You gotta have faith

‘Cuz you gotta have faith…’

George Michael’s famous words.

What does faith mean to you?

To me, I wasn’t sure what it meant.

My journey with faith has been a rollercoaster.

Started out as a kid not believing much.

Grew up in a semi-religious household.

My parents were both reasonably religious.

My grandparents, especially on my dad’s side, were very religious.

So much so they even started a mandir.

So growing up, I grew up with Hindu cultural traditions being normal.

Veggie on Tuesday.

Navratri where you’re vegetarian for 9 days ending with a last fast.

Obviously Diwali every year.

Went to the mandir a few times a year.

Went to Hindi classes as a kid.

Didn’t learn much Hindi, but do remember all the prayer songs our teacher used to sing.

Ones you’d commonly hear at any temple.

Memorized most of those where now it’s second nature.

But my relationship with religion was complicated.

My relationship with faith was complicated.

Growing up I never questioned it.

Never understood it.

Was just told by my parents ‘This is how it is’ and blindly followed it.

I’m very grateful I had those experiences because they grounded me and gave me a moral compass, but I never particularly believed it.

Didn’t believe there was multiple gods as Hinduism has you believe.

Didn’t even know if I believed there was one god.

But I did believe there was something.

Some energy.

Some force.

Some unexplainable thing that was out there that guided your life.

Only recently have I come to understand this force a little better.

It started with meditating after I left medicine.

Started with 10 minutes a day and am now up to 20.

Then it was reading.

Think and Grow Rich was the first book that completely unlocked my subconscious.

Changed the way I see faith and belief.

Then over the years, I’ve had multiple experiences that can’t just be coincidences.

One of the biggest ones happened to me when I was in high school.

Had to write a chemistry test in grade 12 that would have the most bearing on my mark.

If I didn’t do well on this test, I wasn’t going to study in the UK.

Answered a question that was worth the most on the test and I remember the final answer was 4.5/4.9.

Two random numbers.

Fast forward to applying to UK universities and guess what the last four numbers of my application were?

4549.

Just a coincidence right?

Another happened to me recently.

Went to a party a few weeks back and met a family friend who’s a divorce lawyer when the topic of prenups came up.

We’ve had this convo in our household for years now on and off, but not for a while.

As I was having this convo with my parents, an hour later I got a text from Sachit’s wife giving me information about potential prenups for their child.

Literally an hour later.

How do you explain that?

Just another coincidence right?

I’ve had several more of these experiences that are unexplainable.

Related moments that had nothing to do with each other.

But it made me believe that there is something else out there guiding us and our lives.

Then it all clicked recently.

Been going down this rabbit hole this year around consciousness, our brain and how we access higher levels of our mind.

Started with the Telepathy Tapes (the most incredible podcast I’ve ever listened to that completely changes your reality).

That led me to the UAP phenomenon with an interview with Jake Barber, a US army whistleblower who has retrieved one of these extra-terrestrial craft, and a trailer for a new documentary coming out this year called Age of Disclosure.

While learning about this, I came across Operation Gateway and the Gateway Tapes by the Monroe Institute.

Then I came across this book - Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.

This book is so good that Steve Jobs gave everyone a copy of this book at his funeral

And it clicked.

It felt like it all made sense.

This book opened my eyes to everything.

As he wrote, meditation is the science of god realization.

All this searching finally made sense.

Faith is within you.

God is within you.

There is a spiritual energy out there and you can unlock it inside of yourself.

So I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to be better.

Going deeper within myself.

Believing more that whatever I’m doing is the right way to go.

That this faith will guide me in the right direction.

I got a signal this week that it’s working.

Had the goal of raising $10,000 this year on behalf of Sachit.

Had my doubts through the beginning of this year that I wouldn’t get there.

But people around me, especially my parents, had no doubt.

They knew I could do it.

They had faith.

Then this week I crossed the threshold.

Not just that, but raised more than I could’ve imagined.

Now raised almost $14,000.

Thank you to everyone who donated, truly can’t believe it!

Just goes to show you where faith can get you.

So if you’re feeling stuck or down or not sure where to go next.

Just remember, you gotta have faith.

Listen to Faith :)

Thanks George, RIP

This week in training (rest week) - (Follow me on Strava here):

Swimming - 6.6k - 2 x 2000m, 1 x 2600m. Lighter swim week. Didn’t finish one of the workouts as I had 3k but started cramping at 2500m so cut it short. Still plateauing in the pool on the longer distances but glad I’m getting the reps in.

Biking - 83.8 km - lighter bike week. Notice speed is slowly improving as cadence increases. Curious how it will translate outside but still not there as the weather in Toronto still sucks.

Running - 23 km - decent run week. Back to the treadmill and kept up good zone 2 running, including 5 mph consistently on my long run. The marathon is coming up so will be heavier running the next little while, including the next week as I head to the UK.

Notes from Week 12 of training:

• Good rest week. Crazy to think that I’m still training 6 days/week when I’m supposed to be resting…
• Nutrition was solid this week. Separated my 2 long workouts on Sunday so no issues today with the stomach.
• Swimming was ok this week. Time is plateauing on the longer swims and a bit slower than I would like, but still getting in the distances so happy with that.
• The bike is continuing to improve. Felt good on my long ride as I’m getting my cadence up, but curious how it will translate outside.
• Good run week. All runs were in zone 2 and felt good after them, no soreness. Curious to see how it will translate as I get outside, especially in the UK this week, and as I ramp up the volume in preparation for the marathon. Crazy to think it’s only 5 weeks away…
• Been watching ‘David Blaine: Do Not Attempt’ (so inspired by that man, truly a 1 of 1), Drive to Survive (finished the F1 show, solid season), and caught up on the Pitt (shoutout to my bro for the recommendation, awesome show. ER docs are true superheroes and this show gets you right into what it’s like in the emerg department). More movies this week including Hall Pass (good time pass), Novocaine (meh, decent action movie), Avengers Endgame (damn the OG Avengers’ movies were great), The Life List (solid watch and good pick me up) and The Bucket List (similar to the last one). White Lotus was meh this week, let’s hope the last 2 episodes are good.
• Feeling ok this week. Making some progress but hard to see it. This week felt like a step back on performance in some ways, but also can’t be too hard on myself considering I’ve already surpassed my fundraising goal. Again, to everyone who donated, THANK YOU!! On vacation mid week so excited to see friends/family in the UK but will still be training. LFG

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