How can I take care of my body?

‘How can I lose my weight?’ – a question that’s often asked time and time again, by every human being.

It’s always about the weight. It’s always about the calories. It’s always about the numbers on the scale.

And these weight loss goals, whilst they do motivate you to take action, they also lead on a path that’s short-term and result oriented, hence resulting in you taking this path again and again.

But ask yourself a different question, one that always benefits your body, a question that constantly helps you on a path to having a healthy body.

How can I take care of my body?

A question that you will ask yourself when you start your day, when you end your day, and before having any and every meal.

A question that will make you understand the benefits of working out, the importance of it on your mind and body.

A question that will make you understand how important are certain ingredients to your body, how disastrous are some and how you are addicted to certain foods that don’t benefit you at all.

A question that keeps you on your toes, keeps you in check, and also keeps you motivated.

Ask yourself, “How can I take care of my body?”

What are you watching?

Our brain constantly records each and every thing that we do – what we consume (read, listen and watch). There are then neurological and psychological impacts to all of it.

In simple terms, what you feed to the brain is extremely important, because neurologically, our brain and our body organs are connected. Every thought that occurs, originating from what you consume, leads to a particular emotion (the type of emotion is then based on the category of thought) and the implication of that emotion is then felt in the body.

Psychologically, based on what you consume, your brain is constantly mapping out, in case of a film you’re watching, the character’s traits, their emotions, their journey in the storyline, your takeaways from it and something like this on a micro scale leads to changing how we think, how we act and how we talk.

Now, the question arises, what are you watching?

Because apart from how you originally think, the society narratives that have already influenced you, and the type of conversations you have, what you watch is going to impact your thoughts, your emotions, your actions, how you behave, how you think of yourself and of others etc.

The next time you choose to watch something, try and understand what you’re taking away from that consumption and the similarities of it in your real life.

Reverse the Effects?

An action took place. An outcome occured. Is it possible to reverse the effects?

Not at all. You took on the consequences, the day you acted, very well knowing it led to two paths – you’d love the outcome or you wouldn’t.

Every day of your life, you have to live with the effects of your actions that you have already taken and they keep compounding.

Unless… You realize that past actions have present consequences, but you make a choice that you wouldn’t let your present actions have future consequences that you wouldn’t like.

Thinking, Thinking, and Overthinking

Minute 1: Thinking about the Past (a certain action or a consequence of it)

Minute 2: Thinking about the Present (how you’re currently feeling, living the consequences of yesterday)

Minute 3: Thinking about the Future (how is today going to affect my tomorrow)

Minute 4: How could I have changed my past? (how could I have acted differently)

Minute 5: How can I change what I am currently feeling?

Minute 6: What can I do to not feel this tomorrow?

Minute 7: Thinking about how can tomorrow look different than today?

Minute 8: Daydreaming about an alternate timeline where everything is perfect

Minute 9: Overthinking about everything

And just like that, 9 minutes were spent on something that happened in the past, spread through today and the imaginative tomorrow. Alternate timelines were created, alternate scenarios were created, but with a lack of action, nothing changed.

The loop might repeat yet again, in another hour, in a few hours, multiple times in a day, for different topics, and different thoughts, again and again.

This happens to everyone.

The loop of thinking, thinking, and overthinking.

Until one can learn to snap back, be in the moment, understand what’s in their control, what’s not, what can be changed and what cannot be, and the actions that can be taken to actually change the today and tomorrow.

Where its needed

To those who need, not want, but need, and they shall receive.

Love will be given where its needed.

Support will be given where its needed.

Help will be given where its needed.

Anything that is required out of necessity and honesty, is often reciprocated with that particular ask, all that is required is you ask, but with honesty.

Yesterday I was clever, today I am wise.

Quite often, people want to change the world, in some form or the other. Usually this stems from an understanding that something is missing, or something could be better, on a worldly scale.

But, at the same time, such a feeling also arises because your perspective or your point of view doesn’t match with the world’s and this quest to change the world often originates from you being able to change that.

A beautiful quote from Rumi fits in perfectly here, ‘Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.’
When you shed all the layers, when you start asking questions in depth, when you start facing your own vulnerabilities, you also understand how much you need to change yourself.

Instead of portraying your perspective onto others, you need to upgrade yourself and understand others’ perspectives and point-of-views. When you change yourself, you also elevate yourself to understand what someone else is going through and what do they want, instead of the initial version where you wanted to place your thoughts onto others.

When that happens, is when this quote also makes the perfect sense to you, and you are able to use the learning from this beautiful quote from Rumi.

My Weekly Learnings #5 (25.04 – 01.05)

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. No sense in being a puppet, especially if you can’t be sure who is pulling the strings or why. [Seth Godin]

(Read more here)

2. Writer Alice Walker on the discomfort of growth:

“Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger than we were before.

Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant.

But what is most unpleasant is not knowing what is happening. Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be… for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.”

Source: Living by the Word: Essays

3. If you are going to be jealous of someone, you must be willing to swap your *entire* life for theirs. You can’t cherry-pick the aspect of their life you want.
You must give up *everything* you have and know. [Summarized for context; Naval on The Knowledge Project podcast]

4. Demonstration of success creates trust, which unlocks opportunities for further demonstration of success. The loop goes on, and that’s just the way it is. Hating people and complaining doesn’t do you any favours. [Kunal Shah on Paras Chopra’s Bold Conjectures podcast]

5. Fragmented attention is an enemy of engagement and excellence. [Adam Grant]

Proving people right?

How many times have our conversations with others ended with the statement, “I’ll prove you wrong”.

Either in anger, or ego popping up, are the two major scenarios when one wants to prove someone else wrong.

Then, your life’s objective isn’t to be happy, isn’t to enjoy the process, isn’t to become better, but just to prove someone else wrong. And once you do that, then what?

Most people feel lost then.

Instead of facing off with such people, how about being around those people whom you want to prove right?

Such people who walk with you, who support you, and who also keep you grounded whilst supporting your vision.

Now what you’re doing is for the right reasons… Now you want to do something you are interested in, you want to do something that you want to spend your time on, and now you’re proving those people right who had your back.

My Weekly Learnings #4 (18.04 – 24.04)

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. Your first impression isn’t your appearance, it’s your energy. (Ascendant Power)

2. Intelligence isn’t a substitute for knowledge. Being smart doesn’t mean you’ve taken the time to be informed.
Knowledge isn’t a substitute for wisdom. Being informed doesn’t mean you’ve developed good judgment.

Good judgment requires the humility to know what you don’t know. (Adam Grant)

3. Only the one who has faced failure is able to tell where you are bound to fail as well. (TVF Aspirants)

4. “Like our stomachs, our minds are hurt more often by overeating than by hunger.” — Petrarch

5. When you deal with an angry person or an angry mob, they are in a state of amygdala hijack.
It’s often not helpful to talk to their prefrontal cortex of their brain and try to rationalize that time but easier to communicate in childlike sentences and calm their amygdala first. (Kunal Shah)

The ‘More than 1 Follower’ Responsibility

If you have more than one follower on any of the social media platforms, you have a responsibility.

A responsibility that is not a rule per se, but one that needs to be upheld for humanity to walk together and progress.

This responsibility states that you do your best

– to ensure your words and actions don’t put anyone down,

– to ensure you help out someone else, if you can

– to share what will make someone else’s life better (that doesn’t mean you post for other people, but that also means that you don’t post anything degrading or offensive to anyone else)

– and, to mainly ensure that you walk with others and not against them.

These are not rules. These are not laws. But sometimes, humanity is beyond that, and to progress, to unite, to move forward, we must come together with a unified set of responsibilities such as these, especially on online platforms that connect us globally in order for that to happen.

The Baggage of Yesterday

Every day, every moment of our time is spent on thinking about yesterday, our past actions, our past results, our past thoughts and what not.

Because you know the outcome of yesterday, i.e. today, we tend to think more of yesterday and everything we did to be here today.

Now, where you are today, because of yesterday, leads to either you being satisfied with today or you being disappointed and discouraged with the baggage of yesterday.

This baggage holds you back, holds your emotions, can keep you in a what-if loop cycle, constantly thinking how you could have changed yesterday.

Only thing to snap back and to come back in the moment is to realize that you cannot time travel and what’s done is done. But, today leads up to tomorrow and that is the only thing in your control.

When its meant to be

Sometimes things happen, not in your control, but are good for you.

Sometimes, not.

Other times, you wish for something to happen and it does.

But, mostly it comes after constantly persevering irrespective of the consecutive failures.

Particular things are bound to happen at particular times of your life, and its different for all individuals.

The common factor that occurs in all timelines is, when its meant to be, then its meant to be.

My Weekly Learnings #3 (11.04 – 17.04)

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 are no full stops in success. There are just commas. Success is not a destination. Success is a journey.

• One who seeks victory is a Man. One who spreads Victory is a ‘Maharshi’.
(Maharshi, a Telugu film)

2. More isn’t better.
    Faster isn’t further.
    Money isn’t wealth.
    Habits aren’t destiny.
    Solitude isn’t loneliness.
(Shane Parish)

3. ‘Everyone is rational’
But if that’s true, then why don’t we all agree on the right next step?
It could be because everyone has a different experience, different data and different goals.

Or, it could be that you are the only one who’s rational.

And it could be that we all like to tell ourselves we’re doing the right thing, but ultimately, all we can do is make choices based on how we see the world.

The way we see things drives our choices, and, of course, our choices change the way we see things.
(Seth Godin)

4. ⁃ Early to bed, early to rise
    ⁃ Not skipping meals and eating on time
    ⁃ Being regular with exercise

Remain the most underrated and undervalued means to boost immunity,  simply because they cannot be packed into a bottle and sold as a pill.
(Rujuta Diwekar)

The power of a ‘NO’

How often do we feel that we have to say yes to something? We feel pressurized, we feel its an obligation, we feel saying no would make it look rude. Thus, we end up saying yes to a bunch of things that we don’t want to do or things that waste our time, especially when its taken from elsewhere.

The power of a ‘NO’ allows you the time, the freedom, and the independence to do the things you want to do, the things you truly want to spend your time on and not end up doing things forcefully or things that you’re not interested in.

It’s only when you start saying no more often, is when you’re able to live your life like this.

To dismiss or to accept?

Whenever you receive any information, or you receive a contrasting opinion to your thought, you have two choices.

Either you dismiss it quickly and stick to what you know, whether it is right or wrong, whether it is accepted or not, or the second option is to accept this new information, to accept a counter opinion, to hear the other side and what they have to say.

Choosing the latter option widens your perspective, expands your viewpoint and helps you grow and evolve. Then you have the choice to change with this information or let your information change someone else (whichever is the right one).

The Me Time

Our time (during the day) is divided into a bunch of phases, which include

– your work time,

– your family/ friends/ relationships time,

– your escapism time,

– your chores (cleaning yourself, your house, paying your bills, those types of activities) time,

– and your ME time.

This ‘me time’ is an essential part of your life, day to day and macro, both. This me time is not for any other purpose or individual, but for yourself.

Whether you use this time to rejuvenate, to relax, to learn and grow, to heal, that is upto you. This time gives you the chance to focus, to look back, to look forward, to look within, to look outward. But this is the time which is solely used for you.

The things that you’re able to do during this time, and the outcome, or what you feel during, are things that cannot experience in your other phases nor can you mix it with them.

Like any other time spent on the other phases, your me time is equally important to your life.

One thought leads to another

Constantly studies are being conducted on this, but it is said that an individual has 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts in a day, a single day.

When you look upon this, it is imperative for every individual to figure out what they are thinking about, where those thoughts are leading to, and whether you should change the way you think or not.

Throwing more light upon the topic, not all of those thoughts fall under 60,000 separate topics, but rather fall under particular branches and go in depth of them.

Now, for a particular topic, one thought leads to another and another and goes deeper and deeper into that topic (also spending a certain amount of time on this).

Under such conditions, how you think, your process, what do you think about are important points to ponder upon, because in the macro, such thoughts are going to form your emotions, your actions will depend upon them, and ultimately your life will be based on all of that.

It all starts with your thoughts, one thought after another.

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)

Blame Games are a Two-way Street

For anything that goes wrong, or rather not according to one’s expectations, they sure are quick to blame someone in that situation.

Such blame games become a way to get rid of any accountability there could be and shifting that entire weight onto someone else.

But, blame games are a two-way street. If you can blame someone else, so can they to you. It’s a cyclical process and one that is never-ending. However, it doesn’t solve anything though.

What got wronged will be the same, irrespective of who gets the blame. Pointing fingers and arguments will not resolve the situation nor can you move forward.

Instead, taking accountability of something puts the entire control of the situation in your hands, you get to learn from your mistakes, you get to resolve the situation quickly, you get to move forward and also seek help from those you would have earlier stuck arguing with.

It almost seems like the advantages of taking accountability weigh much much more than playing blame games and not getting anywhere.

Identity and Labels

Over the years, the society narrative has developed in a way that conforms to a pattern where we, all of us, associate ourselves with the work we do and/ or the degrees that we have accumulated.

When someone says, describe yourself, it often results in an answer which includes work titles, college degrees, work experience etc.

And outside of work, those labels are then shifted to pop culture and/ or sports fandoms.

Thus, limiting our identity to one or many labels of some kind.

What hasn’t yet been understood is that, our identity is not limited to the labels we attach ourselves to.

These labels which become an individual’s so-called identity doesn’t help you to look beyond, to experience different things, to experience life.

And amidst these labels, we compete and we try to win, we fight and abuse and also want to become unique in them.

However, who we truly are is beyond any label out there and no amount of labels can limit one’s identity to those particular things. Life’s bigger than that. There’s so much more to experience than that.

Acting like the other person

When you act how another individual behaves with you, you may think you’ll do the same with them as well, but, on the contrary, what you’re doing is falling down to their level.

If the other individual is unkind to you, you cannot do the same to them, or else what’s even the structure of your values if you’re selective with them.

Instead, you need to maintain your level, your standards, and your values. Be how you want to be, irrespective of how others are to you. Instead of acting like the other person, act like you.

Do you really control anything in your life?

Right from our thoughts to our actions, from our emotions to our response towards certain situations and events, from what we consume to what we create, do we really control anything in our lives?

What is it that is being truly done without any external involvement?

Our minds are conditioned to think a certain way. Our responses (words and actions) are programmed in a certain manner which comes out subconsciously. Those programs also include peer pressure, opinions from close and unknown ones, societal patterns, advertising and so much more.

When everything around us influences us so much, then we need to ask, do we really control anything in our lives, truly by ourselves? With our choices, for ourselves?

That would be the ultimate form of living, to get rid of the programming, and to create a whole new program for ourselves, based on how we want your life to be – without any external influences.

Saying It and Feeling It

Do you feel what you say?

Do you say what you feel?

Often the two don’t coincide, in either of those situations.

We say things just for the sake of the situation, even if we don’t feel them.

And we don’t say things that we really feel, for a number of reasons.

But, both situations arise when we aren’t truthful with ourselves. When that happens, then the chances of either of those situations rising are far lesser than before.

A sick body is telling you

Whenever we get sick, we take a medicine to heal ourself and to get back to normal.

That medicine is useful to counter the effects of the consequences we are facing. But, not the origin of it.

Everytime we get sick and we feel those symptoms, our sick body (at the time) is telling us that something about your lifestyle, something about your environment is not right. And now, with those symptoms is the time to face the consequences.

Your body is also telling you, if you don’t want to feel this way, then you should probably take a deep-dive into your life and change the habits and choices you make that is getting you to this point.

A healthy lifestyle, working out your mind and body, frequent walks in the nature amongst other minor things is all your body asks of you to keep it in shape.

Behind Closed Doors

With social media, with virality, and such factors that bring fame to people, often people wear a cloak to hide who they really are and put up a mask when in public.

To be honest, the mask doesn’t apply to just the public image, but it’s put on within friends and colleagues as well.

Then the question arises, who you really are?

And the answer to that question lies behind closed doors. When no one is watching you. When you can be honest with yourself. When you can remove that mask and show your true face to yourself. That is the real you.

Behind closed doors, you understand your authentic self and everything about you, with a choice to show this self to the outside world as well, because that’s when you are at your strongest too.

The Guilt Moments

You are living a healthy lifestyle and you suddenly crave something deep-fried or something extremely sweet, you eat it. But then, you feel guilty too.

You were working for four straight hours and you want to take an afternoon nap before proceeding with another four hours. You decide to sleep, but then you feel guilty about it.

Or you want to watch a movie or a show and you feel guilty about doing so, when you could’ve done something productive instead.

These are called the guilt moments.

You want to do something and you have made up your mind for it. But after doing it, you feel guilty about it too.

And when you feel the guilt, is when things go haywire in your mind and body, those after-effects can be felt.

On top of it, it doesn’t change the outcome nor does it do any good, it only results in a waste of thoughts, time and energy.

Instead, how about openly indulging in those “guilt” moments, enjoying them because you wanted to. No one is forcing any of it on you. And what’s self-imposed can be changed with practice.

Life goes the same without meditation too

If you’re someone who doesn’t meditate, that’s absolutely fine. Life goes the same without meditation too.

You’re going to live the same life as before and nothing changes.

But,

– if you want to get ahold of your emotions

– if you want to still your mind and body

– if you want to find inner peace

– if you want to be more free and open

(amongst other things, you also start looking at your own life differently, your past mistakes, your present decisions, your future ambitions, your wrongdoings, your virtues etc)

Only if you want such things to happen in your life and more, then you must try meditating and try implementing it to be a part of your daily active lifestyle.

But, life goes the same without meditation too.

New Perspectives, Thoughts, and Phases of Life

Every individual has multiple phases in their lives, one that they look back to and ponder upon, when a new one begins.

There’s a perspective attached to every phase, of how you perceive things and how you react and respond to them.

Now, your daily thoughts (which decide your actions and outcomes) are all based on that perspective.

If your perspective on a topic is limited to something and you have decided to not look beyond, your thoughts will be as limiting as that and ultimately, that particular phase of your life is then lived in that manner.

Only if you want to outgrow yourself, reach that next level, must you expand your perspective of looking at things, thinking upon them from a broader viewpoint.

Hence, your thoughts will widen as well and because of cause and effect will your phase of life get affected in a positive and evolving manner as well.

These three areas are correlated and have a cause and effect impact on each other. To improve one, you must work on the other and the process is cyclical, which is then repeated to every phase of your life.

Two ways of looking at things

For any situation in life, there are always two ways of looking at things and one of them is a positive one.

The way our minds are programmed, how the society narratives are instilled within us, considering a number of factors that play here, our automatic response to most situations is a pessimistic one (and here we think, to have such a point of view is the one that’s realistic).

But, it’s all a game of programming. There’s no right or wrong. A little bit of unlearning, a little bit of practice and you can learn to automatically view any situation from an optimistic point of view.

There’s a reason this is happening to me, what can I learn from this, am I at an advantage here, I’m so grateful to have gone through this, there couldn’t have been a better way to learn this – and more of such optimistic perspective builds in your mind when anything happens in your life.

The current one, the pessimistic one, the negative thoughts, the downplaying yourself, all of those aren’t right, nor does any good to you – all of it is a program that has been instilled since childhood and it can be changed.

There are always two ways of looking at things.

The ‘Can you help me out with this?’ Perspective

A simple question that we often resort to, ‘Can you help me out with this?’

We ask this because we know we would get help and our problem will be solved or the undone deed will be completed.

Now, asking for help isn’t wrong, but a strong skillset which people lack and don’t look towards, and one that also helps you to grow and evolve.

Said that, unfortunately, the question ‘Can you help me with this?’ can also come from your dependence on others and/ or your lack of efforts.

It’s when you don’t want to put the efforts towards something, but can be done by you, is when you look for easy help.

That and when you know someone is readily available to do it for you. What if you were the last person on Earth and that task had to be done by you? Would there be a chance of dependence onto someone?

Such a perspective solves many things in life and helps you to do a lot of things you didn’t think you could, but it also lacks context (a lot of ifs and buts) which needs to be understood by one whilst adapting such a perspective.

Don’t you want to know the context?

We are surrounded with a lot of narratives, stories, rules, laws, rituals and sorts around us, which is blindly followed by most of the people.

This is then carried over from person to person, generation to generation, with someone adding their perspective to it and no one knowing the origin of it.

Now, something is done because everyone does it (this way).

No one knows why.

Don’t you want to know the context?

Don’t you want to know why you should do that certain thing? Why is it followed in such a manner? What’s the origin of it? What’s the meaning of it?

Understanding the basics of it is what’s actually going to empower you to do it, if it needs to be done. Not the fact that everyone is following this route, thus it should be done that way.

Context is everything, when you try to look beyond the horizon.

Why vs Why Not

In life we walk on three paths – when we ask why am I doing this? Or why not?

The third path is one very rarely walked upon, the thin line between the two, when you ask both the questions and you’re stuck hanging in between.

There are certain things you do, or you want to do, to which every obstacle that comes along, internal or external, you ask yourself why not? And you keep on crossing such obstacles, whilst doing that certain something.

On the other hand, in a similar scenario, you ask why am I even doing this? You start searching for answers, start going deeper into this quest and you figure out there’s no point to it. There’s nothing wrong in not doing it, if it doesn’t serve any purpose at all.

But, the thin line between the two is the most confusing one, when you ask why not and you also ask why? You ask why not and make your mind and start pursuing it. But you also ask why, and see that there’s no meaning or purpose to it and you’re just doing it for the heck of it.

That thin line is when your values, your beliefs, your mindset come into the picture and based on all of that, you must choose a side. Because these are two paths and you have to be on the either side of it and fortunately or unfortunately, you can’t not choose either.

So, which one do you choose – why or why not?

The Game of Ifs and Buts

A game which is never-ending, and one which is played by all is the game of Ifs and Buts.

This game occurs for most, throughout various moments in just a day and that is then repeated over and over again, life then continuing in this cycle.

For anything that occurs, you think, what if I had done this differently?

For something that hasn’t happened according to your expectations, there’s a but that’s added to your thought.

These Ifs and Buts constantly keep playing in your head, showing you different alternatives if you had made all the right choices, and if everything went according to your plan.

However, two things happen here. One, such thoughts take away the present moment from you, constantly keeping you wondering about the past. Second, and more importantly, life is not but a series of choices you make based on who you are at that time and the experiences you have had.

Every choice you make is something you control, and only when you know the outcome isn’t in your favour is when you think what if. But there’s no time travel, is there? That means you need to be satisfied with the choices you have made and the outcomes that have come along with it, ensuring that those results play a part when you have to make your next choice that impacts your life, on the micro or macro basis.

When your thinking is altered in this way, is when you will be able to limit this game of Ifs and Buts in your head and actually be able to live your life in the reality.

The Hypocrisy of Free Content

With the internet at its current stage and with all of us having smartphones in our hands, at every moment of time, there is a ton of content available to us, just about everywhere.

But, our hypocrisy with free content is, we want free, but we don’t value free.

To elaborate it further, and having observed this for a period of time, given the choice between consuming something for free versus being charged to consume it, majority of the people always choose free first.

When asked who’d like something for free, everybody’s hands will jump up. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting free, why pay when something similar or better is available for free.

But the problem occurs when you have that certain thing or you consume that certain thing, but you’re not able to emotionally attach any value to it.

Because the initial thought is, I haven’t paid anything for it, therefore, I’m not gaining any expected value out of it. Only when I pay for it, is when I can attach a certain value to it as well.

For example, in the world of content creation, people will end up creating courses and e-books etc., with information so basic that it could’ve been given for free, but only because it isn’t valued enough and to create that value, is when creators resort to such methods (except when their primary reason to do it is for monetary purposes).

Such consumption, when paid for, is then cherished and now you celebrate the value you get. On the contrary, if you’d have received the exact same information or even more, but for free, would you have valued it the same? Or would you criticize that it wasn’t enough?

That is the hypocrisy of free content.

Even when you get less, you want to pay a certain amount so you can psychologically tick off in your mind that now you’re ready to accept the value in return for that amount.

What can you takeaway from this?
Well, just because something is free, doesn’t mean it has no value to it. And just because something is being charged for, doesn’t mean it’s valuable.

Judgement of Others or of Yourself?

Quite often, we don’t do certain things, we don’t say certain things, we do particular things in a certain way, whether we want to or not.

Such patterns originate from judgements and initially and mostly from the judgements of others.

When someone reacts in a way you don’t like, or didn’t react the way you expected, often, it is you who changes things around to get a different reaction. Basically, you’re getting affected from those judgements.

Similarly, when you judge other people on a criteria of things, and labelling them in sorts,

What emerges from both of these situations is ultimately the judgement of yourself.

With time, a pattern is created that leads to you judging yourself at every step of the way – judging every thought, every action and now doing them in a certain manner, because now you’re predicting how others would react when you do that something.

And then the ultimate question arises, do you want to continue to do things for the sake of validation from others, or do you want to change that and think and act the way you want to, irrespective of everything.

Making that choice starts a journey unlike any other, and one that never seems to end, but at least you’ll the path you’re on.

You don’t have to be busy all the time

All our life we have been taught to be busy, either with work, or filling the gaps in between, just trying to do something or the other, often in the form of escapism.

The word ‘busy’ has been ingrained in our minds, so much so, that for anything that we do, be it watching a movie or scrolling on social media, we’d claim to be busy.

But, the reality of life is, in order to be free, in order to be more productive, in order to get more ideas, in order to relax, you don’t have to be busy all the time.

It’s in your ideal time when your brain is most active, it is that time when you’ll ideate more, you’ll think of your decisions to make, what do you want to do differently, what’s going right for you – that ideal time is your time.

Instead of focusing on being busy, focus on the opposite and notice the change it brings.

Doesn’t matter if I live for 90 years

If an individual lives for say, 70 years or 90 years or even more, it sounds good to have lived that long.

But, life being an experience, it only matters if you have experienced life enough up till that point.

If you have lived the same life for a long amount of time, to not have experienced the thrill and satisfaction from it, then how does it matter how long does you live for?

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live that long. No. It means that life is about experiences, life is about satisfaction, life is about freedom, life is about emotions, if all of those things and more aren’t experienced, then it doesn’t matter whether we live for 20 years, 40 years, or a 100 years.

Some things are inevitable

Irrespective of how prepared you are and how much you have planned, some things are inevitable.

Some things are bound to happen, no matter what you do and how much you do.

Whether good or not, whether in your favor or not, what is inevitable cannot be changed (may be delayed, at the most).

Some things are inevitable in life.

Two Sides to a Story

Listening to an individual’s point of view, one might jump to conclusions.

Prejudice takes over, stereotypes take over, society narratives take over and here we are, already at the conclusion of the topic.

But before that happens, an important thing we must realize is, there are two sides to a story, always, or not, but most of the times.

Before jumping to conclusions and before choosing a side, both sides must be heard and that’s the least we can do.

Insecurities lead to Judgements

We all know someone, or maybe count ourselves in that someone too, who have judged someone else at any given point of time, or have been on the receiving end of those judgements, or maybe both.

Whether its their looks or their fame or how they talk or how look or their social status, their financial status, or there are countless other factors to which people are judged.

But, would someone who is secure with their life judge someone else? Would someone who is satisfied with their life judge someone else?

Its often those who are insecure themselves, in any area of their life, who pinpoint others’ limitations or their wrongdoings (and probably take satisfaction from it as well).

For example, if you’re financially insecure and someone else is, but they lack in their communication skills, you would be the first one to judge them at that.

It is your own insecurity that leads to you judging someone else and vice versa. And this cycle then continues, on a macro scale, everywhere.

Somewhere or the other, any individual finds themselves insecure with something or everything and that is downpoured onto someone else, so your hole of insecurity can be filled.

Failure with Intent

Some outcomes can only result in a win or a loss. A draw is considered either or, based on the situations.

That win is cherished and celebrated. The opposite of that happens with a loss.

That loss is also criticized by others, causing more unrest than usual.

But, even with a loss, the intent with how the loss came to be matters even more.

Did you give it your all, your 100% and then lost? If you failed with that intent, then there are only lessons to be learnt from it and no form of disappointment needs to take place.

But, if you thought failure was already on the cards, if the intent to win wasn’t there, if your 100% wasn’t given, then even with a win, that is a failure.

Putting every minute under the lens

People say they don’t get enough time for their relationships and family? They don’t get enough time to work out? To meditate? To cook?

To do those various things that they would have otherwise done?

Then why not?

And is time seriously the problem here?

Or is the management of it the problem?

With the 1440 minutes that each of us have in our hands everyday, when you put every minute of it under the lens, there you would find all the answers.

How much of those minutes are productive? How much is wasted? How much can be utilized elsewhere?

When that is done, then you will notice that you’re able to do everything you want to.

I lost 15 kgs in 6 months

I lost 15 kgs in 6 months.

How?

Not because I wanted to lose weight fast, but because I wanted to live a better lifestyle than before.

Not because I wanted to look good, but because I wanted to feel good and feel those fabulous internal benefits of working out.

Not because I starved myself or tried fad diets, but because I knew it’s time to get rid of those foods that have harmful effects on the mind and body, that may taste good in the moment, but have not-so-good effects in the future.

A simple tweak of knowing the why, rather than the what and how.

A simple tweak of enjoying the process than the outcome.

That’s it. And that brought results.

Stupidest of Questions

We aren’t taught or we aren’t applauded for asking questions. Rather, do what you’re told, follow the narrative that has been rolled, execute the actions blindfolded.

But, the people who seem smart to you, the people who are knowledgeable, the people who are experts in their fields, that is because they ask the stupidest of questions.

They don’t shy away from it, they don’t care what anyone else thinks. They are curious, they will ask. They want another perspective, they will ask.

Those who think their questions aren’t smart enough keep forming the right question to never ask it, keep being curious in their minds to never know more than they already do, keep thinking everyone else is smarter than them.

Don’t shy away from asking the stupidest of questions because that’s how you grow and evolve.

Balancing your Life

Instead of constantly rushing towards work and focusing all your energy into it, why not balance it out and experience other areas and phases of your life as well?

Instead of wondering where did all that time go, why not create slots for everything you want to do in a particular day and live a balanced and experienced life?

Why not experience cooking? Why not experience organizing? Why not experience journaling? Why not experience meditation? Why not experience those things that you wanted to do outside of work?

Ultimately, life is an experience which we don’t want to miss out on.

Stories play themselves out…

Every story has a way of playing themselves out…

When you’re satisfied with your story, then it sounds like a successful one.

When you’re not, or rather until you’re not, and until you do become satisfied, it then becomes a struggling story.

Be as it may, there’s always some takeaway from it, from any story of any individual, not just yours.

Those takeaways to someone who’s building their life becomes just what they need, when carefully observed and learnt from.

And every story impacts someone else, but only if that story is told, or else it just stays hidden.

Sometimes you don’t get to decide how the story will play out, and sometimes you do, but either or, you can very well be at it to ensure that you like your story, if anyone may or may not.

Play, Pause, or Fast Forward

You have three options in life, either to play, or pause, or to fast-forward.

What do these options mean?

The play option means to live your life. The pause is to take a break, rest for a while, pause your life with your daily activities and then resume again after a while. To fast-forward is to not enjoy your present moments and to just drift through, but with this option you later wonder where did all that time go?

There are two more options, one of which you cannot control, and one you don’t have the option of choosing.

The one you cannot choose is the stop button (your actions may influence the timeline of this option though). The other option you don’t have the option of choosing is the rewind button (you cannot go back in time and redo something, what’s done is done).

Once we understand the options that we can choose from, the perspective of looking at life changes as well.

Know it or Understand it?

Sometimes you know something. Sometimes you understand it too. Sometimes both. Sometimes neither.

But, a clear line needs to be drawn. A line of clarity.

The knowledge of this line helps you to become better at something. This line is what makes someone an expert.

Transaction Mindset

With whatever you want in your life, there are certain expectations attached, a scenario where you give to take and not to just give.

That scenario is when everything becomes a transaction mindset for you.

You give someone something and you expect something in return, an expectation of your wish to be fulfilled by someone, even though they aren’t liable to anything in the first place.

Here, when that is not reciprocated, is when you get disappointed. It is at such times when you blame others, when you feel anger and also, create a dislike for the other person.

When you get rid of such expectations in the first place and when you truly give is when you start living your life. Now, when you receive something, you receive it out of worth or out of love, not because of anything else.

Forgetting to be Grateful

In our life, we are always running after what’s next or running after our wants, or rather complaining about the things we don’t have.

In all of this, we forget to be grateful for the things that we already have in our life.

Gratitude is such a powerful factor in our life, where if we are grateful for each and every thing that we have and grateful for each and every thing that we get to do, our approach and perspective towards life changes and we start looking at things differently.

Internet Motivation

For anyone who has browsed through the internet enough, or the social media platforms to be specific, would know how over-saturated the motivational content has become.

Every individual will come up with some type of motivational content, irrespective of how their individual life is doing, or if not original, then would remix someone else’s content, but so much of it is just revolved around Motivation.

It almost gives a perspective to people that motivation is all they need to do anything in life, personally and professionally. When they’re motivated, everything will be done right and everything they want.

When they aren’t motivated, then they’ll seek more of it on these platforms.

But, to be honest, is it all you need?
Is it okay for one to perceive that motivation is all they need? This mental high they get after reading something motivational is all they need?

The problem is not with motivation, but with those pushing it and those consuming it. Sure, motivation is needed, but it makes more sense when its done by yourself, and especially when included with the other ingredients.

Motivation is just the cherry on the cake, but you still need the ingredients to make the cake first.

Right from your physical and mental wellness, to your mindset, to your thoughts, to your habits, your faith and your beliefs, the goals you have, the people around you, all of it comprise of those ingredients you need to make a good cake.

Then you can put the motivation as the topping, that’s what motivation is. But those who post motivational fail to realize that, probably because themselves are doing it just for the content or they have created a motivational bubble around themselves.

Irrespective of the reasons, as the consumer of such content, especially for one who wants to improve their life, who wants to write the script of their lives themselves, can ponder upon this and ultimately, take charge and start working on every aspect of their life and improving it, rather than depending on Internet Motivation.

Appreciate your Consistency

While doing the same thing over and over again, day after day, may seem static and it may introduce a stagnant mood around you.

Such are the moments when occurred when you should remember why you are doing it in the first place.

That remembrance of the why leads to you appreciating your consistency and knowing how it’s going to compound in the near future and it is you who will then enjoy the fruits of your labor as well.

Stretched by a New Idea

Each one of us lives a life with their current set of habits and beliefs and knowledge, and everything that they do is based around that.

But, in this information economy, where one is constantly consuming something, and probably learning something from that consumption, we are not limited to those frameworks anymore.

“The mind once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimension.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes

Once you have learnt or executed something new in your life, your mind has expanded from its previous form to a new one.

It’s not the same anymore, and its then a matter of time before you go in depth of it and that idea introduces a new or changes a previous part of you.

Anything and everything that you consume is now a part of you, and you cannot get rid of it. Somehow, somewhere, the dots are going to get connected, and that new learning plays a part in that.

When you do it with your wishes

Most of the things we do are based on following other people’s wishes or to please other people.

Because it’s for someone else and not you, now what you need is someone to push you to do it, you need hacks, you need motivation.

Because you want to stay focused on that path, you do all of those things.

But, when you do something, anything, with your own wishes, when you have your full support to it, now you know why you’re doing it.

Now you don’t need any hacks, or any kind of motivation. You don’t have a timeline either. Because its for yourself.

That’s the beauty when you do anything with your wishes, and not with anyone else’s.

Effects of your Decisions

Every decision we take impacts our life in one way or the other.

That impact may be immediate or it may happen on its own timeline, but with every decision comes its effects.

The effects we cannot control but have to live with. The decision-making is the only thing that we control, the effects of which we need to ponder before making that decision.

Such effects cannot be reversed. Only at some point, can you make another decision and change its course but the effects still remain.

Right from the childhood to until we continue to make decisions.

Mind Manipulation

How easy is it to manipulate someone’s mind, do you know? Common interests, common target points then make way for mob mentality, making it more easier to manipulate people at a mass level.

On the grounds of capitalism, wanting to be rich, on the grounds of diets, wanting to be slim, on the grounds of motivation, wanting to be inspired, on the grounds of followers and likes, wanting to be famous…

It is so easy to manipulate anyone’s mind, and those that understand this, then take advantage of it. If one is not aware of their true needs and wants, their true meaning of life, love and happiness, then they keep falling for these traps again and again.

It then becomes a cyclical chain.

For example, you eat something which tastes good for the moment, but unhealthy for the body. You then have to go on a fad diet/ taking shortcuts to become healthy. You spend a ton of time and money on consultations, courses, classes, etc. to get your workout in place, your diet in place, but you don’t feel motivated to carry on. Sooner or later, you now opt for someone to motivate you, either through a seminar or a personal consultation, or any other form. That cyclical chain then affects other areas of your life until you have fallen for every trap possible.

Instead, you could have opted to not eat that unhealthy thing.

A simple example can then be applied to every phase of your life, and it is then for you to realize how many traps have you fallen into by now.

The Judgement Day!

The reality of life is that every day is a judgement day for all humans!

Simply put, people will always judge you, no matter what.

No matter how good you morally are, or bad, or high in the social status, or low, or on any other scale, the judgement is never over.

There is never getting rid of it.

The only thing to do is to avoid that judgement and focus on yourself. That takes a lot, a lot of practice, calling out yourself when it starts to affect you and then get back on track again.

But, said that, the outcome is that much beautiful, because it also helps when you feel more calmer, and more freer with your choices and decisions, that now you can truly take for yourself.

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.

Salt according to taste

If you are ever following a recipe while cooking, ond of the things that’s common in all recipes is, add the salt according to your taste.

No one says how much, even though they have the exact measurements for everything else.

But that exact analogy applies to life as well! No matter how much you learn and no matter how much experience you have and whether you have all the ingredients for your financial success or your professional success or your personal growth, ultimately the energy that you’re investing and/or the time that you’re alloting to everything will decide its outcome, based differently for each individual.

There’s no fixed allotted time for anything to be successful or to have a good outcome, on the contrary, its based on each one’s “taste” – what they think is right according to them.

And that will eventually decide the fate of your work, just how that amount of salt you put in decides the taste of your dish.

Are you ready or are you waiting?

What’s the simple difference between being ready for something versus waiting for something to happen?

When you wait for something to happen, you keep waiting for it to happen.

When you are ready for something to happen, you are ready for it to happen.

Read that once more and let it sink in.

Made fun of

I have been made fun of for
– eating healthy
– eating vegetarian food
– sleeping early
– building my habits and lifestyle
– creating content
– my looks
Mostly everything about my life.

And such similar comments are passed on for every individual, from their friends or family or whoever.

What should such people do?

Let those who find joy in such things enjoy themselves, that’s the only source of joy for them. But for you, these things shouldn’t trouble you or deviate you from the path you’re on, you do you and what’s best for you.

—x—

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The other side of luck

All of us have our journeys, our goals, our path on which we are currently walking! There’s something on our minds that we want to achieve – either an accomplishment of a task or checking off a goal.

Although, when things don’t work out, we are disappointed, we are in deep thoughts of the reasons why it didn’t work out, we ponder over our decisions and if we could do it all over again!

However, what if life had other plans for us? What if that path wasn’t the right one for you? What if things not working out was a stroke of luck?

That is what Dalai Lama has said, “Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”

Of course, you can’t sit around and think of the ‘What Ifs’, but you can have a positive perspective over life that maybe things didn’t work out for the right reasons and maybe you need to walk another path to reach where you want to be.

To clarify, you might know your true calling but the path you thought was right may not have been the right one, which is why things didn’t work out the way you expected them to; and now it’s time to revisit that and think how you could do it differently…

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Not Trying

When you look back at your journey, you realize the number of things you didn’t try in your life, probably because you thought you’d fail at it.

The concept of failure took over your mind in such a way, that you couldn’t think of anything else, but that. Failure meant a negative thing, something that shouldn’t happen. So if the odds aren’t in your favour, then why do it?

But, on the contrary, it’s more of a mindset thing. When you stop thinking of failure and its consequences that are set by the Society, you can start trying.

“I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan

When you put in the efforts, that means you tried, you experimented, you enjoyed, without thinking of the outcome. That is not in your control, but trying out something is.

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You are not always you

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.

You don’t have to be the same you. Especially if you don’t like that version of you. Or even when you have a hunger to improve yourself and rise yourself to a higher version.

However, that change has to be brought onto yourself by you alone, you’re in charge.

But more importantly, everything from your mindset, to your perspective and lifestyle, to your habits, each and everything about you can be changed. Nothing is constant, nothing is permanent. You are not always you.

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What if my calculations go wrong?

We sometimes calculate something to the point. We plan for something in such a detailed and in such a minute manner, that we feel that since we have planned out everything, it’s going to be a success and it’s going to turn out exactly as we have imagined it.

And yet sometimes these plans don’t work out. Sometimes these calculations turn out to be wrong and sometimes it happens because we did something wrong and sometimes it happens because of circumstances which were unaccounted for.

Talking about wrong calculations, of course being wrong is a major issue. But that is something that we can control, that is something that is within us that, we can think about, we can ponder upon, that we can work on, but it’s the unaccounted circumstances that derail the entire process, that make those calculations wrong that ultimately proves us wrong.

When our calculations go wrong or basically, when our plans go wrong, or haywire, we have a choice when we think that why is this happening to me? How could I not see it beforehand? How could I not predict this? How could I not account for this?

You could dwell about what has happened and what could have happened differently, or the second option is to not think about the unaccounted circumstances, whatever it is. Let it happen. Let the plan go haywire, but You should be ready as an individual that no matter what comes your way, no matter what happens, whether everything is going according to your plan or not, you will adapt to the situation.

Irrespective of whether you could predict it beforehand, or the fact that you didn’t factor it in before, you will adapt to it and work around whatever is then happening. That is the mindset that you should have.

Most of our calculations are going to go wrong in our lifetime. Most of our plans are going to go haywire. But what are you going to do about it? Think about it, think of the mindset you currently have versus what you should have.

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How do you face the difficult moments in life?

All of us face difficult moments in our life every now and then. Some are able to cruise through these moments, some are able to face it head-on, and for some they don’t know what to do in such moments and for them it becomes a setback.

How do you face the difficult moments in your life? It rather is a difficult question to answer, and moreover its quite a contextual one. Also, the difficulty varies in each and every moment.

When you study the successful people for any of the fields, you notice that when they face such difficult moments in their lives, it is their response towards these moments that determine the results of those moments. If there is one thing that can be established, it is that everyone faces these moments of difficulty. But, it is our response towards them that determines how difficult those moments really are.

If you are ready to face them head-on, if you have already prepared yourself, then it could be perceived as a level 1 or level 2 difficulty and you can easily cruise through it.

But if you are not aware of these difficulties, if you don’t know what to do, if you haven’t prepared yourself, if you aren’t ready for it, and if such a moment arises, then it can become a level 5, level 6 difficulty where you don’t know what to do and it really becomes difficult for you to power through these moments.

So technically, it is how you respond which makes this moment difficult or not and to become ready for such situations is when you have to keep evolving yourself, keep improving yourself, overall in your personal life as well as in the sector that you are professionally working in.

In each of those individual fields, you have to keep preparing yourself and improving yourself, learning new things, studying the people from those fields, studying the people who have become successful in those fields, who have done really well in their personal life as well understand the problems that they have faced, how did they face them, what were the solutions that they came up with?

And when you study all of these things, when you learn new things, when you are constantly on the path of growing yourself, you are able to evolve yourself into someone who is able to face these moments. No matter on what level of difficulty they are on. And once you get the hang of it, then not every moment is as difficult as the previous one.

Now you are making yourself more and more ready to face these moments and it then becomes easier for you to just carry on and move on to the other things in your life and to move forward and that now depends up to you.

How do you want to face these moments? How do you want to perceive these moments of your life and whether you want to cruise through or not?

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A pat on the back

Whatever we do in life, whatever we aspire to do, there is always some need within us for a pat on the back and we usually seek it from a family member or a close friend or a mentor.

We look for this pat on the back every time we do something, everytime we achieve something and these are the kind of external appreciations or external validations we look for.

And in recent times this has even shifted to social media where people are constantly looking for instant gratification.

In the constant lookout for this appreciation that we get after doing something and every time we achieve a minor victory, we are programming ourselves to get such constant pats on the back and to get that validation hit each and every time to tell ourselves we are on the right track.

When we don’t get it is when we rethink our current steps, when we rethink our choices, when we think whether we are doing the right thing or not.

How about shifting from that approach? How about appreciating yourself first for everything that you do? With the amount of work put in, the efforts put in, shouldn’t you appreciate yourself first for all of that?

Why not take out a minute of your day just rethink everything that you did today and give yourself a pat on the back? That will give you the biggest boost that you might need, the biggest confidence booster and the inspiration that you were looking for. And now you have got your own back, now you don’t need anyone else and anything that you do receive will now be a bonus for you and nothing else.

That is a better approach for you instead of constantly being on the lookout for others to do this for you. Just think about everything you are and everything you do and just appreciate yourself for what you have done.

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A/B Learning

When you pick a particular topic, does everyone speak the same thing at the end of the day? Can you then choose only one person to listen and avoid the rest of everyone who is in that sector?

When you carefully look at everything that is shared and spoken, you realize how all of it is different to each individual, maybe the crux of it could be relatable but every person has their own point of view, their perspective of looking at things, their own approach to the topic, moreover their added experience along with their mistakes and their learning. And these are just some of the factors to mention.

It’s only when you go in-depth, and when you carefully observe, and when you truly want to learn, is when you learn to understand the differences between A and B and what can you take away from both of them and use to your advantage.

So, the next time you reach a stage where you feel, have I learned enough and is there more to learn, look closely because there always is.

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Prioritizing your Tasks

All of us, on a day to day basis, have a ton of tasks to do. Those tasks could be at home tasks, or related to work, or growth, or learning, or anything else that you have to do.

And what usually ends up happening is, you get to tick off some of them at the end of the day, some were left off in the middle and some had to be postponed or delayed for the future.

Does that happen to you as well?

How can you then priortize your tasks and see to it that you do all of them?

Well the secret is, to priortize them based on the level of importance to you.

What do you feel is so important that it has to be done right now. And when you plan your tasks in that manner, then you can do everything that was urgent for you and those that you had to do right now.

Also, to add to that, the fewer tasks you plan everyday, the more you can check at the end of the day. You can only do so much in the time you’re awake, then why not just schedule a few tasks rather than planning a ton of them, only to delay them for the next day and the next day and to then get disappointed that you’re not able to check off the things you had to do.

Having fewer things to do and to do them in the order of how important they are to you is how you prioritize your day, your life and make sure each day you’re able to do as much as you can.

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The more you learn, the more you evolve

Any individual cannot evolve with the amount of knowledge or expertise that they already have, with the kind of perspective they already have.

With what they currently have, they are already performing how they should and would.

In order to evolve, in order to take yourself to the next level, one needs to learn.

The power lies in learning, where one would expand their perspective and look beyond what they already know and understand. In learning, comes knowledge and expertise too.

Then comes evolution of themselves, and humanity in general too.

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Putting a full stop at the end of a sentence

At the end of a sentence, there could be a full stop, or a comma and you could continue the sentence further more, or you could even put three dots and continue it further to the next line.

You could also break that sentence without ending it, by putting a semi colon.

That choice is with the one who’s writing it and with what intent are they writing.

The similar case is with our life as well.

Any dream we have, any plans we take action on, it is we, who choose to put that full stop at the end of that sentence.

When do you want to put a full stop, whether you’d like to put one or not, or add one of the alternatives.

No one can decide that for you, no person, no government, no place – that power is only within your mind to do so.

Once that power is realized, then you can take any and all action accordingly – having full control of your life and what you do with that life.

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Others & You

Others win in life. So do you.
Others make mistakes. So do you.
Others do something wrong. So do you.

In life, we are always ready to point fingers at someone else, blame someone else, compare with someone else, and we are just not ready to take a look at ourself.

What are you doing? What mistakes are you making? What good are you doing? For yourself and for others?

Instead of just talking and thinking of others, their success, their failure, their mistakes, their right and wrong, its time we step up and look at ourselves first.

Check whether we are doing right before correcting someone else. Check whether our behaviour is right, before correcting someone else’s.

Time and again, everytime it’s others this, others that. And it just never ends. Now its time for you and you alone.

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Is Failure the end of the World?

How many times has failure rocked your ship and made you lose momentum of you steering that ship?

Quite often, when we fail (at anything), we feel broken, we feel shattered, there’s an end of the world feeling attached to it.

When it hits, it hits rock bottom – thinking there’s no tomorrow.

What we need to rather change is
– our perspective and thought process towards it,
– understand what failure is saying that maybe you didn’t do it the right way, or
– maybe it doesn’t come that easily, you need to try harder, or
– you need to try it another way, or
– maybe you still have time to succeed.

That doesn’t mean you stop trying or you give up. With time and experience, you understand that failure is not the end, but the beginning, it’s a stepping stone filled with learning. You find more ways to do that certain something, to succeed, to move forward, to learn from what happened, to learn the takeaways and apply it to your life and everything that you do.

Failure is not the end of the world!

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When you’re doing it for yourself, then there’s no time limit

Deadlines haunt us in the past, present, and future. They create a panic within us, making us overthink, sometimes makes us take shortcuts and moreover, make us focus on the outcome than the process.

Where does this urgency come from? Quite often, it originates from pride or ego, when you have got to prove something or you find the need to be better than someone else. Another aspect of this urgency comes when you’re on someone else’s timeline.

However, when you truly do something for yourself, no strings attached, then there’s no pressure, there’s no timeline.

It originates from a place just because you want to do it. No external circumstances. No shortcuts. No ego. No pride. No urgency. More focus on the process and enjoying it.

When you’re doing it for yourself, then there is no need for a timeline, as long as you enjoy that investment you’re putting in. As long as you want to put in that investment.

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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.

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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.
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Your body is not Automatic

Most people live their life, in a way, as if there are no consequences.

Eat what they want, when they want, drink what they want, when they want, have an abnormal routine, have no respect for sleep, or no patience to relax.

The most usual understanding is that the body will take care of it.

Or rather, if I don’t feel anything unusual, then why should I do to change anything.

And the same people then wonder how and why do mild illnesses occur from time to time, why do they feel bloated, or why do they feel depressed? Why are certain diseases occurring later on in their lifetime?

Well, for one, it’s all connected. Everything that you do has an influence on your bodily functions.

Every wrong step you take, that doesn’t benefit the mind and body, they have to internally deal with it, without you feeling anything externally, in the present.

Your body is not a automatic machine that will keep the good and get rid of the bad, but becomes a result of your actions.

Everything that you do now, has a result on your body, either now or in the near future or in the long-term, but the result is assured. Whether good or not, depends on how you treat your body.

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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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Self Improvement is never Over

On the path to self-improvement, you have chosen to consciously improve yourself and become a better version of yourself.

The more you reflect and become aware of yourself, the more you realize how much and where can you improve at.

After becoming aware of something, then understanding it and implementing it and making a part of your lifestyle, you also realize the deeper you go, how many more layers are there to peel.

Layer after layer, version after version, there’s always something to improve, to become better at, and that is the journey of self improvement.

Such a journey may sound tedious, or long, but rather, is an enjoyable one, one that keeps you on your toes, one that constantly helps you better yourself and indeed make your life better.

This journey of self-improvement is never over.

—x—

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Productive Guilt

As productive as we want to be, as disciplined as we want to be, as focused as we want to be, in our day to day lives, sometimes we want to relax as well.

Sometimes we want to take a break.

But in some instances, even when everything is planned and scheduled and prepared for, sometimes we are not able to execute.

At such instances, we feel guilty. Guilty of not being productive. Guilty of wasting our time. Guilty of not doing anything.

That is what I call the productive guilt.

It is something that is negative for us, makes us feel bad about ourselves, creating negative emotions within, criticizing ourselves.

But, why feel the guilt at all?

Why not create a balance?

Why not take a break in between hours, days, and weeks and months?

Why force yourself to be productive at the moment when you’re not feeling it? Because when you’re feeling it, when you’re all in, then there’s no stopping you.

Instead of feeling the guilt, it’s more about understanding your emotions, more about scheduling your day and your life in general, knowing what you want and when you want it, and then acting accordingly.

Something like this removes the guilt, lets us be in the moment, and enjoy life too.

—x—

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Be Your Own Audience

This is not about content creation. This is not about marketing, nor Branding. This is about that and everything else about you, your life.

The words that you speak, how you communicate to others, your deeds, your actions, your behavior, online and in person – this is about everything.

Be your own audience.

Whether you like it or not.

Whether this is how you’d want someone to be with you or not.

Whether this is how you’d want someone to behave with you, or speak with you in this manner, or to act in such a way with you, or not.

What do you think? Are you your own audience? Isn’t this a better perspective to have, to understand things? To understand how you react, how you behave, what should you change, what is good about you, all of these questions now get answered when you have a perspective like this.

Before changing someone else or criticizing someone else, we should first check how we are with them and whether that needs change or criticism or not.

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Everything looks difficult

Everything looks difficult when you haven’t started.

You don’t know what it takes, what’s the process, what it entails, nothing.

But, it’s only when you take that first step, mixed with patience and constant practice, do you then realize how that difficulty was in your mind, but not in reality.

We created this image in our mind of how difficult it would be, or even something that we may have heard of.

But when we started it, we realized that we were made for it, we can do it, and its all good.

Most of the battles are won and lost in our minds, and this is just that.

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The first step is awareness

Whether you want to accept change or not, whether you to stay the same or not, whether you want to be in control or not, the first step is always awareness.

The first step towards anything about life.

That is awareness.

Only when you’re aware, can you then try to understand it, and then implement it.

Until you aren’t aware of it wholly, you can never get to the second step and put your all into it.

And awareness doesn’t mean having half information about it. No. It means diving into the process and wanting to know everything that you can.

So, now after understanding the schematics, you can control your next few steps and ultimately bring that change you were looking forward to.

Whether to your personal life, or your professional life, or the impact onto others, anything and everything first starts with awareness.

—x—

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Judge, Jury and Executioner

In life, no matter where you are, on the financial scale or the social scale, or any other scale for that matter, whether any other individual knows you 1%, 5%, or 50%, you’re going to get judged at every point of your life.

There’s going to be a jury, people around you, keeping a lookout at everything you do and probably compare that with someone else.

And in the form of executioner, you have got your laws, government, and media, the external things that have an impact on your life.

But, you can change it all around, if you wish to, and without letting anything affect you, be in control of your life, be the judge, jury and executioner of your own life.

It all starts with you. Your job is to focus on yourself, your path and not on anything else and not let anything else hinder your life decisions.

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Walking the path alone

Understanding who we are, what we truly want, or rather how do we want to live our lives, reflecting upon our choices and decisions and mistakes, learning from them, upgrading your life to a better version than before – all of it happens when you walk the path alone.

No one can save us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We must walk the path alone. – Buddha

Walking the path doesn’t mean to get rid of people around you, but it means that now you won’t rely on anyone for anything, won’t blame anyone for anything, take complete responsibility, know what’s in your control and accordingly focus on your life path and your journey ahead.

Then, it is us, ourselves, without any pressure, or society outlook, or without any comparisons or judgments or opinions, focusing on our life alone and focusing on making it better.

That happens when you walk the path alone.

—x—

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What you Eat

Right from what we eat to when we eat and how much we eat is something that’s either followed by tradition or media manipulation.

Tradition involves ancient, timeless wisdom, foods that come from mother earth, which benefit the mind, body, and soul.

Media manipulation involves stories that melt your heart, advertising that creates cravings and scientific experiments that make the food pop in your mouth.

But, that’s not all. An understanding of food is something that everyone needs to have, in order to have a good today and a good tomorrow.

What we eat affects your

– gut

– inflammation in the body

– immune system

– cells in the body

– energy levels

– emotions

– body alkalinity

When we understand how a certain food item affects your body, you automatically feel the need to remove it from your system, irrespective of how it tastes and how long you’ve been eating it for.

Also, note how I haven’t referred to body weight in the points above, as that is an outcome of irregularities in the above points.

You eat the right way to maintain your gut health, to keep your body alkaline and keep your body inflammation in check, to keep your immune system strong.

Losing weight is a by-product of a good lifestyle, which also allows to eat all the good things, without compromising on anything.

—x—

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Every Experience

Some experiences are good for you, and for some, the outcome isn’t. But, every experience has something to teach. In most cases, it’s only in hindsight that we realize that, and we understand and learn from it. But, even if we don’t, what we must know that every experience plays a part in moulding in, in improving us, in evolving us.

What we are today, is because of every experience we have had in our lives. These experiences play a part in your behavior, your habits, your thoughts, that voice in your head, your work, basically everything.

When we understand that, don’t you think it’d be better to look back at every experience with a different perspective, try to derive some learning from it, if it wasn’t a good one, what can you still take away from it. Everything helps you at a later point in time, and we aren’t even aware of it right now.

Even listening to this podcast episode is an experience for you, which might change something for you, somewhere down the line, either consciously or sub-consciously. Every experience matters. Every experience has some learning. Every experience affects our life.

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Avoiding Questions

Do you remember the school days when the teacher used to ask, if you have any questions and even if you did have one, you wouldn’t ask because of what others would think of you.

Well, those same people are carrying the torch on social media as well, who don’t open up thinking what would others think.

If you have something to say or share, go right ahead. Give yourself the permission and open up, ask if you want to ask, share if you want to share, you have the entire world in your hand (smartphone).

—x—

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Attention Scarcity

In a time where all the information and entertainment and escapism and social connection is available on your smartphone, constantly in our hands and available within the second, what it is costing us is our attention.

That attention is scare and not unlimited.

Choose whom you give your attention to because that attention is linked with your time and your time is your number one asset.

So, choose where your goes attention goes and whether it is adding anything to your life or not.

You may not want to completely get rid of it, but you can sure limit that certain something.

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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.

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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.

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8 Yoda Learnings

Whether its the Star Wars universe, or the Marvel universe, or even films in general, only when you look closely do you realize the lessons that can be learnt beyond the fiction and the story.

And when it comes to Star Wars, and Master Yoda in particular, you already know that there’s wisdom in what he says.

Thinking about that, here are eight Yoda quotes that we can learn from and actually apply to our lives as well.

1. “If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will.”

– the dark path is easy to understand, easy to rely on because everyone else is at fault there and not you. When you condition yourself to thinking that, every thought of yours goes only in one direction – the dark side.

2. “Pass on what you have learned.”

– the best impact is created when you pass on your learning and your knowledge onto others, when you share your experience with others. They’re able to learn from your journey and implement it in their lives.

3. “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. Hate leads to Suffering.”

– what we fear is what we don’t control, we don’t know the outcome of. That fear leads to anger, thus leading to the negative side of life, filling your life with hate and suffering.

4. “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”

– that what you’re attached to is where your thoughts and feelings, and moreover your weaknesses lie. When you let go of it, you are now not dependent on anything else.

5. “You must unlearn what you have learned.”

– in order to grow, in order to learn, in order to move forward, you cannot learn anything new unless you unlearn the old. Understanding what affects you poorly and getting rid of it gives way to the new.

6. “Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.”

– every child at their age is carefree, thinking beyond what they’re told to do, reading between the lines, seeing the gray in black and white, until their mind becomes conditioned to what the rest of the society is. When we become that again, we are able to be ourselves, and be present in the moment too.

7. “Heeded my word not, did you? Pass on what you have learned – strength, mastery. But, weakness, folly, failure, also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is.”

– while the quote is similar to the previous one, that talks of teaching and this of failure, both spoken in two different scenarios, both having different meanings.

Whilst you should pass on your learnings ahead, you must not only share your successes and triumphs, but also your failures, because there lies the biggest lesssons that made you who you are. Those successes have come from failures, which we must not hide from.

8. “Do, or do not. There is no try”

– either you have set your mindset that you will do something or you have decided that you won’t do something. Anything else creates a doubt in your mind, which creates this hesitation of your decision. Be stern with what you decide and then stick with it.

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There are tons of lessons to learn from Yoda and from the Star Wars universe too, but these were worthy of a highlight according to me, which we can focus on, for now.

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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.
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Ask yourself what is wrong

A lot of times, when something is going wrong in our lives, we start wondering what is even going wrong.

And to add to that, our perspective doesn’t seem to align to someone else’s point of view to understand what is wrong.

What can you do then, in such a scenario?

Can you continue to be wrong?

Or do you want to correct yourself?

How we live clouds our judgement of thinking making us think that all we do is right and nothing can be wrong.

You’re not able to entertain another person’s point of view to change this perspective.

At such times, you need to ask yourself what is wrong, what can be wrong, what can I do differently?

You need to look at yourself in a third person’s shoes, look at your situation from a third perspective – understand how it looks from that scenario, what someone else would’ve done vs what you’ve done.

Often, looking at situations from a third perspective helps to right our wrongs. And only because we aren’t able to change our thinking, our approach or even knowing that we could be wrong too.

Asking yourself what can be wrong changes those things.

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Your off time

How you schedule your time, not just on a daily basis, but on a basis of how much you do vs when you take a break is very important in your life.

Your time is basically divided into your off time and your go time.

Go time is basically when you’re doing something/ working on or towards something.

Your off time is your break, your relaxation time, which is a part and parcel of your life, that goes along with your go time.

It’s important because if you squeeze your off time into something which drains you, then you won’t be ready during your go time, which thus affects everything else as well.

Maintaining that balance helps you to prosper in both the regions of your life, running in your go time, and staying still in your off time.

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In others’ shoes

When we see ourselves from our perspective, everything seems right.

Every step we take, every decision we make, it’s all the right ones.

However, when our worldview is limited, is when we don’t understand how what we do may affect someone else.

How would they perceive it, how would they feel.

Putting yourself in another person’s shoes is the best thing anyone can do, to improve everything about themselves, especially their relationships.

Look at that particular scenario from your lens, from their lens, from a third eye basically and then understand how it is perceived. When this is done, can you then expand your perspective as well as everything about you.

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My top 10 blogs of 2020

Having done a blog every day, around the topics of mindset, self-improvement, life, marketing, movies and so much more, a daily blog allows me to touch upon a number of topics, discover new learnings, go in-depth with what I already know and share that in a language that is understandable.

But, 365 blogs in 365 days is something I’m not sure anyone can read. Some topics interest some people, some to none at all and then there are some who read more than usual.

Nonetheless, as the year comes to an end, I thought why not pick a few of the blogs that I, personally felt, provided the most value out of all.

So, here are my top 10 blogs of 2020 –

A. Do you wear Shoes?

Read here – https://rth24.com/2020/01/15/do-you-wear-shoes/

B. Want vs Should

Read more – https://rth24.com/2020/06/25/want-vs-should/

C. 5 Positives and 1 Negative

Read about it here – https://rth24.com/2020/03/09/5-positives-and-1-negative/

D. How to find your Passion?

Check it out here – https://rth24.com/2020/01/20/how-to-find-your-passion/

E. What happens when you write daily?

Curious to find out? Read here – https://rth24.com/2020/06/30/what-happens-when-you-write-daily/

F. Limited by Boundaries

Read here – https://rth24.com/2020/07/29/limited-by-boundaries/

G. What constitutes the inner voice?

Read more here – https://rth24.com/2020/11/02/what-constitutes-the-inner-voice/

H. What do you want from social media?

Read more here – https://rth24.com/2020/12/02/what-do-you-want-from-social-media/

I. 5 Lessons to learn from ‘Scam 1992 : The Harshad Mehta Story’

Check it out here – https://rth24.com/2020/11/20/5-lessons-to-learn-from-scam-1992-the-harshad-mehta-story/

J. 2020 Learnings that will last for a lifetime

Read here – https://rth24.com/2020/11/24/2020-learnings-that-will-last-for-a-lifetime/

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I wish I could mention more, but those top ten is what I think, according to me, are my top 10 blog posts of the year, 2020 that provided the most value than the other 355 blogs I wrote this year.

I would love for you to check out the other posts as well, and drop a comment if you relate to or find value in any.

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The funny thing about Responsibility

The funny thing about responsibility is that no one takes it. People will bring legality, morality, ethics into the picture, but won’t step up and take responsibility.

Not taking responsibility is how you thrive in a capitalistic economy. There’s one goal and nothing else. Then there are stories created, emotions formed, in order to sell. Irrespective of whether it’s needed or not, or whether it’s good for humanity or for the environment or not.

Only when someone becomes responsible can they then understand their impact on others. Then you don’t have to scam anyone, you will do it with a certain responsibility on your shoulder, you will do it for humanity, and for the planet.

Until that doesn’t come by yourself, no morals, no ethics, and no law is going to save anyone.

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Taking a Step Back

Sometimes the solutions to the most difficult problems are really simple.

But, being in the driving seat, we don’t realize this. With a rush to solve our problems, we go on a path, head-on introducing more problems than before.

And more problems start piling up. In this turmoil, we don’t know what to do and we blame everything else around us, but ourselves.

Instead, a better option is to take a step back, observe and analyze everything. Perceive everything from a third eye and then execute your next move.

Now you’re prepared. Now you know what to do.

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Learning beyond Academics

Most think that, once the academic education is done, their learning is complete and they have everything they need.

Is that the case though?
In order to upgrade your skills, in order to be updated with your field, you need to constantly keep learning and evolving.

This, obviously applies as a whole to your personal life, there’s no doubt about it. However, it applies to your professional life as well, your field of work.

You don’t have to drop everything to do it. With the advancement of technology, you have more access to experts than ever. Whether in terms of courses, or webinars, you are now able to constantly learn and improve and evolve.

Do you want to, is a choice that you have.

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Acknowledge before Appreciate

Will you go out of your way to acknowledge the help you might have received from someone, unknowingly?

Appreciate it too, but first, acknowledge.

Knowingly or unknowingly, someone may have helped you on your path of life, that help might have changed something for you. Whether you acknowledge it and reach out to that individual and convey it, describes how secure you’re about yourself.

Some feel the other might get an upper hand over them, so why develop such a scenario? Why not just play dumbstruck and take advantage?

When you feel insecure about yourself, is when you cannot make another person feel better. And in the opposite scenario, when you feel secure, and when you receive help and it brought change, is when you feel grateful, you reach out and acknowledge and appreciate that help.

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