We all have them, some of us, more than others. Our lives are littered with unfortunate circumstances that change the way we feel every 24 hours. I always had bad days. Failure, depression, unhappiness, all common symptoms for a typical shit one, and as of late they seem to be much more frequent than usual. We can’t help what happens around us sometimes. Opportunities that are missed are usually the reason we agitate ourselves over a massive majority of circumstances that happen to us. We tend to dwell on the negative and forget that without everything that has happened in our lives, we would not be  where we are today.

That doesn’t stop us from having those really bad periods of time. Where you feel lonely, scared, angry and sad. Where nothing works out despite your best efforts and nothing seems to be in your favour no matter how much of a good person you are.

Its all part of being human I guess, but like I said before, that doesn’t make it suck any less. We win sometimes, but for some of us losing is a constant thing, whether its personal, professional, emotional or physical. I could sit here and say, “Keep your chin up and don’t let it get you down” but the reality is that it will no matter what. Sleepless nights and exhausting days are all what seems to be consuming your life.

The hope is that it will all change. I remember sitting in confession and being told that you can’t simply ask for happiness when you want it. You have to suffer before you can celebrate. But we don’t ask for eternal happiness, for the most part, all we want is to live positive lives.

As depressing as that sounds the best is that we are all catalysts for change. Our lives are a direct result of our decisions and regardless of the outcome there is always another way. Hope is our one redeeming quality as humans, we live by emotion and not so much on logic and despite the bad days there is always another way to see the world.

I don’t really know why I wanted to write this in the first place, but I guess what I called a bad week is something I could share with you, not for attention but for an understanding that we all go through it. The key word being “through”.  Its nothing more than another obstacle and the only thing we can do is keep trying to figure it all out. I never wanted to be unhappy, to be down or to be this upset about things that could have been avoided. I always thought a positive mindset was the best thing, but it just gets so tiring. Sometimes you just want to go to bed and forget, but part of being strong or trying to be strong is making sure you never give up.

Don’t let it kill you; don’t even give it the chance to eat at you from the inside. Just keep doing what you can to cope.

Rocky said that the world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, that it’s a very mean and nasty place. He was right. But Dumbledore said that happiness can be found even in the most darkest of places, all you have to do is remember to turn on the light.

Input and output. That is the general motion in which we live our life. What we get out of anything is a sum total of what we put in. It is true that in some cases we don’t get what we work for or what our goals are, but regardless of whatever external outcome we experience there is always an internal lesson to be learned.

This kind of reminds me of Zeno’s paradoxes. Now to be honest I don’t completely understand them, but the general demeanour of his work revolves around motion, and from getting from point A to point B. I read through most of it and had a hard time grasping the relevance of it all, but when you reflect on how most things function in life you realise the innate relevance of what he was saying.

One thing that I learnt from all of it, was that to get somewhere, or attain a goal you need to reach halfway point. Meaning that in all endeavours, there will always be a point where you have half of the distance you have travelled left in your journey. Now looking back on any goal setting experience, you could roughly imagine the work and path that you walked to reach your halfway point and the subsequent work and path to walk that is left in your journey.

Now you’re probably wondering why I bothered to explain that to you since it seems pretty cut and dry, and quite simple to understand. Well, for me, in a somewhat strange jump, this relates directly to the thought of never quite being finished.

You see we live life in such a way that for most of us there is an end game. A target, a point where we finally can say that we have accomplished our goal or finished our journey. I remember, after his sixth Olympia win in 1975, Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he was going to retire, but that he would never stop bodybuilding. Granted he came back five years later in 1980 to win it again, but he still maintained the art form long after his years on the stage.

But when he began to age and decided to embark on different things many others noticed that his body began to change as well. He gained weight and started to lose that once great physique that made him famous. In reality, this was all a natural result of him getting older, but I always felt a sense of disappointment, only because he couldn’t maintain something that made him so great.

The thing is though, years later, he began to change back and regain what he lost, proving everyone wrong, and thus, started to build back not only his body, but also his influence within the fitness industry.

You see most would think his bodybuilding career completely ended in 1975, then again in 1980. But he was able to market dozens of movies through his physique and his muscly demeanour long after that. Then when he lost it all, he got it right back. All because in his head, and somehow in the universe, his journey, his progression was somewhat unfinished. Some would argue that his life came back in full circle, but I disagree and instead say, that despite all he had accomplished, he still had decided to make use of what he had and further what made him great, even though he had accomplished all of his goals.

When I apply this in my own life, I compare any future goals to any goals that I had made in the past. Disappointingly I realised I half assed a lot of things. But even more so, I failed at so much more when I did give a crap. I think, looking back on those times, rather then sit there in defeat, maybe I should’ve carried on or tried again. The reality of giving up makes it much easier then trying to make things better, and therefore much more inviting. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe I should’ve tried again. Or maybe regardless of the outcome of any goal that I made for myself, I should’ve thought about the larger perspective.

Many would think the halfway point in Arnie’s journey is halfway through his bodybuilding career. Others would argue it was at the end of that period and the next half was his movie career. To be really honest I don’t know if either of those perspectives are right. I can’t, for whatever reason, seem to pin point where his halfway point was or is.

And maybe that’s what it’s all about; no one knows when the end is actually going to come around, whether that be tomorrow or ten years from now. All we have to do is focus on that journey and make sure that despite everything, we should never really feel as though we are completely done. That there is always, more after.

 

“The only thing standing between you and your dreams, is you doing them.”

– Casey Neistat

Pure unfiltered and undisputed drive that helps you do whatever you want to do. For the first time in months I got sick yesterday. Having run in the rain on Thursday arvo, I forgot to dry my hair and instead sat on my chair and began writing another post. By the weekend I was tired and congested. All I wanted to do was lay in bed and watch movies, which in fairness I did for some time.

 

I never get sick. Years of being stick thin and not eating as much food as I should’ve as a kid made me become ridiculously meticulous when it came to looking after myself. This obsession became my life, and suddenly I became infatuated with the idea of becoming the perfect human male.

My drive towards that, initially started off as an idea of what I wanted to become, even though it’s virtually unattainable.

In an effort to truly understand why I was like this I looked to the stars…or a movie star to be more accurate.

Matthew Mcconaughey said in his acceptance speech at the Oscars that his hero was always him, ten years from now. He said that he could never attain that, and he knew it because no matter how hard he tried, the underlying factor was not actually being that person, but that he always had someone to keep on chasing.

 

As a young man I realised that there is a difference between what I can attain and what I cant. Unfortunately I cannot attain perfection, no matter how hard I try, but that’s ok because that gives me something to keep on chasing.

 

Lean and hungry…that’s how Russell Crowe described the Legion of soldiers that he commanded to take on the barbarians in Gladiator, and that’s what I am. My goal of perfection has since been cast aside and instead, a new goal of being the best version of myself is what I want to attain. I will forever want that, because unlike perfection, the best version of myself is less douchey. This goal is still unattainable because there will always be something that goes wrong, and maybe just like Mcconaughey, that version of myself is always ten years ahead.

I’m ready and hungry to be what I want to be, regardless of the sleep that ill lose and regardless of being sick for a weekend. I refused to stay in bed all day and instead went to the gym, went for a walk and made decisions to make myself a better person. Yes I needed rest, and yes I needed to get better, so I chose to work with what energy I had to make sure the day wasn’t a waste. All of this was because I want to prove to not only the world, but also to my biggest critic, myself, that I can do what is necessary to become what I want to be. To not be a quitter and to find what I want out of life and stick to it, regardless of the outcome.

My goals may vary to yours, in fact it could be completely different to everyone else on the planet but my main message is to keep on pushing. We all get roadblocks and that’s ok. But be hungry for it all, for everything that might come your way and for everything that life has to offer. That is living and that’s what we have to do…just keep living.

As many of you would probably know, I love my dog. I got him when I was 18 years old and just about to start uni. Amongst many things, he was there to remind me that no matter how crappy I felt in …

Source: AWARE

As many of you would probably know, I love my dog. I got him when I was 18 years old and just about to start uni. Amongst many things, he was there to remind me that no matter how crappy I felt in my life, there was always something out there that loved me more than anything else in the world. Animals can teach us many different things if we allow them to; all you have to do is watch. And that’s pretty much all I’ve been doing the last couple of weeks, whenever I had any free time. I chill with my dog, not only because it’s somewhat comforting but also because it’s very interesting.

Roman, just like most other dogs, loves to play fetch. Every time any one of us comes outside the house, he grabs any toy he can find and begins to run around us until we try to grab it out of his mouth, ending in a game of tug-o-war which then is followed by us throwing it away for him to chase and bring back to us, repeating the process until he gets tired or we cant be bothered anymore. Without thinking, I noticed something that I didn’t pay much attention to before. His awareness.

I would chuck the toy in any given direction and he would immediately chase after it without any hesitation whatsoever, his concentration on it never waving.

On quite a few occasions, however, the toy would fall close to the fence or a door or even near another person. But somehow, centimetres away from whatever was in front of him, Roman was able to come to a halt and catch the toy without hurting himself. A series of near misses perfectly avoided by nothing more than his instinct. Now maybe the instinct to do so is genetic and is in no way applicable to human beings, or maybe it isn’t. The point is that without even thinking, my dog was able to save himself from hitting his head all because he was aware.

In my last post I talked about what we can learn from the natural world, and despite me thinking that learning balance through the intricate details of a handstand would be a pivotal moment in understanding oneself, I realised that this might be somewhat on the same level.

Roman is a good dog, but he’s not terribly smart. He chases his own tail, and when he catches it, wonders why he cant move properly. When he catches a scent he frequently hits his head on cabinet doors and into walls while he tries to find its source. He also thinks that if he hides his head, therefore unable to see anyone, he therefore thinks no one can see him as a result.

So yes, he’s just a dog, but my point is that despite being a dog, he had more self-awareness then I have had in ages. He knew when to stop at the right time so he wouldn’t get badly hurt.

Too often do I see people lose themselves in chasing an object, person or ideal and completely being blind-sided by the consequences of not fully understanding the situation. In most cases they can get back up but to the many more who don’t, they are scarred and hurt by their own lack of self-awareness.

Knowing what could happen if shit went south is part of going out and trying to achieve something, because there is nothing wrong with being prepared, whether that be relationships, business, physical activity or any form of personal goals. What you must understand is the probable likely hood of coming short or even getting hurt in the process, despite succeeding in whatever you may be working towards.

Whenever you decide to do something, never half ass it…whole ass it. But always remember the fact that despite your hard work and your commitment, you could end up banging your head against a wall chasing a ball too hard. Be aware, and understand your surroundings. Realise what needs to be done to make sure that when you do get that ball, that you can put on the breaks and bring it straight back home.

 

So much of the world is in disorder. With the bad taking over the good and the fake taking over the real, our lives are spent in a constant flux of one side or the other. For many this is the life they have become accustomed with, and while it may seem depressing, the notion of trying to achieve balance in and amongst the harsh and confusing disorder that is the real world is somewhat unattainable. But balance can be achieved, or at least to some sort of extent, in relationships, in practices in both our physical and emotional selves as well as our personal and professional lives.

I didn’t find myself understanding balance until I tried to learn how to do a handstand. And I am not even joking one bit. I came across a video on YouTube outlining specific steps and procedures to try and complete one. The reason being was that I watched trailers for the new Tarzan movie and always wanted to be like Spiderman when I was a kid. The thing about handstands are that they are much more complex than one might think. Sure you can flip your legs in the air and remain neutral and call that a handstand, and to many that is, but what I learnt was the necessary functions to do before and during the process of doing one. The tutorial was simple to watch but as I looked closely at the guy teaching a newbie, I noticed the concentration and the actual sweat drip of his body as he maintained the correct positions time and time again to control his core and therefore the rest of his body.

The weird thing is, I began to lose interest in actually doing the handstand and instead watched and learnt the slight adjustments that could be made to perfect and control your body through slight movements and pressure.

I watched as the guy leant his legs to a wall to hold steady but was then intrusted to widen and push down on his fingertips, which in turn moved his legs away from the wall. He immediately fell and once again had to prop himself up to his original position, and again, had to use the pressure in his fingers to slightly move his legs away from the wall as well.

What I was seeing wasn’t just control in the body but the intricate details of the human form, how one thing, on the other side of the body, can completely change and shift another.

The art wasn’t in actually doing a handstand, it was the ability to use your fingers to pulse of the wall and keep your legs in the air without actually moving your legs consciously. True balance and true concentration.

My understanding of balance changed through observing the simplest of things. And that’s where anyone can learn, because regardless of what many may think, the true secrets to succeeding in life can and most probably can be found in the more natural things of this world, where it restores the imbalances through a slight arrangement of something else along the chain.

And THAT is how balance works. Through a series of steps and procedures that you must endure to initially gain a foundation that you can build off. Then using control and a mental focus to retain and affect the other parts of your body, life and mind to achieve complete equality.

“Two Gun” Crowley was one of the most dangerous and deadliest killers in American history. He was notorious for being known as a cop killer and a ruthless gun fighter, and was finally captured in his sweethearts apartment battling out one hundred police officers and detectives. When he knew that the end was near, Crowley wrote a letter “to whom it may concern” and to quote him directly, said this, “Under my coat is a weary heart, but a kind one-one that would do nobody any harm”.

Crowley thought he was a good man. And it was this man, which held himself in such high regard, that also gunned downed a police officer, first in a shower of lead from his own gun, then with the policemen’s own revolver, all unprovoked and after being asked for his licence.

You may be thinking why I brought this up. Well in all aspects of life, this is an example of how people view themselves. We all in some way shape or form think that what we are doing and what we have done is for a good reason.

My whole life I thought that our mindset is what distinguishes us from our bad side, but in reality it is our actions. While discussing with my mates, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we talked about the true meaning of being a good person and a good Christian. With an interesting turn in discussion we concluded that despite our intelligence and understanding of what we know the world to be, we don’t actually know anything at all, in the grand scheme of things. We don’t know what’s out there, whether aliens exist or if there really is a heaven or a hell. All we know is what we can do.

You see, despite the world not being split into good people and death eaters, what constitutes a person acting the way they act is what they think of themselves. Crowley thought he was standing up for himself, but the world will forever know him as a vicious criminal. All because of what he had done to leave his mark on this world. Our mark is not always a reflection of our mindset but what matters is whether or not that mindset made the world a better place or not.

We must realise that everyone has their reasons, good or bad, whatever they may be, that has caused them to act the way they have and be the way they are. There is no denying the complexity of the human mind and its experience, but in all the confusion, the one thing that we can count on, is ourselves. We can be responsible for our mark, what we leave behind. And while we may mess up, we may also thrive from the depths of despair. What we choose to do is the defining moment in our day to day lives and whether that be to produce good and reflect our yearning to be the best version of ourselves, or whether that be how Crowley was, to kill and cause suffering, then that is our choice.

 

I don’t take privilege lightly, especially regarding the climate that many people with my background and climate have grown in. When white people are entitled to a whole word that you have never experienced before, it becomes apparent that the world does seem to lean towards the team that you are not a part of. I know a lot of my brown brothers and sisters will know that being Indian has not had the best reaction from another community in Australia. And many more of my ethnic friends would agree when I say that if you are white, you are open to a wealth of opportunity that no one else can access.

This week in uni I learnt about how colonisation had detrimental impacts on indigenous communities all over the world. Our focal point was on the Aboriginal people of Australia, but in the larger scheme of things, no one really stops to think at how white people have really somehow had massive effects on the world. Indigenous people were not always considered to be equal, but in fact Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was used as a weapon when trying to belittle other ethnicities who were not white. In other words, if you weren’t white, you were of darker skin tone and therefore much less evolved because of how your appearance was perceived to be somewhat alike to apes. Which is completely untrue and ridiculously stupid but hey, if you have large fleets and the power of the Queen on your side I guess whatever bullshit comes out of your mouth has to be somewhat true.

It’s a terrorising fact that grips a lot of people when you realise you are never going to be able to compete with any white person in the world just because you yourself have a different skin colour or racial background. But in a society where all cultures and ethnicities are to be celebrated, how can this be? Well the instilled values of colonisation are the main reason for this. Despite the fact that we are now apart of a multicultural society, being white is now not only a sly way of making it but also an excuse to appropriate other cultures and traditions into your life if you like it. And yes I’m talking about girls who walk around festivals with bindi’s and saying “Namaste” to every person they see because they think they’re “spiritual” or whatever.

I see white people appropriate Indian culture all the time, and even though it’s a great thing to see how much of a positive influence it can have on people, the fact still remains that at the end of the day you are still white. You’re never going to understand what its like to be Indian, or another culture because you yourself are not that culture. Instead your ancestors probably spat on the people who practice said culture for thousands of years because they thought that it was “weird” and unheard of. Look, I get it, Saree’s are pretty, and Hinduism looks like fun. But my mum was ridiculed for her accent. My dad was discriminated against by old white men because he looked different. And I was racially abused for a good part of my life by people just because I looked like Mowgli from the jungle book.

Take a step back and really think about what you’re doing. Because if you being able to wear Indian clothes and then be celebrated  for it, why cant I, or many others like me do it.

If you want to truly recognise a culture or tradition. Don’t do so using your privileged, use your brains and your actions. Learn about it and most of all understand it. Not through theory but through the people who have suffered for it. Recognise that others have suffered and died, that despite what you may think these people have walked this earth trying to show pride and now have to watch you do the exact same thing with no hardship whatsoever. Recognise people who have been trampled on, learn their pain and don’t exploit it because it looks good.

Zayn might be cocky, he might be arrogant, he might have copied you…he might even be the most beautiful thing to ever set foot on this planet. But what he definitely is not is a Punjab. Which by th…

Source: Dear Azealia Banks,

Zayn might be cocky, he might be arrogant, he might have copied you…he might even be the most beautiful thing to ever set foot on this planet. But what he definitely is not is a Punjab. Which by the way is not even the correct terminology to begin with. Punjab is a place, and the people from Punjab are called Punjabi’s, a beautiful people with a proud culture from a beautiful state from an even greater country. Let me begin by saying that this will be one of two rants that I am going to be doing through my posts about western peoples and their appropriation and discrimination towards not only my people, but also any other brown races that they have put down in the past.

The problem with race is that it creates divide. With every culture comes a new reason as to why another culture can consider them different or the other. My whole life is a classic example of this. And despite all my years and all the racial torment I have never hated anyone more as Azealia Banks. You see racism stems from lack of knowledge, lack of education. Only stupid people think in terms of racial discrimination and even stupider people act on it. The world is too diverse to continue to create a divide between people of different ethnicities and yet that is all Western society does. For centuries white people have been seen as heroes, not realising the damage they cause. But with the recently reviewed circumstances of Captain Cooks landing in Australia as invading rather than settling, I thought that the western world were actually starting to get it.

But clearly I was incorrect. Don’t get me wrong, the vast majority of people do believe in racial equality and are heavily against racial discrimination. But with the good also comes the bad and unfortunately, this time, the bad has come in the form of a know-nothing human being called Azealia Banks. Now I don’t usually care what dumb people usually have to say, because quite frankly the world has much more interesting things to offer, but this really can’t be ignored, especially since this has become a popular occurrence in all western peoples, especially girls. Azealia Banks has culturally appropriated, and then subsequently dissed a person who is from the same background and did so for the whole world to see on social media. No matter how hard the rest of us try and get through the world, trying to fight discrimination and racial slurs, we will always have to face someone like Azealia Banks. Not only does it prove that she’s a jealous little shit, but also that she cant take it when someone who isn’t from the “great ol’ U S of A” is more famous and has a much larger fan base. And that’s always going to be a massive obstacle that any person from any ethnic group will face when in a western society.

I will not go into what she said in detail, I’m sure you have read what she said and had your own feelings, either as a white person or a brown person or as a person from any other culture, because my purpose isn’t to tell you this is wrong, you should already know that. What I’m going to do is tell you is that I wear my culture proudly. I am a curry-scented bitch and I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone else has to say about it (even though I smell like Calvin Klein). Not only is this an insult to my family and my culture but all the Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi women and girls out there who have been ridiculed because of who they are.

I agree with Jus Reign, that amazing Punjabi man, wear it with pride. Wear it like armour, because if we choose to let people like Azealia Banks tear us down with racial slurs and hurtful words then we have already lost the battle. I will never let them bring me down and neither should you. And no I don’t accept your apology Azealia Banks, I think you’re a racist and I think you of all people should know what it feels like to be put down because of your culture. So screw you and your stupid music video. #allpraisezayn