Keeping Promises

We had an amazing time last 6 days at work. The highlight and takeaway for me personally, along with so many other things was that I started running again. I have been low on energy physically since last August. I hardly exercised and finally started yoga and walking in January of this year. But I was not able to push myself to run. So I let it be. Finally since the beginning of last week, as part of warm up sessions I started running for a minute or so. This gave me the motivation and confidence I needed to start or at least try to get back to running.

After a hectic week, we had 2 days off from work. 

Day 1 - I had consciously decided that I would wake up late and not do anything. I literally did nothing other than watching TV and some work I had to finish. 

Day 2 - I started the day by stepping out for a run/walk. 

The reason for narrating the whole story is to mention something that happened during the run 

I did my usual 6km distance with a combination of run and walk. Running was not a piece of cake. So I had to figure out a way to make running fun and somehow easy. I used to choose a landmark and tell my mind that I would run only till that point and then switch to walking. The key was in keeping up that promise - to run only till the landmark - not to stop before the point and also not to run beyond the point. It may sound silly that I am saying I shouldn't run beyond the decided point even if I could. But while running it suddenly hit me that everything comes down to keeping up the promises that we make to ourselves and to others. 

Let me try to explain. Promises are made to be kept, whether to ourselves or to others. Just like we lose trust in the person when they break a promise made to us, our mind also loses the trust in ourselves when we don't keep up the promise we have made to ourselves. When I say promise to myself - it includes all the things we tell ourselves, all the self-talk, all our to-dos, all our resolutions, all our goals - all these are promises we are making to ourselves. 

A promise is 

what I am telling myself I will cook,  

what time I decide I want to wake up,

what decide I want to read

what I decide I am going to shop

making that call

talking to someone

preparing for an exam

watching tv

pampering ourselves

not doing anything

choosing to sleep

booking that ticket

- it is everything that we tell our mind every moment.

The key is to follow through. Of course there are external factors that may prevent us from keeping a particular promise, but we cannot betray our mind for no reason. We ourselves cannot be the reason for not fulfilling the promise. An external factor can break the promise, but WE CAN NEVER BREAK the promise. This does not mean we stress or worry about the promises we make. It just means that we need to be clear before we make a promise. We should be able to realize what we are capable of before making a promise to ourselves. 

When we are the reason for breaking our own promise, all sorts of conflicts arise. The mind gets confused when we betray ourselves. And when our mind is confused we start seeing the same confusion in our outer world. So depending on the promise we have broken (to ourselves), we see the exact same thing in the outside world. 

I guess that is the reason we say, what we are inside is what we see in others (in the outside world).

Here's to keeping promises 

Unique

One size cannot fit all!

Today morning when I woke up, I was reminded of this and was telling myself that every morning cannot be the same.

My ideal weekday mornings would be to wake up early and do all my morning rituals, cook, get ready and leave the house. Well it does not happen everyday if I don't wake up early. Today was one of those days where I woke up late with just enough time to cook and get ready. Even though I had a valid reason for waking up late (headache), I was not feeling great about not being able to do all the things I wanted to do. I kept reminding myself that it was ok and that everyday cannot be the same.

Mind is a strange thing. It can get perturbed at the smallest to biggest of things - a small change in the routine, a change in the lifestyle, a change in the environment, a new thing coming in, an old thing going away, the feeling of not knowing, the uncertainty of things - the mind usually craves for a known certainty with no change all the time.

This was my mid week reminder today 

The ever changing sky/clouds

An outing once in a while

One day is like this

Another day is like this - binging on cake, bagel and coffee

Same plant, together, yet at different stages

Everyday cannot be a full moon night

Moon rise on a different day

😍

Choice

I keep telling my kids that there will always be 2 choices or 2 options in life for every situation/instance. 

They are 

choose to do it happily

OR

choose to do it crying/complaining.

And I have started telling myself the same too. We have to do it anyways - whatever it is - whatever the mind is telling us to do - whatever life is throwing at us, we have to go through - but we have the option of doing it or going through it or seeing it happily or by crying about it. 

Isn't it true in every situation, every scenario, everytime and with respect to everything in life?

It is our choice - our way.

An instance happened last week that proved my point. I had decided to be a certain way for some reason. But I was feeling so restless about it because I was not happy. I jerked myself out and chose to do that particular thing happily without caring about the external factors. I felt so relieved after this. 

We can find ways to do any task happily if we are willing to try. There can always be a positive spin to everything or at least most things in life if we give it a thought.

Let us choose our way of looking at things which in turn defines our every moment.

Happy choosing 😍

2 paths

4 windows to look through
each with a different view

Choose to see the freshness

Choose wisely 😊

Choosing to walk or drive to have our coffee 😀💥

Toughest choice 😛
Chocolate or Butterscotch ? 😋😆

Ephemerality

"Diamonds are forever"

"Don't lose it, it has to last for a looong time"

"Nourish it so it lasts longer"

"You have changed"

These and so many more have been ingrained in all of us since childhood. Everything in life - from living beings to non-living things are supposed to last forever 

But, a big but, nothing CAN last forever! Change is inevitable, no-change is against nature. Our practical mind knows that everything has to change, that we change, people change, things change, humans die, machines stop working, 

but,

our heart does not want anything to change, our heart wants everything to stay the same forever.

To throw a positive spin on the word change, life gets interesting mainly because of this change! Think about it for a second. Maybe we find it easy to accept the physical changes we see, because we see the physical changes as growth. But there are so many other changes we go through emotionally, mentally, spiritually, philosophically, psychologically - which are also growth.

If we can start seeing change as growth we can change the way we look at everything and everyone. The kind of relationships we have with our friends, children, parents, partners, co-workers, relatives - goes through change because each one of us are growing and may be at different paces.

Our relationship with all types of non-living things like our car, house, laptop, phone, every single thing we possess is also changing because we are growing.  

So anytime we seek permanency, let us remind ourselves about our growth journey which may help in accepting the ephemeral (impermanence) of life.