WHY BLOGGING?

A few days ago as I was scrolling through some of my feed I realised that I have never told people why I started this blog and why I’m so passionate about writing and working hard on making this my full time profession. So, I’ll tell you now.


I have always been a bookworm and share my love for reading with my mom. Since a very young age I loved reading and writing fantasy stories (which is why I now want to write stories for children). Growing up I read stories from authors like Enid Blyton, Ruskin Bond and Roald Dahl. A few years later, I stumbled upon the world of eBooks and have since been obsessed with crime novels and murder mysteries.


After that I got more interested in writing philosophy (many people may think that a little girl of 14 may not have much philosophical knowledge… But trust me… Youngsters are way more knowledgeable than people give them credit for… And that is the point that I want to prove with my blogs)
I got the idea of online writing and stepped into the world, unfortunately for me, my expectations were very high… A little too much, I admit. So with a heavy heart I quit writing philosophy.


But now, I’m back, with much more knowledge, lesser (but realistic) expectations, a thirst for knowledge and a huge craving for writing things and bringing people happiness.

When I started writing again, I heard many people say things like, “this one won’t last either” or “you’ll be over it soon” and also things like “you may think that you can do it, but the reality is that you can’t” and this time I’m writing to prove them wrong, to stand up for myself and millions of young people out there who don’t get the credit that they deserve.


So, this was the small (yet big) reason why I decided to write (again) and I am very much excited to write and learn and create so much more. And honestly, huge thanks to all the people that are supporting and reading my blogs and liking as well, it really means a lot to me. Lots of love to everyone reading this… Remember… I appreciate you❤️

BOOK REVIEW – THE BOURNE IDENTITY

Intro 

The Bourne Identity written by Robert Ludlum is the first book in the series. The series was started by Robert Ludlum and then continued by Eric Van Lustbader after the death of Robert. The first 3 books in the series are written by Ludlum, continued by Lustbader who wrote the next 12 books, Brian Freeman went on to continue the series with the last 2 books. The series is based on the fictional spy Jason Bourne. The series has also been converted into movies which have been widely appreciated by the audience. 

About the book (No spoilers- I promise!)

The book starts out with a stranger who is found half dead in the ocean by a group of fishermen who take him to a drunk doctor, Dr. Washburn at the beach of Ile De Port Noir. When the stranger wakes up he has no memory of who he is and how he ended up with the fatal wounds and altering surgeries. Washburn finds a small negative surgically implanted on the stranger which leads him to Zurich, from where he finds out more about himself- and also ends up meeting a beautiful stranger. He saves her life and vice versa. They go to Paris where many more shocking things are revealed and ultimately he gets a glimpse of his past life and his past identity which then shows his real purpose. He goes through flashes of memories- memories from a life he cannot remember. As they come closer to finding out who he really is, they come closer to danger, a danger which he must face to kill the evil. 

Honest opinions

Well written story that is truly a thriller. Keeps you at the edge of your seat and turning pages, hooks you up instantly. In the end you won’t be able to stop yourself from diving deeper into the world of action and mystery. Makes you guess and second guess yourself after every page. I’m really excited to read all the books in the series and drown in the world of Jason Bourne…

Recommendations 

I would definitely recommend this book to all action lovers, trust me you’re in for a treat. If you’ve seen any or all the movies based on this series then I suggest you read the book, because honestly, the book is better! If you’re someone who likes to experiment with their reading, then you NEED to read this book, you won’t regret it!

Ratings 

5 starts out of 5 for sure! I have to admit, as someone who is not a big fan of action, this book really changed my opinion. Can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

MANIFESTING YOUR DREAMS

The first question that you may have is, what is manifesting? According to The Millennial Grind by Kenneth Wong, ‘Manifesting is to assume the feelings of what you desire and using this aligned energy to bring it into your reality.’ In simple words, it’s making a wish and then working towards it, with a little extra help from a very special connection.

Have you ever wished for something very hard and very long and suddenly, it came true? If you did, then I think it’s safe to say that you’ve already made a connection with the universe/god/ultimate power/whatever-it-is-that-you-would-like-to-call-it! If you’ve not, then let me give you my top 10 tips and tricks on manifesting and making your dreams come true.

  • Visualize it

The first step to making your dreams and goals come true is envisioning it, act as if it’s already real and happening, make the foundation to that connection. Speak your vision out, hear yourself speak it, not only will that help you connect to the vision, it will also motivate you to work for that vision.

“Decide what you want to be, do, and have, think the thoughts of it, emit the frequency, and your vision will become your life.” – Rhonda Byrne

  • Write it down

…or draw it or you could put up pictures and make a vision board, the important thing is that you need to have a physical form of the vision. That way, when you start working towards the goal you will have a clear idea of what you’re aiming for.

  • Hustle

The most important and the most difficult step of making your dreams come true. You need to work for it. Remember, the universe/god/ultimate power/whatever-it-is-that-you-would-like-to-call-it will only work for you when you work for yourself.

Adopt the horse vision, just like a horse can only see its path and destination because of its blinkers, create mental blinkers for yourself, set your destination and fix your path, then don’t stop till you reach it.

  • Be practical

As you slowly start working towards the goal, you’ll slowly start getting mini-successes. During this period of mini-success and real success, don’t get overconfident, don’t let your ego get in your head, keep a clear head and be practical.

For example; someone may have a dream job and after working really really hard they may get an interview, the smart thing here would be to not get cocky and overconfident, the interviewer may not find it appealing and the person may not get the job, instead keeping a clear head and making practical decisions will help this person get the job.

  • Choose people wisely

Your company really makes an impact on your mindset which in turns impacts your connection. Be close to friends and family who support and motivate you but at the same time are not hesitant to point out your mistakes, and most importantly, help you evolve.

  • Failures

The worst and the best part of your life are the failures. They are the best teachers, success is a very lousy teacher” – Auyshmann Khurrana

Accept your failures and learn from your mistakes. Until and unless you see failure, you will not be able to reach success. Seeing failure in the beginning of the journey will prepare you for the worst and help you evolve yourself and be better.

  • Motivate yourself

There will be times when things will go south for you, and in those times you need to motivate yourself. Empower your inner self. When you lose faith in yourself you lose the connection, don’t lose that connection, keep it intact. At the end of the day, nothing and nobody can have a bigger impact on you than yourself.

  • Ignore negative opinions and thoughts

The biggest critic is the one that is in your head, so be careful about the thoughts that you allow in your mind. Remember that your thoughts go on to create your life, so keep it positive.

“Every thought you have is a message you send to the Universe. The Universe is always saying YES to your thoughts, energy, and emotions. Therefore, what you put out you will receive back—whether you want it or not.” – Gabrielle Bernstein

Coming to the criticism from the outside, don’t pay attention to everyone that criticizes and gives their opinion and advice. Be careful about whom you take advice from, if it’s someone who you look up to or someone who has more experience than you in the field or someone who’s been there and done that, take all the notes! But if it’s someone who has no idea what your journey is like and what you’re going through, then just learn to ignore them.

  • Be prepared and evolve

Keep your sense open at all times, opportunities have a way of coming at the most inconvenient times! Also, keep evolving yourself and your skills, learn something new everyday, the most unexpected thing might help you bump into your opportunity.

  • Be patient

Be patient with your dreams, with yourself and with the universe/god/ultimate power/whatever-it-is-that-you-would-like-to-call-it. Once you manifest your dreams and start working towards it, you need to be patient with it. You can’t rush the connection, patience will bring you the best. Give it time, a month, a year, two, three, four years, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, it will happen at the very best time.

Now, if you’re someone who doesn’t believe in all this and thinks it’s a waste of time, good for you, I wish your methods and beliefs get you to your success. But if you’re someone who is open to manifesting and connecting then I highly suggest you do it, it may take some time, but in the end you will succeed. Trust me, you will 😉

“If you can fail at something you don’t love, you might as well do what you love.” – Jim Carrey

ASK FOR HELP

Have you ever been in a situation where you were hesitant to ask help for your mental health? Are you in such a position right now? 

Whatever position/situation you are in right now, I want to encourage you to ask for help.

I feel like there was and still is a big stigma around asking for help especially when it comes to mental health.

Asking for help and talking about mental health issues is okay, we need to start ignoring the stigma and not our mental health. 

It can be hard to ask for help but it is important because we all need a little help from time to time, acknowledge that.

Many times, the reason why we’re not willing to ask for help is because of our pride. We feel like whatever is happening is completely in our control and we don’t need anybody’s help, but the reality of the situation is that we all need a break and take some weight off our shoulders. 

Even though mental health conditions are not as noticeable, they are just as real as physical health issues and it’s just as important to find the proper treatment for these.

If there is something that is having a negative impact on your work and/or personal life, you need to raise a hand and ask for help. 

Asking for help is a big part of being a good team worker, when you know your limits and ask for help once you reach these limits shows the more human side of you and allows your teammates to know you better. 

If you don’t feel comfortable talking to someone and/or asking for help, then don’t force yourself, it will just lead you to becoming more closed up and make it difficult for you to talk and for the other person to understand. 

Instead, find a way that allows you to release some of that stress and anxiety related to asking for help.

Did you know, according to World Health Organization, stress is a global epidemic, but, there is a temporary solution to stress, I say temporary because it will not completely help you with stress or any other issue that you have, but it may provide you with enough relief that you will be able to talk to someone without stressing out too much. 

Its physical activity – you may or may not know this – exercise and other physical activities produce endorphins and also improve the ability to sleep which in turn reduces stress. 

So, try out a couple of fun physical activities, it may just help you out.

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If you’re confused about whether or not you (or anyone you know) are actually suffering from any mental health issues, keep an eye out for some of these signs:

  • Neglect of personal hygiene
  • Dramatic changes in sleep habits
  • Significant weight gain or loss
  • Decline in work performance
  • Pronounced changes in mood
  • Withdrawal from routine activities and/or relationships 
  • Expressing a lack of purpose

Remember that these are only some signs, a person may or may not have any or all of these signs, and my best suggestion would be that you consult a doctor or specialist.

WHAT I LEARNT FROM ANNE FRANK

Anne Frank

(12 June 1929-march 1945)

I don’t believe that there is anyone who hasn’t heard of Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who went into hiding with her family during World War II.

She wrote about her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944. She wrote all about her hopes, frustrations, clashes with her family, love and her companions in her diary which was first published in 1947 edited by her father, Otto Frank.

Now, if you’ve read the diary then you might be familiar with the quotes, feelings and lessons that Anne shares in her diary. I want to share with you some of these which really touched my heart and inspired me.

Anne Frank on being kind

“No one ever becomes poor by giving.”

Anne constantly wrote about kindness and giving back. There are many entries in which she describes the sadness and guilt she feels when she sees other Jews being captured by the Nazis and frequently writes about her wish to have her old friends and family with her.

Anne Frank on being grateful

“I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”

Anne often writes about the blessing that she and her family have. She writes about how she loves to look outside the window and look at nature and writes about how grateful and happy she feels every time she looks at nature. She writes how one must look at their blessings and not the sad and bad things happening all around.

Anne Frank on being better

“When you are on your bed at night just analyse all the happenings you have been going through whole day and learn from your mistakes, you will be a better person then.”

Anne writes about her journey of self-acceptance and how she learns to control her behavior around her family. She writes how she has learnt to keep her thoughts and opinions to herself and learnt to control her rash and impulsive behavior.

Anne Frank on believing in yourself

“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”

Throughout her stay in the ‘Secret Annexe’ Anne constantly writes about the ups and downs she faces and how slowly she learns to accept herself and starts believing in herself and the goodness of the world and doesn’t pay much heed to the critics ‘upstairs’.

Anne Frank on hard work

“Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting but only work gives you true satisfaction.”

Anne writes about her dream to be a successful writer or journalist, she writes about her love for writing and expressing herself through words. She writes about how he hates the word ‘easy’ and doesn’t want to be a regular housewife, she writes about how she wants to keep living even after her death.  

This is all for this time, tell me in the comments, which is your favourite Anne Frank quote…

GET TO KNOW YOURSELF (SELF-AWARENESS)

Let’s start with the most obvious question, what is self-awareness?  

Self-awareness is the ability to see ourselves the way others see us, to see how we fit into this crazy world. Self-awareness is about taking a long hard look at ourselves without judgement so we can start making changes that will have a positive impact.

Now, an important question which arises is, why should we be self-aware?

It has been proven by many researches that people who are self-aware are more content, creative and confident than people who are not self-aware. They communicate better, perform better at work and are more effective leaders. Self-awareness gives us a much better shot at finding happiness and success.

So, how can we be self-aware?

It all starts when you take time to get to know yourself. Not just your likes and dislikes or things like that, but also your thoughts. To know your thoughts you need to spend time with yourself, get off your phone and spend time with your thoughts.

Start by writing down your strengths, all the things that will help you get to your vision of success. Know your strengths and keep working on these. Remember,

“It is a person’s strengths that see their success, not the absence of weaknesses”

Next, write down all your weaknesses, all the things that are in the way of your success and happiness. Then start working on making these weaknesses into your strengths.

When you see these weaknesses, it might be upsetting. You need to know that self-awareness hurts, it’s difficult to know all our failures and short comings, that’s the reason why most of us avoid it or have the false idea of self-awareness.  

It is difficult and hurtful to know our weaknesses but it gives us an opportunity for true growth and development, real change happens when we have the courage to face our shadows.

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” – Carl Gustav Jung

The next step is, listen to your thoughts, it is very important to listen to what your subconscious mind is telling you. If you don’t know what you’re thinking then it’s impossible to change the way that you think. Know what are the things that put you off and what are the things that make you think positively about yourself. Start paying more attention to what you’re saying to yourself.

The last step is practice, keep practicing the art of self-awareness, know yourself and spend time with yourself.

Remember that the most important person your life is you, so get to know yourself 🙂

EMBRACE YOURSELF AND BE UNAPOLOGETIC

Do you ever second guess yourself? Think you’re not ‘cool enough’ or ‘good enough’? Do you wish you were different? Do you ever feel like you should behave a certain way to get those around you to like you?

I’m here to tell you, STOP IT! Stop second guessing yourself, stop thinking you’re not good enough, stop thinking that you need to change yourself to get people to like you. Stop it.

Embrace yourself for who you are. You are you and you don’t need to change yourself for anyone or anything else.

Stop and evaluate

Before you compare yourself or try to change yourself or even judge yourself, stop and evaluate. Evaluate the situation, is it even worth it? Is your happiness and peace of mind really worth sacrificing? I don’t think so, your happiness and peace of mind should never be sacrificed for anything! Stop being afraid to be you, be your authentic real self.

Understand and love yourself

Understand that nothing in this world is perfect, so stop worrying about being perfect, making the perfect things or even looking perfect. Love who you are and never be sorry for it.

You’re not meant to be perfect, you’re meant to be you, you’re meant to grow. Learn from experiences, never stop yourself from experiencing thing and gaining knowledge.

Accept yourself

The only thing you need to love yourself is acceptance, accept who you are as a person. Acknowledge that this is where you are in life, you’re made up of certain good and certain not so good things and its okay. You should bring positive changes in yourself (only if you want to) but love yourself regardless of these changes. Love yourself because you want to, not to prove a point.

Know your role

Understand your role in your life, know that you are the most important person in your life. Know that you don’t owe an apology to anyone for being your true self. You’re in control of your life so don’t hesitate or apologize to ask what you deserve. Know that you’re never alone, you just need to surround yourself with better people.

Pursue what you love

You only have a certain amount of time and energy in a day. The amount of things and people in your life keep on increasing. Recognize who are the people that are important and what are the things the things that are important to you and spend your time and energy on these. This helps you create a lifestyle that you love because you’re investing in things and people that matter and that bring you happiness.

That’s all for this time. Tell me in the comments, what are the things that you love about yourself?

HOW TO BE MENTALLY STRONG AND PROTECT YOUR PEACE

Have you ever been in a situation where your mental peace has been disturbed? Have you ever had questions like – how can I protect my mental health? How can I be peaceful?

I’ve read and heard different people’s ideas and opinions and finally I’ve come up with these following ways which, if you practice, then you too can attain some amount of mental peace. It may not be the solution to all your problems but, it might help you deal with everyday issues ad stresses.

  • GROW AND LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES

A very important thing which you need to understand is, whatever has happened, cannot be changed. So, instead of overthinking and overanalyzing things that went wrong in the past, figure out what went wrong and how can you prevent the mistakes from happening again.

  • LOVE YOURSELF

This is connected to the first point. Learn to love yourself. Don’t be too harsh on yourself. Another thing you should always keep in mind is: being kind to yourself, loving yourself and taking time to take care of yourself is not being selfish, it’s called self-care which everyone needs to practice.

“It’s absolutely okay to take time for self-care. You can’t do things well if you don’t feel well.”

  • CREATE HEALTHY BOUNDARIES

Creating healthy boundaries for the people in your life is extremely important for your mental peace. Being there for people is good, but make sure you don’t burn yourself out in the process. By creating healthy boundaries you are taking care of your mental health. Remember, you can’t do good to others if you don’t feel good yourself.

  • TAKE CONTROL

A very important thing to always keep in mind is: you are always responsible for your happiness.

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be” – Abraham Lincoln

Do not give anyone or anything else the control over your mental peace. Take back the control, keep yourself peaceful and happy.

  • BE GRATEFUL

This phrase should explain it by itself. Be grateful for everything good in your life.

To know more about being grateful, check out my blog:

GRATITUDE – BEING THANKFUL

That’s it for today. Tell me, what are the things that you do to protect your mental peace?

UNDERSTANDING LGBTQ+

Since it is pride month I feel like I should talk about this because it is really important.

I’m going to be honest, I didn’t really know much about the LGBTQ+ community until a few years ago. Well, I did know a little, but not the most positive things.

I come from a place where the whole idea of gender was not discussed openly, not that it is not discussed right now, at present, it is, but I want to take you back a few years ago.

To me, the whole topic of gender was limited to only ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’. I didn’t know about anything else until age 10 or 11. And I don’t blame my family for that, they’ve always been loving, kind, supportive and understanding. Even to my parents, the whole topic of LGBTQ+ is one big blur.

I think the reason for this has a lot to do with society, but I think tradition is the bigger evil here.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all here for tradition. I love my heritage, my culture and my traditions. Just in this case, I feel like traditions have pulled back the society that I live in.

You see, where I come from, any gender other than masculine or feminine was not heard of. If anyone felt any different from what was considered ‘normal’, they were just pushed off, or taken to priests who could ‘heal’ them.

In today’s day and age, the topic of LGBTQ+ is openly discussed in many places, and I’m really proud of that. Yet, so many people are scared to come out of the closet and be their real authentic selves.

Over the past few years, I’ve read and learned so much about this topic and I’ve seen so many people coming out and being their true selves. And I’m proud to see this change. But the problem is, this topic is yet whispered and often times hidden. And it really hurts me to see that such an amazing, wonderful and colorful side of the world was hidden from me for such a long time.

I’m still learning and understanding and figuring everything out, and I really need to thank the internet for that, if it wasn’t for the internet I would still be looking at the LGBTQ+ community from a negative light.

There is one thought that constantly runs at the back of my head, that is, there might be a little girl like me somewhere, who doesn’t know about the wonderful, amazing and inspiring side of the world, and that really hurts me.

From this blog the thing that I want to put out is this:

No matter what any society or tradition says, everyone has the right to be their truly authentic self and everyone should know everything there is to know about the colorful world that is out there. No one should have to live in a state of confusion or in way which makes them feel ‘abnormal’. We should bring this conversation to the front lines.

This topic or for that matter any topic which affects everyone should not be whispered, it should not remain hidden.

With that, I conclude.

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!💜💙💚💛❤

HOW TO STOP OVERTHIKING

Are you an overthinker? Do you constantly worry about things that are a complete waste of your time? Are you constantly stressed and/or anxious?

I have always been the person that overthinks everything! But recently I’ve been able to control my thoughts, so I want to share some tips with you.

First of all you need to understand that overthinking and overanalyzing things is not good for you! You need to take the decision to control your thoughts.

  • Be aware of what’s happening

You need to be aware of all the different thoughts consuming your mind, then only will you be able to control these thoughts.

Recognize negative thoughts and acknowledge them, stop pretending like everything is okay, in doing so you’ll be able to calmly process them and work through them.

Writing down thoughts can help you declutter your mind.

Tip- whenever a stressful situation comes up and/or negative thoughts start crossing your mind, take a step back, think about your reaction to the situation, be aware of the thoughts crossing your mind.

  • Be focused

While doing something, be focused on that task, don’t let your mind wander. Stay focused, it will be difficult keeping your thoughts in one place, but with time and practice you will be able to control your mind.

Meditation can help you stay focused and clear your head of unnecessary thoughts.

  • Try new things/get a hobby

Free time can be an excuse for too many thoughts to wander into your head.

Sometimes our minds get so used to our daily routine that many thoughts end up in our head even while doing different tasks.

Trying new things will occupy your mind and free time and prevent you from overthinking about things.

Tip- while selecting a hobby, look for something that you enjoy and makes you happy.

  • Control your thoughts

A very important thing to remember is that you are in control of your thoughts. Do not let the voices in your head get in control of you. Remember that they are only voices and they get control only when you give them the control.

Redirect your thoughts, whenever a negative thought occupies your mind, turn it into something positive.

That’s all for this time. Tell me in the comments- what have you been overthinking about?