Tag Archives: Charmed by Stella Cameron

Day 251

I am not as perfect as I thought I was – that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 7: 25 PM on day 251 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to finish reading A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron‘s Charmed – it was a typical romance novel … so predictable 🙁 – brush my teeth, feed myself two-minute noodles for breakfast, publish my Kid of the Week feature featuring 12-year-old Elliot Mast (@elliotmast) – Elliot’s such a sweet boy he sent a short and sweet thank-you note a few hours later – Elliot as I said in my reply I am SO proud of you 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, tweet and Facebook about my Clean Water For All Campaign –no luck – feed myself Chapati for dinner and continue to tweet and Facebook about campaign – still no luck 🙁

As you know I pride myself on honest but today when my father looked at my bank balance and said you only have a $100 in here I felt like a loser so I responded by saying I’ll get more money next week advertisers are paying me – I lied – but now I realize that I had no reason to lie and that it’s okay to make mistakes once in a while. Have you ever said or done something that has shattered your self-image?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://www.twitter.com/nisha360

if you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 248

Appreciation consists of words and action – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 40 PM on day 248 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign –no luck but @laurajteacheroz (Laura) promised to donate $50 if 50 people donated $10 each – thanks Laura 🙂 – feed myself a polony sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my campaign some more –still no luck :(– feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, continue reading A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron‘s Charmed, feed myself Batura for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Today I was sitting at my laptop doing something when the memory of a comment left on my Facebook wall post which read you’re a star came flooding back to me and in that moment I felt so angry because the woman who left that comment after reading an article about me was the very same woman who wouldn’t return any of my messages when I sent her a donation request so naturally I wasn’t exactly feeling the love although I did thank her in the interest of being polite. Do you talk the talk but fail to walk the walk?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://www.twitter.com/nisha360

if you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 247

A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others. – Author Unknown

It’s 7: 31 PM on day 247 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bread and scrambled eggs for breakfast, drink a cup of coffee, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign –no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my campaign some more –still no luck :(– continue reading A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron‘s Charmed watch TV and brush my teeth once more.

As you may or may not know after twenty-five years on air The Oprah Winfrey Show is coming to a close and in honour of that I would like to share with you some of the lessons I’ve learned from the most powerful woman in the world. Take a look:

5 Pearls of Wisdom That Oprah Winfrey Has Passed Onto Me

  1. You can change your reality by shifting your perception.
  2. Everything that you seek from others you have to give yourself first.
  3. Nobody has the power to complete you but you.
  4. True fulfilment is achieved by giving rather than consuming.
  5. Everybody wants to feel heard and understood.

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://www.twitter.com/nisha360

if you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 239

People fear what they don’t understand and hate what they can’t conquer. – Andrew Smith

It’s 8: 03 PM on day 239 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a polony sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself grapes for dinner and continue reading A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron‘s Charmed.

A couple of weeks ago somebody sent me a tweet which read what’s cp? and shortly after I replied back telling her what it was she sent me another tweet saying something along the lines of oh I thought it was chronic pancreatitis I admire your attitude to which I couldn’t help but laugh anyway the reason I recounted that conversation was just to show you how uneducated some people were – and still are – about Cerebral Palsy and to share with you this wonderful video:

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

if you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/nisha-varghese/nishavarghese

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 234

From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity. – Edvard Munch

It’s 9: 18 PM on day 234 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a boiled egg for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, continue reading A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron‘s Charmed – feed myself boiled green banana with a yoghurt and onion dip for dinner and tweet about my campaign – still no luck damn it I wish everyone would pitch in seeing as we’re all in this together.

Today started out like any other day until Christine – someone I didn’t even know – sent me a message telling me that Brannan – the little boy I wrote a post about yesterday – had passed away and in that moment I couldn’t stop the tears but after about fifteen minutes I dried my eyes and started thinking about ways to honour Brennan’s life which is when I came up with Brannan’s Pledge  – our promise to end all forms of discrimination.

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://www.twitter.com/nisha360

if you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/nisha-varghese/nishavarghese

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 233

Spiritual teachers come in all forms – that’s what I learned today.

It’s 9: 01 PM on day 233 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, continue reading  A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron‘s Charmed – watch TV, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread – for dinner and watch some more TV.

As you know religion is a huge part of my life but it wasn’t until I ‘met’ Brennan – a ten-year-old boy who is dying of cancer – that I truly understood the meaning of faith every Sunday he goes to church which I find quite astonishing considering the fact that there was a time in my life that I refused to go to church because I was mad at God for ‘taking away my legs’ with that said I would like to thank Brennan for teaching me that faith is choosing to believe in a higher power even in our darkest hour. Has somebody you least expected taught you a lesson that you will never forget?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://www.twitter.com/nisha360

if you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/nisha-varghese/nishavarghese

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 231

When you fight fire with fire someone will get burned – that’s what I learned today

It’s 9: 41 PM on day 231 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a banana for breakfast, continue reading A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron‘s Charmed – backup all my files – my laptop was making funny noises and I thought it better to be safe than sorry LOL 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – watch TV, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread – for dinner and tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck 🙁

Today as I heard of all the killings going on in the world via the seven o’ clock news I realized that evil was a cycle and that the only way to break it was to refuse to retaliate against our enemies. Are you burning your house down to kill a rat?

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://www.twitter.com/nisha360

if you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/nisha-varghese/nishavarghese

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!

Day 227

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. – Mohandas Gandhi

It’s 7: 23 PM on day 227 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to continue reading A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron‘s Charmedtweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign@mysunderstood74 (M) made her second donation – thanks M it’s people like you that make me want to get up every morning and do this all over again 🙂 – brush my teeth, vote for Hands on in Africa – a great project that my friend,@SophieBrown95 (Sophie), is involved in that aims to teach kids in the UK social responsibly while providing kids in Africa an education feed myselfParottaa common layered flat bread of Southern India – and beef curry for breakfast, tweet about my campaign some more – no further luck – watch TV while and after feeding myself strawberry yoghurt for lunch, went to visit my cousin and her family, feed myself chicken nuggets and nuggets and French fries from McDonald’s for dinner and watch some more TV.

Today I stumbled onto Power 9: Habits of the World’s Healthiest People and as I read it I realized that people who live the longest are balanced in all aspects of their lives. Read the article below and you’ll catch my drift:

Power9: 9 Habits of the World’s Healthiest People

by Healthy Theory

The United States is facing a health crisis of unprecedented proportions: Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Diabetes and heart disease rates are on the rise. For the first time in living history, the life expectancy of America’s children is less than that of their parents.

In other parts of the world, however, people are living longer, healthier lives. In certain areas known as Blue Zones, people tend to live well into their 90s and beyond while remaining mentally and physically vibrant. It’s no coincidence that people in these regions share several lifestyle traits.

The Blue Zones

  1. Sardinia, Italy: a mountain village where researchers encountered a 102-year-old man who hikes at least 6 miles a day.
  2. Okinawa, Japan: home to some of the world’s longest-lived people.
  3. Loma Linda, California: where a group of Seventh Day Adventists commonly live to 100 years old and enjoy more healthy years of life than the rest of the United States.
  4. Icaria, Greece: a tiny island with 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease, and almost no dementia.
  5. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica: where residents enjoy lower levels of obesity and longer lives than the rest of Costa Rica.

Dan Buettner, explorer and writer for National Geographic, has worked with longevity researchers to identify the habits that allow Blue Zone inhabitants to reach the age of 100 at ten times greater rates than most of the United States, while suffering a mere fraction the rate of heart disease and cancer as the rest of the world.

The key to living longer, fuller lives, says Buettner, is to create an environment of health. Science has determined that less than 25% of a person’s lifespan is determined by genes. The rest can be influenced by lifestyle factors.

Healthy Lifestyle Habits

Buettner and his team of researchers have identified nine lifestyle factors common among Blue Zone inhabitants, all of which are associated with an extra 3-6 years of quality life. The secret to vitality and longevity is incorporating these habits into your daily life. Adopting all nine of these habits — known as the Power9 — is not necessary to experience the benefits of increased health and longevity; according to Buettner, practicing just six of the Power9 will deliver 90% of the benefits. His book, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, provides practical guidelines for setting up your home, your social life, and your work place to help add more quality years to your life.

Surprisingly, only one of the Power9 deals with exercise, and a full third involve social factors. In fact, says Buettner, the single most important thing you can do is extend your life is to build your own “Right Tribe.” The world’s longest-lived people were either born into or choose to associate with the right people — those who provide emotional support and the motivation to engage in healthy activities. Research shows that if you surround yourself with people who are active and eat healthy foods, you are more likely to adopt these habits yourself.

The Power9

1. Move naturally

Find ways to move mindlessly and adopt a lifestyle that makes moving unavoidable. In many Blue Zones, walking is the main mode of transportation. People also engage in some sort of moderate daily activity such as gardening, walking, or playing with their children. Buettner believes that many Americans exercise too hard; our bodies were not made to withstand years of heavy pounding and high-intensity physical activity. Regular, low-intensity activity — doing something light every day — may be more beneficial. Focus on activities you enjoy — even something as seemingly simple as a daily walk can provide health benefits.

2. Know your purpose in life

Having a meaningful reason to get out of bed in the morning can help reduce stress and ward off disease. Studies show that people who retire early often see a decline in their health and even experience higher mortality rates than those who continue to work. If you enjoy your job, keep working as long as possible. Volunteer work and community service can also help provide a sense of purpose.

3. Downshift

People in Blue Zones typically have less stress in their lives. Look for ways to simplify your life: slow down, get plenty of rest, and take vacations. Try to punctuate your day with periods of calm, whether that means meditating, taking a relaxing bath, or carving out some time for yourself to engage in a hobby.

4. Follow the 80% Rule

As Americans, we’re used to eating until we’re full, but allowing yourself to feel hunger can actually be beneficial. A study involving mice revealed that the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin may help fight stress and depression. People in Blue Zones typically stop eating when they are 80% full. Buettner’s book and the Blue Zone web site provide advice on adopting healthier eating habits.

5. Eat a plant-based diet

People in Blue Zones don’t diet; they eat wisely. Blue Zone diets consist of large amounts of locally grown vegetables and less protein than the average American diet. Limit processed foods, meats, fats, and sweets as much as possible. Also drink plenty of fresh water and herbal teas. In Icaria, residents drink high levels of herbal teas that act as diuretics, lower blood pressure, and prevent heart disease.

6. Drink red wine

Red wine is high in powerful antioxidants that can help fight cancer, reduce inflammation, and lower cholesterol. In Sardinia, researchers found a red wine with the world’s highest-known levels of antioxidants. Drink red wine consistently and in moderation — a glass or two a day is recommended.

7. Belong to a healthy social network

Having a strong and supportive social system is key to reducing stress and living a healthy life. There is a biological link between social connection and how well our bodies function. Fifteen years ago, the average American had three good friends; that number is now down to two. Our increasingly wired society and busy lifestyles have made us more isolated, which can shave years off our lives. Make an effort to spend time with friends and nurture a face-to-face network instead of just connecting with people online. Proactively build friendships with people who practice healthy habits. Participating in social exercise groups or volunteering are great ways to meet healthy, like-minded individuals.

8. Have a belief system

Having some sort of faith system or spiritual practice has been shown to have health benefits. Participating in a belief system doesn’t have to mean organized religion: Okinawans believe in ancestral worship; yoga and meditation are also forms of non-religious spiritual practices. “People who feel their life is part of a larger plan and are guided by their spiritual values have stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure, a lower risk of heart attack and cancer, and heal faster and live longer,” says Harold G. Koenig, M.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center.

9. Put your family first

People in Blue Zones make family a priority and nurture supportive relationships with their loved ones. Studies have shown that the average working American parent spends just 19 minutes a day engaged in childcare. As you work on simplifying your routine, look for new, beneficial activities you can do with your children and extended family members. Complete a craft project together, get the family together for a bike ride, or involve the children in making dinner and choosing healthy foods for the family.


Day 226

Whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that all ingenious people might be informed thereof. – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

It’s 7: 50 PM on day 226 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself a sweet potato and chutney for breakfast, listen to music, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no luck – start reading A Purloined Life – the first of two books in Stella Cameron’s Charmed – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, feed myself rice and curry for dinner and tweet about my campaign some more – still no luck 🙁

My brother once told me that sharing was caring and since I care so much for all of you I would like to share with you my latest obsession, Jake Coco – a twenty-six-year-old who reflects God every time he opens his mouth to sing. Take a look: