Thursday 17 December 2015

Aloe Vera Gel and Vegan Lip Balm Giveaway

To celebrate the Ananas's new url www.laughingananas.com, and Christmas of course, I'm having a giveaway of some awesome homemade Vegan Lip Balms (100% natural and no added preservatives) and Holland and Barrett's Aloe Vera gel tubes (99.9% pure, no added colours) that you can use on your hair to promote hair growth

    
To win this awesomeness, all you have to do is:

1. Watch the my YouTube video HERE
2. Subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE
2. Follow me on Instagram HERE
3. 'Like' my Facebook page HERE
4. Follow me on Snapchat at laughingananas


Once you're done with the above, send me an email on laughingananas@gmail.com so I know you've done the above, and can contact you when the winners are chosen. For a second entry, you can also retweet this giveaway mentioning @laughingananas on Twitter!

Let's get started!

Note: This giveaway is not restricted to UK inhabitants. I will be posting the winners anywhere they are in the world!

#LaughingAnanas

Monday 30 November 2015

DIY Leaf Art Frame


Here a leaf, there a leaf
Everywhere a leaf leaf
Old MacDonald had a leaf
E-I-E-I-O



Painting is like meditating. Do you find it difficult to meditate? Then paint. It gets you living in the moment. When you're painting, you are only painting. You're not constantly looking at your phone, or your dog, or your XYZ. You're only painting. You're not multi-tasking, you're only painting and settling down. Your monkey mind stops to think and starts to create. Try it and experience a deep state of peace and stillness. And hey, you can always get a great DIY frame out of it.

Fall is here and with it the leaves are too. You see these leaves everywhere and in every colour. They have some wonderful shades; shades of green, shades of red, shades of brown and many more. I went out leaf picking one day and collected some of these beautiful leaves. If you, like Old MacDonald, have a leaf or two and feel like meditating on some leaf art, then here's what you can do...


Wash and dry the leaves

Stick on the leaves and paint




Frame it





_ _ _ _



#LaughingAnanas




Tuesday 17 November 2015

iSpy DIY

Do you normally throw all the cardboard that you find lying around the house? Are you likely to trash out your kitchen and toilet paper rolls? Well don't! Here's why...

I had so many hand towels and random pieces of cloth lying around that one day, before trashing out my kitchen rolls, I had this vision of fabricating something out of those kitchen rolls to get rid of having to see a gazillion hand towels everywhere! 

Check it out. 

Paper holding  the rolls
1. Making the core body of the stand

Kitchen rolls molded into a hanging stand 









2. Preparing the mixture for Paper Maché


Cling film the bowl so it doesn't become glue-ey
2 (glue) : 1 (water)













3. Paper Maché-ing


Stick on the newspaper



4. Customizing


Poke in some broken hanger tops
5. Painting




6. Using





#LaughingAnanas

Thursday 8 October 2015

Akira and the Sun



"Akira, my beloved, why do you look so restless?", asked the wise old sage. 

"I feel all over the place... unsure, unsatisfied.", said the worried Akira.

"Is that so? And what is it that you feel unsure about?", prompted the sage gently. 

"It's just... I've been searching for the purpose of my life for the longest time. Sometimes I feel like I'm almost there, but then I realize I'm far off. I pray to God day and night to give me the answers of my questions. I almost feel obsessed looking so deeply into things to find the smallest of signs that can possibly explain my existence. But I fail, I fail every time. It makes me sad, you know?", confessed Akira. 

"I know. Tell me Akira, what else do you do in your day? How do you feed yourself?", interrogated the sage further.

"I don't. I don't do anything else. I spend my whole day thinking and wondering when I will find the meaning of my life.", said Akira.



"Very well," said the sage, "let me help you. Look at the Sun for a minute."

Akira complied.

As the minute was up, the sage asked Akira to look away from the Sun and point to where he was standing.

"I don't know where to point," Akira exclaimed, "I can't see you! The Sun's brightness seems to have blinded me!"

To this, the sage finally revealed: 



"My dear Akira, the man who looks at the Sun all day long, will only end up being blind. Looking at the Sun all day will not gift you its light. To earn its light, you must fulfill your daily responsibilities. Living every moment fully is the only way you can get closer to your goal each day!"

_ _ _ _

The sage is so right. In looking at the Sun all day, we blind ourselves and lose our own light. Thinking all day about our endless desires, be they love, money or fame, we end up losing ourselves only to realize that we are going further and further away from our goals each day. As they say, "a watched phone never rings".

So what should we do? Stop dreaming, stop desiring? Not at all. We are bound to dream and desire, but it's the losing of self that we should learn to keep away from in dreaming and desiring. We can only reach our destination if our journey is well planned and fully lived. Else we'd be stuck in our journey, losing our way at every crossroad and possibly running behind mirages that never existed...


Wednesday 23 September 2015

I didn't eat food for 7 days...


Specially dedicated to Mayuri Tailor; thank you for always inspiring.


No food? What about water?

During this 7-day period, I renounced any form of food. However, I was still consuming water. In this form of fasting, I would consume only boiled water, from sunrise till sunset, and none after. 

Why would I do this type of water fasting?


1. To cleanse. We take showers every morning to clean the outsides of our bodies, but what do we really do to keep the insides of our bodies clean? Not much I believe. Even if you try your best to eat the healthiest foods in your daily lives, I promise you are still ingesting lots and lots of toxins. In this case, your best option to get rid of these bodily toxins is to cleanse your body. Fasting is the most natural and effective way of cleansing your body, for real. 

Here's how it works. When you stop ingesting food during your fast, your body will have a lot more energy than usual as it ceases to expend this energy on digesting food. This allows your body to invest time and energy in removing the built-up toxins that your body must've housed for decades.

During your fast, you will experience your body undergoing a complete cleanse in several forms:
  • Your urine will be as clear as the water you drink
  • Your body odour will cease to exist and you will no longer require deodorant
  • Your skin will start to naturally glow and you will notice that your acne, dry skin and any other skin conditions saying goodbye to you, leaving you with a rejuvenated skin
  • Your body will excrete odourless stool - the unimaginable!
Try it and see for yourself!



2. To be able to take a step back from our routine lives and observe ourselves and the world around us as a third person. In my experience, fasting allows for this. Withdrawing from the sense of taste allows a step back from the day-to-day habitual eating that we conform to without thinking. We are able to better focus on the idea of 'eat to live' rather than 'live to eat'. The idea of renouncing food might seem extremely bizarre, but is it really? Try it to realize that eating, in reality, is not the essence of our existence. Surely we need food for our basic survival, but its the indulgence in food that is not required and strips us from our natural state of being. 



Practicing this fast can help you pull out from your ego and see yourself in the light you see everyone else in, as a third person. A reduced indulgence to your senses also helps you reduce your sense of self, and you will be more able to see the world beyond your own perspective with an increasing sense of compassion. You will also be more equipped to differentiate between an action and an actor. Being able to hold an objective view of the world as opposed to the one that's subjective from one's own perspective, I believe, is an extremely important quality to develop and harness. This allows for a non-judgmental view on events, alongside enabling you to act practically rather than acting impulsively and irrationally. 

For instance, imagine yourself in a situation where you're in a fight with your best friend. With an objective view that helps you separate your best friend as an actor from their action of misbehavior, you are more able to think rationally about the problem and think of solutions to end the problem. Alternatively, with a subjective view that bases its judgment only on your own perspective, you are more inclined to indulge in a blame game whereby your ego blames the entire fight on your best friend, sees you as a victim and your friend as a perpetrator and refuses to find a solution. 

You decide, which one is better? 


3. To be able to meditate and reach your desired state of mind faster. It's true, meditations can go deeper while fasting. An empty food-less body is far more likely to experience the higher chakras in a meditative state. I definitely recommend fasting to those who want to meditate, but have difficulty in doing so. In my experience, fasting makes meditation so much easier in that the intensity of the train noticeably diminishes. This is because once your digestive system is shut down, the vibrations in your body owed to meditation are permitted to flow through your body with a lot more intensity.
Try meditating at the end of a fasting day and see for yourself! 



Tips 
  • Only continue your fast till you feel fine physically. Do not fast if you start feeling weak, stressed and close to fainting. There is no point in putting your health at stake to commit to a fast. Your body is very important as it's a temple that houses your mind. With a broken temple, it'd be very tough to reach your mind. 
  • Only continue your fast till you feel fine mentally. Do not fast if you start feeling mentally weak, irritable and moody. This beats the point as these feelings will disrupt your willpower, meditation and your overall well-being.
  • Try to keep your body hydrated with water, as you don't want to have your body dry out. You might find yourself feeling sick of water, but try to maintain a continuous consumption of water. If you are not able to do this, I would advice you to drop the fast.
  • Feed your mind with not just meditation, but also good reads as this will strengthen your willpower and harness your mind. 
  • Fasting should not be mistaken with dieting or taken as a means losing weight. Trust me it will not work. As soon as you end your fast, you will gain back all you lost, and really there's no point of putting your body through that if losing weight is your end goal. You're much better off exercising! 
  • Be careful in what you eat once your fast ends. For a few days after it ends, I recommend you keep yourself on liquids such as soups, lentils and these:
Raab
Sugar Water

Warnings
  • You will urinate a lot more than usual - D'uh!
  • You will start losing weight, which you will also gain back very soon once you drop the fast
  • You will stop producing stool after the first two days - don't worry, this is absolutely normal!
  • You will feel either very cold or very hot - again, this is normal
  • You will need to eat healthier food once your fast ends to rebuild your stock of vitamins et al

Let me know...

If you'd like to share your fasting experience, or have any more questions about fasting, do let me know! Leave a comment below or send me an email on laughingananas@gmail.com and I will get back to you!


#LaughingAnanas

Thursday 10 September 2015

Akira And His Best Friend

Akira: I have a new friend. He knows everything.
Kabira: Everything?
Akira: Yes. He knows how the world was created and he knows how it will end. He knows the future and he is aware of the past. He knows who my best friend is and my worst enemy. And most importantly, he says he knows what decisions will be best for me!
Kabira: That's great! I hope you find your happiness...

A few days later...



Kabira: Hi Akira. I haven't seen you in a while. How are you? 
Akira: Confused, and maybe a bit upset.
Kabira: Why? What's wrong?
Akira: I'm not sure.
Kabira: What about your new best friend? Does he know?
Akira: I talk to him all day and night. He told me that everyone else in the world is conspiring against me. He's my only friend and he's always by my side. But, for some reason, I still feel very lonely. I feel sad and hostile.
Kabira: He said the whole world is conspiring against you?
Akira: Yes. In fact, he told me I shouldn't be speaking to you either because you secretly wish for my unhappiness. I'm speaking to you only because he's fast asleep right now. If he wakes up to learn that we interacted, he will be very disappointed in me. I better go...
Kabira: Wait a minute Akira... This best friend of yours, what's his name? And where does he live?
Akira: His name is Ego, and he lives in my mind. 


#LaughingAnanas 

Thursday 6 August 2015

iDrink Green Juice

In case your mother never told you; Green Juice is the meanest kind of good for your mind, body and health. So start drinking!

Here's how to make it ...

Veggies you need:



1. Broccoli

This natural detoxifier is packed with Iron and Vitamin C. Want to look and feel young? The antioxidant properties of this green, fight and defeat skin damage, and contribute towards maintaining healthy skin. 

2. Celery

Eye problems? This green helps promote eye health, making sure they're fit and fine. Its richness in vitamin A helps combat age-related degeneration of vision.

3. Kale

This low in calorie, but high on nutrients green also assures skin and eye health. You can find one too many nutrients in the leaves of Kale, including iron, magnesium, copper potassium, phosphorus, vitamin A, vitamin C, among many others.

4. Cucumber

Forgetting a lot lately? Start juicing cucumber! This green not only improves your memory, but it also protects nerve cells from age-related degeneration. Really, it keeps your brain healthy, wealthy, and wise, and also helps get rid of your bad breath causing bacteria!

5. Spinach

If you don't know about this green, you don't know anything. Even Popeye popped open his can of spinach every time he was in trouble; so what are you waiting for? Iron and protein, skin and hair, it can help you with all, and that's rare!

6. Apple  

An apple a day, still keeps doctor away. Worried about your weight? Start eating apples! This low calorie fruit satisfies hunger as it contains a lot of water and fools the body into believing it's eaten a lot. The fiber in apple juice also makes you feel full and prevents overeating.

7. Lime

Packed with vitamin C, this green works as a brilliant antioxidant! And it totally makes your juice tastier. So don't forget to squeeze some in!



And together they make ...

... Green Juice!

Friday 31 July 2015

iMeditate

Day before, I went to a Meditation Centre to celebrate a friend's birthday. She goes there often, but it was my first time. It's called the The London Centre of Self-Realization Fellowship




To briefly introduce... 

This centre is managed by members of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), an organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda. The purpose of this SRF centre is to provide a communal place for people to practice the teachings of Yogananda, indulge in group meditations and provide spiritual support to each other. The centre runs on a schedule and is open to everyone who wishes to practice meditation. They also have a library with a great set of books and audio tapes that you can shuffle through, or buy of course.

My Experience

I'd gone for an hour long meditation class with a whole bunch of people who were also going to meditate along with me. The place looked insanely serene. As soon as you walk in, you cease to speak. The only language of communication in here was that of silence. Entering a place so silent, in a hustling bustling London, almost felt unreal! I was surprised to see how many people turned up to experiment with this type of practice. 

People from all sorts of different religions were there together, practicing the art of meditation. The service started with a prayer and a short story that was read by an old lady who ran that particular meditation practice. FYI, the person running this service is subject to change. Following this, we sat in meditation for about 40 minutes. 

It felt amazingly peaceful! That silence from all the noise of the city and the noise of the mind got me feeling formless. The undying voice of the mind finally seemed to take deep long breaths before uttering each new sentence. There was a time when it completely stopped speaking! And the body? Don't be afraid if your body goes numb, it's only a good sign. 

It really was a beautiful experience. As the service finished, I woke up with tears in my eyes to find this energized spirit and stillness within me. This feeling is the best gift you can give yourself. 

Turns out, it was a great way to celebrate her birthday, and an extremely productive hour. I definitely recommend it!

              

#LaughingAnanas



Tuesday 28 July 2015

And it's YOUR TURN NOW!


Ever come home from a fat, long day to a four-course meal, specially prepared by your flatmate to de-stress you?

Ever had a random traveller of public transport carry all your gigantic bags down the never-ending staircase, merely at the thought you might struggle?

Ever found an anonymous envelope with a note from a stranger, wishing you a fabulous life?

Ever had the stranger man in the video below, singing at the Statue of Liberty, telling you to always stay cheerful and wish you all the happiness and more?


I have. And I don't have words enough to describe the kind of spirit all these people have! These people, and the stories of many others on a mission of kindness, inspire me. They inspire me. They make me believe in kindness that has no ulterior motive, kindness that is random.

In our everyday lives, we're offered a helping hand, now and again, when we least expect it and most need it. And it's our turn now! Our turn to give back what we were given, and form an infinite circle of kindness. Want to know where you can start?

Start with YOUR TURN NOW!


YOUR TURN NOW (YTN) is an initiative undertaken by Rushabh Turakhia, a man from Mumbai, who believes in making a bigger, better world for everyone around him.

The idea behind this concept is; every time you lend a helping hand to someone, instead of accepting their 'Thank you', you give them a YTN card, which essentially tells them 'It's YOUR TURN NOW'.

This person can now go away to thank you by helping someone else in need, and pass on the YTN card to them.

In this simple handing over of the YTN card, the kindness that goes around, really will come around. Rushabh believes that we can multiply a single act of kindness into many others, and eventually translate them into lots of happy faces.

This vision of his is. in fact, manifesting in our world. This initiative was established in 2009, and over 315600 cards are already out there in the passing in 38 different countries!

The YTN Card

You can have your own set of YTN cards, not just in one language, but in 9 different languages. Wondering how much you need to pay for these cards? Well, stop. The YTN cards are absolutely free of cost, and you don't need to pay for postage either! Just pass it on every time you help someone and have them pay it ahead, with nothing but kindness. For your YTN cards, visit www.yourturnnow.in or send an email to Rushabh at rushabh@yourturnnow.in.

I have already ordered my batch of cards in two different languages. What are you waiting for? Is it not, YOUR TURN NOW?


#LaughingAnanas

Tuesday 21 July 2015

A Wishing Well

 


One afternoon, Akira was marching through the forest, carrying a sack of his many troubles on his weary shoulders. He stopped to rest by a well, that according to a famous myth, was magical by nature. The well was known to grant the wishes of all those who sat by it.

Akira looked into the bountiful water of the magical well, as he reflected upon his troubles. He started to feel thirsty and wished for some water. Suddenly, a glass of cold water appeared before him. A shocked Akira inspected the water and downed every last sip of it. 

He then started to feel hungry and wished for a hearty meal. He suddenly had in his hands, a plate full of delicious food items. Perplexed, he examined the food and ate up every last crumb of it. 

Seeing his wishes being granted, he thought he'd test the magic by wishing for a grand house, all for himself. To his disbelief, a mansion-like house appeared right in front of him. Amazed, he thought to himself that maybe he's being tricked and maybe he should seek something more real, more life-like. 

He shot another arrow in the dark and wished for a beautiful maiden to get settled with. And voila! Standing right before him, was an attractive young lady with a big smile on her face. By this time, Akira was almost certain that it was all unreal. To prove it, he touched the girl saying, "There is no way you are real. Someone is just playing a big, fat joke on me. I can't be this lucky!" At the very instant, everything he wished for disappeared in front of his eyes. 

Akira shook his head in pride, picked up his sack of many troubles and said, "I knew it..." 

-----

There is no beauty in the world till you have the eyes to see it. The flowers will bloom, but you will fail to see them. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Likewise, there is no Master till there is a Disciple. And likewise, there can be no gift for you till you know how to receive it. 

So many of us go on searching for something without developing a corresponding receptivity in ourselves. We try to see beauty in the world, not knowing that our eyes are shut. We try to seek for a Master, not knowing that the Disciple in us is absent. We expect to be gifted, not knowing we don't know how to receive the present. 

That's what poor Akira was completely unaware of. How could he possibly sustain any of the wishes he was granted, if he didn't believe them to be true, and was unable to be grateful and accept them? A mind in complete disbelief is capable of driving away the most real of things; just as, a mind in hope is able to attract the most unrealistic...

#LaughingAnanas

Monday 13 July 2015

From one Stranger to Another

In my previous post, 4 Main Things to do at Kew Gardens, I talked a great deal about the key attractions of Kew, its plants and their shenanigans. 

And I now have more to add, something beyond plants...

As I was exploring the Palm House in Kew, I found a light blue envelope sitting in the plants, with the words 'Please open me, I'm just for you!' on it



I was obviously excited and curious to open it and see its contents, like it asked me to do. I wondered if ants would swarm out on opening the envelope, but that didn't stop me.

In my excitement, I ripped it open and found the following note:



 

Those words say everything and more. To have such random act of kindness bestowed upon me, seeking nothing in return; and to do that anonymously for a complete stranger - it made my day!

It made my day to know that genuine kindness like this exists and to feel it first-hand. The love and kindness this Stranger dwelled in his/her note, reached out to me and instilled in me the very same love that originated within the Stranger. From one Stranger to Another. 

Reminded me of a message I'd written over two years back and sailed it away in a bottle in the River Thames:




I wonder if it ever reached someone...

Going back to the note from the Stranger in Kew; it's placed back to where I found it, waiting to make someone else's day.


Every time you love something or someone, you automatically grow your 'self' and your mind. I don't mean the kind of love that is only for exhibition to convey others of your kind nature and build a self image. I don't even mean the kind of love that aims to please people, and in turn please oneself. And I definitely don't mean the kind of love that expects something back in return.

The 'love' I speak of is beyond any of the aforementioned. It's deep-rooted within all of us, in fact it is our true nature. It's unconditional, it's boundless, it's genuine. It's the highest form of energy that creates good on every level of your being and makes you feel at one with all the other beings! We feel it time and again, but we're not always aware of it.

The next time you feel at one with the universe, ask yourself whether you feel this type of love flowing within your entire entity. Ask yourself if its the same type of love you normally claim to feel for others; or is it Different?

#LaughingAnanas #FeelingBlessed

Thursday 9 July 2015

4 Main Things to do at Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens; the house of the big and small, wild and tame, African and Asian, and all the types of plants that you possibly can't imagine! I learnt so much in my weekend visit to Kew Gardens, and this short post is to share it with all those who are interested in plants and their shenanigans. 

Here it is, the eye of a commoner explores key attractions of Kew and what they have to offer you...

1. The Mighty Palm House



From the busy streets of London, I landed in this out-of-the-world glass house that felt like a furnace slowly evaporating every little drop of me. Walking around in the glass house, I felt like I was walking in the woods of the Amazonian rainforest. Every 15 minutes, the visitors are pleasantly surprised with the onset of inbuilt water sprinklers in the killing heat of the glass house - phew!

This rainforest-like living laboratory allows you to enter the lives of these exotic plants and observe the most fascinating ways in which they grow and interact. To top that, you can expect to find plants from the Americas, Africa, Indian Ocean Islands, Asia, Australasia and the Pacific, all showcased in this one house! 

Not only do you get to see this wide variety, you also get to interact with it. At every step of the house/At every turn of the walkway, you can see these informative boards that tell you the story of the plants, starting from their origin to their cultural history to their uses. 

And that's not it. At every corner, you'd find stands of various herbs, spices and plants, exhibiting different forms in which people use them. These stands also had a drawer with a small 'Smell-Box' that asks you to smell the smell of the plant.

Information Stand


Smell Box

             
            'Smell Me'


I smelled Chinese Keys, Black Pepper, Curry Leaves, Ginger, Vanilla, Nutmeg and Mace. What's on your plate? 


2. The Damp Waterlily House








Soon-to-be Waterlily

Giant Amazonian Waterlily

If the pictures didn't speak for themselves enough, I'd like to add a bit more.

Few Facts
  • The Giant Amazonian Waterlilies in the pictures are not just used by frogs, birds and snakes to sit on. They can hold babies up to 2 years of age!
  • These leaves are designed to support their huge size. Their ribs-like structure on the underside traps air for buoyancy and strength. They also have sharp spines underneath to deter hungry fish.           
  • Santa Cruz waterlilies release heat so to enable beetles to locate them. 
  • The flower of the giant Amazon waterlily can close totally holding the insects captive inside it for several hours, to make absolutely sure that pollination occurs.
  • The underground stem of a Lotus is edible when fried, pickled or roasted. 

3. Treetop Walkway

Photo Credit: www.kew.org

This walkway is WOW! You're not just on top of the world, but you're on Top of the Trees. You get to be so close to the trees and experience how it'd feel to be taller than them. So up close and personal, that you can probably touch the topmost branches of some of the oldest trees.


118 steps to climb


    Did you know?         

    ● The world's biggest Pine Cone lives here!
    ● Tree roots are twice as wide as the tree is tall, but only a               metre deep.


4. When you are in Kew, Remember to:


Hold the tip of the Pagoda in your fingers

Sleep in the Woods

When its Bloomed up
Take a pic in Rose Garden











      


Eat the Giant Chilli

Snooze on the BigBoyBeanbag
And oh, ENJOY! 


#LaughingAnanas