Align your life: Love Yourself!

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Align your life: Love Yourself!

Evaluating your life journey will help you focus on what is important and what needs to fall away.

By Shivani Adalja

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Published: Sat 24 May 2014, 10:15 AM

Last updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 3:41 AM

There is so much emphasis on external beauty these days. The whole world revolves around skin whitening products, botox and the fashion industry. Millions of dollars are pumped into marketing, to make you believe that you need different things. Photoshopped images are thrown in your face to make you feel inadequate, so that you buy more and more products. Size zero is the new fad among women these days. Everyone is on an instant weight loss spree. Some go to the extreme of removing part of their stomach, so that they eat less, while some take in hunger repressants. No one wants to work hard to lose weight anymore. Easy options are preferred.

People I meet are often in a hurry to get rich, so that they are able to buy everything that is around them. Question is do you need things to be happy? Do you need fair skin to feel good? Or do you need expensive designer wear to feel important?

Gone are the days when people lived a simple life and children shared a room with their family. These days children insist on having their own room and a computer. The word “sharing” does not exist in the dictionary anymore. I remember sharing a small room with my sister growing up. We shared books, school uniforms, shoes and food. Back then, it was understood that sharing was a part of life and it was joyful. It was acceptable to have few clothes and yet feel good about yourself. Very few make-up brands were around and everyone had a different skin tone. Life was less complicated and more enjoyable.

So where do we go from here? The more we buy the more we want. There seems to be no end to desires.

The only way to lead a different life is to look within and connect with your roots. Evaluating your life journey will help you focus on what is important and what needs to fall away. Ask questions – do I really need another designer bag? Do I need another expensive car? Most importantly, are these things going to fill the void in my life?

Unless you go back to the basics, you can’t evaluate your present. So why not donate money to a charity instead of filling up your wardrobe? Give away books that you have finished reading, eat what you like in moderation, participate in your community, share your inner feeling with your loved ones, wear what you like and not what is in fashion, and most importantly love yourself.

Shivani Adalja is a Dubai-based wellbeing expert. She runs the Alignment Insitute which offers effective solutions that focus on stress management and overall wellbeing. Email align@shivaniadalja.com


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