You glutton, you food whore!

Its an All-You-Can-Eat buffet that has lasted a week from christmas until new years. That's if you're lucky! If you're like me, I started cheating on my diet somewhere at the beginning of December. What may have  begun

 as mild flirtation with junk food turned into a whole affair that's made regret every single decision of my culinary life. Like most cases of I-cheated-on-you, I did it every single time knowing fully well that the pleasure was probably not worth the pain that lay ahead as a matter of consequence. But the mind sometimes falters in picking between what feels good and what feels right. Mine, clearly picked instant gratification.

It's too late now. The weighing scale has spoken, the denims aren't bursting at the seems just yet, but I'm just glad the change I needed is here. My resolution to stop eating crap has to begin now because the new year is when it must! The fact is, January 01 is the mother of all monday's even if it isn't one! It's a fresh start that pushes us all to redeem ourselves, only in this case, this so called new chapter seems doomed for failure because we set the bar so high, that we eventually forget that it's physically impossible to reach that high. Unless the bar is next to a cookie shelf, in which case, the kung-fu panda in each one of us seems to ascend in no time!

Here's the trick: You gotta keep things real. "I won't eat this and that and the other" isnt going to help. "I'm only eating boiled food" is gonna be the reason you'll probably end up being fatter. Worst of all "I will work out twice a day, 7 days a week" will be the reason you won't see the inside of the gym. Heck, you might avoid it like the plague! Go easy on yourself, make sure you don't set yourself up fr disappointment.

Here's my plan, very do-able, might I add: I will eat sensibly. Will work 5 days a week. And the only clear No-No is junk food and desserts. It's an easy plan. But hey, I'm only human! I'll either get that six pack, or I'm going to die trying... to fit into my denims, that is!

Happy New Year!

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I'm an addict. There, I said it.

If I'm not looking through a website that offers free worldwide shipping, I'm looking at websites that offer cheap airfares. Between the two, I prefer the former because there is something incredible about knowing that a parcel with your name on it is leaving another country!  I'm ok with paying the custom duties because the stuff I end up getting is a lot nicer than anything that is available locally. Plus, then the chances of me running into five other people wearing the exact same thing are a whole lot lesser! A
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I'm not sure at what point in the last year I got addicted to it. I'm the usual, touch-feel-try-buy kinda guy. But since sizes are more or less universal and I know that I need to order a "small" whatever in any case , the fitting room becomes a wee bit redundant. I must confess though, every now and then I'll even visit a furniture, home decor kinda website and browse a while through pots, pans and household appliances before heading out to Hypercity. If there is such thing as online window shopping, my window...is fairly large!

Here's what I do end up ordering online very often though. iPad covers, phone covers, clothes, macbook sleeves, protein powders, protein bars, clothes, inner wear, specially designed business cards, clothes, pen drives, gadgets, digital kitchen appliances and oh, I forgot to mention ...clothes! I'm not sure why when I shop online I feel like I'm not really paying for it. Shipping time has shrunk massively over the years and most international sites I order from deliver within one working week. the Indian sites end up delivering within 24 hours! Couldn't get better honestly! Whatever be the timeline...when the package does arrive, it almost feels like its  a gift from someone else and I can't wait to tear open the bubble wrap!

Yes, I think I end up buying stuff I don't really need. I'm not sure why I'm looking through a website that'g gonna send me a "butterfly in a jar", a really cool gadget that mocks a trapped butterfly. Very geeky. From our friends at ebay , I've even ordered LED light strips and push button emergency lights that I have little or no use for. It's kinda like walking into a supermarket and picking that extra pack of gum that you didn't need, or those AAA batteries that you can always use or perhaps that snickers bar that seems to be calling your name for no apparent reason. The exact same seems to happen before "proceed to make payment" online. And then I find myself in the beautiful land of online retail where there are no queues, no annoying sales people and more importantly, where the website is open for me and only me at that time.

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#100happydays

Joy is essential.

That's been a mantra of mine for years. I find that it makes decisions for me in a heartbeat. The first instinct is often the right one, then logic steps in. "Is it fun?", If the answer to that is a "yes", I catch myself very often jumping on the boat even before I have time to strap on a life vest. Then again, sometimes to really enjoy the ride, you need to let yourself free. Leave the insurance at home. 

#100happydays is a brilliant lil' idea that a website began challenging readers, bloggers, face bookers and just about anyone with a gram of technology, to participate in something that seems fairly simple at first glance. "Can you stay happy for 100 days?". Even for an eternal optimist like me, it didn't seem fundamentally possible for a human being to be in a state of nothing but joy for 100 straight days. I haven't participated in this "challenge", but in my own lil way i think i've consciously begun to think of the little things that will make me, better still, keep me happy.

This isn't about just staying in a state of drug infused state of happiness per say. It's about acknowledging the fact that your boss may scream at you, your kids might talk back to you, you might suffer an injury, you wife might cheat on you...or worse...you might get caught when you're trying to take a #100happydays picture while you're the one cheating on your wife..! Whichever side of the fence you're on, the idea is to be able to find that one small thing in that day which does put a smile on your face. And that I think is very doable. 

In an internet movement where strangers share photos of embracing a friend after years, or catching up with someone over a cup of coffee, or if it's my silver shoes, I find that the hashtag directs me mostly to cakes, pasties and food! It's strange how much happiness seems to come to people around food! More often than not, the # is accompanied by #leavethediet #100happydays essentially pointing to the fact that its become part of our ecosystem to constantly put off doing something that we love because it has consequences we do not want. Diet-health-vanity you get the picture. If Delayed gratification had an era dedicated to it, this is probably it!

In a larger space of universal energy, I love that there are a billion or so people in the world EVERYDAY who go out and give the universe a slight signal of happiness. If the universe is listening, if even ever so slightly, i think we're in for a good year!