Monika Suri

‘The Silver Lined Mommy’ It is an eBook which is a self-help book for middle aged women. A woman plays many roles –  wife , mother , daughter and a daughter-in-law . She handles endless responsibilities being a home-maker and a care-taker for her family . Amid all this , a woman’s personal priorities somehow take a back seat . And as she  steps into  the middle age group of her life i.e. around the age of forty , she notices some changes in her body and mind too . Fine wrinkles start appearing , hair start changing  their color to grey , some extra hair growth on face or may be some weight-gain  . She starts to meet a  little different woman  in the mirror. The middle age group also brings some hormone problems which may cause stress . From the author of ‘The Silver Lined Mommy’ Hi ! I am Monika Davessar – author of the  eBook ‘The Silver Lined Mommy’. I am running in my forties and by profession I am working as a lecturer for the last 19 years. Writing has become my i...

Red zone , orange zone , green zone , we all are familiar with these terms now-a-days . The district where I live has been declared as a red zone . Red zone is the zone where there are quite a large number of cases of Corona virus infection and it stands a chance to spread rapidly . Orange zone is where there are few cases and it can be controlled with few efforts . Green zone is the one where there’s no virus infection as yet and we want it to remain a green zone . The same concept applies to our thoughts . Sometimes the life becomes a real struggle – there are conflicts with family , pressures at workplace , parenting burdens , health troubles , and there accompany them the stressful  emotions -frustration , anger , sadness , hatred , self-neglect , and many more . When such emotions pile up in your mind , you need to become very careful of your thoughts as your mind has entered a red zone . You have to work on your thoughts so as to avoid potential of community outbreak o...

 Should you invest time in celebrating yourself ? Is it really  important to celebrate yourself ? If yes , what are the reasons and HOW tips ? We live in  a world which doesn’t pause or rest . Everyone of us is rushing . We are striving for accomplishments , success , growth and joy . See ! Joy comes at the last after accomplishments or success . Actually it has been so fixed in our minds that hard work and accomplishment leads to success . And success would then bring joy . There are people and media daily hitting your minds with the headings like – Achieve as much as you can in a day , Be productive , How to improve productivity , Work on your hobbies , fitness mantras , and what not . You just can’t count them . Everyone is working hard , but don’t you think that you forget celebrating yourself in the process ? When was the last time you paused and celebrated yourself ? Here are the 3 reasons we all should be celebrating ourselves . WHY ‘Celebrating your...

Explore and Exhale Sometimes you need to take out time just for yourself . Yes , only yourself . I am not asking you to work on your hobbies , read a good book or say a kind word to yourself . They are all fine and one should keep doing those things but today is different . Take out , say half an hour , just to sit and explore  . Look for a peaceful corner of your home . Sit straight in a comfortable position . Close your eyes . Listen to some soothing music for the first 2-3 minutes and then all silence . Be aware of your body , your wandering mind and  your breath . Inhale and exhale deep . Feel your breath -in and out . Do you feel good while you breathe deep? If not , change your breathing pattern and let it be normal . Now do you feel better ? If not , find out for yourself which kind of breath is comfortable to you ? Continue a comfortable breathing . I know our  minds have a wandering nature . Drag  your mind back to focus on your breath every time it wanders . Explore your feel...

All of us have been writing since childhood – learning ABC to sentences to paragaraphs and then essays . I have also done that . I started writing a blog three  years back . It was started just as a hobby , or you can say an online diary . Over a period of years , I have started finding writing as a stress-reliever . Writing has now become an important part of my wellness . What is wellness ? Wellness is much more than the absence of illness; it is our total well-being – in body, mind, and spirit. By wellness , it means that : you have a healthy body your mind has a good  emotional balance you live with  optimism To Live in present – you have learnt this art you have a progressive attitude Are Writing and Wellness really connected to each other ? Let’s start with a famous Wellness model given by Martin Seligman. . He developed a five core element of wellness  and happiness . This 5 element model is known as PERMA model .   P : Positive emotions E : Engagemen...

You are a woman , a mother . Raising your child in a meaningful way is your duty which can be  challenging at times . I know you as a mother are doing the best on your part . You want to raise your child as a  kind , courageous , high performing individual . And you are already working in this direction . It’s important that you as a mother instill some virtues in your child . After all virtues make one’s life meaningful . The most precious treasure is virtue. – Gautam Budhha  Virtue means power, strength, inner quality. Virtues define our character. There is an endless of virtues one should develop in herself and also instill in her child . Kindness, Hard work , compassion , forgiveness ,  spiritual principles , Respect for all , truthfulness , all these are the qualities of a good human being . Here I am talking about just 4 virtues you as a mother must try to instill in your child . But there’s another strong aspect about instilling virtues in your child . Tha...

Stress Management Today ,Stress is quite common with everyone of us . You feel a strange tightness in your heart and mind . Stress management has should become an essential part of curriculum , isn’t it ? What do you think ? Stress is related to both external and internal factors. External factors include the physical environment, including your job,  finances , relationships with others, and all the challenges you face on a daily basis. Internal factors determine your body’s ability to  deal with  the  stress-inducing external factors. Stress can be positive or negative . Positive stress is somewhat good to you – it improves your performance . Just before sitting for an exam or stepping on the stage to speak publicly , the stress you have felt was positive stress . Challenging yourself with daily writing  for whole one month is positive stress . The sense of  accomplishment at the end of the challenge gives you happiness and  motivates you even for more challenges ...

The alphabet M instantly clicks in my mind ‘Mera Lifestyle’ . What’s Mera Lifestyle ? Well it’s the positive lifestyle I want for each one of us . Every reader should be able to gain something from my blog and be able to exclamate – Yes ! That’s Mera Lifestyle ! * Mera is a hindi word which means – My Positive lifestyle means a life blessed with fitness , happiness , motivation  and growth . Laws of Mera Positive Lifestyle Be Motivated The basic law to live a positive lifestyle is to remain motivated . Read good books , blogs , connect with like minded people to keep your spirits high always . Actually the motivation is there within you only but you  just need to give it a shake  time to time so that it remains fresh . Be motivated by positive attitude  Prerna  Can you be Pollyanna ? ‘Pollyanna’ word means a very cheerful person . I recently finished a book ‘Pollyanna’ in which a teenage girl named Pollyanna always play...

It’s been 15 years of my marriage, it was an arranged marriage . When I was in college doing my studies , I always dreamt of love marriage , as it happens in DDLJ you know . Kajol goes on a college tour and finds her prince charming who later comes playing mandolin in the sunflower gardens . But nothing like that happened in my life and my dad arranged my marriage with  Mr N  . You can read my whole story here Now  I often tease my hubby Mr N  that I always wanted love marriage but bad luck that  I am still not blessed with love even after 15 years of marriage . Haha ! Well , ours is not a perfect marriage , there have been lot of fights and  anger –over wet towels on bed , finding his white socks under bed and then rubbing hard to clean them , his youtube addiction , his everytime grumble on the feeki chai   issue and a lot more . He finds me too at fault many times – when I ignore dusting for few days , give him   ghiya in tiffin , or when I shout at my maid . He just can’t bear whe...

1 What is Kaizen 2 5 S of Kaizen 3 8 principles of Kaizen 4 You can achieve   De-Cluttered Life 5 Better  Time management 6 More Happiness What is Kaizen ? Kaizen is basically a Japanese term which consists of two words ‘Kai’ –means ‘change’ and ‘Zen’ –means ‘Good’ Kaizen  is a theory which focusses on continuous improvement and hence increase productivity . The other definitions of KAIZEN are : a Japanese set of ideas about business that encourages people to continue improve their personal and professional life — McMillan dictionary KAIZEN means improvement. Moreover, it means continuing improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and working life.– Kaizen.com   Japanese feel that many small continuous changes in the systems and policies bring effective results than few major changes.  How to KAIZEN  UP  your Life? We all want to make improvements in our life – kick away all negativity , be  always optimistic , happy , and there should be no bumpy track...

If i ask a woman over 40  -What are your life goals? The answer may be  : I want my children to study hard and settle well in life . I wish my husband to be always happy at workplace so that he’s happy at home also. I wish to save lot of money . I want to own a big house and a big car . Well, may be your answer is a bit different . But if you analyze the above answers , are these really the personal life goals for a woman ? Just think over . Aren’t these family goals ? Of course you are a unit with your family . So your family goals are your goals in some way . But what are the life goals which you want as a woman ? Which are the goals ,if achieved, can bless you with joy ? Life goals for a woman over 40 40s is the time when it’s been around ten years or more of your married life and your children are around teenage . You may feel worried about their school , marks , higher education in future and the finances involved . If you are living on rent ,  you may feel the pr...

At times , I encounter ‘not feeling good’ days in my life . The reason may be beacuse things didn’t go as i wanted or may be some other reason . I don’t know exactly why ,but those days are there . The day when I felt grumpy morning to evening   We often worry about our  physical well being ,  focus on our fitness ,  reach out to doctors when we face any health trouble , but we forget most of the times to  look after our emotional well being . Emotions OK , Let’s start with a simple question – Have you ever felt any of the following feelings ? Angry Joyful Frustrated Excited Yelling Crying Smiling for no reason You answered Yes , right ? Why not , a human is made up of emotions . These are all states of mind . If you are happy and  calm it means that everything on behavioural level is going on smoothly . But if you experience the negative emotions like anger , yelling , frustration , then there must be something that is not OK on the  behavioural...

7 tips that can get you a happy life  How to make happiness a habit ? What do you want to do with your one precious life ? What is Happiness ? If you ask people – What do you want in life ? They would quickly answer -HAPPINESS . If you pose the next question – How to find it ? They would answer – Own house , good health , well settled children ,or something similar . If you pose the next question – What actions are you taking to achieve happiness ? They may (not quickly this time) answer – We are working hard , earning , saving , sending children to good schools , etc. If you pose the next question – Aren’t all these actions oriented in the hope of future happiness ?  There comes the paradox . What are you doing for your happiness in the present ? You are all the time worried about your future . You are not happy today but are all the time  working  to be happy tomorrow . And that tomorrow may not just come . Happiness Paradox can be understoo...