Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Gems worth saving on a blog

A new series to capture writings that help me express my life :)


An excerpt from http://gretchenrubin.com/

One obstacle to happiness? Feeling resentful when another person won’t do his or her share of work. Consider these facts about shared work:

Fact 1: Work done by others sounds easy. How hard can it be to take care of a newborn baby who sleeps twenty hours a day? To return a few phone calls? To fill out some forms? Often, daily work by other people sounds easy. This fact leads us to under-estimate how onerous a particular task is, and that makes it easy to assume that we don’t need to help or provide support.

Fact 2When you’re doing a job that benefits others, it’s easy to assume that they’re aware of your work—that they should feel grateful, and that they feel guilty about not helping you.
But no! Often, the more reliably you perform a task, the less likely it is for someone to notice that you’re doing it, and to feel grateful, and to feel any impulse to help or to take a turn. You think, “I’ve been taking out the garbage for weeks! When do I get a break?” In fact, the longer you take out the garbage, the less likely it is that someone will do it.


Fact 3If you care more about a task being done, you’re more likely to end up doing it–and just because you care about it doesn’t mean that others feel the same way. You think it’s important to clean out the basement, and you expect your spouse to share the work, but your spouse thinks, “We never use the basement anyway, so why bother?” People are much less likely to share work they deem unimportant. At least not without a lot of nagging.


Fact 4If you want someone else to do a task, don’t do it yourself. This sounds obvious, but think about it. If you think you shouldn’t have to do it—don’t. Someone else is a lot more likely to do it if you don’t do it first. Of course, this doesn’t always work. Someone must get the kids ready for school. But many tasks are optional.
So resolve to “Consider the hard facts about shared work,” and see if these points alter the way you think about work you share with others.




Gretchen Rubin

Thursday, January 5, 2017

A look back on 2016.....

Highlights of 2016:
  1. Met all our near and dear ones all over the world 
  2. Lost 2 very dear uncles (A & A)
  3. Chased simplicity, created systems.
  4. First timer highschooler and middle schooler
  5. Presidents Award to the high schooler.
  6. 2 brand new 2nd Dan Black belts in the family
  7. Celebrated a 50th Wedding Anniversary!
  8. A brand new car and the many trips in it!
  9. And so many many wonderful trips from Lake Tahoe to Toronto to India and Houston
The days are long but the years are short-  The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Pollock Pines- a cute little town tucked away

Sierra At Tahoe

Palli Perunal 

Tropical plants

Clicks captured during Feb- Mar Kerala trip
too many funerals...

Spring in Downtown Sunnyvale , and burgers at Nom Burger

Really good!

Sierra At Tahoe - another trip, another beautiful day!


And all the way to Toronto to celebrate a very special 84th birthday!

Back in warmer climes - Fragrant Nature Kollam



 View with my morning coffee- pure bliss!

Lush greenery- very restorative for the soul....

Another great trip @FN Kochi

Immersed ourselves in some art and culture :)

Back home...
Running...

Rock Climbing..

Back in India- another trip 
A view of the final resting place of my favorite Uncle :(

And Christmas in Houston :)

Lovely sights on a wintry day in Houston

And rounding out the year with our favorite place...


Lake Tahoe!!
Happy New Year!