The festivities have kept me from being active in this space. Now I am determined to get back and key in my thoughts at least once a week. Another activity I had fallen behind in, is my walk in the park. This morning I was determined to restart both the activities, for a starter I got to the park after breakfast and hit the walking track. I love walking and as I started on the park's walking track, I felt the usual excitement I experience on a walk. It starts with a peace that touches every part of my body and ends with an awesome personal delight. Most of the time I end the walk reluctantly due to time pressure. Personally for me the walk is not so much about burning the excess calories but it is an activity that I enjoy and reap instant benefits. I start slow and then pick up speed but I never loose sight of my surroundings. My walk, I suspect is most of the time an opportunity to admire nature and praise the Creator. At other times my walk is about switching on my 'Thinking Times' and I come away solving a problem that I have been wrestling with or end up with a bunch of new ideas. As I walk, my eyes feast on the birds, flowers and the greenery around the park, I like what I see and soon I end up rendering silent praises to the hand behind these beautiful creation. The walk is always very relaxing as the mind is completely occupied in admiration and adoration, and shuts out the regular pressures, worries, and fears that is generally fighting for residence. This morning towards the end of my walk as I started experiencing the awesome personal delight, a thought stuck me, if I enjoy the walk so much, what keeps me from doing this more often ? I did not get an immediate answer to satisfy me but the thinking cap was on and I continued to wrestle with the question and later as I relaxed after the walk, some answers came to me and I was ashamed! The walk involves some amount of effort. . . the first part is saying 'No' or delaying some other activities that is now and here. For instance reading the newspaper from the front page to the last word on the last page or jumping into your mail for an early start or even chatting with a friend on phone etc. All of these activities I can do without leaving my bedroom but walk means I need to get dressed, go down to the garage and drive out into the traffic for 4 to 6 minutes before I can get to the park. Often there are other 'easy' activities that will keep you busy the whole day and stop you from doing something that you enjoy so much and benefit from ! At the end of the day there is only regrets or guilt and you promise a better tomorrow, which may never come.So what is the way out ? I thought on this question too and I came away convinced that, prioritisation, discipline and consistency were needed to make some thing a way of life. I am now listing down what I want out of my days and then I will put a time plan to make all that happen. Yes, I want to walk everyday and it is on my list. Something has to go from my daily schedule to find walking time. The choices are to shave the time off the TV minutes or the net surfing. . . I will let you know where the time came from and how I am doing. How about you, do you want to do something that you enjoy but don't find time to do? Let us work on it together...

Home Sweet Home

It is been more than a week since I posted the details of my weekend in
New York. On Monday evening I got on a flight out of JFK and arrived home in the wee hours of Wednesday. It is great to be home, sleep on my own bed and have my loved ones around me and never having to worry about where my next spicy meal is coming from ! The weather too is great after the freezing wet weekend I experienced in New York. It is good to be home and I rejoice at the privilege of having a home where I am loved and cared for, a home where everyone in the family is happy to to get back after a trip or at the end of a hard day's work. A home where every one loves each other and bond well. I believe a happy home is the outcome of our attitudes, beliefs and practices. We will only succeed in our goal of creating a happy home if we are ready to sacrifice our egos and selfish behaviours that is wrapped around 'I' 'Me' and 'Mine' rather than 'You', We, 'Us' etc.

A happy home may not be a must to succeed in life but a happy home sure accelerates your success and what good is success if we have no one (Folks who genuinely care for you and love you) to celebrate it with?

Happy homes are a Blessing and results from our unselfish motives and unconditional love. Tough to do but a great investment for your future and your children's future. I am very happy to have a happy home.

Weekend In New York

I packed and checked out of Hilton as soon as I finished my work on Friday morning. I had some deadlines to be met and so I spent the morning closing out all that. The logistics for my meetings scheduled for the day was daunting. I had to get to Somers office for a meeting at 12 Noon and then the next meeting was at White Plains 2 PM. After that I had to travel to New York to Issac and Susan's home for the weekend. With no one one to drive me around and no taxi to hail I asked the hotel to organise transport for me. Initially they were only successful to arrange for a drop to Somers but later we got the whole thing worked out. Just after my meeting in Somers at 1 PM, I got a message that the meetings in White plains was called off. The meeting was to be held in Crown Plaza Hotel. As the Limo had already come and I was to be picked up from Crown plaza by Issac after my meetings, I decided to go there. A 60 minute drive took me to Crown Plaza, White Plains. I walked in with my luggage very confidently and made myself comfortable in one corner of the lobby. I spent the next 3 hours there working on my laptop and when the battery ran out I sat back and caught up with my reading. For about 20 minutes I had company, some of my colleagues who were camping in Crown Plaza came back from work to get ready for a evening in Manhattan.







About 7 PM I breathed a sigh relief as we drove into Issac and Susan's drive way. Susan was at home and she busied herself to get us Tea and snacks. Later we went out for dinner to a Indian restaurant. Saturday was at the Mall, my contribution to the US economy. The highlight of the day was our Lunch at a Thai restaurant. I was bent on having some spicy food and I was confident that Thai eating houses won't let me down. We found it in Issac's GPS and set directions to get there . It was a cute little restaurant tucked away in one of the New York suburbs. The decor was authentic and the food even more authentic. It was not only spicy but delicious as well . I loved it! Issac and Susan went to the international mart brought fish and tapioca (Yuca) and cooked me another delicious meal for dinner. I did not want Susan to spend her weekend in the kitchen and so I had told them that we will eat out . She did not listen and she ended up cooking many meals at home for me. God Bless her!



Sunday I woke up to see the first snow fall of the season! I stood by the window looking at the snow flakes coming down. Soon a blanket of white covered every thing and I rejoiced at the whole experience . Although the snow kept falling and the roads were slippery we went to Church. Issac and Susan attends a AG church. There are two services in the morning as they cannot accommodate all their members in one service. We choose the second service at 11 AM and got there just before the the first service got over. I didn't think that there would be any one at the service as it was too early and the weather was not commuter friendly but to my surprise it was full house. The 11 AM service was no different,it was packed, every seat in the 300 plus auditorium was taken! As we had arrived early I decided to attend the Adult Sunday School class. I learned a lot during the the 45 minute interactive session, the church service too was a blessed experience.





Lunch was at Charlie Brown, a stake house, I had fish and Chips. The salad bar helped me get some chillies to spice up my food. Lunch was followed by more shopping. The snow ploughs were out on the streets to clear the snow and driving became a little more easy. The snow was followed by a light drizzle sending the mercury down. Fortunately I was well clad to meet the biting cold. How much better it is when we are prepared !