Yours Consciously Sneha

Tag: movie

  • Lessons I learned on my spiritual journey were reaffirmed from the movie- Penguins of Madagascar!

    This weekend I watched the movie Penguins of Madagascar, I watched a movie after a really long time. Yesterday was Ugadi, the new year for us, after celebrating in my village and all the heavy cleaning that I did at home, my body was tired so I thought let me watch a movie. First of all, it’s been so long since I watched one and it’s been really long since I watched an animated one. I was confused to choose which one, and then I saw this movie, I love Penguins so I was like okay! Let’s do this!

    When I was working in a school a few years ago, the most fun job I had was to do research on the movies for the kids to watch and play that movie for them. During this time, I use to watch the movies with them and I realised how animated movies are so philosophical and wondered why Adults cringe to watch animated movies.

    Sorry, if you haven’t watched the movie, this is going to be a spoiler.

    Okay, now the lessons:

    1. Follow your path, Not the Herd.

    In the very first scene of the movie, there is an egg that flows on the snowy path where there is a group of penguins walking one behind another in a straight line. There are 3 little penguins, who come out of the line and question where are they even going in the same line like everybody else, and another penguin says we just follow everybody.  At the same time, they see an egg falling off and they are on a mission to save the egg. Even though they do see death threats from other creatures, they still go ahead and save the egg somehow and find their 4th partner in their “Adventure”.

    One thing is to follow whatever is right for you and not what the majority of society says or does, and question if at all you do feel you are blindly following what everybody is doing. Questioning is the first step in itself, to find the path-in case you are confused about what your path is!

    2. Blinded by the Idea of Beauty-Physical Appearance

    Just like in every story, there is a villain in this movie too. The Charming Villian as they call him, Dave the Octopus who once was the star of the show in the circus, loses his fans when the cute penguins come in. He would be doing really well with his skills and when the Penguins come in, people stop looking at Octopus and then he is sent away in a cage. He later kidnaps the four penguins-Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private and tells them that everybody thinks he is ugly and the Penguins are super cute so he is been plotting revenge for many years now against them.

    You see, the skills that Octopus has, the Penguins do not and vice versa. The comparisons of the external beauty with others, and the whole idea of external beauty in itself, will only blind us from seeing our own skills and leads to chronic comparisons with others, Jealousy, revenge and all that will only go spiralling downwards.

    3. Revenge is an Infinite Poison to the Ego

    So now, long story short-Dave the Octopus kidnaps all the Penguins all across the world, even from Bangalore hah hahaha I was laughing when they mentioned Bangalore as this is where I live. Okay, getting back to the plot, so he kidnaps all of them to make them look all Ugly with his dangerous Poison called “Ray” that he has developed.

    He does inject this poison and all the penguins come out looking ugly and the Octopus is having that victorious villain laugh, he screams on the mike, that I am Happy and yet, now that I have my revenge, I feel, empty; as if what I needed all along is more revenge! Then he says to his octopus assistant Robin-that tomorrow we move on to Kittens, then Puppies, Bunnies, Pandas.

    See, this is what it is about Revenge. It is never-ending, even though it feels satisfying once we have it, although it is the Ego that is satisfied, and the Ego is also never satisfied with that feeling so want more so you will create more scenarios and the revenge adds on like an Infinite Poison to the Ego

    4. Accepting that we are wrong when we are wrong

    There is other spy character that I liked in the movie, called Classified played by the Dog. Classified has his own rescue agency where he rescues animals. He once rescues these penguins from Dave the Octopus, and they together plan to go against Dave but somewhere the Penguins screw up the whole plan and he does not trust them anymore.

    The next time, the Penguins follow their suit and this time their plan gets screwed up and they get trapped along with the penguins. 

    In the end, he and his agents do come back but the 4-star penguins have already been on the mission of saving the rest of the Penguins and in the end, Classified accepts that he was wrong about the penguins and their plan and mission.

    Even though he always showed himself as the most skilled and trained professional in rescuing animals, when he did see the Penguins do all the work. He did drop his ego and appreciated the work they did.

    And how often, do we forget this about appreciating our peers, our friends, our family when they do a good job. The ego, of course, loves that feeling of “I know everything” and by appreciating others I am putting myself down. But it is actually the opposite, by appreciating others, you are appreciating their work and you are also raising your vibrations and not falling into the trap of Competition and Comparisons. Where everything looks equal, nobody is high or low!

    5. Don’t limit your dreams!

    At the beginning of the scene, these 3 little penguins question on why do they have those little wings when they cant fly. In the end after Classified, praises them, he asks how can he repay them. Since he is so skilled technically and develops super cool technology,  the penguins ask him for Jet Packs and in the end, they are flying so happily.

    By saying, Who says Penguins cant fly!

    If Wright brothers had limited their thinking that as humans we cannot fly, we would not have planes perhaps. So don’t ever limit yourself with your dreams, something that you feel that is impossible is may be the path for you to make it possible.

    Dont you worry about how it is going to happen if these penguins were worried that they cant fly and just sulked on it. They would have just followed the herd just like everybody else, but they came out, they lived in the moment, they were happy, they took risks, they enjoyed their journey and in the end something they once thought that they cant, they eventually did!

    Hope you all learnt something from this, right now in my life I am going through a different phase and I surely wanted all of these to be re affirmed. This is why I always say, things do not happen to us as a Coincidence, we are all meant to see something, hear from some people for a reason and that reason is for our growth! It is the way, Universe is helping you!

    Yours Consciously

    Sneha

  • CLIMATE CHANGE TRAUMA VS ABUNDANT MINDSET!

    Photo clicked in Kodaikanal, this was my workplace 😉

    Disclaimer: All that I am sharing in this post is purely from my own experience and my own realisations for my own good and for Mother Earth’s good-in simple words, Just my Perspective. You all know now, how connected I am to nature and how protective I was too! So, Climate change was something that always questioned me about the existence of Humanity. In the year 2016, I watched the movie The Revenant with a friend, I had just quit my job and was about to start travelling. Right after the movie, they were 2 things that were clear to me:

    1. I was sure that my love Leonardo is gonna win Oscar.

    2. I told my friend, that “We are all gonna Die”; exactly in the same tone as to how Jennifer Lawrence screams in the recent movie “Don’t Look Up”!

    Although I always did my bit as much as I could to keep the environment around me safe and clean, I just could not come to terms with the carelessness of others. Every now and then, the Big news of climate change always put me off; to an extent where I had once decided that I will not have any children. Watching so many Environmentalists, always blaming the existence of Humans on Climate Change, and also as my experiences matched with theirs, I developed hatred towards Humanity-which means I developed hatred towards myself!

    In my first remote job, in Kodaikanal; the job was to manage the place that involved running from one hill to another. I met so many incredible humans, who became such good friends later on. My mornings were filled with beautiful sunrises amidst mountains and the whole day dancing around with the rains and leeches. Although the work was hectic, the people who worked around there made it all so simpler and easy.

    I once mentioned to our cook there, that I don’t like washing clothes and she took it from me and washed it in the river for me; how much ever I denied not to! Who does that, my goodness! And another help, cooked this delicious meal and invited me to his house, that meal tasted exactly like how my mother cooked.

    You see, the nature all around was beautiful, I had everything that I craved for. One of the main reasons for me to start travelling is to be away from humans, all that was satisfying. But, I also deep inside craved for that connection with other Humans is what I realised there and that’s what  I found in all of those beautiful people.

    I remember, telling a friend over there. You know, I always hated humans so much coz I thought they are the only reason for climate change; now I have realised that Humans are Nature too!

    Fast forward, to many years later; this Sneha decides to start a Sustainable brand because why not, Environmentalist, travels sustainably, lives sustainably; It’s all perfect, right! This is where it all brought up my Climate Change Anxiety again. I would not throw any Plastic bag that comes with groceries, how much ever I carry my bag there would be some groceries that I would have to buy which would already be packed with plastic.

    Also, my family members would not listen and that would give me another set of anxiety; I also live in the suburbs of Bengaluru and didn’t even have the option to send the plastic bags for recycling and the covid situation wasn’t helping either.

    I would store sacks of plastic all around my house, I would wear torn clothes coz I didn’t want to buy more and be a burden to the environment and I would avoid eating chips as they would come in plastic bags. I basically, was stressing myself to all of these in the name of saving Mother Earth, not even realising, how will the Mother be happy when her child is suffering.

    Since I was new in the business, I was also trying to fit in in the Sustainable industry and I wanted to be part of the community. I was scared, that I was contradicting my lifestyle and the ethics of my brand.

    At the same time, I was also awakening, rather my soul was awakening hahaha! I was reading a lot about Money as I had to prepare myself very well in my business. Money is Energy, Rich people are not evil, Limiting Beliefs around Money, how Money is divine Abundance; it all made a lot of sense to me.

    This was definitely a clash because every sustainable business owner I was in connection with, would always Bad mouth rich people and most of the sustainable bloggers/practitioners did too. This is not to blame anyone, coz I was that person too one day. Just that my mindset shifted so my beliefs shifted too and I was not syncing with any of them. Now, this Sneha who is trying to be fit in the sustainable industry and also who wants to be Abundant, got into a soup! Hahaha

    I use to promote my products saying it’s affordable coz in the sustainable industry there was always this notion that sustainable products are expensive. So I was basically pleasing everyone by putting my worth down, in simpler words repelling all the abundance I was meant to receive.

    In the beginning, I even sold most of my products at a very lower price coz I was in fear that nobody would buy it. It’s not possible to keep each of my legs on two different boats and row ahead for a longer time right.

    So long story short, I chose to be Abundant, why not! The universe is Abundant, Universe is Expanding and so does all of us.

    Now that Sneha had the realisation that stressing herself will not make her Mother Earth happy, trying to fit herself where her values were not seen, will not make her Mother Earth happy, Bad mouthing Rich people will not make her Mother Earth happy!

    If you are a business owner reading this, whether you charge 5 Rs for your product/services or 5 crores for your product/services; you are bound to attract people at both levels. So it’s all in You, to decide your worth, it’s not about whether people will buy the products/services are not, it is about whether you feel worthy enough of receiving that Abundance.

    And I would say when there is an infinite amount of Abundance, why do you want to choose the path where there is Scarcity. That reminds me, having learnt sooooo much about Wealth Mindset, I am having a 1:1 coaching session to expand your Abundant Mindset, Click here to apply for it.

    Whether you want to be Rich or not, it’s your choice but there is no point in stressing about not having money. It does not make sense if you have to think more than once when you really want to buy that dress or eat that pizza, and if you are not happy deep inside, it is bound to show up and that creates stress.

    So finally, I threw those sacks of plastic bags/garbage I had collected for months, I gave away most of my old clothes,  I cleared my house from all the stagnant energy and then I sensed a bit of calmness in me and all around the house.

    Right after that, I started to receive more orders; speak of clearing the stagnant energy eh?

    I still carry my bag wherever I go, I carry a box if I have to buy chips, I make Bio enzymes, I separate my waste, I do whatever I can, that is in my control. The ones I can’t control, I don’t try to!

    Also being open to Abundance gives me more freedom and do more work towards the environment. Who knows, I might get to work with Dicaprio’s Foundation. hahaha

    Long ago; a friend had asked me if I have a role model. I told her, I don’t have any but I love what Dicaprio’s foundation does towards Environment and Animals.

    Speaking of him, I watched his latest movie Don’t Look Up, of course on the first day when it was released as I was really looking forward to it as it was about climate change.  Looking at the movie, from an Artist’s perspective, mind-blowing- a good cast, great visuals, amazing script. Looking from an Environmentalist perspective, well you will be surprised to hear this not even one chord in my heart was struck.

    It was supposed to scare people to take climate change seriously, but somehow that message was disconnected. I may have healed from the Climate Change trauma but it definitely still worries me when I see the news about glaciers melting. Recently, NASA shared a post on how Earth’s temperature has increased over the last few decades and that was a little triggering. But this movie, not at all; the only scene that made me emotional and cry- was the last scene where Timothy prays to God-speak of being spiritually awakened eh? Anyway, if you guys have watched it, I would like to know your perspective.

    To wrap up this episode, what I feel is, when it comes to Climate change we all look at nature as separate from Humans, yes we have caused the destruction but if we have the power to destruct, don’t we have the power to create them all too! Somewhere in the process of growing, we have lost the connection of ourselves, that connection to ourselves can be regained by healing within first.

    That’s when we connect to the Universe, by that I mean our highest self, that’s where we get into the feeling of us being Nature.

    We are Nature, We are creators and We will flourish and Nourish; the change is happening and I am positive about it.

    As the disclaimer stated at the beginning, all of this is all my perspective; but I also do believe that most of you could resonate with it so if you did, do send me a message on Instagram or drop a review or whatever you feel like doing.

    If you would like to listen to my Podcast, click here.

    Yours Consciously

    Sneha