Step Into My Shoes..

A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. “Never leave that till tomorrow,” he said, “Which you can do today.” This is the man who discovered electricity. You’d think more of us would listen to what he had to say. I don’t know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I’d say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure. Fear of pain. Fear of rejection. Sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you’re wrong? What if you make a mistake you can’t undo? Whatever it is we're afraid of, one thing holds true: that by the time the pain of not doing the thing gets worse than the fear of doing it, it can feel like we're carrying around a giant tumor. And you thought I was speaking metaphorically. The early bird catches the worm; a stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we haven't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our...

I am in the middle of reading "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. And I have come across this very intriguing description of this predator we all love to hate: hyena. Frankly speaking, I could not even begin to give a description close to what Mr. Martel has here, although it's obvious that I am not a writer of his caliber. I was impressed by the description he gave earlier in the book for three toed sloths, reminding me of my sister (who broke out to laughing at the similarity; we were in joking terms anyways) but sloths haven't had much influence in my life as much as hyenas have. I'm not saying I am drawn to the animals myself. My dad watches too much of National Geographic and Animal Planet to let us the snippets off of the wildlife in MasaiMara. Of course we hate hyenas; my mom top on the list. So here it is: the spotted hyena. I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena  is not well served by its...

"Eat, Pray, Love" I believe, is one of the most influential books that I have read this year. This particular book is plagued by good sayings about life, love, self, belief, travel and all sorts of stuffs that make you smile with confidence. Many have complained about my non-belongingness. Blame it to my star sign (Sagittarius through and through) but I have always had that lust for not belonging to one place or person. That will change in time; I am positive of it. I have people in my life that I have love and that who love me as much. Yet, I am bound to be unbound and fly away some day. Anyways, this blog is about the quotes from the very book that seems to be so close to my heart. “This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.”   “I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and...

I'm not a big fan of short stories, and I can count the number of stories-collection that I've read in my life. However, there is one book that I do read time and again. It is "Chicken Soup" for the romantic soul. Now, I am definitely not the romantic type of a person but it is fun to read about the romantics sometimes. Here is a story that is my all-time favorite. It is short and very sweet. I can't help but smile when I read it every time. "It was a Friday morning, and a young businessman finally decided to ask his boss for a raise. Before leaving for work he told his wife what he was about to do. All day long he felt nervous and apprehensive. Finally, in the late afternoon, he summoned the courage to approach his employer, and to the businessman's delight, the boss agreed to the raise. The elated husband arrived home to a beautiful table set with their best china and lighted candles. Smelling the aroma of a festive meal, he figured that so...

“Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.”   - Ross Wakeman, from "Second Glance" by Jodi Picoult.

 “I am a vegetarian” is what I tell my friends of whoever asks me when it’s time to eat. But I should just tell them that “I do not eat meat”, cause I do eat fish and eggs. That doesn’t make me so much of an animal lover, now does it? And people ask how that makes me a vegetarian. To that I’d like to say, if I said I was a non-vegetarian but did not eat meat, that’d make it sound more bizarre, wouldn’t it? I do not know why people fuss so much about what a vegetarian should eat and what they should not eat. And then they ask why I don’t eat meat. I don’t eat meat cause I don’t like to. Period. But today I write not on my behalf, but on Philip Wollen’s. Here’s an interesting find. Philip Wollen’s shakes the rafters of the auditorium with his 10-minute speech to the St James Ethics Centre and the Wheeler Centre debate in Australia on May 16, 2012. The larger debate consists of six speakers, three that make the case for getting animals off of the menu and three that make...

Anything you write after I am is simply a concept. So choose what comes after it carefully . I am successful. I am fulfilled. I am an astronaut. I am amazing. I am late. I am in trouble. I am enlightened. I am yours. Etc.  Anything after I am will only give you power if you worship it. For example, fulfillment doesn’t exist outside the body. You are who decides if you are fulfilled or not. Saying I am fulfilled is a start, but it is the practice and devotion to that affirmation that amplifies it.   For weeks this spring I was devoted to I am sad. I am wrong. I am incomplete. I am not fully expressed. And while none of those things are true unless I believe them to be, my resistance to being love only brought more pain and lethargy.  Finally, with a little help from my friends, classical music, cleansing, exercise, acceptance, and lots of prayer, that which shifts all thoughts back to love, I can finally say I’m on a much clearer path to health and happiness.  ...

Copy pasted below is a Japanese poem by Mitsuo Aida translated into English. I don't quite remember where I got this poem from but it's one of the most inspirational pieces of works that I've ever stumbled into. Because it has lived its life intensely the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by. The flowers merely flower, And they do this as well as they can. The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley, Does not need to explain itself to anyone; It lives merely for beauty. Men, however, cannot accept that 'merely'. If tomatoes wanted to be melons, they would look completely ridiculous. I am always amazed that so many people are concerned with wanting to be what they are not; what's the point of making yourself look ridiculous? You don't always have to pretend to be strong, there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well, you shouldn't be concerned about what other people ar...