To a healthier better me – My birthday resolutions

I am a big big girl, in this big big world, its (any issue) not a big big thing, come on bring it on to me..

Happy Birthday

Yeah , it’s my birthday week . he he he 🙂  I usually celebrate my birthday the whole week. So now that I have stepped on to the second quarter of my life , or to say I am crossing mid twenties/late twenties and rushing towards 30s  but instead of focusing on anti-ageing treatments to disguise my age , I am putting my energies to a very obvious thing that unfortunately I had been ignoring from long time.

Family, friends, long lost friends, colleagues, acquaintances, well wishers, everyone showed their immense love on my birthday. They wished me happiness, prosperity and good health. I have been saying this on my blogs over and over again, but yeh ! I am confessing even I have tendency to walk over it (bad bad girl). I am blessed I always get cooked ready to serve – excuses to put my health not on top priority.

Well, I’ll be honest; it’s not that I’m not capable of committing and following through – anything that I have decided for myself. I don’t bind myself with point to point resolutions, but it’s too easy to slip in my comfort zone crushing my all healthy thinking’s 😦 . I am going to experience a 360 degree turn soon in my life (keep guessing 😉 ) transitions have already started then why not fixing my health status.

Being a woman, I sincerely apologize; I am adding few more vanity (mind, body and soul) changes in my resolution cart.

Here I am  with my resolution cart :

1. To take good care of my health

a)      Go for 30 min walk or meditation.

I love morning walks. I am sad I am not going for them due to all the stupid reasons I can think of. But from this morning, I am back in action.

b)      Will have proper 3 meals a day.

I am not going to try to have a proper diet, I can’t afford trying. I will do it.

c)      To have 6 hours of sleep a day.

I can see, people who know me smirking (and also those who can see the time of the post). I am an insomniac. This will be a fight but I want to win sleepily , else one day will come when I will be called as zombie . (Currently, they have termed as ghost)

d)     To take my medicines on time.

I am not that ill, that I have to take so many medicines daily. But whatever I need to take (multivitamins, calcium, iron tablets, pain killers etc etc) , I will have them on time. Already, placed a daily alarm.

e)      Start my day with lemon and honey in warm water.

Ya, ya I want to lose those stubborn inches. Do you know how bad it feels , when you have a Van Heusan dress in your wardrobe from last 11 months (price tag freshly enacted) and you try it every Saturday morning , just to say ‘I wish I could look better’ L

2. Do something that I love to.

I love to write. I love to dance. Writing and dancing is being in trance form for me. Need to come over my mood swings –  write/dance. Need to vent out my anger – write/dance. Need to express my happiness – write/dance. I know I am not regularly blogging but tweeting. I am trying to be active on blog again. Coming to dancing, what gratifies me – locked my room, dim lights , loud music dancing in front of mirror , just like that.

3. Crop the cribbings

I do sometimes crib, human tendency please don’t judge me. Thanks. Every day is a new day , every moment is a new moment, every situation is a new situation.. Face them , live them, embrace them. Life is a bed of roses but with some thorns. Once pinched by the thorn tip immediately turn to the softness of roses, don’t stay there and start cribbing the thorn , better to confine into the softness of roses.

4. Keep my wardrobe organized.

Don’t want to waste precious morning minutes in finding what to wear and then iron them , uff , I do need to fix this bad habit.

5. Not to say ‘I am busy’

There was a time, when friends always taunt me because I am always ‘busy’. Credits to last few weeks, I am actually busy (oops I said that , I am sorry).I am not liking this , feeling totally burn out. I am daily struggling to manage my just 24 hour day. The way I am moving with life (can’t dare to say growing with life) I feel I would never be free from schedule madness until I will be comfortable taking responsibility of ‘my time’. No one is going to beat me for declining meetings. Being busy is not cool !

So where does this list will leave me? I believe in results, I am sure I will be sticking to above mentioned resolutions (fingers crossed)

Life is short, though I wish to live 100 years. I want to make this life worth living every moment. No walking away from greatest life episodes. Not to miss any single moment to say thanks /sorry / love you. Do something that I am proud of , in my signature style.

Cheers, to a better , wiser, more organized, more energized, new freshen one more year older me … happie birthday 🙂

Thank you everyone, hugs and kisses. Stay Blessed

Saakshi

Related articles

• It’s my birthday! A writing challenge. (anexerciseindiscipline.com)

Ladies manifesto

Image Source : Google Images

The Passive Agressive Manifesto

 

Image Source : Google Images

7 steps towards a happier you

Ever wonder few good habits can make you walk the aisle of happiness?

I am a wanderer, restless, person who is in continuous search of finding the other, the better, the happier side of me. I promised myself that this year (2012), I will take care of myself at the highest priority. This is my bit ……

Follow these 7 steps to lead a happy, satisfied life.

 

Step 1 : Sleep .

We have our jobs to do , we have our social life to manage and we also have our family to give some time to. I always try but fail to do all that stuff in 16 hours a day; if I save 8 hours of sleep. So when I am scrambling to meet all these demands, it’s too casual of me to cut down my savings and spend them on never ending to-do lists.

Whatever, you do. Whenever you manage to do. Please DO sleep on time and for at least – 8 hours. I am no doctor who can explain you the benefits/power of sleep or be able to aware you about sleeping disorders; but can request you to think twice on your sleeping habits. Even minimal sleep loss takes a toll on your mood, energy, efficiency, conscious and ability to handle stress.

How frequently you charge your smart phones?

Step 2 : Punctuality

My work is my elixir and punctuality is one of its parameter. Try to be organized and be on time. The more you give respect to time the more you will be stress free. And while working in a service industry, you can imagine the demons of deadlines and meetings.

My mom always tell me since my childhood , to do things on time otherwise I will forget (short term memory loss 🙂 ), don’t have any clue what’s the source but I still follow this. Organize your work and prioritize it, believe me you won’t forgot those small notes , files ,no missing attachments in e-mails , and interestingly not even your lunch.

Remember, Intime , when time is currency.

Step 3 : Music

Let me clarify to all those, who don’t skip any chance to scold me when I listen loud music with earphones on (oh by the way they are always on , even now!) I know it may lead to health issues. Music helps me to focus, and freshen up, inspires me and sometimes it’s the only thing that gives me a company when I am alone. Music is Sanity.

So let me rephrase – Music is the secret of my energy.

Step 4: Walk

I love it and those who know me can swear on my stamina. Walk few steps for your life. They will give you the time you always wanted for yourself. Even doctors say walk 10,000 steps a day are actually steps to a healthier life. For my lazy days, I take bus no 11 to get back to my place.

A walk to , remember !!

Step 5: Show gratitude

“Thank you”. You may have no idea what these two words can do to someone , your kind words of appreciation can make their day , give them a new hope , make them smile.

 Recall the vedio of “Kuch to hua hai” from Kal Ho Na Ho.

Thank you all for being with me till here , I am left with only 2 steps now 🙂

Step 6 : Strangers

Gone are the days when they say, don’t interact with strangers. We have twitter now. A simple # (Shift + 3, simple isn’t) can connect you to the ‘strangers’ with similar concerns. Be honest, don’t you like when someone from other part of the world retweet (RT) yours or reach you with a solution? Similar with facebook likes and shares.

Try coming out of this virtual world and interact strangers in real. Helping someone with the route, crossing the road or to park the car will surely bring a smile on their face as well as yours.

Some sort of my inner gratification.

Step 7: Peace

Have you ever thought of spending few minutes with yourself? Peace is something we all long for. I am NOT advocating listening music, or reading a book or watching a television, by peace I mean do nothing and relax silently.

For me late nights are wonderfully tranquil.  No phone calls, no interruptions. I like the feeling of knowing that nobody is trying to reach me at that hour.

Inner peace will bring the positive vibe to keep you happy as long as you wish !

Related articles

• Gain Control Over Sleeping Disorders (everydayhealth.com)
• Love yourself  (saakshinagpal.wordpress.com)
• Thankyou Thanks giving Day (saakshinagpal.wordpress.com)

Stay Happy,

Saakshi

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I See

My Toastmasters Speech – Project 2

I See

Seen people with spectacles? –

Fancy frames thick / thin lenses.

Well, there are so many like this in this room, even I am wearing my secondary eyes. You must be thinking simply how silly the question was!

Never mind, we all know an optician makes these spectacles, based on test results either done by himself or a qualified eye doctor, in medical terms an optometrist. The idea is to make the person wearing these see with clarity, taking away any lack of appropriate focussedness.

Ladies and gentlemen, greetings for the day, I hope, I wish you all, be in best of your health (coz somehow I am not) , in best of your spirits and on the top having best of your vision.

My question to you is, do we need just clarity of vision?  I consulted my doctor 6 months back and got my numbers corrected. But will these pair of glasses ensure that I will see things correctly, if my mind is filled with prejudice and close mindedness. Will I be able to keep up with the pace with so many intellectual people around, even if I choose to keep a narrow outlook?

The answer is an obvious- NO. This restrictedness of not one’s eye sight but one’s vision distorts ones perception and brings in a refractive error.  

We are all the prisoners of our own perceptions. I have a short story about the results of being locked up behind the bars of worry, doubt and fear or better to say a chained mind of its own perception.

I walked around the counter at Mc Donald’s to get a straw for my drink and found a woman frantically mopping up her spilled coffee. She was using the flimsy tissue paper that was used for wrapping burger so the mopping up process wasn’t working well. I reached for the napkins and started helping her. She looked up in surprise that I had found the napkins saying that she had looked for them but didn’t see them. Her comment was “I couldn’t see.”

She was right. She couldn’t see Why not? Because of her present state of mind, she might have panicked or been in a hurry, and this blocked her vision. She was not able to see the napkins that were kept in plain sight. It was a state of mind of “worry, rush, and fear.”
In the prison of our own perceptions, we can’t see for what we are looking, fear motivates our actions. Each of us has our own personal prison created out of all that we have been taught and accepted about the worldview. Perception does rule!

For example if someone inquires what time it is. My hands rush to my mobile phone. I don’t care that I am wearing a nice watch.

Let’s have another example how many time have you searched for your glasses and found it at place least expected, your head.

 Or what do you think is the reason behind biased political views and favoritism. Many times our upbringing, our thought patterns rule our decision making and views. We behave as if we are not able to see. As a matter of fact, we do not, if our mind is blocked with obstacles.  Many a times, the uniqueness of the system in which we are caught, forces us to see erroneously. Our unsymmetrical upbringing, different backgrounds, may prohibit us from seeing clearly. In the struggle between reality and perception, most of the times, it is the latter that emerges paramount.

Folks,  “Our Perception magnifies things that we believe in”

 Let’s all break out of prison now!

I am a Business Analyst my job is to first ask questions, get the answers and then start working on them.

I have one more question to you. Look at the below picture.

These are two horizontal lines.

Horizontal lines

Which one is longer?

Many of you may find the above one longer. But, you will be surprised to know that, both are equivalent in length.

My perception says, the first denotes the open mind when you are able to see broad horizons and the second, a closed, restricted, narrow mind. So in the end, I am repeating myself, Perception Rules!

Lastly I would get a smile, when someone from the audience says, “I see”, as an acknowledgement of my speech. It’s a relief that we all share same perception J

Dusk (2011) and Dawn (2012)

Hie,

Do you know how does it feel when one of the milestone years of your life is just flying by ? It hurts , I can assure you this ,while I am sobbing 😥 Trust me. Ha ha ha, do I am getting dramatic?

I know this is that time of year when people talk about partying (ah! , they actually party) with family and friends . So this will sound a tad weird, but let me just say it anyway – even in this third season of celebrations (First season : Diwali Celebrations ; Second Seasons : Almost every ‘eligible’ person around getting married; Third season : Christmas and New Year) when everyone is partying and displaying togetherness (mostly for facebook uploads!) . I’m probably having a good appetite for ‘homeliness’.

It all started on one fine day (it’s sad it was one of my loved ones birthday) I got cornered with this horrendous cough. Now it’s been a month, I am (still) heavily and badly coughing, cozying up in quilt in front of idiot box and trying to list down my do-able resolutions for 2012.

When I look back at 2011, it was a milestone, so much done in just a span of 12 months!! Unfortunately lost many friends (no matter how cold I pretend, I am sorry for my loss) and enjoyed company of few gems in my life (ah, m blessed!) and at the end broke 🙂 🙂  (year full of expenses).

A year back in 2010, I was longing for a holiday. I am lucky I was travelling (apart from my weekly trips back home) all around the year. As a kid, I was told that, if you put your mind , body and soul into something , there are pretty much chances that you will achieve. 2010 was the most hectic so I did everything for a holiday. 2011 I was holidaying in Hyderabad, Jim Corbet , Banglore, Rishikesh , Vaishno Devi. This year, I was being low on health part. I wish myself a healthy 2012.

Keeping health in mind, I have now settled on below 2 resolutions (fingers crossed)

• Maintain a routine and be more organized.
• Write and Workout daily.

Perfect timing. I finished everything before midnight 🙂

Countdown has begun and with the clock striking 12 o’clock on December 31^st night, everyone is gearing up to express joy and happiness to welcome 2012. Why should I be  left 🙂

It’s a New Year !!

It’s like a new Sunrise… of Hope, of Prosperity , of Happiness

It’s like new Beginning… of Thoughts, of Words, of Actions

It’s like a new Day… of Energy, of Strength, of Ideas

Its like a Bunch of whole New things..of Prayers, of Friends, and of Love.

Stay Blessed,

Spread happiness,

Saakshi

Fear – A stopage before victory

Image via Wikipedia

We dream of becoming heroes.

We dream to hear large audience’s applause and cheering our names.

We dream to be a star.

We dream of victory.

And, in reality …….

We have sleepless nights.

We hopelessly get anxious over defeat.

We perspire and we are nervous.

And this is when …..

We Fear.

FEAR is an acronym in the English language for “False Evidence Appearing Real”

I too have dreams (a lot of them) and subsequently few fears. What stops me from getting over them and achieve what I want to – is, a sense that people around me might disapprove “what I aim to be”, worst the sense of being embarrassed in front of all.

I fear of public speaking (on a broader spectrum, socializing). And at times think myself as an introvert (which certainly I am not). I stick to my belief that underestimating my potential would be the worst I can do to myself, so, I start digging my mind to find the roots of my hesitation (as I feel I was much active and participated regularly in my school days).I was happy to observe that am bit less of a social person now but duly content with myself. However this ‘solitude’ at times haunts. (Yes! I confess.)

So on my mission to revamp, I am in no mood of entertaining myself with a silly excuse ‘not going to do, because of fear of failure’, which by matter of fact is true and it’s a human tendency. (I v/s myself – on this fight am always on).

Fear is a habit like self pity, defeat, anxiety, despair, hopelessness and resignation. I wish to dump all this junk out of my sacred mind and soul with two simple resolves – I can and I will.

So here I am with a RED – GREEN – YELLOW plan; traffic lights with a twist. (A big round of applause, it’s designed by – “ME”!!). Here goes the plan …

•           RED: – Stop and say HI J(in person, online forums, or on an IM). Idea is to de-sensitize myself at social situations only in a motivating way. Building courage and expanding my comfort, being genuine at the same time.

•           GREEN: – GO! Take THE action. Being motivated is just not enough. Absorbing the positive energy and taking action to bring the change is vital. There are so many wonderful ways to act and am sure they would be bringing gains along with them. Simply take a piece of paper (or open a new word documentJ) and pen down whatever crosses my mind. Motivation is important else it can be hard to get going and knowing actually what needs to be done to bring the change.

•           YELLOW: – Next to motivation and action is FOCUS. Focus on the amazing work to be inspired more and maintain the spark (I usually call it as the ‘charm’).

I know failure will haunt back, at least to someone with a fragile mind set as mine. After all I define fear as a block on one’s mentality and confidence. So here I am with my disguise skills. I plan to disguise my mind by looking at the other side of coin. If I fail, there would be some lesson; it would automatically create room for improvement. Just need to catch it. No one is going to kill me if I fail, it won’t be the end of the world, I will still be alive, very much alive to move on with full energy and inspiration, determined to fight back again. I would not be at square one again. I have achieved something. Earlier I was hesitating to start and now I actually have started!!

I am open to hear what failure needs to tell me because I impatiently want to taste success.

This inspiration comes to me from my niece. She got a beautiful bicycle as her birthday present and also has fear of riding it. But after one or two bruises, she was ready to invite me for a lift and can even bet for a race. If this sweet little kid can do it, then why can’t a grown up mature woman like me can’t do?

I have learnt that an addiction to positivity can lessen the fear in my mind of what might happen in a new, unfamiliar situation or how someone might respond to what I am saying. A negative view of the world can create fear and hold me back.

And if ever I lose motivation, inspiration and focus (cut short, my charm) I will come back to this page, read my own words and be my own motivation. I hope it will work; I can’t let myself down 😉

Friends, wish me luck. I need it ‘coz darr ke aage jeet hai  🙂

Embracing the new

Sometimes people come into our life and we have a hitch that they were meant to be there, to serve some purpose, teach us a lesson, or to help figure out who we want to become. We never know who these people may be. May be a long-lost friend ‘friends’ via Facebook , or a stranger who seems to be always in a hurry each morning standing at the bus stop. But when we notice them, we know that very moment they will affect us in some profound way.

People we met and share success and downfall with, help to create who we are and we want to become.

Strange isn’t it?

When they love, they embrace us, when they hurt or betray, they teach us the importance of trust and hard meaning of being cautious. A moment of love, affection, and care make us calm,composed and confident. It fills our days with joy and happiness. A betrayal makes us cold,frustrated and shocked.

We humans are very sensitive yet we say we are strong and move on easily, knowing deep down that our emotions are fragile. Now, how we know that? We feel compelled to stay on a rigid pre – chosen path for our lives, even if we don’t want to. And why is it so? It revolves around our reclusiveness (which we generously say ‘self defense’), or simply we are afraid to experience something different from our routine.

Embracing the new in life is not about making unwise risks, but about taking chances for the quality of our lives. The new may not bring fame and fortune, but happiness we were longing for.

I read somewhere that people are like onions. Onions!!! Every now and then we have to peel off a layer to reveal a new facet of theirs’ , just to mention with every layer comes the tears , more importantly it adds a critical flavor to everything you do , if you do bad it will stink. Peeling an onion symbolizes new beginnings, afraid of tears but revealing a fresh new skin, ready to take onthe world!!

PS: Give every man thy ear but few thy voice. – Shakespeare.