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National pride - What's your reason?

Photo by sergio souza on Unsplash National pride is one common factor that binds all its citizens together.  The definition of the word says: Patriotism or national pride is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to a homeland and alliance with other citizens who share the same sentiment. Why do we indulge in it? Simply because it makes us feel happy, to see positive change. Makes us feel happy to see collective progress as a large group of people unanimously feel the same sentiment. It also validates the feeling of Collectivism. But do we wonder what is the cause of national pride for different countries? Some nations have been built over the years and dramatically transformed into great civic countries. They enjoy a sense of civic pride. At the same time, there are countries where there are more reasons to feel proud of ethnicity and history than civic developments. It is important to understand what is the reason for our national pride. Are we having all the right r
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The gutsy girl!

  I read this book - The gutsy girl by Caroline Paul and obviously, I am inspired. "Gutsy Girl" will resonate with everyone ( more so women) who were ever told, they couldn't or shouldn't... but then they went on to do it, anyway. The book revolves around encouraging girls to take on a life of adventure and have fun because after all when you look back on your life, an eventful one will feel better than a perfect one. There is no denying that adventures throw challenges that only teach you how you navigate through them, making you less and less averse to hairball situations. "I have the butterflies in my stomach. I don't know why but I go looking for them"                 - Said every brave, happy, successful woman Pic courtesy: The Gutsy Girl by Caroline Paul, Illustration by Wendy Macnaughton While the illustration of the flow chart is to help our mind decide if we should jump off the cliff, quite literally, I am looking at it metaphorically. Isn't

Breaking out of mind loops!

Sometimes all of us need some help to break out of the loops in life.  A few years ago, I noticed a strange change in myself. There was a constant feeling of unease..I felt like danger looming... a catastrophe going to happen. I tried hard to track down the reasons, but my mind was not giving me answers. I realized there is no apparent reason to feel this way if I can't point to it, right away. I thought to myself, "After all, there are scores of people in real situations at hand, and they don't worry! Why do I?" It was a valid point, and my logical self wanted to believe it badly but somehow I wasn't convinced. Soon, I started showing physical symptoms like feeling shortness of breath and general hot flashes. This is when I paused and thought to myself - "This can't be normal". I do realize now that when my mind space was such, I would also have been defensive in my demeanor in public. I tried to shoot back counters to anyone who wanted to judge me

When a stranger called me an idiot

Photo by Goutham Ganesh Sivanandam on Unsplash It was a laid back weekend afternoon, a perfect day for home shopping. I was walking with my extra-large cart, through the aisles of Ikea. Blinded by the colors of the pillow covers, I was oscillating between looking at the items on display and my way ahead. Maneuvering through the narrow bends, I pushed my cart cautiously. Just then, a lady (middle-aged), engrossed in picking between the two pillow-covers in her hand, stepped backward and appeared right in front of my cart. Obviously, you guessed it - We crashed! My instant reaction was "Sorry". Sorry because, firstly, most probably just like me, she was blinded too, by the colorfully tempting cushions on display. Secondly, it was a mishap. No one decks up and leaves home planning to accidentally hurt someone at Ikea. My "sorry" was not an expression of regret. It was an expression of sympathy. I do understand, English can be complicated. Maybe something the East Indi

“Blending in” is easy choice but “Standing up” is the real deal

Photo by  Patrick Hendry  on  Unsplash Life rewards us in mysterious ways. You "blend in" and get immediate results that amount to gratification and happiness. You may "Stand out" because you are a natural, but the world will question your worth.  "Standing up", is the real deal.  Just like fitting in, Standing up is also a choice... the tougher choice that we make to be true to ourselves. At first, it gives nothing back to us except fear, hate, and friction. But if we hang in there using this friction, we will start to see us as an evolved version of ourselves. We will be someone describable in a few good words. We will find our identity. Even in the literal sense, Friction is the force that opposes motion. But we know that it eventuall y   helps us. Without friction, we would touch but won't be able to feel, would draw but won't be able to leave the impressions of it, would try to climb but won't move upwards, would flow with the current but

Today's frog in boiling water

Photo by  Ladd Greene  on  Unsplash There is an old story of a frog in boiling water. It is relevant even today in the context of how we look at our jobs. It might be useful to learn a thing or two, looking back at this story in new light. The stories goes like this. There was a frog that deliberately hopped into a pot. The pot had fresh water so it indulged in swimming around a bit. Not too long later, the pot of water started getting warm. Frog didn't know that the pot was set on flame to warm up. The water was getting warm, warmer and so on. Frog could now foresee that its only going to get hotter from here on. It contemplated taking the leap out of the pot but, since frogs have the skill to withstand temperature up until boiling point, it stayed on waiting for that point. Once it got too hot to handle, coping with heat was getting difficult. Soon the frog got to a point of exhaustion and it simply succumbed. It could no longer make the leap. All its energy had been spent in dea

Evolving psychological value of things we buy?