Saturday, April 19, 2008

break that block

The first step towards achieving anything is t get over the mental block. As long as you have a feeling that you can’t do something, you won’t feel like doing it – or if at all you does, you won’t put your full heart on it. There may be exceptions – I am talking about the others here. In my case, before I try doing anything, I have to build up the confidence that I can do it. Otherwise, I won’t even try it. Doing / trying half hearted is just not my cup of tea. I believe in the adage that ‘if it is worth doing, it is definitely worth doing the best way’.
There are not much things I don’t dare to do – I count myself in the adventurous camp – which are ready to take the plunge to feel it. And, I don’t usually stick to the beaten path. But there are some things which I couldn’t bring myself to do – and they are not anything out of this world.

I love food – and I love to experiment with different cuisines and different styles of cooking. But what ever I try, there is one thing I can’t bring myself to taste – ladies finger. Some how, every time I eat ladies finger, I end up vomiting. No, it is not a joke – I really vomit as soon as I eat ladies finger. Last weekend when my friend LJ and his wife T called me over for a Sunday brunch, and T prepared some excellent food with lot of care and love – and one among the dish was Ladies finger. Usually what I do is just to make an apologetic face and say a sorry and pass the dish – but this time, I didn’t gave any time to think – just took two spoonfuls of it, and ate it without even thinking about it – and after I ate my fist spoon, I shut my mind from feeling the fact that I am eating ladies finger. I just enjoyed the food and conversation – and end up taking a second helping of ladies finger – this time with full realization that I am eating ladies finger, and enjoyed it. The first spoon of ladies finger acted like a barrier breaker – it helped me to overcome the mental block I had that I can’t eat ladies finger.

I say – open up your mind. If you really think you can’t do something, you will never do it – or if you try, you will most probably end messing it up. When approach a challenge, face it with an open mind. If it is something which won’t cost your limb, give it a try. After all, you are not losing much.

27 comments:

busy-writer said...

hmm, yes, i totally agree with you. completely, entirely.
am not one of those who would do anything half-heartedly either.
as they say, tis all psychological! get rid of it, and you'll do well.
ah, wish they could make the "gettin over it" part easier!

Sameera Ansari said...

Nice post!Could relate to most of it.I too believe in doing something perfectly or not doing it at all.

As for experimenting with new things,variety is the spice of life! :)

Shalini Gowrisankar said...

Nice post.. can't agree more with you .. Its all in the mind as they say .

Kelvy said...

heheh nice post..humm ya mind block is the main thing that stops us in many aspects of life

Seema said...

Can't agree more with what you've stated! Its all in the mind and unless one decides to get over it, it remains as a phobia /fear all thru! So kudos u got over the LF phobia and make crispy LF fries and u'll love it:) over the last few days I've got over one of my scariest mind blocks..waitin to blog abt it!

Smiling Sinh said...

You are right man, think we can do it and then go and do it. That is 50% success.
Anyway, cant believe u cant eat lady finger. its so delicious.

vagabond dreamer said...

mental blocks are real hard to deal with but once they are down every thing becomes a cake walk ive dealth with a few, i cant walk, i cant run, i cant ever climb again, and all of them came tumbling down

Anonymous said...

whatta analogy :)

but the point u made is loud and clear.. and it is pretty true also :)

Anonymous said...

is ur appraisal due?

on serious note, good point made

Gunjan Aylawadi said...

i hav a story to share

There was a man who worked for the railroad. One day as he went into the freezer compartment to do his routine work, the door accidentally closed and he found himself trapped in the compartment.

He shouted for help but no one heard him since it was past midnight. He tried to break down the door but he could not. As he lay in the freezer compartment, he began to feel colder, and colder. Then he began to feel weaker, and weaker, and he wrote on the wall of the compartment, "I am feeling colder, and colder; and I am getting weaker, and weaker. I am dying, and this may be my last words".

In the morning when the other workers opened up the compartment they found him dead. The sad twist to the above story is that the freezing apparatus in the compartment had broke down a few days earlier.

The poor worker did not know about the damaged freezing apparatus and in his mind the freezing apparatus was working perfectly. He felt cold, got weaker and literally willed himself to die.

SUCCESS PRINCIPLES

Our sub-conscious mind can be cheated. The sub-conscious mind can only accept and act on information passed to it by the conscious mind. It has no capacity to reject or decline any instructions or
information passed to it by the conscious mind. In the case of the poor worker, he consciously thought that he was getting colder, weaker and dying and the sub-conscious mind accepted the above instructions and affected his physical body. That was how he willed
himself to die.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE

"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen."

Shruti said...

DISHOOOM!!! I so love ladies finger! u've permanently gotten off the repulsion? say yes say yes..

Gunj, nice story! :-)

Preeti said...

Hmm, for the first half of ur post i thought u probably had an allergy (a real one) to ladies finger maybe tatz y u throw up...cuz one my autns cant have garlic tat way...so maybe...but considerin it was a mental block n uv gotten over it, itz a gud thing...

i used to hate it too...especially when mum used to cut it n i used to see tat gooey thing in between...but somewhere along the way i started really likin it...even now, i dont love it, but i do 'like' it...

Lena said...

you know there are things i cant step over. Like eating onion for example. My mom even tried to lie to me saying there is no onion in the dish and i started eating with the idea it isnt there so it is kind of mind blocking too but it never worked out, i guess some things are not meant to be worked out this way

--xh-- said...

@ all who commented - thanks for the encouragement... a bit caughtup with the work..so sorry that this time i am not replying individually.. will start visiting all ur pages soon...

A said...

true...

there's a saying too...

if u think u can, u can;
if u think u can't, u are right!

ceedy said...

really interesting post....but i have cobwebs in the channels of my mind not bloakcage :P (laziness)


@gunj - very interesting story and comments - thank you

Pooja Na(i)rayan said...

A great Post. I was one among the people who used to feel nothing can be done. A lot of elements were against me but worse than that I believed there were elements against me. One day I decided I have to take responsibility of my life and stop blaming others. Today I should say I believe I can do anything. Regarding Ladies finger I have not been able to surpass that goey taste even though I eat it. A great post

Unknown said...

Great post! And I completely agree with you. Unless we take life in our own hands and decide to break the barriers that we've created, we can't get anywhere. It's all in the mind, as they say.
BTW, there's a particular way of making ladies' finger which doesn't have a gooey taste - you fill its "stomach" with spices and fry it, sort of like we do it with bitter gourd. Tastes yum. :D

aMus said...

i love 'bhindi'...i do, ido!!!

and totally agree when you say facing a challenge with an open mind is very important..there have been many times my son says"i cannot do that ..i don't know how' and i encourage him to try saying..'unless you try , how would you know' and he's been pleasantly surprised many a time...

Gazal said...

hey
take it easy

maybe you are just allergic to it...

anyways bhindi doesnt score too high on nutrition ....

except maybe its a natural laxative
lol

Unknown said...

If u'd have seen me U would have also seeing me nodding a YES to the post! :)

Gayatri Bhadran said...

wow.. excellent choice - namely FOOD, for making a huger underlying point! =)

btw, i hate all veggies =| so i close my nose with my fingers and chew on them =|

Pavi!!!! said...

So trueeeeeeee! the thing abt mind block! I know a whole bunch of things i don't do , or don't eat 'coz of the mindblock! I shld try to find a way to work arnd it too!

No harm in trying rite...

gypsy said...

mind block...


a unique post and nicely done...

Anonymous said...

As long as it's not meat, I can eat almost anything. But that's super interesting... to have a strong reaction like vomiting and then to enjoy that food...

M said...

Oru vendakkyilnninum ithrayum padikkan pattumo :D he he ..
Well seriously just kidding ..
It was absolute truth,,… well u had this for “bindi” and I had the same effect for “baingan”.
Yes the same way u ate I started eating similarly without having a mind block and now brinjal s one of my fav vegs!of course i love bindi !!! :) can eat just that !

So great post, good write up … flow s superb as usual and point taken - no mind blocks!!!

Thanks for sharing this post !
Take care yaar

Jaya said...

Ladies fingers always taste nice :) ;) ;) :)