Practice Self Love to Slay Moodswings

In the last few years I have had to stand face-to-face with sadness and depression a few times more than I would want to. While it turned out not too alarming but, it can. I have lost a few friends to it already.

I think the trick lies in understanding your feelings and being in touch with yourself. The minute you start feeling the downward gravitational pull, just hit the panic button.

Meditation has helped over the years with hightened awareness but, it also makes me vulnerable at times because it has pulled a whole lot of walls down from around me in a world that wears armor at all times.

Depression 

Depression is the gnawing in your soul that makes the skin under your hands and feet crawl even when you sleep. That kind of sums it up for me. Depression is nobody's friend. I can vouch for that because I have lost more than a few happy friends to it.

Art 

Every time I feel sad, I turn to creativity even if it has to be by force. For me art and words are the two tools that bring stability in chaos. It may not be true for all. But, throwing yourself into serious work or even cleaning the house just makes it worse for me.

Food

I love to cook when I am alone but, when I feel sad, I just think of eating. Pushing myself to cook works because eating the end result is always an uplifting experience.

The DIY Managing Life Changes List

Reading

May or may not work always. I try choosing reading material that promises happy ending or a solved mystery.

Films

Movies also fall in the same genre as books. They sometimes work too well and push me into a creative mode but, at others, they push me into darkness and mistrust.

Sleeping

It works like a dream but, in the long run, it is a downer. Avoid sleeping. Instead binge watch a sitcom or all the seasons of Sex and the City (if you can lay your hands on it).

Exercising

In my case, aimless walking works but, exercising behind closed doors makes me lazy afterwards. I love to think I am moody but, I know now that it is not true. I tire easily in structured environment and it is highly probable that the lethargy I feel is more mental than physical. So, choose your exercise regime with care.

Stay Healthy to Stay Happy this Winter

Planning

That works amazingly well for me. I plan itineraries and make up speeches I am going to give when I am famous. It immediately changes my mindset, lifts my mood.

Social Media

Is lethal unless it is a space / platform like Pinterest that allows creation of boards full of things you would like to do one day. I would put it under planning. Under any circumstances stay away from WhatsApp and Twitter - they are toxic mostly.

Family

It works like magic. Sleeping next to your mother at night, no matter how old you are are a sure way to feel happy but, it could backfire as well. Remember parents love to make things "right" for you and seeing you unhappy can pull them down as well.

Beat Stress without Breaking Sweat

Hobbies

That's another lifesaver but, I have to push myself to get things going. Journal writing helps immensely because it allows venting as well as planning. 

The idea behind writing this digital post is selfish. These posts act as reminders every time I feel the force of gravity on my mood. I have gone back to writing physical journals. I use pens, colors and imagination on diaries that I can read later and feel proud of. 

Yes! Self love is absolutely important and we must keep patting our backs at all times. It's the surefire secret to a lifelong high.

Anatomy of Depression

(Images: Pexel.com)

Content Can't Be Original But, Treatment Must Be

Creating original content is perhaps the most difficult thing in the world. I was reading somewhere the other day that, 'everything original has already been created by God.'

It's absolutely true.

Every story worth telling has already been told and every idea worth trying has already been applied by someone at some point or the other. Few scientific discoveries are without controversies. For each patent or scientific discovery that is lauded, there will at least be a handful of inventors who at some point will come out and say that they too were on the verge of discovering the same thing or that they had already discovered but, did not file for the patent on time.

This is not unusual because, everything worth discovering is already out there for millions of years. Man has been walking on Earth for a 1000 generations now and every story worth telling has already been experienced/ expressed by someone even if it is the most unique or one of its kind.

So, what makes the cut if every story has already been told?

You.

Yes, you are the USP of your story. How you tell it, what is your focus, your roadblocks, your perspective is what makes it unique.

The greatest storyteller of all time, William Shakespeare never used a single original story. He picked up some of the most well-loved tales from across the continent and adapted them with timeless dialogues and some of the most well-crafted scenes that have been put up on stage ever.

To his credit, he knew the pulse of the audience. He knew emotions made an impact on them. They could connect to them at the level of blood, sweat and tears. There were blood and wars, love and thunder, heads rolling and kissing on stage that made the onlookers throw rotten eggs and tomatoes at the actors in excitement. And made them come back again and again for repeat shows.

Needless to say that William Shakespeare who studied in a free school and was caught poaching a fawn from a rich man's estate retired a rich man himself - not to mention famous and influential and well-known.

I have always believed that Shakespeare's vast success is due to his great understanding of human emotions and being in touch with the common people of his time. Another interesting thing that Shakespeare's works showcase is that human emotions are timeless. The plays with their deep understanding of human nature remain relevant even till date.

Any good content should be treated as your creation. Creation is like giving birth or rebirth. When you create you are bound to put a lot of you in it. And that is what makes your creation exceptional. A lot of great works of arts were birthed by mistake or made unique because of the creator's quirk.
If it was not for cataract, we would not have seen the waterlilies by Monet as they are till date - masterpieces.

I rest my case with what I started with, to be a great creator, you have to immerse yourself in your work and make a difference in the outcome just by being you - just like I did in the image that I created for this piece.

Confession of a Dreamer who Lost to a Toddler

Yes, yes and yes! Child is the father of man amd that is the truth universally accepted though we all have to learn this by burning our hands and egos. Believe me.

My little niece has picked up one phrase these days that defys all preconceived notions about age vis-a-vis intelligence. Losely translated, It goes this way, "I may be a kid but, I'm no fool!" or as she says in Bangla, "Ami bachcha kintu boka na!" 

I agree!

Today I tried to confuse her by making the doodle tree sprout an orange. Not a one to be taken up by any magical nonsense, she calmly picked up the orange, while I was busy trying to impress upon her that it had sprouted from the doodle tree, and ran with it to my ma saying, "oraaaaange!" 

Yes I should have known she'd see through this elaborate arty nonsense because she's the one who had actually spotted orange on a tree growing in our society while we were playing on the swing a couple of weeks back. I hadn't even dreamed of finding any fruits hanging from that dust-laden tree even if my entire life (whatever its worth) depended on it. It just so defied logic. You wouldn't too if you were me. I fib you not!

Yes babe! You are a genius. You may be all of 2 years and 3 months young but, you definitly outshine me in commonsense. 

Portrait of an Artist as God

Sometimes I think Van Gogh is a perfect role model though not many will agree with me. For me he was a hero. He did not deter from his own conviction that he was born to paint. Even when no one bought a single work, even when they threw him into an asylum and even when schizophrenia rocked his foundations. When angry at the world he cut off his own ear and when there was no one to paint, he painted himself.

He was a true artist. His works, considered worthless in his lifetime are worth gazailians today.

Art is not about how much money you make or fame you get in your lifetime. Art is an insatiable desire to outdo the conventional, to better nature and to be the owner and designer of a world that no one else may understand. In other words, an artist is a true blasphemist since he thinks he can better God's creation.

Art is not just painting a picture or making a sketch, writing poems, stories, creating a world on celluloid, dancing, singing, theater, lover of nature, photographer and even an animal trainer can be termed an artist if they are creating a different world, a microcosm that defies the norm.

Even those who cannot express their art by any known form are artists.

Have you seen housewives who want to keep changing the floorplans of their homes or children who try finding a new way everyday to get home from school. Boys who wants to dress differently or want to play musical instruments even at the cost of being laughed at by peers or girls who want to be known as badass and wear tattoos and leather jackets. They are artists at heart. Though they may not be as curious as a purist.

Anyone who wants to change the present order of things could be an artist. An artist could also be an anarchist, though it goes against the way an artists mind works. Rebellion occurs when the artist is pushed to a corner. Beware the artist scorned.

We may laugh at their discomfort in large crowds or their immensely shy nature or curse their wild ways and openly displayed disdain for all ideas conventional but, these are the artists. They are burning to change. They are dying to move the axis on which the Earth move. They are the real movers and shakers. Let them experiment because they will change the world.

Do not stop them because you do not understand their point-of-view or come in their way because you do not see the world as they see it.

Just let them be and soak up when the creativity flows.

Open your eyes let the energy flow. Maybe, you'll find an artist hidden in some corner of your own heart.

Van Gogh, The Ox Cart, July 1884. Oil on canvas

The Chaos Without

Sometimes there is so much to say. Then, come times when 'nothing' becomes the most familiar word. I have said nothing for a while.

Words, characters, situations, plots and scenarios. They all make a story but, for me, colors, smells, sights, taste they are the real deal. Without a trigger there is no creation.

Art has a world of its own. It is very pure and very simple. At times so simple that no one gets it but the artist.

When a story begins, I do not usually know where it will go but, it finds its way somehow to an end. It finds its protagonists, its situations, sights, its cause and also the effect. In other words, it is a whole world, an universe in itself. It usually begins with a big bang, goes through upheavals, re-writes its twists and leaves a trail of history before growing frail and old and returns to the black hole leaving space for another.

It is the same with life. In each of our lives' stories, we are the protagonists. I am the principal character of my life and therefore everything that I go through, all my losses, my victories, my loves, my indifferences, my likes and dislikes, they all make my story. Most of the people I talk to do not understand that. Dreamers are often thought gullible and sometimes, also as those in need of a shrink.

Most think that dreams and aspirations are the same. These are the practical ones. When it comes to dreams of people like me change very little from childhood in terms of content. My first coherent one was to be an astronaut.

I still dream impossible dreams.

Being an astronaut in pre-open market India was a pipe dream. There was no way for it to be a possibility. Eventually, I got over Neil Armstrong and moved to dreams more suited to my kind of psyche barring the one in college when I wanted to be a bus driver of the city's public transport system. But, illusions are my forte. They are also my best defense mechanism. When I get bored of one, I create another.

My mother was perhaps the first one to notice that I lived in a bubble. Inside the bubble everything was perfect though chaotic. There was method in the madness in there but, outside the bubble was scary.

Life outside the bubble is still an overdose of light and noise. Blinding and deafening. People call it reality. I call it hell.

Those who seek perfection through art and see beauty in asymmetry are often scoffed at as dreamers. They are not considered ambitious and often unfit for society. Yet, I wonder when I see thousands trying to adjust everyday by hiding their shapeless technicolor dreams inside the veneer of planes and angles I feel sad.

Their dreams are choking them from inside and life is only a few years.

Why are artists, poets, singers and dancers not given their due unless backed by a shrewd business manager? Why is the term impractical hurled at them to keep them in place? And worse, if they are able to break the glass ceiling, then why is it expected that the spotlight is good enough a compensation for them? Why is money earned the criteria for judging success? Why was the architect who built Taj Mahal maimed once the project finished?

Strolling through the National Museum in Delhi, I always spend time in the rooms displaying objects from the Indus Valley civilization. There are statues, miniature potteries, toys and beautiful hand-crafted accessories. These to me are symbolic because they have survived and outlived the practical.

I often go back to ancient books and find their philosophy and symbolism relevant.

I love the breathtaking works by Van Gogh who never sold a piece but, is priceless in today's market.

There are many I know aspiring to be actors or singers. They are able to hang on only because they have a day job and I think, "why?"

The answer lies in the balance inside the bubble and the chaos outside.