Scanning Life

Photo by Kyle Wagner on Unsplash

We are all young, happy and full of life once upon a time. We went to school, ran and jumped, cried and laughed, had our first crush, our first love, our first job, which on every occasion lit up our eyes are made out hearts race. Times pass by, we miss out as we work, work harder than yesterday forgetting ourselves, get married, bare babies, bare the weight life weighing down on our shoulders with relentless responsibility. Now when we sit quietly, stiffing and skimming through the pages of a magazine or scanning through television channels, we have our memories to spell out our life gone past by only regretting the choices we didn’t make or chances we didn’t take!

©Shweta, 2020. All Rights Reserved.

New Year Celebration - A Short Story

Photo by David Espina on Unsplash

I will see you in the New Year, a message lit up Victoria’s silent phone a few hours before midnight. There was a wooden frame on the shelve, a photo of her old flame, reminding her of paraphernalia with a grin on her face, an essence rekindling relationship.


Bashfully, with friends surrounding her, Victoria refilled her glass with Cabernet Sauvignon, continued to turn over the lifeless pages of their wedding album, making memories come alive.

A few minutes, before midnight, the doorbell rang with two officers, with handcuffed state criminal and the fireworks broke midnight, celebrating their reunion.



©Shweta, 2020

Rearrange

Photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash

Olivia wasn’t sure how 2020 should’ve started.

She liked her simple furniture despite being worn, simple wintry jackets though a decade old. She was just satisfied with all the old appliances that worked fine although the models were outdated. She did not go shopping during the Christmas for purchase of new clothes or gifts in spite of her mother tried to drag her out of her gloomy room. She suggested making some positive changes to perk up the monotony looming their life.

Olivia made a decision. She’d keep the old bits & bobs, but rearranging it, her house will breathe new life in itself and leave a sparkle.

As for the light blue flower box carved out of wood, it’ll remain as is in the corner of her room! Olivia was in denial with what plight her two-month-old endured, keeping the little one's gubbins, not ready to meddle or rekindle the heart-wrenching memories.


©Shweta, 2020

A Cold Wintry Night - A Flash Fiction

Photo by Joël de Vriend on Unsplash

It is a cold winter night, my arms & feet frozen. Sitting by the fireplace in an old dimly lit house, my breathing hastens.

Breathing feels painful. I try breathing from my mouth, it only makes it worse. 

I soon realize, it is water.

The water is getting into my lungs and I am unable to breathe. I can hear only the bubbling sound of water. 

I am drowning. 

I try to focus on my mind to calm myself, to scream for help. Only then I feel my dog licking me perhaps to take him to a walk.

I was dreaming.

©Shweta, 2019

White & Black

Photo by Shirly Niv Marton on Unsplash

The sovereign has decided, to put their foot down. The enemy has burnt his bridges, and it’s time they burnt theirs. 

The allies from different regions were invited to the grand reception to discuss the future chain of events. The drawing room gradually started filling. The pressure was building up. Each one had a different opinion, like chalk and cheese, about what should be done, about the invader and the war in their near sight. 

As the sun was above the heads, the reception is in full swing. All the elite from the high society was assembled to discuss their enemy’s black and white moves, the spindles hummed steadily ceaselessly on all the sides.

©Shweta, 2019 All rights reserved!
Originally published on Written Tales

Unplug!

Downtime for your brain

As I made way into the compartment and found a comfortable spot, I had a habit of reading my book in the 13-minute short commute, until a few months ago. And as I looked into the restricted space around me, I could see half a dozen cell phone screens active and it dawned on me that we all have forgotten how to wait without our cellphones or get bored standing during travel or waiting anywhere, which was not a few decades ago.
The idle time in our schedule is missing and realized we are not giving our brains a break!

To do Nothing

At every turn, we are pushed to do more, exceed our limits, in this expeditious world filled with challenges, and we strive to meet the relentless pace. In response, we put in extra hours of work and incessantly be up to date using the apps on our phone, the social media sites and all the round the clock notifications. In our obsession with success and being productive always, we have forgotten that we need a break!

In the book Autopilot: The Art & Science of Doing Nothing, written by Andrew Smart, the author gives us the science behind idleness.

Disengaging increases brain activity!

Brain activity is measured by blood flow and how oxygenated the blood is in a specific region of the brain. Neurologist Marcus Raichle during his experiments found that certain brain regions, like the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, and the precuneus, are suppressed while engaged in certain activities. These regions become super active when not being in a fully attentive state of mind— this means increased blood flow in your brain! Blood rich brain means a happier, calmer, healthier and more creative brain. In neuroscience, this network of brain regions that becomes active during idleness is referred to as Resting-State Network (RSN). In this mode your brain becomes orderly, efficient, engaged in idleness making you content and creative.

It is essential to take breaks, we all know it. But how many of us actually consider taking a maybe a 15-minute distraction-free walk in the mid-day, or maybe 15 minutes of meditation or whatever works for you to free yourself from one stimulus to another, focused on NOTHING (no stimuli, no distraction)!

I personally no longer read anything during my commute to work & back home, indulge in quiet moments with mediation or just get bored! I see how this turned out a one-hit-wonder for me and I can resonate with positive vibrations inside me. For starters — I way calmer when under pressure, I am more efficient at work, I can write more :)!

Authors Note: Enter into the quiet of the mind that already exists, you just need to find it leaving you with time for yourself and loved ones, and you feel a river flowing inside you — a river of JOY & CREATIVITY!

©Shweta, 2019 All rights reserved!
Originally published in Scribe