Pratima Shah

    The year 2016 which made my professional life zero was something out of the blue for me and my family.  I resigned from the institute where I had been working since 2005. It was a like a catastrophe which struck my world and everything seemed so blur. The reason for resigning were the rumors which had been hurled into the air of the place by a handful of persons who knew it in their hearts that everything was baseless. It was the time where I came to know who are my real friends and who are the fake ones.    We always live in an illusion when it comes to knowing the people around us. There are so many around us who show us that they are our friends but actually they are not. They are just taking advantage of your position and trying to please you through their words. They genuinely never ever feel anything for you nor get attached to you as a friend. I never realized this before I resigned in January 2016. The ones whose support I expected were there with me in my good ti

   The world would be like a mechanical contraption if there is no love around. Love keeps the world going and alive. But what if if most of the love we get is just attachment and not love? What are the ways through which we express love? We do it by taking due care of the ones we love, by making them feel unique and special in every way and always wishing the best for them. Words too are a means to express love and it is very necessary that we all express our love towards our near and dear ones through words. There are many of us who get relief just by words of our loved ones. There is only one lubricant for all our relationships - and that is love.    Love can get converted into an intense attachment towards a relation and attachment is negative. If my child is sick I tend to him till he becomes alright. This is love for my child. But even after he is alright I keep on worrying about him and fall sick that is my attachment towards the child. This is negative and cause problems b

   Being a mother has taught me so many lessons which I never paid heed to when I was a child. I have understood so many bitter facts / lessons of life after being a parent. I remember the time when I was a child and how stubborn I was. Brutally outspoken, full of life, very much pampered by all but I still remember that whatever the circumstances I was the darling of my mother. Neglecting everything I did, from ill treating her, retorting to her and doing everything to displease her she never left my side. I could feel her warmth and blessings in every pain, in every joy and in every moment of my life.    You never understand what it is to be a parent unless you become one. How tough it would have been for my mother to cope up with a child like me. I have many times spoken to mom about what I feel now after becoming a mother. You grow as a mother as the child grows and learn many things through this phase. But the quality of being emotional and affectionate towards the family som

   Through meditation one can condition the mind to focus and deeply think in the moment. Meditation has the power to keep our mind in control in those moments of solitude. It is a tool of longevity that decreases the pace of the body and acts as a catalyst to increase the pace of the mind.    A woman who meditates can have an eagle's eye as there is so much going on within in one moment. Eagles are a privileged species who can soar  very high to get the bird's eye by keeping a detailed magnified perspective. And this  is a skill that every woman must possess.    The soul of a woman understands the language of meditation as women are more inclined towards religion as compared to men. It is while meditating that we close all outward sources of distractions and focus  inward to listen to the soul's voice or the self. The soul acts as a woman's guide through the intuitive powers which every woman possesses and which is very strong in her    The mood of a woman can b

   Very often when asked about our happiest moments; each one of us has to think a lot to find them. But if someone asks us about our saddest moments, we have a list to tell them. Why is it so that we remember our saddest moments instead of remembering our happiest moments. According to Neurobiology these sad / bad / unpleasant memories occupy our thought process. The socio - biological reasoning behind this is that we humans have invented many ways and resources to ward off danger / predators / enemies. This instinct made us develop a control through which we controlled our surroundings. This controlling instinct carried with it a baggage of thoughts of how to control others who harm us and in turn be harmed by them too. These bad thoughts led to traumatic events and thus occupied a major portion of our brain.    When a person starts aging, the anxiety within the person starts increasing because of the unpleasant memories that have occurred in her / his life. These unpleasant mem

   Our society has always emphasized on story telling to children during the childhood phase. Many children are habituated with listening to stories and falling asleep. The kind of stories told by parents / grandparents include stories from the holy scriptures, Amar Chitra Katha, Panchtantra, Jataka tales, Chacha Chaudhary, stories depicting valour and patriotism, Cindrella, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and many more. Our daughters are in love with Cindrella and fairy tale kind of stories where a handsome knight comes over a flying horse and marries the girl and they live happily ever after. These stories create a perception in the mind of the young girls that to live happily ever after one needs to marry a charming and handsome boy and boys think that the girl one marries to has to be beautiful. There is rarely any story that speaks about the girl being intelligent. This is not the case only in India but also in many other countries.    Due to this, two girls originally from I

     There are so many sounds that fall on our ears but we are unaware of them. Beginning from the chirping of the birds, the hum of the bees, the sounds of the horns and the passing traffic we daily absorb so many sounds unconsciously; they just remain in the background of our minds. Listening is in our genes; if we don't listen we cannot respond to anything around us. Listening is an art which everyone must possess.    As we grow up we speak more and listen less. We want others to listen to us but we never make conscious efforts to listen to others. This leads to miscommunication in the world. It is time for us to learn a lot from the ones who are active listeners. When we listen to someone, we make them feel valued, secure and understood. We accept them as they are by loving and appreciating them. You owe a lot to that person who listens, really listens to you. The person may have listened to you and advised you, may have been your guide to the right path or would have show