Willing the Mind to Exercise everyday

Willing the Mind to Exercise everyday

This blog is not about expounding on the virtues of exercising every day, but more about how to get yourselves to do it !!!  These ofcourse are my personal thoughts that kind of worked for me.  At the cost of me being a plagiarist, you might get a feeling:  Oh yes, I read about these tips in some book…..but probably never ever put them to practice.   Here goes:

1.       The Positive Imaging technique:  Those who have gone on a morning walk or to the gym for a few days would for sure have felt good through the day.  An experience of a spring in your step  or a smile on your face or the feel of feeling good would have followed suit.  Albeit the pain for the first few days, your legs would have gotten used and would have worked like a well oiled machine in the following days.  Positive imaging is all about imagining yourself for the rest of the day and how good you felt the previous day post exercising.   This imagination more often than not helps to shrug of the early morning inertia and prevent one from hitting the snooze button…

2.       It is all in the mind – Trick it:  Perhaps the toughest part of the regimen or before the daily regimen is getting out of bed from your happy happy snuggle snuggle position.  It is probably those few seconds when you trick your mind into submission of not getting back into bed and the think of positive imaging…Keep your alarm clock not by your bedside but a distance away..which will force you to get up drag your feet to the clock.  By this time you would have lost part of your sleep, by this time you would have tricked your mind into positive imaging, by this time you probably  thought ..”ah well, now that I have gotten up, I would not be able to get a proper sleep and will toss around which will be of no use…the best that I could possibly do is to go breath in some fresh air and might as well feel good for the rest of the day !!!”

3.       Applying Positive Pressure: Talk to your friends, talk to your spouse, talk to your colleagues…tell them that you have started to exercise, tell them that you have started walking or practicing yoga or going to a gym, tell them that you have started walking for a 1km to start with and that you will gradually increase to 3 km in 10 days time.  Your friends, colleagues may ask you on your progress.  This kind of puts you under a self-initiated pressure to do well.  You might start talking about what good the exercising is doing for you and might possibly motivate others to join as well.  You kind of get into a position of no return since you have spoken about the “Goodness” that you will keep your word, today and tomorrow and the day after and ….

4.       Gyan from the CEO of TCS:  Perhaps, the best that has happened to me was an evening party Tete-e-tete with N. Chandra who is an avid Marathonist.  I popped a question, “Sir, How do you find time, given the position you are in to peacefully exercise and that too daily”.  The reply was simple and profound.  He placed his hands on my shoulder and said “My dear Sir, What do you do as soon as you get up”.  I blurted “Well, brush”. He asked “And then”…  I replied “make myself coffee or tea”.  He “And then”.  I said “Reach out to the newspaper”.  He “And then”…I was kind of flustered by then and was wondering where this was going…And the question and answer kept happening for the next 3 minutes or so.  And then he asked “Do you ever forget to brush your teeth or drink your coffee or bathe or ….” He was kind of checklisting my every morning’s routine and then popped “What if you enter a 20 min exercise routine into this checklist?  Can you do that?  Probably, hit bed 30 mins earlier every night so that you do not miss out on your 7 hour sleep, perhaps, hit the “OFF” button on your TV 30 mins early?  Can you do that?”  And he continued “Can you make this a habit just as naturally as you brush your teeth?  Can you sketch this part into your daily routine?  Trust me, if you do this for a month, it will become a habit that you will never ever miss.  And ofcourse, if you do this exactly at the same time of the day, this will become a habit all the more easily”.   I pondered thereafter for the rest of the evening “If, the CEO of a $ 10 Bn enterprise is saying this and is practicing what he is preaching ever so lucidly and in such simple manner, can I not do it ???”.

5.       Choose the Company and the Place:  Having like minded people as company when you exercise helps.  More often than not, you kind of ease off the daily drill after a few days, if you go it alone.  Exercising with a  group is always fun,  each motivating the other.  See what interests you the best and start off with that whether Yoga (there maybe a group under a coach in your friendly neighborhood) or walking or swimming or the gym…You choose…

The bottom line to start off is “Willing your mind to do it”.  This is the key.  Will it and you shall be a happy healthy you….

Caution:  You should check with your Doctor before you get into the exercise routine.  This is an absolute must.

Trust this blog though lengthy is of use to you and you will “WILL YOUR MIND TO EXERCISE EVERY DAY.” 

Prasanna Meher Nori

15^th June 2013

Value Life - A True Story

July 2012

VALUE LIFE

Her 7 year young son implored “Amma, get up, Amma wake up.  There are several people who have come to our house wanting to see you.  I don’t know why they all are crying.  Amma, please wake up Amma”.  His Grandmother sat close questioning inconsolably, “Why did it have to happen to my daughter, What wrong has she done…” while, his Grandfather was seemingly wandering aimlessly holding himself from shedding a tear, making arrangements for what was to be his daughters final journey….

Minus 4 days to that day, Sujana got on to her 2 wheeler to run an errand for her son, a ride close to her house.  She would have been making around 30 km/hr or less on the busy Filmnagar-Jubilee Hills checkpost road, when an auto hit her from behind.  Losing balance, she fell hitting her head on the road median.  She was immediately rushed to Apollo Hospitals, where the doctors sutured her head up and informed that there was a good loss of blood and only a miracle would save her.  The cut was deep into the base of her skull.  She was kept on life support systems while we prayed our hearts out.  With no progress seen, the doctors advised the family of the dreaded option of removing the life support system since, she was in a brain-dead state.

I often gaze at her office cubicle, right across where I sit…how I miss the ever smiling face, the busy self, the neat composure and wonder on the cruel twist of fate.  It just took less than a second for the event to happen on the fateful day.  Thinking, how donning a HELMET could have changed everything.  How things could have been so very radically different, how her son would run into her arms, when she returned home from work, how her family would huddle together for those evening dinners or the weekend get-togethers, how her son would not question his grandparents…”Ammamma, you told me that Amma will be back after getting a new brain…when will she be back…I want to tell her what all I did in school today….”

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I am hoping that you will share the above article with your friends.   Perhaps, it will drive sense into atleast 10% of the readers or their families that it wise to don a helmet while on a 2 wheeler, wear a seat belt whilst in a car, drive slow and safe.  I for one, have decided not to take calls when I drive.  How often I came close to hitting someone in front, while I was busy looking at “Who called my cell”.  I recognize that a simple nudge to a 2-wheeler can have disastrous effects.

Prasanna Meher Nori

Providence: Tale of two Lives, Mine included

23-Mar-2013

Providence: Tale of two Lives, Mine included

08:43 hours this Thursday could have been a defining moment for 2 lives had it not been for a divine intervention.  My usual self bade a bye to my wife lodging my rucksack in the backseat of my car, mumbling my daily prayers easing into the unwelcome chaotic puzzling Hyderabadi traffic. 

This day’s traffic was no different and my watchful self waded through the morning chaos thinking of the surprises that my work will offer.  My thoughts took me into the World of the XL the columns, the rows, the pivots, the numbers I will have to work on to get to a graph evidencing that I was in the right and the client is making much ado about nothing.  The other part of my mind was working on which song would be best to listen to and ah yes…the third folder…the fifth song..for that Kishore song..”Savera ka Sooraj….” Or should I tune into one of the FM channels to listen to ….Clang…Crash…thud...Wail….Screeeeech…Screech…and I find a young twenty something sprawled inches away in front of my car, his helmet had come off and his belongings strewn, his bike lying parallel on the road with the rear wheels still whirring with life….What the..where did he..how did he….and I slammed my brakes with a supreme effort stopping inches from his head.  Visibly shaken and completely stirred, the blood drained ashen me rooted in my seat let out a rare bead of sweat…With my heart pounding, I got out to check the damage that lay in front…Did I hit him?  Did my car touch him?  Is he ok?  Is there blood?  But where did he come from and how did he land there out of nowhere?

A few good Samaritans stopped by, lending a helping hand to the 20 something who appeared to be thoroughly puzzled and was muttering some choicest expletives on someone.  I figured that the recipient of these expletives was a jay walker crossing the road on foot, who appeared out from behind a car that was running adjacent to mine.  Completely blind sighted and surprised, the biker slammed his brakes but could not avoid hitting him.  Losing balance, he fell, his bike in front of the car adjacent to mine and he himself flung right in front of mine.

I was wondering What if I were doing 35 kmph instead of 30 kmph.....what if I was fiddling with the stereo controls getting to my fav song or trying to avoid an ad on the FM moving to the next station or I had my head turned admiring the BMW 720D or a black Merc A Class that may have been tailing mine or a momentary lapse of concentration having a dekho at a Pretty Young Thing ambling on the road or stealing a look at my phone to check who called ??..…What a defining difference that micro-second could have had.....

Providence had a big role to play this Thursday surely, else, It would have completely changed my life in multifarious ways.  And the 20 something would have lost a limb or two or may be looking for a broken back life cursing his fate and or even worse possibly be on his last ever journey on mother earth.  

How a micro-second of time on the road esp. the Hyderabadi  roads could completely change a life…I keep wondering…..

Prasanna Meher Nori

Are we moving too fast

01-Jan-2013

While we had a great time with friends at the Garden Retreat Resorts some 40 kms from Hyderabad heralding 2013,  I kind of feel a little disconcerted on a few happenings of today that kind of piqued my mind.  I ask myself are we headed into the future a little too fast? 

As soon as we stepped out of my car  post a tiring drive wading through the traffic, windows up with the AC on my 6 year daughter exclaimed “Daddy…see so many stars in the sky !!!” Given the rustic environs of the resort devoid of the concrete jungle amidst whiffs of fresh breeze from the many a tree lining the place….one could not stop but discern what nature has to offer.  My son bolted to pick up a basket-ball that lay and with joy started dribbling his way through some imaginary opponents to basket the ball in absolute glee…(after all he spends all his time buried in his books, with absolutely no time to play), whilst my daughter quizzed “Daddy…why in Hyderabad do we see very few stars!!!”  The barefoot walk on the grass felt like an earthy experience reminding of what we miss in our busy everyday lives…

The chirping of the birds and the call of a distant peacock was like music to the ears the next misty morning while we exited our cottage for a cup of “chai”.  The happiness was kind of short-lived when we trudged out with our bags to head back to the rigmarole…to the daily grind…

The other event this evening once again took me back in times.  It was but a simple rather very simple outing for a “Veg-Thali” at the Secunderabad Kamat (read Kamat not Kha-mat).  I kind of reminisce those days when I would walk behind my Mom and Dad with my brother in tow into the only 3 hotels/restaurants where we could have a meal…It was either the Kamat or the Taj Mahal (not to be confused with the 5 stars ones) or the Shanbagh…Well my spouse Sruti was in a mood for such a simple Thali this evening while I wracked by brain to think of a place where we could have one…Those were the days which ever corner we went, we would end up at one of the 3 restaurants and here I was today, Google mapping the nearest non-modernized Kamat…the one that would taste what as a child I relished.  Google maps lost and we headed to Secunderabad…

Oh, the smell divine of the sambar emanating from within, the hustle bustle of the waiters, the shouts into the kitchen..”Ondu Masala Dosa…”.  Ah how much did we miss the 3 chutku pooris, served with 6 bowls of curry, pooriyal, sambar, rasam, curd and the ever served kesri bath.  Plonk comes the small steel bowl of rice a minute later…How much did we miss the walk to wash basin to find the ubiquitous (all Kamats are the same J) less than a quarter of the medimix neatly cut soap..

While there was joy on one hand of celebrating the new year…there is this other side of me thinking how we are missing the very simple uncomplicated things in life…the gaze up to the stars,  the barefoot walk in grass, the chirping of sparrows,  the clear early morning mist, a whiff of fresh air from the greens, a simple but yet filling limited thali…the aroma of fresh sambar when we walk into a restaurant…Sigh…Is the World moving too fast….can we pause a bit….can we count the stars along with our daughters…can we run the basket-ball with our sons…can we walk through the early pleasant mornings with our spouses…..can we…..

-          Prasanna Meher Nori