Oh Yes ! I Skydived

Amazingly I can still feel the chill when I try to re-live the moment when the instructor asked me to put my left leg out of the “plane” and then my right ! The moment when I was sitting on the edge of the airplane floor and looking outside, I could see my wife who had fallen from the same flight 15 seconds ago. It was a breathtaking moment.

I was excited right from the beginning. I had a big smile on my face when Skydive Surf City made me sign on the form which said that this activity may lead to serious injuries or even death and they are not responsible.. haha. A lot of people would get scared reading this.

We went up in the smallest of plane up 14000 feet in the sky. With every second spent in the flight the fall would increase. I was excited as well as nervous. I was a bit worried for my wife as she was very scared of doing this and she has decided at the very last moment that she wants to do it. It never gave me a chance to prepare myself for her jump. She was the first one to jump amongst us. At one moment I saw here and the next she fell. It sent a shiver in my spine and thousand thoughts passed by my mind about her safety. And the joke was all of this was happening in those 10 seconds while I was preparing my jump and then came my left leg out and then right. With the view of my wife still going through a free fall ! PHEW it was too much to handle. Before I could realize my instructor just jumped along with me.

The first few moments was extremely hard to believe that we have actually jumped from an airplane. This was the feeling for the first 5 seconds then I enjoyed the rest of the 25 seconds of my free fall. I could not feel anything. It got difficult for me to close my mouth as I was breathing through my mouth. Everything was comfortable though. It was a lot of fun and at one point I wanted to free fall for longer and was hoping that the parachute does not open. J. My instructor made me do a front flip and a back flip while we were free falling. Eventually the parachute opened and I felt I got back to air from outer space. Then the ride was smooth, just gliding in the sky like a bird. The location could not have been any better. It was Monterey bay. Blue sky above, sun shining on the side and the beautiful California coast line beneath. The water was blue, the beach was light brown and the land was green J What a sight !  

We did a parachute stunt as well. My instructor made me pull the right side of the parachute steering rope and away we go with right turn and catching up on speed. It was like a whirpool moving right. It was awesome. We were pretty close to the beach where my friends could watch me do this stunt. When I got closer to the surface I could see dolphins in the ocean jumping around. I finally saw my wife as landed and is waiting with my friends who landed before her. I landed on the beach. Safe and Sound with a feeling that will always be remembered and cherished.

Now that I re-live the moment I can still feel the chill when the instructor asked me to put my left leg out of the “plane” and then my right !

The day was Sept 16, 2011. It will never be forgotten. 

Who moved my Cheese?

Finally I have read my first book. The only motivation being that I had heard about it somewhere and it was just 100 pages. Honestly even 100 pages seem a lot to me considering I have no interest in reading books. However I gave it a shot and managed to read it.  

We don’t like change in life. It is hard for us to see something taken away from us. The moral of the story was to keep accessing your situation in life at every point. Keep looking around for possible opportunities and be open minded to see something come to an end which forces us for a new beginning. Be acceptable to new things in life and be ready for change.

People get dependent very easily. Then it is hard for them to accept change. Who moved my cheese is a wonderful story of 2 men and 2 mice and how they handle situations when they see there was no cheese that they could eat.

One closed door can open up multiple open doors. We just need to have the courage and the willingness to go out and explore. The story tells us to ask one question to ask ourself  “Would I do something if I was not afraid” and if the answer was yes then you gota just do it.

I write this article today as I realize my cheese is moved. My project at work has changed and I am not going to crib about it. May be something better in store for me. 

Anger - The poison

From anger false beliefs arise and from these false beliefs confusion in memory occurs. Confusion results in loss of intelligence and rationality and once intelligence and rationality are lost it leads to destruction of man.

I read this line every day. I have put up a print on my office desk. I want to believe in it cause I know this is true. Anger can blow up a lot if things in life. Anger makes you say words that you don't probably mean.And not everytime will your anger be "understood" by others. You will not get away by them for the excuse "You know what forget it, I know he did not mean it. He was just angry". You might get away sometimes but surely not everytime. And this mistake can prove really costly. It can blow up relationships. It can blow up million dollar deals and just about everything. In return there is only pain and agony.

How many times it has happened in your life that you get angry on ur brother or sister or any other person who you know and then there is a fight. If at all you end up using those key harsh words just because of your anger the fight becomes more dramatic and then you are brought to a point where you just switch off from the person and not talk for a while. 

Its incomparably harder to make or maintain a relationship than to ruin it. And YES ANGER WILL RUIN IT !.

I am finding ways myself to work around anger. One way that works for me is to just go quiet, give in to the argument, accept defeat. You are no small man if u accept defeat one time two time three time, chances are that fourth one will be your win. May be the other person might feel something's not right.  

The very first line I wrote about the destruction of man was translated from the holy book Geeta. 

20 Inspirations

Thanks to various sources I could collect 20 inspirational quotes that really inspire me. If they make sense to you then get INSPIRED ! :)

1.      )    Life isn’t fair but it’s still good
   2)    Forgive everyone for everything
   3)      Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
   4)      Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
   5)      You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagreements.
   6)      Try to make at least three people smile each day.
   7)      Dream more while you are awake
   8)      What other people think of you is none of your business
   9)      Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
   10)   Enjoy the ride. Life is not Disney World and you don’t want a fast pass. Make the most of every moment and enjoy.
   11)   Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
   12)   Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn and pass all the tests. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
   13)   Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch.
   14)   No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
   15)   Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
   16)   Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
   17)   No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
   18)   The best is yet to come. BELIEVE !
   19)   However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
   20)   Make peace with your past, so it won’t mess up the present.

Aug 2011 .. Really?

Time did fly … My last post was in 2007 ! …. So much changed … I became a professional from a student J … I am no longer single L .. now that says a lot that the time indeed has flown by. But when I look back in these 4 years of my life I have a bit of disappointment as to what I could have achieved. Yes I graduated, Yes I got a wonderful job, Yes I got married, Yes I am still working BUT this is what I was in any case supposed to do at minimum, Isn’t it? But what else ! I am disappointed that I have not made enough friends. I am disappointed that I have not learnt enough. I am disappointed I have not gone ahead with day to day learning of “Finance”. I have always wanted to learn basic finance as it runs in my blood. However its disappointing that 4 years have gone by in a blink of an eye and I could achieve only what I was supposed to achieve.

These kind of milestone’s in one’s life are a must and hence I feel I have achieved nothing but just the basic things that were expected out of me. I have not done anything apart from my routine life. I have not gone out of the way. I might sound a bit abstract as to what “extra” am I looking out of my life. Well that’s the disappointment ! I know I am feeling lost and feel that I could do much more. Not sure who said this but I will quote to whoever said this “You cannot cross the ocean just by staring at it”. To one and all I am sure a lot of you will be in this boat.

It time to get something more out of life. May it be social service or personal service, but it is very important to make use of your time and talent to achieve something more that what you are supposed to do. When I make this statement I feel I am just a talker and not a doer. Well saying nothing more than I want to do something more with my life and I will do it and I wish you will to if you are already not.