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Measuring Time By Accomplishments

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Photo attributed to Thenix

Photo attributed to Thenix

I cannot believe its the middle of January already and looking back at the beginning of the year 2013, over the first two weeks, I notice that I have made a few subtle changes in my life, but nothing major. I haven’t accomplished anything yet and in fact, I have been going with the theme of hibernation and laziness for the most part. Resting, taking care of myself, taking care of my relationships over goals, and accomplishments, and my health over money.

This is such a new way of doing things for me, that every time I think of it, I cringe. How can I live in this fast-paced world by being slow? By taking care of myself and my health over anything else. Taking care of relationships over making more money and spending more time at work. Choosing non-resistance and peace, over anything else. I feel like I am living in a dream world, moving away from the existence in this consumeristic culture where more is always better. In my case right now, more sleep is the only thing I care about. More time with family and friends. More time on myself, journaling, meditating, yoga, long baths, short routines. More time on happiness, less on accomplishments.

From time to time, I wake up and have this feeling of being behind. I am behind, I think to myself, I haven’t done anything yet, I should be working on this and this, etc. I panic, and get anxious. I get this nervous ball of energy in the pit of my stomach. I cannot eat, cannot sleep. I have to then stop myself. When I feel the most harried, and crazy, is when I have to really slow down. The moments where I feel I cannot afford to take a break, I have to take a break. Have a slow cup of tea, sit down with it, savor it, waste a little bit of time on FB, or whatever social network you use to de-stress. Just take the time. All of a sudden you will realize nothing is urgent that it can’t wait for a 1o minute tea break.

You are able to go back to your work slowly but with the assurance that you are relaxed and you are already there. You have nowhere to reach, nowhere to go. Life will come to you, if you just wait for it. And you will be surprised you won’t even have to wait too long.

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You are nobody’s caretaker

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Photo attributed to flickr user Piotr Zurek

Lately I have been letting myself get anxious over the fact that I have to take care of the house while my mother is in India, making sure my brothers and father eat well, and making sure that I do all the things I need to do at Thenix’s place, making sure that he eats well, and that I help him with anything he needs help with.

Yesterday, while lying in bed, after a frantic end to the day, cooking four dishes and cleaning the kitchen in one hour flat, I realized I was pushing myself to be everyone else’s caretaker. No one needs you to take care of them. They can take care of themselves, and that is the mantra that you have to push to yourself, especially if you are female, and if you are conscious.

The priority in everyone’s life should always be themselves. You are the priority for yourself. No one else is as important to yourself as yourself. Once you have taken care of all the things that matter to you, your health, and safety and happiness, then you can go on to bigger and better things. You cannot take care of someone else, unless you are at the epitome of health and happiness yourself.

Otherwise, you will feel empty inside. Giving more than all of yourself will empty you and you will be left holding the broken pieces.

Let me know what you think of this post. Thanks for reading.

Strength of mind in yoga

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Photo attributed to flickr user Noodlefish

I went to an amazing yoga class on the weekend where the teacher was a contradiction wrapped in an enigma. She was a soft-spoken girl with a military attitude to vinyasa flows. She pushed us and prodded us until there was no tomorrow. And when we fell down in a heap of exhaustion, it wasn’t the end for us. She said something then that made me think.

‘Yoga is about strength of mind as much if not more than about strength of body.’

I have bolded it because I felt like it was an important statement. I felt the criticism reverberating through that statement towards me. It was as if she saw I faltered and rested when I needed it, but instead of taking it as physical tiredness, she took it as mental weakness. Instead of perhaps thinking it was an injury that I was protecting, she took it to mean, I was lacking in mental strength.

I have seen it time and time again, the power that a yoga teacher holds in a yoga class. She can get a class going, she can calm a class down, she can change the mood of the class, she can pretty much mold the students in her class, any which way she wants.

I find it dangerous to think that a person might push themselves beyond the mold of their body, beyond their strength, beyond where they are at the current point in time, and injure themselves to the point of no return.

We are all competitive at heart, we all want to be the best, the fastest, the strongest. We look up to our yoga teachers, we seek approval, we all want to know that we have done a good job.

What is to say that a yoga teacher’s words aren’t the most powerful thing in the yoga class? The asanas themselves are physically taxing, but the words or adjustments of a teacher can push you beyond your limit into something amazing, or lead you to cause harm to yourself.

I wanted to point this out to all new and old teachers. To be careful, as with great power, comes great responsibility.

Worrying about money

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Photo attributed to flickr user kudumomo

I read Deepak Chopra’s quote yesterday which really helped clarify something that was going through my head.

He said, ‘ Within everyone there is light and shadow, good and evil, love and hate. In order to be truthful, you must embrace your total being. A person who exhibits both positive and negative qualities, strengths and weaknesses is not flawed, but complete.’

This really made me think. I have been worrying about money for the past few days. I worry that I am not saving up enough, that I am spending too much, that I am not controlled enough, that I am too impulsive, that I am going to keep T from activities in South America that I won’t have the cash for, etc.

I guess, that’s been showing up in my subconscious, because the dreams that I have can be interpreted as worries about money. Teeth being imperfect, worrying about costs of fixing teeth versus fixing car, etc.

The funny thing is that I am trying to embrace my anxiety-prone personality. I have one, and I am going to learn to live with it, reduce it with yoga, and be more mindful that being anxious doesn’t help my health or the situation. I was worried about being worried about money! That did it, when I realized I was worrying about being worried, I had to stop right there and then. Enough is enough, I thought to myself.

I searched for guidance online, and this quote caught my eye, on an amazing website, Enlightened Feelings.

And it made me realize that it is because of yoga and meditation, that I face everything head-on. I do not quell my feelings and then explode weeks later, because I am not expressing my worry or fears or anxiety in time with when it happens.

I am becoming slowly a more whole person. A person who doesn’t hide their emotions. I have a long way to go, but this helps me realize that progress is being made. All of that practice is not for nothing.

Do you worry about money? How do you deal with it?

Yoga is All You Need

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Photo attributed to flickr user cycloctopus

I was reading an article on the Yoga Journal website, and they said that Yoga is all you need in order to stay fit. I have to say that I completely agree. When I first started hot yoga, I was wondering if I should be doing something else in accompaniment, in order to ensure that my fitness levels stayed optimal.

I was told by the yoga instructor, and the studio owner that you only need hot yoga in order to stay fit for the rest of your life, in every way possible, strength, balance, flexibility, core strength, are all targeted by a regular hot yoga practice. I assumed in the beginning that he was just trying to sell me the five-month unlimited class package, but then I experimented on myself.

I stopped running and going to the gym to lift weights for a month, and focused exclusively on hot yoga. I noticed that although hot yoga changed my body in ways that I can’t imagine, my core was stronger, my legs were powerful, my butt looked awesome, my arms weren’t stringy anymore, the changes in my mental state was more profound and more important, because I couldn’t get it from any other exercise.

My stress levels reduced, I was more patient and calm, I had more energy, I felt happier, and I was able to accomplish more goals, as I was able to stay in the present moment more than before.

Even if yoga hadn’t given me all the fitness benefits, I would have continued on with it, just because the mental benefits from it were worth every single penny, and every single second I spent on it and more.

Check out this article on the 77 health benefits of Yoga.

Let me know what you think about hot yoga and yoga being all you need for your fitness goals.

Why do I love thee – let me count the ways?

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Photo attributed to flickr user ArloMagicMan

Alright, let me start off by saying, I have always been a cynic about love. I didn’t believe it existed. I thought people were making up stuff when they said, that when you meet the right one, you know. You just know.

I would ask again and again, how do you know? I mean, seriously, how can you just know? I used to despise those people who thought make-out sessions in public are a good idea.

It is a bit like yoga and meditation for me. I did yoga few times before I really got into it, but I never liked it too much. I didn’t think it was for me. I never even tried meditation before dismissing it as some new-age fad that would go away. Not until I was ready for it, did it really hit me like it did and has now.

I love every aspect of yoga and meditation. It is my love.

Now that I am in love myself, I understand everything that those people were saying is true. It is a little bit scary how right they were. I am in a mish-mash in my head because of it. How can something so simple screw us up so completely?

I am doing all of those things I used to despise in others. Really, I am guessing it was just jealousy. Once I realized its jealousy, I stopped despising and started loving it.

PDAs, grabbing his butt in public, making-out without a care, bed yoga in the middle of the day, eating a meal from one plate, drinking a drink from one cup, laughing over nothing really useful, living in a state of complete and utter bliss, induced by love.

I am sure this is just the honeymoon phase and it will end soon, but I finally understand what those people were talking about. I apologize to them for my naivety.

Malls as a tourist destination

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Photo attributed to flickr user e3000

I have a few family members over, and I was asking my mother where she was planning to take them. I imagined CN tower would be on the list, maybe the harborfront, but what I didn’t expect was, Yorkdale Mall, figured high on the list as well. I was surprised. For a second, I wondered, what had happened to society, to result in malls being a major tourist destination.

I remembered back to the last few times, people have come to visit from the Middle East and India, and every time, they have gone to Eaton’s Centre, and Yorkdale Mall, as well as Costco, to get a feel for what Canada is all about. It is something that is laughable, but unfortunately, it is true. Our tourist destinations instead of being museums, and art galleries, are turning into malls and big-box stores.

I asked my friend this question, When did this happen? When did malls become a major tourist destination? And he replied, same time when what you wear became more important than your health. He told me a story about a friend of his who was speaking about a niece that she was worried about. The niece apparently was doing cocaine and his friend was worried about her. But then she said, I am going to take the girl shopping, because she dresses as a slut and that is really the most important thing to deal with right now, with regards to her.

My friend was obviously flabbergasted, but this is what our society is coming to. It is becoming a society where the size of your bank account is more important than your personality. Where your wardrobe is more important than your health. Where our malls are more important than the museums. Where we care more about what is on our phones, than what is in our food. The list can go on and on, but I am sure you get the idea.

It isn’t all pessimistic, things are slowly changing. Moving towards caring about the actual important things in life, like family, friends, love, spirit and health. It will take time, but it will happen. I’m sure of it. I have to believe that in my heart, otherwise, it does get a bit disheartening at times.

Addicted to not spending money

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As addicting spending money can be, not spending money can be even as addictive or more, to the point that you get obsessed with it and think about nothing else. I think it’s one of those addictions, like an addiction to exercise, that people do not really think is bad, until it starts affecting your health. I feel that a lot of people who are trying to pay off their debts, are kind of obsessed with not spending money. And I worry that they will not spend money to the effect of ruining their health. They might try to save on their grocery bills, by eating less, eating poorly, etc. They might to save on their health needs, by spending less money on a gym membership or buying generic prescriptions, etc.

All of this cutting back is great for the wallet, but done too often without heed to your health, and your health will suffer. Now, everyone knows that their health and their bodies are their greatest asset. You have to take care of your health. You could be the richest person on this planet, and without your health, you have nothing. So I recommend do all you can to save money, but do not do anything to risk your health. Spend more rather than less on ensuring your health remains viable. Remember, your body is all you have when you come onto this planet, and it will be the only thing that will matter at the end of your life.

Just on a personal note, I only have 4 paycheques left and that is extremely scary. Well, not that scary because I have some experience in not having a paycheque when I was in my masters program and I lived off of my loans. But still, it will be interesting to see what will happen without my paycheques. Obviously, my savings are going to dwindle which I don’t like, that’s why I have resolved to work and only use the money that I earn to pay for my trip stuff.

I read “Funny how quickly we adapt to new financial circumstances“ on Tired of Being Broke and I totally agree with it. I bet I will get used to not having a paycheque in an instant and when I come back home and get a job, I will get adapted to having a paycheque, just as quickly.