H2O and O2

I am going to be away from blogosphere for the next 10 days. So, no posts for a while! :-)

This isn't anything on the lines of Calvin's sudden realization and exit from class (video below)....but I'll, nevertheless, be back after several drinks of water and some deep breathing. :-) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaa

SaTyre! ;-)

This was a conversation between a close relative and her 3.5 year old son. Get ready to roll on the floor with laughter.

The little boy owns a toy truck with small tyres, one of which (a spare one, I guess) he was apparently very fond of detaching from the body of the truck. His mother persevered and made it a point to put the tyre back in its place time and again. One fine day, she lost her patience, gave up and decided to throw the tyre into the dust-bin (the typical small basket-like thing most of us use at home) for she concluded that her boy did not probably want the tyre.

The boy returned from school that evening, discovered that the tyre was missing and interrogated his mother about its whereabouts. The mother said "You keep taking it off from the truck anyway. Looked like you did not need it...so I threw it into the dust-bin"

Our little fella looked upset and shocked and said "Why?? Oh why did you throw it into the dust-bin? Would anyone ever throw it into the dust-bin?"

The mother retorted "Yeah.....you're right! I shouldn't have thrown the tyre. I should have actually thrown the person who kept removing it into the dust-bin"

The little fella responded (with a serious expression) in no less than a second "Oh no! I will not fit into the dust-bin!"

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We want more such saTyreical humor! :-D LoL!

Tra laa la, laa la laa la.....!

No posts for the past one and a half weeks?! What's happening? Well, I just happen to be preoccupied with work. Many months of white-boarding and effort, my dear friends, is finally culminating into an announcement of progress and that means I need to concentrate! Narrow the eyes. Bite the teeth. Stiffen the nerves. Bring all the energy together! Quick! Focus! Let's see the spark! Get back the energy that was in abundance when we started...all at one place. Fortunately, we know energy cannot be destroyed...so, all the energy I need is still around...just happens to be in some other 'invisible' form. Need to simply convert it into 'visible' kinetic energy.
Time to sing.....

A-B-C of Life

It is pouring inspiration today. Got this on mail. Either I am in a very receptive mood or there genuinely is a lot of inspiration in the air today. :-) Anyway, I adore the simplicity and sense in the message below.

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Hal Elrod - The A-B-C's of Life's Purpose

To Love & Create—this is the essence of life. But to be able to create the life you want, you must first be able to love the life you have. When you do, you are then able to enjoy a true sense of freedom and inspiration while engaged in the exciting process of creating the life of your dreams.

Accept Responsibility (For Everything)
From the economy to that difficult person in your life, to the speed of traffic during your daily commute—the external events and circumstances of life are often out of our control. Although we can't always control what happens to us, what we choose to think & do about it is our responsibility.

This is a profound truth, that it is not what happens to us that determines our quality of life, but it is how we choose to respond to what happens that creates our experience of life—good or bad. Even if a circumstance is not your fault, how you deal with it is always your responsibility.

The moment you Accept Responsibility for everything in your life, is the moment you have the power to create anything for your life.

Be Grateful (For Everything)
People often defend their negative attitude by claiming, "I'm not negative, I'm just realistic. Consider this: How is it any more "realistic" to focus on, think and talk about all that is wrong in your life, than it is to focus on, think, talk and Be Grateful for everything that is right in your life? Hmm...

When you choose to focus on the positive in your life and Be Grateful for everything, you have the power to create happiness at any moment of your life.

Commit To The Process (Without Being Emotionally Attached To the Results)
Every result (goal/dream/etc.) that you desire is preceded by a process. If you desire improved health, it must be preceded by a process of healthy eating and exercise. If you desire financial independence, it must be preceded by a process of accumulating, saving, and investing your money.

Most of us are emotionally attached to our results, and we base our level of commitment to each of our processes on how we feel or how things are going. Poor results usually lead to feeling discouraged or frustrated, both which hinder our desire and confidence to keep working towards our dreams.

The secret is to define the process required for each of your goals, then live everyday committed to those processes, and don't worry about your short term results. The process always eventually produces the result, you just have to stay committed and never give up!

You can learn to truly, authentically and unconditionally love the life that you have, and once you do you will find a sense of true joy and fulfillment in creating the life of your dreams. Your pursuit of a better life will no longer be out of fear of not having or being enough. You will be free from the stress and pressures that may have weighed on you in the past, so that you can begin genuinely loving the life you have while you are engaged in the exciting process of creating the life of your dreams!

Energy!

Check out Zeph's masterpiece..a gem of a post! :-)

Aa..ha! Simple...!

One of those simple Aa..ha! moments. Routine stuff. Nothing earth-shattering. But it feels good when it just flows out of nowhere and makes a lot of sense. I put it out as a tweet but want to record it here as well.

A person who does not believe in the meaning, goodness and significance of what he is doing can never possibly do a great job of it.

I think it's an important thing not just from the perspective of what we want to do as individuals and how we believe we can make our lives more exciting and worthwhile...but also from the perspective of management and leadership.

Inspiration

Here's something that I loved reading this morning. Must obviously share it with you...! :-) Methinks this exactly is what it feels like when the creative juices flow. Inspiration...aka...creativity!

Jack Groverland - To me the word "inspired" means guided by a mystical power from within, or as Webster's Dictionary defines it "divinely influenced". I don't mean to evoke the image of a separate God intervening in the affairs of people but rather to imply that when a person wholeheartedly gives himself/herself to a worthwhile cause, goal or dream he/she calls up an innate brilliance which defies common comprehension - that's inspiration, the source of brilliance.

Serendiptiy on a Social Media Leash

I wrote this post
Re-visited the Wikipedia page on Swami V, on an impulse
Re-discovered the Vivekananda Study Circle @ IIT Madras and their E-group
Realized that there are students who are deriving inspiration from Swami, then read some more quotes...
Which in turn inspired me to do a Twitter Search on Swami
...Discovered a random Tweet that linked to a high-profile trust with a wonderful vision for the future...like the one I was dreaming of when I wrote the post!

The horse has been led to the water (on a Social Media leash)....is it thirsty enough to stop and drink rather than focus on running its usual race and be left high but dry (Pun intended. No, I don't mean high and dry)?

Power Capsules

Visited the Ramakrishna Math in Ulsoor (Bangalore) for the new year last week. It was quite, not unexpectedly, crowded. Though I generally prefer sitting there in solitude and silence, it was a visit that I am thrilled about. Ask me why! :-) Primarily because I discovered a lot of new books at the Math's book-shop.

One of the books I picked up is called "Power Capsules" and comprises short and inspiring thoughts by Swami Vivekananda. Simply awesome stuff. Believe me. I am in total awe of Swami V all over again! There's an electrifying power in his words...enough to charge a billion people to start with. I can't imagine how powerful it may have been to hear him live! As I read the book, I couldn't help but wonder why we're not making it compulsory for school students to read his works. I think every school-going kid must be introduced to Swami V's thoughts and ideas. My mind jumps with joy at the very thought of what a wonderful influence and experience that will turn out to be for the kids. The sooner they get to know him, the better. I have no doubts that it will lead them on to a brave and constructive life. (Wonder if the Ramakrishna Mission schools make it compulsory for their students to read the Mission's literature. Would be a joy to observe the influence that it has on the kids studying there).


Sample this from the book "Power Capsules": "Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library"

"Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvellous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the cause of all our woes and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment"

"We need to have three things: the heart to feel, the brain to conceive, the hand to work. Make yourself a dynamo...If you are pure, if you are strong, you, one man, are equal to the whole world."

I think I'll share more in my subsequent posts......if this post doesn't motivate you to go around and look for books by one of the most charismatic and inspiring people I've ever come across.

2009 is Mine...!

Steve Goodier says, on his blog:

That all-too-quotable Yogi Berra once said, "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." (I think that happened to me once.)

But even if you know where you want to end up, do you REALLY WANT to be there? I'm not talking about traveling now, but where we're going with our lives. Is the dream you are following really that important to you?

Most people are not lazy. They simply have uninspiring goals. They don't accomplish what they set out to do because they lose interest. The dream they are following is simply not that important to them.

………..And that goes for anything that is truly important to us. If we want something badly enough, we will find necessary energy, excitement and drive to grasp it.

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Wow! That strikes a familiar chord. Two things I’ll certainly focus on in 2009. Sometimes, it feels like there’s no point waiting for a new year to revisit things and start a fresh journey….it must be a constant endeavour after all and not an emotion locked away till January. But, then, a New Year is still a great occasion to explore such a thing if one has been lackadaisical and unmotivated even if only for a few weeks before January. It is good to capitalize on the positive energy that floats around across the globe at the start of the New Year and use it to identify or pursue one’s vision with renewed vigor.

What do you really want from life? I guess the best way to find that out is to indulge in silence and introspection. I think it is important to not get stuck to a passing thought that created itself purely due to social influence and does not mean anything at a personal level. As far as dreams are concerned, the most important thing about them must be their origin – from one’s own soul uninfluenced by the constraints imposed by society and expectations from others.

Once you discover what you want, you simply must dream big. You must allow the vision and dream to inspire you. You must ask for it, believe that you will get it and then be ready to receive it - Thanks to the book, “The Secret” for this wonderful idea! :-)

I guess one of the best ways to be sure that you know what you REALLY want is to observe if it really lends you energy, excitement and drive! Paradoxical…but I think I am right. :-)

Let’s hope 2009 delivers. Let’s hope it is magical, full of miracles and proves to us that nothing is impossible!

As Jack Addington so wonderfully says, “It's a law of the mind that which you can conceive of, believe in, and confidently expect for yourself, must necessarily become your experience.”

DREAM – Dare to Dream, Be sure you’ll Realize it, Expect the world to give it to you, Ask the world to be your partner, Master the process and fulfill your potential – Leave the world a better place, share your dream with others but let them pursue theirs.

Recalling a related post from the past - http://nirmala-km.blogspot.com/2008/01/power-of-strong-emotion.html