APPRECIATION

The way
you make me feel
when you walk into the room
reflects why
I treasure my life with you.


The confidence
that you have in me
to attempt the impossible
reflects why
I treasure my life with you.


The little things
you do to make me feel cherished
reflects why
I treasure my life with you.


The understanding
that you give more than you seek
reflects why
I treasure my life with you.



ANJALI KUMAR

How do we do personal innovation?

Once our formal education is over few of us persevere with a passion to continue to educate and improve ourselves.Over the years we settle ourselves in a safe and predictable rhythm of life neglecting to stretch the limits of our intellectual and experiential capacity.This stifling of our natural instinct for change breeds symptoms of boredom,apathy and intellectual dwarfism pushing us to indulge in constant pleasure seeking gratification than personal growth.We need to prevent this atrophy of the mind and paralysis of personal development.The only way to get out of this quagmire of ignorance and inaction is to push ourselves to bring about changes and explore new ideas by attempting new things and doing old things differently,in short,we need to innovate in our lives.The first step to personal innovation is to deconstruct ourselves completely so that we can rise above our self limiting perceptions.In other words get rid of the words "I cannot".For example, if you have a desire to become a landscaping artist(assuming you currently don't have any formal qualification) then get rid of all the self defeating doubts and convince yourself that you can do this.Ask yourself "What do I lose and what do I gain? You lose the fear of failure and gain the confident wisdom of experience. Second step is to let your imagination and enthusiasm break the barriers of knowledge and experience by asking "How do I do this?" For this train yourself to be acutely observant of all new developments not only in your field of interest but related fields also, read broadly to understand and evaluate the same and test yourself by getting new experiences.For a landscape artist that could translate as getting to know the latest techniques and applications, visiting unique locations displaying the same, arming oneself with a sound knowledge of landscaping material and greens, volunteering help where ever possible, joining specific organisations etc.The third step would be to ask "Who can help?" This is extremely important as we can do all the above and still not succeed if don't have people with the relevant knowledge,experience, shared enthusiasm and vision to guide us.Surround yourself with those who can motivate and challenge you.Going solo is never beneficial as none of us is perfect enough to possess all the qualities required to achieve success in our goals.Lastly, identify your accomplishments as a person on the basis of your courage to incorporate change in your life and who you evolve into.Revel in the metamorphosis.

REGRETS

The gaps
and
distances
in our relationship
is the pain
we have to face.

They inflict
an emptiness
we
cannot erase.

We change
for the worse
more guarded
and
insensitive
refusing to forgive
ourselves
and
others.


ANJALI KUMAR