( Got his off a site )
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung and promptly dug him out and ate him!
Management Lessons:
1) Not everyone who drops shit on you is your enemy.
2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
3) And when you're in deep shit, keep your mouth shut!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Can we be always happy?
Actually this question was asked by Aloysius which inspired me to write this blog.
Yes we can we can progam our mind to think in a particulatr fashion.I derive this from a concept of "Paradoxical intentions" mentioned in the book "Man's search for Meaning". An awesome book for how bad a life can get and how you can derive a meaning to life and hence happiness.In the book, experiences of concentration camp detainee is mentioned. Life can only be miserable there right? Wrong. The book talks extensively about that.
The following is how I derive my thought.
1. Every action has a result - Success or Failure.
2.Both these results are are how we JUDGE them.
3.If we cheat ourselves into judging them different then we can categorize even a failure as success.
Some examples :
1.Searching for a job and hope to get it in 1 week - Success( Got a job) or Failure ( Did not get a job )
Now applying the above logic - Success(Got a job ) or Failure( spend another week to hit the gym and lose that extra weight). This example was I personally experienced because I was in between I spent my time learning swimming.By job search was stretched by 3 months but at the end I had a job and knew swimming.
2.Looking to get married - Success( found a spouse) or Failure ( could not find the right one )
Now applying the above logic - Success is of course define or Failure ( enjoy your bachelor hood). Save more to buy things for the house you need after marriage.
In short if we can re-program our mind into not judging results negatively we can be at the least be neutral if not happy.
Yes we can we can progam our mind to think in a particulatr fashion.I derive this from a concept of "Paradoxical intentions" mentioned in the book "Man's search for Meaning". An awesome book for how bad a life can get and how you can derive a meaning to life and hence happiness.In the book, experiences of concentration camp detainee is mentioned. Life can only be miserable there right? Wrong. The book talks extensively about that.
The following is how I derive my thought.
1. Every action has a result - Success or Failure.
2.Both these results are are how we JUDGE them.
3.If we cheat ourselves into judging them different then we can categorize even a failure as success.
Some examples :
1.Searching for a job and hope to get it in 1 week - Success( Got a job) or Failure ( Did not get a job )
Now applying the above logic - Success(Got a job ) or Failure( spend another week to hit the gym and lose that extra weight). This example was I personally experienced because I was in between I spent my time learning swimming.By job search was stretched by 3 months but at the end I had a job and knew swimming.
2.Looking to get married - Success( found a spouse) or Failure ( could not find the right one )
Now applying the above logic - Success is of course define or Failure ( enjoy your bachelor hood). Save more to buy things for the house you need after marriage.
In short if we can re-program our mind into not judging results negatively we can be at the least be neutral if not happy.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Night Viewing of Taj
Recently I was in Agra and thought night viewing had been banned.Lot of misinformation. So got this photo below which should be of help to others.
"Read it as Full moon night and two nights and not (tow nights)".:-)
"Read it as Full moon night and two nights and not (tow nights)".:-)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Why do we shout in anger?
This one is a lovely mail and you should read it….. A good one too……..I am sure you will like it.
A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'
Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'
Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.
Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'
Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'
The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'
MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other
A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'
Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'
Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.
Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'
Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'
The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'
MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Good Coffee
Got this in a floating mail. But liked it very much.
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite -telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee.
"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Is it possible to beat these chemicals?
I am talking about Dopamine, Endorphin and Serotonin. I was reading about stuff and stumbled upon these chemical inside each one of us. I posted on twitter and had got a nice response from Sukumar on the blog he had done on the same topic only his intent was different. Sukumar takes a nice look at how this phenomenon or attribute of a human system can be leveraged for some thing good.
Keeping up with the theme of this blog I was motivated to look at if at is it possible to beat these chemicals. As you read through Sukumar's blog and the references he quotes it becomes pretty evident that the above two chemicals are tightly integrated into the human brain's way of working.
My thought on this was that I am subject to behave the way these chemicals make me react. Kind of makes me feel like a puppet. A chemical get secreted and I start behaving in a specific manner. I don't like the feeling of being a puppet.
As I like to keep my posts short. We can do some things to get of this cycle. This is no small task. People, spiritual leaders, sages spend years breaking out of this cycle. I could co-relate ( could be a figment of my imagination ) this breaking away from this cycle to Moksha. I get excited by connecting stuff. Here I am linking human physiology to spirituality.
There are a lot of methods in the yogic way of living to handle the above cycle. Obviously that is a huge area to be explained and of course I am not an authority on yogic way of life.
But one this that can be done is for us to observe the above cycle happening within us. Basic philosophy in yoga is first to observe the mind so that we can know to handle it. Meditation is a way of helping our mind relax, so that it can observe the cycle happening consciously. Once we have the results of our observation we will know how to act next and stop being puppets. This is a first step towards breaking the cycle.
Keeping up with the theme of this blog I was motivated to look at if at is it possible to beat these chemicals. As you read through Sukumar's blog and the references he quotes it becomes pretty evident that the above two chemicals are tightly integrated into the human brain's way of working.
My thought on this was that I am subject to behave the way these chemicals make me react. Kind of makes me feel like a puppet. A chemical get secreted and I start behaving in a specific manner. I don't like the feeling of being a puppet.
As I like to keep my posts short. We can do some things to get of this cycle. This is no small task. People, spiritual leaders, sages spend years breaking out of this cycle. I could co-relate ( could be a figment of my imagination ) this breaking away from this cycle to Moksha. I get excited by connecting stuff. Here I am linking human physiology to spirituality.
There are a lot of methods in the yogic way of living to handle the above cycle. Obviously that is a huge area to be explained and of course I am not an authority on yogic way of life.
But one this that can be done is for us to observe the above cycle happening within us. Basic philosophy in yoga is first to observe the mind so that we can know to handle it. Meditation is a way of helping our mind relax, so that it can observe the cycle happening consciously. Once we have the results of our observation we will know how to act next and stop being puppets. This is a first step towards breaking the cycle.
Friday, January 23, 2009
You barely exist !!!
The Earth has been around for 4.6 billion years. Scaling this time down to 46 years we have been around for 4 hours and our Industrial Revolution began just 1 minute ago.
Looking at it with above scale out life on earth is so negliblably negligably small that we don't practically exist from a cosmic perspctive. With respect to universe if we don't exist how can our problems,success failure exist. May be this can be co-related to the "Everything is an illusion form Gita".
All I am trying to say - "If we can reduce the weightage we give to success/failure that hits us everyday, we can stop these from getting to us. This means we have better inner peace."
Looking at it with above scale out life on earth is so negliblably negligably small that we don't practically exist from a cosmic perspctive. With respect to universe if we don't exist how can our problems,success failure exist. May be this can be co-related to the "Everything is an illusion form Gita".
All I am trying to say - "If we can reduce the weightage we give to success/failure that hits us everyday, we can stop these from getting to us. This means we have better inner peace."
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