Measuring Life: One Day at a Time

Magical, mysterious and ever graceful.

You ever go through your day on auto-pilot and sit and when you are ready to wind down, do you sit and wonder what you did throughout? Even before you know it, you will be staring into the light at the end of the tunnel when you breathe your last, watching your life flash by. What was the most powerful thing you have ever done within the 12-15 hours of being awake, every single day?

At the end of the day, when I look at myself in the mirror, the questions that I ask myself is, “how much of my potential have I used to make this world a better place? How much of my time have I invested to make the cosmos vibrate higher?” You see, as a race, humankind is meant to vibrate at a natural frequency of love. This emotion above all is the most powerful vibration we can send out and yet, we decide to spend our energy on anger, greed, lust, envy and being petty. If we are to look at life, it would be one day at a time. No one in this world knows what the future holds for them, why then do we function from our lowest?

Would we life live differently, if we broke it down, one day at a time? Let’s have a look:

1. The choices we make: What’s the first emotion when we wake up? Despair, grief or joy, happiness and laughter? This is perhaps the easiest choice that we can make, yet it makes all the difference in the world. If the first emotion you express is a scowl, guess where the day is headed? Down the gutter. The universe reflects what you send out.
2. The decisions we take: This is related to the point above. You have decided to wake up with scowl, that decision is yours alone. You will find the people around you being grumpy, short fused and generally quite cranky.
   If we are to turn the scowl into a smile and decide to start our day with grace, you have hit jackpot. People will be nicer, the world seems brighter and you seem to be doing well at work too. See, its that simple.
3. The path we choose: Do you choose to be a good person, or the path to destruction because you think that life has been unfair to you? Let me tell you something; the cosmos does not give two hoots about how you feel it has been unfair to you. Remember, you what give out is what you get back. The universe is a reflection of you, your thought patterns and the kind of energy you decide to pour out.
4. Find your purpose: We are all put on this planet and this dimension with a purpose. The truth is, most of us have forgotten what our purpose in life is meant to be. Some of us are born in this plane to spread the message of love, hope and peace. Some are given life so that they motivate people through their art, their words. Some are made to uplift the spirits. My point is, find your purpose and stay true to it. Every single day that you wake up, be determined to make the world a better place.
5. Your thoughts create your reality: Watch your thoughts and the kind of thoughts that you have. What you think, you manifest. Everyday that you think is a burden, will be a burden. Everyday that you wake and think, ‘today is a going a gorgeous day’ is when you will have a day filled with sunshine. This also includes what you read, watch and listen to. If you watch and read negative things, guess what your thoughts and your reality will be? Crap.

At the end of the day, when the lights dim and your eyelids are heavy, what will you want you day to look like? When Death comes knocking, how would you want your life to played before you? All gloom and doom or would want to see a happy unicorn going about their day, living life and vibrating at the highest emotion of love? The choice is ultimately yours to make.

To end the post, I now pose a question to you:

Measuring Life with Tiramisu

People are about layers, just like tiramisu.

What a delectable dessert, Tiramisu! The taste as heavenly as it sounds. This post comes around mostly inspired by the famous YouTuber Lilly Singh who in her book of How to be a Bawse talks about people having layers, just like a Tiramisu. I however look at Life as a Tiramisu. Here is how:

1. Layered- Before you go all Shrek on me, saying life can be compared to an onion, do you really think life smells like an onion? I don’t think so.
   There are so many facets to life that we barely see. Say for instance, you are having a bad day, right from the word ‘Go’, you will continue on with that mindset. What if I told you a shift of perspective is what is required, to see the different layers you day has to offer? You still can turn your bad day around and decide to have a shift in the way you look at it. You see, maybe you missed out on the rainbow in the sky, or you looked past a friend you haven’t seen in ages. Or maybe you just overlooked a fine human being plucking the courage to ask you for your number.
   Just like the tiramisu, you need to dig into your day layer by layer to have a better one. Until you find the dessert hitting the right spots, don’t stop digging.
2. A bonus- Like any other good dessert, the tiramisu serves as a good bonus. You smashed your targets? Go treat yourself to some of this amazing sweet treat. You got a promotion? The tiramisu it is.
   Just like the dessert, life works as a bonus too. How, you might be wondering? Take a look around and see all the wonderful things that surround you. Take note of all your blessings. You have a smartphone, a laptop, a steady income, food in your fridge and a wonderful set of friends and family who love and cherish you. You are alive and breathing, that itself is a big plus. If that doesn’t count as a bonus, you need to change the way you look at bonuses.
   Never take all these blessings for granted, not everyone is fortunate enough as you and I to have these wonderful opportunities to make our lives better.
3. Seems simple, yet so complicated- When you look at the tiramisu, you see layers and think, maybe it is easy enough to make. When you do get down to business, it isn’t as simple after all.
   That is how life works. We all know someone and are someone who love to give advice on how to live life. The solution may seem simple for us, however for someone else facing the issue, not so much. It is true, life is as simple or as complicated as you make it, but sometimes the harder you try to simplify life, the worse the problem becomes.
   Next time, you reach out to give advice, remember the tiramisu. Simple, yet so complicated.
4. Indulgence is okay, once in a while- We all go through times where we like to indulge in our guilty pleasures. The tiramisu works like that. You have a craving, you want to reach out and have whatever is is you are wanting. Then you have a look at your bank account and hold back.
   To pamper yourself once a month is okay. There is absolutely nothing to feel guilty about spending a little more than you do normally. The tiramisu is here to remind you of that fact. Do it for you.

There will come a time when you realize that life is bittersweet. It can make you cry, laugh, tear your hair out. The important thing to remember is that life isn’t happening to you, it is happening for you. Until then, do not forget to peel back the layers life has to offer. Do not be afraid to dig deep to get to the good and let your hair down, once in a while.

Measuring Life: One Pie at a Time

Living life, one slice of pie at a time.

Pie, what a delightful word and even better to eat. The scent of freshly baked pie, the aroma tickling your nose in the right spots! Ah, the sweet scent just wafting through your home, just what you need on a Sunday winter morning.

You look pleased with the result of your experiment. What was it that you decided to bake? Apple Pie? Was it Blueberry perhaps? You hum a melody long forgotten absentmindedly and a short giggle escapes your lips. This is where you remember you wanted to bake an apple pie, but the scent floating through is blueberry. You sigh and plunge a toothpick through the center to see if it comes clean. Lucky for you, it does.

You let the pie cool down while you look towards your kitchen and wonder where to begin cleaning. You decide, one way to do it is to have music on. Sure, you muse, music makes work easier, but does it hit the right spot as good as a pie? No, you decide. Just as you start cleaning, you look at the pie and can’t help but think how similar life and pie are. Of course, life does not come with instructions, on how to live, but a pie does, you think. You start off with something in mind, but halfway through you realise that you forgot to bring the essential ingredient that makes your pie a pie. But something else hits you, you know there is something else that can help bake a pie and carry on. In the process of baking a pie, you now know that you would have to clean up your own mess and then chastise yourself for not being careful, you decide not to create a mess this huge again.

Of course, in life there will be some hits and misses, like pie that does not rise all the time. You make fresh mistakes in the process of baking and learning about life. You could end up burning the crust, you pie could end up being flat, having too much egg. There will be times where you have to throw out the pie and start all over again, just like life. When one idea does not work, you decide you try another plan, but this time you learn from your mistakes and modify your plans. Just like the blueberry pie you baked.

Just as you finish cleaning up, your pie has now cooled down. You bring a fork with you and set out to dig in. Just as you are about to do so, you see another hand reach out waiting for you to begin. You smile and gladly oblige and tuck in. This is when it hits you, life, like pie is sweeter when shared. You reach to the conclusion that you would live life, one pie a day.

Measuring Life-One Pizza Slice at a Time

The Awkward Yeti is dope, just saying.

This is my second blog with a food title in it, by now I figure, what is life without food? Food is one thing that creates connections among people, food is where people bond (only second to alcohol) but PIZZA is one comfort food you can never go wrong with. But you know, not many (like me) think when they order pizza. They just wing it when they customise it or they just go with what is a ready option. But I find that life is really like the food we choose, the choices we make with the kind of food we prefer and if you are someone who likes pineapple on your pizza, you are about to get judged so hard. No jokes, really.

But that is what life is, if you really think of it, in terms of a pizza slice. Seemingly simple, but if you put in enough thought in customizing pizza, can be just as delicious and well, worth living. In saying that, not everything you add as an extra topping for your pizza will always turn out to be the best option or give you the taste you are after, that is how life is. Not every step you take with thought will give you the desired results. Sometimes you need to go the old fashioned boring way of doing things and life seems to approve of that too. Having said that, when you decide to add on extra to your pizza, how much thought do you put in the process, think of all the flavors and topping s that will go with the pizza sauce, what will compliment the base you have chosen, the kind of cheese you would like to be sprinkled or do you just wing it?

If you decide to wing it, how often do those decisions you made, without thought work out best in your favor? If you choose to think about all the choices you make and then take decisive action, do things fall into place just as simply? When I sat to pen this down on paper, with this piece of writing, a lot of realizations came home. Something as simple as ordering a pizza made me ponder as to how similar living life and eating pizza are so alike.

Life is like baking a pizza, deceptively simple, yet ask the ones who knead the dough. They know how difficult and time consuming it can be to get the desired results and the consistency required for a pizza base to come life once put in the oven. The sauces you choose, the toppings you take are yours and unique only to you.

No one really knows how difficult or easy another’s life is. The decisions we make, the choices we have, the weight on our shoulders, no one can really fathom how much we undergo and yet we get questioned for the tough calls, just like people ask, “why did you have to choose pepperoni? It would have been better with salami.” Funny thing is, we get someone else involved in making our pizza too, because we end up sharing it. Just like life. We share our pizza because we want people close to us to know we love them enough to share our beloved comfort food. We share details of our life only because we want someone we are close, to be to in the loop, to let them know we care enough to share.

Why do we then look down on the hard decisions taken, all the unkind comments we make as to how one is supposed to live? If someone likes pizza without the extra toppings, who are we to add anything more? Who are we to give “expert advice” to someone wanting to live a normal, simple existence? Life is much like a slice of pizza. Personal preferences seem to be topping the list and it would probably work better if we kept a tight restraint on wanting to mouth off as to how someone else to be living their life, just like ordering a pizza.

Next time perhaps when you order pizza from your favorite food place, consider how you decide your extras, how you would like your pizza and keep in mind how someone you love would like it too. Perhaps if we lived one pizza slice at a time, the world would be a slightly better place to live, where people are kinder, some if not all actions lovely and just easier to breath knowing you have made life a bit smoother by not judging the kind of life people you love choose to live.

Measuring Life with sips of tea

It’s tea time!

If you had to measure life, how would you do it? Would you measure life with something you love? If you had to measure life with sips of tea, how would you compare tea to the way you live your life?

You see, that’s the thing with life. You can see if as half empty or full, just like a glass of water. But here I am talking about tea and life. Why, you ask? If I had to talk about life as a glass of water, two things will happen: 1) I would have to refill too quickly and 2) I would be running to the washroom time and again. Life would be no fun if I had to run back and forth between the washroom and bedroom, now would it?

Pick a tea, any kind of tea- it could be herbal, green or just regular milk tea. What do you do when tea is ready? Just gulp it down (if you do, hats off to you!) or do you take your time to savor every sip, maybe throw in a cookie or two, just to add a little more taste to your chosen beverage?

What if I told you that you could also measure life with the number of sips you take? Would you then be careful then as to how you live life? For instance, if you chose to have your tea in a small cup, would you take equally small sips in order to breathe in the aroma and relish the taste by swirling the tea in your mouth? Or would you rather have a large mug of tea and chug it all in one go, not understanding the character of how the tea has been brewed? Just like life. If you do not take time to understand how your character has been developed through the sheer pressure that life has imposed on you, do you think you would have appreciated life more?

If the quality of life you lived was determined by the tea sips that you took, would you then slow down and smell the roses, smile at people more often and be a bit more kind? Would you judge less then, love more, if you just took a backseat and consumed life at the rate at which you finish your cup of tea? What if the life you lived reflected in the water you put to boil and the tea leaves brewed told you that you are indeed living a wasted life, a life where you judged too harshly, speak impolitely and leave nothing but discord and chaos in your wake? Would you live a little better, be a bit kinder and maybe use your speech sparingly, to encourage others and not bring them down instead?

Would you look at life differently, now that you know life can be compared to the tea you brew, the beverage you smell and the leaves once roasted? Would you live life a bit differently, be a little open and just love unconditionally? Will the life you choose to live here on out be slightly unaligned to the one you were used to living if you choose to compare it to the kind of tea you drink?

Here is to you and the next time you make a cup of tea, try measuring life while you are at it.