Smaller cities vs larger ones

Sometimes I feel that it is better to live in a smaller city than a larger one. There is less congestion compared to it's larger counterparts, and a person does not have to travel great distances to reach some destination. I live in a medium sized city and it has quiet a few facilities, and I feel really comfortable living here. A lot of development has taken place recently making it one of the prime destination for big offices. Due to all the development, people are slowly purchasing plots or houses either for living purposes or investment. A lot of malls have also opened up in the city. All this has led to an increase land prices. Corporate and government offices are scouting for space here since not only is it considered a prime locality but also because there is a lot of space left for development. Smaller cities have more scope for growth and development. But the important part is that the planning should be done with some foresight, so that lesser mistakes are made. When planning out development for an existing city or creating a new one, the town planner should always keep in mind what mistakes were made while making the previous cities so that they can be avoided. I really like all the open spaces with has a lot of greenery which my city offers. Some of the parks are simply beautiful and really refreshes the mind and soul. Sure, the civic authorities sometimes are a little lax in carrying out their civic duties, but that is sure to change with people becoming more aware of their surroundings. Plus, we have become more environmentally friendly. But a lot still needs to be done and we need to be more pro-active than ever before.

A/C problems

Just when we are in the middle of a hot humid monsoon, our air conditioner seems to have gone on a vacation. Yes, you heard me right. Actually what I meant was that it has stopped working. We do have regular fans and coolers also, but they are not as affective in combating humidity as air conditioners. Coolers are ideally meant for summers, when we have hot dry weather. It sucks it all in and blows out moist cool air. When we use it during the rainy season, it just adds more humidity and makes us sweat even more. Anyway, we have called the a/c tech guy. Hopefully, he'll get it up and running real quick.

Turning into a night owl

It’s the end of the financial year for us here and there seems to be an unending amount of work. Pending files and bills have to be cleared before the financial year closes or else we will not get the benefits for it in this year tax filing. This catch up on the work back log has turned me into a night owl. Due to this excessive work load I had noticed that for the last few days I've had trouble sleeping and I have been going to bed at 3:00 or so in the morning on most nights. I work from home and at times I am required to work after hours to finish up pending work also besides the normal work. I have had absolutely no sleep for the last many days and today I started work at 8:00 AM with only 3 hour's sleep as I couldn't sleep when I went to bed last night.

After I opened up my office and handed out work to one of my assistants at 9am I had to go shopping with my mother then go to the branch office for a meeting at 1:00 PM. During the meeting I drank many huge mugs of coffee but had to fight so hard to stay awake! It wasn't like I was getting comfortable and dozing off; I just simply couldn't keep my eyes open! I had to keep shuffling around and blinking and scribbling on my notepaper to try to stop going to sleep! It was so hard...I never used to understand how people could fall asleep while driving but I totally understand now!

I am in the process of reducing some of the work load so that I have “normal” work hours. It’s kinda difficult to get a full night of sleep when one has to complete certain rush orders or beat a deadline. I noticed that when I usually get a few minutes of sleep, like a power nap it just rejuvenates me and drives away the cobwebs in the mind for awhile. Has this ever happened to you and how did you deal with it?

Fright time for kids

Kids always have some kind of fear which lurks in their brains. This fear is the outcome of various factors. These factors lead the brain to enhance the experience in the subconscious mind until it seems more realistic than it should be.

I remember while I was growing up, I was always scared of one thing or another. The first thing I remembered being terrified of was crossing a wooden bridge. I was very sure that there was a monster hidden underneath ready to grab me and start chomping on my leg like you would chomp on a chicken leg. I always used to walk to the side of the bridge and peek underneath to make sure that nothing was hiding underneath before crossing. As I grew a bit older, the monsters shifted their hiding place from under the bridge to my basement and at times the closet in my room. Sometimes, I swore something was hiding under the bed just waiting till the lights were turned off and then crawl out and I’ll turn into a midnight snack. I used to check and double check under the bed, then the closet before going to sleep. I really dread going down to the basement as I was quiet sure that there was something hiding under the stairs. I was always terrified of the dark when I was a little kid. I always preferred to have a light on and every little noise would scare me.

I guess I watched just too much television and always thought that something was out to get me. It really influenced my mind to such a great extent that I actually believed the scary stuff which was shown on TV. As I grew older, these terrors gradually faded into oblivion as I realized that the movie/book monsters only existed in these mediums and the only true real monsters of this world were the mean, demented humans.

Happiness

Life is never easy. But it does become a bit easier if you adopt a policy of live and live. One cannot be bothered about all the stuff going around the world, since we cannot change everything to suit our needs and desires. One must be self satisfied in order to have a more fulfilling life. Otherwise, we shall be nothing but empty shell inside, so full of dissatisfaction, and is always so meaningless.
But one question popped into my mind in regard to this. Are you always trying to make the other person happy, irrespective of your own happiness? I guess in one sense it good that if people around us are happy means then we will be also happy usually. I try to make them feel happy and make others smile just not for satisfying them, but because it gives me inner satisfaction. There are people who take their happiness from making others happy. I cannot fully slot myself into this category, but I enjoy brightening someone's day and making them smile or laugh whenever I can. It's good and positive quality and at times it is good to make others happy, but never at the expense of your own happiness. One must remember that it's a hard and difficult job since you really can't really please everybody. I guess this is one of the reasons why I've been trying to live my life on my own terms and to do what I want to be and if there's a way possible while living my own life and on my own terms can make others happy, is a plus point for me.

On an ending note, I would like to say that happiness is a very contagious thing. I personally feel that if you are happy within yourself then you are always surrounded by happier people. So instead of going out of my way in making others happy, I prefer to have positive outlook and have a happier inner self and I really do believe that all those who come to me also become happier since I do not impose myself nor try to make them happy. I really do not think it is not worth the trouble when you end up doling out everything to others and on the other side you notice that it is you who is ending up suffering and you have not gained anything. So, set limits for yourself when how to make others happy. But, some people feel good when they do good things for others so if he/she is happy that way it is fine I guess.