Procrastination Part 3

Hmm.. I think I am one of those who procrastinate till the deadline stares at you in the face, or in my case looks at you with clear, black eyes and monosyllable responses:) It’s the utter lack of pressure that can sometimes be the greatest pressure. Once you break the stranglehold of pressure at its peak, it’s a pleasure really to work to a tight schedule. As one of the co authors of a novel, ideas have been running in my mind all along, but I could put down words only when there s virtually no escape:). I sit on the computer and do a steady stream of feed after which I do a lot of other things – like write in my blog for instance, do a jigsaw, listen to some music, surf. And then like gathering clouds, my ideas get together again and ask for a vent and I oblige them. Is that how people write novels, I wonder? I have written a few things in my life, but never so much of stuff. It gets easier as you go along – that much I can tell you!! Now , break time ‘s up. Time to feed more words:)

Vishnuvardan

Vishnuvardan,one of the most sensitive actors Kannada screen has ever known is no more. With him ,ends my schoolgirl crush on this great star. I moved away from Bangalore after schooling, but still remember the popular songs of my school years. OUt of the six or seven songs, that play in my mind to this day, my favourite has always been Vishnuvardan and his Maamaravello Kogile Yello..Enesneha Sambandha..( I reproduce the meaning from my understanding of it..."The Mango Tree is at one end while the Nightingale is at another...But yet what is this relationship? This friendship?)

The Link to this song is in my "I love these too " section of my blog and here it is as well :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4veJhSYgBU&feature=related

They made a great pair - the ethereal Bharati and the handsome, sensitive Vishnu.

Adios!

Twin Bin

Twin Bin . I have begun doing that at home. Very simple really. Just tie two small bins together and keep bio degradable and non –bio degradable garbage separately. Easy, right? Bio degradable includes food wastes, veg peels, rotten fruit, paper, and stuff. Non –biodegradable includes your glass bottles, tin cans, plastic shopping bags, metal containers, and so on. If you dispose garbage in bags, keep Two bags. That’s it.

I have begun implementing this at home. But , of course, everything goes into one huge disposal bin that’s placed at the end of the street. This in turn gets cleared everyday by a mobile garbage van that roams the streets. Now everything's dumped together here, so what’s the point, you may ask? Now, there are environmentalists who worry about such things , don’t they? I am sure they will be working towards changing this. What I want to do is change what I do at home, because it gives me great satisfaction.:). And do you have little kids at home? Tell them to do it too. They might learn the difference and take their first steps towards Planet care. And then maybe your Twin Bin gets noticed and talked about and soon your street could be doing it too. He heJ..now we are spreading the environment virus aren’t we?

Right on top do you see a rough design of a Twin Bin - maybe we could design bins ONLY this way, so there's no way out except segregate garbage:)

LABELS

Don’t we like to sort out people? Oh we do !. Sort them out in different ways. Classify them. Categorise them. And Bang ! Label them. “He is such an egoist.” “ She is vain and arrogant”. “That old man is interfering”. “ Oh God! That kid is so dumb!”

Once you label a person, they stay labeled in your mind. Worse, the word gets passed on. You refer to them always with their trademark labels. It’s easier, you see. And then you talk about them to others with these very same labels as well. Of course, you do a Sort! You might highlight one label, and underplay another, depending on whom or what you are talking about.

I have wondered why we do label people. Is it to make them easier to understand? Or is it to make them easier to recall? Or Is it to be clear about what makes them tick? Or do we feel clever at having unmasked them? Do we want to know and understand our responses to them? Or to check out whether we can or cannot trust them? It could be any one or a bouquet of reasons .

How do people get labeled? From my own understanding and experience, the most important one is through the perception of their visible actions or deeds and its impact on the onlooker. Even if the visible action could be more than one or the impact felt over a certain period of time, does that still give us the Right to label? Slotting people into categories? And forgetting them? How many of us actually do a Refresh on them , unlearn, update information and see whether we can reclassify them ?

So do you see the gaps? Visible action or deeds constitute just a small percentage of the human package and are situational and multidimensional. So what are we doing here? Aren't we over reacting, labelling people? When the human psyche is ever changing , interweaving , adding new experiences, thinking new things, meeting new people, re aligning objectives, do they deserve permanent labels, written in indelible ink?

The only label I would really like to attribute to a person is their name. Beyond that I try to keep all avenues open, always and forever. A human being, to me, is a mystery to be gently unwound and under stood, little by little. Unwinding can be deeper, slower, lighter or longer. Understanding can be wonderful or terrifying, simple or complicated, boring or enthralling. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that understanding of another person can never be complete.

What if you stopped labeling? You will be amazed at what such freedom can do to you. You will find it difficult to label after a while. You will never judge. You will find that your openness has increased your perceptive capabilities. You will see what you have missed before. You will see new areas. You will see new behavior. You will discover new reasons for old behavior. The possibilities are endless. The response can be amazing too.

Search Options:)

This morning there was a little mishap. Dad's Hearing Aid went missing. Nobody knows where. We searched high and low , right and left, up and down, above and under - if you get what I mean:) Even the garbage bins. But the damn apparatus was not to be found. My dad's trauma was visible for all to see. It was a pitiable sight because this cool 78 year old is a very , very careful, very , very planned and very , very meticulous man. Losing is distasteful to him.

It took me a long time to convince him of his UNGUILT!!

I wished it had gone missing on The Internet. It would have taken us just mere seconds to locate it. There are SEARCH options all over the Cyberplace! And Google is the 21st century Miracle! So virtual hearing aids would be better , eh? Yeah, if we can become virtual ourselves!
The alternative would be to provide Search Options in all our apparatus. Its so easy to locate a misplaced mobile because it RINGS! So what's to stop the design and engineering guys from making these lost things RING? BUZZ? SCREAM? LIGHT UP WITH JOY? MOVE UP AND DOWN?

Would'nt it be just great if all our tiny things come with Search and Find Options??This would be just too handy , especially for our septuagenrains, the visually handicapped and people like me who are just too careless for words:)

Knowing yourself - the most important rationality

Know Yourself. And THAT I think is the most important “rationality” of all. Knowing your pluses and minuses. Knowing what your anger means. Knowing the meaning and intention behind every single word you utter. Knowing why , how and where you are helpless. Knowing what makes you strong. Knowing why you feel the way you do. Knowing why you are not today,what you were yesterday. Knowing why you hurt. Knowing why you smile. Knowing when you cry and when you don’t.

Having said that with a rational mind, I ask the question, can one know oneself through a rational mind? This question now looms large. Its debatable.

If you look beyond the rational, lies the emotional.
If you look beyond the emotional, you see intuition.
I have seen it. Felt it. Witnessed it.
To me Intuition has been the questions that have been answered in a blinding flash of insight . Possibilities that have existed where none could have. Solutions that have been found to problems thought "insurmountable".

The understanding of such an insight, has become intuition. The understanding has happened only lately, a few years ago . Through the practice of “awareness”.

Insight or understanding that can just as well happen through rational or emotional thinking , by going through the process of discussion, debate, questioning and filtering. But has it always led to the understanding of "why this"?

Awareness lies beyond rational thought. Any thought. It comes with dropping the mind. Giving in to your emotions . Come further , and you could reach an intuitive state.
You can take the risk and experiment it on yourself first.
Try "dropping the mind" – a few seconds at a time. By meditating. Prayers. Losing yourself in music.
I have begun practicing “vipassana” or “watchfulness” or “alertness” by observing my every action. I forget to -sometimes. But I am right back on track.

More later..

Love, relationships and Yourself!

How do you apply the principle of Rational vs Emotional to the relationships in your life? In love?
I am completely in agreement with the lines I read somewhere that “Love is a magical feeling that can defy rational thought in an individual, but that relationships and the overall aspects of love should be approached rationally.” Is the relationship also based on mutual trust, companionship, affection, caring, shared interests/goals, security ? And Is your love reciprocated ?
I think its completely possible to love someone and still rationally know that the relationship is wrong, unhealthy, or will just not work. The “love” is about the feelings for the other. But the rationality comes in when you begin thinking about yourself, your emotional well-being, your personality and your growth, in context to this other person.

Rational vs Emotional

A friend pointed out that my decisions are based on emotions and not on rational thinking. I have been thinking about it all morning and some questions emerged.

1. Do people really have a choice whether they want to go with the “blissful” way of life or take the “rational “ approach to decision making? Does it have anything to do with the genes?(At any rate one would think that it requires quite a bit of “rationality” to reach this far and debate about the possibility of a choice!)
2. We have a mind. We also have imagination. Is it only the imaginative lot who can conceive of the “rose coloured view” of life?
3. Many facts about life, people, keep changing. New facts emerge. Some facts never emerge. Do we really know enough about life to make decisions only from an analysis of facts? From a rational view point?
4. Does rationality become an overriding principle in the person’s life vis a vis ALL decisions or can it be applied to a few ? Another way of saying it can also mean"Can I use a combination of rationality and blissfulness to live my life?

More..later..

A decision made!

Reading & thinking for sustained periods can change the direction of your mind. Maybe I should write more - being a humanist with spiritual concerns and literary leanings may probably turn the vote in my favour. I have written, but not in this genre. Maybe I will soon.

Procrastination -Part 2

I am still at it! Happily building my blog while trying to complete some work. LOve this . Its two thirty am and ideas begin to flow..

Procrastination

Do I love to put off things? I had a deadline but instead of working to reach the deadline, all I did yesterday was consciously NOT WORK!! I spruced up my blog, looked at it this way and that way, listened to music, worked at clearing clutter (both inner and outer) and now the deadline problem solved itself. I sent off only part of the work I was happy with:) Goal achieved, yet satisfactorily. Now, is this procrastination? I wonder? I don't mind if it is, because the deadline is now approachable, doable. Yipee!!!

Music

Today I added some music links to my blog, but I would love to keep giving you more links...So I will probably move the links soon to a list:)I have been composing songs myself - i would love to have some one sing along and strum along on the guitar? I write when the lyrix flow . Sometimes I hear the tunes first...and record them on my mobile quickly..:)

Mallika -e -Tarannum

Recently a friend fondly greeted me as Mallika -e -Tarannum ! I looked it up and was pleasantly surprised to find that it meant Queen of Melodies! And all along I had never known the actual meaning of my name. I had thought my name meant the Jasmine flower! Or the name of a Hindu goddess. And left it at that. But Mallika meant Queen! and that does put a new perspective on my personality! :) It is amazing how you begin to feel intuitive about yourself, once you know the meaning behind your name. How your personality undergoes subtle changes. How your behaviour patterns are now clearer. How your actions that had been puzzling earlier now fall into a pattern. Its almost as if you've realised your destiny!! I wonder if everybody feels this way or is this what's happening to me?

Will continue with the story of the Queen and will tell you all about it!

When the whole world is mine, what do I need?

Thus far, I have been publishing my imaginative meanderings on this blog. Well, I just got connected ! and here I am. I have been thinking all day about Love of Self! I was going through a private hell of sorts during the last six months , trying to find myself. Did I love myself enough to sustain the inquiry? I probably did. Because I am still around. Alive and kicking!

Is it love of Life that keeps me going? Or Love of Self? I think the later! There really was no Life for a long time and yet I continued breathing.I would like to quote Lao Tzu here "At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want".

When the whole world is mine, what do I need?