Concentration...

Eknath Easwaran's blog: - http://www.easwaran.org/thoughts/15/1

When one is rising, standing, walking, doing something, stopping, one should constantly concentrate one’s mind on the act and the doing of it, not on one’s relation to the act, or its character or value. . . . One should simply practice concentration of the mind on the act itself. – Ashvaghosha

There is a close connection between deep concentration and love, and with the practice of one-pointed attention we can greatly increase the precious capacity to remain loving and loyal no matter what the vicissitudes or circumstances we encounter.

We can practice this one-pointedness throughout the day by doing one thing at a time, and giving our full attention to whatever we are doing. While having breakfast, for example, we can give our complete attention to the food and not to the newspaper. If we are listening to a friend, even if a parrot flies down and perches on his head, we should not get excited, point to the parrot, and burst out, “Excuse me for interrupting, but there’s a bird on your head.” We should be able to concentrate so hard on what our friend is saying that we can tell this urge, “Don’t distract me. Afterwards, I’ll tell him about the parrot.”

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Makes me wonder. The world we live in today believes multi-tasking is an essential 'skill'. Information glut leaves us with very few options but to be distracted by information coming at us from every possible direction. Interruptions arise from almost everything around us - phone, email, messages, web alerts and what not. So, where are we headed?

KM News for the Niece...

I can't stop wondering how almost every other conversation I have with a young niece or a nephew (of which I have many) is either enlightening or hilarious or, well, amusing. You might consider me lucky in this regard....or maybe you could take into consideration that it is a good idea for an adult to let herself become vulnerable when having conversations with children. Being seen as vulnerable by children allows them to open up, be bold and speak their mind. They propose the weirdest of ideas without batting an eyelid and if you play along, you may very well end up being influenced and inspired enough to contemplate turning your life upside down/changing the course of your life. As you can see, I am getting carried away. I'll stop myself and get back on track; come back to the purpose of this post. It is to describe a conversation that may not have been life-altering but it nevertheless provided me with food for thought.

So, it all started with this little telephonic discussion that I was to have with a cousin and her daughter, my 10-year-old niece. My niece is normally busy watching Tom and Jerry or one of the other cartoon shows and rarely finds the time to talk with me. If she does find the time for a quick chat, we limit ourselves to our respective experiences of a particular Tom and Jerry episode - which is a common area of interest. This time around, she apparently had a lot of time for me and in the bargain I discovered her ability to drill people down to the components of their soul.

The conversation, right from the time it began, was, er, largely controlled by her. She started with a series of questions and continued with many more series of questions that had me exercising my lethargic weekend brain cells more than I'd have otherwise been capable of. I was caught unawares but went on to answer her questions like my life depended on it (I wonder if she was able to appreciate that though). Sometimes the questions were a lot faster than I could handle. Her Mother, meanwhile, was (I heard later) wringing her hands, sighing and hoping that there would be a day when the phone would be passed on to her.

One of the key portions of the, er, interview was when my niece questioned me about my work. Now, this isn't new to any KMer worth her salt, spice or sugar. Every KMer I know has wondered at some time or the other about how she ought to explain KM to her Mother, Grandmother, Child, Aunt's Sister-in-law and other such near and dear relatives. Coming to how I fared in this particular context, despite the fact that I'd never ever rehearsed it, I was glad I did not draw a blank.

The first question was "So what do you do? What kind of a job are you on?"

I said "Knowledge Manager" with as much dignity as possible

The next question was the inevitable one. "What does that mean? What exactly do you have to do?"

I pulled out a random answer that presented itself to me at that moment "I help people in my office learn"

I thought she sniggered but it must have been my fertile imagination. "But people in organizations are all educated!"

I smiled what I assumed to be a wise smile "No...employees need to keep learning. They need to be told to learn. More than you children are asked to"

She seemed stuck on the previous point "But the employees' bosses will not employ them unless they know most of the things they need to know"

I furrowed my eyebrows and said "Even bosses need to learn"

She retorted "And you? What about you?"

I had to stifle a laugh before answering that one. "Me too..."

I thought she would pause here and consider the complexities of making a person like me learn...but nothing seemed to stop her. She was a rolling juggernaut and I was a poor but inviting object on her path.
"Aah...so you help your organization learn, do you?"

"Yes....I help them learn...!" I don't know what she would have said if I'd not continued but I'd like to think I had a narrow escape. "When you have some homework or assignments to do at School, what do you do? You check out the books, or surf the internet, or ask your parents or maybe get together with your friends for a discussion. Right?"

She murmered in agreement "Mmmmm"

I went on with a satisfied expression (unjustified, I admit) on my face "Well, we make it possible for folks in our organization to do something similar while at work...we make knowledge available to them, connect them with people who can answer their questions etc!"

I don't know if I imagined it but she seemed quite satisfied that I was doing something worthwhile at office. While one part of me wanted to grind the whole thing into powder and get further down into the details and show her I meant business, another part of me knew it would be suicidal- "You should be glad she is happy with this answer", this second, wiser, part told me. Better senses prevailed and I paused for a few seconds, which naturally led my niece to pose another series of questions about other areas of my blighted life. I answered them all. Every single one of them. My cousin, much later, wanted to know if I'd like her daughter to be the author of my biography (after which she, unnecessarily, added "Not that she'd make any money out of it though!").

Pi-a-thetic in a way....

I just finished reading Life of Pi. Knowing that it was a book about the adventures of a boy and a tiger, I was hugely looking forward to it for two reasons - I love animals and I was reminded of the similarity between the protagonists of the story and my favorite cartoon strip, Calvin and Hobbes. Even as I started reading it, I was quite sure I'd enjoy it. But...I was not completely right.

Let me not beat around the bush....I definitely think it's an extraordinary book. Three things I'll never forget about the book - for the right reasons - the author's wacky sense of humor, his unique and creative use of language in certain parts of the book and nuggets of spiritual wisdom (both hidden and obvious). But I could not, unfortunately, enjoy the book. The reason why I couldn't is something I may never forget but would like to - It is the description of the protagonist's (Pi's) isolated days in the Sea which is what forms the heart (and most) of the book. Being a pure Veggie and an animal lover, I found it utterly gross and gory to read the descriptions of how the Hyena ate up the rest of the animals on the boat and how Pi himself survived later (I don't feel like recalling anything of that bit of the book). And I'd also secretly expected to read a story of a supernatural friendship between the tiger and Pi (C&H's influence, perhaps), which was not really the case.....

I am almost certain that any Veggie or animal lover is bound to skip many chapters of the book in order to avoid reading the gory details of what and how Pi fed himself. So, that's that. Before I got to the chapter where Pi's story gets quite gross, I had a highlighter with which I colored sentences that were brilliant (for the language or for the spiritual message)....but I later ended up jumping paragraphs just to avoid reading things that would have definitely disturbed my mind and stomach. I think I let this fear dominate my intentions to extract the brilliance out of the book for most parts of it. I could hardly take these portions out of my mind and concentrate on the underlying thoughts and messages as most of the book was anyway about Pi's experiences in the Sea. What an extraordinary story of faith, intelligence and determination. But somewhat wasted on me. Sad but true.

Any contradictory views or thoughts to make me realize I could have chosen to have a different kind of experience? Any points that you'd like to share with me so I can salvage some effort that went into finishing the book?

ReNEWal...

Found a link to this article in my twitter network. There were too many tweets to keep track of this morning...around 600 odd, to be precise. Thanks to the Oscar and Slumdog Millionaire mania. So, I just managed to click on some of the links accompanying the tweets and then ended up impulsively clearing my overwhelming tweet list - thus making it difficult for me to trace the link back to the appropriate tweets/tweeple. Apologies for not being able to mention the names of the folks who shared this link...! :-|

Weekly Updates as Blog Posts....

Why would it to be good for organizations to make use of blogs as a substitute for weekly reports and updates? Imagine how much of a difference it would make:

1. Search would be possible (No need to look through email folders and worry about misplaced emails or lost emails)
2. Tags would make it easier for people to locate updates related to a particular activity
3. When the employee or her manager leaves, the new person who takes over will have a wonderful record of the project's history and milestones/challenges etc!
4. Would be easy to invite third parties to take a look at project progress when the need arises

Why Should I Share?

I found some time this morning to catch up with KM discussions on the Indian K-Community website. Got into a responding spree and added my thoughts to quite a few conversations I came across. One amusing thing about KM is that we do tend to go back to fundamental questions time and again...Web 2.0 and its ilk can wait.

A question that employees often ask is: "Why should I share? What will I get out of it? What's in it for me?"

Here's what I put together to respond to that question:

1. When you share, you actually learn! Because you are forced to be sure of what you need to share. You can't talk/write about something you are not sure of. Well, you can still voice your thoughts and confusions, but that's in a different context. A lot of people go ahead and bravely commit themselves to writing papers or making presentations because they end up learning during the process of teaching! If you want to learn something, then try sharing/teaching it with/to or mentoring someone.

2. The cosmic law of give and take says you only get as much as you give!

3. People who share are generally well-recognized, appreciated and respected.

4. It's only when you share what you know that the world will even realize that you know something. An expert is never a person who sits quietly in a corner, away from the rest of the world. An expert is one who communicates, interacts, learns, and shares! She is one who lets the world know that she knows as well as is willing to learn and evolve.

5. Leadership involves sharing, mentoring, and engaging others. KM, in a way, is the foundation for leadership! Someone who goes up the corporate ladder is, more often than not, someone who has taught others, learned from others, shared with others and engaged with others.

6. Sharing with others, as a leader, means you are making others capable of acting (empowering them) which in turn means the efficiency of the overall team goes up. Improved efficiency means a much easier life for everyone. After all, we want life to be easy and great and success in today's world is more of a collective parameter than an individual one.

7. Organizations that are known for collaboration and sharing are known to have lower employee attrition because there is a strong sense of belonging and higher employee satisfaction!

Randomish

You may not be ready to indulge in pure Gibberish, but you could possibly try this. Discovered the link in one of the mails I received this morning. I'd imagine that it'll be quite entertaining to try it with a Wodehouse book or a C&H book.

A Potential Recipe for Success

Downturns are when employee morale is likely to be at an all-time low. I think this is the time when organizations should create and use communities to engage employees in some conceptual thinking, meaningful internal projects and some long-term ideas (on business operations, strategic objectives, process improvements, tackling the downturn etc)!

I have a strong belief that people who have a sense of belonging and go the extra mile to contribute to the organization are likely to be the ones forming a strong and passionate community. And positive energy from such people, inevitably, rubs off.....leading to a happier environment! :-)

'Good' communities, in short, have the wherewithal to handle adversity. Ergo, I am inclined to think that KM programs must focus on creating and establishing communities in the current scenario. They can surely supply the motivation and ideas needed to chug along...

Gangad Jokloz Yomosh?

I am not really sure exactly when it started or for that matter, how it all started off (Something tells me I'd make a very poor historian). It must have perhaps been an accidental innovation that was derived out of some normal slip of the tongue talk. Anyways, all I remember is that it all started while I was in School. My sibling and I let our tongues roll and move in every imaginable direction and uttered some meaningless 'words' at the rate of 120 per minute and gradually thought it was a cool thing to do. (For example - Tumbliko jhodu makaram kloti umbrasta hikas dinga dunga takka pikir rokol gushti ambala eli wotta qot dishu polim and so forth) A common friend and often mute spectator was not sure what to do and how to react but did give us the feeling that she, however, found it quite hilarious. So, it became some sort of a habit to kill time. When we ran out of topics to discuss on the way back home from School, Gibberish would come to the rescue. It was the only language we knew which let us express emptiness but with random emotions. The only language before speaking which we did not have to think. The only language that let us concentrate on emoting rather than making sense or being understood.

Everything in life has to evolve. So, we also invented a variation wherein we would sprinkle Gibberish with strategically placed English words and phrases that could be strung together (connected) to give the listener the feeling that we definitely had a message to convey. Thus, we went on to occasionally practice Gibberish for a few years in School. But I am not sure we were famous for it.

And then, our priorities in life changed. We had to learn to handle the real world gibberish...

The 'tumbliko's and the 'gopol's and all the other absolutely innovative words we concocted out of nowhere were not to be heard for a long time. (But , as some of my friends would interrupt to say, I guess I did continue to entertain people with slips of the tongue.) I resorted to Gibberish only when with kids, who, I discovered, for some reason enjoyed it immensely.

On my first job, two friends who were equally excited about Gibbersih joined forces and we had some serious Gibberish conversations at tea time. Another friend who was ignorant about the context and our 'wicked' ways, heard us having one such conversation and was convinced that it was a valid foreign language. She immediately wanted to know what language it was and we played along and challenged her to find out. After a few days, she gave up and asked us to name the language. So, I told her the truth. And guess what? She was not convinced at all. She refused to believe us and told us she was not happy we were not telling her which language it was. Moreover, she wanted us to teach her the language as well. We continued trying to prove that we were telling the truth and, trust me, it took us a long time and one desperate dialogue to finally convince her. But she never managed to learn Gibberish. Her tongue was too disciplined to slip into meaningless talk.

That's that. Anytime in life, as long as you are not too conscious about appearing like a mature adult, indulging in Gibberish can be real fun. But it can get you in difficult situations as well. Consider what happened to me. A neice calls up when I am busy in a meeting at office and says "Nimmy Aunty, can you please talk rubbish talk?" You must be well equipped to handle such public embarassments as well. Don't tell me I did not warn you.

And, if you have a pet (especially Dogs) at home, rest assured that they will completly understand every single word of the Gibbersih language as long as you back it up with appropriate expressions and actions.

If you're looking at other important ways in which you can use Gibberish, here is another idea - it could be one way of saying "This discussion is over!" when you're with people who are unwilling to wrap up a one-sided conversation. Use just 4 Gibberish words of your choice, say it loud, emphasise every word and sound as stern as possible. You get the idea? If they don't, just get up and walk after you've delivered your statement.

Finally, you could even aim to be a better human being by replacing all the four letter words in your lexicon with brand new inimitable Gibberish words that could be equally relieving while not embarrassing others. :-) This idea is, btw, not my original...it is borrowed and is based on best practice from Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin's Dad, of all the people.

Cartoon strip from www.gocomics.com - Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

OK. Gangad Jokloz Yomosh? Jikalo Tikalo Ringa Binga Amuso Blah!

No Kidding...

No kidding! :-) This is a brilliant example of paradox thinking..! (In other - Hindi - words, kya bath hai!*) Calvin's certainly one of the most insightful kids I've ever come across. A few days back, I pondered over my lack of paradox thinking and wondered why I have not even observed it happening around me (which I normally do). So, this is intellectual Manna from Heaven..

A perfect weekend post as far as I am concerned. ;-) Warning: Do not try to imitate Calvin. And don't ever show it to your doggy if you have one - when push comes to shove, your doggy is bound to recall this gem of an idea while you yourself are likely to have forgotten it altogether.

*kya bath hai - Hindi exclamation that reflects appreciation of something!

Cartoon Strip sourced from - www.gocomics.com

Come Unity

Have you read this one before? Emphasis mine...

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Liz Strauss - (Update: I had no clue that this is actually a blog post by Liz as I received it via Email from one of the forums/email lists that I am a member of. But thanks to Google and the Internet...Liz found this post and has brought it to my notice while thanking me for sharing it with the readers here. So, here is the link to the original blog post - http://www.successful-blog.com/1/the-top-10-ways-to-start-living-your-life/ - Her blog has a whole lot more such wonderful thoughts and inspiring write-ups! You may want to check them all out... :-))

Life — it's what we do between the time we get here and when we go. We only get one, and despite what other folks might suppose, it's ours to determine what to do with it. We don't measure life in hours and minutes. We measure life in memories and moments. What do you think of when you read this sentence? "It was the time of my life." We don't say that often enough. Life either happens to us, or we take hold of life and live it. Here are 10 ways start living your life.

1. Give yourself permission to claim your life. You're the only one who can decide you're in charge of your life. Turn off the editors, the "shoulds, have tos, and musts", and the rules that didn't come from you.
2. Define what living means to you. Picture yourself at the end of your life looking back. What words would you want to describe how you lived and who you are?
3. Stop living in the future. Every time you think "when I have time I will," stop. Ask yourself, "Why not now?" Choose your life every morning.
4. Surround yourself with people who enjoy living. They've obviously discovered how to have live. Why not hang with the pros?
5. Lay down your pain and your anger. Carrying them around makes living harder and less fun. It doesn't bring anything, and it steals a lot.
6. Let the other guy win. Don't argue about things that you don't care about. Unless there's a threat, let folks prove what they need to prove. Why waste living time trying to fix what doesn't matter?
7. Create energy. Jump to forgiveness and love, then figure things out. Most conclusions we imagine are both wrong and negative. Negative conclusions lead us to prepare a defense. Being defensive isn't living. It's hiding from life.
8. Learn the physical symptoms of when your head and heart become disconnected. We know when we're behaving badly. Key into to how it feels physically. Know the symptoms, and you can stop the behavior. Living will feel safer because you won't be shooting yourself in the foot.
9. Take small risks that push your boundaries in every way. When we stretch just a bit intellectually, physically, emotionally, we grow. Living is growing. Even our cells know that.
10. Value and protect the people and places you care about. Let the people you care about come first, and let everyone know that you do. Re-read numbers 1 and 2.

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I just went and lost my cool this morning, raised my voice and argued aggressively with a team member. It was a cumulative expression of pent up anger and frustration. But, the silly thing that I am, the timing was absolutely inappropriate....enough to perhaps make the opposite party wonder whether it is time to refer me to a good doctor. I think I do best when I have energetic and enthusiastic people around me...people who want to be the best at what they do and are extremely passionate about and have a strong sense of purpose in what they're doing. Sometimes I can perhaps be such a source - rub it off on others - but at other times it is a fuel I look forward to from others. No wonder communities are so important - communities are a realization of the fact that one person cannot perpetually create magic. Being a part of a community mostly made up of people who are capable of taking turns to create magic and supply positive energy can make all the difference in the world. Blessed are the organizations that have even one such community...!

Does that sound like an irrelevant rant in the context of this post? Could be....but some of the points above help me recover from my silly mood. :-))) The tags are going to be funny - Life and Communities - or maybe not!? :-)

Handling the Hippo

Ahem! I am back...! :-) Thanks to all of you who left comments/messages on my recent posts. It is nicer to be back when you know you have friends waiting to hobnob with you! :-) So...in true Wodehouse style, Tinkerty tonk to you and all that rot!.....What ho?...I hear you're here!....How have things been? etc You can take your pick.

My break was both good and bad...or should I say, good and challenging? Irrespective of all that, breaks are more good than otherwise. And coming back home is also equally good. I'd like to have a cheerful disposition towards everything around....you see!

As expected, coming back to work after a break is always overwhelming. The backlog looks like a huge Hippo waiting with an equally huge - no, proportionate is more like it, eh? - and open mouth. I must allow myself to be 'swallowed' (or consumed?) by the backlog rather than loiter around and let the illusion of the Hippo linger on too long for comfort. It may start snorting for all I know. Hippo snorts are not that pleasing, as you may be aware! Speaking of which, I mentioned several drinks of water and deep breathing as my primary occupation during the break...but I must admit that I did neither. On the other hand, I probably feasted like the huge Hippo I speak of, above, in the metaphoric sense.....whenever the opportunity presented itself to me and I was in a mood to let the stomach rule.

I guess this post's only intention is to let you know that I hope to be back with a worthwhile tidbit or thought once I settle down and have handled the Hippo. Here I go....ZOOm...! ;-)

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

2 (:-) (:-) 9

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Folks! :-)

MAY GOD BLESS YOU WITH HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY! MAY YOU SMILE MORE! MAY YOU ALWAYS BE HAPPY!

MAY YOU GET CLOSER TO YOUR LIFE'S VISION AND ......ACHIEVE MANY MORE OF YOUR OBJECTIVES THIS YEAR!

MAY YOU SPREAD HAPPINESS, ENTHUSIASM, ENERGY AND POSITIVE THOUGHTS! MAY YOU LAUGH MORE, LOVE MORE AND LEARN MORE!

HALLELUJAH! :-)

and of course....the MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE OF ALL - MILLIONS OF MAD, MERRY MONKEYS ON A MYSTERIOUS MISSION! ;-)

Communication and KM

Not bad. I am finally beginning to make good (on second thoughts, it should be "some" instead of "good"!) progress with the KM initiative. An application that's a lot better and effective as compared to the previous one. A newsletter. A blog. And now...a micro-blogging platform! Yeah! Going to be positive and will hope for the best. I think utilizing every possible communication channel that is available, is very critical for the success of any KM initiative! :-) Wish me luck!

ISPIM - Innovation Symposium

OK. I've finally managed to resurface into Blogosphere. Do you see me now? I've not been hiding but I've been running hither and thither. Whoever said "You can run but you cannot hide" had a brilliant brain. (Give me a teeny weeny opportunity to make an out of the context statement and be sure I'll grab it with both my hands! ;-])

Righto! I am sure you're waiting for the real story now. I was off to torture people at the Innovation Symposium conducted by ISPIM in collaboration with the Singapore Management University. I presented an idea that has been brewing in my mind for more than a year now. The idea revolves around establishing random connections between the employees of an organization to promote innovation. At a minimum level, I believe the implementation of the idea is likely to usher in a sense of belonging in the employee and help her understand how the organization works...by understanding the various parts of the organization and then connecting the dots to make out what the big picture looks like. When I conceived the idea, I was hardly familiar with Twitter. In retrospect, I believe that this idea will find a new form if implemented on a tool like Twitter.

While at the symposium, I came across three key ideas that I found to be fascinating!

- Phantom Innovation - It was a study by two people from Sweden on inventions that solved a problem/challenge not originally meant to be solved by that particular invention. In other words, innovations that found accidental use in other unrelated areas. Not surprisingly, this paper won an award.
- Bionics - This one isn't really new. Product development inspired by nature! The imitation/emulation of nature's ideas. A car that looks like a Box Fish, a structure that resembles a spider's web and so forth. I have been fascinated by Biomimicry ever since I first read about it a few years back. In fact, I've been looking to buy the book by Janine Benyus but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere in Bangalore! :-(
- Blue Ocean Strategy - I got to go through a workshop that provided us with practical tools to enable people to use the concepts of Blue Ocean Strategy for innovation.

And then there were other familiar and yet exciting tidbits like studies to establish a link between KM and Innovation. I was thrilled to find that a lot of Innovation professionals were gravitating towards studies on collaboration and collective thinking. There was, as expected, a lot of talk about communities and wikis in the context of innovation.

One another interesting aspect of the conference was a very large representation from the Nordic countries like Finland, Spain, Netherlands, Austria...the countries that stand tall in the worldwide Innovation Index! Overall, it was the first ever time I got to see such a diverse set of Europeans all in one place!

Also, even though I tried very hard not to go on adding to my collection of unread books, I simply couldn't control the urge to pick up a book during the trip - Uncommon Wisdom by Fritjof Capra. Eager to read it. Will probably replace another book in my "Next 3 books to read" list.

Cha(llen)nge

From Dave Pollard's blog: I love this list on Change Management....(emphasis mine)

1. Communities are the basis for change, and what they need more than anything now is excellent stewardship. Facilitators, please stand up.

2. The great value of networks is that they enable groups of people to organize, collaborate, do the work each is best at, and share the work needed to bring about the change, and then show others its value.

3. Change has to start with an identified need, not with a good idea. Generally, we only change when we must. Listen for needs.

4. We need to create safe places to explore and work on bold ideas. Skunkworks can often accomplish more than large amounts of funding.

5. Change, like great research, begins with asking important questions, and provoking respondents to self-change instead of trying to persuade or impose it.

6. To bring about change, be prepared to work with people, listen and understand what works and what is important for them, and engage them in ways they see value in and relate to. And be totally, brutally honest about what you don't know, aren't sure about, or difficulties in the path of desired change. And stay open to other ideas and concerns.

7.If you want to accomplish great change, give up the idea of getting the credit for it.

8. Experiment. The best, profound changes come from masses of iterative learning and exploration of possibilities.

9. Create the starting conditions for momentum, enthusiasm, sufficient resources, the right people, and don't worry about outcomes.

10. Make it easy. When you make it easier to change, to do the right thing, it will succeed more quickly and profoundly than if it requires a lot of work from every person.

D(e)ad Funny!

OMG! How cheeky! :-D ROFL! This little boy is the most adorable genius I've ever come across...! Not sure if his dad would agree...what with such a "topsy-turvy" relationship (pun intended)! ;-) Believe me...the third box had me clutching my stomach! 

PS: Cartoonist: Bill Watterson. Pic sourced from ucomics.com

Influence

"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." - Jim Rohn

Do you agree? And if you do, do you find yourself changing as you change your friends or shift from one place to another (office, city, school, neighbourhood)?

NonZenZzzz

I think....my blogging frequency has, perhaps, taken a beating primarily because of my increased activity on twitter. If twitter lets me get everything off my head and share links with fellow tweeple in a jiffy, I am not going to spend a lot of time thinking about writing multiple pages on the same topic, on my blog. Will I? Unless I am not very occupied at work and/or the topic demands a lot more energy from me.

On the positive side, this means that my meaningless statements remain just that - short statements - on twitter. Statements not more than 140 characters in length. They don't get transformed into meaningless and endless posts. So, while my twitter friends have to go through the agony of reading the statements, the blog-friends (who don't follow me on twitter. clever folks, these. the others happen to be clever but suicidal) live in the bliss of ignorance. This, I realize, may improve the overall reputation of my blog (Ha! I find that so funny), for most of my impulsive remarks are going to go to twitter alone. Provided I am not so bored that I have another impulsive urge to elaborate on them in the blog. (which is what I am doing now) Provided I show my brighter side on the blog. (which is what I am not doing now.) I know. I am elaborating on nothing in particular. And there's nothing bright about this post except that it will soon be over.

Actually, you know what? I think I know what is happening. I may be using blogspot's shoulder to shoot at twitter. Bullets though are made of feather. Meant to just tickle the damn tool. My way of telling twitter that it can't prevent me from expressing my character in more than 140 characters or even 140 words as long as I am on my blog.

I am almost done. It'll be over soon. It's just that I want to follow all my thoughtful posts with thoughtless ones and vice versa. I find it amusing to oscillate between thoughtfulness and thoughtlessness. It's like playing the swing and covering the entire path rather than staying only on top and risking a fall or continuously dragging one's feet across the ground. Take both the heady highs and the down-to-earth lows, if you ask me. The highs let me see the whole and dream of conquering life while the lows let me see life as it happens....and come face to face with it. Wipe off your tears now. I am quite done. I did contemplate keeping this post in the drafts folder forever and protecting myself from your wrath but I guess I am too sleepy to think so much. I promise to write the next post when I am fully awake. As I get ready to click the 'Publish Post' button, I have a vague feeling that I am doing something akin to jumping off a tall building. Please spread the net....

PS: A blog-friend had earlier commented on one of my posts tagged as Nonsense and encouraged me as he saw a flavour of Zen in Nonsense. I thank him for the inspiration. I just realized it would be excellent to combine my sleepy mood, zen and nonsense into one word for the title.

Ashoka

I discovered an interesting and inspiring website (actually, organization) today.

www.ashoka.org - An organization that identifies, sponsors and encourages social entrepreneurs. I, obviously, looked up the Indian section and was thrilled to read about a whole lot of passionate and intelligent people going after their idea(s) to make our country a better place! Why don't we get to read more about such people in the papers or watch their interviews on TV? That, by itself, can inspire many more of us to get out of the mundane lives we lead and think beyond our monthly-paycheck.

PreSENSE!

It's been a week since I finished reading the book, "Presence" by Peter Senge and co. Finally managed to collate most of the thoughts that either reinforced my own beliefs and ideas, or gave me fresh food for thought, opened my eyes to aspects I've not been aware of so far, and gave me inspiration. This is going to be a looooong but very interesting post...! If you're a person that enjoys the kind of thinking that the book engages in, you may not really need to set aside a lot of time to read this post. You will find yourself too deeply engrossed to worry about the time :-)

The book is very unique and one of its kind. The core aspect of the book, in my view, is about the collective awakening to the purpose of mankind as a whole and each individual in it. It encourages both a solitude-based and collective-thought-based approach towards realizing where we are, what we are doing, and what we need to do. I see it to be an open-ended book that isn't really prescriptive. It declares that solutions will have to emerge through introspection and collective thinking. It introduces concepts and ideas that the reader later needs to chew in order to be able to apply. There is a spiritual and philosophical dimension to the book that corporates must not ignore.

I believe that whether the world listens or not is, among other things, determined by the source that it comes from. When someone who has accomplished a lot in the corporate world reveals some spiritual elements in his success, the world is bound to take notice. That way, I would not be surprised if this book has been very influential and changed the corporate world for the better. And I hope it continues to do so...

In the introductory chapter, the authors talk about organizations that "expand blindly, unaware of their part in a larger whole or of the consequences of their growth, like cells that have lost their social identity and reverted to growth for its own sake". This definitely struck a chord and also reminded me of our own busyness as individuals.

The authors also talk about today's educational systems as having been "inspired by industrial age school design with the aim of producing a uniform, standardized product as efficiently as possible"! How true and how revolting!!

They say "As long as our thinking is governed by habit - notably by concepts such as control, predictability, standardization and "faster is better" - we will continue to recreate institutions as they have been, despite their disharmony with the larger world, and the need for all living systems to evolve". We must understand that evolution is not necessarily about speed and volume!

"All learning integrates thinking and doing"

"Entrepreneurial ability is an expression of the capacity to sense an emerging reality and to act in harmony with it"

The authors quote the 'director' of the Truman Show in the movie The Truman Show "We all accept reality as it is presented to us"

The authors quote Michael Ray, the creator of the course on Creativity in Stanford - "1. Creativity is essential for health, happiness and success in all areas of life, including business. 2. Creativity is within everyone and 3. Even though it is within everyone, it is covered over by the voice of judgment."

"The challenges in organizations start with the frenetic pace many people feel compelled to maintain"

"When we're learning something new, we can feel awkward, incompetent, and even foolish"

The authors bring out the importance of knowing the 'whole' and the method to do that being the study of parts at length and seeing a reflection of the 'whole' therein.

The authors talk about coincidences in their own lives and those associated with the creation of the book and indicate that there is more to it than what meets the eye - They talk of an underlying force that works towards a single purpose.

They say that business leaders are those who know "how to distance themselves from the problem and to avoid knee-jerk reactions. They have developed the capacity to avoid imposing old frameworks on new realities". They talk about the need for suspension and redirection...the need for observing and 'slow' decision-making. I am going to reproduce a paragraph that appeals to me immensely - "If the situation is new, slowing down is necessary. Slow down. Observe. Position yourself. Then act fast and with a natural flow that comes from the inner knowing. You have to slow down long enough to really see what's needed. With a freshness of vision, you have the possibility of a freshness of action, and the overall response on a collective level can be much quicker than trying to implement hasty decisions that aren't compelling to people"

The authors derive a "theory" called Sensing-Presencing-Realizing. (observe. retreat and reflect. act swiftly with a natural flow.) This has also been referred to as Letting go and Letting come.

"True education.....is not to fill a barrel but to light a flame"

"When you discover what you're here for the forces of nature also operate in your service. When you see what you're here for, the world begins to mirror your purpose in a magical way. It's almost as if you suddenly find yourself on a stage in a play that was written expressly for you". Sounds like Coelho...

"Business growth should be sustainable and consistent with nature and consistent with life"

"Confrontations between even the most well-intentioned leaders usually just reinforce polarization"...!

"There's nothing more personal than vision, yet the visions that ultimately prove transformative have nothing to do with us as individuals" - a paradox

The authors quote GB Shaw "This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose you consider a mighty one, the being a force of nature, rather than a feverish, selfish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy"

"If you form and hold your intent strongly enough, it becomes true"

"If you know what's right, you don't have to make decisions. You just do it"

The authors quote Churchill "Leadership is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm"

The authors move on to provide convincing arguments in favour of prototyping (I believe this is in the context of pursuing our noble vision which is not likely to be crystal clear in the very beginning) - "Rapid prototyping is a way to avoid getting stuck in plans or trying to completely figure out 'the true nature of the emerginf whole'. Indeed, the true nature of an emerging whole can't be accessed fully without engaging in concrete experiments, improvisation and prototyping." "In its essence, prototyping accesses and aligns the wisdom of our head, heart and hands by forcing us to act before we've figured every-thing out and created a plan". The "essence of creative process" is to "create and adjust"

"Successful prototyping is something in between the extremes of either ignoring feedback or overreacting to every disconforming signal"

"If you're open in relation to your idea, the universe will help you. If you're open it wants to suggest ways for you to improve your idea"

The authors quote the founder of Gap Body "You have to have the vision and the deep intention that goes with it. But you also have to have the incredible capacity for self-observation and course correction in real time. The universe wants to help. But you must be able to observe and listen"

They say the true future is about seven steps/spaces - awareness, stopping, calmness, stillness, peace, true thinking, and attainment. It is a long, long, long process.

Here is a KMish set of statements:

"The leadership of the future will not be provided simply by individuals but by groups, institutions, communities and networks". "The most important thing going forward is to break the boundaries between people so we can operate as a single intelligence".

They say that the bane of the measurement culture is that "people start believing that something is real only to the extent that it is measurable". The authors opine that the soft stuff is often relegated to a secondary status and this is ironic as it is often the hardest to do well and the primary determinant of success or failure. (Relevant to KM again)

Stillness creates a capacity that no longer fragments who we really are from what's emerging.

A great reflection of where the world is heading these days; A participant in a workshop conducted by the authors is quoted as follows "I worry much more today about unquestioned answers than about unanswered questions".

The authors talk about people who pursue their deepest desires in harmony with the world as those dance with destiny but out of free choice or will. "You feel as if you're fulfilling your destiny, but you also feel as if you're freer than you've ever been in your life. It's a huge paradox"

An individual's cultivation, the authors opine, happens out of three things: "Meditation", "Study of the scriptures", "Committment to service"

At the end of the book, the authors share an awesome discovery (by a Japanese photographer) that water has intricate patterns in it that can be observed through sophisticated technology. What's more awesome is that the water patterns become extremely beautiful when the water is exposed to music and prayers. The authors thus try to prove that there is some mysterious cosmic law that revolves around vibrations. Subsequently, the authors derive the idea that "thought creates reality" from this phenomenon.

Overall, this is a sort of enchanting book touching upon eclectic aspects that can change the way we lead our lives. What it calls for us to adopt the book's teachings is the utilization of the authors' very own U theory - sense, presence and realize. (observe. stop and reflect. act.) I don't know if that sounds like a casual and matter-of-fact review. But like the authors point out in the book, this is a long, long, long process and I hope I have subconsciously let it begin within me. I think the trick is to really silence our minds, be still and absorb what comes to us without letting our prejudices and past impact our attitude.

Thanks to CZ for recommending this book! I hope there will be a time when I can come back to this post and you - CZ - to share what it ultimately leads me to. :-)

Creative Thinking...

It's been a crazy week. A cautious trip to Chennai that could have very well been canceled. An adventure at 5.45 AM....being subjected to a heavy downpour on a huge, isolated and dark road with no transport in sight for around 15 minutes. Locked up in a house for 2 days with nowhere to go. But, finally, a decent return-journey that had more sunshine than rain. Most importantly, anger, helplessness and sorrow in response to the Mumbai war. Verdict: Feeling quite dis-oriented, groggy and somewhat dull. Determined to bounce back though! What could be better than catching up with some good ideas on creative thinking?

Check this out. (Move your body, eat right, express yourself, socialize, solitude, serendipity, engage all your senses, laugh. Note that today's internet tools definitely help us express ourselves, socialize, and invite serendipity). Want to add "Be Silent/Meditate" to this list...

Finished *Waiting for the Mahatma*...! :-)

Just finished the book "Waiting for the Mahatma" by R.K. Narayan. I feel like chuckling at the thought of what my expectations and ideas about the book were when I picked it up. I expected it to be something highly philosophical and revolving around the Mahatma's ideals and virtues. Not that it isn't somewhat though. I assumed it would be about how the protagonist lets the Mahatma lead him...and turn around his life from something meaningless to something 'deep' and 'intense'. Overall, I was under the impression that it would be a serious story.

But....I must say that it turned out to be a cute book rather than something on the lines of what I expected! :-) Really cute! (I haven't probably called a book 'cute' before this! LoL.) It made me smile and chuckle now and then. The book transports the reader to the famous town of Malgudi with so much ease...in typical RK.N style! There are a few places in the story where the reader is likely to get confused about the author's view of India's struggle for freedom. But I guess the reader shouldn't attempt to read between the lines....it is a wonderful read if one just reads the story for what it is - a naive man's life and love, with the Indian Freedom struggle as the backdrop - and suspends all judgment and opinions. But I think the ending was really touching. I got so involved in it that I forgot to close the book for a while and simply sat staring and gurgling at the last page.

Where Do You Belong?

So, where do you belong..eh?

Monday Morning Blues. Time to do something - go green? - about your work.



Weekend "Weakness". Time to do something about your life...outside of work!

Final Sanity Check. Failed.

The wait isn't still over. You must excuse me. Millions of mad monkeys! It's, after all, Friday!! :-) However...if you insist (hmph) on some concrete evidence in favour of being (or continuing to be) my friend, read the following carefully:

1. From The Life of Samuel Johnson - "A man who talks nonsense so well must know that he is talking nonsense" (No, I haven't read the book. God knows what the context of the statement is. But if you noticed, I am discreetly laying a claim to be good at nonsensical talk!)

2.“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men" - Gene Wilder (Maybe Gene's surname prevented his friends from getting violent in response to his wonderful statement. But I am going to bravely tag along and nod in agreement. Of course, what "now and then" means is an entirely subjective thing! And once again, if you noticed, I am discreetly laying a claim to be wise.)

PS: I have a secret (not anymore, I guess) wish to replace "men" with "women" (and therefore "he" with "she") in every single quote that seems to completely ignore the existence of women. Grr. Makes it so inconvenient for us women to quote people!

Update: If you are a child in the garb of an adult...or at least have a teeny weeny bit of child-like sentiments left in you, I am sure you either have a smile or a grin on your face now. No.....you don't have to examine the grin on our little doggy-friend's face (above). Your grin doesn't necessarily have to be that good. Even a mediocre grin will do. But if you don't happen to have any sort of grin on your face...freeze immediately. Don't move a single muscle on your face. No twitching! Get up and go over to the nearest and clearest mirror and check for a raised eyebrow or a slight scowl or perhaps a somewhat dazed/puzzled look. If yes, I must give you the bad news. You may be suffering from Adulter. That's a variation of cancer that grows unabated and destroys the child in you gradually. But you may find various cures, nevertheless. Recommended doctors - children/pets. Do let me know when there's an improvement. :-)

Once upon a time....

No. Apologies. Not as yet. Your wait is not really over. (If you happen to be a regular and persistent - don't tell me! - reader of this blog and have somehow - miraculously - been here long enough to realize that I do manage to write one or two good posts a year....or make that two years) This isn't, I am afraid, going to be one of those rare great posts. As usual, it is another aimless post with no goal(s) in life whatsoever. Flash in the pan brilliance is definitely a bad thing in blogging. You have to keep hoping that your readers are patient enough to wait till it finally comes and hits them out of the blue. Not that I really want to put your life in peril by suggesting that you come back to this blog again and again in the hope that you will see a flash some time or the other. Just a thought, you know. Sigh. Hopefully I may succeed in cheating you by mentioning that it looks like the next 'good' post is being gradually brewed in a remote and minuscule corner (fictional, did you say?) of my otherwise inactive brain. I hope you'll be kind enough to recognize it when it is served. (Of course, I will need help in recognizing such a thing) I dread to think of the day when even that r and m corner (ok, have it your way...fictional) stops working and goes to sleep. Anyway, let me not worry about that right now.


I'd drawn this stuff (above) using an online drawing-board software. My message to you, the reader, is very clear. Remove all doubts and stop speculating (just because you stopped doing that in the stock market, it doesn't mean you must try it in on my blog, of all the places) for here it is. Just wanted to say it is quite funny how I seem to choose to draw more or less the same pic every time I sit down to draw and don't have any cartoons for inspiration. Almost as if I have been secretly programmed. Makes me think this must be a real place that I probably grew up in, in one of my previous lives. Or maybe it's the larger part of my - non-functional - brain at work. I never seem to get bored of drawing the same old nameless tree with some nondescript grass around it, a stream flowing from south to north (yes, that's the way I imagine it), the beautiful and bright sun shining down on the tree and the stream, a clueless bird (bird-like creature?) hovering around (however, the bird sometimes finds company and is a part of a flock of clueless birds), some pebbles of varied sizes and shapes in the stream, and finally yours truly sitting under the tree with books, music and a cup of yummy cold coffee with ice cream. Does this happen to you? I mean, do you end up drawing the same thing again and again? I am beginning to think that this may even be the consequence of a painful drawing imposition during my childhood days. Maybe the teacher made me draw it so many times (in the hope of getting me to draw something that looked like a place on earth) that I can't think of anything else to draw. Or maybe this is the consequence of a deeply embedded thought that is trying to tell me that I need to go off to such a place and save mankind (from me). Or, well, mmmaybe the thought actually conveys that such places can only be seen on paper in future?

Thanks for sitting through this ordeal. You deserve to enjoy a break in a similar looking place if you have access to it. Toodle-oo for now!

PS: Doesn't the bird-like creature look more like it is crawling than flying? I knew it all along but the bird refused to listen to me. And you don't have to tell me...I know you've now given up in case you happened to be looking to find at least some traces of sanity in me. I can't, unfortunately, blame it on alcohol because I am a teetotaler. Hmn.

Word Therapy

This is just a simple idea that came to me all of a sudden. I like it. But what I've done with it is not so great. I think one can get more creative with it...perhaps make use of better tools to realize its full impact. But, well, ideas evolve....sometimes on their 'own' and, of course, when more people adopt it. So, consider adopting it and feel free to suggest/make improvements.

I love words! Some words (and phrases) are so powerful that they evoke intense feelings, thoughts and even spur us into action. They can make us dream, visualize things and march on to make them a reality. Words can excite. Words can inspire. Words can lend energy. Words when combined creatively can, I believe, cause permanent change. Advertisers are likely to swear by that. That's why I am in awe of people who go around sporting a cool bag of lively words and display immense talent (and, sometimes, a sense of humor) in pulling out the word(s) exactly when it is (they are) needed. (But words can also be misused...making them double-edged swords. Ask the media.)

Righto! I don't particularly think I've got very creative with words in my write-up so far, but here's my idea! And I am calling it Word Therapy. Simple stuff. A 'Do it yourself' exercise that can massage your mind and soul. Think of some key words that excite, inspire, motivate, energize you. Think of the words that explain you. Think of the words that make you. And put them all together in the form of a colourful collage. Group the words if you feel like. Then, simply stare at the collage. Let your eyes wander over the words. Pause every now and then. See the connections...known and unknown. Absorb the words. Let them lend you their energy. Even let them hypnotize you. Maybe you'll feel the difference - the words could wake you up, put some action into you, inspire you, make you believe in yourself.....and what not. At the risk of exaggerating, I am inclined to say that it could even contribute to the making of your character depending on the intensity with which you do it. And, well, you anyway get to decide what you want from the collage.

I just tried it. I can't say the collage looks as nice as I would have wanted it to. But I can, nevertheless, feel the impact. Take a look. (It might look better with some nice symbols and small images at appropriate places.)


Does it do something to you, if at all? What would your word therapy collage look like? Would you like to create one and share it? And, hey, feel free to spread the 'word'! :-)