Light v Dark (2013)

So, i haven’t written in a while… actually that’s a little of an understatement, it’s been just under 2 months. How on earth did i go 2 months without writing? Could that have been a contributory factor to the messiness and disorder of the last 7/8 week? I think yes.

Good Afternoon dear readers,

This is my 3rd Flat White at the PJ Artisan, and i’m really liking this place. Close to home, quiet, great coffee… so Artisan on the weekdays and Coffea on the weekends?

Anyway, i’ve finally reemerged from a 7 week period of Fibro-Infused Disordered Mess, with 3 exams in between. I’m actually not sure what’s being going on over the last 7 weeks, i know i’ve been busy, but it’s all quite a blur. After my last piece i started waking up late again, thanks Fibro, and that just threw everything out of sync and then began the mess & disorder, followed by Exam Month, and now i’m here… 2 weeks post-exam, finally getting to the keyboard. Yesterday i tried to get some writing done, but the only writing i did was yesterdays Little Yellow Note with the quote from Robin Sharma, “This day is your life in miniature. Make it Brilliant.”

Talk about timing. I was in no way living my ideal days, not by a long shot.

There was no balance, no sense of purpose, no clarity.

There was nothing really to wake up to in the mornings.

The days were a blur, living life like a leaf in the wind.

Yes I had exams, and yes i’ve also been having fun and socialising, but a vital component to my life was missing, that very important part of me that helped me keep my balance.

My writing, My thoughts…

My clarity.

Finally, I’m feeling clear again, maybe it’s the coffee, maybe the fibro is easing off, but whatever it is, I have enough of it back.

Just thinking about it, in my life there are two sides.

The Light Side of the Force – my Clarity.
With this comes hope & belief based upon seemingly realisable goals and potential solutions that have come around simply because I can think without it being a struggle and fight. I’m able to look at a wider and larger picture, able to live life keeping in mind more than one step ahead.

The Dark Side of the Force – my Fibro.
With this comes fear, anger, hate & doubt (George Lucas was a genius, seriously). The Fibro brings about the Fog that clouds my mind, bring about pain and sensitivity that leads to anger, hate and bitterness and of course fatigue which bring about Fear, fear of being trapped indefinitely and at random by Body and/or Mind.

My life now is all about keeping the Dark Side in check, which i failed to do adequately (duh) over the last 7 weeks. These are the cards i’ve been dealt and i have to keep that in mind and all times, something that can be very depressing at times, to always remind yourself of your limitations, this is when it is so important for my Clarity to kick-in and remind me of the things that i have going for me and to focus on those. To focus on my great family that keeps me going, on my talents that supply me with a sense of clarity and purpose and my material life that allows to live a comfortable life and enjoy some material pleasures, like my coffee and my gadgets. It takes all three of these to offset the incredibly bankrupt state of my health.

These are the cards i’ve been dealt, and until i have access to the dealer and the pack, i’m just going to have to do what i can and make sure that the average progression is upward (line of best fit with regards to progress of life).

So my main prerogative in life, for now at least, is about keeping Fibro at bay by primarily safeguarding my Clarity.

That’s all for now. I’d say not too bad of a reboot, certainly not a Man Of Steel reboot, but it’ll do.

Here’s to my next instalment of my Notes On Life Series, coming soon, hopefully :/.

Straight From The Heart

Roshan “Arkay” Kanesan

Light

Dark

Notes on Q1 & Q2, Goals & Guidelines

Good Afternoon readers,

It’s feeling like quite the zoned out and blur day for me today, quite tired and all that jazz. Head’s feeling really fogged up. Hoping that my Costa Rica Tarrazu at Coffea will help clear things up 🙂 i’m having black coffee today, which is a first, and i have to say, it’s pretty good actually.

Anyway, it’s now the 4th of April, which means that we’re 4 days into the 2nd quarter of 2013.
It’s time to look back over the last 3 months and see how things stand.

Over the last 3 months i’ve done quite a bit of travelling (Macau, Kuala Terengganu, Penang, Perth), watched SHM, had quite an awesome Birthday week, got back to classes and made better friends at Monash, read quite a bit (Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords), got back to writing, started journaling again, got the ball rolling on waking up early & exercise and of course dealing with Round 1 2013.

Essentially it’s been a quarter of small daily improvements, a quarter of repairing the foundation and of moving forward and learning. I’m fairing much better with Round 1 2013 as compared to Round 1 2012, which is good. I’ve gained a better understanding of Fibromyalgia and am making a point to spread that awareness. So that other people understand and so that i don’t forget.

As for goals, i can say that i’ve missed quite. I made my goals not accounting for setbacks and well, life in general haha.

But that doesn’t mean i’m not going to set goals for Q2, however this time i’ll take what i’ve learnt from Q1 and use that to calibrate Q2 goals; Health, Academic, Personal Development, Social & Finances.

Q2 Goals & Guidelines include:
1) a book a week
2) 3 posts a week
3) wake up at 6am 4 times a week
4) morning exercise 5 times a week
5) Study lecture content before hand.
6) not going out after 7pm & sleep by 10pm – Sunday to Wednesday.
7) 1 vegetarian meal a day
8) journal during Holy Hour (which means daily)
9) 2 road trips
10) Cut monthly expenses (includes: transport, food, coffee, phone bills, etc) to 700.

Going to work on the Q2 Goals & Guidelines a little more, but the 10 above are the core elements.

Have you thoughts about how your last quarter has gone? Have you thought about how you want the next quarter to go?

Get cracking on your goals.

Start small and simple and build on that. Set some goals for the week and simple daily goals that will help you achieve the weekly goals. Always break things down into smaller manageable steps.

They all feed into each other.

Daily Goals build up to Weekly goals that build up to Monthly goals -> Quarterly goals -> Yearly goals -> 5 years -> 10 years

With goals and guidelines you build an awareness on what’s important, and that will be the difference.

By getting clear on what you want out of life, you heighten your awareness around what’s most important. With better awareness comes better choices. And with better choices you’ll see better results. Clarity breeds success.
Robin Sharma

I leave you with that to think about,

Straight From The Heart

Small Daily Improvements Lead to Stunning Results

Good morning again,

I was just watching one of Robin Sharma‘s Vlogs and came across this:

“Small daily improvements overtime lead to stunning results.” Robin Sharma

He makes such a good point, we underestimate the importance of daily improvement and practice. No matter how small the progress, daily progress eventually builds up a momentum that will propel you further forwards. W just have to keep moving forward.

“The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.” Confucius

Once we “Just do it” and get something started, we just need to keep improving on it, a 1% daily improvement is better than a 10% gain one day and then being stagnant. Daily improvement will lead to breeding a great habit, daily practice.

Practice is so incredible important in our journey to achieve greatness, in a our attempts to climb mountains, cross rivers, you get the picture. If we do not practice, how do we expect to achieve results & goals?

All experts began as amateurs, all geniuses began as beginners.

Over the past week or so I’ve been focusing on a few things.
1. Waking up at 7
2. Swimming first thing in the morning
3. Blogging daily
4. Reading for an hour daily
5. Sleeping well

I didn’t achieve all this on the first day, but over the past 10 days I have seen great results, it just took daily improvements. I started by waking up at 8:30, and then 8:15 etc. I started my morning swimming by swimming 5 minutes the first time, and now I’ve progressed to 20 minutes and doing it at least 5 mornings a week. The blogging, well you know that story. The reading has been pretty steady, an average of 45 minutes a day now. And I’ve made it a point to go to bed by 10:30 everyday, so that my sleep cycle is readjusted, and the adjustment is indeed happening. I find myself feeling more refreshed in the mornings, and wanting to sleep at around 10. Next week I’m. Going to try waking up at 6:30, let’s see how that goes.

Anyway, I hope you get my point, daily improvement. Tattoo that on your brain. Before going to bed, take your journal and write about the things you did well, the things that weren’t so brilliant and the ways you can’t make tomorrow better. It set’s your actions in alignment with your goals. Don’t be busy being busy, don’t work so hard climbing the mountain only to realise that you climbed the wrong on. We all have limited time in a day, be smart about it.

Improve daily, be in line with your vision, put more living in your day.

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

5 things to be Grateful for this Monday Morning

Good morning again!

My second post on this cool Monday morning,

I know a lot of people will be feeling the Monday Blues, especially since this morning was such awesome weather to sleep in but don’t wake up in a bad mood. I used to and It didn’t help my day at all.

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” – William Penn

Waking up on the wrong side of bed is an excuse we give ourselves to feel like shit and be grumpy for the day. There are plenty of things to be grateful for today and everyday and this is very good practice for everyone, it has helped me a great deal in the past few weeks (thank you Robin Sharma). Wake up in the morning, think about 5 things you are grateful for, whether it is a great family, a job, a car or just that the sun is shinning. It really does help, take it from me. Have a journal and write it down, it doesn’t have to be a book, I use my iPad and iPhone. Another thing I do every morning is I read my favourite quotes which I have pasted on my wall, I call it my “Daily Wall Reading” and it helps me feel great,motivated and inspired every morning.

“Today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.” – Dr Seuss

The difference between waking up on the wrong side of bed and on the right side of bed is how you want to wake up. The above methods sound cliche and cheesy but they helped me get out of a very dark place and help me stay away from the dark place. If it helped me, it can help you and c’mon, no here no harm in trying, is there?

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar

I am grateful for:
1. A family that loves me and believes in me
2. I was able to wake up this morning without feeling like I was run over by an 18-wheeler
3. The brilliant cool air that invigorated my soul
4. The responsibility of having little brother that has helped me mature and develop.
5. The people (you) who have supported my blog and help me feeling great, everyday.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau

I’ll post pics of my wall reading later.

Have a great Monday and a great week ahead!

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay 6

Waking Up Early & Sleeping Well

Good morning all, and what a wonderful morning it is. I’m sipping on my green tea,chilling at Starbucks listening to whatever chilling music it is that they are playing. But whatever it is, it feel like a great morning, don’t you think so?

Today’s post is a simple one, one very close to home for so many…waking up early and sleeping well.

I feel that waking up early is integral to feeling like a champion, yes it may be hard wake up, hard to fight the desire to sleep in, (normally its difficult because you’re not sleeping well) but the rewards of waking up early are so damn great.

It feels like I have more time, that by the time I’m done swimming, showering, eating breakfast, blogging, reading for at least an hour and running a few errands, it’s only 12pm, which feel great cause before, when I used to wake up at 10/11 the day used to feel so short because it’s normal to feel that the day has come to an end when it gets dark, it’s natural. I so prefer sleeping before 12, getting 8 hours of sleep and then getting up to the to greet the sun. Not only, is it normal, it feel great.

It’s incredibly important to get enough sleep, don’t skimp out on that, skimp on tv time, but don’t skimp on sleep. At least 8 hours. Some people are blessed in a way that they auto wake up after 6-7 hours of sleep and still feel like a million bucks, but that isn’t for everyone. Follow what you’re body is telling you, aim to sleep early so that you can wake u early. I learnt the incredibly hard way about the importance of sleep… Because one day, if you continue to skimp on sleep, work hard and party hard, your body will burn out… And that, won’t be good.

I’ve spent the last few years reviving myself from my premature burnout, please do yourself a favour and take care.

Balance is just so damn important.

We can all reach greatness but we won’t all do it at the same pace, know your body, know yourself, listen to your body and most important take time to have solid, straight, proper, restful sleep at night and then start the day early.

The most simple advise, something we all learn so early in life but then forget because we don’t give sleep the importance it truly deserves.

Fear

Fear is other ultimate enemy of progress, of change, of the human race. As crazy as this sounds we must, as Robin Sharma says, run towards our fears instead of running away from them.

The fear to give a presentation or bid for a project is real, and it isn’t all bad, it makes us realise how important the task at hand is and in this scenario can help us, but a lot of the time fear causes us to run away from a task or delay or procrastinate because we don’t want to experience the feeling or we’re just scared of failing. But what people who succumb to fear don’t know, or forget, is that the more you give in to fear, the more power you give it and this will only be detrimental to your own growth and makes whatever potential you have, the potential you had.

Embrace the fear you have, acknowledge it, it’s real don’t pretend it isn’t, but instead of letting it win, you go ahead and stare that fear in the face and show it who’s boss.

Embrace the butterflies in stomach before a presentation and then go out there, just do it. Once you’ve already done all you can to prepare, all that’s left is to do it. Preparation is vital but doing the action is what really matters.

Doing what you most fear is the first step to annihilating that fear, yes you might fail but that’s better than living in the shadows of your fears, because you can always pick yourself up and try again.

Prepare, do your best work and then face you fears, because even if you fall, you’re one step closer to beating that fear and one step closer fulfilling your potential. We all want to be great at something, and facing fears is going inevitable in that pursuit.

Look at the Crazy Ones, they didn’t let fear paralyse them into inaction or turning back.

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay6

Onward Ho!

Birds flying high, you know how i feel.

I’m actually feeling good this morning, woke up relatively early and stayed up… didn’t go back to bed even though i had nothing to do and was tired. I took a step forward, which brings me to my point today. Keep Moving Forward.

Coincidentally, as i was writing this, an old friend of mine, Somaiah, mentioned this quote to me (via the miracle that is FB)

Life’s like a bicycle, you got to keep moving to keep your balance.

Makes a whole lot of sense if you think about it. Thanks Soms.

I have mentioned one more than one occasion that life is tough, that it’s full of challenges, that it isn’t all Rainbows and Butterflies. This Growth can only happen at a point of resistance… if the human race never faced problems or challenges… we’d either be extinct or still in caves but anyway…

the most important thing when it comes to life is Taking Action, being Proactive, Trying…. if you do not try, you will never know if you can succeed.

Going on, one step at a time… you should have a long term picture but don’t rush or jump around, take it a step at a time… I have realized that patience is the key to achieving my goals and that there’s no point rushing if it’s all just gonna fall apart… just like the construction of a building i have to make sure the foundation is strong, more specifically, over the next few months i’m going to have to adjust my diet and build habits and routines to minimize symptoms and strengthen my body and mind. I need to restart my sleep cycle among other things.

The fact is, I need to Keep Moving Forward, I need to keep taking that one additional step, no matter how small, because if i do all the small things right, big things will happen. No matter how small I need to make sure that every day I take one step towards what i want to achieve “tomorrow” and not give up… because it’s just that much harder to beat someone who won’t give up.

At the end of the day, Being Challenged in Life is Inevitable but being Defeated is Optional

Till the Next Time,

May the Force be with you so that you May Live Long and Prosper,

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay6

normally, if lines are in Italics, means that they’re quotes that I read somewhere. 🙂 peace out

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