How About Maintaining a "Gratitude Journal?"

Drinking Coffee with Malti Bhojwani!

My 2 cents:

#1 A brilliant, breezy read.
#2 A must-have book for self-help book addicts, quote addicts and super cynics.

# Keep your highlighter ready. It's an inspiration loaded book. In fact, positive thoughts and quotes ooze through the entire book.

Book review: 

If ‘The Secret’ is one of your all-time favorite books then you are sure to enjoy ‘Don’t Think of A Blue Ball’ by Malati Bhojwani. “Plug in” is the word for this book. Plug in with the universe, she says, to manifest your dreams. Plug-in to small pleasures of your life: don’t rush through them; be it bathing, gyming, yoga, etc. Even while getting a hair-cut done, you can be plugged-in. Instead of getting impatient and looking at the watch again and again, plug-in to relish the experience, she says. Now you may ask how do you actually plug-in? You can do it through different ways: through prayers, meditation, centering, and grounding and even by just connecting, shares Bhojwani.

Plug-in with complete trust.

Give up how and the when, trust that what you desire is magnetized towards you.

The Universe is never late, but generally, not early either. Why not early! To test our implicit trust, perhaps. If everything you asked for came to us immediately, you will never grow and develop.

Insightful lines… Yes, the book is peppered with such strong, thoughtful lines.

No doubt the book deals with the much-talked about concept of “Law of attraction.” But let me tell you Bhojwani handles the oft-repeated topic in a refreshing new way. This is one thing that drew me to this book. She says, if you only think of the negative and the bad, then you are definitely attracting all the bad and negatives in your life. For instance, when you start assuming that your spouse is in an extra-marital affair and start nagging about it, he/she may literally start cozying up with a colleague just to prove you right. When all relationships seem fake to you, even true relationships may turn their back toward you. Our negative mindset on different things, attract only negatives in your life. So, the author asks us to have implicit faith in the universe. Believe in the Law Of Attraction and think only positive to attract positives in life. The Voltaire’s quote in the book aptly echoes this philosophy: “Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe”.

The only way to have what you want is to trust that you will have it and to expect it without a doubt.

So you got the premise!

The book revolves around beautiful concepts of Thankfulness, Appreciation, Gratitude, the Power Of Declaration, Universal Abundance and much more.  In fact, the book has inspired me so much that I decided to maintain a Gratitude Journal. Plus, the pithy catch phrases, analogies, anecdotes, quotes by famous authors and of course, the exercises given at the end of each chapter makes it a very interesting read. More than anything, the author’s habit of maintaining a Daily Gratitude Journal is my best take away from the book.

Final take: 4/5. Go for it.

A Perfect Book For Daily Dose Of Positive Thinking

I thank the author for a copy.
[This review is part of Reader Cosmos Book Review Initiative]

Man's Search For Meaning - I've got a confession to make...

She was the darling of the family: cooked really well, could give any model a run for her money and more than anything else, she was very close to my hubby. I hated her like the ‘other woman’ in my man’s life. I hated her for being the ‘be all and end all’ of my hubby. I hated her and I hated God for not making me like her.

In fact, we shared the same roof for six long years, but I could never ever share a word with her. But after reading this book, I don’t know what, but something changed within me; and I decided to seek atonement for my past sins. (That is after nine long years, seriously it took me that long to reconcile with her.) Today, I am glad that I share a friendly relationship with her. But, what if I had never came across this book? Would I’ve remained the same ruthless person, who could not stand the sight of her sis-in-law? Whose only mission was to snatch away the only brother from a loving sister? I simply can’t fathom that situation now.

Today, I experience peace within myself. One soul-searching line from this book that helped me change my unforgiving mindset forever was: “Live as you were living for the second time. Present is past and the past can be amended.” I was jealous and felt guilty about it at the same time, but I was not ready to forgive her for being the ‘spotlight’ of the family. This book made me do what I thought was almost impossible for me to do: seek atonement.

No wonder the book is popular. And its popularity made me browse it in a jiffy. I had first time seen this book in the hands of a priest during my higher secondary years. Since then, the name and the author of this book have stayed with me. I knew one day I’ll read this book. And, today I am glad, that is after 17 years long years, I did manage to get hold of this book. Have read it twice now, but still feel the need to read it a couple of times more, so as to fully grasp the wealth wisdom dealt in this book at length.

Victor Frankl, the author and the protagonist of this book, is a holocaust survivor. He is both a neurologist and psychiatrist, who survived the atrocities of the Auschwitz camp bravely. I don’t think Auschwitz camp needs an introduction here, or does it? Where the weak were gassed daily; where abeled bodied people were treated like animals and made to work day and night; where inmates had nothing to cover their frozen bodies, except a shred of cloth and over-tight shoes; where sick were treated like the dead and left to die; where the rare-spirited ones were fed on few slices of bread and thin soup, where sleep was a luxury; but Frankl survived, despite all odds. And he did not survive alone; he also ensured that inmates around him also made adequate efforts to survive.

Now, what kept him alive, when he knew that his whole family had been taken as captives by the Nazis and were probably gassed? His why of life? His mission to pen a book on logotherapy, which would help thousands of miserable souls find meaning in their lives? His conviction: that a person who has a why in life will survive anyhow. Frankl believed that no matter what the circumstances of a person are, he has this infallible capacity beat the odds and emerge successful, as he proved during his lifetime. Nothing, but his life validates his belief and research. A must read for those seeking WHY in their lives.

Some thoughtful quotes that will stay with me forever:

1] The more one forgets himself, the more he actualizes himself.

2] No one has right to do wrong even if wrong has been done to them.

3] Turn your personal tragedies into triumph.

4] Suffer proudly not miserably.

5] Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It’s finds its deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance.

6] An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.

7] Dostoevsky once said “There’s only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings.

8] If one cannot change his situation that causes suffering, he can still choose his attitude.

9] At any moment, man must decide, for better or for worse, what will be the monument of his existence.

10] Suffering is an ineradicable part of human life. Without suffering and death, human life will not be complete.

11] In some ways, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.

12] There are situations in which one is cut off from the opportunity to do one’s work or to enjoy one’s life; but what can not be ruled out is the unavoidability of suffering. In accepting this challenge to suffer bravely, life has a meaning up to the last moment, and it retains the meaning literally to the end.

13] Man is not fully conditioned or determined but rather determines himself whether he gives into conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is self-determining.

14] Suffer proudly; not miserably.

15] Nietzsche’s words: ‘ He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how’.

Woe to those who see no sense in re-reading books!

Books breathe a fresh new life into my breathless world. It sends my imagination on a flight of fantasy in seconds. But what peeves me off is the fact that once the freshness of a new book fades off, it becomes a thing of the past. Yes, I have developed this utterly disgusting habit of tasting books, much less devouring them or digesting them.      

Sir Francis Bacon may have rightly said: “Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly." But so far for me, first time read becomes the final read. No looking back. And by the way, isn't this the stereotypical norm with every regular reader. Am I any different!

And, tell me one thing, why in the world should I re-read books. When the plot is etched very clearly on my mind, when the characters are there on my fingertips, when I am fully aware of what’s going to happen in the next bend, then why re-read at all? This thought has crossed my mind a thousand times, when I comb through those countless books adorning my book shelf.

Yes, not long ago, the books piled up on my book-shelf were anything but a millstone around my neck. In fact, I even thought of trading it off for a few bucks. But couldn't bring myself to doing it, until I came across this thoughtful quote from Oscar Wilde: “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use reading it all."

My books have found a new life now. I gonna re-read them, one day at time 

The quote has struck a perfect chord with me, so much so that I started pulling out the best books from my book-self and started re-reading them once again. Before this, I used to wonder what I would do with all these old books, crowding my book-shelf. If Aryan doesn’t read them (in case, he has his own choice of books), who’s is going to read them? But now I know what I’ll do with them. Re-read and re-read them, over and over again, till the book becomes a part of me - the characters, the plot, anything and everything. And once I am done with them, I’ll lend them to other book lovers. Of course for a price. (First-hand books don’t come cheap, by the way.)

Thanks to Oscar Wilde, I believe, most of the books we love, and the authors we admire, should be read again and again. Of course, I’ve heard authors harping on the pleasures of re-reading books a couple of times, but during those times, I wondered, how could they? Now I know why, once I started reading 'Man’s Search for Meaning' by Victor Frankl. 

No doubt, my book-shelf is half-empty today. Now I won’t mind filling it up to the brim and then add some more. The process of filling up my book-shelf is though  damn slow: but I won’t stop. 

Raise A Toast to Re-reading 

Jini Maxin 

The Secret Wish List

I took a reading and writing hiatus for about three months or so. On hindsight, I do think, "how could I've done that?" But, the fact of the matter is I did distance myself from books; when your body and mind is busy working toward another important goal, you can’t help, but give in. Yes, I am all set to enter my fifth month of pregnancy; so the bodily changes kept him away from books.

But, I happy to be back with Preety Shenoy’s books in hands . I kicked off with her first book, '34 Bugglegums and Candies', and immediately moved on to her latest book ‘The Secret Wish' list in a jiffy.  I was looking for something light and fluffy and these books definitely don't disappoint. They keep you hooked throughout and you can be done with them in no time.

Coming back to the book, “My Secret Wish List,” it had all the masala of a typical Indian household. Dikhsa − the protagonists’ early marriage and motherhood, her choosing domesticity over professional life, her underplayed but simmering anger towards her insensitive, authoritative and conservative husband, her eagerness to break free from the shackles of marriage, and so on. I assume every Indian woman could relate to the story, specifically those homemakers who are taken for granted in quintessential Indian households. And, indeed, the book comes as an eye-opener for all of us.

Diksha, at sixteen was punished by her parents, because she made a mistake of kissing her senior in her school.  Naturally, she is forced to leave school in Chennai by her conservative parents and return to her native place in Kerala and finish her studies there. And by the time she reaches nineteen, she is married off to Sandeep, and for 15 long years she stays and makes her marriage work, raising her son Abhay and taking care of household chores, at the same time, ignoring her husband’s taunts and rapes.

On the one hand, if she hates her husband, on the other, she shares a lovely bond with cousin Vibha. She is also overjoyed to renew her long-lost friendship with school friend Tanu, and forms a new bond with salsa instructor Gaurav. Plus, her 9-year-old son Abhay, is always on her side. These friends insist her to come out of her wreaked marriage.  In fact, Vibha prods her to come up with a ‘Secret Wish List’ as an escape from her marriage, and goes all the way to ensure that she fulfills them. The wish list is interesting. She has six wishes in mind and has put them down on paper on Vibha’s insistence. Not surprisingly, Vibha has okayed all of them, except the last one − sex with a stranger.  But Diksha ends up doing it and this brings a wedge in their relationship.

Tanu, on the other hand, comes across as a big supporter of Diksha, and even inspires her to walk out of her hapless marriage. But will she or won’t she? This one question keeps the readers hooked till the end.  

The Pelican Brief

Title: The Pelican Brief
Author: John Grisham 
Pages: 450
Source: Personal
Last Word - An Engaging Read

After reading Grisham back to back – The King of Torts, The Testament, and The Confession - I thought that Grisham writes with an overwhelming spiritual bend, but The Pelican brief made me think otherwise. This legal thriller turned out to be very different for me. An engaging one though.

The chemistry between Darby Shaw, the protagonist and a law student, and Thomas Callahan, her professor, is pretty interesting. Shaw is a potent combination of beauty and brains. Killer Khamel’s portrayal as a cool, consummate murderer catches your attention. Then there are other characters that come and go by, adding their teeny-weeny bit to the story. As you keep turning the pages of the book you realize it’s a complete filmy masala – yes, a film adaptation of the book was released in 1993 starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. The pace of the book is perfect. The plot is pulling. You don't have to do much to get get drawn into the story.

The assassination of two Supreme Court Justices - Rosenberg and Jensen- shakes the entire country. The President is clueless. The FBI is clueless. The judiciary is clueless. The CIA has begun a wild goose chase. No one knows anything. Anyone and everyone of some social standing is trying hard to nail the culprit. But nothing seems to fall in place. But Shaw, after some thorough research, seems to have found a lead and comes up with a brilliant brief. The brief, called the ‘Pelican brief,’ seems to point fingers at none but President’s close associate and oil tycoon Victor Mattiece. The killers get a wind of what Derby was up to and now she is on their radar. They have already killed her lover Callahan and his friend Verheek. Now it’s her turn. Shaw is on the run. She changes her appearance, her look, her hair, her hotels. But the killers are trailing her. She’s been stalked every day because the killer wants to destroy her - the creator of Pelican brief.

The turning point in the story comes when she pairs up with a Washington Post journalist Grantham Gray to nail the real murderers.

Overall a great read. And, of course, the story about the endangered Pelicans of Louisiana is intriguing, which sets you thinking whether the Pelicans are really facing extinction. This calls for some R & D rightaway.