The Superhero

She's from Bhuvneshwar. 

She works as domestic help. She has no family. She isn't educated, doesn't speak/understand our language much.

She earns just over 5500 a month.

She is poor, but she has empathy.

Last night, when the news of Amphan got worse, she arranged to send a tempo-full of essentials to her village. I asked her how she managed it, especially in these times when the households she works at have halted her services.

"I took a loan", she replied.

"Why?"

"Because didi, this year, the world needs hope more than ever before."

Some hearts know no boundaries. Some hearts are just ordinary, with such extraordinary depth of courage that knowing them becomes a privilege.

Self Improvement in The Times of Corona Pandemic : ReEducating the Mind

Do you miss your school? Those stomach-rumbling noises of inside before exams? The excitement of stepping into a new class, feeling of how you covered one more year, crossed one more hurdle &; are nearer to the goal of becoming what you dreamt? 

I am reminded of those days again. Corona pandemic has reintroduced exam-time house-rest in our lives except that this is the time to check how much better each of us has become individually. 

Some lines of being successful, rich, or poor have blurred. We all have come to the same platform of self-discipline. Getting up early even when there is no office, maintaining a routine, helping family members and keeping control over self on not getting addicted to Netflix or smartphones are just a few things to be learned.

The current education is of building habits & becoming a better version of ourselves. We literally have the most valuable resources of our lives on our hands – ‘Time’ – Lockdown has given us loads of it. 

How we use it well, is what the trick is all about. 

I personally like these peaceful days. The freelancing gigs have dipped because the world has kind-of stopped, but the spirit is ever spirited. In my humble experience, there are 3 steps that can help us to use this second lockdown to build new habits. 

Suggestion 1: Morning Meditation: One of the habits I learnt by observing Brahmakumaris is getting up early. When the day starts at 3:30 or 4:00 am, you get time to do more in the same 24 hours. Morning meditation is one of the easiest habits to start your mind on a healthy note. 

Early morning is the time when the cosmic energies of the universe are in total sync with each other. The physical disturbance of other human beings is lesser as compared to the rest of the day, making it easier to find peacefulness around that time. 

To build a meditation habit:

·     Create a meditative corner in your home. It can be your sofa, temple, terrace, balcony or any place you find peaceful. 

·     Get up half an hour to 45 minutes early from your usual time. Use this time to connect with God, a point of light, ocean infinite energies. Feel the power of God around self and your family members. Give everyone you know vibrations of peace, tranquillity and happiness, for we are living in the times that these three things are needed most by all of us. 

    Suggestion 2: Chuck-Out Desires: We have been given this golden opportunity to evaluate what is important to us and build our habits around that. Make a list of your desires and see how much of them are truly needed for you to be happy. 
      Examine your daily routine and find out the ways in which your mind thinks excessive wasteful thoughts. Don't let TV, Netflix, or your smartphone ruin your thinking process. Learn to tune-out from the negative news or cheap comments in the name of humor. Read, learn a new skill, talk to your parents, clean your wardrobe, cook for your family - build productive habits that make people those around you happy. 

     Suggestion 3: Accept The New Roles: Once eating out 3-4 times a week was normal, but now people are happily accepting simpler meals and luxuries of home-cooked food. Those who had chauffeur-driven cars are cleaning utensils at home or children who talked to their friends throughout the day are helping parents in managing the chores of their homes. A lot of our roles have reversed or changed and hence the mindset should change too. 

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Read More:

• 26 Hacks for Self-Motivation – Motivate Yourself Everyday
• Forgive, Forget and Move on
• Stress Management through Worry Management
• Spiritual Quotient Learning
• http://offbeatspirituality.blogspot.com/2009/12/spiritual-quotient-learning-iii.html

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Only those who can change with time can stay afloat when the tides rise. If you want to be a better version of yourself, grab this opportunity to do something for which you’d always feel nice about yourself. Start by getting up early, knowing your priorities, and accepting the changing roles. This is the need of the hour. Whether you listen to it or not, that, of course, depends on you. 

Peace & Smiles,

N

Originally Published Here: ReEducation in The Times of Corona

The Invisibles

12th April is International Day for Street Children

Here are some stats from Delhi to highlight how grave this issue is:

• Our city has 51,000 of them.20% are girls.
• 70% have their home, but don't want to go back - mostly due to parental issues or family/neighbourhood insecurity.
• 50.5% are illiterate. 87% earn a living—20% as ragpickers, 15.8% as street vendors,  15% by begging.
• Over 50% have suffered verbal, physical or sexual abuse.
• Fewer than 20% have ID cards or birth certificates, and so they miss out on government schemes.

Quick ways in which you can help:

• Volunteer: The most direct method. Join a NGO, Temple, or Gurudwara and ask if they need any help or know any local programs in which you can take part.
• Give A Moment: Rather than brushing them off to make your way, spend 5 minutes to ask them their names, what they like to do, or their favourite games. Just talk.
• Initiate Informal Education: If there are any particular street children you see every day, help them with basic literacy or numeracy skills. You can also teach them 'soft skills' like self-expression, patience, self-discipline and sharing - which are social skills that children would normally pick up in a nurturing home environment.

Between feeling upset and wanting to help these children enjoy a normal life, you, me, we all can make a small, tiny difference somewhere.

What is Leadership?

On my way back from office today, I pulled over a cafe to have a cup of coffee. Read a quote in The Economic Times where an elf mentions to a Hobbit: "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." Wonderful advice, simple enough to be remembered by all of us.

Leadership Poster

Sometimes we tend to postpone taking initiative and drive a change until we officially receive more responsibility and get a bigger title against our names. But isn’t today the best time to enact like a leader?

No matter what you do in the organization you're in: Lead Where You Are Planted. Start from where you are. Your bold act of leadership just might transform your organization. And if you get super lucky, the course of the future will change to fit you in.

Identify the Leader in You

If you want to be great in life, know thyself and live in present. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery but today is a gift and that is why it is called “Present”. Live in the moment, it will help you in two ways:

1. What you are doing right now will pave a way for your future. So if your thoughts are of best quality and you are doing with work with utmost sincerity, the future will become like that. According to the Karmic Philosophy, we reap what we sow. So, sow good deeds and reap their benefits.
2. Use your creative power to get rid of old habits, unsolved issues. Let the past go, only then you will be able to make the place for future. See it like this – If you have a cabinet which is filled with old clothes and junk, where will you keep the new stuff? And since you will not be able to make space for the new things, you will keep on looking at the junk and feel bad about it or carry a feeling of guilt within. To make yourself happy, give yourself this one gift on Diwali – give away the junk of your mind or a bad habit that you know will do you harm later. Enjoy the newness around because the world needs people like YOU who are different that the rest and possess the inner strongness that no one else has.

BTW: Diwali is the biggest festival in India and its tomorrow, 17th Oct. It is also known as the festival of light and I must say to those who haven’t seen Diwali in India – You are missing something too big in life. Visit us once to see what humans who are lit with happiness from mind can do. The scene at night is worth thousands of dollars. Every home sparkles with lights, colourful lights and candles. It is WONDERFUL.

About Leadership

Leadership means that you do everything thinking that you are zero. Its only then you begin to see the bigger picture. And if you ever get a feeling that you know everything – start counting your days to gloom.
To be a leader, you need to –

1. Let go of your past.


2. Leadership makes you forgive others for their mistakes and love them as your own


3. Maintain your health – it is your biggest asset.


4. Leaders are authentic communicators


5. Read and read more. Books are our best friends, really and they make leaders.


6. Develop a habit of writing journals to record good ideas, lessons learned and dreams to be executed on.


7. Run your own race. Leadership isn't about following the mob and being like everyone else. That's followership.


8. Be ethical – maintain immaculate reputation
9. Micheal adds: Try to keep friends with all people. Everyone has a right to an opinion.
   

That’s my list for being a leader – add if you know anything worth mentioning about leadership.