Friday, November 27, 2009

One Step at a Time


This is a golden lesson, a lesson in standing on our own feet that mothers teach their babies, when the tiny tots are keen to learn how to walk. This very small and simple act serves as the best illustration as to how simple things in life can be achieved.

Baby Steps!! yes :) that is what will help you to efficiently finish any task that you undertake. In the simplest of words, take one step at a time towards your goals, dreams or ambitions. One small step will take you a long way. Also it would keep you consistent on your path, since you wouldn't be too fast or too slow, you would just be in the right steady pace. A slow and gradual step towards your goal would build your self-confidence and keep you moving in the right direction without any deviations.



One step at a time has its own plus points..I have listed down the points I could ponder..

+ Motivation Making smaller commitments to yourself is easier and easy to accomplish. Once accomplished, you get the necessary motivation to keep pushing. You get the drive needed to achieve more. Say, for instance weight loss, if you lose a kilo in a month which is quite doable, you are inclined to lose more the next month. Hence one baby step at a time is quite a motivation booster.

+ Clarity Consider yourself the developer for a software product. You don't come up with the whole architecture, the whole system in a day. You brainstorm, you build upon each module, you take one step at a time. This aids in clarity of each module, how each module interconnects with each other, the functionality of each module in isolation as well as unision. See the magic of one small step at a time, helps us to think simple, implement simply, stay away from cluttered thoughts and gradually build upon.

+ Satisfaction As you look back and track your progress at each step of your journey, you will be filled with immense self-satisfaction. This satisfaction would steer you forward as you keep looking back. Every success achieved would pave the path for another.

+ Patience & Calm Focussing on one step at a time builds patience and pacifies oneself. Have you ever observed what multi-tasking leads to?? Restlessness, anxiety, stress,distraction. On the contrary, one task at a time can be nipped in the bud quickly and without much botheration, you are able to concentrate better since a single task is at hand.

Do you have any other plusses that taking one step at a time would add to?? Please do share...


While I can run, I'll run ;
While I can walk, I'll walk ;
When I can crawl, I'll crawl.
But by the grace of God, I'll always be moving forward.
Cavett Robert


Thursday, November 26, 2009

The Benefits of Walking


"Walk and Talk" is quite a popular ad of Idea these days. And why not? It makes a lot of sense, its a wonderful way of advertising and at the same time conveying a message related to health. The advertiser has strategically used health as a means to advertise owing to the fact that health/weight loss is one of the buzzwords these days. 


You see Gyms popping up in each and every area, some even 24 X 7. You see Sugar free ads, you see so many health magazines on the news stalls and now-a-days there is much increased awareness about food stuffs, which fat is healthy, which is not. In a world, where technology is progressing at a rapid rate, the advent of obesity is also on the rise. With our sedentary lifestyles, we ought to be concerned. Also, with our busy schedules, sometimes its hard to be a regular gymmer. And hence, I am talking about the benefits of walking.

All you need for a good brisk walk is a pair of good walking shoes, an mp3 player(if you get bored like me while walking),good company and the most important a good levelled walking area. Good shoes are a must as they will help you give a good walking grip and help you to maintain a steady pace. Also one should try to wear comfortable track pants and a tshirt. Now for a person, who has just begun walking should take it easy and maintain a comfortable pace. It is important to keep the body relaxed. The sole aim of walking is to exercize the body while remaining calm, don't let your shoulders get strained or legs feel the pain.  Walk straight, do not droop and maintain natural motion. The right way to walk is such that the heel should strike the ground first in a walking step, not the front of the foot.

I know its hard to get the motivation to start but once you look at the benefits of walking mentioned below, am sure you would be urged to start walking your way to health :

1) Walking helps to burn fat. Walking is a cardio exercize and just like walking on the treadmill helps you to burn fat, so does walking and what can be better that its a no-brainer, you need no machine and you have a natural eco-environment unlike the fabricated environment of the gym.

2) Boosts energy levels. Sit in your house whole day, and just observe the difference after a 30 minute walk. You will feel more energetic.

3) Boosts mental fitness, cures depression

4) Helps cure sleeplesness, walking keeps stress at bay.Stress usually interferes with sleep, walking thus helps.

5) Since its a cardio exercize, walking is good for reducing blood pressure and keeping a healthy heart.

6) Brisk walking 30 minutes a day is good for boosting your metabolism.

7) It helps in increasing your flexibility, by strengthening your muscles, bones and joints, thereby toning your body.

So..Walk away and make way for a healthier you!!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

26/11

As 26/11 is drawing near, and most News Channels have started having discussions on it,  I happened to watch one such program on Times Now last Sunday.The discussion was how do we feel about 26/11, now that we are close to its anniversary, do we feel angry, do we feel determined or sorrowful? While watching the same, I felt that isn't it pointless to have such sessions? What do we achieve from them? The discussion just served as a painful recalling of dark events,one such instance being where the photographer Sebastian D'souza talked on his memory of how he photographed Kasaab on CST station where the man slaughter was on and how he was not proud of that photo..since it was associated with a bad event..


Instead if media could summarize what went wrong, what could have been improved in the plan to counter the terrorists, how more lives could have been saved..can't the media experts in turn work with the government experts to implement the changes? We have the full footage now..of all the 26/11 happenings, we have all the facts, how the infiltration happened..can't we analyse them and be ready for any such further attacks..


One should watch the documentary on 26/11 directed by Dan Reed here. Its a live account of the 26/11 massacre, with live conversations of the terrorists with their pakistani counterparts, urging them to kill more people..telling them with enthusiasm that the Taj attack was being given maximum coverage on TV, that they are coming closer to heaven. That killing one Jew is equivalent to killing 50 other people. Its nerve wrecking how victims relive their experiences, give first hand accounts of how the Pak terrorists mercilessly killed people like how a child would use toy guns to fire at people.How they hadno signs of horror or shame on their faces, 20 something boys trained to such perfection to murder innocent human lives.


With this documentary some shocking facts also came alive. The one scene where a policeman tries to fire at Kasaab while he and his fellow mate are exiting CST station and his rifle jams!! Can you imagine that?? the rifle jams!! anti-terrorism squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare was wearing a bullet proof jacket and yet he succumbed to death . What does this manifest?? Jamming rifles, sub-standard bullet proof jackets! Is our security system, security personnel equipped enough to counter such terror attacks??




It is unimaginable, the wave of terror that was spread by just 10 terrorists from Pakistan. Is human life so cheap in India that infiltrators come easily, may it be a busy city station, a cafe, a jewish educational centre or 5 star hotels and start shooting at people as if there is no value of life!! Just 10 terrorists and a whole city terrified, 62 hours of massacre, 170 lives taken. And Kasaab the only terrorist alive out of the 10 hasn't been sentenced yet. The stark irony being that the anniversary of 26/11 just a day away and still justice hasn't been served. What can be more shameful than this for a nation like ours.