Change

"Change is the only thing that is permanent", I have heard this phrase innumerable times now. But every time I hear it, the meaning is different.

The perennial process of change is essential for our existence. We live life as a series of changes. At any point in time, we wait for the next change. As a child, the wait is to go to school, as an adolescent one wants to hang out with friends, as an adult you wanna party and go to college, then work, then wait for first salary, then promotion, then marriage, then kids............its endless!

Wait is not what makes this life worthwhile; changes do. Achieving a change is not easy. First thing is to identify the point in life when there is nothing you look forward to. You need a dose of change then! Dig deeper, explore and work towards a change, personal or professional. The more changes you make to your life, more exciting and memorable your life is. The effort put in enabling that change adds to the treasure of memories and inspiration.

So what are you going to change next?

"Good to Great"

Its a book written by the famed author Jim Collins who had also authored "Built to Last". I have not read that one though. Its an amazing book providing concrete analysis of great companies and trying to find a pattern in their success.
Some findings go against the conventional wisdom and that is what makes it different. Its an eye-opener, sort of enlightening. I have started looking for those signs in my current organization to see if it will ever become great. Long way to go .... but we will reach there someday :).
Plus you can apply some concepts to yourself and figure out what does it take to be great :).

Happy reading!!

The False Marathon !

Its a Saturday ! I ran a 4 KM Marathon today morning. It was refreshing :-). It was the first time I ran one. Got up at 5:30 am, boarded the company bus at 5:45 am and reached the venue at 6:00 am. On that part of the world, it looked like a peak hour of the day! People were full of energy, talking, laughing, warming up and enjoying. At that moment I forgot my sleeplessness and mingled into the crowd. The run started at 7:20 am. I was actually running for sometime but then felt tired and started walking fast and then just walk ! Again short spells of running, jogging and walking. Soon I saw a board saying 1 more km to go !!! I was confused, I was sure that I have not walked 3 KMS till now. After completing the run I was wondering it was really 4 km, I think it was less. The level of tiredness it gave me was less than the gym workout of 3 KMS. As per organisers we ran 4 KMS and that made us happy and pleased but somewhere I knew its less. Let me run on treadmill someday and check how much time i take to run 4 KMS.

Human psychology is easy to manipulate than human senses!

Time !

It just goes on without halt, without pause. Cant stop it, Cant hold it, Cant get rid of it too. Everything we do, say or think is counted by time. One can escape God but not time. Its a crime to waste time, but you can not manage to do something all the time. Its good to sit useless sometimes, doing nothing.. nothing at all.
So here I am, sitting useless after a long time. I love it but it wont last very long :). I am an animal :-D

Expectations

Its a dreaded word for those who have seen the darker side of it. I am one of them. I have many a times missed out on the expectations of my parents and my friends in particular.
I fail to judge sometimes what a person has in mind while saying something. It may be as simple as that I refused a lunch because I was not hungry, is it an offence ? I didn't think so but that person did and felt really bad. But do I deserve to listen to all the bad stuff that person said to me that I don't care, I don't bother, I am selfish etc etc.....
Its good to expect but not so much that it crushes the other person even if other person had no such intention. Expectations should be clubbed with intentions and then a judgement should be arrived at.
If the person had bad intentions and tried to hurt intentionally then it does call for some hot discussion but not otherwise. As friends we should trust each other so much that we can analyse other person's behaviour if he or she is not behaving in an expected manner.

Just getting angry, walking out, shouting does not help. That's not what a relationship is all about.

Nobody can be perfect in relationships. We keep learning through experiences but it really hurts when somebody close to you comes and blames you for something you never intended to. Lets be more reasonable!

We will be past someday !

Old age... something which everybody fears ! Why? because one becomes dependent ? helpless ? weak ? isolated ? aloof ?

Can it be better ? yes sure it can be if we respect older generations and set an example for future generations. Taking care of people at an old age is something that is taken as a burden. I have seen people doing it happily for initial few days but as time passes, they are reluctant to even give the older people a glass of water. Those sons and daughters who got more than 100% from their parents are not able to do even 1% for them. Don't they feel ashamed ??? Parents looked after you day and night, tolerated all your tantrums, stayed awake whole night just to make you sleep and children when they grow up forget all this, make up their own world which has no place for parents !!!! Children mean the world to parents, but for many children parents mean nothing once parents become old.

Its pitiable to see it happening daily in our surroundings, our homes. At least us, who want to take care of our elders should do it whenever possible and when the time comes.

Take care of them, sit and talk to them. Just throwing money wont help, show them that you really really care.

I am not yet doing what I can in this front, but I will try to......

Lost Myself !

My brain cells got damaged ! I have become less efficient and very slow. Was just trying to analyse why all this happened ??
I was pretty fast in my work and very efficient. I felt more confident, focused and motivated. I could maintain a balance between my professional and personal life easily. I kind of had a fair idea about what I am doing and what I want to do. I was one of those enthusiastic persons who are always ready to go !
Due to some unfortunate circumstances I went through a very tough period for around 6 months. That tough phase has ended and I am happy finally. But I think it has done heavy damage to me. I feel very ordinary, the confidence I had has come down.
I am not sure if i will ever be the person I was, I do not know if I will ever feel superb about myself.
All this does not upset me but makes me very thoughtful sometimes. I feel lost at times, and wonder about where this life is taking me.
Just want to know from you experienced people out there if this is normal and I will be fine OR will it never go ? My dreams are still unfulfilled, I want to fulfil them but I lack the enthusiasm I earlier had. Sometimes I am ashamed of myself :-( .
May be I could not explain very well my situation but if I have to say it all in a line I would say that "I have lost myself !" . I want to get back to my own self !