Filling the Silence

In order to escape the mind, we fill the silence with

– talking (more than usual)

– music (contextual) and/or consuming content in general

– activities that you don’t want to do

(or anything else that one might do to fill their silence)

Why do we do it though?

It’s only when we are scared of that silence. The deepest questions that you don’t think of lie in that silence. The answers you avoid lie in that silence. The truths you run away from lie in that silence.

Silence speaks volumes.

And that is why we run away from it. Because we don’t want to face it. That’s why we escape. Its feels better to escape your reality than to face it.

Facing it means to take action, to pause and look back, to accept your mistakes, to change your tomorrow, that requires change in thoughts and actions and that’s a lot of efforts.

Instead, we avoid the silence.

// i write about how to embrace this silence here.

Staying neutral is picking a side

There are two sides to a coin. For and against. People are on the either side of it, either for or against, and very rarely (if not, never) would you see everybody on just one end of the coin.

So, according to what is right to us, we pick a side and then voice our opinions towards it, or moreover live by that side. (now this applies to a numerous amount of things)

What happens when you don’t pick a side? When you choose to stay silent? When you want to stay neutral?

The bigger question is, is that possible?

If not by words, then by action, and if not by action, then by thought, everyone chooses a side.

Due to mainly fear, or with a lack of acceptance, or not wanting to be seen choosing a particular side, one stays neutral.

But, even in doing so they are choosing a side. But silently. And subconsciously. That neutrality is then counted towards wherever the majority is. Because that’s how it works.

Unless you state otherwise.

My Weekly Learnings #2 (04.04 – 10.04)

Amidst all the content I consume every week, through this weekly series of ‘My Weekly Learnings’, sharing highlights of content pieces that caught my eye and provided more value than I could imagine.

(P.S. Every Sunday, I share a list of what to read, listen, and watch, in my weekly series, The Last 7 Days. You can check out the editions here).

1. There’s no such thing as a “good” or “bad” emotion. There are only “good” and “bad” reactions to emotions. (Mark Manson)

2. Not doing it because somebody else has done it is like not eating because somebody else is full. (Jack Butcher)

3. A list of 6P’s that provide a useful framework for anyone who wants to sell something.

Product – what are you selling
Pricing – at what price
Person – to whom
Purpose – why are they buying it
Priority – why now
Prestige – and why from you? (Balaji Srinivasan)

4. Intelligence can be analogized to computers. Belief in a singular intelligence implies that humans possess a single general-purpose computer, which can perform well (high IQ), average (normal IQ), or poorly (low IQ). Multiple intelligences theory implies that human beings possess several relatively independent computers; strength in one computer does not predict strength (or weakness) with other computers.

Read more here – https://www.multipleintelligencesoasis.org/a-beginners-guide-to-mi

5. “Italy is known for tomatoes. Thailand for chilies. Germany for sauerkraut.

But tomatoes originated in Peru. Thailand imported chilies from Central America. Sauerkraut started in China.

Everything is a remix—and the world is better for it. Share what you know. Learn from others.” (James Clear)

Dealing with Every Day

Prepared or unprepared,

Growth mindset or fixed mindset,

Process or the outcome,

Happiness or the chase,

Whichever category you belong to,

There is still every day to deal with.

Each day brings with it, its own ups and downs.

Its own set of successes and its own set of setbacks.

A high and low of emotions.

Various things to deal with.

And apart from that purpose, apart from that higher goal, there is still always that every day to deal with.

The ‘every day’ that we need to be ready for.

For what it will bring.

For what will happen.

Sometimes it deviates us, sometimes it brings us back to the path,

Sometimes it brings you all the things you want, and sometimes it takes it all away,

Those are the dealings of the every day

That we need to live and experience and be prepared for.

What to learn from Soorarai Pottru?

How can you describe this Tamil fim, Soorarai Pottru? Inspiring! Uplifting! A brilliant watch and one of my top films of 2020!

What is this film about? The official synopsis reads, ‘Maara, a young man from a remote village, dreams of launching his own airline service. However, he must overcome several obstacles and challenges in order to be successful in his quest.’

This film was such a beautiful watch and Suriya is just extraordinary in this one. That inspiring storyline is one which entrepreneurs and business owners would love, and also learn from.

A. A common man’s dream

What does it take for a common man to dream, a dream that seems impossible, a dream that’s beyond anyone’s capabilities?

What does such a journey entail? How much does it take from you? What do you need to sacrifice and how easy or difficult it is? Questions of entrepreneurship we never seem to ask or focus on, other than the idea is something we should learn.

B. Making People Believe

Having an idea, or executing on it, or even entrepreneurship in general isn’t just about the concept or the product or the service.

It’s about making people believe in you, believe in your why. That ‘why’ becomes the reason why people join you in your journey and become a part of your product or service.

That belief, ultimately, decides your entrepreneurial success or failure.

C. The People around You

As much as the idea is important, as much as the execution is important, what’s even more important are the people around you.

That circle of people around your personal and professional life who guide you on this journey, who are on the lookout for you, who push you to do more, and are there for you when you’re down. Those set of people are extremely important in a journey of this kind.

D. Watch Out at every Step

No matter how beautiful the journey seems, no matter how many goals you keep on achieving, one of the most important things is to watch out every step you take.

There are people around you who don’t want you to succeed, who will try to hinder your plans, try to betray you, try to sabotage your journey, and your lookout is watch out for such occurences at every step you take.

—x—

In short, what it means to have a dream, to achieve it, the hardships felt, overcoming it, is what this film portrays brilliantly. How important are the people around you, as well as those you have to watch out for at every step, there are quite a few lessons to learn from Soorarai Pottru.
—x—

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25 Years and 25 Lessons of my Life

As I’m about to turn 26, here’s a better time than other to look back and reflect at the 25 years of my life that I’ve been able to live and enjoy and now it’s time to retrospect.

With such experiences, with such learning, there are a ton of lessons that have shaped my life and will continue to do as well.

Here’s a summary of all of the retrospection and reflection and ultimately, the 25 Lessons of my Life –

1. Everything happens according to its own timeline

The impatience within us, is so deep-rooted that it takes over not only for the bigger things in life, but also for the smallest of things. That impatience leads to wanting everything too soon, you do something now, and you want to see the results of it, right now itself and only with learning and mistakes, do you understand that life doesn’t work that way.

Everything happens when it has to happen, you just have to keep pushing through, without stopping, if its truly something you want to live/ pursue/ want.

2. Failure is not the end of the world

Quite often, when we fail (at anything), we feel broken, we feel shattered, there’s an end of the world feeling attached to it. Thinking like there’s no tomorrow.

But, with time and experience, you understand that failure is not the end, but the beginning, it’s a stepping stone filled with learning, now knowing what you don’t have to do or what you can do better.

3. Happiness is Within, not in anything, nor anywhere else

When you go beyond how our mind is conditioned, when you go beyond your needs and wants, and change your mindset and perspective, you start to understand how happiness is within you.

It’s one of the emotions that you feel, living a certain kind of life, doing certain things. It’s not a chase, nor an outcome, nor available in any one thing or any one place.

4. When you control your Health, you control everything else as well

It’s only when you lose control of your physical or your mental health, or both, you start seeing its effects on your life as well, whether internally or externally.

How you feel within and how you act and react, all is a consequence of your mental and physical health.

5. Present Pleasures can have Future Consequences

In the younger years of our lives, for whatever reasons, we feel lost in the world of escapism, with a feeling of pleasure towards those things – whether related to food, people, activities, actions.

At the moment, we feel like this is the only thing to do, without even realizing that if not at the moment, then in the future, there are consequences attached to it – which have an impact on your life, your destiny, your future.

6. Entitlement makes you lose your focus and capabilities

When you feel entitled towards something, either at home, or from outsiders, or from any other establishment, you feel like you automatically deserve something without doing anything for it.

An approach of that sort is nothing less than a shortcut, to get something you want without putting in the work for it. It makes you lose your focus towards your own life, what you are capable of getting on your own.

7. Only those who experience it, understand the importance of Spirituality

People often confuse spirituality with being religious, and mix the two and their takeaways from it. Spirituality helps you go deeper in your life, helps you still your mind and body, relaxes you, shows you your true self.

Unless you walk on that path, unless you don’t experience those things and more, you don’t really understand its importance on your life.

8. Your Early 20s are your best years to experiment

Your early 20s and even before are the years when you don’t understand your life nor the world, you think you do, but you don’t.

It’s at such a time, with the rawness, excitement, and the eagerness to experiment, when you can, instead of settling on the societal norms, do brilliant things in those years without even thinking about the future for a moment.

9. The concept of doing everything by a certain age are just societal concepts created to limit you

Speaking of societal norms, whosoever started this and then continued it over these years, on a mass scale, was successful in hindering the growth of the human kind.

Everything has to be done by a certain age, whether you want it or not, or else people will start asking questions, start judging you and now you have this pressure to do those x number of things. Well, you can reframe your mind and go beyond this, and live the life you want to live and enjoy.

10. As you age, you realize you need very few people around you whom you want to continue your journey with

With all the acquaintances that have and all the networking you do, as you age, and not just with age, but as you understand the life you want to live, you want to be around only a few people.

These few people of your inner circle whom you want to continue your journey with, whom you want to share everything with and grow together.

11. Questioning things is a way out of the matrix

To explain with that theory, if we are in a matrix, where all of us are programmed to live in a certain way, do the same things, want the same things, live the same life, to get out of it is to question everything.

When you question, you seek the answers, you learn new things, you evolve and develop yourself in the process and now you start asking deeper questions and keep evolving yourself to a better version of yourself.

12. Everything is interconnected within you

With what you do, what you eat, what you speak, how you think, how you live your day, what you consume, everything is interconnected.

Because you feel a certain way, you speak a certain way and you eat a certain something and you then feel another emotion and that cycle keeps spinning. Everything is interconnected within you and when you realize that is when you start to be in control of your life.

13. There doesn’t need to be just one passion

With all this hype of having a passion and doing what you’re passionate about, a revelation which few people come across, is that you can have multiple passions.

Your life can be lived with multiple passions, doing multiple things with different outcomes in mind.

14. Live your plans, instead of postponing them for the future

You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, or whether you’d be able to do something tomorrow or not. We end up planning for things 5 years, 10 years, 50 years, in the future.

Instead of thinking about the future, or postponing something for a later date in life, if you can live it today, if you can do it today, then why not experience that moment in your current phase of your life.

15. No matter how cruel the world gets, there’s always some hope out there to make it better

The world can be a bitter place, where everything that happens can seem for the worse. Whatever happens may seem why is it happening, it doesn’t make sense and why cannot one day go by without anything bad or cruel happening.

But, when you look closely, you will always find stories that are positive, that have a positive impact on the society, humanity, on the planet. And that fills you with hope that things will be better.

16. Everything about you can be changed

No matter how you feel or think about yourself in the moment, no matter what has happened in your past, do know that everything about you can be changed.

That change has to be brought onto yourself by you alone, you’re in charge. But yes, everything from your mindset, to your perspective and lifestyle, to your habits, each and everything about you can be changed.

17. Empathy and Gratitude are the center point of our lives

The two things that are never taught to us, but are life-changing and become the center point of our lives, when we understand them and practice them – empathy and gratitude.

We think communication solves problems, but it’s not communication, it’s empathy that’s the key. Having empathy helps you understand a certain point from the other person’s point of view, their perspective – why are they saying what they are saying or feeling.

Being grateful for everything about you and everything that you get to do and have helps you to understand everything that you have, whereas you thought you didn’t have anything and were chasing something exterior to fill that hole.

18. Things happen for a reason and you only realize it in hindsight

When things happen, knowingly or unknowingly, we wonder why! Why me? Why did this have to happen with me? At the time we only feel sad or distraught or clueless or some other emotion.

It’s only in hindsight do we realize, whatever happened, happened for a reason. That one speedbreaker actually led you to a better road or even a highway, but only in hindsight do we understand that.

19. Most of the problems in life are connected with your mindset and your lifestyle

Life full of problems, piling one after the other – whether emotionally, or in your relationships, or with work, or mentally or physically, or all of them – usually when you go to the roots of your problem, you understand that it’s usually connected with either your mindset, or your lifestyle, or both.

Taking a step before you notice anything – with your perspective, with your mindset, and your lifestyle, you can have an upper hand at your life, which will eventually help you grow and help you live a successful life.

20. Don’t waste time impressing others and living a life you don’t want to live

Quite often, we do things that has less to do with us and more to do with others. Either in the form of jealousy or comparisons or pride, we often pursue something or want its outcome or want an external object, just to impress others.

A want for them to realize what you have done or what you have got, and that will make you feel validated. But, alas, it’s an empty feeling, which has no meaning. Instead, you can live a life you want to life, do things you truly want, and accordingly make your decisions.

21. Those who cause hurt are themselves hurting too

When people try to bring you down, when they troll you, or make fun of you or bully you, its often because they themselves are hurt and it’s just an escapist approach they take to make themselves feel better.

Once we understand that, we start to not let those things impact us and simultaneously try to help them, in whatever form we can.

22. Writing is the best form of clarity you can get

Whether for yourself, or in the form of books or blogs, or something else, writing in general is the best form of therapy for yourself, an outlet, which gives you the best clarity you can get.

In that world of words, you write your thoughts, which leads to you having deeper thoughts, and you start connecting things and asking questions and forming a different perspective than before – all of which comes when you write.

23. Everyone has their own set of problems in life

No matter how wonderful does one’s life look, or at least one aspect of it (that you can see), each and every individual has their own set of problems.

Before thinking that your life is crappy and why is someone else’s life so beautiful, and before you start judging yourself or comparing yourself with others, also know that everyone (including you) have their own set of problems, that they are dealing with.

24. Real growth happens when you help others

Irrespective of how much you want or how much you already have, real growth happens when all of that learning and experience and success that you have received is used to help someone else.

Help doesn’t always need to be financial, and when you help someone else, that feeling, that growth which occurs within, you truly feel you have made a real impact onto the world.

25. Life is a Gift of its own

Crossing the odds of 400 trillion to 1, here we are, a human being on this planet. Life truly is a gift that we get to live, it’s everything we need and should want, never knowing if we would ever have such an experience again.
We chase our needs and wants, we chase status and fame, we chase recognition, and yet the truest gift is life itself – the place where all questions and answers end.

The biggest and best lesson I have ever been able to learn.

—x—

As you read this, I’d have turned 26 and Life continues. So much to live, so much to figure out, so much to learn and experience.

Hope this was something worthwhile.

—x—

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Is it natural to you?

We have so many choices to make in life.

So many decisions.

We have goals to accomplish.

Then comes, whether you’re living your Passion or not?

Whether you’re satisfied with your personal life and your professional life?

There are a lot of things to look at, in the micro as well as in the macro.

How can you choose?

How do you know if it is right for you?

The answer to all of this comes down to, what comes natural to you?

What do you feel is natural?

Something that just flows out of you.

Something that you feel you can do again and again, all day, every day.

It’s questions like these that solve your problems, that show you the path ahead, that tell you what you should do.

Ask yourself, when ever you have to make a decision, is it natural to you?

If yes, then you know what to do.

If your answer is no, then you probably know the answer now. You can now make the changes, do things differently or even proceed, if you wish to.

One simple question changes so many things for you.

—x—

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Mind, Body and Soul

What we think

What we feel

What we eat

What we drink

What exercise we do

It not only has an effect on our exterior actions, that is the words we speak, the work we do, the things we experience,

But, it has an effect on our inner body too.

Did you know that?

Every emotion we feel releases an energy of that sort in the body too.

Every thing we eat and drink is how our body processes it, and whether it is good for the body or not, then has an outcome accordingly.

Whether we exercise or not, not just has an effect on how “slim” we become, but it has an effect on our body processes too.

Everything we do has an effect, not just on the outward, but inward too.

We usually don’t think about how it affects our body, our mind and our soul.

If we become a tiny bit more mindful than usual, then we can start taking care of our mind, body and soul, at least from now on, if not before.

—x—

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Subtractions

The more things we add, the bigger our plate looks. Whether we’ll be able to finish that plate is something no one asks. Just that the plate should look full.

Instead, if we keep just two things on it, or four, or all, or none, depends on person to person, but one would find more joy and less stress. More satisfaction and less headache.

I wish I was talking about food here, but it’s about life, and doing too many things at once, creating this pressure to do more, without being able to enjoy even one wholly.

It’s in moments like these when you take a step back and realize this and ultimately take the decision to subtract things from your life, in order to be freer, have more time and less stress. Subtraction creates those opportunities for us, which addition does not.
—x—

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Personal before Professional

We have been taught to always focus on our careers, on our professional side of life, the side that earns money and is able to buy things.

We are always chasing growth in that sector of life, trying to accomplishing our work goals.

Sometimes, we even make those work goals, our life goals, because we don’t know the difference.

That is how the system works, how the society works, no one questioned it, everyone just did the same thing, but in different ways.

Chasing professional goals is not wrong at all, it gives you motivation to do something but when it comes at the cost of personal growth, then it creates a problem.

When you are not in control of yourself, is when problems appear elsewhere in your life.

When you don’t know how to emotionally react, is when you hinder your exterior relationships as well as your relationship with yourself.

When you don’t know how your own voice in the head has come from, how will you separate yourself from what the society and their judgements say.

Personal comes before Professional.

Personal growth, first, focus on yourself first or simultaneously, and then let that impact every other area of your life.

Professional growth will create exterior success, but won’t affect personal growth. On the contrary, personal growth will create professional growth + inner success + inner peace + satisfaction.

—x—

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Blaming Others vs Taking Accountability

What do the differences between the two look like – blaming others v taking accountability?

Blaming Others
– is easy
– allows you to shift every problem of yours onto others
– you’ve an excuse for every hardship you face, for everything that happens in your life
– you can now blame those around you, the technology, the government, the weather, you’ve a ton of options at your disposal.

vs

Taking Accountability
– is difficult
– now the onus is on you
– you’ve no one to blame, but be accountable for everything that you do and everything that happens to you
– irrespective of whether the outcome is in your favor or not
– allows more freedom and independence

Which side do you then choose?
The easier or the difficult one?

Some choices seem easy in life, until you realize its consequences on yourself and how it affects you short-term and long-term.

—x—

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Action Repercussions

There is no action that goes unnoticed and there is no repercussion that happens on its own.

They are both connected to each other, where one impacts the other and the other is dependent on the former.

That is the case of action repercussions.

Every thing that you do has a repercussion, positive or negative, sometime now, or in the near future, or even long-term.

Whether it’s how you deal with your mind or your body, the repercussion will happen sometime or the other.

How do you deal with your life, yourself, the people around you, the repercussions of each indicates how you acted in the first place.

When you live with that thought, is when you choose your actions carefully. Because you know the repercussions are upon you.

—x—

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Own Ways

There’s no one way to any path, no fixed formula or method.

There is nothing that is proven to be the exact same for two individuals.

Everyone writes their own way, with their own set of successes and difficulties.

Each to their own experience.

Understanding that is a powerful way forward, to know that I can get inspired, but I cannot emulate, I have to find my own way.

That is the key to unlocking life for you, finding your own way.

—x—

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A deadline to yourself

Deadlines solve things.

They create this time pressure, which allows you to not delay something and to make it a priority.

From time to time, if you’re comfortable in that scenario, you should create deadlines for yourself.

Deadlines which won’t define your life, but will help you to solve your problems, create your habits, help you accomplish your to-do lists.

If not for these deadlines, for some the motivation of doing something may be enough, but if it runs out, then these self-created deadlines help you to push yourself more.

—x—

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Living a life with purpose

On a macro level, few people live their purpose and get to live that life on a daily basis.

It’s not the same as being motivated or not the same as earning to cover your expenses. That life is different.

What does that life include then?

Living a life with purpose means

• you know where your FOCUS lies,

• your PROCESS is now streamlined,

• knowing how to balance your TIME and ENERGY,

• where to DOUBLE DOWN upon, and

• also, able to avoid the DISTRACTIONS in life.

Of course, there are a lot more advantages to living a purposeful life, but these were top five reasons, according to me, that sets one apart once they have found their purpose.

Have you found yours yet?

—x—

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5 Lessons to learn from ‘Mirzapur 2’

Done watching Mirzapur 2, just like most with access to the OTT platforms have, what can I say that already hasn’t been said.

Every episode felt like a film on its own, with a unique experience, this season brought so much depth and nuance to all the characters and the storyline, their arcs were just amazing to watch.

Glad with a lot of things that occurred, and simultaneously sad with some of them as well. And that just speaks how the show grips you emotionally and ties you into its universe.

Having seen English tv series for over a decade, amongst other great shows, I’m just glad to have Mirzapur on our Indian roster.

This show is just wow.

Having said all of this, I also sensed a lot of takeaways from this season, that can also be taken as life lessons, that will help sometime or the other, in life.

A. You always have a Choice
Whatever you do in life, no matter the circumstance at hand, you always have a choice.

A choice of how you’d like to proceed, a choice of how you want to approach, or change, a choice of decisions.

What you choose then changes your path and your life as well.

B. Once you have set a goal, you’ll achieve it at any cost
The thing about having a goal in life is that, once you’ve set one and truly accepted it as something you want, you’ll keep at it until you achieve it.

You’ll be persistent, you’ll not hear a no, you’ll keep making mistakes, learn from them, but keep moving forward until you achieve that goal.

C. Sometimes all you need is Love
Sometimes you do things, you create this pressure on yourself, you try to prove to others, you try achieving things, all because in return for everything, you were only looking for love.

You wanted this love and acceptance, for which you were ready to do anything, even though you may have no interest in any of it. That’s the significance of love.

D. The ones closest to you cannot be trusted at times
You need to be on the constant lookout for who’s around you, what their intentions are, and how much do they really support you.

Because, even people with sweet and loving words may have ill intentions behind your back and you’d never know. Have those around you, whom you can trust and who trust you as well.

E. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction
There’s nothing you do that goes unnoticed. Every action of yours has a repercussion, in what form, you don’t know.

This statement is almost similar to the concept of karma, where the kind of deed you do, is what you get back as well. How does it come back to you, is not in your control, but what you do in the first place is what’s in your control.

—x—

The best part about storytelling and stories in general is that there’s always some takeaway from it, if you wish to see that perspective. There’s always something to learn and always something to improve at, and this time, those lessons were taken from Mirzapur 2.

P. S. Awaiting Season 3. 🙂

—x—

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A blank page

Imagine you’re writing a book, and you feel that you’re stuck somewhere and you don’t know what to write anymore, you don’t know how to proceed.

Will you stop writing that book?

Or will you try another approach to it?

You have a blank page, you have the choice to rewrite something, to change your approach towards writing, to change the entire book itself.

That is the power of a blank page.

It allows you the freedom to do anything and everything you want with that fresh page.

You can ignore everything you wrote, or rewrite the parts you didn’t like.

That’s how life works as well.

Every day is a fresh start, a blank page that allows you to rewrite your life.

That allows you to introduce the changes to make it better.

You can be stuck at a certain place, or change your approach altogether amd start with a blank page.

That choice to continue is something you have to take.

—x—

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The soft spot of Perfection

The ones we admire, the ones we compare ourselves to, or compare others to, the ones we seek inspiration from – where does it come from?

We feel they are perfect – perfect in who they are, in what they do, so much so that we almost want to live their lives.

However, we forget that these “perfections” have a ton of baggages attached to them as well, and only the ones who have them know about them.

No one else.

Admirations, Comparisons and Inspirations come from the soft spot of perfection or our illusion of it.

In such a scenario, would you still want to live their life?

Or would you then just learn their ups and downs, live your own life, and try to implement or not implement from those inspirations and admirations?

What would you then choose for yourself?

—x—

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—x—

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Having the UNDO button in life?

How many of us have wished for an UNDO button in our lives?

Just press this button and reverse that decision, that choice you made, that moment you lived.

Only if you could change the outcome – which you wish to change because it didn’t match your expectations.

But, we forget in such a scenario, that it is our choices, our decisions, our experiences, our thought process that got us to this position.

Then why change it?

Instead, learn from it, understand what you made you choose that way, implement changes (if necessary) and move on instead of thinking about the past.

That moment is gone, what you can control is the present which affects your future as well.

Instead of thinking of a CTRL+Z let’s focus on a new button – CRTL+DO.

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No human being is perfect

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know one human being, anyone, who would be perfect?

Perfect in every way!?

We admire people, we look up to them, we compare ourselves with others, we compare someone with someone else, the list is endless.

Admirations, comparisons and inspirations come from the soft spot of perfection, or our illusion of it.

Just because someone is doing good career wise, relationship wise, emotional wise, we feel their life is perfect.

However, is there such a case?

For starters, perfection doesn’t exist. There is only becoming a better version, for whomever it may be. There’s no end goal in any phase of life, just becoming better at it.

That brings me to the second and the most important point, said the above point, no human being is perfect. NONE.

Let’s get that cleared in our minds.

No human being is perfect.

Let’s not have that illusion either.

Because such an illusion constantly keeps one stressed, under pressure and in a mode of constant comparisons.

Every human has flaws, some are good at hiding them, some are good at overpowering their strengths, but everyone has flaws.

Understanding that is the biggest advantage one can have, in living their life, pursuing their goals, and ultimately, living a happy life.

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The truth of “What has to happen, will happen”

Who has heard this before, “What has to happen, will happen”?

Most of us have heard it, a number of times in our lifetime.

Most of us abide by that statement too.

And to be honest, it makes sense as well.

No matter what you do, no matter how much you plan, no matter what you predict, in reality, what has to happen will happen.

You cannot do anything about it.

However, said that, how true is that statement?

Is it 100% completely true?

I feel there’s something left out from that statement, which we didn’t ponder upon.

Something that once we understand, is game changing for us.

It’ll have a massive impact on our life and our choices and our decisions.

Here’s my interpretation of what’s left out –

What has to happen, will happen if you’re ready for it.

That last bit is quite important and something we don’t think about.

“If you’re ready for it”

Things may happen to you, opportunities may knock at your door, and you wouldn’t even realize it, and only because you weren’t ready for it.

I believe when you’re constantly improving yourself, working on your mind, body and soul, working on your emotions, working on your goals, working on your life, you’re making yourself ready for that moment.

The moment of when it has to happen, will happen.

Only now, you won’t miss on it.

Only now, you will be ready for it.

You’ll able to see it when it happens.

When it knocks on your door.

Only because you made yourself ready.

If you haven’t made yourself ready and levelled up for what the moment requires, why would it happen to you?

Why would that opportunity waste itself on you, when it would knock on someone else’s door who is making themselves ready for it?

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Seasonal Changes

Most of us, wherever we live, have experienced multiple seasons in a year, changing from time to time.

Whether its the summers, winters, spring or the monsoons, we know what each season brings with it.

In terms of the atmosphere around us, the types of food that changes according to the season, the clothes we wear – all of this and more are catered according to the season at hand.

Basically, we are now prepared for what’s to come, we adjust with the season and what it brings.

What this also signifies is something really simple, that humans can change, or rather accept change when they have to.

Most of the people, when spoken to or otherwise, state that they cannot accept change or are not capable of change.

This is, of course, in regards to their mindset, their habits, their lifestyle choices etc.

However, now stating to those same people, how do they then adapt the seasonal changes to their lifestyle, how are they now capable of introducing those types of changes around them?

How is it that when it comes to improving their life mentally and emotionally, they hesitate and avoid that topic altogether?

If you’re one of them, then this might be something you ponder upon.

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Avoiding Burnout

Burnout is not something that you can avoid, but rather something for which you either take steps to control it beforehand or take care of it once it happens.

In most cases, you feel the burnout when you’ve given your all to the process, all your efforts, all your energy, and as an outcome of that process, you feel the burnout.

Irrespective of whether the outcome was in your favour or not.

Burnout is something that can happen anytime, to anyone.

And its not just towards your work or your work timings, but you can feel it towards everything else in life too.

But, how can you avoid it or rather control it before or after?

Well, it starts with becoming self aware of yourself, who you are, your needs, your interests, your energy levels, understanding when you need a break, when do you need to start taking care of yourself, when do you need to take a step back and analyze the entire situation again.

When you realize that the scale isn’t balanced anymore and when it is tilting and it’ll impact you, is when you need to start taking the steps towards it.

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The reverse option is unavailable

Does a special car exist, only with the forward gear and the rearview mirror, where the reverse option is unavailable?

Where the car would move forward with occasional halts and just a few peaks into the rearview mirror, time and again?

Such a car may not exist, but that’s how our life works.

We move forward in life, with occasional halts here and there.

There is just no option to ‘reverse’ or go back in life.

All you have is the rearview mirror to look back and learn from whatever happened. You cannot do anything to change it.

You look back a few times, you learn and you move forward in life.

That’s just how life works, it’s just whenever we realize it.

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Journey of a Moment

Have you ever thought about the journey of a moment?

What’s the journey about? What does it entail?

The moment comes, the moment goes and then the moment is in memories.

That’s the simple explanation of the journey of a moment.

We live in the now. Not the past. Not the future.

Every moment we live then passes on and we cannot change anything about it. We have already lived it.

Every moment of the future cannot be predicted, only planned, but you still don’t know how it will turn out to be.

So, all we have is the now – the present moment that we can control.

We can either be fully satisfied in the now, and then when the moment passes, have a beautiful memory of it.

Or another option is to live in the past or thinking about the future, with the present moment just passing by, thus regretting every moment thereafter.

That’s what the journey of a moment entails. It begins with a choice and ends with it.

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Stand your Ground

Can you be easily swayed or are you able to stand your ground?

Anyone who gets easily affected by opinions and judgements towards them or anything that they do and then tend to change their own steps or opinions are those who are easily swayable.

This also comes from a lack of self awareness, not knowing who you are, what you stand for, what is your path.

On the contrary, someone who is strongly self aware about themselves is able to stand their ground.

They won’t let anything affect them, because within themselves they know what they stand for, in every phase of their life.

That of course doesn’t mean one can always be right, but there’s a thin line between being easily swayed and standing your ground that applies here, when you know that something really makes sense which would actually be an addition to your life.

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Inner Pollution

As much as the exterior environmental pollution affects us, we often forget about our inner pollution that is affecting us too.

Speaking of the exterior pollution, we know how bad the environment currently is and the kind of changes that’s needed, nonetheless, it’s a collective effort that will actually make the change in that direction.

Said that, the inner pollution within affects us as much as if not more than the outside pollution.

More, because its within us and we have the ability to able to either pollute more or take the stance and clean it for a better inner environment.

So, what is this inner pollution then?

Well, its these negative, toxic, judgemental, egoistic, limiting thoughts that we have within us.

The more thoughts you have of that nature, the more rise in pollution within your head.

This pollution ultimately affects our mind, body and soul and basically everything that we are now and everything that we will be in the future.

To curb that pollution, you need to take that leap of having a positive mindset, a loving mind and heart, a blissful soul.

To get to that point is a journey, just by having a single positive thought or being in a good mood when you feel like it is not the outcome of that process.

It’s a journey that you can choose to be on, to forever curbing and ultimately trying to get rid of that inner pollution in the mind.

Ultimately, wouldn’t you want a clean, healthy mind that helps you grow and evolve constantly?

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Watching the climax

Most of the times, people want to move too fast to reach that outcome they were expecting.

Without worrying about the process or the journey, for them, it’s the outcome that they wish for.

But, what happens by focusing on just the outcome?

With the focus on the outcome, we tend to move too fast towards the end, and we miss the entire journey, we miss the entire experience, we forget to form the memories, the stories of this process.

Moving too fast is almost as equivalent as pressing a skip button on your remote and just watching the climax of a beautiful film that you’ve missed out on.

What good is that?

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5 Tips to improve your Work from Home experience

If you’re working from home, you’d agree that the hours are not fixed anymore, sometimes it gets tiring, the exhaustion gets to you at the end of the day and if there’s anything you’d do to change the mood, you would.

Thinking of that, one of the things that occurred to me is that when you’re on your laptop all day long, whether you’re on your bed or on your desk, or even switching between them, what’s also happening is that you’re hooked onto the screen until you get that break.

However, there are a few tidbits here and there that can help you to take care of your mind and body whilst putting in the work that can help you at the end of the day, and doing them every day will only benefit you on a macro level too.

Not to forget, work from home will be a norm for now and for the future, so it’d be better to pick up some beneficial habits for a better outcome.

So here they are –

• Stand Up & Stretch

Whenever you can, as many times as you can, stand up for a minute or two at least, to open up your body and to allow the blood to circulate.

When you sit for a long amount of time, due to zero movement of the body, the muscles get rigid, which further leads to body restlessness and fatigue.

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• Hydrate Yourself

Even though you might have kept a bottle of water alongside you, in the flow of work, you might become unaware of drinking water in periods of time.

That further leads to dehydration in the body, ultimately resulting in lower energy levels in the body, more irritability, also causes lethargy, weight gain and headaches.

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• Eat Nuts/ Fruits

Instead of binge eating stuff that does not benefit the body, keep a small box of nuts beside you, on the table.

You can then have a nut or two in a while or even a fruit when you feel like eating, and that is the best form of nutrients that you could put in your body.

This, of course, is during the day and is not a substitute for your meals.

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• Maintain A Schedule

You’d think that the day is already running loose with abnormal work timings and not having a relaxation time, why would I want to make a schedule and make the day more rigid?

Well, that’s exactly why!

Because having a schedule would ensure that you get to do the other activities of your day as well, including your workout, your meals, your relaxation time as well as balancing work.

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• Practice Well-being

At this time, when you’re home and also working constantly, it is extremely important to practice your well-being, both mentally and physically.

From taking a few minute breaks here and there to practising mediation to doing workouts to taking a few walks whenever possible, everything constitutes as a part of well-being which keeps you in check.

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Hope these help you better your days, ultimately making your weeks and months better as well.

It’s always the small changes which make a huge impact and change things around.

Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror

Answer me this question

For I don’t know the answer myself

I want to change

But I don’t know who will bring this change

The mirror says

Look within me

For I always showed you the answer

It is you alone

Who can bring change

For no one else has the power to do so

Every human is different

Every human being, irrespective of their caste, creed, age, sex and DNA, are different.

In terms of what?

Their journeys.

Their goals.

Their thoughts.

Their emotions.

Their problems.

Their accomplishments.

Literally, everything is different for everyone.

Then why is it that one compares them with someone else, one aspires to be like someone else, one says I’m just not like the other person.

How are these things even possible when every human on this planet is different from each other.

Each unique in their own way.

The system doesn’t work that way because the system won’t be able to operate if everyone started thinking that way and that’s the problem we don’t realize.

However, if there’s one takeaway from this, that we should take for the rest of our lives is this…

Every human is different.

It’s all connected.

What We Think
=
What We Say
=
How we Act
=
What we Eat
=
What we consume
=
What type of people do you attract around you
=
What goals do you want to pursue
=
Why do opinions bother me
=
Why do people compare
=
Why do people have egos
=
Why are people happy with materialistic things
=
Where does the real happiness lie
=
Why can’t you be happy right now
=
What is my purpose in life
=
What is life all about

It’s all connected.

Hold On or Let Go

Everything in life

Thoughts

Emotions

Words

Opinions

People

Purpose

Service

Passion

Everything is something that you either hold on to or you let go of it.

It’s more of understanding whether that certain something is adding to your life or taking away something.

If it’s adding, then it’s a definite hold.

However, if its the other way round, if its taking away something – anything – energy, peace, calmness, then its time to let go it.

It could be easy, it could also be difficult, but that choice needs to be taken so you could be more balanced, more peaceful, instead of holding onto things that weigh you down.

Not just outward, inward too.

What we think

What we feel

What we eat

What we drink

What exercise we do

It not only has an effect on our exterior actions, that is the words we speak, the work we do, the things we experience,

But, it has an effect on our inner body too.

Did you know that?

Every emotion we feel releases an energy of that sort in the body too.

Every thing we eat and drink is how our body processes it, and whether it is good for the body or not, then has an outcome accordingly.

Whether we exercise or not, not just has an effect on how “slim” we become, but it has an effect on our body processes too.

Everything we do has an effect, not just on the outward, but inward too.

We usually don’t think about how it affects our body, our mind and our soul.

If we become a tiny bit more mindful than usual, then we can start taking care of our mind, body and soul, at least from now on, if not before.

Constant Learning

Our learning doesn’t end at schools and colleges, on the contrary, its never-ending.

Whether it’s a conscious choice or not, one is constantly learning, in some form or the other, everyday.

Consciously, the learning could be in the form of audio, video or text consumption or through conversations or when you walk on uncharted territory.

Subconsciously, learning happens through mistakes or through experiences – in your personal and professional lives.

Nonetheless, the bottom line is one is constantly learning everyday.

Whether by choice or not.

P. S. By choice is always better because you get to control and upgrade yourself on your own terms, rather through things happening in your life which aren’t in your control at all.

This learning, of all kinds, leads to growth in your life. The growth which leads to a different version of yours than before.

Whether a better version or not, depends on your perspective.

Is your phone charged?

If I asked you, is your phone charged right now?

You’d know the answer.

What is the phone battery percentage right now?

You’d know the answer.

Be it your phone, or your headphones, your laptop, the point is that you’re aware when it comes to these items that you use on a daily basis?

However, what about you? What is your battery percentage right now? How long will you last before charging yourself again?

Do you know the answers to these questions?

We often focus on external items that control our lives, but forget to take a inner look that we actually have the control over.

Do I need to upgrade my battery power?

That can be done.

Do I need to recharge myself now?

That can be done too.

Is the battery getting low?

You can be aware of that too.

When you’re self-aware about yourself, the perspective towards looking at yourself and the outside world changes.

You now want to use that battery efficiently, you don’t want to drain it out, right?

You can then smartly utilise that power on things that matter or the things that interest you, just like your smartphone.

Say ‘Today is going to be a great day’

How often does it happen that we look back at our day when it’s almost over and based on what happened do we then decide whether it was a good day or not?

How about we take the control about what happens?

How about we control the day and not let the day control us?

How do we do that?

Before you sleep at night, let that last thought be ‘Tomorrow is going to be a great day.’

When you wake up in the morning, let the first thought be and say it to yourself, ‘Today is going to be a Great Day.’

Set that precedent by yourself to yourself.

By saying this, you have set the tone for the day, you have set the pattern of your thoughts, you have set the mood for the day.

Now you won’t let the results decide the outcome of the day, but your actions will.

Say ‘Today is going to a Great Day‘ and experience the magic.

P. S. This is not a wand spell that will wave its magic at you, but it’s more of a mantra that you use to get back the control of your day.

The pressure we put on ourselves

I think you may have noticed this as well, and let me know if you agree with this thought!

There’s an enormous amount of pressure that we put on ourselves!

The pressure to achieve a goal, to complete the set tasks, to fulfill an obligation, to complete something within a set time, to impress someone or any other kinds of pressure one puts on themselves.

To top it off, it’s all self created, the pressure, no one is pressuring you to do so or even cares about it.

That’s the bottom line.

Because we don’t realize this, we keep feeling that pressure and live day after day and keep doing something, out of pressure and not out of enjoyment.

If we change that scenario, then there would be no pressure at all. Whatever is done, is then done out of satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness.

Too much baggage

Do you feel that pressure on your shoulders?

I think its because, all of us, carry a lot of baggage along with us.

Wherever we go.

Baggage of emotions.

Baggage of opinions.

Baggage of negativity.

Everyday it gets heavier and heavier.

If that bag is not emptied bit by bit, it’ll reach a weight where it wouldn’t be possible to carry it anymore.

More than that, it would actually stop you from moving forward.

Let’s have a look at what’s inside that bag and try emptying it bit by bit.

Don’t be too hard on yourself

Plans change.

Goals change.

Thoughts change.

Behaviors change.

When you walk that path of upgrading yourself, a lot of things start changing in your life.

Although, on this path, sometimes things don’t work out too.

It happens.

No one is perfect.

At such a point in life, remember to not be too hard on yourself.

Because, that makes it worse.

That will make you more negative.

Accept that sometimes things are out of your control or it was not meant to be.

That is (one of) the lesson(s) you learn when you walk upon the path of self-improvement.

The First Lesson Nature Teaches Us

Nature teaches us a lot of lessons, there’s legit so much to learn. However, do you know the first and the most important lesson that it teaches us?

Nature gives.

It gives and gives!

And asks nothing in return.

It’s purpose is to serve.

That’s the ultimate lesson to learn.

The world we live in, everyone knows how to take. Even if someone gives, there’s always some intent to take in some way or possible.

That pure intention of give, give and give is rare, extremely rare.

But, also our purpose.

Which, coincidentally also gives us happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment.

The answers lie here.

We keep searching for answers.

If we can get the answers, it’ll be a lot easier to move onto the next step.

We don’t ask questions, but that’s a different issue altogether.

Today, let’s just focus on the answers.

Where are they?

Where can we find them?

The answers lie in the

Silence.

When its silent is when you can hear the answers the loudest.

It is then when you can hear only what you needed to hear.

No inner noise.

No exterior noise.

Just you, the silence and the answers.

Survival

Over the years, surrounded with the usual day-to-day problems of life, everyone thought, could we survive this or could we survive that.

Then those problems would pass and we shifted to the next set of problems, thinking them to be life-altering.

However, those could be addressed as struggles, but they never really were life-altering.

What is life-altering?

This.

What we are currently facing.

The coronavirus crisis.

This is something that the majority of the population has seen for the first time, we have never seen a lockdown like this before too.

This is all about survival now.

If we can survive this, then we can survive anything in life ahead.

Everything in the future will then be compared to this crisis, if we survived this, then is that problem even relevant to us!?

Don’t feel guilty!

This time that we have, can be used productively! It can be used for our self-growth, both personally and professionally! And with so much time in our hands, we can do a lot, literally a lot, that couldn’t be done before.

However, this is what I want you to know.

Don’t feel guilty if you wanted to have a productive day and you couldn’t.

Don’t feel guilty if you had prepared a lot of tasks for the day and you couldn’t complete them.

Don’t feel guilty if you wanted to take a day or two days or three days break and just cool off.

It’s when we started feeling worse about ourselves, is when things go wrong. It becomes negative.

Those negative thoughts tend to become a voice inside your head for everything.

I realized this and wanted to convey the same for anyone reading this and trying to make the most of the lockdown that is going on.

Don’t feel guilty!

You shall not Pass!

Negativity • Bad Vibes • Haters • Drama • Problems — we are surrounded by these things, all the time, in one way or another.

We let these elements bring us down, we feel bothered by them, and our lives are affected every day because of each of these elements.

You know what?

It’s time we take a stand and say to all the negativity, bad vibes, to all the haters, to the unnecessary drama, and to all the problems -⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

YOU SHALL NOT PASS

Say this to your mind, stand with positivity around you and in this process, also learn to train your mind accordingly!

You are always in control.

You’re always in control of your thoughts, your actions, your behaviour, your emotions, your habits, your goals and your happiness.

There’s always an external factor in play, an external factor – at times bigger than you and your life.

Can you let it influence you or your thoughts or your emotions?

Once you set the baseline, that I’m the one in control of my thoughts, then no external factor can influence your thought process.

That same logic is then applied to your emotions, your habits, more importantly, to your happiness as well.

How do you be in control?

With practice. Understanding the difference when you are in control and when you are not.

Understanding the factors that bring the change in you.

Pushing yourself everytime you notice that change.

That requires self-awareness as well as the will power that you do want to do so.

The power to bring change comes from within.

It’s always up to you, and remember that you’re always in control.

A common level of Humanity!

How majority of humans used to behave, almost until a month back to now everyone being the same – more or less, and hopefully we make these changes a part of our life, instead of it just being a temporary phase of life.

Life has a funny way of teaching us lessons, don’t you think so?

No more materialistic comparisons,

no more competition,

no more ego,

doesn’t matter who you are,

doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are,

Life has brought everyone to a common level of humanity, where everyone wants to just stay alive.

Everyone is fighting together and wants to come out of this together.

This level of humanity should be appreciated and should be taken forward as well, because when we walk together, we grow together and we can tackle our problems together!

Do you over-think?

We’re all victims of overthinking, aren’t we?

Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts, there’s no stopping it.

We love thinking, we assume it’s productive, which it is but then we to drop down to a layer of theories and imagination that takes up too much of our time.

The problem could be a ‘Level 1’ issue, but our overthinking will take it to ‘Level 20’ in our mind.

However, is there a way to stop it?

Not entirely, there’s no easy way out.

What can we do?
– You need to train your mind, day in day out; it’s a long process to reach a point where you consciously become aware of your thought/s and when to divert from it. This comes in the form of meditation.

– Start by rethinking what you just thought and whether it was worth it or not, that process will start making you aware of your thoughts.

– Have a specific time allotted for the deep thought process when you think about your future plans/ tasks/ actions/ current problems etc (time wise/ work wise/ action wise) and not to proceed down that path at any different time.

– Apart from what you can do internally, what helps externally is execution. Execute at a level where you don’t have the time to think. Planning and scheduling, yes, but with execution a time will come when there won’t be enough time to overthink anything.

– Also, what helps the best is music, another form of mediation. Music has the power to sway our minds from any situation and not let it distract us. What are the occasions when you start over thinking? Substitute those occasions with music and see the difference.

–x–

It’s a gradual move; neither of these methods bring you immediate results, but you always start with step 1 and build it from there.

Health, First.

There is nothing, literally nothing in life that comes ahead of your health.

There can never be anything important for which you could risk your health.

You have to take care of it and also, the health of everyone else around you (not to forget, your actions shouldn’t lead to others’ health getting affected in the first place)

If your health isn’t right, then what is even the point of anything else for which you were risking it.

Do you understand what I’m saying?

The time of Self-Improvement!

Have you ever focused on
– your thoughts?
– your habits?
– your ideas?
– your goals?
– your food habits?
– your hobbies?
– the content you consume?
– your mental and physical exercise?
– practicing gratitude?
– the skills you want to learn?

One would usually say, they are busy with the hustle and bustle of their life, i.e. work, that they don’t have time for all these things.

Ain’t that the truth?

Well, with the time of social distancing and self-isolation, also came the time of

Self-Improvement

Yes, you read that right, this is a better time than ever, to improve yourself.

In your day-to-day life, along with work, you’re also surrounded with stress, worries, deadlines and over-thinking.

Guess what? Poof, none of that is following for the most of you. Agreed?

Why not use this time then to answer those questions above and more that you’d have on your mind?

Why not make a list of items that you’ve always wanted to do to work on your inner self?

This is a time you have, where can work on these things and not get distracted by anything else.

It might only change you for the better, and create a better life path for you, you never know!

#SelfImprovement

This is the best time to self-audit!

During this phase of self-isolation, when people have nothing but time and patience with them, there has never been a perfect set-up to audit yourself.

What do I think about?

What are my habits?

Where does my time usually go, in my day to day life?

How much time do I spend on my smartphone?

Where is my life at, right now?

Am I satisfied with my mental/ physical/ financial/ work life?

Can I better my finance process?

Is there something I can change to move forward in my work life?

Is my mind where I want it to be or is it hurting me more?

Do I usually eat the right type of food that should be put in my body?

Am I better than what I was yesterday?

This is the time to ask yourself these questions and with ample time in your hands, you can think about it, find answers within yourself and make the necessary changes.

How to make those changes?

Well, you have time and absolutely no need for shortcuts to make long-term changes.

You can learn, you can experiment, you can research, you can listen to the experts in the particular field (wherever you’re having problems).

You can pave the path ahead for you, yourself.

However, the choice to do so, is in your hands.

This is the best time to self-audit.

Things not in your Control

If there’s a lesson to be learnt here, it’s that no matter how much you prepare, no matter where you are in the life graph, there are times when some things are out of your control and you cannot do anything about it.

You have to roll with the flow; your overthinking or worrying or stress won’t change anything at all.

Its just how things are, and life brings us such moments from time to time to make us realize that.

All we can then do, is to work on things that are actually in our control – you know what’s in your control – your mindset/ your thoughts/ your habits – you can work on them/ make mistakes/ master yourself at it and know that when things spiral out of control, these things in my control are my assets which no one can steal from me.

Kind is the new Cool.

A while back, what was cool? Having an attitude defined coolness; being popular defined coolness; being better than others felt cool.

It was a perceptive reality we lived in.

However, especially with the rise of social media and communication becoming easier than ever amongst individuals from all over the world, also led to the rise in the talk of mental health.

Which was good.

However, along with mental health, also the talk of values and beliefs and the baseline of what it means to be a good human. Amongst other important values, it brought kindness to the limelight, where people who were kind never thought it is something to be spoken about and the ones who didn’t understand its implementation in their lives now saw a difference between their current perception and the difference kindness brings in theirs and the lives of the people around them.

What is cool now?

Well, simply put, Kindness is the new Cool.

If you’re kind towards yourself, if you’re kind with your deeds and words, if you’re kind towards others, you’re cool.

#SpreadTheWord

What To Do in Self-Isolation?

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of the people out there, would willingly or unwillingly, be in self-isolation.

Self-isolation does not mean you’ve got the virus, but it also serves as a beforehand precautionary measure.

However, people’s day-to-day lives have always been surrounded with being in the office, for most part of their days. Now, with self-isolation, and if you’re working from home or not, it’s more than obvious that you’d end up wondering what to do with your days now.

Sure, you’d end up spending it on leisurely activities, such as watching films or tv series/ surfing the internet, but you don’t know how long the isolation may continue and how long would those same activities interest you.

Through this blog post, I want to send a different kind of a message, for the people out there, with what can you do in self-isolation (now or anytime later, in life too).

Self-isolation is quite a beautiful time in our lives, sure the timing of it may not be right at the moment, but, in general terms, for sure.

It’s a time which can be used to reflect upon yourself, know what you’re doing right, how has the past been for you, what steps can you take to change your future.

It’s a time to retrospect, to learn, to grow, to build yourself, to upgrade your skills, and also, at the same time, to relax, to chill, to calm your mind, to calm yourself, to get away from everything else in life.

This time of self-isolation, is for your mind.

You have the choice to use it wisely, every step you take decides whether that time is spent in an enjoyable manner or not.

Here’s a list of things you can do/ work on (if you’re ready to spend this time on yourself) –

A. Meditate

Any and all kinds of meditation, is good for you. Meditation can be done in various forms, and you can do it anyhow you want,

In the form of music, a walk, swimming, driving around, reading – it has been found that different activities can introduce a different meditative vibe within you – so whatever you feel is right for you.

However, the basic form, that we all know of, and the best way to meditate is to sit in an upright position, close your eyes, and focus. Focus on keeping your mind silent for a while. Focus on what your mind tells you at this time. Focus on what the body tells you at this time.

You can start with a few minutes and build it up from there.

B. Read

Another essential way of building yourself, your skillset, your mind is to read. The power of reading has innumerable advantages, but the key is to pick a genre/ style of writing which interests you. Pick a book which will bring value to you, which will make you think differently – once you start, you can build that habit as you read and in no time, it’ll become a part of your day.

C. Upgrade Your Skills

You can use this time of self-isolation to also upgrade your skills. There are courses, lessons, guides on the internet, that you can use at your disposal to strengthen yourself.

If you find a certain field of interest fascinating, if you want to build up on a certain skill, if you want to level up, you can spend that time on doing so.

It is, at the end, up to you, to schedule your day in a way, that can help you grow in every aspect of life.

D. Practice Gratitude

One of the most important things in life, is to practice gratitude. It is something that has to be practiced by yourself, every day, every hour, it is something that you have to feel.

With the power of gratitude, you learn to enjoy life for what it is, you learn the importance of life, you learn to enjoy the minute things in life, you learn to enjoy the process and everything that you do.

It is something that we often forget amidst the race of life. However, once you start spending the self-isolation time wisely, you then start to enjoy the beauty of life.

E. Practice Journaling

When you work on self-growth, another important element of that process is Journaling.

Not everyone is able to observe their life – their day from a non-judgemental point of view, that is the time when this wondrous activity comes into play.

When you write about your day, about your routine, about your process, your goals, your vision, you’re able to introspect your life in a way you haven’t able to before.

It gives you a different perspective, a different thought process, you then get a glimpse of your life and when you make those necessary changes on paper, you feel the power to do so practically as well.

That power is also felt when you constantly write about what you want and are then able to convert that written energy into bringing it to life.

F. Eat Food that’s good for the mind and the body

When you’re by yourself, when you are in complete power of choosing what you want to eat, when you feel every bite of what you eat – with time, you become conscious of your eating habits.

You tend to realize what is good for you, what isn’t. Whether that food is an asset for your body or a liability.

With self-isolation, also comes this consciousness – which is again lost, in the race of life. When this happens, you start making the right decisions in life, and also with your eating habits.

You now want to eat what’s good for you, for your body, for your mind. You will ultimately make the right choices, you don’t need anyone to tell you what’s right to eat and what’s not.

G. Limit your Smartphone Usage

By now, if you’re following all the pointers, you’ll know the importance of self-consciousness, self-growth and how that time is then consumed for other activities.

One of them is the smartphone usage, used for different purposes, but mostly for entertainment. Now the question arises, how much of that usage is bringing value to you.

Whether that usage of content is helping you grow, or whether that short phase of contentment is enough to trump long-term happiness.

That question and this thought process is enough for you to understand how would you like to use your smartphones and what kind of changes are you now looking to make.

H. Consume news for information, not absorption

Another important element, which happens when you’re by yourself, is the consumption of news.

The explanation is to be up-to-date with everything that is going on.

The problem arises, when instead of consuming that information, you get absorbed by it. You let it sway your emotions, your thoughts and now your actions or words are defined by what the news sources tell you. You are not in control.

The working of the news sector depends on views, and the more controversial they make it, the better for them. What we, as consumers, fail to realize that it is also playing with our minds, our thoughts and our actions.

The better way is to, just consume it and not get absorbed by it. Again, this is better said than done – but with practice and mindfulness, you can then differentiate between the two processes.

//

These are some of the ways where self-isolation can do wonders for you, you can use it to your advantage and help grow yourself and your life.

Sure, these things sound serious at first, but when you make it a part of your life, they seem extremely enjoyable and obviously, beneficial to you as well.

However, its not always about working on yourself and working on your self-growth.

That alone time can be used for different purposes as well, as long as you balance your time properly.

//

You can use your time on watching some good movies and tv series out there, it sounds a bit ironical to what was said above, but if you watch the good ones, there’s a lot of value addition as well.

Plus, entertainment is entertainment. The key is to be conscious with your time management and not forget what time it is, with non-valuable time-consuming activities.

//

Before I end, let me also take this opportunity to highlight another important factor for a lot of you, who will be reading this.

If you aren’t content/ satisfied with your day-to-day, you can also take advantage of this self-isolation time in building your side hustle.

A side hustle which interests you, which you feel passionate about and take this time to learn about it, to build it, work on it and ultimately introduce it to the market.

//

Without realizing the importance of self-isolation, most of us generally see it as, “Oh, we can’t do this, we can’t do that”.

However, once you realize its advantages, you then know how you can make it work for yourself.

Sure, I’ll say this again, the timing of this forced self-isolation (due to coronavirus) may not be right – but, you can use it to your advantage.

Once things become alright, instead of getting back to the running around lifestyle from before, you can still use this self-isolation time then and use it for your benefit.

–x–

P. S. If you’re happy with where you are in life, with what you do, you can continue to do. This post is for those who want to learn, grow, be happy in life altogether, not just at work and are not able to turn things around, with the way their life is currently running.

–x–

If we aren’t connected on Instagram, let’s connect – @rth24

9 out of 10.

We work; we try; we experiment; we fail; we succeed; we learn.

Although, do you know what happens?

9 out of 10 times things may not happen the way we expected it to.

And that’s okay!

That’s the beauty of life!

Life doesn’t give you always what you wanted…

However,

It’s that one time when you succeed, you get what you wanted, you reach your expectations.

That’s the one you got to remember.

That one pushes you to try another 10 times, out of which, yet again 9 out of 10 times things might not go your way.

#TheGameOfLife

To the point.

Whenever it comes to conveying something, either in the form of writing, speaking or any form of communication, the best way to convey it is being to the point.

There is certainly no need to stretch out a topic because time is of the essence – for you and for the one who’s consuming your content.

If it is short and sweet, and yet to the point, it’s a win-win situation for everyone. Isn’t it?

Life is full of Colours!

What is life, if not full of colours?

Every colour representing something beautiful about life. Each bringing its own set of joy, happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment.

We experience such beautiful moments in our lifetime, right from living life each day to spending it with our loved ones to receiving food on the table to the opportunities we receive, our life provides us with quite a lot of such and more beautiful moments every day.

Only that instead of cherishing them, we pressurize ourselves with our wants and goals; and amidst all of this, forget to enjoy the colours of life.

On this occasion of colours, wishing you a Happy Holi! #2020

5 Positives and 1 Negative

This is the most common reason most of us drop out of something we’re interested in, we get disappointed, we feel disturbed.

It’s all because of this one reason.

It’s called 5 Positives and 1 Negative.

Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?

Let me explain my perspective on this topic and you let me know whether you agree or not.

Whenever we do something in life, could be w.r.t. anything.

Literally, anything.

What happens after is the issue.

People meet, people discuss, people share their opinions about that something with you.

Now it always boils down to this very situation.

Whilst sharing their opinions, usually, you’ll get a lot of love, support, positive feedback, which also includes constructive criticism.

You’ll be happy after hearing/reading to all of this.

P. S. This could be face-to-face with people you know, it could be with friends and family, it could be online, on comments or groups, you get the picture.

However, here’s when things take a turn.

Amidst all of this, you get that one negative opinion as well.

Its a part and parcel of the equation.

One negative opinion which revolves around, “Why are you doing this?” “What are you going to get out of this?” “This is not even important” and various such opinions.

These opinions usually take a toll on you.

This is what I’d like to call 5 Positives and 1 Negative.

Where, in every situation, you’ll notice five positive approaches and one negative approach.

And that one negative approach overpowers the entire equation and that’s where you end up focusing.

Not the other 5 or 500 or 5 million positive comments or opinions that you received.

As a usual approach to life, we end up focusing on that one negative, it eats us up.

Why that negative? How can we change that? Was the person right?

And that’s where the problem lies.

That’s what we need to change.

Speak about this issue, make everyone aware and shun that negative voice altogether.

What more can be done?

Well, ultimately, the approach should be to enjoy the process. Enjoy why we are doing that certain something.

Be grateful for all the love and support and criticism, but altogether, do it for yourself, for the love of it.

So, as a result, nothing affects you at all.

Our Mind is so Unique

Our mind is so unique and can be used for hundreds of thousands of different things!

We control it.

We can use it to our advantage.

Everything that we do, in our life, in our day, all begins from the mind.

You tell your mind what you want to do next, and it does that for you.

Be it controlling your body functions for a certain task to controlling your thoughts to focus on a specific topic.

Everything begins from the mind.

We shouldn’t let it overpower us; but we should overpower it – use it a tool to live life, to enjoy life, to be happy in life, to grow in life. Its all linked with the mind.

Focus!

Negative Moments in the Micro

We all face negative moments in the micro!

Yes, we all do!

No one has a perfect life! Don’t even have that illusion!

Now that we have that cleared up, these minute negative moments during the day could happen due to various reasons.

Usually, because things didn’t turn out the way we expected and now we’re in dismay!

Although, here’s the issue.

When these minute, different moments build up, they make you feel that you can’t do this, you can’t do that.

Because of such thoughts, the other results in the day-to-day overturn too.

It’s a cause and effect scenario here!

These moments, ultimately, lead to a loss in confidence.

Resulting in macro negatives in life.

However…

How can you not let this happen?

How can you change the process?

Well, you can’t stop the thoughts or the moments from happening. It’s a part of life.

However, what you can do is, nip it in the bud.

What does that mean?

When that first negative moment happens, either as a thought or an action or a moment, you cannot let it affect your life.

Sure, you can retrospect about it.

But, don’t let it bother your mind.

Don’t let it overshadow your day.

Don’t let it overcome the positive things happening in your life.

At these times, you overpower these situations with positivity.

That’s the answer.

Perspective – Gratitude – Empathy are the answers.

Sure, it’s easier said than done. But, practice makes it perfect.

One day at a time.

Nonetheless, negative moments do happen, all you can do is tackle them the right way and see the greener side of the grass.

Enjoying It?

No matter what you do, at the moment, in life – micro or macro, the bottom line always comes down to this one point — are you enjoying it?

Are you enjoying doing what you’re doing? That goal? That task? That work? That lifestyle? That relationship?

That one question is applied to everything in life.

Are you enjoying it?

Alone with your Thoughts!

If you want to live life,

If you want to grow,

If you want to succeed,

If you want to be happy,

You have to learn to be alone with your thoughts!

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Your thoughts convert into questions you didn’t know you wanted to ask yourself.

Your thoughts convert into answers you didn’t know you could answer!

Your thoughts open you up; show you the path; get you of the rut you may be in – all answers lead to you being alone with your thoughts and listening to them and understanding them.

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The problem is people can’t be alone with themselves; even when they are, they aren’t alone alone.

You get what I’m saying?

One tends to end up on the social media platforms, watching a video or maybe productively reading a book or listening to a podcast (maybe).

However, you still aren’t alone with your thoughts!

Most of the times, people are scared to be.

They don’t know how to do so!

They don’t know what will happen!

---

Try it!

If you don’t try, you won’t learn, you won’t experience the results.

---

Your thoughts are so powerful, they can make you or break you.

Learn to be alone with your thoughts || Learn to control them and focus on the topics you want to think about. (but that’s another topic for another day)

Have Patience

We are always in a rush to chase something or the other in life.

And, we want it now! Not later, now!

If you put in the efforts or the work today, the results should appear by tomorrow! That’s become the common mentality now.

We have forgotten the word ‘patience.’

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” – Aristotle.

In order to enjoy life,
in order to enjoy what we want or need,
in order to enjoy the process
– we need to start being patient.

That’s the only answer with which we can be
happy now;
enjoy life and
be satisfied.

If not, then there would be just the rush of wanting or chasing one thing after the other, not having the desired results, being left with disappointments and unhappiness.

The choice is yours – be patient with life and enjoy everything that you do or just the opposite.

#PatiencePaysOff

See the Good.

Good things happen in our lives and some not so good things happen in our lives.

Depends on how you define not so good, could be with respect to your day, your year, your work, your relationships, or just life in general.

However, the choice to see the good is ours.

See the good that has happened in our lives.

Until now!

And what will continue to happen in the future!

See the good in living another day!

See the good in being physically and mentally fit.

See the good in continuously getting opportunities in our lives.

See the good that you have your family and loved ones around you.

There’s so much good in your life that you can continue to list them down.

However, it is up to you to see the good.

When you see the positive, good things happen in your life as well.

Simple as that.

The choice is yours!

See the good.

Not all days are the same.

Not all the days are the same?
Do you agree?

Even though you execute day in-day out, even though you approach the day positively…

There are times when you won’t get the expected results from that day

There are days with such downs

There are times when you don’t feel the push

That’s natural

That’s bound to happen!

1. You have to accept that such things happen

2. Instead of taking it negatively, what you can do is, to approach the next day more positively, because you can make the next day better.

3. When you’re in love with the process, then such days don’t affect you much, because ultimately, you’re doing something that you like to do.

The Other Side of the Coin!

Heads or Tails!

There are always two sides to a coin!

Always!

However, the thing is…

Either or, you’re always on the either sides of it.

That is called having an opinion.

But here’s how the other side of the coin comes into play!

No matter the topic

There’s always another opinion either pro or against that topic.

Bottom line being, there are always two sides to the picture, two opinions, both think they are right in their own ways, both having polar opposite opinions and thoughts.

Although, like there are two sides to the same coin, here too, you need to respect the other person’s opinion, you need to have empathy for the other person and know that you have an opinion based on the knowledge you have and the same for the opposite party too.

You need to hear them out and take their opinions into picture and then conclude with your results.

You need to be Happy today! ❤️

Happiness today, not tomorrow is the goal.

You need to be happy today.

Happiness is lived, not earned or achieved.

How do you do that?
• Being grateful for what you have,
• Loving what you do and,
• Loving the process more than the destination.

Three minor tweaks to your day-to-day life and you can start being happy today!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn

The Game Of Life #Part1

In the limitless number of thoughts that I have on a day-to-day basis; one of those thoughts resonated with the fact that life is nothing but a game, which you play and your choices and decisions lead to how you play that game and whether you’re good at it or not.

Thus, #TheGameOfLife

Thinking about life, I pen down my thoughts that relate with this and thus as you can notice below are a few that I think can change how we live life.

It’s a Good Day to have a Good Day!

It’s A Good Day to have a Good Day!

That’s how you should approach your day!

That’s how you should approach your life!

No matter how the day’s events have unfolded, the mindset is that it’s such a good day to start having a good day!

When you change your perspective, when you change your thought process, things start changing!

Now you have a positive approach towards your day!

Sure, that’s micro, but that’s what leads to a macro positive approach as well.

With this thought process, you will feel good, irrespective of a few certain events which might have made it otherwise.

Above all, it’s always a good day when you get to live another day, ain’t it!?

What’s the Hype?

Have you noticed, a few percent of people hype up a certain task or an item or a deed, to an extent where it spreads and spreads and now, from the mass perspective you either follow the trend or have the fear of missing out?

That’s the game of hype.

People don’t notice whether whatever is hyped is something they needed or wanted… But, if everyone is following it, then why should we miss out seems to become the general consensus.

Well, to be fair, sometimes, the hype is around good things towards which it becomes easier to get the following, usually in case of a cause.

However, more often than not, it isn’t. Thus, calling out the game.

The sooner people realize what they need or want and how they should distinguish that from the hype around everything, the better.

Instead of falling in the traps, it’d become so much easier to be decisive about everything once you know who you are.

#WhatsTheHype

Worry Less, Smile More

Seconds turn into minutes and minutes into hours and just like that, the day is over.

A better part of that day is spent in worrying either about the past decisions or about future plans.

There’s just too much unnecessary worrying which takes place in our day-to-day.

In this chaos, what we forget is to smile! ☺

A smile to show our appreciation towards our day.

A smile to show our love towards our close ones.

A smile to everything that we could accomplish today.

A smile to live another day.

So why not live in the moment, think about the now, worry less and smile more.

After all, the more we smile, the more happy do we feel.

☺

#WorryLessSmileMore

A Sudden Jolt of Inspiration

Sure, there are people who are inspired with their goals for life – know the ‘why’ of their life and and why are they pushing themselves more and more, every day of their lives.

But, for most of the people, not everyone is inspired that way in life. They walk in the cycle of life – where everything is the same. (and they could be happy doing that too, that’s not a problem)

However, in this walk of life, something you must have experienced, either by consuming something or experiencing something or by having met someone, you could have suddenly hit this jolt of inspiration within you.

Inspiration to achieve something – to do something – to work towards a cause – could be anything.

Now, what’s to be known is this – now that you feel inspired – understand the why.

Why do you feel inspired? What made you feel that way?

If it’s actually inspiration, and you feel positive about it – then use it practically in your life to achieve what you want.

Being inspired is such a blissful moment because now you won’t stop – now you just want to go on and achieve heights.

Take in this moment, cherish it and walk the path of life.

Be Honest!

Be Honest…

To whom?

To others, of course. That is a given!

But, first…

You, yourself.

You need to be honest with yourself first.

If you aren’t, well, things start going off the rail thereon.

You know yourself better than anyone else would.

You know what you want. What you don’t. What you enjoy. What you don’t. Who you enjoy it with. With whom you don’t.

These answers lie within you.

The key is to be honest with yourself.

335 – #Tranquility

“A happy life consists in tranquillity of mind.” — Cicero.

We must find the calmness we desire within ourselves.

Yes, within ourselves.

In our minds!

How can we do that?

Well, we can use different processes as a catalyst to reach that point.

It could be walking in a park, meditating, listening to music, gazing at the sky, travelling somewhere, relaxing with the ocean as a view or anything else that gives you that composure.

You know where you’d have that peace of mind.

That peace of mind is long-term, not temporary, so think of a catalyst which you can rely on from time to time.

Once you have understood this calmness, once you have felt it, once you know the catalyst, then comes practice.

Practice keeping your mind at ease; in every easy and difficult situations.

That’s how the growth in life happens!

“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.” — Wayne W. Dyer.

You know your Truth!

What’s your truth?

Only you know that.

No one else.

No one can.

A few people in your life have a 90% access to your life, for some it is 75%, for some it is 50% and for a lot more it’s less than that.

You know what that means?

No one knows you better than you, yourself.

People can speculate

People can judge

People can question

But none have a clear idea whatsoever.

They don’t care about your reasons or your explanations either…

So why waste time explaining anything!

It’s better to realize that…

No one but myself knows my truth

And I have to live with that.

Too Many Questions???

Have you noticed…

No matter what you do…

No matter when you do…

No matter how you do…

Before or After…

Everyone around you have a lot of questions to ask!

These questions never end.

After a while, they just seem annoying at the most. That doesn’t matter though, because the questions never end.

And they are asked by everyone! Literally, everyone.

They could be out of genuine love and care

OR

Out of curiosity

OR

Out of jealousy

OR

Out of wanting to implement something for themselves

OR

There could a hundred reasons here!

The bottom line is, the questions never end.

What can you do then?

Well,

How about trying to ignore this noise and just concentrating on your journey!?

Seems difficult, but I’m sure, with practice, it can be done.

Do what you feel needs to be done, without worrying what the others think or ask or tell you to do!

And to those asking the questions?

Try focusing on yourself first, before focusing on others.

#TheGameOfLife

#LiveTheZazzLife

You are the Driver!

Quite often, we think what the future holds for us!

We have all done that, haven’t we?

Does that make sense though?

You are the Driver of your Life!

You drive your life to wherever you want to go, the destination may not be important, but the journey surely is.

The future holds nothing for you – you hold your future in your hands.

Your thoughts,

Your actions,

Your needs

Will drive the vehicle of your life to the future you create.

There’s nothing that will happen automatically for you, if you don’t do something about it first.

Now the question, whether you are a good driver or not, is another question in itself.

However, you’re the driver, that’s the truth.

Valuing what you have!

Have you noticed something? There’s so much that we do, in our day-to-day lives, that we almost don’t realize the importance of so many of those things.

It’s always the same scenario – looking at the bigger picture, and looking at what’s bigger than what we currently have and then chasing that.

We don’t value the important things because we take it for granted. This doesn’t apply to just things, but to people, our friends, family, the work we do, the stuff we have, the food we eat, everything.

We realize the importance of the minute things when we don’t have them.

Having a Mindset like this also results in something like this – you’re always chasing, running after the next thing and not enjoying what you currently have. You’re not able to cherish that moment.

If you change that, then you’ll be happy now, with what you have, who you have and what you’re able to do.

Try valuing what you have, and realize it’s importance before its too late.

Do you deserve my time?

Ask yourself this question, when someone wants your time and you wonder, is it worth it?

With everything that you have and you don’t have yet, your asset is your time.

Your time’s valuable.

You can spend it wisely where you think it’ll be worth spending.

That time is spent on your growth, on your goals, with your loved ones. In the midst of this, you don’t want to unnecessarily spend your time where you don’t want to, right?

That’s the question you should keep asking yourself and that’s the topic of today’s blog post – Do you deserve my time?

When you’re spending your time on a task, on a job at hand, on a futuristic goal, whether someone is asking for your time or you spend it with someone – Does that thing or person deserve my time?

If yes, then you’ve already won that moment because you know you’re spending it wisely.

If the answer is no, you need to start working on it. You need to think of alternatives; what can you differently, how can you get rid of that task, how can you not meet that person, how can you cut your time with whom it’s not worth spending that time.

These are important questions – the ones that will make a difference in your life. For the good!

Think about it! #LiveTheZazzLife

Life is about experimentations!

Life is about experimentations, from one thing to another, whether you know it or not, it’s all about experimentations!

You never know what will work and what will not, you never know what might interest you and what might not.

There’s never a pre-defined answer for anything, there’s only a pre-conceived notion which is cleared after you experiment and find the answer on your own.

With life, you can never just stick with one thing – you might agree, it gets boring. Experimenting to find out new things, to grow, to evolve is the only solution.

#KeepExperimenting

PSA : The truth of turning ’25’

Since I was 16, I’ve been hearing “Now you’re in the big game, on the verge of adulthood’.

Then at 18, it was “Welcome to Adulthood, how does it feel?”

Then at 21, it was “You’re now an adult, the teenage years are behind you now. Welcome to the real world.”

All these years I’ve been hearing, “25 is the shit, with real responsibilities and real troubles and decision making and what not” (you know the words)

Well, this is how the society operates. Every number has been assigned with some “hyped-up” shit which only stresses you out, but doesn’t really matter in the first place.

Well, today I turn 25 and I want to reveal the truth which applies to the previous age groups as well, this is for the now and in the future too.

Here’s the truth of turning 25!

Its okay to not have stuff figured out in your lives.

It’s okay to take your time.

It’s okay to disregard all questions asked to you, those will be asked regardless of what you do.

It’s okay to experiment in life.

It’s okay to not have ambitions in life.

You have time. A lot of it.

Of course, you have to utilize that time wisely, but the important point is that you have time. Let nobody tell you otherwise.

If you’re going to live for a 100 years, 25 is just 1/4th of it – now, that’s not delusion, that’s Optimism.

More importantly, the focus on this topic is because of happiness. Don’t let others fool you and tell you it’s a myth. It’s important that you’re happy with what you do in life. If you aren’t, keep switching, keep experimenting, don’t let the little things in life get you down!

You have your whole life ahead of you!

To, 25 and beyond! 🥂

–x–

Well, there’s more!

On this day, I have uploaded my first video on my YouTube channel, it’s me talking about today’s topic on video

Here’s the link – https://youtu.be/CAehIHwN6rg

Do like and subscribe and let me know if it brings more value over video!

Thanks!

Has it become a habit?

In life, some habits are good for us and some are not. Some bring value to us and some just drain us.

Sometimes, just repeating a thought or something you say or something you do automatically becomes a habit without you even realizing it.

But, what can you do?

Evaluate yourself at the end of the day – what did you do, why did you do it and is that being done repeatedly?

When you notice something becoming a habit, take a step back and evaluate whether it is impacting your life positively or negatively.

Its difficult at first, but once you learn to understand the difference, then you’re game.

#TheGameOfLife

How to find your Passion?

Time and again, the question of your passion turns up, either in your mind or during your conversations.

What is my passion?

How do I answer whether I am passionate about this?

Most of the times, one’s not able to clearly state the answer for these questions.

The answer’s simple, yet complicated at the same time. Before we go on to find passion, I also think that there’s never just one thing when it comes to being passionate about something – there could be – but, usually there’s more.

Before you answer these questions for yourself, also understand to not limit yourself to just one thing and think this is my passion.

Life is about experimentations; you never know what strikes how and what doesn’t.

Coming back to finding passion, let’s define how any human being can tell what they’re passionate about.

Let’s break it down into the following categories :

A. Strengths

Usually, we list down what our strengths are and what are weaknesses are, and depending on that, we usually pick the strengths because we are good at those things, and follow that course and simultaneously improve ourselves at it too.

B. Love

Do you love doing that thing? Do you feel like you could do it all day, every day? Do you feel if you didn’t take a vacation or worked on weekends too, would it feel the same?

C. It’s Not Work

If there is ever a feeling that it feels like work and that there is a life beyond it too, then probably its not the same. On the other hand, if you feel it’s a part of your life, then you can immerse yourself into it and enjoy the process like how.

D. Retirement and Money out of the Picture

Most important of all points, to define passion and to realize if it’s truly your passion or not, take “retirement” and “money” out of the picture, would you still do it?

—x—

If you can answer/relate to all of the above pointers, you can then define what you’re truly passionate about and whether what you think is your passion or not.

Now what you can do is, correlate these questions with whatever you’re doing now, and see if you’re able to answer for yourself or not. The answer is within you and no one can help you out with it except you.

—x—

#FindYourPassion

—x—

If you haven’t subscribed to this blog yet, and if you do find my content interesting, it’d mean the world to me – if you subscribed.

Here’s the link – https://bit.ly/2FedEeV

—x—

I’m pretty active on Twitter – documenting my thoughts there – let’s connect – @rth_24

Of course, the current culture is Instagram – let’s not forget to connect there too – @rth24

—x—

Lastly, I’m not the one to usually give call to actions – but – if you got value from this, it’d mean a lot if you would share it! That would really make my day – thanks!

First, Yourself.

In this fast-moving life of ours, where we are chasing things, running after one thing and the next, we forget about ourselves.

Who’s going to care about yourself?

It is utmost necessary to take time out of your day, every day, to focus on your self – mentally, physically and spiritually.

It’s always you first and then everything else. Start your day and end your day with caring for yourself – and once you do that, notice the difference in your day-to-day.

You’ll be able to think differently, have a different perspective of what you want vs what you have, how would you like to give back etc – the entire game changes once you focus on your inner self.

#Care

The Value of Kindness

What’s the value of a kind gesture?

It takes zero efforts to say something kind to another person – short, easy to speak and it’s not taking anything from you.

Yet, one kind gesture brings immense pleasure to the other person – you have just made their day, their month and you wouldn’t even realize it.

It might just be something that the person needed. Its impact would truly last a lifetime.

Be kind, spread kindness and witness the magic! ❤️

#KindnessOverEverything #KindnessKarma

Every Thought is important!

Our human brain is in a constant thought process – it is said that, in a single day, you think upto 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts in a day.

Yes, that many thoughts!

Every thought has its own importance, said that, quite often there are thoughts that have no value to us at all. These unwanted thoughts are sometimes negative too – towards us, or towards someone else.

The problem is, when you think about such things a lot, and now the brain gets the signal to think accordingly.

What can you do? You can train your mind to think in a certain way, to think of certain topics and to not think of certain topics.

Think about what you think and act accordingly!

#ThinkAboutIt

It’s a New Day!

No matter how your yesterday was, good or bad, today and every day is a new day.

A new day to restart, to refresh, to rethink your choices and your decisions and live an entirely new life the next day.

If the circumstances aren’t going your way, today you’ve the chance to change things around.

If the choices made yesterday, were a mistake, today you’ve the chance to make different choices.

Every day you have the chance to live a new day – it’s up to you, whether you want to or not.

#ANewDay

Do you wear shoes?

You know the thing about shoes, right?

All of us wear shoes, but the difference is that we wear different pair of shoes – different sizes, different designs, different brands and of course, comfort is different for all.

What does that tell you though?

Can you wear the same shoes as mine? What if it doesn’t fit you though?

In the same way, our journeys are different too – our paths are different, our goals are different, our thoughts are different and that’s the beauty of life.

When everything is different, there’s no reason as to why anyone’s journey or anyone’s accomplishments should be compared with someone else.

Let’s try focusing on wearing our shoes for once and not comparing them with someone else’s.

Communication is the Medium, not the Solution!

In any conversation which turns to a argument, one always thinks they are right.

However, we forget something!

What’s wrong for you is right for someone else and vice versa.

That means, both the parties think they are right, in their own way. So how do you solve this conundrum?

Is communication the solution for such a scenario? Would communicating the right way solve that issue?

In my opinion, communication is the medium to solve that situation, but the solution is empathy.

Without having empathy for the other person, there would be no two-way communication but only monologues and arguments.

Empathy is the key, which is often forgotten but needs to be instilled as values so – during such times of communication issues, you always think about the other person first, and react to the situation accordingly!

#empathy

What is success for you?

What is success for you? That is for you to decide.

Let’s put it another way – what are your goals? What do you want to achieve?

Wouldn’t you feel successful when you accomplish your goals? Yet, our “society” bases success on the achievement of a few things and everyone follows that blindly.

That isn’t a problem at all – but, only when you actually want those things for yourself and if that’s the benchmark you’ve set for yourself.

The awareness of the reality of success is important and once you change the perspective on the topic, you start thinking differently.

#SuccessMindset

What’s Next?

What’s Next? The question on our minds, at every point of time, no matter what we are doing.

This isn’t just about work, it involves everything we do, every day.

While we are doing something, we are constantly thinking, what are we going to do next!? 👀

You see the problem, right? In this quest for what’s next, we aren’t enjoying the present moment at all, we aren’t enjoying the process of whatever we are doing.

I realized this, and now I want to make amends. I want to feel this moment, I want to enjoy it and remember it.

#LiveInTheMoment

Your voice vs Other voices

At any given point in time, there are various voices in your head – all saying different things.

However, only one out of all those voices is your own.

Difficult to understand what that means?

With the constant opinions and questions that we are surrounded with, the voices of our family, friends, society, colleagues – ultimately becomes our voice and we tend to forget what we want and what we are doing based on what someone else wants.

The difference is key, because what you actually want is also what’s going to make you happy!

Learning the difference will take time, but the awareness about it is important – Learn to know what your voice sounds like and only listen to it.

Pessimism v Optimism

Why did William Jones say, “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power”? What does it mean?

When you feel pessimistic in a situation, or towards something you want to do, you have already lost hope, you’ve already set a result in your mind which is surrounded with self-doubt. Before you’ve even started, you have given in already.

On the other hand, when you feel optimistic, when you feel positive, when you see it as half glass full, you’ve hope, you’ve the desire, no matter the circumstances, you will walk on the path you’ve set in your mind – now, that’s power.

That power comes from your thought, your hope, your desire, which was missing in the first scenario – which made you weak.

Simply put, when you feel/think pessimistic, it makes you weak and when you feel/think positive, it gives you power even before you’ve started.

#LiveTheZazzLife

The problem with expectations!

The problem with expectations is that everyone, at some point of time, have some of them, with or without doing anything in the first place.

We “expect” someone to do something for us, just because and this is something that is in your head. Now looking at this from the other person’s point of view, he is not liable to do anything at all.

Another scenario is, when you specially do something, just to get something in return. Another form of an expectation. However, the deed was with motive and not from the heart, and yet again, if it isn’t reciprocated from the other side, it is you who feels disappointed.

In every scenario, it boils down to one person being disappointed in the entire transaction. Wouldn’t it be better if you stop expecting and if you just do? Wouldn’t everything be simpler?

Think about these “one-sided expectations” the next thing you expect something in your head!

What Songs Taught Us #13 – Girl in the Mirror by Bebe Rexha

• What Songs Taught Us #13 – Girl in the Mirror •

Song In Focus : Girl in the Mirror
Artist : Bebe Rexha

There is a perfect image set by the society – of your appearance / your looks / your behaviour – and you’ve to act according to it.

If you don’t fit the bill, you’re always anxious of your looks and that converts into constant thoughts in your mind – which tire you and weigh you down.

This song is a perfect example of this – it’s a song about self-acceptance – it tells you to be you, be yourself and stop trying to be like everyone else.

Songs are always inspirational, and if it teaches a good lesson along with some good music – then, go for it.

#WhatSongsTaughtUs

Change starts with You

Everyone wants to change the world, everyone wants to leave a mark, yet we forget about our own flaws and the dire need to rectify those first.

Change starts with yourself first, keep growing, keep upgrading yourself to a better version of yourself, better than before – until you reach a level where you can now bring that change to others as well.

That process takes time, but it also comes from authenticity and the courage to first do it yourself before you do it for others.

In simple terms, walk the talk.

#ChangeStartsWithYou

Ikigai – the Japanese secret to a long and happy life (Book Review)

Usually in the midst of reading a book, I’ve already chosen the next one to read and a similar situation occurred with this one, where I’d decided to read this one, books in advance.

Written by Hector García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai is a brilliant read, based on a Japanese concept to living a long and happy life.

In the most basis terms, Ikigai is about finding something that you love, that also makes you happy, that is also commercially viable and that has a market for it. Well, it’s not all about professionalism, but applied to your personal life and doing something everyday so your day is occupied with things you like to do.

However, to understand our life, especially from the work point of view, Ikigai is an excellent concept to apply and learn the answers we were looking for.

When you’re happy, when you love what you’re doing, you’re able to do it on a daily basis and for an endless amount of time – the more happy you are, the more fulfilled you feel, and the longer you’re able to live with no boredom/ emptiness / hollow feelings to think about. The concept of retirement doesn’t exist in Ikigai, because if you aren’t doing anything, then what are you doing with your life.

Well, if you’re looking for answers, especially from a different perspective than what is seen or taught in the West, then you should definitely pick this one up and understand life from a different angle to what you’re originally living.

The book is a definite gamechanger, if you want it to be. #RTHReviews

What’s the most important thing in life?

The most important thing in your life is to be yourself.

Being yourself keeps you authentic, keeps you self-aware about who you are and what do you want, and more importantly, keeps you happy.

Through the platform of Social Media, people are creating a different image of themselves, flossing, flaunting just to impress others, and to create that social image.

In reality, being miserable because they don’t know who they are anymore.

Being yourself keeps you sane, keeps you real and keeps you trustful.

You are unique in your own way, your characteristics are your strengths and they define who you are – instead of faking emotions in the virtual or the real world, face who you are and be proud of who you are.

#BeYourself

It’s not in your control!

There are two situations in our lives, one where things are in our control and the other where they aren’t.

The problem arises when we start overthinking about those things that aren’t in our control and worry about their effect on our lives.

We overthink, we worry, we try to prepare for events beforehand and yet all of it is in vain – why – because it’s not in our control.

If we spend that time on ourselves, on our mindset, on our thoughts, on our actions, on our behaviour – the things which are in our control – we’d be better off because we are now in control, not letting the external factors affect us at all, no matter their consequences on us.

One change in our thought process and it can do wonders for us! #StopWorrying #StopOverthinking

What do I mean by ‘Becoming a better version of yourself’?

To become a better version of yourself means you have to grow/ you have to level up – and, for that to happen, you need to change / you need to learn / you need to have a growth mindset.

If you think you know it all, if you think you don’t have to learn anything anymore, if you have a fixed mindset, then how do you think you’re going to reach the next level of your life.

The concept is simple, the process is everlasting, however, you come out of it as a better person everytime!

Quite honestly, that should be the daily goal and we’re setting that for ourselves, not for anyone else, because only we are going to benefit from that mentality. #ActOnIt