It's been a long two months since my last post. A lot has changed ... 

My location's changed from India to Canada...
The temperature has dropped from 30°C  to -4 °C
I am learning to walk on freezing ice ... waddle like a penguin is the popular suggestion !
I have gone back to School ... and the nervousness and excitement is still the same 
I am learning to watch my expenditure .. student budgets are no fun compared to spending your salary :(
I have made lots of new friends :D
I wonder why people love their pizza here so much !

and am going to keep adding to this list as I remember :)



What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from  ~~  T.S. Eliot










Picture courtsey: http://jbambers.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/3.jpg

When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all The time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca- age 8

Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy -age 6

Love is unconditional.


When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4

Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." Danny - age 7

Love protects


"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate," Nikka - age 6

Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." Terri - age 4

Love rejoices over the evil


Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - age 6

Love is patient


"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." Mary Ann - age 4

Love is kind.

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.  

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.  

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.  Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. 

When his Mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

Love preserves


Love is patient, love is kind. It has no envy, nor it boasts itself and it is never proud. It rejoices over the evil and is the truth seeker. Love protects; preserves and hopes for the positive aspect of life.


(Courtsey http://www.miacarmel.com/stories-that-inspires-you/childrens-answers-to-what-is-love.html)

Always remember to slow down in life; live, breathe, and learn; take a look around you whenever you have time and never forget everything and every person that has the least place within your heart.

•the special people in my life
•what I've been able to do and achieve
•having a sense of purpose in life
•all the things I like about me
•how lucky I am to be here right now
•that each day is a new beginning
•to look back, smile, and say thank you
•the first time a new friend calls me by my nickname
•that one really nice guy at work
•when someone brings me a coffee just the way I like it
•the melt-in-your-mouth kind-da chocolates
•sinking into bed when I am utterly and completely exhausted
•watching my parents dance
•Having a family that loves me no matter what and knowing that they will be there for me
•Knowing that I can afford to support myself and be independent.
•Having friends who put up with me, even though I drive them crazy sometimes
•Inspiring speeches/articles and experiences
•When I hear someone’s smile over the phone
•Helping someone solve a problem in their life, especially if it’s something that has been an issue for a long time.
•Being given a compliment, particularly when I’m feeling down
•When little kids give me their artwork or when they get really, really excited
•3:00am conversations with my best friend
•Walking bare feet in the grass
•Finding money I didn’t even remember I had tucked away
•Waiters and waitresses who bring free refills without asking
•when the cashier opens up a new check-out lanes at the grocery store
•When I am really tired and about to fall asleep and someone tucks a blanket around me
•having a whole row by myself on the plane
•When I arrive at my destination just as a great song ends on the radio
•The first ten seconds after I turn out the lights and wiggle into a good sleeping position
•The color pink .. girly and cliche but pink really makes me happy
•Making new friends with good people
•Random weekend getaways

Try these...

• Watch a movie out of your list of favorites
• Skim through photo albums
• Take a vacation or at least a mini vacation
• Take a walk
• Go Shopping
• Hang out with friends
• Read, listen to music , eat your favorite food
• Vent ..only to someone you can trust
• Catch up on some well deserved sleep
• Sing along and dance to your favorite song
• Share a hug or even better a kiss
• Long drives
• Make an inspiration board with your favorite quotes/messages/images
• Stop spending time with people that don't encourage and support you.
• Don't let the big picture overwhelm you
• Tell the people you care for that you love and appreciate them
• Get yourself some chocolate
• Just take a break
• SMILE ! SMILE !! SMILE !!

But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for. ~~ Paulo Coelho

It is the gap between the ‘What is it that I have today’ (our current reality) and the ‘What is it that I want it to be today’ (the reality we wish it were instead) that causes suffering.

Often changing the way we look at our crisis/suffering makes it easier for us to emerge victorious from it.

Is it really a crisis or am we just reading it as one, due to our earlier experiences and the mindset these experiences bring along?

Is this really mine? More often than not, we tend to be influenced into taking responsibility for someone else’s crisis or simply because we love doing it!! We need to learn to offer compassion and support and let the other person triumph.

Could I want this in my life? Sometimes, accepting what we didn’t want at first could open a whole new world of possibilities.

And if nothing works,

Can I accept this for what it is? Coming to terms with our current reality is the easiest way to end our suffering. This also lets us move ahead.

Although our attitude may not take away the physical pain caused to us by others, it can affect our mental and emotional pain. We can choose not to let it bother us or we can obsess over it until we are an emotional wreck.

Many times our pain comes from worrying needlessly about what might happen and then it never happens. We can’t do anything about the past and we don't know what tomorrow holds. We can only be in control of what is.

You always take the sweetest rose & crush it till the petals fall

There's one sad truth in life I've found while journeying east and west - The only folks we really wound are those we love the best. We flatter those we scarcely know, We please the fleeting guest, And deal full many a thoughtless blow to those who love us best (Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

Probably we expect too much from them, hope that they can do all that we are not capable of, that they would do so because of the bond of love that we share and come down hard on them when they don’t.

The things about them that annoy us terribly and we want to fix it not even though somewhere deep down we do know that we will never be able to.

We want them to see things from our perspective because we think that’s what’s right and it exasperates us when they miss it.

We are so overwhelmed with our own issues that we are unable to deal with theirs.

They can see right through the facade we put on with others.

We misuse the blessing of making up with the ones we love

Or simply because we know that despite all that we do to hurt them, they will continue to love us.


Title courtesy You Always Hurt The One You Love - Mills Brothers
Image courtesy lightomega.org

It's time ..

hurt ...the word itself conjures up images of pain, of loneliness and guilt, the fear of it happening all over again in the future.

Each of us have been hurt at some point in time ..it's how we choose to move ahead that really matters.

Will you hold the pain and guilt for the rest of your life?

Will you bury it in the deep recesses of your mind for it to surface one day and wreck your moment, you day or maybe your life?

Or are you willing to express the hurt to the people who have hurt you, clear the air and move on?

If you cant express this hurt, you will never be able to express your love, for hurt and pain numb all feelings of love.

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. ~~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

(image courtesy http://blogofkayee.blogspot.in)