Celebrate Simplicity

On a cold winter evening, I just had a cup of plain, simple coffee and to me, it served its purpose. I am not a big fan of fancy things, yet I work to deliver the best. There is so much of joy in simple things of life that I can’t stop adoring that how beautiful our Mother Nature is.

You will laugh at me but yesterday I went into a field which was full of carrots – it was for the first time I saw how carrots are grown. The scene was perfect, at least for me – so I spent an hour there talking to people and discovered how much they adore their lives. Recession has no meaning for them and they are growing vegetables as they used to. They are simple human beings who enjoy doing their work!

In this age of cost-cutting & downsizing, more than ever it is suggested that it’s mission-critical to find joy in life's simplest pleasures. When the economy was on high, we used to take things taken for granted. Due to that mad race, the activities we've overlooked in our lives became dramatically bust. Those small recreation actions that used to our nourishment just vanished.

Here is what my point is: we live in a world that is valued on money - often above all else. However, I've met a lot of very rich people - who had a lot of wealth and not much else. You will meet a lot of people who say money is really important as it buys us freedom of choice, brands, home in a posh location and a nice home or a great vacation. However, how many of us actually think that is if the MOST important thing in life? Think for two minutes before you give any answer….

During this season, slow down a little - to cherish & celebrate life's simpler pleasures – a conversation with someone you love, a brilliantly cooked meal, read a book that used to fill your heart with delight but you haven't picked it up for years, like calling your parents more often and if you get time, visit a farm, do some gardening and plant more trees. Life is beautiful, if only we see it as that!

Personal Change Management

Old proverb: "people don't change when they see the light. People change when they feel the heat."

Why wait for difficulties to confront you before you pull back from the noise and rethink. Think again - who you are, what your priorities are, where you are going, why you are going there, how you want to shape your life and what values you stand for. Please remember - to succeed you will have to do things others don’t like to do, even if you don’t like to do them either – Have guts to rise above your feelings of the moment - and do what's correct versus what's trouble-free. And that's how you emerge as a winner of every moment.

Vision for tomorrow

"Amidst great difficulty lies big opportunity”

Albert Einstein once said.
In this time of sluggish economy and low morals, we need to have a vision for tomorrow. There was a time, not so long ago when big corporations failed and people were stunned. No one had ever imagined that giants will fall down like this. However, this is an opportunity for us to show our braveness, boldness and use our decision making power in the right direction.

To have a vision for tomorrow, we will have to make our ‘today’ productive. It takes guts to oppose the tide of pessimism and stand tall to show ‘the right way’ to others. To be daring, you don’t have to be famous. To make humanity better, men and women will have to take steps and lead. We are the generation of leaders and visionaries, and we will make our world better. So, go out today and shine with all your might. Never forget for a moment that hard times are rich with gigantic opportunities. Be passionate and believe in your vision and success will follow, IT HAS TO FOLLOW.

Let’s learn to Love Life

“I cried since I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet” –

This line sends shivers down my spine. Whosoever wrote this statement made the most valuable point in the Philosophy of Life. It’s a natural trap for every human being to look at the things they don’t have and feel sad about it rather than being grateful for what they have. I meet many people who say that they are thankful to God for giving them what they have, but do they really realise it from inside?

The moment a person become conscious of good things around, complaints of life vanish immediately. The fear of ‘what’, ‘if’, ‘why’, ‘when’ and ‘who’ immediately fades away.

More than billion of people go to bed hungry and we feel gloomy if we don’t have money right now to buy some branded clothes......Children, with no fault of theirs, are born with AIDS every day and we get irritated if we have to spend some time in a traffic jam? Many died last week war due to tensions between Israel & Hamas, and we worry about losing extra pounds?

The only word to think about here is ‘Perspective'. See world through the eyes of traveller and you will have a Perspective, speak to people and you will know their Perspective, respect others and you will have a Perspective and listen to your parents and your life will have a Perspective.

Self care - Take out time for yourself!

In today’s fast-paced world, everybody has deadlines – be it at work or at home. While fulfilling our responsibilities towards those around us, do we give time to ourselves for self care? Life can be demanding for everyone – mothers, professionals, home makers and even kids - who have to compete with each other for better results. In such a scenario, it is very easy to get distracted from our original self.

One of the best ways to stay organized is to make a list of tasks that you need to do every morning. As you work through you day, glance through your list to make sure that you are on schedule. If you follow this routine for a week, you will certainly find that there are some tasks that are more time- consuming and can either be avoided or completed within a shorter period.

World Peace and Me......

Our history has been marked with numerous stories of rivalry among world leaders which lead to conflicts and wars. Chiefs of different nations have often forced bloodshed on innocent people without any valid reason. The elected politicians, and those who work behind the scenes, must acknowledge that unity of humanity is the most important need of today. What world would we show to our children if we continue to abolish our culture like this? Our planet has suffered too much in the form of terrorist victims, poverty, non curable diseases, aimless youth and racism etc. Ideology of few narrow-minded people has brought us at a point where every nation has become selfish.

It is not difficult to achieve world peace if we have a vision towards it. Think, what plan of action we should have to make world peace a reality? Gone is the time when it was impossible to introduce such an idea to governments and political leaders. With ever-advancing age of technology, we can communicate our thoughts to each other instantly. Campaigns through the Internet and media evoke huge response, and we all are aware of that. Many concepts have been accepted with new theories and practices. So much is the power of communication that if an individual from past sees the advancements today; he would probably get awestruck by it. Leaders of the nations should appreciate the increasing involvement of people in current affairs and concentrate on making policies that will spread the wings of peace to every country.

Around the globe there are thousands who seek one common thing: world peace and its practice- they differ a lot in their views but have a universal goal. Time has come when we all must get united and stand against the prejudice of politics, region and race. The youth must join hands together, if they want to change the way world is progressing. One such effort has been done by students of University of California, Santa Barbara, who have conceptualized an idea to promote peace and prosperity. They plan to do so through the involvement of community, especially the youth. The group is developing a site www.worldpeacecontest.com which intends to get people close to each other through interactive channels, such as games, contests and quizzes.

First of its kind, the site promotes vision of world peace through a puzzle which is open to all for playing. Any visitor of the site can register himself/herself on it and complete for the contest, winners of which would earn cash prize. The group plans to donate some percentage of the amount collected through advertisements to different charities.

On the site, you will find their motive which is “collectively we can prove that the power of love and faith exists, by finishing our planet’s long history of hatred and killing”. Isn’t this what our religions also teach us?

What is Meditation?

Meditation is the process of letting thoughts flow from inside to outside and not vice versa. Through meditation, you become introspective and initiate a habit of checking the way you think, speak and communicate. The process of meditation makes you compassionate and develops your character in many ways. Meditation is:

1. Dialogue with myself:
In today’s world, we all have busy lives and busier schedules. We have time to talk to everyone, responsibilities towards everybody but how much time do we spend with ourselves? Have you ever wondered where do all the negative feelings originate from? Why do you sometimes get a feeling that “something wrong is going to happen” or “I will not be able to complete this task”? If someone speaks to you bluntly, how long do you keep on thinking about the incident in your mind? Are you able to forget the wrongs done to you and forgive those who hurt you in past? Do you get jealous of other’s prosperity? Have you ever thought how much of your time is wasted in these wasteful thoughts?
What is missing from our lives is introspection. It is easy to point mistakes in others but equally tough to accept your mistake and ask for forgiveness. Why don’t you sit with yourself for 10 minutes, without any interruption and ask – “What am I doing?” This question initiates the most powerful relationship that is with yourself and you learn to respect yourself.

2. Starting with what is right:
Most people do not give due credit to their efforts and always see themselves as underachiever and on the other hand there are those who see themselves as superior to others and are usually overconfident. Meditation helps you to bring your feelings to a balance and stay in a positive frame of mind throughout the day.

3. Yoga
Through the means of meditational yoga, you become partner with nature. You start acknowledging the responsibilities of your actions and learn to be sincere in thoughts and work.