Are you sure you are breathing? »

Do you breathe voluntarily and consciously? Now what a question is that! We all learned in our younger years that breathing is an involuntary function of the body. It just comes naturally. But I have a reason to ask this question.

A few years ago, I mentioned to a colleague of mine at work, “Oops, I just realized that I was not breathing!” He gave me a sarcastic laugh and said, “how can someone forget to breathe?” as he got up and left his seat. Back then, it made me wonder for a while whether I was the only one, or whether I just mistakenly felt that I had stopped breathing.

Oxygen is vital to life, no doubts about that. But did you know that you could be depriving your body of the required amount of oxygen if you do not…

Simple exercises for flexibility and good health »

While we are working on our challenge for the month of October 2010, “Exercise for 15 minutes each day”, I thought I would share with you a simple yet effective exercise routine that I make use of.

Over the years, I have used various variations of this routine, adding or removing some exercises from this list depending on my needs and availability of time.

Today I will quickly list down what I did as part of the first day at this challenge, and maybe I’ll modify this over the next few days through this challenge to make it more comprehensive.

Meanwhile you should be able to get an idea of how simple this really is, and, for just 15 minutes a day, can bring you the benefits of flexibility and good health, and a feeling of being refreshed.

Here it is then, short and simple…

Exercise for 15 minutes each day – The Challenge »

Now before you make a face and turn down this challenge, take a look at the simplicity of it’s purpose, give it a shot, and your body will thank you a million times over the years for having taken up this small but powerful step towards your physical well-being.

By the way, if you would like to see the list of proposed challenges and vote for your favorite ones for next month, click here. If you want to suggest any new challenges that you would like to take up, you can do so by leaving a comment on the Challenges & Experiments page here.

Physical health is one of the vital sectors of living. I believe that there are three major factors that relate to physical health, viz. Food, Rest and Exercise.

We’ve dealt with the rest component in a way when we took up the challenge “On time to bed, on time to rise“. We’ll address Food sometime in the near future. This time let’s deal with the Exercise component.

Like always, our days get so busy that we do not have time for ourselves. The Experiments and Challenges series aims at making those few minutes each day just for yourself. This month we will make 15 minutes for ourselves each day to take care of one of the commonly neglected factors, Exercise.

The reason I asked you *not* to put this off as just another attempt to build an exercise routine, is…

Meditate for 15 minutes each day – The Challenge »

Many of us get trapped into the rat race. Our days get so busy that we do not have time for ourselves. We go through our daily life responding to the many demands put on us by many different people, be it at work, at home, in our social circles, or even by our own limited thinking. We get drowned into doing more and more, and doing things faster than ever before.

However, what if you were trying very hard and working very diligently, but only in the wrong direction?

Direction in life is more important than the speed of moving forward. It pays no dividends to get somewhere just to find that it was not where you wanted to go in the first place.

When we speak about…

On time to bed, on time to rise – The Reality, Part 2 »

Here’s just a quick note to let you know that the second part of the round up has been posted as promised earlier, as a continuation of the same post.

Here’s the link to the beginning of part #2:
On time to bed, on time to rise – The Reality, Part 2

Be sure to check out the details regarding the benefits that I experienced and the challenges that I faced during the 21-day challenge, “On time to bed, on time to rise”.

Wishing you success always,
Mark

On time to bed, on time to rise – The Reality »

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” – Charles C. Noble

I acknowledge that I have been close to being obsessed with my 21-day challenge to adhere to a good sleep routine. It’s been challenging and very eventful, and I’d like to share with you some of the experiences I’ve had when going through the challenge.

If you haven’t yet, you will need to first read the Logical Goal associated with this challenge in order to appreciate the foundation behind what is reflected upon in this article.

The Will for the Way

Going to bed early and waking up early has been one of my most difficult challenges, and I was determined to make big changes this time!

I would have never imagined that…

On time to bed, on time to rise – The Challenge »

“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”.

I learned that when I was a kid. Back then, it sounded more of a nice rhyme rather than a lesson. I would sleep early anyway, and wake up early enough to be on time to school. The results of success showed in the years ahead.

Then, at some point over the last few years, 24 hours in a day seemed to be just not sufficient. What’s more, I crossed the bar and encroached onto my sleep time. “What’s the point of sleeping so much anyway if you can do with much less of it and make time for other stuff instead?” was the thought process. But I was wrong. Very wrong! The ill effects showed up gradually, like slow poison. And that brings me to this point where I take this challenge head-on, to get into a proper sleep routine once again and enjoy its benefits towards a more successful life.

In case you missed my earlier post,…

Snore away to success! »

Ok, you can snore, but do not disturb the one you are sleeping with! (Pun intended)

Today let me ask you, “How many hours of continuous sleep do you grab each night?”

What!! Eight hours? There are only 24 hours in a day, and if you spend 8 hours of that on sleep, you’re wasting one third of your life just sleeping, aren’t you?

If you just answered to that question in the affirmative, then think again! If sleeping eight hours each night makes you think that you are wasting your time, then I’m here to be a little in your face and tell you that you need a change of perspective, because sleep is one of the most important ingredients to success!

Yes, I’m actually going to encourage you to grab some more sleep. But, that doesn’t mean you can sleep all morning and blame it on me, okay?

Remember my previous post where I mentioned that loss of health was one of the reasons that kept me away for some time? And you also remember me indicating that it was not work stress that caused it?

No points for guessing! Yes, it was…

How to handle stress – the three tiered approach »

There are different ways of handling stress. Based on my experience in dealing with all the stressful situations that I’ve been through over the years, I have come up with, and strongly recommend, a three tiered approach to handle stress.

The three tiers are:
1. Responsive
2. Adaptive
3. Preventive

In this article we will have a quick look at how I define each of these three tiers and some simple essentials to help achieve each of them.

What is Recreation? »

What came to your mind when you read “Recreation”? Fun? Enjoyment? Well, in a sense, yes. However there is a deeper meaning that one should remember when it comes to recreation – one that is indicated in the very formation of the word, Re-creation. We all get drained out as we try and keep up [...]