inner Transformation: A Journey Within To Change the World Without - Journey Begins

Dare Change the World ? 

World is a mirror in which we see ourselves reflected. We are the makers of our own world, if the world looks ugly it is because of we ourselves are ugly. If we cleanse our mind and thoughts, we will find that the brilliance in the world is but a reflection of the brilliance within. But we are mostly engaged in trying to clean the mirror than removing the layer of dirt on our own face. Any change, especially the change within, needs a strong intent, SMART* goals, determination to succeed, a well made plan and a disciplined execution. 

It all starts with a THOUGHT in our mind. Mind is nothing but a constant flow of thoughts. As humans became the crown jewels of Almighty's creation, the supreme intelligence has given us freedom and capability to originate thought. With this power (to originate thoughts), the Supreme Intelligence has made us all participants in His creative process.  

Our thoughts are the seeds that get nurtured into our (verbal and non-verbal) EXPRESSIONS. What and how we think affects what we say and how we say it. Just imagine if you are thinking about some of the sad times of your life, how would your expressions be even while interacting with people unaware of those sad events? If you were thinking of good times, your expressions will be surely more jovial.  

"Language shapes our behavior and each word we use is imbued with multitudes of personal meaning. The right words spoken in the right way can bring us love, money and respect, while the wrong words—or even the right words spoken in the wrong way—can lead to a country to war. We must carefully orchestrate our speech if we want to achieve our goals and bring our dreams to fruition."

—Dr. Andrew Newberg, Words Can Change Your Brain

Our Thoughts and Expressions inspire ACTIONS along with modulating quality and nature of them i.e. what we do and how we do it. It is through our Actions that we become part of the creative process. 

Life everyday poses a set of events or stimuli to us; we can decide not to respond to these events (inaction), decide to use our memory and react (instinctive reaction); or respond to the events by originating new thoughts. In all three cases, there will be an outcome. We can call this outcome as fruit of our actions; or Outcomes. The exact outcome is not in our control but our thoughts, expressions and actions have power to influence the outcome. If the outcome is not that we desire, a new cycle of flow of thoughts, expressions and actions starts and life goes on....And that is how most of us play our role in the creative process. 

I call this triplet of Thoughts, Expressions and Actions as "TEA"; and their ongoing interplay in life as "Brewing of TEA". Therefore, "Brewing TEA" is the way we participate in the creative process of the Supreme Creative Intelligence. 

(Journey will continue.... coming back with A CUP of TEA next) 

Golden Nuggets from Ancient Wisdom: Handling Changing / Challenging Environment

I was having a phone conversation with one of my friends who is going through challenging and changing work environment. In the middle of the call my battery died. We both were online so continued our conversation via IM. The conversation captured a few thoughts on “Handling Changing / Challenging Environment”. I am sharing it for your reflection. You may find some golden nuggets in it or comment on the post and provide golden nuggets …. (I have edited the raw IMs to make it a better read)

My Friend: I am getting frustrated as I am doing job that I did not sign up for. I feel I am being forced to do mundane work. I don’t feel supported when I question inefficiencies, which is demoralizing. I think the frustration I face has an easy solution - I just need to stop caring that much, which is kind of sad for the company.....  What do you say?

AB: First, please keep your morale up. You are doing right thing by questioning inefficiencies of the system.

MF: Ya, but I don’t know if I can make any difference in this environment…

AB: Have you heard of Serenity Prayer...

MF: Nope, what's that?

AB: I love it, and follow it to the best of my ability...

“God - give me the strength to change the things that I can.... courage to accept the things I cannot change; and wisdom to know the difference!!!”

In non-spiritual terms: 

We operate in a three concentric circular domains around us. The largest circle is the Circle of Concern - we worry and we can keep worrying about these things, but nothing that we can do to improve things in this domain. The middle circle is the Circle of Influence - we don't have direct control over things here, yet we can influence; and the innermost smallest circle is the Circle of Control - these are activities and situations that we are in control . If we dwell too much in the Circle of concern and try changing things we are likely to become frustrated... 

MF: Very simple, yet really true, except that for my environment perception of value is based on circle of concern.....

AB: We should reflect on things in our circle of concern briefly (that we have not put them there wrongly); care for things in our circle of influence and focus most of our (change) effort in the Circle of control...

MF: But we are measured on things that we have little influence or control over

AB: Sometimes... and that is "What I have to Do" just because I have signed up to work for a corporation...

In that case we need to work on bringing things from Circle of Concern to Circle of Control. One way is organization empowering you and helping you use your positional influence to influence or control more things in your circle of concern (provided they benefit business), . That option once again might be out of your circle of control (hopefully in your circle of influence). But the way that is within your circle of control is - for you to show your leadership and gain that empowerment by generating influence through taking proactive ownership of things you think you can control. You need to successfully evangelize merits of your thoughts / proposals – showing clearly how they contribute value to the business or the organization.    

MF: The issue at my organization is that there is no influence to fix the concerns I have at any level because it is too hard......and not important enough. What if I am not able to bring things from my Circle of Concern to Circle of Control?
AB: Put your sincere efforts to change the thing that you don't like; If you can't change it - change the way you think about it... 

MF: But why are people afraid to take ownership or make decisions? 

AB: Knowing what you have told me about changes and uncertainties in your organization, it may be  insecurity. When the leaders are secure and confident; they are trusted and they make their teams believe that members are doing important work for the company; people don't hesitate to make right decisions because they know they will be supported even if the outcome is not favorable. People flourish and such companies flourish…

MF: Yes i agree with that. You cannot be correct all the time without a few mis-steps here and there

AB: On a lighter note, I might have shared Teflon Style of management.... did I ?

Teflon is the non-stick material on the cooking pans... People these days don't want anything sticking to them; so you ask anyone anything, if that requires effort - they will either say they don't know or tell you that it is someone else's job..  :)

MF: I must admit that I have not felt job security in my current role ever - from day 1

AB: You are lucky I would say...

MF: ha? In what sense? Good looking, smart......engaging......apart from that how am i lucky?

AB: Since you have not yet gotten into the comfort zone and not felt this is the permanent environment for you; you are able to think out-of-the-box and question status-quo without fearing for anything...

MF: That's a nice way of saying I am not fitting well… :)

AB: It is only after one feels comfortable that fear of change makes you compliant to the environment...

MF: But I feel unsettled.......

AB: Yet it is keeping you green; and not letting you become a fossil :)

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.

Spirit of Learning

This week’s Golden Nugget is inspired by Buddha. Very often we start following routines and form habits. Over a period of time these habits lose meaning behind them yet we keep reacting to the new challenges of life - in the old ways.

Buddha in one of his sermons said, “Do not believe what you have heard; do not believe in doctrines because they have been handed down to you of generations; do not believe in anything because it followed by many and majority; do not believe in the truth to which you have become attached by habit; have deliberations and analyze; and when the result agrees with reason and is conducive to the good of one and all, accept it and live unto it.”

When we hear motivational talks, there is very little that we already didn’t know. What is spoken is universal truth; and what differs is how the information is made relevant to the audience and made sticky so we can remember it when in need. Yet, most of us forget about these collected words of wisdom when we need them the most. This is because we only collect information and seldom deliberate on it or internalize it to make it part of our wisdom pool. The value of knowledge is when it is put to practice for the good of self and humanity.

In summary, Spirit of Learning is in being curious to acquiring new information, deliberating to get relevant wisdom out of it; and utilizing the wisdom by putting it to practice. Let us watch ourselves if we can put this golden nugget to practice J

Wishing you a very happy Vijay Dashami !

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

How critical is 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 work day more enjoyable to realize Joyful Living.

If you have participated in my "iRecharge with Laughter Yoga" or "Stress Management with Laughter Yoga" session; you know what to do. Please share the Laughter Spirit with someone who is having a bad day. Please do greet the person with a warm, enthusiastic and smile and may be share a laugh. You may contribute a few Joyful moments in someone's life.

(To know more or to discuss, drop an email to arunb@arunb.com or visit 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.