Importance of Life Skills

Do you often hear about cases of depression among people & its disastrous outcomes? Why is this prevailing and more or so among youngsters? A major reason is the lack of solid foundation. Our society believes in beauty, wealth & materialistic pleasures; forgetting about the ethics of living- happiness, peace and health. 

The life skills I am emphasising upon might not be able to pleasure the society but would definitely help you lead a contented time & fight the odds of life better. Benefits of nurturing skills are infinite; let me list some for you:

1. Better focus & determination to ace your goals
2. The passion in you will create its aura & speak its own language 
3. You would never feel helpless in your life because your skills would be there to support, grow & feed you.
4. Your thinking capabilities would increase. 
5. It will be easier to put life together & be aware of yourself. 

The psychology says it is important to gain this "5 skill set" for every individual. 

1. One that makes you creative
2. One that you can monetise 
3. One to increase your knowledge 
4. One to evolve yourself 
5. One to keep you in shape 

These skills are all equally important paying no heed to its numbering. As an evolving person, I love to learn new but always felt a gap when it came to preparing myself for life. When I got my hands on this life rule; I made sure to embrace it. Luckily, I had a lot of them in me; thanks to maa but I was ready to invest in myself.

Here sharing my skills & how they improve me each second:

~ Art makes me creative, calm & serene. A creative lifeskill will always give you a better prospective in daily activities that you won’t even recognise. For eg. I understand the worth of the word “process” which many people lack to understand & panic or over analyse for no reason. Everything is a process & its going to be beautiful so just learn & enjoy it. Art is therapeutic to me. I know that whenever I am in a dark spot, the process of a painting itself can give pull me out & fill me with a gush of positivity. 

~ The one I can monetise? Now here I want to engross as much as possible. This skill set is about living on your own feet. For me I know the process. But for beginners, start by jotting down your interests. Shortlist 4 & start working on them rigorously...gain certificates, add experience & ace your CV. Imagine, you have knowledge of 4 fields where you can try your hand and choose whatever makes you more money! 

~ To increase my knowledge & push the walls of my brain, I read books. Every genre is great in some or the other way. If nothing else, your communication will be polished, writing will improve & your dictionary will have new words. Its one of the most productive distractions to keep you aligned with your goals. Another habit I have inculcated is to listen to podcasts or to research about my curiosities. 

~ This is my current favourite lifeskill- manifesting & meditating. I am 100% enjoying the procedure of exploring & evolving myself. As far as meditation sounds too high or boring, it is very simple & fun. Literally 5 minutes of my night time & I do feel a change. 

Will talk about this in my coming live on 17th April @9:30pm & probably write another blog about it too. But if you are keen on starting, you can hit me up on social media or email.

~ One to keep me in shape- yoga (my go to routine). In these times if I have learnt something majorly is the importance of being healthy. Our society says slim or fair is beautiful which is utter bullshit. We should be taught to give our body (our temple) at least 30 mins of our day to be healthy. To all the people who consider exercising a need for the curvy people; get up and prioritise your body. 

Zumba, cardio & walking are some other measures I take to keep my body in shape. 

When you start investing on yourself, you realise your worth & worry less about what the world says. Everyone wants to be unique & on top of their game but are not ready to pay the price to become successful. You will be rejected, failed or demotivated plenty of times in life, but these skills will help rise above the sky.

So what are thinking? Do tell me in comments... & share whoever needs to know this. 

In short,

Prioritise

Invest

Practice 

Evolve

Stay tuned for the next gyaan & keep reading good ;))

Wellbeing

Wellbeing is about being in a state of peace and satisfaction. With so much going around us like societal pressures, family expectations, relationship problems, financial issues or emotional trauma; wellbeing does not come easily to us. We have to practise it. 

As much as I believe that self-worth and love should be primary teachings of our lives; it is still not to late to embrace yourself & commence your wellness journey. 

Let us talk about the initial steps or easy solutions (most of them have been personally experienced)

1. Pay gratitude & feel blessed every morning.

2. Cherish little things...like the cup of coffee you just had or the friend you spent an hour talking to. Just be glad. 

3. Make a point to follow the 3 life skills rule (try at least):

• Spend minimum 30 mins for your health everyday. 
• Spend minimum 15 mins to learn a new skill or polish the existing everyday. 
• Spend minimum 1 hour on your hobby per week. 

4. Spend quality time with your own self. 5 mins at night are good enough. Know what to say with this post. (Follow me too)

5. If you feel overwhelmed, low, anxious or unsettled, distract yourself. May be read a book or do any of these activities to feel motivated again. 

6. It is OKAY. If something was not good today...its okay. Take 1 moment at a time and unnerve yourself. 

7. Remember to motivate and hydrate yourself everyday with positivity and self-care.

8. As much as I promote being passionate and hard working, maintain a balance. Take a break to pamper yourself. Have a day off or go for a vacation. This allows you to collect yourself better. 

9. Buy any wellness oil and use it before sleeping. These methods relax you instantly and let you have a peaceful sleep. Include this in your night regime. I have personally curated one too. 

10. Health comes in 2 forms- physical and mental. If even one of these is unhealthy; you will face issues. Normalise talking about mental health and SHARE! 

You can always go for therapies but if you need an ear to listen unbiased, I am always here :) Remember wellbeing comes to those who know how to reach out.

Hope these pointers will be helpful. Please prioritise your wellbeing. 

Further Updates: 

1. I have our WEBSITE running...so go check out and contact for any query. 
2. Will be launching the personally curated wellness products soon on my Instagram. You can buy them there. 
3. Next blog will be about extensively on Life Skills. 

Stay tuned.

Navya The Great

Hello to all you lovely readers. 

My Purnima Didi is always propagating “Self-Love” and this is the best version I could come up with for my weekly writing. 

Well, I love myself a lot! I am 8 years old born in Chopra Family; a child to be pampered forever- “Navya the great”.
My hobbies are art and craft while my favourite subject is Maths. What is yours?

Oh again, I love to make slimes & I can create billions of them but the issue is that no one else really likes them which is so sad; their loss whatever! I am a very warm host; only to the people I like. Girl boss attitude, isn’t it? When my sister Vania’s friends visit, I make sure to entertain them by coaxing them into playing treasure hunt. Agreed that it is very confusing but also so funny.

My favourite grub is chicken that I can eat it three times a day. I can usually manage it for all my meals but only when Papa makes my favourite type. I like loose and short clothes like Vania Didi but muma makes me wear very tight outfits. Is it okay if I adore everything my big SIS does? I guess it is and I love her a bit too much.
In all, I am a very playful girl who calls my neighbours place my second home. Patience, peace and creativity are like my second skin; thus “Navya the great”.

TaDaa; bye-bye and remember to love yourself. 

School for scholarships of memories

My brother always used to repeat that school days are the best days of one’s life. I understand the WHY behind that statement today. Well for starters, do you remember our teacher’s day video for the dear Satyans? It made me cry and evoked an emotion towards a building which I can proudly say my second home. I miss it!

My sister can go on and on about her educational experiences ranging from being the Head Girl to bunking classes with her gang. The Big Brother used to think of himself as the cool guy of his batch and tell me nothing about his secrets. Their ranting about missing those days makes sense to me today when I am actually craving everything including that iced tea from the school canteen. 

One year of not getting up early, wearing uniform, sharing food, having unlimited banters and secret laughs. The exhausting bus rides, a 30-player ice water game, mimicking the teachers and wasting every games period; I left a lane of my memories there. While Netflix, Prime and HotStar can be my pass time, they fail to give me the warmth of friendship and connection to relish a life time. 

Now come on Covid, let us enjoy our SPM hood and leave now! I too want to create fulfilling adventures so I can tell my juniors to have the best of their time with the lovely teachers and much needed pals. We were told “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today” and I really need my institution now to sculpture my personality for a better tomorrow. 

To conclude, I have gratitude towards all my teachers, mentors, support staff and the management for nurturing us like the gentle flowers and only giving us the best. Hoping to see you all soon for a better year and again we all miss you SPM!

Written by: Vania Chopra

Edited by: Purnima Chopra  

Family. Emotions. Dadu.

It is often exclaimed that having an inspiration supports your personality. An anchor lets you keep sailing even in the storm. The roots of a tree helps in growth and the pillars of a building sets the height. All these statements narrow down to my old man who is my strength and blessing. 

Pandemic has hit us all differently. While I rant about missing my university all the time, I adore these moments spent with my partner. Since we all have learnt about how life is so unpredictable, I have gratitude for all the time I have had with this pure soul. Though I speak highly of him, we share a friendly and banter-filled bond. We tease, frighten, share, laugh, scold each other and what not!

Fun-fact: My grandfather can have 100 bear-hugs an hour and if his grandkids can top it with kisses then he is the happiest man on earth.

He is a man of love, respect and determination. The biggest moral I tend to take forward from his lessons of life is his faith in "SANSKAAR" (family values). Being the first born, my family was terrified to send their sheltered kid to London for further studies. 100 different thoughts haunted them but my Dadu was the one to have belief in his teachings and my morals. He declared that my daughter will go and only sore for greater heights. That is how practical he is and the reason why I am capable enough to narrate this bond to you all!

Fun-fact: He knows the whole world and invites everyone home. Cherry on the cake is that his aura pushes all his acquaintances to visit us too.

Mr. CEO Chopra has had rather a rough journey to come till this point. His sacrifices and stories about hardships only inspires his grandkids to pamper him and make him proud. I as an individual love to explore my talents and he is the man who motivates me to follow my passion. In fact he can sing praises about his kids. 

Fun-fact: He is a prankster in car to take you to his favourite places while confusing you with directions. 

In short I am proud to be his bugga, office partner, best friend (I hope because he is mine) and of course his grand daughter. I love you and thank you for this life of blessings.  

Head over heels in love with food

Gandhi once quoted “Whilst it is true that man cannot live without air and water, the thing that nourishes the body is food. Hence the saying, food is life”. I too believe that eating is important but to eat smart is what we all need to acknowledge for an active lifestyle.

Well, my mom encourages me into eating healthy by emphasizing that our skin is what we eat. Now that made an impact on me! In a layman language it means that our body related issues majorly depend on what we intake as our meals connecting me permanently on the path of healthy and nutritious food. Now, I can proudly say that I follow this quote and the lockdown has acted like the cherry on the cake for making me understand the importance a good appetite. The best habit I have developed is about eating an apple and drinking 2 cups of milk every single day. We all know that an apple a day keeps the doctor away and milk is a wholesome product for providing all the good vitamins, calcium and nutrients making me a stronger girl!

Food for me is also for wellbeing. It is about good mood or mending every bad moment to a thrilling one. It helps me cheer up! 

Once my brother, my sister and my mom were being very rude to me, so I went upstairs in anger hoping that someone would come and give me some attention. Like, 15 minutes later, my brother came up and just picked me. Honestly, I was frightened that I might fall because I am pretty big to be in someone’s arms. Hahaha! Who knew, that they would surprise me with an early birthday treat- PIZZA AND CAKE! Uffff, it was a good meal and perfect mood charger!

Just to let you all know, I am very comfortable in easy foods. Like I have been eating curd, rice and sugar’s combination for a very long time now and I still love it. Its just so scrumptious! It’s easy to cook and fulfils the need for a healthy lunch. So whenever my mom is in dilemma and asks me for my meal I am like, Mama I’ll have  दहिन चीनी चावल (in a sing a song manner).

In short, for me food is life! What about you?

Finally, some bakers I recommend (In Ludhiana):

1. The Sweet Life Patisserie – Customised cakes, Red Velvet Cupcakes or Cake

2. The Little Bake House – Brownies, Belgian Chocolate Cake, Nutella Jumbo Cookies and Lotus Biscoff Jumbo Cookies

3. Nik Bakers'– Plain old brownies or New York Cheescake

4. Bon Gateau – All Cheesecakes

Written By- Vania Chopra

Edited By- Purnima Chopra

Always a little extra

Earrings have always been something to uplift my personality. A funky pair can add a spark to your outfit and make your appearance interesting. What do you think about jewellery adding that extra flavour?

Well, I came across this small business page on Instagram (@alittleextra.in) which deals in handmade and handpicked terracotta, fabric and beaded jewellery. I have been into promoting local businesses a lot and this one really caught my eye with their amazing collection & affordable prices. Ordered some pieces and loved each one of them. 

My order! I am in love for sure...

Their packaging is creative and empowering. The beneath message being that jewellery is for each one of you beauties; keeping aside the difference of colour, size or any stupid social parameter. 

As much as their products are buying worthy; the founder- Diksha Singhi is a woman to adore! She is all about body positivity and self love. We definitely need more women like her to encourage others to love health over everything and tell the fellow females that you are BEAUTIFUL! (alwaysalittleextra)

In all, I definitely recommend her ideas and products. Go check them out and if nothing do follow the right people.

https://instagram.com/alittleextra.in?igshid=17i75eio3zmzb