Family Day Outing

It was -6 degrees outside and a freezing cold Sunday morning. One would love to stay at home with blankets covered and sleep for hours. But destiny had something else in store for us. As I and my hubby got up in the morning, the first thought that came across our mind was to get ready and get going. We were excited. We packed our bags and an hour later, we were on our way to a destiny unknown.

Ashok, a good friend of ours, had planned to take us trekking to a nearby area - about 60km from Toronto. We met him at Downtown and headed towards Hanks for an awesome brunch. After a sumptuous meal, we headed towards our destination - We were on our way to Hamilton. On reaching the place, we grabbed some coffee and then started trekking. As we walked in the beauty of nature, we could hear slight sound of waterfalls. I turned towards Ashok and asked him- 'Are you taking us to a water fall?' He just smiled and said 'Have patience and discover your destination.' My curiosity knew no bounds. The roads were slippery but the weather was awesome and the experience of trekking was exhilarating. As we walked, the sound of the waterfall grew prominent. Finally, I saw the Falls from far.The view was mesmerizing.Ashok told us that the fall was privately owned and was called the Sherman Falls. The 17m high curtain waterfall in Ancaster Heights looked beautiful. We walked close to the Falls and the ice cold water ran a shiver down our spine. Ashok, who is a passionate Photographer and nature lover, started clicking pictures and we were busy posing. It was a fun experience and I was amazed to see Ashok's dedication towards nature. His pictures tell stories and each picture is a masterpiece.

After enjoying the falls and basking in the beauty of nature, we started moving towards the car and decided to get back to town.On our way back, Ashok took us to China town and the place reminded me of Hongkong. There were Chinese groceries, shops and restaurants everywhere. There was a beautiful Dragon Gate in the middle of the street. There were streetcars buzzing with people on the streets even at 9pm in the night. People seemed to be comfortable shopping and queuing outside those Chinese Restaurants. Chinese being my favourite cuisine, we decided to have dinner at a restaurant there. We had loads (yes!) of crab soup, shrimps and chicken. We chatted for hours, laughed and loved the food. Having had a great dinner, we realized that it got quite late and we said goodbye to Ashok and headed back home.

On reaching home, as I and my husband sat on the couch, we were all in praise for Ashok for planning such an awesome adventurous trip and convincing us to go out on a cold Sunday morning. Had we not gone out that day, we would have never explored the beauty of nature. We would have never known that there was beauty out there that needs to be admired.

So if I were to sum up my experiences about this trip, I learnt three things from Ashok

Explore the world: Ashok is a person who loves to explore the world. We should all have fun and go out and find out what is new. Had we sat at home watching TV or sleeping a few additional hours, we would have missed the fun.

Follow your passion: Ashok religiously follows his passion for photography and that makes him happy in life. We all have a passion but it is up to us to what extent we follow our passion and enjoy our life.

Live the moment: He knew we love Chinese food and he wanted to make sure that we lived the moment. He took us to a great resturant in China Town so that we could feel and live the Chinese experience. As we had a good laugh and enjoyed the food, we forgot about our worries of past and future.

Ash as we call him is a happy go lucky guy and having him as a friend is a gift for one and all.

Reflections

“Happy Birthday to you” As everyone sang along to wish my friend on her birthday, little Cindy, a three year old girl couldn’t stop her excitement. She too joined in the cake cutting celebration. She sang with everyone, danced to the music, loved the attention and her joy knew no bounds. I have observed Cindy at a few more birthday parties. She is extremely excited about such events. She lives and loves the moment – in fact, when it was my birthday; I wanted her too to join the cake cutting. This little child inspires me and often makes me wonder - When was the last time we were happy like the little kid!

A few days ago, my mom called up and mentioned that dad had almost forgotten her birthday. While she was expecting flowers and gifts, he gave her a gift card – nothing personal about it. My mom complained about how boring her life had become and how she missed the initial days of her wedding when everything looked great. She wondered why her marriage had come to a standstill after so many years of wedding. I did not have answers to her questions. As I reflect, I think as humans we are so busy and occupied with our life that we have forgotten how to love life. I can see myself spending hours on Facebook chatting with people and writing on their wall, but I have no idea what my neighbors are up to. I can play games on my ipad for hours, but wouldn’t have time to run for a few minutes on that treadmill. I have smart phone but hardly have time to call my dear ones. We teach our kids to eat the right balanced diet but do not hesitate for a moment to open that soda bottle or order any unhealthy food. Instead of reflecting for a few hours to understand ourselves better, we party hard so that we can get along with the crowd. I often wonder if Cindy, the little kid too would grow up just like us. Will the craze for the materialistic world blindfold her and like a lot of us will she forget to live, to love and to see happiness in small moments?

Often, I ask myself - what would you do if I had a few hours to live? When was the last time we listened to our favorite music or had a heart to heart talk with our loved one! We choose to live our life in a certain way and then blame destiny for all the negative happenings. We all have responsibilities and have problems at some point in life. Perhaps, that has buried the child inside us. It is time to wake up that child within us. It is time for us to accept what we have and appreciate life and small things that make it beautiful. Imagine how would we feel if we lost our loved one today? Wouldn’t you want to share how you felt about them? If we change the way we look at others and thank them for all the good and bad they have done to us, we shall feel a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Perhaps my dad can take a few moments out and reinforce how much he loves my mom. It is never late to start a new life. It is never too late to give a hug to your loved one and thank them for all that they have done for us. We still can take care of our health and appreciate beauty in small things. It is never late to live, laugh and love! You are never too old to bring out the child inside you. It is never too late for all of us to become Cindy and celebrate every moment!

New Year Resolution Recipe

It’s New Year time again. We partied hard with family and friends, exchanged gifts and said goodbye to 2011. Now, what next? How about some Resolution Recipes? Oh! Are we talking to ourselves and feeling guilty for not being able to follow last year’s resolutions? Should we even make a few resolutions this time? Of course, the answer is “Yes”. Let’s make some achievable resolutions and let this be a year to remember. Let’s prepare the resolution recipe for this year so that we could take our daily dose.

Ingredients:

10% reflection, 30% determination, 50% discipline, 5% self pampering, 5% quality time with a loved one.

Preparation:

1.     Reflect – Let’s sit down in a quiet environment and think for a few moments what our last year resolutions were. We shouldn’t hesitate to applaud ourselves for what we have accomplished and analyze why we could not achieve the ones we set last year.

2.     Prepare – Let us now think about what our new year’s resolutions will be. While crafting them, we should focus on why they are important to us (Example – career, family). We should try not to have too many resolutions. If we track them regularly, we feel proud of our accomplishments at the end of the year. 

3.     Publish – We can make a note of our resolutions in a journal, blog. If we are ambitious, we can announce it to your loved ones so that they can support us. We could even publish them on blog, Facebook or put a note in our room so that it acts as a reminder.

  

Cooking:

1.     As we wake up in the morning, let’s look at the mirror and smile at ourselves. We need to remind ourselves of our resolution. We should thank God for another new day and a new beginning for us to achieve our resolution.

2.     Let’s freshen up and plan for the day ahead. There might be tougher moments when we would want to give up on our resolution, but, we need to keep ourselves motivated. We should try to remain calm and composed in spite of all tough situations. We should think positive and stay away from any kind of negative influence.

3.     If we believe we are tracking well against our resolution, we can reward ourselves every 2-3 months for achieving our goals. Perhaps, we could visit a spa and pamper ourselves for the discipline.

4.     If the going gets tough, we can follow our hobbies to refresh our mind. If the resolution was related to our hobby, nothing betters that it. Remember, how we loved our hobby when we were a kid. Let’s reignite the passion and revitalize our souls with that hobby to achieve our New Year resolutions.

5.     Let’s keep ourselves balanced by spending time with a loved one. If find it tough, we can talk to the person. We’ll notice the magic that it has on following our goal. 

Serving:

Let’s thank God again for the lovely day and thank our loved ones for their support. This is a simple resolution recipe and if we discipline ourselves to take a daily dose of it, we definitely will remain happy and contended in life! So let’s make this a year to remember. Let’s take a daily dose of our well cooked New Year recipe