TIME...!

Today let's talk about the most valuable commodity of recent era - TIME...!

Why, How is it important and what should be the approach towards it...

The scarcest resource today is TIME. With every breath we take, we expend our energies and actually reduce our life span. When this thought strikes us, we realise how important it is to make the best use of the time at our disposal and ensure we have no regrets. A good test to know if you're using your time well is to simply answer this question now- If I were to die in the next 5 minutes what would I be doing.

Today I Must Exploit is a wonderful way to visualise how one uses his/her time. Each one of us has a different priority in life. As long as we are comfortable that we have focused our resources and our time to attain those priorities, we will never have any regrets about how we spend our time. If reading is our priority then so be it, watching a movie can also be ones priority especially if you are a move reviewer or sleep could be our prime concern after a hard days work. The problem is that we are rarely sure of our priorities and often we compromise on those priorities for short term pleasures.

Students in particular are guilty of squandering away precious time by ignoring their studies and substituting it with frivolous pursuits like watching movies, TV, sleeping or shopping. For professionals, the danger is in wasting time in gossiping, backbiting, leg pulling, ego massaging, indecision, etc.

Three simple TIME management rules are

1. Have a place for everything and put everything in its place.
2. Plan your priorities and prioritize your plans.
3. Pursue your priorities purposefully.

ActionPoints

• Ensure you start with a clean, orderly environment where all your stuff is kept in fixed places and locations.
• List out your priorities and plans to achieve them.
• Make a commitment to avoid all temptation and distractions that will divert your focus from the goal.

Well, that's all for today! Keep track of your time and try to be more organized...!

All the best and Stay tuned...!

Teachings...!?!

Today is 5 Sept – ‘Teacher’s Day’ is observed on this day in many parts of the world. On this occasion I am reiterating Abraham Lincoln’s Letter to the TEACHER…

It is not that I have nothing new to share on this occasion but the fact that all the VALUES and teachings expected in this are eternal and most relevant in today’s scenario. And this education has become imperative and mandatory for every single human, let alone the schoolchildren…

See for yourself…

He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, all men are not true.
But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero;
That for every selfish Politician, there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is a friend,
Steer him away from envy, if you can,
Teach him the secret of quiet laughter.
Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick…
Teach him, if you can the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
Bees in the sun and the flowers on a green hillside.
In the school teach him it is far honourable to fail than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle with gentle people, and tough with the tough.
Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men… but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth,
And take only the good that comes through.
Teach him if you can how to laugh when he is sad… Teach him there is no shame in tears,
Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders
But never to put a price-tag on his heart and soul.
Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob and to stand and fight if he thinks he’s right.
Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel.
Let him have the courage to be impatient… let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will have sublime faith in mankind.
This is a big order, but see what you can do…
He is such a fine little fellow, my son!

Choice...!?!

Once Wealth and Poverty approached a merchant and introduced themselves as Goddesses. The merchant offered his salutations to both of them and said: "May I know what brings you to my humble tenement?" The Goddess of Wealth said: "We want you to judge and tell us as to who is more beautiful between us two?"

The merchant was in a fix. He knew he was between the devil and the deep sea. If he were to declare wealth as more beautiful than poverty, poverty would curse him. If he were to declare poverty as more beautiful, than wealth, wealth would forsake him. However, he regained his composure and said: "I have great respect for you both.

Would you please act according to my instructions? Then only I can judge properly." The Goddesses agreed. He said: "Mother wealth, would you please go to the entrance (gates) and walk into the house? Mother, poverty! Would you please walk from here towards the gates? I can have a good look at you both, from near and far."

The two Goddesses did walk as the merchant wished them to. Then the merchant happily declared: "Mother wealth! You appear very beautiful when you enter the house. Mother poverty! You look very beautiful when you leave the house!" The Goddesses appreciated the wit and wisdom of the merchant. The Goddess of wealth happily stayed in his house while the Goddess of poverty cheerfully walked away.

When a serious problem confronts us, if we look within and think calmly, a ray of hope and light will beam forth and show us the way.

Replace Wealth with Happiness, Satisfaction, Gratitude, Peace and...
Poverty with Worry, Discontent, Nepotism, Hostilities and see the difference...!
To see the difference Be the difference...!

Power OR Love...!

Today let us listen to another story that preaches

The Power of Love...

A mighty King was marching home after being victorious in a gruesome battle. He had captured the crown prince of the neighbouring kingdom and killed the King. The King was crossing through a jungle. He wanted to rest.

The army halted there for the evening. Nearby was a hermitage. The king decided to pay his respects to the sage there. He sent his Minister and some soldiers to seek an audience. They told the disciples there, "Maharaj wants to meet the sage." The disciples said, "Guruji has retired for the day, you can come tomorrow."

The next morning the King came to the hermitage dressed in his royal finery, accompanied by his ministers and attendants. The sage was sitting under a tree and scattering bajra seeds all around. Hundreds of birds of different kinds were eating and the sound of their twittering filled the air.

The King walked up to the sage. The sage did not look up.
The king said, "Pranam, Guruji!" No answer.
He spoke louder, "Pranam, Guruji!" Still, no answer.
"Guruji, I said Pranam!" he said in an angry voice.

The sage looked up and said, "Stop shouting, you are scaring the birds."

That made the king even more furious. "Do you know who I am?" he shouted. The sage said calmly, "Yes, I do. You are the one who kills for the love of power. You are the one who knows not that this power is temporary. One day another King shall kill you in the same way. The love of power shall bring about your downfall."

The king was beside himself with rage. He said, "Your impertinence is intolerable. I shall behead you just now!" He drew out his sword and raised it to strike the sage.

In an instant, hundreds of birds flew up and attacked the king. They poked their beaks into his face, his eyes and his arms and all over. The king moved his arms up and around to ward off the birds. But the birds wouldn't leave him. The sage said, "Leave him! Leave him! Come to me my dears!"

All at once, the birds quietened down and sat meekly at the feet of the sage.

The sage said, "All I ever gave these birds is love. Oh King! Realize the power of love. The love of power has blinded you and brought you to the level of a killer. These birds would have killed you, but that's because they love me. I rule over them like a king too, but the only power I ever exercise over them is the power of love and it is greatest power on this Earth."

It's not what you gather, but what you scatter
that tells what kind of life you have lived!

Attachment...!?!

Okay, this is a story from Buddha, the greatest life philosopher the world has witnessed. See if you can relate to the prior posts of ‘Worrying’ and if not, at least try to get rid of your pile of dung…!

There is a wonderful little story about two monks who lived together in a monastery for many years; they were great friends. Then they died within a few months of one another. One of them got reborn in the heaven realms, the other monk got reborn as a worm in a dung pile.

The one up in the heaven realms was having a wonderful time, enjoying all the heavenly pleasures. But he started thinking about his friend, "I wonder where my old mate has gone?" So he scanned all of the heaven realms, but could not find a trace of his friend. Then he scanned the realm of human beings, but he could not see any trace of his friend there, so he looked in the realm of animals and then of insects.

Finally he found him, reborn as a worm in a dung pile... Wow! He thought: "I am going to help my friend. I am going to go down there to that dung pile and take him up to the heavenly realm so he too can enjoy the heavenly pleasures and bliss of living in these wonderful realms."

So he went down to the dung pile and called his mate. And the little worm wriggled out and said: "Who are you?", "I am your friend. We used to be monks together in a past life, and I have come up to take you to the heaven realms where life is wonderful and blissful." But the worm said: "Go away, get lost!"

"But I am your friend, and I live in the heaven realms," and he described the heaven realms to him. But the worm said: "No thank you, I am quite happy here in my dung pile. Please go away." Then the heavenly being thought: "Well if I could only just grab hold of him and take him up to the heaven realms, he could see for himself." So he grabbed hold of the worm and started tugging at him; and the harder he tugged, the harder that worm clung to his pile of dung.

Do you get the moral of the story? How many of us are attached to our pile of dung?

Stay tuned and we will try to discover the T-R-U-T-H…!

Present...!

All right! We have reached the concluding part of this. Today we will discover the last but not the least means of keeping worry at bay…!

5. Tomorrow will come anyway. Live and fully enjoy here and now.

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”
Leo F. Buscaglia

It may sometimes seem that by worrying we can less the sorrow of tomorrow. But it never works. It only sucks the life out of today and this moment. To be able to live better today and to be able to take that action to prevent the possible sorrow it’s important to learn to live in the present moment. Because it’s there that you can do things in the best possible way with your focus fully on what you are doing.

Three of my favourite techniques for drawing me back to the now are these (the first one is the one I use most often right now):

a) Focus on what’s right in front of you… Or around you... Use your senses. Just look at what’s right in front of you right now. Listen to the sounds around you. Feel the fabric of your clothes and focus on how they feel. Cognize the ambience around you. Think of ways to improve your atmosphere, your universe. Find things to do and get involved wholeheartedly. Be still right there and just take in the world around you.

b) Pick up the vibe from present people... If you know someone that is more present than most people then you can pick his/her vibe of presence (just like you can pick up positivity or enthusiasm from people). If you don’t know someone like that then I have often recommended listening/watching to inspirational, motivational and positive stuff of your choice. I can sure recommend some books or videos but as they say ‘what is medicine for one could be poison for the other’, I don’t want to take chances…!

c) Yoga and Meditation… There is loads of material available about Yoga and meditation for your experiment and, who knows, it may become the favourite way for reconnecting with the present. You can just relax and listen to the soothing relaxation tracks. Afterwards you will feel relaxed and energized and your loud thinking will shut down or decrease significantly for maybe half a day. This makes it a lot easier to be in the present moment and just focus on what is going on right now. There are several ways of relaxation and meditation but again for the reasons of personification I would not recommend mine. Everybody should explore and find its own…

That was all about worry for now. Try and practice all these ways and when you rediscover yourself please feel free to add your comments here…

Tomorrow we will listen to a story. Till then… Bye and Stay tuned…!

Solution...!

Okay, today we will shift our Focus from analysis to Solution. This is the fourth most important step in fighting habit of worrying because according to the law of physics the sum total mass has to remain same; we need something to replace worry...! Isn't it...!?! How about a S-O-L-U-T-I-O-N...

4. Focus on a solution.

“There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person sees a solution.”
Harold Stephen

“The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.”
Robert Frost

”You can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time.”
Pat Schroeder

To move out of worry it’s very helpful to just start moving and taking action to solve what you are concerned about. Two tips that have helped me to take action more consistently are:

Using a morning routine.

This is perhaps the most powerful tip I have found so far in this area. You simply set up a routine in the morning that you do as soon as you wake up. This works so well because what you do early in the day often sets the context for your day. As humans we have a strong tendency to want to be consistent with what we have done before. That’s one big reason why a bad start often leads to a bad day and a good start often leads to a good day. That's the reason I send those inspiring 'Daily Mails' in the morning. (If you are not on my list, send me a request on amookbhartiya@gmail.com and you will start receiving them with immediate effect)

Focusing on and taking responsibility for the process, not the potential results.

I use this when I workout. I don’t take responsibility for the results in my mind. I take responsibility for showing up and doing my workout. The results have come anyway from that consistent action. And this makes it easier for me to take this action when I know that is all I need to focus on. Instead of using half of the energy and focus I have available on hoping that I “reach my goal real, real soon”.

Focus on the process and you will be a lot more relaxed and prone to continue than if you stare yourself blind on the potential results that never come as quickly as you want to and puts you on an emotional rollercoaster from day to day.

Nobody would ever be sure of the results of what he/she is upto. So prepare for the worst, hope for the best and give your best is the mantra of practice. By the way the most eminent professional including Doctors and Consultants call PRACTICE to what they do...!

Try this picture to practice FOCUS and we will see the Fifth step tomorrow, stay tuned...!