Urban vs Suburban

Growing up in a suburb, most of us would have visualized about living in a city. As a child, we always feel that city life is more fun to live and any vacation to our relative’s place who lives in a city, used to be super exciting. Back then, those might be the best days of our childhood. Well, even I wished the same and when I got married and moved to a city, I was on cloud 9.

These days, most of us have a travelling job, and we travel to different cities across the world. But are we content? That's the question I keep asking myself and every time I get the same answer. NO.  One thing we always miss is peaceful and quiet environment. It is now I realized, being brought up in a suburb was a blessing.

Some people do enjoy a city that never sleeps, but after a long day at work, wouldn’t it be nice to just leave all those noisy environment and light pollution in the city and come home to a peaceful neighborhood that’s so quiet where there is respite from the horns, sirens and city lights? Living

in a suburban community will give you the peace you would need to recharge and prepare for the next day’s challenges.

Won't it be relaxing to walk in the garden of our community with your pet or count the number of stars in the sky with our kids? But now going out to gaze at the starlit sky or to breathe in fresh air and walk along tree- lined streets with your pet would be a dream come true and an opportunity that could be rarely experienced in a city life. If you observe, most of these Urban communities, have strict rules when it comes to pet owners.In Suburban communities, we will find ample space and neighbors who also have pets and so we get more opportunities to exercise and socialize your most important family members.

Living in suburban community, definitely improves the quality of life we live. We can escape from the stress of a city life by avoiding the traffic, crowd and also we get we get bigger houses and more space compared to the money we would be paying in the city. We can have our own gardens, backyards and also can comfortably entertain our friends and family members without worrying about the space. Since suburban communities are bigger compared to the complexes in the city, there is enough place for the kids to play around or ride their own bike without worrying about the hustle bustle. The lesser the traffic, more the fresh air and closer to natural scenery. If you are planning to raise your children close to nature and trying to build a sense of community in them then suburban communities should be the best option.

Let’s live each day of our life like a vacation. Stress-free, relaxed, closure to nature and happy!

Farming - A New Stress Buster

Stress is definitely an unavoidable part of our lives now. It is a natural response of a human mind when he feels pressure to do or feel something. Stress can affect your health, well being, relationships, work and enjoyment of life can suffer. But you don’t have to let stress rule your life. Whether you feel stressed every now and then, or all the time, you need to work out what’s bothering you and find ways to cope.

Mother nature certainly has a vantage point to evoke a stress relieving environment by cultivating a healthy hobby where we can weed out those unwanted office and personal tensions. Many nature lovers find farming and gardening therapeutic as it brings people closer to nature and also strengthens family bonding. Watch your farm grow and your stress will shrink!

Couple of days back, I was having a discussion with a friend regarding reading as a stress reliever. But then, he gave me a long list of benefits with a little or rather no downsides, of how farming is a bountiful opportunity to grow your own organic and delicious food. Farming clearly has a positive impact on stress as well as mood, and it deserves a little more attention as a stress relief option. There are several benefits to farming that can minimize stress.

Here are few reasons why farming is a fantastic stress reliever.

Sunlight:

Getting out in sunlight can actually improve your mood. Farming exposes you to both sunlight and fresh air by allowing you to soak in Vitamin D that triggers happy response to your mind.

Grow Your Own vegetables:

What else would you need in life if you could grow vegetables in your farm that are high in Calcium, Magnesium and B Vitamins. I am not much found of cooking food, but if I see all the vegetables I cook are growing in my backyard, I am sure going to love cooking.

Get Closer to Nature:

In our busy schedule of urban life, not everyone has time to go camping into the woods or take a nature hike each day. Instead if we have our piece of nature just in our backyard, our urge to connect to nature will be fulfilled.

Love for Butterflies:

Love butterflies and hummingbirds? Then why not grow a butterfly garden? Grow a farm that are full of plants and flowers that attract butterflies. The great thing about butterfly gardens is that many of the same flowers also attract hummingbirds. It would be a mesmerizing view to see a habitat of butterflies in your backyard.

Meditation:

The beauty of nature is a great stress reliever in itself. You will feel more clear and calm after the time spent in your farm. It allows a space for your brain to take a break. Having your own bit of beauty available as a place for meditation, contemplation and relaxation can provide quite a bit of relief from stress. It’s all part of making your home a haven from stress.

Act of Hope:

We plant a seed and trust that it will grow into a beautiful crop. Nurturing a farm is a way of stepping outside of ourselves and it helps to put things in perspective by allowing ourselves shift the focus away from self and this can help us in times of anxiety and stress.

So what are you waiting for! Go create your own farm that can bring peace and joy to your stressful urban life. Get started. Get going. Happy Farming to You!

Childhood Lost in The Digital World

⁠⁠⁠From food to photos, music to video games; childhood today is almost unrecognizable compared to just 20 years ago. When I look back and think what I did when I was 6 years old, I don’t recollect doing anything that was even close to what kids are doing today. Well, what I did while growing up was a real life.😊

Couple of days ago, I saw my nephew feeling blessed when his mom asked him to stay home and do whatever he wants to do. I was surprised to see him happy. I remember my mom setting up rules for me and my sister, which was actually an universal rule to play outside: “Come back home when the street lights are ON”. Being forced to play indoors was a punishment. Like for a real punishment. Being grounded means you aren’t allowed to go outside and it was a torture. That made me think what has changed in these 20 years. And the answer is our lifestyle.

When I compare the house and locality I grew up in to today’s way of living, there is a huge difference. There were parks, gardens and open areas where we could play and socialize with everyone. But today with cities growing so rapidly, you just see concrete forest everywhere. There are any playgrounds, gardens or even a lawn in front of or near our homes. It is sad that there are only skyscrapers everywhere.This has also been one of the major reason why kids these days prefer staying indoors and  playing video games, watch television or chat with their friends on their cellphones.

A thinking capacity of a child is based on the capacity to reflect, reason and draw conclusion based on his experience, knowledge and insight. Unless the child gets an exposure to all aspects of the real life, he would always live in an illusion where everything is digitally operated and each one of us are dependent on Google. You might Google it and find out how a Mango grows, but the fun you experience by planting your own Mango tree, see it grow and wait for the fruit to come is completely different and an experience worth living. I am sure each one of us in our summer vacations would had planted a Mango seed, watered it religiously and waited for the plant to sprout out. 😊

But today, it is practically not possible because with the growing cost of living and our busy schedules, no one has time and energy to teach our kids any of this. That is why, we see community farming is trending a lot these days. What else would we need if we can grow our own food? How beautiful would it look if we had our own beautiful farm in the backyard of our homes and everything we eat is cultivated by us and our family. I would feel blessed!

These days money isn’t an issue. Though everyone can afford to buy a farm but no one actually has time to invest in maintaining the farm. But instead if 10 of them have invested in a big farming land and are developing the land together as a community, the task becomes very easy. The benefit of this is we have someone who is taking care of our property when we are away and at the same time, we are teaching our kids how to enjoy nature.

How about gifting your kid Goodness of  Nature as hobby where he can grow his own food and would preserve as beautiful lifetime memory, instead of, those Tech gadgets which will make your child stay indoors all the time?