Experience a better life with daily two questions daily

Life is one complete learning experience. Learning experiences become limited when we do the same things in routine each day. To have wider variations of the life experiences, it is important to try new things and do the existing routine work differently. It is our mistake to expect the results to be different while we go on with the same things in life. We have to do things differently to get different results.

Resistance to change: The tendency of human is to show resistance to the changes. We take the shortest and least resistant path in life. Due to this characteristic, we eventually fall back to the normal routine of life even though we take up new challenges initially.

Way to go: There should be a motivational factor to try something differently. Our goals in life act as strong motivational factors. Whatever things we wish to try differently should be in alignment with our goals. Say for example, if our intention is to lose weight to become healthy then losing weight becomes our motivational factor to try some new physical exercises. Here, the new changes will become effective only when we develop the ability to capture the minute details of the developmental changes. Again, our tendency is to expect bigger and grosser results and when we fail to see the minute developmental changes, we tend to lose the interest and we fallback to our routine life. So, the key point here is to look for the small delta differences (minute developmental changes) for the new change to become effective.

Daily Two questions: Daily, make it as practice to ask the following two questions. A) What did I do differently in life today? B) What did I learn from today’s life experiences? The first question is related to our conscious effort whereas the second one is the effect of our conscious effort. This is similar to throwing a fishing net (our conscious effort) and our catch (different color fishes, different sizes etc) in the fishing net is the effect of our conscious effort which we can call as our life experiences.

Areas to focus: Once we decide to do things differently, it is important to focus in all the dimensions of life or at least, those areas where we have our weakness. In general, one can focus on health, fitness, material wealth, finances, relationships, skill development and spiritual development. Instead of focusing on all the different dimensions of the life, it is better to start with the areas where we have our weakness. If one asks the above two questions very specific to the areas where we have weakness then one notices a remarkable twist in those specific areas of life.

Journaling the points: When one practices, it is important to register in writing all the points related to the two questions: What did I do differently and what did I learn from today’s life experiences. Writing of the experiences triggers the higher center of the brain, the so-called thinking brain. This directs our awareness to certain explicit activities.

Open up your world: Non judgmental practice

The power of NOW is immense. To live in the present moment ‘Here & Now’ is an art. A practice that gives an opportunity to live in the present is called mindfulness practice. A mindfulness practice is one that allows us to experience and become aware of the present moment by becoming nonjudgmental of our experiences.

In general, when we experience an event, we first observe following which we pass a judgment on the event as to whether it’s  a bad or good, pleasant or unpleasant etc so that we assign a definition/meaning to the event. But, to become aware of the events and experience the events without passing on judgment is something new to us.

Easy Practice: At any given point of time, majority of us live either in the future or the past due to the influence of the mind. Both the past and the future are neither true nor real. The truth of the moment happens in the present and even the past and future manifests itself ONLY in the present moment. If you are unable to stop yourself from being judgmental of your experiences, I would like to suggest an easier practice. The easiest way to practice present moment awareness is to become aware of the judgments that we make this moment. This practice is in itself is very powerful. In a way, awareness of the judgment gives us a glance of the programming of our internal world. It gives us an idea of our mind’s behavioral pattern.

Assumption: The assumptions that we make based on the events in our lives are very dangerous. This results in spoiling of our relationship with the people and it directs our life in the wrong way. In fact, assumptions are also a kind of judgment which arises due to insufficient information’s related to the events of our lives.

After practicing the above exercise for certain period of time, eventually, we will develop and begin to experience the events in the present moment without becoming judgmental.

External World experience: Our external world experiences are nothing but the reflection of our own definition of our internal world. Now by practicing the above technique we not only become aware of our internal world but we will get an opportunity to change the landscape of our internal world. Becoming aware of our judgment brings a different perspective into our mindset or thinking. It changes the scope and widens our internal world. Our external experiences change with the opening up of our internal world and that in turn defines the direction of our life.

So, in a nutshell, the greater expression of life happens when the scope of the internal world is redefined and that happens once we become aware of the present moment and start to experience life without becoming judgmental of our experiences with the events.

Positive expression of life with one simple habit

Habit-Subconscious program: There is a power in practice. Regular practice is a true delight. It is our conscious choice that plays a major role during the initial days of our practice. Our actions during the initial days were deliberate and intentional. After certain period of time, the effect of our practice slowly takes a shape as our habits. Habit is our subconscious programming our conscious choice. As known to you, our habits play a major role in governing our life. To a large extent, our behavioral pattern is also decided by our habits.

As per the brain science, regular practice has the ability to program certain neural paths in the nervous system. The wiring of the neural circuits becomes stronger and over period of time, the practice becomes our second nature and as a result a habit is formed.

An Ideal Day: A day has its own composition. It operates in a cyclic manner. It is composed of three different states: a) a holistic ( sattvic) balanced state b) active state ( rajasic) and c) inert state ( tamasic). We experience these three states in a day. When we get up from bed, we experience a balanced state where we sense a state of calmness and freshness that gives rise to a free mind. It is a powerful state where one experiences the inherent powers within him. This happens typically 4-6AM in the early hours of the day. During most of the day time, we usually become active doing our work. This is a stimulating state. As the day comes to an end, we move on to the third state, the state of inertness. We take rest and go to bed at night. This is a state of relaxation.

We can also define these three states with a different perspective. An active stimulating state followed by a relaxing state yields a balanced holistic state. Yoga by definition is an alternating state of relaxation and stimulation which yields a balanced state.

A day of a modern man: Most of the men in the modern day keep their active state longer. They tend to work until late and go to bed late at night. Eventually, they get up late in the morning and hence they miss the opportunity to experience the balanced holistic state. In this case, they experience a high and long active state followed by a short relaxing state with minimal or no experience of the balanced state. In the absence of a free mind, they do not get fresh ideas and a fresh lease of life and they get trapped in a vicious circle. They tend to do the same thing in life everyday that yields the same kind of results, resulting in a monotonous life.

Develop the habit: To transform this monotonous life, the first thing we need to do is to experience this sattvic holistic balanced state. When we have a free mind in this state, we get fresh ideas and hence we do things differently and hence we experience life differently. To experience this balanced holistic state, practice getting up early in the morning. If you practice for a few weeks then it will automatically become a habit. It is an ideal way of creating your ‘ME’ time. This new habit changes the life, the way how you experience right now.

So, develop this new habit and see how it has a positive influence in your life.

How to get the things that you need in life?

There are four major areas in life namely health, fitness, wealth, relationship and self development that need to be balanced. We have a fulfilling life when we live at our peak in all the major areas of our life. You may want to build a great healthy lifestyle. But, in spite of your genuine efforts, you may witness low progress in meeting the end result. This blog is written to provide you with a clear answer in achieving easily the result which you desire.

Strong Desire: Whatever your intention may be. It might be to have a fitter body, to achieve a wealthier life or to have a better relationship. The intention when converted into a burning strong desire then easily the end result can be achieved. If the intention is just a part of our wish list then it stays inert at that level without significant progress. If someone shows us a path to achieve a wealthier life and if we simply wish to a have wealthier life then it is just an addition to our existing wish list and we won’t see progress in that area of life. Intention without a strong desire just means that we fancy the result of that intention but we don’t have true bond with it. When there is no bonding, there is a distance and there is no connectedness to our intention and to our inner self.

Difference between Love & Like: Love is different than our liking. Liking is similar to have a wishlist.It is just a wish & we fancy something. Whereas love is bonding our intention to our inner self. We love our intention when we care for it, give due respect to it and offer high value to it. If we respect our desires then the respect comes to us in multifold. This is a powerful law of nature. So, all we need to do is to respect our intentions if we would like to achieve the desired result.

Test with your own experience: Now, to test and validate the above two points, let us pick two areas of your life. One in which you have become happy and successful and the other in which you have experienced some failure. Say for example, you have bad heath but great relationships with family & friends. In this example, if you observe the area of relationships, you naturally would have exhibited a strong bonding, strong desire, great care, respect and high value to your relationships. You will also able to observe the exact opposite in the area of health. You will be experiencing a sense of disconnectedness, lack of bonding, lack of value and respect when it comes to health.

If you want to get the things that you need in life then it is important to first develop genuine respect and bonding to the things that you desire. Once this foundation is established then the rest is taken care by the law of nature to reach the desired outcome.