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Are You Afraid of Future.hmm..Think Again!

Yesterday is out of your Hand
Tomorrow you do not know what will be in your hand
TODAY is what YOU HAVE IN YOUR HAND!

So just do not keep brooding over the Past, Stop worrying about the Future and Start Acting and Enoying the PRESENT! Success will follow you!

Jai Hind!

PICON - 4

Theme - Time,Energy and Opportunity shall wait for none!

Time to Say Thank You to 5 Elements

Imagine a life without water to drink to satisfy your thirst, fresh air to breath to keep you alive, the great lands to hold on and hug your loved ones, the wide open beautiful sky to dance with your dreams and enjoy the freedom and the fire that provides you mother's warmth and a reliable weapon to fight your own enemies like laziness, lethargic attitude to successfully leap and move forward! If any of above 5 elements is not available to us in our life, we will end up living dead!

Having said this, how many of us do really give respect (what respect!) to this essential 5 elements? Mostly everyone take casual advantage of our mother nature’s gift and end up polluting them the maximum as we can. And when asked, we simply say, hey those are available free and I need not bother about them! Then comes a day, where the nature comes back to us in the form of Tsunami, Twisters and teaches us a lesson! Remember, we are in mercy of these 5 elements and we need to realize that it is our own responsibility to keep our earth clean and green!


Time to Say Thank You to 5 Elements

 It is never too late to say Thank You to each of 5 elements as part of your morning task! I do this every day which makes me feel good. I pledge everyone to Say - Thank You and feel proud of you! Whether or not we believe in God, let’s have trust and belief in the things we see and use – the Nature!

We remember to say Thank You to someone who helped us long back and forget them after few days. But, don't we realize and agree to say Thank You to something which helps us to embrace every moment in our life, every step we move, every breath we take, every dream we achieve and does remember us all time!

Come and join me to say Thank You to our nature’s gift - Water, Land, Air, Sky and Fire!

Jai Hind!

Happiness is your Choice-Part2

This New Year I just thought will start my first post discussing about one thing which everyone wants and that is Happiness!

This post is in continual to my old post Happiness is your choice. How much ever we discuss about happiness it cannot be spoon feeded. It is like this, you try teaching a kid not to touch a hot iron plate, but still they will try touching it until they experience it by touching the hot plate. Similarly, happiness shall need to be experienced within you rather than forced upon yourself. One needs to embrace it and experience it day-in and day-out.

Having said this, below is a list of few (many more can be added to this list) common circumstances /events which might make us feel down or unhappy unless and otherwise if we could not get the hold of those.

Unique as ‘U’

Every individual is unique and that is the nature. This is easy to view, but hard to practice. The acceptance of this principle requires an individual’s one hundred percentage commitment and hard work!

I like Blue, so my friends should too…

I love pets, so my spouse shall too…

I love travelling, so my family too…

I keep my TV volume high to enjoy favorite music, so my neighbors too…

..

..

These lists can keep growing and endless too! Instead of looking at the indifferences you share, try start appreciating and accepting your partner’s or friends or family members as they are. Love them for what they are, instead of what you want them to be! This will definitely keep your head up and cool.  

Try embracing the difference and nurture your happiness!

   

Apple to Orange! Orange to Apple! Apple to Apple and so on...

Are you able to hear the below lines aloud in your ears from a loud speaker?

Your Cousin scored centum in math, but you did not.

He owns BMW latest model, but I own only Ford.

He has 2 row houses with posh garden, but I own none.

My colleague travelled to USA for a business trip, but I was not selected.

She got 55% hike during appraisal, but I did receive only 27%

-

-

-

Why comparison? Love and comparison is like 2 sides of a sharp pencil. While love sweetens our life, comparisons mix bitter to it. Try accepting yourself as you are, have belief in your own abilities, strengths and likings. Rather than comparing, perform little introspection within you and work towards self-improvement.

Stop comparing to sow the seeds of happiness within yourself.

Small things matter

Vilfredo Pareto's Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Let’s look at couple of example which is quite common. (Sometimes it might look simple and joking too!)

‘Wanting to go home early to play with your new born child, you start early from the office that day evening. Just before 3miles to your home, you got stuck in traffic jam! By the time you reach home, your child is asleep. The next day in a local newspaper you read the reason for last night traffic jam being, because of a road side seller’s attempt to cross the wrong signal! Sounds silly and familiar!

Yes, 80% of the time we stuck in traffic signal because of 20% of people poor driving skills.

Similarly, in our life, small things add to big events.

Few other examples, when you commit to your family to Alice and Wonderland move this weekend, then, "Make it, do not break it.”  When your better-half proposes a date this Anniversary then let being 5th Anniversary be not the reason to avoid it! Give her your time; after all she is your love! Make It! "Take charge and Take Control" and happiness will follow.

Take care of small things, to cure yourself!

 

Encourage family culture

Phone calls have been replaced with short SMS. Electronic mails have replaced traditional mails! I still remember writing to my cousins using a post card during my school vacation holidays! Where are those cultures now? Social networking has replaced face-to-face family networking! Technology provided solutions to human problem which is great! But, in turn, we took over advantage of the technology and started creating problems with the solutions!

Develop a good culture within your family. Meet your lovable Parent’s at least once in 3months. Participate in family functions and spend some time with your friends (remember those college days!). If possible, try creating album of your life events. I personally started doing this whenever possible.  Looking at those albums will heal your inner-self and bring happiness. Perhaps at times it might look funny to look these albums and teach yourself that you crossed so many milestones in your life!

Above all, I strongly recommend you to connect with the elderly persons in your family, like Granny! How many of us do this? Many ignore them, just because they have become older! Spend some time with them. If can't meet, call them. They are Gems in our life and are the one from whom we learnt about bedtime stories! After all, they are the ones who cared for you when you are young even more than your parents! Teach your son and daughter their importance.

Start committing a healthy family culture to spread wings of happiness.

 

Fake it to make it

I read a saying, "Fake it, to make it." Sometimes, when you feel low, unhappy and pulling down, try to fake it. It might sound fuzzy! But, from my own experience I myself applied this and it works. Few times, when I used to feel low, I look at my face in front of a mirror or say to myself, ‘Be happy! Be Happy!’ I fake my face to smile! This could help your brain cells get some spontaneous trigger and bring back your energy. Remember, only you can do that and not someone else on behalf of you!

Happiness can't be given! It's intangible. Fake it to make it.

As the saying goes,

“Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.”

In this New Year, let’s try making a resolution which will help binding together all our ray of hope and dreams come true by understanding that;

‘Happiness is Your Own Choice’!

Jai Hind!

Lines I Liked

"Look questions are bound to be asked if you are not scoring runs. It's just that when you are 23 or 24, people ask different questions and when you are 37 or 38, they ask different questions. That's part and parcel of modern day cricket and you have got to accept that. The best way to come back is to score runs. "


"As far as I am concerned, I have never really bothered about the questions. It's always been about how I feel emotionally, physically and spiritually and whether I am giving my hundred per cent or not. These are a few boxes I always mentally tick before a series."
                                                                          - Rahul Sharad Dravid, The Wall of Indian Cricket Team

Attitude decides your Altitude!

This is my addition post in the SMS category and it's about Attitude! Ergo what is Attitude? The question flash like a blaze light in everyone mind.

Be it,Sachin Tendulkar's contemporary record scoring double century against South Africa or Sourav Ganguly's drop (personally, I am a great fan of Sourav!) as a team member by the selectors committee, it relates with Attitude. Given the time, energy, and opportunity, both the players are masters in their own world! Remember, there were controversies circling both the players, like Sachin's brokenness performance and Sourav's belligerent conduct along with lack of respective for the senior players in the Indian Team.
Having said this, Sachin marched ahead of the time and went on to break the 13 year old record. Alternatively, Sourav(still considered as one of the successful captain produced by the Indian team) is struggling to retain his position as captain in the recent IPL 20-20 games!

I am definitely not a seasoned commentator like Harsha Boghle or neither cricket expert to analyze them. The point here is clear. It's their individual patients, persistent, perseverance and mental-strength that made huge difference between them and where they stand today. And that is what Attitude is all about.

I recently read a short story received through an email chain which best relates what I am trying to explain. I am sharing this with you all below...

Story starts

...Jack is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jack was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jack was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jack and asked him, I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jack replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to me, Jack, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood.

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. "Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is," Jack said.

"Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life." I reflected on what Jack said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jack did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jack was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jack was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jack about 6 months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jack replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jack continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action." “What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jack. "She asked if I was allergic to anything.’Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live’. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'" Jack lived! Thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
... the story ends…

Remember, 'if Talent can take you to Sky, then your Attitude shall take you to the Stars!'
                                                                                                                             
* I thank my wife, Arundhathi for sharing this wonderful story.

Happy Weekend...

Quotation Mark#1

“There is no short cut to success. All aspiring people should have both, the short term and long term vision, as both these are indispensable for success. The will to perform should be there because the only way to succeed is through performance.”

------Shri Sunil Bharti Mittal,
Chairman & Group Managing Director,
Bharti Enterprises.

Thought for the Day!

Recently, I came across wonderful lines which touched me personally and wanted to share with you all. Many times be it in our professional career or personal life, we always just wanted to have immediate result and focus all our energy towards it, rather than looking at the BIG PICTURE! Here is a citation that is very simple to read,but, the message it conveys makes a lot difference to ourselves if digested to the fullest. (Reference - Tim Sanders Blog)

"...You need to get out of your Comfort Zone,Think Bigger about your future and get involved with something Bigger than Yourself..."

My $.1 simple question - How often we sacrifice our comfort zone and volunteer to take distinct challenges that would make difference not only to ourself, but also to others?

Few of us might already practice this,but, for the rest it's the time to flip-flop and move forward!

Let’s start Communicating!

The way we create a connection with the people is by using communication.
Communication forms as a powerful channel for two people to express their thoughts and share opinions. For many of us, the moment we say Communication, a picture of big iceberg forms into our mind. Then,breaking the ice becomes a difficult task. We create within ourselves an unimagined fear thinking of the past failures. Next time when we try to communicate, this past fear forms as a barrier for our communication. The result is we become cautious and march five steps backward for every single step forward.

A famous quote says, “Communication is not only the essence of being human, but also a vital property of life.” The only way we can talk with the other people is through communication. We do not communicate properly because;

We feel during communication our character will be revealed!
We feel we need to accept the others opinion!
We feel we might loss in conversation!
We feel we might end up in arguing!
We feel the other party is too small to communicate!
We feel the other side is always blue!
We feel our status quo will be lost!
We feel fear of ending relationships!
We feel we can’t think!
We feel our secret is revealed!
We feel fear of misunderstood!
We feel fear of rejection!
… And so on…

If Opacity is the measure of Transparency then, Acceptance is the measure of Communication. 100% Opacity signifies the sate of complete see through. In the similar fashion, the kernel of communication is our ability to practice judgeless acceptance. By being acceptable, you extend yourself to think from others point of view and start listening. We must listen to the people instead of listening to what we wanted to listen.

Rather thinking of breaking the ice, let’s practice Acceptance and start Communicating effectively with free mind and without fear.

Have a Great Week ahead!

Your thoughts and comments are welcomed…

Experience - A Fresh Look!

Experience and Expertise both form two sides of a coin. We use these 2 words very fairly without getting the inner significance. Most of the time, we say or affirm, Experience automatically results in Expertise. Let explore more...

Trying to understand meaning of the above 2 words, we would be able to pull out many definitions from Oxford dictionary, Wikipedia and other reliable resources. But, in simple term, we can understand:

'Experience is an outcome of an event' and 'Expertise is Learning from that event which causes change in behavior.’ Expertise comes alive from the Experience.

It’s interesting to watch by looking deep into the above perceptive. Both experience and expertise evolve out-off an event with significant differentiation factors namely, Learning and Change in Behavior. Now, let's consider a scenario illustrated below:

'A young child enters into the kitchen and finds a beautifully designed knife on the floor. Being attracted towards it, the child picks up and begins to play. While playing, she accidentally hurts herself in the finger and blood started oozing out. She immediately throws the knife, run towards her mother and takes medication…Again another day, she finds the same knife, again picks it up and starts playing. But, this time, she handles it very carefully and used it to cut papers and didn’t hurt her finger!'

The above scenario could be broken into the following pieces of information and correlated to:

§ The Event - Child playing with Knife

§ The Experience – An unexpected hurt while playing using knife

§ The Learning – Knife would cause harm

§ Child's Pre-behavior - Playing inattentively with the knife

§ Child's Post-behavior – Knife can be used to cut papers

§ Expertise gained – Being attentive

Here, considering the above child’s experience, she learns how to use a knife and gain knowledge of being attentive. In similar fashion, we encounter in our daily life such significant sources of unexpected events which mount into our experience and translate into our expertise. But, unless and until we recognize and experience those events, it will just remain as a ‘match stick without a spark.’

Many times, we consider ourselves as an Expert as our Experience enlarges. But then, stop now and move a step backward and ask ourselves, Did We Really Experienced an Experience?

Experiencing an Experience generates learning which in turn develops Expertise.

Let’s all try igniting our Match Stick this Weekend!

Have a Happy Weekend!

We Lived our Life or Our Life Lived Us’

Just imagine today is the last day you’re going to live and if someone would walk up to you and ask, Can you tell what you have done so for?.

This is a question which tells us, whether, ‘We Lived our Life or Our Life Lived Us’
Most of time we end up doing, what others wanted to do, than, what we really wanted to do. At the last minutes of our breath, if the above question is asked, we would end up regretting to the things that we could have not done, than to the things that we really have done in our Life. Here is a quick motivational thought which I came across that suit the above situation.

“Life is like a movie, immerse yourself in it!
Better YOU be the Director for it and make your life an Oscar movie!

Never permit that till tomorrow!

How many times you ever promised to yourself that tomorrow will be a better day?
Yet when tomorrow comes, nothing changes!
Before long,
Day turns in to a week!
Week turns in to a month!
Months turn in to a year!
What happens when a year turns in to a LIFETIME?”

So, lets “Better Act Now or We will become like, Water under the Bridge.”