The Secret of Happiness is to count your blessings

I do not make too many resolutions in the beginning of a year however experiencing life in a new way is very important to me. When I started 2016, I had no idea the year will turn out to be much more exciting than I had thought of. Every year has its own ups and downs and I had my share too but this post is about counting the best things that happened to me in 2016

Reconnecting With Old Friends- Check

“Time is precious and don’t waste it on things and people that do not matter” 

Though I follow this, I also learnt to slow down in life with people after realizing that I had been running really fast leaving many connects behind not that I had nothing to do with them but I never made an effort to connect to them. So this year was about making time to reconnect. Meeting a very dear friend in the beginning of this year was a wish come true after a real long gap however I realized that I was consistently being handed over the scissors by that friend, I had to cut those chords and focus on the ones who treasured my friendship. I spent two good weeks with my childhood friend (after 21 years) road tripping around California. I had no clue about meeting her this year and accidentally discovered her. I was walking towards the luggage belt at San Francisco airport when I saw her reaching out to me with flowers in her hands; Nostalgic!!! It felt as if time paused and many flashbacks ripped through my mind in those couple of steps I walked towards her. We kissed each other endlessly with tears rolling down our cheeks. Nothing had changed between us except that we had seen 21 summers without each other. Next few days were spent reflecting on our lives, kids, families, careers etc. whole night of Pub hopping in Vegas, road tripping On pacific coastal highway of California,  Gorging on Clam Chowder and cruising around Golden gate bridge; every day was about making up for lost time. We parted with a promise to stay in touch.

Another college friend came down to stay with me from Canada, We met after 15 years. Inspired by my post on Muziris, she planned a trip to witness the history herself and that made us reconnect. This was the second time of the year I was feeling so proud of another girl friend who has taken control of her life and faced everything head on. Both friends enhanced my confidence to live every day of life with daring dreams and that left me with a resolution to connect with more long lost friends next year.
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Go to a place you have never been to- Check-Check-Check
The reason I put three checks is because I visited three new countries this year. I have been traveling from many years and visiting a new country once a year has been on for 10 years now. However this year was different, I visited three new countries that inspires me to travel six in 2017. Enjoying the pristine mountains of Himalayas in Bhutan, salt water healing in Maldives, exploring nightlife of Vegas, road tripping in California, it not only refreshened me but inspired me to explore different lands for the coming years. A jungle walk in the Periyar forest, meeting indigenous people of Kerala in Gavi Historical trip in the lost and found Patnam town in Kerala and a tete-a-tete with Indian soldiers on Indo-Pak Attari border, have enriched my travel lust.
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Introduction to Isha Yoga-Check
My Yoga practice had deepened since I shifted to Kerala 18 months ago. I owe my deeper spiritual connect to Gods own country. I have always believed that everything happens for a reason. May be Isha yoga was the reason why I shifted to Kerala. My one day at Isha ashram in the middle of this year was a life changing experience. It has not only introduced me to Isha Yoga and meditation but made me learn spiritualism more scientifically. In my six months of Isha connect I learnt Shambhavi Mudra which brought complete shift in my mind, I can now meditate effortlessly twice everyday. I not only lost physical weight but more importantly the weight I used to carry on my mind. I learnt to create a distance between my mind and unwanted thoughts. My Guru has surely taken me for a ride and transformed me forever. I visit this space of self-transformation, Isha Ashram once in two months to immerse deeper into Isha philosophy and owe a part of my life to touch more lives with Isha Yoga in time to come.
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She Is Not Lost- Beginning of my Blog
It has just been 4 months since I started writing this blog and I already feel I have been blogging for ages. Many of my readers have asked me curiously why I named it SHE IS NOT LOST  . Ahhh! This blog gives me space to express my thoughts without any judgements and I don’t have to hide my feelings thinking of the outcome. I feel alive and every time I read my own expressions; I find the new me, the real me. I have published 26 posts so far and enjoyed every moment I spent in expressing myself
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Though none of the above happenings are in order, every point I wrote I felt was the best thing that happened to me in 2016. This blog made me connect with many new friends who have inspired me  to get out my comfort zone and discover a different world out there which has no boundaries, no particular way to live but an endless thirst to wander around, learning and unlearning life once again.
Well said by Abraham Lincon “And in the end its not the years in your life that counts. Its the life in your years”
Happy 2017!