Slide Fun

When I was a little kid, I loved to ride down the slides at playgrounds. Now that I am a 'childish' grown-up, I still love to play on a slide, if I could just muster up enough courage, to infiltrate into a playground community, without being identified as a misfit by their onlooking nannies!

Why do I enjoy the sliding down? Adults, like me, should prefer climbing up, and staying on top of the world, instead of gliding downward. Because I've height phobia! Then why do I get up onto the slide repeatedly? Because that is where the fun begins! And by the way, you shouldn't be staying on top of a slide or anything else in life for long. There are many different interesting slides elsewhere to try out. You'll miss out all the fun if you stay stagnant at where you are right now. If there is still a hidden or out-of-bound stairwell up there for you to climb even higher, you may stay on to work on it. But if there is none, get down! You could go down the way you have come up or jump down directly from the top. But I would recommend the sliding method. If you've to descend from anything, you might as well do it with lots of fun and joy!

Now, lets analyse why I love to glide down the slide. I think it's about going with the flow and going the path of least resistant. So, it's effortless and I feel like I'm harmoniously in tune with everything else, and the nature agree and support me wholeheartedly.

During the sliding down, my body senses the rapid changes in many subtle attributes of the reality. Sad or unpleasant memories, which are almost static, are momentarily thrown behind me as I zip forward. I get a glimpse of myself in the present with no attachment to the lingering emotions stored in or engraved on my mind. As my body travels through the 'contorted' time-space, I feel energetic and relaxed at the same time! And I'm refreshed by the ethereal and blissful breeze that brush lightly over the surface of my skin, but massage my soul deeply. Part of all highly-charged emotions, and heavier matters like stress, are left behind as I go from region of high to low potential energy. You would love the sensation, and would quickly move over to join the queue, many times over, to do more sliding!

Penalty Shootout !!!

Penalty shootout is the most exciting part of a football match.

That is, if you don't support both the teams on the field. You're just a neutral fan for that particular 'Beautiful Game'.

But you would still feel your heart pounding, stopping and skipping a beat during the game of 'Russian roulette'. You could almost empathize with each penalty taker, suffering from the agony of missing his kick or heaving a sigh of relief for being lucky that day!

So, just imagine what I was feeling when my adored football club or national team was there in the centre circle! It's too devastating to lost the match this way, and especially, if your team is usually the underdog and it will take them a long time before getting another stream of good luck to come that far in a tournament again. I would then avoid, for the time being, any contact with all possible sources which would remind me of the defeat.

Even if my team has survived the ordeal, the joy of winning just won't sink in as much and as soon as when they had emerged victorious by a clear margin during the normal time. I would still retain a sense of uneasiness. The distress from this trauma would only be alleviated on the next day when the triumph is echoed back to me from the reports on newspapers, TV and radio stations. By then, I would be checking out the date and time of the replay on the sports channels.

In football, there is no place for Win-Win. Either you're booted out, or you get to live another day to face the next 11 gladiators and their million fans, who pray for the referee to shower your team with lots of yellow and red cards!

What goes up must come down

"All conditioned things are impermanent."

"Everything can be compared to a Rainbow.

Although most things last longer than a rainbow, the way they exist is similar:

• they arise due to the coming together of different causes and conditions,
• exist for a while, and then,
• again due to causes and conditions, they go out of existence.

So, like a rainbow, they are illusory, empty of permanent, independent, substantial existence."

Jumping and Hopping

Little children like to jump up and down and hop around...

But as they get older... and grow taller and bigger, they begin to feel uncomfortable launching their heavier body mass into the air, and therefore prefer to stay grounded.

Their minds are also stuffed with ever increasing data and are attached to ever growing burdens, from their commitment to more responsibilities, and 'occupation' to satisfy their craving for more physical possessions and improve their status among fellow men. They aspire to 'fly high', but are actually acting to get themselves 'deeply rooted'. They will have problem jumping up, though they will get pretty good at jumping down! It's time to house keep your mind and pull yourself off the soil.

Let's do some jumping and hopping now. Find it awkward? Don't be bothered by the fact that you could still do it! Find it childish? You aren't that old! We're really old only on that day when we've to lie down. Find it meaningless? It's understandable if you're used to and prefer to keep sinking into the ground!

Okay! No more excuses! Just don't do it in front of anyone else but yourself. You shall get all the fun then, but only the jeers from yourself!

Cars Fly

These toy cars could only charge off a platform into the air, and get pulled down instantly by gravity for a crash landing!

However, there are real-life flying cars or roadable aircrafts that can travel on roads and in the air. The modular types require a bit of conversion, and the pieces to fly are left at the airport when the vehicle is driven. The integrated types let you activate from inside the "cockpit", the folding and stowing of the wings for road use, and their deployment and extension for flight.

Now, you can fly to school, fly to work, fly to run your errands, fly to catch a movie, fly to the airport to send-off/pick-up someone, fly around the neighbourhood to look for your missing dog, or simply fly to nowhere!

Car Collision

"People remember the crashes , but drivers remember the near misses." - Mario Andretti

"You win some, lose some, and wreck some." - Dale Earnhardt Sr.

"I make jokes about the fact that as a neuro-surgeon I shouldn't be required at a motor race because the drivers don't have any brains.... otherwise they wouldn't race."- Syd Watkins, Formula One Chief Medical Officer

"Racing is a matter of spirit; not strength." - Janet Guthrie

"Auto racing is boring except when a car is going at least 172 miles per hour upside down." - Dave Barry

" Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports ... all others are games." - Earnest Hemingway

"I feel safer on a racetrack than I do on Houston's freeways." - A.J. Foyt

"Aerodynamics is for those who cannot manufacture good engines." - Enzo Ferrari

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." —Mario Andretti

Run. You Can!

Why Run? Because You still Can!
There will come a day when you cannot:
run towards the Sun;
run away from the Gun;
or just simply run for Fun!

Over the centuries, the human body has been streamlined for running.
For running far and wide in search of water and food,
and for hunting.
For running away from much stronger or larger and fierce wildlife,
or fellow human enemies from the other tribes.

When you run, your body creates and releases chemicals that energize you; that excite you; that keep you alert. As you get fitter by running regularly, you should feel refreshed, a sense of well-being and optimism after every run. You'd find it is fun to run. And you'll run, just simply for fun!

Chase away your Demon !

Demon cannot harm anyone unless it has a host to 'activate' its power. It makes use of the weaknesses of its host to exert its influence.

What do the demon fear? You face the things that you fear and overcome them. Whenever a thing is done for the first time despite your fear, it releases the demon. But it'd not go away and leave you alone forever. It'd stay closely by your side to observe you, just to be certain that it was not a one-time 'madness' on your part. And besides, you still have other weaknesses for the demon to exploit.

However, please don't be disheartened. Look on the bright side. Demon fears a 'Bright and Sunny' host! "Uncertainty! fell demon of our fears! The human soul that can support despair, supports not thee. "

And remember to smile and laugh! Demon fears a happy, loving, kind and compassionate host. This type of host does not just chase away the demon, but has the power to 'convert' it into a friendly 'demon'! "One hearty laugh together will bring enemies into a closer communion of heart than hours spent on both sides in inward wrestling with the mental demon of uncharitable feeling."

Move! Soldiers! Move! 2

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Why ? Because...

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And if you...

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Move! Soldiers! Move!

Running is a good form of exercise. "Running is more than just the run. It's a vehicle that can influence positive changes in every other aspects of your life. "

"If it weren't for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn't get any exercise at all." - Joey Adams

Hey! Kick-start to a healthier life-style by walking.....Walk to your buddy's house a few streets away to watch that football or basketball match there! During the game breaks, walk to the "refrigerator" at the food store a few blocks away. After the show is over, play a ball game with your buddy before walking home.

"The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, sidestepping responsibility, and pushing their luck." -Arnold H. Glasow

Hey! This is not a problem to begin with! Just place these conclusions further away so that you can have more time to do the jumping before reaching them. Pick only those friends who live further away to run down. By the time you run down to them to run them down, you've gotten yourself a good work-out. Also, if you've just sidestepped once or twice, the responsibility will still come back to haunt you again very soon. So, sidestep at least a thousand steps each time. And you should also push your luck further away; at least 10 miles away!

Got it? Yup! That's the spirit to go! Now... move!