May hasn’t been the month it was planned to be like. It has taken me by surprise and unlocked a new version of me.
Review of May
1.Book Reviews
I wrote 6 book reviews against the target of 12. I barely reached my goal. But that is completely okay. Writing book reviews for books which I didn’t make notes meant that I go through the book from scratch again and write notes. It was good to revisit the books once again but given other schedules it didn’t seem a priority. It was also not helping the very reason I chose to write which was to get back to writing.
2.Cooking
The best thing that happened to me this month was that I finally started cooking a variety of dishes rather than living on dal chawal. It not only kept my mouth watering but also helped in flow of my creative juices. For a year, I was just surviving on the minimum varieties I knew and now I am able to make every dish which comes to my mind. This was a part of me which I never saw before. I am glad cooking happened to me finally.
3.Books
The only book I could finish this month is Letting go. The rest of the books which I am reading are Blink, Practising power of now, 100 side hustles, Frequency – Power of Personal Vibration, Future board, Asana Pranyama Mudra Bandha.
Now that I am back into the habit of writing book reviews, you can expect reviews of the above books as and when I finish them.
4.Miscellaneous
I received 3 months unlimited coursera access which got me to binge watch courses leaving me no time for voraciously reading books. I will also write reviews of the non academic courses and also share my learnings in the upcoming articles.
Lockdown has given me the chance to get in touch with a few old friends who certified that they can see a visible change in me from the time we last spoke a few years ago. That was a definite boost to strive for continuous improvement.
Plans for June
Though the initial plan was to stick to only one activity per month, since I am going to work from home for the rest of the year given the pandemic situation, I chose to expand the targets.
1.Physical health
I currently practise body weight exercises and am happy with the progress I made. But I want to add a bit of yoga also to my routine to make it a part of my identity. The main target for the month is to start with 3 rounds of Surya Namaskara daily and increase the number by one daily based on the comfort level. I don’t have an end target number to reach but I just want to focus on pushing myself to the next comfortable level of rounds instead of just sticking to one.
2.Mental health
a) Thank you letter
I am going to write a thank you letter to every person who made a difference to my life even if it is in the smallest possible way. This activity is inspired from my gratitude diary which has helped me stay sane through this lockdown. While growing up, I was never taught to express love. Now when I have to express all of this, it sort of feels weird. But then I think I will go ahead and bring a smile on a dear one’s face in this tough time.
b) Forgive
We block a lot of good things in life because we hold on to regrets. From the book, Letting go, I realised that one of the most important ways to increase your energy level is to remove all these blocks. Since I was clueless on how to let go, I chose to follow 21 days forgiveness plan by Vanzant. Apart from that, whoever I write a thank you letter to, I will write a forgiving letter but won’t send it to them. That way, I will genuinely feel good about the thank you letter after letting go of the entire resentments I hold.
I am totally excited to unlock the next level of flexibility in my body and unblock my energy blockages by forgiving and letting go the resentments and spreading smiles through the thank you letters.
How was your May? What are your plans for June?
Happy June!