Being ethical

(Writing for 4th Feb)

He felt a hand at the back of his shoulder. The touch was to get Praveen’s attention by Raj. Raj wanted to ask the answer of question no 3 in the Class 10th Mathematics exam. He surreptitiously was trying to ask Praveen, but Praveen didn’t budge and politely declined by giving a stern look at him. This also got in the eyes of invigilator and he warned Raj. Praveen didn’t believe in cheating or helping in cheating. The value which he had got from his upbringing was not to do wrong and anything unethical.

Fast forward 6 years, he was in the engineering college. He was into the college journey and was in full youth, energy and the enthusiasm. He found himself pointing to Joy who was in front of him asking for answer of one question in Basic Electronics. He was the same Praveen who was against even small wrongs. But the college environment and friends with him have diluted his thoughts and threshold for declaring an event wrong had risen in his eyes. Small wrongs was right now for him.

You start accepting things which you considered wrong earlier. This slowly drifts in your mind and you start justifying your act by giving some or the other excuses in your mind. But what is wrong is wrong. You know it. If you are taking the credit of a task done by your team mate or by your direct report, you know deep inside that it is not right. If one is claiming incorrect capability of a product that it can do so many things which it cannot do, just to do sales, it is again unethical. We are into so many things and at so many different kind of environments that we adjust ourselves to that environment and start doing the same things as others even if that is wrong.

The question need to be asked always. Ask yourself “Are you ethical”. Only you and you can answer this. Do not accept superficial justification from yourself. Let the thoughts subside and keep on asking “Are you ethical” with relation to any activity you do. This will help you improve. Even if you have done small wrongs earlier, this will help you improve your future journey. It doesn’t matter much how you behave when all are watching you, it matter most how you behave and act when no one is watching you.

Last and the only page

(Writing for 3rd Feb)

What will you write about yourself and your activities if you have only one page and that is the only page you have. In the next 24 hours, you can write, draw anything about yourself, plan for the day. You may want to look into that what you have written may be before going to bed. This idea just popped up in my head and I found it quite interesting. This limits your thought and excitement for the next 24 hours and you would want to do your best in that duration and write about it. This will help you seeing yourself in retrospective and will help you in improving every day.

The last page could be either preserved or destroyed every day. The purpose of this is to improve everyday and learn from the past. You can be creative and innovative. This also help you not to go very far in future and be in present. The positive reinforcements and the tasks to be done during the day could be written. If you focus more on how to do rather than what and why to do, you will inherently improve. The focus on how will improve the productivity and results in better output both in personal and professional life.

Go ahead and write your life. It is an interesting journey and worth writing about. It is your life. Live it your way and not wait for anything to trigger. Live and write as if it is your last page.

Transformation Fear

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(Writing for 2nd Feb)

John had always seen at others participating in debate, racing events, recitation and other school competition and always thought that he would be better than the participants. In the mind he visualized that he would be the winner in those events. But the hesitation and fear of public appearance and stage fright prevented him from participating. The fear got reinforced in his mind with more and more non participation and thinking of himself as winner. The contrast thought and action made a huge mark which was almost indelible.

His fear continued from school to college and till early part of his job until one day a thought struck to him that he should do something which he think he cannot do. The trigger of this thought came from a mail in his company where it was asked to participate in a skit on the annual day of his company. He found himself on both sides while contemplating whether to participate in the event or not. Most of the times he found himself more comfortable being on the other side and in non participation, which any way was his inbuilt characteristic. This time he wanted to challenge himself and go against the comfort thought and comfort zone. While struggling with the thoughts of giving his name for the skit, he found his finger clicking on the send button of the drafted mail which he typed for participation in the skit. His heart skipped a beat when he clicked on send button instead of delete on his office blackberry.

Within a month after couple of rehearsals, he performed the skit on the annual day with other participants. The skit was very well appreciated and John’s performance was the cherry on the cake. People couldn’t imagine that a person whose image was of introvert could perform so well. He won a lot of accolades and his colleagues and other people remembered him with his role. This boosted his confidence and broke his image of non participant to participant in his mind. He started trying himself into new avenues like learning new languages, playing guitar, running and many other new things. His overall outlook started changing.

You need to come out of your comfort zone. You should try some small things which you think you cannot do. That brings a different perspective in life. The nervous energy in trying new things helps and once you are into that activity that brings confidence. You will get into a habit of trying new things and coming out of stagnancy. There is a lot to explore within you. You will be amazed to know about the new you. Its a never ending experience. Till the time you have the last breath in you, you can do anything and everything. You need to rise above yourself and the fear of transformation will slowly be gone from within you.

Change in 10 minutes

(Writing for 1st Feb)

Mick was told by Elizabeth, his manager, to create a pre-sales presentation for their company’s product. Mick noted that in mind, but hadn’t started working on that thinking that this may be one of the tasks which Elizabeth might forget and is not in the priority list. This assumption was taken by Mick as while communicating about this presentation, she didn’t mention the deadline which she usually used to give for the tasks.

Mick was comparatively relaxed and working on the daily list of items which he has to work upon as an executive. The relaxed period continued until Elizabeth bumped upon him and asked about the status of the pre-sales presentation. He fumbled in replying her and mentioned he will start on that soon. To her surprise, she blurted out why has he not started when the deadline is tomorrow and the next day they have to give the presentation. The anxiety nerves went all through his body and he nervously replied back that he will ensure that it is complete by tomorrow.

Mick went to his desk and took few deep breaths and tried to regain his composure. After 10 min, he thought of an earlier idea which emerged into his mind while his daily run. The idea was to focus on the next 10 min and only 10 min. Not more than that. This will ensure that he is truly focused on the work which he decide to do in that next 10 min. That was just an idea until this project gave him an opportunity to execute the idea. He started with that and opened a blank ppt on his laptop and with full focus started thinking and typing about the content which he has to write about the product. Things started flowing and it became a bit interesting and comparatively easier. He didn’t have the anxious moment of thinking about the presentation being delivered to the client. Rather his full energy was in this current moment of making the ppt to the best of his ability and knowledge.

He focused fully on creating a masterpiece at least from his side. He wanted the presentation to be his best. While working on that 10 minutes after 10 minutes after 10 minutes, he didn’t realize he spent almost rest of 6-7 hours in office and the first draft of the presentation was ready. He was satisfied about what he has done. While driving home, he has the peace and smile that he is not worried and he was engaged in the task he was given. He was deeply satisfied that the idea which he got out of blue, could be implemented. The next day he worked for few more iterative 10 minutes and came up with the final version of the presentation. Elizabeth was happy with the presentation and it went well with the client too.

Rather than worrying about tomorrow, day after tomorrow, next month, next year and any dreadful day (in your imagination) in future, if you focus with all your energy in the next 10 minutes, you can cool your nerves and can devote to the tasks in hand. This way you will always remain in present. However bad the situation be, if you accept it and then work upon the task which you have to do to come out of the situation at least for the next 10 minutes, it will not be long when the 10 minutes can become 4 to 5 hours. This will increase your productivity and will give you immense satisfaction.

Do it now. Days are less

Preet ran for the decided time and did his 10 min of meditation which he does just after the running. He does this meditation in a park which is adjacent to the School where his son Krish goes. Once he was done with meditation he looked into his watch and it was 7:58 am. A thought penetrated his mind that he could align with his son’s arrival in School and he may see Krish off at the school gate. Waiting for 2-3 minutes, Preet thought of tracing the path where his son comes from daily expecting he would see his son.

To his disappointment he was unable to see Krish. He was calling his wife Kiran to know about Krish but she was not picking the phone. Later almost when he reached at the gate of his housing society, he received call from Kiran. She mentioned she missed waking up on time and Krish was dependent on her to wake up as she was his alarm. So the situation was that Preet could not fulfill the desire of seeing off his son at school which he earlier thought he should do frequently.

He decided to not postpone anything. Do it now or do not repent of not doing. We generally go in the mode of postponing and thinking that we can do it later. That create a baggage in mind in a way that something you think should be done and you are not doing it. If you think a task has to be done, do it immediately or within the next opportunity. Else not doing and thinking to do that you have to do it , will create stress.

To come out of that stress, you need to plan and act for a shorter duration. If a plan has to be created plan it for 1 day and ensure you act upon that. You may want to have a long term goal, but if is better to have short plan and act on immediately. If you start acting upon short tasks and see that being completed, you will get that confidence.

Plan , Act , Plan , Act , Plan. Create shorter plan for a day and execute those smaller tasks, learn from it, repeat the exercise. Life is short. You do not have all the time and if you keep on waiting, you will always be waiting. Do not just wait to be happy. Be happy and content now.

This is unacceptable

(Writing for 30th Jan)

This is unacceptable ! How could you do this. Matthew was on top of his voice shouting at Martin. A minute before Martin broke the news that the project cannot be delivered on time as per the plan as there are certain challenges and the testing for the code build could not be completed. All hell broke loose for Matthew and he was shouting and saying “This is unacceptable”.

Martin was politely replying and mentioning the reasons for the delay in the start of the testing. The resource challenges, the environment challenges etc. He mentioned that this has already happened, so how can this be unacceptable. You have to accept what has happened, then we can sit together to assess what could be done from here to bring the project back to green. But Matthew was furious and he was again and again coming to the same point. As per the project plan, the testing should have been completed by this time and you are mentioning the testing hasn’t started. Again Martin heard the same three words “This is unacceptable”.

In any bad situation or event which has already happened, we find it very difficult to accept the event. If we do not accept the present situation, how could we progress. We will be stuck in questioning why it has happened and blaming each other. It is good to understand why that has happened to learn from it, but not for blaming and going deep into it and not accepting the situation. The project plan is a plan. There is no guarantee that the project will be delivered as per the plan. It has to be re-planned. Even after re-planning, many projects fail to deliver.

Rather than saying, This is unacceptable, we should accept it because it has already happened. Retrospect and learn from it. And Move on.

What If

(Writing for 29th Jan)

What If I am going to die today ? There will be one day that this will be true. And that day can be today. Why are we waiting for something to happen to start living. The death is always round the corner, so why not start living in present. Start exploring the life. We live in the limited constraints of our mindset and do not think beyond that. Lets look into the possibilities outside our mind world. This will bring energy and enthusiasm to live. We are not just to live in certain pattern. A lot could be done with the body and soul which we have.

What if I become billionaire. As a common person we generally do not say, think or believe these words. We find it difficult to imagine ourselves as a billionaire. If you want to be rich or you need a comfortable life and want to attract money, you should not feel discomfort in thinking that you will be rich or have that much amount of money. You need to remove the blocker from your mind. If you remove the inhibition in thinking about money, the possibilities of earning more may open.

What if I become happy, content and peaceful. No need to wait for becoming happy. That could be done now at this very moment. Unless you become happy and content now, you cannot be happy. Here happy doesn’t necessarily means laughing, cheerful, happy that deep inside you are at peace. So even if outside world is bad and harsh, difficult to you, deep inside you can be at real peace like the bottom of the ocean.

Explore all your What Ifs and see how those What Ifs can transform your life. Life is about exploring and learning, engaging, enjoying.

Hold my hand

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(Writing for 28 Jan)

While coming after my daily run, I saw a lady with her son holding his hand and walking towards the school. The boy who would be 10-11 years young was looking to be assured and was not thinking much about the road which he had to cross along with her mother. Contrary to that his mother was vigilant, eyes towards the school and rushing with her steps one after the other as if the race was between her two legs on who can be faster.

The boy’s speed to reach the school was governed by her mother’s rush and intention. He was least bothered if he will be reaching on time or if there are any cars coming on the way. Trust plays a big role here. In life scenarios, especially in difficult situations, we wait and wish if someone would help us. At that time even if you get someone who understands your situation and listens to you helps. A person cannot live his whole life alone. By basic nature human beings are social animal. And you need some people if not many to talk to you, to understand you or hold your hand.

You would have different trust or comfort factor with different people. With few you can talk for few minutes, with few you can talk for hours and open up. There are always few, may be 1-3 people, you can call at any time, talk to them, ask for help fully trusting that that person would surely help. Similarly you will be that person for few other people. These small circles, close circle of friends, then family and then few colleagues with whom you work, creates your world. All other things are in TV, internet, newspaper and in your imagination.

In this busy world no one has time for anything. Everyone is running after something or the other. The rat race is never ending. And you hear some or the other news about someone has passed on in family, friends or acquaintances. You will feel sad, reminisce some moments where you have last seen or interacted with that person and then get up and move on to do your daily chores. As you grow older, you will start feeling the need that someone should be there to hold your hand. The holder could be one of the person in your closest circle.

The boy going to school may not want his hand to be held as he goes into adulthood. He will have his dreams of independent world, going beyond the sky. The mother would still want to be with him, if not physically at least in thoughts and conversations. But sooner or later this realization comes back that you need someone to hold your hand, not physically but who is at the back and you have the trust and belief that he is with you no matter what. You don’t have to say to that person “Hold my hand”. You are already held in the love, care and trust.

Peace

(For 27 Jan)

Peace cannot be described in words. Peace can only be felt. The deeper the peace the more peaceful you will feel. The feeling of peace is very soothing to heart. We generally attach peace to happiness. We assume if we are happy, we will be at peace. That may not be true. If you are elated and excited, you might not be at peace. You would be expecting something, the next high in your life, so you may be in the mode that this excitement, happiness should continue, there should be some reward, but not peace. On the contrary you may be at peace even after a great loss.

Peace doesn’t have a condition. Being in peace is a choice which you have to continuously take even when it is chaotic in outside world. You need to consciously choose to be in peace. One of the ways to be in peace is to practice meditation. The other way is to observe your thoughts whenever you can. To be in peace is greater than any materialistic thing you can attain in your life. It is better to understand this sooner. A normal person do have very few peaceful moments which he can remember. We must try to create more peaceful moments.

We need to stop being desperate about things and just be. Do your best and stop. Do not over think about the result.

Are we strangers or connected

I was running today and covered till 16 km and was planing to complete 26 km today, a man in his sports bicycle slowed down the cycle and asked if I am ok. He was genuinely concerned and I felt that. He offered water which I politely declined as I had the water bottle. He went ahead with his cycling wishing me luck on the rest of my run. I thanked him for his gesture.

Are we complete strangers or are we all connected just waiting for the artificial cover to be removed by initial talks. Even talking to a stranger feels refreshing and brings a new perspective. Sometimes just by looking at a person you feel connected to that person and you would want to talk to him.

There is some signal which gets transferred between two bodies even when they haven’t started talking. That signal helps in starting conversation. Contrary to the older belief and advice given by parents that we should not talk to strangers, we should not be that skeptical towards strangers. Who knows one of those encounter may give you a life long friend

Waiting to be called

( 25 Jan 2020 12 :06 PM Noida)

We are always waiting to be called. Called by whom ….. To be called by the interviewer, to be called by the immigration officer, to be called by the receptionist, to be called by the announcement of flight.

Why are we waiting to be called by someone. Is it because we do not find peace in the current position or do we have a material need or it is natural to move from that place or it is just a physical need or we need to move as that movement is the means to a different end goal.

Whatever is the case may be to wait for the call and as soon as we hear our name go towards the caller, are we at peace from inside. The internal peace and stability matters. Even if we are moving physically and doing things as per the worldly demands or for any practical purposes, we need to be stable and peaceful from inside. That peace and stability gives us the strength required to survive and be content.

The outside call will always be there and we have to follow the calls, but from deep inside once those call stops then we are at peace. From deep within we will know that there is no destination and there is no origination. We ourselves are the origination and destination

There is so much in life

Life is unlimited. It can only be limited in your mind. The limits are set by you. If you break those limits from your mind, you can go beyond the sky and even sky is not the limit. Life is full of surprises, adventure and fun in all aspects. But we make ourselves limited to a particular target.

You will find all kinds of people doing what they love to do. There are examples where people have won over their adversities. All the excuses about not having time, or too busy in life are irrelevant. It is up to you on how do you want to take your life.

Life is waiting to be explored. Take risks, be playful, be free, forget your fears. Life is not about accumuating materialistic things. It is about gaining experience, making friends, enjoying, being peaceful and content.

1000 days of running

#1000daysofrunning

A mail popped up in my company mailbox somewhere during the end of April 2017. 100 days of running to start again this year from 29th April till 6th Aug. A voice inside me, as always, said “Let’s take up this challenge”. And there I was. Running my first run in this challenge on 29th April. Challenging myself excites me and gives me a kick. I have done this on a few occasions in the past. But this challenge was very different. It is not a single instance. It has to be done again and again, without a single day of failure. Running for 100 days continuously, no matter what, running for at least 2 km. I stretched the minimum 2 km to more than 5 km since starting off. To be precise, the distance was 6.5 to 7 km daily barring the initial 7-8 days, when it was 5-6 km. The journey of running, getting into a new routine, thus began on 29th April 2017. I asked a few of my friends in my company whether they want to be a part of this, thinking that there is no reason why one would not participate in this event. But to my surprise, I found no one taking the interest to join. But that didn’t deter me to join in the event.
This is the exact same first paragraph I copied from my company blog which was posted on Sep 9, 2017.
Now comes the second part. I am still running and today on 23 Jan 2020, I have completed 1000 days of running. Yes 1000 days of running. What a journey it is. Now it has become a part of me. I have not missed a single day when I didn't run. I ran for all days and that too more than 2 km. Recently I have got into habit of running more than 5 km daily. I have heard so many comments like you should not run daily, Why are you running ? Will you not get exhausted. But I kept on going. I remember one instance when I was in Pune staying in a PG, and it was raining outside and I completed my running of more than 2 km just running around the small room keeping the tracker Endomondo to keep track of km run. It has been a fantastic journey and I get a great feeling. Running has also kept me maintain my weight and gives the necessary physical exercise required by the body.
During this journey, I have actually run 5 half marathons (1 half marathon = 21.0975 km). Total distance run since the beginning of my journey is 4064 km. This distance is 29 km more than the distance from Srinagar to Kanyakumari on road via Delhi, Indore, Mumbai, Bangalore. The total time for which I am running till today is 484 hours, 57 min and 54 sec which is more than 20 days of running day and night. Out of the 5 marathon which I have run, the best personal record is in 2 hr 31 m 6 sec. I am not running for any record and now it has become a habit, the habit so strong that if I do not run I feel some itching. People say till what time you will run. I reply till the time I can run. Whats the harm in continuing a good habit if you have attained that habit. Why to stop that.
Getting into a good habit brings self confidence and motivation too which keeps you going. I feel that taking a challenge and attempting something which you think you cannot do, brings the energy and confidence. This helps in other area too. Subconsciously you get the feeling that if I can do one thing which I thought was not possible, I can do other things too. Moreover doing regular physical exercise keeps you healthy and reduces the stress. You will never hear an athlete or runner or someone invoved in regular physical workout going into depression.

Running has become like a meditation for me. I feel relaxed and refreshed while running. Running in the morning keeps me refreshed and energized the whole day.

A child's play

Life is like a child’s play. Life should be like a child’s play. A child is so playful and keeps laughing or crying but remains in that very moment. He never gets tired of his mischiefs. He is always excited about everything.

The same child becomes serious as be grow old , become teenager and later grows to an adult and becomes a completely different person compared to how he was during his childhood, especially during the first 4 years of his life. The innocence spills over from all his body and through all his activities.

A child is easily connected to the nature and laughs and plays with the nature. The natural tendency of a human being is to laugh, play, live, learn which are innate but as he grows he learn to take stress, be busy and start complaining about life. There is a complete change in him.

There should be conscious effort to keep the inner child alive in you even when you grow old. Keeping the child alive is keeping your energy alive, live completely in the present and not worry about past or future. Awaken the child within you and enjoy the moments of life.

Am I important

Am I really important. We get the feeling that I am very important as our world rotates around me. We feel that the world at least the smaller world around us cannot exist without us. If you are in office and working on a project, generally you want to be on top of the project and would have the pressure to deliver. You will feel that the work cannot be completed without you. Even if you delegate it to someone else, you want to see from the side if things are being done correctly. That feeling that without you work, personal or professional, cannot be complete.

Is this feeling that without you the work cannot be progressed correct ? It is not. The work was being done before you also and can be done without you. This way the stress that any work brings with itself can be reduced. Actually the world is not dependent to any one person, we get attached to the world. An officer who has worked in an office for 40 years finds it very hard how the office will run without him. In fact he has the fear and apprehension where will he go to the next morning. After his retirement, there will be some other person who replaces him at the same position.

Giving too much importance and trying to take everything in our hand is also a problem. You will repent for any mistake or on anything which doesn't go as per your plan. Planning is ok, but expecting that everything will go as per the plan is not correct. There is every possibility that things will not go as per the plan. The plans are bound to fail in many scenarios. There are unknown scenarios and situations. Do your best and leave the result, do not expect the result to be in a certain way as said in Gita (Hindu Holy Book).

You may not be that important as what you think. The world can still go without you. Do not worry too much about anything. Do not be desperately attached to anything. Let loose. Play with the life given to  you. The life is a playground where you need to play your role. Do different types of things, enjoy and be yourself. From the heart be honest, do not hurt any one intentionally, you will lead a good life.

A new habit

(Writing for 20th Jan)

When you are trying to get into a new habit, it becomes very difficult. Almost on all the days you will feel that you should leave this. The mind will respond and repeatedly say that this is not possible, why are you doing this, what is the need, be in your zone. You will be constantly in the mind game. You need to be adamant and be on top of your mind at least for the initial 20-30 days. After that the mind will  understand you are not listening, it will give few more try and then will surrender. That is the point from where you can pick up and go over and above and make a mark for yourself. However small the habit is, this will bring a confidence in you that you are able to do what you have thought. That brings self confidence and a good feeling. This will also bring a confidence that if you are able to develop this habit, you can add other habit too in your routine. And the other way is also true, if somehow you are not able to add in the habit somewhere there is a mark in the mind that you were not able to do this and the mind may signal you that you should not try new things and be in the comfort zone.

You need to win those mind games. Try with smaller games where the chance of win is more. Once you start winning those mind games, you will be in that habit and the mind will also understand that you can do things which you decide to do. Once a habit is strengthened, you do not require extra effort to continue doing that, it will go into your blood and will become the muscle memory. Then during that habit, you can do something else and develop a new habit. For example if you have developed a habit of running daily for more than 5 km and that doesn't require much of effort. The only effort required is to wear the running shoes and as soon as you are in the shoes, your mind is all set, no extra effort required, you find yourself running. While running you can listen to some good books on audible or any other app and develop this habit of listening to audio books. This way a new habit can be made on top of existing good habit.

The start is difficult and important too. If you remain focused and patient during the start and keep putting your effort, you will be able to develop that habit. If you keep on adding small new good habits,  you will develop a whole new habit of learning many small things. This will have a great effect on you not immediately but in the long run, you will find a new you.

From immense noise to deep silence

There is so much noise in the world and then there is noise inside you , the mental noise. Human body is conditioned to remain in these noise as it grows from a child to adult. But deep inside there is silence, silence to be explored. Silence to be uncovered.

The silence is the way to know yourself and go beyond yourself. Silence is our true nature.Through the silence and nothingness everything emerged. If you remain silent and without thought for sometime, you may get to  reach certain level of your inner self.

The exploration of self is a long process and life long learning. This journey has to be taken individually and no one can come along with you in this journey. If you are regular in exploring yourself you would be generally in peace in spite of the outside chaotic environment.

This exploration is very satisfying and fruitful especially for the spiritual journey inside. Once you are into this habit of going deep inside you would be able to be in silence even when there is immense noise outside.

The world is a marketplace

The world seems to be a marketplace. Everywhere you will find people selling or trying to sell something to you. If a person approaches you in a shopping mall or near grocery store, you anticipate that he is trying to give some info about some card, some scheme and trying to sell. The anticipation becomes truth in most of the cases. Similar is the case when you are receiving the call from some unknown person. Most of the time it is related to credit card, loan, overdraft facility etc. Why is so much of focus on the consumerism. Are we born to consume as many things as possible and if we consume less, are we lesser than the person who consume more. If you open any media tv, radio and newspaper, there also it is full of commercials promoting something or the other. 

Just because it is visible in the market, is it required that I need to buy it. Sometimes it happens that we see the item in the market and then visualize why is that item needed by us and then consciously justify the need of buying it and then finally buy it. The buying spree and the consuming trends has made us dependent on the consumables and after using them repeatedly, mentally we have decided that we cannot live without that object. But to start with we were not using that object earlier. 

There is another type of people which are going the opposite way. Consume less and consume what is required and attain peace. The more item you have, the more time will be spent on thinking about those items and maintaining those. If you have a suitcase and 10 items with you, you just need to think about those items and move around easily. But you have 1000 items with you, your mind will always be thinking about one or the other items. These people who want to live in less are called Minimalist. 

More money in the market, getting good salary and getting easy loan, access to credit card to purchase anything has enabled the behavior of excessive purchasing. The purchasing of items outside the capacity and beyond the need becomes an addiction. The situation starts when you do a job to earn and run your house and it ends that you cannot afford to loose the job as you have unnecessary liabilities, loans against you which in the first place could have been avoided. 

The Fire

I was reminded of the importance of fire yesterday night when the LPG cylinder suddenly got exhausted. The gas stove doesn't give any signal that the gas is going to be finished, it was just when my wife had put the 3rd or 4th Chapati on the pan, the fire on the stove started loosing all energy and like the last few steps of marathon was almost stopping. This also gives me an idea, that there should be actually an indicator of how much gas is left in the cylinder. This would prepare us for the unknown. Anyway the things which are taken for granted have the ability to make us realize their importance once they are gone. Do not take things for granted. Be grateful for what you have. The sudden loss of fire in our kitchen created panic and throw of words between myself and wife to which there was one almost teen spectator my son Shuaurya. The other one is still an infant and doesn't worry much about these war of words unless it affects his daily supply of milk and other entertainment mainly mobile. The words between the couple went on that one should have booked the cylinder earlier and we could have avoided this situation.

The words settled down and the team focused on the solution. The hand went on to mobile to fulfill the demand required in our household, the other 7-8 chapatis. I ordered 10 chapatis, some buffer to be on safer side. The vegetable curry was already there. This was one of the few occasions when we ordered something from the restaurant just to fulfill our basic needs and not to relish any delicacy and tingle the taste buds in our tongues. The almost 30 minutes which took us to reach to mobile and get the chapatis at our doorstep was pretty smooth. It is so easy now to fulfill the basic needs of human being in a very less time if I compare with prehistoric age when Homo Sapiens or Neanderthal has to go long to search for food. But here in our scenario too, the chapati at the doorstep couldn't have been prepared without the Fire. The fire ended in our house but somewhere else the fire was still burning which helped us dampening the fire of our bellies.

How exciting or not exciting or surprising would it have been when first time the prehistoric human rubbed two stick or two stones and saw the sparkle after rubbing. They wouldn't have known what could this fire do. If I keep myself in their position, I would have been surprised or may be frightened or taken aback about what is this light coming out of rubbing two stones. The only lightning would have been visible in the sky which they would be accustomed by then, but some lightning happening so near would certainly would have surprised them. How many days, months or years would have taken them to light something may be the bushes, trees etc. with that lightning. And then we know from history, it was the greatest invention which separated homo sapiens from other living organisms and made him traverse to the top of the food chain. The same fire which we ignore in day to day life.

The other form of fire which we see is the fire which brings disaster. A factory creating plastic school bags and stuffs gutted to fire because of electrical short circuit or the forest fire in Australia which is burning for days killing around 500 million animals. The amazon forest fire and the California forest fire are other examples where fire played havoc. The start of the fire could be human-driven or human negligence or climatic. The same small fire which helps in preparing some food so that the indigestible food can be digested within our stomach, could also create the disaster and in a way  end the whole world too. The fire is so powerful. The context and the control ability of fire is so important in utilizing it for good use or for exploiting it to create harm to the world or climate.

The enabler of helping us satiate in the dinner, the Fire, is easily ignored until we are reminded of its absence. The fire in the belly should still be there after fulfilling the basic needs. The fire in the belly should be there to keep running and working towards challenges and help us change for the betterment of the world. The fire in the belly should be there till the end of our life to keep progressing, helping others, preventing bad things, educating people, setting examples, working towards betterment of self and society, working towards a cause. Let the fire remain burning in control to keep us illuminated. 

You are being watched

Sometimes I feel someone is watching me. If I do something wrong even by mistake or if I think something wrong I feel someone is keeping a note. I am not able to see who notes that but I feel it is being noted. And however much time passes those wrong doings are being reminded somehow, sometimes without any reason sometimes with a cue. 

You should not talk real harsh to anyone or do real bad to anyone without any reason or when you feel you are superior to that person and take advantage of your position. The time changes and the situation could be opposite later. Be humble and be polite. Treat others as you want yourself to be treated. 

The one who is watching you and keeping a note of your wrong doing as well as rightdoing is your conscience, your true self. You cannot cheat to your true self. Keep your book as clean as possible. Even if there are mistakes done by you, do not repeat those. 

Am I alone ?

Am I alone ?

Am I alone in this world. I do talk to myself. I do talk to others through me and listen to others through me. The proof that I am there is that I can feel myself and at least I can ensure there is life within me and my body is the instrument given to me through which I sense the world. But others are just the interpretation which my senses relay to me. How to ensure that what is being shown to me through my senses is the actual truth. 

So the question remains whether am I alone. All the thoughts , analysis happens inside me. The possibility could be that I am all alone and everything else is the play of mind. The whole life will go like this only with the mystery of life.  

The mind is so powerful that it overpowers me and make me feel that I am mind itself. The mind will show what it wants to show as an interpretation or the story. The interpretation may not be the actual truth. 

Finished reading a book

Reading a book is like knowing a person. When you start you just have selected to read it basis the title of the book and recommendation and review by someone. Like when you meet someone in office or class and you start talking to know more about him. The more you interact with the person, the more you know about the person. Books provide you to know the thought process of author and in a way gives you an opportunity to interact with the author.

Books have the advantage of being approached and read again and again which may become irritating in case of human being being approached for the same reason. Books do shape your thinking and in a way shape your life.

I have pledged to read daily and I am excited about that. I have completed reading Atomic habits by James Clear. It is a wonderful book on Habits.

Homo Sapiens

(Posting for 13th Jan)

Homo Sapiens - The machine that cannot be made artificially

What is that that keeps us alive. What is that which when leaves makes the life just a body. I still find it a question which is difficult to answer after so much of advancement of science. I think this can never be answered. The human being is so complex with organs, emotions, thoughts all gelled together. How is this possible. The creation of life is mystery. In fact the creation of life for any creature is mystery. How does life come into existence. A process between male and female produces an offspring but how does it ensure that it will be similar to the parents and will grow with time, become bigger attain adulthood and later age and die. 

This mystery, uncertainty behind life makes it more fascinating, interesting and brings beliefs to some power which Science cannot explain. Even when Science claim to produce offspring externally through test tube baby or something externally, the sperm and egg is taken out from the existing life. How are things inside the body controlled involuntarily and automatically. Who has designed this body. How can it be so symmetrical and systematic. 

What is that which keeps the life intact within the body. What is that which wakes us back after the sleep. Where are we getting the energy from. How is this whole combination of mind and body so well structured. Is this whole thing real or are we in dreams. What keeps us motivated to live forever. In spite of so many deaths happening, we see ourselves as living forever and would never want to die. What is this whole life about. 

What happens after death. Where does the memory go. Does the life is in between birth and death only or is it beyond. 

What exactly do you need

(Posting for 12th Jan)

What exactly do you need in life. Barring the basic needs of food, shelter and clothes, do we require anything. Why since beginning of the life it is fed to the human being that you need to achieve this or you need to achieve that. Once a particular target is met, another chase for another target. Why is it so. Are we born to achieve something or prove something. Who do we have to prove this to. It is as if we are incomplete and need some material or non-material things for completeness. Aren't we born as a complete creature with all the organs and perfect symmetry. Why is there a continuous run to get something. This rat race after something or the other keeps us continuously unhappy and waiting for the result. And the race is not complete even when one thing is attained, the next race starts for another thing. Be grateful for what you already have and you will feel the completeness within. Then start enjoying the life. Life is a big miracle that has happened to you. Enjoy the miracle. You do not know the end and how near you are to the end. So celebrate the beginning that has happened. And let the life flows within you  and let the life flow through you. Do not be an obstruction of yourself.

Is age just a number

(Posting for 11 Jan)

Sometimes I genuinely feel that time is an illusion. I time real or imaginary. During good times, the time passes very fast and during bad times, it passes very slow. We are measuring time against a standard unit like minutes, hours, days, months, years.  And measuring through clock and calendar we say that time has passed or days, years have passed. Why is time so important in our life. Time is limited that is why it is important. But how is human life related to time. Life comes and ends at a certain moment. To monitor or divide the events in between, time is very helpful in reference from the beginning. The beginning is when life comes into the body and the end is when the life goes out of the body. But time is really relative. The average which was 40 years 100 years back is now 65 years which means what used to be old 100 years back is comparatively younger now.

Age is a mindset. You will find various people with various level of energy in all age brackets. So no rule can be set that a person who has spent these many years on the planet can do or cannot do certain things. You will find older people having more energy and enthusiasm than some very young people. There is a natural process of ageing but that doesn't stop you from living to the full extent. It is about changing perspective about life. If you become positive about life, things will start happening. And then this realization will happen that Age is just a number. It is up to you how you want to feel.

Do what you want to do. Do not wait for things to happen. Start living and stop complaining. There are 100 excuses to not to do something and equal or more reasons to do the same thing. It is how you play with your mind and project to your mind. The whole human being is a complex creature. The mind, body, thoughts are all connected. You need to co-ordinate well with all these entities. You are above mind, body and thoughts. But it is certainly difficult to understand yourself above mind, body and thoughts. We are so closely gelled and attached to all these that we flow with them.

Challenge yourself and explore yourself. You are a limitless creature. All the limits are set up by the mind. The age of your body is a number attached. Try to come out of that number game and give yourself a chance to live irrespective of how many years have passed since your birth. Life is fun and is given to you to be explored. Live life and stop comparing with people of other ages. You are unique and you are life itself.

I have turned 40 on 11th January.

Streak running - Streak living

(Posting for 10th Jan)

I am motivated and happy internally that I have attracted and till now continuing the habit of running daily. When I started, people do commented that it would be difficult, how can one run daily. One should not run daily. One reason which is quite understandable is exertion in running daily. Some suggests that one should run on alternate days so that one gets enough rest. I am used to running now and I do not get exhausted while running. Running has become like a meditation for me. I am enjoying my running now. In the beginning it was a bit difficult, but now it has become a habit. If I delay my running on any day because of any reason, I get anxious that I am missing something. 

Any habit is difficult to maintain in the beginning, but once you are accustomed to  it you start enjoying it. The effort is on maintaining the habit. I would say even the start is not that difficult and to ignore or end a newly started habit is even easier. The tedious effort is on continuing the habit. Even if there is a 1 or 2 day of miss in the habit, I would say you should resume the habit. It is you playing versus your mind. Mind is always looking for the exit route and rest, but if you are adamant in maintaining the habit, you can win over your mind. The mind will finally give in. 

Like running, I am trying to work upon streak living. Live your ideal life daily and not wait for someday to start living. That day will never come. The day has to be today and the moment has to be now. Do not wait for moment to come, enjoy the now, be in the moment and you will see life happening in this very moment. Just include a small portion of what you want to do in your daily life and cut the portion of what you do not want to do. That is how your life will automatically shape up. Rather than planning for a big change suddenly, divide it into chunks and do it daily. That is the power of continuity.

The reference point

( Writing at around 1:39 am Sgp time of 10 Jan. Writing for 9th Jan blog)


Reference point:
What is the reference point for us. Reference point I think is our body or at the most the centre of the body that is heart. While speaking, thinking, listening , reading, viewing or using any sense organ, the central point is I. It is I that is the reference point.

Where does this I come from. Is it since birth or does it come after 3-4 years of birth. Or does the sense of I comes at the age of 3-4, before that I was there but the sense was not there. What happens to I after the death, does it go away? Is I the body or I is the sense.

If I is central to one person, there are so many I in the universe. Are there so many reference points. Can you come out of your I at any time. If you loose the I , will you loose yourself. Will you be without the mind. Try to shift the origin of I. Try thinking in terms of the body separated from you. When you are hungry, the body is hungry. The body need food at that time. The body needed various things and activities to stay relevant and alive.

But the body is not I. Is I any imaginary thing or concept which has the body associated with it. Can I be still there without the body. Is my I different from your I. Are all the I in universe connected. Do we think any deeper than just serving our body.

In mathematics there is an origin and we plot all the points in reference to the origin. But how can we say the origin is absolute origin. Similarly in life how can we assure the reference point which we are thinking as I is the correct reference point. If we do not know the reference point how can we decide which path is correct. It may happen that the path which we think from our reference is correct may not be any relevant from the absolute origin.

A lady in immigration

( Writing at around 1:00 am Sgp time of 9th Jan  to compensate for 8 Jan post)

There is a human connect and people attract to other people where attraction can be love, emotion, eager to talk to, inquisitive about other culture etc. The human connect is so beautiful irrespective of the language we talk to irrespective of the culture we belong to.

While coming out of the Singapore airport to claim my luggage, had to cross the immigration. We got a signal from the lady officer to come at her counter and as soon as we reached there, she engaged our complete family, my sons Shaurya , Saksham, me and my wife. She gave toffies to each one of us. 

Even before any talk started, there was vibes between us, good vibes. There is some beautiful thing about human to human connect which starts even before the verbal communication starts. Sometimes for no reason you would hate or avoid a person whom you have never talked to and sometimes you would want to immediately start conversation with a person whom you have met for the first time. There is some energy which gets exchanged between 2 person which enables this. 

It was good to talk to Jenny (if I remember her name correctly). We feel good about incidents which made us happy. The beauty is that we know that there is nothing being expected in return and we are good to each other. That is how the humanity should be. 

Life - a miracle

(Writing from J8 hotel of Singapore at around 00:45 time of Singapore on 9th January writing in lieu of my 7th Jan missed post)

Life. Again writing about life which is one of my favourite topics. Life is a mystery. Life is a story woven by you , told by you, rehearsed by you, repeatedly revised by you. Others have their own story or own life to bother about. Everyone is the central character of his own life and he doesn't give a primary role to any other person in his story, however close that person be. 

So, life is purely personal and we are truly selfish in our life story and whatever we say that we think about others or do good to others, ultimately it is bringing happiness to us so we are doing that. But the story has an end and we all know that it is going to end and still are too much attached to it and live under the assumption that we are on this planet forever.

Life is actually a miracle which has happened to us. It should be taken as an opportunity to do our best and not to complain about things. Having so many things in symphony and synchronization itself calls for gratefulness and thankfulness to the supreme power which created life. Even if you do not believe in any supreme power, you should be thankful about the life. 

Nisha

Hey wake up ! Philip, wake up! It is already afternoon. Mary was shouting at her only son Philip for the last 10 minutes from Kitchen. She was preparing Philip's favorite dish noodles and manchurian. The sandwich which was prepared in the morning is already tight and stretched in the chilling cold of Delhi. Philip works in the Indian Army and is posted in Andaman islands and came to be with family only yesterday. His father and Grandfather were also in Army and served India for more than 40 years together. Philip is the current asset in Indian Army. He came here in Delhi after almost an year in the new year on 5th Jan 2020 to introduce her Girl Friend to his mother. She is Nisha. There was slight resistance from Mary when she heard the name from Philip, but she gave in for her son's sake. While Philip was on the phone call last week and when he uttered the name Nisha, there was silence for 20 seconds. Philip felt the feeling, but didn't know that she wont object even once.

Nisha was in Class 12th studying in Pune APS school when one day there was a school trip from her school  to NDA Khadagwasla. As she went inside, her eyes got stuck in the blue eyes of Philip who was in green uniform with a cap and shining shoes. She noticed him twice and while having some refreshments in the cafeteria, she looked into the name tag at his chest , Philip. Philip saw her noticiing his name and just said hello. Nisha replied back and she blurted out that she is very impressed about Indian Army and is thankful of what the Army men do for the country. They had few minutes of conversation where it was mostly Nisha who was talking and Philip was listening. Philip somehow realized and felt that other than his being an army officer, she is impressed by his look and stature too. Philip was a quiet and shy person but Nisha was just opposite, her goal was to provide as much of information, even more to Philip. They exchanged phone numbers too. And then started the program of meeting each other. Philip was reluctant initially but after few of the meetings, he got to know her better and realized he too is developing a soft corner for her. He was hesitant to call this as love.

On 3rd Jan 2019, he got the order from Army HQ about his posting. He has to go to Andaman islands for the next 3 years. Till now it has been only few months of interactions with Nisha and he wasn't sure whether there is anything between them, even if there is something he wasn't sure if he can call that love. He mentioned about his posting to Nisha in his next meeting and he noticed a small droplet trying to come out of her left eye. She noticed him noticing that and the droplet somehow went back in, but in those few seconds the expressions, eye contacts, hesitations and the talk between eyes said it all. They didn't speak anything on that but it was understood by the hearts. For some moments the heart slowed down. They decided to spend a Sunday evening together in a restaurant in Pune before parting ways. It was a well spent evening on Sunday 5th Jan. It was again Nisha was talking more and Philip was listening with few nods and few words. But this meeting before leaving for Andaman made a mark in his heart. He didn't confess to her nor did she inspite of talking so much.

After an year in Andaman, Philip just came yesterday to be with her mother Mary. Last night Mary asked her about Nisha which she got to know only last week on the phone call. Philip shied away and just said you can meet her tomorrow. And today Nisha is to come in Sector 12, house no 252 in Abhivyakti apatment at 2 pm. It was already 12 noon and Philip was still on bed. After few shouts from the kitchen, she proceeded towards bedroom and as soon as she touched Philip, she heard the door bell ringing. She ran towards the door still  murmuring and saying Philip wake up. When she opened the door she saw the box wrapped in tricolour with 4 uniform men and a girl standing next to her. The girl Nisha. She ran back to the bedroom with her mouth wide open shouting Philip, Philip, wake up. When she reached the bedroom, she couldn't find Philip. She just found a letter from Indian Army informing about Philip. The gas was still on in the kitchen with Noodles and Manchurian kept near the stove. Nothing was visible, nothing was being heard by Mary. Nisha was shaking her but she went into numbness. She didn't imagine in his worst dreams that she will meet Philip's Nisha in this way.

Who am I

Who am I 

Am I the body or the soul
Am I partial or whole

I am the purpose and the role
Of His purest soul

Am I creator or the creation
Am I journey or destination

I am His reflection
I am His purest narration

Am I dream or real
Am I kind or cruel

I am One and not dual
I am The fire and not the fuel

Am I the heart or brain
Am I joy or the pain

I am bland and plain
Not trivial, in fact Main

Am I young or old
Am I timid or bold

I am the awareness untold
connected to One and Soul of gold

Silence

(4 Jan 2020 - Writing at 12:30 am of 5 Jan)
There is something beautiful about silence. The base is silence. Everything comes out of silence. It is silence or emptiness or zero or nothingness. Meditate on these concepts. We can see ourselves coming out of this emptiness. The words, expressions, voice disturbs the beauty of silence. Observe the beauty of silence in complete silence, the silence need to be from thoughts too. Thoughts are noisier than sound.

Silence makes sense
Else the world is full of noise
Unnecessary noise
Noise of boast, Noise of jealousy
Noise of violence, noise of treachery

Thoughts do make noise
And disturb the inner peace
It is better to come out of thoughts
And focus on where they come from
The point is again the silence and void inside you

That void is very powerful
and the center of all, yet connected to all
The energy is coming from that nothingness
And keeping the world alive
The silence or the void do makes the real sense

Facets of life

Life is not forever. You do not know how far or how near are you to the end. There should be a certain level of urgency in what you do and you need to prioritize the things based on the importance. What have you gained in life, what do you want to do in life, What makes you happy in life, What are you here for ? These are some important questions which you should ponder upon. You cannot be perfect, but at least you can try to be happy. And as is said, Happiness is a choice, you should choose to be happy. Achieving things are good but being happy is great. 

Prioritize things. Do the things which make you happy more often and do less of things which you know you should not do and which brings negative energy. Life is all about choice you take. You need to get into the habit of doing things which you think is good. It is very frustrating to do things which you think you should not do. Till the time you have to do the things, start enjoying the tasks and accept it. There is no point complaining and still doing the task. Either stop doing the task or stop complaining till you get a better task. Else the habit of complaining will go into your blood. 

You can still be happy in frustrating situations, difficult situations. That happiness may not be visible from outside but from deep within when you have accepted the situation and then trying to work to go into better situation, you are content. The first step is to accept the situation you are in and then try to change or go into better situation. Most of the time we keep questioning why we are in that situation at the first place. Questioning the situation will not change the situation. 

Life is made up of all these hours, minutes and seconds. The ideal life which you want to live will not come suddenly. The hours, minutes and second has to be somewhat similar to the life which you want to live. Life is the journey not the destination. If you are too focused on the destination, the ultimate destination is death. Change your focus from destination to the journey, the journey of life. Life is the flow. 

Life can do wonders

(Writing at 1:48 am on 3rd Jan)

Wonders do happen in life. Life itself is a wonder. Life is a wonderful journey. You have to be positive in life to realize the wonders. Else if you remain in complaining mode, you will not be able to appreciate the wonders until death. 

Life is beautiful. If you focus on the present and somehow start enjoying the present, there is nothing like it. The book power of Now says about the same. There is something unique powerful thing about the present. It is all about mindset change. You need to set your mindset correct. It is not a one time thing, it is a daily practice. 

To realize the wonders which life do upon you, you have to be receptive and grateful. You need to do your work , duty and engage in the responsibilities. You need to enjoy the process rather than desperately waiting for one big goal. Achieving the big goal will be one time affair and there are chances that you may not be able to achieve it but if you are focussed on the process and enjoying the process , there is dual benefit. You will not be desperate about end result as you are enjoying the process and this qualifies for a better chance to achieve the goal too.