Dal Tadka Wouldn’t Be The Same : A Pinch of Spontaneity

“If I give it my all in my work, I’ll be happy” this is something I believed in.

Being In a constant momentum of just working, upping my skills and it’ll be so fruitful, no distractions , my work is my happiness.

Now if I read this out loud, I would tell me to “HOLD YOUR HORSES”. I completely agree, being in that momentum of work gives you a lot of happiness and dopamine but now I also believe you need that sprinkle of spontaneity.

It’s like making Dal Tadka.
90% daal and 10% tadka and that tadka can be anything!! It can have a bit of heeng, spices, sukhi mirchi or even garlic :)) 100% daal would be boring, don’t you agree?

So, I think finding the right amount of tadka/spontaneity is important.

If you would have told this to me a year ago I would not have taken you seriously but now that I have finished my first apprenticeship of 2 months I realized that In the 2nd month I was just focusing on getting better at the work at my apprenticeship or the other medical yoga course that I was doing. In textbook I had a good routine.

•Woke up at 5:30 am
•Went swimming from 6am to 7:30 am
•Yoga course which was very insightful from 9:00am to 11:00 am
•Apprenticeship from 11:30am to 4:30 am (5 hours compulsory)
•At home by 6 pm , do work or anything else and eventually sleep

But for some Reason it suddenly became stagnant which made me feel stuck wanting to experience some sort of freedom.

Don’t get me wrong , a lot of things that would make me happy were happening but that’s the thing, they were happening to me, it wasn’t me who went out of my way to do those things.

It’s funny how all this happened in just a month of experience.

Going to give a very cliche example , bare with me. It’s as if you are in school and you are going from classes to classes and are just “existing” , a break for me during that time used to be Kerala.

For 4 summers a month I used to go to an ashram at Kerala which was a kid’s camp. No phones (we were kids) , no parents, in the moment and doing things that make you happy and keep you going . I think a break is long overdue because I can imagine myself in that ashram surrounded by nature haha.

Even though I wasn’t able to take such a break I desperately needed spontaneity in my life. I was talking about this with a friend and coincidentally we got invited to a friend’s relative’s engagement party – we didn’t think twice, got ready immediately and went.

Imagine an olympic player just following their routine to the T, it would feel so mechanical.
It might seem counterintuitive, but top athletes often thrive on a balance of structure and spontaneity.
This took me time to realize which is why I felt kind of proud, kind of grown up to admit this because I know how stubborn I can be, hehe.

What was important was to sow the seed of intention and awareness which then allowed me to make a decision aligned with that thought. (which is how most things work) :
After a busy day, I agreed to go watch a horror movie at night (I get scared easily) which was the first horror movie I have ever watched and it was a super fun experience with my friends even though I was getting jump scared : ) It made me feel so much lighter and energetic.
Which in turn helped me in my work.
Another way to look at it is you should have a mix of Passion purpose and presence!

I made an Instagram saved album of spontaneous things to do and I can share some :

1.Visit Saswad Waterfall, Ranwadi, Maharashtra
2.Watch the sunset, go bike riding with friends, late night walks, badminton, drawing, etc.
3. Instagram Link
4.Go night swimming
5. Go Hiking
6.Take a day trip, go to bombay (any city near you) by public transport and come back.
7. Instagram Link
8.Watch a horror movie with friends

– Nidhi