Pause for a moment, time is passing away..

A few weeks ago, I had this thought about the fleeting nature of time. This thought was inspired from my own observations of how the leaves were changing color quickly. From the range of reds that I saw to the fleeting greens; from the yearning yellows to the burnt out browns, they were all a delight to the eye! And how they contrasted against the blue of the all-encompassing sky! If I was not already in a mood for contemplation, these were enough stimuli for me to pause and look at the fleeting nature of life.

In the pursuit of success and in catching up with the rigors of the daily life, we often get caught up in a routine and begin to take life for granted. Contrary to common understanding, we seem to think of life as perpetual but life is lived in its moments. Looking back, you would only see that each moment was fleeting in its nature, 'Here today, gone tomorrow' seems to be a story of our lives.  

Walking around my apartment, as I took in these sights, I began to see how much there is to life. One need not take a walk, like I did, to come to this understanding. It could simply come to you this very moment! The moment that you realize that each moment is precious and filled with abundance you will truly begin to appreciate life in its entirety. 

Often, this though crosses my mind, 'What if this were my last day alive?'. 

I am not at all depressed by this thought. In fact, if you care to look at your own life with a certain sensitivity, you would see that it is this moment, here and now, that we have with us. The past and the future seem like a dream in this realization. This further leads me to understand that the moment that we truly acknowledge the impermanence of our own lives that we begin to live it fully! The mundane becomes charged with enthusiasm and the unnecessary falls out of lives instantly and naturally. That is how I have begun to Rise Early each morning. Priorities begin to prioritize themselves and naturally our experience of life becomes richer. This is a natural outcome of looking at life as fleeting and hence impermanent. I have seen that the least effort is required for one to come to this understanding and work from this space of ease.

Living with this feeling, I see that even stones come alive and seem to be embracing the sky!

The grass in its green is only awaiting your bare feet to tread on it, even as its bends humbly!

"Shama jali hai tere liye, tujhko kuch nahi karna hai!"

"The candle is lit for you, you don't have to do anything."

Pause for a moment, time is passing away..

The strength of a promise to oneself

One wonders what is so special about a ‘New year resolution’ that sets it apart from other commitments. While it seems to be working for a few, it has most often than not failed to keep company with the enthusiastic resolution-maker for the length of the year. It is therefore no wonder that we have the adage that ‘resolutions are meant to be broken! ‘But, what about the great resolve with which most of us take up resolutions and vow to stick on with for the rest of the year? It is an enigma for many as to how and why their resolve wanes.

It is important to probe into the nature of ‘resolutions’ before we could ask ourselves if they really work. Most of the resolutions that people take up are firm on an idea but weak on their time of implementation. When the deadline is not fixed in time, then it becomes very easy for one’s own mind to wriggle out of this new stranglehold. For instance, ‘I will not smoke’ or even ‘I will quit smoking’ sounds resolute enough to last long but simply comes apart. The trick lies in making a ‘time-bound’ commitment. A resolution works best when it is tied to a duration of small measurable units of time like a week, a fortnight or a month. Saying, ‘I will not smoke for the next one week’ has proven to work wonders as there is a sense of achievement at the end of the week.

This system of reward and reiteration also increases ones confidence in oneself as well as sets the ball rolling for the new commitment to bear fruits. Just as a pitcher can be filled by a steady flow of minute drops, resolutions can also be strengthened by small time-bound commitments, renewed regularly. Just like one doesn't require to light up the entire road from the beginning to the end for a night-journey but is suffices by the headlights of a car lighting up to a few feet ahead, one can go a long way just by defining short time-bound commitments.

The back-bone of any resolution is the need or urge to bring about a change and to free oneself from binding and energy-draining habits. Stronger the need for this change, stronger is one’s commitment and faster one’s independence from the vices. One may stumble once in a while or even many times on this path, one simply has to renew one’s commitment to one’s cause immediately.

With this much in mind, whatever one’s resolution may be, whenever one might decide to begin, one can very soon be independent of one’s habits and emerge out glowing and basking in the newly gained confidence. I know resolutions work, be it new or not!
Are you willing to resolve now?

(This post is a part of the 'Rising Early series'. You could read the rest of the posts in the series HERE. )

The joys of rising early are many!

(This post is the third in the 'Rising Early series'. You may want to begin reading from the first post and then move on to the second post. )

It has been 12 days since I have been consciously waking up at 6:00 in the morning and I am already beginning to see how beautiful it feels! In the solitude of the early morning times, when the day begins to unfold itself, there is a certain blossoming that happens within each one of us. It is so much easier to be aware of oneself in such a serene atmosphere. I have been using this time to meditate after some stretching yoga and it has been so rewarding!

The first major change that I have seen is that I can now find time to have my breakfast in leisure! Wouldn't it be lovely if you could start your day with the feeling that you are on top of your schedule and have time in hand? Most of us rush through our mornings and see the initial feeling snowballing into the general tendency of catching up with our schedules when one would say 'Oh, no! I am so late again!'. Often, we hurry through our breakfast; at times skipping it altogether! And then by noon when we begin to feel drained, we wonder why. Let me tell you, just this past one week of waking up at 6:00 am has brought about such a change in my routine. Instead of catching up with the rest of the day, I can now look at my day from the vantage point of this ‘extra time’ in the mornings. It is indeed such an empowering feeling!

Though I am still working towards waking up early on a daily basis, it naturally feels difficult once in a while. But, something wonderful happened today – I woke up on my own this morning! And that too, just a few minutes before the alarm bells began to coax me out of the comforts of the warm mattress! Certainly, my body-clock is getting adjusted to the new lifestyle that I have ‘chosen’ for myself. There are a few more things that I am doing consistently in addition to what I mentioned in my last post. I will enlist them as my observations:

1)      Divorce the mobile phone in the bed

Yes, I really mean it! Most of us go to bed with our 'smart' phones and I have seen that it is not really a smart thing to do. Foremost, the radiation that emits from the device has been time and again proven to be affecting our health. Especially while sleeping, when you place your mobile phone close to your head – beside your pillow.

And important to our goal, the closer the mobile to you as an alarm, the better the chances that you’ll snooze it! Keeping the alarm/mobile phone farthest from the bed goes a long way in waking you up as well.

2)      Ease into the ‘sleep mode’

Another thing that we are prone to doing is to go to bed immediately after spending hours in front of the computer/TV. In this case, the mind is still buzzing with the various thins that kept you occupied for so long. This is when you’d notice that you are unable to fall asleep for long after you have gone to bed! I have seen that reading a book or listening to soothing music just before going to bed helps falling asleep the moment you hit the bed.

3)      Don’t use your favorite tune as your alarm ringtone!

You might be allured into thinking that you’d want to wake up to that beautiful tune. But, more often than not, you’d find yourself admiring that tune in your dreams!

I hope you have been seeing this change in your own life as you have pursued your own dream routines. If you are still waiting to begin with one at the right time, let me check the time now…. Oh, yes! It says – It is the RIGHT TIME now!

An update: How to see the sun rise in your life

(This post is the second in the 'Rising Early series'. You may want to begin reading from the first post and then move on to the third post. )

Now that I am a week into cultivating this long-cherished habit of waking up early in the morning, I have a few observations to share. For those of you who began your own efforts towards ‘waking up early’ or any other habit that you might want to see blossom ion your life, I think this would be particularly helpful. In the past one week, I have failed just once to rise at 6:00am. I think I have understood why that happened and will share it at an appropriate moment. There are certain patterns that our bodies follow and I am beginning to see it in close proximity like the time one begins to feel sleepy for the first time during the course of an evening, the amount of sleep that an individual requires (it might differ for individuals) and the sleep-waking pattern amongst a few more.

Having completed a week let me share three things that I seem to be doing right. They are:
1. Sleeping on time, no matter what
The most important things for me seem to have cropped up just close to bedtime and looking back I see that they certainly could wait until the following morning.
2. Have dinner at least two hours prior to bedtime.
Going to bed after a feast certainly is troublesome! A gap of two hours seems sufficient for the abdominal activity to settle enough to not interfere with one’s ability to sleep well.
3. Sticking to my commitment
Seems so obvious but having dined and slept on time, one still needs to wake up on time!
It certainly is a good idea to implement a good idea, isn’t it? :)

Having shared these three points, I hope they help you to understand your own patterns and evolve out of them. I know this may seem increasingly painful and difficult to begin with but the fruits of perseverance and commitment shall be sweet!
All the very best to you!

Life is just a play

Waiting at the bus stop for a bus to take me home after a long day, I witness such beauty in the seemingly ordinary phenomenon of the sunset! Even as I witness myself as an observer in this beautiful play of Nature, I ponder about how much we take life for granted. What is ever so transient seems irrevocably stuck in our limited vision and we begin to live restricted lives. Yet, all that it requires is a moment of sincere observation to see how much life is evolving. Life is a flux; as if the only thing that will remain constant is this perpetual life cycle itself!

Let us accept this ever-changing nature of life and take life as it comes. Each moment is heavily pregnant with  opportunities to feel grateful for all that we have received in life. A simple acknowledgement of this grace in life fills us with a sense of abundance so renewing that life becomes a joy ride! Let go of all your guilt and regrets from the past as well as the anxieties about the future to see how fulfilled you are, as you are!

What follows is a poem that came to me as I was looking at the setting sun at the bus-stop.

In your golden radiance you inspire me to write,

Your brilliance revolving to create the play of day and night.

How you light up the evening sky this bright! 

Life too needs such an inspiration,

To move from the darkness of despair and desperation,

Onto to the embracing warmth of inner satisfaction.

After all, this is just a perpetual cycle,

Even in your dimming, may your spirit remain unsinkable,

Like the force of a tide, unstoppable! 

Rise again, moving through this dark night,

Knowing that you have the will and the might.

Life is just a play, be like a feather and float light! 

How to see the sun rise in your life?

(This post is the first in the 'Rising Early series'. You could read the rest of the posts in the series HERE  )

'Mahatma' Gandhi - An inspiration for generations to come

Just as the world was celebrating the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi - a great son of India, I was thinking of why would someone be given a title of 'Mahatma' or a 'great soul'. Apart from the historically obvious reasons, I was looking at the personality that was worthy of being called a 'great soul'; at the values that went into the making of a Mahatma. More than anything else, it was the discipline and selfless service that the man - Mohandas Gandhi devoted himself to that elevated him to the status of a Mahatma.

I will narrate an anecdote here to highlight how discipline was integral to Gandhiji's approach to life. Once, Gandhiji was to have a 'more than normal' busy day. Looking at the forthcoming schedule, Gandhiji told his secretary that he 'would have to do more of his spiritual practices' for the day. The secretary obviously perplexed by this additional devotion of time asked back 'But, don't you require to create more free time in your schedule today. You seem to be doing just the contrary!'. Gandhiji patiently replied back,'Yes, that is exactly why I need to do more of my spiritual practices, I need to be more efficient today!'

A stunning cosmic light show that I witnessed recently, here in Boone!

Reflecting on this incident and looking at my own life, I see that it is time that I brought a certain discipline in my own life. I have been for so long wanting to begin my day earlier than I normally do, i.e. before sunrise.  There are numerous advantages that I see to waking up early and that is how I have wanted my life to be.

For reasons ranging from laziness to lack of enough commitment, I have so far been unable to do so. But, I know it is time, once again, for me to persevere in my efforts towards creating this new lifestyle. I have been studying the psychology of habits as a student of psychology in an attempt to understand how I could best form a positive life changing habit. Also, I have come across so many others who want to introduce a life-transforming habit into their own lives. And it has now let me beyond wondering, to act on how I could best bring about this positive change in my life as well of those around me.

The first thing that I will begin by doing is to 'practice before I preach'. Yes, it is important that I bring about a change in my own life before I could begin to share more on this. So, this is how I will go about it:

1. Begin with waking up at 6:00 am from the 9th of October,2012.
2. Practice this uninterrupted for a month.
3. Share my experience on the 10th of November.

It is my intention to share my month-long experience with each one of you so that you may see such transformation possible in your own lives. And then even as I continue to persist with my own efforts, I'd share certain insights into how you could begin to inculcate one good habit in your own lives.

This is an attempt to transform my amazing life into extraordinary just by doing ordinary things CONSISTENTLY. I am on with my plan to see the sun rise in my life, are you?

In the depths of your being, I will be

An early morning sight in a place aptly named as the ' Heavenly Mountains'!

Even as the night shyly embraces the light,
I eagerly await the time
When the sun appears golden to my sight,
When the birds begin to sing and rhyme.

The dew drops sparkle,
There is still a nip in the air,
The bees begin to buzz and mumble,
And love birds celebrate in a pair!

Surrounded by unspoilt natural beauty
I feel so fresh, so alive and so content.
The joys of life now seem like infinity,
Full of enthusiasm, blessed with fulfillment.

In such bliss my heart reaches out to you,
An abundance that it wants to share.
Like a prayer receive this love anew
Like a blessing seldom so rare.

In your acceptance, you shall find me
As a part of your existence, I shall discover myself
In the depths of your being, I will be
Your love for me having found itself!