Happy New Year Reflections and Ways to Reinforce Goodness

Happy New Year to all my family, friends, and followers!  Wishing everyone a new year of health, love, abundance, and happiness.  I am grateful for your journey with Travel Plus Them and more to come!

While there are many thoughts on 2020, I just wanted to share a different perspective centered on hope and appreciation.  Who were you with on New Year’s Eve? 

I ended the year the way the same way I started the year… With my family. It does not matter where we were, but we are together. My immediate family- husband, parents, siblings, grandmothers, and all my children are still here on earth. Unfortunately, not everyone can say the same.

I am not saying that 2020 was without challenges and losses (and everyone had them in different ways), but please let’s not constantly say 2020 was a bad year! 

Lakshmi's Learnings- Rather let’s grow from our challenges, show empathy to those who are suffering, lend a helping hand to those in need, and most importantly be grateful for all that we have.  Reflection and hope are extremely important for our children. They channel the emotions that we feel and demonstrate in our home.  While we all know that that life is not always rainbows and roses, we also should embrace all the changes 2020 brought to our lives with hope for a brighter tomorrow. 

I personally do not like to use the phrase "New Year Resolutions"- since I feel bad when/if I unintentionally "stop doing it".  So, I would rather say here are some "ways" we are reinforcing goodness with my daughters'- encouragement, appreciation, and kindness.  All are part of being a global citizen.

• Encouragement- Take time to compliment your kids.  A few areas of emphasis in our recent times are: focusing on education/activities (especially in a virtual setting-- a new normal for many of us), learning patience, growing so many relationships online, and demonstrating resiliency to all the change they have experienced.  Again, all this is not without challenges and tantrums with sometimes can be frustrating, but our children showed us how it should be done- and for that they receive "A" for effort and agility. 
  • A special bonus that I have received from this is reciprocity.  The girls ask me "when I get a break and how I do it all"! They say "Great Job" right back to me--- with my cooking, my work, etc.  It melts my heart!
  • In addition, my kids now also compliment each other and their classmates when they achieve something.  Positive feedback is contagious... the good contagious!
• Appreciation - Share with our kids what is happening in the world and even within our circle of family/friends and have them say one thing they are grateful for.  This is something we have done over the last few months and it's been a fun and insightful discussion of many different things!
  • We also asked our kids "what did you love most about 2020?" (video above).  All of it was positive which made me happy!  The best things I heard were "online classes and spending time with my parents".
• Kindness- I was always taught that no matter what, we must lend a helping hand because there are people in the world much less fortunate.  Even when I was younger and only had a few toys, my parents would send whatever we could to India. Of course this varies for each household, but even sharing something small = a huge heart!  Since our visit to the orphanage to Costa Rica, my daughters have been talking about the kids and what more we can share with them.  And thus everyday, my girls take a toy or book and put it in our "Box of Kindness".  When the box is full, we will take it to someone in need/local shelters.

Let's create a better tomorrow today.  I leave you with this quote that is resonating with me more than ever- "be the change you wish to see in this world."--- Mahatma Gandhi