Amplifier by Imran Khan (Remix Version)

I posted in one of my post that I practice Flamenco at a peppy number - Amplifier by Imran Khan (Remix Number). Well..I guess most of the dance lovers would agree this is a wrong choice for Flamenco. 

This is a good song for dance types like - Hip Hop, Street Dancing and Locking & Popping. Check the link below and look for 'Amplifier' in the list. But yes if you are a punju, you will enjoy the lyrics more else you will feel 'hopeless' lyrics. So again for all the rocking punjus out there enjoy the remix version of 'Amplifier'. -

http://www.songs.pk/absolute_nyk_2010.html

Love Yourself and Keep Dancing:)

Cricket Fever...

World Cup Fever is ON...

I have never liked cricket but this time I am following it closely. Somehow I have developed a liking for it. Even in my gym my eyes are right on the screen. I feel to bet also. Will try this J

Tomorrow my friends and husband have an inter-corporate match and I am all set with my stuff to cheer for my husband’s team. I have always admired him when he plays cricket. I am all set with my bag that carries – a cap (Hyderabad is too hot), my water bottle, spray mint, pain relief spray and a first aid box for our team and yes not to forgot my sunglasses (as such also my eyes have just recovered).

I have realised small things in life make a lot of difference. I never accompanied him earlier but this time I want to capture each and every moment of the game.

I always believed contradictory are complimentary. Cherish such small moments in life and you will feel so much better.

We always look at bigger things but the day we look at small things we will be happier. Of course, it does not mean do not aim high. Do aim high but cherish small things that happen in life so that you do not regret if you could get to your high ambitions. Sooner the better!

Plan your weekend and as I always say..Love Yourself.

Enjoy Friday NiteJ

Are You 30 and Still Thinking...???

I was reading ‘Shobha at Sixty’ by Shobha De. Finally, I completed this one. Liked all the chapters and it is a must read for every women. Her journey from childhood to the age of 60 is well written and every woman can relate to it. The small changes in a women’s life moving from one role to another – daughter/sister to wife and then mother is a challenge to her. Managing home and work by creating a balance between personal and professional life is not an easy task. My salute to all such women who struggle to maintain that balance. A special salute to the ones who left their careers for their homes. Trust me it is hard to do.

There is one such line in the whole book that I loved and I felt that I took the right decision
to work on session basis – Back to Work – Swimming Coach

“If you haven’t done till 30, it will never happen”

She referred this in context to our dreams or ambitions. If anyone of you are still thinking to do something say to learn kickboxing or study further then plan and work onto it. Life is short and time waits for none. Value your time and your dreams or ambitions. Rest all will fall into place.

I am really getting late for my day’s routine. So thought to take out sometime to post this.

But yes all women out there pick a copy of – Shobha at Sixty ....You will enjoy it!

Have a great day!

Love Yourself!!

Back To Work - Swimming Coach

Well...I have said ‘Yes’....For what???

It has been 11 months, I have lived with one idea that I would never work as a swimming coach. Though there was a time I loved this profile much more than my research or training job with top MNCs. I joined Secunderabad Club on 1^st April 2010 and left on 10^th April 2010 as I was happy since things were changing within me and in my life. BUT things completely changed to something unexpected and somewhere I developed a mental block that if I would have not been ignorant towards myself, I would have been progressed to the next level. I should have not taken up the swimming coach job but it was too late to repent.

I have worked as a coach for two hotels and one club in the last seven years both in Gurgaon and Hyderabad as a part time profile. It was not for money but swimming has been my passion. It is hard to believe but nobody swims in my family and I cannot live without it. It makes my life easier and makes me feel that I am alive. It is the only sport where I received so many compliments and two silver medals. People indeed I must say men always complimented me that my stamina is unbeatable and I am a smooth swimmer. Honestly, I felt proud of myselfJ. Anybody would.

11 months passed and I was firm around my mental block that I will never train anyone. Maybe I was scared or I wanted to punish myself or was running away from my past that might make me relive the same moments again.

I still remember the day I left Secunderabad club, though I just worked for 10 days, I left so many people in disappointment. But I had a valid reason so they could connect to me. Most of you know, I workout at a hotel now. The only reason is to be with myself. It is a place where people will not approach me and ask me to train them. To be honest, I want to be away from temptations as I know if someone approaches me to train them I might get tempted. Not only that we have limited members here and most pf them are phirangsJ.

We get the luxury of a pool and gym under one roof. So my gym trainer admires me for my swimming and referred my name to one of his client to train her. I am surprised as if God has his own
ways of tempting me or making me to work. Last job I did was in Oct 2010 where I handled a project for my friend from home. It was fun to handle his 18 members (male oriented team – all young grads). It was just for 2 months project and I thought from Jan 2011, I will spend time with myself.

I fought with my trainer as he referred my name and I hate to do this anymore. I do not believe – I hate to do this really! I hate being a swimming coach ...I am yet not able to believe.

His client called and asked for my availability. My answer was ‘Not Available’. I behaved so strangely that I added her number to my reject list. One good thing about my reasonable Samsung mobile is it has feature to add people to reject list. They will always find me ‘Not Reachable’J. I know little mean of me but it was not for the client but for me.

Saturday 20^th Feb 2011 - She caught me at the gym and was very insistent saying ‘Archana – just a month please’. I was still firm ‘Sorry, I have no time’. Finally, she said ‘take a day and rethink’. She left me with her number.

Monday 21^st Feb 2011 – I kept thinking for the whole day and night. I started reliving all that happened from April 2010 to June 2010. My apology calls and letters. The way people reacted and God Knows what all I thought. There was a storm of thoughts and tug of war between mind and heart. Heart says ‘Go Grab This – Prove It To Yourself’ and Mind says ‘Think Again – Did You Forget Something..Here I Recall You’J.

Tuesday 22^nd Feb 2011 - While driving to gym, I stopped at Hanuman Temple. It was closed for the afternoon. Smoking is not an option to fight your fears (I have quit it 11 months back as a challenge to myself). I parked the car behind the temple and thought to relax for a while. A short nap to refresh my mind before I hit the gym. I saw lot of messages on the temple wall. A small message on the wall (we would have read 100 times in our life) “GOD HELP THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES”. But today, this was as fresh as ever. Hanumanji again helped me .....HE answered my question .....

I called her and said ‘Let’s catch up at 3 PM in the pool’.

And guess today was my first class as a swimming coach. I have thought of not working for a hotel or club but as a personal trainer (as per my luxury when I feel to). You earn well and you have your own say. This time I am doing it for me. She might need me as a coach but I have to do it for my strength and confidence. It is easy to fight with others but very difficult to fight your own fears. This is an opportunity for me to fight with myself and prove where I stand today.

I am really feeling better after saying ‘Yes’. The best thing was she paid me for today’s session. Money was and is never an issue for me. People who know me personally would agree that I never work for money. But this time when I got the session payment I called my doctor and said ‘I really love you for everything’. That money gave me confidence that I can earn even after so many problems. As I say ‘Where there is a will there is a way’. I will post this on Arthritis Association Dashboards and if my doctor permits me will share with other patients. I want to contradict the below statement “He Who Has Health Has Hope, He Who Has Hope Has Everything". I say it like "He Who Even Does Not Have Health but Has Hope Has Everything". Trust me it is just in the mind.

I am tired and feel to hit the sack but today I will have a sound sleep like a baby who learned to crawl or a bird who just flew for the first timeJ.

Love Yourself!

My Likes - Dance and Music Lovers

A new label ‘My Likes’ for dance and music lovers who might like same kind of music. For all the punjus out there, below is a link to some of the hot numbers by Bally Sagoo. I have one of them as my favourite – Hot Kurri. You might have already downloaded this one. If not then do it now!

http://www.songs.pk/bhangra/bally_sagoo_born_to_nach.html

Lets dance for a while and have fun!

Yeh Saali Zindagi

A great movie - ‘Yeh Saali Zindagi’. I love the title track. Hey, few lines I am still murmuring while posting this.

Meri jaan meri jaan meri jaan tu ye bata
Tujhse karun wafa ya khud se karun
Sachche jhoote wado se hona hai kya
Hum ko nahi pata hai jab kal hoga kya
Meri jaan meri jaan meri jaan tu ye bata
Tujhse karoon wafa ya khud se karoon

Zindagi pe tera mera kisi ka na zor hai
Hum sochte hain kuch wo saali socti kuch aur hai
Ye zindagi ye saali zindagi
Hum chahate yahan hai saali jati kahin aur hai
Lamhe aur lamhon ke beech ye tede mede mod hain
Ye zindagi ye saali zindagi

I took my laptop to the hospital and watched the entire movie with one closed eye. I hardly get time to watch movie these days. And my eye is another reason to avoid multiplexes. But yes it is a movie worth to be watched. I guess very close to our lives. We want to do something end up doing something else. Isn’t
that true?

You want to be an engineer life makes you a sales executive. You love somebody; life makes you marry someone else. Strange is the journey of life. I wanted to work in the corporate world till I die and things have turned out to be something completely different.

Though I enjoy what I am doing but I would have enjoyed more if I would have been a part of the corporate world. Sale is on and I see beautiful corporate women picking up formal wears – trousers, shirts etc and I wonder what shall I do with my formal stuff dumped in my wardrobes?J

I have met people who have everything but God has taken something so important off their lives that they are left with grief and pain forever. Life is such a roller coaster. Nobody is an exception to this roller coaster called ‘LIFE’. I am also no exceptionJ

But the way things have been presented in this movie, a very important message is delivered in a very light comic manner.

For me the best way to deal with life is treat life like a kite. Do not hold it tightly. To fly higher you need to loosen the ends.

Things cannot be changed but we can change the way we look at them. But yes at some point of time we all would have said “Yeh Saali Zindagi Yaar”.....

SUBWAY HYD - RUN FOR FUN - 20th FEB - BE THERE!!!

Well...fasten your seat beltsJ

Not really you need to pull up your socks, lace up your shoes and tuck your pedometers for the First Subway Hyderabad Run - ‘Run for Fun’ on 20^th February 2011 at KBR Park.

Check the Link – RUN FOR FUN

If you want to run for fun then get ready with your stuff on 20^th February at KBR Park – Hyderabad at 7.00 am.

I would be there to cheer others and go for a walk but would love to find many of you as a part of the run. I wish I could also run but if no run then also I can have funJ

Read the above link ‘RUN FOR FUN’ for registration details. I am all set and ready for this. Catch you there!

Have a great day!

Through Readers - Collection

This has come as a forwarded mail and has been asked to be posted. Thanks!

The story is around ‘Trust’ in any relationship. The essence of any relationship is not in its bind but in its bond. You might have read this before lets refresh our minds again.

The best relationship in this world between a man and a woman is of a father and a daughter. I believe it is easy to gain a person’s trust, much easy is to break somebody’s trust BUT the difficult task is to maintain that trust. So here is the story and thanks for this!

Following is the reader's email content...

Little girl and her father were crossing a bridge.

The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter, "Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river."

The little girl said, "No, Dad. You hold my hand."

"What's the difference?" Asked the puzzled father.

"There's a big difference," replied the little girl.

"If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go.

But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let
my hand go."

Valentine's Special - Love Yourself!!!

PS – I might go little slowly in posting reader’s stories and my writings as I am going through a chronic eye problem. I know how I have written this post. I have taken 2 hours break between each paraJ..Hope you guys enjoy!

Finally, another Valentine’s Day gets added to our lives.

 It’s special this time as I have learned to treasure life much more than all these years. Last year when life was so hard or I must Arthritis has made my life harder. But one thing relieves me all these months – LOVE.I feel happy or I must say blessed as I have the courage to accept my reality BUT again the factors or people around me made it easier for me. People have given so much of support or love (yes the word is support not sympathy). You can make it out the difference when you are in my stage. They never said ‘Oh! We feel sorry for you’. They always said ‘You are a brave person to handle this. We are sure you can fight this situation very well’. I will not deny this pumped me up. Whether I could handle the situation or not but I tried as so many people counted on me.

For me all those words have been like Valentine’s wishes and all such days as ‘Valentine’s Day. When I read about many people (mainly in the age group of 40 to 65) who are going through Osteoarthritis (an uncommon disorder for my age...lol), they all have one thing in common they feel blessed as they have learned the worth of life and themselves. They have one aim that is to LOVE YOURSELF.

Valentine’s Day is a Day of Love. Where it used to be only for lovers people have taken a step forward and started wishing friends and families as well. Why not? Love is a vital component of every relationship. What about your relationship to yourself or your soul? Love yourself. You are most important to yourself. Rest everything will be conquered the day you understand how hard it is to love yourself. You might find yourself special but the victory is when others count that you are special. I realised this when last year I went to confess in a church.

After two days of conversation with ‘Father’, he convinced me that it is easier to love others but difficult to love yourself.

He said “To love yourself you need to fight your flaws and develop the great power of self-control to live with attitude, pride and self-esteem. These three highlighted words mean a lot of self-control. Sometimes you might feel to look back and get emotional but then remember “Love Yourself”. This might require you to fight for your rights, disconnect people and be firm. People will judge you and might laugh at you but you have to move on with patience and self-control. In this journey of loving yourself do not be rude to others. Even if they call you names, be patient. One wrong move will prove that you have let your standards down and you can never improve. When you leave scope of improvement, you actually do not love yourself. Loving yourself comes when you also love those who do not love you or never loved you”.

I thought about it for days. I was always very emotional about people. But now with time and what I learned on those 2 days, I changed. The word ‘changed’ here was not easy for me as well. For me it is no more “I am the best”. I have taken a big jump to “I am better than the best”. For others I might not be the most beautiful person or the best dancer in the world but in myself, I am the one. I have started thinking that way to make myself happy. What’s bad about it, if it gives us happiness at the end of the day?

I have practised for months to develop self-control and grow above the level of reacting to situations. Where medicines increase the chances of sensitivity and anger, yoga keeps me cool and calm. I keep myself busy with things that never I thought of doing. I never thought I will bake a chocolate cake and now it is one thing I enjoy to do.

There have been instances where people laughed at me. Honestly, I do not react anymore as Father told me a very nice thing. He said “It is easy to laugh at others but difficult to make others laugh. Here ‘laugh’ is being used as a verb but the action and its reaction is completely contrary to the usage at both places. If laughing at you gives happiness to others and you do not react that means you have learned to love yourself”.

Learn to ignore things and move on with happiness. Even if you are not happy create situations to give yourself happiness. I am not allowed to dance but still I dance, though not much. I am learning ‘Flamenco’ these days on my own using net. It is hard to find a trainer for that here but yes net is a good option. I want to rehearse ‘Flamenco’ on a song ‘Amplifier’ by Imran Khan (It is great peppy number but a strange song selection for dance type like ‘Flamenco’). See we learn one more thing here – where there is a will doors will automatically open for you.

So let us move one more step ahead. This Valentine – Love Yourself!

Do things that make you happy. If you will be happy you will surely make others happy.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Hug Day!

" A Hug Delights And Warms And Charms, It Must Be Why God Gave Us Arms"

I read the above quote while sitting at Sunshine Hospital. The best part to wait for my specialist is clicking the framed quotes and saving them in my mobile.

I saved this 3 weeks back and when someone messaged me saying "Happy Hug Day", I thought to post this on my blog.

A Hug makes a difference in your stressful lives and difficult journeys. So HUG people and spread love. Where words fail, a hug works. Trust me it really works!

A big tight HUG to people who loved me or love me and whom I love as well!

HAPPY HUG DAY!

Updates - Contd..

Hi Readers -

As the profile numbers are going up so is my confidence to post and make my blog a better place. I am thankful for my two friends who have send me two real-life experiences and what they learned from that situation. But I need a day's time to post them so please do not think I am not reading your stuff.                            

As my readers would have read in the below post at this link - http://doyouthinkyouareliving.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentine-special-week-for-all-my.html

1.)  This is a Valentine Week so I welcome wishes from you for your Valentine.

2.)    I am closing comments section. I restrict the feedback for my FB users only on Facebook as moderating a comment on Blogger for approval takes a lot of my time.. Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate the time you guys spend reading my blog.

3.)  I have mentioned in the above link to send me stories mainly real-life motivation content. The only reason, I want to make this blog more interactive. I thought of this beautiful thought when I asked for your real-life content -There are two ways of spreading light - to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.  - Edith Wharton, Vesalius in Zante. I want to be both of themJ. Indeed I would also learn with you guys.

4.)  Your poems or Valentine wishes are welcome just till 14^th Feb as I am celebrating Valentine’s Special Week here at my blog. Only my FB friends can send me their requests.

5.)   Post diagnosis, I have learned that 6 patients in a room can have 6 different experiences with the same doctor. Similarly, why my readers should only read my experience. Let them learn other reader's experiences also at the same place. Knowledge is waste if we do not share so are experiences. But again I am restricting this opportunity for only my FB users. I am not going forward with the following email id - archana.blogs@gmail.com. As you readers can see I have taken the link off my Blog Profile. So only FB users are welcome to send me or share their experiences.

My FB friends can email me on my FB email id. I firmly believe this blog is like my BABY and I want it to be a place where I can write without any reservations. I know there are days when I am not well as I suffer through so much pain but still I work on this. I have been going through chronic eye allergy since last 3 weeks but still I login to post. This is solely for my satisfaction. I have been strictly told not to use laptop but still a commitment to myself pushes me to write.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great weekend guys!

Valentine Special Week For All My Readers

Hurray!

I am happy to see that the profile visits to my blog has touched 300. WOW!!! This calls for a treat. I started with few people and today I have so many who joined me. Thanks for all the affection, feedback (healthy – negative and positive) and encouragement. This number equally belongs to all my readers.

There are three updates for my readers. I am starting a ‘Valentine Special Week’ from today. So please read this post to make it possible.

Update 1: My Email Id for Blog Readers

For all my readers and many of those who wanted to write to me below is my email id.

archana.blogs@gmail.com

This email is solely for my blog related stuff. I am not entertaining any personal emails or conversations at this id. So please limit your emails to the blog related suggestions or feedback.

 I want this blog to be more interactive and knowledgeable for the readers. I am planning to launch a new label ‘Through Readers’ where I will post the stories or real-life incidents of the readers that is ‘YOU’ who can send me the content at the above email id and what you learned from that incident. I will post the same without any editing on my blog with your name under the post. Credit is all yours.

We all face different situations and the way we learn from them might not be the same. Your stories can motivate others and if you do not have the time to blog you can share with me and I will post for you. This will help all of us to be more interactive, connected and learn from each other.  Some of you might be travelling a lot as a part of your profession, so your experiences at different places under different situations can be helpful to others. Please pitch in and send some good real motivational content. I will also welcome semi-fiction motivational content.

Update 2: Comments Section is Open

For my readers who are not on FB and are not able to leave the comments, I have opened the comments tab. Now you can leave a comment after reading the post. There is a ‘Comments’ tab that appear at the bottom of the post. But your comments will only be published or visible once I moderate and approve them. This might take a day’s time as I make sure that the comment is a readable one before approving it. Please do not send nasty comments like someone wrote “what’s your mobile number”?

 Readers – this is to explain that I run the blog for knowledge sharing and motivation not to share my personal information. Also I will not approve incomplete comments like someone wrote “Boring”. Well, you need to be clear as it will help me to enhance that post. I welcome negative comments that are helpful to enhance the blog content but they should complete and clear. After selecting ‘Anonymous’ if you can mention your name under the comments that would be helpful. No need to share your email ids.

Update 3: Valentine Special

If you want to make your valentine (the loved ones) feel special, send me your wishes as an email and I will post on my blog under the new label ‘Through Readers’ with your name at the bottom. You can send that specific post link to your ‘Valentine’ or post at your FB profile. Even if nobody wants to do that then I will post some content for those who are part of my Valentine – my family and few indispensable friends.

Thanks once again for all the love!

Love You All!

An Important Question

I read this short story and see how true it is. We all can connect to it.

During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: 'What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. Absolutely, said the professor. "In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello". I've never forgotten that lesson. also learned her name was Dorothy

You Are Special - Don't Ever Forget It

A friend of mine asked me what motivates me to live irrespective of so many medical problems and unwanted bills. Like I inspire others there might be someone or somebody who inspires me as well. Post diagnosis, I have learned the basic integral truth of life. Life is Beautiful, Live it Beautifully. But yes there are days when I also feel exasperated and helpless because of pain. Those days my vedic chants and religious mantras generally fail. My mind is negatively driven to unwanted thoughts on such days. All I will do is search for something on net for self-help. Few stories are a waste as they have no meaning and they drag you more towards sadness and pain. But yes some are really inspiring as the one I read today. I wish the day my book is completed I can spend more time on my blog writing more stuff for my readers. I read the following story and would love to post it under my ‘label’ – ‘From My Library’. Enjoy this one.

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.  

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special - Don't ever forget it!