Peace of Mind

How many times have you gotten upset because someone wasn’t doing their job, because your child isn’t behaving, because your partner or friend isn’t living up to his or her end of the bargain?

How many times have you been irritated when someone doesn’t do things the way you’re used to? Or when you’ve planned something carefully and things didn’t go as you’d hoped?

This kind of anger and irritation happens to all of us — it’s part of the human experience.

One thing that irritates me is when people talk during a movie. Or cut me off in traffic. Or don’t wash their dishes after eating. Actually, I have a lot of these little annoyances — don’t we all?

And it isn’t always easy to find peace when you’ve become upset or irritated.

Let me let you in on a little secret to finding peace of mind: see the glass as already broken.

See, the cause of our stress, anger and irritation is that things don’t go the way we like, the way we expect them to. Think of how many times this has been true for you.

And so the solution is simple: expect things to go wrong, expect things to be different than we hoped or planned, expect the unexpected to happen. And accept it.

One quick example: on our recent trip to Japan, I told my kids to expect things to go wrong — they always do on a trip. I told them, “See it as part of the adventure.”

And this worked like a charm. When we inevitably took the wrong train on a foreign-language subway system, or when it rained on the day we went to Disney Sea, or when we took three trains and walked 10 blocks only to find the National Children’s Castle closed on Mondays … they said, “It’s part of the adventure!” And it was all OK — we didn’t get too bothered.

So when the nice glass you bought inevitably falls and breaks, someday, you might get upset. But not if you see the glass as already broken, from the day you get it. You know it’ll break someday, so from the beginning, see it as already broken. Be a time-traveler, or someone with time-traveling vision, and see the future of this glass, from this moment until it inevitably breaks.

And when it breaks, you won’t be upset or sad — because it was already broken, from the day you got it. And you’ll realize that every moment you have with it is precious.

Expect your child to mess up — all children do. And don’t get so upset when they mess up, when they don’t do what they’re “supposed” to do … because they’re supposed to mess up.

Expect your partner to be less than perfect.

Expect your friend to not show up sometimes.

Expect things to go not according to plan.

Expect people to be rude sometimes.

Expect coworkers not to come through sometimes.

Expect roommates not to wash their dishes or pick up their clothes, sometimes.

Expect the glass to break.

And accept it.

You won’t change these inevitable facts — they will happen, eventually. And if you expect it to happen — even see it as already happening, before it happens — you won’t get so upset.

You won’t overreact. You’ll respond appropriately, but not overreact. You can talk to the person about their behavior, and ask them kindly to consider your feelings when they do this … but you won’t get overly emotional and blow things out of proportion.

You’ll smile, and think, “I expected that to happen. The glass was already broken. And I accept that.”

You’ll have peace of mind. And that, my friends, is a welcome surprise.

Pandit Pawan Kumar on Facebook

Breathe

Breathing can transform your life.

If you feel stressed out and overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions.

If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present.

If you are discouraged and have forgotten your purpose in life, breathe. It will remind you about how precious life is, and that each breath in this life is a gift you need to appreciate. Make the most of this gift.

If you have too many tasks to do, or are scattered during your workday, breathe. It will help bring you into focus, to concentrate on the most important task you need to be focusing on right now.

If you are spending time with someone you love, breathe. It will allow you to be present with that person, rather than thinking about work or other things you need to do.

If you are exercising, breathe. It will help you enjoy the exercise, and therefore stick with it for longer.

If you are moving too fast, breathe. It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.

So breathe. And enjoy each moment of this life. They’re too fleeting and few to waste.

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Tip: Put the word “Breathe” as a screensaver or desktop pic, or put it up as a note on your wall or fridge or on your desk. Then do it every time you see the word.

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Early Rising

Let me first say that if you are a night owl, and that works for you, I think that’s great. There’s no reason to change, especially if you’re happy with it. But for me, an early riser (yes, it is possible) has been a godsend. It has helped me in so many ways. Here are just a few:

1. Greet the day.
I love being able to get up, and greet a wonderful new day. I suggest creating a morning meditation/ ritual/Pooja that includes saying thanks for your blessings. I’m inspired by the Dalai Lama, who said, “Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ ”

2. Quietude.
No kids yelling, no babies crying, no television noise. The early morning hours are so peaceful, so quiet. It’s my favorite time of day. I truly enjoy that time of peace, that time to myself, when I can think, when I can read, when I can breathe.

3. Sunrise.
People who wake late miss one of the greatest feats of nature, repeated in full stereovision each and every day — the rise of the sun. I love how the day slowly gets brighter, when the midnight blue turns to lighter blue, when the brilliant colors start to seep into the sky, when nature is painted in incredible colors. I like doing my early morning run during this time, and I look up at the sky as I run and say to the world, “What a glorious day!” really. I really do that.

4. Breakfast.
Rise early and you actually have time for breakfast. I’m told it’s one of the most important meals of the day. Without breakfast, your body is running on fumes until you are so hungry at lunchtime that you eat whatever unhealthy thing you can find.

5. Exercise.
There are other times to exercise besides the early morning, of course, but I’ve found that while exercising right after work is also very enjoyable, it’s also liable to be canceled because of other things that come up. Morning exercise is virtually never canceled.

6. Productivity. Mornings, for me at least, are the most productive time of day. I like to do some writing in the morning, when there are no distractions, before I check my email or blog stats. I get so much more done by starting on my work in the morning. Then, when evening rolls around, I have no work that I need to do, and I can spend it with family.

7. Goal time. Got goals? Well, you should. And there’s no better time to review them and plan for them and do your goal tasks than first thing. You should have one goal that you want to accomplish this week. And every morning, you should decide what one thing you can do today to move yourself further towards that goal. And then, if possible, do that first thing in the morning.

8. Commute. No one likes rush-hour traffic, except for Big Oil. Commute early, and the traffic is much lighter, and you get to work faster, and thus save yourself more time.

9. Appointments. It’s much easier to make those early appointments on time if you get up early. Showing up late for those appointments is a bad signal to the person you’re meeting. Showing up early will impress them. Plus, you get time to prepare.

How to Become an Early Riser
1. Don’t make drastic changes.
Start slowly, by waking just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual. Get used to this for a few days. Then cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.

2. Allow yourself to sleep earlier.
You might be used to staying up late, perhaps watching TV or surfing the Internet. But if you continue this habit, while trying to get up earlier, sooner or later one is going to give. And if it is the early rising that gives, then you will crash and sleep late and have to start over. I suggest going to bed earlier, even if you don’t think you’ll sleep, and read while in bed. If you’re really tired, you just might fall asleep much sooner than you think.

3. Put your alarm clock far from you bed.
If its right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.

4. Go out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm.
Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. My habit is keeping enough water near to bed before sleep, for drink in morning. Just force yourself to go out of the room. By the time I’ve done that, and flushed the toilet and washed my hands and looked at my ugly mug in the mirror, I’m awake enough to face the day.

5. Do not rationalize.
If you allow your brain to talk you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an option.

6. Have a good reason.
Set something to do early in the morning that’s important. This reason will motivate you to get up. I like to write in the morning, so that’s my reason. Also, when I’m done with that, I like to read all of your comments!

7. Make waking up early a reward.
Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to waking up early. A good reward is to make a hot cup of coffee or tea* and read a book. Other rewards might be a tasty treat for breakfast (smoothies! yum!) or watching the sunrise, or meditating. Find something that’s pleasurable for you, and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine.
(*But I don’t drink any kind of coffee-tea, absolutely)

8. Take advantage of all that extra time.
Don’t wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs, unless that’s a major goal of yours. Don’t wake up early and waste that extra time. Get a jump start on your day! I like to use that time to do meditating more long, Pooja more slowly and on reading. By the time 7:30 rolls around, I’ve done more than many people do the entire day.

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Vegetarianism & Hinduism

Nowadays vegetarianism is growing very fast while on the other hand some people that once were vegetarian are now becoming carnivorous.

It may be surprising but both changes are due to awareness reasons.

But I would like to increase your awareness a little more, because the real problem is something else. A serious problem that you may think is different but is related with this topic.

The subject of vegetarianism is not very serious matter of consideration, because our religion does not force into it. A more serious matter for real consideration is about cow meat. It is not just scriptures talk about that, it is our belief. This is a matter of our human values.

Our values are such that we Hindus (Sanatan or the eternal) cannot eat beef (cow-meat). Therefore my main aim is not to encourage people towards vegetarianism, but to educate Hindu and Muslim to avoid cow and pig meat because your duty is, after defending your nation, protecting religion.

If you want to eat meat or fish you can eat them as much as you want!

That won't make it a religious problem. And yes, Hindus should not eat the meat of five fingers' animals like monkeys, dogs, etc. And we all know that Muslim can only eat halal meat.

But for Hindus it would be better, as much as possible, to try becoming more and more vegetarian.

I do not say that you must stop eating meat if a particular Hindu family has a culture/tradition of being non-vegetarian. You should decide what is right and what is wrong by yourself or with the consent of the family. In some Hindu families being carnivore is linked with their religion, because of the tradition of animal Bali (Qurbani) has not yet ended in Hinduism.

But people who are in a vegetarian family don't need to start eating meat!

Cows have a very special place in Hindu religion. We believe and respect cows as our mothers. Not only because of our religious text but also because cow's milk, dung and urine are very useful for us.

Because of our foreign friends, we have lots of products in our market (like gelatin) that are made from cow and pig. The fault is 100% our, because the markets is not hiding the gelatin content in products. We have closed your eyes, we never want to know. But the fact, that Hindus and Muslims do not know this reference to the Hindu and Muslims religion. Therefore we use products with animal gelatin.

Nowadays the use of gelatin has increased and is growing very fast. But the common people do not know that gelatin is made from cow/pig bones and skin.

Glycerin and Pepsin are also made from cow/pig fat. In fact glycerin is the name given to a component of fat or oil. Similarly, many chemicals are actually made from animal body parts.

You would be surprised to know that you can find animal products in some pure vegetarian ice-cream! Lots of soap on the market are also containing animal fat and some very popular soap are in the list!

Also some very popular toothpaste are made with glycerin and we now know what glycerin is maybe made of; Because indeed glycerin is just another form of gelatin. When you boil Cow and Pig bones/skin in water than you get on the water surface a layer of a gel-like substance called Gelatin and a substance called glycerin. The fist is in the upper layer while the second is in the lower layer.

However, glycerin can also be made by petroleum…

............end of first part

…….will be continue………

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