43 lessons for my 43rd birthday

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Bhanu Misra Marya

A few weeks ago I celebrated my birthday and realized that it’s been a while since I’ve done a birthday post! (ok almost 10 years ago)

So in celebration of my 43rd birthday, here are 43 lessons that have provided me with guidance, disciplined my days and provided motivation when I needed it most <3

Energy is everything
Everything is multiplied by gratitude
Know that it will turn out better than expected
Your mindset is the gateway to every transformation
People aren’t thinking about you, they are thinking about themselves
You are free to reinvent yourself at anytime
Friendships change. Nurture the ones that feel like growth and remember not everyone grows with you
Stop relying on external validation
Laugh more
Your standards above everything (decide your future and teach others how to treat you)
When you feel lost, ask yourself “what would my most abundant/higher self/happiest self be doing”
Protect your piece (because if it costs you your peace, its too expensive)
When others judge, it’s based on their own lived experiences and biases
Healing is a journey (it isnt pretty and it doesnt mean you won’t be triggerd – because you will be, but it’s worth it every time you act from a place of self awareness and compassion for yourself and those who may trigger you)
Trust your intiution
If you aren’t willing to risk the unusual, you’ll have to settle for the ordinary
Find a spiritual practice that works for you
Don’t expect from others what you can’t do for yourself first
Clean up what you consume (offline, online, people, experiences, drama – becomes who you are)
Stop watching mainstream news
Confidence is actions first, feelings later
Travel to learn more about the world and yourself
Everything in moderation, including moderation
Embody your feminine power
Train your inner dialogue (Mirror self talk is the best way to start your morning, you can still be humble and hype yourself up)
Embarrassment is the ticket to evolution
Let your be mentored by your highest self
Put yourself out there
The life you love will look very different than what you thought
Celebrate your own damn self (buy yourself the flowers, always have chilled champagne in the fridge, give yourself the 5 love langugaes)
You don’t get what you want, you get what you are
People will behave from the level on consiousness they are at
Keeping promises to yourself is the first step in building confidence
Every situation is an opportunity for growth
Ego is loud, confidence is silent
Compliment yourself daily (Dress confidently, the world benefits when you show up as your boldest self)
Upgrade your self worth (You get what you believe you deserve)
You get what you identify with not what you desire (self concept over everything)
If you want better friendships, be a better friend to yourself – the right people will feel like peace, not performance
feelings of shame keep you focused on your identity, accountability keeps your fixed on what you do
take yourself out on solo dates
It’s not about being busy, but doing the work that aligns with YOUR goals
Detach from outcomes, fall in love with the journey instead

The HEALTHIEST muffins I’ve ever made

Posted on September 17, 2025 by Bhanu Misra Marya

When you think of healthy foods, what do you think of?
For me it’s foods that have healthy ingredients, like spinach and no added sugar or added flour.
So when I heard about these spinach muffins, I knew I had to give them a try.

I also love that you can hide the healthy food in a fun food but still not completely disguise it (I mean the muffins are green!)

For balance you can definitely add dark chocolate chips (like I did) or a use wheat flour (I always prefer oat flour in my baking) or white sugar (if that’s your preference).

The real star is the SPINACH – so don’t mess with that!

The muffins turned out kind of like banana bread and you can’t taste the spinach AT ALL!

So happy to have tried baking again (it’s been a hot minute), and sharing more healthy-ish but quick baking recipes I LOVE!

QUICK & EASY breakfast quiche!

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Bhanu Misra Marya

A few years ago my husband and I watched Suits. Truth be told, we watched it more for our personal amusement of identifying Toronto Landmarks. However, this was also the time I learned about Meghan Duchess of Sussex. This was right before she joined the Royal Family but more the creative mind behind The Tig.

I love me a good lifestyle and fashion blog but I only caught a glimpse of The Tig, before it was taken down because Meghan became a Duchess.

But alas I digress. Well not exactly! I recently watched “With Love, Meghan” and she made a quiche. It actually inspired me to do the same. So I did what any other millennial middle working mom – went to tiktok to find an easier version of the hard to make recepies that I know I’ll never make.

Enter this quick and easy crustless quiche! Read below and enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Large Tortilla
4-5 Eggs
1.25 cups of cottage cheese
Chopped veggies of choice (I have leftover: red pepper, asparagus)
Cilantro
Garlic Pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste
Shredded cheese

Steps:

Preheat oven at 375 degrees
Spray pie pan with olive oil or butter
Shape tortilla into pie pan
Mixing all ingredients except cheese and pour into pan lined tortilla
Top with cheese
Bake for 30-35 min
Let cool, slice and enjoy!

How you dress is a reflection of your personal reality

Posted on March 22, 2025 by Bhanu Misra Marya

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always felt a personal conviction to leave my house “dressed up”. I would always have my make up done, my accessories on point and ready to take an outfit shot #OnceAFashionBloggerAlwaysAFashionBlogger.

But along came motherhood, a pandemic, all sorts of geo-political situations and the desire to feel put together was cast aside. I lost “my why” or at least felt it was drowned out by all the noise around me.

However a few years ago, I remember leaving the house with a baby tow and in a very unflattering outfit (think: saggy sweatpants and uggs) feeling extremely embarrassed at the thought of running into anyone, that I vowed to never do that to myself again. It wasn’t the “running into” someone that bothered me, it was “I don’t care about myself” mentality that made me realize that in fact I do care about myself (a lot!).

How you dress is a reflection of you personality. And your personality is just your personal reality. Dr Joe Dispenza’s theorizes that our thoughts, feelings and actions (including how we dress, present ourselves etc) shape our personal reality. If the action of dressing your best forms your personal reality – a strong connection could be made for dressing in a way that represents your best and highest self – whether that be aligning your personal reality to that promotion, business owner, professional athlete or just a hot mom ;)

In all honestly, it’s been a journey to find my personal style again, but it’s fun to shop my closet, save outfit ideas on Pinterest or invest in some great pieces.

Some days I love what I’m wearing, and I sometimes still leave the house in an outfit that doesn’t hit the mark – but I’m giving myself grace (as one should!)

In an attempt to keep myself motivated, sharing a few reasons why I choose to dress well in hopes that it will inspire others to rethink their own style journey.

Demonstrates confidence: How we dress creates an impact on how we are perceived by others but also how we perceive ourselves. Luckily confidence can be cultivated and is usually starts with self-love and self-care. An easy way to figure to show yourself love is buy wearing things that make you feel confident. But what outfits make you feel confident?
An outfit that fits well and feels good – is a great place to start. Next your follow your intuition as it tell you pretty quickly that an outfit will increase your confidence. You’ll have a pep in your step, you’ll stand taller, you’ll radiate a sparkle and you won’t even need to look in a mirror to confirm – you’ll just feel it
Attracts positive attention: Call it what you will: “first impression”, “pretty privilege” or “divine feminine” – dressing in a way that exudes these attributes will get you some stares but it will also give you power. You will also be perceived as more competent which in turn builds trust and credibility. I know some people will say “but we shouldn’t be judge by our appearance” but unfortunately it happens – so why not use it to your advantage. People will be drawn to you, doors will be held open for you, friendly conversations and kind stranger interactions will be had. This is all to say is that you’ll be surrounded by positivity. And in today’s world – sprinkling more positivity into our day is a MUST!
Encourages creative self expression: I love to be artistic – and being creative with outfits is a form of self expression just as making a painting, junk journaling or photography would be. We all have a unique identity and show casing it in how we dress allows us as individuals to express that uniqueness and experiment with our creativity.

Book Review: Station Eleven

Posted on February 26, 2025 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I first heart about this book in 2018 or 2019, but I don’t think I was ready for it back then.

Firstly I was re-finding my footing as an artist. I was definitely more into sci-fi tech than dystopian. And I was also much younger (…with age comes wisdom!)

But this book is spectacular. And the themes of this book (namely: pandemic and dismantling of society) are right on point of the 2020-2022 years.

This book (for me) was a beautiful intertwining of some important ideas in my life right now: art, family, human interaction, humanity and even how the brain works.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is a hauntingly poetic view of humanity’s resilience in the face of collapse. The novel captures the lives of several characters before and after the world as we know it ends. At its heart, the story is a meditation on what it means to survive—not just physically, but emotionally and culturally. Station Eleven is focused on the power of art and the fragility of life and socio-economic norms while urging us to reflect on what truly matters.

As always (and because I’m a girl who loves a good quote) sharing some of the quotes that I dogeared in the paperback:

and these collection of petty jealousies, neuroses, undiagnosed PTSD cases, and simmering resentments lived together, travelled together, performed together 365 days of the year. But what made it bearable were the friendships, of course, the camaraderie and the music and the Shakespeare, the moments of transcendent beauty and joy when it didn’t matter who’d used the last of the rosing in their bow or anyone slept with.
There had always been a massive delicate infrastructure of people, all of them working unnoticed around us, and when people stopped going to work, the entire operation ground to a halt. No more trains running under the surface of cities on the dazzling power of the electric third rail. No more cities. No more films, except rarely, except witlessly, except for the handful of people who happened to have a generator and a collection of DVDs. No more flight. No more towns glimpsed from the sky through airplane windows, points of glimmering light. No more internet. No more social media, no more scrolling through litanies of dreams and nervous hopes and photographs of lunches, cries for help and expressions of contentment and relationship-status updates with heart icons whole or broken, plans to meet up later. No more reading and commenting on the lives of others, and in so doing, feeling slightly less alone in the room. No more avatars.
What was lost in the collapse: almost everything, almost everyone but there is still such beauty.
“What do you plan to do with it once it’s done?” “Surely you’ll try to publish it?” [the beautiful response] “it’s the work itself that is important to me” [in agreement] “I think that is so great, its like the point is that exists in the world” [in retaliation] “what’s the point of doing all that work” [in response] “It makes me happy, it’s peaceful, spending hours working on it. It doesnt really matter to me if anyone sees it”
What do you live for? Truth and beauty.
Hell is the absence of people you long for
He getting trapped by iPhone zombies. People half his age, who wandered in a dream with their eyes fixed on their screen. He jostled into them on purpose.
You probably encounter people like him all the time – high functioning sleepwalkers. …People like him think work is supposed to drudgery punctuated by very occasional moments of happienss, but when I say happiness I mostly mean distractions. …He realized now that he too had bee half-sleep throught hte motions of his life, not specifically unhappy but when was the last time he found joy in his work. He wish he could go back to the iphone people he had jostled and appolgoize to them. I’m as minimally present in this world as you are.
FIrst we want to be seen, but once we’re seen that’s not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered.
Why did we always say we were going to shoot emails? I used to write THX, would it have taken too much time and effort to punch in an extra three letters and just say thanks!
In Shakespeare time, the wonders of technology were still ahead, not behind & far less had been lost.

Life is a game, and here is how you win!

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Bhanu Misra Marya

About a year ago, we got the Nintendo Switch and I’ve been obsessed! And not with Just Dance, Definitely not with Mario Cart…but actually with Animal Crossing. Animal Crossing is a cute sims game and offers the most relaxing and chill game environment ever. If you look up this game on reddit, you’ll read things like “relaxing”, “de-stressing” or “cozy-gaming”.

So after many months of playing this sims game it’s become apparent to me that video games are like life. And what an interesting concept (read: philosophy) to consider. Because if games can be won, that means life can be won to!

Now you don’t have to be a gamer, but this should resonate with everyone… Below I’m sharing 5 tips on how to win in the game of life!

Tip # 1: You can choose your avatar

Before you start any game, you get to select who you want to be, what you want to look like, where they live, what tools they have and how they will represent you in the game. Life is no different. Every day you wake up, you can create your avatar. You can choose how you want to dress (so you align with your goals, convey a message and be your ideal self), what you’ll do (your goals, aspirations similar to the “dailies” in a sims game) and how you’ll speak or behave (so you can express yourself in a confident, happy or way that radiates the energy you want to portray). All of this is to say, you have complete control over yourself and how you show up. You can decide one day you want to change things up, go after new goals or refocus/re-heal for your own betterment.

Game of Life - Pic your avatar_Pinterest — via Pinterest

Tip # 2: The rules can change at any time

Just like a video game, life has it own experiences, norms and goals. Characters can build habits and patterns. But things can change at any time (whether thats the game or your character). In video games, we’ve seen a new character appear, a new challenge can present itself or you can lose the round. But once the game restarts, you are back up to where you left off. The same is true for life. Our brains have the ability to create new neural networks based on our choices to learn and improve. If yesterday didn’t go as planned, you still have the knowledge and experience to do better today. When a new day starts, it’s an opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone. Which in a way is “unlocking” a new level of you (or your character *wink*). You get to make better decisions, try new routines and approaches to win the round, achieve your goals and magnetize the reality you want.

Game of Life - Your own rules_Pinterest — via Pinterest

Tip # 3: Choose your own adventure

In a game, we seek new challenges, experiences and quests. Life should be the same. We should dedicate our real life to the pursuit of goals, creating new value and levelling up. Don’t get me wrong – we do not need to make major changes overnight, but small incremental upgrades or tweeks to how live our life (ie play the game) can make big changes in the long run. All this to say that we can reinvent who we are and what we want to do at anytime. And the stories that we told ourselves yesterday do not have to guide who we are tomorrow.

Game of Life - Choose your adventure_Pinterest — via Pinterest

Tip # 4: Every moment is one to watch?

As a gamer you are the creator and the consumer of your avatars life. It’s is joyful to experience but also interesting to see. Life should be the same. Every moment should be magical and romanticized so you realize you “get to do all these things” instead of “have to”. In some video games you can take screenshots or even avatar perspective photos. The same should be happening in your real life. Capture and document everything. Whether it’s a time lapse of you working, a collage of you on vacation or a quick shot of your fav morning beverage – why not make it a moment to remember!

Game of Life - Document everything_Pinterest — via Pinterest

Tip #5: You have to be present

In our current world, multi tasking has become the norm. Cooking dinner while watching a show. Going for a run while listening to a podcast. Eating while reading a good. And for sure some habit stacking routines are beneficial, but there needs to be a case for being present. In a video game, you cannot use both your hands on a joy-con/joy-stick and text your friend. You cannot pay attention to your next move in the game while doing your nails. And you most definitely wouldn’t play a game if you were driving. Your thoughts have to be focused on the task at hand, whether that’s jumping to avoid an obstacle or smashing bricks to destroy a villian. Even more so, in life staying in the present by focusing your thoughts on the current moment is key to creating your reality. By staying in the present moment and focusing on the now (instead of the past or future) we are essentially being observers in our own reality (think: the wave / particle experience, yourself being the observer). We have the opportunity to shape outcome and create our destiny just by being fully present.

Game of Life - Be Present_Pinterest — via Pinterest