Welness Retreat II – A Changed Lipna!

The three days(Sept 3 – Sept 6) at Birchcreek Retreat Center has been a whole different experience of my life! Three days living on juice only!!

A typical day there was like:

• Wake up around 8.30 PM
• Have a Berley shot
• Walk for 1.5 hours in the beautiful jungle and lakes
• Have a juice for breakfast
• Around 11 either do workouts or yoga depending on the treat you chose.
• Around 12.30 lunch, smoothie
• Around 2PM, again either do workouts or yoga depending on the treat you
• Break between 3-4ish.
• Around 4/4.30 again either do workouts or yoga depending on the treat you
• Then 6PM, dinner, juice again
• Whole day drink water!

We (all the guests) used to talk and hang out after the walk or lunch or dinner. We used to talk about how our life came to a stage where we can’t take it anymore and committed to make a change, we finally want to take care of ourselves, improve ourselves. All of these weer very helpful for me, talking constructive and being productive!

I loved the kick boxing we did for the work out training, also loved the yoga where she taught me different yoga practices, poses and was more focused on my relaxation, which I needed most 🙂

It was only 3 days for me, losing only 4lb, not at all visible, but I feel something has changed inside me, I feel more stronger and more controlled. I am not sure if it is temporary or what, but so far it feels so good, I feel so much energized than before, I feel so active and strong. 3 days isn’t a big time to make all these changes, but something inside me is strongly hit and changed a big part of me in a good way. This time I feel I am not going to lose myself, and damn it feels good to be back to the person I always wanted to be 🙂

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Welness Retreat I – Escape!

Written on: September 03, 2012 – First Day on Birchcreek Retreat Center

I have been thinking about this for a while and then in a spike of an emotional moment I ended up reserving this place at Birchcreek Retreat Center for three days – to escape, to think and to explore myself! I am sure three days can’t change my life, but I just needed to do it! I have been telling about it almost every single day for last few years!

So, in the spark of a moment, I booked the ticket at midnight(Sept 2nd) for the next day without any confirmation! Next day woke up and called the center to confirm the reservation! Then went to Port Authority to get to the bus to Pine Hills! I was supposed to be on an Eid event of a friends, hanging out eating good foods with good friends, instead I was in the bus on my way to a place I have no clue of, hoping to surprise myself!

Well, the four hour ride has been really good! Even though it was cloudy the whole day, yet I didn’t get tired of the scenic view of upstate.

Finally I reached pine hill, a small suburb if Ulster. A staff member of the retreat was there to pick me up.  When I reached there, I didn’t see anybody. After official check ins, she showed me around the place and then I got into my room, its a sweet small lovely room on 3rd floor, i could see the jungles and the water flow in the creek from the windows, exactly the kind of place I am looking for 🙂 far far away from the city, from everyone, unreachable …I am in a peaceful place! It is so silent there that my ear would start hearing a ‘zzzzzzzzzzz’ sound!

So far loving it, only thing is it doesn’t feel like it should be that expensive, but anyway, let’s see how it goes. I finally have what I wanted, at least now I will not be complaining about it anymore!

Don't ever let somebody tell you… You can't do something!!

I love these words from the movie ‘Pursuit of Happiness’, by Will Smith to his son.

There are times when we want something, dream something and people discourage us or may tell us, “You can’t make it”. That should never drive our thoughts and our efforts toward our dreams. We should not let other decide what we can do or can not. It is we who should go for it, try our best, no matter what! Listen to our heart, take steps and all actions necessary towards making our dream come true, we should not be scared or confused by others.

And as it says in the movie we should always remember:

Don’t ever let somebody tell you… You can’t do something, not even me. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. You want something, go get it!!

Here is the clip from ‘Pursuit of Happiness’:

http://www.youtube.com/v/MEGSiX0JA-s&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1

The Impossible Dream!

Very Inspiring Clip. I love the clip:

Some Advice for the Road!

Great Piece of Advice from Study Hacks

Some Advice for the Road (link to this article)

I’m leaving this afternoon to attend a college graduation: my second in three weeks. As you might imagine, graduating is on my mind, and, I would guess, on many of your minds as well. To celebrate the season I thought I would turn my attention to some advice for finding your way after college.

I want to share with you the unique law I use to guide my life. It’s a twist on the standard graduation inducements, but it seems, from my limited experience, to work the best of the various strategies I’ve watched my peers try on for size in their first years out of college.

The advice goes like this:

Fix the lifestyle you want. Then work backwards from there.

That’s it. Notice, I’m not talking about “avoiding taking yourself to seriously” or “always finding ways to give back.” I didn’t mention “the importance of a sense or humor” or why you need to “follow your passion, not money.” These are all reasonable words of wisdom, but they don’t necessarily direct you to a life that you’re happy to live.

My advice does.

Defining Lifestyle

What do I mean by lifestyle? Roughly speaking: a detailed feel for what your day to day existence would be like. Some questions to consider when imagining an ideal lifestyle:

• How much control do I have over my schedule?
• What’s the intensity level of my job?
• What’s the importance of what I do?
• What’s the prestige level?
• What type of work?
• Where do I live?
• What’s my social life like?
• What’s my work life balance?
• What’s my family like?
• How do other people think of me?
• What am I known for?

Using these types of questions to guide you, construct an image in your mind about the ideal future you. Notice, specific jobs don’t need to enter the equation. They can if they help you visualize, but they aren’t necessary. Add little details. Really get a sense for what this lifestyle would feel like. If the image makes you happy and gets you excited about the possibilities for your future, then you’ve hit on a good match.

Example Lifestyles

There exists an infinite variety of possible lifestyles. Here are just a few examples:

• The Power Broker: You live in a big city in a nice apartment. You climbed the ladder fast in a difficult business. You wield power. You’re good at what you do. You’re well respected. Your job is intense but you are super-organized so it doesn’t drive you crazy. You’re surrounded by good, loyal friends, and when you have fun, you have fun hard.
• The Serial Entrepreneur: You live in a nice San Francisco townhouse. You’ve started several businesses. Some more successful than others. You tend to alternate between an intense year or two growing a business followed by some extended time off for intense relaxation. You’ve got a network of good friends across the country and a bar down the street that you visit every Friday night to catch-up with your closest buddies. You use your off time to develop extreme hobbies and indulge in grand, hopelessly ambitious and wildly fun projects.
• The Virtual Voyager: You live in your dream house in a cozy community-oriented town, surrounded by natural beauty. You work virtually for several technology companies; setting your own hours. Three or four light days a week is enough to take care of your expenses. You and your family spend a lot of time outdoors, barbecuing with the neighbors, and, in general, enjoying small town life. You travel a lot for the sheer adventure of it.

Working Backwards

Once you’ve developed a detailed, visceral sense for your ideal lifestyle, use this image to guide your early career decisions. It’s a rough guide, to be sure, but it can still prove surprisingly useful.

Imagine, for example, that you’re faced with two options as graduation approaches. One is an elite project manager position at Microsoft and the other is acceptance to some good computer science graduate schools. Both are interesting and challenging. What do you choose? The power broker would go for the Microsoft position. The serial entrepreneur, on the other hand, would go for grad school — a perfect place to develop her first marketable technology.

The Power of Lifestyle-Centric Career Planning

Starting with a dream lifestyle — as oppose to a dream job — opens up more creativity. When thinking only about jobs, you’ll find yourself considering the same artificially-narrow menu of options troubled over by most talented college grads (banking, consulting, law, non-profit…) A lifestyle, on the other hand, provides much more flexibility — letting you discover potential paths previously hidden from your planning process.

The main advantage, however, is that, in the end, the whole point of worrying about your career is because you want to feel good about your life. By cutting to the bottom-line — what would make me feel best? — and then working backward from this answer, you are maximizing your odds that you’ll actually get somewhere worth going.

As with any graduation season advice, take this with a grain of salt. This is what I have seen work, but it doesn’t mean it’s the only thing that will. It can’t hurt, however, to take a moment to ask yourself: what lifestyle would suit me best?

You might be surprised where the answer leads you.

The Awakening

Today I read a wonderful piece of articles, something I have been really looking forward to for long time. It gave me peace which could calm me and gave me enough energy to move forward with hope and prospects ahead. Loved reading it!! Here it is for you:

The Awakening

Author: Unknown

“A time comes in your life when you finally get…when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out…ENOUGH1 Enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on. Then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.

This is your awakening.

You realize it’s time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon.

You realize that in the real world there aren’t always fairy tale endings, and that any guarantee of “happily ever after” must begin with you…and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance.

You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are…and that’s OK. They are entitled to their own views and opinions.

You learn the importance of loving and championing yourself…and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self-approval.

You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you – or didn’t do for you – and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected.

You learn that people don’t always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you and everything isn’t always about you.

So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself…and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance.

You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties…and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness.

You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. You begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for.

You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you’ve outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with.

You learn that there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a “consumer” looking for you next fix.

You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era, but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life.

You learn that you don’t know everything, it’s not you job to save the world and that you can’t teach a pig to sing. You learn the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry and that martyrs get burned at the stake.

Then you learn about love. You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You learn that alone does not mean lonely.

You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO.

You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs.

You learn that your body really is your temple. You begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin to eat a balanced diet, drinking more water, and take more time to exercise.

You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest. And, just food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play.

You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you deserve, and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and that wishing for something to happen is different than working toward making it happen.

More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You learn that no one can do it all alone, and that it’s OK to risk asking for help.

You learn the only thing you must truly fear is fear itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms.

You learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom.

You learn that life isn’t always fair, you don’t always get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people…and you lean not to always take it personally.

You learn that nobody’s punishing you and everything isn’t always somebody’s fault. It’s just life happening. You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls.

You lean that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you.

You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower.

Then, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than you heart’s desire.

You make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility.

You hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind.

Finally, with courage in you heart, you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best as you can.”

Acknowledgement: Online Resource