What i learnt when i hike. Lesson #1 Speak The Heart Langauge

Language is not a barrier, words are.

Last year, my younger sis got herself a position in a company after graduation. One day, she came home and told me, " When my colleagues greeted me How Are You?; before i could even open my mouth to answer them, the greetings was brushed off.... and next sentence followed closely: Could you help me to do something?"
Start getting use to it, more to come.

Which is a pity, so now How Are You don't really mean a greeting... its a prelude to the next question actually. However harmless this may look, it is a start of a practice of saying words that we don't actually mean it--- mis-communication.
We live in a world of broken promises. How many times have you told a friend you'll call them back, but never did? And it became a habit of losing credibility.
Living in this busy city, my ears has become numb.

A short hiking with Dhan and Prem ( guide and porter) in Nepal had been few great lessons for me.
There was one time, my travelling partner Shi Ya was telling me of removing her sweater. Before we turn to Prem, Dhan tapped Shi Ya and gesture that he can get her sweater onto Prems' backpack. We were amazed by their service. That's a WOW factor in customer service.

The humour of life is, though speaking a common tongue, we still get misunderstood a lot. Forgo the barrier of words, simple words get us understood better.
A hike had presented me few great lessons... act through your heart.
" Wow, the little yellow flowers are beautiful" and i meant it. " The mountains are huge" and i meant it. " The wind is cooling", i meant it. " i need water and rest" and i meant it too.

A heart language is not difficult to speak at all. With a little more awareness, realise that our facial expression and gesture always come first, then the mouth will articulate the words to describe.

Example: My legs are tired from the climb. I feel the aches, and i say it after. or...
I feel the hunger first, and then said that I'm hungry.

Experience first, then comes with the words.  
Experience is the truth in the heart. The word may be the truth or a lie.

Being truthful to oneself, is probably another good deed we can do for ourselves.

Are you a TOFI?

" Fattiness", has always been a topic for centuries. And different methods had been introduced to measure our health level. Weight vs Height, BMI and now the Skin Test. Still, loopholes are everywhere...

Fats is not a word for unhealthy, Slim is not a word for healthy. We are looking for Fit.
Aside from struggling being an apple or a pear; fats nowadays are pretty "educated". They know how not to be exposed.
What could scare us more, is when Slimness hides a deadly secret. When we look into the mirror, that reflect lies. That we are unaware of the excess "potential energy" we are containing inside the body. What you see, may not always what you get.

TOFI is a new tag for the generation. " Thin on the Outside but Fat Inside". Just like a wolf wearing sheeps' wools. Waiting to pound on you.

Let's look at the types of Fats, we have:

Subcutaneous fat--- goes underneath the skin
Visceral fat--- goes in the abdomen and surrounding internal organs ( internal/ central fats)
Cholesterol fat--- travels in the blood that has been metabolised by the liver. Low Density Lipids ( LDL) can form plaque, blocking the arteries.

More likely to be a TOFI if...
* You're a male. Genetically, men has more central fats for work
* You're post-menopausal female. Due to the drop of oestrogen hormone; that protects against central fats
* You're under stress. Reflex of "fight" leads fat to deposit centrally
* You're older. Fat tissue increases, lean body mass drops
* Family history of diabetes

Most of us can simply use a measuring tape to see how much fats we're carrying. Some with high internal/ central fat levels can only be detected with an MRI.

Eating in large quantity in every meal leads to increasing fat level. Eating in small quantity but high in calories, also leads to increasing fat level.
Any food, whether its fats, carbohydrates, proteins, ... if the input of the energy is not use, they will transform into fats. When the fats are stored for long, lead to stubborn fats.

Exercising and good diets are buddies for fit health. It is OK to be fat, but we want to be fit in order to experience the beautiful events in life.... comfortably.

In most time, we just rely on our eyes too much. And take delusions as truth. Which is dangerous... because we've no idea what's playing behind our naked eyes. All we need, is a piece of self-consciousness. Know what we put into our mouth.... without guilt--- earn for it.

A short note: When we choose to eat very processed food. We've also choose to exercise even harder to very unprocess them.

Research article  from Reader's Digest, January 2011, Singapore

Habits in the habitat

One can Never Ever Ever kick off habits, just like " A leopard never change its spots".

The nature of life is not like a digital camera--- snap and delete. We are all painters. Every stroke we decided to brush on the canvas creates an imprint ( samskara). And with multiple imprints, we create a picture... an event.

I remember when i was learning arts in school, i love acrylic painting. And i learnt that, in art, there is no such thing as eraser. If i made any mistake, instead of going on with the wrong colour; i simply wait for the paint to dry and brushes a new coat over. And keep putting it with a more suitable color, to the birth of the picture i wanted.

Before every act happens, is a series of imprints. Even a simple movement of brushing the hair off my face. My face feels ticklish by the hair, sense organ sends the information to the brain, the brain co-ordinates with the hands, and the hand swipe the hair away--- all in a split second. That how amazing our brain works!

Many of us simply say, " Oh, I'll kick this habit". But eventually, find it so difficult to make it happen. Why?

Habit is not something you can kick, not in a snap of finger and it disappear! We need to put in effort, not just effort alone.... painful effort.

Habits, though we can't simply wash them off; we can always add good habits. Top them up, diligently.
Just like how a drop of drain water merge with the ocean. How the ocean embraces the drain water. It's still there, diluted with the good ones. Once my band conductor said to us, " Even if a cut is healed. The scar is always be there. We can always scrub the dead skin, and lighten it.... with continuous effort."

I've personally seen couple of my friends who manage to put in great effort to stop their years of habit of smoking. They were very aware what leads them to smoke. Not always the fault of nicotine. But the habit of have a stick between the fingers... so they snack on Poky-stick!

Some kick off the bad habit of drinking. First by not stepping into places that sell alcohol. And replace them by drinking juices and exercising... which turn out making them feel better!

Just be aware. Be aware what causes unwanted act that leads us to do it unconsciously ( habit). Cut down and divide the impression before the act happen. And replace them with the good ones; or cease the creation of more impression.

If one could not even say "no" to yourself, what's more wanting to say "no" to others?

Our habits form our habitat. No change happens in a click. Injection. Break the vicious routine and inject new habits slowly with full of awareness.
As the famous Ashtanga guru always remind us, " Practice, practice, practice.... and all is coming"

Yes, the leopard will never change it spots. Because it knows that once spotted, always spotted. So it creates more beautiful spots instead...