Tag Archives: Perception

Day 1161: When life gives you lemons choose to make lemonade

You can’t choose what happens but you can choose how you react to it – that’s what I keep learning.

It’s 4 : 12 PM on day 1161 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, start reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, feed myself boiled egg and All Bran Flakes for breakfast, read some more, feed myself stir fry for lunch, continue reading, publish my Disability of the Day feature and publish my Kid of the Week feature.

This morning shortly after we woke up there was a city-wide power outage which we later found out would last for ten hours it sucked but I chose to look at it as an opportunity to catch up on my reading you can’t choose what happens but you can choose how you react to it. Do you choose to make the best of every situation?

Day 1109: Our perception of our abilities VS the world’s perception

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The way we perceive ourselves and our abilities is often different from how other people perceive us and our abilities – that’s what I learned yesterday.

It’s 12 : 47 PM on day 1109 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, pray, feed myself All Bran Flakes for breakfast,read 2 Samuel 12, publish my Disability of the Day feature, tweet and Facebook about my campaign – nobody donated so far today either – change my t-shirt, stretch my hamstrings and practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles.

Yesterday someone who hadn’t seen me in a few years came by and just as she was about to leave she said to my parents her speech has gotten clearer which was funny because up until that very moment I didn’t think there was anything wrong with my speech sure there have been times when people didn’t understand me but I always assumed that that was because I was nervous or speaking too fast so I repeated what I was saying and people understood I hope that comment doesn’t make me self-conscious when I speak. Has someone ever pointed out to you something about yourself that you hadn’t noticed before?

Day 1064: Why some give and others don’t?

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Those who believe they have much are more likely to give than those who believe they have little – that’s what I keep learning.

It’s 12 : 00 PM on day 1064 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to pray, read Ruth 2, publish my Disability of the Day feature, feed myself boiled egg and Bran Flakes for breakfast and tweet and Facebook about my campaign – no luck so far but I’ll keep trying I only need to raise $230 more to reach my goal 🙂

This morning thinking about the difference between those who give and those who don’t I realized those who believe they have much are more likely to give than those who believe they have little it even makes common sense if you believe you have little you will hold onto everything you have for dear life on the other hand if you believe you have much you will think to yourself I have so much why shouldn’t someone else have as much or more than me. Do you believe you have much or do you believe you have little?

Day 1031: Silver Linings Playbook on the Power of Perception

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“You have to do everything you can. You have to work your hardest. If you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining.” – Pat, Silver Linings Playbook

It’s 4 : 00 PM on day 1031 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to stretch my hamstrings, try to clean myself in the bathroom, brush my teeth, take off my dirty turtleneck and t-shirt and put a clean t-shirt and hoodie on, feed myself Idli, chutney and Sambar for breakfast, pray, read Joshua 14, publish my Disability of the Day feature, spend some time with my family – my dad came back from a two week trip to India we were hoping to see pictures of family back in India unfortunately most of the pictures were of my father’S feet LOL 🙂 – and tweet and Facebook about my campaign – Heidi Oran of The Conscious Perspective donated $10 AND wrote a blog post about my campaign (thank you for your support Heidi).

Yesterday evening my brother, sister and I were watching Silver Linings Playbook – a movie about Pat who gets out of a mental institution determined to get his old life back – early on in the movie Pat says if you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining I have found that to be true in my own life there are no good or bad situations there are just situations it’s up to you how you choose to see them. Do you stay positive and look for the silver lining in every situation?

Day 784

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Those who make lemonade out of lemons will always end up on top – that’s what I keep learning 🙂

It’s 3 : 30 PM on day 784 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, stretch my hamstrings, practice sitting up straight to strengthen my core muscles, feed myself a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast, practice sitting some more and practice typing with both hands.

Today I watched LOOK AT YOURSELF AFTER WATCHING THIS – a video about Nick Vujicic a guy who has no arms or legs but has a great a great attitude (thanks to my friend, Laura, for tweeting me the link to this video) – I could really relate to Nick’s attitude of gratitude because I, like him, choose (and make no mistake about it, it is a choice) to be grateful for all the things I have instead of focusing on the few things I don’t have. Watch Nick’s amazing story:

(Note: This post was meant to be published on 5 November 2012 but that wasn’t possible due to technical difficulties)

I LOVE hearing from you feel free to leave a comment below.

Day 602

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God took away my ability to walk and gave me twice the ability to see– that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 3 : 25 PM on day 602 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself banana for breakfast, drink Green Tea by myself, publish my Disability of the Day feature, exercise my right hand – still need more practice picking up a knife with my right hand and cutting with it – drink another cup of Green Tea by myself and exercise my legs.

Today as I was practicing using a fork and knife I realized that God took away my ability to walk and gave me twice the ability to see meaning because of the challenges I face I appreciate all the abilities I have and am able to see people that the rest of the world ignores. Do you have twice the ability to see?

Day 325

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Those who make the world’s craziness work for them will end up on top – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 7: 47 PM on day 325 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself fruits for breakfast, exercise for fifteen minutes, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – feed myself steamed potatoes for lunch, tweet some more about my campaign – still no luck 🙁 – watch TV, brush my teeth once more and feed myself steamed mixed vegetables for dinner.

As you know I do not understand celebrity obsession nor frankly do I care for it but after this tweet sent to me by Justina (@jval2009) RT @juliebenz: Wow!! Inspiring!! @AllCharisma: u both should check out @nisha360 she’s trying to do the same thing she is amazing I decided to embrace this celebrity obsessed culture that we live in and thought about how I could use it to make this world a better place which is when I came up with the idea of asking you guys to tweet your favourite celebrities about my campaign – use this tweet: @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 or write whatever reflects you best – because let’s face it although all of us have the power to make a difference some of us can do it more easily than others. Have you ever used something you hated to your advantage?

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://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 303

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You see there’s always another story, another side to every coin
And how you see your circumstance is all about a choice.
– From the song Jesus Calling by 33 Miles

It’s 8: 52 PM on day 303 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself toast, eggs, sausages and tomatoes for breakfast, watch TV, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet some more about my campaign – today was a productive day I asked some of my friends to write blog posts about me and set up an interview 🙂 – read South African woman uses social media to build well for people without clean water – the published version of interview I did with @JeniseFryatt – thanks Jenise you did a GREAT job 🙂 – answer Nicky’s interview questions – I asked my friend Nicky to write a blog post about me and my campaign on The Nicky Blog and she suggested an interview instead and I have to say the girl knows her stuff 🙂 – feed myself Batura and chicken curry for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Yesterday we visited a friend and just before we left she said Neethu – my sister – good luck with the decisions you have to make – referring to the decision she has to make about what she wants to be after she matriculates next year – and then she turned to me and said as if to include me in the conversation Nisha you must help her with those decisions and in that moment I realized that people would always perceive me as my sister’s aid and not as a person of my own just because of my disability and the life I chose which I have now decided is not necessarily a bad thing because I have the element of surprise on my side. Do you choose to see every circumstance as a blessing no matter what it appears to be?

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

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 302

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The most critical choice you’ll ever make is the one you make about what you’re going to do with this. The past is over. The future hasn’t happened yet. The only time is now. – Dr. Phil C. McGraw

It’s 7: 58 PM on day 302 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bananas for breakfast, watch TV, feed myself Spaghetti bolognaise for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – and go visit some friends – it was so much fun they are such funny people 🙂

Yesterday I was watching an episode of Oprah – we’re a bit behind so it still airs here – on which a nineteen-year-old boy by the name of Clayton was featured – he was severally abused up to the age of six his father urinated on him rubbed his own feces’ in his faced nd locked him up in the bathroom closet – and yet he said I treat everybody with respect even if they don’t deserve it and although I didn’t think much of it at the time this morning I woke up and I remembered the time when my father lifted the chair I was sitting on to hit my mother in victory rather than in fear because I realized that I would never be five and powerless ever again. Are you stuck in a chapter of your life with no way out?

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

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 294

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The only way to change perception is through education – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 9: 19 PM on day 294 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, watch TV, feed myself sweet potatoes and salad for breakfast, read Max goes to camp, and misses some major excitement on Love That Max and A Trip We Won’t Soon Forget on Chasing Rainbows – the first blog post was about learning to let go of your children while the second one was a heart-warming post about a family on vacation – feed myself sweet potatoes and salad for lunch, submit one of my posts to be on Love That Max – I wanted to give the world a few pointers on how to treat disabled people – watch some more TV, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – feed myself rice and curry for dinner and brush my teeth once more.

Yesterday I came across a tweet by Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) which read How should journalists cover Africa? When we cover genocides & poverty, are we part of the problem? http://nyti.ms/m9DKog and I couldn’t help but feel offended because although there is poverty and violence on this continent that is just part of what Africa is about a perfect example of this is what happened in our housekeeper’s neighborhood last week an HIV positive woman had fallen ill and died a day later in hospital which would have left her three-year-old daughter without adult supervision had a kind neighbor not taken her in until her next of kin could be notified. Do you share the world’s perception of Africa because you don’t know any different?

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

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!