The Ninety Nine Club- A short story revisited

Its always great to refresh one's mind and learn something new by re reading a story or snippet that made an impact  on you the vey first time you heard it ( or as the case may be, read it.)

So here's one such gem with some real Food For Thought. Called 'The Ninety Nine Club', I'm fairly certain that it will impact you exactly the way it impacted me.

( Image Courtesy- The Ninety Club, London)

Once upon a time there was a King who ruled over a large kingdom. He had everything that he could possibly desire and then some. Anything he touched seemed to turn into gold and whatever he thought of or desired, he could buy.

But human beings are after all -just humans. Every morning he would step out and go for a brisk walk in his beautiful gardens and he would see a gardener busy at work.  Not a day passed when the King didn't see him smiling and humming a happy song and after some time, this began to bother him.

He called one of his wisest Ministers and shared his dilemma."There is a particular gardener who works for me. Every morning when I pass by, I see him smiling and humming a happy song. I have so much more than him, but somehow, I don't think I'm happy. You see, I'm never really able to hum and sing in a carefree manner I have everything I can think of so I can't help but wonder why he can behave that way and I can't ?"

The wise Minister replied, "Don't worry your Majesty, leave it all to me and you will soon see a different person." And with that, he smiled enigmatically and set off to do what he had planned.

Late that night, he went and dropped a red silk pouch with gold coins in front of the gardener's cottage and walked away. Next morning when the gardener came out, he saw the pouch and bent down to pick it up. It felt heavy and what was even more intriguing, it made a jingling sound when he shook it. Curiosity soon got the better of him and he opened it. Imagine his excitement when he saw that it was full of gold coins! 

He started counting. 'One, two, three......ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine....

Ninety nine?   How can that be possible? It has to be a hundred"

And so he started all over again.

"One, two, three........ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine.."

When the King saw him at work that morning, the gardener wasn't smiling.

Or humming...

Or working...

Instead he was frowning, squinting furiously and counting something that seemed to make a jingling sound in a red coloured silk pouch.

The wise Minister approached the King as he stood there looking at him and said,

"You see, Your Majesty, this man is now officially a member of  the Ninety Nine Club."

The toughest part of a diet isn't watching what you eat.

"The toughest part of a diet isn't watching what you eat. 

It's watching what other people eat."

( Image sourced from Google) 

This was a line that I posted on my social media pages some time back and was amazed at the number of comments that it generated. 

To cut the long story short, most of them were in complete agreement with the line and ruefully acknowledged that that that it was 'oh so true'. 

As someone who has been through the Yo Yo syndrome myself, I consider myself as somewhat of an authority to talk about it. 

Diets are indeed a hard act to follow through and it is the easiest thing in the world to fall off the wagon. You gain some, then decide to lose it. 

Which you do upto a point then get fed up, or just plain bored.

 And then the cycle starts all over again. 

So at this point in my life, this is where I'm at. I eat all that I want to for a few days, then do the balancing act for the next few. That way I'm able to successfully maintain at least the semblance of a status quo. 

But for all that I do or don't do, what I definitely try and do is walk off some of it away. Every day,  I set out and try and do about 45 minutes at as brisk a pace that I'm able to manage on that given day. 

It works for me and I'm fairly sure that it will for you too.

 

Why does the last piece always taste the best?

That last slice of pizza. That last piece of cake. That last sandwich. That last piece of chocolate. Or even that piece of 'not so interesting' banana bread. 

All these have one major thing in common.

They all taste so much better than that original 'whole' portion.

               The last slice

According to new research, our brains may be wired to remember the end of an experience more warmheartedly than the beginning. Actually, humans may be hardwired to view the “last” as “best,” according to a Huffington Post article about new research published in the journal Psychological Science. 

 Phoebe Ellsworth, PhD, and Ed O'Brien, two scientists from the University of Michigan, were interested in whether we remember the end of an experience more fondly than the beginning and middle parts. Why were those final nibbles savoured more than the others? 

Simply identifying the ‘last piece' of chocolate as the ‘last’ made eating it more positive, and this emotion coloured global judgments of enjoyment,explained Wray Herbert, Phd, on Huffington Post. 

 So there you have it, that key word, is "last." 

Effectively, it sets off alarm transmitters inside the brain and the human being reacts differently .ie convinces himself that the 'last" piece is definitely better than ( all) the previous ones. 

 Try it out for yourself and you will see that it really does work that way. As for me, I really don't need much thinking on this. You see, the reason that I decided to write this piece is that I'm totally convinced. That last piece certainly tastes much better!

Thoughts on Approaching Autumn

Beautiful Mashobra

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a lustre in it's sky.
Which through the summer is not heard or seen.
As if it could not be, as if it had not been!" 

(Percy Bysshe Shelley)

And who would not agree?

Autumn- When summer leaves us, and we approach the year's end.

When the leaves on the trees start changing colour, and there is that very slight nip in the air...

Autumn in France

Or did we imagine it?

When sunsets become even more beautiful, and make us want to watch them just that much longer....

When we start debating, do we need to delve into our wardrobes again, for could winter really be far behind?

When a Caramel Machiatto with cinammon scones is just irresistible....

When festivities abound..... wherever you may be in the world.

When every photograph you take has just that "teeny weeny" sharper edge.....

And finally, as George Eliot once famously said, "Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."