The Wisdom of "Dirty Feet": Enjoying the Clay-Puddles of Life

In my recent trip to a beautiful hill-station Yelagiri (Tamil Nadu); I learnt a life lesson - "The Wisdom of Dirty Feet".

Yelagiri is around 170km from Bangalore. A small hill station with a lot of greenery and beautiful landscapes. The frequent bursts of heavy rains lasting less than an hour further enhanced our hill-station experience (especially when you are sitting in a warm room with tall glass windows, sipping hot tea or coffee and having a nice chat with friends). 

The resort had planned a guided hiking to a vista point that provides a 180 degree view of the valley below. The mud-trail was quite wet and slippery because of the rain. Our guide, an elder gentleman, was merrily walking with a smile on his face. His feet were dirty as he was walking without the shoes. I was thinking probably he didn't make much money to afford a pair of shoes. I was walking behind the guide - finding it hard to avoid the muddy puddles on the narrow jungle trail. I didn't want the clay to permanently stain my shoes. Trying to find suitable dry place to put my feet was making the track stressful. I was contemplating abandoning the hike. My guide observed my struggle. With his gestures he suggested that I should take-off my shoes. Walking in the jungle without my shoes ? My reaction was - No Way ! But then I thought all the locals are walking bare-feet let me give native wisdom a try. With some hesitation I decided to take off my shoes. As I started walking the wisdom of Dirty Feet dawned on me. The clay-puddles / mires that I was avoiding before, I was enjoying walking through them now. The clay was soft and walking on it bare-feet was a nice feeling. This is probably the longest outdoor bare-feet walk I have ever done. Once we reached the vista-point the view was stunning. I would have missed the view and the joy of walking if the guide had not inspired me to get my feet dirty. 

Reflecting on this experience I realized that many times what we are avoiding can be the source of joy or a solution to our problems; and what we are protecting or holding onto can be the reason behind unhappiness. In the journey of life, when the events start bothering us - may be we can evaluate if we are resisting something out of our habitual comfort? Are there shoes that we can take-off and enjoy the clay-puddles in the journey of life ?         

Golden Nugget: Ancient Wisdom From Hitopadesha

As the year 2012 came to an end, and 2013 ushered in; I wish you a year of peace, prosperity and joy. This time, the Golden Nuggets are based on Ancient Wisdom of Hitopadesha. Written in the form of stories and advice couplets, Hitopadesha captures the essence of Ancient Wisdom from Indian scriptures including Gita and Panchtantra. I hope you will not only enjoy reading them, but meditate on them and may the ancient wisdom from these golden nuggets make 2013 a joyful year for you.

The wise will strive for wealth and learning, As if to time and age immune;

But not delay good works, realizing, that death may strike one anytime soon.

We often procrastinate on projects where our passion lies, waiting for some event in the future to happen. I pray that 2013 inspires us all to do things that we always wanted to do, especially sharing what we can with those who are less privileged.

To worthy people what you give, and that on which you daily live.

That alone your wealth people merit: The rest you guard, others inherit.

Someone asked a saint, “Who is RICH?”  I invite you to give a thought – “Who do YOU think is rich?”

The saint responded, “The one who after taking care of his needs and responsibilities; shares his / her resources with others – WITHOUT expecting anything in return”. I pray that in 2013, we all will experience “The Joy of Selfless Giving”.  

If you have a contended mind, wealthy yourself you will find.

To one with shoes on his feet, all roads are covered with soft leather sheet.

A king once had a whim that his kingdom roads should be covered with carpet so his feet never fall on dusty roads. The wise minister knew impracticality of the whim, so he asked the shoemaker to make shoes with carpet lining. And now wherever the king went, he always had carpet under his feet. I wish that 2013 will bring contentment to our life, so we can enjoy what we have; instead of wanting to have something more to enjoy.

Even after studying the sacred knowledge, or by going every day to college

You will gain little just by doing this; unless you put your learning into practice

A well-made medicine for the sick, cannot do any magic trick

The suffering you cannot tame; just by uttering the medicine’s name.

I hope you will reflect on these golden nuggets and put to practice what you find good out of them. I wish your family and you a very happy new year!

Why we need work life balance...

Have you ever wondered how important it is to enjoy time at work for Joyful Living (read "iRecharge with Joyful Living" for Joyful Living context)?

Let us do some math - 24 hours in a day. We are in the office for at least 10 hours in everyday. Living in SF Bay Area and Bangalore, my experience is that we spend average 2hours daily in the traffic - that makes it 12hours out of home. Doctors suggest that we need at least 8 hours of sleep to be healthy - that is 20 hours of no interaction with our loved ones. We also spend at least 30min in the bathroom or other activities where there is no interaction with the loved ones. That is startling.....

OUT OF 24 hours in a day; you spend at least 20.5 hours away from your loved ones OR just 3.5 hours with your family. This is without even accounting for occasional business trips.

Nice realization, isn't it? On an average working day, you spend 3.5 hours with your family whereas you spend 10 hours with your office colleagues.

In a 5 day week you spend 50 hours in the office where as only 17.5 hours with your loved ones. Even if you spend every minute of your active weekend with your family, it would still mean 31 + 17.5 = 48.5 hours.

Look at that number in your own context. You spend more time with your office colleagues than with your loved ones. So when you go to office tomorrow, don't just think "Yet another day"; think of how to make every minute of the day more enjoyable to achieve Joyful Living.

Meaning of Character

This week’s Golden Nugget “Meaning of Character” is inspired Vedic philosophy and books published by Sri Ramakrishana Math.

“Personality is who we are when everyone is watching; and character is who we are when no one is watching”. The meaning of character proposed by Vedic philosophy can be beautifully described by taking analogy of a lake. In a lake, winds create waves, and those waves not just disturb the surface of the water, they also affect shores and bottom of the lakes as well. Over a period of time these waves gradually build banks of sands and rounded pebbles on the lake bottom. The shapes of sandbanks and pebbles created by waves are much more permanent and solid than the waves themselves. Now taking this analogy to humans, the mind (like lake) is continuous flow of thoughts (waves). And over a period of time these thought-waves create tendencies, capabilities and habits, which are more permanent than the thoughts themselves. In Vedic terms these are called – samskaras. Samaskaras build up by the continuous thought-waves; and samaskaras also create new thought-waves. Hence, there is a continuous cycle. If you expose your mind to pleasant thoughts and perform selfless acts of kindness, you will experience joy in your daily life. A person with selfless-giving samaskara will be known as “a kind person”. If you expose your mind to constant thoughts of anger and resentment, you will find that these anger-waves build up anger-throughout your daily life. A man with well-developed anger-samskaras is said to have “a bad temper”. The sum total of our samaskaras is our character at any given moment. As the sandbank can shift and change their shapes as the tide or the current changes, so also the samaskaras may be modified by the introduction of other kinds of thought waves into the mind.

The seeds of good and evil are latent in all of us. It is up to us to decide which ones we want to cultivate. The ones nurtured more by our thought-waves will become our dominant character. Yoga offers the process of reflection and meditation to ensure we are building intended samaskaras.

I wish that all of us will feed the goodness with our thought-waves, so we can look forward to a better future of Joyful Living.

Inner Transformation not just IT

Building Ethical Organizations

In a list of top-5 revolutions of the last 10 years, I think IT revolution would be high up there. We feel proud to boast that now India has more billionaires and more people becoming millionaires per month than ever before. But below these hefty headlines; news of mass human suffering gets buried. Youngsters in the late 20's or early 30's dying of heart attack, leaving behind millions they amassed. Some people amassing billions and revered like incarnation of god; slipping on their moral grounds and now spending their lives in jails. The alarming rate of suicides being committed; growing number of divorces; and worst of all - India become diabetic, cardiovascular disease and hypertension capital of the world - a title none would want to retain.

Focusing my thoughts on the corporations - Companies are constantly battling to bring the best in the employees and providing training and IT tools; but I think it is time for us to think of another IT revolution i.e. "Inner Transformation" to make this world a better place. And at an individual level, making our lives more joyful.

We need to initiate a new thought process in the organizations. We often try to induce (or force) behavioral changes through carrot and stick in team members; without doing anything about the foundation of change, which I think is a person’s attitude and deep rooted desires / motivations / limitations. Although, it is hard for someone else to change a person’s attitude; but we can invoke thinking of change and inspire people to introspect and spark in then an Inner-Transformation. Once people connect with their deep rooted purpose and their actions are inspired by inner values - I believe people will live lives of prosperity with joy, organizations will become ethically successful, and this world a better place to live.

You can find more about IT initiatives @ www.ExcellenceZone.in

iRecharge with Joyful Living

Many friends who participated in my recent Joyful Living and Stress Management with Laughter Yoga sessions request me to blog and demystify these terms.

Joyful Living is the philosophy of leading a life of prosperity with joy. It is all about how living in the materialistic world, we lead a balanced life where our needs are met and we live every moment of life joyfully. By joyfully we mean not a conditional happiness, but a mindset of sustained happiness.

Laughter Yoga is a unique exercise routine, which combines unconditional laughter with yogic breathing (Pranayama). Here anyone can laugh without relying on humor, jokes or comedy. Laughter is initially induced as a physical exercise while maintaining eye contact with others in the group and promoting childlike playfulness. In most cases this soon leads to real and contagious fountain of laughter. Recent advances in science (especially monitoring of active regions of brain through fMRI) have proved that the body cannot differentiate between induced and real laughter. The benefits you get from real or induced laughter are the same. Laughter Yoga is a technique that allows adults to achieve sustained hearty laughter without involving cognitive thoughts. It bypasses the intellectual systems that normally act as a brake on natural laughter.

Many professionals after participating in laughter sessions tell me that if they smile and laugh at work, they fear to be tagged as non-serious at work. I have two thoughts – one, as professionals we have to do serious work but we need not be serious for it. Second, IT IS YOUR LIFE; you need to live your life joyfully. Ignore such comments. Let people think and do what they want. Life is not a sprint, it is a marathon. Running fast for first 100meters does not lead to success. In the marathon of life, I am confident that you will fare better with smiles and laughter all along the way.

Laughter Yoga sessions start with gentle warm-up techniques which include stretching, singing, clapping and body movements. These exercises help break down inhibitions and develop feelings of childlike playfulness. Then breathing exercises are used to prepare the lungs for laughter, followed by a series of ‘laughter exercises’ that combine the method of acting and visualization techniques with playfulness. These exercises, when combined with the strong social dynamics of group behavior, lead to prolong and hearty unconditional laughter. The laughter routines are interlaced with rhythmic breathing. Scientifically it has been proved that twenty minutes of laughter is sufficient to develop full physiological benefits. A Laughter Yoga session finishes with ‘laughter meditation’. This is a session that triggers natural laughter to flow from within us like a fountain.

We recharge our mobile phones, laptops, and other electronic gadgets when the battery runs low; yet we ignore our “Body-Mind-Soul” getting discharged - crying for a recharge. Now you can join monthly iRecharge sessions and enjoy Joyful Living lifestyle. These sessions are more than hearty laughter. These sessions are about learning to live every moment of life in joy. iRecharge is a powerful experience that often leads to a healthy emotional cleansing and a feeling of joyfulness that can last for days. For most of the participants, Laughter Meditation can be the first experience of zero thought (Zero-T) state. If you would like to participate in iRecharge Zero-T experience and if you are in Bangalore (India), please contact arunb@arunb.com to be included in the iRecharge mailing list and experience Joyful Living.

(You can find more about the author at www.arunb.com)

'Joy Mantras' for Joyful Living

‘Joy Mantras’ are the building blocks of “Art of Joyful Living”. Joy Mantras are eternal – gifted to us by Mother Nature. We have uncovered them through curiosity of learning from anyone anywhere existing in any form in the nature. Some of the 'Joy Mantras' are from thousands of years of research and experimentation our sages have done and documented. Some are directly from mother nature, and some are uncovered during our journey within.

'Joy Mantras' provide all the Yantras needed for 'Joyful Living': the map, the compass, the vehicle and the fuel  for your journey from where you are to where you want to be. 'Joy Mantras' also contain the knowledge of how to use these Yantras. Before bringing them to you, we have internalized them, practiced them and experimented with them. What we call ‘Joy Mantras’ are the distillation of years of learning and practicing "Art of Joyful Living".  

‘Joy Mantras’ transcend boundaries of religion, region, physical form, and languages. ‘Joy Mantras’ are applicable to all, irrespective of our goals and purpose in life.  'Joy Mantras'  belong to all, and they have in them divine power to transcend all to “True Joyful Beings”.  

As they belong to all – we want to share the ‘Joy Mantras’ with ALL. We believe that when purpose is noble, intentions are pure and efforts are sincere; mysterious coincidences happen and magic gets created. Let us see when our paths cross.