Mind your own business Akira!

One afternoon, a wealthy rancher decided to hold a competition amongst the the village's young cowherds to find the most hardworking and able cowherd for his ranch. "The winner of this competition has to be the one to graze the largest group of cattle within the shortest amount of time", said the rancher. The young boys of the village were extremely excited to enter this competition and work as the rancher's cowboys for a living. Akira was also extremely excited to partake in the competition. 

As the competition began, Akira looked at his fellow competitor Kabira from a distance and yelled, "Hey Kabira! You are not allowed to graze the cattle that side of the hill! It's against the rules!"

Just then, he glanced at another competitor Akiko and remarked, "Yo-ho Akiko! The rancher specifically said we are not allowed to take on more animals till the one at hand is completely full. Looks like the calf you are feeding is still hungry. Maybe you should feed him properly before you move on to the next one!"

Before long, he noticed another competitor Habiki and screamed, "Hey there Habiki! You are not allowed to feed them fruits to cease their hunger. That's unfair! According to the rules, we can only feed them fresh grass. Stop cheating!"

Shortly afterwards, as the competition came to an end, the rancher set off to search for his winner. 

"Kabira, how many animals have you grazed today?", the rancher enquired.

"I have grazed 8 animals today master", said the calm Kabira.

"Interesting. Akiko, how many animals have you grazed today?", the rancher questioned.

"I have grazed 10 animals today master", said the excited Akiko.

"Well done! Habiki, how many animals have you grazed today?", the rancher queried.

"I have grazed 15 animals today master", said the overjoyed Habiki.

"That's brilliant! Akira, how many animals have you grazed today?", the rancher interrogated. 

"Master, I have still to graze the only animal I took out to graze", said the disappointed Akira. 

On hearing this, the rancher walked towards Akira and said, "Next time my boy, mind your own business".

_ _ _ _

How often do we engulf ourselves in what other people are thinking or doing? "Are people judging me?", "Does he care about me?", "Do people think I'm ugly?", "Are they lying to me?", "Does she like me?" are only a few questions of the many that we have probably asked ourselves a number of times in our lifetime. Do these thoughts make you happy? Does finding the answers to these questions give you peace? Probably not. Satisfaction is a tough thing to achieve, especially if one's mind is involved in someone else. Even if you find satisfaction in the answers of these questions, it might be a fleeting feeling. Answers to these questions will only develop more questions, and in turn, restlessness. And so, mistaking this satisfaction for permanent solace is a faulty ideology created by our unawareness.

Human mind is a constant battlefield, and always feeling the need to know everything does not cease the battle, but rather instigates war. The war of emotions, that fuels and empowers our ego in controlling our minds. Jealousy, envy, insecurity and anger are nothing but the offsprings of not minding our own business. 

So let the world turn upside down, but continue focussing your energy internally within yourself. Remain calm, and you will remain content. Bring yourself out of constantly thinking and remind yourself that you can't change anyone or anything, but yourself. So help yourself towards peace of mind, and don't forget, mind your own business!

#LaughingAnanas

Turning 25...

25.

Such a strange number, such a strange age. It's the age of certainty, the quarter of stability. The age you're either this side or that. There's no in between. By the time you're 25, you're most likely to and expected to have a perfect job, a dream relationship, deep core values and a hell load of wisdom. In other words, your status is 'settled', or 'soon-to-settle' at worst. You're living the life you dreamed of on your graduation. You're serving as an idol to many. And you're probably exercising, eating green, healthy food and flossing everyday. But does turning 25, by default, grant you with the life so conventional, life so perfect? 

The answer is no. Turning 25 you might still find yourself juggling with your values, swimming in confusion, and not always reaching the shore. Your job might not be as perfect as you imagined, and you may not have a clue of what you'd like to do to get closer to your perfect. You probably find yourself contemplating on a startup idea a day, and not settling with any for a life long business. You might not be married, possibly not even engaged. 

Well, let's come to terms with this in saying IT'S OKAY. Living in the hope of being magically hit with that breakthrough start up idea has its own charm. And to be honest, it is not having something that makes you want to have it and work towards having it. So the contemplation is probably worth it. At the end of the day, Facebook is the child of Zuckerberg's contemplation. And then there are relationships. Let's just say, knights in shining armours are seen riding on their white horses at every corner these days. The idea of one and only true love is long forgotten. And living in a world with 7 billion others, surely you'll find your knight. 

I may not have achieved the most conventional life so far, but if there's one thing that I've learnt in these 25 years, and attempt to practice everyday is to live in the present. Presence of mind is so underrated. You may have your baggage of past and your bundle of future dreams, but it'll always be the present that you are living at any given point. And yet, it's this present that we miss out living at large. So turn 25, 30 or even 100 if you like, as it's not about how many years of life you've lived, but about how much of that life you lived in the moment. So have big dreams and wishes even bigger, but stay away from indulging into stresses of not living the society-approved life at a given age; because seriously, IT'S OKAY. You'll figure it out, even if it's in the midst of the ifs and buts of life.

#LaughingAnanas

Aloe Vera Gel and Vegan Lip Balm Giveaway

To celebrate the Ananas's new url www.laughingananas.com, and Christmas of course, I'm having a giveaway of some awesome homemade Vegan Lip Balms (100% natural and no added preservatives) and Holland and Barrett's Aloe Vera gel tubes (99.9% pure, no added colours) that you can use on your hair to promote hair growth. 

    

To win this awesomeness, all you have to do is:

1. Watch the my YouTube video HERE

2. Subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE

2. Follow me on Instagram HERE

3. 'Like' my Facebook page HERE

4. Follow me on Snapchat at laughingananas

Once you're done with the above, send me an email on laughingananas@gmail.com so I know you've done the above, and can contact you when the winners are chosen. For a second entry, you can also retweet this giveaway mentioning @laughingananas on Twitter!

Let's get started!

Note: This giveaway is not restricted to UK inhabitants. I will be posting the winners anywhere they are in the world!

#LaughingAnanas

DIY Leaf Art Frame

Here a leaf, there a leaf

Everywhere a leaf leaf

Old MacDonald had a leaf

E-I-E-I-O

Painting is like meditating. Do you find it difficult to meditate? Then paint. It gets you living in the moment. When you're painting, you are only painting. You're not constantly looking at your phone, or your dog, or your XYZ. You're only painting. You're not multi-tasking, you're only painting and settling down. Your monkey mind stops to think and starts to create. Try it and experience a deep state of peace and stillness. And hey, you can always get a great DIY frame out of it.

Fall is here and with it the leaves are too. You see these leaves everywhere and in every colour. They have some wonderful shades; shades of green, shades of red, shades of brown and many more. I went out leaf picking one day and collected some of these beautiful leaves. If you, like Old MacDonald, have a leaf or two and feel like meditating on some leaf art, then here's what you can do...

Wash and dry the leaves

Stick on the leaves and paint

Frame it

_ _ _ _

#LaughingAnanas

iSpy DIY

Do you normally throw all the cardboard that you find lying around the house? Are you likely to trash out your kitchen and toilet paper rolls? Well don't! Here's why...

I had so many hand towels and random pieces of cloth lying around that one day, before trashing out my kitchen rolls, I had this vision of fabricating something out of those kitchen rolls to get rid of having to see a gazillion hand towels everywhere! 

Check it out. 

Paper holding  the rolls

1. Making the core body of the stand

Kitchen rolls molded into a hanging stand 

2. Preparing the mixture for Paper Maché

Cling film the bowl so it doesn't become glue-ey

2 (glue) : 1 (water)

3. Paper Maché-ing

Stick on the newspaper

4. Customizing

Poke in some broken hanger tops

5. Painting

6. Using

#LaughingAnanas

Akira and the Sun

"Akira, my beloved, why do you look so restless?", asked the wise old sage. 

"I feel all over the place... unsure, unsatisfied.", said the worried Akira.

"Is that so? And what is it that you feel unsure about?", prompted the sage gently. 

"It's just... I've been searching for the purpose of my life for the longest time. Sometimes I feel like I'm almost there, but then I realize I'm far off. I pray to God day and night to give me the answers of my questions. I almost feel obsessed looking so deeply into things to find the smallest of signs that can possibly explain my existence. But I fail, I fail every time. It makes me sad, you know?", confessed Akira. 

"I know. Tell me Akira, what else do you do in your day? How do you feed yourself?", interrogated the sage further.

"I don't. I don't do anything else. I spend my whole day thinking and wondering when I will find the meaning of my life.", said Akira.

"Very well," said the sage, "let me help you. Look at the Sun for a minute."

Akira complied.

As the minute was up, the sage asked Akira to look away from the Sun and point to where he was standing.

"I don't know where to point," Akira exclaimed, "I can't see you! The Sun's brightness seems to have blinded me!"

To this, the sage finally revealed: 

"My dear Akira, the man who looks at the Sun all day long, will only end up being blind. Looking at the Sun all day will not gift you its light. To earn its light, you must fulfill your daily responsibilities. Living every moment fully is the only way you can get closer to your goal each day!"

_ _ _ _

The sage is so right. In looking at the Sun all day, we blind ourselves and lose our own light. Thinking all day about our endless desires, be they love, money or fame, we end up losing ourselves only to realize that we are going further and further away from our goals each day. As they say, "a watched phone never rings".

So what should we do? Stop dreaming, stop desiring? Not at all. We are bound to dream and desire, but it's the losing of self that we should learn to keep away from in dreaming and desiring. We can only reach our destination if our journey is well planned and fully lived. Else we'd be stuck in our journey, losing our way at every crossroad and possibly running behind mirages that never existed...

I didn't eat food for 7 days...

Specially dedicated to Mayuri Tailor; thank you for always inspiring.

No food? What about water?

During this 7-day period, I renounced any form of food. However, I was still consuming water. In this form of fasting, I would consume only boiled water, from sunrise till sunset, and none after. 

Why would I do this type of water fasting?

1. To cleanse. We take showers every morning to clean the outsides of our bodies, but what do we really do to keep the insides of our bodies clean? Not much I believe. Even if you try your best to eat the healthiest foods in your daily lives, I promise you are still ingesting lots and lots of toxins. In this case, your best option to get rid of these bodily toxins is to cleanse your body. Fasting is the most natural and effective way of cleansing your body, for real. 

Here's how it works. When you stop ingesting food during your fast, your body will have a lot more energy than usual as it ceases to expend this energy on digesting food. This allows your body to invest time and energy in removing the built-up toxins that your body must've housed for decades.

During your fast, you will experience your body undergoing a complete cleanse in several forms:

• Your urine will be as clear as the water you drink
• Your body odour will cease to exist and you will no longer require deodorant
• Your skin will start to naturally glow and you will notice that your acne, dry skin and any other skin conditions saying goodbye to you, leaving you with a rejuvenated skin
• Your body will excrete odourless stool - the unimaginable!

Try it and see for yourself!

2. To be able to take a step back from our routine lives and observe ourselves and the world around us as a third person. In my experience, fasting allows for this. Withdrawing from the sense of taste allows a step back from the day-to-day habitual eating that we conform to without thinking. We are able to better focus on the idea of 'eat to live' rather than 'live to eat'. The idea of renouncing food might seem extremely bizarre, but is it really? Try it to realize that eating, in reality, is not the essence of our existence. Surely we need food for our basic survival, but its the indulgence in food that is not required and strips us from our natural state of being. 

Practicing this fast can help you pull out from your ego and see yourself in the light you see everyone else in, as a third person. A reduced indulgence to your senses also helps you reduce your sense of self, and you will be more able to see the world beyond your own perspective with an increasing sense of compassion. You will also be more equipped to differentiate between an action and an actor. Being able to hold an objective view of the world as opposed to the one that's subjective from one's own perspective, I believe, is an extremely important quality to develop and harness. This allows for a non-judgmental view on events, alongside enabling you to act practically rather than acting impulsively and irrationally. 

For instance, imagine yourself in a situation where you're in a fight with your best friend. With an objective view that helps you separate your best friend as an actor from their action of misbehavior, you are more able to think rationally about the problem and think of solutions to end the problem. Alternatively, with a subjective view that bases its judgment only on your own perspective, you are more inclined to indulge in a blame game whereby your ego blames the entire fight on your best friend, sees you as a victim and your friend as a perpetrator and refuses to find a solution. 

You decide, which one is better? 

3. To be able to meditate and reach your desired state of mind faster. It's true, meditations can go deeper while fasting. An empty food-less body is far more likely to experience the higher chakras in a meditative state. I definitely recommend fasting to those who want to meditate, but have difficulty in doing so. In my experience, fasting makes meditation so much easier in that the intensity of the train noticeably diminishes. This is because once your digestive system is shut down, the vibrations in your body owed to meditation are permitted to flow through your body with a lot more intensity.

Try meditating at the end of a fasting day and see for yourself! 

Tips 

• Only continue your fast till you feel fine physically. Do not fast if you start feeling weak, stressed and close to fainting. There is no point in putting your health at stake to commit to a fast. Your body is very important as it's a temple that houses your mind. With a broken temple, it'd be very tough to reach your mind. 
• Only continue your fast till you feel fine mentally. Do not fast if you start feeling mentally weak, irritable and moody. This beats the point as these feelings will disrupt your willpower, meditation and your overall well-being.
• Try to keep your body hydrated with water, as you don't want to have your body dry out. You might find yourself feeling sick of water, but try to maintain a continuous consumption of water. If you are not able to do this, I would advice you to drop the fast.
• Feed your mind with not just meditation, but also good reads as this will strengthen your willpower and harness your mind. 
• Fasting should not be mistaken with dieting or taken as a means losing weight. Trust me it will not work. As soon as you end your fast, you will gain back all you lost, and really there's no point of putting your body through that if losing weight is your end goal. You're much better off exercising! 
• Be careful in what you eat once your fast ends. For a few days after it ends, I recommend you keep yourself on liquids such as soups, lentils and these:

Raab

Sugar Water

Warnings

• You will urinate a lot more than usual - D'uh!
• You will start losing weight, which you will also gain back very soon once you drop the fast
• You will stop producing stool after the first two days - don't worry, this is absolutely normal!
• You will feel either very cold or very hot - again, this is normal
• You will need to eat healthier food once your fast ends to rebuild your stock of vitamins et al

Let me know...

If you'd like to share your fasting experience, or have any more questions about fasting, do let me know! Leave a comment below or send me an email on laughingananas@gmail.com and I will get back to you!

#LaughingAnanas