Life

I have climbed rocky mountains

Life

And fell in treacherous valleys 

Swam across oceans 

And walked dark alleys

What did I think I was doing

Taking these paths where was I going

Did I fear? Did I panic?

Yes I did and no I didn't

The path I took was never laid

It was my whims to where I swayed

Sometimes highs but mostly lows

Taught me a lot 

Of joys and sorrows

So where am I heading now?

Do I want to know?

Yes I do and No I don't

Because life is a tough cookie

Best savored unknown.

-Kanchan Raste

Day 3 of the 7 day Challenge

End of day 3 and so far I have not noticed any major difference in myself after taking up the 7 day challenge. I have not lost any weight nor am I noticing much difference in my energy levels. Maybe a little bit, but I am still skeptical to say that they are due to omission of rice and wheat from my diet. I just feel I am well rested and that's about it. But let us see how the next 4 days go by.

Time and again I have noticed that Indian cuisine offers so much variety to you that by far it is the most diverse cuisine anywhere in the world. No matter on what type of diet you are, you will find some very tasty recipes that satisfy your hunger as well as palette. So even though I am on a diet for last 3 days, I have been eating foods that don't make me miss any carbs that I might not be eating. Also, being a vegetarian is a good thing when it comes to Indian cuisine.

Just today, I had an all  time Marathi favorite- Misal. This item is so filling and yummy that you just cannot stop at one serving. Also, since it is made out of sprouted Mataki Beans, it is extremely high in proteins and low in carbs. Similarly, in the morning, I had Daal-Methi, made out of toovar lentils and fenugreek seeds, once again a high protein food that beats any meat dish. I am also having all the other condiments like chutneys and pickles to not miss on the taste of what I otherwise eat. So what I have given up is eating Chapati or Rice with any of these dishes and I must say, I don't miss either.

So here I am after 6 days of keeping my word of writing something everyday and 3 days of no wheat diet and first time it feels good in a long long time....

7 Day Challenge

Getting inspired by the "Challenge your Actions" that I have mentioned in one of my previous posts - you can read it here - I though I would put my diet to a challenge. So I have taken a 7 day challenge, starting yesterday, to avoid all wheat and rice in my diet. I want to see the effect of what happens to my body after 7 days. I have not eaten any wheat or rice since yesterday. The immediate effect is - I am not feeling hungry at all except during meal times. But that even then, I am not too hungry and just feel like feeding myself on something healthy. What I mean to say is, I am not experiencing any carbohydrate withdrawal symptoms.

I must say, I did eat boiled potatoes yesterday. But they were incorporated in my gowar subji, which is how it is cooked. Also, I have not given up anything else apart from wheat and rice. So I still eat all the subjis, daals, fruits, tea, coffee and all other regular foods that I eat on a daily basis. There are no withdrawal symptoms yet. On the contrary I felt extremely fresh when I woke up today. Now, it is hard to tell if that is the effect of not eating wheat or rice yesterday, or whether I finally am well rested after a 10 day hectic trip to the US. I like to think that the latter is true because just one day of dieting won't have so much impact

One of the reasons for me to start this diet is, I have gained around 3 lbs of weight in the 10 days of my US trip. I contribute this to eating mainly a diet based on bread, pasta and Mexican wraps in the 10 days that I was there. This was due to unavailability of any other healthier vegetarian options. Also, I cannot eat raw lettuce day in and day out, which essentially comprises 90% of any salad that you order out. In fact I am amazed by people who can eat lettuce based salads and nothing else for their meals. It is one of the most tasteless things that you can ever eat on this planet. The dressings are no good either because I can smell egg in the creamy ones and the oil and vinegar based are too tart for my taste. All these factors left me with a diet which was totally wheat and white flour based for 10 days.

So now I have embarked on this new 7 day challenge to see if I lose those excess pounds and more and also as form or a detox from all the high carb foods that I was eating during my US visit.

I will keep posting updates every day to track what changes I encounter in my physical health.

Second Day of What Should I Write

As I said in my post yesterday, I am following Seinfeld's advice of writing something everyday.  So today is the second day. Let me see how far I could take this. Hopefully I will get into the habit of writing and then someday I will achieve something worthwhile with it. Let's see how it goes......I have a dream of being an author and writing a few best sellers, maybe even getting some of them made into Hollywood or Indian Movies. Not sure if that will ever happen. But that is what one of my many dreams is. How to achieve it.....I don't know. Will I achieve it......I don't know. But at least this is a start.
I was reading somewhere that one of the many ways of having your dreams come true is with affirmations. One technique of doing your affirmations was by setting your password with the goal that you want to achieve.
In another article, I was reading how you should put all your actions to test to determine the best outcome. This works by setting a time frame and doing something regularly within that time frame and then analyzing the results.
So combining these two theories, I am going to reset my office password with an affirmation of something that I want to achieve in the next 3 months after which my password would be due for a change again.
So let me see, what do I want achieve in the next 3 months- This is July. Three months would be by End of September. Let me do a list of things  and then I can pick the one that appeals me the most -

• Start earning $3000/month from my Cafe Maison blog 
• Lose 20 lbs
• Increase my height to 5'6"
• Sell at least 5 of my paintings and becoming a recognized artist in Toronto
• Launch an Art Promotion Brand
• Get Dewy off the ground
• Launch a Designer Clothing Line
• Keep Writing 
• Meditate Everyday
• Find Answers to my questions for my loss
• Find Amruta

Now all of them seem equally important. I am equally passionate about each and every one of these things. So what is it that I want to pick first. Can I pick 2....Maybe yes....But since this is the first time I am going to put the 2 theories together to test, I want to minimize the risk by minimizing any manual intervention. Which means, I will see which of the above will require least intervention by me. And I feel Selling My Art and becoming a Recognized Artist fits the bill. Here all I have to do is paint. The rest I would leave to the Universe to make it happen in 3 months.

So my affirmation would be something along the following lines - "Sellallpainitingsandbecomearecognizedartist"

A few more thoughts

So I did take a break yesterday from writing. I did it knowingly for 2 reasons -

1. I would inevitably end up not writing on one of the days every weekend due to family commitment. So yesterday, even though I did not have any other commitment, I decided, I would take a day off every weekend so that I would not feel guilty if I miss writing.

2. Every time I have to write, I have to start my computer, which currently is my work computer. This puts me in a work mode, and I inevitably start checking emails and work related things. I have decided that I take a break from all work related things on the weekends, which also means not starting my laptop.

But I am back today, and incredibly, just like Seinfeld says, this writing this does seem like an addiction. Not longer did I start my laptop, I wanted to start writing, even before checking my work email.

As I mentioned in my last post, Arya had gone for a sleepover to Gabby's on Saturday. It did seem like a lot of fun because he had a lot to tell me on Sunday when he came back. This was the first time that he had sleepover stories to tell to me. It was wonderful hearing them from him. Gabby and Arya indeed are best of buddies and how I wish they remain so forever. Love them both....

Last 10 minutes of July 03rd

Just in order to not break my writing chain, I have logged in at 11:50 p.m. today. It was not a busy day, but contemplating between whether or not to write made me procrastinate for the whole day today. And just before the day ends, I have started feeling extremely guilty for not keeping my own promise to myself and I have logged in to write a few lines.

Arya has gone for his first sleepover to Gabby and they have gone to the airport to watch planes. Such a lovely way to spend some family time and engaging in simple pleasures of life. I absolutely loved the idea when I heard about it. I will have to ask Arya tomorrow about the experience.

What Should I Write

Writing is something that has fascinated me for a long time. The thing is, I have been fascinated by so many things in life that I can safely say that I am fascinated with life itself. There are more than infinite things that can happen in life and each one becomes a fascination in some way or the other. Not all things that have happened are good. But even the bad ones are equally fascinating making me dive into a universe that I have never explored before.
So when they say that different universes co-exist, I feel that I have somewhere experienced it in my everyday life.
Now, getting back to the original topic "What Should I Write"? Well, I have been reading, and I do that a lot. But recently I read a quote by Seinfeld that for you to become a better writer, write something everyday and then take a calendar and put a big bold red "X" on the date when you write. Soon you will get a hang of it and you wouldn't want to break the chain of "X"s.
Well, partly taking his advice, I thought of starting to write something everyday starting today - remember, how I am fascinated with writing. I had no clue on what I was going to write and hence the title.
But no longer did I started typing, it seemed like words just automatically kept flowing and now I have about 3 paragraphs of written material. That is not a bad start from not having a clue on what to write.
So that is where I am. Lost in this sea of fascinations. Not knowing what exactly it is that I want or maybe even don't want, because you see everything is a fascination. For me to not want something, I should be truly turned off by that thing. But even sorrow comes with a fascination of a "How" and a "Why". And then I am totally comfortable living in my sorrow trying to find answers to these questions. Now don't get me wrong. It is not that I am enjoying the lows of my life and I would never ever had wished for them to happen. But now that they have happened and I cannot change them, I keep wondering how could there be so much sorrow in this world. How can someone sink to such lows in their life. If I had put my complete trust in the universe, how could it let me down. Well, wondering about it is my current fascination.
Maybe I will come out of it when I find some answers or get my mind hooked onto a new fascination.....