Get-set-go -> Pause-feel-experience

Hello dear Readers!!

As always, I'm back with high energy.

There is no problem with "Get-set-go" thinking, and keeping busy all day long. But at the end of the day, the day should not just be another date crossed off the calendar (In India, some people still keep track of buying milk packets by crossing off a day on a physical calendar chart. Now I have to emphasize "physical" as the digital age thinks of Calendar android app or icalendar on iphone). In order to enjoy your day we need to pause, think and experience as many things as we can.

When my senior was training me in tennis, he always said "Feel the tennis ball". I never followed that until I practiced hitting a lot. Now I can feel my racquet, the ball and able to anticipate the trajectory of my hit. It was a small aha moment when I first realized that.

My husband is a great cook and I'm cook fast and palatable food. But he always said "Take interest and cook on slow flame". So, I just followed his advice one day, feeling food when cooking, thinking about the changing taste when adding each ingredient. And cooking suddenly became very interesting to me. And the dish also turned out to be very tasty.

I always wasted a lot of water, cleaning up after cooking and doing dishes. But when I started to pause and feel how much soap was there on the dirty dish and how much water would be needed to clean, the experience was not boring anymore and my utility bill was significantly lower than before.

Over the past 4-5 months, I changed my perception and "Get-Set-Go" thinking. I'm more involved in things now. I do not perceive every chore as means to the end now, but treat everything as an experience in itself. Life is good!!

Whidbey Island

These pictures are taken on Whidbey Island, WA.

                                       

  

 

Seattle Space Needle - July 4th

Seattle Space Needle in the dusk of 4th of July 2012.

EMP Space needle - Seattle

Was trying to mimic Windows background picture.

The last one looks more like some modern art, but it is the outer wall of EMP :) with a little contrast

New to photography..

Just getting my hands on photography, here are some latest clicks. These were taken on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

How I Stopped "Waiting for Jack"

--This a post I picked from wow4u.com--

How I Stopped "Waiting for Jack"
By Kristen Moeller © 2010 , author of Waiting for Jack: Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie: How to Stop Waiting and Start Living Your Life


The first time I met Jack, I ripped a hundred-dollar bill out of his hand.

On a cold winter day in Denver, I waited in line to see one of my heroes, Jack Canfield, the coauthor of the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series and the author of The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. Where I wanted to be was a version of what Jack had become -- an author, a speaker, an inspiration to thousands of people. He was the whole package -- successful, kind -- a visionary for what is possible in the world. I thought, "If I can get to know him, I will become that."

When I saw the opportunity, I grabbed it. Literally. During his presentation, Jack reached for his wallet, pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, and said, "Who wants this?" Hands shot up in the audience; people leaned forward to see whom Jack would choose. But I leapt up, ran up the stairs to the stage, and grabbed the bill from his hand. As I was launching myself in the air, thoughts raced through my mind -- was I about to be humiliated in front of 800 people? Would they call security and haul me from the stage? But my desire for bold action was louder than any voice of doubt

As I plucked the bill from his hand, he turned to me and said, "Yes, that's it! We can't wait around for the opportunities to come to us. We must take action to create what we want!"

After his talk, I waited in line to formally meet Jack and boldly asked for his personal e-mail address. Over the next several months, I sent him lengthy e-mails sharing my vision and dreams. He kindly e-mailed back one-liners of encouragement such as, "Keep thinking and playing bigger; it's much more fun that way. Love, Jack." Then my life got busy with other things. I lost sight of my inspiration and I stopped e-mailing Jack.

A year later, my dreams had grown stale. I had this idea if I got back in touch with Jack, he might just provide the perfect, inspiring nudge I needed. I was looking for something that would spur me into action, like a giant arrow that would show me the way.

I emailed him, and then emailed him again -- but got no response. As I sat down at my computer to check my email for the fifth time in 15 minutes, I suddenly woke up.

What was I doing?

I was waiting! And this time I was waiting for Jack. I realized waiting was a behavior that began when I was a little girl. I waited to be older -- surely freedom would begin when I had my first boyfriend, first kiss, got my drivers license, graduated from high school and went to college. Then I waited to know what to do with my life. I had always waited, thinking the great prize of life was just around the corner. And I had started to believe Jack was the answer; that knowing him would provide something I thought I was missing internally.

I remembered the crowd, most likely desiring that hundred-dollar bill, while they sat glued to their chairs. What were they waiting for? An Oliver Wendell Holmes quote ran through my mind, "Many people die with their music still inside them." Instantly, I knew I needed to do something about all this waiting. The inspiration came like lightening: I was going to write a book! A book about waiting and call it "Waiting for Jack!" Instantly, ideas and chapter titles came to me.

It all sounded good but then reality hit, I was writing a book. . . . Some nights I cried and wanted to give up; others I celebrated my courage. I wrote, re-wrote, ripped it all up, burned what was left and started over. I hired editors, changed directions then changed back. I danced in the moonlight and curled up in a ball on the floor. I told everyone I was writing, and then wished I hadn't. I grew, contracted, then grew again, stretching further than I ever thought possible.

Fortunately, I have surrounded myself with a life of personal development and I have access to all the tools anyone could ever want. I know I can "feel the fear and do it anyway". I know how to take action. I know how to move forward even when every molecule in my body tells me to stop.

We all have a "Jack" for whom we wait -- whether it's a person, a place or a thing. We falsely believe the gifts of life are just around the corner; that anywhere is better than here; that one day we will arrive and everything will be okay. So we don't try, we give up, we sell out, we forget who we are. We are afraid to succeed, afraid to fail and afraid to say we are afraid. But as Wayne Gretzky said: "You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take!" So I stopped waiting and I wrote.

Three years later, Waiting for Jack is a best-seller on Amazon! I have grown in ways I never expected. I know that I am capable of so much more than I ever knew before.

Now I ask you, what are you waiting for?

Author Bio
Kristen Moeller, MS, is the bestselling author of Waiting for Jack: Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie: How to Stop Waiting and Start Living Your Life. As a coach, speaker, and radio show host, Kristen delights in "disrupting the ordinary" and inspiring others to do the same. She first discovered her passion for personal development in 1989 after recovering from an eating disorder and addiction. Kristen is also the founder of the Chick-a-go Foundation -- a not-for-profit that provides "pay it forward" scholarships for life altering training programs reaching people who otherwise cannot afford such opportunities. When she is not actively making a difference in the world, she thrives in the beauty of Colorado and enjoys hiking, snowshoeing, riding her horse or just spending time reading or relaxing in her magical, solar-powered house on the side of a mountain with two large dogs, an ornery cat and her best friend and husband of 15 years. For more information please visit http://www.waitingforjack.com

The harder you work, the luckier you get

Actually, Michael Phelps 8 gold medals propelled me to write this post.His awesome body mechanics and his hyper-flexible feet were indeed a blessings, but what went behind every medal won, and the amazing persistence of a winning attitude just dazzled me.Of course his 1/100th second lead may be luck, but the hard work is all that matters. An absolute winner!!