7 Superb Apps for a Healthy Living

This year my focus has been on developing a super-strong inner life. In my previous blogs on self-awareness  and meditation, I discussed how self-awareness remains at the core of evolving a powerful inner life. Along with Self-awareness, self-belief, self-respect, self-care and self-development form the 5 basic elements of a firm inner life. While I will be writing more on each of these elements in my forthcoming blog posts, today I want to zero-in on ‘technology’ which plays a prominent role in our daily affairs. 

Our Responsibility in usage of technology

Technology as Servant

In this age of unending sources of distraction, you would agree that things like introspection, self-awareness, self-realization have become a rare commodity. Today one cannot think of an hour away from technology, forget imagining life a day without it. While our generation grew-up with advancing technology when Cable TV, mobile phone, facebook, twitter, mobile apps birthed and gradually shaped up to prominence, our next gen is born in the lap of technology. Electronic gadgets like TV, tablets and specially mobile phones (which almost every individual carries by default) serve as baby sitter for them. My daughter Sanskriti, who is not even 3, knows opening whatsapp, games, and even browses picture gallery in her mother’s smart phone, and I know this is the story of every single family with small kids. And when you try keeping the phone away from them, they use their weapon (of crying) to which there is no option but to surrender.

Well I am not writing to criticize technology by any means; it has done a lot of good to humanity making our life much easier. However only thing I urge each one of us today is to use it with responsibility. Friends, I do not have much love for electronic gadgets (or to say precisely any material possessions). Only material thing I have lust for is my books. Until late this year, I was using the most basic smart phone (for internet features, checking emails, etc) that would just serve my need being in the kind of industry I work with. However recently I invested in an iPhone 6 plus for 3 simple reasons. First and most importantly, to leverage technology for delivering on my future goals; secondly, I had never used an apple product and wanted to experience the vision of Steve Jobs first hand; and thirdly, to get over the limited features of a windows and android phone – just one device that could do all I need.

In past 3 months I have explored hundreds of apps in the app store with my infinitely curious, ever inquisitive mind looking for something that would help me grow as an individual. As a trial and usage, I downloaded hundreds of app providing the key words like ‘health’, ‘breathing’, ‘walking’, ‘running’ and so on.  Out of my 90 days of research I have come out with a list of 7 apps which are extremely helpful to boost up our lifestyle and foster healthy living. 

7 Superb Apps for a Healthy Living

1. Sattva:  

Sattva

How about if I say this app has been a life-changer for me and thousand others who knew the importance of meditation but were reluctant doing it amidst the busyness of daily life affairs. I am extremely thankful to my good-hearted friend Venkat Malapati who referred this app to me.  

Sattva is an elegantly crafted app solely designed to inspire people to meditate.  For my non-Indian friends and readers, Sattva is a sanskrit word meaning purity, harmony and balance. The best thing I like about this app is it introduces and encourages you to do meditation in a fun way.  It surprises you with small perks in the form of trophies and badges. For instance you get a ‘Punya’  which stands for ‘the acquirer of merits of positive actions’ when you share your thoughts on social media 3 times , you are awarded with ‘Dhyana’ depicting ‘the one who is in deep meditation towards deeper awareness of oneness’ when you meditate twice in a day and so on. Yesterday evening I unlocked the ‘75 sessions’ badge along with ’40 days in a row’ trophy, its pure fun and you will for sure enjoy the experience of using this app.

It also acknowledges your milestones when you complete your first session, 10^th session and so on maintaining a record and statistics of your sessions on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, even keeps track of the duration and days of meditation. It provides platform to socialize with like-minded people with whom you can seek spiritual guidance and suggestions.

The app motivates to meditate by challenging you with the 7 days, 21 days or even 40 days in a row challenge. The rule of thumb is you miss one day of meditation and the day count begins from 1. So even if you have finished 20 of the 21 days challenge and you miss to meditate on the 21^st day, day count starts from 1 once again. All in all, I would recommend you this app from the bottom of my heart and every encouraging fiber of my body cells seeing the importance and role of meditation for a richer, happier and peaceful life.

2. Sworkit

Sworkit

What meditation is to mind, exercise is to the body and both are equally important to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling life. Now most people often feel reluctant to go to gym 5 days a week. In my case there is no gym in the 3 Kms vicinity. I was in search of something which inspires me to workout at home, something that instigates me to make exercising an integral part of my daily routine. My long haul search got over when I found Sworkit (lite) in my appstore.

Sworkit is a terrific personal trainer app which provides dynamically created fitness videos for 5 to 60 minutes. Tagline of the app reads ‘Fit in 5 minutes’. You set the time and you can exercise along with your digital trainer which also creates fitness program to fit your schedule. Sworkit (lite) is free and consists of a whole bunch of quality exercises under 4 categories namely – strength, cardio, yoga and stretching.  You have choices under each category depending on the part of your body you want to focus upon on a particular day. For instance, under stretching you can select from the four workout types: ‘head to toe warm up stretch’, or ‘a full body stretch’, ‘standing only stretch’ or ‘back strengthening’. Wanna do cardios and you have options of doing a ‘Light warm up cardio’, or ‘full intensity cardio’, ‘plyometric jumps cardio’ or even a ‘boot camp’ program is set up. You have options of strengthening your ‘full body’, ‘upper body’, ‘lower body’ or just stick to ‘core strength’ and so on. Sworkit routines guide you through videos demonstrated by professional personal trainers.  Friends, when you explore more, I bet you will simply fall in love with this app.

In my case, I usually start with 5 minutes of head to toe warm up stretching followed by 10 minutes of light cardio (or intense cardio on some days) eventually to end with 10 minutes of core strength exercises. Of-course I keep changing workout types on a need basis. In mere 10 to 15 minutes of intense workout at home, I sweat profusely which definitely makes you feel good (with the release of those ever wanted endorphins). What more you could ask from an app which helps you get fit in the comfort of your home, isn’t it?

This is simply one of the best apps I have ever come across. Exercising had never been easier and fun. This is the app which makes exercising an integral part of your daily routine like tooth-brushing or (even :P) bathing. I would term it as an intense trainer in your pocket. Please… please do not delay and install this app in your mobile phones right now and this very moment if not already done so. All the best in your fitness journey. 

3. Walk Diary

If you run on a consistent basis, well and good. However, sadly most people do not.  Okay, how about walking? Do you walk consistently?   People often ignore the power of walking as an exercise. There are those few days when you don’t feel like exercising, you simply want to walk. No guilty feeling, just walk.

Walk Diary

I would say that I am almost addicted to walking. Thanks to the Walk Diary app, my new discovery from the apple appstore. My inner love for walking mingled with the external motivation from this app has helped me to walk long distances. Walk Diary is an app that keeps you motivated for your walking process. It uses GPS to locate and calculates total time used, calories burned and average speed for all logs. You can create walking goals with days and distance.

About 3 months ago, I was depressed with the weight I had gained in my days of ignorance. Even didn’t feel motivated to run or go to gym (which was over 3 Kms away from my residence).  I had to do something; it was a ‘do’ or ‘do’ situation. I came to know that local walmart store is 3.5 miles away. Just out of fun, I decided to walk all the way to the store and one fine Satuday in the month of May’ 15, I did it, walking a total of 7 miles (a little over 11 Kms). I repeated the same for the next 2 Saturdays in a row. In this way my long distance walking-haul continued. In that month alone, I walked over 105 Kms in 21 days surpassing my set goal of 100 kms.

The best feature of this app is it helps you set goals and keep track of your progress. Walking becomes fun and in the process you foster growth of your physical health. Pure sense! Isn’t it?

4. Snore lab

Snore Lab

      First of all let me make a confession on this platform, I snore. Yes I do. Well, didn’t realize it for a long time until my family members told me so. One of the health goals I have set for this year is to reduce if not get (completely) rid of my snoring woes. I was looking for something that records my snoring so as to become aware of the intensity of my snoring sound and know what kind of a snorer I am i.e. whether I produce a pinched nasal sound or more of a throaty, guttural, louder sound.

Friends, snoring happens due to the vibration of soft tissues in our head and neck while we sleep. The exact sound that we make depends on the type of soft tissue that is vibrating. Snoring may be caused by several factors such as obesity when there is large amount of fat around neck area or the advancing age when the muscles tend to weaken making snoring louder and more prevalent, or it may be due to genetic factors, mouth breathing or even seasonal factors like cold or fever, or even intake of alcohol or caffeine products may enhance snoring.

I came across Snorelab which uses proprietary soundwave technology to measure and analyze each night’s snoring and allocates each night a unique Snore Score; indicating the severity of your snoring over the course of a sleep session. Now this Snore Score acts as a means of comparing snoring across nights, allowing you test the effectiveness of snoring remedies and measure the impact of special factors such as alcohol, baths and caffeine. A full night’s sleep recording along with the snoring score can be presented before the doctor for a better treatment.

5. Smile More:

Smile More

Smiling is one of the most precious treats that you can give to yourself and others and all that for free. Every moment spent not smiling is a moment wasted. Although I smile often, as the day goes along, due to the pressures of daily life I forget smiling. I hope you could relate with the situation.

Smile More is an app that brightens your day with reminders throughout the day to keep you smiling. Sometime when you feel down and a bit lost, all you need is a simple reminder that there are things to smile about. The app will keep you positive and smiling with its five categories of reminders namely ‘It will get better reminders’, ‘You are special reminders’, ‘You are not alone reminders’, ‘Relaxation reminders’, and ‘Benefits of smiling reminders’. Each category consists of beautiful messages to keep you happy and upbeat as you go along the day.

The free version of Smile More allows you to select up to three reminders to pop up every day and includes a banner ad at the bottom of the settings screens. The paid version available for $1.99 USD removes the ads and allows you to select as many reminders as you would like. Well this little investment in your pursuit of happiness is simply worth it.

Want a natural rush of happiness? Smile! and simply go for Smile More app. J

6. Daily Prayers:

Daily Prayers

I do believe in the power of prayers. And hope most of you do as well. I was looking for something which gives me inspirational messages of goodwill and grace. I came across this beautiful Daily Prayers app in appstore which provides sweet, short and simple yet powerful, healing and uplifting Payers.

One of the prayers read “Dear Lord, help me to only say uplifting and encouraging words that will build and never tear down.” Another prayer goes like “Protect me Father, from any person or relationship that would slowly prod me down the wrong path.” These beautiful prayers are complemented with equally beautiful background pictures. 

7. Instant abs:

Instant abs

Instant abs is a brilliant prize winning personal trainer app especially to tone up and tune up your abs.  Major feature of the app includes its comprehensive exercises for body weight, dumbbells and resistance bands. It provides detailed exercise instructions with exercise photos, videos and animations. Working out with the app becomes easier and convenient at home or on the go. While I use sworkit for regular exercises, I stick to Instant abs for building up my ab muscles. 

As part of this blog I have provided hyperlink for the apps for iOS users. I am sure you all can google out for equivalent apps for android and windows phones. 

My final words:

Many years ago, famous Norwegian and Noble laureate, Christian Lange said “technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master”.  British-Canadian author Cary Doctrow said "This is why I loved technology: If you used it right it could give you power and privacy". Well the whole idea is not about the choice between using or not using technology, the challenge is to use it right. Let us be responsible in usage of technology, let us use it to build bridges rather than creating boundaries between fellow human beings. I wish you the very best in the wise usage of technology for the benefit of yourself and your family members. God bless humanity! :)

One Life!

Narendra Gupta

Why we must MEDITATE?

“Greater is he (the spirit) that is in you, than he (the body) that is in the world.”

-  I John 4:4, the Holy Bible

Finding Love

Ever since I was a teenager two things kept coming in my life at regular intervals. One anticipated financial riches, the other promised physical, intellectual and spiritual wealth. While I was curious about both with a desire to know them better, deep inside one always repelled, I had quite a fascination for the other. Both kept knocking my doors when I went to college and even when I joined work but each time I kept eluding them. It was as if two girls approaching me to marry – one with the modern hi-fi, showy, pretentious life style of a big city and the other filled with simplicity, peace, patience, true to her-self, ever- smiling with a beaming presence of a small city or a village. It was a battle of the mind and the heart. Finally, when I was nearing 30, I pursued the first one only to know what my true love is. With the kind of personality I possess, I had fallen in love with the second one long ago secretly. Out of shyness, couldn’t express my love for so many years. Well friends, my romance with the second one has just started.

Okay, while most of you might have guessed my love from the title of the blog, the other lady I was talking about is Amway (perhaps few of you might have guessed that as well for wherever and in whichever part of the world you go, it keeps chasing you :P). When I came to America for the first time in Dec’13, out of curiosity and the inner-spark to do something apart from routine work, and importantly be on a forum where you meet new people and attend those large business seminars, I finally joined Amway. After attending those meetings and seminars, I was fed up with the over-significance that was given to the word ‘money’ and seeing people applying hook and crook to lure prospects for expanding their networking business. I quit Amway for the good exactly after 51 days of joining. I appreciate my decision of joining Amway (and leaving it) for it made me realize my calling and purpose of my life and moreover I will never repent that I could have done something better in my finances had I joined it. 

That was the time I realized my heightened passion for reading, writing, helping people without anything in return. More recently, from deep inside I felt a strong desire to meditate as if my lost love had been looking for me all these years.  It’s been 35 days of mindfulness meditation and I feel happier, calmer, stress-free and at peace of mind. I am here today to share my thoughts on why we must meditate and that it is not a ‘should do’ or a ‘would do’, but a ‘must do’ stuff. 

Gateway to Self-awareness 

 Further to my previous blog on the pursuit of an enriching inner life through self-awareness, today I present you insights on meditation which helps instill a higher degree of self-awareness. We live in a world where there is ever-growing egotism, desire for material possessions have taken over moral values and respect for fellow human beings. There is inability to love people; people seem to have forgotten the language of compassion and kindness. The ever growing sources of distractions and lack of moral values have led to imbalanced behavior. The un-healthy competition and everlasting battle to show others down and in the bad light has further led to performance pressures, dissatisfaction, joylessness and discontent. We seem to have forgotten our true selves, our divine selves and have associated more with the vices and uncalled for pleasures of the world.

Well friends it is time that we must connect to our inner selves; take responsibility for our own states of mind and change them for the better. Re-iterating the words from my previous blog, true self-improvement cannot happen without being self-aware and meditation is the most powerful and efficient tool to becoming fully self-aware. To further my statement that ‘self-awareness is the gateway to journey within’, I would go on to say – ‘meditation is the gateway to self-awareness'.

Before I delve deep into what meditation really is, I must clarify what meditation is not.

What meditation is not?

1. Meditation is NOT Relaxation: Relaxation makes us calm, gives a sense of serenity and rejuvenates our body. All these things are natural by-product of meditation. Meditation has much more to offer. It is as if relaxation is a small subset of meditation, and certainly not meditation.

2. Meditation is NOT Concentration: When we concentrate we fix our attention to a particular object, task, idea, or activity for a certain period of time. In meditation we do not project our attention towards an object, task, idea or activity; rather we simply remain aware of the moment without choosing anything to concentrate upon. Yes, concentration helps in learning meditation in the initial stage when we focus on our breathing but certainly it’s not meditation.

3. Meditation is NOT Exercise: Exercises such as postures or breathing do not constitute meditation. They only help establish some balance in the initial stage of meditation.

4. Meditation is NOT self-hypnosis: In hypnosis, an initial period of concentration on an object is required whereas in meditation, meditator maintains an awareness of the present moment and stays conscious of the meditative process which is not the case in self-hypnosis.

5. Meditation is NOT mental effort or Thinking:  In meditation one does not apply mental effort, introspects or thinks, rather meditation is the art of letting go and surrendering oneself.

In addition to the above, meditation is also not any sort of religious practice; it does not pertain to any particular religion. Furthermore, meditation certainly does not mean leaving the family life and going to mountains in pursuit of liberation (Rather I would say this very act of leaving is running away from your duties and responsibilities which form the basis of karma yoga). 

What is Meditation?

“Meditation is listening to the song of the inner soul, seeing the beauty of inner-self, smelling the fragrance of the inner spirit, experiencing the touch of the divine inner energies, and tasting the intense sweetness of the inner god.”    

-Dr. Amit Ray, Author of Om Sutra: Pathway to enlightenment 

Meditation, one of the greatest discoveries of mankind, helps to re-discover ourselves, connect with our true identity with a whole bunch of health benefits as a by-product. It’s a technique to separate ourselves from the past or future at our will. Authentic meditation enables us to focus on the present moment rather than dwell on the unchangeable past or the undetermined future.

Friends, it’s important to understand meditation from inside-out. I will start right from the word ‘meditation’ itself.  The word meditation comes from two Latin words; ‘meditari’ means to think, to dwell upon and to exercise the mind while the second word ‘mederi’ means to heal.  The Sanskrit derivation comes from the word ‘medha’ which means wisdom. Meditation trains and heals the mind bringing wealth of wisdom to it. Wikipedia defines meditation as  ‘a practice in which an individual trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content, or as an end in itself.’

In simple words, I would say that meditation is a means of transforming the mind. By engaging in a meditation practice, we learn the patterns and habits of our mind. The practice offers a means to cultivate new and more positive ways of being. Meditation takes us to a state of thoughtless awareness and does not involve any effort or doing rather it is simply a state of being. Meditation helps access the cosmic intelligence of the universe which is the reservoir of all positive things like – bliss, wisdom, pure love, creativity, intuition, and deep peace. 

Why Meditation?

Okay so why we must meditate? I would say for the simple reason of reaping its health benefits. Additionally, meditation is also a means to self-realization. It helps to put our mind in control. It helps you understand that you are not your body, neither your mind nor your thoughts. With this awareness we can learn to live fully in the present. Friends the true ‘I’ exists only in the present. Past or future or rather attachments to past or future are works of our imaginative mind. The day you grasp the fact that you are separate from your body or the mind, you can manage it better. It is just like we have rented the body and mind for a limited period from the creator of this universe. So as to say, Narendra (the body), Narendra (the mind), and Narendra (the soul or the true Narendra) are three separate entities that happen to live in the same house (the body). In majority of us, the mind is the boss and controls the body and the soul which is a misfortune. There is least communication between the three. Majority of the action is performed by the mind and the body, of-course the mind commands and the body demands while the soul is asleep. 

The mind keeps wandering in different directions every single moment. It is said that a person of average awareness thinks about 60,000 thoughts in a day. Friends, is it any surprising that with such a huge volume of inner traffic we lose touch with our true-selves. In this purview, it has become so essential to tap to our inner-selves and teach the mind – who is the boss? With better control over mind and body, we can limit the number of thoughts at our will and connect to our consciousness. Meditation or the art of stillness is the medium to do this and bring harmony and peace between the three entities that live in the body. Meditation unites the body, the mind and the eternal soul and when this happens in someone, miracles start to happen. 

Benefits of Meditation

Meditation brings inner peace, gives energy to cope up with difficult situations and unites the heart and mind of people. Good meditation improves motivation, perception, cognition, creativity, attention and decision making ability. Overall it plays a significant role in improving the quality of life and brings about a personal transformation. We feel a paradigm shift in our being. Some of the benefits of meditation are listed out here.

 Foundation for self-awareness: The most important of all benefits of meditation is the fact that it provides the foundation for self-awareness. It helps us focus on the present moment and stop worrying about unchangeable past or the undetermined future.

      Health Benefits: Meditation lowers hypertension and high blood pressure while slowing down the heart rate. It lowers the levels of blood lactate which helps in reducing the anxiety attacks.  It reduces stress and over a period of time helps to become (almost) stress free. It decreases any tension related pain

There are scientific research which proves that meditation helps improving the functioning of brain, improves metabolism and helps lose weight, increases immunity and helps fight disease, and even helps in getting a good night’s sleep.

Manage negative (and positive) emotions: It helps manage and have better control over negative emotions. The negative feelings of jealousy, hatred, greed, anger, frustration, anxiety and failures start disappearing from our personality. It brings emotional steadiness and harmony.

Attitude towards life will change for the better: We see the larger picture of things instead of small day to day problems. We start ignoring the petty issues that consumes much of our energy. We learn how to be more appreciative of the good deeds of others. We start enjoying the little moments of happiness that life provides every day. It helps us feel more connected to people and world.

   

Increases Concentration, self-esteem, spontaneity, creativity and depth of awareness:  Meditation increase attention span and helps focus on one thing at a time there by increase our productivity. It helps boost our creativity and new ideas get generated. Our inner ability to solve complex problems increases.

 Sense of Gratitude:  Meditation helps develop a deep sense of gratitude and contentment. It makes us content with what we have. The desire for giving more increases. 

How meditation?

Friends, meditation is a skill that we need to develop. It’s like a baby who tries to stand and then walk, he or she falls often but eventually is able to walk. In 35 days of my meditation journey so far, and I must admit I am still in the kindergarten stage; I have really struggled with anxiety and thoughts of doom and gloom occasionally getting the better of me. However as we progress along the journey, the ability to meditate becomes easy and the practice of meditation becomes the most enjoyable, most refreshing and life giving part of the day. It is a step by step journey into the subtler world of blissfulness and fulfillment.

There are thousands of meditation techniques and in each of them the basics remain the same.  To start with I would recommend start meditating with as less as 5 minutes duration. It is said that a person should ideally meditate for duration equal to his age. For example a 30 year old should meditate for 30 minutes, however in order to get started and make a long-term and fun experience, we should start small.  Meditation is made easy and fun with this 5-step process. 

      1. Choose a peaceful environment: Firstly we should choose a place with peaceful environment and possibly away from external distractions. This helps us focus on the task of meditating.

      2. Stretch out: Now we Stretch out in order to minimize any tension or tightness existing in the body. This process helps us feel lighter and relaxed.

      3. Duration of meditation: There after we decide how long we want to meditate. Possibly we may set timer. I would re-commend starting with 10 minutes.

       4. Sitting Posture: We sit in a comfortable place on a chair or floor with our backs straight and gently close our eyes.

       5. Focus on breathe: Finally we take three deep breaths and keep focusing only and only on breathe – from the source where it originates to the destination where it ends. 

End goal of Meditation

Friends, there are plenty of misconceptions in this regard. The ultimate goal of meditation is neither to know about your past lives nor to see the future; it is not even seeing some God we have visualized from the photographs or daily soaps we see on tv. After reading and listening to quite a few genuine experts in the field and with my current state of awareness, I can say the end goal of meditation is simply to become fully conscious and learn to live in the absolute present every single moment (literally).

Meditation is the beautification of our inner and outer world and it certainly starts from inside. It helps radiate positive energy wherever we go across the world.  Dr. Amit Ray says all human beings are so deeply connected that we have no option but to love all. Friends, meditation manifests the potential to find inner peace for ourselves and contribute to the happiness of all beings. When we plant the seeds of love, nothing but kindness, compassion, peace, harmony and happiness blossoms all over.  For whatever reasons we pursue meditation, be it for the personal transformation, or the development of a sound physical health or the pursuit of inner peace and endless love – meditation emerges as a factor essential for leading a balanced life. 

My Declaration

Before I conclude, with this blog, I declare three important decisions I have taken today. 

1. A book based on my experiences with meditation: With that immense love for meditation which is growing every single day, I have decided to pen it down in the form of a book. My first book based on my experiences with meditation will be published in 2 years from now.

2. Blog every 2 weeks: From today onward I will be publishing my blogs every 2 weeks for the next 1 year in a row. These blogs will be based on my learning’s and daily life experiences.

3.  My website: My personal website will be live in roughly 2 months from now. This will include along with blogging a few more initiatives I look forward to kick-start. I will keep you posted. 

“You exist in time, but you belong to eternity. You are a penetration of eternity into the world of time. You are deathless living in a body of death. Your consciousness knows no death, no birth. It is only your body that is born and dies but you are not aware of your consciousness. And that is the whole art of meditation – Becoming conscious of the consciousness itself.”   - Osho

Wishing you the very best in your meditation practice. God bless humanity.

One Life!

Narendra Gupta 

SELF- AWARENESS: Gateway to Journey within…

“It takes courage to endure the sharp pains of self-discovery rather than choose to take the dull pain of unconsciousness that would last the rest of our lives”   -Marianne Williamson

It’s been a while since I wrote last on a public forum. Well friends, initially it was deliberate to focus on my work and then spending dedicated time with family which was followed with bouts of procrastination. The hangover of procrastination continued for long and to be honest I struggled to sit for hours gathering ideas to write. I must admit past few months have been periods of total confusion. A year ago upon reading few books, listening to a handful of inspirational podcasts and audiobooks I thought I had better awareness of self than most, at least in my age group. When confined in the boundary of my study room, I used to feel confident about self with the perception that I have mastered certain topics of life (Be it emotional intelligence, science of motivation, self-improvement) than most.

Well friends, I was positively wrong. Coming out of comfort zone is not easy. It exposes you to your grey areas, the ones you need to develop. Confronting a large crowd and speaking out words of influence takes toll and lot of courage. Over the period I realized that talking fancy words of inspiration is one thing and living those words on a consistent basis is other, desire to have a super-fit body is one thing and getting out of bed in the wee hours running for a couple of miles on a daily basis is other, wishing to have a Leadership and position of influence is one thing and doing all that it takes to become a true leader is other, having the will to win is one thing and sacrificing and sweating out what it takes to win is other,  Friends, I realized that I am not walking my talk.

Interestingly in this period, I did a lot of things that is far from my true nature (at least I think so in over 30 years with myself), like investing in an expensive electronic gadget (purchased a phone of over 70K INR) when I opined I just need the basic one that would do the work, I went to places which broadcasts excessive materialism, famous amongst others but not of much significance to me (for I love places of peace and serenity), I met and spent time with people who are all about ‘taking’ and ‘absolutely no-giving’ ( I believe associations matter and avoid company of negative influences). Although I ask my wife and kids in family to watch less of mindless tv programs, I felt guilty but still watched tv wasting most precious asset of my life, ‘TIME’ and this I did time and again. I was feeling, thinking, saying, doing and behaving something that was not reflective of the person I want to be. I felt anxious and periods of self-pity and frustration ruled over mind but did not do much about it for a certain period.

Yes Friends, I felt I was missing the purpose or rather I had forgotten the purpose of my life.  The dust that had gotten over real meaning of my life needed to be wiped out.Several questions aroused in my mind to which I sought answer like who am I?   What do I want? What is my truest of purpose? And so on. While people go on pilgrimages searching for moral and spiritual significance, I developed a deep desire to go on a personal odyssey, a journey within. A deep urge to know myself better, I felt never like before need to know myself better. I wanted to plunge deep and deep into my real self.

Today I present to you what I learnt from my online research and books I read over past few weeks.

Awareness of awareness

Many years ago, I came across this quote on a social networking site - one of the most powerful words in English dictionary is ATTITUDE, the moment you change your attitude, you change your life; even it scores a perfect 100 (given the alphabets of the word be summed up such that A =1, B = 2, … Z = 26). While I agree with all my heart, a strong positive attitude is the reason between a good moment and a bad one; there is even more powerful word that can create more miracles than one could imagine. And that word is ‘AWARENESS’ (it scores 105 with the same logic). Sadly most of us do not have the awareness of awareness.

Per Wikipedia, Awareness is the ‘ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects, thoughts, emotions, or sensory patterns.’ Awareness is a wide topic; it’s like an ocean in the wisdom literature, one cannot be fully aware of all things even in one hundred lives – be it the financial awareness, social awareness, mental awareness, emotional awareness, physical awareness, environmental awareness and so on. Of all the awareness the most critical is the awareness of self or self-awareness.

What is Self-Awareness?

‘Most of us remain ignorant of ourselves because the process of self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion.’ Aldous Huxley, English Writer

Who am I really?

While the central theme of my life has been to improve myself on a daily basis and be my super-best on the last day of my life, I lately realized self-improvement is not about just finishing a book, attending a leadership conference or watching a handful of ted talks. There is much more to it.  The late, great Maya Angelou once said ‘when you know better you do better.’ I strongly feel true self-improvement cannot happen without knowing yourself. Self –awareness is the foundation of personal growth.

Aristotle said knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. The greatest service one can do to mankind is knowing himself or herself. Many ancient literatures have stressed upon the significance of knowing oneself, be it the ancient Greek ‘Know Thyself’ or ‘nosce teipsum’ (in Latin).

Self-awareness is having the most transparent and brutally honest perception of one’s personality, skills, strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, opinions, beliefs, true motivations, attitudes and emotions. It is learning to better understand why we feel the way we feel and why we behave the way we behave? Self-awareness fosters a strong and blissful life.

Famous breathe therapist, Dane Brule says self-awareness allows us to get out of our mind and observe it in actions. Self-awareness starts with self-inquiry. In the words of reverent Ramana Maharshi, self-inquiry is the constant attention of the awareness of “I” or “I am”.  Self-awareness has a deep spiritual connotation which I am not touching upon in this blog post.  If I may, I urge each one of you to read Echart Tolle’s book: A New Earth – Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, it’s a must read book for anyone who wants to connect to his higher-self.

Asking question to ourselves, like:  ‘who am I? What is my true self? What are my strengths and weaknesses? What do I want? What is my purpose of life? Where I am going and why I am going there?’ helps us to connect to higher selves and know ourselves better which helps us lead a more meaningful life. As we become more clear about who we really are, we will be better able to decide instinctively what is best for us.

Why is Self-Awareness so critical?

Friends, until we become aware in the moment and what controls our thoughts, emotions, words, and behavior, we will have difficulty making changes in the direction of our life, we will have least control over our own life. Swiss Psychotherapist, Carl C Jung, says it most elegantly “until you make your unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

Self-awareness is vital to every single human existence because when we have a better understanding of ourselves, we are able to experience ourselves as unique and separate individuals. We are then empowered to make changes and build upon our areas of strength as well as identify areas where we would like to make improvements. When we become more self-aware we begin to see dimensions of our personality and behavior that we didn’t notice earlier. Having self-awareness allows us to see where our thoughts and emotions are taking us. It helps us to see the controls of our emotions, thoughts and behaviors so that we can make changes the way we want.

I will give an example from personal life. Last few weeks, as I said earlier I struggled to sit for long gathering ideas to write this blog. I did best but was unable to control my ‘monkey mind’. It was wandering like never before. At one moment it would think of career aspirations, the other moment it would think of family commitments which I am not doing, after few minutes it would worry about the body weight I have gained in my days of ignorance, the other moment this monkey mind would think of the ‘fantasies for body pleasure’ and so on. It was like a never ending cycle. One fine day, I sat and wrote over 20 pages in my personal journal about the sources of distractions, list of things that are worrying me, what do I want in life and so on. It helped me a lot to refocus and complete this blog eventually.

Benefits of Self-Awareness:

Amit Ray, author of Meditation: Insights and Inspiration, says “you are your master. Only you have the master keys to open your inner locks.” Friends, it is extremely valuable to know ourselves in order to leverage our potentialities.

Self –awareness is often a first step to goal-setting. It helps in being conscious of what ‘I’ (our individual self) am good at, while acknowledging what ‘I’ am not good at. This also includes admitting when ‘I’ don’t have the answers and owning up to our mistakes.

It helps increase our ability to focus, trains our monkey mind to observe vs race, be attentive and truly live in the present moment. Self-awareness simplifies our lives, removes distractions. Better self-awareness provides greater mental clarity resulting in an increased ability to learn and more effectively apply knowledge. It also helps increase in our ability to manage mind and emotions, become aware of stress, anger or the situations that create stress and anger and subsequently release them. It further helps improve out physical and mental health.

Self-awareness helps us know our vulnerabilities and distressing emotions to check them and to prevent asserting them inappropriately in non-value creating ways. Furthermore, it helps us discover unconscious sabotage patterns. It lets go of our ego self.

When we are not aware of our selves, people around us have a better sense of our strengths and weaknesses than we do and there are chances we may lose our credibility. People with enhanced level of self-awareness have the opportunity and freedom to change things about themselves thereby creating a life of their dreams.  We become fully self-expressed resulting in more authentic and empowering relationships.

Am I self-aware?

Eckhart Tolle in his book, A New Earth mentions most of us lack self-awareness. There are many who remain unconscious trapped in their ego throughout their lives. A simple way to understand if we lack self-awareness is described by author of book The Motivation Manifesto, Brendon Burchard, what he calls as ‘the death of self-awareness’ or ‘the four horsemen of self-awareness’.

Lack of Direction (Directionless):  Do ‘I’ have a sense of direction in my life? When we show up unconsciously to the world in a reactive state without signs of pro-active and conscious idealization of who we are and what we want in life?

Detached: How do ‘I’ see positive and negative emotions? If we detach ourselves from all negative feelings, we are at risk of losing connection with even positive feelings. In such a state we become emotionless and detach from celebrating.

As Brendon says “you have to be passionate and must feel your experiences and moments. It’s time to connect to reality and sensation of life once more.”

Dissociated: We must accept our ‘good’ and the ‘bad’. American Psychotherapist and Writer, Nathaniel Branden rightly said “The first step towards change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” We should strive to live in our ideal selves.

Distraction: Last year I had written a blog on the major distractions of life in modern times. Friends, distraction is the greatest thief of life, of light and of awareness. We must do all we can do to minimize the inconsequential in our lives. If we are constantly scatter brained we can never immerse ourselves in the magic of each moment. Distraction kills the joy of present moment. One of the prime aim and focus of our lives should be to live in every moment.

An honest answer in your journal with discussion with a mentor or a like-minded friend would help understand your current state. On a personal front, I realized I lack direction in certain aspects of life; I also need to know the ‘not-so-good’ side of me and at present moment I feel highly distracted.

 

How can I be more self-aware?

Self-awareness can be attained by paying close attention to what am I thinking? How am I feeling? Why am I feeling so? How am I behaving? What is the reason for such a behavior of mine? What am I speaking? What am I revealing and importantly what am I hiding? Is this my real self? Do others see myself the way I do? And so on. 

Johari Window:  

Johari window developed by American Psychologists, Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham is a profound tool for self-analysis and raising self-awareness. It provides the four basic forms of the self – the known, the hidden, the blind and the unknown. Filling in the four quadrants with a wise peer or a mentor can make us aware of the things that ‘we don’t know that we know’ and even the things that ‘we don’t know that we don’t know’. This further helps in growing self-awareness.

Known Self            Q1 (Things we know about ourselves and others know about us)	Hidden Self             Q2 (Things we know about ourselves that others do not know)
Blind Self                 Q3 (Things others know about us that we do not know)	Unknown Self         Q4 (Things neither we know nor others know about us)

      

      Personality Test:

Personality test helps us know our personality types. Such tests reveal certain aspects of a person’s psychological make-up. It helps us understand to an extent how we interact with the world around us personally and professionally. Myers-Briggs personality test often called MBTI is most recommended test to assess our personality inventory. 

Reflecting on a daily basis:

Taking pause allowing a moment of reflection when we gain clarity and realize our mistakes is so vital to cultivating self-awareness. A good practice is to ask a series of questions to ourselves: ‘Did I do what was required of me? Did I spend my time wisely and efficiently? What did I learn today that was useful? Was I kind and helpful to others and self in my best capacity? Did I listen properly? Were the words coming out of my mouth empowering and uplifting? And so on’ such questions keep us on track in quest to knowing ourselves better.

Writing in a journal on a daily basis:

Friends, writing in journal is remarkably powerful way to become a clear thinker, build massive amounts of self-awareness and record intended outcomes. Although I have been maintaining personal diary for several years now, last 2 years I have been journaling almost on a daily basis. I write my experiences, learning’s, frustrations, accomplishments, failures, and importantly gratitude’s of my daily affair. It helps me keep track of my progress and take necessary action steps. It helps me think through the why’s and the how’s.  In addition to clarifying thoughts and feelings, journaling helps to reduce stress and solve problems more effectively.  I urge each one of you reading me please, please - start journaling today itself, it has unbelievable power.

Meditation:

Meditation is a robust method to study our own selves. It helps us examine out own mind and employ it vigorously in most productive pursuits.

Inspiration Diet:

Is there any specific quote, mantra, passage from a book, song or a person that inspire you in times of despair and discouragement? Switching to such sources helps refocus our energies to stop procrastinating and actually do the work.

Do we really need to be self-aware?

To be honest, to survive in this ego-centric world we don’t need to be self-aware, most people are not. Thanks to the unending sources of distractions. We can survive without being self-aware, even one can be successful to a certain extent, but…but we can’t be fully ourselves and fully alive. We can’t experience the depths of joy, intimacy, authenticity, connection, peace and fulfillment without seeking self-awareness.

My Final Words

Friends, self-awareness is the gateway to a long journey, a journey within ourselves. Each one of us are at different levels of self-awareness. It is like a muscle that grows with time and effort and ultimately provides us strength. Although the process of exercising self-awareness is not easy, it is certainly worth it. The more we learn to become conscious of our impulses, thoughts and actions, while also keeping in mind our principles that foster practical wisdom, we can more easily become our best selves.

Famous Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said he who know others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened. Eminent Buddhist and prolific author, Pema Chordon writes “the most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently. Friends, it is simply a dis-service to humanity and our individual selves if we die without exploring our true selves, without connecting to our higher selves.

Friends, how can we sense life if we don’t have the intention to do so? We must bring more and even more consciousness to our days that will help us feel more connected, energetic and eventually enlightened. This is how self-awareness will lead to our personal evolution, detaching us from our ego-self and aligning more to our higher self. I wish you the very best in your personal journey, the journey within.

“When you know the knower within, you don’t need to know further. When you know the meditator within you don’t need to meditate further. When you know the worshipper within you are to be worshipped” - Amit Ray, author, The Transforming Power

One Life!

Narendra Gupta

Why C-H-A-N-G-E?

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future“

                                                                                                            - John F. Kennedy

Why Change?

I truly believe in creating a dent in the universe and leave a strong legacy as I journey through life. Friends, what’s the point in living the same year 80 times and calling it a LIFE?  The two most favorite subjects of my study and about which I am so passionate are ‘Life’ and ‘Leadership’. Through my blogs and in personal life, I do my very best to lift up lives, to bring smiles on the faces all around, celebrate, help and inspire people and give my ultra-best to make this world way more beautiful,  peaceful, truthful, lovely and most adorable than it is today. Friends, in times when people are losing their human values, becoming self-centered and highly egocentric, it is time we must rise to our true calling. The world needs more of pure-hearted, selfless, charismatic, energetic, enthusiastic and passionate people and I know if you are reading me today – you have it in you. I most humbly challenge you to come forward and lead by example. Everyone lives life for himself but a life lived for others is worthwhile, meaningful and powerful. I invite you to live a legendary and an epic life.

I recall of the words of iconic Steve Jobs, my favorite megastar. He once said “for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."  Friends, I have had similar feelings for past 2-3 months. Well, please don’t take me wrong. I am not comparing myself with this great human star. I have just presented his words to describe the feeling inside and kick start the content of this blog which is the ‘need for change’. I am my true self and I have a different calling and purpose in life. 

Change at times is pretty scary but do you know what’s scarier and even more painful – It is the regret of not even trying, not taking calculated (wise and sometimes even un-wise) risks. Friends, why resist change when change is the only source for your growth? Today, as I move to a new city and step into the most challenging assignment of my life yet, I share with you my deep insights on why change is so very important?

“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up”   – James Belasco

At a time when I was going strong in my career, received volumes of appreciation and multiple requests to stay with my existing customer (none other than the top management of the Customer itself), I decided to leave the comfort zone of easy and what’s known and chose to dive right into the blue ocean of un-known.

Friends, without any exaggeration I put forward my point grasping which you can apply in your own life and be ready for the change which is yes, painful but worth it.  I could have easily stayed for five or even ten more years, I was offered position multiple times even from the customer side, joining which is certainly against my value system.  I was not feeling challenged in work, the deliverables were looking so easy for me, even at the customer side, I was working with people who thought and worked the same way (same nationality).  I was surrounded by people who had lost the lust for growth, and the ones who should inspire had retired to mediocrity.

Why Change?

Change is needed at times to better yourselves and truly be happy. We should never stop working on the best we can be. Every single of us have infinite potential and exploring all our potential is not a choice or an option but it’s a must and urgency. It’s a lifelong endeavor. Noted Irish author and playwright, George Bernard Shaw once said ‘Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.’  So Friends, we must be ready for ‘CHANGE’ with an open mind. So for ‘why change?’ - I always cite of the Pond Vs River (and ocean) metaphor. My wife, Rani, is so used to listening it. She often teases me saying ‘you know nothing but the pond and lake story (only half jokingJ)’ Well Friends, this example has a deep meaning. The pond water is stagnant, limited within its own confines, and becomes dirty very often. On the contrary, the River water is always flowing, clean and clear. This is true in our lives. If we be in the same place, do the same mundane thing, not take enough risks, we will become stagnant. We will lose the lust for growth and eventually life. And if you are open to challenges, meeting new people, committed to making your todays better than your yesterdays, you are bound to grow. 

“He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.”      - Paul Tillich 

As I step in a very high demanding role where expectations are way high and I have the responsibility to grow business for my organization, I sometimes have that ‘feeling of the fear of unknown’. In fact in my first meeting with the Customer last week, I fumbled twice and was not well prepared. It is certain I am not going to win every battle. But with my mental switch of awareness, I am so open to taking risks, if I win, better, and if I fail, it will enrich my experience and teach me a lesson to become my better self.  

Go FAIL!

While I wrote on the importance of failing in my earlier blog - The Beauty of Failing, today I share some powerful lessons from Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS magazine. He says “the people who have reached extra-ordinary levels of success, have also gone through extra-ordinary level of pain, failure, heart-breaks, disappointments, suffering, sadness, and rejections. It is a part of pendulum effect that to have more success you must go through more and more failures.”  Friends, the key to massive success is massive failure. If you are not willing to go through all the pains and heartaches someone you idolize has gone through, how can you achieve an equivalent or even greater level of success?

Mr. Hardy says “Show me the most successful person and I will show you the person who has failed for the maximum time.”  Friends, if you understand and digest this concept well, no one, literally no one can stop you from what you want to be in life. So please, please embrace and love failure.  If you are failing that means you are expanding your limits. Today I challenge you to come out of your comfort zones and yes, GO FAIL!

Risk is Adventure!

Friends, the greatest risk in life is not taking any risks. At this point, I recall of the quote by John Shedd, a Businessman in the early 20^th century in America said “ A Ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are made for” Friends, in the adventurous journey called Life, we are the ships and the harbor is our comfort zone.  We are not built to stay in our comfort zone.  We must realize our fullest potential in the limited time we spent in our physical forms.  Friends, a life half-lived turns to pain and regrets.  Sometimes I take risks and willingly put myself into troubles and coming out of that risk serves as an adventure and gives me pleasure.

Comes this November 12, and I will complete 7 year of my professional experience which also includes 1 year of my Masters in Management. In this period I had the opportunity to be in 7 major cities (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Birmingham (England), Kolkata, Dublin (US)) across the world which gave me a multitude of experiences – be it the people, the culture, work ethics, thinking pattern, and importantly the food J  Friends, I have a reason and my own philosophy for staying in one organization for a considerable period of time. For me the most important thing in life after family and my set of values is the ‘INFLUENCE’, yes the influence in the most positive way, I have on my peers, the higher leadership and employees across the organization.  

Keep your lust for learning awake!

Personally, If you are in IT sector, I would recommend spending considerable time in one Organization (minimum of 8 to 10 years) but do keep changing your Client every 2-3 years. You make an identity by being reliable given that you do your ground work and keep challenging yourself on a daily basis. At the same time changing the client every 2-3 years helps to come out of the comfort zone you fall into over the period of time. You also get the opportunity to work with different people, sometimes different place which keeps your lust for learning awake.

Focus on Present and Future...

Great Philosopher, Socrates once told “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new”. So Friends, don’t be afraid of change because changes lead you to new beginnings. Change is the essence of life and we must be willing to surrender who we are for what we can become.  It is quite obvious that if you live in past and rest on your past laurels, you cannot move forward. Friends, how can you start the next chapter of your life if you keep reading and re-reading the last one? Willingness to change is a must for change to happen. When most are apprehensive of change, I took a pro-active stand and asked for change. 

Forthcoming Challenges..

On hearing of my decision to change my Client, and location, my friends and well-wishers were surprised. They said things like – ‘Narendra, Why are you leaving Cardinal Health? life is so easy and comfortable here (No doubt, working for Cardinal feels like working for a Government company in India)’, ‘You are going from a cold to a much colder place (someone said its three times as colder than Dublin)’, ‘Dublin is quiet and peaceful, people come here to settle down’. Another friend said ‘it’s a bankrupt city, beware of the blacks there and comments kept pouring like this.’

Friends, in his book Man’s search for meaning (my current reading), Dr. Victor Frankl quotes the famous German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how”.   Well, I want and am open to experiencing extreme and the most difficult conditions because I know this is going to make me stronger.  Yes, what doesn’t kill you make you stronger. 

If you are in Dublin and have ever interacted with me for some time, I must have mentioned how much I am in love with nature, it’s lush green fields, the leafy and shade-giving trees, it’s beautiful plants with colorful leaves and fragrant flowers. Dublin is certainly the most beautiful places I have ever come across yet but then I am here not to settle down, but to experience, explore and touch many more lives. While in the first 6 years of my career, I have ventured in major cities across India, it’s time to explore more of America. And friends, when it comes to people, you only get what you give. We have just made a perception about the African Americans that they are violent and likewise. It is nothing but a stereotype. A handful few (who are the exceptions) does not define the entire race. Last week in my flight to Detroit, I met this African American football player, Bob Sylla from Philadelphia (originally from Mali) and when I listened to his philosophy of life, I was spellbound. He was one of the nicest of a kind and generous guy.

For those of you who are resisting change…

Friends your desire to change must be greater than your desire to stay the same. I will illustrate this by an example. A relatively lesser experienced co-worker, let’s call him Sam, came to me a couple of weeks ago saying – “Narendra, I also want to change my Client but then he started telling about all his fears– the management will not allow me to go, will I be able to cope up with challenges outside, I am so used to this client, making easy money in dollars, they are so easy going, will my risk going to be worth it?” and so on.’ I replied him saying what I am saying to you all – Friends, your management or human resources is not the owner of your career, you must do what you are willing to do and what your gut instincts says. I would say if you are not taking risks and playing small with your infinite potential, you are dodging yourself.  The irony is Sam has been showing his willingness to change for past 1 year but never did anything about it. Friends, you will never be 100% ready to change. Please don’t wait for the perfect time. It will never come. You must start today.

Words of Gratitude and Thankfulness to Dublin..

Friends, in 10 months of my stay in Dublin, my first destination in America, I can say I did pretty well – be it work or the human relations. At work, with my ‘Go-Getter’ attitude I won confidence of Customer with quite ease and high-quality deliverable leading my extra-ordinary team, received appreciation from the customer multiple times with applaud from higher management, I won trust of my team, got a career progression with a handsome compensation hike. I was blessed to befriend some awesome people forming my circle of genius at Dublin. I learnt many lessons of leadership here, special thanks to my best friend, my books, and my leadership mentors Robin Sharma, Joel Osteen, John Maxwell, Jim Rohn, Darren Hardy, Sandeep Maheshwari, Les Brown and so on. I shared my learning and ideas through my personal blog and each of my blogs received over 500 views on an average with 2 blogs crossing the 1000 mark. So I personally feel delighted about my accomplishments in the past 10 months. Today, I leave Dublin with profound, sweet and happy memories.

Narendra’s Final words:

Friends, as I step into a venture which marks the major change of my life, and in quest of many more un-explored adventures, touching and positively influencing many more lives, I encourage you to be open to change. Recognize the need for change and please understand that you cannot do the same thing again and again and expect a different result. So go hug risks and embrace change.  I thank you for reading me and leave you with my most favorite childhood poem by Robert Frost which makes me emotional every time I read it even today. 

These woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

                                                     

Friends, Embrace C-H-A-N-G-E!

Narendra Gupta