Individuality, Freedom, Human Potential

I am extremely passionate about the subject of parenting and believe it is a very critical thing to be understood and practiced if we are looking to ensure a wonderful future for our world. (Children, after all, are the future of this world). I also associate this topic with nurturing one's individuality, fulfilling one's mission and potential and, finally, leading a happy and peaceful life. Parents who do not understand any of this are hampering a growing human's individuality, freedom and potential. So, it is not surprising that I like this post from DailyOm, on parenting. 




*********************************** Extract ***************************************


Living for Ourselves
Trying to Please Others

We don't need to live seeking approval from our parents or others; this can be overcome no matter what your age.

Most of us come to a point in our lives when we question why we are doing what we are doing, and many of us come to realize that we may be living our lives in an effort to make our parents happy. This realization can dawn when we are in our 20s, our 40s, or even later, depending upon how tight a hold our family of origin has on our psyche. We may feel shocked or depressed by this information, but we can trust that it is coming to us at this time because we are ready to find out what it would mean to live our lives for ourselves, following the call of our own soul, and refusing any longer to be beholden to someone else’s expectations. 

One of the most common reasons we are so tied into making our parents, or others, happy, is that we were not properly mirrored when we were children. We were not honored as individuals in our own right, with a will and purpose of our own, to be determined by our own unfolding. As a result, we learned to look outside of ourselves for approval, support, and direction rather than look within. The good news is that the part of us that was not adequately nurtured is still there, inside us, like a seed that has not yet received the sunlight and moisture it needs to open and to allow its inner contents to unfurl. It is never too late to provide ourselves with what we need to awaken this inner being. 


There are many ways to create a safe container for ourselves so that we can turn within and shine the light of awareness there. We may join a support group, go to therapy, or start a practice of journaling every day for half an hour. This experience of becoming is well worth the difficult work that may be required of us to get there. In whatever process we choose, we may feel worse before we feel better, but we will ultimately find out how to live our lives for ourselves and how to make ourselves happy.


**************************************************************************************


If you have any experiences to share, please do leave a comment. I'd be thrilled to share this post and the comments with people who need to understand this.

ICKM - October 2010

My key observations from the ICKM conference this year (October, 2010) - A mindmap summary. Hope some of it, at least, is self-explanatory!

Birth of Ideas

Seth Godin's post on a topic that you thought you knew everything about leaves you thinking again.


My favorites from Seth's list:


*************************************************

• Ideas don't come from watching television (Is everyone listening? ;-))
• Ideas often come while reading a book (Of course!)
• Ideas occur when dissimilar universes collide (Always!)
• Ideas often strive to meet expectations. If people expect them to appear, they do (Love this!)
• Ideas come from our ego, and they do their best when they're generous and selfless (Aww!)
• Ideas come from nature (These are bound to be great!)
• An idea must come from somewhere, because if it merely stays where it is and doesn't join us here, it's hidden. And hidden ideas don't ship, have no influence, no intersection with the market. They die, alone. (KM...what else?)

You are How your Brain is Wired

This is actually stuff some of us have already read about and are familiar with. But, nevertheless, this person is a great speaker and the experiment they're engaged in is fascinating. 

Happy Monday, Folks

Source: gocomics.com

Perspectives

What was Sherlock's purpose in life?

To solve mysteries or save lives?

What was Mozart's purpose in life?

To make music or mesmerize people?

What was Picasso's purpose in life?

To paint pictures or present perspectives?

What was Wodehouse's purpose in life?

To write well or wallop us with his wit and words of joy?

What was Einstein's purpose in life?

To elucidate the Universe or excite us with God's secrets?

What was Gandhi's purpose in life?

To go the unconventional way or gain freedom for a nation?

Big Mouth

This one makes me guffaw.

Source: gocomics.com

Guest Posts on the Cognitive Edge Blog

I had the opportunity to guest post for a couple of weeks on the Cognitive Edge blog. Here are the links to my guest posts. Please note that many of these are repeat posts from this blog.


Some ideas from ICKM


Talent Reality Shows and Organizational Learning (repeat post)


Knowledge Management Gaps (ICKM)


Basic Laws of Human Stupidity


Hiring a CKO (repeat post)


KM Strategies (repeat post)


KM and Murder Mysteries  (repeat post)

S h a r e

I bet the world's progress as well as miseries - both - can be easily linked to the sharing of thoughts and ideas. Sharing is essential and noble but it must be a highly conscious and thoughtful effort. The people who don't share are perhaps not thinking enough or, simply, don't care enough. On second thoughts, they may be so distracted by the potential consequences of sharing - brickbats or bouquets - that they forget to share.

Analyze Less...Annoy Less

I bet that analyzing and judging people* is almost always an un-worthwhile (is it still cool to prefix an un to the words you know and use it wherever you need the opposite of that word? :-)) and more importantly a disastrous endeavor. I am convinced that either your conclusions (impulsive or otherwise) will turn out to be wrong or your starting point(s) itself will be wrong, which again will lead you astray. People are simply meant to be trusted and respected...and understood*. At worst, perhaps ignored when they turn out to be consistently mysterious in a way you are unable (that's a valid "un" word) to appreciate. Give what you can. Control, nevertheless, your own expectations. Complain less.


*To analyze and judge a person is a process that does not really involve her. To understand a person is a process that actively involves her.

The Theory of Truth

Here I am....er...with another weird theory.  This one though is, ironically, called the theory of truth. Not sure if western philosophy and religion emphasize on the search for and discovery of the truth but eastern religions, literature and manuscripts have, I think, numerous references to the concept of 'looking for the truth' (think Buddha and Enlightenment or Nirvana).

Here is my take on the reflection of this in society at large. I reckon you can decipher a person's approach towards the concept of truth from her 'overall' (what can be consistently observed in the majority of situations) behavior. One's approach towards the concept of truth, I think, has enormous (& critically so) implications on behavior in terms of values and ethical thoughts, personal and professional decisions, relationships and learning.

Here are some approaches (to truth) that may be the cause for certain common or uncommon (useful or useless, appreciated or unappreciated, successful or unsuccessful etc) traits in people.

a) An approach that involves constantly going in search of the truth but never seeming to reach it (fickle minded and indecisive but open-minded people?)

b) Belief that we already know the 'permanent' truth (supreme exhibitors of confidence and rigid/inflexible thinkers?)

c) Belief that there is no such thing as the 'truth' and that everything is perception (happy-go-lucky, adjusting and somewhat frivolous characters?)

d) Conviction that the truth is constantly evolving and is therefore not actually chase-able (open-minded, humble and intense listeners who never criticize anything?) 

Having proposed my theory of truth, I'd like to stray a bit into a related area. I think truth (irrespective of whether it is permanent or temporary) becomes elusive and hard to get to because of the following fallacies that almost every human shows.

1. Assumptions: How much ever we are asked and trained to not assume things, we will continue to assume things based on our knowledge (or rather ignorance), beliefs, intentions etc and this will keep us away from the truth (eg: assuming a particular thing to be the purpose of an activity)

2. Face value acceptance: How much ever we are taught to look deeper, question everything and analyze things from a neutral standpoint, we will continue to arrive at  conclusions based on face value and thus be mislead to a place far away from the truth (eg: believing what someone says without probing further and studying other sides or aspects of the story)

3. Ignoring differences in definitions: How much ever we are reminded that each person's definition (understanding and interpretation) of a term or concept is likely to be different from others' definitions, we plunge into things with the blind belief that we are all on the same page and have a common understanding and interpretation of the aspects under discussion  

Righto. I am perhaps done with my quota of pure and meaningless philosophy for the next one year. But if you want to ramble along, go ahead and assume things, accept this at face value and ignore our definition differences and rattle off your thoughts. Har har. :-)