Category Archives: Create Your Magic Potion

The Story Behind the Book Cover

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It was CRAZY to finalize the cover for my debut self-help book – “Create Your Magic Potion“. At times, I had to take a sleeping potion to get back to normal the very next day. I know it’s a silly jest 😉

Selecting a book cover is like getting to choose your own face; a face that clearly expresses the author’s inner self, and reflects the inner story of the book outside. But, very often it is perceived quite differently by people than the way it is presented by the writer. Nevertheless, every writer chooses the best he/she can to get the message across to the readers.

A tedious and maddening job, gives you nightmares and often the writers get up in the middle of the night to quickly sketch-out the design, half-asleep with whatever tools that come handy at that time, before the picture slips from the mind.

The cover of a self-help book must perfectly encapsulate the book’s theme, reflecting creativity, newness and brighter side of life. For a book about creativity, cover design expectations are always high.

Through this cover, I am trying to prove that sometimes it’s a single detail that can make a difference. The clarity and clutter free theme shows the very first step of starting any new process. The butterfly depicts the transformation from a caterpillar to a whole new, brighter and colorful entity, creating its own magic potion and spreading positivity all over. The drop of the potion portrays that it can create ripple effects of beauty, happiness and tranquility.

The soothing colors, green and blue are the favorite colors of nature. They render peace, growth, balance and harmony. Green is an emotionally positive color and a natural peacemaker that gives the ability to love and nurture ourselves and others unconditionally. Also, it’s a color of spring, renewal and rebirth, and that’s what the book is about, expressing that winter definitely turns to spring.

The color light blue is the color of the sky, depicting limitless options in life. It also signifies, trust, loyalty, confidence and tranquility which is the most important aspect of the techniques discussed in the book to attain the state of permanent happiness.

Releasing soon, “Create Your Magic Potion” wishes to touch at least a tiny little corner of your heart.

10 Step Journey to Buddhahood

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Faith and Practice

Buddhism says: Your Karmas determine your life, and you can transform your negative karmas to positives for better and conscious life ahead.

Step 1: Reality Check – Difficult to Accept

You don’t believe that you might have done something wrong in the past; you question your karmas and think, ‘why is it happening to me when I haven’t wronged anyone?’ The Buddhist teachings (or the first step of the teachings) make you learn to hold yourself responsible for all that’s happening in your life.  Your karmic cycle is what makes you happy or makes you suffer. All those whom you hold responsible for your sufferings have no role to play in deciding the consequences of your bad karmas or good karmas.

This is the most difficult step to take and understand, to move ahead towards Buddhahood.

Step 2: Decision to Kick-start or Back-off

Now, you either accept (by analyzing or not analyzing, initially), or remain onto your own judgment and skip or keep questioning faith.

If you accept and move on, in the long run you might get answers of all you questions and doubts you had in the beginning. And if, you skip or remain only own your own judgment, you would not find any escape out of your sufferings.

So, decide!

Step 3: Acceptance

How to accept?

The steps to acceptance are:

  • Consider yourself very normal as a human being, and very natural to make mistakes, but also willing to bring changes for betterment.
  • Don’t analyze (at this point) what wrong you have done; rather think that there might be many things which you might have done that might have hurt others in some way or the other.
  • Be firm on your decision of changing all your negative karmas (thoughts, words, decisions, and actions) into positive karmas, and to clean up your karmic cycle.
  • Accept your bad aspects and practice faith, determination, good words, positive thoughts and actions to incorporate the changes you are aiming for.

 Step 4: Practicing

Start practicing faith without judgment and without looking for instant results.

(But if you think deeply and analyze, you have already started receiving the instant results of your decision of keeping on with the faith, in the form of peace that you found after accepting yourself and continuing with the faith)

Step 5: Feeling Positive

Gradually you start realizing that acceptance is the first step towards peace and positivity. You also start analyzing things now, which you left in the initial few steps. A lot of things will cross your mind and you would be able to understand the difference between right and wrong. You also might get some events or incidents of the past in your head which you might relate to your present condition. Here, you get the real picture of analyzing what is positive and what is negative.

Step 6: Answers to Your Questions

Now, you will not question the circumstances, situations, or God, but you’ll look for answers, to come out of these low life conditions, and every time you will get the same answer, ‘Keep faith, do positive, think positive, be patient! Everything will come to you in due season, but you must not get impatient. You have already held God’s hand by accepting and moving forward towards change, and He will never forsake you. Keep practicing; limit your dependency on people, situations, or things. Dig in yourself and connect to faith every time you feel good or bad.’

Step 7: Vigorous Practice

You will start practicing more in desire to achieve peace and happiness. You will look for better ways of dealing with things. You will let go of a lot of things and also receive a lot of things while practicing faith. Your Karmas will start to transform and you will start appreciating even the smallest positive change in your life. And here begins the Contentment.

Step 8: Contentment

Now you don’t hold others responsible for your happiness or suffering. You practice to improve yourself. You also help others to understand the value of happiness within them. Here your life starts escalating from low life condition to high life condition within no time.

Step 9: Results

Now you have achieved peace, love, and contentment within yourself, and have only Faith to rely on. And then you don’t practice to have something all the time, but you practice to be happy with all that you have. You become a pro in dealing with things by yourself and practicing Faith.

Step 10: Happiness

You always keep on being happy and inspiring others, and seek opportunities to grow your Faith in hard times.

Photo Source: http://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/

‘I hold on to You Lord’

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I was never so strong till You held my hand to say, “My child, I’m there for you & you will soar high on wings like eagles.”

I was never so patient till You whispered in my ear, “I am trying to bring My plan into your life, have faith my baby.”

I was never so compassionate till You made me see the miseries of others around me, far bigger than my problems.

I was never so focused till You showed me the path You have chosen for me and promised that You will walk with me forever.

I was never so comfortable till You lifted me up in Your arms, when I got tired of the trails and adversities.

I was never so positive till You showed me the opportunities hidden behind the challenges I face.

I was never so confident till You said, “I can open doors no man can shut.”

I was never so fearless till You made all Your promises come true in my life.

I was never at peace till You drew me close to Your breast and kissed my forehead to help me rely only on You, and nothing or no one else.

I was never so cheerful till You helped me find my happiness not in people or things, but in nature, You and my own inner world.

I never felt so beautiful till You expressed that being Your child, I am unique and beautiful at mind , body and heart.

I never felt that free-will of giving; reaching out to people; showering unconditional love on others & not to judge people, till You revealed its need in my own life.

And now, I hold on to You for every single thing in my life.

  • I hold on to Your Guidance
  • I hold on to Your Wisdom
  • I hold on to Your Unconditional Love
  • I hold on to Your Plans in My Life
  • I hold on to Your Will, Not Mine
  • I hold on to Your Relationship with Me
  • I hold on to Your Fingerprints on the Pages of my Days

 

Be With Me Always!!!!