Sit and keep on expanding or stand up to get elevated

If we mull over this statement, it sounds a bit controversial because it’s not how it is, I can criticize it myself by saying that one can also sit in meditation for an hour and find their inner voice and in that way, can actually expand and broader their horizon as an individual which is a fact.

What I am trying to enlighten us all here is on what this technologically advanced overly comfortable lifestyle which surely lacks simplicity, compassion and our core traditional values has done to us. I am not completely negating the advances that technology has made so far, the way I am typing and how this text will be available to the world in milliseconds, but how it has made us into an ignorant being just infuriates me all the time.

While I am sitting and typing here, I have my grandmother sitting on the couch watching television, my dad is lying there on another couch and my dog is constantly licking my feet and wagging its tail asking for my attention (obviously I am very conscious of all this that’s why I do my work when everyone is either asleep or not around me so that I can contemplate one thing at a time).

Let’s get it straight; it is not about how much do you sit or stand, it’s always about why you do what you do? You got to ask this annoying ‘why’ to yourself all the time, because if you won’t then you will get succumb to this daily hassle and you will remain empty from inside and that will hit you really hard, and if you know your why then kudos to you.

It’s the way you sit, how you eat, what you eat? How you stand? How do you feel about yourself all the time? What do you strive for in life? You know all those existential questions which make you feel low, numb, high or uplifted makes your entire milieu and then how you carry out your day to day work and the way you talk and do all your activities makes up your whole life and your reason for existing.

The reason to lay a hand on the foundation is to provide you with an insight onto what makes us do what we do. Just observe yourself while you are surrounded by people and when you are alone with yourself you will somehow understand the significance of your behavior.

The whole idea or I may call it a trick is to keep your spine straight whether you are sitting or standing, to elaborate it further the spine is supported by variety of muscles of the back and why slouch is because you aren’t strengthening your back muscles to keep the spine erect and that is why physical activity and not just physical activity but bodyweight and strength training to held it straight is the key to acquiring perfect posture and agility.

While at or during work whether it’s a 10 hour job on the foot or a computer job on the desk or both you got to take time out for yourself after every 30-45 minutes to stretch or relax, have sips of water, I would suggest to go to the restroom and do at least 5-10 squats, or lunges or any form of bodyweight exercise to keep your heart rate slightly elevated, so to stay alert and active, while on the chair, keep changing your positions keep doing leg exercises while you remain seated.

At lunch get up from your desk and go to the lunch area, sit and eat with everyone that will create mutual adulation, bring the home cooked food (left over or freshly cooked whichever is available). Do not binge on tea/coffee/snacks/sweets while at work, have a nice cup of hot tea in the evening with everyone at home and sit and chat with your folks. Make it a habit of having dinner before 8 pm at night with your entire family. Never skip breakfast and take time out to walk or jog in fresh air with strength training exercises at least thrice a week and before starting it on your own, enroll in a strength training class near you to get Yourself equipped with the basics to avoid injuries.

We all our running after to accompany all the wealth of this world, but most important asset is our health, lets invest on it and not make it just a liability upon us, and that difference, change and self-love that we talk about, lies in our daily choices, make your health a definitive choice, not to forget it just starts with keeping your spine erect.

Lift Weight to Uplift yourself

No matter whatever we all say or do, it all comes down to one main thing which is the most pivotal part of our being, what do you think I am talking about ? Is it the way you look? How you dress up? Or the way you talk? To be honest none of it is truly significant, what is really important is how you feel about yourself.

Yes you read it right, don’t you already know it? Well let us figure out what makes us feel good, what is it? Binging on junk, watching episodes of TV show friends or movies , vacations, shopping, reading and the list goes on but ever wonder, for how long this ‘feel good’ feelings last ? Indeed they are all transitory and ephemeral what really would last is that impactful purpose which we align ourselves with and which make us sparkle from within. Enough with the ted talk.

So, what would really support our purpose and makes us want to achieve greatness in our lives is our precious health which we all tend to negate or ignore for the want of temporary fulfillment. And to achieve better health one cannot just shrug off the importance of Physical training along with sustainable nutrition and daily diet requirement of the body.

Here I am going to focus on the significance of strength and weight training for women, I hope by now we all know that lifting weights does not bulk up the body or it is too strenuous and intricate or it is only for men or athletes, as we all our progressing as a society we must get aware and burst these old myths and adopt such lifestyle and habits which promotes our health and overall well being.

What does lifting weights and resistance training do to your overall health? Firstly it will help in building lean muscle mass, which will increase your basal metabolic rate that helps you in burning fat throughout the day, keeps you in shape, and keeps you agile, fit and less tired, making it a better option than aerobics and cardio exercises which is notorious for causing muscle injury and fatigue.

Secondly, it helps you in fighting against elevated bad cholesterol, hypertension and obesity thus eventually helping you live longer and healthier.

What else does lifting the weights do to your body is that it increases your muscle mass and lessen your body fat which in a way reduces your insulin needs and ultimately results in optimizing sugar levels in the blood, making it the top most solution from succumbing to genetic predisposition to type 2 diabetes.

Incorporating resistance training or weight lifting in your work out regime further  increases your overall Bone density which results in strong bone health preventing women especially during menstruation, pre natal, natal and post pregnancy and menopausal period from developing early osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, ultimately helping in longevity and endurance.

Moreover lifting weights will boost your overall confidence, mood and energy. According to the latest research at the university of Sydney, strength training can help protect brain from degeneration thus improving cognitive function, analytical thinking and better memory whether it is in the form of dumbbells, body weight exercises, kettle-bells, resistance or circuits regime.

Does it all sound too complicated? How does reading your expensive blood test results make you feel? When the doctor says congratulations! Now your blood sugar levels are in a pre diabetic range or your sphygmomanometer shows elevated diastolic pressures or your LDL (bad cholesterol) levels are more than 100mg/dl.

Oh is it genetic? It runs in your family? In today’s day and age the problem is not that no one runs in your family, it’s just that nobody lifts and lifts each other up anymore. Give it a chance, get a membership in any circuit/strength training regime, lift those weights make it a habit and see the difference in yourself, don’t try to do it on your own, first educate yourself and enroll in the desired program, make your health an utmost priority to feel good in every moment of your life.

Is it our fickle lives or frivolously predictable mindsets

I started to dwell on this thought when I had graduated almost 4 years ago with a sense of astonishment that how swiftly those strenuous five years ended, well in retrospect when I think about it, I believe, it doesn’t really matter, what is really important is who you are now and how you feel about yourself at this moment. If one can only understand this thought.

Life is a measure of experiences and all the moments that one has been through and what that all made you into and will keep on affecting everyone every moment of their lives, and the only point I want to make here is everyone gets evolved, nothing remains stagnant, and change is the rule of this life.

 About 10 years ago I had wished to become a damn good surgeon like one of the best in the world but now after I had experienced so much in my life I think and function differently what should I call upon this capricious attitude of mine that am I a loser or that I got afraid of the hard work which is required to pursue this career or I am not being accountable to the amount which had been spent on me when my parents could not even meet the expense of and they had to borrow it from someone to fulfill my dream and desire and now I am just being ungrateful enough to not make it happen?.

On the contrary, I inspired to become world’s greatest surgeon only:  which are anyway so many already in this world and there will be countless other graduates having the same dream, but during this life changing experience I happen to realize it the hard way that what is my purpose of having the privilege to study about this magnificent creation of God which is interestingly this body which we are blessed with? Just to cram those oh so amazing names of all those ginormous and small arteries, veins and nerves or learning the art of cutting resectioning and suturing, or anesthetizing a patient or reviving them while so many of them are already doing it and so diligently.

What kept me motivated after being a part of all the vigorous countless hours of work shifts and becoming that person who can only blurt words out of the medical books and jargons and nothing beyond certain set principles, was rather that feeling of being unable to raise a question about anything beyond written facts?  What intrigued me was wanting to find out about the back story of a person who has gotten affected by the disease just cause of lack of awareness in my own way rather than the classic practice of history taking but I always used to get bashed for not going by the rule book or to find out about all those who are oh so equipped with all the wealth, knowledge and have been so occupied all their lives and have travelled the entire world but could hardly get aware of themselves and not realizing the fact that we all are mortal until and unless we or our loved ones get diagnosed with something tragic?.

 I felt claustrophobic. In today’s day and age we talk about artificial intelligence, in surgical approach we have all advanced to laparoscopic surgeries and robotics but what about our minds ? What are we running after? What are we accumulating and for whom? Oh for your family guess what we all will die one day, but how are we living in these mediocre mind sets like: ‘earning for living’, ‘I earn so that I can travel around the world, have a nice car and a house’, ‘I work for money’ ‘ I work cause that’s what we are suppose to do’ ?.

It has become a set pattern I feel: Get married, produce children, educate them (if one can manage to afford it oh but yes we have always got the support or trap of student loans) then help them choose a defined career path so that they can support themselves and the family and when the ‘appropriate time has arrived or certain pre decided age has been reached’ get them married and hence this ‘reproductive cycle’ if I may call it so, continues.

Although there has been an applaud-able improvement which has become prevalent in our modern society which I am oh so grateful for where people have negate the rules and gotten out of such foolish and questionable society prejudices and have taken their stands and now managing to spend their lives on their terms, thanks to the mass media and various social media platforms that awareness of almost everything and anything is available on literally by undetectable movements of the fingers of hand like you don’t even have to move your body to look around you but what we sadly could not achieve is awareness of this being, yes I am pointing to ourselves.

Where have our aspirations gone? Why cannot we run after to achieve greatness? Why cannot we help each other to find the ultimate truth or rather help ourselves first? Why everything has become about self and if it is about self than why is there so much vanity and superficial outlook towards life? There are two sayings that I would like to mention here at this point: ‘A physician is not the one who treats just the disease, a great physician is the one who treats the person who has the disease’, and ‘Never go to that doctor whose office plants have died’.

 Let’s first work towards redefining our mindsets and realizing our core values, every day and every moment of our lives we have got a chance to think and rethink and act. Someone asked Imam Ali one day that how can he teach the knowledge that he possess to unaware people? Imam Ali replied such that no words should get articulated by your tongue and there should be no need to take the sword out from its scabbard. Your act and your character must speak for itself.

Woman in the Kitchen

Life is a full circle indeed, isn't it ironic, you are brought into this world by a woman and you are nourished by her all your life and then eventually the process goes on. Not belittling Men here, they play an equally pivotal role in the advancement of life in general. 

But here I am affirmatively talking about the psyche behind being women especially in today's day and age. 

It was about 5:00am in the morning, the pet dog of the house, wakes up from his deep sleep, not groggy at all instead up and charged for his morning stroll in the garden downstairs, he licks and licks one of the woman of the house, to take him downstairs, but she anyway has to wake up like she had been waking up for past 25 years to make breakfast for every member of the house diligently. Just like an army rule at sharp 7:00am, nicely done, hot breakfast is always ready to be served on the table.

This woman was a third child born in the family of 4 siblings, a brother and 2 sisters, one elder and other younger than her. 

She was born premature at the time of birth, had congenital myopia and possibly infected with bacterial meningitis, for which she had also gone through a spinal tap (lumbar Puncture), at least that's what, I have been told in the past.

Whatever happened she was unable to obtain any formal education and always remained that timid, introverted home bound individual who anyway had to learn house chores to survive as her other 2 sisters somehow managed to finish their high school and completed their post graduation degrees as well, and started working 9-5 to make the ends meet of the house. 

She was a fine looking woman of average height and physique, she was neither too thin nor plump looking, she mostly remained quiet and observant and only converse when spoken to. She always wished to go out for sightseeing, to gorge on street foods and was more interested in spending time with her pet; she had tamed all sorts of pets from every kind of birds, cats and dogs.

As years passed she became prey of her own trap, all of these tasks became a monotony to her, her dignity and her worth started questioning her entire drama of existence, she wanted to feel free, she wanted to go out and see and discover for herself that how's the world like she wanted to let go of this imprisonment which was kitchen to her.

She did not get married as she couldn't, as she had to serve her parents and her family, she never befriended anyone as such, she had never interacted with someone enough to get interested in the opposite gender or vice versa, her associates were only her folks, pets and the house help, and just like her other sisters she remained single all her life. 

She started getting ill with sporadic complaints of backache, headache, menopausal symptoms, attention seeking behavior, psychotic attacks, lack of willingness to live, apathy, and lethargy. So finally the family members decided to take her to a therapist and she was started on anti depressants and advised cognitive behavior therapy.

Is that, what has become an ultimate solution to such issues? What is the ideal way to live a life then?

                            

There are gazillion of women who go through different kind of tortures and situations in their lives, whether it is our house help, who regularly shows up to clean our homes, to provide to their family as their husbands could not earn enough, or a working woman who go through patriarchal mindset and competition and other issues on a daily basis.

It’s not that only women go through such issues I know men going through worse of the situations, and it is so damn difficult for them to express such issues with their families cause again the deep rooted mindsets which we have been nourished in, those same old sayings which make them not man enough to express or share cause if they do they will be charged guilty of not being able to maintain the dignity of being called a man.

Then how do we survive all our lives? Just by pretending, is that the only way out? Is it? Why can’t we ‘Human beings’ just start to live naturally and consciously rather than pretending to be who we are not. Are we running after to achieve financial security, prestige and fame so badly, that we in this strenuous process loosing ourselves completely? Just ask yourself.  Are you happy with your lives?

It’s time that we ask this question to ourselves soon. This ‘why’ is the way out. Listen to yourself, that numb inner voice of yours which is hidden behind layers and layers of pretentiousness and judgments.

‘Women in the kitchen’ is a metaphor created by me, which can be used equally for both the genders, to encourage us to free ourselves from the prison of our own made up ideologies, old fashioned questionable society created norms and the lifestyle which we have been forced to live because that’s how the world has always functioned but when you ask them(society) if they are really happy and satisfied with their own lives, if nothing you would definitely find that questionable expression on their faces. So decide.

There’s no such thing as Goodbyes

Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes .. Because those who love with their heart and soul there is no such thing as seperation 

Love is the vital core of the soul ..

And of all you see only love is infinite 

Love is from the infinite ..

And will remain until eternity 

Rumi

Seek for your Soul....

life is indeed an amazingly benevolent yet such an astute scholar or i must say preacher, its tricky extremely plot twisting and adventurous haha in my case its one hell of a roller coaster ride and its enduring really God truly knows how i hate all the mundane monotonous routine so he always shook me with surprises and i tend to embrace it myself, i mean, why waste one life which has been gifted to you on being all calm, composed proper and correct and why i mean who decides what is right and what is wrong ? its just like sinners judging other sinners for doing different kind of sins. laugh out loud!!!
lets just get this straight, we all are humans we all make mistakes and we all our flawed. you know what we all lack we lack a basic characteristic a trait and you know what is that ACCEPTANCE.
why cant we embrace all our flaws and be happy and laugh on them all rather than being all judgmental about it. just to portray ourselves like saints we tend to start judging other people to ignore our insecurities but you know what it is all so damn shitty.
There is only one rule to live your life to the fullest i mean there are zillion but this is what is most important just do what makes you happy, simple, and ask yourself in the mirror everyday that  if today was your last day would you be living how you are planning to live today ? we all are striving for that inner peace that enlightenment trust me no clothes no cars no new tech would make you feel that bliss that contentment which you would feel when you are actually in alignment with your inner self. strive for that attainment and you would never feel that depressed and trust me on this one that feeling is out of the world just try to find it everyday in every moment of your life find that magic find that light which will make you shine from within find your inner self  as quoted by mowla ali one who recognizes himself  has indeed recognized allah 

look Within ...

One of the hardest thing we ever do is to learn to be ourselves ... lucifer
well and once you learn this phenomenon there is no turning back, while growing up and going through different experiences in my life, i happen to become this person that i am now today, i believe i have reinvented myself, and this complete reinvention needed its own time, i took a break from my work life, from this constant struggle of running into some sort of a race, man made race, having said that i like to work and be independent and earn on my own, but what for if i am not at peace from within.
by the grace of god i had this advantage of doing so, i am a gods blessed child and i am forever grateful for all his blessings and i always believe in his magical countless benediction.
in this constant yearning to become something to prove to the people of this world, to society, to our families or whomsoever,  we tend to become oblivious of the fact that we exist, we are breathing, we are human.
Lets take a moment to shut our eyes for 25 seconds and actually dredge up ... i mean just ask yourself what is going on ?
just ask yourself this ? ...what answer do you get ? i believe most of us in this 25 microseconds could not even accept the fact that we have to really do this shitty exercise, and some of us who reached to the point of acceptance got occupied with zillion thoughts that we did not even realize what just happened ? and if i am not wrong those thoughts are mostly about our desires and wishes which we want to achieve...
so the point i am trying to put forth here is Pause, take a deep breath ? relax ... close your eyes each day or every other day if you are too cluttered up with all your temporary exhausting mundane routine, reflect back, ask yourself every once in a while if this was suppose to be the last day of my life would i be doing what am i doing right now ? its funny and impractical i know cause we all running for money and financial stability but this is what is missing from our lives, the insight, the integrity, ask those people who are filthy rich if they are actually happy ? are their mind is in peace ?
if their answer happen to be YES which will be insane, but this is what i am trying to say, we got to master the art of looking within ourselves every once in a while
 i would encourage daily meditation practice with remembrance of god but what i suggest is to start with counting your infinite blessings then switching your mind to ask your deep desires ? how and what do we think of ourselves ? and what makes us happy from within ? and do that only, most of the time if not always
re evaluate, appreciate, feel proud, be grateful about yourself  and always believe in the magic as that is most important.