What a great question. We live in Toronto, in a suburb about 22kms from downtown Toronto. Even though we are in a typical sub-division with buildings and homes and are close to a very big city, our town is full of hiking trails, both wooded and waterfront, plenty of parks and greenery. We enjoy walking everyday in different hiking trails and paths. We can talk to our neighbors over the fence but we don’t feel like we live in a big town. We are also in an old neighborhood with bungalows so the single level houses makes everything more open. The view from by backyard is trees. Love our community and church. Toronto is mighty cold this week -25celsius but our backyard is covered with snow and the sun hitting the snow is blinding, I need sunglasses in the house to look out. Our home is cosy and homey and even though I would love to live in a really small town where I could walk everywhere and where work was a very short drive away, I still love where I am right now. What a great question.I grew up in Mumbai which is a completely different and also exciting experience. I would not trade growing up in Mumbai then and I would not trade living in Toronto now. Each city has been just what we needed for the phase of the lives we are in.

A standing joke between me and my 21 year old son. I say ‘I love you’. He replies ‘thank you’. Too funny! But then when he walks past me, he pats me on the head and says ‘love you mom’.

I tell my husband I love him all the time as well and he replies ‘talk is cheap’.!! It doesn’t stop me from talking and saying it though :-). And while he is a man of few words he shows me his love everyday by his actions and by always putting me first. Truly blessed to have a wonderful selfless man by my side.

I take such great care of everything. I’ve dropped my phone down maybe just twice in the past 5 years! All my things last forever. Strangely, I don’t take care of my body. I keep going like a machine that doesn’t have a stop button. I eat junk food, I don’t sleep enough. I recently realized that that I should be taking care of my body instead of material objects, as objects are easy to replace but parts of our body are not. This question is very timely at the start of the year. Time to refocus and re-channel my attention and energies.

1. I am always unhappy with myself and always falling short of my own expectations.
2. I always have to-do lists in my head and don’t look forward to any of the to-do’s even the fun to-dos like facials, mani pedi etc.
3. I’m always worried about my 21 year old son and my aged parents.
I am very very very very very grateful for my life and everything and everyone I have. But I still feel stressed about things and I feel unhappy with myself, just myelf. I dont know how gratitude and fear and stress and being unhappy (with myself only) can all live in me at the same time.
What I desire for myself? – to be at peace with myself and to be happy.
What do I desire for the world – to be accepting of each other. I truly believe if every human accepted every other human there would be less pain, less conflict and more love and peace.
Sorry for the long post and all advice is welcome 🙂

Hi Kevin, So sorry to hear this and I hope things get better for you. I have degenerative disc disease in my lumbar spine and have back pain continually though nothing as bad as yours. I am 47 years and have had the pain since 44. I used to enjoy yoga for how light and airy my body felt. With the onset of back pain, no amount of yoga or stretching relieves it and the constant feeling of discomfort/pain is something I’m learning to live with. I will say a prayer especially for you today. Be well.