Friday 27 January 2012

Secret of Happiness

 The secret of happiness eludes everyone. We are fooled into thinking that being success / achievement will bring us happiness, only to realize that after reaching our goal, we are yet again set on to achieve something else that will make us "happier". What then is the path to happiness?

 In my opinion, one need not wander far and wide. It is all in the mind. Often, we are not aligned with our inner self, our true desire and our real sense of purpose in life. This is the reason why, even though we reach the so called pinnacle of our life, we remain unhappy. Most of the time, we set goals out of peer pressure, to gain approval of the society, instead of setting goals that appease our true self and desire.

 To attain true happiness, it is then imperative that we spend some time searching our conscious and sub-conscious mind, for our true self. How does one identify ?

 In my case, I looked back to identify things that I did not do for the sake of adulation / eulogy, but just out of passion. I then looked back to identify those skills that come naturally to me. It dawned on me that the trick is in marrying these two, to be able to leverage skills that came naturally to me, in fields that I am passionate about.

It might just be possible that none of what we do in our daily life aligns with our true self. We have to then start aligning our hobbies to our true self. This is a perfect example of Pareto law unfolding. Spending 20% of our time doing things that are aligned to our true self, would bring us happiness.

 The other realization that has been pivotal to my sense of happiness is detachment - detachment from worldly possession like name, fame and power, which is the quint essence of spirituality.  The more you get these worldly possessions, the more you want it, and you get sucked into this vicious cycle of unhappiness. Worldly possessions are those which are not entirely in our control. We cannot control the thoughts and actions of others, but we can control our thoughts and actions for our happiness. The solution lies in being contented and happy with what has been ordained, and living a life with purpose, aligned with your true inner self.

What have your experiences been?

Friday 20 January 2012

Start 'em Young Raise 'em Right

I am a big fan of the quote that's the title. Many times I wonder how I can drive in the principles taught in our scriptures to my kid, a pre-schooler. How do I make it simple and relevant to her age? Reading out fables and anecdotes from scriptures is definitely one way. But if I want her to start putting it into practice, how do I get her initiated?
 I started out by looking at some of the common problems that she has , and realized that it is not very different from what we face as adults ! One of the biggest problems that kids her age seem to be facing, is that changing loyalties among friends, peer pressure and factions. On deeper probing, I find that it is the same "attachment to ego" that we face as adults. We want our ego to massaged by external approval, appreciation, adulation and even sub-ordination. When our ego is not boosted, we submit ourselves to primal instincts like anger, hatred, jealousy. Sensing that this is a canker that must be nipped in the bud, I set out to create stories around the problem of being attached to ego. But for a preschooler ! How could I pull that? This has been an experimental learning for me. I create stories around how other friends would not want to play with her, if she always wants to get it her way, how she needs to be sensitive to the interests of other kids', and the joy that she would get out of playing and being together with other kids, just by letting go her self indulgence. Going by the recent anointment as a "helpful and friendly child" by her teacher, I am presuming this has worked.
 Though in times of fight or flight, I wonder whether it will be the primal instincts that will take over.

 Any thoughts or experiments with teaching Spiritual principles to the young?

Friday 13 January 2012

How to create good presentations?

 There are many tips and tricks of trade that has been taught to people in the corporate world, for creating a "great" presentation. I am happy if we gave "good" presentation rather. Why "good" and not "great" must be a question that you might have in mind....

 Well ... what is the objective of presenting? To put across our point of view and rally people around our "Point of View". Do you think people will rally around you just because you have fancy animations and pictures in your presentation? Or talking at length about it?

The answer is NO. It is much like having a conversation, except that a presentation could be for a larger audience with common or related interests. For others to be able to support you, your first intention must be to have a win-win situation.

What good can you do to others by this "Point of View"? How will it benefit others? Put others' interests before yours. These are what our scriptures have taught us as "golden rules" or "principles" of life. If one sticks to these, we would naturally create a riveting presentation which has the "goodness" in it. And that is what I meant when I said I would rather create a "good" presentation than a "great" presentation.

 In my own presentations I try to stick to 3 ways in which my "Point of View" can benefit the audience. If I can't identify the "goodness" factor, I open up the session to get views on how the audience thinks it can benefit or would like to see. That way even if I don't have the answers, we get to agree on a cause / action, which in essence , is the whole purpose of "presentation".

The conflicts, obscurity and all of it is taken care, when there is "goodness" for everyone. In my opinion, people generally don't agree or don't understand when they don't see the "goodness" factor.

Any thoughts or experiences that you would like to share?
 

Friday 6 January 2012

Meditation - Way to Personal Effectiveness

Meditation is known to be beneficial to health and mind. To be able to fully benefit from meditation, it is important to understand the effects of meditation on the evolution of brain and how it influences our demeanor. Humans are gifted with the "crown" i.e. the conscious brain, which is what differentiates humans from animals. And it is only natural that only by firing this crown can we rejoice in true glory.
 The conscious brain gives us the free will to choose the right from wrong, focus, observe, invent etc. The more we flex the conscious brain, the better we are able to focus, observe our own patterns, eliminate bad patterns, and chalk out our life. The most important for all of this is focus and attention. The conscious brain is prone to distractions and we need to "train our thoughts" to shut out the distractions. This is where meditation helps. Meditation helps us to train our mind to focus. The better we get at it, the better we are able to focus on our personal traits and resolve to change for the better.
 To put it simply, mediate to train your mind to focus and pay attention to your self deprecating patterns and eliminate them.What makes us an individual is our repeating behavior patterns, and personal effectiveness is nothing but pruning and taming our behavior patterns.
Anyone has any personal experiences from meditation? I have personally experienced a distinct sense of calm and composure after meditation, which equips me with the fortitude to embrace a challenging situation. It helps me take objective decisions rather than be carried away by subjective emotions, which in essence is the "glory" of being a human.
Look forward to thoughts and views on this.