Swimming craze

Total immersion is giving me a new lease of life.

There was a time when I struggled with swimming until I found Total immersion. Read the book to understand more. The fantastic thing about learning to swim the total immersion was is the logic and simplicity. I find that we humans have a way of complicating things however reading about Total immersion brought back the simplicity.

Life is simple, we love to complicate it. The reason we love to complicate stuff is because of our ego and the stories that we tell ourself. Someone doesnt say hello and we read a lot into that. Someone doesnt return our call and our internal voice tells us something is drastically wrong.

Actually Life is really simple. If we live mindfully. Thats the reason I love Total immersion was of swimming, as it gets you swimming mindfully and calmly. Without thrashing about in the water, just roll you way and glide through water. As its wonderful.

I am keen to try out swimming in open water next summer. That would be wonderful as I dread open water. Its a childhood phobis, which I have never let go of yet. I am frightened of open water. Hopefully I should be able to overcome the fear sometime soon.

Maybe one day even giving me the courage and strength to swim the Channel. Ah that would be the day :-)

Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year - why watch it?

I just watched the movie - "Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year" - its brilliant

I enjoyed it and recommend you to watch it too.

why did I like it?
I liked it because of its simplicity. Great script. Great acting and superb direction. I love movies which affirm my faith in the values of honesty, integrity and ethics. It makes me believe that goodness can work.

Direction
Shimit Amin - hats off to you man. Brilliant direction. After Chak De India, I expected nothing less and you have delivered again. There is one bit of the movie which did not work. Rocket sales corporation promises 24 hour support however there is no one to take their call the day 'Puri' calls their number. That one part did not fit into the whole movie. Maybe something to improve for next time.

Rocket singh - aka Ranbir Kapoor. Excellent acting. Feels and looks the part. Very original portrayal of a sardar. Well done.

Overall - Excellent movie. Must watch.

Another day gone ....

Another day gone.. Over.. kaput. Finish.

Have I progressed? Or regressed?

Dunno. Waking up late and then running through the day. Meditation was left by the way side as I got up late. Interestingly I am not fussed. I am not pissed. I am ok. I am relaxed. I am ok. Things dont bother me a lot. There are things that I do feel that I can improve. Like being consistent. At the moment its like being consistently inconsistent.

Anyway, things are ok and thinigs are fine. I would like to be more aware of anicca during meditation and then being able to translate it into life as well. As finally everything is impermanent. Everything shall change. shall change.

I am not developed in metta bhavan as yet. That is something, which shall come once my awarness becomes strong and mindfulness and wisdom improve. Then metta bhavana shall develop as well.

Until then - continue to work. work for ones benefit and the benefit of mankind.

Anicca

Metta to all :-)

Anicca vata sankhara

Impermanent are all formations...

The final words of Buddha. I am deeply impressed by the wisdom of Buddha. Initially during my early years, I was quite non-religious. Then during my college days, I went deep into religon. I developed a strong belief in God and the view that there is a higher power which will save us and answer our prayers.

Lately for the past couple of years, I have been meditating and have really found the wisdom in Buddha's words. I am not concerned now with the presence or absence of God, instead I am more concerned with the 'NOW'. With being in the now and being present with reality.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had not found 'Vipassana meditation'. I would have continued floundering with wrong views and being buffeted with the vissicutedes of life.

Now that I have found vipassana, I feel blessed. I am full of gratitude for SN Goenkaji and U Ba Khin ji for maintaining this tradition of meditiation.

Its a simple technique and thats the speciality of it. It encourages you to become the observer and develop your inherint wisdom. Keep on working for our own salvation. The truth within oneself becomes clearer and clearer.

Metta to all


Keep on working. May all beings be free from suffering. May all being be liberated.

Why watch 'Wake up Sid'?

First there was Siddhartha Gautama who woke up and now we have Siddhartha(Sid)'s story of 'wake up Sid' - directed by Karan Johar.

My take on the movie -'Go watch it'.

why should you?
1. Simple story
2. Great acting and direction
3. Superb music

Its a simple story. rich kid. No direction in life. Fails his exams.

A chance encounter and he meets Aish (Konkana). The thing that I liked about the movie is the good characterisation. Each character is given strength and made believable, so the story works. The ends are all tied up as the story progresses.

I liked that things like continuation etc were take care of. There is a scene where Ranbir (Sid) receives a envelope and the watch on his wrist shows around 3:00pm. He then rushes out to meet his dad and the clock on the wall is shown as 4:00pm -Neat - I liked it.

Overall a nice movie and worth a watch.

The dreaded Achilles

Its hit me.

After enjoying the fruits of running and running and having fun, I am sidelined now. Sidelined due to a dreaded deadly injury. The 'A' word. Its an 'achilles' injury.

I think it could be due to my increased trail runs or even due to increased speed work.

Tomorrow I was supposed to be running a 25 miler in preparation for my first ultra and now I am sat at home twiddling my thumbs and watching 'Strictly come dancing'.

Thats life. It can be a bitch sometimes.

So I have now started swimming. I enjoy swimming, though I hate swimming in a crowded swimming pool. I had gone swimming yesterday and it felt like a cattle market. there was a small section of the pool cordened off for proper swimming while the rest of the pool was full of kids splashing about and just having fun.

I enjoy running because of the freedom that it gives me. Just put on my shorts, shoes and head out. Nobody jostling for space. Nobody breathing down your neck. Its just you and the trail and the wind in your face.

Anyway I need to maintain my fitness and swimming seems to be the best choice as its impact free and can also keep me improving my endurance.

The Triathlon season seems to be over now and I havent brought a bike, so thats out of question. The only thing to do is wait out the injury for another couple of weeks and keep icing it.

Hopefully it will get better soon.

I live in hope.

What to do when things are not going well?

Every so often - things go Topsy turvy and everything looks bleak and desolate. If you are not in a desert then things looking bleak and desolate is worse than being in a desert.

So what to do then?

This was the question that I asked myself as my life now seems to have gone off the rails. A number of conditions were conspiring to make me feel lousy about myself, my situation and life in general.

So I did what I always advice anyone to do - Eat some ice cream. Yes eating ice cream can set right all the things which are not going OK in life. For some people its chocolate - I personally cannot stand the stuff. I don't think its anything to do with the cavities in my teeth or the numerous visits to the dentist going through the drill (forgive my pun).

So some people like chocolates, and some like me prefer ice cream. Which one you the enlightened reader may ask. I prefer Strawberry cheesecake. To be more specific Haagen-Dazs strawberry cheesecake. There is something magical about that ice cream.

There is a method that I suggest you use to get the best out of the ice cream. yes, there is always a method to all madness in life. Not that I am mad. Its the method that I am talking about. You can tell from reading this blog that I have had a long day - and not a very good one. What can you say when my pipeline is empty. there are no qualified orders. We have a new MD and I am not making a good impression as I don't have a good pipeline of opportunities.

Yes, so when you have had a day like mine, then you need to do the steps outlined below:
1. Come home - throw your shoes into the rack.
2. Take off your blazer and throw it on the bed
3. Walk to the fridge (translation -Refrigerator for the posh people)
4. Go to the freezer section
5. Take out the Haagen-Dazs Strawberry cheesecake(if you don't have this brand - go to Tesco and get one)
6. Change into comfortable clothing
7. Switch on the TV and set the timer for 4 minutes
8. Watch some lousy programme until the timer goes off
9. After timer has gone off - go and take three scoops of ice cream into a bowl
10. Sit comfortably in your favourite couch
11. Switch off the TV
12. Sink you spoon into the ice cream and .... enjoy

So there you have it. A simple enough way to beat the credit crunch.

I normally go for a run of 5-6 miles after eating the ice cream. after all I am a dedicated eater and need to make sure that my appetite keeps up with the ice cream.

Enjoy your Haagen-Dazs Strawberry ice creams - don't worry about the credit crunch

I wish I get paid money for marketing Haagen-Dazs strawberry cheesecake ice creams - will make up for my lousy pipeline :-)