Time in Nature

Good Afternoon readers,

I’m sitting in a nice arm chair, with a latte next to me and what was a glass of mocha, at this place called Journal by Plan B (loving this place), in this place called Publika and I love this place. It’s got a really good feel, very open, lots of natural light, great places to eat, chill, caffeinate and booze out. Specifically to Journal, it’s got good coffee, great food and a brilliant environment , feel and ambiance, though I wish the coffees came in bigger sizes, (cough grande cough).

When was the last time you spent some time in nature? I’ve got to tell you it has a great refreshing effect on you, well it did on me. I went for a walk this morning on this Kiara Trail, not the TTDI park, the one closer to KLGCC, and it was really nice. I was there at about 8:30 and the air was cool, crisp and so damn fresh. The sun was just nice and after a while I unplugged my iPhone and just focused on my surroundings. Feeling the air as I breathe it in, felt the cool air move brush passed me, heard the birds chirping/singing and the rustling of the leaves as the wind blew. It was such a calm environment, so damn good for my mind and my soul. The walk wasn’t exactly says, it goes up and down, but I came out not feeling tired, but feeling so damn refreshed.

Nature, do not underestimate its ability for whatever. It keeps us grounded and reminds us of the essence of life.

So spend some time regularly in nature, whether it’s once a week in a park full of trees, or a trail lined with greenery, it all counts. Just talk some time to put it into your day or at least your week. To calm down, to relax, refresh and renew for the next day/week. And hey, what have you got to lose? Go and try it out. A combination of nature and exercise is the ultimate way to start of your day, and keep the music away and focus on the walk, on the flora and the air. And hey, if you don’t love it, then maybe it ain’t your cuppa tea, but please give it a fair shot. Don’t multi task when you’re in nature, this is your ‘Me’ time, don’t use it for anything else but you, out the phone away, put the music away, and leave the distraction at the gate and enjoy the simple things in life, they tend to be able to bring the most amount of joy and pleasure.

Go find a green lung, a waterfall, a forest, a lake, whatever tickles your fancy and spend some time there daily or at least weekly.

Straight From The Heart

Places I Have Been

Good Evening guys,

Today is Monday hence Monday’s Pick. Got this one in an email at the beginning of the month, just got to reading it. Quite clever and got a good laugh from some of the lines Enjoy.

Straight From the Heart

I have been in many places, but I’ve never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can’t go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there.

I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and work. I live close so it’s a short drive.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I’m not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart!

At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

And, sometimes I think I am in Vincible but life shows me I am not.

People keep telling me I’m in Denial, but I’m positive I’ve never been there before!

I have been in Deepshit many times; the older I get, the easier it is to get there.

I actually kind of enjoy it there.

So far, I haven’t been in Continent; but my travel agent says I’ll be going soon.

6 Songs that might Get you Motivated and Pumped

Good Afternoon all, today’s piece is going to be very short. Had a very nice stay at Stay at One World Hotel, just checked out, and had a great time listening to brialliant jazz at No Black Tie last night and getting to know new people, slept at about 5am and got up at 10 for breakfasthome third favourite thing about staying at hotels. Now I’m at the Signature Starbucks in One Utama, spent the first hour here in quiet, having my holy hour and then another 30 minutes spent dreaming about life and my future; where I want it to go and all that jazz. Visualising my dreams in my head ( 30 minutes daily, alone with music that gets you dreaming or in quiet) has been helping me stay driven and helps me Keep Moving Forward.

On that note of moving forward and keeping driven, here are 6 songs that I listen to that helps me get motivated and pumped when I need a boost or in any general circumstance. These songs may not appeal to you as they do to me, I take what I want from them and ignore the rest.

1. Eminem‘s Till I collapse.
The beginning of this song speaks volumes to me, I till get goose bumps when I listen to it, and I look back and see how far I’ve come and how much further I can still go. From thinking that I would never be able to not feel fatigued to a current state of daily exercise and energy. I’m so damn proud of my progress, and till the day I collapse I ain’t going to stop.

‘Cause sometimes you just feel tired,
Feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
And just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up
And not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.

2. Eminem’s Lose Yourself.
Not many people like Eminem, but he has some brilliant songs above perseverance and fighting and all that. This was one of the first Eminem songs that I started listening to that made me realise how profound some of his lyrics are. This song reminds me that in life we’ve gotta take the chances and opportunities that pass us by. No one ever said life was going to be easy, but that doesn’t mean you should give up and not try, that you shouldn’t lose yourself in the music and go be that which you really want.

3. T.I. & Mary J Blige – Remember Me
Listening to this song reminds me of the fad that I want to leave a lasting legacy, who and what I want to be remembered as when I leave this world, that I want to make an impact. That I want to Make A Dent in the Universe as Steve Jobs put it.

4. T.I. & Rihanna’s Live Your Life
The title already speaks volumes and the chorus just reminds me to keep at my dreams, to keep being ambitious and that I should let the “Haters” get to me (not to be confused with constructive critiscm).

5. RDB & Ludacris‘s Shera Di Khom from Speedy Singhs.
Why?

Yeah we were always told growing up
We have to strive to be the best
Always strive to success and 2nd place is not an option
That’s what we were told
So no matter what came up in my life, I got through it
That was my motivation
Now nothing can stop us
We will never lose, never fear, overcome all and persevere
Be the best and we down to show it any place anything, we will overthrow it
We will never lose, never fear, overcome all and persevere
Be the best and we down to show it
– RDB

These lyrics always pick me up when I need a kick in the ass.

And:

At the top and I’ll never come down
Always stay focused super star bound
Always was the dopest, never got weak
Head to the sky but my ear to the street
Foot on the gas, hands on the wheel
Get on my lap coz I’m going for the kill
Drink for the nerves, smoke for the stress
But death to the haters and to hell with the rest
I don’t pay my dues, make my moves
Blow a hundred thousand, walk a day in my shoes
Long time coming, long time gone
10 years been but I’m 10 men strong
Never gave up, I just won’t lose
So many hits but I just won’t bruise
Rappers just dying n I put them out the misery
Its Ludacris and I came to make history
– Ludacris

6. Fort Minor‘s Remember the Name

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!

I hope these songs help you the way they help me when I need a physical or mental pick me up.

Be sure not to overdose on them as they may lose their effectiveness, but don’t worry I’ll put a new list of 6 songs when that happens, or you could request a new 6 with a comment whenever).

Straight From The Heart

Of Weekends & Renewal

Good Afternoon dear readers, hope your Friday is going well. I’m currently checking out the Signature Starbucks at One Utama and I have to say that I am impressed. Looks good, feels good and my Soy Café Mocha tastes good. I’m think I’m going to make it a habit to come here once a week.

Anyway, today is Friday which means the weekend is going to start soon, i’m on a little little vacation, staying overnight at a hotel, (I’ll review it on Monday) and just engaging my self in renewal. And that’s what today’s topic is about Renewal.

When was the last time you took some time off for yourself. To just get away to renew, recharge and relax, to strip away try noise. this is as important as anything else in your life. We aren’t meant to work all the time and live life in an office. Try and make a habit of taking mini-vacations, they don’t have to be grand or anything like that. They just have to be able to get you away and help you renew your mind and soul. Whether it’s staying at a nice hotel overnight, or taking a weekend trip out of state or hike. It’d got to be something for you, not anyone else, something that appeals to you. Spend some time in nature, pamper yourself to a day spa or hideaway in your favourite quiet cafe and spend 3 hours just to read that book you’ve been wanting to or out on the headphones and listen to seem soothing tunes for an hour or two (if you can try out the Bose QC15) or just go out into nature and be with yourself in its serene, calm & quiet environment and do some thinking.

Do not underestimate the power of renewal, it is not a waste of time. In order for us to reform at our best we have to feel our best, simple as that. it is essential in Getting to Greatness without burning out.

So try and set a few hours every weekend to renew and have some relaxing ‘Me’ time and on top of that try to get away one weekend a month (road trip, stay at a hotel, out-of-state, full fledged day spa). Don’t take my word for it, try it our and see for yourself.

On a side note, I know some may think of sleeping the weekend away as Renewal, but I really wouldn’t recommend that, go ahead and sleep in, but don’t spend more than 9 hours in bed because after that you’re body is going to get into a last and lethargic mood and your renewal time would have been wasted. this is not just a time for physical renewal, but also for your mind and soul. Go ahead and sleep-in, but don’t over do it, go out more living in your life and get some nourishing renewal.

Straight From The Heart

Sunday Reflections: Keeping the Pace & Exploring

Greetings from Penang, it’s been a really good week for me. Full of new sights, old sounds, progress and consistency. I’m now at the Starbucks at Straits Quay, and as a regular Starbucks patron, I am very happy to say that the Starbucks at Gurney Tower and here have passed my inspection. This one is a little more busy than the one at Gurney Tower but both are much better than the Starbucks at Queensbay Mall, not the one in borders, the standalone.

Continuing on from the week before, my exercise has been at the core of this new resurgence in my recovery and journey. Starting the day of with an hour walk with some jogging has had an amazing impact in my life as I gave mentioned in precious posts, but apart from that, I’ve also become more keen on exploring, tying out new things and that jazz. I’ve seen more Penang in Teh last 3 days than I have in the last 22 years, and it’s not the fault of the people around me, but the fact that I wasn’t interested. I couldn’t be bothered, but I tell you this, it has been amazing. Paired with my new habit of taking an ungodly amount of pictures, it been a great trip. The thing I’ve realised is, that because I know like taking pictures, I’m nothing more details. I’m eagerly looking around, and absorbing the beauty around me, whether it’s natural beauty or man-made, whether it’s old street cafes or Starbucks, I’m noticing a lot, and this has added even more colour to my life.

Over the last week I only had two mornings without exercise, one because I was in a rush to catch my flight here and the other because I let go a little, and I spent the whole day (yesterday) in lethargy, the only good thing being that I blogged and spent some time with my family here. Other than that I wasted with a number of hours. Exercise is key to living a great life. I want what Robin Sharma calls, World-Class Physical Fitness; and to me that means no more than 15% body fat, my visceral fat at 5,a good cholesterol level, 85kg and being able to run 10K in not more than an hour, at least that’s what I’ve thought of for now. I want to achieve this by 31st December 2013, giving myself 16 months.

The last week has been great, now time to see how I can make the coming one better.

First off I need to start focusing more academically. Putting in more hours studying, at least an hour a day for class days and at least 90 minutes on non-class days; whether it’s reading the text book, making notes or doing assignments.

Second, I need to schedule more time with family.

Third, I need to get my hour of reading done each day.

These are the three new goals to incorporate into the coming week, with me luck. I’m confident I’ll get it assimilated well, as long as I keep having my morning walks.

Straight from the Heart

Below are some of my Penang pics, if you want to see more check out my Flickr site, should be somewhere on the right side of this page.

Check out my Flickr account, also under the name Arkay’s Thoughts.

6 Things To Do to Feel Like a Champion

Good evening guys, I’ve been feeling pretty damn good over the last few days, feeling like a Champion. In this piece I’m going to talk about 6 things that you can do to feel like a champions or start your day of feeling awesome and like a champion.

Number 1

Get up off the couch and get some exercise. Get your blood pumping, get some endorphins released. I’m not asking you to go do some intense exercise, but do something, just get started and soon you’ll start looking forward to your exercise time because of feel good after effect. Start by scheduling and accomplishing two 15 minute walks a day. you’ve just got to get passed the initial barrier, get passed the Pull of Laziness, that urge to sit down on the couch and watch tv instead of breaking a sweat doing something healthy.

Number 2

Almost all of us have smart phones now, so let’s put them to good use. Set up a playlist on your music player and get the tunes pumping. Name it Good Feeling, Feeling Good or Feel Good, whatever tickles your fancy. The name isn’t important, it’s the tracks in the playlist that matter. They’ve got to be songs so get you in the right mood to go forth and conquer the day, play them in them in the morning, or whenever you’re not feeling good. Music has a way of tapping into our subconscious and our emotions, so the type of music we listen to is of the utmost importance.

Here are a couple of songs that I think are must haves on the list.

1. Michael Buble’s Feeling Good
2. Flo Rida’s Good Feeling
3. Hans Zimmer’s Zoosters Breakout from Madagascar
4. Hans Zimmer’s Molossus from Batman Begins
5. Showtek & Tiesto’s Hell Yeah! (this is probably going to be very much dependent on you)

Or put in music that triggers happy memories. For me, whenever I listen to Linkin Park, I’m reminded of the concert of their i saw when I was 12, and specific songs bring back specific feelings and emotions. Use that, tap into it, hack your brain.

Number 3

Spend time with some family and/or friends. I know this one is pretty obvious, but it truly is funny how so many of us don’t to it. We neglect some of the most important people in our life’s because we’re so busy being distracted (this is a topic for another post). Go do something fun with them, don’t waste time witting around doing nothing and staring at the ceiling together, yes you’re spending time but wt this juncture you’re all really not helping each others mood. Go do something new, exciting. Explore new sights within your area, your town, your city. Go play a fun board game, nothing too competitive, remember the aim is feel good champion not Winner Champion. Try out Meeples in Ss15 Subang or Kota Damansara. AS MUCH AS ALL THIS IS FUN AND WILL MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD, MAKE SURE IT’S IN BALANCE. DON’T DO EXTREMES.

Number 4

Start having a Holy Hour, or if you already have one, don’t neglect it. No this isn’t something spiritual or religious, it’s just something I learnt from reading Robin Sharma’s book. Take an hour for yourself everyday, either first thing in the morning or just before you go to bed. Use this hours for you, replenish your spirit. Within this hour, spend sometime listening to the good feeling playlist, spend some time reading, spend some time journaling and writing, spend some time dreaming and spend some time on your goals and assessing how far you’ve come and how far you’ve got to go. Look into yourself, think about what you can do better and how far you’ve come, look back and smile just don’t get stuck looking back.

Number 5

Create a photo album, call it whatever you want or you could just use the same name as your iTunes (Music) playlist. This album will be a collection of your happiest moments, the times you felt great. The times you felt most at peace, whatever make you feel happy. Look through them when you feel down, if you want look through them while listening to your feel good playlist. Make sure you set a specific amount of time because you don’t want to get caught trying to relive those memories in your head, you don’t want to spend 3 hours looking through them. Spend 15 minutes every few days, or use a few minutes of your Holy Hour. Don’t put in anything they brings back negative or emo memories, this isn’t an emo session, it’s a FEEL GOOD session.

Number 6

watch something funny, I don’t know whether I should be encouraging this because we tend to go overboard with this. My all-time favourite is Friends, I can watch Friend over and over wishing and still laugh my heart out. Comedies are about 24 minutes, so stick to one episode, 2 AT THE VERY MOST. I know it feels good to watch more, but what you’re really doing is wasting time and distracting yourself if you overdose ( more than 2 episodes daily). Have a selection of your fan courier episodes and pick one to watch when you’re feeling low. For that one episode, put everything away, your books, your phone and just focus on the show and enjoy it. Enjoy every second of it. Laughter is the best way to counter low moods, follow this with exercise and then the other things live listed and you’ve got yourself a Champion start to the today, or at least for me it’s so. Remember to always put yourself on the clock when it comes to tv, I generally believe that we shouldn’t exceed more then an hour of tv a day, it not easy at first but it will get easier over time.

These are the things I use, helpfully they are beneficial to you and that you feel the same way.

Straight From The Heart

Denting the Universe

Good Afternoon guys, sitting at a Starbucks in Penang now, with my Café Mocha except today it,a venti, trying some variation out ( Venti 2 normal shots, 1 decaf, 6 pumps chocolate). So far my Penang trip has been amazing, the haze parted ways for my arrival 😉 the botanical gardens is an amazing place to chill and exercise; and i’ve actually been exploring Penang instead of just staying at one place, not that that isn’t fun but we need to try out new things. Checkout my twitter (@arkay6) or my Instagram (@arkaysthoughts) if you would like to take a look at the pictures of my trip so far.

So to the point of the day, it’s time for Thought of the Week, and today’s thought is simple enough, have you made an impact?

I can tell you this, one of the greatest sources of joy, satisfaction and happiness; one of the greatest feelings you can ever get is when you make a positive impact on somebody else’s life. Whether its a family member, part of your Team, a friend or a random person. I know it may sound bizarre to some out there, but it is true.

Making a positive impact doesn’t mean it has to BIG. it just has to come from the heart, it has to be a genuine act, something Straight From The Heart. It can be as small as helping a kid out with his homework which could be the turning point on his school year, it can be being there for your Friend in dark times and supporting him/her. It can be anything, because everything has an impact, it’s just a matter of scale. Remember, it doesn’t have to be BIG, start of small and then see what happens.

When I first started writing more positively about 3/4 months ago, during my “Second Coming” I got messages from old friends telling about how my writing was helping them, telling me how they could relate and thinking me for it. It was amazing, I felt great, made me feel like I was making a difference, that I wasn’t living in vain. Deep down, we all want to make a difference, but we have this perception that to make a difference it’s got to start of BIG, or they you have to have money to make a true impact, and while that may certainly help you, it doesn’t mean that you can’t make an impact or a difference around you without it.

Anyone can make a positive difference, you just got to believe you can, start small (Just Do It), and take it from there. You can start by taking on more responsibility at home, help out to lessen the burden on the other members of the family, that will make an positive impact/difference in their life’s. Be positive around the people around you, it will make an impact by helping to better their moods, when someone is having a bad day, find a way to cheer him/her out, if you’re friend hasn’t celebrated his/her Birthday in a while, plan a surprise Birthday party! Send flowers to someone when you think they need it, yes they will die, but I personally discovered this year that flowers will brighten the mood of the recipient, cheesy… Yes, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

Steve Jobs and Woz started out from a garage, they didn’t know that that would lead to the most valuable company at the moment, churning out products that make a positive difference in our life’s, My life. Mother Theresa started out with picking up one person before going on to helping out thousands.

But remember, as much as you want to make a positive impact, don’t forget about taking care of yourself, I am a big advocate of ensuring they you can take care of yourself, yes this will help you as well, but don’t get lost trying to save the world that you lose yourself.

Anyone can make a positive difference, it’s just a matter of scale.

Straight From The Heart

Sunday Reflections – Going In One More Round

It’s been a great Sunday so far, ventured into Bukit Gasing and pushed myself harder than I have in years and I feel incredibly proud of myself.

Achievement Unlocked.

Over the past week the first thing that I see when I wake up is a poster, and on that poster is a line that does like this:

“Going in one more round when you don’t think you can – that’s what makes all the difference in your life.” Rocky

I’ve been pushing myself over the last week, I’ve been trying new things, I’ve been focusing and most importantly I’ve been exercising. From basic 1.5km walks I pushed on to 3.33km, and then 4.5 km the day after followed by 4.8km and then today 5.6km through Bukit Gasing, which was incredible difficult. I found myself scared many times during the trail, it wasn’t easy and there were times I wanted to give up, but every time I would refocus myself and calm down, take a breather and push forward. I didn’t plan to go into Bukit Gasing, it was a spur of the moment thing during what was intended to be a chilled 5km walk.

I’m glad I did it, I really am. I keep surprising myself and most importantly, I’m showing the Fibromyalgia who’s in charge. I’ve been walking consistently at 8ish, getting myself 8 hours of sleep, I’ve been practicing better sleep hygiene (is it even called that?), I’ve been making it a daily goal to do something new, whether it’s trying a new cafe or going on a new trail, just anything new, and I’ve been feeling good. It hasn’t been all perfect but I’m working on it, and it’s been a good good week.

The greatest thing to happen over the last week is my exercising. It has filled me with energy, confidence and endorphins. It’s come to a point where I look forward to my workouts. I’ve been trying twice a day, and it’s been doing wonders. Of course there are the body aches, and they come with Fibromyalgia fuelled vengeance in the mornings, and the only reason I managed to fight them and get up out of bed is the fact that I wake up to that Rocky quote and also some other reading I’ve been doing, but the main motivation has been the quote. And truly, every time I’ve gone in that extra round when I didn’t think I could make it at first, I think of the quote and I push myself harder, I focus on being positive and I consciously change my thinking from “I don’t think I can” to “just do it”.

Yes I know this sounds cheesy and all that, but it’s truly been an enlightening week, and I’m going to follow through on that this week. I’m going to take a break tomorrow by just doing a 3km run, I’m not going to have a compete rest day because I don’t want to disrupt this momentum, and honestly I don’t want to rest, I actually want to do 6km at least tomorrow, but I’ve got to think and refuel.

Over the next week i’ll push further by focusing on being more responsible at home, focusing on academics and reading, following on from the great week.

Keywords: will power and discipline.

It’s been a great week of moving forward.

Straight From The Heart

Walk the Talk

I’ve been trying to do one new thing daily and so today, instead of Starbucks, I thought I’d try something different. So here I am, at Artisan Roast Cafe with my flat white. It’s pretty good, but I miss my Café Mocha, should have tried their mocha here instead, I guess that’ll have to be another time. By right now, I can say that this place is a nice chill out place for coffee purist, parking was a pain but I finally got a place. It has a very very different feel from Starbucks. But hey, what’s life if we don’t try out new things.

Today’s post revolves around the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words,” and “walk the talk.”

A lot of us talk a good talk but can we deliver? Are our actions in line with our words? Is our video aligned with your audio, as Robin Sharma says.

This is definitely something to think about, don’t say something if you don’t mean it, don’t make promises you can’t keep. You may say something is important to you, but do you actions follow through on it?

I remember this from one of Robin Sharma books, “your schedule doesn’t lie.” you may say that you family is top priority but do you schedule time to spend with them? You may say exercise is important but have you scheduled down workout sessions for the week?

Remember, anyone can talk a good talk, but not everyone can walk the talk. Listen to what you say regularly and ask yourself, do I really mean this? Do I really do these things? Am I just talking utter BS?

This habit is not beneficial to anyone in the long run, to you and your loved ones. You will hurt yourself and them.

Now one of the biggest enemies of walking the talk is procrastination, people have good intentions but good intentions are just that, intentions, and intentions won’t make a differences to anything or none unless they’re translated into action. The way to fight procrastination, start small , just do it and Keep Moving Forward. There are many decisions to make and things to do, just get cracking.

Do you remember what your new year’s resolution was?
When was the last time you made a promise and then didn’t keep it?

Words mean nothing until they become actions, yes words have the power to stimulate action, but they isn’t always the case as you and I both know.

Most of us (notice that i used ‘us’) are all guilty of these things, so here are a couple things to keep in mind that will help rectify this issue, it’s not an instant fix but it’s definitely the right way to go if you, like me, want to kill this habit/practice.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep, make sure your schedule is inline with your priorities or what you say are your priorities & don’t say something if you don’t mean it, if you’re going to say it, make sure you can do it.

Hope this helps,

Straight From The Heart

Reflection

Today’s piece is short, nothing much, feeling a little blocked.

Let’s take a look back at the week. I came back from an Singapore awesome trip, got back to writing & started focusing on my development again. It wasn’t easy getting back to waking up early or sitting down and getting my Holy Hour on or reading daily. I’m not going to beat myself for falling of track, it happens, I’m human. We’re all human,and we’re going to make mistakes and stumble, the important thing is to, as Aaliyah said, pick yourself up and Try Again,Try Again.

Take it a step at a time, and even a 1% improvement is better than no improvement, just Keep Moving Forward.

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