Author: alearningaday

but you can’t quite make it drink..

Lovely quote. As I’m realizing with quotes, every quote works well in a particular context. It’s only when you feel the need for a particular quote do you fully understand the magic.

When I look for quotes every morning from the little repository I’ve made up, it all depends on the mood. Sometimes I’m looking for some inspiration, sometimes its just laughs.. but there is a quote for every day, every situation..

Today’s quote is ‘You can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink’

The big reason is that I’m really beginning to see why happiness is classified as internal. You could be in the middle of a hell-hole, yet happiness is a choice.. we choose to be happy, or not. I am of the point of view that things are well, as they are. There’s not much you can do about the big things.. can’t change what the economy looks like, can’t change tragedies that have taken place but we can definitely change little things in our life by just making conscious choices – consciously choosing to smile, to be happy..

It’s funny how I often notice that a lot of the most optimistic people around me, most expressive people have had some sort of serious tragedy/tough ongoing problem in their lives that they’ve learnt from. Not always the case though.. there are some who choose to be the potato in hot water, and crumble, others who harden and become cynical and finally some who, like the coffee bean, decide to adapt and change the hot water situation in itself..

Happiness is a choice. We’re always making a choice to be happy, or not. There’s no end to things to be sad about.. At any given time, every one of us has dung of some form thrown right at our faces..

Some complain about the stench, others use it as fuel and fertilizer..

It’s all a choice, really..

Just being a Mom means you’re making a big difference..

:)

“The first thing I did was commit to my success and playing to win. I swore I would focus and not even consider leaving this business until I was a millionaire or more. This was radically different from my previous efforts, where, because I always thought short-term, I would constantly get side-tracked by either good opportunities or when things got tough.” ~ T. Harv Eker from Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind

I love that. Are you playing not to lose? There’s a HUGE difference between playing a game trying not to lose and playing the game to WIN.

One’s a lot more fun. And, a lot more likely to lead to success. Yah?

Let’s play to win. Commit (!!!) to creating the results you care about and look beyond the short-term struggles (there will be, as you know, a LOT of struggles, so quit being surprised by them :) to the joy of manifesting your ideal life.
—

Thanks Brian Johnson

Now, while I wish ‘featured’ meant Pearl Jam was paying me to feature this song, I thought the song deserved to be featured on merit.. ;)

First things first, here is the link of the song.

If you’ve heard it and not really caught the lyrics, then here is the version with lyrics.

The reason for the wait is that the mood of the song can be very deceptive. If heard without watching for the lyrics, the song can be thought to be a nice melody..

But, the lyrics changes everything..

It is the matter of fact manner in which the song is sung that captured me. The pain in the voice is concealed for a good part, but still very evident…

Loved it! :)

Of all challenges, it’s the simplest ones that are toughest to do.

This sounds so simple –

Find a place for my wallet (for example) and make sure it is returned right back every time I finish using it/take it out.

Yet SO hard to do..

Working on it though.. It is on its way to becoming a habit hopefully..

It’s 5AM in the morning IST. Here is an attempt at switching schedule from fully nocturnal to more human-like. And it has started with a feeling of being completely disorganized and one of nothing being in control.

I’m not sure if this is a common one, but it is one I feel from time to time when everything around seems to be in disorder and no work gets done anyway..

So, I’ve decided to put down a 3 steps to get from disorganized to organized..

1) Clean your workspace/area. Nothing like getting the surrounding/environemtn all perked up first..

2) Write down all the things bothering you at the moment. Writing over typing as writing is neuro-muscular i.e. helps our brain think better..

3) Make a to-do list of simple next steps, make a simple priority list based on importance and get chugging with something small..

So, here goes..

Ha ha ha..

Morning.. It looks like an early start today..

Have a great day! :)

The book I read today said that more people buy titles of books than contents and that a book sold a million additional copies by just changing its titles. So, I decided to experiment a bit with titles of my post.

What is true is that the post is about the breakfast I just had @ Saravana Bhavan, Anna Nagar (that’s 5 mins from home by car). However, it is more about the events leading up to it than the breakfast itself that intrigued me..

How it happened
Leading a completely opposite schedule has its advantages. This is not a half baked night schedule where I sleep at 3 and wake up in the afternoon. No, I completely eliminate the waking up in sweltering heat part and wake up just as the sun sets! Yesterday was the first of this early morning breakfast adventures.. with a friend after a long night of quite some work, had a lovely breakfast and went back to sleep.

Today, being alone, I debated.. initially, I felt I should probably sleep and wake up in time for football at 5pm. After some tossing and turning, I decided I was still a tad injured (I’d fallen and got bruised a bit last time I played) and anyway, the thought of delicious ‘pongal‘ with sambar and ‘ghee roast‘ won.

So, I was set and ready to go.. and I had a few thoughts along the way which I felt I should write about..

-> Our car has an inbuilt sound that plays when the car is on reverse gear (pretty useful in a crowded place to warn anyone passing by..). I realized how deafening the sound is early in the morning and tried to minimize by reversing the car quickly. Realized how forgiving I am when it comes to things I do. Had it been somebody else, I would probably have cursed them leaving so early in the morning..

-> About 4 out of 10 vehicles actually stopped at the early morning traffic signal. Things are changing in India apparently.. a few years back, that number would have been 1 or 2..

-> The guy in front of me stopped at the red light at a ‘major‘ signal and jumped the red light at a relatively smaller one. Reminded me of a dialog in a movie -‘Do crimes come in different sizes?‘

-> Why do some people wait all the way till the seconds count to the green signal is down to 10(from a number like 60) and then jump the signal anyway. Is it our desire to ‘get ahead‘??

-> We become happier with ourselves when we start keeping small promises. It is when I just parked my car at Saravana Bhavan that I realized that I’d forgotten my wallet at home. While it was tempting to curse myself, I decided to keep my pro-activity promise, smile and enjoy the ride. And boy, did that feel good..

The amazing thing about a positive attitude is that it annoys so many people that it makes it worth the effort.. haha..

-> I had a nice quiet meal by myself listening to ‘Think and Grow Rich‘ by Napoleon Hill..

Very interesting book.. He calls all obstacles ‘Temporary failures‘. I like that.. Maybe I should make sure every stumbling block is always called ‘temporary failure..

-> ‘Success should need no excuses, failure should have no alibis‘ – another interesting line..

-> Your success can only be as good as your plan – and the last one..

-> The service at the place was atrocious. Luckily, the food made up for that..

-> Drove back to be greeted by Grandad who had woken up and was grinning at my late night snack (as I will be off to bed soon..). Thank god he finds it amusing.. :D

-> Who says night people ‘miss the early morning’? I had a lovely early morning.. Now, it’s time for bed..

Haha.. :D

I am a footballer..

When I just began learning football, I tried learning to whack the ball really really hard.. as I thought was cool..

and then I grew up..

When I was a few years into learning the game, I learnt every sort of stepover and trick that would bamboozle defenders and make fools out of them.. as I thought that was cool..

and then..

Years later, I realized all I needed to work on was learning to put the ball in the back of the net, every time I got the chance – learn it well enough to be able to do it when my concentration was slipping, when my spirits, morale and confidence were down, when my team was losing my hope..

If I could just score.. forget the fancy tricks, the fancy stepovers, the urge to whack the ball in, the urge to show off..

If I could just put the ball in the back of the net and get the job done, every time..

now, that would be cool..

—

Reminds me of Nike – Just do it!

—
I wrote this after some thought after a discussion with a friend on the whole ‘being cool’ concept.. Football seemed to be the easiest analogy. Apology to not-so-football-inclined readers..

Good morning! Have a great day! :)

*As a friend put it, Conditions apply on the time zone for the ‘morning’. These days, I’ve been working on US time. Very effective to counter the Chennai heat.. :)