They work,but only partly. That too in closed rooms. You are hardly likely to stay in the same room throughout your life.
First Anniversary mocktail mommies celebration contest
Plants help improve emotional health
Plants also makes me feel good .All the time every time.
This thing is so bang on, that my hubby suggested we plant trees inside our flat .
He said it as a joke .But I took up the challenge. Though I don’t have trees I do have roughly 80/90 plants in my balcony jungle.
Workout options
Nature is also great for your physical health.A nature walk ,gardening all helps you get a good cardiovascular workout .Plus it’s fun .No monotony.Research also found walking surrounded by nature is more beneficial, than on the treadmill .
Plants make unique home decor
A home full of green plants is pleasant to see .It lifts the interiors, from mundane to wow in no time.
They remove VOC ,and other impurities from indoor air and makes it clean for you.
Plants have the good biophilic bacteria in them .These act as Probiotics for your skin and hair .When you are among plants these good bacteria settle down on the exposed body parts .They are good for your skin’s health .
Plants increase creativity and caring
Being around selfless living beings in nature, helps me understand the truth about life.My writers block disappears when I gaze at my balcony jungle.My low moods lift with a bit of pottering in the garden.
I wake up with a smile when I see my window box full of flowers in the morning.
Why are you thankful for nature ?
Write with us and Link Up .Make it a green revolution.
This week our featured winner is Shalini.
Read her winning post.
Thankful Thursdays featured winner this week is Shalini of shalzmojo.in
Shalini is passionate about everything design.
In her own words…
I am in love with photography, travel and baking. My writing journey was initiated with my letter writing hobby as a child and has metamorphosed into serious blogging as an adult. I blog at shalzmojo.inand my blog, in a nutshell, is about Me. I write about my opinions & views on food, photography, travel, mindfulness, baking, books, movies and recently penned a few fictional tales too.
I indulge with reading fantasy fiction, day dreaming and sipping good wine.
Good or bad apparently it takes 21 days.So officially writing #Thankful Thursdays is a habit now.
Has it made me happier?
Absolutely.
Has it made me more thankful?
100%
Is it fun?
I am having a lot of fun, hosting this amazing thankfulness chain every week.I get to meet wonderful bloggers and read their stories.
When I wrote about keeping a gratitude journal ,I read several articles on practicing thankfulness. Some resources said write daily.Some said monthly .But most said write weekly .It makes it doable and useful.That’s what I discovered with this.
Writing weekly thankfulness post is like a breath of fresh air .
A pick me up in the middle of the week.
So what am I writing this week?
I am writing about 10 Things that makes me thankful to be human
#1
I am able to appreciate the finer things in life .Enjoying a comfortable bed ,great good, good book and beautiful people makes me thankful for this chance to appreciate.
#2
I am able to feel
Love and loss .Pain and joy.Happiness and sadness
#3
I am able to empathise .
Being happy for someone’s happiness .Feeling my child’s pain like my own.That’s the bittersweet part of being human.
#4
I am able to enjoy nature’s beauty
What would I do ,if I didn’t have my plant friends ?
They make me smile with their beauty ,grace and utter selflessness.
# 5
I am able to learn .
Learning new things everyday makes life a lot of fun.Would I be able to learn so many things ,if I wasn’t a human ?
#6
I am able to read books.
Is there any other greater joy ?Reading and reading even more .That’s something only humans do.Never heard a camel enjoy a book ,did you ?
#7
I am able to paint.
The creative arts are our way of expression. If I was a cat ,could I still paint?
Maybe. But would probably find it difficult to source paint and stuff.
# 8
I am able to atleast try to make this world a better place.
As a human being, if we all did our own work well ,things would be lot different.
Unlike animals .They can’t really do much for the world .
# 9
I am able to make friends.
Good friends are like great books and delicious chocolate rolled into one. Friends are truly the family we choose.
#10
I am able to say thank you to God for making me human being.
Yes that’s a very special “thank you”.
For the life you have given me For the opportunities you put in my path. For the challenges you bless me with.I thank you for all of them.
It’s because of my smiles as well as my tears ,that I am ,who I am today.
I have struggled with anxiety and bouts of lows for sometime.
Gardening, exercising,reading books ,Pinterest and Instagram have all played their part in helping me feel better.
Optimism and Health
But the most important thing was probably me practising thought control. Basically whenever I felt a situation or conversation was tending towards something which could make me sad .
I aggressively stopped myself from continuing that train of thought or words. Very difficult and often it makes you feel like two of you pulling at your brain.
But from my own struggles I can tell you, the only way to be mentally healthy is constantly practice positive thinking.
That’s when I came upon Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Happiness post .It was interesting how all these wonderful women focused on being happy. Life is short.It’s too short to live unhappily. A happy smile has a much deeper effect than you perceive.
Positivity and health
The mental and physical effects of positive thoughts and optimism are much more than just the obvious.
In an interesting research done by Barbara Fredrickson certain effects of positive thoughts have been described which will have a widespread effect on how we think about optimism. .
My Questions
So what makes us happy?
Is it possible to be happy all the time?
Does positive thoughts improve happiness?
Are happy people healthier?
How can we all Practice being happy?
Finding the answers to these questions were important to me as I was trying to decide the priorities in my life.
I started my favourite part of writing a post :Research. The best thing about researching health ; wealth and wisdom is that you always gain something.
My research discoveries …
What determines
Optimism?
Positive thoughts and general feelings of happiness have mainly two major influences: 1)Genes.Yes genetics have a hand in this too 2)Environment. How satisfied you are in your personal and professional space place a large role in making you happy and maintenance of this upbeat mood. So just like everything else your happiness quotient is also in your control. But what about genetics? Some families have tendency or genetic predisposition to certain disease. So does this mean they will all be suffering from that disease .Not necessarily. When people have tendency to be overweight and they eat uninhibited and don’t exercise then just blaming the genes will not work . External or phenotypic expression of your genes ,have a lot to do with environment. Controlled diet and exercise helps people stay physically healthy.
Similarly practising gratefulness and positivity helps you stay mentally healthy. You are not a slave to your genes. You are restricted only by the walls you have built yourself. Happiness is a learned habit,which you can develop yourself
Happiness Myths:
Refusing to be practical doesn’t make you happiest.
Happiness is also not something which is a one time stop,from which there’s no return. Overall happy mood has a lot to do with a balanced mood of general wellbeing rather than feeling euphoric.
I have seen even 30 min of walking or running ,everyday helps me keep blues away.
If possible walk in a park .Any activity that brings us close to nature activates the happy and positive part of your brain.
2)Enjoy every moment :Be mindful Mindfulness is the very first step.If you are concentrating on the task at hand ,it’s easier to banish negative thoughts.
I use Om chanting mindfulness meditation and gardening to help myself become more calm and content. 3 )Maintain a gratitude journal
[Tweet theme=”basic-white”]Grateful people are more positive and more likely to be happy :Robert Emmons[/Tweet]
To practice gratefulness is to live better.Sometimes it’s difficult ,but it’s those very times when you need to be more consciously grateful
GRATITUDE
4)Have Empathy 5)Do something that makes you happy everyday.
Read a good book ,garden, chatting with a friend,learn a new skill,paint (love adult colouring books),cuddle and spend time together as a family. 6)Catch up with a friend.
Optimism is a friend magnet.
Make new friends. Thank someone for some help. We are supposed to be the average of five people we spend the mist time with.
So be careful whether you are surrounded by optimists and doers or naysayers. 7)Help somebody. It might be something very small but it will make you feel good.
I have started answering health queries on Lybrate (a doctor -patient health portal). 8)Day Dream about something which you want. 9)Remember something good that happened to you.Memories! 10)Forgive somebody
So what are the health benefits of being an optimistic happy person?
1)Better cardiovascular fitness when compared to other age and gender matched population irrespective of genetics . 2)Much better immunity and healing power. Stress increases cortisol level in your blood which affects both your ,heart,moods and immunity.
Related:Optimism and Immunity 3)You enjoy better quality of life. 4)You sleep more soundly 5)You live better and longer.
The shortcut You can control what you think. Think positive You feel happier You are healthier.
As the year draws to an end, I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude for the years that went by. It’s important I remember. That’s why I thought of writing them down and sharing with you.
30 reasons I am thankful: Amazing things that happened
1)I walked 5 km every day for the last 365 days. Give and take a few here and there. Not joking at all. This has been my best gift to me this year.
Hoping to take it up a notch in 2018.Health is my biggest wealth and I will never forget that.
2)I wrote more than I ever wrote before.That has been a gamechanger in more ways than one.
3)My daughter enjoys her drawing doodling and artwork as much as I do.Check this post out to know what I mean.
4)I got gifted books more than any other year.The main reason I want to take up a Reading challenge this year.
5)I traveled.Family vacations just to unwind for few days but mind refresh like nothing else can.
6)I fell in love with the Fade away sleep sounds.Sea noises and white noise will help you relax and sleep anywhere.
I travel a lot.Travel companion in trains can be unpredictable.That’s why your trusty earplugs and soothing sounds can make you fall asleep anywhere.
Never let your beauty napping be hampered again.They are great for putting your baby to sleep (Kevin has a special set of beautiful soothing sound for just this).I also use them to concentrate while writing!
7)I found fantastic friends online.I realized once again that good friends grow with you even if it’s in opposite direction.Only when you respect growth will relationships survive.
All relationships are a balance of good, bad and ugly.The trick is to increase the good and downplay the rest.
Support from unexpected directions made me deeply grateful once again.
8 )I reaffirmed my faith in humanity.With terror strikes everywhere only kindness, good sense and positive actions will help us.
9)Things I learned from the sea:
What goes around will come around.
So be careful whom you associate with.Negativity breeds negativity.An attitude of gratitude is cool.It makes you a good things magnet.Try it and see.
10.Writing is fun, happiness, cathartic soul food, rants, thank you notes, wishlist, to do list and everything else.While good writing needs a lot of practice.It’s achievable. Just measure your success on your own scale.Not with others.
11.Closure is needed.
Maybe not possible physically but you can do it all the time inside your head.
12.Save money earn money, invest, buy your insurances.Health and child education are priorities but rest use for things which nourish your soul.
13.Supporting creativity is wonderful.When you are creative you become more innovative
My post about Creativity and how it boosts Self-confidence in children is a top post this year
14.Women make up half the world’s population but less than 10 percent of policymakers in the world.Being a woman is a challenge in whichever profession you are and wherever you are.
Whether you accept it or not woman face more socio-economic cultural challenges than men.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing.
It depends on how you take it.Remember women are diamonds you are born to shine.So take it on ladies the universe is yours.Embrace it and walk with us to break those glass ceilings.
My Women Entrepreneurs list is a top page celebrating that.
15.As the year draws to an end I need to tell you how being featured as a Top Blogger in the Entrepreneurship and Startup category helped me choose my #Blogchatterproject.
TOP Indian blogger startup and entrepreneurship
By Gods grace, I was also featured on
Vasantha’s blog
On smarty kids parenting
Directory of Top Indian Blogs
Newspatrolling.com among the Top 20 Indian Blogs
16.When I decided to write about 15 Startling secrets about Giving birth in December I didn’t know it will become my most popular post on Pinterest having 17,0000 in 3 weeks.
It’s also my most popular post in December and among the top 10 posts of 2017.
18.When I decided to write about the confusion between MR vaccine and MMR vaccine I didn’t know it will have so many parents reaching out to me with queries. It validated my primary goal with my blog.Help as many people as I can with my professional skills and experience as I can.The rest is a result of that.
19.Reviewing products which help you can help many more.
My 2 posts about Mama Earth products (I am not a brand partner anymore) were honest and helpful.
So was the Philips Air fryer review.
The first I used for some time the latter is my partner in my healthy living journey for last 3 years.
These two are also in my top 10 most popular posts this year.
20.People love to travel.
My post on Vizag and Zainab’s post about Around the world with kids is my most visited travel posts.
21.My absolute favorite lipstick this year wassmudge me notby Sugar.
If you are a busy mommy blogger who hates retouching lipstick then this will be a lifesaver.Lipstick has secret superpowers.
22.My favorite Nikon camera and tripod changed my blogging life forever.2018 will be all about better pics on my blog.
23.My favorite site online is still Indiblogger.For making so many of my posts top posts.
24.Favourite tools online InLinkz link up tool, Lumen 5 and Recurpost.
25 Favourite plugin Yoast SEO tool the premium version I co-bought with Neha and it takes awesome to a new level.
26.Favorite place I visited Kailasgiri in Vizag.
27.My most popular video was not educational.It’s a tongue twister and was a contest.Made me realize I need to have a fun script for some of my videos.
29.The resolutions I broke this year.
I cried about things I promised I wouldn’t.
I am behind folding clothes and keeping them in the right place.I decided to give away everything I haven’t worn for one year.That way less clutter. But goals not met.
It’s ironic that I am writing to spread positive stories and recollecting one of the worst attacks of terrorism India has ever faced.
What it teaches us is that human behavior is what you remember.Kindness empathy, helpfulness and just being there for absolute strangers at the cost of own life.
When the terrorists attacked the Taj Hotel on 26th November 2008 none of the hotel staff fled.In fact, it was because of their courage, empathy and quick thinking many lived.
These heroes of the Taj Hotel had their lives changed forever because they decided to stay and fight. Some of them are no more with us and some are battle-scarred.
#1 Spread more stories of positivity and hope.What we focus on grows. Today I choose to focus on the brave and good people at Taj Hotels Mumbai. The bell boys, the housekeeping, the kitchen staff, the front desk, and managers. Their contribution to this fight needs to be remembered.
#2 Grow stronger physically and emotionally.God gives us the battles we can win.So believe me we will win.
#3 Meditate.
Its one way of tackling the storm battling inside us when we think why?Oh God, why?
It’s probably the best way to calm our inner storms.
#4 Be aware .
#5 Help our Government and army as much as we can to fight those who want to spread terror.
Writing this to share the hopes of our world with #WATWB
I am thankful for family, love, loss and fights included.God gives us a family, our tribe.Our birth, death, and marriages are said to be destined.You are given a set of cards to play with and then Gods says there are no rules.
All families have secrets, most love each other and a few are fated to live and survive away from each other.
Sometimes the circumstances, sometimes our choices and often both, play a game.
[bctt tweet=”You want the perfect family but you get the one you work for. #Thanksgiving2017 ” username=”misra_amrita”]
Relationships are built over years.Shared passion, emotions, hardships, kinship and that special bond which connects survivors.
[bctt tweet=”When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching, they are your family. ”Jim Butcher #ThankfulThursdays” username=”misra_amrita”]
A childhoods friend‘s mom told me once. “marry someone who will grow with you”.Because that makes the strongest bond.I think that’s true for all relationships.A family you grow with, becomes stronger and stays together.
My maternal uncles are a shining example of this.In fact, all my aunts and uncles on the maternal side showed a tremendous lot of kinship, family loyalty, and smart money behavior.
I mentioned the last one because I have seen many families face unpleasantness due to monetary issues.
Some people have more and some have less but that’s the way of the world.
My favorite aunts and uncles always pitched in to help each other for family emergencies.Both in cash and kind.While the kindness can never be repaid, the cash is always returned as soon as possible.But some things can’t be repaid and that’s understood.What they taught me is that you can take it forwards.
How did this help?
Since this was a mutual understanding it never had to be spelled out. Money talk gets icky so that helped.
Since no one defaulted on returning, everyone had a pool of resource to fall back on when there was a financial emergency overriding personal resource.That I think is an awesome model!
I have been influenced by the kindness, clarity, and loyalty my family shows for each other.They fight, but they have each other’s back.
You must remember, the family is often born of blood, but it doesn’t depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family.” Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society
Thank you family #Thanksgiving
I also believe I have extended my family to my circle of friends.
On Thanksgiving today I thank you for the blessings, the good and the hardships, because I believe all of them helped me and you.
Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”
― George Burns
The Universe only gives us the battles we can fight and the family we can survive
Comment on the posts linked up and on the host’s posts with#ThankfulThursdays hashtag.Use the #for social sharing and tag us.(We are repeating this so that you don’t forget)
Two winners and two gift vouchers are up for grabs.
A minimum of 10 blog post entries will be deemed necessary for the contest to be validated, so make sure you invite and tag 2 of your friends to enter too!
Your performance in this competition will have a score which will matter for the next part of the competition too!
Keep your posts and engagement civil. Adult content/ affiliated links/ derogatory remarks/ hatred towards any religion is not allowed.
Only posts in the link-up written on the prompt will be eligible for the contest and prize.
All decisions of the judges are final and will appreciate your cooperation in the matter.Looking forward to your thank you notes this month.Write with a Thankful Heart!
Fill up this form telling us the posts you have commented on and the links to the social share links.(Very important5 step) By entering this contest you give us(Amrita and Tina) your permission to tag you on social media and email you regarding contest updates, results and more such in the future.
General Rules of linky:(For those who are doing the challenge and those who are not)
Write on the prompt and Link Up.We have a fun new option.
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You can also link up other posts.Just comment on this post and my co-hosts post and any two of the posts in the link up.Share using #ThankfulThursdays hashtag.
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