On discovering oneself

We often hear the famous ancient quotation by Lao Tzu " he who conquers others is strong, he conquers himself is mighty". But before conquering we have to discover ourselves. We have to know ourselves. We have to ask ourselves many questions such as What I love to do?what is my purpose in life? What I stand for? What are my values? etc. All these questions lead to self discovery.

It is well known fact that most of us, not all,always find faults in each other  but we must see ourselves first and ask a question AM I perfect? Our answer will be no because nobody is perfect. Some have more positive qualities and some have negative ones. Only rarest of ourselves analyse ,judge, criticize, appreciate , improve themselves and those who do are already very far on the path of success in all areas of life. All the great leaders of humanity such as athletes, entrepreneurs, spiritual leaders, scientists etc first discovered themselves. Only after that they were able to contribute to the world.
Concluding it I would like to say that self discovery is the beginning of success and happiness in life. It lays down the path we need to walk. So let us start discovering ourselves and we will see a much better and happier society around us.

Is Dieting burning your fat?

  

There was a time when people used to diet generously to lose weight, some got results some not . Some people continued it, some became frustrated and got back to their old schedule. Sadly speaking most people don't even know what the dieting is? They just know this much that" dieting is to not eat enough food which will make them thin but they don't understand that they are getting thin but they are also achieving emotional, mental and physical weakness. I sympathise with these people because they don't know what to do and I was also once the same as they are.

It was in my early twenties I got to know what the proper dieting is. It is to eat food which is full of essential nutrients and least of non essential elements along with proper exercise and a positive mental attitude. But people who are eating as per earlier definition of dieting are not losing fat but actually gaining fat in long term. Now why it is so? It is so because when we don't eat enough food or survive only on fruits we get only short term results. In the long term let us ask ourselves how many of us can live just on fruits and ignoring our favourite food items.Eventually the person will give up and start returning to his/her old food menu which will again result in fat gain. I am of Punjabi origin , now ask any punjabi person can he/she live without paranthas, desi ghee , dairy products like lassi ,milk and butter for long time. Most of them will say "No yaar". So what is the fun of doing such so called dieting.

Now let us briefly understand what these essential nutrients are
.

1. CARBOHYDRATES : often known as 'carbs' are  energy sources for our body. Without them we can't perform our physical and mental tasks. Are you feeling low in energy? Then start taking some more Carbs. It should constitute 40-50% of out diet.These are divide into two categories 

#Simple Carbs: The are high glycemic carbs i.e. body absorb them quickly. They raise our blood sugar quickly i.e why they are so addictive in nature. These includes breads, fruits/juices/shakes, white rice, potatoes etc. One should eat these carbs immediately after workout or any physical activity as they are quick sources of energy.But on the other side they should be taken in limit because they also helps in gaining fat.

#Complex carbs; These are low glycemic carbs i.e. they are absorbed by our body very slowly and they raise our blood sugar slowly i.e. why they are not so addictive in nature. They release energy in our body slowly. These includes vegetables, pulses, cereals etc. These are more beneficial then simple carbs.

2. PROTEINS:These are favourite of any person who is health conscious such as athletes, health and fitness professionals etc. Proteins are building blocks of our body. Just as the bricks are required to build a wall proteins are required to build, repair and maintain our body's tissues, cells and organs. They are highly present in poultry products such as meat ,eggs, fish, dairy products such as milk ,curd, whey ,pulses such as soyabean etc. for optimum benefits one should consume all these products because they proteins are made up of Amino acids and all different protein products contain different amino acids. it should constitute 40% of our diet depending upon our physical activities.

3. FATS : We all have made them our enemy no.1 but actually they are our friends. Only very few of them are our enemies such as partially hydrogenated fats and junk food. Friendly fats are essential fats which we get from dairy products , dry fruits, fish known as omega 3 and omega 6. These are required for proper functioning of our brain and body. A very important fact we need to know is that our Brain is 60% fat i.e. why our parents usually urged us to eat almonds(badaam), cashewnuts(kaju) and other dry fruits in our childhood because all these dry fruits contains essential fatty acids which helps in proper functioning of our brain. Anyone feeling dull using brain properly? Why not start increase consumption of essential fats.

4. VITAMINS: Vitamins are essential nutrients that are required by our body in small amounts for proper cellular functioning of our body and prevention of many diseases. There are 13 categories of universally recognised vitamins including vitamin A, vitamin B1,B2,B3,B5,B6,B7,B9,B12,Vitamin C,D,E and K. Each category has its own benefits. 

5. MINERALS: There various other minerals which are required for more efficient working of our body such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, selenium, sodium, iron, zinc, copper, iodine etc.

EXERCISE: We often ignore this important step. Even if we no time for it we have to make time if we want to live a healthier life. A 45-60 minutes of workout session which includes cardiovascular exercises such as running, walking, jumping, skipping etc , some strength exercises and stretching is enough for normal working person. For athletes it varies as per their individual requirement.

POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE: We can't lose fat if we are working out regularly along with proper dieting  but thinking negatively. Only proper dieting+exercise+ positive attitude can give you required results.


SMALL MEALS: Instead of eating 3 large meals eat  at least 5-6 small meals. You will see your metabolism getting faster. This is important because our stomach can only accommodate limited food at a time. When we overload it with different items it results into partial metabolism and more fat storage.

EXTRA TIP ( optional)
CHEAT MEAL- Yes you can cheat on the meals but only if you have earned it. I suggest every two weeks one should decide a day on which he /she can eat whatever he wants including junk food. If a day of exercise cannot make you slim then a day of junk food cannot make you fat. We only gain fat when we cheat consistently.

So I conclude urging everyone to consume healthy diet consisting of all these nutrients, exercise and maintain positive mindset to lead a healthy and happy life. 

No One Is Wise By Birth. Wisdom Results from One’s Own Efforts

No One Is Wise By Birth. Wisdom Results from One’s Own Efforts

As we all know no one is born as a rock star, politician, athlete, artist or any professional. We all come to this planet as clean slates. Everything is new to us. We see everything around us and feel surprised and feared to see this new world. As we grow we come to know our family, friends, education and other things about this world. That clean slate gets filled with the education and values our parents and teachers give us. We decide what we want in life and go after it. We make lots of mistakes in life some of us learn from it and some don’t. In the end with all of life experiences, wisdom, sufferings and achievements we die.

No one is wise by birth we all are new to this word ‘Wisdom’.  Merriam Webster dictionary defines wisdom as ‘knowledge that is gained by having many experiences in life’. In my opinion it is one of the perfect definitions of wisdom. It doesn’t depend on our age. Some people say that older people are wiser. That is absolutely true but not to full extent. As above written definition says it depends on the experiences of life so it is perfectly clear that more experience a person has more he/she will be wiser. Now if a younger person has more experience than an older person than former one is wiser.

Wisdom depends on our efforts in life. What we do in life adds to our experiences and wisdom. Suppose a person is mountain climber. He wants to climb as many mountains he wants in his life. But too successfully climb a mountain he has to do more climbing efforts. Undoubtedly he will fail in many of his pursuits but those failures will only add to his experience and wisdom which will later become his base for success. In sales profession there is law that states “every person you pitch your product will not become your customer”. If you give ten presentations you will get 1-3 sales from that and with only experience you will be able to make more sales out that.

It's said that a wise person learns from his mistakes. A wiser one learns from others' mistakes. But the wisest person of all learns from other’s successes.” -John C. Maxwell. So make more efforts, learn from your mistakes,  become wisest.

Human 'nature' and the Nature

It is possible that some people will find the nature talk boring and some will find it very interesting and educational. As we all know that we are moving rapidly  towards new technology world where everyday there is a new invention, new idea, new venture etc. We all are very proud of it. Technology has brought us to this level that a man who took month to reach one country to another can reach there within few hours. The moon which was just shining object in sky has been landed over by many great astronauts. And other planets are not much far away. We have created many types of technologies which can provide us millions of benefits. It all seems that any thing is possible in future. Imagine if man discovered 'how to become invisible'. Well! jokes apart. Although we have achieved so much in every field today but we have neglected a very very important part of our life i.e. our closest friend Environment.
We see in the movies the nature depicted in earlier times with lush green mountains , greenery everywhere, clean water resources.  People used to worship Mother Nature.  But gradually all these things are altered. Following are some facts which I want to share with everyone ( Source- Internet);

1.The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 34% since the 17th century and is continuing to rise.
2. Pollution is one of the biggest global killers, affecting over 100 million people

3. Climate change is a real and imminent threat.

4. Oil spills and industrial waste flowing ing water bodies is killling hundreds of species.

5. Children contribute to only 10% of the world’s pollution but are prone to 40% of global disease.

6. Children contribute to only 10% of the world’s pollution but are prone to 40% of global disease.

7. Rapid deforestation is killing many forest species and is big cause of climate change.

All these problems are by products of our development which we ignore to observe. But no longer we should ignore these warning signs of degrading nature other wise it will be too late to regret.

It is very natural for us humans to achieve more but this should not be done at cost of internet. What will be the fun of living if we have lots of money but no clean water to drink, no trees to get clean environment and with frequently occurring natural disasters? All of this can be averted by following simple steps by each one of us. Following are some tips I want to share to conserve our environment:

1. Spread awareness: As we live in technology age we can spread awareness through these technologies. Social networking is great way to go.

2.Reduce food wastage: Millions of people sleep hungry every night. we can do a little favour to them.

3. Go green: use electronic services which can be substitute for using paper. Such as e-bills, e-newspaper etc. We can also promote environment friendly technology.

4. Use public transport: Go challenge your status quo, it will be fun.

5. Afforestation; Grow more trees than you cut. It will keep a balance,

6. Solar technology: It is little expensive but in long run it will pay us great benefits.

7. Proper Waste Disposal

8. Save water: Turning off the water between wetting your toothbrush and rinsing your mouth is one of the simplest and most effective ways to save water while brushing your teeth. The University of Illinois calculates that shutting off the tap instead of letting it run continuously will save your family up to 10 gallons of water daily. Sounds interesting. 

9. INNOVATE: Discover more ideas with conserving our environment.

10. Own the Nature: When we have sense of ownership toward something we really take care of it. 

Keeping it short there are many more ways through which we can save our environment.  We have to star it as fast as we can.  

Failure - a necessary evil

Nobody loves to fail. Every body loves to win. Some people are so afraid of failure that they don't even try something new. Fear of failure kills more people than the actual failure. This can be due their environment, repeated failures or low self esteem etc. There can be multiple reasons. In my opinion failure is itself not failure. It is a learning phase. It totally depends on your attitude that how you perceive it.
Failure is a necessary evil. It breeds success provided we learn from our mistakes. I believe if we don't learn from our mistakes we will face multiple failures. Some people treat it as challenge. they learn from it and stay persistent towards their goal. Failure drives the winners to overcome challenges and be successful.
Failure is very much important in life. We barely learn from success but failures, struggles and hurdles teach us precious things in life.  We can see live example of athletes who daily fail in their respective sports but that doesn't stop them from being successful because they learn from it and move on. People who have struggled in their lives learn much more than the people who get things easily. One can learn so much from a caterpillar. When the shell breaks caterpillar struggles to come out but if someone helps it to come out it dies very soon. This explains that struggle is a law of nature. Without it no can grow. As the famous Dew quote says: "Darr ke aage jeet hai".  This is absolute truth that every failure brings opportunities along with them to be successful.