*Metal Pieces*

People are like a metal;various color,texture,origin and values. I love all of their stories like how beautifully they can be moulded into something so much worthy. Every hand it passes through has an incident attached to it, whether it is candy of a kid, a cup of coffee with someone, flowers for someone's beloved or an incentive of a daily labor. I love collecting these metal pieces and their beautiful stories. Its endlessly fascinating, no matter what their design is, they're always worth something to someone and always retain their values.

A small crack

"One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn't fall apart."

It is rather ironic that today’s post offers hope; for a despondent nation is still trying to pick themselves up after their semi-final loss to Australia at the Cricket World cup'2015. In fact the raging debate especially on TV channels, So to begin with let us accept the fact that after a flawless run upto the semi-finals, we did get a nasty crack when playing a better team. Yet, while the margin of defeat, the manner of loss, the poor bowling, batting on display as well as the captaincy will be the subject of much debate the fact is that cricket will continue to be our most loved sport. More importantly, remember it was the same team that were totally outplayed in the Australian series that turned themselves around to have an unblemished run till the semi-finals; clearly proving that we can still mend the cracks and also crack the whip when we want to.

Each one of us would have at various times experienced failure. Most failures largely our own fault where we were disorganized or simply not prepared to succeed. However there could be times when failure hurt us deeply because it was unexpected, we felt humiliated or because we had prepared in all earnest to succeed. In almost all cases failure did not end our life, nor threatened our career or terminate our future. This clearly underscores an important characteristic of failure, that with very few exceptions, failure can only temporarily impact us. Overcoming failure is a matter of 4 simple steps:

Believing in yourself – We throw in the towel when we stop believing that we are capable of achieving what we set out to do. This is primarily because we focus on our limitations and weakness rather than on our strengths and our passion. Each one of us can grow in our chosen field of endeavor, provided we nourish it with the right amount of effort, intellect and discipline. When we do get the results the first time, see it as an opportunity to prepare better and succeed.

Letting time be the healer – When we fail, we must avoid cracking up and seeing lack of success as an end to our aspirations. Do mull over the reasons but do not brood over it forever. Let by gones be by gones but never forget the lesson.

Fresh initiative and diligent effort - Time also gives us an opportunity to go back to the drawing board, come up with fresh strategies and relaunch a fresh attempt with a brighter chance of success. Leveraging our strengths, adding new arsenal to overcome our limitations and honing up skills as also find other means to neutralize our weakness are the key to succeeding.

Not giving up and also knowing when to give up. – Perhaps this is rather difficult to comprehend for there are two diametrically opposite suggestions. Try till you succeed is an old adage and frankly an excellent piece of advice to follow. So what if a crack appears, one can still stick the pieces together and get things functional. However what happens when the cracks are too many and too fragmented. Perhaps the only way out is to replace. Essentially it means that the outer frame is still sturdy, it has tremendous utility but it may require a fresh coat or it may need to be fixed with fresh glue. In investment parlance knowing when to give up is called ‘cutting one’s losses’.

You may lose a thousand battles but you can still win the war ! Don’t give up- don’t give in; just give it your best shot ! even it means having to take a decision to cut your losses.

Try these:

1. List out 5 of your major failures. Think of atleast 3 reasons for your failure. Have those failures made you risk averse?
2. Try all of the following. Attempt each of it atleast 3 times ( each succeeding attempt being at least 3 days apart)

• Creating a drawing using any software
• Playing a card game / board game / indoor game that you have never played before
• Preparing a dish you have never cooked / attempted before
• Doing something that you were mortally fearful / apprehensive of eg. Holding a reptile in your hand / participating in a public speaking contest etc.

A True Story

A lady in a faded grey dress and her husband, dressed in a home-spun suit walked in timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Harvard.

“We want to see the President “the man said softly.

“He’ll be busy all day “the secretary snapped.

“We’ll wait” the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president..

“Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they’ll leave” she said to him. The President, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him “We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.”

The president wasn’t touched….He was shocked. “Madam” he said, gruffly, “we can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.”

“Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly ” We don’t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.”

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, “A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.”

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly,

“Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don’t we just start our own?”

Her husband nodded. The president’s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name: - Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

Most of the time we judge people by their outer appearance, which can be misleading. And in this impression, we tend to treat people badly by thinking they can do nothing for us. Thus we tend to lose our potential good friends, employees or customers. 
#trueFiction #inspiration

Limitless

Usually When we're asking for something on any special occasion, we've an idea of how it might look and the way  in which we think it should best come to us, think about a list you've written or being asked what you'd really like?

And then if you were anything as a little kid, you're write the list and stick it on your fridge for everyone to see as well as placing extra copies in front of your parents. Come on, you've gotta cover all bases right?

But then, when it came time to receiving, how many times were you absolutely, totally and utterly away at how much more you received than you had even asked for?
A few weeks ago, I was praying and asking for wisdom in a certain area of my life and waiting for direction on how best to move forward. After a few days, I  realized  I was actually trying to work it out myself. You know those times when you sort of think you  might  know how God will respond and its almost like you begin to predict what He might do?

Anyway, I surrendered it to Him and awaited patiently.

Two days ago our faithful God answered me, as just HE always does. However in addition to answering my question, he proceeded to bless me super abundantly more than I even asked for. That's our God though. He is the God of MORE than enough. He is the God  of  super abundantly far over and above all we dare ask or think.

You open Your Hand and satisfy the desire of everything living thing.

So as we walk into this new season, let us not limit God with our  small  thinking...because even our best idea is still only a tiny fraction of what He has in store for us...!

Have a awesome weekend..!!

Weired Age

The "Weird age"
Oh yes, it's true!
Age of 30 is consider as difficult for Boys & Girls. Your friends are getting married, few of them already got married, Your career has just started,Elders treat you as unproven theorems, teenagers feel that you are too old to have in their group... You seem to enjoy both cartoon and news..

You can no longer eat whatever you wish without putting on weight..You are not invited for weekend hangouts, movies. Every Aunt you meet asks 'When are you getting married' while uncle asks 'What have you thought of your marriage/career' When the reality is that you are just riding the wave and going with the flow. You have all the confidence in the world but little achievements to show, You already have the first hand experience of the life, You can be denied for a job even after passing the test and you could be given a job if you know someone placed high enough.. Politics till now was not important but now you feel it everywhere..You know now love is not that blind and that friendship has its terms and conditions. You know there is nothing for granted and free lunches are not free. Your over confidence is now making way for a humble conscience. You now know it is not exactly what we thought it would be. The "weird age". 

#sketch #WeiredAge #shailla'zDiary <3

Oranges On The Branch

Botanical Illustration-1

For some time now I've been working on technical illustration skills and have been using my love of nature as the subjects for my own artistic evolution. Though, it requires a solid understanding of the processes, components, techniques, knowledge of the subject,history, and many many hours of practice. 

I am applying much of my spare time to learning a little of this art form, and I am LOVING IT!! I have discovered some wonderful books on the subject, along with some excellent web sites, and online resources  

I've discovered that capturing the color variations, the texture, and the rich dimension of fruit and flowers takes very keen observation skills along with a deep knowledge of color mixing and brush strokes, most of which I am lacking.

I painted it from a photo reference, and even so, I found it very challenging to create consistent color tones on all of the leaves, and realistic texture effects on the skin of the oranges. It's much harder than it looks and attempting it has given me a whole new level of respect for botanical illustrators and artists.

Back Again

Hey, I'm back again after a long writing vacation, now I'll share all the smaller things I'm into that might not fit into a single post for one reason or another. Sometimes there might be a long list of randomness, other times it might be a single gem-whatever the case, here's what I'm into right now.

So,

What up!

This was an oddly long week. Yesterday felt like friday all day but it was only  Thursday.

This was my last night project, will try to complete today only.

#singlikenoone'slistening

And for some time now I'll work on technical illustration skills and have been using my love of flowers and nature as the subjects for my own artistic evolution.

Happy Weekend..!!

Enjoii..!!