Walk Along the Lake

It was yet another rainy day that took me back to the good,old days of living in Abingdon, U.K. However, the evening cleared up wonderfully and I actuallly managed to go for a walk after a lovely but heavy lunch at the Lakeside Country Club with many other cheerful SSA ladies. A walk along the lake is always heartening for the soul and body (with no evident results though!). The nip in the air was just right and birds were chirping in high melodies. For the first time, I noticed there are three types of ducks in and around the lake. Some with white and black feathers and red boils all around their eyes and upper neck. Some jet black, smaller in size with velvet-like black fur on their heads and upper neck, and some just plain beige, black and white ones with no red boils around their eyes and upper neck. Wonder what each of them are called! One furry, velvety black neck one was having a merry bath in the waters. It kept dipping its head in the water and coming up and shaking off the wetness on its back with a sudden shudder. Then down it went again for another dip. The bright red Nerium oleander was in full bloom in one of the backyards. The water of the lake a clear, still dark blue, almost greyish-black but yet with an engaging shimmer. The fountain rose and fell in abundance. My pace was steady and the recent back trouble seemed to be in check. I and my thoughts, we walked hand in hand, mingling, interlacing, breaking free to catch onto yet another ponderous thread. Now, I really need to find the headphones to my Iphone in order get those audio books rolling! As usual, too less time and lots to do, yet I shall keep at it. Trying, struggling, falling, and getting up to be on the go again.

On Seizing the Moment

Each new day brings on new challenges, new ideas, new aspirations, and with it new actions and deeds. It is so true that every action is but a mind-set. If you are keen on something, if you love something deeply enough, if you have firmly engrained goals, then you automatically strive for them. Every once so often, there is a feeling of trepidation, a hesitation of deciphering right from wrong, a negative thought that negates you. However, treat it as fleeting and transient, like everything is anyway, and there is no turning back. Someone has truly and wisely said that all the fun is in the journey and not the destination. This afternoon I sat in the public library browsing the latest issue of the Architectural Digest. It was a cool afternoon and the lake outside the library had its waters stirred up. There was a man fishing and I looked up every few minutes to check if he had caught anything while reading about Brooks Shield's new townhouse in New York and Giorgio Armani's newly decorated Swiss Alpine residence. Then there was an article on Istanbul and its exotic nature lying on the border of Europe and Asia. It was such an enthralling hour spent that I went home in high spirits. Several ideas flew through my mind while reading it which I immediately jotted down in the Notes on my Iphone; an absolutely ingenius invention by the Apple guru Steve Jobs, my hero.

Thinking Anew

It is funny how the brain works. Sometimes, an idea or a thought overrides your daily functions and routine until it is addressed and, hopefully, resolved. And then again, the more you resist something or averse something - something as virtual as a thought, the more it grips you and consumes you. On the contrary, if you let go and think of the positives of that thought, all of a sudden, everything seems easy, almost fun. That just goes to show how each one's potential is more often than not, curbed by one's own internal fears, apprehensions, and speculation. Then again, there are days when one's confidence, positive thinking potential is on the upsurge and others where everything seems dismal and hopeless. It is on days like the latter when one has to make a conscious effort to carve that positive groove. What then moves one from the negative to the positive? Can glucose levels provided to the brain alone make that change? Maybe not! Sometimes, something more is required. Good friends, a lilting piece of music, good company, something thought provoking on TV, a heart to heart conversation, a nice long walk in fresh air, a sweat-inducing work-out. Many things like these can help. The root of all these being diversion from the base thought for a while which then enables one to envision that same thought in a different light; then, invariably, thinking about it in a more positive light since the negative has already been exhausted. I think that's how it works!