Rajesh Rana

My Toastmasters Project 3 Speech : ‘The No Bacteria’ (My Story of how I got into Comfort Zone and How I Get out… technically It doesn’t speak much about Getting Out of ‘Comfort Zone’ as speech was getting too long for 7 minutes time limit but still there are lots of take aways )

“Nobody ever died of discomfort, yet living in the name of comfort has killed more ideas, more opportunities, more actions, and more growth than everything else combined. Comfort kills!”

How many of you like to live routine life, waking up at  5 AM, Jogging, Yoga, Pranayama, Kryia, Meditation, Getting ready for office, office hours, coming home, watch Supernatural show, Dinner, Reading books and Sleep (That’s my Usual routine). Doing same thing again and again?

Well, I simply hate to follow same routine, I hate monotonous life, I hate to eat same thing again and again except Maggie masala which is lifeline of every single breathing bachelor in India, In short I hate doing same thing again and again. That is why I keep changing my routine, keep doing new things, keep challenging myself, When I get bored with my food, when my taste buds stops responding to whatever I eat then I go for fasting 24×3 days which helps me to regain my taste senses and enjoy my food again.

Three months  ago I decided to stop doing everything I was doing at that time like going bed early and waking up early, Exercising, Reading books, Yoga, Meditation, Jogging, No Junk food, Fasting, I almost stopped everything that was good for my mind  and body. I started going bed late, till two weeks ago I used to go bed at 3AM I turned into insomniac, wake up at 9.00 AM, go to office at 10.30 AM, I stopped all kind of physical activity. In sort I started living my life as it comes, no effort from myself, complete leisure.

Initially I planned to lead this kind of life for 2 weeks, then 2 week turned into 4 weeks and then 8 and then 12 weeks. Guess what? I started liking my new lifestyle, as I was living effortless life, I was taking life as it comes, no routine to follow, no fix time of sleeping and waking up; I sleep as I feel sleepy (and I discovered I never feel sleepy) and I wake up as I feel waking up (and I found I never want to wake up).

Life was going good, I was feeling great, but deep within I was falling deep into a self made zone what we call “The Comfort Zone”, this zone is very deep & huge once you start falling you keep on falling as there is no base of it and it is very comfortable & warm as you don’t have to put much effort to do anything, everything goes on in very easy way, you don’t have to put strain in your body or mind, the only thing you have to do is relax and enjoy life rest everything takes care of by itself. But the flip side is once you get into this zone you get infected by a Bacteria which I call “The No Bacteria”. This bacteria is not alien to us, it passes from generation to generation through a very special gene which was acquired by human being from the process of evolution from the stone age when food was scarce specially during winters and we need to conserve our energy. So our body developed certain mechanism to avoid any kind of extra physical and mental activities.

The role of this bacteria is very simple whenever any rebellious voice comes out of your conscience which tries to take you out of this zone, which challenges the existence of “The Comfort Zone” it simply suggests you one single word “NO” and it come up with some excuse or keep you busy in some other things other than what you really wanted to do and make you feel that it is your own inner voice which is saying No, for example when your inner voice says lets go for jogging tomorrow early morning, I have put enough weight it’s time to shed it, then I put my alarm at 5.30 AM and when alarm rings it says NO, not today, let’s go tomorrow I slept late and need some more sleep or it’ll say today I have important work at office if I don’t sleep enough then I may doze off at office or it’ll will say I’m too tired today, or my body is aching, or it’s too cold or it’ll rain today etc. every time it comes up with an perfect excuse to say NO.

It’s been 12 weeks since I was living in my “The Comfort Zone”  never realized that I may get infected by “The No Bacteria”, three weeks ago I thought it’s summer I should join Swimming like I did last season for that I need to get “Fit to swim” certificate from a Doctor and  go to swimming pool and fill up the forms and pay the fee, it sounds pretty simple and indeed it is simple but every time I tried to go to doc to get certificate my mind said lets go tomorrow it’s pretty late today Doctor might have left, next day my mind said I’m too tired lets go tomorrow, and I keep making excuses.

Then two weeks days ago my office colleague pointed out hey your tummy is growing, I looked at it and I realized yes indeed, Then I realized it’s been 12 weeks since I left doing any physical exercise. I realized; how I have been trying to wake up early in morning but every time I keep postponing and now it almost seems impossible to wake up at 5 AM.

Then I realized OMG I have been infected by “The No Bacteria”. I got to do something and the only medicine to cure it is by saying “Yes” to everything that we try to avoid out of our discomfort that challenges the existence of “The Comfort Zone” and do not listen to any excuses our mind makes, it is tough at first depends on how long you have been poisoned by this bacteria sometimes it even looks impossible to get rid of it but with persistent effort you can cure yourself, and get yourself out of your comfort zone.

Kill the No Bacteria and Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.

Remember “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

My Toastmaster Speech – Project 2

“Whoever Has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

I know it sounds pretty unfair that whoever already has will be given more and who don’t will be taken from him, it’s like “Rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer” and this passage is from an ancient holy scripture. But there is a catch, a riddle to be solved , and when you know it a new world will opened up for you. And the catch or riddle is one single word “Gratitude”

Let me say it again – “Whoever has Gratitude will be given more, and he or she will have an abundance. Whoever does not have Gratitude, even what he or she has will be taken from.” Now does it makes sense, if you ask me? Yes! It does perfectly makes sense to me.

There is another passage from some other ancient Holy scripture : “And when God proclaimed: ‘if you are grateful I will give you more; but if you are ungrateful verily my punishment is indeed severe.”

If you keep digging every single Holy scripture then you’ll find Gratitude  all over some in cryptic form some in visible form. These all scriptures are actually telling us the fundamental law of science and law of the Universe.

Gratitude operates through a Universal law that governs our whole life. According to the law of attraction, which governs all the energy in our Universe, from the formation of an atom to the movement of the planets, “Like attracts like.”  It’s because of the law of attraction that the cell of every living creature are held together, as well as the substance of every material object. In our life , the law operates in our thoughts and feelings, because they are energy too, so whatever you think, whatever you feel, you attract to you.

If you think –

• I don’t like my job.
• I haven’t got enough money.
• I’m not confident enough to speak to that girl.
• She doesn’t appreciates me.
• My life is mess
• My child is trouble

By thinking or saying these you are only attracting more of these experiences.

But if you think –

• I love my job, I completely enjoy it
• My family is very supportive
• I’m feeling great today
• I’m confident enough to speak that girl
• My child loves me
• My life is great, I’m living a life that only 15% of world population can afford.

And if we sincerely feel the gratitude, the law of attraction says you must attract more of those things into our life.

Gratitude works in same way as metal being drawn to magnet; our gratitude is magnet, and the more gratitude we have, the more abundance we magnetize. It is universal law. We keeping hearing sayings like, “whatever goes around comes around,” “you reap what you sow,” and “you get what you give.” Well, all of those sayings are describing the same law of universe.

Let me share you my personal experience, last few years were very tough time for me, my life was filling with anger, hatred, guilt, resentment, well that happens when you put all your eggs in one basket and try for something which gives you false hope that it may change your whole life but at the end all you get is failures. You start hating yourself and persons around you, you start blaming them for your failures and more over everything goes around you makes you angry.

When it  starts happening to your life it’s time for heads up and lookout to solve it or else it’ll eat you up from within. I was feeling empty and discontented – I tried Jogging, daily I used to jog for an hour, Swim 75 laps a day, tried Yoga and Meditation but they helped very little. Then I came to know about “Gratitude” I found that I was focusing at half empty part of my life, I was comparing myself to more successful people than me and the definition of my success was completely wrong.

What gratitude taught me that, it is not the empty part of life I should focus on instead I must focus on the Half full part, I must focus on what I’m blessed with in my life and what I already has and when I did that I’ll felt really great and content.

I started practicing Gratitude and I started counting my blessings every day, every day I said to my self –

• I’m truly blessed to have my parents, Because they are very supportive, provided  me good education, they are kind to me, they loves me a lot, they takes care of me, listen to me, stands by my side. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.
• I’m so grateful to have my elder brother, Because he is very supportive, understanding, honest, simple hearted, Kind, loves me, listen to me, stands by my side. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.
• I’m truly grateful for my friends, Because they understands me, very helpful in needful time, enjoys my company, accepts me and respects me as I’m, stands by my side. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.
• I’m truly blessed to have healthy body and healthy mind, I truly thankful to whole Universe and dear God for it, Because with healthy body and healthy mind I can enjoy my life and achieve anything that I desire. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

Then I started to pay gratitude to everything that I’m blessed with from clean air to water, from auto drive to bus driver, from  my maid to newspaper guy, from my fan to bathroom shower. I found that I have so many things, that everyone desires do you know that 80% of Indian population earns less than Rs.1600/- a month? And 80%of rest 20% earns less than 7000/- a month? We are living far-far better life than so many people in India and in world.

No matter who you are and what you are if you count your blessings and pay gratitude for them, you’ll feel happy and God will give you more happiness, universe will provide you more abundance. Now today before going to bed think for a moment what is the best thing that happened today? And say Thank you Thank you Thank  You, tomorrow morning when you wake up think 10 things that you are blessed with and every time you say thank you thank you thank you. Universe will bless you with more abundance.

Thank You Thank You Thank You