Namaskar, This is Arun Bhardwaj, and welcome once again to the Monday Motivation. First of all, wishing your family and you a very Happy New Year. Let us start the Year 2023 with the Happiness Project of our own. I am not suggesting a year of deep meditation in the cave; my goal is to inspire you to make some small changes very much in your control that can have a big impact to enhance your happiness index. 

As the new year ushers in, let us dedicate some introspection time for our own inner growth. Let us make a list of Top-10 activities that you believe help you in feeling happier. Do share that list in the comments; who knows your effort may become a guiding force to other friends. 

We all wish you live in joy, but we either do not understand what truly makes us happy, or we forget to weave those factors into our day-to-day life.   

Let us put conscious effort to make 2023 a happier year in our life. Write down your "Top-10 Things To Be Happier" list on a piece of paper and paste it somewhere you will see it several times in a day. Now let us weave those activities consciously into our daily routine. 

Living Happier is not just a stroke of luck, it depends on our attitude toward life, the choices that we make, and also the effort that we put to nurture the factors of happiness in our daily life. 

I hope (and I believe) that you will not merely listen and forget this JoyMantra but make Happiness Project one of your top priorities for the year 2023. So start working on your "Top-10 Activities to Be Happier" list. I will be eager to hear about your experiences. 

Once again wishing you a very happy, healthy and prosperous year 2023. Namaskar. 

The Secret of Original Thinking

In any given situation, the capability to generate multiple possibilities and select the best alternative is one of the supreme human strengths. With these two powers of Vichar or ideation i.e. ability to generate original ideas and Vivek or discrimination i.e. intellect to evaluate and choose the best alternative, humans are capable of handling adverse conditions to achieve favorable results. But unfortunately, this is not always the case. Our choices are often tainted by the biases created by our likes or dislikes.  We utilize our faculty of discrimination more to justify our ideological positions rather than exploring the best possible alternatives. As a result, we end up compromising the possibility of the best outcome.  

Let us utilize our power of ideation and discrimination consciously in the coming weeks. Do find at least one alternative idea while making any decision. The process of identifying alternatives and doing cost-value analysis will help to reduce your position bias towards a single idea, and also enhance the possibility of finding the best possible alternative for the desired outcome.

The research in the field of ideation suggests that when we explore ideas, the first five are average. They reflect our experience of success in the past. The next two ideas are a blend of past experiences and originality. It is only after seven ideas that we step outside of our known world and exercise our capability to generate original out-of-box options. We then have freedom to choose the best option to achieve the most favorable outcome. 

Let us utilise this secret of original thinking in the coming weeks and experience the magic of human creative potential. 

The Learning Process to Transform Life

By listening to words we gain knowledge whereas with experience we understand the meaning. We can only get the benefit of positive thinking and attentive listening if we can convert our knowledge into positive actions. I have shared many JoyMantras by now with you and I am curious to know if you were able to make time-tested wisdom of these JoyMantras part of your daily life? Let us explore the art of learning today because without that bringing transformation in life is difficult.  

Our sages were using a three-step process in our ancient Gurukul System to ensure learning
results in transformation and value creation in life. The three-step process was: Shravanam, Mananam, Nidhidhyasanam i.e. Attentive Listening, Reflection, and Meditation. 

Shravanam or Attentive Listening is about listening to a credible source of learning with the intent of learning without biases.

Mananam or Reflection is the process of correlating your learning from Shravanam phase in the context of your life experiences. You can decide how you could utilize the information in your life. This process enhances the relevance of gained information and transforms it into meaningful knowledge. 

Nidhidhyasanam or Meditation is the process of practicing what is found of value after reflection and making it part of our life. This is when the actual transformation takes place. 

Let us reflect on this process of Shravanam, Mananam, Nidhidhyasanam this week - without which we can surely collect bookish knowledge but can not achieve transformation. 

The purpose of sharing these JoyMantras with you is not just to share knowledge but to bring a positive transformation in your life. 

I will be eager to hear your thoughts after you have reflected on this week's JoyMantra :)