Sharing Ideas Sharing Thoughts

Success does two things: 1. It makes you bolder 2. Doubters become Believers. It may take a little longer but eventually - "The man who wins is the man who thinks he can". Do not ever give up. Never. Never. Fight another day. Have the patience and persistence of a hunter

Let's take health. Mr. X's teeth keep troubling him. He constantly lives with pain and regularly visits his dentist. He wishes that he had taken good care of his teeth when he was younger. Mr. Y has heart issues and he has had several interventions to keep him alive. He realizes that the oily food he consumed in past is the culprit. Now, all he can eat is raw, bland food. Do you think we should motivate our children to reduce their screen time and help them maintain good vision? Apart from health, where else would you make changes if you could live your life again?

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are hot topics nowadays. I would like to flip this and ask - are we humans, naturally intelligent? In general, we can distinguish between right and wrong. And we know what is good for us. For example, we know about eating right, the importance of exercise, positive thinking, spending our money wisely, maintaining relationships etc. And yet we continue to repeat our mistakes. Why? Maybe we are not as good learners as we ' feel ' we are. However, simple things may help. Such as reviewing our day before going to bed, challenging our thinking and our assumptions, asking for feedback. This will give us a list of things to work on. Choose the most important. Practise till it becomes a habit. And then move to the next item. Nowadays even machines are working hard to learn and get 'intelligent'. Therefore, an ability to learn is very important. But as humans - Aren't we naturally intelligent? PS: Common Sense is anot...

Asking the hard questions can be extremely uncomfortable. But we don’t learn and grow by sticking with what’s comfortable.  Some of the questions, we may ask ourselves: How do people see me differently than I see myself? What do I want my life to be like in next 5-10-40 years? Am I thinking long-term? What would I do if I wasn’t scared? What’s stopping me from doing the things that I should be doing? What’s the most important lesson I’ve learned so far in life? Am I living that lesson? What do you care most about? What do you really want?  Am I a driftwood or am I a boat with a rudder? Can I think for myself?  Do I love?

Happiness or Success? It turns out that the two are not related. Someone can be happy without being successful ( How we define success is another question)) And someone can be super successful and yet super unhappy. Many of us believe that we will be happy when we achieve our goals. But did it really work? Happiness says - I won't be yours with pre-conditions? Maybe we can learn from the children who are happy without a reason. But if I really have to choose one before the other, I'd say that someone who is happy has a positive disposition which helps in attracting success. Feeling good about oneself may be a pre-condition for success. 

What is our internal dialogue when we are sick? We say things like - I am not well. I have this pain. Etc. And how are we feeling? We hate the experience. We resist it. How about? 1. Ignoring the negative thoughts and having a positive conversation with ourselves. Such as, I am well. This is temporary and will soon be over. I am getting(feeling) better. 2. Surrendering instead of resisting. Knowing that our transgression from health laws in past has resulted in this dis-ease. And I accept it. It's OK.

Further to yesterday's post... 1. Right food - Have 3-4 small meals. First meal of the day is important. Eat slow. Chew well. Eat consciously and savor your food. Include lots of nuts & fruits (these are good snacks when hungry). prefer veggies over meat. There are plenty of protein options in vegetarian food. Avoid very spicy. oily, sour food. Reduce salt, sugar, refined flour and processed food. Eat at least one home-cooked meal. Don't be greedy for food. 2. Exercise - preferably in the morning, freehand - stretching and strengthening exercises, running is helpful. 15-30 minutes daily is good enough. Maintain the routine - rain or shine. 3. Right thoughts - Positive thinking. Be happy. Smile Additionally - sleep and wake up at the same time. Try to sleep early and wake up between 4-5 am 

1. Body posture - Keep your back straight and chin up, at all times. If you do this, you will be healthier and be able to think better. A straight back ensures that life-force energy traveling through the spine flows freely and does not get blocked. A bent back squeezes the diaphragm and lungs do not expand fully, thereby  2. Drink 10 glasses of water daily. Body and brain is about 70% water. 3. Sleep on your back for 7-8 hours. Avoid soft beds. Our body needs to be recharged and the brain cells realign during the sleep time.  4. Expose the body to 10 minutes of early morning sunlight. Please do not think of an alternative for this. Vitamin supplements are not enough.  After all, we need, food, water, air, and sunlight to stay alive.  Good health is governed by three things: 1. Right food  2. Exercise 3. Right thoughts I will write a separate post to cover the above points.

30 minutes after waking up and 30 minutes before going to sleep - is sacred. Internalize yourself during these periods. You may do the following In the morning - 1. Meditate 2. Do affirmations. 3. Think. (You may plan your day. In the order of priority, list the three things you intend to do that day) At night: 1. Review your day. 2. Meditate. Additional activities: Read and write during these periods. You may have to extend the time then. Don't's 1. Do not check your phone or computer 2. Try not to speak. Practise silence.

How does one get better? How does one become Great? The following three things help. 1. TRY - Curiosity drives us to try new things. When was the last time you tried something new? A new cuisine, a new language, a new routine. This is the beginning of our quest to grow. If the mind shouts a "BIG NO" then ignore it. The mind may say the following: - It is not practical (Conforminism) - Why do you want to do this - there is no need. (Laziness) - There is no time for this. (Efficiency, Productivity, time management issues) - It 'seems' risky. Are you crazy? (Fear) Don't be rash and stupid. But try developing the ability to take some risk. Get out of your comfort zone. Explore & experience wonder. 2.  LEARN - When you will try new stuff, you are likely to "FAIL" in many things, many times. Don't get disheartened. Analyze and learn. Most people feel that they are good learners, but very few actually are. The good news is - we can learn t...

At work, do you regularly have, "hair on fire situations"? Are you always in a catch-up mode? Is it often that you have an urgent task at hand?  Don't worry! you are not alone. Most professionals, on most of the days, are frantically chasing the next thing? But why can't these smart people learn and find a better way to manage their time? Why do we live lives of physicians in an emergency room?  Please see the picture below: It's a good idea to focus on few important things and stay in quadrant 4. Planning and prioritizing will be essential for this. I use the following spreadsheet to stay in the 4th quadrant. I call it my weighted To-Do list. Items with the highest total will ascend to the top - and must be done first. You will notice the override column. I use this to award extra points to a task that needs to be done first but may not come on top of the list on its own (and vice-versa) How do you stay efficient & productive?

"The good traveler doesn't know where he is going next. The great traveler doesn't know where he came from" - Chuang Tzu. Do you like your travels perfectly planned or do you leave options for adventures? Traveling opens me up in amazing ways. My best thoughts come pouring in when I am on the move. And my best memories are from the unplanned travels. 

Imagine a small fishing village on the coast of Morocco, where every morning men go into the sea to catch - Tuna. You are a young fisherman and do the same. Every afternoon when you are back from a hard day at sea you load your catch in your truck and drive to the nearby fish market. Business was fine until recently when the brokers started demanding shrimp instead of tuna. Since your boat was good for shallow water and to catch shrimp one had to go farther, you along with many others continued to catch Tuna. Prices fell due to excess supply and you initially ignored the change. You started saying things like, "I've been in this business for 20 years and this change is temporary. You "hoped" things will change. But hope is not a good plan. Soon the truth was staring in your eyes and there wasn't sufficient demand for tuna. You also realized that you didn't have the capital to invest in a boat that could go farther to catch shrimp. You went out of business. ...

If a radio is broken, it cannot play a song. That does not mean that the signal is missing. Rather, it means that the radio is incapable of tuning to the broadcast. Similarly, success, wealth, health, joy etc. is always around us. We just need to tune ourselves to what we desire. We also have to believe that we deserve it and work towards our goal. And then magic will happen. Not only we will get what we want but it will seem effortless. But first, we have to be ready to receive. Friendly tip - a radio can only play one station at a time.

Three years back I wrote a post - What is that one thing knowing which everything else is known.  - in which I shared my concern about information overload. Imagine a large funnel on top of our head through which we selectively pour books and articles, audio's and video's, conversations & experiences. Ideally, the brain should process this vast amount of data and produce a few actionable points. In reality, we go through information indigestion. How can we make these things a part of our lives? Short answer : Take one thing at a time and work on it with full concentration till it becomes a habit. Then take the next. Remember, there are no Quick Fix solutions . 

Just as we cannot know the speed and position of an electron at the same time, we cannot give our 'A' game when we are attached to the outcome. Goal setting and Planning is extremely important but while executing, if we start worrying about the results, then we are injected with an unhealthy dose of emotions which prevents us from giving our best. In other words, the mind is distracted. One may use it to either be completely absorbed in the activity OR use part of it to worry about the outcome.

Let's understand this cycle. Although each step is important, let us start with Judgment. We will never have enough inputs or time to make a decision. Therefore, we make a judgment based on our experience or instinct or intuition. This ability to discriminate is what we know as wisdom. Having judged well, it becomes easy to take a decision. The next important step is execution. We take required actions completely believing in our judgment, therefore, we are committed and intrinsically motivated to give our 'A' game. With heightened awareness and visualization we mostly end up with the desired result. This result is not a prize but another opportunity created by us and the cycle continues. Are we wise enough to judge correctly? 

Success = Concentration + Practise It is not possible to succeed in everything. Therefore, choose a few things and perhaps only one thing. It is extremely important that this 'one thing' is what you love to do and are passionate about. There is no secret formula for concentration. Removing the distractions results in concentration. This may sound over-simplistic and yet this is the essence of concentration.  Mind needs to be trained. It is restless by nature and therefore when mind wavers we have to bring it back to the point of focus. One would agree that focusing is effortless and enjoyable when we are on what we love to do. Hence, choose to succeed in the thing you deeply care about. You will not give up because you love what you do. You are possessed with this idea. Taking baby steps, having shorter goals, building a routine and getting disciplined helps. Slowly things will change. But practise is essential to develop concentration. Life is all about making ch...

How painful it must be for a caterpillar to transform into a butterfly? I don't know. But the joy to finally be a butterfly must be transcendental. Great pain is followed by indescribable joy. If the caterpillar resists this painful process then the transformation will not happen. If it hangs between accepting the pain and resisting it then the process will be prolonged. Only when it embraces the pain it will finally be liberated. May be there is a lesson here. Opening up to the pain is necessary for the birth of this 'new' thing. This is the process of creativity. Complete absorption & surrender. Sometimes we want to change things within us. We want to give birth to a 'new me'. But if we resist the pain then we will fail. This does not mean that we have to be brave; it simply means accepting, opening up and to let it happen. But what is the seed of this thought? I think we sow the idea when we want a thing badly. As badly as want to breathe. The litt...

Our life unfolds as a series of moments, like frames on a film reel. Each frame captures a single moment, and we experience them one at a time, illuminated by the light passing through. The frame we see is the one lit in that instant. We truly enjoy the movie of life when we are fully present in the moment, immersed in that single frame. Do you know what symbolizes the light and the screen? God creates each moment, sustains it, and eventually allows it to fade away. In a sense, this Trinity is constantly at work, bringing the movie of life to light.

I have been meditating twice daily since March 09th, 2012. Today, I complete 5 years of this activity.  I have also been exercising twice daily for 15 minutes since the above date. These are free hand exercises and a type of pranayam. By the grace of God, I never missed the meditation or the exercise even once. So at least an hour daily. Lets do the Math. 5 (years) x 365 (1 hour everyday) = 1825 hours. I am closer to the 10,000 hour target.

I fully agree that having a goal is important. If one is not clear about who he/she 'is' and what he/she 'wants' then all energies go waste. But rational thinking just gets you from the center of the comfort zone to the edge of this circle. To cross the chasm that is immediately afterwards one needs faith. An enthusiasm to go on and a knowledge that failures would happen. It is often seen that on taking this leap of faith an unexpected support is presented. Not that one counts on this invisible hand but it feels good to know that magic does happen.  World has never been shaped by people who just got by in life. And by no means I wish to be seen as a world changer. I just want to go forth and seek, experiment with life, try new things, challenge myself and grow. I am as scared as anyone else. Just that other are scared of making small errors and I am of my irrational thinking. But I derive solace from the thought that it always does work out well.  I have often...

Revolutionary technological advancements will shape our immediate future (2-5 years). My assessment is based on simple observations, some readings and common sense. To give you an idea, see what the governments, big business houses and entrepreneurs are currently engaged in and then you may make your own judgement. 1. Computing will be at the heart of the revolution. It will generate and process great amount of data to help decision making. It will make the existing hardware more efficient and our lives more productive. The crunching, storage and applications will shift to cloud . The devices (mobile phones) will simply access the servers. Which means that high speed internet proliferation through wireless (say LTE) will pave the way. That further means advancements in mobile phones (both hardware and software). And so it is very easy to see why most of the work is happening in SMAC. 2.  SMAC . Social media, Mobiles, Analytics and Cloud computing.  Social med...

This is a three part series. Please read Part I and Part II before you start reading below. He arrived early and chose a spot that offered privacy and a good view of the sea. After going through the menu and briefing the steward, he waited—impatiently!! Gazing at the horizon, his mind drifted to how everyone sees the same world differently. Everyone around here had their own ideas about what they wanted from life. But in general, most people wanted to make loads of money and be successful. There was an urge for recognition and status in society. People wanted their kids to do well, to be healthy, and so on. He wondered how he had missed these two important aspects that make life complete—money and health. They had their place, too. Perhaps the contestant on the ramp had given a better answer than he'd initially thought: health, wealth, and wisdom. She was practical and honest. He was certain there was no absolute right or wrong here. People made choices based on their experie...

This is a continuation of the last post . Girl : "You aren’t dancing?" Captain : "I would love to, if you’ll join me." Dancing came effortlessly to both. They quickly found a rhythm, moving in sync, letting their hair down and savoring each moment on the floor. When the DJ finally called it off, they were reluctant to stop but were already looking forward to meeting again that evening. Though it was past midnight by the time the Captain returned to his room, sleep didn’t come easily. His mind wandered, questioning why he had never really pondered some of life’s deeper questions. He realized he didn’t quite know what he truly wanted from life. Perhaps spending too much time in the combat zone had numbed him, leaving no space for such reflections. Maybe thoughts like these were distractions in combat, where survival demanded focus. After all, he had faced death more often than life in those moments. With that rationale, he let himself drift into peaceful sleep. The C...

Gardening with children is a great way to teach about life... read on

The young Captain watched the May Queen beauty pageant at the local military club. After spending two years in the rugged Himalayas, he was savoring the change of pace—the cosmopolitan air, the vibrant atmosphere. Life felt good: a job he enjoyed, close friends, money in his pocket, a bike, and the freedom of a wandering spirit. Standing beside his close pal, he watched the young women striding confidently down the ramp. He felt a controlled excitement within. Though tempted to grab a beer like everyone else, he resisted. Eye contact and friendly smiles from both familiar and unfamiliar faces added to the evening’s charm. The attraction he felt for the girls wasn’t one-sided, but he found himself avoiding them with the same restraint he exercised toward alcohol. He knew he wasn’t made for settling down—he was like a wild goose, and it felt safer to stick with his friends. During a break in the program, they headed to the bar, refilled their glasses, and returned to the crowd. The Capt...

Came across this inspiring article that features 100 ways that we, as parents, can practice to connect with our children. As we all know so well that it's not always the big extraordinary things we do for our kids that makes them happy - often it's those small, unexpected and joyful acts of love on ordinary days that make their hearts sing. http://creativewithkids.com/100-ways-to-be-kind-to-your-child/

In my earlier post, I had shared my basic thoughts on parenting. Mastering the basics and integrating them in our lives would take us beyond the 80% mark. But if one is hungry for more then the following may help. Again, connecting the dots will be up to you and don't bother if some dots remain unconnected after the figure is formed. Me and my wife have this simple aim : Help Harsh (our son) become a good human being. Period. The following will add up to fulfill this honorous task. 1. Health & Hygiene . Food...He should have a good relationship with food. Saying a prayer before starting to eat is a wonderful thing. Encourage him to eat healthy, eat slow and to avoid overeating. However, occasional indulgence is absolutely fine to offset the pier influence. Again if we lead by example then the kid will not be confused. The point is do we have the common sense, discipline and self control that we demand from our children. Exercise...Ask him to join you when you...

Came across this wonderful piece... "If I had my child to raise over again: I'd build self-esteem first and the house later I'd finger paint more and point the finger less I would do less correcting and more connecting I'd take my eyes off my watch and watch with my eyes I would care to know less and know to care more I'd take more hikes and fly more kites I'd stop playing serious and seriously play I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars I'd do more hugging and less tugging I'd see the oak tree in the acorn more often I would be firm less often and affirm much more I'd model less about the love of power And more about the power of love." -- Diane Loomans

One doesn't need everything in place to do A thing.  Deep in my heart, i wanted to return to writing, but somehow could not do it.  Today, i got a text message from one of the readers asking me to continue writing. And boy, that felt good. (You see, recognition matters !!) And so i decided that irrespective of the schedule, i will start today itself. This post is dedicated to her. Please find below, a few bullet points and i will leave the 'connecting the dots' part to you. The devil is within...The fight is always within ourselves. The Mahabharata battle is symbolic and the esoteric meaning is to fight with our own bad habits. We all have a fair knowledge of what is right or wrong. It is just that we fail to make the right choices. Two reasons - lack of awareness and lack of will power. Now, we have heard a lot about the 'free will' stuff. But, to a great extent we are limited in exercising our free will. We make choices based on our habits that ...

Reproducing below, a post from my earlier blog. The reasons are still the same!! Q. Why do you run? Ans. Running simply makes me feel good. I enjoy it. Its fun! It's liberating. The others reasons are : 1. I like to push my limits and experiment with my will power. Running helps me strengthen my Will. 2. Mind over body and all that stuff. Compete against myself. Never give up, self-believe. 3. There are obvious health benefits. It keeps me fit. Exercises my heart. Keeps muscles toned. And I stay in shape. Running also improves my body balance and I enjoy the rhythm while running. 4. It is the simplest, easiest and cheapest sport. One can practice it alone, no equipment needed, no courts or stadiums, no memberships, no gear. Just put on your shorts and shoes and run anywhere, anytime(even while travelling). 5. Maintaining a routine, helps me stay disciplined. 6. I do not listen to music while running. I like to be more mindful of my running - ...

Have you ever been completely lost - as an adult - for example in a city ?  I remember, while we were undergoing our officer's training at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, we had been out on this camp for five days then. We were in real jungles, far from the familiar training grounds. Except for live bullets, this was as real as possible. Poorly fed, without a shower (but with boots polished and clean shaven at 5 in the morning!!) and with hardly any time to rest we were thoroughly fatigued. Days went by in learning in squads through instructions and demonstrations. While nights went by in practicing the drills. The 5 am mark for reporting used to be a couple of hours away, by the time we were dismissed.  On this particular night, we were navigating back to our camp after a successful raid on the enemy post. We could sense the lack of certainty with which our navigator was taking us back. After several failed attempts and with a lot of regret, he informed our i...

One post daily for 23 days and then no post for next 23 days. What a coincidence! But right now, I am feeling like the 'hero' in Indian movies who has been beaten badly by the evil guy and who is presumably unconscious. But right in the last moment he opens up his eyes, blows out sand with his breath, and jumps up to fight again. Let me share with you, my original plan. I was following a technique which I have used successfully in past. The scheme is - to make a resolve to do a job that you really want to do for 30 days. The idea has been presented by Matt Cutts in this TED talk. He says that 30 days is neither too long and nor too short for trying something new. And most likely at the end of this month one will have enough momentum to continue. Well, I crossed three quarters of my journey and then lost it.  Apart from the dis-continuity of my blog, I failed in doing so many things that I have written about earlier. But, this is precisely the point all along :: Even...

I am travelling right now and apologize for not being able to share my thoughts. Meanwhile, I am sharing some ideas.. Many years ago in a small Indian village, A farmer had the misfortune Of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender.  The Moneylender , who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful Daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his Daughter. Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the Proposal.  So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let Providence decide the matter.  He told them that he would put a black Pebble and a white pebble into an empty money bag. Then the girl would Have to pick one pebble from the bag.  1) If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. 2) If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven.  3) But ...