21 Resolutions for a New Year and How to Stick to Them?

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul” - G. K. Chesterton

A resolution is a firm decision to do something. A decision which makes your life richer than yesterday. Here I am enlisting 21 resolutions that can help you see a better you in the New Year. Pick up the one that interests you and know how to stick to it.

1. Practice Pranayama

2. Wake up early

3. Get fit

4. Create a part time job in your area of interest

5. Plan your finances and cut costs

6. Register for annual health check-up

7. Create short term goals to reach an annual goal

8. Be in the present

9. Try simple living

10. Quit a bad habit

11. Plan a vacation. A new destination every year

12. Listen to your heart

13. Stop postponing

14. Sleep early and at a fixed time

15. Enjoy each moment

16. Think different in every situation

17. Try alternative source of income

18. Get a pet

19. Take health seriously and create a new health habit

20. Avoid usage of plastic

21. Meditate

How to stick to a resolution?

Though many people try different resolutions each year, by the end of a week or two they fade away. Here I am giving you some time tested rules that help you to stick to it.

1. One resolution at a time: Don’t over indulge yourself by making more resolutions. This is one of the major causes of failure. So stick to one resolution. Start another one only when you finished the first.

2. Begin Small: Don’t make BIG changes. Small incremental changes are more effective than drastic changes. Spend 10 min each day for your resolution.

3. Commit publicly: Declare your new resolution to the family and friends; this will add some positive public pressure. Accountability matters.

4. Be consistent: The more you repeat, the more consistent you can become. Do not miss a day.

5. Enjoy the change: As you progress, keep enjoying the new change in you. It acts as a great motivator.

As Charles Lamb quotes “New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.” Have a great year ahead …Happy Birthday -ajaY vegeSna

5 Secrets for a Flat Stomach

“Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.” -Earl of Derby

I am curiously waiting to write this post for quite some time. Because earlier when I thought of writing on this article I questioned myself “Am I eligible to write on losing weight, if I am overweight myself?”, but now I became slim by applying different techniques. So I feel more confident and comfortable to write especially on flat stomach. Here I am going to share with you my health secrets. The techniques I implemented, which got me results.

I have done this experiment for 3 months and I am successful. If you ask me why I have done this experiment, there is only one reason: I love myself a lot.

Reflect on what Buddha said “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease”      

If you feel that these techniques are difficult for you, at least begin with 1^st and 2^nd techniques which are much easy for your implementation.

1.    Water: The best things in life are free. Water is one of them. We ignore its benefits and lose our health. Water is called the elixir of life, which means it increases your life span and enhances your health. Drink 3 to 4 liters of water daily. This will drain all your toxins and fat from the body. It will eliminate most of the diseases. Your skin starts glowing and your body feels so light. Try it for 3 days and you can feel the difference.

Points to remember while drinking water       

a.    Always drink on empty stomach.

b.    Don’t drink while having meals.

c.    If you finished meals at 1 pm do not drink water until 3pm(2 hours gap is necessary for digestion)

d.    Early morning you can drink 1 liter at a time. But for the rest of the day drink only one glass at a time and give 20 minutes gap to have another glass.

e.    Don’t drink after sunset.

f.     If you finished drinking, give 30 minutes gap to take any solid food.    

2.    Yoga: No need to do all poses in Yoga. Just two poses are enough to get that flat stomach you dream of. These two postures (asanas) have changed my belly completely. You can understand the power of yoga only when you do it.  

 

a.    Naukasan: (The picture shown in the beginning of this article.) This pose will reduce the fat just above the navel. You can see the difference within a week. Try to be in this position as long as you feel comfortable. But don’t force yourself too hard. Increase the amount of time day by day. For example I used to be only for 3 seconds, later increased on practice. Now I can remain in this pose for 30 seconds. This took me 3 months of rigorous practice. Three rounds of Naukasan are sufficient in one sitting. Once a day is enough. Don’t overdo.         

b.    Uthanupadasan: This pose will reduce the fat just below the navel. Same as Naukasan but no need to raise upperbody and hands. Till hips just lie down flat on the ground. Only legs should be raised as in Naukasan. You can place the two hands under your neck if you want. All the rules mentioned above for Naukasan also apply to this pose as well. Don’t overdo

 

The rest of the points are related to my FOOD intake. So I divided them as Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.  

3.    Breakfast:

a.    Vegetable Juice- A rich source of essential nutrition. Cut few cubes of Snake gourd (Potlakai), Bottle gourd (Sorakai), Ridge gourd (Beerakai), Cucumber, Carrot and Beetroot. Make them as juice, filter all the pulp. Do not use sugar. Add honey and lemon as per your taste.  7 am is the best time to drink.  

b.    Sprouts- I eat them daily as breakfast especially Green gram (Pesalu in Telugu), Cowpea (Bobbarlu), Horse gram (Ulavalu), Bengal gram (Senagalu) etc.  Remember that sprouts are the most nutritious food on earth. Only after one hour of having vegetable juice, you need to eat sprouts.           

c.    Vegetable Salad –If you are still hungry after having sprouts you can have this salad. Cut some cubes of carrots, tomato, cucumber (kheera or Dosakaya). Eat until your stomach is full.  

4.    Lunch: White rice is the major cause of obesity and diabetes. So stop it. Instead eat pulka (chapaathi without oil) with Zero-salt and Zero-oil curries. It may sound surprising for you but salt is the major culprit in getting many diseases. Oil will not contain cholesterol but once it enters your body, it is transformed to cholesterol. So quit both oil and salt. One doubt which may haunt you now is “I think body requires salt” Yes it requires. Every item you eat in this universe contains sodium except rain drops. This sodium in its natural form is enough for the body.     

5.    Dinner: Have dinner before 7pm. I eat only fruits as dinner. A combination of 3 or 4 varieties is enough. Eat till you feel satisfied. I finish my dinner at 6pm. Do not take any other solid food after dinner. If hungry at 10pm you can have 4 spoons of honey with a slice of lemon in one glass of water.  

 

Follow the above 5 secrets at least on weekdays. Do fasting on Saturdays and enjoy your Sundays. Continue this for two months. You will see a new You. If you have any doubts or need any clarification, drop me a mail (myinterface@gmail.com)

  

That’s all what you need to do. Do you feel this is difficult? Remember, nothing comes easy in life, so roll up your sleeves and start working.

If you think you can’t do it now, observe what V.L. Allineare has to say “When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no "I'll start tomorrow."  Because Tomorrow is disease”

 

PS: I am still continuing the above routine because I loved the transformation of myself. I hope you will welcome the change too.    

See you in comments.

How to Wake Up Early...and Why?

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" -Benjamin Franklin

How many times do you hit the snooze button on the alarm clock when it wakes you in the early morning? Just pause and think for few seconds…

We set the alarm before sleeping, only to stop it in the morning; not to wake up, but to sleep again. What a pity? I am not an early riser by birth. But I have experimented on it to a certain level and came up with fresh ideas. Some techniques really helped me to rejuvenate, especially the breathing exercise Pranayama. I loved my experiments and continuing them just for the joy of finding another new idea.         

I want to share with you two things: First, How to wake up early? Second, why it enriches your life?

How to wake up early?

1.    Search for a sense of purpose: When we try to wake up in the morning some mysterious voice inside us whispers…

a. “What miracles you need to do by waking up early?”

b. “It’s so warm and cozy in the bed, let us enjoy this moment”

This inner chatter stems because we are missing a sense of purpose in our life. When you find your true purpose by digging your dreams you don’t need an alarm to wake you up. You will rise by yourself unconsciously. All the achievers have a vision, first they create their vision later their vision creates them. They are lead by the sense of purpose.   

2.    Never make drastic changes: If you usually wake up at 7 am don’t try to change it to 4 am. Wake up just 5 to 10 min earlier than usual time. Now day by day increase that time until you reach one hour.   

3.    Eat dinner before 7 pm: Early dinner gives you better sleep and also increases your body’s healing power. When you sleep well you can wake up easily. Remember not to have spicy food for the dinner.    

4.    Wake up at the same time: Once you reach your ideal waking time (5 am is the best) stick to it. Whether you sleep at 10 pm or 12 pm you should always be ready at the same waking time. Thomas Jefferson once said “Whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun.” He continued with this habit for 50 years.

5.    Keep the clock far from your bed: I know that you know the reason behind this. Because we shut the alarm if it’s reachable and return to sleep. Never keep the alarm handy. Keep it in a place where you can hear it and also where you need to walk few steps away from your bed to shut it off.  

6.    Get out of bed as soon as the alarm bangs: This really helped me. Because the more you stay on the bed (even after alarm went off) the more you will sleep again. Jump out like a thunder bolt. Once you stay, you need to listen to that lazy inner voice which misleads you. Never surrender to the devil inside you. Be a king; win the battle of the bed…the greatest battle of all.

7.    Join hands: DO you have a friend (or a family member) who is an early riser. Seek their help until it becomes a habit. If this does not appeal to you try these

a.    Ask someone who is famous for their strict discipline, to wake you up daily or

b.    Join the ‘early risers’ community in your colony

8.    Give a reward to yourself: When you can’t appreciate yourself, how can you expect the world to do the same. Each day when you accomplish your desired time, give a little treat to yourself. An ice cream will do (or try your favorite things)

9.    Pranayama: This is my secret mantra. Some things in life are better to be experienced than to be explained. Pranayama precisely fits into this category. Typically we need to wake up our body at alarm time. But when you do this breathing exercise your body will wake you up.

How to do it > just take deep breaths (deep inhaling and deep exhaling) 3 times and give few seconds rest and repeat this for 5 rounds. Do this in a sitting posture, comfortably on your bed and closing your eyes. Now just lie down and do not open your eyes, just observe inhaling and exhaling in normal breathing and gradually you will fall asleep and you can wake up early.

 

Warning: Don’t overdo. Increase the rounds depending on your comfort ability. It takes practice to reach the desired level for optimum results. Drop me a mail (myinterface@gmail.com) if you have any doubts in implementing Pranayama

Note: What I explained above is just one unit of Pranayama. Try to implement it first, if you are interested to learn the full version of it; you can contact me.        

But …Why to wake up early?

Benjamin Franklin answered it wisely "Early morning has gold in its mouth." 

Many people ask this question and since they don’t get a believable answer, they find excuses to avoid it. I have enlisted 16 reasons why to do it and how your life gets enriched by embracing it.

1.            You can welcome the Sun

2.            It’s a Great start (because great beginnings will have great endings)

3.            Enjoy the calmness

4.            You  can create a new habit

5.            Use the new found time to attain progress in your chosen area 

6.            Meditate

7.            Just walk into the beauty of nature

8.            Read or write

9.            Exercise

10.         Reflect on yesterday or Plan your today

11.         Understand yourself 

12.         Do yoga

13.         Identify your strength

14.         Work on your weakness

15.         Simply do whatever that helps you grow

16.         You can increase your life-span by 4 years

Wonder how? 2 hours a day of your new found time will accumulate to 4 additional years (40 years from now) 

…and once it becomes a habit        

o    You will receive lot of appreciation from the people around you

o    Your confidence just boosts up

o    You will find a new you and… finally

o    You  will see clarity in your thoughts and can feel inner peace

All the best.. Welcome to the 5’ O clock club

Do have some cool ideas to wake up in the morning? Please share them in the comments below.

Feedback: I value your opinions; let me know what you feel about the article. Leave a comment below.

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How to Install a New Habit

 “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” –Aristotle

If you want to know about a person just spend few days with him; you will get to know his habits. We can judge a person by his habits. We are nothing but a bunch of habits moving together. Of course they can be good or bad. How can we identify the difference; simple if it moves you towards progress, it’s a good one. If it draws you backwards it’s a bad habit.

Most of us assume that a habit can be broken easily, we try different methods; but fail. I hear many people saying “I can quit (this habit) whenever I want ” but the very same people cannot break the habit when the time really comes. Remember what Samuel Johnson said, “The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”

Note: The successful installation of a habit takes place only when you do it for 21 days, consistently and consecutively. 

Here I am providing you some time-tested methods that will help you to install a new habit:

1.    One Habit at a time: Many of us chain ourselves by over promising to do so many things at a time. But this leads to failure and finally ends up in frustration. Instead of that try to achieve only one habit at a time. Find the habits that are bothering you and replace them with good ones.  Ex. Replace junk food with healthy diet, replace procrastination (postponement) with punctuality

2.    Put it on Paper: Writing has such a tremendous power that connects to your deepest emotions. When you write, it radiates a kind of commitment. List the rewards you want to give yourself when you reach your desired habit. Promise yourself that you will be sticking to it for 21 days. Write in a diary or a personal pocket book

3.    Blow this issue: When you want to quit smoking or junk food etc, announce it to everyone you know. Pubic commitment brings accountability. The fear of being embarrassed in front of others propels you to stick to it. So tell the world. Do not promise to a close friend because many times we take them for granted. Instead promise to your children or to an elderly person whom you admire and respect

4.    Join the community: Like attracts like. A smoker always seeks the company of another smoker. The opposite is also true. The non-smoker seeks a non-smoker. When you are surrounded by the people of high performance, naturally you will be inclined towards it.  When you want to start jogging, join the ‘early risers community’ rather than sitting with the same bunch of people who wake up along with you.   

5.    Do research on yourself: When you understand yourself completely the advantage is twofold - First, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses and second, you can work on them. Just simply think about these questions related to your habits and write your responses on a paper

a. What drives you towards that habit?

b. What’s stopping you from taking the right action?

c. What do you lose if you continue the habit?

d. What do you gain if you quit?

6.    Know your Triggers: What happens when you see a Gulab Jamun (Indian sweet). Your mind associates to your earlier experience of eating that sweet. It recollects the feeling and your tongue salivates. The same way our habits are associated with triggers, we need to identify such triggers. The more consistent the link to the trigger, the stronger the habit. After having meals, many people smoke. One task reminds them the other. Here meal is the trigger. When a smoker meets another smoker, this triggers them to smoke. So here the other smoker acts as a trigger. Identify such triggers in your habits and associate a negative trigger to a positive one.

Ex. Now when you finish a meal, instead of reaching for a cigarette, start to read a book or sleep (sleeping is better than a cigarette). Gradually your mind associates reading (or sleeping) as a post-meal activity.     

7.    Record your Progress: What cannot be measured cannot be improved. When you know the progress it allows you to continue. There is no other motivator in this world other than your own progress.

8.    Consistency is the Key: It is not just action but the consistency of it that separates the best from the rest. Repeat, until winning becomes your habit

9.    Celebrate: When you acquire a new good habit or if you quit an old bad habit, celebrate. Throw a BIG party to your closest people. Share your success story.

 

Few habits of the Great achievers

v  Wise people Learn (till their last breath)

v  They take Risks

v   Go-getters Face their fears

v  They Surround themselves with other achievers

v  They are ‘On Time’, every time

          So act NOW………

           “Kill the habit before it kills you

                             Of course..  One at a time”……ajaY vegeSna

Feedback: Your response gives me an ability, which becomes my responsibility. So please respond in comments.  

71 iDeas to Enjoy Your Weekend

“What are you doing on the weekends?” I asked this question to myself. Later I thought about what other people are doing on Saturdays and Sundays. I am working on a project to fulfill a long cherished dream. I dedicate 70% of my weekend to this project. What about you?  I prepared this list to be a reference for anyone who wants to spend their weekends(or holidays) joyfully, productively or differently

If you feel bored on a weekend or if you are feeling empty and don’t have an idea what to do on such days…here’s the list for you: 

1.    Make someone happy

2.    Try new dishes on your own

3.    Watch an old movie on DVD with popcorn and samosa

4.    Pick up an old friend from orkut(or myspace etc). call him and meet

5.    View your photo albums and go back in time

6.    Run or race with your partner or friend

7.    Rent a cycle and just roam all around your colony

8.    Have a soothing massage

9.    De clutter-throw away all the unnecessary items from your home and clean

10.  Visit a distant relative

11.  Write a story

12.  See or explore a new place in your area or city

13.  Visit a church if you are a Hindu, temple if Christian, mosque if Jain.. 

14.  Try to research on topic that interests you

15.   Meet new people

16.   Get fit by creating a weekend workout

17.  Work in small amounts each week to finish a dream project(realize the Power of Small)

18.  Try Gardening.. weed out the waste

19.  Engage in social work

20.  Plant a seed

21.  Teach alphabets to an illiterate

22.  Give a speech to your roommates or family on ‘How to reduce plastic usage?’

23.  Create a weekend business (if you have a great idea or just think)

24.  Read an inspiring book

25.  Go to a movie which stars an actor whom you dislike 

26.  Draw a picture of yours by seeing in mirror

27.  Team up with a close friend to work out on a joint project

28.  Dance.. and go crazy

29.  Go through a kids magazine

30.  Visit an orphanage near you and show your kids the sacredness of serving 

31.  Make new friends

32.  Go for a long drive

33.  Create a new hobby

34.  Listen to different genres of music

35.  Walk in the nature with your friend or partner

36.  Arrange an high school reunion to meet all old friends in your area

37.  Play street cricket (or some other game) with kids at your place

38.  Write a letter to a loved one, friend, mom or dad and post it(Not an email)

39.  Go through your slam books

40.  Learn a musical instrument (There are institutes to teach on weekends, enquire)

41.  Call grandparents

42.  Wash your bike or car (instead of giving it for water servicing center)

43.  Go through all the unread mails in your inbox

44.  Heal a wounded relationship

45.  Fast and drink 5 liters of water throughout the day (if you are health conscious)

46.  Eat raw food whole day.. for a change

47.  Spend in silence for three hours

48.  Learn a new language

49.  Watch cartoon network (or any other channel which you ignore often)

50.  Learn to cook

51.  Go to a restaurant, but order an item which you haven’t tasted in life

52.  Meditate for an hour

53.  Prepare a list of silly mistakes you have done ..and laugh at them

54.  Have dinner in the moonlight (at your own upstairs, if possible)

55.  Pick a magazine that you haven’t read till now

56.  Go window shopping

57.  Rearrange your furniture in different style and get a new look to your home

58.  Meet your new neighbor

59.  Take a long, relaxing shower

60.  Walk on the beach (lucky ! if  you have a sea shore)

61.  Swim

62.  Have a picnic indoors

63.  Record your speech and just listen

64.  Awaken the ‘bathroom singer’ in you

65.  Take kids to your office and show your cubicle

66.  Sleep like a baby (Read this article “How to sleep like a baby” )

67.  Revise your past week and plan ahead

68.  Go on hiking

69.  Think of new ideas

70.  Write a letter to yourself

71.  Surprise someone

How do you spend your weekends? Write your routine and also add some new ideas in the comments below . This list needs your contribution.. let the ideas flow –ajaY vegeSna