Category: Life Gyan

Posted in Life Gyan

How “ME” Time Can Be A Game Changer?

Posted on by Anand Surana

Our lives have become so hectic and fast-paced that by the time we are done dealing with the routine stuff of life like family, job, kids, daily chores, social commitments it is almost time to hit the bed and we realize that one more day has passed by. The next morning it is the same grind all over again. In all this madness we all need some “ME” time daily. It is the time you spend talking with yourself, sifting thru your thoughts, looking back on the events of the day and planning for the future. 

This is the time where you talk with yourself, debate about issues, fine tune your perception and sometimes make new resolutions. You sift and churn your thoughts and un-clutter your mind in the process. The “ME” time is important because it helps us to recalibrate our focus on the most important things and reconnect with ourselves. It is required to maintain sanity.

Swami Vivekanand once said, ” Talk to yourself once in a day otherwise you may miss meeting an Excellent person in this world.” 

Sometimes people fail to recognize the importance of this time spent with the self. Most of the great stuff, your Eureka moments happen during this time. This is the time when your sub-conscious presents the solutions to the problems it has been working in the background. Your personal growth happens during this time.

Robin Sharma states that “The science behind the rewards of solitude are pretty phenomenal… making time to be alone actually shuts down the part of the brain responsible for self-criticism, firing up the part of your brain that contains your natural state of genius. “

Robin Sharma further states that when you spend time with self – whether it is during your morning walk or in the quite room of your home your brain waves slow down from beta to alpha. When this happens-amid solitude-the part of your brain responsible for self-criticism, mental chatter and constant worry shuts down. With your monkey mind on a little vacation, you enter the Flow State. Elite athletes know this as “the zone” and it’s the place where all great performance begins. It is in this state that you get your best ideas. Your creativity makes explosive gains. You begin to see around corners.

And guess what – this is your natural state that God has given to everyone. Available to you daily.
Most people don’t know they have it. And not many create the conditions to experience it.   

You can…by going to solitude. Consistently.

Posted in Life Gyan

We Live in Our Minds

Posted on by Anand Surana

“We don’t live in bungalows, duplexes, or flats. We live in our minds.” says Dr. Sandeep Atre, who is a Counseling Psychologist and an internationally recognized ‘Emotional & Social Intelligence’ Expert.

He further states that, “that’s our permanent residence. And there are no constraints of square feet there. It’s a vast space with unlimited area. And you know what! No matter how well organized your rooms, balconies, garages and veranda’s are, life is good only when things are sorted there- in your mind.

And that’s where we keep things messy- regrets piling up in one corner, expectations stuffed in a closet, secrets under carpet, worries littered everywhere, comparisons split on the table, complexes leaking from an old bottle and grudges stinking in a box.

Be aware. For this “real home” of yours, you can’t outsource housekeeping. You got to do it yourself.“

Learn to forgive, forget and move on. Even if you were right, do you want to carry the rotten stench of a fight? Meditate to further clear and declutter your head.

And do remember to keep on renovating and improving your house (“the mind”) by reading, learning new things and keeping yourself updated.

A sound mind means a sound life.
With a clean and healthy mind – anything is possible.

Posted in Life Gyan

And We Grew Up…

Posted on by Anand Surana

We all enjoy looking back at the fond memories of our childhood when the simple things would give us so much joy. There was no pressure or timelines to meet. Life was so much simple and we say to ourselves – “those were the golden days”. Here are a few lines I read somewhere which capture many such moments to look back in our own lives and immerse ourselves in a feeling of nostalgia.

Somewhere between “Crying loudly to seek attention” and “Crying silently to avoid attention”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “ 7 pani puris for 1 rupee” and “1 pani puri for 7 rupees”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Ground mai aaja” and “Online aaja”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Craving for pizza” and “Craving for home food”, we grew up!

Somewhere between “Believing in happy endings” and “Accepting the reality”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “stealing eclairs of your sis” and “Bringing Silk for her”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Just five more mins Mom” and “Pressing the snooze button”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Broken Pencils” and “Broken Hearts”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Crying out loud just to get what we want” and “Holding our tears when we are broken inside”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “We are Best Friends Forever” and “Knowing that nothing truly lasts”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “I want to grow up” and “I want to be a child again”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Lets meet and plan” and “Lets plan and meet”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Eagerly waiting” and “Forever waiting”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Parents fulfilling our wish” and “We Fulfilling our parent’s dream”, we grew up!!

Somewhere between “Waking up at 6 am” and “Sleeping at 6 am”, we grew up!!

And as we grew up, we realized how, silently but surely ,our lives have changed…!!

Posted in Life Gyan

5 Easy Steps to Save The Environment

Posted on by Anand Surana

When the discussion is about environmental issues, most of the people are very concerned about how as a society we are depleting our natural resources and destroying the environment in the name of unbridled development. People are prompt to point out global warming and its impact, deforestation, contamination of our water bodies and so on. Yet often we fail to steer this discussion towards what difference we individuals can make to change the situation rather than expecting UNO & governments to address these global issues.

Now we are getting into the zone which most people like to steer clear away from – making changes to the way we live. Who wants to take so much headache to identify environmental friendly options and replace our daily convenience. But let me tell you that I am not asking for any sacrifices from you. Contrary to this, I want to share a few things you can do without any inconvenience to your existing lifestyle. All it requires is a little awareness and your willingness.

Let’s jump straight into the few things we can do, which if done by every individual, can collectively make a big difference.

  1. Grow a plant in the house. Add one to your office desk too if possible. It will add a dash of green o your desk and make it a look more vibrant.
  2. Carry a grocery bag (preferably a cloth bag) when you are going for shopping. In fact I keep a bunch of them in my car so that even in case of any unplanned need I can quickly get one from my car in the parking.
  3. Switch off your laptop/desktop when not in use. Similarly after switching off the TV screen, also switch off the supply from the mains. Ditto for any other devices plugged in and not being used at night like Alexa. Collectively all these devices consume a little amount of energy continuously even when not in use.
  4. Turn off running water when brushing and/or shaving. It may seem trivial but it can save gallons of water every day and the energy required to pump the same to your water tank and so on. Let’s look at the water in our home as a resource rather than taking it for granted – not everyone has 24×7 running water in their homes.
  5. Few other things that you could do are –
    • stop using plastic straws
    • Switch to wooden toothbrushes
    • add water saver nozzles to the taps in the house
    • walk/cycle instead of taking a car/bike for shorter distances when possible

I am sure even you may be practicing some such good habits. I encourage you to share these little hacks with fellow humans so that together we can all encourage each other and adapt a more sustainable lifestyle.

Posted in Life Gyan

Unspoken Social Rules

Posted on by Anand Surana

According to the Dr. Saul McLeod , who has been teaching psychology for over 17 years, “Social rules or norms are the unwritten rules of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that are considered acceptable in a particular social group or culture. Norms provide us with an expected idea of how to behave…For example, we expect students to arrive to a lesson on time and complete their work.”

Social norms have existed from the time humans first started to live together in small. And the the norms evolve as the humans evolved into more sophisticated communities and societies. And it may be interesting to notice that the norms vary depending on geographies, social status, religious beliefs and so on. However, there is another side of the coin too. We also observe that there are many such unspoken social rules which are commonly accepted by a large majority of the people across the globe barring exceptions.

Time also plays a key role in influencing the social norms. If you look back in time, you will notice, many social behaviours which are common now were actually taboo a few years ago. So here is a list of a few contemporary social norms which you may find useful –

1. Don’t call someone more than twice continuously. If they don’t pick up your call, presume they have something important to attend to;

2. Return money that you have borrowed even before the person from whom you borrowed remembers or asks for it. It shows your integrity and character. Same goes with umbrellas, pens and books.

3. Never order the expensive dish on the menu when someone is giving you a lunch/dinner.

4. Don’t ask awkward questions like ‘Oh so you aren’t married yet?’ Or ‘Don’t you have kids’ or ‘Why didn’t you buy a house?’ Or why don’t you buy a car? For God’s sake it isn’t your problem;

5. Always open the door for the person coming behind you. It doesn’t matter if it is a guy or a girl, senior or junior. You don’t grow small by treating someone well in public;

6. If you take a taxi with a friend and he/she pays now, try paying next time;

7. Respect different shades of opinions. Remember what’s 6 to you will appear 9 to someone facing you. Besides, second opinion is good for an alternative;

8. Never interrupt people talking. Allow them to pour it out. As they say, hear them all and filter them all;

9. If you tease someone, and they don’t seem to enjoy it, stop it and never do it again;

10. Say “thank you” when someone is helping you.

11. Praise publicly. Criticize privately;

12. There’s almost never a reason to comment on someone’s weight. Just say, “You look fantastic.” If they want to talk about losing weight, they will;

13. When someone shows you a photo on their phone, don’t swipe left or right. You never know what’s next;

14. If a colleague tells you they have a doctors’ appointment, don’t ask what it’s for, just say “I hope you’re okay”. Don’t put them in the uncomfortable position of having to tell you their personal illness. If they want you to know, they’ll do so without your inquisitiveness;

15. Treat the cleaner with the same respect as the CEO. Nobody is impressed at how rude you can treat someone below you but people will notice if you treat them with respect;

16. If a person is speaking directly to you, staring at your phone is rude;

17. Never give advice until you’re asked;

18. When meeting someone after a long time, unless they want to talk about it, don’t ask them their age and salary;

19. Mind your business unless anything involves you directly – just stay out of it;

20. Remove your sunglasses if you are talking to anyone in the street. It is a sign of respect. More so, eye contact is as important as your speech; and

21. Never talk about your riches in the midst of the poor. Similarly, don’t talk about your children in the midst of the barren.

And last but not the least, APPRECIATION and GRATITUDE remain the easiest way of getting what you don’t have….

Posted in Life Gyan

Do You Unwind Daily?

Posted on by Anand Surana

In today’s connected world a variety of gadgets, apps, connected devices and virtual assistants are constantly feeding us information and push notifications to catch our attention. Few of the most popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and other news apps are capable of generating an endless feed. One can keep browsing from one post to another till the eyes start hurting but the feed does not end. 

In a quest to assimilate this endless flow of information we forget to acknowledge that we are in effect abusing our mind and body. Not only this strains our system as we are not allowing our mind and body any rest but also the information itself creates a lot of stress. Slowly this starts showing up as fatigue, irritation and lack of focus.

Hence it is very important that we acknowledge the role of digital information and social media in our lives. It is important to stay updated and there is also a fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) but not at the cost of everything else because you-only-live-once (YOLO). You need to lift up your head and take notice – There is a physical world around you – outside of the digital world.

We must understand that we need to take time to unwind on a daily basis and add some activities in our daily routine like talking to a loved one, reading a physical book, taking care of a pet, gardening or spending time with friends before the digital starts to take a toll on our lives.

A number of people do not know how to unwind as they keep jumping from one task to another from their “To Do List”. For them I can share an analogy that I read somewhere. Think of tasks as individual carriages of a train pulling into a station. As the train slows down, become mindful of the gaps between the carriages – the calm spaces in your mind. Slow down and calm down between the tasks – this will in turn enable you to get more work accomplished and you will not feel overwhelmed by too many things on your plate.

Equally important is to understand the significance of enjoying guilt-free leisure time and take regular vacations. Make it a point to take at least one, if not more, week-long family vacation every year. 

Posted in Life Gyan

Celebrate Life

Posted on by Anand Surana

Did you notice –
As soon as you die your identity becomes a “Body”. People use phrases like: “Bring the Body”, “Lower the Body in the Grave”, “Take the Body to the Grave yard”, etc…People Don’t Even call you by your Name, whom you tried to impress your whole Life….

  • Live a Life to Impress the Creator not the Creation.
  • Take chances..
  • Tell the truth…
  • Learn to say “NO”…
  • Listen to your Heart…
  • Spend money on the things you love…
  • Laugh till your stomach hurts…
  • Dance even if you are too bad at it…
  • Pose stupidly for photos…
  • Be child-like….

Moral –
Death is not the greatest loss in life…Loss is when life dies inside you while you are still alive…Celebrate this journey called LIFE… Enjoy life…

Posted in Life Gyan

Teach to Learn

Posted on by Anand Surana

According to research we remember
10% of what we Read
20% of what we Hear
30% of what we See & Hear
50% of what we Discuss with others
75% of what we Experience ourselves
and a staggering 90% of what we TEACH to someone else.

So the best way to get a grip on a topic is to TEACH the same to someone else. This forces your brain to connect the dots and helps you imbibe the knowledge in a manner where you understand the topic and are able to explain it to others in your own words.

So go forth share your knowledge with others, it will actually benefit you more than the those being taught. It will help you understand and retain that topic much better.

Posted in Life Gyan

Managing Your Personal Information

Posted on by Anand Surana

If you have to go to a Bank or Government office to update your personal details or provide some KYC documents, what do you do – just pick up the required set of documents (original and their copies) + passport size photos + pen etc and drive to the Bank or do you have to rummage every cupboard searching for the passport sized photos or one of the key document. 

Do you have copies of your important documents readily available or do you stop on the way to get a copy. Do you have to return with the work unfinished as you did not carry all the required documents or make multiple trips to complete the requirements.

Do these scenarios look familiar? The point I am trying to make is that a large chunk of people either do not consider this important or they do not know where to start and how to organise their personal information.

Having key information handy at all times can save you a lot of time and hassle where you are pressed for time. Also it can go a long way in ensuring that you are prepared for any emergency.

In this post we will look at easy ways to organise your personal and financial information. It is not as difficult as it is often made to sound. All it requires is your will and intent to do it once you understand the importance of the same.

Have Scanned Copies of All Key Documents

With the digital revolution and a smart phone in every hand it is very easy to quickly scan and store digital copies of all your important documents. Many apps are available in the App Store which do a neat job of creating a PDF of the document in seconds. And if you use Google Drive, it has an inbuilt feature to scan documents. 

Once you have scanned all your important documents (including the ones for your spouse, kids and parents), rename them so that searching for the right document is easier later. Now arrange them neatly in separate folders for PAN Cards, Aadhar Cards, Voter ID, Passport, Driving Licence, Property/Rental agreements or Sale Deeds, Medical Reports, Salary Slips, Form 16, Car and Bike Registration documents and so on. 

You can save these to a eLocker or Digital Locker of your choice. You can also store them on to a cloud storage solution like Google Drive, One Drive or Dropbox.

Handling Physical Documents

Similar to the soft copies, create separate files and folders for various types of documents. Create one file for all the Bills, another one for all Insurance related documents, notices and premium receipts. Have another file for you property related documents like Sale/Rent agreement, property tax receipts etc. Similarly create separate folders to file documents for Bank accounts, investments, car and bike, AMC agreements etc. 

Luckily in the last few years all bank statements and statements from mutual funds etc have all converted to digital so it has reduced much of the paper that you need to handle these days. Nevertheless there still will be a few things that each one of us will surely have which is still in paper format and storing them in identifiable folders will allow us to find them quickly without having to go thru the entire stack of paper in the cupboard. 

Also the advantage of having separate folders is that when you are about to flick a document into the cupboard, it takes very less effort to place it into the right folder rather than throwing it loosely into the cupboard or drawer. This habit saves you a lot of time when you might have to invest and entire afternoon sorting and organising the documents.

Emergency Bag

Create a Emergency Bag and let every family member be aware of it. Anyone from the family should be able to open it and it should have all your important information in one place. You can have the contact numbers of important people like CA, Doctor, Tax Consultant, Later, Toll free number of Health Insurance company, Car insurance, Banks where you have accounts and a few close friends and relatives whom you could call anytime in case of an emergency.

Also place a copy of all the key documents like Health Insurance Cards, Insurance policies, PAN and Aadhar card copies etc into the bag for easy access during an emergency. Review the contents of the bag every six months and refresh as required.

Tag Along Bag

Create a tag along bag which you should carry when heading out to any bank or government office. Place a few copies of passport size photos, copies of PAN Card, Aadhar Card, Pen, Glue stick, Stapler etc so that you do not have to hunt for these things and can get your work done efficiently.

Please start getting organised if you are not doing it already. This small steps go a long way and will ensure that you and your family are prepared for any emergencies.

Get organised – Reduce Stress ! 

Posted in Life Gyan

Do Not Go Gentle Into The Night…

Posted on by Anand Surana

The words “Do not go gentle into the night…” caught my attention in the movie Interstellar which is a science fiction movie directed, co-written and produced by Christopher Nolan in 2014.

The movie is set in a dystopian future where humanity is struggling to survive. The film follows the adventures of a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for mankind.

It is a quite popular movie and very intriguing. So during the lockdown I was drawn to watch it once again as if some unanswered questions were pulling me towards it. I completed the movie and this poem is what I found. If you are interested in movies about space exploration you will like it too.

Let us first go through the famous poem by Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) titled “Do not go gentle into that good night” before we try and understand what it means.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Explanation
The beauty of many poems is that different people interpret the same text differently. This is because we all are unique beings by virtue of our upbringing, our perceptions of the world – honed by our experiences. Two people going through the same events of life experience them differently. Also culture, heritage and personal values play an important role as to how we interpret the words we come across. 

The reason why I like this poem is because it talks about making a mark on the canvas of this world. It speaks about perseverance and never-say-die attitude even though death is inevitable. It gives the message that when we accept our mortality, we understand what really matters in our life.

The author acknowledges that death is inevitable—We are all mortal beings and everyone has to die one day.

“wise men at their end know dark is right“

But that doesn’t mean that we should simply give up and give in to death. Instead, people should fight, fiercely and bravely, against death because life is precious and worth fighting for.

He goes on to say that when these people are confronted with death, they realise that they haven’t accomplished everything they wanted to. It connects them with their mortality and they fight against death so that they can have more time and leave a bigger impact on the world.

Similarly, the “wild men” that the author describes in lines 10-12, have spent their lives in a joyous and reckless fashion: they “caught and sang the sun in flight.” But, when they face death, they realize that that they “grieved it on its way.” In other words, they realize that they have regrets about the frivolous way they spent their time on Earth. Thus they fight for more time so that they can do something more worthwhile.

In both cases, then, death helps these very different people realize that their lives are precious—and that they need to use their time on earth as best as they can. The inevitability of death offers them a kind of corrective mechanism, helping them reconnect with what really matters in life. So even though death is inevitable, it’s worth fighting bravely against, because doing so helps reveal what really matters in life.