Moment to pause and reflect...

How time flies and it is already November now and we have just another month for this year to end. I know some of you would be thinking, what it's almost that year of the time, where you have a choice of finishing your holidays or leave that you have accumulated from the beginning of the year. Take my advice, life is short and spend the well deserved time with your family and loved ones unlike me, where I worked through out the year and what do I have as a reward....a triple CABG bypass. Not that I am angry or regretting it, but I am just advising some of you who feel that career comes first above all and everything else...well it doesn't if you know what the trade off is.

It's always lecture time from me when I blog, why can't I write something different. Think outside the box....sukku....

Ok make a list of what you have achieved this year and what impact it had on you and did you learn anything from it...go ahead just make a list....or make a list of 10 items or things that you would like to change in your life or if you are daring enough....start with 5 things that you would like to change on your spouse....(don't get me wrong and change her)...just imagine if you had the magic wand....what would you like to change...better still transform....in your life...

Have a fruitful Sunday and do think about what I had just said...

My Happy Birthday Post

This is what I wrote 2 years ago and when I read what I had written, I guess nothing much has changed except the fact that I am lucky to celebrate my 49th birthday with my loved ones and now I know for sure that I would be able to spend many more Birthdays without any heart problems but other problems I wouldn't be able to guarantee. Now let me see, over the years I have removed my appendix, my gall bladder and recently a bypass with an open heart surgery (I guess the mother of all operations). This will keep me ticking for many years as I will be following a strict diet and having a healthy life style as I know what it is to go through whole thing.

I am going to post the article that I had posted on Opera below and also I have a birthday photo of me taken when I was 1 year old. Don't I look sweet with the knife in my hand waiting to do justice to the cake.

Happy Birthday post

Monday, 29. October 2007, 02:44:57

Today is my birthday and with me turning a different age every year it is a time of reflection. Not that I don’t do it often enough but this special day really makes me feel nostalgic and makes me feel that I am getting closer to home(heaven or hell as you may please). But looking back what I did a year ago I have noticed quite a bit of growth (getting more grey hairs) and determination. I am influenced by the books that I read and the feeling that age is finally catching up, I have also became more of an introvert finding solace in my solitude. I have accepted to accept things in life as they pass by and not to worry about it too much as I know I don't possess the power to alter or change it. But that doesn't mean; I let my life pass by. Now I just become the observer and let my heart do the thinking and guide me. Something which I guess I didn't have the capacity to do before as I was reacting then with my ego (my little voice). I have begun to realise the folly that this little voice did to me; fear, fright, anger, jealousy,worries etc. Been through many turbulent times in life and I have risen against all odds and I am thankful to God for seeing me through. And by God's grace I know I would have many more birthdays to sit and ponder about the new challenges that life would have to offer and the lessons it would enrich me with so that I could share it with others.

My birthday wish for this year is that both my boys do well in their public exams and also not forgetting my wife who is taking care of them while I am away working abroad. My final wish is that I should be back home soon with the family as I had enough of working abroad and brooding over it with my blogs.

By the way I am posting this one day in advance as my birthday is tomorrow and I honestly would like to thank God for whatever he has done in my life and for giving me this chance to post this blog and share it with my family and friends. God Bless you all.

Blast from the Past

My first trip abroad (Twilight Zone).

Saturday, 3. May 2008, 13:47:35

The surrounding was a little strange as the plane landed at the airport. I can glance from the window that the landscape looked very parched and the grass was brown. I can also see the mirage on the runway. As the pilot announced the local time at the airport that I was about to land, I changed the time at my watch and this was a brand new watch that I got as a gift for my overseas trip for my studies. I had to wind two and half hours back from the place where I was flying from.
To my surprise I saw some workers working at the airport, their skin tanned working under the blazing heat and they were wearing only loin cloths. They were doing manual work, just like a scene from a movie where you find jailbirds toiling away breaking rocks in some hill with a sledge hammer.
Now this was about thirty years ago, when I was a student in pursue of higher education to be a Doctor (now that I am engineer). Sitting alone on the flight and looking at the scenes unfolding before me was a cultural shock to me. This is the very first time that I am ever leaving my home, my comfort zone not knowing what the outside world really looks like.
I enjoyed the flight though, I had my share of the free drinks and I had managed to smoke onboard too (those were the days). But reality hit me right at my face, what am I doing in a country which looked like it was still in the stone ages. Who am I to complain as I was seeking my higher education in this so called stone aged country?
The airport was run down and there were queues a mile long everywhere for the immigration clearance. I guess I was one the last to get my passport stamped from that flight. The custom clearance was a piece of cake as I looked at it, no queue and I carried my luggage to the counter to open it for the custom officer to check it. But it was a rather embarrassing moment for me. The officer shouted at me to take my place at the queue, I was thinking to myself, what queue? Little did I realise that there was actually a queue, the passengers were very tired standing for ages and they had decided to place the luggage in line and they were seating on the benches.
Who do I know in this strange land? My guardian was fixed by my uncle who was studying his engineering in the northern part of the country. Have I seen this so called guardian or do I have a clue how he looks like? The only description that I had of him was that he is short, dark and has big round eyes. When I looked at the stream of people who were waiting on the reception hall, almost all of them fit that description. Was I doomed?
I look at my watch for the local time and to my surprise; the watch had stopped at the precise moment when the plane landed at the airport. My hair on my back was standing and I had goose bumps just thinking about it. Am I alive or did the plane crash and I am in another world or dimension so to speak.
Just before I left for my overseas trip, I had watched twilight zone on the telly and there was this episode about how the passengers on a plane were flying and the plane had encountered some turbulence due to air pockets, and after that there was calm and the plane was still flying through with an eerie silence and when some of the passengers had looked at their watches, it had all stopped at the precise moment when the plane had crashed (due to bad weather) and they were all flying in a different dimension.
I woke up from that eerie moment or feeling as in front of me was that short, dark and those big round eyes man calling my name and he had my photograph with him.

To be continued.....

©sukku2008

This was my posting at Opera and I didn't know why I had written ....to be continued...was I waiting for response from the other bloggers so that I can pen the sequel....
So do you want a sequel...it's a nice feeling when you read your old blogs....it's like a time capsule...

Blast from the past...

Why do you blog?

Wednesday, 24. October 2007, 13:34:54

I am sitting here pondering on the reasons why do I blog? Has this thought ever crossed your mind too?

Could it be to keep track of my moods,feelings and my state of being at that particular moment in time captured like a photograph but in my case its a photograph of my thoughts and my feelings.

A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.” Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in cronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominantly. Blogs use a conversational style of documentation.

This is what I blogged on 18.10.2006 about a year back and it transported me back to that very day:


You know as I read my previous blogs, I see a pattern emerging based on the situation and circumstances. One year back my priorities were different and I guess it all depends on the present state of the mind.

I had my fair share of ups and downs and character is built by the sufferings that we undergo and on how we react to these situations. Fear is another factor that alters the way we perceive things and people. Fear is also imaginary and if you write your fear down and read it aloud, you would see that it is nothing but a story. You tend to see the folly in the fear and as they say, the greatest fear is that of fear itself.

The other thing that you realize by reading your older blogs is how you transform yourself from ideas and beliefs that you hold on too. We just have to let go of the old ideas or beliefs. In order to progress I guess we have to learn how to let go and let live. Is this really possible?

Let me pen down what I feel at this moment and capture it in my blog. Actually I can’t feel anything now as when I make myself come up with the next thought, it doesn’t work. Thoughts are random and they are an entity and they possess life. I have also learned on how to control my thoughts and not let the thoughts dictate my action. When you wake up in the morning, what are your thoughts like? How would you want your day to be? Sometimes we get up feeling lazy and we just don’t have the mood. I have that feeling these days and it’s a dreadful thing actually. Like they say, an idle mind is the devils workshop.

What are devils? Don’t you think that Devils are the figment of our imagination? What is bad or what is good. We know black from white and bad from evil. But why is there so much of evil in this world. People fight over right or wrong and they kill each other. Why can’t we just co-exist peacefully? Why do people hold grudges? Why can’t they just forgive and forget.

I am just writing, whatever that comes in my mind and composing it without giving it a thought. Does all this make sense? Does our life on earth make sense? Why is there disparity in this world? Why do I feel sad when I see the beggars with babies in their arms begging at the traffic lights(in Hyderabad)? Why are they doing it? Why can’t we be equal? What did they do to deserve this pitiful life? Sometimes I tell myself, hey you are just begging without any worries in this world but we in the comfort of our cars are the actual beggars with so much misery and sadness.

Let me end my blog with a paragraph from OSHO’s book on awareness:

“Yesterday you were thinking about today because then it was tomorrow; now it is today and you are thinking about tomorrow, and when tomorrow comes, it will be today – because anything that exists, exists here and now, it cannot exist otherwise. And if you have a fixed mode of functioning such that your mind always looks at tomorrow, then when will you live? Tomorrow never comes. Then you will go on missing. The moment the future enters, time enters. You have missed. And this has become a fixed pattern: robot like, you go on missing".

So remember one thing: whenever you realize that you have gone into the past or into the future, don’t create a problem out of it. Simply come to the present, not creating any problem. It’s okay! Simply bring back your awareness.

Whenever you feel you have missed, come back, that’s all. Don’t feel guilty.

Has my state of being changed much from then? I still have the same feelings about inequality and maybe I have become wiser on the fear part but it still daunts me...the past is always there...even now and I keep telling myself to let go but it still attaches to me like a leech....and it will fall off eventually(I guess once it has sucked enough and caused enough misery). Ah...the future....another ball game altogether....

I hope my blog has stirred the passion on your blogging and the philosophy behind it...so happy blogging...bloggers...

7 Rules for a Life Worth Living

Rule One: Never let another person dictate the terms for living your life.

Not your parents. Not your spouse. Not your kids. Leading your life means you can accept the input of other people, but the final decision is yours. This means that career choice, relationships, beliefs and way of life are to be judged by you, not anyone else.

This rule holds especially when you have doubts. Don’t let your moment of doubt become a weakness to be exploited by others. Not sure what you want to do with your life? Don’t sit passively and let other people decide for you.

Rule Two: Don’t allow yourself to be chained by consumerism.

The world is filled with stuff. Don’t let stuff get in the way of what is important. When you become chained to your stuff, you are no longer leading your life. Ask yourself: if you had to give up 90% of your net worth tomorrow to pursue your dream, could you do it effortlessly? If you hesitated, perhaps your ability to lead your own life has been weakened by your attachment to stuff.

Rule Three: Rule money. Don’t let money rule you.

Money is a resource that can be applied when leading your life. You can use it to reduce discomforts, focus on meaningful work and apply it to help you learn and improve. But if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the money is in control.

Here are some goals to put yourself in a position to rule the money in your life:

• Maintain one year of emergency funds in the bank.
• Your lifestyle should expand at a slower rate than your income grows.
• Be able to drastically reduce your expenditures if needed.

Financial freedom doesn’t mean the ability to buy everything you could desire or live in luxury. It means that money becomes a tool and not a distraction in leading your life.

Rule Four: You come first in relationships.

Do you know people that can’t stand being single? They get out of one bad relationship only to jump into the next.

Why? Because they put too much of their needs dependent on that other person. Without emotional and possibly financial support, they can’t survive.

In any relationship you need to be the person that comes first. That means that while you might enjoy the relationship, it doesn’t become the major purpose in your life.

Your purpose and leading your life must come before any relationship you enter. The surprising fact is that when you do this, you are able to have healthier personal and intimate relationships because there is no need for jealousy or possession.

Rule Five: Never outsource your thinking.

“You can split up food between men, but each man must digest it individually.” – Howard Roark in The Fountainhead.

Leading your own life means leading your own beliefs. It means never accepting anything unless you can filter it through your reasoning and find it to be true. Think critically about everything in life. Chances are there are a lot of indigested thoughts floating around trying to bypass your mind and go straight to your gut.

Rule Six: Anything you lack can be trained.

Never accept a fatalistic view of life. So you’ve been told you lack the intelligence, willpower, strength or charisma to do something? Ignore them. So you’ve told yourself that you lack the talent? Ignore yourself.

Begin with the assumption that anything can be trained and you’ll find few exceptions. I used to be a shy, introverted kid. Recently some friends described me as an extreme extrovert, being unafraid to meet new people and having honed my abilities to speak in front of crowds. Begin with the belief that you have no idea where your talents are until you train them.

Rule Seven: Purpose comes from your creative faculties.

Want to know what your purpose in life is? Simple. Hold your hands in front of you. Now look at them. There is your purpose and means to do it.

Purpose is your ability to take the creative energies you have and communicating them with the world. You and I might pick different mediums, but the act of purpose is exactly the same. You could be a manager crafting the art of dealing with people, a programmer crafting the knowledge of algorithms or an entrepreneur crafting the art of a business.

Don’t worry if you haven’t found the right medium. Once you feel that great purpose for your life and it comes from within, that is your greatest asset. With that belief you are the leader of your own life.

Steve Jobs' 20 rules of success

Steve Jobs' rules for success:

• First thing: As soon as you join/start a company, make a list of strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your company on a piece of paper.

• Don't hesitate in throwing bad apples out of the company.

• Don't worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones.

• People judge you by your performance, so focus on the outcome.

• Success generates more success. So be hungry for it. "I've always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do."

• Ask for feedback, from people with diverse backgrounds. Each one will tell you one useful thing.

• If you're at the top of the chain, sometimes people won't give you honest feedback because they're afraid. In this case, disguise yourself, or get feedback from other sources (Steve Jobs actually called Apple Customer Care disguising himself as a customer, just to check on them).

• Focus on those who will use your product - listen to your customers first.

• Advertise. If they don't know it, they won't buy your product.

• Pay attention to design. "We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them." "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

• "Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower." If there's a better technology available, use it no matter if anyone else is not using it. Be the first, and make it an industry standard. “I think this is the start of something really big. Sometimes that first step is the hardest one, and we've just taken it.”

• “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

• Learn to criticize your enemies openly, but honestly.

• If you partner someone whom you don't like, learn to like them - praise them and benefit from them - "Ecosystem approach"

• Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

• Do your best at every job. No sleep!

• Think about not just tomorrow, but the future. “I want to put a ding in the universe.”

• There's always "one more thing" to learn!

• "Better be a pirate than to join the navy"

• "Think different"

Bill Gates Rules of Life

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it.
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will not make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forests from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools, they may have abolished failing grades, and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. 
Author: Jennifer Nodwell

I hope you enjoy my series on living and all this are taken from the internet.

Rules to Live By

Some say rules were made to be broken. If we make an effort to follow a few simple rules life would be so much easier. Here’s 15 Rules To Live By:
»If you move it, put it back.
»If you don’t know how to operate it, leave it alone.
»If it belongs to someone else and you want to use it, get permission.
»If you borrow it, return it.
»If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
»If you broke it, admit it.
»If you can’t fix it, call in someone who can.
»If you open it, close it.
»If you turn it on, turn it off.
»If you unlock it, lock it up.
»If you value it, take care of it.
»If you make a mess, clean it up.
»If it will brighten someone’s day, say it, do it!
»If it’s none of your business, don’t ask questions.
»If it will tarnish someone’s reputation, keep it to yourself.
(Author Unknown)

10 Rules To Live By

There’s really no way to sum up the game of life with a simple set of rules, but I’ve come up with a set of guidelines that have served me pretty good. I would love to hear your own.
1. Focus on what you want: Do you focus on the road ahead or in the rearview mirror filled with the past? By focusing on the past, you tend to worry about the future because your focus carries the negative experiences from your past into your present. “Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind’s eye, and you will be drawn toward it.” - Napoleon Hill
2. Never give up: Thomas Edison said it best — “”Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
3. One day at a time: We achieve our dreams one day at a time, so set goals for each day that will take you, step by step, toward your desire. The pyramids weren’t built in a week so learn to be patient. Do the best you can, enjoy this day, and be satisfied with what you’ve accomplished.
4. True happiness lies within you: Don’t waste time and effort searching for happiness, peace and contentment in the world outside. Reach inside yourself and pull out the better angels of your nature and give to someone else.
5. Learn to be grateful: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” - Melodie Beattie
6. Expand your comfort zone: Not a whole lot can change or happen when we stop challenging ourselves. Bob Parson’s probably said it best when someone told him they we’re concerned about they’re security. His response was, “Security is for cadavers.”
7. Your closer than you think: There’s an old Chinese proverb that goes something like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”
8. Don’t take yourself seriously: Learn to lighten up. Life is a game. Don’t sweat the little stuff…. ’cause it’s all little stuff.
9. Be nice: What is that old saying? You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Just another way of saying you can win people to your side more easily by gentle persuasion and flattery than by hostile confrontation.
10. Get out of your way: As Warren Buffet said to a University of Washington audience several years ago regarding how he and Bill Gates became so successful: “Everybody here has the ability to do anything I do and much beyond. Some of you will, and some of you won’t. For those who won’t, it will be because you get in your own way, not because the world doesn’t allow you to.”
Written by R. H.
http://myselfdevelopment.net/index.php/2007/02/19/10-rules-to-live-by/