How to live in Joy... A Buddha Story

Once Buddha was taking his disciples to a village, which was notorious for its ill-tempered, arrogant people. Hence the disciples were anxious. Buddha told them to remain cheerful even if the villagers do not welcome them thinking that they have not abused. Even if they abuse you, remain cheerful thinking that they have not beaten you. Even if they beat you, remain cheerful thinking that they have not killed you. Even if they kill you, remain cheerful as they can never destroy your spirit... 

No wonder I find Buddha face very peaceful... 

My Point of View on Success

A friend has requested me to share my thoughts on Success. Here they are -

For me, success is an absolute phenomenon (and not a relative one) i.e. we often compare our social /  financial status, circumstances and state of mind with others to relatively decide if we are successful or not. I see success as "Performing to the Best of Your Capabilities". Now the question comes to mind - "How do I know if I am performing to the best of my capabilities?". I have found two effective methods - one, striving to do better than before; and second, having trusted mentors. A good mentor can inspire you and your capabilities to reach the next level 'in the right direction'. 

When it comes to success, I have strongly started believing in "Define your goal or direction; focus and put your sincere efforts; have perseverance to overcome troubles / failures; and most importantly enjoy your journey". You can only influence outcome to the extent of sincere efforts along with the decisions made to maintain the right direction to adapt to the changing environment. Then if the outcome is favorable -You Win; and if the outcome is unfavorable - you learn & You still Win. 

For me now what I get at the end of the journey is not as important as what I become in the process of reaching my destination. 

End of the day, I believe that if you are in Joy and at peace with yourself (not a short term but a long term view) - you are doing just fine. As long as your purpose is noble, intentions are pure and efforts are sincere, you will become what you were born to do. Make your contributions (however small) to change  this world a better place. Best Wishes.... arunb  

Peace of Mind: A Zen Story

A beautiful story about Buddha that I received from friends over the weekend: 

Once Buddha was traveling with a few of his followers. While they were passing a lake, Buddha told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Do get me some water from the lake."

The disciple walked up to the lake. At that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy and turbid. The disciple thought, "How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?"

So he came back and told Buddha, "The water in there is very muddy. I don't think it is fit to drink."

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake.

The disciple went back, and found that the water was still muddy. He returned and informed Buddha about the same.

After sometime, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back.

This time, the disciple found the mud had settled down, and the water was clean and clear. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said," See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be, and the mud settled down on its own -- and you have clear water.

Your mind is like that too ! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don't have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless."

Having 'Peace of Mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process!

Treat Everyone With Politeness - Even Those Who Are Rude to You
Not Because They Are Not Nice - BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE NICE.

Do You Believe In Miracles?

If you have never seen a gorgeous flower in full bloom; or a spectacular sunset before, and someone described one to you, you might consider it to be a miraculous thing (which it truly is!). Once you saw a few yourself, and began to learn something about the natural laws involved, you would begin to understand how they are formed and it would seem natural to you and not particularly mysterious.

The same is true about power of concepts like positive thinking, optimistic visualization & joyful living with Laughter Yoga. What at first might seem amazing or impossible to the very limited type of education our rational minds have received, becomes perfectly understandable once we learn and practice with the underlying concepts involved. You have to practice with open mind, and your experiential learning will develop the trust.

Once you do so, it may seem that you are working miracles in your life... and you truly will be!!!

Why Deep Breathing is Good for You

Total human male lung capacity is 6 L (+/- 20%). Female lung capacity is 22.5% less i.e. 4.7 L. For now we will take male lung capacity as the basis for our discussion. Out of total 6 L capacity, lungs retain a 1.2 L (called Residual Volume) to keep the alveoli (the small round sacks where oxygen / CO2 exchange between inhaled air and blood stream happens) inflated. Therefore, theoretically one can force up to 4.8 L of air (called Forced Vital Capacity or FVC) out of lungs. But not everyone has the capability of using full 6 L capacity. Deep divers, swimmers and other athletes train themselves to utilize more than average capacity of their lungs. During the normal breathing cycle (respiration), we inhale and exhale up to 500 ml to 700 ml of air (called Tidal Volume). Normally, we leave 2.4 L of air in the lungs after the tidal breath out (Functional Residual Capacity). The inhaled air is oxygen rich, whereas the residual air stale and stagnant with CO2. So deep breathing helps us two ways – one it helps us use the lung capacity more effectively, and second it also helps in renewing the residual air in the lungs. The accumulative effective is increase in the net supply of oxygen through lungs to the blood stream. 

We need oxygen for metabolism. The oxygen that is transferred to blood stream from inhaled air is utilized in mitochondria in the body cells (including brain cells) to generate energy by oxidation of glucose through a process called metabolism.

Brain is an amazingly hungry organ – it is only 2% of the human body weight, yet it consumes 20% of the energy mitochondria produces and requires more than 25% of the oxygen out of the blood stream. Many experiments have shown that one can increase brain alertness by either increasing glucose supply to the brain or the supply of oxygen to make the energy production more efficient. So next time when you take a deep breath followed by a long exhale, you are doing your mind and body a favor by supplying more oxygen and removing more CO2.

Peace of Mind

Swamy Vivekananda once said (on building great institutions in India): ‘Jealousy is the bane of our national character.’ We feel jealous of others’ achievements. Or at least hesitate to contribute to others’ success. We are also becoming a society of critics, where we feel we have right to criticize but no responsibility to appreciate others. We have often joked about people having Crab mentality i.e. no lid is required on Indian crab jar as the group will not let anyone climb up.

I read something inspiring in Patanjali’s Yogasutra that I found very relevant to attain peace of mind in the world today. Sutra I.33 suggests that to have blissful mind one must have feeling of Maitree i.e. friendliness towards the happy; karuna i.e. compassion towards the unhappy; mudita i.e. appreciation towards the virtuous; and upeksha i.e. indifference towards the wicked.

We mortals mostly react and not respond to others – we feel envious instead of friendliness towards the happy; apathy instead of compassionate towards people who are unhappy or needy; jealous instead of appreciative towards the virtuous; and retaliatory instead of indifferent towards the wicked. In the process, we cannot truthfully face our own conscience. The outcome is lack of mental peace and dysfunctional families or teams.

As, it is not easy to develop these High Values; a practical discipline of ‘pratipaksha bhavana’ - raising the contraries can help i.e. friendliness versus envy, compassion versus apathy, appreciation versus jealousy, and indifference versus retaliation.

These four suggestions not only provide personal peace of mind, but also nurture a healthy, energetic and powerful workplace.