#AtoZChallenge- Marvelous Miracle

In most cultures, a woman is never considered complete unless she becomes a mother. Amita lived in such a society. She was married 8 years ago, yet the couple had no children. Obviously she became the area of concern for her in laws as well as her parents. Every so called well wisher never stopped questioning or suggesting ways to conceive a child. Though Amita badly wanted a baby as much as people surrounding her, the pressure of being questioned dominated her despair of not having a kid.

Though the couple tried every medical way and took medications for getting pregnant, nothing instantly worked. As a result, Amita’s longing for a child and her inability to get pregnant only made her mental state deteriorate. Unable to wait any further, her family who trusted astrological predictions more than anything, approached an astrologer. As per the astrologer, Amita isn’t fortunate enough to ever have children. There was no sign of her becoming a mother in her birth chart!

The family was devastated. Her in laws cursed her and themselves for not paying attention to her birth chart at the time of marriage eight years ago. The idea of not having their family heir was insulting to them. Amita was shattered. In spite of already being worried about children, the thought of her family trusting planetary positions over being considerate made her feel much worse. Amid all the chaos, her husband’s support was the only ray of hope. He neither blamed her nor himself but always believed they will have children at some point. He always ignored what the world had to say, but he was also the less impacted compared to his wife, as he wasn’t blamed much unlike Amita.

The phase and struggle Amita was going through disturbed her husband quite a lot. He consoled her every day to have faith and not pay heed to astrological predictions or curses from people around her. “The more you pay attention and feed on what people have to say, the more you will attract such situations. I believe all this you are going through now is also a result of your past worry on what-if I don’t have kids. It is called law of attraction”, her husband explained. Amita listened but did not utter a word. Her husband shared good incidents citing examples of the law of attraction, just to make his wife realize and focus on the good she wants in life.

Amita slowly started feeling better as days passed. Her constant aid in the form of her husband during times of difficulty instilled hope. Instead of worrying about her future without kids, she steadily shifted her thoughts to imagining herself with a child. She enjoyed thinking about having a baby girl who resembled her husband. Her thoughts grew vivid and crystal clear with time. Amita’s mind was filled with images of her feeding the baby girl, dressing her up and watching her sleep. She noticed how often she dreamt of the same in her sleep as well.

Gradually, her subconscious mind believed she was going to have a baby girl. Everywhere Amita went, she saw herself in that place carrying her child. She looked for baby clothes and accessories whenever she went shopping. She read books on parenting and also shortlisted few names for the child she believed she was going to have. These thoughts kept Amita in her happy place, irrespective of people’s opinions and hateful remarks.

Within six months, a marvelous miracle took place. Amita realized she was pregnant! Her realization of turning her wish into reality gave her more pleasure than the good news itself! Her husband was overjoyed not only for the pregnancy news but also for his wife’s inherited trust. Her family was elated on the news, though they least expected after the prediction. Not only were they looking forward for their grandchild, but they also started doubting their trust in an astrologer. Now that Amita was pregnant, she also knew it will be a baby girl, just like she ever wanted!

Law of Attraction Takeaway– Life is not always in your control. But the ability to filter your thoughts irrespective of life’s circumstances is definitely in your control. Because thoughts become things and what you think, you become!

Thoughts become things. If you see it in your mind, you will hold it in your hand – Bob Proctor

#AtoZChallenge- Loving Life

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is never exactly as easier as it sounds. Most adages are easy said than done and Raghav was in no mood to either listen or understand such stereotypical sayings. After all his life was a mess! Another victim of  Quarter Life Crisis and it couldn’t get worse for Raghav. He was jobless, his girlfriend ditched him and he was still dependent on his parents, which was considered a sin by most of his distant relatives. Though his parents had absolutely no issues with their son, they did feel awkward when people questioned about his employment or ambition in life. His girl friend whom he considered to be his pillar of support, left him when he needed her the most. The job market wasn’t great enough either, thus making it harder for him to get employed. In a nutshell, nothing was going right and everything was against his desire, Raghav kept reminding himself.

He spent days watching television and nights wondering why his life was messed up. Each glance at his social media feed, reminded him of how big of a loser he was. His depressed state only got worsened by comparing his jobless, life less life with successful and vibrant lives of his peers. He cursed his state and never stopped complaining about the same. Dejected by his plight, his friends made every effort to get his mind off things but in vain. In an attempt to shift Raghav’s outlook, one of his friends suggested the practice of gratitude.

“I read an article on gratitude today. Sounded very powerful and promising. I think you should try”, his friend suggested.

“You know how much I hate you guys preaching, don’t get me started again!”, Raghav backfired.

“Nobody wants to bore you with preaching. You know how much I hate telling you stuff, yet, it wasn’t just another moral teaching, it always existed. You just might be unaware. Gratitude can change this life of yours. You definitely need to know how blessed you are! Please give it try”, his friend pleaded and left Raghav’s place.

During his time of overthinking nights, Raghav could not get his friend’s gratitude words out from his head. He knows how his friend never discussed anything philosophical, but his mention of the very same, did not let him take his words for granted. He wondered, but he couldn’t think of a single thing in his life that he was grateful for.

The next day, Raghav received an email with the article on gratitude from his friend. Just like his friend mentioned, it sounded very profound yet truthfully real. So real that Raghav who hated anything that sounded like worthless proverbs, actually started developing faith in them. He tried to incorporate gratitude into his life after he came across some real examples of how it changed people’s lives around the world. Raghav immersed himself in the subject of gratitude. He spent hours online exploring its greatness and purchased books on the same. His lazy endless days no longer existed as Raghav kept himself busy learning, reading and practicing gratitude.

Within days, Raghav started writing a gratitude journal as suggested by many sources. He made an effort to consciously think and analyze his life from a purposefully positive point of view. Though hard in the beginning, Raghav’s list of things to be thankful for in his life kept increasing. With this practice, he realized how blessed and fortunate his life was each day. He became mindfully thankful for his birth, his body, his supportive parents and friends, his experiences, his health and the list was endless. He realized there was no dearth of counting your blessings no matter how miserable you assumed your life to be! That’s the beauty of gratitude! It has the ability to make anybody in any state feel content and joyful for their very life.

Raghav noticed a huge transformation in himself. He was unusually cheerful and content, in spite of no change in his life. He was still jobless and single, but not depressed. He kept himself busy doing things he loved. Whenever he felt low, he gave a quick glance at his gratitude journal, which instantly shifted his emotions. Within few weeks, Raghav received an email for an interview at a major firm. After months of applying for countless number of jobs and endless waiting, Raghav finally received a call for an interview. As a part of his gratitude ritual, he was extremely thankful and happy for having received a call from a huge company. He was positive he would clear the interview and concentrated on preparing for the D- Day.

Two months passed and Raghav is working in the very same building he was interviewed! He is having the time of his life and never fails to remind himself of how grateful he is for everything he has in his life. He is pretty confident that he can never be depressed or unhappy for long, now that he knows the ‘magic’ of life!

Law of Attraction Takeaway– Gratitude and Law of Attraction are intertwined. The more you are grateful for what you have, the more you will attract things to be grateful for!

Gratitude is the greatest gift and the ‘magic’ of life! It has the ultimate power to transform and enhance lives.

#AtoZChallenge- K-Pop Keenness

“What the hell are you listening to?!”, yelled Shreya’s roommate on hearing some unfamiliar music, as she entered the apartment. Shreya was busy cutting the vegetables while happily enjoying her new found tunes. “It’s K-Pop!”, she uttered. “Korean?!”, her room mate sighed and walked away. Shreya has been listening to K-Pop for quite a while and was going absolutely crazy about the whole K-Pop world and culture!

Shreya’s madness for K-Pop only ascended with time. Her friends found her choice of music weird and tried persuading her to get out of the mania. Shreya was least bothered about being judged for her music choice. But she did feel bad when her friends tried to belittle the kind of music without actually getting to know it! She found immense happiness in listening to K-Pop and developed intense admiration for the singing bands and their ideologies.

Within few months, her whole world revolved around K-Pop! Her room was filled with posters of her favorite groups, social media feed was filled with quotes and memes on Korean Pop and she became friends with other K-Pop fans around the world. Her never ending craziness for K-Pop made her paint the names and symbols of her favorite boys band on the walls with glow in dark paints, so that she could see them in the dark even before sleeping. That was her level of dedication for K-Pop and no wonder did she wish to attend their concerts live some day!

With limited fan base in India, not often did K-Pop concerts actually materialize to take place in the country. Even if they did, it wasn’t the famous boys bands performing, but some relatively new groups. Though it wasn’t her favorite band, Shreya made sure to attend the concert just to experience the slightest of K-Pop as much as possible. However, her cravings to attend the concerts of her favorite band, only kept multiplying with time.

Years later, Shreya who was a budding dentist, moved to Canada for her masters program. Within few months of her settling in and getting accustomed to the new country, she comes across an opportunity she has been waiting for years! A K-Pop concert of one of the famous groups in her city! Though Shreya was super excited about the opportunity of going to the concert she was desperately hoping for, she was apprehensive on spending $150 for a concert, being a student on a foreign land. After constant dilemma for days, Shreya finally decided to purchase a ticket for the concert that was available on the Facebook group of K-Pop fans. But unfortunately, it was too late and the ticket was sold out. That was the moment she realized how badly she wanted to go to the concert.

She was disturbed. She could not concentrate at work. But rather than brooding over the lost ticket and nourishing over her disappointment, she wanted to try her luck to get to the concert until the very last minute! Shreya constantly kept checking her Facebook hoping someone would post regarding the sale of another ticket. After hours of peeping into her phone at work, a girl from USA finally posted a ticket. Shreya immediately grabbed the opportunity to reach out to her at the earliest to confirm her purchase. Since the seller was from another country, Shreya had a hard time coordinating the timings between them. As determined as she was, Shreya made sure to get hold of the seller by the end of day, stayed up all night to transfer the payment through PayPal and got the name on the ticket changed to hers. Finally after hours of jitters, Shreya was exhilarated! She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw her final ticket confirmation email. She was going to attend her favorite K-Pop live concert!!

The day of the concert arrived and it was everything Shreya had ever imagined! She just loved watching her favorite K-Pop boys band live on stage and completely indulged herself in the experience! The icing on the cake was when Shreya along with few other ardent fans like her were invited on stage to click pictures with the band! She couldn’t control the tears of joy rolling down her cheeks during her time on stage. While attending the live concert was her dream come true, taking pictures with the K-Pop stars just kept her heart rate racing! Shreya’s first real and live experience will remain special for the rest of her life.

After returning from the experience of turning her dream into reality, “If I can be THIS happy, I would never regret or think twice about spending on K-Pop concerts!”, she realized.

Law of Attraction Takeaway– The universe helps achieve all your desires, provided you send out the right vibrations and signals into the universe! When you encounter a step of disappointment in the way of manifesting your desire, do not focus on the disappointment. Instead change your pattern of thoughts to focus on your desire, thus sending out the right vibrations.

Do not stimulate your disappointments that come in the way of your desire. Instead focus on changing your thoughts and your desire will eventually materialize!

#AtoZChallenge- Japan Journey

Sarah has a great fascination for Japan. Her obsession with the land of the rising sun started years ago when she was in high school in West Africa. Over the course of time, she developed an innate admiration for Japanese culture, their food and their famous anime. Sarah never stopped dreaming of visiting Japan at least once in her lifetime. But living on the other side of the globe, she hardly knew when or how she would probably get an opportunity to visit her favorite country.

After graduating from high school, Sarah moved to the United States to pursue her bachelors degree. Her time in the US brought her a little closer to fulfilling her Japanese fascination. She made some Japanese friends who were international students just like her. Her curiosity kept escalating when her friends spoke at length about their customs which sounded very enlightening. She made sure to attend the international cultural banquets at school that comprised of art and culture display from different parts of the world, which included Japan. Sarah made every attempt to get to know more about the country through various sources, now that she has access. She visited every Japanese restaurant in town and Sushi has become one of her favorites!

Sarah also became a frequent visitor to the Asian store where she got good access to Japanese food items, their candies, sea food and much more. She discussed about Japanese facts at a very granular level whenever she had conversations with her non-Japanese friends. Most of them admired her level of commitment to get closer to Japan in every way possible. Though Sarah was not sure when she would get an opportunity to go to Japan, she did not think that as a reason to stop her from ‘experiencing’ the country. Not only did she know most of the famous Japanese words, but she also started learning on how to read and write the language from various sources on the internet. Sarah loved every minute of her time that she spent indulging herself in her Japanese fascination. She neither had the finances to plan a trip to Japan anytime in the near future to savor her cravings, nor did she have any idea of when or how her fascination would turn into reality. All she knew was she found happiness in thinking about her favorite country and she made every effort to ‘feel’ and ‘experience’ Japan without actually being there.

Sarah was great at academics and always gained a spot on the Dean’s list. The spring semester just began and Sarah was in her third year. One morning while Sarah was browsing through her inbox with an ongoing lecture in the classroom, she stumbled upon an email that blew her mind! The email was from her department that included a flyer filled with pictures she is most familiar with and the title read-

‘Visit Japan- 2017 CUC Summer Program’

Sarah was in utter shock! The email was about an opportunity to visit and experience Japan for a week, as a part of their school’s affiliated Japanese University program! The program offers students from different parts of the world, to visit and experience Japan’s economy, finance, culture and art. Sarah was on cloud nine! She definitely knew this was her chance to visit Japan. The best part was that the school would offer financial grant and some credits for the Summer semester! A win-win situation, Sarah thought. However the opportunity was limited to only 5 students from their school. That’s a catch, Sarah wondered, but she was pretty confident she would make it to the ones selected, because all she believed was – Japan is in her destiny!

Sarah applied for the program with great enthusiasm. Being an excellent student, her grades were great and her passion for Japan was very well reflected in her application. So as expected, Sarah made it to the list of students shortlisted for the CUC Summer program at the Chiba University of Commerce! She wasn’t surprised as she thoroughly believed she was going to visit Japan. Her ongoing language skills and the semi cultural experience she had all these years would finally help her realize her long lasting dream, without the need of a dime from her pocket!

Summer arrived and Sarah woke up in Japan! Her joy knew no bounds. She made wonderful friends from the country and also from different parts of the world. She had her first hand experience of Japanese culture and traditions, went on excursions visiting museums and  famous sight seeing spots. They had to attend classes in the morning and roamed around the city during the evenings. Sarah was living and cherishing every moment of her time in Japan. She took tons of pictures and was busy making memories for a lifetime! As she enjoyed every minute of her time in her most favorite country, Sarah posted pictures of herself in traditional Yukata outfits with hashtag #livingthedream!

Law of Attraction Takeaway– When you desire something, indulge yourself completely in the experience, as if your desire is already fulfilled! The ‘when‘ and ‘how‘ of your manifestation is none of your business, as it is the job of the universe. When you start wondering about the possibility of your desire, you send vibes of disbelief which could have counter effects!

Do not be concerned about the ‘how’ and ‘when’ of things appearing. Slightest of doubts can mean lack of trust in the law of attraction!

#AtoZChallenge- Idol Inspiration

Like most of us, Pia loved browsing videos on YouTube. She spent considerable amount of time watching makeup tutorials, styling hacks, cooking channels and inspirational videos. One evening while she was randomly browsing through her feed on YouTube, she stumbled upon Lilly Singh’s channel IISuperwomaII . Pia noticed 3 million subscribers and was surprised to see so many followers for an Indian origin YouTuber living abroad. She was drawn into the channel instantly, as it was not very often that people get to see brown girls become famous on a foreign land.

Pia then started watching few of her videos, which made her realize why the channel had so many followers. Lilly Singh was not only funny, but was also very smart and full of wit! It made Pia instantly fall in love with her videos. She subscribed to the channel without a second thought and watched as many videos as she could. Pia followed Lilly Singh’s daily vlogs and her other social media accounts which made her feel much closer to Lilly on a daily basis.

Pia had days of YouTube marathons, devoted solely for Lilly Singh’s videos. The more she watched, the more she was drawn into her. As she made progress watching the number of videos, Pia couldn’t help but recognize and appreciate the amount of time and effort Lilly puts in all her videos. Pia found Lilly and her passion very inspiring. Not very often does she develop immense amount of love and respect in such a short span of time. But her admiration was real.

Lilly Singh’s disbelief in luck and her preaching on how important hard work is, in a funny yet motivational way influenced Pia on many levels. She was also moved with a growing admiration for Lilly Singh for her #OneLove and #GirlLove campaigns. Pia officially became on of her biggests fans like many other girls, after spending every day restlessly waiting for IISuperwomanII videos for the past few years. Neither was she tired of watching her nor was she bored of listening to her even after all this time!

Like most of Lilly Singh’s fans around the world, Pia’s growing admiration for her idol, made her realize how badly she wanted to meet her. In 2015, Lilly announced her world tour which included many cities in India. Pia was super excited! But unfortunately she had no clue on how to get the tickets to the show and she missed it. Pia was very disappointed but she did not let her disappointment dampen her spirits of meeting her idol. She continued to stay hooked to the channel as always and enjoyed watching her. She was so much into her that Pia always felt and imagined herself sharing a banter with Lilly on issues that struck a chord. She always imagined and enjoyed the thoughts of meeting her idol and having witty conversations over a cup of coffee. Pia always felt happy and inspired whenever she thought about meeting Lilly in real. She developed an eagerness to know if her idol is as charming, as funny and as inspiring in real as she appeared on the screen.

Years passed and the popularity of IISuperwomanII  channel grew by leaps and bounds. With Lilly’s growing popularity grew Pia’s respect and devotion. Lilly announced her world tour again, but this time for her book launch. Pia could not be happier! She was not only eagerly looking forward for the book but was adamant to meet her idol this time, no matter what! She made countless prayers for an opportunity to meet her and her chance to find tickets for the show unlike last time. To her surprise, Lilly was not only coming over to Pia’s town, but the tickets showed up on Bookmyshow platform, which made things very easy! Pia made sure to grab a ticket at the earliest. She became restless imagining her idol in real. She made plans, brought gifts which she planned on giving it to her if at all possible. Irrespective of the reality, Pia loved every moment of her fantasy of the inspiring idol’s meet.

Within few months, the D-Day came. Pia was excited as she arrived at the venue with gifts in her hand. She felt lucky enough to get one of the front seats for a better view of her idol. The moment Lilly Singh walked onto the stage, Pia was elated! She was amazed at the way how Lilly was so real and yet the same person as she portrayed herself in her videos. She was hilarious, beautiful and inspiring. As the event progressed, Lilly announced a surprise for her fans. She announced that few people from the audience had golden tickets and those few would be the lucky ones to hang out with her after the show. Pia quickly looked at her ticket, she couldn’t believe her eyes! She had the golden ticket but failed to notice as she was too engrossed in her excitement to see her idol.

Pia was not only enthusiastic to see her, but she was blown away by the opportunity to actually meet Lilly in real and spend time with her! The golden girls met Lilly Singh over coffee just like Pia had been imagining all these years. She thoroughly enjoyed the witty and fun banter with Lilly and expressed her admiration and love for her. She handed over her hand picked gifts, which Lilly appreciated very much! Pia took as many pictures as possible and absolutely lived the moment of meeting her most real, yet inspiring idol!

Law of Attraction Takeaway– Imagination is powerful as it creates reality. But make sure you thoroughly indulge and enjoy this process of imagination rather than doing it as a chore for the sake of law of attraction. Imagining just for the heck of it won’t work, but imagining and enjoying your thoughts as if you are already experiencing your desire, works wonders!

Imagination is everything! It is a preview of  life’s coming attractions- Albert Einstein

#AtoZChallenge- Habituated Happiness

There comes a phase in everybody’s life when nothing seems to go right. Leela was exactly going through the same. She got out of a messy break up and was not in her happy place lately. She could neither eat nor sleep nor concentrate on her job. She felt restless, hopeless and dejected. No matter how many people tried to brighten up her spirits, nothing really changed. After months of persuasion, her friends gave up on her, as she wasn’t making an attempt to get any better.

Leela felt helpless, no matter how hard she tried. She was depressed, agitated and found it hard to even wake up on a daily basis. She knew her problems were not the end of the world, but her depressed mind was not ready to accept any of the facts. As if her heartache wasn’t enough, she even lost the project she was working on. Her company had a strict policy of clearing technical certifications in order to get into a new project. Given her state of mind, she knew it was highly unlikely for her to pass those certs. This made her situation even worse. Neither was she able to get out of her grief, nor was she able to try her best to save her job.

While Leela was still drowning in sorrowfulness, her older cousin Maya was in town to visit her. Maya felt disheartened to witness her fun, chirpy cousin in such a depressed state. “I know how much pain you are currently undergoing, but how long will you be like this?”, asked Maya concerned about her little sister. “I don’t know, not that I’m not trying”, Leela wept. “Listen, have you heard about Law of Attraction?”, Maya asked as she consoled her. “No”, Leela paused. “It is a universal law, which goes by – like attracts like. So the more you are sad, the more sadness you are attracting to your life!”, Maya stated. Though Leela wasn’t in a mood for any inducement, she felt Maya might be right. As the series of events in her life post breakup seemed to justify Maya’s statement.

Maya tried to motivate her to believe how a positive outlook would bring a drastic change to her life. She pointed out instances of her own to make Leela understand that life is in her very hands. She mentioned the need for Leela to make an effort to be cheerful to attract happiness back into her life. “Indulge yourself into anything that makes you happy. Any little thing!” Maya said. “Remember, pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional!”, Maya quoted. Leela was slightly moved by Maya’s words. Though it was extremely impossible for her to feel cheerful in her current state, she realized she could start small.

Maya inspired Leela by taking her to Leela’s favorite restaurant and ordered her favorite dish. Leela enjoyed the food she ate after a long time! “Did you notice? You enjoyed the food! So, every little thing, as small as eating your favorite food counts. Things won’t change overnight, but will definitely get better with time!”, Maya assured. Though Maya left within few days, her words of wisdom had huge impact on Leela. No matter where she was or what she did, Maya’s words always popped up inside her head, which is a good sign she thought. Leela started doing little things she loved, like watching her favorite sitcoms, visiting the public library, shopping for accessories and cooking her favorite food.

Whenever she felt low or dejected, she tried to involve herself in doing her favorite things. Slowly, Leela realized she was feeling better and not as depressed. She enjoyed reading but made sure to avoid reading anything that involved heartaches or grief, as she did not want to remind herself of the pain. She watched more comedy sitcoms, surrounded herself with new people who don’t question or remind her of her past and also traveled with family in spite of not being interested. Thus she shifted her focus to refraining  herself from feeling the pain instead of constantly reminding herself about the bad incidents of her life.

Within few months Leela noticed a change in herself. Though she wasn’t as cheerful as she was once upon a time, she was not depressed either. She started hanging out with her old friends without any guilt. She watched sad movies or read books on love failures, but wasn’t impacted as much. Leela also became interested in clearing the certifications at work. Time heals everything.

In this process of regaining herself, Leela got so addicted to making herself feel good, that it became a habit. No matter how much things went awry on a day to day basis, she got habituated to shifting her focus on making herself happy. A bad day ended with a good meal at her favorite restaurant or occurrences of unexpected incidents came along with shopping splurge or fun movie nights. Leela became an addict to happiness! She just couldn’t stay gloomy for long anymore. She craved for making herself feel good almost always! This habituated happiness of hers brought along all the goodness into her life. Not only did she clear her certs and got into a project, but she got promoted as well. “The law of attraction is so real and suffering will never be my option”, she reminded herself of Maya’s words.

Law of Attraction Takeaway– The universal law is simple. You attract how you feel. If you feel sad, you will attract more grief. If you are happy, you will attract more happiness. Though it is impossible to always feel happy, our ability to make ourselves feel good and cheerful is important during hard times.

Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional! When there is an option, why chose to suffer?

#AtoZChallenge- Greatest Guide

Kriti had the perfect life. A life that most people her age would crave. A great job at Asia’s largest IT firm, supporting friends and family and an independent life in one of the most happening cities of the country. Though this was how her life appeared from the outside, deep within she always experienced a feeling of hollowness.

In spite of working for a top IT company with a fat paycheck, she never really enjoyed her job. After two years in IT, Kriti felt safe to assume that software isn’t her thing.  Though she knew she wanted to change her career line, she wasn’t sure exactly where to head. She knew she wanted to be independent doing a job she loved, but was uncertain. This made her restless, anxious and dissatisfied with her life.

She finally took the leap of faith to get out of the job she hated and set to explore other options, in spite of not having a clue. She did not consider doing masters like her peers as she wasn’t interested in studying again for another degree. With the plan of getting a higher education ruled out, she wanted to give a shot in Banking, assuming that is something she might hold interest.

Kriti prepared for a year to give her banking exam. She indulged in preparations just for the sake of it, as she wasn’t sure if Banking was something her heart wanted. All she knew was a career she loved, where she didn’t have to think twice every morning before heading to work! Her mind was filled with dilemmas and her life seemed uncertain. She gave the exam, but her scores were not good enough to secure a job in Banking.

She wasn’t disappointed, but wondered ‘What Next?’, a question that has been haunting her for a while. All her friends were either working abroad or marrying someone from foreign lands, but Kriti was least bothered. She wasn’t clear on the hows, but she was very keen on the why. Her motto wasn’t to marry a rich guy abroad, but to have a satisfying and assured career, no matter where she lived.

Her life seemed to have lost track yet again. She didn’t know what her plan of action should be. A change of place might help she thought. She moved to a new place as a paying guest where she met some interesting and like minded people. The building was full of girls from various career paths, thus paving way for her to explore more options.

One of the girls asked if she was interested in investing in a small business which involved online marketing and selling products. Kriti was instantly interested as developing strategies for online marketing sounded interesting. Unfortunately, her parents turned down to offer her monetary help of investing in business. Having a steady flow of income through a job she loved, no matter how long it took was always a better idea than investing in an unknown business they thought. Kriti couldn’t deny.

After her foiled plans of business venture, she realized her growing interest to learn further about online marketing. She came to know that there is a whole world of career path out there known as ‘Digital Marketing’. This arena definitely made her curious and as a result she spent weeks researching and exploring the scope of that field. Upon deep digging into the opportunities and requirements for a career in Digital Marketing, she strongly believed that it is something she would definitely enjoy working in.

When inquiring, one of her cousins suggested that Digital Marketing offers good pay and roles only for MBA candidates. Kriti was disheartened again to know about spending more years to study. Now that she knew how badly she wanted to get into a good job with Digital Marketing, she succumbed to try getting an MBA degree. She planned to allocate a good six months for the preparation and another year for earning an MBA, though not wholeheartedly.

Half year passed, Kriti gave her MBA entrance examination and her scores weren’t great again. But this time it was because of a guy. A guy who came into her life a while ago out of nowhere, but Kriti had to walk out for all good reasons. This disturbed her at a greater level and caused hindrance to her preparation. With all the uncertainties going on in her life, Kriti did not want to waste another year without a job to earn a degree she wasn’t interested in. After all, her whole risk of leaving her stable job was to find happiness in what she did!

She left the city and moved back to her hometown. This time she met people from the very field she was trying to get into! Her room mate was working in a Digital Marketing firm and Kriti made sure she got the right pointers this time. She applied for jobs in Digi marketing while taking part time courses on the same. Within few months, she got some fantastic offers with her desired pay at some of the best marketing firms!

Three months passed and Kriti was never this content with her life! She loved her job and the creative aspect to it. She enjoyed her life devoid of apprehensions and looked forward to wake up each day to go to work. When retrospecting, Kriti cannot help but be thankful for all the uncertainties in her life at one point. After all, they are the ones that paved way for her to realize where her passion lies! “Whatever is meant to be, will always find it’s way…. no matter what!”, she often reminded herself.

Law of Attraction Takeaway– The universe is your greatest guide! No matter how many uncertainties and twists exist in your life, they are all paving you to get to your destination at the right time. The universe makes sure that whatever we desire will ultimately find it’s way.

The universe is your greatest guide! No matter how many hardships come in the way, whatever is meant to be will always find it’s way!

#AtoZChallenge- Felicitous Food

Daniel rushed out of his apartment, while tying his shoe lace. He was in a hurry to make it to the bus stop on time. But as usual, by the time he reached the stop, he watched the bus pass away helplessly. Curses of not being a morning person he thought. Though it was noon, Daniel wasn’t awake since long that day. His late night assignments and project work with school keep him busy during the nights. He craves for those extra hours of sleep during the weekends, but his part time job on Saturdays won’t let him.

The midday sun was beaming with scorching heat. Daniel had no other way but walk for 20 minutes sweating in the sun, so he could make it to work on time. He worked as a part time student worker at the Department of Public Administration, where he helped with mailing public research survey booklets and some data entry.

After tanning himself for quite a while, he made it to his work place. Puffing and panting, drained in sweat, the walk made him extremely tired and hungry. His daily routine of waking up late and skipping breakfast did no good to him. As he entered his department and walked towards his room, he noticed the conference hall to be packed with people dressed in professional attires. Though it was highly unlikely for the building to be busy or even witness people around on the weekends, that day was an exception. He paused for a moment to understand what the hustle was all about and realized it was a National Level Conference with people from different parts of the country. As he kept watching people swarm through the conference hall, he could not help but notice the continuous chain of never ending tables laid with buffet chafing dishes.

Since it was almost lunch time, the dishes were open and he got a good glance of the items being served as the dishes had names written in big bold letters. Soups, Sauteed vegetables, different kinds of breads, salads, pasta, all kinds of sea food and meats, fruits, desserts. All so appealing and appetizing he thought as they made his mouth water. Unfortunately, he did not have the whole day for himself to drool over the food he was watching as he was late for work already! With a heavy heart, he bid good bye to his visionary feast and wished with a full heart and an empty stomach, “I wish I ate such a scrumptious and grand meal with never ending options!”

He got to his desk and began his work of putting together research survey booklets. His mind was preoccupied with the marvelous sight of the rich, vibrant buffet. That very thought tripled his hunger and made him crave for food much more. He tried hard to brush off this discomfort form hunger by involving more at work.

It was 2 p.m and Daniel was still working with an empty stomach. The cafeteria at school was closed on the weekends and all he could eat was from a vending machine if he wanted. Neither did he want to eat a thing from the machine, nor could he bear the noises his tummy made.  Half hour passed and Daniel was busy stuffing survey booklets into the envelopes. As he pasted the address labels on one of the envelopes, he heard a shrill voice of a lady by the door of his room:

“Excuse me! Hi, I’m one of the organizers from the conference down the hall. We have a lot of food from the buffet and we are inviting all the organizers and people working in this building to join us for late lunch or a snack! Please come and help yourself!”, she requested with a warm smile.

Daniel was elated! He was extremely glad as he hardly knew his wish of having a scrumptious meal would come true so soon, so appropriately, just when he was starving!!

“Oh sure, I’ll join you! Thank you so much, that’s very kind!”, Daniel replied with a glee on his face, though he made sure he wasn’t obvious that he was craving for food.

Daniel enjoyed the wide varieties of the buffet spread and was thankful for not only satisfying his dream of a grand meal but also to satisfy his hunger at the exact need of hour! “Sometimes, empty stomachs teach greater life lessons!”, he thought enjoying his grateful meal.

Law of Attraction Takeaway–  No manifestation is small. No wish is minor. The universe works wonders starting from little things. Having help at the time of need, being offered food when you’re starving are also a result of law of attraction. Looking back on such instances in your life and feeling grateful, not only makes you happy but also inculcates the necessary trust in the law of attraction!

Start with manifesting little things. Acknowledging the most minute of instances imbibes the trust that law of attraction is real 

#AtoZChallenge- Eye-Opener

“I wouldn’t recommend this!”, stated the consultant pointing his finger at one of the bullet items on the list. “Why not?!”, Robin exclaimed. “Your scores are no where close to the minimum scores for such a reputed school. Carnegie Mellon is too ambitious”, the consultant brushed off. “Hmmm, fine. I’ll do some more research on the list of schools you recommended for my profile. Will get back to you in a day or two”, Robin sighed and walked away.

Robin is a hardworking, ambitious kid who just passed out of high school. His SAT scores were pretty good, but he realized not good enough to get into his dream school. Robin wanted to go to Carnegie Mellon. After all he has been hearing wonderful stories about it since childhood from his uncle, who graduated from CMU. His uncle’s tales made him develop a fascination about life at a grad school.

“Hey Bud! Wassup?!”, his uncle answered over the phone. “I just came to know that I can’t get into CMU”, Robin said softly. “What? Why not? Who told you that?!”  “The consultant. He says my scores are low”, Robin paused.  “I think I’m not good enough”, he added. “Hey! Listen Bud… Never criticize yourself. There is nothing you cannot get into. A great statement of purpose would do wonders irrespective of scores. So focus on writing a good SOP, on why you’re passionate about technology and why you want to go to CMU”, his uncle replied. “So you think I got a chance? Should I apply?”, Robin asked. “Of course! You should”, his uncle assured.

After the pep talk from his uncle, Robin swiftly went to his computer and started browsing Carnegie Mellon University’s official website. He spent hours browsing through the pictures, the facilities, their innovative research, their course catalogs, events and life at CMU posts from alumni for hours. As days passed, he expanded his research outside their website and scrolled through blogs on life at CMU, about student groups and activities, the opportunities, everything and anything related to CMU on the internet!

He also browsed through websites and course catalogs from the list of recommended schools by his consultant. No matter how many schools he looked at, he wasn’t really eager to get an admission there. But since he had to apply more than 1 school, he started putting together applications for four recommended schools and Carnegie Mellon. He wrote a strong Statement of purpose about his passion for technology and why he badly wanted to get into CMU, based on his uncle’s advice. His good research on the school made it easier for him. Thus he sent out applications for five schools.

The next few weeks, he spent day and night and dreaming about his life at CMU. Robin couldn’t get the different images of CMU he saw on the internet out of his mind. He imagined himself walking through the campus, playing his favorite sport on their fields, having a great time with friends, listening lectures in the very classrooms his uncle described and doing lab work in their state of the art research centers. His visualization was so clear that he could really feel and recognize his happiness of enjoying in the campus of CMU, though he was lying on his bed at home.

Two months later, letters regarding his applications started coming in. Though he got into two of the schools he expected, he got reject letters for two other schools, which came as a shock! They were neither as reputed as CMU nor were they ambitious enough for his profile. Robin began feeling the heat with this, though he never felt like attending those schools, he feared the thought of not making it to CMU either. But at the same time he could not stop himself from imagining himself in CMU. He preferred the temporary comfort he felt in imagining himself in his dream school rather than the panic he gained from worrying about the ‘what-if-not’!

A week later, “Robin, looks like you got an update from CMU!”, his mom called out. Robin ran down the stairs, snatched the envelope and ran back to his room. His heart started pounding as he swept his fingers through the words ‘Carnegie Mellon University’ on the envelope. He quickly opened the letter to read the first line:

‘Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you’ve been granted admission to join Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science in Fall 2017′.

Robin was elated! He yelled his heart out! Though the program offered in his admission letter was different from the one he applied for, he couldn’t help but overlook, as he was extremely joyful to realize that he got into his dream school, irrespective of the program! This admit letter was an eye-opener for him, that anything is possible, as long as you believe and see yourself in the place you love!

Law of Attraction Takeaway–  The universe favors the brave! People who are brave enough to imagine themselves in places others tell they can never get to or doing things that others say they can never do! Imagination is not day dreaming, it is a powerful way to send out vibrations to the universe on how bad you want something.

The universe favors the brave! Be brave enough to imagine what you want, even when the world reminds you on how impossible it is!

#AtoZChallenge- Dream Destination

2002

“Are you done with your day dreaming yet?”, asked Roni as he watched his sister Adah fancy pictures of New York from a magazine. “I just can’t get over it. What a great city!”, Adah sighed while flipping pages. “What’s with this obsession lately?”, inquired Roni unable to understand his little sister’s fantasy. “You know, I watched Kal Ho Na Ho last week during my sleepover”, stated Adah. “So?”, Roni paused. “The whole movie was shot in New York! I mean I heard about it as the greatest city in the world, but man! Those magnificent buildings, the architecture, the people, their clothes. I so badly wish I walk around those streets, wearing long coats, with a coffee cup in my hand, just like the actress did in that movie”, she giggled. “Oh great! Enough about New York, think of your exam tomorrow”, shrugged Roni as he walked away.

2012

“Shall I apply for schools in New York?“, asked Adah, as she scrolled through the catalog of schools to apply for her masters program. “Would be too expensive for us”, said her brother, as usual dampening her spirits. “Okay”, she sighed.

2014

Adah is pursuing her masters at a grad school in mid western United States. A school that offers great programs in her area of interest and also less expensive compared to universities in big cities. A year passed since she started school, but unfortunately, she wasn’t successful in finding a part time job, which made things hard financially.

With the arrival of October, all international students were busy planning their trip back home for Christmas. “Lucky people, they all have jobs”, she thought. Though she badly wished to visit her family, she dropped her travel plans as she couldn’t afford spending as much as $1500 just for air fare.

After a few weeks, she received a phone call late midnight. It was her best friend calling. “Hey! Were you sleeping?”, she asked. “What do you think people do during this hour”, Adah mocked.

“Sorry, but I had to tell you this. You wanted to go to India for Christmas, didn’t you?”, she asked. “Yeah, but you know I can’t afford”, Adah hesitated.

“Few of my friends found this deal, two-way fare to India for $370!”, she uttered. “370??!!! What the hell?! It sounds fishy and fake”, Adah asked surprised as she wasn’t sure about what she just heard.

“I don’t think so, travel websites do this sometimes is what I heard. May be we could give it a try. If something’s wrong, we can always request a refund. If you want to book this, you need to ASAP!”

“Well…. sounds okay, can I think and do it in the tomorrow?”, Adah was confused.

“The deal might not last that long… and hey! I forgot to mention! This fare of  $370 is from New York, not your place. You will have to book domestic to New York and the fares look pretty reasonable, I already checked around your dates. Probably would be a good idea to book in advance, so we can do some sight seeing!”, her friend, who happens to live in the East Coast added.

“New York!!!! Are you serious??!!!”, Adah jumped with excitement. Her drowsiness vanished in a jiffy! After some apprehension and calculations, “Well, the total fare for the entire round trip sounds very reasonable now. I get to see my family and visit New York at the same time. So hell yes!!”, she yelled.

Then comes December and Adah was finally in New York!! Her happiness was endless, she couldn’t believe she was standing in her most favorite city, which she has been dreaming about since childhood. Her best friend was generous enough to show her around and took her to most of the famous touristy places. Adah had goosebumps each time she looked up at the skyscrapers. She gazed at the architecture, the streets, people and relished the food she ate. She loved the vibe, the feel and realized it was just like she had imagined! She cherished every moment during her limited time in New York. Adah was extremely grateful for her favorite destination on the planet to be one of her first places to visit, since she arrived in the States.

“I cannot thank you enough for all this! I visited New York and  now I’m off to visit my family after a year, both of which I never imagined to happen so soon! Thank you!!!”, Adah thanked her friend feeling extremely grateful. “Can’t wait to show Roni my pictures in New York!”, she giggled, as she made her way to the airport.

Law of Attraction Takeaway–  When you wish for something with all  your heart and soul, the universe paves way and moves circumstances, people and places to make things favorable for you, in order to accomplish your wish! There is magic all around! Good or bad, every incident in your life is a result of this magic. Sometimes, we get so lost in our day to day lives, we hardly recollect or acknowledge some of those magical moments.

The universe works wonders in the process of making your wish come true. Recognize and acknowledge these wonders, to instill your belief in the Law of Attraction.

“And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” – Paulo Coelho