Sometime in February, i started working out. I was feeling lonely and i had to burn my energy and not think about my friends and miss them. Madhu bhai and buss asked me to start taking care of myself. So, I started out following the Power 90 Sculpt 1-2 module. I had two 10 pound dumbbells. So each morning, i would get up and try to follow this video running on my 60” tv. I wieghed around 182-184 pounds. But my intention was not to lose weight or anything. It was “I am missing all awesome friends. I have to stop thinking about them, and do something else.” That was the motivation.

After a week, i felt good. I liked the 35 minute procedure. I loved Tony Horton. I asked myself, Well, i’m not doing anything productive in the evenings. How about trying out the Cardio part Sweat 1-2 module. The first day i did the program, i was totally in love with it. Yeah, the first couple of days, i was sore, but i enjoyed it. Soon i was working out in the mornings and the evenings. And i had a sense of accomplishment each day.

Around March, Peach told me to check weight and keep that as a motivation factor. And Ray started pouring in health knowledge, at work. Healthy nutrition and things like that. He made my buy a Fitbit device and asked me to start recording my daily consumption of food at MyFitnessPal. I started doing that.Soon, Sundeep asked me to start eating breakfast. I started grabbing a spinach wrap from Starbucks. I started trying out brown rice. I had fallen into other habits thanks to the first one.

In April, we had a get-together in Kansas and then one in St.Louis. Kids from Kansas were surprised as how fast i had lost weight and were soon wanting to do the things i wanted to do. It made me happy.

By May, i was down to 155 pounds and i looked super slim. I had grown out of an L to an M. And then, i had a stack of trips i had planned and i was to travel everywhere. When you travel, it’s hard to workout. And the habit breaks down. It’s a great level of discomfort for the body and the soul however. If you don’t do a thing that you have been doing each day, your body is not happy. It could be anything. Workout, coffee, nicotine.. whatever. So due to travel i had a break in my daily routine. After a couple of months, i tried to go back to my schedule. It was super difficult.

So i learnt two different things. The power of habit, and that habits can break. When you do a thing each day,one day it becomes natural. It becomes a part of you. The thing could have a positive influence on you, giving you great energy. Or it could be causing an indirect negative influence on you, like say nicotine.

To start doing something daily, is the most difficult part of it. But when you get going, you gonna rock it up! To start a habit, you have to keep yourself motivated.

Saibaba Vinayakaya namaha!

On the HarryPotter wiki, the Patronus charm is described as :

“The Patronus Charm (Expecto Patronum) is the most famous and one of the most powerful
defensive charms known to wizardkind.It’s an immensely complicated, very difficult
spell that evokes a partially-tangible positive energy force known as a Patronus
or spirit guardian. It is the primary protection against Dementors and Lethifolds,
to which there is no other protection.”

The Patronus Charm is a very powerful spell. It’s a positive spell to ward off
Dementors. Dementors in the Harry Potter series are vicious guardians of the
prison at Azkaban. To go to Azkaban is described as something close to hell.
Dementors suck the life out of you! Everything goes cold. It’s painful.

Such a great analogy J K Rowling has made with life! Every day many people are
bothered by such dementors in daily life. Energy is sucked out of us by constant
worry about relationships, money, disease, death, expectations and so much more.
People are bothered by continous negativity! Negative people, negative talk,
negative environments.

I have had an amazing life! Mostly so because of the people in my life. I
attribute a lot of happiness, freedom, free thinking, peace to my family! They have
been my life teachers. Principles of love, kindness, peace, truth have been
poured into my soul by them. Friends whose vibrant energy and constant love have
made me who I am. They are incessantly after me to grow better and stronger and
continously teach me the ways of life. Teachers have had a great impact!
Teachers at school, family and friends, friends at work, these awesome teachers,
have shaped me in to being Sameeri.

Each day is a new learning experience! The last one year has been a unique
challenge! I had been under constant pressure. I would be depressed, feel alone,
radiate a lot of negative energy for myself and others. My relationships would
suffer because of this. Awkwardness would creep in. Loss of trust, worrying
about people, their words, their actions would hurt me. Until one day, I
couldn’t take it any longer! What happened? What has happened to the beautiful
heart of Sameeri? Why did Sameeri let things go so bad!

At one point of time, I felt I needed a psychologist or a psychiatrist to talk
to. So one day, I sat down. I had time. All I had in life at this point was me
and time. Nothing else. A couple of days earlier I had the opportunity to talk
to my brother, Sasya, one of the very best souls I can always depend on. I told him
about these thoughts. I told him, “I had not done anything this last one year.
Nothing at all, but let myself slip into negativity”. He said : “Well, You have traveled,
had quality time with your friends and worked out, got youself into a better shape,
did great at work, and did so much more.” He brought out just a positive thought
in the midst of my sorrow. I was thinking all of this at a Starbucks in Tulsa.
The day before, i had the opportunity to go to the Tulsa tech. conference. I
had been motivated by the talks and that caused my introspection as well.

So I asked myself. What’s wrong with me? And I came to the conclusion that
nothing at all. Everything was fine. It’s just that for a moment in life I just
let myself slip into negativity. I had to come back. But it’s so difficult.
The dementors of my mind have grown stronger, and had control over me. I had no
knowledge of the Patronus charm. Harry Potter, his friends had to practice the
Patronus charm a lot. It’s a difficult spell to practice. To get out of the
clutch of the dementors, you have to focus on the most brightest, happiest
moments in life. We have to practice hard. To get out of negativity is not easy!
But a spell exists. That of positive energy. J K Rowling put “Dementors” as the
negative stuff that bothers us each day! The way out then is of extreme
positivity! It’s the only way out. Positive energy is healing. You listen to
music, play a guitar, paint, run, play tennis or do whatever makes you happy
and it will bring in positive energy. The energy that you need.

It’s tough when the dementors are super strong. Instances of friends performing
the Patronus charm when harry was in trouble to save him are known to us.
Sometimes our positivity and enery help ohters around us. The whole universe is
running on energy. The human world works on positive energy! People burning
their energy positively make this world go! Energy is vital! Burning energy in
the positive way is what is so crucial to me and my life! I have to practice the
Patronus charm. It’s important because I’m just a human being and it’s very
easy for me to go negative. I’m going to tap into the most vital energy of the
universe, that of God’s, to help me out. And i have also come up the animal that pops
out of my Patrnus charm, an Elephant.

“Strength is life! Weakness is death.” - Swami Vivekananda

“Face the sun and shadows will fall behind.” - Maori Proverb

Saibaba Vinayakaya Namaha!