365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 12: 'Don't Spend, 'Invest' Your Time'!

Don’t Spend, ‘Invest’ Time

Time goes, you say? Ah no!

Alas, Time stays, we go.

– Henry Austin Dobson

Do you waste time? If you know the value of time, you will not.  You will not say ‘I spent time’, but will say ‘I invested time’. You will be punctual and organised. You will be conscious of the productivity of your time.

But the question is: how do we become conscious about the value of our time? One way is to know how much time has passed so far and how much is left over, just as you do with money!

Here’s an exercise which you should do today. Take your marriage album or your family album. Go through the album from cover to cover. Try to do a time regression. Go back and review the past ten or fifteen years of your life as though you are seeing a movie. You will realise that a lot of time has disappeared and will continue to disappear with or without your consent and knowledge. Calculate how many more years and weeks you have and think what you are going to do with the time available?

Do it today.
From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live'
NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 11: Close Your Eyes and Focus!

Close Your Eyes

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is the way great spiritual giants are produced.

– Swami Vivekananda

Try a very difficult exercise today! Keep your eyes closed for a solid 10 minutes! Stop reading this; set the timer in your mobile for 10 minutes; determine that you will remain eyes-closed for a solid 10 minutes, and close your eyes. You should not open your eyes until the timer goes off. You will realise how difficult it is.

Our mind and attention is mainly distracted by our eyes and our ears. If only we control these two sensory organs, we can substantially improve our concentration and focus. Whenever you are travelling by a car (and if you are not driving!), try this self imposed training. Focus all your attention on some important issue that you are presently handling.

By keeping your eyes closed, you will be able to focus all your thoughts around the issue on hand. Slowly you can increase the duration of this exercise.

Try this today! 

From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live'

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 10: Breathe Right!

Learn to Breathe Right

For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.

– Sanskrit Proverb

If you observe a new born child breathing, you will realise how we have spoilt our breathing over a period of time! Newborn babies do what is called ‘diaphragmatic breathing’. They inhale fully, pause, and exhale fully. This process makes them healthy.

Today you meet any yoga master. They will explain the scientific reason behind the yogic breathing exercise called ‘pranayama’.

In this yoga exercise, we are advised to inhale very fast, hold the air in our diaphragm and exhale very slowly. If you think for a while, you will understand the reason for this process: If the air is retained in the lungs for a longer time, the air is purified in the lungs and the cleaned, richly oxygenated air is absorbed by the blood vessels and is supplied to the brain; a richly oxygenated brain virtually becomes a ‘powerhouse’ giving us the much needed energy to fire us into action.

From today, make it a point to breathe well for fifteen minutes early morning and take advantage of the ozone rich air and watch what happens to your health! 

From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live'

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 9: Use Both Hands!

Use Both Hands

An idle brain is the devil's workshop.

– English Proverb

A few days ago, I suggested left-hand writing as a brain gym exercise. A quick response from a reader that these days we don’t write, but only type!

This is good news in fact. Over a period of time, we have become predominantly one-handed. In some cultures, it is a taboo to use the left hand and the left leg. The idea behind the ‘other hand writing’ of the brain gym is to integrate the right and the left hemispheres of the brain by using both hands.

I suggest that you should indulge in any activity, which uses both the hands. When writing we are using only one hand. While typing we use both the hands and thus typing itself is a brain gym exercise! In addition, you can do other activities such as swimming, cooking, playing a stringed or percussion instrument, rowing and yoga, in which you have to use both hands.

Today, pick up an activity which will involve using both hands. Why don’t you start cooking? You will be earning a double benefit!
From my book: 365 Exciting Ways to Live.
NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 19: Learn to Practice Silence

Learn to Practice Silence

Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the Gods.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you heard the old adage ‘speech is silver and silence is gold’? Here’s a very difficult exercise – keeping quiet! Set your timer and decide not to speak even one word during the next one hour. You will realise how difficult is this ‘easy’ exercise.

The ability to speak is a unique gift, which only human beings have which distinguishes us from other living things. But it is also the most misused and over used skill. When you practice silence, you will notice that it substantially enhances your focus and energy. You may question how your energy and speaking are connected to each other, but it is true. In addition, this ‘self-imposed silent hour’ will also give you the gift of ‘thinking time’.

A journalist friend of mine maintains complete silence every Wednesday and he says that it is his ‘writing day’.

There is another context, where you can practice silence, that is, when others speak. Some people cannot wait for others to complete their communication and will interrupt. From today notice if you also belong to this ‘club’!

From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live'

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 8: Tickle Your Right Brain by Free Writing!

Free Writing

You know you've got to exercise your brain just like your muscles.

– Will Rogers

In the previous chapter, I talked about the importance of developing the Right Side of the brain and I suggested an exercise. Free writing is another powerful exercise to activate your Right Side of the brain. Free writing means taking a paper and pen and just writing anything that comes to your mind spontaneously. The Right Side of the brain is spontaneous and does not think logically. Hence, when you write whatever that comes to your mind, you are activating the Right Side of your brain.

Today buy a notebook. Ensure that you are not interrupted for the next fifteen minutes; open the first page, take a pen and just write whatever comes to your mind. In the 

beginning, perhaps you may not write much. But continue to write. Over a period of time words will flow. Don’t look for any meaning or logic while doing this. Just write. Date the page. Do it every day. After six months browse through the pages and you will notice something different!What are you waiting for? Start today!

From my book: '365 Exciting Ways to Live'

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 7 . Do Brain Gym Exercises!

Brain Gym

The more you use your brain, the more brain you will have to use.

– George Dorsey

People go to gyms and work out to maintain body fitness. Work outs make the body supple. They are alert throughout the day.

Have you ever heard of ‘brain gym’? Human brain has two halves, the Right Side and the Left Side. The Right Side brain is visual, emotional, holistic and dreaming. The Left Side is logical, sequential and realistic. You should have the benefit of both sides of the brain so that your emotional dreams are implemented by logical and sequential steps. For this you have to integrate the Right and the Left sides of the brain. The left side of the body is controlled by right side of the brain and vice versa. So, by moving the left side of the body you are activating the right side of the brain.

Here’s a brain gym exercise: Practice writing with your left hand (or the right hand if you are a left hander), for fifteen minutes a day. You may not notice immediate difference, but will improve your total personality over a period of time.

Try it from today!

From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live'

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 6

Make Your Ideas Work for You

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.

– Napoleon Hill

All of us get ideas. But successful people notice an idea, focus their attention, think about it and arrive at a strategy to give a final shape to the same. Most of us allow an idea to squelch like a water bubble. J.K. Rowling got the idea to write a book when she was travelling in a train from Manchester to London. Look what she has done with Harry Potter series of books!

From today, carry a small pocket book. You can name it anything such as ‘My Idea Book’ or ‘My Future Book’. Whenever you get an idea, just note it down. It is like rainwater harvesting. Once in every week browse through the idea book. Categorise them into three types: crazy ideas, probable ideas and possible ideas. Crazy ideas are those which cannot be put into action. Probable ideas are those which have some potential for implementation. Possible ideas offer more scope to work on. Every month you can have what is called ‘idea of the month’ and work out a detailed plan of action. You may end up with ‘idea of the year’!

Start with today!
NC Sridharan
From My Book '365 Exciting Ways to Live'
www.thetimefoundation.com
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