Road to Redemption

We shift gears, 
Learn to be agile,
Do the bidding, 

yet we leave a lot to finish.

While we succeed, we also  
hide our scars,
Forget the sacrifices, 

yet we leave a lot to finish.


May the goal be not be to finish, 
But that, we pull up, 
chin up, dust off, 
Get ready to roll, 

And we are eager to start a lot.

Another day, week, month year, 
Set forth our redemption, 
To finish what we should, 
Continue what we need, 
Replenish our souls, mind and body, 
To the greater purpose of our lives.

Happy new year 2018 :)

Evolved Learning

The one great luck I had in this sabbatical was the nature of the learning evolved. 
Books (published), still are the charm I long for, and the best stress busters.

However, the love for learning makes you cross boundaries every time you come across a great service. 

Three great services I got introduced and subscribed are Kindle, Blinkist and Audible. 

KIndle: Arguably the best reading experience "after" a physical book. The choices, varieties and ease of experience to purchase and sync across devices make it an awesome choice for avid readers. 

Blinkist: I still remain a fan of getAbstract, but blinkist provides similar service at a fraction of the cost. All the summaries are of a definitive length, can be quickly completed while in a coffee shop queue and building your own massive library is "free". Give it a try and you would fall in love with their distilled essence from the books.

Audible: The "gold" subscription is costlier for my standards, yet I tossed a lot to go for this one and only service available at a good standard. Given that nothing beats reading a full book by the authors, this gets your commute and traffic jams enjoyable. If I enjoy a blink, I get a full copy to listen.  The programming, production quality and the narration by professionals and authors themselves makes us long for more drives. I get restless to get on road again just to complete the book. The reproduction in audio format is more appealing given that we could have a multi-tasking attention. Listen in your gym, commute and long flights with eyes rested. 



All the above, transform your smart phone and your car into a learning powerhouse. Don't miss converting your mobile device into a learning junk box and appreciate that commutes are actually our road to self-actualization.

Distractions and the pitfall of the "best"

I have seen distractions play a havoc in my blogging life.

First are the choices in platforms: Blogger, wordpress, typepad which are mainstream blogging tools and then catch up of Facebook, LinkedIn that gives you an audience ecosystem, new age publishing systems like Medium, smaller sites like squarespace and the ever ego to have a branded full fledged paid hosting site of your own.

I don't argue the merits or otherwise for each of them here. When I started looking around, I was consumed to look for the best because I felt my thoughts deserve them.  In this search for the best, stopped doing what I was trying to improve.

What I learnt from all of search is gold.

1. There is merit in the saying "Don't fix what is not broken yet". This suggests that we don't abandon what we do and jump and hop without  a destination in what is "new". 

2. Get comfortable with anything new before making the switch. In hind sight, I could have continued sharing in this platform, while "following" other channels and getting comfortable with the idea to switch. 

3. Change Management matters: I was introduced to this concept in my profession and yes, it applies every where. If I had the desire to switch, the process of change management could have eased me out of the pain. 

4. When in distress, seek to talk: The unfortunate event that happened around this time was that my already small blogger friends circle  pushed themselves away from this endeavor. May be, we all could have benefited from the withdrawal symptoms and reassured each other to refresh and re-look.

5. The calling of "Why" needs to be answered as a mantra: I started blogging by accident and it became my obsessions and then my love. At some time, probably, I couldnt answer  "why" am I spending time here. And should I continue just because I love and dont see value ? The nag eventually gets shriller and gets a shell we live comfortably. 

The hiatus that wasn't to be

Have you ever felt the disappearance of Mojo one fine day and struggled to get it back. ?Started wondering why, and erased all memories just as we tend to hide the first crush of our lives that re-surfaces on a sudden event ?

This blog was one such event of my life. After the last post in 2015, I couldn't muster the energy to pick myself up and pen down what I wished to. And eventually my struggles weakened me until this time. 

Outside the blogger life, it has been a hectic journey, lots of new learnings, developed maturity with the onset of older age, overcoming crises and mostly an avid consumer of learning and a reticent contributor. 

Picking up my love once again to blog. Counting on your support to go from here.