Contemplations

I did feel some amount of stress last week, the reason was not clear to me. By stress I mean, a physiological perception of uneasiness. Everything organically is okay, but certain situations make us react different to our normal selves. There was a lot going on at work and at school, but I was mentally prepared, and it typically has not stressed me before.  I had to resort to my own method that I had written about it previously here -  Getting a Reset  - to figure out.   When I sat down and had my contemplation, I realized that I did not handle some difficult situations with my normal humility. Small traces of which slipped into my casual conversations as well. Everyone has a different reference point because it is subjective, but I did breach mine. That was keeping me uneasy. Once I realized it, and had knowledge on  how to fix it, I became peaceful again. You can't buy peace, it is manufactured within!  Two of the antidotes to stress are - (i) fearle...

  I had a soft banter at work a few weeks ago! Is calmness important or activity important ?  My nature is to lean towards a more laidback approach when given a choice, but for the joy of wordplay, and the arguable habit of mildly annoying another (anyone with siblings will understand) with good intent though, I said activity. On a more serious note, both are important. One complements the other. Being able to stay calm is a superpower. If you are spending energy on an activity, but restless in the mind, you will not be efficient.  In fact most people do not even know how restless they actually are. One of my teachers told me, "you will know how restless you are when you start meditating." I did not believe at the time, but he was so right! I could not sit for more than 2 minutes! It took me almost a year to have some level of confidence to say I can sit in silence for 10 minutes. (And honestly, 10 minutes of deep silence has more benefits than what I expected) You can se...

  We hear a lot about "being grounded". They say, one should be grounded, but most people do not explain what they mean. Others assume being grounded is the same as being humble. Humility is important, being grounded is very different from humility.  Its not an abstract concept. Examples and analogies simplify the task of explaining. Imagine an electrical circuit with a positive terminal and a negative terminal. The circuit works when current flows from positive terminal to the negative terminal.  The head, where the ideas for our actions originate is the positive terminal, the heart, the place of satisfaction is the negative terminal. We are grounded when the actions we take satisfy the desires of our heart. The link between these two is our will.   The principle is when you act using your will to satisfy the legitimate desires of your heart through agreeable methods, you are grounded. In other words, your actions should be in accordance with your will. Your he...

The quality of love when received and given in an authentic way directly leads to a sense of peace and satisfaction. But there are conditions under which love can be shared for the true effects to come through! Only a heart that is free from the blemishes of anger, fear, hatred, resentment, jealousy and pride of pedigree can radiate true love. When the heart is free from these imperfections, it can act as a perfect instrument of receptivity and right action with everything and everyone.  I want to share an incident that showed me love can be developed and experienced through serving others! in our own unique way within our capacity. I was in Vancouver on an extended trip. One rainy-drizzly night, I was waiting for the bus to go to the restaurant. A woman approached me and asked me for money for food. I was arguably suspicious and refused. She persisted, eventually I gave her 20 dollars. I saw instant relief on her face,  she hugged me, then ran to the burger king eatery that w...

They teach us that the ideal goal of a business should be to create value. But, is that translatable to our regular living ? Some business entities do not care how they make money. Is that useful ? When someone acts selfishly to serve their purpose, it causes some rift. When a collection of people act selfishly to earn money, they unknowingly push the world into periodic patterns of economic depression. How then are we supposed to manage ? I think the answer is a change in mentality at both the micro level and the macro level.  At the macro level, businesses should be based on the foundational law - "greatest good for the greatest number of people possible." Using psychological advertising tricks to make someone buy something they don't need is not good. They will go to competition when they realize this and the acquisition cost of getting a new customer in the door is much higher than the cost to maintain an old customer.  At the micro level, as humans, we should strive ...

  As I slow down my MBA commitments (I will be done with 80% of the requirements by the end of this year), I have more time to write!  The last two years were quite transformative. As I reflect, the challenges I have faced were coming to mind.  One of the first skills I learnt in business schools was empathy. They made us reflect on ourselves and how we deal with ourselves and others in the first quarter. Then, we had a negotiations class where they asked us to negotiate with another person given a certain situation.  We had one on one negotiations with a really smart peer that went on for two hours. High quality peer group is probably the most valuable thing that one is exposed to in a good business school.  Practicing empathy day-in day-out and such an extended period of negotiations gives you certain skills. It becomes second nature to assess what the other party wants and what the other party really needs. You may not know them exactly, but you do get somewh...

I will continue from a previous post  where I wrote about an experience of peace , because that feeling of peace has not left me.  I feel it now and even more deeply. A state of equanimity that flows through every part. When that feeling of peace persisted, it gave way to calmness and a feeling of love.  It has tangible practical benefits too! That calmness allowed me to remain in the present and observe without making up future stories in the mind. It has helped me deal with all kinds of pressures - peer pressure, familial pressure, cultural pressure, etc. The decisions have started coming from a sense of  "the mind centered in the heart", so there is no confusion!  Things have changed too!  The universe keeps putting me in the lives of people who want to find their joy and them in my path. I have noticed that I get attracted to people who really want to experience happiness and people who want the experience of joy are attracted to me.  It is pr...