These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Coffee

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.

Are you a coffee aficionado?  You may enjoy my coffee psychology post and my International Coffee Day post.

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:

Maybe It’s Time to Become Better To Be Around

The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

The Element of Not Letting Our Ego Keep Us Locked on a Fruitless Course and Its Hope for Making Better Use of Our Energy and Time

How To Deal With Frustrated Desires

The Day The New Ruj Das Began

How To Become a Low Maintenance Person

How To Become The Kind of Person People Want to Work With

The Element Of Learning How to Handle Things and Its Hope For Being More at Peace With Ourselves