The Willpower way

A beautiful mind

It seems everyone's on a quest to get fit. Jogging, gym, Pilates, cycling and a host of other sports all promote good health. A healthy diet and exercise plan are important, but  mental health and mood also play a large role in a totally healthy you. A beautiful mind can be yours by following few simple tips.

Sleep on it.
Its funny how we often neglect one of the most important drivers of mental well being: sleep. Life is busy, so we tend to steal the time we should be using for rest and relaxation. Getting adequate sleep should be on the top of everyone's list for achieving a healthy mind. An hour extra at night r a afternoon nap? Choice is yours.

Stretch you brain
Grab the daily paper and do the crossword. Test your general knowledge with the quiz. Play Sudoku to boost your numeracy skills. Or go online and find some brain teasers. Simply Google ' brain games' and you will find heaps of the ways to discover the secret power of your brain, with memory exercises, mental challenges, puzzles, logic problems, cryptograms, 3D mazes, optical illusions and many more.

Walk the walk
Walking is good for your body, right? Yes but it is also one of the best mental exercises you can take up. Walking stimulates thinking and gives you time to clear the issues of the day and even just daydream. Stroll through the park. Amble along the beach side at dusk. Or if you are within few kilometers of work, try walking instead f driving.

Chill out
Scientific evidences show that listening to your favorite music - from Beethoven to the Beetles, or Mozart to Massive Attack - can assist concentration, filter distractions, prolong attention span, and encode information in memory. When you need to do your best brain-work, music can sharpen your mind. Its also very relaxing.

Feed your brain
Your brain needs nutrition to help it think, make connections, and rest. Foods such as salmon, avacado, blueberries, spinach, nuts, seeds, olive oil and tea all have properties that can boost mood, assist memory and generally contribute to healthy brain function. Want one more? Dark chocolate

In a Macquarie University study, participants were asked to three gym sessions a week. But as a result, they also radically reduced smoking, drinking, television watching, junk food intake and saved money, all without being prompted to do so. Willpower overflowed into every aspect of their lives. 

Please note this article is copied from The Balance issue magazine (MORE Autumn 2013) as it contains good information for health.

Being Mum

I am mom of 2 years old toddler. She screams on me she gives cute smile, makes funny faces, runs to give me cuddle. Its just very beautiful experience. I can't say if its good to have baby early in relationship or late. Nor to say babies are angels or toughest toddlers. I am sure to say, something I truly wished and I am enjoying. Not all moments will be fun and joyful. But it makes you feel complete. I am lucky that I experienced Love in every corner. As they say to Mom, with her, I don’t need to look back. Thanks for always being there!’ I always wonder can I be good mother? What it takes to be good mother? Before I was mum, I didn't know the feeling of having my heart in front of me outside my body. I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn't know that bond between us, how it started. She is so small but makes me feel the best, very special, most loved. I didn't know I was capable to make her feel loved and she trusts me. When she falls, her eyes are full of questions, more than pain that I was there and I didn't stop her from falling. I never thought of I would love to do house work but I do clean house every day so that she will be healthy. Before being Mum, I never looked in teary small eyes and cried and smiled and laughed and felt happy.I never knew that something so small could change my life so much, I would love being mum. Its wonderful but not easy when you have been puked on - pooped on - spit on - chewed on - peed on -  bite by tiny teeth. Sleeping whole night is dream now, even if someone asks me to sleep while they can take care of her I can't stop taking care of her. I have to see her alright, can't stop being mum and just sleep. Love you so much darling!

Travel: How to reach Pithapuram, Karnataka. India

All devotees of Shripad Shri Vallabha knows the Pithapur as birth place. We had chance to visit Pithapur in December 2013. In my search I found some good information and different experiencing of travel to Pithapur.

I had considered all 3 options by road, by train and by plane, and finalised based on time and cost. We had selected Air and train travel. Travelers were one aged couple, one young couple, 3 kids from Mumbai.

Journey Options:-

By Road:- 

To reach Pithapur we had to travel from Mumbai - Pune (150 km. 4-5 hrs) - Solapur (251 km 7-8 hrs)- Hyderabad (320 km. 10 hrs) - Pithapur (480 km 13 hrs.) route, total 1200 km app. time calculated including snack breaks. To travel from one end of India to other end of India, we had to make 2 stops in night at Solapur and Hyderabad. So we dropped that idea as return travel would have taken approximate 7 days. 

By Air:-

There are two airports nearby to Pithapuram, 

1. Visakhapatnam (VTZ) 150 km from Pithapuram via  AH 45/NH 5 route and 

2. Rajahmundry (RJA) 60 km from Pithapuram

Depending on distance of road travel, I searched more about Rajahmundry, which has only 2 airlines operating Spicejet and Jet Konnect from Hyderabad. Flight leaves from Hyderabad at around 11 am and return flight is at around 2 pm from Rajahmundry. Cost varies depending on season and promotions of airlines

By Train:- 

There are many trains goes via Pithapuram.

You can also refer below site for exact train station.

http://www.sreepadasreevallabhapithapuram.org/reachpithapuram.html

We had selected Hyderabad as stopover so we selected train options from Secunderabad to Pithapuram. Return Journey to Mumbai from Secunderabad Duronto express. Duronto Express runs between different stations in India on alternate days or couple of days in week. 

In my search I came across one good travel group http://avdhootyatracompany.in/

but it travels from Pune to Pithapur.

Journey Route :-

We finalised our journey as Mumbai - Hyderabad - Rajahmundry by Jet Airays. And return on same day by Godavari express from Pithapuram at 19.20 / 7 pm. to Hyderabad. Stay in Hyderabad and back to Mumbai by Duronto express.

Experience:-

For first time traveler to domestic airport, always carry valid identity card. Mumbai domestic airport is neat and clean, we had no trouble reaching to Hyderabad airport. As we were travelling in first week of December 2013, Severe Cyclone Helen was passing through Andhra Pradesh (due to the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal), our Rajahmundry Flight was affected. Flight was scheduled earlier departure from Hyderabad and then delayed for hour. After taking off flight total travel time to Rajahmundry is 50 mins but due to bad weather condition couldn't land on airport. 

As weather was getting bad Captain decided to take flight back to Hyderabad. We had around 2.5 hours travel time in Plane. By God's grace we were safe. We had to cancel our return train tickets and re-planned our trip. 

We could find waiting list tickets on Indian railway train booking to Samalkot station which is one stop before Pithapuram. We booked Samalkot station 10 km away from Pithapuram because Samalkot has more lodges and hotel facilities than Pithapuram. Our train was departing 7 pm from Hyderabad and arriving at Samalkot morning 5 am. We met one family in train journey, who suggested that its good to go to Kakinada for stay than in Samalkot. So we hired car from Samalkot to Kakinada. Its like traingle kakinada - Samalkot - Pithapuram in distance. We were lucky enough to find car hire in train journey than searching on platform. There are lots of colourful temples on the route of Kakinada, we couldn't stop on all stations due to early morning travel (around 6 am).

Our days plan was changed slightly due to going to Kakinada. We took good nap of 2-3 till morning breakfast in hotel. We had nly plan to visit Pithapura Datta temple on Venugopal Marg. We gave address to driver but he was under impression that its famous temple in Pithapuram so He took us to Kukuteshwar Temple. Its Temple of Shiva and Many more temples together, Shri Shripad Vallabh used to pray in this temple. After prayers, we headed to Venugopal Marg. We reached to Shripada Shrivallabha Mahasansthan 11.50, just before temple door closes. Temple is closed between 12 pm - 5 pm. Devotees can have 'Mahaprasad' in temple dining room. 

After that we headed to Annavaram, which has Lord Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy temple situated. The temple, situated on the hill top. Its good view and very big temple, you will gte big queue walk to reach main view. So its good to keep some time in hand for return journey. Since it was 24 km from Kakinada where we had only our baggage, we could take rest of hour or two. Then we headed to Samlkot station to catch train to Hyderabad.

Hope my travel finds you useful in your journey, have a great trip! Enjoy :-)