practicing gratitude Archives

Weekly Dose of Gratitude and Joy [2]

Guys, leave it to me to start something for the blog and let it slip through the cracks! Something I’m super excited about too. Oops! Better self-management in 2019, right?!

Anyways, I’m going to try and be more regular about these posts, as in get them up every Friday. I strive to find the little daily things that give me big feelings of gratitude, and I want to share what I’m finding and learning in my life with the hope that it gives someone else the space to do the same. In fact, I’m expanding this to include the things that bring me joy as well. I think gratitude brings joy and joy brings gratitude. They go hand in hand. So while I’m thinking of one, I should be thinking of the other as well!

With that, here are the things that brought me gratitude and joy this week…

FRIDAY

We had no plans on Friday night, so Vishnu and I cozied up on the couch and watched TV together after K went down. I even fell asleep for a bit (horrible sleep hygiene, but the best sleep ever!).

SATURDAY

We went to my friend Pankti’s house to hang out and have dinner with her, her husband and their little boy Arjun. I can’t tell you how happy it made me to see K + A kinda sorta play together. They were the cutest. They even had this funny moment where Kaiden would put his hand out and Arjun would lean his face into it. Then the two of them would giggle their faces off. CUTEST THING EVER! Thankfully, we caught a slice of it on video too.

SUNDAY

Sunday was a tiring day. K and I were home alone the majority of the day, and he just wore me out. BUT, he woke up from his afternoon nap saying, “Maaaa maaaa, maaaa maaaa.” That little bit was enough to keep me going!

MONDAY

My friend and coworker Lamia and her husband came over for dinner, and K immediately took to Dusty. I should mention he hasn’t seen him in over six months. It was sooo cute, especially because Dusty isn’t the most comfortable around kids. But Kaiden only wanted to be held by him…to the point where I was afraid he may have a hard time going to bed (he didn’t…thank goodness!).

TUESDAY

I went into the office after over a month. The joy in this was not necessarily work (keeping it real!) but rather seeing all my coworkers and catching up.

WEDNESDAY

Vishnu was in Michigan for an interview (he left on Tuesday night) and came home in the evening. Our faces lit up upon hearing the door open. Kaiden was excited to see his dada, and I was thrilled to see my baby daddy and have some bedtime help!

THURSDAY

My sister came over in the evening, and it was so nice to catch up with her and have an extra person around to play with Kaiden. As I like to say every time she visits, I wish she and Adarsh lived next door or at least in the same building. Oh well…I’ll take 3 miles away over nothing!

And those are a few of my gratitude and joy slices from the week! Wishing you a weekend full of both of these things. 🙂

Weekly Dose of Gratitude [1]

written by Parita 1 Comment

As I was reading old MIS posts last week, it dawned on me that I miss sharing more of the every day life stuff. But I don’t think I’ll go back to those types of posts any time soon for a number of reasons. Mainly because our every day is so routine. If there’s something exciting/interesting happening, I’ll definitely share. Otherwise, you can find some of the ‘normal’ stuff on IG and IG stories.

With that being said, I think there’s a hybrid solution to this ‘challenge.’ Instead of posting weekend recaps (even though those are my favorite to reread now!), I’m going to share a ‘Weekly Dose of Gratitude’ post every Friday. This post will highlight all of the simple things I was thankful for the previous week. I’m hoping that looking back on these posts will bring me the same amount of joy (or more!).

Let’s do this!

FRIDAY

We didn’t have our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. Instead, we celebrated on Friday with a full spread – jalapeño pineapple mac n’ cheese, cornbread, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli, cranberry sauce, and a rotisserie chicken. I loved pulling this meal together with my sister!

I took a two hour nap earlier in the day. My parents watched K while I snoozed. So very thankful for that!

SATURDAY

The whole gang walked to the Loop to the Christkindlmarket. And while it was super cold out, I think we all had a great time.

Later in the evening, Vishnu and I went out with my sister and BIL to the Santa Baby Bar. I was pretty hesitant to leave the house but am so glad I did. The decor and my boozy hot chocolate were reason enough to go. Oh and getting to spend time with Vishnu, Aek, and Adarsh too!

SUNDAY

After my parents left, Vishnu and I cleaned up and headed to a playdate with a family from Kaiden’s class. We’d been trying to get together for a while now, and I’m so glad we made it happen because everyone had fun! It’s so nice to connect and spend time with other parents, especially when your kiddos are around the same age.

MONDAY

I completed a 30 minute Barre3 Online workout during my lunch hour. It was hard, I was shaking, and there were certainly a few times when I wanted to quit. But I didn’t! So thankful for the opportunity to recharge in the middle of the day.

TUESDAY

My sister and BIL came over for ‘This is Us’ Tuesday, a tradition we started at the start of this season. I made dinner (nachos!), we ate, and then we watched our favorite show.

WEDNESDAY

I worked from home, and Vishnu ended up being home most of the day too. It was nice to have a little company and goofiness throughout the day!

THURSDAY

I had lunch with my good friend and former work wife Erin today. I hadn’t seen her in forever, so it was so nice to catch up over some delicious food!

I got to see my other old coworker Thea as well. She moved over to a different team a month or so ago, and while I’m still super bummed about that, I’m thankful I still get to see her and catch up when we’re both in the office.
Kaiden was in a GREAT mood when I picked him up from daycare today. Like instead of crying and running towards me, he laughed and ran away from me. Ha! Love my goofy guy!
Vishnu finally made sambhar rice in the Instant Pot. He’s been talking about it ever since he came back from DC. Our friend Kartik, who Vishnu stayed with, makes this regularly. Vishnu saw how easy it was to make and decided to give it a go. Glad he did because – 1. I didn’t have to cook dinner and 2. it was delicious!
And last but certainly not least, my Kaiden turned 17 months old!!!

And that’s my week of gratitude in a nutshell! I hope you found lots of things to be thankful for and continue to do so in the coming week as well.

No portion of this post is sponsored. However, affiliate links are included. There is no extra cost to you, but I do receive a small commission on anything you buy through my links. Thank you for reading and supporting My Inner Shakti!

#100happydays + Thankful Thoughts Journal

written by Parita 14 Comments

Remember how I said one of my goals for this year is to stay present and take things day by day? Well, I’m actually doing something about it! Actually, I am doing two things about it.

1. I signed up for a simple happiness challenge called 100 happy days. When my friend Ankita emailed me about it and said that she was signing up, I couldn’t resist.

The idea of the challenge is to take a picture of something that makes you happy every day for 100 days. You then select a way to share your pictures (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, etc.), tag them with the #100happydays hashtag or a private one you create yourself, and watch the magic happen! And if nothing else, at the end of the 100 days, you have a collection of happy pictures to look back on!

I’ll be sharing my pictures via Instagram @myinnershakti, so feel free to follow along. And if you decide to participate, let me know how I can follow along on your happiness journey as well.

2. Vishnu and I resurrected our Thankful Thoughts journal on January 1st and are doing a fairly good job of documenting three small things that we’re thankful for each day. Our goal (ok fine…MY goal) is to keep up with this for the entire year so that at the end of 2014 we have a long list of all the wonderful blessings in our lives.

Here are some of my favorites so far…

Parita – friendship, health, my hubby, coming home for lunch every day, cards against humanity, my family, having a TJs near us, a husband who tells it like it is, the nice man that held the elevator for me.

Vishnu – Par’s pep talks, chance to be a doctor, walking distance to grocery store, life challenges, football Sundays, a comfy bed, warm climate during the winter, weekends off.

Personally, the things that make me happy are the things I’m thankful for, so I think these two activities will help me focus on all the good “stuff” I have going on right NOW. Not tomorrow, not a year from now, but NOW.

And like someone once told me, there’s nothing like a little gratitude to keep you grounded.

So tell me, are you going to participate in the #100happydays challenge?! What’s your favorite way to practice gratitude?

Weekly Dose of Gratitude and Joy [2]

Weekly Dose of Gratitude [1]

#100happydays + Thankful Thoughts Journal

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