Privilege to Choose…!

I chose to break away from the systems and the expectations and imprison me. I started to live a conscious mindful life and because of that I got to live purposefully and fully. I have exposure to beautiful villages on stunning mountains across running streams all across a beautiful world!

I meet local heroes that inspire me to become a better person every day, teach me about love, privilege, perseverance and strength! So I ask you what if some of the choices that you are faced with, which side of the glass window are you on.

Are you filling your can with mosquito-infested brown murky water or are you choosing between your morning milk obverses latte or perhaps your afternoon sandwich versus a salad? Do you have privilege in your choices and if so what do you do with that privilege?

And let's take this even further, are you living a life that the system has precondition usefulness or are you living the life you really want? Are you using meaningless choices to distract from that one choice that really means something?

What is that inner voice?

What is that voice you can no longer ignore?

What is that one choice but is so authentically you that will make you a slightly better and happier person?

What is that one choice that could defy all reason to make the world just a slightly better place?

I definitely don't have all the answers and I still have a lot of life to live, stories to tell and choices to make. I feel like my life's work has just begun. But what I do know is that when you embrace the uncomfortable and start making mindful conscious choices, change becomes possible and perhaps tomorrow because of you, one more person will have the privilege to choose…!

Strategy...!

"Create something that's compelling for other people where they see the value for themselves to participate..." - INNOVATION

“Being incredibly open about where you are and where you are going to go…” - REFLECTION

“Willingness to give up control…” - OPENNESS

“There is a list of thousand people who contributed…” - COLLABORATION

“Honest Process…” - INTEGRITY

“It is about the community…” - ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I know it is neither new nor a celebrated talk or something, then why am I sharing it here today...?

Well, every organization, irrespective of its size, certainly has some defined targets and to meet those, a strategic plan has to be in place with all its essentials like structure and processes with all required resources to achieve the preset objectives. Besides, there is a vision and a guiding principle(s) that drives the change or transformation the organization must undergo to execute its strategy.

Strategic planning is clock-work, not as in its literal meaning that implies schedule but more like the intricate mechanism behind three arrows of the clock to help them show the right time. A strategic plan without a structured line-of-action to follow it up for execution is as good as a dead clock which has a potential to keep everything on track but fails to do so in absence of an intervention to restart it.

I have always been a big fan of Wikipedia and thought of sharing this to find some insights and tips for putting together something in view of Creating Shared Value by upholding above values. Way to go...!

Schooling...!

"Our collective well-being starts with inclusive schools

and helping every child realize their endless potential..."

"When families and schools work together, everyone wins. Students are supported, families are empowered, and teachers' jobs just become that much easier. Education goes beyond economic growth, and our goal goes beyond the classroom..."

"Schools are a funnel to the real world. Public education makes citizens. And in creating the next generation of citizens, we cannot be leaving behind four out of five children or their families. If we continue to pick and choose who the system engages with generation after generation, like we do now, we will not be left with a community, a civil society or even a functioning democracy..."

"Our dream is that one day, they'll feel included 

in the very communities that they're expected to build..."

VOICE...!

Sarah Kay – a writer, performer and educator from New York City – tells the story of her metamorphosis from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York's Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. in this talk.

Project voice is an interesting initiative that utilizes poetry to entertain, educate and inspire. It has worked with hundreds of schools in thirty countries reaching over 150,000 students from kindergarten through university level. Project voice promotes empowerment, improves language skills and spurs creative collaboration through award-winning performances and innovative workshops.

Sarah’s ‘confession’ about her poetry is not only downright candid but also absolutely profound - 

"...But there are plenty of things I have trouble understanding. So I write poems to figure things out. Sometimes the only way I know how to work through something is by writing a poem. Sometimes I get to the end of the poem, look back and go, "Oh, that's what this is all about," and sometimes I get to the end of the poem and haven't solved anything, but at least I have a new poem out of it..."

We have read, heard, shared and interpreted Abraham Lincoln’s the world-famous Letter to his Son’s teacher that talks about the values that must be taught to the pupil. No doubt it is a classic example of communication literature and the optimism about the virtues against the vices makes it timeless also, however, it is more retrospective in nature being based on experiences of an adult and tends to become little idealistic in expression.

Sarah in her poem ‘If I should have a daughter…’ seems to be more realistic and revolutionary as she doesn’t advise her daughter to get adjusted to the circumstances as they are but tries to fuel her with the preparedness to empathize with the situation and try to change it for better. Her narration is overflowing with the hope and the grit expressed is so contagious that it can ignite minds. I strongly recommend that you hear it out completely no matter how long it seems. Here are few excerpts…

"...And, baby," I'll tell her, don't keep your nose up in the air like that. I know that trick; I've done it a million times. You're just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house, so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else find the boy who lit the fire in the first place, to see if you can change him. But I know she will anyway..." 

"...Because there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away. You will put the wind in win some, lose some. You will put the star in starting over, and over. And no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute, be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life..."

"...Your voice is small, but don't ever stop singing. And when they finally hand you heartache, when they slip war and hatred under your door and offer you handouts on street-corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother..."

"I know that Jean-Luc Godard was right when he said that, "A good story has a beginning, a middle and an end, although not necessarily in that order."

Way to go…!

Emotional Fool...?

NO doubt IQ or Intelligence Quotient is important and has a role to play in developmental stages of your life; however it can only take you to a certain position in your career and society. Once you achiever a certain position and status, EQ or Emotional Intelligence takes charge of your life and irrespective of your IQ’s status – progressing, stagnant or diminishing – developing EQ becomes crucial to your well-being and prosperity as it will help you juxtapose your-‘self’ in your surroundings.

Your emotions are very important as those are impulsive, expressive and inevitable aspect of your personality that can make you anxious, depressed, excited and/or overwhelmed affecting your decisions and actions for better or for worse!

So you are at the mercy of your emotions and if you have an average or not-so-good EQ, your chances of ‘succeeding’ are frail, is it? But what if you learn that Emotions are nothing but just thoughts preconditioned by the brain cells which you can very well read, predict and even control by conditioning? This World could be a whole new place and you could be a completely different person, won’t you?

Check out in this most intriguing, inspiring and almost therapeutic for mental health talk…