Comments on: Why No Pain, No Gain is a Myth!

By: Arvind Devalia

Arvind Devalia — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:01:59 +0000

Krishna, it is indeed to hard to give up this myth of “no pain, no gain”

In my own life I am continuing to look at areas where I make thing harded for myself then they need to be – and there are quite a few!

As for being childlike, I was at an award-giving event yesterday for WellChild, the charity for which I ran the London marathon earlier this year.

I met lots of very young chidlren who were all facing some serious health challenges – but it was so inspiring and heartwarming to meet them and to ee how joyous they were!

I will never ever again feel sorry for myself.

Life is a joy – if we only we choose to see it like that.

By: arvind

arvind — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:36:52 +0000

Karlil, I am on a mission at the moment to simpify my life in all areas and am finding that my life is already becoming smoother:-)

Simplify, simplify, simplify!

By: Karlil

Karlil — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:28:19 +0000

I think much of the misery in people is the drama we tend to make for ourselves. And possibly the worst part is the fact that the story we create in our mind make up a lot of the misery we felt. Exaggeration of the reality in which we are experiencing is bad for health. Simplify life is definitely the way to go here.

By: Krishna

Krishna — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:51:01 +0000

Arvind, Love your advice to approach life with a childlike attitude and curiosity. We tighten ourselves when we approach any challenge with seriousness, on the other hand, when we approach the greatest hurdle with a child-like mind, we seem to cross the hurdle much more successfully. I have seen people who approach life with this attitude achieve many a milestone, without breaking a sweat .

About your title, though, I realize why no-pain no-gain is a byproduct of our up-bringing, but its just so irresistible, just been drummed into our heads! When you engage with life you realize sometimes things don’t happen for a reason and a “lucky” break, if you are ready for it, can make you leapfrog over many a hurdle. But damn, its hard to let go of this myth! .

Cheers,
Krishna

By: Arvind

Arvind — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:36:26 +0000

Anastasiya,I have just been to a talk by Robert Holden who is famous for his Happiness Project and was on Oprah a year ago.

I will be writing a post soon about the evening but he mentioned something yuo bring up – how some people cannot accept happiness if it comes too easily. It is as if anything that is obtained easily cannot be worthwhile and they were not worthy of it.

We all really need to learn to be joyous all the time – joy and happiness are after all our birthright:-)

By: Arvind

Arvind — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:32:45 +0000

Mark, I have no easy answers to offer you as chronic pain is not something I have ever suffered.

Hard as it may sound, can you accept this skin condition as part of your life journey?

Maybe your learning here is to develop your own perseverance and tolerance to tough life challenges – and to make you realise and appreciate the value of life and good health.

By: Arvind

Arvind — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:28:34 +0000

Shilpa – you put it very nicely – how we view life ie a joy or a struggle dictates our perception of each life experience.

If we see every experience as a learning on our journey of life, then it all becomes a joy!

By: Arvind

Arvind — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:26:42 +0000

Madeleine, “no pain, no gain” is such a limiting belief and it erodes a lot of joy out of our lives.

If we believe that life is hard and it will be painful to get anywhere, then that is exactly what will show up in our lives.

As for the media and the news, I occasionally catch up with world events by looking at the bbc website (www.BBC.co.uk) and it is invariably full of negative news. So now I have to really limit that exposure too.

By: Arvind

Arvind — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:19:43 +0000

Fiona, I am glad my post helped remove your blues!

We also get a free newspaper in the morning outside London train stations – there is just no getting away from them:-)

If only everyone else was as considerate as you and carried a litter bag – most of those newspapers inevitably end up being strewn across the train carriages.

You don’t need any crown as you are not a drama queen!

By: fiona mccudden

fiona mccudden — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:10:56 +0000

Thank you Arvind, I was feeling a little blue for 30 mins approx, when I read your “No Pain, No Gain”. I cannot wipe the smile from my face at the thought of you scaring those poor newspaper people. We have the same type of papers here in Dublin, but being Irish we do things in reverse and get them in the morning. I carry a plastic bag, so that I dont have to refuse,(dont read them) it means they dont have to stand longer perhaps in the rain. Right here it goes. Life is a struggle, it is challenging and it presents some with challenges more than others. Aha!The key is “acceptance”, knowing that adversary (if we are receptive) makes us a better human being. Michael Cain “Market Kitchen” Chef with one arm, Micael J Fox, has done so much for Parkinson. If I gave away my TV I would’nt know these. Facing reality can be painful, anaesthisising and divorcing oneself will not lead us ultimately to help others and of course ourselves. Now where is my crown!

By: Madeleine

Madeleine — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:13:23 +0000

I agree that the “no pain, no gain” mantra is so counter-productive. In terms of exercise, to push to the point of pain (meaning muscle injury) means that one has to go easy for a bit before pushing too hard again. How much better to do just a bit more each day.

I also agree about avoiding the media’s negativity. I don’t watch TV either, partly because much of it doesn’t seem worth watching. I read the newspaper but avoid news about unspeakable crime committed by crazy or unbalanced people. I don’t want to know the gory details about every rape and murder.

By: Shilpa Panchmatia

Shilpa Panchmatia — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:42:37 +0000

Life is a mixture of the pleasant and the unpleasant.
Sometimes all our wishes seem to come true, we knock and the doors are open to us, we ask and we are given.

But at other times,things just dont seem to go as we wish… is this struggle or just a part of life ?

How do we differentiate between struggle and harmony. During my travels I often marvel at people walking miles through deserts and difficult terrain for water, this for me would be a really big struggle but for these people this was part of their life. Just daily routine.

How we view life contributes to our belief about it being a struggle or a pleasure – adding to our experience bank to deepen our spirit and our soul meaning.