Thoughts on my Birthday

Yesterday I completed another trip around the sun. I celebrated it with a small 100km round trip on the bike. For the past few years this has been the ritual. Being on the bike clears my mind a lot, especially it helps me channelize my thoughts. For me birthdays are a mix of both fun and reflections. It is a day which offers you the prospect of a fresh start to achieve your goals in life and also to assess your on-going life and make necessary changes for the better. So here are some musings:

• On love and relationships: The best relationship is when you can lay next to each other and just talk about anything and everything. I am so lucky to have found the love of my life and luckier enough to have married her. These are the good days, every part of it; I wish it remains like this forever.

• On Health and Fitness: I ran a marathon in January and decided I will run the next one when I am more fit and lean. So started the phase of healthy food and regular exercise. I have already begun the journey and I am enjoying it so far.

• Meaningful Work: Few years back I quit a well-paid job in search of something more realistic. I wanted to make an impact, become a change master. I started working for a great cause. Imagine a family of 6-7 with an average annual income of 20k vs the prospect of earning 12k per month. I work for an organization which addresses this cause and our target segment is the poorest of the poor of the country. I wish to associate myself in meaningful work in future rather than making rich corporates richer.

• On meaning of life: It’s a question that mankind has long struggled to answer. We’ve built philosophies and religions around it, gone to war over it, and debated it for centuries. I feel that we need to find a meaning in what we do and it more or less drives you through. As far as the meaning of life goes, it is quiet dynamic. For me I think the current purpose of life is to inspire people.

• Skills and good practices: I want to focus on a few limited things for this year, primarily do 3 things: 1) A certification in photography 2) few certifications in Microsoft Excel 3) Driving. Apart from this I would like to continue on my journey with meditation, I did around 40 hours of meditation last year.

• Travel:  Last but not the least; travel has changed me as a person. I have travelled and would like to continue to travel. After all have stories to tell not stuff to show.

You can read on a similar post written last to last year here.