in I do not post anything any more. Like the blog I write automatically gets posted on facebook and I do not even open facebook anymore. I do not have instagram app but can access on browser and now I only do if there is any favour I am asked to share some work of my friends who ask me to. Just so that it can contribute to their social media presense.

I never thought I could even consider living a life as a low key, imagine all my life I have been making videos, writing, sharing, talking to people about what i believe in and so on. I was fortunate to receive national and international awards and posting those made me feel I have accomplished something and receive so much love and praise from people. But what good that do to me? I am know about good but certainly it kept me on my toes and away from ‘NOW’. At a point of time my brain either thought of things I said or did or plan what will be next. So there was no pause in my mind to appreciate the ‘present’ time.

To stay low key in my context all I did was

meditating to live in presentWhenever there is any urge to pick up the phone and scroll, I rather picked book to readI began cooking mindfully and eating alone without screen time and even talkingI added skin care routine to my daily taskI push myself to workout for about 1 hour / complete 15k steps every dayI write or speak 3 things I am grateful for before going to bedI began to smile, whenever I go into any thoughts and smile turns my mind into being grateful and being happyI acknowledged love for god and began to have my mind visualise by chanting in (Radhey Govinda)

SO who are low key people,

They are the ones who are authentic with themselves and live life by living in NOW. They accept life as it comes and are free flowing.

-shruti nagar dave

How about wearing a poetry that you like? The Soul’s Mind

(p.s. The mug and Red T-shirt is birthday gift from my Sister)

Wearing a poetry that sends out the vibe you are for the day works like magic. I mean who would not want to express what and how they feel? We all somewhere wish to be heard and be found in the crowd, right? Even if you are not a fan of recognition you may want to even communicate that.

The time to launch the book is getting closer and recent update is that the book’s isbn number is awaited. Cannot wait to send this little book of the journey to discover soul’s urge to you. So to uplift the excitement I am happy to share that soon the products and t-shirts with your choice of poetry or prose will be made available on this website. If you like the work I do or what I write, you can send me a message, share with your friends and family and join me in this very new experience of the book launch. As a writer this is huge!

Do comment how you feel about my upcoming book and what do you have to say to settle my nervousness? Also Will you buy the poetry book and some products?

About today, it is my 5th work anniversary at footprints and this is a huge stuff, as it is a first organisation where I have worked more than a year.

-Shruti Nagar Dave

5 reasons why you must NOT listen to your mind

Hello!! Good morning, well I keep mentioning this, but I cannot just stop. You know the best part of blogging on word press is that I do not feel a pressure to worry about who is reading it, specially when in your app group when you have friends and family. Trust me even those people feel pressure to like or comment on even if they do not feel like. And few of them share and comment to validate their existence. I do get and catch the sense of the activity I see on apps, well not to brag but have practiced psychology for a while now, and I claim its accuracy because most of it is practiced on me. And my mothers favourite quote in gujarati ” kagla toh badhej kada hoye”… meaning the crows in any place, country town are going to look similar.

Today when I was preparing my breakfast, a mindful breakfast which was a cup of black coffee and a butter toast.

I realised, it is not something I crave for and not to forget that at the same time I was cooking for my husband. What was it that kept me motivated to continue to eat the food I was given while I was working on my weight loss? This inquiry could be for every one in different areas. For instance people who are consistent in home making, walking, running, dancing or any kind of interest.

Well the idea is simple yet so difficult. It is complicated that you mind always tells you to choose and do things that you crave for or day feeds for dopamine or makes you feel good. well sure we all want that right? but at the cost of making choices that might not be elevating our soul and nourishing body. I used to think I am food and my emotions however they were I use to celebrate by eating. Like I literally could not sit still. if watching tv eat, if happy eat , if nervous eat, if free – eat, if getting bored – eat. And that cost me 20kgs plus.

SO here are 5 reasons why I avoid to listen to my mind:Mind will always influence me to be in my own comfort: Like your own mind would not want to hurt you right? it is only pleases you by highlight what gives you comfort and feel good for a while. (when you do so, it will cost you health, no growth and money)Mind will give you options from what already works for you. It would never want to put you in a challenging situation. Mind will show you illusive happiness that looks good for now, but it will take you away from reality.Mind will tell you that you need to eat sweet (and brain will picture brownie, cakes, chocolates and so on) but it was tell you what your body actually need. May be it only needs sweet from fruits. NEVER NEVER WILL PICTURE FRUITS but cakes. try thisIf you are committed to grow in all areas of life, you need to do opposite of what you mind says, it would not be wrong to listen to you heart something. TRY THIS.It looked impossible but I did it.

Knowing although makes no difference unless it is practiced or implemented in life. Initially it took so much of me to be able to wear this discipline and add in my new mindful lifestyle. This is how I did it.

I chose things opposite to what my mind offered and that simply worked. I now know what I do not want at least and that is certainly leading me in the direction I want to go.

It is not today but our mind moulds as per the environment we live in and thoughts and values we were fed as a child. And continuously life experience that we keep adding in our little bucket. So do not worry, if you chose to transform there are opportunities that you can grab still.

It is never too late

Have a good one

Shruti Nagar Dave

You soul, mind and body need uniquely different service. Are you taking care of that?

You soul, mind and body need uniquely different service. Are you taking care of that?

8 THINGS TO ADD TO YOUR LIFESTYLE TO MAKE IT A MINDFUL LIFESTYLE

I adopted mindful lifestyle after leaving social media

-Snd

Hello! again! it honestly feels awesome to be back to blogging, this is how I began to express my thoughts and ideas from my life. I am not sure if anyone is reading this, however I still feel content and satisfied considering somewhere someone will connect with what I write. I would stay as raw and authentic as I can be about my thoughts and views on various matters.

So while I write this blog, let me begin by mentioning that this blog writing time is part of my newly designed mindful lifestyle. Do you sometimes wonder that you got time and you wish to use it at its best? Do you feel guilty of just surfing or scrolling phone and realise it is end of the day and you missed creating or doing things that make your soul happy? Do you get anxious to do things which are huge and difficult to seek contentment? well I could go on and on to frame questions that came to me when I was experiencing the time was running from my hand.

Here what happened to me, certainly the impact of the fast lifestyle, too much information and social media:

I was too anxious and fearful to sit stillI felt irritated if I did not have any content to post on instagramI ended up disconnecting with my family (like to talk about what I ate and did was waste of my time)I just kept being occupied consuming too much information by netflixing, intagramming, and facebooking.I was inconsistent in my workouts and experienced unhealthy eating habits (eat when I want to not when i was hungry)experienced failure based on intagram numbers or algorithm

I can list more however I guess with the mentioned 5-6 points you are with me how miserable I made myself for too much entitlement and presence on social media.

It took lot of guts to first go on a social media detox (click on the link at the end of this blog to know how I went on social media detox) I will give this credit to my sister as she caught the reason and realised I wasn’t being me.

Mindful lifestyle

Wake up early by 6:00 amMeditate for 30minsWorkout for 30minsHome set up and choresGet ready for work Breakfast (I follow nutritious meal designed by MRS. Suruchi Garg, my food expert) ad break – I lost 16kgs weight under her guidance Since it is work from home I can cook mindfully by playing spiritual chants and lectures by my spiritual guru.Mindful eating (no tv or phone)Walk for about 10 mins (after every meal )Tea break & book reading or write a blogAarti and meditation complete 15k steps of the daylisten to music/ gardeningWriting and filling my gratefulness journal before bed.My mindful lifestyle takes care of mind, body and soul; how so?

Mind: limited information, no gossip and reading books and engaging in activities to nurture things around like cooking, gardening, working, writing and reading

Body: Healthy eating and workout (I love to walk, I say challenging yourself to compete 10k minimum a day would give you a lot of strength and sense of accomplishment.

Soul: Spiritual /daily sadhana for 2 hours minimum feeds my soul with devotion and connects with the source and that give me energy to walk this path to reach to the ultimate goal that is almighty.

8 things to add to your day to make it a mindful lifestyleMeditation Music and WalkGardening and cookingReading books/ writing blogsDaily spiritual_rituals Eating alone (without Television and Phone)Doing small things for home (cleaning cupboard, cooking mindfully by thanking god for the food)Writing gratefulness journey before bed (3 things you are grateful for today)

How would you design your day if you were to turn it into a mindful lifestyle?

Keep redesigning and living mindfully

Self Love it is

-Shruti Nagar Dave

When social media is at peak, I chose to get off it.

When social media is at peak, I have chosen to get off from it. Must be something crazy to do. Well I began social when at least people in my family or known circle weren’t active for creating content. They hardly would have considered it to be of their expression. In 2013, I began my YouTube channel to post videos to spread awareness of education for all, as I was working with NGO in Ahmedabad. It was then very new but I was too comfortable to use it as a tool to express what I feel. Even before this I started a design studio under the name ‘Skydoers consulting’ and later ‘Khadee shrutee’ my very own khadi clothing label back in 2010-ish. I am sure it did good to me then and now as well.

With the kind of work I did on Instagram lately with 700 followers it might look strange to give that up. It was strange for me too. I will take time here and take you close to this choice I have made. I had spent great amount of time, mediating, reading, and designing, creating one post that said the world out in just 2-3 lines. But only a few could attempt to like, and none to comment. I did not bother about it much after I discovered my purpose to use Instagram. I was clear that it is only to express and let the vibe go out as to who I want to be. I am so grateful to 2-3 people who encouraged me on each of my post.

The people who are backed by family and friends for what they do, reach greater heights and strangers see it being appreciated and hence they join the community that you wish to creat as they find it is trusted. But when your very own family and so called friends do not share or value what you do on social and in return expect you to promote, it becomes killing of time and you feel so devastated. Of course I felt bad or uncomfortable when I noticed people I know looked at my post or what I created in my story and just passed by; to make myself feel better, I ‘l would say to myself, may be they are not yet at the place to be able to understand spiritual and mindful content I created.

So then these thought bubbles put me to rediscovering and going on detox to cleanse from the negative effects of social media on my self-confidence.

I later worked harder purposefully to just make good content that I believe in. In social, people say create content that audience wants to read or watch; even if it is a nonsense, mockery or fundamentally inappropriate content like using children to get insta fame, mocking people, making fun of the miserable, vulgarity and so on. And that disconnected me to an extend that I discovered that spending this much time going nowhere was not for me.

For those who are under the influence of the millions of followers might feel I am jealous, well sure, I too thought so earlier but my friends it is much beyond it. I was so disconnected that I could not stand some content which make no sense to me to be just watched as a center to entertainment. It just did not work. And on top of that when actually researched about the profiles that make your number to a million, were totally of the mindset I do not come from.

I swear, it was one video where a father is recording his child imitating the song on tv and when the hero jump to catch the rope, the child too jumped but on what? she jumped on tv and the tv fell off from the table with the child. So is this the kind of entertainment I am up for? well certainly not. Though, I know many who aren’t impacted much by what is been put up on social which is great for them that they are able to balance and carry their peace of mind. But for me it certainly impacted my space.

And so here I am back to the old school of blogging. But I am glad, I am back to the real job/ real work and making difference by staying low key. If ever I want to celebrate I will have my family or people who really care to find a way to reach me.

I came up with this analogy if you would like to relate; Instagram and Facebook are like you stand on the cross roads and wave at people passing by (likes and comments) and you think you are talk of the town.. and being person of quality (off social) is like staying home or wherever and real folks would knock your door or mail you when they need. The illusion helps you to gain confidence but too much of it, also if you are trapped into this, it will be a damage where you will realise that your confidence was dependent of an elusive wall and it had to break.

I got new connections and re connections with real people on social but looks like a high maintenance for me. I cherish all the moments and will always be grateful to what I got from it. However My station has come and I need to get down the train. If it must, you surely would see me back on social and if it is not meant for me still then you know you can reach me here.

-Shruti Nagar Dave

Leave a comment or share this blog with those who might relate with this and experience that life does exist beyond social media and daily posting.