Shaikh Ashraf's Blog: Shaikh Ashraf Writes, page 12

The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind | Author

“The Power Of Your Subconscious” mind is n’t, “The Secret”. This book talks about the subconscious mind in a scientific manner. Unlike “The Secret” where everything is left to the universe. I read this book a year ago while juggling with my student, blogger and writer life and it changed my mindset. It made me positive and calm. I haven’t always been a fan of positive affirmations so I hadn’t used those. But as far as thinking’s concerned, I have grown more positive and goal oriented. If I encounter a problem I imagine the solution in my sleep. Sometimes, I find my solution but sometimes I have a nightmare. When I read “The Secret” I became an idiot that I repeated affirmations, visualizations all day. This book doesn’t teach that. This book teaches the proper use of your subconscious mind. It could be to generate an idea or to find a solution or work towards achieving a goal or stop a bad habit. Not the counterproductive “Ask, Believe, and Receive”. This book talks about our subconscious mind. Almost everything we do, every person we meet, every deal we close is the result of our subconscious programming. The subconscious mind receives every information, works on that and gives input to the conscious mind. Many people are outstanding with their work, no matter what, they always succeed. It means they have mastered their subconscious patterns. A subconscious pattern means how we program our subconscious minds. If you repeatedly tell yourself that you’re an idiot. Guess what you’re making the pattern of the subconscious mind stronger. You will after some days, months, weeks or year’s end up stupid. We tell ourselves many things daily, positive, negative and neutral. Those self-talks impact our subconscious mind and they form patterns. Those patterns govern our life. But you can make use of this information and benefit your mind and body and your life. Think positive, see the end result, have a vision. Stimulate your mind in whatever ways possible to succeed in whatever you are doing. Rather than being negative and always complaining about your situation. If you want to be fit, but cannot find any way to do, then close your eyes and imagine yourself to fit. Imagine all aspects of yourself, like running a mile, being healthy, looking good. Those thoughts will send a signal to your subconscious mind and if you repeat it, it will help your mind to change that pattern. Repetitively doing it will then stimulate your mind to think for a way to be fit. You will find a creative idea. I use this method to find the story idea I want to write. I must say this works. The main reason “The Secret”didn’t work because they thought their readers are stupid. The secret really confused my life. I spent a year hating myself and blaming every self-help book ever written. Then I found this book and then I understood that what was told in secret is true but they told it differently. They could have told it scientifically like in this book. These topics should be discussed with scientific proof. Not like a Disney movie. This book cannot change your life. Nor do you any good. But it will help you use that thing inside your skull and let you live a happy life. And also help you be positive. Read it but practice half of it.

“All of us have our own inner fears, beliefs, opinions. These inner assumptions rule and govern our lives. A suggestion has no power in and of itself. its power arises from the fact that you accept it mentally.”

― Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

“Know that in your deeper mind are Infinite Intelligence and Infinite Power.”

― Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

Originally published at www.ashrafshaikh.com .

The Power Of Now | Author

I read this book two months ago. By far this is the best book I have read. Anyone who is working towards a goal or a dream should read this book. The world is constantly changing. Our needs are changing. We are always living in an autopilot mode. We don’t know what is happening in our lives. We are always thinking about something. Always lost in our own world of simulation. We are so lost that we don’t actually know what’s happening in the present. This book taught me to take it easy and live the present. This book discusses how we are always thinking something, our minds are continuously running. We don’t take a break from it. We don’t stop thinking for even a few minutes. We need to stop this. We all want to live a life of freedom, no clinging and craving attached to anything. But we are always attached to our thoughts that stop us from living our lives to the fullest. Get back to the day where you wanted to be happy, then something hit you, you got reminded of old days, your past. Get back to that day where you were happy, but you thought about the future and got worried. Those are the example of how our minds don’t let us embrace our present. This is a book that teaches you to stay in the present moment and always be aware of your body, feelings, and emotions. Usually, we are always busy in our minds. We get lost in thoughts about the future. What we could have done is live in the present moment. As we get lost in our compulsive thinking we develop a pattern of thinking, and that governs our living. Of course, thinking is an important activity but you cannot be thinking every second of your life. Keep a timer, think about something, a problem or something that is worrying you then forget it. Keep a journal and write your thoughts on it then forget it. This book has the power to change your life, only if you detach yourself from your mind and be present in the now. Fully alive and embracing every moment that life presents us. This book is another must read.

“As soon as you honor the present moment, all unhappiness and struggle dissolve, and life begins to flow with joy and ease. When you act out the present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love — even the most simple action.”

― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

“Nothing has happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.”

― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

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Originally published at www.ashrafshaikh.com .

The Power Of Habit | Author

You woke up inspired ready to take on the world and become successful. You created a to-do list. The list was to Read, Exercise, Do Homework, Study, Do Online Course and Write etc…. but after a few days, you realize you cannot actually do that. You slouched back to your old habits. You woke up late, ran to work, skipped breakfast, ate bad, and sacrificed on your sleep. The power of Habit is a book about habits. It’s about building better habits in your life and staying consistent. We see many people in life change, they lose weight, quit smoking and do good in lives. They build better habits that make them do that. The power of habit talks about habit creation. Like, how habits get created in our brains. How our brains get wired to do the daily tasks on autopilot. A part of our brain lets us do the same thing daily. We bite our nails in anxiety, shake our legs, play with our hair, run our palms on the back of our neck to feel comforted. Our brains are designed to do that. Charles Duhigg in this book talks about the creation of habit of individuals, organizations, and consumers. Also talked about how data helps to identify the consumer spending habits. How organizations collect data to predict a lifestyle change in consumers to promote their product. That was interesting to me as I am a marketing student. The book is written, with some easy to understand scientific facts backed up with research. The cue, routine, reward loop is what makes the habit in brain stronger every day. I read this book and I challenged myself to read daily, write and meditate for at least 10 minutes and workout. It didn’t change my life but I got better every day. I started waking up early, bought dumbbells and started working out. Started writing daily. Started reading daily and finished a book a week. Also Meditated daily. For anyone who wants to make changes in your life but struggling to make it, this book is the best to start with. As every aspect of our life is built by the habits we’ve incorporated in our lives. If we have a bad relationship, finance, work ethic, that is because of our habits. We can start to train ourselves to form newer habits one by one and change our whole life. You can start by waking up early. Anyone trying to change your life, pick up one aspect and work on it. If it is improving your finances, then work on improving your finances daily. Or eating healthier then start with eating a healthy meal. Then next week eat two healthy meals. Then further it up to three healthy meals. It takes time. This book will not change your life. But you will realize that major problems in your lives are because of bad habits. Then you can try to improve on those things first.

“If you believe you can change — if you make it a habit — the change becomes real.”

― Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit

Originally published at www.ashrafshaikh.com .

The 4-Hour Work Week, Book Review | Author

For everyone willing to turn their passions into a living. Every entrepreneur and the small business owner must read the 4-hour work week. Anyone can live the life of his or her passions. Doing what they like, but people seldom do it. For them, it requires a lot of effort, as they have a habit of doing everything. For example, if you are a writer writing a book, then you also think you can market this book. You can promote this book yourself self without any help. Even if you are doing everything that takes with promotion or selling or marketing your book. At the end of the day, you are killing your writing vibe and burning yourself out. You can outsource that. There are many freelancers available to work for you. Plan, and prepare your marketing and social media campaigns. You, pay the per task rate to them and they will be happy to do it. There is a part of the book which I liked the most was outsourcing. Outsourcing is the best way to take care of your passion. You do the main work, then outsource other aspects of your work. Outsource the marketing, the blogging, the social media management aspect. The options are endless in this world of internet. You can outsource unimportant aspects of your life. Then focus on your strengths and multiply on them. As I am writing for three years. I have learned a lot form this book. I have learned to focus my efforts on blogging and writing.

It talked about concepts like 80/20 rule. All 80% of problems come out from 20% of causes. 80% of your stress level is the result of the 20% of the causes. If, you have a new business and you aren’t making any improvements, then go with the eighty-twenty rule. Focus on important things, the 20% you aren’t doing and then multiply on those efforts. The book gives a pretty clear message in the end. It’s about living the life of your dreams and following your passion. Many quit their job to follow their passion and then get stuck thinking what to do. They don’t know how they will live their life now. The message of this book sums up like this. You do only those things that are important then you outsource the rest. You multiply only those efforts that bring you the most benefit, 80/20 rule. You automate everything from emails to social media sharing. You take ownership of your life. Internet business doesn’t mean sitting on your chair all day and waiting for something to happen. When reading this book I believed that only artists and bloggers can get benefit from it. But I came to realize that anyone can get benefit from this book. They just have to make use of it. Any employee, working hard form 9–5 and don’t know why he isn’t making progress can make use of this book. He can multiply on his strengths. He can outsource other unimportant work and can automate communication with clients. I really liked this book it gave me a new perspective on life in the 21st century. It is a must read.

Originally published at www.ashrafshaikh.com .

LIFE OF COMPULSIVE HALF-TRUTHS

When my alarm rang. I woke up and switched it off. I bathed and dressed up, then went out. As I walked the lanes I questioned myself, “What to do today?” “why am I going out?” “college” I felt this awe going to college. That feeling you get when you don’t want to do something but have to. I saw everyone around me, and asked, “what if they also do what they don’t want to?” “what if they also don’t know what they are doing?” “what if they also don’t know, what is the reason they wake up every day and go out” “why?” Why do we have no idea what is happening in our lives? Why are we all doing what everyone else is doing and not know what is that we actually want? Why everyone wakes up and walks or commutes to his/her job without realizing why he or she’s doing it. In situations, we tell ourselves that we are doing this for the betterment of our lives. We are doing this for a better future. We are doing this for a better job. We are doing this for this and that. After a while, we believe that this is just the half-truth. We do it for our own benefit. We do jobs we don’t want to, to earn money. We go college and study what we don’t want to, to get a job. The other side of that truth is a compulsion. We find that things compulsory. We find jobs and education compulsory. We want good jobs, good education, everyone wants that. But do we actually ask ourselves what is that we actually want from life? Let’s ask yourself every day, set a few minutes on the timer and ask, “what is it that I want from my life?” question every answer that comes to your mind. “Is it jobs” “Is it education” “what will happen if I do jobs, will that fulfill me?” “what will happen if I continue my education, will that benefit me?” “In what ways it will fulfill or benefit me?” “Is that the only thing I want from my life, jobs, and education?” “what are other things?” “travel….” The questions will continue, I tried this for a few days and got tired. But I got clarity. I don’t only want a job that pays me. I don’t only want an education that will get me any job I want. I want a life, life is not jobs you do, books you study, life is what you live. I want a life, I don’t want a cubicle for my life. I don’t want a classroom for my life. I want adventures, I want dreams and ambitions. I want continuous growth from in my life. I don’t want to live a compulsive half-truth.

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Originally Published At Ashraf Shaikh

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Gandhi’s Three Monkeys

Media, being one of the pillars of the democracy has lost its luster and still fooling people. It agrees to show us fake news or propagate an agenda because it wants to keep their businesses running. Some want to propagate a news or an agenda because they want to benefit somehow from it. In the middle its the common man who gets fooled by both. Its the common man who gets sucked up. I always thought that a common man is the strength of a democracy. But as he gets fooled by people and media, is he actually a strength or a nuisance?


Control of information by media houses. What to show? What not to show? Showing only news that generates profit and TRP, reminds us that we are not in a mixed but a capitalist economy. Media doesn’t care about public interest it cares about profit. The political parties don’t care about public interest. They care about propagating their agenda further. A common man cannot control the media nor the political parties. Nor the people who want to spread the fake news for some benefit.
What should a common man do, then? This question reminds me of Gandhi’s three monkeys. Ones who closes its eyes, ears, and mouth, and only depends on self-judgment, self-inquiry. To believe in media in today’s capitalist time is to destroy the idea of democracy. The common man should close his ears not listen to the propagation or agenda. He should close his eyes not to get involved in agenda and fake news. He should close his mouth to not speak of propagation or agenda.
Media depends on funding. The ones who provide funds to media are the ones whose news gets attention while others get ignored. Farmers issues get ignored. Lower caste issues get ignored. Issues of discrimination get ignored. The only news that creates a further divide in society gets attention. It is up to the common man of democracy. The man on whom the whole nation depends, it is up to him to close his mouth, eyes, and ears to such media and don’t react. It is time to not to listen, watch, or say anything hateful, discriminatory, communal.


It is time.



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“In Search Of Inner Voice”

“In Search Of Inner Voice” @ashrafwrites https://medium.com/@ashrafwrites/innervoice-b9fd9b7b93a2

Hi Again!

Well,  I have been out and not really been publishing for a while. I was really missing out blogging, daily, weekly and speaking my mind (writing my mind) as it should go. But, what happened with me, is that,  I got lost somewhere in between these things,  that were blogging, writing, studies and all. I wandered mostly, I then, slowly slowly found myself, you know, as a writer and getting failed many times, while creating content, writing novel and trying to get recognition on social media, you often get a little side tracked and reserved with yourself. I haven’t paid much attention to social media, I haven’t paid much attention to my writing also. But while I was lost, I discovered many things, about writing and myself.

I was writing something else actually, a crime novel, which was going to be a series, but on my birthday, something different happened, I got a sparkling idea and I changed my plot and deleted whatever I wrote and started writing something new.

My second novel involves a story about a man, who has lost his wife and daughter in an accident, who goes to travel to India and while travelling he explores meaning of life and way of happiness.

I got this idea while I was sitting and having lunch with my friends on my birthday, I went home, deleted my novel and started writing again. Now I have written somewhat 90 pages and I also have something more to write.

So, trying to stop blogging for some months, did really mattered. I now write in my college’s library daily for around ten pages. This is the habit that I  have formed, I stay away from my home all day, in college and write, my home is a distraction for my writing.

And with a new idea for my novel, I also have something entirely new that I am working on, and that is a Web series, it is based on, a struggle of a writer and a singer, which is based on some real life experiences. I have started writing the script of it and I am also directing it. And with all these  going on, I find it really hard to cope up with, what teenagers mostly do nowadays. Like spending time with friends, Participating in stuff etc.  Most teenagers have no idea where they would end up in future,  most don’t give a damn about life, most have a pass time of making my fun.

But still, that break from Blogging and writing felt good enough, now I am just one month away from finishing my first draft. We will be starting the shoot of Web series from April onward.

Well that is for now, it feels good to be back to blogging.

That’s all

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Patel, towards India’s economic success?

Raghuram Rajan’s exit and appointment of Patel as the governor of RBI, is a matter that has been going lately into my head. Rajan was the best policy maker, predictive person, a thinker in the economic world. He predicted recession early, openly criticized the government. He openly talked about the loopholes in banking and government actions regarding the economy. Then things got a bit freaky, Rajan wrote a resignation letter, you know the whole story behind it, and then after some month Patel was appointed as the RBI governor taking over on September 4.

Patel has  PhD degrees from Yale and Oxford, he had studied in world’s best institutions, he even worked for the ministry of finance, Patel also worked in RBI for some years, when Rajan announced his exit Patel was the best choice.

The Markets are now relaxed and confident, but then let’s see, what happens when Patel takes over the seat of the governor and how he tackles inflation, Economy as a whole and investments. He is regarded as a good macroeconomist, but he might be a little different from Rajan. His thinking and policies, his planning, he may or may not openly point out the mistakes of banking or government. He may or may not take investment and markets further; he may or may not take a positive and tactile approach towards inflation.

We don’t know that. I don’t know that. No one knows that. let’s see what happens when Patel take over and let’s see what policies and plans, he makes that will be a mark, a discussion point or a milestone towards India’s economic success.

I am an introvert.

Let me begin from the start, before some years, somewhat 4 years, I was a very quiet person, shy, angry and violent. Then this habit grew and it became intense, the anger and the violence is under control now from many years but the silence, it still has its presence.

I am a kind of introvert.

Being an introvert, for me, is bad and good.

First the good side:-I don’t hang out with a lot of people; I don’t take part in activities which involve a lot of people. I don’t go out partying, I like to be alone, enjoying a nice cup of coffee and reading an amazing book.

But sometimes it is also bad, I don’t talk to people, so they think that I am being rude to them, or they misunderstand me. Sometimes they think that I am arrogant. I just don’t prefer talking.

I am a very talkative person It is not that I am usually quiet. When I am with my selected best friends, I open up with them and discuss vast ideas; I talk fast and make a conversation interesting. Sometimes, I just remain quiet with just observing the inner peace left within me.

It’s been two months of college, I have not made any friends, there are just one or two. I am the quietest person in the class, who doesn’t ask questions and don’t take initiative like others. They also don’t talk to me either, they regard me as arrogant.

How should I tell them that it is not my fault that I don’t talk much?

But I do enjoy the time I spend with myself, I get to read books, watch movies, plan my novels and studies. Then I have a very happy life. some of my friends have a big social life and they have to worry about their friend’s problems to solve them or make an interesting influence in their life, I am glad that I don’t have that big social life, at least I am good enough to see what’s wrong with my life and correct it.

30 August, Hi there!

Only To Free My Soul

Checkmate Your Hurdles