Tomorrow I complete one year of meditation and mindfulness. I am quite proud of myself and when I started, I didn’t really think I could really follow this through. I went through the apps I use for this and realised, over the past year, I have done slightly more than 183 hours in the last year. I have really benefitted by practising mindfulness and meditating daily and I have blogged about this previously. Find something that resonates with you, be it the app, the type of meditation and even the time and it will become a habit very soon. If I don’t meditate as soon as I wake up and have my coffee, I feel something is amiss and I think that’s my cue that this has become a part of me now, so much so, I prefer waking up an hour earlier than everyone else just so I have a quiet home in which I can meditate.

My walking took a bit of a hit this month because of the leg and ankle pain I had, but I am happy to report that GG while massaging my ankle one evening, popped something (we both have no idea of what she did, but we heard a distinct pop) and the pain has been minimal or non-existant till today (touch wood!). This month, I have walked across almost the whole of peninsular Malaysia, reaching the northern border of the state of Perak, just short of reaching the state of Penang and Kedah. I will most probably bypass the state of Perlis, because it does not fall in the North-South Expressway and by the end of April, I should enter Thailand.

My reading has really taken off this year and I am currently reading both e-books as well as physical books borrowed from the National Library of Singapore. I am currently 10 books ahead of my scheduled number of books to be read by the end of the year and will have to move my goal post if this goes on.

This week’s quote is about looking at an obstacle and not seeing it as a deterrent, but instead as an opportunity to show what you are made of and of converting that obstacle into an opportuntity and this boils down to your attitude. If you see a glass as half empty, you have a negative attitude and probably see it as something that will hinder progress, but if you see the glass as half empty, that you see things positively, then it’s a learning, even if it is an obstacle and you look at everything thing that happens in your life as a learning experience, be it positive or negative.

From tomorrow, Singapore opens up more and offices can start having 75% of their staff work inside the office as opposed to less than 50% previously. They will work three days a week in office and the remaining two days will be from home. This means that S will go back to work after a year of working from home. He is having mixed feelings about this and will have to start waking up earlier now as he used to sleep the time he had to commute to work.

My parents have taken the first dose of the vaccine, but are still waiting for another week or so before they take the second dose. I am worried about them as India, my home state of Maharashtra and specifically Mumbai has seen a huge spike of cases in the last week or so. I keep telling them not to delay their second dose, but apparently they need to wait six weeks for the second dose for the particular vaccine they have gotten. If you are eligible for vaccination, please go ahead and take them as soon as possible. S and I signed up for our turn last week when the government announced vaccines for our age group. This week we got our personalised link and have signed up for our first doses later this month and the second dose scheduled for early May.

That’s all people, stay safe, stay masked and get vaccinated if you are eligible.