Seven ways to gain Repeating Customers at a Kid’s Clothing Store

Do you wish your clients to come to your store frequently? Do you doubt whether your customers are truly satisfied when they purchase your merchandise? Is your business market crafted around your products and its features? Does it feel impossible to not have enough profit in your line of work?

If you answered ‘No’ to any of the above questions, you’ve come to the right place. Stop holding back, and get your thinking hats on.

To begin with, consider your customers hiring a product for a job. Here, ‘hiring‘ means purchasing your products, while a ‘job‘ can be any purpose that a customer cares to use the product as. If your product satisfies the customer with the job accomplished, they’ll come back to hire another product for either the same or different job. All you need to do is figure out what jobs your customers have so that your products can be purchased for the job fulfilment.

We all have jobs in our lives that we must get done. We reach out and bring products into our lives to get these jobs done. Marketing is all about asking, ‘What job is the customer trying to accomplish?’
– Clayton M. Christensen

Customers have many different jobs. Parents might wish to gift clothes to their children on special occasions, kids would want to pick up an entire set/range of clothes, or parents may look for their youngsters to stay engaged while they buy clothes as a surprise. There may be an infinite number of jobs for customers that your business might not know of. If you can figure out which of these jobs you should satisfy, whether single or multiple, the better it would be for your business to cater to these clients. This is known as the Job-To-Be-Done theory/framework.

To get the best results out, you can do the following:
1. Identify all possible jobs through customer feedback, complaints, and comments on various social media platforms.
2. Define the main job your business target market wishes to accomplish for a specific group of people.
3. Categorise all jobs related to the main job from the customer’s perspective, focusing on its functional aspects.
4. Set up all related jobs, and break them both into functional and emotional aspects. Emotional aspects are further broken into personal and social aspects.
5. Prioritise all jobs via a customer’s job priority feedback to create business opportunities.

Jobs-to-be-done framework applied for kid’s clothing store.

When you improve your product so it does the customer’s job better, then you gain market share.
– Clayton M. Christensen

With a better understanding of the Jobs-To-Be-Done framework, here are seven ways to increase Repeat Customers:

1. Customer Feedback and Research: Provide for customer feedback to understand their current requirements and expectations, and their current satisfaction and experience, and how you can enhance it further. Analyse the information collected, and prioritise the inventory based on the utmost number of jobs carried out.

2. CRM: Provide discounts on products, redeemable coupons at stores, and special offers to repeating customers through CRM (Customer Relationship Management).

3. Online Services: Provide additional online benefits such as early product previews and purchase to repeating customers to meet their job requirements.

4. Professional Training: Train the entire staff to display calm and politeness while working. Even when the customers are wrong, ensure that your employees respect them, both within the store, and those walking by on the outside and can see through what’s happening within. Customers appreciate all the assistance they receive, even when they do not purchase any merchandise. However, if they had a good experience, they could put out a word that would benefit your business in the future.

5. Events and Workshops: Organise events and workshops to promote child development, and increase awareness of their fitness and safety. Indoor playgrounds can also be set up for satisfying certain jobs where open playgrounds aren’t available nearby. Frequent games and competitions providing winning coupons for future purchases can also create a win-win state of affairs for both customer and commercial enterprise.

6. Clothing Accessories: Through a market survey and customer feedback, provide for as much clothing accessories as possible, which satisfies both personal and social dimensions under emotional job aspects. This allows customers to buy stuff without having to go to a different shop. Provide discount/complimentary coupons on accessories for premium products. School stationery and similar items can be offered at reduced prices when buying school uniforms. This fulfils many of the functional job aspects in question.

7. Seasonal Decorations and Limited Editions: Acquiring limited edition clothing fashion during seasons and festivals can boost your overall sales, and also gain you repeat customers. Exclusive discounts to loyal consumers can also be made available during festive seasons.

What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want done.
– Tim O’Reilly

The list above can go on. Introduce new clothing trends frequently, or identify unique products on exhibit designed and crafted in the local area. You can promote your store by employing stylists and specialists to serve clients in fulfilling their job with higher satisfaction or attend trade fairs to grab special discounts that would satisfy jobs for repeating customers. The sky is the limit.

References and resources:
1. https://www.getbread.com/blog/increase-average-order-value-with-jtbd/
2. https://uxdesign.cc/8-things-to-use-in-jobs-to-be-done-framework-for-product-development-4ae7c6f3c30b
3. https://www.vendhq.com/blog/foot-traffic-retail-store/
4. https://hbr.org/2016/09/know-your-customers-jobs-to-be-done
5. https://medium.com/@afhill/confused-about-jobs-to-be-done-so-was-i-fa2ad70672ef
6. https://jobs-to-be-done.com/the-jobs-to-be-done-canvas-f3f784ad6270
7. https://jobs-to-be-done.com/avoid-these-common-mistakes-when-getting-started-with-jobs-to-be-done-bd55ec91fcb2
8. https://jobs-to-be-done.com/mapping-the-job-to-be-done-45336427b3bc
9. https://www.brainyquote.com

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Dreams – Our Inner Messenger

We live in a busy world, going through either plans or crafting ideas for achieving future goals. We read books and magazines, watch movies, documentaries, and series, either to gain knowledge or insight, restructuring our brain to enhance ourselves to become better, stronger individuals. We meet people to share our thoughts, opinions, ideas, and the infinite possibilities that go alongside. Through all of the above, we’re communicating with everything that surrounds us – people, the environment, and even nature.

This is only the beginning. For what we know, is only while we are conscious and feeling alive and being ourselves, believing in the reality that lives both within, and outside of us. We feel safe as long as we know what and why we’re doing something. All that matters is that we do things in the way we believe them to be right. We’re aware of the facts that allow us to agree with what we wish to do, and in which way we should approach different aspects to solve any given situation that may arise.

Hidden behind these sheets of reality, many different things keep going through our life. Some of them we tend to understand by arriving at deductions through analogies, logic, & rational thinking. Others, we begin to question and ask why such things occur, and what significance it may have, etc., for gaining information, and make it beneficial. One of these paths is through the back-alleys we might consider almost insignificant in our lives. These are the dreams we have whenever we’re asleep, and have always been living constantly in sync with the bounds of reality we’ve created around us.

Without peace, all other dreams vanish and are reduced to ashes. – Jawaharlal Nehru

People of different nature exist among us. And we continue to explore, learn, understand, and apply our knowledge to producing excellent results. We tend to get creative given, the time is provided. Similarly, when we’re asleep, our brain is working constantly to keep our body alive. Various important moments of our lives are being stored, its location depending on whether it’s short-term or long-term memory and our experiences that go along with them. But our brain is much more creative than we might think. It has capabilities to create objects which individuals have never had an idea of.

We may dream of many things. Some examples are mentioned below:
•    A tsunami striking a coastal city.
•    A sinking ferry boat.
•    Getting kidnapped.
•    Chased by a green snake along endless stairs.
•    Ghosts and zombies.
•    A pack of dogs chasing you, but are eventually killed.
•    Attempting to catch an empty seat in an express train that leaves the station and travels across a bridge.
•    Crows surround the house where you stay and crash inside after some time.
•    Wild animals.
•    A multitude of coiling and uncoiling snakes.
•    A person of unknown identity appears in multiple dreams.
•    Fighting alongside a brother with long sticks against people who intend to harm.
•    Presence of being watched.
•    Walking among a multitude of slithering snakes.
•    A blast at a specific location, etc.

The above may have occurred as a result of a wide number of reasons:
•    Fear of something in real life.
•    An argument between individuals.
•    Encounter with animals and/or birds in real life.
•    Premonition of the future, etc.

If we start to think and reason with our dreams, we end up questioning ourselves why such dreams ever came into existence, or what may have caused for a vision to have come while asleep. To some of us, we’re unable to recall any or most of it and feel as if a shadow has befallen upon us, eager to grab us in surprise. In the case of nightmares, we enter a life filled with fear and terror of what might happen if it were to be true. At times, we get the sense and awareness of being in a dream. We reach to no concrete conclusion. And yet, we continue to live our lives with all our dreams as part of us.

The path from dreams to success does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get on to it, and the perseverance to follow it. – Kalpana Chawla

Our brain is wired depending on memories of past experience. If we can imagine all of our memories and experience to be cut down to basic elements that are the foundation of all things, we can view them as tiny square parts of a gigantic image spread across space. The only problem is that these pieces of the jigsaw puzzle do not have matching sections that fit into other pieces perfectly. Instead, they’re simply placed alongside each other to craft one big image of what our life has been.

Our mind is constantly busy crafting random thoughts based on these square bits and pieces of our memories and experiences. There are so many signals initiated within our brain that allows for the manipulation of ideas which lead to fluctuations of brain waves. Some of these brain waves intervene to create a completely different picture. As most of these interferences are minute, the signals converted towards stimulating different parts of the brain remain insignificant leading us to unable to remember our dreams in one complete sense. If we recall them, they involve gaps and jumps across different scenes. And if at all they get stored as part of our memory of experiences, we are able to recall them depending on how strong these connections are made within our brain.

Whenever we wake up knowing what we dreamt, whether having a nightmare or not, we begin to feel its after-effects. We begin to think about it, and sometimes even come to conclusions that may or might not be rational. Sometimes, we tend to write them down, documenting as much as we can, and refer to them if we need it. Along the course of time, we might even tend to track all of our dreams and study them to understand and correlate them with our lives.

Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together. – Anais Nin

People tend to dream with varied intensity and depth. We sometimes feel a strong connection, and we start believing in them. Some individuals tend to have an optimistic approach towards reaching their goals in life. When the magnitude of influence is high enough, dreams tend to convince an individual of its existence, whether it is real or not. Few of them begin to believe that they’ve had a premonition of what might occur in the future.

Different degrees of variance in multiple dreams may occur depending on the quality of sleep. The sense of creativity and imagination within an individual also leads to many diverse elements getting involved. The possibility of dreams may reach a much deeper and abstract level as the individual goes into deep sleep. Dreams in a long sleep as compared to short ones might have quite a difference. Lower level dreams could get close to rational thinking and realism. We reason with our dreams and ask all sorts of questions. However, we do not receive answers to most of them. We get uncomfortable and disappointed, and at times, get worried too. It is an influence of our consciousness to make logic towards analysing our dreams, whether they are manifestations of fears and phobias we may have, or through gaining insights for new concepts, ideas, and inventions.

Dreams usually arise from an unconscious mind. They come in a wide variety of ways:
•    Doorways leading to the possibility of parallel worlds.
•    Possible connections with past-life.
•    Astral travel through materialistic space, time, and/or other dimensional planes of existence.
•    Symbols and shapes.
•    Clues towards solving problems.
•    Signals sent by organs of the body where problems exist.
•    Fears and phobias in real life that block experiences in real life, etc.

Based on our collective human intelligence, we generalise the symbolic interpretations of a hypothesis. Hypnosis and past-life regression allow us to understand ourselves better via various psychological branches. We delve upon the psycho-spiritual aspect of dreams that appear in a child, even when it’s in the womb of its mother. Different models of dream analysis are used to speculate and arrive at certain conclusions. Carl Jung’s analysis speaks of alignment and harmony between the conscious & the unconsciousness that allows for all the dreams to occur. Our personality at the most fundamental level reasons with these dreams and provides us with clues to answers on different levels of understanding.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. – Carl Jung

While awake, we accumulate a vast amount of data. All of it is processed by our unconsciousness to connect a wide variety of dots. To understand this, few people state that by disconnecting our personality before dreaming, we can approach it through the non-rational thought process. It simply says to become part of the experience. Dreams are said to convey unacknowledged messages. They’re well known to manifest unknown objects and entities, creating confusion of thought, thereby crafting curiosity within the mind to know what it means. It could be a divine presence or an effect of influences such as increase/decrease in temperature, or even going to sleep with/without drinking water.

Another aspect known to us is that we are capable of dreaming in many different ways. We may think to have placed ourselves at the top of the food chain, that being able to have a conscience, animals aren’t capable of differentiating between what’s good and bad (or nightmarish) in a dream. However, if we are willing to understand that everything is a manifestation in either a physical or an abstract manner can surely realise that everything is capable of dreaming from its own sense and that no one is better than others.

The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind. – Sigmund Freud

Taking it to the next level, we go out into the concept of shared dreaming, also termed as collective dreaming. People have also communicated telepathically through collective dreams. It is well known to have a collective consciousness of all that connects us with everything else. Since we are close to being humans, we are able to connect with different people via dreams. To generalise it, it also allows us to connect with every little aspect and entity that exists around us, whether we perceive it through our senses or not. The 100th monkey research performed on monkeys depicts how an idea isolated across a remote island spread out to other places. Another example would be that of the root network of plants that exists below ground is believed to have the capability of sending messages so as to act in defence. Some of the collective dreams involve an unknown individual called “This Man” to come in their dream. There has only been speculation and assumption as to what it can possibly mean. Some say it’s an archetype of the different states of life and emotions, and that all matters related with it concentrate towards a single entity.

Today, in the world of technology, we also know that even artificial intelligence is capable of creating faces. Some of these faces have never been known to have existed in real life. There are times when we watch ourselves as completely different manifestations, let alone a different personality, in our dreams. Are these dreams showing us how dark we are at the most fundamental level? Or is it simply asking us to accept our true self? Similar matters allow us to ask ourselves whether dreams are transitioning human beings towards a higher dimension.

The knowledge of dreams isn’t yet completely known to man. It may be a path along our spiritual journey. It may also be true that when we arrive back after astral travel, we dream of ourselves as if falling down, only to wake up. They may also be leading us towards a different dimensional path of understanding of which we haven’t got the slightest hint. We don’t know why we get recurring nightmares, why certain people get sleep paralysis, and why people wake up to a false awakening.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. – Edgar Allan Poe

Some people have mastered the art of controlling their dreams. From being aware, to taking control of the rules played within the game of their own dream. And while people wake up from their dreams, there are also those who are capable of continuing the same dream when they go back to sleep again even after a few minutes. This is known as lucid dreaming.

We’ve gained so much knowledge. And yet, we can’t confirm what most of our dreams signify. What should we do to become dream masters? Do we continue to research further and speculate based on the knowledge we’ve gained so far? Are we even moving in the right direction to explore the path laid by our unconscious mind? Should we believe whether tomorrow exists if we are to continue having nightmares? Or do we give up on what’s left in reality? Have we progressed ourselves in determining who we really are? Or are we drowning in our own doubt for want of the knowledge we seek? Have we accepted our fundamental self that might differ from who we are? Are we being guided into a higher dimension towards humanity’s higher self? Will we ever know the answers to these questions? These are some questions we need to ask ourselves that might shed light in the future.

Acknowledgements: I’d like to thank ‘ARTery – A Link to Life‘, and all of its members who contributed towards the discussion on this fantastic topic ‘Dreams’. Allowing me to be part of this discussion has brought me an experience that has provided different perspectives towards what it has to offer. It’s really an honour and a pleasure to be part of it. Thank you so much.

Where we are

Shifting sands encroach fields of treasure,
Growing seeds broken down to lumps of logs,
Winds afar fade into smogs of disaster,
Raging fires devour gracefully the crafts of man.

Like rocks people feel towards the warring skies,
Acting dead, they keep lurking in their own shadows,
With pride they crawl below the growing threats,
For they do not know of their own cowardice.

Pinnacle of survival is long lost to us,
The great man is almost passed away,
Along the sins made by our ancestors,
We’re facing the tortures of ignorance.

Procreating without thought of how to survive,
The lust of genes that attract people together,
In such power sources, we have forgotten,
What shall come to us who deny the truth.

Living to gain power over silly man-made concepts,
Ruling lands do not cover the facts at all,
Shameful are we to not act upon our own pride,
Long lost it seems that we shall never thrive.

The Wonder of Life

Is it all wonder, a vast beauty of thought towards paradise? I think and I feel it might just be as unreal as it has always been. Nonetheless, have I even wondered if I am real? Or are you? Maybe, even the objects you see, touch, and feel are only a blink of your imagination.

Every part of this self is either made out of memories and experiences of the innumerable dimensions we’ve lived through in a multitudinous span of lives. Or have we only become part of the oneness that might just be across the corner? Or maybe, we are already part of it. There are so many things to wonder about. Our minds can spin and roll into an infinite space of both, void and the otherwise. The lust of imagination that causes the flu for curious exploring minds through spirit is the bliss of it all. No wonder, everything that is part of our life is also part of another. Each and every matter of being, object, no matter it be physical or abstract, is both one and part of the true nature of the whole.

Life is all but filled with complicated matters that are in themselves void in true substance, essence and spirit. To fill these void sections and patterns, we have to wonder the beauty of nature, and the glamour and ecstasy within our true self. All of these man-made concepts are strong, only because they are supported and followed by man himself. Could you imagine yourself to be something other that the human species, only to see them working out things that would spin out your conscience regarding what all the madness went about? Where is all the humanity? Are they really just living their lives? Surviving and going along with the flow of mankind that has conquered the planet? Wondering what it means to be out of the human world is also a life filled with beauty. But that does not mean that we are bad enough to live within the human society and community. It has limits, those which are bound to be bent and broken some day when the right time comes. All we need to experience is our true self in spirit, and not the persona that we wear in front of the people we come in contact with.

Besides this, we all have a common perspective. One that wills us to become creative. One that spreads out a carpet of imagination towards manifesting everything is the world we have. Through various skills, we build civilisations, which in itself is a major accomplishment to ponder about. However, we are mature enough to think why keep fighting amongst ourselves, the people of the world. Why are we so concrete in keeping the lands to ourselves, and be enslaved in the sins of greed and power, to be filled with grabbing and attaining and achieving what others have? Haven’t we all lived through a history of dark times of war and savage, brutal enough to almost wipe out each other? Are we all about wanting so desperately to wish ourselves towards our own wishful and eager death? From the comforts of luxurious satisfaction to the ends of the world, aren’t we content yet to let go of our greed to keep ourselves honest and hopeful for a better future for ourselves? We are all enslaved by our persona in an attempt to give ourselves to the common cause of humanity. But are we truly fulfilling it? Or are we only puppets of the smaller percentage of the people who sit down in the seats of power?

We can imagine the future of a long-lost world of people. Cities and nations, deserted of humans. Its glory lost in the control for power. And when power is granted, there is always a desire to gain more power. We can only wonder how much power we desire to gain from this puny life that we live in such a vast and gigantic universe, where our galaxy itself is like a speck of dust. It is where we can only imagine aliens much advanced than ourselves, isolated in the farther regions of the universe. We all think of them to be superior than the human species. Nonetheless, we never think to come together. Become one as a whole. And in such togetherness, we shall only outlive what powerful forces desire to overcome humanity.

Or are we only thinking of something that we have been doing so far since homo sapiens evolved. As we think of all possible ways to communicate with any possible aliens, we are only thinking of them to be living so far away that we do not even think to glance what is within us. To reach out within ourselves is to make believe what we truly are. Are we really conscious of ourselves, of our true nature? Or are we only subjects to the genes and hormones that attempt to control us and keep us enslaved? These words are not of a single individual, or a person. Many have thought of it. And lots have even communicated about it, speaking or writing about their ways on how life truly can be considered. It is a joy to be in whatever manifestation we are. Even when we are only humans, we only comprehend what we believe, and imagine the infinite possibilities that might be out there. No matter if we are living or dead, object or abstract, we may be one and whole with all that we truly are. And we might just need to realise it soon, before we attempt to exterminate ourselves as human beings.

We may be one, but we are all connected in a mesh of everything that surrounds us, not only in this physical manifestation, but also in ways not understood by us. If we are to grow up from what we currently are right now, we need to understand ourselves, and live in ways to improve the world that we live, supporting only that which is of real necessity. It is only up to us to decide what real things are, and differentiate between what aren’t.

Daily Prompt Challenge – The Daily Post – Wonder

Refer to several similar entries of the same daily prompt:

Branches (the essence in all)

What can one talk about the word “Branch”? Well, there are infinite ways to speak of it. To think of it as a symbolic representation, a word, or a collection of letters is also completely valid, and is a point in fact, true in its own sense.

When it comes to meaning, it does give out various contexts. However, not all websites mention all the same information. Few of them would give out a limited and common terms. On the other hand, there are other websites that give out higher volume of data. Here are some of the few websites giving out information of varying degree:

• Google
• Dictionary
• Oxford Dictionary
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Merriam-Webster
• The Free Dictionary
• WolframAlpha
• Urban Dictionary

In very similar patterns of the meaning given above, I would like to present to you some of the few of the infinite areas of where the term “Branch” is used. Everyone knows where this term is employed, whether verbal, written, symbol, or in silence. But anyway, here it goes:

Tree
The most common place to look for a branch is to watch trees with lots of branches spread out from its base. We all watch trees almost everyday. (except those living in areas where trees do not grow at all) But the vast majority of people know for the fact that all trees have branches. Even the roots of trees are branched. What more could you possibly think of? Even the leaves and the flowers that grow have are branched to distribute energy across the tree. Petals grow out from the base of the flower, which itself is like branching out life.

Making a choice from different options
Everyone makes choices from all the options we have. We all prioritise different things, based on the situations given to us. Whenever we make a choice, we branch out to seek answers/solutions for a given situation/condition/problem. Every time we make a choice, we do our best to reach the end of a goal. If there are more options given in-between, we make another choice and move ahead. But we always come back to selecting another choice from a given set of options. Although this is part of circling back, it can still be stated as part of branching off from the main stem of options.

Brain
These, literally, are some of the most complex part to study. A brain functions differently with regard to the diverse species that exist. We know there are billions of neurons that give out signals through the nervous system, both inside and outside of the human brain. Nerves connect different neurons together so that the signalling is efficient throughout the body. These are nothing but a complex structure of a branching system.

Arteries/Veins
We speak of blood circulation throughout the body. But what good would it be if there was only one single artery/vein that carried oxygen to all the cells? Organs that remain farther away would receive less oxygen supply. Hence, we have branches within our arteries/veins, where all the nutrients required are sent through the arteries, and the unwanted or rejected part is sent back through the veins. As the arteries reach closer to various organs, the blood cells exit from the main artery and move into arterioles.

Solar System
If we have to consider solar systems containing branches, we need to understand the fact that all planets around a star system act according to its gravity and distance. If we are to construct a model of any star system, we observe that the planets revolve around the star. We also find that the natural satellites of planets revolve around these planets. If we draw imaginary lines from the star to the planets, and those from the planets to its satellites, we observe that there exists a system of branching within the star system. There could be a variance between the structure of branching that is based on the number of stars within a star system, as well as how the planets and its satellites revolve around them.

Education
We learn different fields of study, by learning and understanding them closely to benefit our needs and as per our requirements. Once we gain enough knowledge, we decide whether to delve deeper into a specific field of study. (e.g. deciding between arts, commerce, science, etc.) After choosing a specific path, we jump into further studies within a specific field. (e.g. Biology, Mathematics, Psychology, Literature, Economics, Finance, Drama, etc.) These are nothing but the choices we make in our lives. To specialise, or professionalise ourselves in a small spectrum of life; to bring out something new from the existing knowledge of our understanding. Isn’t this also part of what we can call it as consisting of branches?

Non-linear gaming session
In today’s world of video games, we come across non-linear games that provide us to choose our own missions and objectives. A role-playing game allows us to act based on our own choices. Simulations grant us the freedom to construct objects in almost-infinite ways. Strategy games allow us to build up different strategies, based on what kind of games they are. Decision-making in digital board games allow us the freedom to make our own choices giving us varying results that lead to re-playability. These are all systems that have branches where we choose what and how we want to play, and progress in the game to reach a certain goal.

Real-life games
Consider it as options, or games, where we make our own choices through different senses. And through our various filters of perception, we act after making our choice to get a particular result. Some of them might be uncertain, while others would work out as per our expectations. Walking, running, or any sports activity are part of the multi-tiered branching areas where we choose where we want to get better. Even in matters of food, we make our own decisions, experiment with the choices in preparing our own food, that in the end, we find them to satisfy our own experiences. Whether to eat unhealthy or healthy foods is also part of making a choice, and take the branch of deciding where you want to go next. Although we can hop from one branch to the other, we select only one of the choices at any given particular time. Whether to read, write, perform an activity, socialise, meditate, chat, drink, eat, walk a pet, travel, or do anything, is to do one thing alone. And these are just the branches in the story of our life we take.

Eyesight
Whenever you look at anything, it is what you desire to see, based on how you feel. If you feel good, you’re bound to see the good in the world around you. A depressed individual might consider it the other way around. Our eyes focus on our surroundings and the environment around us. With objects and people around us, they change our perspective of the world we perceive. And, so do we. When we look around, we perceive things based on what we feel. However, if we are to suppress our feelings, only to consider and accept what we see as it is, there is nothing left to judge upon. Anaïs Nin quotes it well to mention “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” And to be non-judgemental, we only have to see what we see. Whether it is good or bad, beautiful or ugly, bright or dark, isn’t a way to accept what it is. That is part of making a judgement over what we perceive, based on our memories and experiences. And when we simply accept what our eyes perceive, it is the blissful peace of living in the present, with nothing but to enjoy what our surrounding environment is composed of. Hence, whenever we see things, we choose how things are around us. And these are those branches that we select to live with during our waking times.

Source of light/heat/sound/smell
The various elements that make up our surroundings, our environment, is a vast source of energy. Energy is transferred through a medium. Light travels through vacuum and air. Sound can travel as radio waves. Heat can be felt, just by getting close to its source, or in direct contact. And smell drifts through air as we breathe. If we consider these sources to be the origin, we get that these four elements of nature move in all possible directions, based on their environmental conditions they are subject to. As long as they are allowed to move freely in a given area, the medium attracts the source, and passes it out without any destination. Hence, we have light travelling farther away. Heat spreads as much as possible, only to intensify further inside until the energy is spread wide. Sound attempts to spread out, unless it is bounced and echoed back from varying objects. And smell lingers long enough until it gets diluted away in the surrounding air. If we map all these directions initiating from the source, we get to see a new set of branches that give out a whole new perspective in how science works in each of the given set of the elements.

Big Bang
Our universe is the effect of a big bang that occurred long back. That’s what science tells us. We see the creation of the universe by understanding it. But do we even know what’s outside of it? Whether it would be different universes, or parallel universes, or multi-universes, I have no say in it. Science is only a compilation of theory and practise, claims and analogies, about the rationals and logic. Mysticism may be beyond science, in what is claimed by some of the people who believe in different levels of thinking. Nonetheless, they are all made of human thought, based on the minds of people. However, if we are to consider that the vast galaxies are part of the this universe, and that the cluster of star systems are meant to be part of that galaxy, we can also state that the dark matter, containing a particular substance unknown to us, connects all galaxies to make it a part of the universe. Also, we do have certain theories about wormholes and black holes, which in itself is part of another dimension to study upon. Through logic and rational thinking, man has been able to deduce through theory that these holes are large teleportation devices that might allow faster-than-light (FTL) travel, or even make a jump into a different place within the universe. What if there’s a different dimension where these wormholes and black holes become part of something bigger, something that hasn’t yet been discovered or thought upon. If we are all connected through space in such a manner within a mesh-like object, it is well-understood that each connection leads us to a different place altogether, and a map of the universe can easily be then crafted. Isn’t all of this mesh all but a set of branches that brings together one massive universe together?

Transport System
We walk along different kinds of roads and paths everyday. Even while we are at home, we make a path leading towards the living room, bedroom, or even the restrooms. In the same way, when outside, we use a similar system to locate an address, or explore the world around us. We go on a shopping spree, travel about, meet up with family and friends and enjoy our time together. Traffic on the other hand, has a similar protocol that follows streets, avenues and highways that give directions for vehicles to drive to any given location. Even ships and flights follow certain rules to reach their destination. If we have all of these around us, it is possible to know where we are heading. These are the structural parts of the entire transport system, and we follow them daily. This structure is nothing but the branching of streets from avenues, avenues from highways, and the linking of different roads that create a whole network of branches connected to create a transport system on a gigantic scale at the global level.

Technological breakthrough
Everything advances through time. And with it, the progress of advancement is further achieved at a quicker pace. Through the breakthroughs that occurred using various concepts that were introduced, humans have been the most aggressive species to have advanced themselves to adapt against the forces of nature. Agriculture, paper, mining, trade, biology, chemistry, mathematics, social science, and other backgrounds developed and evolved. And these individual fields progressed towards advanced techniques that have led us to genetics, finance, artificial satellites, governance, and other areas. If we are to consider these specialisations as part of an advanced concept of the basic ones, we can also come to certain advancements where new technologies have been founded with the application of two different technologies. (e.g. Biotechnology, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, security systems, neural networks, etc.) If we have to connect all these, we come up with a giant mesh that grants us the know-how on the technological progress of human civilisation. These are the branches on which mankind has set its path to reach until now. Obviously, there will be other branches and new technologies coming up with time, but the mesh of this technological breakthrough will only grow larger in size.

Abstract concepts
Concepts are formed from individual thinking through ideas gained and recreated by the reverse-engineering and then engineering new, creative ideas that lead people to new things. In our day-to-day lives, we think of many different things, experience various events, and learn new ways to achieve things. It is in the back of our minds, or rather our brain, that we process all of this information to break up all of the gained information, and recreate new theories and concepts that would be associated with the person. The idea is simply put up in his surroundings through any medium of communication. This absorption of concept gives rise to the strength of the theory itself to become stronger and stronger in time as it gains more and more followers. When a certain level is reached, the theory is applied for a common cause over the general population. These abstract concepts are the seeds to a growing tree of followers. And as this tree of followers grow, it strengthens its foundations to make a stand against those who believe it otherwise.

Disclaimer: The above mentioned is only what I believe is to the best of my knowledge, and is completely my opinion. The information might not be completely true and is only a part of my understanding upon the topic of concern.

Daily Prompt Challenge – The Daily Post – Branch

Refer to several similar entries of the same daily prompt:

In spirit and energy with Sakura Gakuin – Part 02

My life was enriched with Sakura Gakuin (さくら学院) only days after watching Babymetal videos and concerts. It all happened so quick I hadn’t had the time to feel I might miss Hana, Yui, Moa and Yunano. All those feelings came later after I saw Road to Graduation 2012 and 2013. Here’s my previous blog post In spirit and energy with Sakura Gakuin I wrote on the day when these four girls graduated on 29th March 2015.

Today, five months after writing a blog post of Sakura Gakuin’s fourth Graduation Day held on 29th March, 2015, I come to think of times spent watching in earlier videos, live performances, LoGiRL shows, new releases, and expanding myself to becoming fans of Perfume and Nogizaka46 (乃木坂46) as well. Although this isn’t the end, I’m sure there is more than what can be seen.

Even when I became a Sakura Gakuin fan, I didn’t know of the wonderful Reddit community where its members shared a common likeness. As new posts were posted, I thanked each one of them in silent appreciation for their contributions. I also came to know after the graduation ceremony about Onji-san’s translation project he’d started on Sakura Gakuin diary entries. I hadn’t known they wrote diary posts before. Soon enough, I realised there were even more members who translated a lot of stuff, videos, graduation speeches, song lyrics, real-time live translations during LoGiRL and Night of Spica on Stolabo Tokyo shows, documentaries, and other videos where votes were taken from fans and members of the community.

I write most of my writings, both fiction and daily journals, accompanied with songs by Sakura Gakuin, Ayami Muto, and Babymetal, Nogizaka46 and Perfume. I can’t believe myself to have switched from English to Japanese songs. I could easily declare that I’ve been listening to Japanese music at least 95% of my listening time. Going back to Sakura Gakuin’s past, I still miss all the moments they occurred. There’s a different feel between watching things live in real, on screen, recorded, and those recorded long back in the past. I just watched Ayaka and Airi’s show yesterday, and I could feel their touch I had missed when they themselves had been in Sakura Gakuin. They sang and performed pretty well. I finally heard Airi-chan’s voice as she sang. I had heard her voice in the songs probably occurring less than the fingers could count. Ayaka-chan’s voice is still beautiful as it’d been in her Sakura Gakuin days. But listening to Airi-chan singing made me feel happy. I hope someday, I’ll see all the graduates make a legendary comeback and create an Alumni Unit with Sakura Gakuin’s collaboration to bring back the original Sakura Gakuin voices they had been back when they’d been in Sakura Gakuin themselves. Gosh, will I ever hear Suzuka-chan’s voice in “My Graduation Toss” or “Cherry Blossom Colour Avenue (桜色のアベニュー)“? Or even Second generation Minipati? And others as well. I can only hope for such an event. It’ll be the 5th Road to Graduation next year, but I can only keep my fingers crossed for such a performance. It doesn’t matter if they do not perform. It’s their voice and their presence that matters to me. Their aura brings positive change in me. Listening to their voice is already wonderful, but watching them as they perform is like a bliss. Oh, how quick and easy it is to leave the real world when they perform with such beauty, elegance and grace.

In the beginning, I had wondered whether I’d be able to recognise all Sakura Gakuin members easily. I had to keep watching the videos, and the Sakura Gakuin’s Sun episodes (e.g. Ep. 01). I got hold of them quickly. Nene-chan and Marina-chan had been off for quite some time. When they appeared at the Babymetal concert and I saw a picture, I did feel they had changed so much. Marina’s quick movements and Nene’s all-time smile-on-the-face had a charm on me from the videos I’d seen of them. Hinata-chan, Ayaka-chan and Airi-chan regularly posted pics on twitter. And finally, I recognise them all now.

I guess it’s time to talk about the current Sakura Gakuin members. After I watched Road to Graduation 2014, I couldn’t withstand my tears to flow on. Although I didn’t understand what Rinon-chan, Moa-chan, Mori-sensei, or Kuramoto-san said, their expressions spoke a lot of sentiments and feelings. Even after the latter two put forth some jokes to laugh and smile, I still lost my tears. Gosh, why it makes me wonder why I’m again getting the same feeling again. Now, I’m literally writing this a few minutes later. Well, I do miss Hana-chan, Yunano-chan, Yui-chan and Moa-chan more as I was already their fan. And missing them would simply break my heart. On the other hand, I was happy as they had progressed ahead in life. They were now ‘Super Ladies’ along with other graduates, and I felt good for them. Well, not all. I’m glad to see all but Yunano-chan’s progress. I didn’t know much about her until the graduation, but her playful approach and her style of speech had made it seem like that. Yui and Moa had been known. And Hana’s frank and friendly fashion on LoGiRL with her introductory dialogue was cool enough for me to miss her. Fortunately, she’s in Torahime Ichiza and I wish to see her performance there as well. From the promotion video, I’ve taken interest and plan to watch their musical play when I visit Japan.

It still sounds more like all the graduates been spoken of. But there is a lot to speak, and I might never be able to stop unless I hold my reins on my horses. This year Rinon, SakiS and SakiO lead the group with Sara, Aiko and Megumi along with the new transfer-ins of this year Mirena, Momoko, Marin, Maaya, Soyoka and Kano. I had some problems identifying them in the beginning. But replying to their comments on their diaries and watching the LoGiRL shows solved such problems. The new transfer-ins are now four months as Sakura Gakuin members and it already feels good to know them. I’m happy Sara-chan won’t graduate alone next year, but also feel a little sad that I’ll see a little less of Mirena-chan since she’ll graduate with Sara-chan. Whatever it is, I’m sure Mirena-chan will do her best that comes in front of her. With the new units set now, I look forward to all their performances, especially the new songs they create in the upcoming albums.

It looks like Aiko-chan read and implemented an activity I wrote in one of my comments on her diary. Aiko-chan had asked in one of her diaries what activities that we had during school. I had written about the spoon with the table tennis ball in it. Of course, in my case, it was carrying and passing the ball from one end of the room to the other without dropping them. Obviously, due to less space on LoGiRL, they must have shortened the distance to a table. Anyway, the comment may as well not be read and could be their invention as well. Nonetheless, it doesn’t matter. I felt glad that the activity was played.

There’s been so much activity and watching them grow through the years along with all the pressure gives me the motivation to write further. But I guess it could never end. So, I’ll keep it for some time later in the future. All-in-all, Sakura Gakuin transformed me to become something I never felt before. I shall always be happy for their presence through spirit and mind. And my blessings shall be over them all be they graduates or current, or not in Mariri-chan’s case. 🙂 I hope they will all receive the best of what the world has to offer them. I wish them all the luck in the world to have a great future.

Encounter with a Baby Squirrel

I had a wonderful experience with a Baby Squirrel. It was fortunate to live without getting hurt after it fell a height of a good seven or eight foot. Let me explain what happened.

After it fell down and hid itself in one of the dark corners, I somehow managed to make it hop into a bottle after scaring it from behind. Here’s what it looked like when it was inside as I searched for its parents or relatives nearby. (By the way, I live on the second floor and the squirrels climb pipes that run outside the bathroom.)

It lay alert and cautious for about 10 minutes. As I held the bottle and stand in the balcony when it squeaked to call its parents, there wasn’t a squirrel in the area. After about half an hour, I went down to show the baby squirrel to one of his relative (or so I assumed) and removed it on a small piece of cloth for comforting the squirrel, before it could walk out on the rough ground. Unfortunately, none of its relatives appeared. I tried all locations of the society ground, but there weren’t any.

As I removed the baby squirrel out of the bottle on my hand, it got a warm shake from the sun and became active. However, it didn’t risk jumping as it saw the ground about four feet below him. I guess he remembered his previous fall in my house before. With that, he simply sat on my palm and I covered it with my other hand to cover it from contact with direct sunlight. There was still no sign of any squirrels anywhere nearby.

I took the baby squirrel back home and took a picture. Well, it looked at the camera with caution in the beginning, the backside of the camera being red in colour.

Then after some time of clicking snaps (without the flash, of course), I guess the squirrel was comfortable. That’s when it went into more like giving different poses. Maybe it felt how it was to be involved in the glamour world.

It had become comfortable and did not even jump as I placed my hand close to the ground. What I could think of was that it was receiving the warmth from my hand and didn’t want to let go. Alternatively, maybe it was some other reason. Within minutes after my taking snaps, I tried feeding water, but it simply rejected it. It had already been about an hour and a half it was away from its family. If I didn’t keep it hydrated, it would die soon.

Minutes later, I saw the baby squirrel go to sleep. It slept for around twenty minutes. As it slept, I believe it was having dreams as its body moved all the time as similar to how a human body moves while in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep state.

When I heard one squirrel making a noise on a nearby tree, I woke the baby squirrel and went down with it in my palm. When I reached ground level and saw the squirrel on the tree, I had to wait so that it saw the baby squirrel. Moreover, it started to make rapid vocal sounds as I mimicked him. When I placed the baby squirrel on the soft cloth, it didn’t want to get off me. When I went away, the squirrel didn’t come close. Instead, the baby squirrel had moved towards a trunk of a tree, where I had to pick it up. I placed the squirrel near a rough area so that it wouldn’t move out of the cloth and then started to make sounds of a squirrel myself.

After about two minutes, a squirrel came down off the pipes and became cautious towards the sound. Fortunately, the baby squirrel replied frequently, as it couldn’t get off from the soft cloth. However, it reached the baby squirrel, cleaned it, and then picked it up and reached for the closest tree to climb. I went back home then.

It was wonderful and felt like blessed with a baby squirrel for two hours. I hope you enjoyed it as well. Let me know what would you do if you had an unexpected baby squirrel come out?

In spirit and energy with Sakura Gakuin

I  shall write about a group, which inspired and motivated me, helped me live through depression and frustration, when irritation has had its height of implementation over me. Although those times do not exist any more, I find myself attached to this group. Sakura Gakuin (or さくら学院, or Cherry Blossom Academy) has become a significant part of my life. I shall not explain and describe who they are. One can find more information about it over the internet.

Today being 29th March, 2015, it is the Graduation Day for the fourth year. I’ve been their fan since somewhere around mid-January, 2015 after I came to know about Babymetal, a Kawaii Metal (Cute Metal) music band from Japan. Babymetal consists of Suzuka Nakamoto, Yui Mizuno and Moa Kikuchi, accompanied by Kami band providing metal music. As I kept listening to Babymetal every day, I was intrigued and curious to know more about the three schoolgirls who performed brilliantly, with such excellent synchronous dance performance. Every live performance I watched made them seem to look like perfect musical masters.

However, things did not stop there for me. I came to know of them as part of another group Sakura Gakuin, which consists of ten members as of today. Nonetheless, four of them shall graduate by evening today. Yui Mizuno, Moa Kikuchi, Hana Taguchi and Yunano Notsu shall have graduated by today evening. I shall miss them even more now. Moreover, I’m already having my tears take off from my heart as I write this. I cried even as I took a bath today, and it was when I decided I would dedicate this day towards Sakura Gakuin. I shall write about this lovely group that I have known to be like angels.

Sakura Gakuin’s past has had a lot of history as well. After watching videos about them during their academic years, I find it hard to see how surprising things went, year after year, and when things started to grow thereafter. They even have a session on LoGirl where they come every Monday. I shall miss these four graduates now on. I might never even see them anymore. Although I know that Yui and Moa will appear with Suzuka in Babymetal. But it has been beautiful to see them in their true colours, where they play pranks, have fun, and even do weird things out of the blue. I shall miss it all each one of them.

Speaking of which, I feel I have already missed out graduates who passed out in the past years. Ayami, Airi, Marina, Nene, Suzuka, Hinata, Ayaka, Mariri, and Raura. Although they’ve already graduated and have long been on their way ahead in their life, I find myself attached to them as well. In addition, I can’t even wonder why something like this has happened. There is something I feel constrained to do. I like them all, no matter how different and unique they all are, how good or bad they might be in their personal lives. Sometimes I start to think whether I’ve been charmed by an enchantment from these lovely girls.

Moreover, how am I to forget those who managed to get all of this in front of the world? Amuse Inc. has done an incredible job, hats off to them all. All the Sakura Gakuin teams, admin, camera, planning, to the head of Sakura Gakuin who leads with such a brilliant idea, and to Mori sensei who worked his way so hard into getting everyone to laugh most of the time.

Today I shall watch Graduation shows of the last two years back to back in the evening. I just wished there was a paid viewing of this year’s graduation ceremony over the internet. I hope they’ll release it for purchase soon.

It feels like happiness and sadness with tears come hand in hand as my feelings for these wonders simply run across through my view, although in my imagination, after I keep watching their videos repetitively in daily doses. Suzuka’s Delorean video is like a legend for me. After all, it is logically correct and I agree with her choice. Then there’s Einstein being called an old man. I shall never forget these class test examples. I haven’t seen all of them, but I’m sure there’s much more in store.

I completely forgot to mention something significant. I have had an interest in learning Japanese language since I was very young. However, most of everyone whom I spoke about it told me that Japanese is very tough and difficult to learn. All of this put a break on me towards learning the Japanese language. Nevertheless, the few days after getting to know Babymetal and after watching their videos of documentaries, it all seemed to have pushed me over the edge. I took the challenge and started on my own to learn Japanese language. This became a turning point for me. Everything seemed to flow like a stream, one step at a time. With no support from anyone else but the aura of all the members of Sakura Gakuin, I had enough motivation to push myself further. It’s been not more than three months I’ve been learning and everything is flowing smoothly. I would say ‘You were wrong.’ to those who told me that learning this language was tough. I might even add to it saying that it was most possible that they never faced such intriguing challenges. Moreover, to all of this, I would like to give my thanks to those who brought this beautiful language to me.

Although I still have to learn a lot about Japanese language, I still watch LoGirl, their videos, and even other shows where I can get to learn from hearing.

I believe I shall have to keep on writing about these wonderful people, and the topics on which I have in mind, seem to be endless. This has made me think of writing an episodic about them. I wonder now, why this never struck my mind before.

Strange Behaviours – Crows

Last week I went to Churchgate, in Mumbai, to pay the electric bill. While I stood in the queue, awaiting my turn, I saw a variety of vehicles approach the stop signal at the end of the road. There were people who appeared tense, with stress all over them, an aura of sorrow filled through their souls. On the other hand, some of the cars had a different meaning, a couple of teens were having a good time having something to eat, while few of them had children placing themselves in a complex manner all across the seating within.

The point of all this is not what I saw with the public racing towards their destination. Something strange occurred that I never had expected out there. As I saw a jeep covered with a roof pull to a stop, a crow landed on it. There were big trees planted along the edges of the road and they spanned above the entire four-or-six-lane one-way.

After the crow landed, it stared the sidewalk, waiting for an opportunity to grab as it came. The vehicle stood perpendicular to the direction of the crow. No sooner had the signal turned green, the motion of vehicles started to perform its musical harmony, the honks and horns of cars and buses, tempos and bikes lifted as if to notify everyone that a huge urgency had arrived.

As the jeep started to accelerate, the crow did not jerk and fly away. Instead, it stood there looking towards the footpath. Moments later, it turned itself in the direction of the jeep’s motion. It lifted its wings to feel the wind course through the wings of its body and then jumped up to fly above back towards a branch of the tree above. The crow stood along the branch for a long time there and then left elsewhere.

What came to my mind was something different, something that gave me an idea for my story on the crows. I wondered if the crows took the experience of travelling along with vehicles as long as the damage did not happen to their bodies and feathers. What would it be if they liked to travel free-of-cost at the expense of the humans travelling along the roads here and there? Hitching a ride over human vehicles was an exciting approach. Soon enough, the crows would mutate and have the ability to travel much faster than what they manage to fly with their current average speed of 30 mph.

Interview

Writing Challenge – The Daily Post – Interview

For this week’s challenge, let someone else do the talking.

Here’s an interview I had with someone very close to me:

Q: Are you happy with what you’re doing?

A: I feel okay. Although, I do feel insecure in various ways of life, based on the current trends in life. There’s no monetary gain since more than two years now, and I wonder how long I will have to wait until the situation get better.

Q: Are you going to do something about it?

A: In due time, yes. Time is a factor which needs to be considered significant here. But the fact that I have lived under expectations for so long, due to societal and cultural flaws, has aroused my rebellion character. I wish to free myself from such matters, which are unessential. I shall prioritise over a period (a time span which I cannot measure) in educating and experiencing the new course of life I wish to live. Hence, I might as well wait in patience and practice upon my newly acquired habits and skills.

Q: What do you wish to gain from your new life?

A: I believe I should let the world know of my thoughts, the way I see life. The different perspectives and narratives I produce along as I descend into the maelstrom consisting of problems, solutions, and the involved procedures to solve the indefinite and unending complications during my lifetime.

Q: I’m sure that is a great way to share the experiences you have by now, and shall have in the future as well. How do you intend to provide such massive knowledge to the masses worldwide? In other words, how would you let the world know about what you have in mind?

A: There are innumerable ways to express what one has experienced. Let’s say, if you’ve experienced death within your family who was close to you. One could reflect it well inside a story where tragedy occurs, creating shock to the readers, for the death of the character’s relative shall affect the character while trying to move on in his/her life. The feelings and emotions shall appear along as the story progresses. Sometimes, that tragic event might be the reason for the character to reach a failure in the quest or mission. You see, there are other ways to say different things. It’s not simply what the world says, but rather how it’s mentioned.

Q: Well, I wish to thank you for taking out your precious time towards your readers. Before we take leave, I’d like to ask one last question. Is there anything you’d like to tell your audience?

A: There isn’t much to say, but life has to keep moving. And that life needs change all the time. If your life remains static and stagnant, you’re as good as a weathered rock, kicked out by every living entity who watches you as a nobody. Unless you change yourself, and do what it takes to become what you wish to be, life shall put you down all the time (unless if you’re super lucky). I shall not enforce anyone to do what he/she wishes to do. Nevertheless, I shall only say one thing – Do what you feel and believe is right.

Refer to several similar entries of the same daily prompt on the next page: