Wednesday, May 6, 2009

We've moved!


Yes folks,
We've moved to a new address at http://lifeism.wordpress.com
We've moved because we like change.
Change is good.

So log onto the new address of the blog, bookmark it, add it to your favorites, join the facebook group, follow us on twitter or do any other thing that reminds you about us coz if you don't, you might just miss out on some good posts that will follow ;)

Henceforth, this address will be inactive.

Thanks and see you at http://lifeism.wordpress.com

Thursday, March 19, 2009

The most SPEC-tacular truth of life

Hi there.

Hope the last recession article got your grey cells movin!

Anyways, to the right I give you an array of beautiful specs/ shades/ sunglasses. You are absolutely free to choose the one that you like. Your decision could be based on either the shape, size, style, fit or color (or your fashion quotient!).

Whatever your choice maybe, the final outcome will be radically different in each case simply because each different color will give you a completely different look & feel of the world around you.

It's surprising how the similar looking yet distinctly colored spectacles give you a completely different picture of things.
But mind you, this selection is important.

Why?

Because this simple yet SPEC-tacular selection is analogous to the most significant truth of our lives. This single, powerful law manifests into our reality at every passing moment or instance.

And what is it?

It is the LAW OF BELIEF. It is the way we think about things and believe in events and instances.

Consider the age-old superstition:
'Do not cross the road when a black cat passes by!'

People 'believe' that it could be a bad omen or something bad could happen.

My belief is: 'Do not cross the road when ANY cat passes by. Do this only if you are a MOUSE!'

Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on Friday, which many 'believe' is a day of bad luck. There's a famous story of a man who 'believed' that something bad was going to happen to him on Friday the 13th. He canceled all appointments for that day and stayed within the confines of his home with the constant fear that something bad is still going to happen to him. Eventually, because of his staunch belief, a wasp bit him that evening and he died of shock.

On the positive side, Lance Armstrong, in spite of being diagnosed with cancer, believed that he would ride his bike again... which he did because he 'believed' he would.

One of the worlds oldest man (aged over 100) who had a history of alcohol abuse, faulty eating habits and constant ill health 'believed' that he would live a long enjoyable life, and he did.

Looking back, the point is that we all have a choice in life to choose the spectacle we want, i.e. the belief system we want. One belief system may show you a gory picture while another one may show you a colorful canvas. Yet another SPEC-tacular belief system could bring forth a plethora of unanticipated wonderful things. And all this just because you dared to 'believe'.

Your current color of spectacle (belief system) has got you where you presently are and has done for you exactly what you believed it would do for you.

If you want to experience emotions beneficial to you or want things to be the way you would want them to be, then its time to change your spectacle!
For instance, for a long time I believed that I could never gain weight or have a decent physique in proportion to my height. Because of this powerful negative belief, I ended up always being the thin, lanky guy.

Then I changed my spectacle. I believed that it was possible. I ate, gymmed, ate, gymmed...... and at the end, I gained weight and had a proportionate built. All this because I 'believed' I could.

Shockingly, I also believed that I might injure myself while gymming if I went too fast. I ended up cracking my wrist :( All Because I 'BELIEVED'.

In a nutshell,
'Whatever you believe, IS. Whatever you truly believe in (with feeling) becomes your reality!'

So go back to your thought world and select your spectacle wisely.
Remember, the LAW OF BELIEF is SPEC-tacular and is indeed, true!

Two of my favorite quotes which summarize the article:

'Whether you think you can or think you can't, either way you're right!'

There's nothing right or wrong, thinking makes it so!

(If this article got you thinking and you 'believe' it holds some truth, write back by citing any example to affirm the same. You can also tell-a-friend if you like. Join our Facebook group if you still haven't by clicking here)
Till then, sayonara!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

This is the real RECESSION

Hiya folks!


I happened to read this simple story and it had an idea I strongly stand by. I have reproduced it here with permission. Here goes...


This Story is about a man who once upon a time was selling Hotdogs by the roadside.
He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers.
He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio.
His eyes were weak, so he never watched television.
But enthusiastically, he sold lots of hotdogs.
He was smart enough to offer some attractive schemes to increase his sales.
His sales and profit went up..

He ordered more a more raw material and buns and use to sale more.
He recruited few more supporting staff to serve more customers.
He started offering home deliveries.
Eventually he got himself a bigger and better stove.
As his business was growing, the son, who had recently graduated from College, joined his father.

Then something strange happened.

The son asked, "Dad, aren't you aware of the great recession that is coming our way?"
The father replied, "No, but tell me about it." The son said, "The international situation is terrible.
The domestic situation is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad times."
The man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers, listened to the radio and watched TV.
He ought to know and his advice should not be taken lightly.

So the next day onwards, the father cut down the his raw material order and buns, took down the colourful signboard,
removed all the special schemes he was offering to the customers and was no longer as enthusiastic.
He reduced his staff strength by giving layoffs.

Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered to stop at his hotdog stand.
And his sales started coming down rapidly, same is the profit.

The father said to his son, "Son, you were right".
"We are in the middle of a recession and crisis. I am glad you warned me ahead of time."

Moral of The Story: It's all in your MIND! And we actually FUEL this recession much more than we think we do!

What can we take away from this story??

1. How many times we confuse intelligence with good judgment?

2. Choose your advisers carefully but use your own judgment

3. A person or an organization will survive forever, if they have the 5 Cs

* Character
* Commitment
* Conviction
* Courtesy
* Courage

The tragedy today is that there are many walking encyclopaedias that are living failures.
The More practical and appropriate views on this economic recession is:
"This is the time to reunite together for any small or a big organization,
this is the time to motivate and retain people which are the biggest asset,
this is the time to show more commitments to the customers,
this is the time show values of our company to the world,
and this is the time to stand by our Nation".



FORWARD THIS LINK TO OTHERS YOU KNOW TO MAKE THEM REALIZE WHAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING...

CHEERS!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

It's all about YOU this Valentine's day!


Ahoy folks!

It's been a while since I performed the live experiment (which I claimed could make - or - break your life.)

Just to remind you, in the experiment where any object is burnt by focusing the sun's rays on it through a magnifying glass:
Replace the magnifying glass with your mind;
Replace the paper/leaf with an object or anything that you crave for or absolutely detest, could be something positive or negative, conflicting or pleasing, anything;
Replace the sun with your thoughts which in a sense is energy;
But keep you as YOU only...

Now that you have a gist of how the experiment applies to your life, it would be great to know how you can really get the desired results and score a 10 on 10 (if someone were to grade you for it.) And as I mentioned in the last post, it boils down to YOU!

So,
Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? What am I doing here? Why am I doing it? What do I want to do with my life? Why is life this way? Why is it not that way? Why me?

These are just some questions that I have asked myself and I'm sure many of you must have asked yourselves too. In fact, for the last post (the experiment), a friend raised a question: 'Why is life unfair to some and overly fair to others?'

According to me, there are 2 ways of looking at it:
1. Life happens to you or
2. You create your life.

If you believe in point 1, then it doesn't matter what you think because all the instances and happenings in your life would be attributed to destiny (which again is a topic very close to my heart and will be exploring it in detail soon)

However, if you vouch for point 2, then it's a matter of thought power and action which is shaping your life every minute.

So how can life be more fair to you? How can you start the process for creating a wonderful life for yourself?

Being Valentine's day, I'm sure everyone is busy sending out sms's, greeting cards, gifts etc to others to express their feelings and love.
Good.
Any sort of love expressed is good because it is a positive feeling which is beneficial for the lover and the loved.

But in all this hush-hush, have you ever stopped by to spare a moment for your own self?
Though it may sound obscure, but have you ever loved yourself?

Unlikely.
This is because as always, we never thought it was important or it never occurred to us at all.
Knock-knock.... it's very very important and the process of creating a wonderful life for yourself begins with you loving yourself and all that you have! Only when you love yourself will you be able to love others and appreciate all the things that life has to offer.

I mentioned above, 'any sort of love expressed is good because it is a positive feeling which is beneficial for the lover and the loved'. The positive power is thus multiplied if you love yourself!
Spare a moment for yourself now and appreciate all the good things that have happened to you and the way you have developed. Praise yourself and feel proud of all that's good about you or all the great things you've done. Look into a mirror and smile. Feel good, feel loved!

So this Valentine's day, shed all your inhibitions and simply love yourself. It's not funny to do so, really!

In the next post, we will take one very important action step to make life better instantly. I'd like to hear from you on how it felt to be loved (by yourself)...
And before I end,
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!

(REMINDER: Join our Facebook group if you still haven't. Click on the right panel icon)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Watch out- 'This experiment can make - or - break your life!!'


Greetings!

So, did you just 'be'? Even for a while?
Haha.... For those of you who are wondering at this abrupt start can read the previous post by clicking here.
For those who have already read it & still haven't tried out 'just being' please give it a shot soon.

Getting back to the topic: 'This experiment can make you - or - break you!' I've been a Science student and will write in true Journal Fashion.

APPARATUS: A Magnifying glass, a paper/ leaf, the sun and you.

EXPERIMENT: Take a magnifying glass (one which has that round glass lens at the top and a lollypop type handle at the bottom, got it?) and hold it. Look through it and you will notice that things are out of focus and hazy.
Adjust it at a suitable distance from your eyes and bingo: you get a clear magnified image of the object you focused on. Now take a paper or a leaf and focus the sun's rays on it such that you get a small, bright yellowish spot on the paper/leaf. Give it some time and you see things go black. Smoke appears and you might end up burning a hole through the object. You want the real hibbie-jibbies, try focusing the sun's rays on your hand...not for too long off-course!

OBSERVATIONS: As the sun's rays converge on the object, there is focus of tremendous amount of heat, enough to burn a hole. When you look at objects by focusing the lens on them, their image converges to form a clear picture on your retina giving you a clear picture..

CONCLUSION: The Magnifying Glass is a Magnificent instrument with a variety of uses.

TEACHER'S REMARKS: The title of this post needs correction. The correct title is- 'THE EXPERIMENT THAT CAN MAKE YOU - or - BURN YOU!'
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Yeah folks, we all are performing this experiment every single moment & either getting made or getting burnt. It's happening all the time & yet we don't realize it. Still don't get it?
No problem.

In the above experiment,
Replace the magnifying glass with your mind;
Replace the paper/leaf with an object or anything that you crave for or absolutely detest, could be something positive or negative, conflicting or pleasing, anything;
Replace the sun with your thoughts which in a sense is energy;
But keep you as YOU only...

Ringing any bells??? You bet...

You look at everything, attach objectivity and reason out stuff with the most powerful magnifying glass- your mind. Just like different lenses have different optical strength's, each one of us has a unique mind which is different from other minds courtesy our up-bringing, our past conditioning, our knowledge & skills and various other factors.
As a result, people have different mindsets and tonne's of ways of looking at life & facing situations that form part of life. (Just like the famous adage- 'the glass is either half empty or half full')

However, the basic purpose of the magnifying glass is- 'expand that which is focused upon' and your mind being just like a lens- 'expands everything that it focuses on!'
This simply happens because your thoughts (energy) positive or negative, good or bad, are converged by your mind on the object or thing or circumstance or absolutely anything you crave for or have aversion against. As I said- WHAT YOU FOCUS ON EXPANDS and hence you get more and more of those things into your life. If you focus your thoughts on good, positive things, you will be able to see a good picture which will MAKE your life in the way you want.
However, if the power of your thoughts (burning like the sun's scorching heat) are focused on negative or self-detrimental issues, then god bless you, you will BURN!

Ponder over this thought and you will realize that 'its worth its weight in platinum!'

If your thinking has done good for you till now, then really, GOOD FOR YOU!
But what if you've already done enough damage to yourself by negative thinking?
Well, there's a way out and the answer lies with the last apparatus- YOU!

Tooo much of a good article ain't good so you'll have to wait for the next article where I talk about the powerful- YOU and how you can direct your 'thought ray's' to creating the picture of your dreams! Before I give you that, I need you to help me out by 'focusing' your mouse pointer on the 'tell-a-friend' icon below and 'expanding' the reach of this article and this blog to your friends. Do this if you want to spread this thought. Do this if this article got you thinking. It only takes a while! Thanks.

The next few posts will explore this 'life-experiment' further so hold on till then. In the mean time, I'd like to know your comments on this experiment.

{The 'Tell-a-Friend' icon at the bottom of each article can help you send a link of this blog to any of your hotmail, gmail, yahoo contact lists. Just follow the simple instructions and help us spread the word of 'LIFE'}

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Have you just 'been'?


Howdy folks! Happy New Year once again.
This is my first post this year and going by the length of my previous posts, I'd like to KISS this one. (Keep It Short Stupid)
Before beginning, I'm glad my last post managed to shake you up a bit and I also hope that you all are scaring yourselves in some way or the other, each day. I have frightened myself everyday for the past week and I'm richer in thought, word, deed and action. (For those of you who missed the last post, I recommend you click here & read it before proceeding.)

OK...so have you just been?
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I'm sure you're puzzled. It seems to be an incomplete question. I should have asked:
- How have you been? or
- Where have you been? or
- Have you been to blah, blah and blah?

BUT NO. I asked you a simpler question: 'HAVE YOU JUST BEEN?'
Still think it's a tough question?

Sure it is a tough question to answer for anyone simply because we have never 'just been!'
I don't mean being here or there or being like someone. I'm not even inquiring about your well-being.
What I mean is 'have you ever been YOU? or is this a facade or an illusion or a role you are playing?'

When was the last time you sat down alone just observing all that was happening around you?
When was the last time you introspected yourself?
When was the last time you just stared out of the window or looked up at the starry night?
When was the last time you did absolutely nothing?

Forget the last time, have you ever done the above things?
In all probability, the answer is NAHHH...

And why is it so?
Simply because we never had the time to do so or never thought it was important.
We all are busy playing various roles in life at all times. We are constantly trying to please others or derive satisfaction from the outcomes of our actions. But the point is there is satisfaction even in inaction. This is when you are observing reality as it is and you get to know the true 'you' who is buried beneath your physical being in the ordinary scheme of events. This real 'you' comes out when you are alone, when you are just an observer, when you are in a state of solitude. Just being 'you' can give you answers to life's toughest questions. Just being 'you' gives you clarity
of thought. Just being 'you' is the least you can do to give yourself a much needed break in today's fast paced world.

So how can you just be?
Its the simplest thing to do (and we never knew!) Try being alone for some time and just cut out all thoughts from your mind.
Observe as reality unfolds around you, but do not react. Look outside the window and just be still. Meditate if you can (mail, message or write to me for tips on how to just 'be').

Don't just live the length of life, live the breadth of it too!

I asked you to try out something new everyday in my last post. How about trying to 'just be' tomorrow? Give it a try and gift yourself a wonderful moment.

(I'd love to hear from you how it was to 'just be'...its done wonders for me! Join the facebook group if you still haven't to keep yourself updated.)
Cya...

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Best New Year Resolution for 2009!


It's that time of the year again...where the past is forgotten and where everyone looks forward to
start afresh; Where old promises (fulfilled or not) are reviewed and fresh ones are made; where everyone bids goodbye to one year to welcome a new one.

2008 has been one hell of a year. It managed to surprise everyone, either pleasantly or unpleasantly.
But that's it... as we all look forward to yet another year, the only thing we can be rest assured about is that 'CHANGE' is the order of the year. Things are changing constantly and adapting to these is gonna be a task for all. So while we grapple with our mundane lifestyles which are all set to change dramatically thanks to major events taking place all over the globe, we need to make firm resolutions and abide by them devotedly. Gone are the days where 'resolutions are meant to be broken' was the easy way out. If I were to rephrase it aptly keeping current times in minds, I'd say 'Stick to your resolutions or they will break you!'

So, whats the BEST NEW YEAR RESOLUTION for 2009?
For some it could be kicking a bad habit (excessive smoking/alcohol/drugs) or losing weight (or gaining in my case!) or reading daily or investing regularly or controlling their anger or whatever!

GOOD! Your intention to do so solves half the problem... but its the other half that's the hardest, the ACTION part!

I've been one of those resolution breakers too but I've come across some concrete advice that's definitely going to bring about positive changes in me and my life. So what is this 'priced' possession?

Well, its a combination of:
1. A Plan,
2. A Ready Reckoner/Reminder &
3. A SCARY SECRET!

First of all, have a goal. Set it. Like they say, 'have a goal and bend every angle towards achieving it.' I call it a plan because it is a detailed set of instructions/steps to be taken to reach the goal, like a blueprint. So first thing- PREPARE A BLUEPRINT OF YOUR GOAL.

Secondly, have a ready reckoner/reminder (a book, a white board, a chart paper, your computer desktop or your mobile phone). This is the most important part (the ACTION part) as it stands to constantly remind you of your plans and tells you to keep your ass movin'. I say this because- 'when your ass is on fire, efficiency is higher!'
Make notes and action steps (like a to-do list and cross out whats already done). You will feel relieved trust me!

Lastly, the SCARY SECRET!
I've read a couple of books recently and they talk about a technique that I call 'kick the butt and get out of the rut'. What is it?
SECRET: 'DO 1 NEW THING EVERYDAY FOR THE NEXT 365 DAYS or DO 1 THING EVERYDAY THAT SCARES YOU!'
What this means is that by trying to do one new/exciting/scary thing everyday for the next 365 days, on 31st December, 2009, you will be equipped with 365 new ideas/ techniques/ choices/ skills/ experiences/ _________ (fill in).
Just imagine the power of this simple yet life changing possibility.

One valid question sure to arise: 'is it practically possible to do one new/scary thing everyday?'
Thankfully, the answer is YIPEEE YAHOOO YESS!!! IT IS POSSIBLE!

The idea is to do one NEW/ NEVER DONE BEFORE thing everyday which could be reading something you've never read before, trying out a new dish, exploring a new website, making a new friend, cutting down one cigarette everyday, following a new diet pattern, taking guitar lessons, learning a magic trick, not brushing teeth for a week, visiting a new city, knocking down your foes, inviting Warren Buffett for dinner, etc (excuse me if I've mentioned something
wrong, I just tried losing my head today)

The above list of things to do everyday is just limited by your imagination and your interests and your drive to actually learn something new. One more crucial ingredient is to have a 'positive mindset' & Richard Branson's 'Screw it, lets do it' attitude. You might fail 99 times, but at the end of it all, you will atleast know how 'not to do the thing' rather than never having tried at all.

I'm sure 2008 has frightened us all enough and we all are quite immune to being scared.
So scare yourself just a lil' bit more and see the changes that you bring about in yourself in 2009.

I'm scaring myself tomorrow by booking my 'first online flight ticket'...how are you gonna scare yourself?
I'd love to know your scary strategies so that I may also learn in the process. General comments are also welcome.

Its 12:00 am. 1st January 2009!
Wish you all a very happy new year!
I ended my last post by saying- BE HAPPY.
I end this by saying- BE SCARED! (you know how!)

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