Tag: relationships

  • The Violence of Casual Words

    I saw my childhood friend standing on the other side of the road. We were meeting after almost two years.

    We both started walking towards each other hurriedly. We wanted to hug already. We had missed each other so much.

    The moment she saw me, she said,

    “Hey, you’ve become rounder!”

    My heart sank.

    I couldn’t say anything. I laughed, even though there was no joke to laugh at.

    If you pause for a moment, this probably reminds you of something familiar. Of how normal it is for us to comment on people’s bodies. How casually we highlight things that someone lives with every single day. We have played both these roles, many times in our lives.

    Acne. Pigmentation. Weight gain or loss. Greying hair. Balding head. Wrinkles. 

    The list goes on.

    What’s common about this list is that most of these things are not fully within someone’s control. They can’t be fixed overnight. They are constantly noticed, constantly judged, sometimes even by strangers. And you can almost always tell these are the very things someone already feels conscious about.

    Society makes sure you know when you don’t meet its standards. And sometimes, it does the opposite, it praises you excessively when you do. You can feel insecure for not fitting in, and strangely, insecure even when you fit in too well. As if having good skin, or the “right” body, itself becomes something to be evaluated. You are always under prying eyes.

    The point is not whether a feature is considered good or bad. The point is this: if something is already costing someone their peace of mind, then as a thoughtful human being, it’s important to stop commenting on it, as your sole right and responsibility to.

    A big no to unsolicited advice.

    A bigger no to pointing it out in public spaces.

    And an even bigger no if it’s the first thing you say to someone you haven’t met in a long time.

    Even if you believe you have an expert solution, pause. 

    Ask yourself – did they ask you? And if you genuinely want to help, ask for permission first. Make sure you are offering care, not discomfort.

    Don’t tell them how easy it is unless you can fix it in a minute.

    Don’t tell them to ignore it, because they already can’t.

    And if you feel an urge to share your opinion anyway, take it to the restroom. Say it to yourself in the mirror. Just because you have the ability to express doesn’t mean others owe you the emotional labour of listening to it.

    Now comes the more responsible and empathetic part.

    Without feeling loved despite their perceived flaws, people never feel safe enough to do something for themselves. 

    Safety is what allows growth, not shame. If the growth is made under pressure, then it leads to dissociation from your true self.

    You are not living then for yourself, you are performing for others. 

    And performers need a break too. You are you, not a performer, born to just get praises from others.

    Violence of words

    The most meaningful thing we can offer another human being is the assurance that they are worthy of happiness as they are.

    When people feel safe, something softens inside them. Not because they were corrected or reminded, but because they were met without judgment. 

    Safety doesn’t make people careless, it does the opposite. It gives them the space to listen to themselves, to notice what they need, and to care in ways that are self-directed rather than defensive. 

    Personal change grows best in environments where dignity is protected. And when care is offered without commentary, people don’t shut down, they show up. For themselves, and eventually, for the world around them.

    Something to remember:

    Most people are not failing at life, they are figuring it out in real time. They are carrying things they haven’t learned how to name yet, making choices with the tools they have today, not the ones they wish they had. 

    In such moments, kindness is not indulgence; it is orientation. 

    When we offer support instead of scrutiny, we give people the steadiness they need to find their own footing. And perhaps that is all care really asks of us, to walk alongside others while they learn, without rushing them, correcting them, or turning their becoming into a performance.

    After all the famous Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, said once,

    “Compassion is a verb.”

  • The Handkerchief in the Pocket

    If you love someone and you don’t feel an urgency to take care of them, not dramatically, not performatively, but instinctively; then something is missing. 

    Either you are not truly in love, or you have already taken them for granted. Because love, at least in its living form, does not feel leisurely. It doesn’t say we’ll see. It doesn’t wait to be convenient. 

    Love carries a certain urgency, a quiet but persistent one, where you want to run, stretch yourself, bring the sky to the earth if that’s what it takes.

    The moment love turns into ‘meh’, something subtle has shifted. Not necessarily hatred or anger , just certainty. The certainty that this person is not going anywhere. And once that certainty settles in, the rush disappears. What’s the hurry anyway? They’ll manage. They always do. 

    And without realising it, love starts outsourcing care to time, habit, or the other person’s resilience.

    For me, love means having a very low threshold for the pain of the person you love. Their discomfort should not register as minor to you, even if it is objectively small. You should feel unsettled by it, moved by it, pulled towards it. Not because of guilt. Not because of duty. But because love rewires you that way. 

    Their pain enters your nervous system faster than logic does.

    You want to support them. You want to ease it. You want them okay, not later, not eventually, but now. That impulse doesn’t come from obligation. It comes from attachment, from care that hasn’t gone numb yet.

    And maybe that’s the real marker. Love isn’t grand gestures or lifelong promises. It’s the inability to stay indifferent. The discomfort you feel when the person you love is even slightly hurting , and the instinct to move towards them before the world teaches you that you don’t have to.

    Adding some of my thoughts through this poem written by me;

    अगर मेरे होने पर भी तुम्हें खुद को मुताबिक़ करना पड़े,

    तो वो इश्क़ ही क्या जिसमें तुम्हें शिकायत करना पड़े।

    यूँ तो मुझमें और तुममें बस एक ही फ़र्क है,

    तुमने आँसुओं को अपनी मोहब्बत का हमसफ़र माना,

    पर मैंने हँसी के सिवा तुम्हारे चेहरे पर

    कोई और तसव्वुर ही न जाना।

    लफ़्ज़ों के जाल, वादों के महल,

    ये सब मैंने कभी सीखे नहीं,

    झूठे ख्वाब किसी को

    जान-बूझकर कभी दिखाए नहीं।

    बात अगर रूठने तक ही आ रुके,

    तो जेब में रखा रुमाल

    महज़ नुमाइश के लिए नहीं।

    Handkerchief

  • The Pain That Leads You Home

    “He disliked emotion, not because he felt lightly, but because he felt deeply.”

    John Buchan

    And I’d like to inform Mr John Buchan, that this ‘he’ has stopped feeling/expressing emotions altogether henceforth. 

    Because feeling so much and not being able to do anything about it drove him mad.

    And this brings me to my new thought, the motivation to change.

    Why ‘change’ is difficult

    There has been a lot of discussion on change, and there are countless resources that talk about how to create it, on social media, in the hospitals, in our spiritual books and from our discussions with our friends too. But seldom we are speaking about recognizing it.

    The change I’m referring to is psychological, although the mindset and solutions for bringing about a change are not limited to this realm of life alone.

    I’m trying to understand the step before action, the moment a person decides they need to do something about their situation. That ‘change’ now is inevitable!

    How do people find their ‘why’?

    I think we are willing to change only when the pain of staying the same becomes uncomfortable enough.

    When life becomes unbearable to live as is!

    The First Barrier: Admitting There Is Pain

    Imagine you develop a physical ache, the only reason you bother resolving it typically is because it disrupts your daily routine. The more difficult your routine becomes, the more urgent the need to fix the pain feels. 

    We also take urgent actions on those pains, where we fear if we don’t take care of them right now, they will definitely will become too big to handle later. So, the fear drives our defences.

    This is basic common sense. 

    But when the same thing happens in the psychological realm, this common sense, this fear of future pain disappears instantly.

    Psychological pain is tied to our self-image and worth. When we suffer mentally, the first challenge is simply accepting that there is pain. And culturally, strong people live in pain while going through pain, perenially. That’s how they are admired. 

    Pointing out a pain without a smile, is considered something only ‘weak’ people do.

    You see, our threshold for psychological pain is shaped by many things. It may seem like an individual choice, but it is actually influenced by society, culture, religion, education, morality, tradition, geography, and more.

    What we should find painful, and even whether we are allowed to name something as pain, is often decided by others.

    How We Lose Touch With Ourselves

    A lot of research in child psychology encourages parents to focus more on guiding and emotionally regulating children rather than controlling them with rigid rules. We are asked to keep children curious and exploratory, rather than raising them with the fear of getting things wrong.

    We are encouraged to teach them how to navigate life through action and consequence, not by forcing them to follow someone else’s blueprint.

    This comes from the understanding that controlled and coerced children eventually develop a distance from their true selves.

    Psychologically and spiritually, children are wise by default, we just need to give them the environment to reach their own obvious answers. 

    Just like a gardener weeding out anything unwanted, and providing the sapling the best environment to grow their  natural true self.

    For example, if my child doesn’t want to share today, I let him learn through experience. Eventually he will realise that not sharing limits friendship, and he will understand the value of sharing to build camaraderie. Humans naturally crave community, so children instinctively move toward behaviours that support connection, without being pushed into people-pleasing.

    At the same time, if a child is naturally introverted and doesn’t want many friendships, they will also learn that for themselves. The point is: these things develop naturally when we allow them to.

    But in most families and cultures, this curiosity, autonomy, and self-understanding gets suppressed. Children are told to bear their discomfort, to ignore their inner signals, and to “keep going” no matter what.

    As adults, this turns into repression. And repression always has consequences.

    The Repressed Adult

    A repressed person becomes bitter, even if they hide it well. If they bury this bitterness under niceness and people-pleasing, they eventually develop health issues or simply lose the ability to enjoy life.

    The distance from the self becomes so large that they stop seeing themselves at all.

    These adults may:

    • talk to themselves often
    • feel spiritually intense or excessively social
    • appear insecure or emotionally flat
    • function on autopilot
    • insist “nothing is wrong”

    And they deny if anything is hurting them not because they are lying, but because they genuinely stopped feeling their emotions long ago.

    Helping Someone Who Cannot See Their Pain

    To help such a person, you first have to show them that their behaviour reflects inner turmoil. They will resist this, because their denial is decades old.

    So you begin by normalising what they are experiencing. You show them that many people who behave this way are actually struggling inside. You remove the shame. You create safety through information and examples.

    Only after repeated validation and awareness do they finally feel safe enough to seek help or open a deeper conversation.

    But this is not a quick process.

    It requires:

    • a generation normalising emotional pain
    • society validating the experience
    • media and culture spreading awareness
    • and a person feeling less alone in their struggle

    The Shame That Blocks Change

    The biggest barrier to psychological change is shame.

    People are shamed for having mental health issues, so they keep their pain threshold dangerously high and live in denial.

    It is normal to talk about knee pain due to lack of exercise than mental health issues, borne out of individual and family issues.

    Society calls such people who talk about mental health weak, even though everyone is suffering as much as them, in some way or the other.

    It’s like a whole village smoking cigarettes daily. One person develops cancer, and the rest shame him for it, when actually all of them are at risk. Some may even have undiagnosed cancer already.

    This is our exact cultural situation:

    We cannot accept we are in pain, yet we ridicule anyone who shows signs of pain.

    The first task, then, is to recognise psychological pain early, long before it becomes a full-blown illness.

    The Two Types of Psychological Pain

    There are two major kinds of psychological pain:

    1. The pain you feel when you cannot live as your authentic self.

    This is the pain that should motivate change.

    It is the discomfort of living a life that doesn’t belong to you.

    2. The pain of transformation.

    This is the pain of unlearning your old identity and embracing who you really are.

    This pain is intense because:

    • your past will resist
    • your family and friends will resist
    • even you will resist

    Your nervous system prefers the old foe over the new friend.

    It believes it can handle the familiar chaos better than the unfamiliar peace.

    So deciding to change is cathartic, terrifying, and deeply uncomfortable.

    And while crossing that inner bridge, you will often feel the urge to turn back.

    The pain that leads you home

    Choosing the Right Pain

    The pain of change needs to be normalised.

    It must be accepted as a healthy part of transformation.

    The pain we should fear is not the pain of change, but the pain of living a life that isn’t ours.

    We must choose the irritation of misalignment as the signal to move.

    We must choose the discomfort of building a life that feels authentic.

    We must choose resilience for the small, subtle shifts in behaviour, not just for grand achievements.

    Because real change begins the moment you stop tolerating the pain of pretending.

    In the end

    Change does not begin with motivation or discipline. It begins when you finally stop negotiating with your pain. When the discomfort of living a life that isn’t yours starts speaking louder than the fear of the unknown, something shifts inside. 

    The nervous system may resist, memories may pull you back, and familiarity may feel safer than freedom, but pain, when listened to honestly, becomes information. It tells you where you have outgrown your life. 

    And at that point, change is no longer about becoming someone new; it is about returning to who you were always meant to be.

  • In a World of Shadows, Find Your Sunflower People

    A very interesting time to be alive.

    We’ve discussed it often, practiced it daily! Removing toxic people from our lives, like garbage, never looking back. Even though it never feels like garbage, it feels like taking a knife out of your wounds with your own bare hands. It might feel like taking out your heart and squeezing it to bleed, till you don’t feel anything.

    Once you have found the courage to move on, eventually life would become peaceful.

    Wonderful. But what next?

    A lot is said about what not to do. How not to put up with toxic behaviors, how to leave a room that doesn’t respect you, how moving on is better than staying. It is inscribed more like a warning than a suggestion. But what is never discussed is what to do later, and why.

    Many of us were raised in toxic families, only to find ourselves in toxic marriages and friendships later in life. Like a loop, or living in a constant shadow of misfortune.

    We often repeat the mantra: “It’s better to be alone than with toxic people.” But is that really true? Can we truly make it without people? Can we remain our true selves, without having anyone, neither toxic ones nor the good ones in our lives?

    Enter the Sunflower People 

    Yes, you shouldn’t tolerate toxicity. But sometimes, you simply can’t abandon certain people. You can’t step out of the constant hurt that you have to face, you don’t know what to do except for dying when you are looking for a room to breathe.

    So what is the solution? Can we step out of this loop of loneliness? Can we still be happy after leaving who needed to be left? Can we still feel supported during our times of struggle where we can only endure but not stop?

    Yes absolutely! And that’s why it’s important to cultivate and cherish your sunflower people, after removing the cactus people from your life. They even matter when the garden of your life has all kinds of plants, sometimes with thorns, sometimes with flowers.

    Sunflower people bring light to your life on the darkest days. They are your chosen family. The ones who energize you just by being around them.

    These are the people you must search for, keep holding on to, and never stop appreciating their presence in your life. Don’t stop at one such person! Be greedy! Keep decorating the bouquet of your life with such beautiful and pure people. The more sunflowers, the more beautiful and peaceful it becomes.

    Why They Matter

    Sunflower people give you the energy to face toxic situations. They fill the void left by hurtful ones. They remind you, daily, that you deserve better. Their presence in your life is a testimony that you matter and deserve to be loved.

    They show up in different ways:

    Some you talk to every day.

    Some you meet once a year.

    Some you know digitally/virtually.

    Some you haven’t seen in a decade.

    They don’t all look the same, but they share one thing: they heal you when you connect.

    You regain the strength to face the world again.

    They make your clumsiness charming, your silliness memorable. They remember your little quirks, maybe even your favorite drink. They let you be imperfect in a world that demands perfection. And they always know how to hype you up when you’re down.

    The Gift of Chosen Family

    Not everyone understands this, but building a chosen family is a masterstroke of luck. To handpick the people who surround you. To find your home in others, when you’re lost in life. That is a blessing.

    Be the home to someone. To find your home in someone.

  • From Horoscopes to ChatGPT: The Human Need to Be Seen

    ChatGPT (and similar LLMs) proves something simple yet profound. It shows us that validation, encouragement, and understanding matter deeply to us as human beings.

    Despite knowing it’s an AI, a machine, not a “sane human” talking, we still believe its kind words. We want to hear praise, to have our fears and feelings validated. And we keep coming back for more.

    This shows an interesting phenomenon: the human brain is wired to be seen and heard, no matter who it is from.

    Why Kind Words Matter

    Throughout history, humans have been drawn to psychology, astrology, tarot, and numerology. Some followers turn to them to know the future. But many simply want to feel known.

    Think of any sun sign or name-based reading. Beyond predictions (rolling eyes), they usually describe personality traits like strengths, quirks, weaknesses. And most of the time, they emphasize the positives.

    People end up hearing things about themselves that they may never have heard from loved ones.

    For example:

    “An X sun sign person is sincere and disciplined. They are go-getters, ambitious, natural leaders, and liked by all. They are charming and reliable, though sometimes impatient.”

    Now imagine reading this the day after you failed at something. You might mock it. You might not believe it. But somewhere, it makes you feel better. You reread it, just for that comfort.

    Because often, those who seek such words are people who never got the kind words they deserved.

    The Power of Words from Loved Ones

    Now imagine these same words (true or not, who knows) spoken by someone you love deeply. The impact is undeniable. You may even start embodying them, because the person you love sees you that way.

    And yet, in many cultures (especially South-Asian ones), we undervalue the role of words. We think love is enough. We believe in actions, sometimes not even that. Sometimes we assume our mere existence is enough.

    But technology and psychology, especially therapy, show us otherwise. To be seen and heard is healing.

    Maybe that’s why confession (in Christianity, with all its spiritual significance) feels healing. Even unseen, a person speaks, and a person listens. That act alone is powerful. Our words become more important than our physical appearance and actions.

    Maybe that’s why cultures have speeches for every occasion. Why a eulogy matters so much. Does the dead wait to hear something at last, before moving on peacefully?

    Finding Words, Finding Healing

    In the end, there is an easy way and a hard way to live. The hope will always be to find people who give us space to speak, and who find the right words to whisper back when we cannot hear ourselves in the noise of life.

    But until we find them, I am okay with ChatGPT being my friend, philosopher, and guide.

  • Jealousy: The Villain or The Mirror

    Jealousy walks into our lives quietly, like an uninvited guest. It doesn’t shout at first. It lingers in the corner, watching, comparing, whispering that someone else has what we don’t.

    As children, it may start with toys or attention; as adults, it shifts to success, love, or recognition.

    Yet the emotion is the same. It is raw, uncomfortable, and deeply human.

    The real question is not whether jealousy visits us, but what we choose to do when it does. Should we deny it, let it poison us, or learn to understand the truths it is pointing toward?

    My observation is we feel jealous only in certain types of situations. And it has some markers and with some inner work we can get past it, if we can organise our thoughts around it a bit.

    1. The distance factor

    Our degree of jealousy depends on how “close” we feel to the person in question. In a way, it shows in which league we put ourselves.

    For example, jealousy usually hits harder when the person is closer to our own life situation. They probably have a similar job, from a similar educational or financial background, same hometown, same social circle etc. Something which puts you in a pretty similar opportunity category, seemingly. That’s why siblings/classmates/cousins/colleagues often feel jealous of each other.

    But if the distance is too big, jealousy shifts into admiration. Think of a gully boy admiring Eminem. He knows he can only admire him, not join his league. But another successful musician, closer to Eminem’s level, might feel more jealousy than admiration.

    We often see how celebrities are jealous of each other’s success. A small kid would admire Meryl Streep, but a leading actor of Bollywood would probably be jealous of her.

    So, when the gap feels too wide to cover, we admire it. When the gap feels bridgeable, we get jealous.

    1. The “not earned it” trigger

    We also get jealous when we feel someone hasn’t earned what they’re getting. If it looks like they’ve been handed success, attention, or praise they don’t deserve, jealousy rises.

    Probably that’s why nepotism hurts so much. You feel you have the same set of skills and talent, but just because of one extra blood relation they are chosen, not you.

    Now, if we could acknowledge struggles or see the effort behind someone’s achievements, for example a dear friend, then even when they’re in the same league, we’re more likely to respect them, maybe even encourage them, instead of resenting them.

    The acknowledgement of struggle also comes from a place of empathy and security. If we were raised to be kind, then we would notice the struggles and would admire the hard work someone does to achieve something similar.

    1. Low self-worth

    A big root of jealousy is low self-worth. If I feel jealous because someone else is called beautiful, inner work will show that I’m dissatisfied with my own looks.

    Deep down, I think, “This person has the same flaws as me. Why don’t they feel the same inferiority as I do? Why am I not being praised like them?”

    When we see them coping with their insecurities, it reminds us of our own failures, and we lash out as jealousy.

    This is why having a clear sense of self and clear definitions of concepts like happiness, beauty, or love is so important. If you truly believe everyone is beautiful in their own way, including yourself, jealousy naturally decreases.

    So, the moral?

    Let them be. And you be you. Use jealousy as a marker of what you think is missing, instead of projecting it on others. The more secure you are in yourself, the less anyone can touch you.

    1. Seeking approval and comparisons

    Jealousy also spikes when someone we seek approval from compares us to another person, who we do not think we are similar to at all. Maybe the comparison isn’t even valid, but because their judgment matters to us, we start competing with the one they held against us.

    The real question is: why do you need this person’s approval? Are they qualified to judge? Mature enough, despite the age and status? Do they even understand your journey? Have you lived similar lives, with similar struggles and opportunities?

    Often the answer is no. Yet we still let their comparison sting us.

    The most common example? Cousins, neighbours, colleagues. But are we really that similar? Should we let the cognitive bias of the comparer define our worth?

    It’s like asking: should elephants really care what ants say about them?

    This happens within families a lot. We are compared to a sibling or a distant cousin, and are constantly shamed for our struggles and failures. We feel hurt by our parents and elders for not recognizing our life situations, and shaming us, to apparently help us.

    We are shamed despite being successful by all social parameters, for a thing which doesn’t make sense, except your elders.

    Startup founders, even after being successful and accoladed by one and all, are shamed by their elders for not clearing government jobs, because success for them is a blue light car (although banned now).

    Shaming as children it only increases resentment towards parents, and sometimes even that person we are being compared with.The jealousy sometimes puts distance because of the constant comparison. We would probably want that person who we are being compared with to show our parents their flaws too.

    We want to tell our parents nobody is perfect, especially the person they think.

    My verdict of this situation is, what if our elders are really not that smart? What if the lens they think they are wearing to assess our life is outdated, broken and damaged? Why should I think my parents or elders know everything better than me? What if they are really wrong in some of the cases?

    It doesn’t mean they are not worth my respect, it means I shouldn’t take their judgements seriously and reiterate it to them now and then, that what they are doing is not helping but damaging their child’s peace.

    All in all

    Maybe jealousy isn’t the villain we paint it to be. It is a mirror. Sometimes harsh, sometimes painfully honest. It is showing us where our longings hide. For children, it can be a chance to learn fairness, gratitude, and patience.

    For us, it can be a reminder to turn inward rather than outward, to ask what is missing in our own lives that we keep measuring against others. If we are jealous of someone traveling a lot, then proabably we should also try to book our tickets too now and then.

    If we can hold jealousy gently instead of fearing or denying it, it stops being a shadow and starts becoming a guide, on our journey of self awareness.

  • Roots Before Wings – Pillars of Parenting

    Kids don’t become healthy adults naturally. Kids raised in a healthy way even by unhealthy parents become healthy adults. Healthy parents without proper guidance will raise unhealthy kids. More than intention, strategy to raise a child in a healthy age appropriate manner matters more.

    Some pointers on how to raise young kids (based on personal experience, discussions with fellow parents and reading)

    1. Kids are as obsessed with their parents as adults are with their crushes. A kid’s life revolves around parents 100%. They want to love them yet be angry at them, with the belief that they will never be abandoned, even for a second.
    2. Their relationship with parents is like a boomerang. No matter how far they go, how many people they mingle with, they come back to their parents, physically and emotionally.
    3. Parents are not only guardians but calibrators, co-regulators, neutralizers of negative things/emotions, punching bags, a cushion, a compass, and the people kids mirror the most. Literally, everything in life they learn and then sometimes unlearn on the basis of how their parents brought them up.
    4. Parents have to understand, their calm is their kid’s calm. Kids don’t understand love, peace, and calmness by default. They learn it through their parents. They also learn how to express their emotions, dark and peaceful both, through them.
    5. Kids learn to work with emotions through their parents. Kids have all emotions just like adults, minus the logic. The way you deal with your difficult emotions, is how they would learn to deal with theirs.
    6. Kids mirror the social dynamics parents follow. Also their body language, grooming level, their routine, their understanding of the social world, financial habits, everything. Including kindness and cruelty.
    7. Kids don’t understand action and reaction. They only understand attention and mirroring.
    8. They will repeat any behaviour if it gets them attention, positive or negative.
    9. Kids subconsciously mirror whatever parents do. So no matter what they say, they actually copy their whole behavior. Empty words don’t work on kids. If you don’t like something in your child’s behavior, it is most likely from the parents, or the people they usually hang out with.
    10. There are three times in a day when (young) kids crave parental bonding.
      First, when they wake up.
      Second, when they come back from school or after spending a few hours away from their parents.
      Third, before sleeping.
      On all these occasions, kids want their parents, at least one of them. Especially a calm and loving parent who gives them tons of attention. This is the time they crave love and want the parent to baby them, cuddle them, and show them how much they are loved and treasured. They share their stories and inner world during these times. This is the time to fill their cup.
    11. Kids love routine. They love predictability. Doing similar things every day at a similar time keeps them calm. Any change in this including location overstimulates and disturbs them, hence they throw tantrums.
    12. Kids don’t understand logic; they understand emotions.
    13. Kids are always reading their parents’ actions and body language. They observe how they talk about the world and themselves and how they treat others and themselves too. That is the script they are going to follow for themselves and in their relationships. So, if you think your child is grumpy, observe whether you yourself are grumpy or not.
    14. Kids don’t like over attention. All kids are shy by nature, meaning they don’t like unwanted attention. They choose whose attention they like and mostly they are caregivers, family and friends. Exposing them to camera for the public, forcing them to perform in front of others, exposing their personal lives in front of others and putting them on a stage without understanding their hesitation can damage their self esteem and push them either to become a rebel or an extreme attention seeker or in perennial need of validation. Kids don’t enjoy being on the stage before a certain age. They like doing things at their own pace.
    15. Do not teach your child they need to be famous and powerful to be happy. They don’t have to do anything to look cool. They should always learn to be their authentic selves.
    16. Please don’t raise obedient children. Raise children who can ask you questions and can give you their consent. Don’t raise a pushover nor a bully. Hence, don’t force them to do anything nor bully them.
    17. Everything that adults do in their life, from the basic stuff like greeting people, waiting, table manners, hygiene, kindness everything is a skill to be learnt by the child. Most of the learning they do by observing. That is why Mowgli couldn’t have accommodated in normal civil society because he was raised under jungle that also wolf rules. So, expecting a child to know these automatically and before a certain age is a wrong expectation.
    18. Teaching any skill to a child is like healing a fractured bone. It would heal in any way, rejoining at any angle, if not set by a plaster, hurting one for life long. But with proper intervention, it becomes as good as new. So any skill in any realm of life, needs to be taught by adults at their kid’ pace, not theirs. Without adequate guidance, a child won’t be able to learn any skill properly and will struggle later as an adult, thinking this is how he is naturally.
    19. Rushing/pressurising/leaving them alone to learn are inappropriate ways to teach any skill. This only increases anxiety, procrastination, perfectionist complex, risk aversion in kids. Kids are not animals, the only thing kids know by default are the basic human-animal needs like hunger, sleep etc. But without guidance they wouldn’t learn how to fulfill them either. If you don’t teach them, they will eat anything to fill their tummy. They need to be helped with what healthy food looks like, understanding hunger and sleep routine etc.
    20. Healthier and safer the kids feel around parents, naughtier and goofier they would be around them.
    21. The more proper and adult-like kids behave, the more their natural feelings are suppressed.
    22. It doesn’t mean kids shouldn’t be nudged when they do something inappropriate. Teaching should come from a place of maturity and calmness, not embarrassment, competition, validation and ego.
    23. A tantrum is a call for attention, not a time to teach/preach.
    24. A good kid or a bad kid, any extreme reeks of a problem with child psychology. Young kids are supposed to be naughty, pushing boundaries, experimenting with their physical limits, and trying to control situations like adults. That is normal during growing up. As a parent to assume, a young child would automatically become a nice person who does everything you ask them to do, which means the child might become a people pleaser, they are repressing their feelings to appease you. Our job is to guide them and provide them healthy boundaries among which they can exercise their autonomy. Kids expect boundaries from us, they want to see how far they are allowed to push in this world.
    25. Kids are always trying to understand their place in the world.
    26. A bad kid per say is a call for attention. Parents couldn’t create a healthy attention dynamic, hence, the child believed through reckless behavior they will get attention from their parents. It is not the kid’s fault, but the caregivers who did not notice them or nourish them in the right way.
    27. Parents need to show their kids they always love them but won’t agree to their wishes all the time. Life is unfair, not at home, but it is. Patience and perseverance are very important skills.
    28. Kids shouldn’t be praised for their physical beauty, nor should anyone be in front of them. Not in the sense that they feel inadequate about themselves, or judge others in the same way. They shouldn’t be made to feel their body is lacking in any way, be it size or color. Teach them, world shouldn’t revolve around physical features but it is our actions and behavior that matter more.
    29. Every one on this earth is born beautiful. It’s not up for debate. If you think we need to be a certain way to be considered beautiful and to get love, acceptance and praise, then first we need to work on our self esteem, conditioning and projection issues. Please lie to your child that you think they are very beautiful, you like them exactly as they are and so is the case with every kid, and work on your mindset meanwhile. Grooming doesn’t define how beautiful one is.
    30. Teach them, it is not necessary that one will like them or praise them, and that’s okay. If you feel uncomfortable with something done by someone, either ask or just do something else. Don’t make it about yourself, it never is. Your kid is the best person to be with always, and it’s a loss of someone else if someone doesn’t want to include them in any activity. Teach them not to dwell on the events where others make us feel bad. We will find more people in this big world who treat us better. It’s important to validate their sadness during such events and teach them to sit with difficult feelings too, rather than escaping them.
    31. Encourage them not to do mind reading of others, especially people who are not close to them. If someone wants to tell them something, they should tell them. So, never give them silent treatment, with the hope they would figure it out. They can sense the tension, but not the reason. It creates pressure on their fragile nervous system. This behavior of trying to learn to sense emotions of others, will make them people pleaser and snubbing their emotions to appease others.
    32. Do not put caretaking adult responsibilities on them. They do it out of fun, and to feel good about themselves is another thing, but don’t make it their responsibility. There is an age to treat them like adults, teach it to them then.
    33. Praise them to be kind and thoughtful, instead of wise and pretty.
    34. Parents shouldn’t hit or yell. Remember- louder the kid, the calmer the parent should be.
    35. When in doubt, hug. Work on a special handshake, for just you and your kid.
    36. Tell your kid they are your favourite person, you miss them, and you love spending time with them.
    37. Have at least one dedicated hour with them. Do any activity just with them. It fills their cup. Make it a routine.
    38. Do not snub a child when they are pushing their physical limits like jumping or climbing. Instead encourage them to be safe by rechecking their strategy, be there with them to protect but don’t stop them unless it’s too risky. This will build their confidence. Let them do house chores. Be there to guide, over protection will only make them wary of even trying. This is not about chores but teaching them to trust their instincts, developing their curiosity bone, building confidence and risk appetite.
    39. Kids who are helicopter parented, overprotected in daily life, asked not to jump or do risky physical moves, grow up to be timid typically. The more decisions you make for them, the more dependent they become on you. There’s a fine balance between being a parent and a guide that you have to maintain.
    40. If you have more than one kid, treat them equally, express your love similarly, no matter their age.
    41. Always keep your promises.
    42. Thank them and apologise to them, always.
    43. Praise them regularly, for their actions and efforts specially, directly and among your family.
    44. Show them you respect them.
    45. Never tell them you’ll leave them or push them out of the house or into a room alone when they are upset. This brings distance and makes them fearful of abandonment.
    46. When they are throwing a tantrum, just sit there with no reaction. Try to soothe them, hug them, show them deep breathing, and share healthy ways to express anger. Validate their feelings but don’t give into their wishes just because of a tantrum. Work on how to calm yourself down, during such episodes. When you both are calm at a later time, talk about healthy ways to vent out anger and follow them too.
    47. Never tell them to not be angry or sad, don’t offer an ice cream or screen instead of letting them sit with difficult emotions. Be with them to show, it happens and you are with them in this. Validate their confusion, but not inappropriate behavior.
    48. All feelings are valid in your house but not all behaviors.
    49. Don’t get into an ego tussle with them. A kid’s ego is just a feeling of learning to be independent, a feeling that they have more control over their life. It is not to hurt you or insult you, so don’t take it personally. They don’t think of themselves as kids when it comes to making decisions, but when it comes to emotions, they want to be babied all the time. For example, when they hit you, they will cry first. That’s the amount of shame they have for hurting you, at the same time they are frustrated with their own big emotions, learning what to do with them.
    50. To help make kids better decisions, use strategies on the basis of child psychology, not emotional manipulation or fear. There is so much information, you just have to be interested to learn.
    51. Don’t be a lazy/indifferent/laid-back parent when it comes to a child’s emotions. Be understanding of their age appropriate behaviour. Nobody else can guide them better than you. They are waiting to learn.
    52. Punishment doesn’t teach them anything.
    53. Don’t shame your kids. Don’t make fun of them, be it when you are alone with them and especially in front of anyone. Don’t teach them stuff through passive aggressive methods or silent treatment. Don’t pass sarcastic remarks. Don’t talk to your kid as if they are adults. Be clear yet soft.
    54. Kids don’t understand sharing, tit for tat , revenge naturally. Nor they would learn kindness and being helpful.They need to be taught things through behavior and dialogue. Don’t teach them we should avoid difficult feelings and emotions, and manipulative behaviors to gain attention.Whatever person you want them to become, be that!
    55. If you want them to teach not to hit you, don’t hit them back. They won’t see that you were telling them it hurts, they will learn 1st, they have hurt their parents which is unbearable for them. They can’t handle that guilt. 2nd, they learn their parents and their loved ones can hurt them. 3rd, violence is okay in a loving relationship.
      It will become a negative trip where slowly they will become immune to punishments. Every learning has to come along with love and attention.
    56. Kids love healthy and happy parents. They feel super secure when their parents are in love and solving life together. If you want to raise a healthy and happy child, work on your relationship with your partner first.
    57. Even a single parent is enough, it’s just keeping the house calm and full of happiness. Don’t sulk, don’t share adult problems with your young kid, don’t make it their job to keep you happy. It is always the other way round. Yes you don’t have to be fake but yes you have to assure your child constantly and things are good and they are safe no matter what. There’s a reason in all the apocalypse movie, the parent is always assuring the child that they are safe no matter what, because they believe whatever their parents tell them.
    58. Don’t badmouth constant adults in your child, like fellow parents, grandparents, uncle and aunts, teachers, siblings, cousins. A kid’s self worth is associated with how adults in their life are perceived. If they feel ashamed of them, they will carry shame for themselves. It is important how you talk to people and how you handle issues in your family.
    59. If you have a person in your family, who could be toxic for your child, it is your job to protect them. Don’t leave it on your kid if they choose to talk to them or not. You draw the boundary, kids are too fragile to make this distinction. Kids are not diplomatic, they just want love and attention from everyone they like.
    60. Kids can’t handle stress in the family. They can’t process those emotions. And because of this confusion, their natural growth processes would be disrupted. Physically, they may be growing but internally they are struggling. Even problems like sleep issues, bed wetting, constipating, over eating or undereating, would have stress as underlying reasons.
    61. Kids are very forgiving. Everyday they give you a chance to make it right. So instead of feeling guilty, show up, tell them you are sorry and start again.

    Ultimately:

    It is always worth working on your relationship with your child, even when they grow old. This includes working on yourself too.

    Kids, no matter the age, just want to be seen and heard by their parents. It is not impossible as long as you put your ego aside.
    Kids even have a tendency to justify your mistakes on your behalf, that’s how much their self worth is entwined with their parents.

    Kids who feel shame from their parents, don’t feel properly emotionally supported by their parents make very rough choices growing up. They might have low self worth and self sabotaging tendencies.

    Parents hold a space in their child’s heart, which either becomes a wound, void or where they take their all positive energy from in the dark phases of life. Parents literally are the Sun in a child’s life. Without their proper love and support, it’s all darkness from them.

    No other person can fill that place. The replacement can’t form the roots that parents had, everything else is a band-aid.

    A Reminder:

    This message is not for the kids, this is not a reminder for them to call their parents, but only the blaring truth that parents can’t ignore.

    Please love your child like they deserve, not on your terms, without any ifs and buts.

    You authentically take 1 step, they will take 10. They are waiting for that unconditional support, love and acceptance from you. Even when they have healed from this wound, they still really appreciate it, if they could get validation from you.

    It’s worth all the effort to see the love that your children have for you, without any disappointments in their eyes. As a parent, I wish everyone could truly enjoy the bliss children bring to our world.

    We are never the same after looking into those tiny eyes for the first time.

    Every hug, every moment of calm, every apology plants seeds that last a lifetime. Love them in a way they can feel, every day.

    To read more on how parenting affects adult behaviour, click below:

    Who Are You Without their Approval?

  • Be the Ancestor Your Children Will Thank

    As an adult with a family, if your version of devotion of parents is to follow their life to the T, not changing your lifestyle or locations, mimicking their (unhealthy) life, routine, financial and social choices etc. and expecting your family to do so too, then this stream of thought is for you.

    Ask yourself would you still eat raw meat, just because your ancestors ate in their times, which they did, (they had no knowledge and option).

    I don’t think so!

    That’s because you are already exposed to cooked food (with fancy spices and all), raw veggies and fruits (you need your fibres babe!) and just more hygienic food. We still can’t win against all the pathogens you see!

    You would not eat raw meat for one main reason it could be unhygienic, with disease carrying germs. And, though I am a vegetarian, I assume it would be difficult to chew in the first place. 

    The exposure to better food, cooked food came from knowledge, the growth of civilization. While we respect the difficult old times, we would prefer moving with the times and continue to make better and learned choices. We are already teaming up against processed foods and sugar!

    Now, if at all your love for your parents and ancestry suggests you to follow them without considering the consequences of it on yourself and your family, whether it hampers your child growth, safety and future opportunities, then you my friend are a blind follower!

    You were raised through manipulation and by selfish, insecure parents who can’t think beyond their own needs, unintentionally.

    One would think if everyone else, a plethora of people are making it in the older ways then we can too!

    First describe ‘making it’! If you are unable to chatgpt it!

    Also, this just shows how devoid of critical thinking we are. Not everyone has the choice, but if everybody had an option, then you know the answer.

    As a fan of Interstellar, one thing always stayed with me. Cooper (played by my favorite Matthew McConaughey) promised his daughter Murphy (played by Jessica Chastain), not his father, Donald, that he would come back. And, it was the daughter who trusted his father that he would keep his promise, such is the amount of trust children expect/have on their parents. Cooper became the ‘parent/father’ we all need and worship.

    Now, inarguably the first rule of parenting is what is best for my children, because you brought them into this world. Period. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe the nuances of psychology but God of every religion is exactly doing that for us, His children, the best in every way possible. You can’t fight this fact in any realm, Earth or spiritual.

    There is no other relationship which requires your accountability as this one does. Everything else is a seasoning in the pizza of life. 

    Our great grandparents probably used the same method on our parents. To bind in mental chains, something that one can’t break easily without feeling guilty, despite knowing they are right. That’s how blind cults are made, that’s what an insecure leader would do, emotional blackmailing.

    To keep the flock together, you bring a dog of manipulation and guilt, the fear of abandonment and failure, and even a rational thinker strong sheep would be afraid to leave.

    There is nothing more selfless than raising a child. Making changes in your life for your children is an act of bravery and hope. It sends a message to the society that we matter. These children are the future adults, they will learn it is always human first, material second.

    No amount of wealth can equate the bliss of your people, healthy and thriving.

    Any ounce of people pleasing is detrimental to a child’s growth. Not only as a parent you would make wrong decisions but also your children will also learn it from you.

    They will learn that appeasement is more important than logic, that the past is more important than the future. That, the facade of happiness matters more than real happiness, that we as humans matter less and theatrics matter more.

    Any logical reasoning in this context, for the present and future (children, partner) and the past (parents), will nudge towards making difficult decisions.

    For example, imagine you left your village where your parents and their parents grew up, for better job opportunities. And today, whenever you visit the village, you compare lives at both places naturally. The village hasn’t changed much and still doesn’t promise an overall good life, except a feeling of hometown and nostalgia.

    In the context of the future, it is highly likely you would prefer a bigger city with the hope of better infrastructure, education possibility, healthcare and your own job. 

    This is not against the village! This understanding, if things are not attuned to your present and future needs, if you can’t cater to your loved ones’ needs, it is better to move on from anything non-living. 

    Yes, you can still love your hometown, but you answer your posterity now, not your ancestry (it will be weird if you can).

    You are the ancestor your kids would talk about. The ancestors who made grand changes are always revered more, if that gives you a high. 

    And, even if there is no one praising you and if your family’s health and happiness is ensured, take those decisions, whatever that means. 

    Family means everyone, parents, partner, and children, whoever is dependent on your decisions.

    If their happiness requires moving to the moon or mountains, to the beach or the desert, Move!

    It is entirely up to your family, but in no way a flimsy excuse of love of a place is enough, it has to work out in all scenarios.

    No love is big enough to help you just survive your things.

    Human potential reaches its zenith when it is thriving not surviving. 

    The choice Oh learned (Wo)Man is yours!

  • Love with its sweet fangs

    What made me wonder?

    I watched a movie with Daniel Day Lewis, ‘Phantom thread’. The phrase in itself means, one keeps sewing even when the actual thread has finished, with phantom thread. The machine keeps running on an invisible thread. Hence the story possibly reflects ghosts of past relationships and traumas and how they are affecting the protagonist’s Reynolds Woodcock (played by Daniel D Lewis) present life.

    The movie talked about how his interest in his partner/muse only remained till that partner could care for him on his sick days. Needless to say he had one too many muses and relationships. Anyway, he despised becoming vulnerable, was a workaholic and would let his partner go when he felt his life and routine were getting disrupted.

    But this particular partner (Alma, played by Vicky Krieps) somehow showed him that it’s the vulnerability he has to stop avoiding if he wants the full bliss of love. He did like being in love and his understanding of being vulnerable in love paved the way for a stable relationship. At least this is what I understood from the movie.

    (Mild spoiler alert) Some say he was poisoned in the end willingly, by his partner, because he felt it was better for him to die than bearing such vulnerability to be in love. He could have inflicted control on his partner, yet he chose surrender to his fear and died.

    Whether literal or symbolic, it showed the lengths some go to avoid vulnerability, even if it costs them love. Anyway, watch it yourself if you want to explore it more.

    Wound is where the light enters, as they said!

    To some people this awareness of vulnerability that was discussed in the movie Phantom thread, is the basis of any loving relationship. But the dependence that comes with it, some people truly want to avoid.

    They have never found trust in their life or have been hurt so much, their vulnerable bones have deteriorated. Hence, they leave when they become too dependent on the other person, with the fear that they might be disappointed.

    This is probably why Reynolds Woodcock (played by Daniel Day Lewis, in Phantom thread, the lead character) preferred unstable relationships and eventually death in the end, over trusting someone.

    He probably had an avoidant attachment style, along with other emotional wounds from his childhood.

    Some facts to munch on:

    For context, the attachment theory states:

    Anxious lovers often seek purpose through saving/protection. The purpose keeps them relevant in the relationship.

    They in turn seek closeness and constant reassurance, want to fix others, and fear abandonment. They may prioritize the relationship over their own needs just to keep it intact.

    Avoidants often withhold care and emotional availability to avoid needing. They want their space and avoid becoming dependent on someone.

    The savior role (we would be talking about it in a bit) becomes a safe way to be close because it keeps the avoidant person in control. They’re always the giver, never the receiver. Vulnerability stays one-sided. They tend to pull away when things get too close. (Our dear Woodcock probably preferred dying over being in a relationship, so deep was his wound.)

    So what is love, can I dissect the hell out of it?

    The ability to be vulnerable in front of the person you love is not the only cornerstone of love, but there is something more interesting, protection.

    Love in its most innocent form, needs someone powerful. A savior, like a child’s love for the parent.

    And in the evolved form or maybe the ultimate form it may be the parent’s love for a child, or love for an animal or someone who is unable to protect itself. Because it reminds them of God. At least that’s what my understanding of love is, as of now.

    You love a child (or a pet or a plant or any being) because you want to. Because their being/presence enables you, nourishes you and soothes you. You will move mountains to nurture them.
    Isn’t it probably the form of love God has for us?

    Understanding the OG God and love

    What if God, after all His omnipotence, longs for a love free from His powers, a love He didn’t have to earn?

    If love is about reciprocation, what if God is craving for a love like a child where He would be loved beyond His power, just for His being.

    Is God waiting for someone to cradle him, since he’s tired of taking care of us all alone?

    But what if it is a saviour complex I’m talking about? Is it my need to feel powerful?

    Is it otherwise possible that I develop a kind of love where God and I mutually care for each other and protect each other?

    Would I hurt God’s ego by asking Him to let me protect Him?

    Is it possible God neither wants to be worshipped or cradled but canoodled like equals?

    This is all on the basis of the assumption that God is as much part of our emotional realm as other beings. It is we who are treating Him as an outsider, over and above it, but what it’s not something He wants.

    Also a note, I use ‘He’ for God because I assume Him as someone who identifies as a man. You can imagine whichever pronoun for Him. I’m pretty sure God is a pretty chill and fluid being.

    Coming back to the Earthly realm of mortal men and women

    This also makes me wonder, why men-women relationships are so much about protector savior dynamics. Evolutionary, it was the need. The male was protecting the female, the provider and protector of the mother of his children. Perhaps that’s the origin of masculine protector energy, rooted in evolution, not essence.

    But today, do we still need that dynamic? Haven’t the definition of protection and saving changed?

    And if we are talking about loving God too, do we need that protectionist savior complex from Him? Or is that how I should check the love God has for me, whether He is protecting me?

    Yes, the reality is that the world is full of harshness that we need protection from. The person who loves us should do everything to protect us, but is there a possibility of a relationship where nobody needs saving. A relationship where they don’t define their partner as someone who has saved them or protected them.

    Now, we don’t confuse support/help/assistance with saving/protection here. In a relationship, typically out of love you like to support each other in whatever way you can.

    But saving/protection can easily be pushed into the realm of a favor, something to be grateful for. And that is not a healthy dynamic where one partner is constantly grateful to the other, as if they are needy and disadvantaged. Because that’s like charity, not love.

    What if I don’t like the hero, but the scaredy clumsy side character?

    If we do agree on love of equals, can we let damsels in distress be in distress? Help them in another way, other than being in love with them because they need rescuing.

    Why should you rescue her from her distress then go on to fall in love with her? Or the only reason you rescued her is because you love her ? Does vulnerability attract you?

    Is it some kind of trauma-bonding (google it to understand more) or love or savior complex?

    Do I love people because I see their pain, or because they allow me to be the healer?

    Although I can’t take away the fact that I want to elucidate all the pain the person I love has, because I can’t see them in pain.

    But does it also mean, I’ll only want to be with the person who has some pain I need to help them with, so that I am relevant in their life?

    Thanks but no thanks!

    It makes me wonder, is gratefulness the only way love in an amorous relationship could last?
    What if love didn’t need to be earned or repaid, what if love could just be?
    Is pain and protection the cornerstone of attraction? What about peace as the cornerstone? What about respect? Playfulness?

    Is it healthy and real to have pain and protection as the center of a love relationship? Isn’t that more like a parent-child dynamic, in a purely adult relationship?

    Why when you are having second thoughts about a person, society comes up with excuses like who else will love you in your situation, like love is not love but a favor. We should be thankful for the protector to save us and then call charity as love.

    At least if we call it what it is, then we can attune our behavior accordingly. We would know it’s not a relationship of equals who want to be with each other, but more like a charity case, master and his rescued slave.

    Also, what if the person you love is incapable of protecting anyone, even themselves, should that person not be allowed to be in love?

    Why even a slight difference in any characteristic of the person, makes them a not so ideal choice to be loved?
    People who fall in love with people (who are different from ‘normal’ in any way, their background, physical and financial characteristics, social standing), are glorified for being big hearted.
    But what if these human-gods were actually not that cool, and formed this relationship just because they could be glorified and worshipped.

    Another god complex in making.

    But doesn’t that also mean God shouldn’t love us, because we are in front of Him as frail and weak as an infant, living at the mercy of others?

    Does even god not love me just for my being?

    Marry me because I want our love ruined!

    Amorous love when it is turned into marriage is often compared to how capable both the people are, calling them power couple and what not. When we know nobody likes being pitied, marriage is one where one of the qualities acquired to have a long relationship is pity, not compassion but pity, to be accepted by the one who is not so perfect. At least that is being taught to us again and again.

    But does love really need a set of characteristics, a perfect image, a kite with a flying thread? Why do we want to define marriage with who is dependent and who is the protector? Typically the Male is a financial provider and Female everything else. That’s the image society wants to sell at least.

    Girls are typically brought up with this mindset, that a boy, the person who would love and marry would be rescuing her from whatever she is struggling with in her life.
    That she is incapable of saving herself, or shouldn’t rely on her friends or support, but a white knight with shining armour/ a tall dark handsome/ a man who has taken therapy.

    We usually marry our mirror images or polar opposites. It is not like dressing up complimentary where the top has to match the bottom but more like a puzzle, which just fits.
    Because if they are complete on their own, do they really need each other?
    Or is it another form of love where you still are with each other even when you don’t need each other but I wonder how passionate that love can be.

    The fact of the matter is that we will get disappointed in love. That’s how it is. Because if we dig deep into it, disappointment is up to our understanding of love, there is no right or wrong in it. It is what we expected in our relationship.

    Love didn’t disappoint us, our fantasy did.

    No JLo, love does cost a lot of things, including my peace!

    Let’s take a step back. The reason love will have disappointments is because all love is not the same. The expectation of what love would make someone feel, what love will give you to make you feel happy is different for everyone, only they don’t realize it. Even if they do, society is quick to push its definition on everyone.

    We believe love has one definition and probably that’s why we have one common set of expectations but as people we are not one set of people, hence the disappointment. This is why we hear people say they are doing as expected from them in love yet their partner is not happy. Or, my partner is a really nice person, does everything to make me feel loved yet I am not happy and don’t feel loved.

    Love or the happiness associated with it is highly guided by our unmet needs and conditioning (bringing up, childhood, social norms etc). We believe by looking at someone or adopting someone else’s definition of love that this is what will make us happy and loved but we are wrong.
    When we actually get into a relationship, the initial fervour goes away, and what is left is a barrage of unmet needs and expectations. Now if your partner doesn’t know about them they are set to disappoint you again and again. The exam is rigged.

    Even more so, if they do understand, they might have their own resentment that this is not their expectations of love and hence they are unwilling or unable to cater to your needs.

    Also, this needs to be said, people have different unmet needs, some more, some less, some may have none who knows! The relationship would look entirely different for each couple (or throuple, because chaos of two is not enough).

    Does this mean two people with complimentary unmet needs or with no unmet needs at all would have a better relationship, probably. I am not sure. But it seems the more I’m aligned to my own needs and my partner’s, chances are I’ll be able to make them happier.

    Does this mean broken people shouldn’t fall in love? Or is love only for fixed people? Not necessarily. It means the first step is to become aware of what you are and what you are looking for in love and then take it from there.

    Unless you know what you want, how can you expect your partner to know beforehand?

    Once you have realized your non-negotiables or in general what you expect from your partner, you have to communicate them to your partner, no matter how bizarre they are.

    You have no idea what people who love you can do for your bizarre needs. That’s what love is about. Keeping up with your nonsense!

    Because to keep erring is human!

    Coming to disappointments in love, is it okay to leave your love, because they will disappoint you? Is love only about the good times?

    Love is about being with someone, with everything and without too. So those who are scared of pain, are actually disillusioned. They should be told, it’s okay to be in pain, because it’s normal. They can’t avoid it. And if they are avoiding pain, then they are avoiding happiness too.

    The key take away from the ‘Phantom thread’ movie was, you don’t change your partner if there was no sickness. Your partner is not like an insurance policy. You keep buying one with the hope you never need one. Yet you don’t want to keep buying one because you have not been able to use it (fortunately).

    In reality, people have left their partners when they get sick, with the hope of finding better pastures or just running away from the responsibility. So much for being with each other for better or worse.

    We want people (in a relationship like marriage) to stay by our side for a very long time. But for that long time to happen, apparently we need a requirement to stick around, a purpose to keep pulling this relationship forward.

    But do we really want a requirement? Are we sure if there is no requirement people would not stay?

    This idea of people sticking around for a long time is for those relationships where people like being with each other, but not like stale relationships blaring of emotional death.

    Finally, I’m tired!

    Anyway, this exploration of love in all realms is a never ending research. It does bring me closer to God and his beings. This research does make me feel I can have it all, except my ‘all’ is not well defined yet.

    Love will always remain the most talked about, yet most misunderstood, misinterpreted yet most coveted and most thought about feelings. The more I think about it, the more it becomes difficult to understand.

    It’s not for one person or one generation which can figure out its answer, but will take many ages to.

    I will do my bit, till I feel I truly mean when I say ‘I love you’!

    I’ll keep figuring out till I find a concrete answer, if there’s one!

  • Built for More Than Survival

    There’s an entire generation walking around confused, burned out, emotionally stunted or overburdened. It is not because they failed, but because they were never taught how to live. Millennials and their parents inherited silent rules, unspoken traumas, and outdated ideologies disguised as wisdom. Somewhere between survival and image, we forgot how to be human.

    This list is not a bashing critique on any generation. It is implying why we picked some toxic patterns and they need to be dropped right now. It is a reminder message to all of us in that age group, that we are hurting others and ourselves by not accepting the truth about ourselves. We can change, whenever we want.

    It is our life. And we can remember only one before dying. 

    Even stationary trees shed their leaves and grow new ones, then we are humans, we can change only if we believe life is better when we keep evolving and growing with it.

    The skills that should have been taught to millennials and parents of millennials, but were missed for various reasons

    1. Having difficult conversation / not to escape emotional conversations
    2. Taking care of physical health
    3. Understanding what is mental health and taking care of it
    4. If your loved ones are complaning about your behavior, acknowledge it and do something about it
    5. Honest conversations / being vulnerable when it matters
    6. Ability to accept criticism
    7. A sense of humor/ ability to laugh at oneself
    8. Self awareness
    9. How to take care of others without burning oneself out
    10. How  to say thank you / to show gratitude / to recognize and appreciate someone’s help even if they love us, not taking kindness for granted
    11. Saying sorry, even to an infant, animal or a plant
    12. How to be selfless without looking for recognition or return
    13. How to take care of others / do things with no benefit for oneself
    14. House chores
    15. Knowing basic skills of life/ Just because you earn well, doesn’t mean you should get away with not learning basic skills in life like cooking, cleaning, maintaining a house, taking care of others, doing basic financial work, traveling/driving/riding for work alone
    16. Not being a burden of a person on others
    17. How not to torture themselves and their children in the name of parenting
    18. Spirituality and healthy detachment
    19. Critical thinking / challenging problematic rituals and practices
    20. Enjoying life with its imperfections, not chasing the perfection
    21. Money over everything else
    22. Thriving versus surviving
    23. How not to deny honest feedback in relationships and in public life
    24. Not depending their self worth on people’s opinions, rather than on oneself / high self esteem
    25. Not taking major decisions in life like career, marriage to get approval of others
    26. Not caring about third parties more than direct family members
    27. Show off/snobbery versus real happiness
    28. Not just Worrying about future, but  also caring about  present
    29. Not regretting the past always
    30. Not living in yesterday and someone else’s life, thinking how life could be better if they had something else / always looking at someone else’s garden and comparing their life
    31. How to live without constant whining
    32. Problem solving versus problem seeking
    33. Not interested in others’ life, gossiping
    34. Not talking to people just for entertainment but developing real connections
    35. Not treating God like their servant, whose job is to appease them, and believing if He doesn’t then He doesn’t exist
    36. Not using people for purpose, not enjoying people as a company
    37. Giving high importance to friendship and community
    38. Worrying about our own contribution and not always thinking about what others are contributing
    39. Be the bigger guy, and not always wondering why they should be the only one nice
    40. Not worrying about quid pro quo and making every relationship and interaction transactional, keep passing the good deeds on
    41. Having an individual personality / not having herd mentality
    42. Inculcating a lifelong hobby, for your own happiness
    43. Having a life of your own, especially meant for old age
    44. Understanding the importance, power and responsibility of humans and having a sense of self
    45. Not putting dogmatism / pseudo-traditionalism over everything else
    46. Never avoid responsibility / never think about bending the rules even if there’s no one watching / never run away from accountability
    47. Do not imitate wrongdoings, corrupt activities with explanation that everyone is doing
    48. Do not use God as an excuse to bully others 
    49. Empathy!!!
    50. Accepting  your weaknesses, accepting feeling tired and will to rest is not a sign of failure
    51. Being bold / telling right from wrong with confidence and practicing the tough road
    52. Asking for help, especially when struggling mentally
    53. Asking for help for those who can’t ask for themselves
    54. Pick up fight for the weak
    55. Feel happy for others / do not feel insecure and jealous of others and their achievements
    56. Use money to feel happy too, not just save it for one day
    57. Enjoying / resting / relaxing without feeling guilty
    58. Not competing who works hard more / do not glorify mindless grinding / work hard for your own happiness not to please anyone else
    59. Appreciating public property and always keeping in mind fellow citizens, even if no one is watching and there is no penalty
    60. Respect for disabled and differently abled, working towards an inclusive society, understanding issues they face and how to solve them
    61. Thinking about how all strata of society, including animals and plants can be helped through our work
    62. Treating animals and plants with respect, not to hurt the weak in any form
    63. Selfcare is not selfish, it is important to take care of oneself if one wants to take care of others
    64. Taking education very seriously
    65. Mastering at least one skill which can earn you money, if nothing else works
    66. Learning is a lifelong process
    67. A nuclear family is separate unit, a joint family is still a bunch of individual nuclear units. Respecting each unit is healthy.
    68. Not to use elders especially parents as vending/ATM machines. They don’t owe their adult children anything. Everybody deserves a respectful life. A life of their choice.
    69. Respect should not be bought with money, least of all from your own family.
    70. Importance of ‘me’ time / importance of spatial privacy / break for everyone
    71. Your house should be your most comfortable place, invest in it
    72. You have one body, take care of it, invest on it, guiltfree
    73. Don’t ruin your happiness and relationships for work
    74. Outsourcing work when can’t take it / it’s okay to ask for help / make your money do your work so that you can be more efficient
    75. Understanding the importance of roles that people take up by choice and living it to the fullest
    76. Importance of manual hard work
    77. Taking risks more often, especially in career, saying yes to things which you are really passionate about

    Things parents of millennials taught their kids which probably made sense to them but are not working anymore:

    1. Self serving ideologies 
    2. Obedience
    3. Believing people can’t change
    4. Believing you don’t ask old people to change
    5. People are born as is, and their personality is carved in stone
    6. People willing to think out of the box are detrimental to society and against their practicing religions
    7. God is a cruel master who has favorite people / God is their slave (father) whose job to serve them as per their wish, He can’t deny their wishes
    8. There is no free will
    9. Love means people who love you should abide by you, even if it means tying a noose around their neck.
    10. You can make anyone happy with money.
    11. People who are in your life owe you your happiness, you don’t owe anything to yourself and others, as long you fulfill your duty as per your definition, even if it hurts others
    12. Life means duty
    13. Thinking not knowing basic life skills is cute and it is your spouse’s task to take care of your basic needs like you are a child
    14. Spouse and children are the punching bags sent to you by god
    15. Hypocrite personality- nice outside, bully at home
    16. Using money for charity and helping people, yet not fulfilling needs of family and creating a situation of financial scarcity at home
    17. Always telling family that there is no money yet wasting it in risky things
    18. Image is more important than truth
    19. One should never cry or cry alone, and not solve the problem ever. There is an award for people who suffer in silence.
    20. Never attempt to question or understand your religion on your own. Accept only those teachings that serve your purpose
    21. Treating people willing to help them as dumping ground
    22. Lack of responsibility in their own behaviour 
    23. Victim mentality, always telling how world did them wrong
    24. Materialistic success and power is the only way to feel like you have done big in life
    25. If you haven’t achieved a big position where everyone calls you sir/madam then you have failed.
    26. Respect is not by default but earned
    27. Respect is in order of power and money, background, age, gender
    28. It is okay to insult anyone younger, poorer than you, apologies are never in order
    29. Children have no right to respect. It is okay to hit them anytime, anywhere because you are older than them.
    30. Emotionally blackmailing their family members to do things that serves their ego or good for their image
    31. Guilt tripping their family members for not serving them or pleasing them as per their wish
    32. Unable to see things from another’s point of view if it means changing your own view or accommodating others needs
    33. Under the rug mentality / not talking about important issues to cater to emotional manipulation
    34. Toxic parenting / Not teaching life skills like finances and navigating emotions to children and expecting they can learn this by getting married
    35. Treating adult children as their savior who have to fullfill the role of spouses and parents, dumping on them the weight of unfulfilled desires on those who are not supposed to carry this burden
    36. Putting parental responsibilites on children, like taking care of younger sibling while still young themselves
    37. Treating parents like housekeepers, nannies, asking them to relocate without understanding their requirements and emotional needs
    38. Not working on a solid retirement and care plan especially for parents, when they haven’t been able to plan it for themselves, ignoring them in their old age as burden
    39. Parents making adult children feel guilty for following their dreams and living an indepedent life, in orde to cater to their unfulfilled desires
    40. As an adult, expecting and overrelying on your parents to still take care of your matters like you are still a child
    41. Parents unwilling to relocate when dependent on adult children, especially when there is no other option, behaving emotionally clingy to their hometown because they don’t like changing, creating emotional trauma for their adult children and family
    42. Genderification of parental and familial care roles, which gender is more suitable to take care of parents
    43. Not accepting there is an issue with your behavior when there is clearly one
    44. Treating their children’s spouses as outsiders
    45. Treating their children as adults who should know everything right from infancy and expecting from them ideal adult behavior since childhood
    46. Bullying and shaming children, be it young or adult
    47. Encouraging children to keep with abuse in the name of respect, traditions and image
    48. Using violence to teach children right behavior
    49. Not displaying love to their loved ones
    50. Number of offsprings as the sole indicator of happy marriage
    51. Not accepting different kinds of partnerships / relationships
    52. Pushing people who love them away and later making them feel guilty about it for not being there
    53. Unable to form a healthy community
    54. Putting up with toxic family members, because related by blood
    55. Changing perception of people on the basis of money in their bank
    56. Treating those people miserably who go out of the way to help
    57. Discouraging people for supporting one another
    58. Making children especially siblings or cousins compete with one another and compare their life, marriage, career throughout their life
    59. Obsessing over blood relationships and legacy
    60. Discouraging adoption and gender equality because of purist mentality
    61. Looking at roles, not the people playing them
    62. Accepting substances as healthy coping mechanisms and not seeking help for addictions

    A separate book is required to write about how different genders are treated in India, especially the outlook of millennials and previous generations.

    One would say why I am being so harsh to us?

    But speaking truth is honesty, not harshness.

    And remember honesty is the best policy. Well, in this case it definitely is.

    I extend the grace to ourselves and our elders for doing what was needed, in the toughest of situations.

    We survived. We made it. You had to be there to understand those times.

    We adapted according to the times and these practices and behaviours are result of how we managed to make the best of those sitations. We can appreciate all that.

    But this appreciation and understanding is taking away our chance to grow with the new world. We are unable to reap the benefits of our own efforts.

    The age of survival is gone, it’s the age of thriving.

    The grace we are extending to ourselves is being used as an excuse by our brains to stay as we are. Change is being avoided and conveniently ignored.

    We have mixed change with disrespect, while taking away the rights and opportunities of the new generation.

    We can spend many more decades in trying to mourn with our elders about the tough times they faced but it is taking away the chances of our future generations to become happier.

    And it is always the future generation that deserves more attention, because the previous generation lays the foundation of the future building.

    Who are we without our progeny?

    More is being lost by staying as we are. We owe it to the future to keep changing with times as we see them. This cycle will keep going on.

    We are the babies of evolution, not dropped from sky as is.

    It’s the wheel that moves that can reach the destination, nobody has reached anywhere by staying stuck in a puddle.

    While we contemplate whether to change or not, our families are becoming distant, the people we love are suffering alone, lonlier than ever. We drift them apart, a little further, everyday.

    Because the heart can take only so much pain, from loved ones.

    Hence, sure we cannot change the past, but we can stop passing it on. It’s time we learn the skills we were never taught. And, more importantly,  it’s time we stop glorifying the struggle and start celebrating the courage it takes to feel, connect, rest, and live with truth.