14 things to make 2014 20 times better

You've moved past your resolutions. ( I definitely have!)

Let's accept it, they don't last beyond January. Okay February for you, because you are so very good.

You've moved past the must-haves and the must-dos for the New Year.

In any case it's just another year, another month, another week and another day.

So here are some things that you could strive to do instead. The best part is that they are not time bound. Just do them to make 2014 better than 2013. Maybe two times better. And just maybe 20 times better. Here are 14 ways.

1. If you do make a resolution, make just one! (For greater tips on that click here: Resolve this...)

2. Find one friend to connect with once a month. Devote all the time to that friend.

3. Find one cause. Just one cause to devote some spare time to next year. The key word here is not cause or devote but time. Money is not a substitute.

4. Start a new hobby. Anything. Something. One thing that you learn from scratch. From zero. From ABC.

5. Live more outdoors. Live less in your screens. (My close friends will ask me to follow this advice myself but... never mind)

6.Take time off from work every two months at least. One day. Or two days. But real time off - rest, recharge and come back whole.

7. Read one book a fortnight. Read anything. But make this a pact you sign with yourself. And stay with it. (and once you read, do share with the rest of the world. It's so easy now!)

8. Watch one movie a month. Make it a comedy. Time off should be spent in laughter - no compromises there.

9. Take time to meditate. Just 15 minutes a day is a good start. More than that is better. Start today. And make it a habit. It's almost like having a shower for your mind every day. And the results will definitely be there to see.

10. Replace one bad habit with a good one. They say habits cannot be changed. They need to be replaced. So maybe.. coke with water? Cigarettes with gum? Coffee with green tea? (Don't give me that advice. I am not taking it! And anyway who says I have to practise what I preach!)

11. For just one minute a day, count your blessings. Just one minute. Just one blessing. No matter how difficult your day is, just one minute a day, this one minute, can make you feel better.

12. Say three nice things about yourself out loud every day! (I can think of 6 but hey! I am modest.)

13. Meet one new person a month - a colleague you don't know outside office, a pal on the net, a twitter follower? (Note not stalker, follower please!)
And finally...

14. Call Mom. Ideally now. Call her cos she is waiting and you'll make her day!

So there you go. Pick anything that suits your fancy. Do it and make 2014 much much, read that as, 20 times, better! Happy New Year again.

Déjà vu. Have you been there before?

No I had not seen it before. (But I could have had.)
I watched the film Déjà vu last night and it kind of blew me away.
The plot synopsis goes like this. A ferry taking soldiers of USS Nimitz and their families blows up just a little after it sets sail. Investigations reveal it was a terror attack. And while it is great to be wiser after the event, ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) thinks better. With the help of the FBI and what is known as spacefolding technology, they go back in time to reconstruct the event. Till Doug realizes that they could use the same technology to send him back in time to change the course of events.
Simple enough in principle.
We’ve always talked about time changing the course of history. Here’s history changing the course of time. Imagine now going back in time (into a parallel universe) after an event has occurred and changing it to a better or at least a less horrific one.
The whole concept of time being perceived as linear, but not necessarily being so, was not really alien to me. But the way it was portrayed in the film was an absolute stunner.
The beginning is just a collage of shots of the people getting on to the ferry. As you watch it you feel the treatment is to give you an idea of what is happening in and around the ship. But when time comes back a full circle, with Doug Carlin having time-travelled back, the very same collage flashes before your eyes. Déjà vu? Well yes, big time and eerily now you are part of it.
The film moves at a rapid pace between past, recent past and present. Somewhere the present is the future and somewhere it is the past and you get caught in the time warp as much as the characters in the film are till the edge-of-the-seat experience ends with once again an explosion. As a sort of anti-climax there is another déjà vu shot of anxious relatives at the pier. The aged mother. A pair of white knuckles clutching the railing. Weeping relatives. You’ve been there before you think, and sure enough you have.
Denzel Washington is his understated best. Though I can say (and my women friends will agree) that the understatement in the film is when his colleague is asked by Claire to describe him and he says: 6’3. Black. Not bad-looking!
Paula Patton as Claire Kutchever puts in a convincing performance. Wonder why we haven’t seen her too often after this film. The rest of the cast is also convincing.

On a lazy Sunday, I’d like to see the film again. But I am wondering...
Would that give me a feeling of Déjà vu?