Browse Tag: patterns

What are your biggest Learnings from life?

“You have got to do your own growing , no matter how tall your grandfather was.”

Irish proverb

When I read this proverb ,for the first time, a few years in a book by #Shishir Srivastava (author of the book) namely “The Eight Powers within you” , it didn’t make sense to me.

When I look back today ,after 8 years, it just made me feel powerful and I honored myself and my soul with immense gratitude. I said what a wise saying by a wise person. I used be carried away by motivational speakers and personal development leaders and entrepreneurs – for eg Vishen Lakhiani Tony Robbins Robin Sharma and many others.

I used to follow whatever strategies and talks and think that oh! they can do the stuff but I cannot because of umpteen reasons I could think of !!

But when I started on my journey to self realization,I got to know one thing..there is something common that we all have within us – It is that Will Power, that divine spark and each one of us are given a new day with an opportunity to learn , reflect , act , unlearn , let go and grow.

And if we keep doing one thing out of this again and again -we can certainly grow. You cant see this in a tangible way , it can be only experienced through your reflections , thought process , behaviours and feelings of happiness, inner tranquility, mental equilibrium, joy.

So I invite each one of you today, is to look within and identify that one big learning or area of growth . write down in one statement – Where has the biggest learning come from, in your life ?

* Does it come from relationships ? Career ? Fitness? Community ? Business ? Profession? and let me know here!

Chances are that the person who has done the qualitative analysis between Becoming and Doing by pausing , reflecting ,regathering their energy and have acted wisely have grown immensely and not the ones who are constantly busy in the act of ‘doing’ …

I’d rather ‘Become’ who I want to ‘BE’ than ‘DO’ the things I don’t wan’t to ‘BE”. That’s what defines my growth and learning.

Why Your Energy Comes in Waves and What to do About It?

To get the most out of yourself, whether it ís at work or during physical exercise, it is crucial to understand how the body’s systems work. Most particularly, it is very important to recognise how the energy systems work and how they help to keep us awake and focussed throughout the day and soundly asleep during the night. Once you understand this, you can create a routine that helps you perform your best at the right times.

The Sleep Wake Cycle

The first thing to acknowledge is the body ís sleep/wake cycle. This is called the circadian rhythm and it is essentially our body clock, which is set by both external cues (called external zeitgebers) and internal ones (called internal pacemakers).

Things like sunlight, the build-up of metabolites in our bodies and even social cues help us to understand when we should be awake and when we should be winding down ready for bed. Shifting your body clock is very difficult as it means that the external cues and internal ones will be out of alignment until your body is able to sync up again ñ this is why jet lag is so painful. This is also why Monday is so painful: after two days of waking up at 12pm, it is very hard to go back to getting up at seven. The unfortunate solution? That is right: stick to the same routine during your weekends!

The Anabolic/Catabolic Cycle

Throughout the day, your body will go through several more smaller cycles. These cause you to fluctuate between an anabolic state and a catabolic state. When we are anabolic, we are calm, relaxed and producing hormones and neurotransmitters that make us feel good. This is also when the body stores fat and builds muscle. When we are catabolic meanwhile, we are burning fat for energy, highly focussed and ready for action. In terms of our evolutionary history ñ catabolic states were the fight or flight states, while anabolic states were our rest and digest states.

When our blood sugar is low or we’re in danger, we go into a catabolic fight or flight mode. When we’ve eaten and when we’re safe and happy, the body takes stock and starts to recover in an anabolic state.

Of course ,we aren’t constantly going through these two extremes but we will always be somewhere on that spectrum ñ either highly focussed, or calm and relaxed. The key is to make sure that we are highly focussed at the right times and calm at the right times. And this is linked to a number of factors. Eating for instance causes an influx of sugar that puts us in an anabolic, restful state. If you’re having a big lunch then, do it at the start of your break so that you have time to rest and digest and literally. Likewise, recognize that you can’t spend your whole day in focussed, alert mode without it taking a toll. Make sure you schedule mini breaks and listen to what your body is telling you.