My Butter Clutter

Last week I thought of going on a “detox” diet (a short term diet focused on removing toxins from your body) out of a suggestion from a friend and a book given by him. I had no clue what it meant to be on a detox diet but the thought sounded quite simple – eating fruits and veggies all day for seven days with lots of water. I figured it couldn’t be that hard given that I am not a meat eater anyway.

Later that week my friend and I decided to go on the detox for seven straight days followed by a one-day starvation day. We ate the best of meals the week before, to ensure we don’t miss good food too much the following week - all this to recover from a really bad stomach that my friend suffered earlier that month.

I had no clue what I was jumping into till I actually did. As one of my life principles go, to not pursue things half-heartedly, I knew if I decided to do it I would follow through it till the end without compromise.

The weekend before the starvation week, I read the book that had details on how to follow the diet. The idea started to scare me a little. The thought of no fries for lunch, no coffee, no bread, rice or milk, no butter, cheese or chocolate, no gelato (and the list goes on) – or in short the idea of no comfort food started to freak me out a little. Moreover the idea of no coffee sounded like something that wouldn’t fit into my routine given that I used to be a coffee addict till a while ago. Though I had considerably cut down my coffee intake, it hadn’t gone down to zero. The medley of all these thoughts started to overwhelm me a little. Nevertheless, I thought I’d try anyway!

The first two days were a nightmare. Really!

I wonder if a non-vegetarian person would ever understand why is it so difficult for a vegetarian to eat only veggies all day to fill in your hunger pangs! How hard can it be for a vegetarian to eat vegetables?! You meat-eaters please your taste buds by eating meat and so eating only veggies might turn out to be a novelty at such times. We vegetarians please our taste buds with some sugar or vegetarian processed food or food which is full of carbohydrates. That’s what keeps us going! You might ask who forces you to be a vegetarian – but no! Look at it as if it is almost a compulsion for us to not eat meat- for whatever reasons, religious or something that your mind doesn’t allow!

So the first two days, I was down with severe headaches and restlessness topped with some irritation. A perfect mix to screw up one’s day! Less productivity at work and horrid temptations seeing the donuts outside my office! 48 hours straight headaches even while I was asleep, I was almost tempted to say “screw this diet!”

But I resisted! And the third day was a breeze. My headaches were gone and I survived.

Though, what came out of the whole thing was the realization that we tend do get so dependent on stuff that we don’t really need. Things that we think we can’t survive without, we perfectly do with a little bit of aggression in the beginning but flawlessly comfortable later on. It is such a reviving experience! And now I can say that I will never need coffee moving on. I can also dare to say I can live without anything by myself.

Our body and mind are way too flexible and we don’t even realize it. They work WITH you in whatever you decide. So if you do decide to love your body and mind, they’ll cooperate completely with a little push back initially, as we all do when we come across any kind of change!

How such experiences mold our thoughts and teach us lessons that we don’t otherwise learn is just so fascinating. And then finally as every lesson applies to life itself so did this. What we really think we’re addicted or habituated to is a myth and the makeup of the mind.

Throw away your addictions! Whatever they are – food, work, smoking, alcohol or a person! You will eventually live happily without anything and anybody! Resist and live the pain and trouble, push back on your invitations and enticements, acknowledge the aches and harassments that come with it and while doing all this have faith in your stunts and you’ll zip it through the air!

And if you’re one of those who don’t really learn lessons without actually living them – then Go Detox!! ;-)

The Jobs Fiesta

As is rightly said “3 apples changed the world - 1st seduced Eve, 2nd fell on Newton and the 3rd was offered to the world half bitten by Steve Jobs”

It was all about putting a dent in the universe forever. A dent that will remain for the rest of the coming generations to cherish and get inspired by, to pursue their dreams and “to live before you die” as was taught by the apple man.

The misfit who didn’t have rules and no respect to the status quo, the man who saw things differently, the troublemaker who did what he believed would change the world and stood uptight till he proved himself right – he was the crazy one.

Such are men who you can glorify or who you can deviate with while they are alive. But what you can’t do is ignore the change they bring – because they change things and push the human race forward. In them we see genius.

And though the world thinks of them as the crazy ones because they think they can change the world – those are the men who really do!

While the Gods have found a new CEO and the Jobs Fiesta on Earth has indeed ended, here’s to the rebel, the crazy one, the true genius – RIP.

Every moment changes

Every time i feel sad or depressed, I wish for that time to come to an end soon.

Every time I feel like someone doesn't understand me, I feel helpless and thoughtless.

How dependent sometimes we get on moments that are defined by situations is so amazing. So much so that we start hoping or expecting them to stay or leave, almost trying to wanting to get a control over life - sadly.

But so many years of learning lessons and many more to come, all of them only restate over and over again reminding me of the age-old "Change is the only constant".

I resonate with that saying today, every day and every minute i feel a certain emotion.

After so much grief, sadness, happiness, pleasure, anxiety, peace and joy - it all finally comes to an end. And every moment changes.

How you feel at a certain time does not last. Good or bad, happy or sad, it won't last and every moment will change. Every moment will be different from what you experience at the moment. And every moment changes regardless of anything else. This alone thought makes me move on from where ever I am in my mind.

Also considering the fact that life is really too long, most moments won't ultimately matter in the bigger picture. Those that matter will be a stepping stone to your destiny and you'll always remember them. Those which won't don't last anyway.

How unfortunate that the same is true for great moments that make us feel elated. They don't last either. Ultimately none of it lasts, whatever you do! And we can't control that change. It all keeps changing.

But what you can control is how you look at the changing time and what you take out of it.

And every time these changing moments shock me, as much as they do, I only say to myself:

A sleep inducing world and Im wide awake

In a thought provoking world, I lie thoughtless

But what more to say to my mind when every thing seems as huge and wide as a mountain range

It is true today and will stay forever, every moment of time in my life will most surely change!

Run-rhythmia

Run that extra mile, run that walk way, run on the treadmill, run where you can! Run! Cause when you can’t you’ll miss it!

Running is the biggest metaphor for living life, it gives you back what you’re ready to put into it. It teaches you to not wait for the end, but to start and to start with courage.

It is one of those very few things that you can do all by yourself. It asks you everyday if you’re ready to be strong or are you going to be a wimp!

Running gives you a rhythm nothing else can. It takes you beyond your estimations of self and throws away all those worn-out beliefs. It teaches us to challenge ourselves, everyday, every mile!

It doesn’t matter where you reach and how fast you reach. What matters is that you’re set on a journey that’ll reach you somewhere and it’ll reach you there at your pace, the pace at which you want to reach and a pace that isn’t forced.

It tells you, that only you have the power to decide how and at what intensity you want to live life with.

Running teaches you to prepare and to trust that the end shall be satisfying. It teaches you that you can go in any direction under your own power. Where ever you reach is what you had planned for and you deserve!

Run faster, run further, run till your lungs let you – for, while you run you take more breaths and live more. Each breath you take while running reminds you that life’s passing by, so live it up as much as you can!

Running inspires you to do more in the short time that we all have, it forces you to face your fears boldly! It gives you the rhythm that you need.

It shows you a miracle that nothing else does, the miracle that you had the courage to start and the miracle that you didn’t care where it ends, the miracle to do your best without worrying where you’ll end up!

Run a little more, run that extra mile, take that extra breath!

To Friends!

A good dinner and some laughter around, some fine light and some cool breeze, a life which brings some people along who lift your soul, motivate your thoughts, build up your energy and help accrue your penchant to be happy…

People who become a part of your life and stay there to never leave; those sidekicks who love you for just who you are and accept you for what you have become …

Who inspire you in more than one way, help you carry on everyday and move along the journey of life, take each day as it comes just by being who they simply are, only the presence of who matters the most no matter what stage you’re at…

Who laugh when you laugh and cry when you cry, who uplift your mood in the worst times and who just listen without questions…

Who pat your back for your goods and support you in getting better at your bads…

To those strangers who come along your way, sometimes unknowingly and become your only place to go to, who become your home and eventually family away from family…

To friends and a lifetime of them all!!

Cheers!

A multitasking job – Life!

Kudos to the lock, the stock and the barrel!

Kudos to each - for surviving every day with energy, enough to see the next, for living life the way it is!

What a super draining out and obnoxiously challenging this issued-by-the-anonymous job is!

Imagine dealing with your goals and desires, your aspirations and dreams, an entirety of could-be’s and should-be’s, a world full of uncertainties and the unknown, living in the present along with the baggage of the past and the curiosity of the future, the loss of people in your lives, roller coasters of emotions and attachments, empathy and sympathy, the drama of relationships and the mannequin it ends up forming, the trauma of expectations from self and others, the burden of fulfilling needs of people you care for, the idea of making a good life for yourself and your children, for wanting to be the best you can at every microscopic stage of your life, for dealing with friends and family and for juggling between so many different worlds you shift from and into, the want of being a successful person and the wish to write your own destiny, the acceptance of unexpected events that occur and oh ! dealing with the need to love and to be loved – and then of course throw in some grocery shopping, laundry, being neat and clean and presentable, sleeping , cooking, eating, concentrating, working the best you can, talking, breathing, yawning, falling sick etc. !!

What a super exhaustive and multiplicative job this can be!!

And each one of us, do this everyday as a routine. We betray ourselves of the pat we all deserve on our backs, the acknowledgement and the appreciation that we seldom show ourselves and expect more from others – a boss, or a spouse, children or parents.

Lets not wait for anybody else to validate this truth of each of our lives. Lets believe it ourselves and pat our backs on the amazing job of living life just the way we all do!

Lets felicitate our survival today and lets all smile just for who we all are!

Oh Summer – My myth!

How it felt to soak those sun rays deep within your skin, all day for long days!

That season filled with breaking the rules, standing apart, ignoring your head and following your heart.

And the sweat under those flip flops that almost made you slip, the little tinkles on the forehead trickling down beside your ear slowly, one at a time; making you feel soulful about the warmth of Seattle – that imagination of a rightly balanced summer, that wish to lie on a hammock basking in the fever of the bright, the early!

That desirous appearance of the mountains bubbling with the gleaming golden rays of the sun, shining just at the right rims and angles, still aspiring the necklace of majesty.

Oh and the pompous lake Washington broadcasting its blue with the slight tinge of the yellowish golden flash bestowed upon by the flare, that yellow bright star.

Where are ya lost - behind those foggy, shady mystical films?

Where’s the summer when it all started? Where’s the summer when we all partied? Where every day was a Saturday night - where the sand was on my seat and the waves kissed my feet?

The sweet smelling breeze, the salty waft, sun kissed hair – Oh summer, take me there!