Hiya folks,

The entries to my blog is far and unbecoming. I know I should be getting off my lazy butt every Friday, and get my creative thoughts on a roll, and dish out page after page on my blog.

Yes, that would be a perfect world for me. However, an imperfect world for you, my friends. For you would then have to go through the anomaly of having to read my blog every week, and thus, once and for all, strike my webpage off your to-do list.

That is why, I think, medicine will taste sweeter if we have to endure medicine once in a while.

Oh yes, talking about creativity, and a creative mind? So, what in the hell is ‘creativity’?

I touched upon this subject sometime back in an earlier blog. I would like to expand my thoughts on it. Anyways, I hope you will not bore yourself and start reading my earlier blog entries from the time my sick mind decided to unleash terror on this otherwise unsuspecting world, and decided to write a blog (tee hee).

So, let’s see:

When you see a picture, your mind forms an image of it deep inside it. Creativity, is all about how you perceive the image in your mind. If you see the image as a duplicate of the picture, then you are definitely not creative.

People, like Van Gogh, Ansel Adams, Rembrandt would look at landscapes, humans, things and would wonder how these would look like, differently.

Thus Creativity is all about perspective. It is all about looking at things in a way that is unique. Creativity is all about letting your imagination flow. Like looking at clouds dispersing and vanishing over the horizon. Let the imagination flow, like waves, and disperse, and alter itself, and change into something unusual and unlike.

I have many things to write and talk about, but perhaps, the ‘e’ for elephant and the ‘t’ for teddy bear effect, sometimes prevents  me from raving and ranting.

I know we all have a right to voice our thoughts, but then, there are times, when we just need to give a deaf ear, and a blind eye to things.

I got up very early this morning, and for once enjoyed sipping coffee and letting the early  December morning breeze to waft in and strike my bare face and arms. It gave me a great sense to be alive and  breathing fresh air. I think this is the best time to be in Dubai. Okay, the traffic is still not so good, but then, if you live or travel to most big cities, then you would not expect it any better. Hear,  hear!

I read this article sometime back and some of the wordings have been on the back of my mind for some time. I thought it would be nice to share it with you all.



 in life we need to be in the right place to find the next clue to our lives.  Is there a clue that we are ignoring? Are we holding onto our current "right place?" Being in the right place is not a permanent right  place. You are in the right place to receive the next clue that will take you to the next right place.

Does this make sense? Not a lot? Well, let me try and explain this.

As Shakespeare put it (in my wording), we are just actors in a large story in a huge theatre (the world) but in a story that we do not know how it is going to end.

Our life is like a train journey, and we live in a compartment which we share at a given time with other people. The train stops at a platform, and some people get in, and others get out.

All the people in the compartment have some impact on our lives. We learn to love, we learn to hate, we are enlightened, or merely find it depressing.

The secret to this success lies in the fact  that each time we exit a platform, we should get into a compartment that is slightly better than the first. Meaning, that we should learn and not let anything stop us from learning or finding out more.

Compartments will change, platforms will be different, the directions will be equivocal, but our train journey will remain.  

It is our journey that we are undertaking. Our feelings and emotions and learning; no one else’s.

Everyone has their own chance in life. It is what you learn that only matters most.

I  recently came across a very important fact in my life and I learned a lot from it. An astrologer wrote about his to a friend of mine and it has remained etched into my memory.

We are all chained or shackled to our limitations only. As Richard Bach puts it, “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.” And “You teach best, what you most need to learn.”

So, what does this mean. It insinuates the fact that we, and only we,  are responsible for our destinies. We can dictate it and run it. It is our choice only if we want to remain in the same compartment, on the same platform on our train. Or we can change platforms and change the stations and the compartments.

So, how do we do this?

Check for the right clues. We are always in the right place. But, are there only ‘One Right Place’ in our lives.

No, not at all. A clever and successful person is one who reads the right clues and goes forward. Nothing ever stops anyone, but he or she himself/herself.

That is all there is to life.

You can buy many books, but you may choose not to learn anything from them at all.

The nice thing about the journey of life  is that you are always in the right place to receive the next clue, and even if you ignore or reject the clue, it will come back around until you finally recognize it as YOUR next clue.



Take care my friends and remember what ever you are doing right now, do it well. Life is simply what you learn to make of it.

Until next time, chao.

A warm welcome to all my friends for taking out this little precious time to browse through my web page.

Its Eid in Dubai and it is one more Eid where I will once again sit and ponder. I have tried and analyzed this moment for the umpteen time to ascertain all the purposes and meanings assigned to us and our lives during this short and tumultuous tenure on Earth. And, once again, as previous,  I return to the same old conclusion,  blind as a bat, and quite oblivious to the what’s and the why’s.

Have you ever given thought to the real meaning of ‘chance’? Or to ‘choice’? If you look at the meanings in the dictionary, you will probably end up with two diverse explanations, but notwithstanding, this to me are words, so linked together, that it spells our destiny, I guess, more than anything else.

How, may you ask? Ok, I will endeavor my best to explain this, er . . . chancy phenomena. Well, we end up one way or another, all because of chance, and  as well, it then adds the other meaning of chance to it, because, since we get an opportunity, then the other ‘chance’ comes to the forefront, which is actually ‘choice’. Our being responsible for our lives and living, only makes sense, if we were given the opportunity to take one lead from another. Otherwise, why would we be accountable for all actions or our deeds.

Got you all confused, didn’t i? Never told you that my thought structure ever followed a straight line. It, sort of, follows a curved, reversible, sometimes irreversible path, in some vague, meaningful way (hee hee).

Ok, let’s move on.

My dear friend and I,  were trying to establish the true meaning to ‘creativity’.

Some say it means, sorting your right brain from the left, and ensuring ‘right brain’ taking precedence over all our logical and rationale thoughts.

Answers.com says: Creativity is the ability to think up and design new inventions, produce works of art, solve problems in new ways, or develop an idea based on an original, novel, or unconventional approach.

The Dictionary: Creativity is the ability to see something in a new way, to see and solve problems no one else may know exists, and to engage in mental and physical experiences that are new, unique, or different. Creativity is a critical aspect of a person's life, starting from inside the womb onward through adulthood.

However, without disagreeing with the above, I believe Creativity is:

One big, huge figment of our own very imagination. Creativity is all about the ‘image’ and not the ‘picture’. Although linked to the above explanations, Picture is what our left brain tells us to see and understand. If we are able to create an ‘Image’ of the ‘Picture’ with our right brain, then let our imagination wander;  accept the impossible as possible; the inevitable as evitable, then, this is what creativity is all about.

The only difference is ‘perspective’. We all actually see what everyone sees or has seen. Which means, with all the information around us that we have, both physically and mentally gathered, we have formed a picture in our minds; like our peers , friends now and in the past. Our ‘betters’ are people who dream and ask themselves the question, “why not?” instead of, “I see, this is how it works,” and that is how an ‘Image’ starts to get drawn inside our right brain. And, this is ‘Creativity’.

I have a terrible toothache today.

Only people who have or have had terrible toothaches can relate to my feeling at this moment. But, somehow I have always preferred pain over nausea. I have discovered that ‘pain’ is something that you can control, and at times, even benefit from.

Really?

I think I wrote about this before, that in this world, if you rise over the ‘physical’ side of things, then you will realize that everything we do or attempt to do,  comprises of only one thing.

That thing is ‘energy’. Both, positive and negative. We strive by taking in energy (or giving out) through the physical world, then feed it to our ‘spiritual’ side. However,  there are only three known ways where ‘energy’ can be exchanged. One through Meditation, (relaxation therapy, enjoyment and disappointments in life, etc. ), through Sex (yes, Physical sex is very important for us animals to exchange energy while exchanging joy with partners) and the third is through Pain.

Pain can be physical or emotional, traumatic pain. It is something that jolts us back into a real and highly  keyed up  world. You may have the best relationship; the best partner; but if it has a situation that is affecting you, and paining you, whatever the reason may be, and, although giving you physical pleasure and enjoyment, it is in reality draining you off well needed spiritual energy.

This has two effects, one that even when we have everything, we are quite miserable.

 The other, surprisingly, although it is so appalling, sometimes the negative energy through pain actually propels our creative side, and allows us to disassociate from the physical left brain, and we can be sad, but at the same time masters of our new destiny, which is an infinite path way to ingenuity and inventiveness.

Sounds strange, but than the world is very strange. Next week (or next time, whenever), for those of you who are interested, I shall write in more  details about the three aspects of spiritual energy 

Going back to pain, similarly, this disabled me, but at the same time it allowed me freedom to think better, and that is why I am online writing my blog, and hoping  to waste your time, those good people chancing upon my page this week.

Oh well, until next time then, and as per my usual message, I hope you are doing something crative and inventive with your time, wherever you are. The message from our ruler, HH Sheikh Mohammed is very vivid and clear, “Success of one, is success of others. Failure of one, is failure of all” This was the message through which he requested the citizens and all other nationalities in the UAE to raise money for the homeless.  ‘Dubai Cares’  was born, and in less than a month, over 75 million AED have been raised. Therefore understand what this means. Generosity from one’s heart, my friends, gives rise to  first category of t ‘energy’ exchanges in humanity. Giving, gives rise to a cycle of ‘energy exchanges’ and believe me, you will get a lot more in return, if not physically, definitely in ‘Spiritual’ terms.

Adios.

Hiya folks, compadres, asdiqa, friends

Well, Friday is back again, and the manner in which time is flying, we will be back to the fun cooler days of Autumn.

What about winter? Nay, we do not have winter, just a few days when the thermometer reminds us that we have jackets and sweaters to wear.  To tell you the truth, it gets quite warm if you have a thick sweater on. So, it is a better idea to have very thin pullovers.

Nevertheless, the Desert gets quite cold in the night. I remember, many eons back, our ‘all guys’ tennis team and friends went for an outing close to Jebel Ali Hotel (which is now so near, you won’t be calling it an outing. Then if you go way back, people used to picnic close to Iranian Hospital, and even the area behind Ramada Hotel in Bur Dubai were all sandy dunes, and when I am speaking of way back, actually it is only early 70’s that we are talking about). Well going back to the outing near Jebel Ali hotel, we stayed near the beach overnight, spread blankets on the sand, barbecued and devoured biryani rice (local version) and that appeared to be a lovely, I think, a starry October night. One of our guys had brought with him a sleeping bag, and he was the pun of many a joke that eveningt. Until wait, a Shamaal hit us (northern cold winds), then he had the last laugh. It was so cold, that a couple of us, found it nice and cozy (bien and calentito) to sleep in my car. I had to be careful, because Sharif was sleeping next to me, but then, he was so tired that he remained quite a gentleman throughout the rest of the night.

That brought back another memory, when this time we went camping on an island off the beach of Khorfakkan.  Well, that was certainly something to think about. A friend had a harpoon gun with him, and when we snorkeled in the water around, replete of fish such as Shahri, Hammour and Sultan Ibrahim , he actually asked us to choose fish scampering about, and he would harpoon it for us. I had never thought that fishing at times could be such an easy matter. Later on, one of the guys, everyone would point out it to be  Shar, got a little intoxicated, first he burnt down half the tent when he disposed off the end of his Marlboro lights very close to the tarpaulin, and which eventually led to the tent ablaze, and t if that was not the end  of his pranks, he began pelted us with chicken eggs, or for  some unfortunate guys, I can humbly point out that I was one of them, smashed the eggs open using our temples as the base, and prompting us to go swimming, to clean off the muck and smell, at around 4 in the morning. Well, that was a couple of ‘down memory lane’ episodes for you. Who said the ‘past’ was monotonous and dull?



A guy once asked me to define ‘contentment’.  I had to do a lot of thinking on this. So, what is contentment, and what is enough. I have pursued the path of ‘enough’ once before in a previous blog, therefore I will only touch on ‘contentment’ today.

Answers.com describes Contentment as

Contentment refers to the neuro-physiological experience of satisfaction and being at ease in one's situation, body, and/or mind. The freedom from anxiety, want or need. Contentment is the goal behind all goals because once achieved there is nothing to seek until it is lost. A living system cannot maintain contentment for very long as complete balance and harmony of forces means death.



Collins Gem Dictionary:

The act of being mentally and emotionally satisfied and the willingness of accepting things as they are.

Well, in my belief contentment is coming very close to achieving  ‘nirvana’ (paradise, or being in a state of emancipation from ignorance and the extinction of all attachment.)

So, what does that actually mean?

In a lay mans words, I guess:

It means that it is when we are at a stage of having achieved also everything in life, that there is no possibility of wishing or wanting more, and striving for more has no meaning at all, and the thought of ‘giving up everything’ is most pleasant and melodious, then only we are in the total state of contentment.

So, then, what is giving away everything:

Sometimes in life, we have to take on decisions that at many other times would seem preposterous. Thus, a  state of mind when achieved, where every physical, emotional and spiritual possession can be sacrificed resulting in a hurt deep down in one’s system; a hurt that is sustained in any condition whatsoever, then that would tantamount to ‘giving away everything’.

Okay, no one told you that I am fully sane. No one said that I cannot be boring at times. Actually, believe it or not, we all have some very good genes, and some very defective ones. We are all born like that. It is only the most powerful, famous guys/gals who are able to disguise and mask such defective genes, are people who really shine in the world (until caught out, hee hee) and emerge as leaders and mentors.

Now, I promise to give you all some rest and hope to write my next blog in mid September.  As usual, my advice for you would be, whatever you are doing in life, do it good. Remember if you tell the truth, then you do not have to remember anything. And last but not the least, “LIFE is simply what YOU learn to make of it.”

Chao

Hiya amigos once again.

It is blog time and nice to be back with you. When someone asks me a question, how’s life? My reply is pulling on. Well life is all about going on, and going on it is, until the battery stops. Then you are no longer pulling on.



The older I am getting, the more I look forward to Friday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with (anyways getting up early notwithstanding) the absolute joy of not having to be at work. Although Thursday night has always been, for many many moons, of classical music, a couple of glasses of red, smoked cheese and a desperate, head throbbing grogginess the following morning. Either way, the first few hours of a Friday morning are most enjoyable.







A few days ago, I was sifting through some old documents, searching for a particular certificate that I was so legally thirsting, and I had a steaming cup of cardamom tea in one hand, I chanced upon an article that had intrigued me a lot when I had first read. I had had every intention of posting it then, but somehow it had seen the better of the bottom of a pile of unworthy paper and all but lost to me.



It was Longevity versus Retirement age, and that went a long way to remind me that my need to retire in the next year or so, was paramount and overriding any monetary temptation that I may receive in my job or outside. I lenjoy it when I hear grunts of ‘ oh, no’ and ‘no, sir’ from my students, but heart to heart, I am sure they are also in some unique way perhaps happy to see the back of me. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your precedences straight. However, I have posted the article in the news section, and the statistics is mind boggling. Give it a go and read it for yourself.



For, this is life. Quoting an excerpt from my book, The Universe is one big Tale, and people are episodes. And life is a huge cycle of existence, and the circle merely goes round and round. You get on in one place and you get off another. Others do the same. They just get on where you left off, and when they get off, others climb in, and their stories find a new beginning. And, this is what life is all about.

I was asked me a question, and that was, what was the difference between a teacher and a coach? Well, I could have answered the question if I wanted to, but decided to take a more professional approach. So, I wandered through web definitions and came up with this:



A teacher tells, a coach asks; a teacher lectures from the front, a coach supports from the back; a teacher gives answers according to a set curriculum, a coach provides guidelines and creates the environment for the learner to arrive at his or her own conclusions; a teacher mostly gives a monologue, a coach is in continuous dialogue with the learners. A coach should also be able to adapt the learning experience ‘in mid-air’ by using his or her own initiative in order to steer the learning experience to where the learners want to create value.

Okay, so it is getting very boring. Well, what did you expect to find on an old, decrepit, wrinkling, shriveling but smart and proficient man’s homepage. Hee Hee.

So, let us talk about something serious then. In a discussion with a friend, the topic of white lies, lies and truth surfaced. Is it okay to use white lies, to get out of a difficult and tricky situation? I guess so. My response was, that in our lives, one time or the other, we need to get out of situation where at times straying from the truth, or avoidance of truth is necessary. However, this saying is what I believe in: If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

So why should we lie in the first place, anyway. I gave it a lot of thought and came up with the following conclusions

1. Some people have this type of attitude. They cannot live to tell the truth. Their life is a lie. They always want to show they are something, when they are not.

2. Some people like to have much more than they have, whether it is material or spiritual

3. Some people are just not good enough

4. Some people are in the wrong place at the wrong time

5. Some time they are forced to lie to protect themselves or to protect others

6. Sometimes, specially between spouses, it is easier to lie to get out of situation

7. Any thing else????

However, my belief and philosophy holds a lot of weight for me, that ‘If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.’ So, just go ahead and tell the truth. You will find it the most exhilarating and wonderful experience. You will be relaxed both emotionally and spiritually.

Well, I guess, the time has come, and once more I will be saying good bye. And, until next time, whatever you are doing, do it good. Achieve your aspirations in life ,for believe it or not, from the time you are born, then . . . TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

July 27, 2007

Hiya Folks,

It’s me once again. It has been sometime, but I guess old age is now taking deep roots into my system. So what, it is nice to be alive and kicking. And, of course, smiling once in a while.

So what is life. Seriously.

I read an article in Discover magazine. I am not sure I can share the entire article with you’ll but I shall give you a jist of it. It was all to do with Positive Attitude. Now, please do not take me wrong, all you religious aficionados out there.

We all agree that it is God’s will in whatever we do, and perhaps how we look at things, but that should not stop any of us from trying to do things and try to make it happen. The article talked about Positive Attitude towards everything that occurs in our day-to-day life. If good happens, then we need to understand that somewhere we had a hand in accomplishing it. Also, if bad happens, then it is similar to the above. Whatever we do in life, we are responsible for it. Because responsibility comes with choice, and it is us, and us alone, who make the choice in whatever we do. People influence us, our situation compels us, but we still make the decision ourselves.

So,

LIFE IS JUST MERELY ‘WHAT WE MAKE OF IT’.

Reflect all over again.

We make our life. We make the way we live. I am not saying that we should hurt other people in getting the best for ourselves, but not getting the best for ourselves is also hurting the person you owe the most in life. And that is YOU. If you set your values real high, then you will be doing the best for everyone, when you are doing the best for yourself.

I am always arguing that we have come to this life for a purpose, and to achieve this purpose, we have all been bestowed with a talent. An inert talent which we have to search for, and get. It is really a sin, and I mean a real sin if we discover our talent, and just let it go to waste. I have heard people saying, ‘but it is not going to get me anywhere’. So, who cares? We need to do it for ourselves, and ourselves only.

Like a funny thing, I have written a couple of books and many short stories and poems, and I have a special audience of One who has read most of my work. Guess who? Yes, the answer is ‘Me’.

So, to repeat:

LIFE IS JUST MERELY ‘WHAT WE MAKE OF IT’.

Reflect all over again.

Changing the topic, we were all in a classroom, and a very difficult topic emerged. My boss called out and asked the students the definition of INTEGRITY. Although, a word normally used many times in our daily life, what the hell is Integrity? How do you define it?

Answers.com came up with:

 In my own words I would say that INTEGRITY is, A very nice balance of self respect and confidence.,,,, Jamison.

A more psychological answer:

Besides being a virtue it is a flowing plant. It grows in the early summer and has pink flowers and a heady aroma. When the flower die they leave seed cases behind that are translucent and the seeds can be seen in the flat shiny silvery pods. These are cut and uses as dried floral decoration.

(A Bit too deep for me, but it does make sense, though)

Collins English Dictionary definition:

“it is adherence to moral principles; honesty.”

My boss’s definition of Integrity:

“It is what you are doing, when no one is watching.”

I just liked it. Made a lot of sense to me. Actually, integrity is the essential purpose of our meaning in daily life, religion, our friendship, our loves and romances; everything that makes sense to us.

Take it for example, honesty is integrity in business. To be an honest business man, the mere thought of cheating or manipulating another fellow person would be akin to having no integrity at all.

 In life and love, to have fun and cheat on your spouse just because they will not have any knowledge about it is parallel to have no respect for their feelings.

 In religious terms, to hide and do sinful things (if you are a religious person) and that no one is looking is making a mockery of religion.



So, our actions and deeds when we have no one to compel us to do otherwise, and we do it on our own free will iwould be the real meaning or the real sense to integrity. Integrity is analogous with what our values and standards are in life. What are the standards we have set for ourselves? Ask yourself this question. You may find the answers change over your life time.

If we are talking about a hot summer day, then Dubai is just the right place to be. Well, hot is just a simple way of explaining a ‘sizzling, steaming, flesh burning, head reeking, body perspiring’ day. Yes, It is the end of July and August is about to show its mean presence to all us, dubai-ites. Well we have survived nearly half a century or more, a few more years will not hurt us that badly.

This weeks prime sites:

Answers.com

Discover.com

Well, until next time, and if you have any comments please do write to me, and whatever you are doing right now, do it with some purpose in life. That is what will matter most in the end.

Buenos Tardes