Meandering thoughts - Sita Sreeraman

I was gifted the book –  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo , by a friend who said it changed her way of organizing/de-cluttering for ever. My chosen method of both cleaning, de-cluttering(can’t call it organizing) is to tidy up one cupboard a time or one room at a time. Well, I start with gusto but mid-way energy dries and well the last few things just go. The  KonMari Method : Go through your entire house,  category  by  category  and purge.  Kondo  recommends doing this in the following order: clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous things ranging from cleaning products to cooking spices), and then sentimental items. (source: the internet) – Marie KONDO When I started reading the book,  my first take-away  was the difference between cleaning and organizing. Cleaning is about hygiene and cleanliness. Organizing is where you decide to store/put something. Somewhere my definitions overlapped and I had added words l...

I volunteer at the American Wome's Club, Zurich library once a month. It is interesting, as I run into some many different genres of books as I put them back into the shelves, or check out the books for the library members. And sometimes, I get to chat with the patrons, and they share some lovely tibit of info or other, about a book, event, hobby, class. Whenever we move houses or towns, my husband usually tells me about the local library, it is like a good sales pitch, USP, the library is within walking distance etc.  Some recent books I have read with great joy are: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, How to be good - Nick Hornby among others, books I don't know if I would have picked up myself. These were returns and as I shelve the books, I inevitably read the synopsis at the end and they end up coming home with me. Oh, the Joys Of Reading a good book!

Judith Flanders Sometimes a book/author finds you. You are uncertain, there is a hesitation, yet you decide to try more our of curiosity or because you are too lazy to look for something familiar. That's how I found myself reading the book 'A Murder Of the Magpies' by the author Judith Flanders. This is a proper London book - Camden, St Johns Wood, other familiar places, buses, people covered so beautifully, it is like chatting with a good friend. The humour is subtle but definitely there, you are not going to laugh out aloud, but definitely find yourself smiling along the book and nod your head in agreement. The second book "A Bed Of Scorpions" was a good second book, with another murder and thoroughly fun. I was worried I would be disappointed but found I could not keep the book down until the end. Not much drama, quite matter of fact and putting herself down the way a true Londoner does, hiding her many talents and slowly letting you find them along ...

I recently read a book called " 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life". It is a journal of Cami Walker, who is diagnosed with MS(multiple-sclerosis) a month after she is married and how she slides down into the disease and depression and self-centeredness and then starts a process of simple giving on the advice of her friend. And the giving starts profound changes in her life. I made notes of some really nice things from the book: (hope this is not copyright violation): By giving, you are focusing on what you have to offer others, inviting abundance into your life. The gifts can be anything but their giving has to be both authentic and mindful. A closed hand cannot receive. I think you need to stop thinking about yourself. If you spend all your time and energy focusing on your pain, you are feeding the disease. You are making it worse by putting all of your attention there. Healing does not happen in vacuum, but through our interactions with other people....