Growing old is a precarious business.

Growing up is a precarious business. It should come with a big warning label that reads “grow up at your own risk”, or “growing up may be injurious to your health”. In the least, it should come with a user’s manual, money-back guarantee, or an “Escape” Or “Undo” button, won’t you agree?

It almost sneaks up on you. You are young and wild one day, and all saddled up the other. Before you know it, you are blowing out way too many candles on your birthday cake, or menacingly plucking the greys, battling bills, shuffling jobs, paying mortgage, finding yourself way too often in places and in situations you just don’t want to be in. You want to run to the bathroom and just scream, “Mommy, I wanna go home” (Or wait, you never do that, do you? It’s only me…Right…moving along!)

I am not entirely sure when “growing up” turns into just “growing older”, cause that precise age varies for different people. To me, the part that absolutely sucks, is that after having enjoyed the fruits of youth, growing older, is just so “in your face”. The first to go is your 20/20 vision, followed by a slowly retarding health. Losing your memory is only the last slap in your face. You are like, “after all this you could have at least spared me the memory!”

Sorry, I am not painting a very pretty picture about growing up (apologies to those who still have “growing up” to do), am I? But difficult to believe as it may be, the dark clouds do come with a silver lining. Age brings with it the gift of wisdom and humility. It gives you the maturity to treasure time, family and friends. It gives you the confidence to know, that in the end, reaching the destination is worthless if the journey is not fun.

So here is an advice, do all the growing up you need to, but keep the inner child alive. So that one day, you can look back and say with pride, “Look how far I have come and how much fun I had along the way”.

Inspired by Daily Post

“Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)”

A window breathes life into a house; providing a peephole into the world that awaits you.

Yet, what would a window be, if it were never to open? Never letting the air of the heavens, the light of the sun or the songs of birds drift in? And worse still, what would happen to such a house where the windows were always to stay shut?

Keep your faith alive and the windows of your heart forever open.

Reboot

Have you ever experienced random issues with your PC? What do you do when it starts to run slow, frequently hangs up or simply refuses to respond to any amount of angry keyboard knocking? You probably reboot your system. Infact rebooting your machine is the first rule of troubleshooting.

Bizarre as this may sound, the human body is a lot like a PC where multiple functions are being processed at the same time in a well orchestrated manner. However, years of abuse will cause the body to become toxic causing the well calibrated human machinery to finally slow down and shut. Dr. Mark Hyman in his blog http://drhyman.com/blog states, “When our detoxification system is overwhelmed, it gets overloaded. That’s when we start developing symptoms and getting sick”. So the answer is simple; reboot your body like you would a machine, correct?

Now this is where the human body differs substantially from a computer; a simple “restart” button just won’t do the trick. After all, it took us years of misuse and bad habit to get us here. Ridding our body of toxins and disease will require a paradigm shift. It will require a lifestyle change.

Getting out of a rut requires slow yet consistent efforts. Start with making one small change a day; for e.g. pledge to avoid all kinds of sugars for the day, or eat only fruits and vegetables, drink 12 glasses of water, exercise 5 days a week, avoid alcohol and so forth. Whatever the case may be, make the effort to make one small change, and then stick with it. According to an old adage, “Birds of the same feather flock together”. Habits are like birds. One bad habit will attract more of its kind as will a good one.

Here is my pledge. I pledge to eat small meals constituting fruits and salads with healthier snack options. So now over to you; which habit will you be sacrificing or adopting?

Stay Cute

One of my top resolutions this year is to “Stay in Shape”. To me that means eating healthy, exercising and staying positive the year round. I like to see myself as a person who is constantly improving and evolving. The destination is not as important as the journey. My goal is simple; looking and feeling “My best”. My method; staying as close as possible to nature in order to materialize this goal.

For instance, instead of taking a vitamin in order to increase my immunity can I use wholesome foods and exercise to achieve the same? I believe I can. Nature has given us everything we need in order to stay healthy, and that these foods don’t even have to be exotic or expensive. They are the same mundane fruits and veggies we see in our regular grocery stores, everyday. It’s all about what we eat and how we eat.

I will be posting articles on my blog and coming up with new ideas to motivate myself to stay at the top of my game. Feel free to join me and share with me your ideas that help you stay at your top game.

So here’s to staying cute! 😉

Huntington Library

If you live in California or are visiting the “Golden State” then an absolute “must see” for you is the Huntington Library. A much underrated haven for art lovers that offers a lot more than a splendid collection of books and art. Spread over a vast expanse of 120 acres it has some of the finest gardens such as the Japanese, Chinese, Rose, Australian, Camellia and the Desert. Each offering a completely different theme and above all a monastically serene environment.

My favorite among them is the Japanese garden with its authentic Japanese house that offers a picturesque view to the pond with its arching wooden bridge. The garden is lush with a cascading waterfall on one side. The sight is so exquisite; I thought I was in a magical wonderland. Zen garden and the Bonsai display are close neighbors to the Japanese garden and characterized by their stoic beauty.

My second favorite however is the famous lily garden. You absolutely want to take your time here and just sit and relax; soaking in the wonders of nature and mankind.

The Rose garden not only attracts families with kids but also many beautiful birds, bees and bumble bees, the latter two not being my absolute favorite. I have visited the Huntington twice before and found the Chinese garden to be absolutely extraordinary. This time however, it was undergoing some renovation which unfortunately took away some of its charm.

The art exhibitions are absolutely amazing as well. And yes, Thomas Gainsborough’s “The Blue Boy” is to Huntington as “Mona Lisa” is to The Louvre Museum in Paris.

All the walking is sure to get one hungry and before you know it you are looking for food. Although the Rose Garden Tea Room looks absolutely enchanting with its cutesy decor and beautifully arranged sandwiches, cheeses, salads and desserts, we decided to go the cheaper route and visited their café instead. The regular cafeteria has sandwiches, desserts, hot dogs, burgers reasonably priced. I must admit I wasn’t crazy about the food, note to self; bring home-made sandwiches and snacks next time.

A word of advise. Be prepared to do some research, and plan which gardens and exhibitions you want to focus on. The reason being that the visitation hours are very little and the grounds to cover are expansive. Planning before hand, will make sure you can focus on all the items that you and your family care about the most, without running out of time. Also wear your best walking shoes since you will be doing a lot of walking. Carry some light snacks and sandwiches so you don’t have to shell out a lot of money on the food, since the entrance ticket is fairly expensive in itself. Enjoy!

Happiness Code

While for some happiness is a ubiquitous state of mind that exists between the two ears, for others its more elusive. The absence of stress is not happiness. To me happiness is just being in peace with oneself and one’s sourroundings. The hum drum of daily life with its share of stresses, work load and undue expectations can easily strip one of a peaceful state of mind. So is there a happiness code, or a formula to happiness?

Here is what works for me:

Exercise: Exercise keeps your body moving and blood flowing releasing feel good hormones. It activates and energises the body, mind and soul. I have noticed sparing an hour daily on exercise at least 6 days a week helps me not only stay in shape but also control my mood.
Law of gratefullness: Be grateful for all that you have versus what you don’t. More of the things that you are grateful for will appear.
Live in the moment: We either reminisce the past or plan for the future. Rarely do we truly enjoy the moment. Just be now and here.
Eat Healthy: Ideally majority of our food should consist of plants and fruits but if that’s not possible try having a bowl of salad with every meal.
Make attainable goals: Take time to set goals and each day do a little of what you can to achieve them.
Stay clutter free: Clean up; donate unnecessary things, empty out emotional baggage. Remember while organizing is a good habit, don’t start stressing over too much organization.
Sharing: It’s funny that joy grows and sorrow decreases with sharing. Share what you can, when you can; it brings good karma.
Remove Negativity: Live life on your own terms. This may mean making tough decisions such as removing toxic habits and people from your life. Don’t get caught in the vicious circle of negativity.
Monitor your speech and words: Speak what you mean and mean what you speak, but always think before you speak. Words can hurt like daggers and while people may forgive more than likely they will never forget.
Pray often: Pray with intention as often as possible. Prayers get answered.

What makes you happy?

It’s important to take time out to do the things that help us recharge and unwind. Again they are all different for different people, as also ever changing.

Here are the 5 things I want to do this weekend (that will make me happy)

1) Cook a healthy meal: It really does not have to be raw to be healthy. This weekend I want to use fresh produce to make a delectable, satiable meal rich with colors and health.

2) Go visit Getty: Getty is beautiful and beautiful places make me very happy.

3) Exercise: It’s hard to pull myself up and go to the gym, but every time I do it, I thank myself. I also make a list of “things to Do”, and exercise is the easiest task to cross out.

4) Pamper myself: I am thinking…a Facial? A nice relaxing fruit facial.

5) Just chill: Enjoy a glass of wine while watching a flic.

Welcome to ubecute.com

Welcome to my blog, UBeCute. The general theme of this blog in essence is the “Pursuit of happiness”. Happiness is a very personal concept since it means different things to different people.

To me it’s all about enjoying and cherishing the beauty of life, places and people around me. It’s also about keeping my mind busy and body healthy, as they are our vehicles to happiness and realizing our true calling.

About a year ago I managed to gain about 15 pounds, thanks to eating out, not exercising enough, and carrying unnecessary stress. I was convinced I had to lose weight, but I wanted to do it by eating a healthy and balanced diet rather than crash dieting. In my quest to lose weight I started reading books on raw and vegan diets and the importance of fruits and vegetables on human body. The more I read and incorporated a healthy lifestyle into my life the more my body changed for the better. The result was slow; yet emphatic.

I am not against enjoying a crisp glass of chardonnay or eating a burger once in a while, but I make a conscious and determined effort, to pursue options that are wholesome and unprocessed. Join me in my quest for happiness.