What Does Staying in the Present Mean?

I was watching the Divergent series and like most people, I found myself crushing big time on Tobias Eaton (Theo James).

Obviously, like most people, I ventured on the search to find his social media account so that I could follow him and get dreamy.




To my mild surprise, I found that Theo James did not have any social media account.
Obviously, I grew curious. :3 Again, I went on my search to find as to why he didn't have a social media account like many celebrities and high profile personalities. And I found why! :D

I was not disappointed. The following is what I found and liked, and I learned something good from what Theo James said here:

Theo James is a man of mystery.

Though his Insurgent co-stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort use social media to varying degrees, the 30-year-old actor puts a premium on his privacy. "I'm glad there's not much information," he says.

James avoids the Hollywood scene, and unlike Woodley, he's not the type to speak candidly about his passions in the press. "I don't think I'd want to share those elements of my private life," James admits.

Needless to say, as far as Twitter and Instagram are concerned, James isn't on board.

"I don't have it and I never will. Other actors I know are really good at it and they rock and roll it, but it's not for me. If I post a picture of us having a drink now and get loads of views or comments and stuff, then suddenly you're quite exposed and you're in a world of work," he tells Flaunt. "I just like being present."

Embracing the moment is easier said than done, but James does his best to limit his distractions. "I think people struggle with that now, being present in a time and place. There's a lot of talk about mindfulness now and that's about the ability to be present and not constantly affected by erroneous sources around you—that stimulus through a computer or through worries," James says. "It's about being fully present."

Being unplugged has helped James gain clarity in all aspects of his life.

Though it might be tempting to Google himself, the actor says, "Most of the information is completely useless and it's totally mind numbing, because it doesn't actually add anything to your sense of self. And interacting singularly with an interface—there's a limited amount of learning that can be experienced."

What's distracting James these days?

"I've been wondering that...because I have been really like 'I need to shift.' I do feel distracted," he says. "I don't know about you but I am just kind of consciously, recently just trying to f--king look at less."

Still, James admits he's looked at things about himself in the past. "Everyone says it is the cardinal sin, but you inevitably do it by accident all the time, or you may see it on a newsstand or whatever. You end up forming a perception of yourself based on other people's opinions; a perception outside your own self, which is a f--king mind f--k because you start perceiving yourself as something that you aren't," he says. To prevent those perceptions from shaping reality, he advises, "Read more. Read every time you go to bed, read in the day—because at least reading a book, you can't be distracted by anything else."

Read it here: http://www.eonline.com/news/626657/theo-james-explains-why-he-doesn-t-use-social-media

Accepting Thy Weaknesses? I Think I get It Now.

When I was a wee leetul baby, and I would be faced with situations that were tough, I'd find myself wondering what exactly does it mean when we say that accepting the circumstances around you, circumstances that you can't change makes it easier.

But now I am happy, relieved rather, that I have understood this concept to some extent:

Accepting (thy weaknesses) means knowing that you have all these weaknesses within you and when someone points those weaknesses out, either in person or in front of a audience, you don't feel bad about them because you have already come to terms with it, made peace with them as it is said.

You have told yourself that:
"I think it is time I face what my weakness is. I cannot take bad criticism well and I feel sulky for days on end thinking about those demoralising remarks."

Lets say someone points that out to you, they tell you: "You are unable to take bad criticism well, aren't you?"



And instead of getting defensive and saying rather indignantly, "Noo. I can take all kinds of criticism well and I just brush it off as if its nothing," and then adding a tangible quote to support your claim, "no one can hurt me without my permission," and then shooting a proud little smile towards the person in conversation with you (and at the same time feeling hurt because somebody caught you getting deflated over some negative remarks.)

Say: "Yes, that hurt me a little bit and I kinda know that these remarks put me in a bad place, but oh well, all I can do right now is try again and do my best,' this time shooting a humble little smile towards the person in conversation with you.

ok i know this isnt exactly a humble smile but i think u get it :P

I have found that one of the most difficult things that human beings face in their short time here on earth is coming face to face with their weaknesses. It is undoubtedly difficult to accept that one has weakness/weaknesses. Because, quite simply, good things are appreciated. Bad things, not so much. 'Having weakness' is considered a bad thing. And come to think about it, its not really bad. It is an indicator to your present self, indicating exactly where one stands. This indicator is a "pusher". And I don't believe that it is bad.

Having weaknesses is not a bad thing.

It is part of your entire existence. It is there to push you until you overcome it and become your beautiful self.

FIFTH (and final) YEAR: the change

This is exactly what everything in my life seems to be doing.
I get feelings like a lot of things around me have suddenly begun shifting and pulsating and changing and morphing into unknown things.

And this "unknown" is the only thing I am afraid of. It scares me. It terrifies me. It leaves me paralysed with fear. I am used to having control over everything around me. But when things become uncontrollable, I honestly feel like I am losing my footing. I do not feel grounded. I feel like the ground might give way and I will not be able to grab hold of something to get myself to that stable ground again.

This feeling of not being in control is scary.

The only solution I have come to is:

"Accepting the unknown."

Or in simpler words, going with the flow. Come what may, and I shall live through it and become stronger and happier.

BREATHE.

Because if there is one thing that stays with us all the time throughout our life, it's our breath. I need to practice to let my breaths, the whole act of breathing be my grounding.
My breaths should be all the ground I need.

BREATHE.

BREATHE.

BREATHE... 

When I don't know what to do...

I just think that people just keep getting stupider and stupider and stupider as they grow up.

The amount of stupid things that adults do makes me wonder whether the word 'adult' should be used for us. The word 'kid' is more like it. Because that is exactly what we become, without us knowing. This not knowing is the creepy part. Because an adult is absolutely unaware of what their acts do to other people, just like most kids don't know how their acts and behaviour affects other kids (and adults) around them. We do not call kids stupid because they are at a learning age. But I personally don't think we adults are any better.

My observations are based on the acts and behaviour of various politicians, teachers and business tycoons and of course, adults in general.

So, whenever I am faced with a medley of difficulties and unpleasant circumstances in life, where I suddenly find myself making messed up, stupid decisions, I stop my train of thoughts and ask myself this:

What would Allah Almighty want me to do?

And most of the time, I am satisfied with an answer in my heart. These are the points in my life where I feel truly blessed to be following a religion as beautiful as Islam.
In order for us adults to not make stupid decisions or at least try not to, I believe this is the key.

But how do I remember to ask this question to myself in times that do not allow you to have a clear head?

There is a solution for that too. This is where Divine help comes in. In order for the above question to keep popping in your head, one must be steadfast in observing the mandatory five times salah and in reciting the Holy Quran (the only Book, whose author is not a human).

Life becomes bearable.

FOURTH YEAR: the mincemeat

Mincemeat is exactly what comes to mind.

I'd like you to imagine a glob of mincemeat on a sophisticated dining plate with two googly, but hollowed out eyes staring up at you. Creepy.



I had become creepy looking. I looked like a vagabond, a truant at the side of the road, a scaredy mice. A failure.

My eyes looked dead to me. I'd often be reminded of my hobbies that included story writing, painting, sketching, sewing, blogging, playing sports.

Thinking about these things would almost drive me to quit medicine and instead run after the things that I enjoyed most.
But I couldn't.

Because helping people out was more important to me. I wanted to help people out of their pains, especially the poor ones. This little but strong thought kept me going until I reached my final year.
This is the thought that still keeps me going no matter how hard the going gets.
I knew that the tough get going.

THIRD YEAR: the struggling spider

Every day was pain, and now that our wards had started, all of a sudden we were supposed to know the body examinations, the investigations, the management and treatment, the complications, the side effects of all the new drugs that came as a whiplash to our baby faces, the signs and symptoms of every single disease, the differential diagnoses.

EVERYTHING.

It seemed never-ending.

And worst of all, we weren't guided. I felt like someone kept shoving chunky, dry, stale bread by the pounds down my throat and if I wasn't able to swallow it quickly enough, the shover would resort to punching it all the way down using the fists, till my esophagus clogged, till I gagged, till I could no longer breathe.

SECOND YEAR: the wilting flower

Let's cut right through the suspense and reveal that I am the wilting flower.



In a world where there was no guidance, where you had to figure very single thing out, from finding out which books were the best to study from and wading through the library books to get an idea, peeking over the shoulder to catch a glimpse of which book your staunch competitor was reading, to asking teachers which books they thought would help us in our initial stages (to which we usually got completely unhelpful answers) to failing in tests to swallowing your pathetic pride and grabbing your seniors to help you out, and to top it off, dealing with extreme self-consciousness, anxiety, a generous helping of depression and an extra uncalled-for insulating layer of fat as your body's response to keep you protected from the big, bad, stressful external environment, you most certainly felt painfully lost.

Little did I know that everyone was going through the same effing thing that I was going through.

But I was not to know this until I had reached my final year. And this too I had to figure out on my own.