Nothing fancy, mind you. I enjoy several cups of Taster’s Choice
instant coffee every morning at home.
I don’t have anything against
Starbucks, but since going LCHF, I have to drink my coffee a certain way,
currently with heavy whipping cream and Torani sugar-free syrup.
The Internet
Who doesn’t love the internet? It sure changed my life, as I am sure it
changed your life. The Internet gobbles
up huge amounts of my time, because there is so much you can do there – find
tips, information, entertainment, advice, perspective - on absolutely any subject.
Walking
Walking is my favorite form of exercise,
and I am grateful for my walking companions.
There is nothing which makes me happier, than when one of my friends
calls, texts, or emails me, and says, “Minoo, do you want to walk?”
Reading
Reading is another long-time favorite
activity. I have been reading since the
time I was an excessively shy and timid child.
Today, if I am not reading a book, I am
quite likely reading something on the internet.
Like I said in my last post - about some of the life-changing books I have read, I do not need to own
books to enjoy them.
So how do I get my hands on the books I
read?
The public library, of course!
Radio
Growing up, there was no tv in my city
in India. We had to depend on the radio
and the newspaper for our news and home entertainment.
Then tv arrived, and none of us listened
to the radio anymore.
When I moved to America, I rediscovered
radio again, because my average commute to work being 18 miles, that’s what I
listened to while going to work.
I discovered KFog, KFox, and KBay.
Listening to KFog or Kfox, which are rock
stations, I would think of something Thich Nhat Hanh, the
Buddhist monk said – “people who are no longer in our lives are already
incorporated in us, a part of our being.” I could relate to this, because I had
developed my appreciation and taste for rock music from someone who was no
longer in my life.
KQED
After Donald Trump was elected, I decided
I needed to keep on top of current issues – the Wall, the ban on entry from
certain countries, the repeal of Obamacare, and more. So I started listening to KQED.
I discovered Forum, Fresh Air, All
Things Considered, The California Report, and more.
KQED soon had me hooked.
That is until I started carpooling. Now that I am carpooling, I chat with my car companions all the way to work.
One-on-One Conversations
Speaking of chatting, I enjoy one-on-one
conversations, whether in person, over a meal at a restaurant, on the phone, or
while walking.
I often get together with family or
friends, and have long one-on-one chats.
I can talk for hours and hours with
them, and still not run out of things to talk about, or listen to.
Sometimes we talk, till our cell phones
die on us.
This is one of the surprising joys of
my life, I could not have predicted. It
is so great telephones and cell phones have become so cheap to use.
The New York Times
I discovered the New York Times online, a few years after moving to America. I fell in love with the quality of the
journalism, and the writing. It amazes me that so many people do not think
the same way that I do about the New York Times. I feel I live in a parallel universe whenever
I hear someone criticize the New York Times.
My Friends
Friendships are precious, and I am
grateful for all the friendships I have, and I have had. I dedicated a series of posts called The United States of Friendship, to some of
the friendships I have made in America.
Perhaps you have read one or more of the posts in that series and have learned a few things about some of my interesting and beloved friends.
Meditation
I learned to meditate 7 years ago after
reading the book How God Changes Your Brain. Since then, my life has changed so
much for the better. Meditation is my go-to place when greed, anger, resentment, fear, anxiety, or other negative emotions arise.
Besides helping me to be free of those emotions, or
to get over them as soon as possible, meditation has made me feel more
connected, as you can learn from my post Connected Minds.
Watching Movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime
I think it’s great that so many
different kinds of movies are available on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
I have gone through phases, the Hindi
movie phase, the Glee phase, the Quentin Tarantino phase. I also like to watch old movies from
the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
Reveling in my Daughter’s Victories
My daughter is doing well in an area I
was never any good at – education. When
she made the Dean’s List at her college for a second time recently, there were
tears in my eyes. I don’t tear up much, because meditation has made me strong, but if anything can make me tear up, it's my daughter's victories. Part
of the reason is because she is a girl, and I wish more victories for girls.
If you want to read about another victory
which involves my daughter, and is a victory for girls, you can read my post,
She Victories.
Teaching People
For a college drop-out, I am surprisingly
interested in teaching. Whether it’s helping familiarize a new commissions person with a process; giving people a primer on taxes
and Turbo Tax; or educating elementary school students about earning money,
spending money, saving money, and investing money, I put my heart and soul into
getting the information across.
I have documented the commission processes at several companies. The process of writing the documentation, and then teaching from that documentation is illuminating, interesting, and instructive. When you are the author and the teacher, you usually end up making a lot of revisions, but the documentation becomes so much better as a result.
I have done this on my assignments at Epicor, White Hat Security, Paypal, and Infoblox.
Toastmasters
Do you want free therapy? One of the places you can get it is at a beauty
parlor. People who cut your hair and do your nails can be surprisingly good
therapists, because many of them are good listeners.
You can get things off your mind and feel completely safe doing so.
Toastmasters is another place, where you can gain confidence in public speaking in complete safety. I loved my year at Toastmasters, and I am sure you will too.
Good Church Sermons
Some of you from my distant past may fall
off your chair to hear me say that good church sermons are one of my favorite things. What ever happened to the staunch
atheist? I’ll tell you. After I started meditating, one thing led to another, and my
spiritual side started developing more and more. So good church sermons have become one of my favorite things. I find them both therapeutic and motivational.
Blogging
I am on the 368th post, and I dedicate
4-8 hours every week to writing my posts. Everyone should have a craft they enjoy doing. Blogging is my craft. Blogging also helps me clarify my thinking, and renew my determination to become a better person.
The Aruba Gals
I never dreamed I would become part of
a Sex and The City kind of foursome, but that’s what happened to me after I started
contracting for Aruba in December of 2014. I honed my Varicent skills, and I also became
part of the “Aruba gals”.
The Aruba gals faithfully meet once
every other month to do fun things. I never miss it, if I can.
Discovering New Bloggers
I stumble upon new blogs while looking
for something on the internet. I
discovered Steve Pavlina that way. I also
discovered Paul Graham of Y Combinator that way. If you get terribly worked up on the subject
of either religion or politics, PG’s post Keep Your Identity Small is well
worth a read. It might save you from
yourself.
Currently, I am into fasting, and lchf,
and ketosis, and pre-diabetes, and cholesterol, and my searches and interests have
led me to amazing online resources such as Dr. Richard Bernstein’s The Diabetes
Solution, Jimmy Moore, Jason Fung, David Mendosa, Dr. Michael Eades, Dr. David
Perlmutter, Dr. Peter Attia, Art De Vany, Valter Longo, Mark Hyman, Chris
Kesser, Stephen Guyunet, and more.
My N=1 Health Experiment
My number one interest in recent times
has been trying to reverse my prediabetes. I am on a mission to do that. Of course things don’t always work
out as planned. While for most people,
all bio-markers improve when they fast and do LCHF, my fasting and lchf forays
yielded this on my most recent blood test:
LDL-P = 1634
LDL-C = 179
TC = 282
HDL-C 90
TG 67
HBA1C – 5.6
CRP – 1.16
While my HBA1C (which is my main
target) delighted me (it is practically out of the pre-diabetes range); and my
HDL-C and TG are great, the LDL-P and LDL-C readings are extremely worrisome.
So after finding some information on the internet, thanks to yet another blogger BJJCaveman, and this article by lipodologst Dr. Thomas Dayspring, I am now in the process of tweaking my diet again.
Why am I doing these N=1 biological and
physiological experiments?
I find it fascinating, that’s why.
These are just some of my favorite
things.
Hope you enjoyed reading about them
just as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you.
As always, thanks for sharing my Journey to Wisdom, Meaning
and a Better Life, and have a great day
and week….M ……a Pearl Seeker like you. Thanks to Ajay for
his compliments on my last post, and thanks to the rest of you for your likes,
pins, shares, tweets and votes…..much appreciated.
P.S. Just like you, I am trying to find my way out of this
complicated maze we call life and I am honored to have you share my journey.
Before, I end this post, Happy Birthday to all those with June
b’days. Hope you use your birthday month
to birth something new and wonderful in your life - maybe your own N=1
experiment.
Here are some quick
reads written by me to inspire you to make positive changes in your life:
