I had been planning to record Vaseegara( Zara Zara, in Hindi ) , for many years now, and finally made it happen ... The left hand was tricky, and I think this is overall my best recording so far .. One improvement I definitely need to make is for me to smile more while playing the keyboard :D I am usually so engrossed while playing , that I forget to smile.
If you would like to watch it , you can find it here
In the middle of our trip to Udupi and Mangalore, we got an hour to spend at the Kapu beach.
Just as we entered the beach, I saw a board that said "Kites for sale".. I had tried flying kites a few times as a kid, and they never really took off :) But it had always been a dream of mine to fly a kite with no help from an expert :)
I sensed that this was the moment. I had been waiting for.
I walked over to the store, bought a kite, and asked for some kite flying tips. The owner assured me that no tricks were necessary ; the ocean breeze would take care of everything, and all I needed to do was to keep releasing the thread that held the kite.
And sure enough, he was right. Within a few minutes, my kite was soaring beautifully in the sky. I was beaming with happiness and pride, and really enjoying myself.. My son held the string for a few minutes, gleefully running around with the kite string in his hands, watching the kite follow him anywhere he went :) He soon got back to collecting his sea shells, and the string was back in my hands.
My wife was amused to see me so happy with the kite, that she asked he how much it cost. "50 rupees" I said.. "Total paisa vasool ", she replied :D
It was time for us to leave. I knew that this beloved kite of mine would never fly this way in Bangalore.
I decided to hand it over to some kid in the beach. A noticed a couple of kids marveling at my kite, high up in the sky. I walked over, and offered the kite string to them. They replied with "No, thanks"... I get it .. I used to be that kid.
Just then, my wife pointed to a bunch of government school kids arriving in the beach with their school teachers, for an outing. I headed to one of the teachers, and said I wanted to give away my kite. The teacher seemed confused. No one had offered a kite in any of the previous school picnics :D.. A school kid, meanwhile, overheard the conversation, came over, and grabbed the kite and the string. He called his friend to join him, and within a few minutes, he had the kite well on its way to its earlier peak :)
With that sense of initiative, I'm sure he will soar in life, just like that kite...
And just like that, one of my long held fun dreams was fulfilled ...
A part of one's purpose is to convert their struggle and suffering into strength and service.
Through the process of overcoming our struggles, we develop unique strengths.
By enduring our suffering, we develop unique sensitivities.
By combining those unique strengths and sensitivities, we can serve in a truly unique way..
After my sleep related experiments, I can now confidently attest to the fact that keeping the phone out of the bedroom is an excellent idea.
I also discovered one very important principle to making this rule work - Resist the temptation to make "reasonable" exceptions to the rule :D The moment you allow the phone in for a day, for what seems like a very valid reason, it will soon make persistent and persuasive efforts to become a permanent resident in the bedroom.
I have also got myself a pair of genuine blue-light blocking glasses. More on that later !
One secret to moving from good to very good to excellent is to constantly overcome the blur-effect.
Take the example of vocabulary/language - When we get to the point of being "good enough", we become content with understanding what a certain beautiful sentence is saying. We fail to notice the phrasing or the specific word that accentuates its beauty. The whole sentence is "blurred" down to its essence.
To improve your language/vocabulary, observe the sentence in high-definition. Resist the urge to allow the blur effect to kick in. To be able to notice and marvel at the next level of detailing and nuance is the key to never ending improvement.
The ability to resist the blur-effect at the 'sentence-level' and apply it at the 'article-level' sharpens the capacity to seamlessly shift between the big-picture and the details.
If you are patient with a bully, you are not really patient. You are just a coward.
There are 3 levels of expansion
1) Expansion of knowledge
2) Expansion of understanding
3) Expansion of sensibilities
The real magic happens in Level 3
