Did you hug your loved one today?

“[Touch is] ten times stronger than verbal or emotional contact, and it affects damn near everything we do. No other sense can arouse you like touch.” – Saul Schanberg,

Touch me:

We live in a culture that has an allergic reaction towards the most primitive tool of human communication and the most basic element of our five senses: touch. The most fleeting touch can connote so many different emotions: love/ friendship/ comradery/ and more.

We are wired to crave touch. In Ireland, when a baby is born, they place the naked baby on the stomach of his/her mother and then cover both of them with a blanket. In those few moments of a child’s life, they feel their mother’s skin, and they connect with her on the most primal level.

In fact, infants use touch as their primary mode for learning. They use thier hands to touch objects, toys and faces. They will touch and grab hold of everything and turn it around until they feel satisfied.

Touch is so important to us as a species that even our technology is evolving so that it caters to our most basic tools (our fingers). We now have touch-screens for our computers, phones, music players, and tablets. You can now start your car ignition with a simple touch.

Yet somehow, we are surrounded by a culture that primits us from doing what is only natural. You are programmed to revolt at the sight of people touching. It’s “disgusting, immoral, and wrong”. It doesn’t matter if they are husband and wife, mother and son, father and daughter, or brother and sister.

Hold me:

It’s very rare to see couples holding hands in public. You can definitely forget about seeing couples hugging or kissing in public. Even in hospitals, where you expect to see the families of the ailing huddled in a group comforting each other; more often than not, you will see people standing separately as strangers, with at least an arms length between them.

I saw a woman crying over the death of her husband, which had just happened in front of my eyes. Her sons stood around her and told her to pray for his soul instead. Even though, their voices were warm and emotional, not one hugged her, or sat next to her or even placed a hand on her back.

And it’s not because they are barbaric. It’s just the way that they have been conditioned by their society and their traditions.

You do not need to be in a hospital to see this. Walk around the malls. Observe how many mothers are walking around ahead of their maids/nannies, who would be holding or carrying the child. The mother has no connection what-so-ever with the child, she’s in her own world, shopping or talking on the phone.

Envelope me with your arms:

A study showed that waitresses who slighlty touched the hand of the customer when giving them the check, received a higher tip!

So instead, we spend KD 60 on a maasage session. Isn’t it ironic, we are paying for touch?

Think about it, your body’s largest organ is your skin. Here are some of the benefits of touching:

1. Reduces stress
2. Reduces depression
3. Relieves pain
4. Boosts happiness
5. Improves the immune system
6. Lowers blood pressure

Plus many more.

So, have you hugged your loved one today?

 

How to control the need to lash out

A snarky remark may give an initial feeling of satisfaction; however, it doesn’t erase the feelings that have been boiling up in the first place.

Define: Snarky

[Snarky - Adjective: (Of a person, words, or a mood) Critical; cutting; testy.]

I am not generally a snarky person. I like to take everything with a grain of salt, and if something bothers me, my passive nature generally ignores it and brushes it under the rug.

However, every once in a while, I get snarky, and when I do, I do not get any satisfaction afterwards; in fact, I feel worse.  Not only do I feel bad before the comment, I feel bad even after because now I have highlighted it, brought into full view, exasperated the situation and passed on the negative energy.

What are the causes?

One of my lifetime commitments is to become a better, more aware person, who pays better attention to actions and decisions, and who analyzes personal actions unbiasedly.

Sue Sylvester in Glee, is one of the snarkiest characters

Today, I was snarky. And I was snarky because I did not feel good about myself. 

Lately, I have been paying extra attention to the issue of weight. I want to look amaze-balls! Of course, it’s a slow process and there are certain things going on in my life, which are preventing me from going to the gym. Yet, I am still trying and so I’ve been trying to eat healthy.

But the hunger and the fact that I’m not getting immediate results is very frustrating.

All these elements combined together have lowered my self-esteem  and have made me very self conscious. 

I said a snarky comment, I felt worse… I realised that my comment has basically created a huge flashing sign: “LOOK AT ME.. I HAVE LOW SELF ESTEEM”.

Not sexy. Far from sexy.

Naturally, my brain tries to defend itself by saying, “Well, frankly, my friend’s actions are unacceptable.” But, even if they were, there are other ways of dealing with them.

How to prevent the snarkiness

Here are some tips I plan on using in the future to prevent this behaviour:

1.  You can never change a person – but you can change yourself. Try to change the way you react.

2. Count to ten/twenty/fifty/one thousand… until you feel better.

2. No matter how tempting it is to try to hurt someone’s feelings because your feelings are hurt, you need to remember that you will not feel better afterwards.

3. Breathe deep and think positive.

4. Remember that the action may have not been malicious but you are reacting the way you are because of how you may have already been feeling.

5. If they were malicious.. fuck them.

What would you do?

Om: The Power of Yoga

Om: According to Hindu traditions, Om is the first sound that vibrated across the universe after creation. Before that there was silence. Om is also the name of ‘God’.

What is Yoga?

Yoga is an ancient practice that focuses on the body, the spirit and attaining ultimate inner-peace. It originated in India and is practiced extensively in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Yoga can also be found in some area of Islam, consider for example Sufism. Scholars can trace back the rise of this sect back to yoga practices.

Yoga is not just about the different poses, the stretching or how flexible your body is. It’s about the quieting of the mind, the calming of the soul. The original purpose of yoga was not to lose weight, or become the human elastic band; rather, it was about reaching that ultimate threshold of being human, of letting go of all earthly matters and focusing on the ethereal.

Now, there are different types of yoga, from the simple to the intriguing. Below is a brief overview of some of these types:

1. Ashtanga:

Ashtanga yoga, or Astanga, is a type of yoga that most people practice as it helps practitioners burn a lot of calories. Ashtanga requires one to synchronize their breathing as they conduct a continuous series of asanas (poses).

2. Hatha:

Hatha is the most elemental type of yoga, practiced as a precursory to the other types of yoga as it incorporates all the yogic techniques – from poses, to breathing, to chakras, muscle control and meditation, among others. Hatha is ideally used for stress management as it focuses more intensely on meditation.

3. Power Yoga:

Power Yoga takes Ashtanga and adds a twist to it by incorporating push-ups, headstands and other body taxing exercises that focus on body power and developing muscle. With Power yoga, there are no breaks between each asana; instead, they flow into each other, making it quite an intense workout.

4. Bikram Yoga:

Bikram Yoga is the most commercialized type of yoga that has been introduced to the Western world. Bikram yoga focuses on Hatha techniques, except these techniques are conducted in hot rooms, where the temperature is 37 degrees celsius. The technique was developed by Bikram Choudhury and became popular from the 1970s. Bikram has most of his techniques and concepts patented.

What are some of the top ten health benefits of Yoga?

1. It helps improve muscle tone.
2. It helps align your posture.
3. It helps act as a de-stresser.
4. It alleviates your mood.
5. It helps synchronize breathing.
6. It helps lower blood pressure.
7. It helps alleviate back-pain.
8. It helps improve balance.
9. It helps increase your endurance.
10. It helps balance your metabolism.

Personally, I tried and really enjoyed Ashtanga yoga. I cannot wait to try all the different types, and, I plan on making yoga a regimen that I follow as part of my lifetime commitments.

Who is your favourite yoga instructor in Kuwait and what is your favourite type of yoga?

Fat doesn’t makes you fat?

You be trippin, yo!

How can eating fat not make you fat? Isn’t this what we have been told over and over and over from the day that we come into this harsh world?

I found a very interesting article while browsing Twitter yesterday. It was posted by Tony Robbins [the self-help guru of our time and a motivational speaker]. According to the linked article, fat does not make you fat.

 

Basically, buying and consuming all that non-fat stuff is actually worse than buying the regular stuff. Eating low-fat does not help you lose weight – it can actually (from my understanding) trick your body into gaining more weight!

What’s going on with the world?

Leptin protein

Leptin. Don’t blame it on the alcohol, blame it on the Leptin. Leptin is a protein hormone that is released by your body’s fat cells and it basically tells your body whether it needs more energy, or whether it has enough energy and you don’t require to eat any more food. It is an appetite inhibitor. 

Leptin actually helps keep you in shape. It sends your brain signals telling it when to stop eating. However, your body can become resistant to Leptin and the signals may not reach your brain, that’s why one may over eat and hence gain weight. Sugar/ glucose desensitizes Leptin. The more sugar you eat, the less your brain will be able to hear the ‘STOP IT’ yells coming in from Leptin.

Thus, what does non-fat or low-fat food have to do with this? Foods categorized as non-fat or low-fat have a higher calorie count because they have more sugar.

Overtime, eating all that sugar actually makes one Leptin resistant. If you are wondering if you have become Leptin resistant, the easiest way to find out is to ask this question:

Are you an apple?

If your body stores fat around your stomach and in your upper body, then you are Leptin resistant. This also means that you are at a higher risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The Leptin Whisperer

Don’t get bogged down yet. There are ways in which you can help your brain become more receptive to Leptin. They are as follows:

1. Reduce sugar intake: When your body doesn’t hear the Leptin, it thinks that you are starving. You could be 200 kg, but your body wouldn’t even know that it can burn the fat. In starvation mode, the body burns off the glucose or sugar in your system and leaves the fat as reserve. Reducing the sugar will mean that your body will have to burn the fat. It will also allow the Leptin to start functioning normally again. Stay away from starchy foods like potatoes, toast, pasta and rice, as starch is turned into glucose by your body.
2. Increase Leptin production:   
   • Eat more fiber: When you eat more fiber, you feel fuller and you consume fewer calories that may be high in sugar.
   • Get proper 8 hours of sleep at night: This will allow your hormones to regulate, as certain hormones are only produced at night.
   • Lift weights: By incorporating weight lifting into your daily exercise regimen, you build lean muscles that will help your body actually burn fat.
3. Eat Fish: Omega 3 oils help Leptin communicate with the brain.
4. Ask your dietitian for more information.

Drinking Under the Influence

“Drinking water instead of sugary drinks could eliminate an average of 235 excess calories per day among children and adolescents.”

I drink.

I drink ridiculous amounts of juice, Pepsi, tea, and coffee.

What I don’t drink is water. Days can pass where I don’t have a single drop of water, and I don’t feel it because I’m compensating with other liquids.

Moreover, i almost always misconstrue my body’s signal for thirst as signals for hunger! So, instead of drinking water, my brain is thinking ‘Ohhh I need something juicy… like that yummy mozzarella sandwich and an ice-blended orange juice!’

It wasn’t until I started the GM diet last week that I realized that I needed water. Since then, I have been setting a target for myself: every day I must drink 1 litre of water and then I will slowly start to increase this amount later.

Here are some of the benefits of drinking water:

• Water has zero calories.
• Studies have found that drinking water could curb obesity and help you lose weight - in fact, according to an article published online, the author argues:

Drinking water instead of sugary drinks could eliminate an average of 235 excess calories per day among children and adolescents.

• It helps to regulate your bowel movements.
• Water helps giving you better hydrated skin.

Go ahead. Grab that bottle of Evian and keep yourself hydrated.

GM Diet: Day #1

 

Dear Fatter Self,

(Yes, I feel like I may have lost weight already).

I don’t like you.

Therefore, I have decided to kick your nicely shaped butt and ridiculous big karsha into a nicely shaped butt and a nicely shaped karsha.

And, since drastic measures are meant for drastic times, I started the GM Diet today.

The GM Diet is the diet from hell. Satan came up with it to win over the souls of the chubby girls. The diet promises to help you lose between 4.5 -7.7 kilos per week.

Today has been a relatively easy day. I had to replace my daily delicious hot white chocolate mocha with a bland black Americano. I ate mostly apples all day and craved everything under the sun. However, overall I feel less lethargic and more energetic.

I will be measuring myself on a daily basis.

My only fault is that I am not drinking enough water as I should be.

I’m looking forward to the next few days.

Hello world!

It's all about 'Autonomy'..

The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading: men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to be like each other. -David Reisman

Scientists say that the biggest indicator of a happy life is the level of autonomy an individual can exercise.

Autonomy is basically having the will or the freedom as an individual to govern one’s own life.

This blog is an attempt to document how I try to create and maintain my own interpretation of autonomy, by managing the following areas in my life:

• Finance
• Health
• Self Expression

By setting realistic short term and long term goals, I hope to track my development throughout the next year and see how different areas of my life have changed.

I hope that My Lifetime Commitments and The Frugal Guru could help me become a better version of myself.