After a long hiatus on the blog, I’ve decided to resume, well, at least attempt a resumption to writing every now and again.

And without much ado, here, we, go :)

I’m going to share a very simple, wonderful trick with you that will amazingly enhance your days & help you focus on the bigger picture of life – appreciation.

Consider a working day… what do you do the first thing in the morning when you wake up?

If you’re like most of us, you’d probably get a cup of coffee/tea brewing while you quickly scroll through your twitter/facebook/other news source to catch up on “breaking news”/what you missed last night/topic of the day?

Or maybe, jump into the shower, get ready, rush to work? And maybe somewhere in the middle of that, you’d try and squeeze in to check if you got any replies on that status message you posted last night?

Whatever your scenario be, if it fits in remotely anywhere close to the picture I painted above, I’m about to suggest you to do something different.

Give this a shot for the next couple of days. Well, I’d say, try it for at least a week. You’re more than welcomed to go back to your original routine if you don’t feel any different. But I assure you, you’re going to notice something serendipitous in a week’s time.

What am I suggesting?

Well, everyday, after you wake up in the morning, I urge you to spend 10 mins doing nothing!

Yes, you heard that right. I said, NOTHING.

OK fine, not COMPLETELY nothing. Maybe, make a cuppa, and simply do nothing but just sit there on your couch/chair/balcony and have it.

The key is to have no access to any sort of a source to consume any information. No mobile/laptop/newspaper/TV/radio… NOTHING!

You’d probably be like, OK, so what do I do while I’m sipping on my cuppa? Well, that’s exactly my point. Do NOTHING!

Ten minutes is all that is required. Every morning, wake up, get fresh, if that’s your prerogative. But do make a cuppa, and simply spend those ten minutes, doing nothing. If you’re not a coffee/tea drinker, well, have some juice, or water for that matter. But have something. If you sit for ten minutes without having something, you’ll get annoyed within seconds.

Why do it and how is this going to help?

In today’s world, we are all so consumed with events, activities, news and connections. And it’s pretty much an inherent part of life. Most of us cannot even comprehend of life without it.

Amongst all of this, we never do really give any importance whatsoever to reflect on ourselves. To allow our minds to rest, consciously. Think of it like an exercise where you’re powering-on your mind to deal with the rest of the day.

I can assure you, if you do this sincerely for at least even a week, you’ll notice that you’ll gain endurance, clarity, serenity and a strange sense of calmness of acceptance and appreciation of your life – whatever shape or form it currently is in.

Try it. And do let me know how you go :)

There are so many books, citations, mere mentions on how a thought is all what it takes to change your life.

Having read so many of these books in recent past, I’ve always found myself stuck in the simplest question – believing in what you intend to have in your life.

To begin with, there’s are many reasons why you see this around – about thinking ‘happy’ and ‘positive’ thoughts. But how do you achieve that and remain in that frame I mind constantly?

Life will always push and nudge to bring in realities that don’t match up to your intention of success, your sanity.

I’ll share with you a very simple experience.

My current state of life, as I’ve known it, has been quite amazing over the last couple of months. I’ve been quite content ‘overall’.

Now the one thing that I’ve known to flip out and stress massively on is anything got to do with finances.

Having had made some pretty serious financial mistakes a few, infant years ago, I’m still in the middle of correcting my mistakes. 2 days ago I realised of some major payments that were to be made, ones which I had conveniently forgotten recently. In a bit of a crunch recently with the interstate move and the decision to ‘start from scratch’, I woke up this morning with only the thought of ‘how the hell am I gonna pull this off?’

I could not quiet my mind no matter what I tried. I worried endlessly and was constantly pensive in thought.

I consciously tried to remove myself and to visualise better things, to meditate… Everything just felt ‘lame’ at that moment.

Now yesterday, I had messaged a friend of mine, Carolyn , just generally expressing my state of mind. This morning she had replied to the message saying ‘Dev, I want you to actively try to guide your thoughts away from what you don’t have in your life right now, to what you DO have currently on your life.’

I was standing in the balcony, stressing unconsciously when her message arrived.

At first, I scoffed at it. My thoughts – ‘what does she know?’ and ‘how the hell is that going to make any difference to my worry right now?’

But then I noticed another thought. A little voice speaking within saying to me, “Dev, it all begins in the mind. Granted you don’t have a solution right now. But how will stressing on the situation help? Let’s try and make a mental list of all that you DO have in your life right now.”

With that thought I made an attempt to make a mental list of everything I am thankful for. Honestly speaking I could not think of anything at all. I could not break away from the worry I had at hand. Then I heard my own voice trying I command my thoughts… ‘Dev! Think! What are you thankful for in your life right now!’

With that, I felt like I had to just pretend to convince that voice, and maybe make something up so I could shut it up. So I thought, real hard… and as silly as it sounded, I came up with the first thing that I felt I was thankful for in my life right now. It was a stupid reason, and I laughed at myself when I thought of it, but I was thrilled that I did it. So I tried to come up with another one. Every single moment I kept questioning how the hell is this gonna help, but I kept going.

The worry didn’t fade away. But it definitely felt ‘tamed’ after a while.

I started feeling comforted within, an unrealistic comforting surge of faith that I can pull this off. I don’t know how, yet… But just the trust in that faith helped me feel way better than I was feeling!

What happened here?

Let me be very clear. By no means this ‘solved’ the problem at hand.

What this did, is that it put my mind at ease. Filled it with hope… And eventually gave me a perception of strength to be able to perceive solutions which otherwise I would’ve spent in nothing but fruitless worry and pile ups eventually.

Simply put, here are the INSTANT steps you can take to put a stop to gnawing worry and just feel centered:

1. Shut your eyes real tight. Tell yourself, ‘I am only gonna take 2 minutes from this worry to think of something else’
2. Now tell yourself ‘I’m going to count the number I times I breathe out 10 times’ – with that, do that!
3. Now think of the one thing you’d like to do if everything in your life was perfect. It may take a while, but that’s all you have to do, just pick any 1 thing that you would love doing, knowing when everything is perfect as you’d like to have it in your life.
4. Finally, blank out everything in your head and say thanks for that 2 minute experience to your mind. Be grateful to your mind that it listened to you and gave you those 2 mins you asked for peaceful day dreaming :)

That’s it! There’s nothing more to it.

Yes I know you’ll be like, ‘How the hell is this gonna solve my issue?’ or maybe you read this and scoff at it, saying under your breath, ‘Dev, my problems are far greater than this insignificant thing!’

I urge you to try this for just 3 days. Can you do that? As I said before, you only have to do it for 2 mins. You can do it as many times you can remember to do it in a day if you want.

I’d like to know if you did try it, what were your experiences?

As a closing line, I’d like to dedicate this post to someone I recently “met” in the online world – Carla White, the creator of The Gratitude Journal iPhone App which you can check out at http://www.happytapper.com. Thank you Carla for such a simple, yet an effective application for the world.

For a few years now I’ve subscribed to “Inspiration Peak” messages.

It’s great to receive them smack right in the middle of your day. Makes you stop for a few minutes and simply reflect on a few things.

We all get tied up time and again in our daily rut of life as we call it. It is important, no doubt, to follow our passion and/or struggle to achieve and survive. Yet, every now and then we need to simply take at least 5 minutes off at any given time and focus on the existence that is you!

For me, I’ve made a habit of doing that everytime I read one of these messages that pop up in my inbox.

I urge you to create a trigger and follow a pattern in simply trying to achieve those silent, inwardly focussed 5 minutes each day of your life.

If you do end up doing so, do write back and let me know what’s your trigger and how do you find it :)

Here’s today’s message:

My heart is so small
it’s almost invisible.
How can You place such big sorrows in it?

“Look,” He answered,
“your eyes are even smaller,
yet they behold the world.”

http://www.inspirationpeak.com

No one likes changes – changes which fall upon you, may it be by fate or a decision you’ve made.

Good changes are welcomed – but there’s always an unnerving feeling of the transition between your current state and adapting the change.

The reason for this post is two fold:

Firstly – an update to all who drop by here.

I’ve embraced a big change in my life :) I’m moving cities and intending to actually settle down in Melbourne. 

Honestly, Melbourne has been on my mind for a few months now but nothing tipped the scales for me like a few weeks ago.

In short – I applied for a dream job – something that I’ve always wanted to do and couldn’t quite find the fit anywhere before. I applied online and shortly after the application I got an email from them saying that they’re interested to have a chat. 

The phone interview went great and a week later I was in Melbourne for a face to face interview. 

Cutting it short – they made a good offer, coupled with my subliminal intention of “starting fresh”, I accepted the role and confirmed that I’ll move within a fortnight.

I made a snap decision right then that I’m going to get rid of most of the stuff that I’ve owned over the years here (more specifically the things I purchased over the last 3 years).

I don’t know if what they say is true – out of sight is out of mind – but I’m not risking carrying anything with the memories of the past with me over.

As the days draw closer to the big move, my knees go weaker. I know the emotional attachment with the city I’ve lived in for the last 8 years is going to be a tough nerve to severe.

My flatmate, Karan, said something very profound to me the day I came back from Melbourne (at that time I hadn’t yet made my decision of moving – only contemplating it). He said and I quote:

“There is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone”

That statement kinda hit home for me. Yes I’ve become too comfortable in the small life that I had. I had mulled too long in the aftermath of the destitution that I had brought upon myself. And worse yet, I had grown too comfortable living with all that filth in my head. 

Most naturally there was no room left whatsoever to grow and seek a better life.

That night as I put my head on my pillow, Karan’s words echoed back in my head – and I knew that I’m going to take this risk. I’m going to give this a shot. I’m going to MOVE :)

So with the support from my family and all my friends who I’ve known – I endeavor to take what they say – another baby step – reminds me of what Ruch had told me long ago – “it’s all about taking baby steps my dear, and before you know it, you’ve walked a mile!” :)

—–

So, as I said earlier, this post is two fold… 

A few years ago I had subscribed to Brian Kim’s Motivational & Inspirational Messages (MIT) via email. So every evening when I get home, I’ve got one waiting for me. 

Today’s message pretty much felt as if it was directed towards me :) So here it is for anyone who may benefit from it:

Every day is a new opportunity to start with a clean slate.

 

To put the past behind you and to look forward to a promising future.    

 

And to mark this special occasion, try making some radical changes to ”shock” you out of your routine to tell yourself that you really mean business.

 

That THIS is the day things start to change.  

 

• Wake up at an earlier time and lift weights and jog around the block.
• Throw out EVERYTHING you don’t need in your house.
• Tie up all the loose ends you’ve been putting off.

 

Whatever you do, make sure it’s a positive, radical, substantial change to get you off on the right foot and running toward the direction you want.    

 

The hardest part in getting a rocket into space is escaping earth’s gravity.

 

Once it does that, the rest is easy.  

My dear friend Vabeez forwarded this email to me from work this evening. I think she’s carting vengeance on me with all the “Inspiration Peak” messages I’ve been sending to her over the last year or so :)

All said and done, this really struck a chord in my heart and I wanted to share it with anyone who stumbles upon it:

“There was once a wise woman traveling in the mountains who found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and she opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked if she might give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime, but a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman who had given it to him. ‘I’ve been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I’m giving it back in the hope that you can give me something much more precious. I want you to give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.’ ”
— Author Unknown

Sometimes in our continual drive to get ahead, we forget that the things we gather around us, no matter how precious they might seem, pale in comparison to the love and light we hold within.
May you always recognise that what is truly precious is not to be found in the outer world, but inside of you.

I’m a strong believer in the fact that a coalition of simple acts by just one person DOES lead to making this world a better place to live in.

So I decided that I’ll create a new category on my blog called “Change the World“. Hopefully write something from time to time, mainly from personal experiences and aspirations, that someone can probably take something from and add in their bit in their own way to making a difference in the world.

I’ve been pondering about expanding your horizons and living life in abundance lately. A few things that came to my mind which I’d like to share…

Have you wondered how “routine” life can become over time? I mean, time and again we find ourselves being stuck in a rut of what is required from us – making ends meet, catching up with same old friends, having a good time like we have always been, listen to the same genre of music, eating the same “favourite” food.

Don’t you think you’re being underexposed in life? Not trying anything new, not going anywhere, not seeking new connections?

Yes I know, you’re wondering where I’m going with this…

I’m trying to inspire you to think “broad”, explore life to it’s fullest, live in abundance, take risks and give thanks at the end for a wonderful journey each day.

Life is so full of new things – different cultures to learn from, so many different hobbies, meeting people with completely new personalities and so much more, all offering different perspectives on the way you think.

Ask yourself – have you been sailing? Have you been to a museum?

Have you:

• been fishing?
• learnt a new language?
• been skydiving?
• heard a symphony?
• been to a rock concert?
• tried playing a musical instrument?
• offered voluntary help for the community?
• explored a new culture?
• been to an art gallery?
• visited a new country?

The list is endless.

You may say “Well I’m not the kinda person who likes art”… How would you know unless you give it a shot?

Maybe you can’t afford to visit a new country, but you can definitely spend a few hours by the beach, or your local park and read a book isn’t it?

I still remember many years ago when I had just met my EX, she made a plan for a bunch of us to go to an amusement park. Now I used to despise amusement parks – but then again I brightly agreed to go – of course at that time I just wanted her to like me :) I would’ve gone to a mental research facility for psych tests if she would’ve asked me to back then LOL!

Anyways, I pompously remember now having so much fun that day – and that’s when I realised, I had simply pre-judged going to amusement parks until then.

Prejudice has nothing to do with just race or religion. You could pre-judge a culture, a hobby or an event! Have you thought about how many things have you simply, subconsciously pre-judged and ruled them out of your life without even giving it a second thought just because you’re not “used to it”?

I was always the kind of person who’d hang out with the same kinda friends, watch the same genre of tv-shows/movies and mostly have the same kinda food. For me it was like if someone has no clue about technology, xbox, my sense of humour, I didn’t have anything to do with them! Can you imagine how small my life had gotten? It was that “similarity” that I was after, that was actually limiting me. It wasn’t until recently I’ve actually started exploring more in life – thinking of broadening my life.

I remember a few months ago, I came back home from one of the worst days at work, and was pretty much in the mood to just curl up, feel miserable and sleep it off. Just then a friend of mine who lives up the coast called me. And I began my whining while explaining to her what happened all day so she could “empathise”. And she goes like, “alright – put on your running shoes right now and just walk out. Don’t question it or sit to think about it – just do it”. So I did, still grumbling though trying to reason out “how would this really help!”. A few minutes in just walking aimlessly, something beautiful started happening – I started to pay attention to nature, people around, still waters (there’s a wharf close to where I live) etc. I ended up spending over an hour just sitting by that wharf. I gave her a call to thank her and she told me she was doing the same thing – so we kept chatting on our walk back home, both being more appreciative and positive about the day :)

Imagine how much you’d grow as a person when you explore, see different cultures, develop new hobbies, meet people who look at things from a different perspective or learn about the history of a new place.

Even if we disagree with someone or something, we’d still learn something.

Getting out of your box every now and then will not only help you to grow, but also bring in enthusiasm in your life, stay excited and appreciate all that life has to offer.

So to sum it up, I challenge you to give some of the points below a shot in the coming week itself:

• Get out and meet people who are NOT like you. People who don’t share the same views as yours. Who don’t have the same sense of humour as yours. People who grew up in completely different environment than yours.
• Set out some time to visit a local art gallery or a museum in your city. Better yet, take a friend you recently got acquainted with to tag along.
• Welcome differences in attitudes and people – You don’t have to agree to the differences, simply acknowledge that you’re welcoming it to seek different perspectives.
• Remind yourself everyday that life is abundant and there’s always so much to see, learn, observe, accept and be thankful for.
• Every often think about one, complete selfless act, that you could do voluntarily that may make a difference to someone and in turn, make you feel better. It could be as simple as randomly greeting a stranger and wishing them “good day”.
• Try to explore or cultivate a new hobby – read up on the internet about it, or go to your local library and read a book about it.
• Call up a friend and see the sunset together.
• Write a hand-written letter to a loved one.
• Do something out of your normal routine of your day to day life.

You never know – you may be missing out on the best part of life just because you’ve pre-judged something and have made up your mind that you’re not gonna like to do something.

Life is way bigger than your mindset, bigger than your career, your ambition, your lifestyle. The more you’ll explore, the more appreciative you’ll become and make better decisions.