Right-Wrong Motivation?

Its 1.24 am my time, sitting on my bed writing a blog post having little motivation ofcourse, because I'm on sick leave. I chose not to move around this week, since my illness is contagious and didn't want to spread it around so that people would blame or curse me afterwards.

I was motivated to stay at home because I'm a responsible citizen/ Friend. I was motivated to write this because of the overwhelming FB likes ;) (I wish i am right!)

Likewise people get motivated for so many reason,

for money

for fame

for honour

for pleasure

for food

for love

you name it, people get motivated for all sorts of weird stuff too. But what is really motivation though? 

Motivation is in my understanding, something that drives you, energizers you to perform an action. Some people need external influences and some can self motivate, however the trick is whether you are motivated for the right reasons.

Right and wrong can be very subjective, it differs from person to person, to the situation you are in and your current mentality therefore having a broader perspective will make you a wiser person. A person who can evaluate right from wrong or wrong from right.

Let see this demonstration,

Buddha says , "Mind is everything, what you think, you become"

Prophet Muhammad (swt) says "strive always to excel in virtue and truth"

Bible says "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."

These are three different quotes, but the common factor is that it speaks of the human mind. However, if you label it Buddhist, Islamic and Christian you may only understand it in one perspective, with a narrow understanding but if you combine all these together it says, 

"Mind is everything, keep your heart with all vigilance. what you think you become therefore strive always to excel in virtue and truth, for from it flow the springs of life"

won't it make you a smarter person? isn't it a pretty awesome quote?

Think again - what motivates you?

Awesomeness in the Land Down Under - My Family

It's Pretty strange to be back home, in Sri Lanka. Sitting on the familiar chair wondering what in the blue hell happened for the last 3 weeks. To be honest, It was a life changing experience. 

I can't imagine how it feels so unfamiliar to work with the stuff that I lived with for 30 years. It feels strange, I miss my mattress that I slept on, in Essendon at Larry's place. I miss my home in Melbourne. I fell in love with the place simply because it loved me back, like - a lot! The comfort in the blankets to the warmth in the house itself, living with 4 awesome people made me not miss home back in SL - at all. Now it feels strange to come back.

I miss my Lunket Brother, Manesh aka Platty, the guy who has earned a lot of my respect for being a loyal friend for all these years. From naughty days in schools and even 10 years after, he has simply been awesome. Whenever we have a conversation, he's the only guy who gives me self belief, and then I go "Yes I can!".

I miss my Lunket Sister, Thevuni aka Roo, the girl who is my wing woman. She is the awesomest girl I know. For the good times and bad she has always been in my corner - laughing or crying, It doesn't really matter, because she gives me strength to move forward like Jesse the Eagle ;) well a little better than that I reckon. 

I miss Jasmine, well she'll be here next month so it's an opportunity to hangout and spread some awesomeness around.

Most of all I miss my dearest Larry and  Cynner! I'm truly blessed to have you guys in my life, you guys are too awesome! The hospitality, the warmth and your kindness just blew my mind. It sincerely gave me hope to be a better person. I can still clearly remember the first question that I asked you guys was " where are the people?" because the roads were empty compared to Sri Lanka, but who needs people when Australia has you guys. 

I can also remember when we had Sake one evening - A Japanese Milk, I asked Larry "Aren't you gonna mentor a young guy- with all your knowledge?" well, to be honest you inspire me, your kindness, generosity and people's skills can never be matched with anyone I know of - so if you have a vacancy please do let me know, I'll be honoured. You can be Mr.Miyagi and I can be the Wombat kid. :D

Buddha says, be kind, be generous, be honest, be sincere - your consistency of having these attributes proved to me that people in Sri Lanka have a lot to learn from you guys. Your qualities go beyond any pious Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or a Muslim in this country. The World needs to learn from you. You better be ready!

It feels awesome that this trip to "Harmony week in Australia" happened and it has been two days since it ended, now in my familiar room, its still strange to be back, one question, did you guys cast a spell? or is it just Vegemite?  ;)

This post is dedicated for you - Larry, Cynthia and my Lunket Family - to show my gratitude and to say I love you and I miss you guys a lot.

But (In Arnold Schwarzenegger's Accent) " I'll be back!"

I Hate Politics

I'm an ordinary man, coming from an ordinary family. I never had privilege of benefiting anything from any politician in this country. I had to work hard to get to where I am today. Of course my friends helped me out, they are not politicians either. In fact I work for a youth Movement, I like to call it a an organization that is Apolitical, even though we address a political subject - Reconciliation. I'd like to boast about it a little bit here, yes we do a great job bringing together young people to interact, to make friendships, which is the base of reconciliation. People criticize us for various things, despite the criticism we actually do real work. 

Keeping aside my affiliation to be Apolitical, I'd like to write on behalf of myself, about what I think on the current political situation. I will not be recommending any politician that people should vote for, like the majority, I believe people will vote for the person they want to bring in to power. That being said there are few things to watch out for, you should do your own analysis before you go and vote. I'll be voting based on the following factors as they are top priority for me, also I strongly urge everyone to vote this time around, or any other time for that matter simply because if you fail to do it, someone else will definitely vote - on your behalf. Now that’s a fact. Okay let’s look into the factors I consider,

1. Current political environment - I don't like the fact that people get opportunities just because they are politically affiliated. Majority of the Sri Lankans I know hate politics, so what about them? Is it fair to be less privileged/or experience a double standard just because you don't have a political standpoint or a political angel?

2. The War ended in 2009, do we have Peace in this country? Are we enjoying freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of expression etc

3. Bank Balance - personal experience/reflection, In 1998/99, When I went to school Dad gave me 50 rupees as bus fair. I managed to save 30 rupees everyday and sometimes more. In 3 months I bought my first guitar. But now I have no money as savings. Why? I earn now don't I? But what in the blue hell is going on?

4. Transparency in Politics - Like myself majority of Sri Lankans don't like to be politically affiliated, So we are inclined to ignore subjects like the constitution, parliament budget etc. We think it's not necessary for everyday life. I think its absolutely a questionable attitude, It is mandatory that we understand these terms so that people in power can't fool us. I'm glad this time around general public voice out their opinions freely, also they have the opportunity to seek for the truth through new media. This inquisitiveness should grow for the benefit of the country.

5. Discipline of the politician - I went to a school where students were known for their discipline. This might have worked in my head over the years, however, discipline is key to understand the character of the person. whether he/she is respectful, knowledgeable, loyal etc.

Given these five things, I also believe that politicians are like - really good actors/performers. They make people believe in so many things, however there are few who are relatively honest and respectable. You can pick and choose the good ones out of all the rotten ones. It is not an easy task, its definitely a challenge. There's no time to be ignorant, you simply have to do it yourselves.

Today we are in crunch time, cannot ignore the fact that the entire nation depend on our votes to elect the right person to lead this country for the next five to six years. So do your duty, make your vote count. Be vigilant, you have the power to decide - Don't make people take that away from you. Be wise. I hate politics but Sri Lanka is home and my family,  so I will vote. 

Karma Sutra

Familiar breath of Fresh air evenly polluted with Carbon monoxide, Dust and many other micro particles that I'm not really privileged to differentiate the unique flavours with my partially functioning sensors. 

Familiar Traffic, there's always a way out with even if the retarded Kossa (Policeman) has no clue of maintaining the traffic without creating traffic Jams.

Familiar Toyota faces of Lankans, which reminds me of the Chinese if they were a little recognizable. well maybe not..

Familiar Sunshine on my brown skin, Piercing through it, making myself beautiful..skin deep (Quote from -Mr Rimaz), then, even before I could enjoy the true essence of it - comes the almighty rain makes you do nothing but sleep all day. In my case, I get wet quite often, cuz I'm just an ordinary man with an ordinary Bike.

Home. 

It's interesting that I live in a Buddhist Country, that belongs to the people of this country which includes me unfortunately to all the racist friends. Anyway that is called Karma in some way. If i had it any other way with the deeds i could've done probably would be living in a luxurious Castle in Malibu California. I'm pretty sure my people are very familiar with the term - Karma.

It is also interesting how Lankans under-estimates Karma. We still do have a pretty good literacy rate that we can be proud of a little higher than the rate of suicides. However, to define Karma we have gone to the extent of using Sinhala proverbs, 

Kala kala de pala pala de - You get what you give

Uda pannoth bima watei - If you jump you'll fall down

Don't get me wrong this post doesn't carry out a message of any sort but it does help you to understand to think before you act or before you make a decision in life, because like Newton says "every action has an equal and an opposite reaction", What he forgot to mention was the aftermath of the reaction, if its a good action you'll get gifts from Santa during Christmas or if its not a good action that you performed then well err..that's it my friend unfortunately life can be a bitch. True Story. Don't ask me ask Adolf Hitler, oh yeah he's dead now isn't he?

43200000 Seconds of Awesome Life with Summer

I'm Stressed out, I can't do this anymore, often said with extreme frustration during difficult times. Five minutes later, Summer sun, everlasting warmth settles you down giving that mild breeze cleansing the sourness of doubt and stiffness.

Summer is amazing, Summer is honest, Summer is Real, all the right ingredients to make one happy for a lifetime. Summer is a definite keeper. There's summer rain, which is cool, not all the time though. Sometimes it's hard to imagine why it happens. It just happens. Things don't always happen for a reason, which I believed in like a prayer, almost became my religion until I experienced Summer.

Summer is Generous, Summer is Kind, Summer is warm, best attributes for greatness, keeps you on the loop to appreciate the small things in life. Sun Rises, Sun Sets - it's definitely a handful with summer. A constant encouragement to live life to the fullest.

Summer is glamorous, Summer is contagious, Summer is blissful, a Terrible liar - mark of a faithful companion. Always a blessing, always will be, summer is all seasons combined for me. Awesome indeed. Never looking back except for the awesomeness, my 500 days of summer. Not the movie, not a dream. But the journey - of contentment.

Summer is also - Peace. inner peace with Joy where this photo won't do justice.