Career Choices - Article on Choosing wisely by Shvetha Jaishankar

Choosing wisely by Shvetha Jaishankar

Acceptance from others is not as important as acceptance from within. It is really important to do something that you wake up looking forward to. Whether you are motivated by money, freedom, or just the need to overcome ennui is immaterial.

Yoga teachers, counsellors, photographers, bio-technologists, social media marketers, sound engineers — none of these are exotic or badly paid any more. If you don’t want a career, then find a passion to pursue. Write down your options, speak to people in the field, and embrace your choice! You may be surprised by the support and admiration you will get.

Source: TheHindu
Author:
Shvetha Jaishankar was once a top-notch model; has an MBA from ISB, Hyderabad; and is traveller, entrepreneur, experimenter, and connoisseur of the fine things in life. Mail her at shvethaj@gmail.com

Peace advice from Po - Stress Handling Tips from Shvetha Jaishankar

Peace advice from Po by Shvetha Jaishankar in "The Hindu"

 

Even for inner peace, working with what you like rather than what has worked for someone else is what gives results.

 

Here are some things I swear by:

• Deep breathing 11 times (10 is standard and 1 extra just in case) — for immediate relief
• A morning routine (30 minutes at least) preferably before the household wakes up when you can contemplate/ meditate/ read / anything you like
• Keeping a diary, where you jot down your favourite quotes and record moments from your life that have made you smile
• Reading Bertrand Russell’s Conquest of Happiness — practical and philosophical advice.
• Having a ‘Brown Paper Package’ — a goody bag of things that make you happy, photos, music CD, book and a piece of chocolate. Tap into it when you are happy or sad. It works both ways!
• Phone a friend.
• And the surest method of all — a good night’s rest.

Author is Shvetha Jaishankar was once a top-notch model; has an MBA from ISB, Hyderabad; and is traveller, entrepreneur, experimenter, and connoisseur of the fine things in life. Mail her at shvethaj@gmail.com

Abraham Lincoln's World Famous Letter to his Son's Teacher

Abraham Lincoln's World Famous Letter to his Son's Teacher


He will have to learn, I know,
that all men are not just,
all men are not true.
But teach him also that
for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish Politician,
there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is a friend,

Steer him away from envy,
if you can,
teach him the secret of
quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that
the bullies are the easiest to lick…
Teach him, if you can,
the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time
to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
bees in the sun,
and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school teach him
it is far honourable to fail
than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith
in his own ideas,
even if everyone tells him
they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle
with gentle people,
and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son
the strength not to follow the crowd
when everyone is getting on the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men…
but teach him also to filter
all he hears on a screen of truth,
and take only the good
that comes through.

Teach him if you can,
how to laugh when he is sad…
Teach him there is no shame in tears,
Teach him to scoff at cynics
and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn
and brain to the highest bidders
but never to put a price-tag
on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears
to a howling mob
and to stand and fight
if he thinks he’s right.
Treat him gently,
but do not cuddle him,
because only the test
of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage
to be impatient…
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always
to have sublime faith in himself,
because then he will have
sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order,
but see what you can do…
He is such a fine little fellow,
my son!

Self - Need Nourishing and Nurturing

The most challenging role is in finding that little space that you can call the "SELF". It's not really a role, it is YOU. Often, this self gets least priority in our lives because our children are important, our husbands are important, our work is important... But that little you needs to be nourished and nurtured.

Source: Missing

Are we nurturing our self?
How much time are we spending with ourself to nurture the self?
Can you spend one hour day for your own self?

 

Monday Morning Message 12-Aug-13

Quote:-

The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude. Says Oprah Winfrey

Choose your attitude... What is your attitude for today?

Quote:-

Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuse in adversity, and a provision in old age, says Aristotle

Learn atleast for 20 mins a day or a page to start with.

Poem:-

Seeded person sleeps, Seed never sleeps (Courtesy: Anantha Vikatan Magazine)

Seed can be a thought or dream or inspiration. What is your seed???

 

My first published article

This is published in LifePositive Magazine in February 2011

LifePositive Magazine - Feb 2011

Core Messages from the article are:

My mother taught me an important lesson: It is more important to be kind than to be intelligent. I was to live like sandalwood, which spreads its aroma every time it is scraped. I would always have to be ready to help the needy irrespective of their age, gender, religion, caste, nationality. 

I am not talking about materialistic help only; it could be a pat on the back for a deserving team member, or a concerned call to your aged parents or relatives, or extending a whole-hearted birthday wish to your old security guy, or a little word of appreciation to your deserving domestic help, or an encouraging word to an underperforming. Little gestures make a huge difference!

The second lesson: the sandalwood sacrifices itself in the process until it becomes nothing in the end. The Hindu’s Bhagavad-Gita says: “Whatever you have received is here, from this earth, and you have to leave them behind when you leave the earth.”

Thanks to my dear mother’s mentoring, I have dedicated my life to helping those around me.  My goal is to fulfil the admonition: “When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life in such a manner that when you die, you're the one who is smiling, and everyone around you is crying.”

Favorite Quotes

 
• Follow Every Rainbow
• What you think, you become
• Be Good Do Good
• Discover Joy (Samsung Famous Ad)
• For me success lies in how many lives I can Impact and Inspire
• Discover a New YOU
• Smile and the world smiles with you
• Do or Die (Mahatma Gandhiji's Quote)
• Principle of giving unity, coherence and cohesiveness to reality - Concept of Dharma
• As you sow so shall you reap - Law of Karma
• When the times comes, everything will be all right - The Hindu, Friday Review 21/9/2012
• Life : Don't let the music stop - dance on!
• There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. - Albert Einstein
• I am not the best; but I will do my best.
• Either write something worth reading, Or do something worth writing - Benjamin Franklin
• Go to the core; theories are of no use.
• Quietly Brilliant (HTC Ad)

 

Law of Attraction

Your wish is my command

2009, August 15, My 1^st Toastmasters meeting

I was called for a table topic. My heart beat was thundering at a high speed, my mind went blank, and I was frozen. I was speechless and nothing was coming out of my mouth. Not even air was coming out of my mouth.  I stood in the centre of the stage for 45 seconds without uttering a word. Then I went back to my place with my head down. That night I could not sleep and I switched on my TV to watch a movie.  Those 45 seconds in the club and the 1 hour 45 minutes I spent in watching the movie, changed my attitude towards public speaking.

The movie I saw that night was “The Secret”. How many of you have seen this Movie? Great!

The movie is based on Law of attraction. What is law of attraction? It is intention manifestation model. I know it sounds complicated. In simple terms, you ask what you want, you truly believe in it and you will receive it.

The three important things which I am going to talk are
      1.      Law of attraction
      2.      Sending right signals
      3.      Tips and Techniques to practice LOA in our daily lives.

Law of Attraction

Law of attraction in 3 steps are Ask, Believe and Receive.

That night I decided to be a good public speaker. I visualized myself speaking before a huge audience on a daily basis. I raised this wish and I truly believed in it by attending Toastmasters weekly meeting. Eventually I received the benefit of it. On the day Toastmasters club was chartered in my company, I spoke in front of an audience of 500 people. Yes, The Law of Attraction works. It works for me and it works for each and every one of you.

To visualize it better, it is like ordering / asking the universe your wish. A genie will appear in front of you and says your wish is my command. It is as simple as that.

Even mythology says Ask, you will receive it. Knock and the door will open for you.

Sending right signals

Most of the times we talk about things which we do not have. We are sending signals of not having again and again. Every time we talk about things which we do not have in our life. It could be not having girl friends, horrible mother-in-law/daughter-in-law or having a lousy boss. That is why we are attracting those things again and again. As per Law of attraction, if one asks for things what you really want in life and visualizes it and truly believes in it, I am pretty sure the one attracts those things automatically.

What kind of signals do we send in our daily life or at work place? What kind of subjects do we talk? We crib about our wives or Husbands? We are always sending signals of things which we do not have? The right approach would be to send the signals which we want to have. Law of attraction will work for you.

Tips and Techniques to practice LOA in our daily lives

Most of our self talks, a part of my mind says, you are not good. To overcome those actions, I always keep a magic stone with me. I learnt this from the movie and use it on a regular basis. Who is your worst enemy? Self-criticism is always your worst enemy. Whenever I get any negative thoughts, I touch this magic stone and replace it with a positive thought.

The movie says on a single day we get around 65,000 thoughts. Let me repeat it is 65,000 thoughts. To make it easier, It can be related to both good feelings and negative feelings. You can always replace any negative thoughts with a positive thought to make your life better and joyful.
We can extend the same law of attraction to our day to day life. If you want that dream job, that promotion or your entrepreneurial venture or to overcome your relationship, wish for it and truly commit and believe in it by visualizing it and you will definitely receive it.

To practice the secret in daily life, let us visualize our wishes for 5 to 10 minutes a day. To make it more effective let us visualize our thoughts as soon as we get up and just before you go to sleep.

Even, Buddha’s teaching confirms this theory as well.

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

In a nutshell, Law of attraction boils down to Thoughts becomes things. By changing your thoughts and you can change your destiny.

I can relate the secret of the secret movie with my favourite quote from Basha movie is “Unn Vaizhai Un Kayil” your life is in your hands.. Go for it.

Sources:-
The Secret Movie
Movie Links in YouTube

 

Top 10 Self Development Books

This came in Kumudam Tamil Magazine on. 20.10.2010 and written by Chokkan.

Top 10 Self Development books

1. As a Man thinketh - James Allen
2. How to win friends and influence people - Dale Carnigie
3. Lateral Thinking - Edward De Bono
4. Who moved my Cheese - Spencer Johnson
5. The Definitive Book of Body Language - Allan, Barbara Pease
6. Chicken soup for the soul - Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
7. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R Covey
8. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill
9. The Master Key System - Charles F Haanel
10. One Minute Manager - Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

Guliaspeak

I read the following in The Hindu Metro Plus section.

You don't have to do much to motivate people. You just have to be a motivated person yourself.

You don't have to do much to spread happiness. You just have to be happy yourself.

Life always has a bigger purpose waiting to be discovered. Life is the journey to discover these purposes. Life means going on.

Realising the peak of fitness that I had achieved was an important factor in my realisation of myself as well.

We can not appreciate the better times enough if we have not faced the toughest ones.
 

Drinking From My Saucer (Cause My Cup Has Overflowed)

Beautiful Lyrics

 

Drinking From My Saucer lyrics

Drinking From My Saucer Cause My Cup Has Overflowed
Originally recorded by: Michael Combs and also by Bill Anderson.
Written by: John Paul Moore

Drinking From My Saucer (Cause My Cup Has Overflowed)

 

I've never made a fortune,
It's probably too late now.
Oh, but I don't worry about that much,
'Cause I'm happy anyhow.

As I go along life's journey,
I'm reaping better than I sowed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

Ain't got a lot of riches,
Sometimes the going's rough.
But I've got a friend in Jesus,
And that makes me rich enough.

I thank God for all His Blessings on me,
And the mercy that He's bestowed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

Oh sure, I've been thru some storms,
And yes, I'm sure there were times when my,
Well, my Faith must have got a little thin,
But you know what it seemed like?
One day all at once, those dark clouds broke,
And that old sun, she started shinin' again.

So Lord, help me not to grumble and complain,
About the tough rows I have hoed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

And if I should go on living,
If the way gets steep and rough.
I won't ask for other Blessings,
'Cause I'm already Blessed enough.

May I never be too busy,
To help another bear his load.
And I'll keep drinking from my saucer, Lord,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

Yes, I'll keep drinkin' from my saucer, Lord,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

My Cup Has Overflowed.

The 20 most-watched TED Talks to date

The 20 most-watched TED Talks to date

From education to brain function to inspiring messages to techno-possibilities, this list represents quite a breadth of topics.

1. Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity (2006): 14,850,200 views
2. Jill Bolte Taylor‘s stroke of insight (2008): 11,225,783
3. Pranav Mistry on the thrilling potential of SixthSense (2009): 9,897,347
4. David Gallo‘s underwater astonishments (2007): 8,204,051
5. Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry demo SixthSense (2009): 7,747,690
6. Tony Robbins asks Why we do what we do (2006): 7,564,235
7. Simon Sinek on how great leaders inspire action (2010): 7,539,516
8. Brene Brown talks about the power of vulnerability (2010): 5,861,510
9. Steve Jobs on how to live before you die (2005): 5,444,022
10. Daniel Pink on the surprising science of motivation (2009): 5,534,123
11. Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen (2006): 5,249,928
12. Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing your creative genius (2009): 5,020,869
13. Arthur Benjamin does mathemagic (2005): 4,951,918
14. Mary Roach on 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm (2009): 4,793,334
15. Dan Gilbert asks: Why are we happy? (2004): 4,759,217
16. Keith Barry does brain magic (2004): 4,475,303
17. Stephen Hawking asks big questions about the universe (2008): 4,470,236
18. Johnny Lee shows Wii Remote hacks for educators (2008): 3,997,174
19. Jeff Han demos his breakthrough multi-touchscreen (2006): 3,982,775
20. Barry Schwartz explores the paradox of choice (2005): 3,836,350

 

The Pursuit of Happyness - Lessons

Will Smith playing the role of Christopher Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness would tell his son. "Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. You want something; go get it. Period."
 

Human moments are disappearing @work

We are so busy these days and we are busy being busy with so many choices around.  The daily grind keeps us very busy all the times. We are busy in our various roles, Facebook, twitter and technology has taken us to a fast paced world.  

On the other hand, We are losing human connection at work. As we are becoming more and more mind centric, we are losing human-human / heart to heart connection. On research, I found an HBR article.

The Human Moment at Work by Edward M. Hallowell

• Human moments are disappearing and that this trend will be accompanied by worrisome and widespread consequences.
• To make the human moment work, you have to set aside what you’re doing, put down the memo you were reading, disengage from your laptop, abandon your daydream, and focus on the person you’re with. Usually when you do that, the other person will feel the energy and respond in kind. Together, you quickly create a force field of exceptional power.
• “But sharing those financials creates trust and a bond. These people share their best ideas, they benchmark performance, and they give one another the support they need.”
• The human moment provides the zest and color in the painting of our daily lives; it restores us, strengthens us, and makes us whole. Luckily, as long as we arrange our lives properly, the human moment should be easy enough to preserve. All we have to do is take heed—and make it happen.

 

Make your life count says Mahatria Ra

 

I liked this article in 'The Hindu' and sharing the same.

Core Messages are:-

• One should identify a cause larger than oneself.
• Information is not the key. Transformation is the key.
• Resistance to change prevents us from growing. We have to give up what we are to become who we should be. Doing the same thing and expecting to change is insanity. “The process of change is indeed painful, but we have to realise that transition takes us from a lower level of comfort to a higher level. We need introverted dynamism to reach that higher plane of comfort"
• Expand abundance. Live life in all its dimensions. Success comes to those who celebrate the success of others. Add value to what you do — whether you are a doctor, designer or a cleaner. Surpass expectation.
•  Be healthy, wealthy and loving, he summarised. Take care of all forms of love, all creations. Identify a cause larger than yourself. The best will come out when you believe in yourself. It is rare to be born as a human being, make your life count. It is a responsibility.
• The purpose of this discourse is to make you align yourself to the truth, to make your love more pure, happiness deeper.

Make your life count by Mahatria Ra