How To Become A New Person

How do you become a new person?

You don’t have to.

You are already a new person – I guarantee you.

For proof, all you have to do is turn the pages of the virtual album of your life and take stock of some of the changes that have taken place in the past few years.

I did that and here’s what I discovered about my life…

I’m Green Papaya Salad New

Yep.

A few years ago, I had never eaten Green Papaya Salad.

Then I got to taste Green Papaya Salad at Coriander Thai in Westfield, San Francisco. Now I’m a sworn convert to it.

Recently, I even learned to make it. Here’s a link to the recipe I used. I left out the shrimp and I substituted soy sauce for fish sauce and honey for palm sugar.

What new food or foods have you discovered in the last few years?

I’m Xactly Incent New

Once upon a time I was a copywriter.  I worked at or did copywriting for agencies in Bangalore and Chennai, some of which are listed below. I even ran my own creative shop, Purple Patch, for a while.

Agencies I have worked in or done work for:

Contract Advertising

Everest Advertising

Goldwire

JWT

MAA Bozell

O&M

Rediffusion

Sistas

Take Wing

TNQ Commmunications

America was a new beginning for me.

I found myself in a new career, Commissions Administration, which I pursued through 2 tech companies and one pharmaceutical company.

Then a year ago, I took a leap of faith and made a somewhat daring professional decision.

As a result of this decision, my current position as an Xactly Incent Business Architect for SPI Solutions, is the most exciting yet. You can read about it here.

What exciting new journeys did you embark on in the last few years –professional, vocational or personal?

I’m Full Moon and Rattlesnake New

Until a year ago, meditation was just New Age mumbo jumbo to me.

Then I read a book called How God Changes Your Brain.

Before I knew it, I was meditating on a daily basis.

Was it a case of “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear?”

Meditation changed my thinking.

The old has become new again.

The mundane has become awesome.

Driving or walking down a road on a full moon night, I am awestruck by the big, round, yellow orb in the sky.

The fearsome has become awesome too.

Being confronted by a rattlesnake while walking on a trail recently, my fear quickly gave way to awe.

I’ve concluded meditation is really self-hypnosis.

If it’s so powerful, how much more powerful must hypnosis be?

I think about this all the time.

Sometimes I even entertain the idea of volunteering as a hypnosis research subject.

Who knows – one of these days, I just may pick up the phone and call Dr. David Burns (of Feeling Good fame), Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd at Stanford and get recruited.

Mohammed (as in the BIL) will probably say “Minoo has gone cuckoo!” when he hears this. The allusion to Full Moon might solidify the case. But “being cuckoo” beats “not being cuckoo” any day.

How have you changed in the past few years? Is your attitude different? To what?

And finally, I’m Minoo Jha Actionable Ideas New

A year ago, this blog did not exist. In fact, my online activities were limited to using Google Search and looking up directions on Map Quest.

My writing was limited to terse e-mails like this:  “Your commission statement for May 2010 is ready for review.”

Then one day in late December of 2010, I started blogging.  Soon after, I began posting statuses about my blog posts on Facebook and Twitter.

This blog has brought me more joy and more fulfillment than I could ever have imagined.

I enjoy creating posts and am immersed in what psychologist Mihaly Czikzentmihalyi calls the “flow” when I am writing.

I enjoy publishing guest posts too.

And reading your comments and reactions is a pleasure on its own.

Soon we will have a guest post, actually a series of guest posts from Ajay Sachdev, who in previous posts has immortalized Velupillai Pottu (you can read that here), paid homage to Bertie Wooster (you can read that here) and expressed a loyal fan’s view of the most popular sport in India (you can read that here).

What are the new online activities you have taken up in the last few years? Do you play Scrabble on Merriam Webster online?  Do you regularly post on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest?  Do you check your portfolio on Yahoo Finance?  Do you regularly look at blogs, including mine? Are you thinking about starting a blog, yourself?

Cheers to the ever changing, every growing new me and new you!

Whoop-dee-doo!

P.S. Besides Thai restaurants, Green Papaya Salad is also available at Malaysian restaurants such as Banana Leaf and Layang Layang, and also many Vietnamese restaurants.

P.S. 2:  I discovered Malaysian cuisine thanks to my dear friend Nina who introduced me to Banana Leaf and Layang Layang.  If you go, here’s a must on your order: Roti Prata.

P.S.3: As always, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this "crouching tigerish" post!