Subtle and extreme

The human body is a curious thing . On one hand it can withstand fairly extreme conditions . Yet small changes or deprivations seem to imbalance it. 

...Organizations also seem to have this characteristic. 

The Magic of a Moment

THE PREGNANT DEER SCENARIO...

In a forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth to a baby. It finds a remote grass field nearby a river and slowly goes there thinking it would be safe. As she moves slowly, she gets labour pain. At the same moment, dark clouds gather around that area and lightning starts a forest fire. Turning left, she sees a hunter who is aiming an arrow from a distance. As she tries to move towards right, she spots a hungry lion approaching towards her.

STOCHASTIC PROBABILITY THEORY

What can the pregnant deer do, as she is already under labour pain..?
What do you think will happen..?
Will the deer survive..?
Will it give birth to a fawn..?
Will the fawn survive...?

OR

Will everything be burnt by the forest fire...?
Can the deer go left..? No, the hunter's arrow is pointing at her.
Can she go right...? No, the hungry male lion is approaching her.
Can she move up..? No, there the forest is on fire.
Can she move down..? No, that is where the fierce river is.

Answer: She does nothing. She just focuses on giving birth to a new LIFE..

The sequence of events that happens at that fraction of a second (moment)
are as follows:

In a spur of MOMENT, a lightning strikes, and blinds the eyes of the hunter...!
At that MOMENT, he releases the arrow missing and zipping past the deer...!
At that MOMENT, the arrow hits and injures the lion badly...!
At that MOMENT, it starts to rain heavily and puts out the forest fire...!
At that next MOMENT, the deer gives birth to a healthy fawn...!

In our life too, there are MOMENTS of CHOICE when we all have to deal with negative thoughts from all sides. Some thoughts are so powerful they overcome us, and make us clueless.

Anything can happen in a MOMENT in this life. If you are religious, superstitious, atheist, agnostic or whatever, you can attribute this MOMENT to divine intervention, faith, sudden luck, serendipity, coincidence, karma, or a simple 'I just don't know'...!

The priority of the deer, in that given moment, was simply giving birth to a baby, because LIFE IS PRECIOUS...!

In future, may you always be inspired to have a focused positive insight, oblivious of all imaginary, negative probabilities.
 

"LIFE is Flowing Like a River
With Unexpected TURNS,
May be GOOD,
May be BAD...
Learn to enjoy Each Turn

p.s - got this gift via a phone message today

The True Weight of Things

< Omokaruishi >
This means heavy light rocks. If you felt this rock is light you will get your wish.

Insightful post by Jack Cheng...and an more insightful follow up post .

May you be able to lift the rocks of your life with appropriate force .

We are not our past..

“We are not our past. Our past reflects varied experiences good and bad that give us wisdom, abilities and feelings. While those experiences shaped our journey and some could be hurtful, they do not define who we are, what we can be or limit where we can go in the future. When we release the hold of the past over us, we free ourselves to embrace the wonder of all we can be and do.” 

Don Shapiro, author Life Is A Fork In The Road

The War of Art

Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance..

Give yourself a gift . Read this book .

The Trust Economy

Witnessed an amazing interaction at a phone store next to a doctor's dispensary . A lady who works as a domestic help came to the store with her relative who had recently moved to Mumbai. She told the store owner that the doctor takes guarantee for this man (i.e his credit worthiness ). Pl allow him to buy a phone with the option of paying Rs 1000 per month. The store owner thought about it for 30 seconds and nodded his assent to the sales person to show phone options. She disappeared next door and came back to ask if the store owner would like to speak with the doctor. He said it was not necessary. Elated with the solution the lady and her relative went about the task of selecting the phone.

This was obviously not a transaction between unrelated individuals . The store owner knows the doctor. Both have been neighbors for years. The store owner seemed to have a fleeting acquaintance with the lady.

Simply wonderful that all of these individuals chose to reach out and connect - resulting in solutions. For the person who had moved to Mumbai - this would have eased his relocation (the phone would be easily a month's salary or more for him ).

Seemingly small actions that make a world of difference - fostering faith in community , bringing tangible benefits to all involved - the person was able to make the purchase , the store got a sale that would have otherwise been impossible , the person gets to stay connected with his family. Not counting the joy of the duo who made the purchase.

Choose to create and participate in the trust economy !:)

Now

Thomas Dreier: “If we are ever to enjoy life, now is the time, not tomorrow or next year ...Today should always be our most wonderful day.”

The new illiterate..

Relive Joy

There's an ad for Dish TV which shows a college student glued to his TV in the hostel room . India wins a match . He jumps up in glee and starts celebrating. His sleepy , irritable room mate asks him to shut up. At which point a third guy enters the scene and asks why he is objecting to his friend celebrating India's victory ? To which the sleepy guy replies that the actual match happened weeks ago . This guy keeps watching the recorded version and celebrates noisily each time !:)

Most of us relive some aspects of our past . We have a default internal programming to relive past sorrows.

Let's take a cue from the ad and heartily relive joys . Wise folks across ages counsel us to live in the present. But if we must make a trip into the past - let the destination be the joyous moments.

Drop Litter :)

We all need bins like this :)

One of the several creative installations at the Kala Bhoda 2012 festival .

Why walk when you can fly ?

Soar beyond your fears

Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from
Arabia. They were peregrine falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever
seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained.

Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that
thoughone of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky,
the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The king summoned healers and sorcerers from all the land to tend to the
falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. He presented the task to the
member of his court, but the next day, the king saw through the palace
windowthat the bird had still not moved from its perch. Having tried
everything else, the king thought to himself, "May be I need someone
more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this
problem." So he cried out to his court, "Go and get a farmer."

In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above
the palace gardens.He said to his court, "Bring me the doer of this
miracle"

The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king.
The king asked him, "How did you make the falcon fly?"

With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, " It was very easy, your
highness. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting."

We are all made to fly -- to realize our incredible potential as human beings.
But instead of doing that, we sit on our branches, clinging to the things that
are familiar to us. The possibilities are endless, but for most of us, they
remain undiscovered. We conform to the familiar, the comfortable, the
mundane.

So for the most part, our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and
fulfilling.

So let us learn to destroy the branch of fear we cling to and free ourselves to
the glory of flight.

From the Book "Why walk when you can fly"

A bandh of your own

A nation wide bandh has been thrust upon India today. Ostensibly to protest against rising prices. But , really an opportunity for opposition parties to assume few days of spot light. A bandh of this type seldom accomplishes anything . Establishments close - not because they support this form of protest - but because they fear violence. People are against rising prices . But they do not necessarily support protest in this form since :

- it accomplishes very little
- comes at enormous inconvenience and cost

The rising prices affect different sections of society differently . There is a large section on whom the impact of rising prices is very severe - affecting nutrition , education , health care ( even their interests are not served by this 1 day event ). The impact varies at different levels of the socio economic ladder.

Possibly the time has arrived for everyone to do a bandh of their own - ongoingly.

Reduce non-essentials :
Most of us can relate with the ' why did I buy that ? ' feeling at sometime or the other. It could be after a heavy meal at a restaurant or after opening the latest dress you purchased . Take a few mins to list the stuff you purchased that you wished you had refrained from . Carry that list around with you esp when you go shopping :)

An even more radical exercise : visualize that you have a brand new house . What from your existing possessions would you like to put into it ? This exercise can be scaled to any level - kitchen , living room , bed room , study , cupboard..

Reduce intake of processed foods :

Or as Michael Pollan would say 'industrial novelties' . We'll be healthier and richer for having done so.

Grow your own food :

To the extent possible grow herbs , prices , veggies , fruits n your home and community . Besides the cost savings joy it brings is immense . We need to recreate our relationship with food.

Repair / reuse / recycle :

Repair , reuse , recycle the stuff you have. Throwing out stuff that can be repaired adds to the waste and to your cost (of purchasing a new item ).

No , you do not need the mixer with the sole feature of a new blade and fancy shape . Your existing mobile looks great , has more features than you use.

Gratitude outlook :

We notice and mull over stuff that's amiss . In the process ignoring all the things that are so wonderfully right . Family , friends , joy , opportunity , beauty...Gratitude is more about an attitude rather than an occasional response. Thankfulness can enhance our satisfaction with lives in ways that the next consumer product never will.

If this sounds like the recipe for an ascetic life - it's not . It's about reclaiming your life in a consumerist world.

This is not an exhaustive list either . Make your own list . Live it .

Try it .

Leaves..

Love the way the green and dried leaves blend...

Quest essentials

All quests worth undertaking ...require audacity. And willpower. (Of course.) And persistence. (Of course.) But frankly, a persistent misreading of the odds.

--Tom Peters

Hot heads...

Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything.

- Billy Graham

Choose your ecosystem..carefully

You are the company you keep. Choose and create your eco-system carefully - buyers , suppliers , service providers , team members . Often companies exercise a fair amount of care in building the internal team . But , not so much while choosing clients , suppliers thinking "it's business".

Yes, it's business . It's also your life . In which you spend a fair amount of each working day interacting with the various people in your chosen eco-system. If you choose to work with creative , confident , solution oriented , collaborative people then you can create together in a joyous , respectful way.

Given the inter-connectedness of business the notion of an organization needs to reinterpreted as an extended eco-system which involves your immediate clients , suppliers , service providers. Each performs a critical role in the chain. Trust , competence , shared ideology ,collaborative approach are essential ingredients for success.

Success not just in terms of the volume or value of a business. Joy , satisfaction and meaningful creation are equally critical components of success.

Reflection

These days we look into a mirror longer and more often than ever before in the history of mankind. The level of reflection is far from being proportional.

Every day is a new day...

A few weeks ago Sachin Tendulkar scored 200 runs in an ODI match . Great accomplishment. A milestone for him , India and cricket. There have been days when he's not been able to score a single run. The hits are obviously more than the misses for Sachin to be the legend he has become.
Each time he walks to the pitch he doesn't know whether he'll score zero or create a new world record.

Everyday is a new day...

Impact of a plastic bottle

How bad for the environment can throwing away 1 plastic bottle be ?...millions across the world wonder . Many don't even give it a thought.

The opportunity of adversity

The only disability is a crushed spirit.

Aimee Mullins's life is an inspiring example of the power of the human spirit - not only to triumph over circumstances but also in being able to a powerful difference to others through the words we choose.