Tools
16 Dec 2011:
Quick yr end retro
I. Area — Last year (what went right + wrong) — This year (direction)
Health
Career
Finances
Spouse
Relationships
Spirituality
Hobbies
II. 3 values I commit to
III. 3 ‘big’ goals (being/doing/having)
GOAL — WHY — IMMEDIATE ACTION
IV. One promise to myself
**
30 Jan 2012: Impulsiveness is not spontaneity. It is the result of a speeded up mind that is no longer in control. It often ends in guilt. Spontaneity, on the other hand, requires a certain degree of internal stillness, directed by the voice of the heart and expressed with the innocence of a child. Its ends with fun.
**
27 Apr 2012: The ‘Original Promise’ is the set of reasons that you considered when you first made a choice — a career, a relationship, a degree or a lifestyle.
Over time, the original promise gets lost…succumbing to events, mental evaluations of whats possible, social norms and much more
But every once in a while, its great to revisit the original promise — what was your life going to be about? What did you want to do? Why did you take up your current job/course and what did you want to experience in your relationship?
**
9 Jan 2013: Be very careful of the stories you tell others about yourself…before you know it, you may start believing in them too.
**
3 Feb 2013: Listening deeply and authentically can solve a large portion of humanity’s problems.
Yet, there is such a deep desire to talk and express, to flaunt and convince. Most of us are deeply mistaken when we believe that we have THE answer, and the path to emancipation lies in communicating it as powerfully as possible.
It requires immense humility to be a container of others ideas and a space to blend them. It’s way easier to be the broadcasting mic and gun for the stage
**
23 Feb 2013:
Simply life -> Reduce needs -> Spend lesser time at work -> Reinvest spare time in the society -> Make a difference -> Die empty handed but in a better world -> Repeat in next life
**
7 March 2013: I don’t think an “us vs. them” theory of change will work.
Firstly, the distinctions are not so clear anymore.
Secondly, “they” often are too powerful and organized compared to “us”
Thirdly, the new world dreamt of by “us” cannot be built on destroying “them” or excluding “them” — ‘they’ are as much a part of the world as ‘us’
Finally, instead of pushing our energies against each other, why can’t we be creative to explore new equilibrium and new world views where the legitimate needs and demands of both “us” and “them” are satisfied?
**
20 March 2013: While creating a new world, we need to do what feels right in the Now.
Our capacity to understand is limited — we can’t plan or predict.
Instead, this is a dance with a larger consciousness that wants to emerge. It is co-creation with the forces of Good. We need to get ourselves out of the way and channel into the good-ness, letting it flow through us.
That feeling, that flow, that energy will direct us naturally to what needs to be done, what needs to be said and what needs to wait. It will give us the humility, the patience and the ability to say ‘I don’t know where this is leading to’
What is trying to emerge is much larger than any of us, and so none of us individually have the capacity to hold it or conceptualize it. Instead, let’s bring our pieces of the puzzle — our talents and inner voice, to the service of humanity.
Let us persist against the ‘evil’ when we encounter it inside as well — as the egoistic intellect that refuses to listen to the spirit.
It will happen.
**
28 March 2013: How do we live knowing that our life-spans are uncertain? How can we balance the temptation of short term gains vs sacrifices for a long term journey?
Fractal Living, to me is an answer.
A fractal is a shape which is similar from any scale — it is a pattern that repeats itself, often found in nature (river networks, DNA, snowflakes and broccoli for eg)
If we live our life as a fractal, we will try to make every small part of our life as meaningful as the whole. Every hour or day is complete in its own right, and yet it adds up to an organic creation of something larger, equally beautiful, with similar beauty.
One way to do this is to be mindful of the ‘organizing principle’ of our life (could be service, spontaneity, giving our best or living our purpose) — if this principle is reflected in every unit of the time of our existence, we can trust life to unfold in a naturally beautiful fractal-like pattern.
It is beautiful irrespective of whenever it gets terminated, and yet its beauty continues to extend as it grows.
**
15 April 2013:
In everything we do, a valuable question to reflect on is, ‘What is the essence of what I am doing?’
Staying connected to the spirit of why we are doing something keeps it grounded in a pure space.
The argument is to arrive at the truth, not to prove the other person wrong. The question is to be asked out of curiosity and not out of a need to look intelligent.
There is not even a wrong-right connotation to this….it is just about being present to the intent behind what we do….because it is so easy to lose that, and to hold onto the actions, forgetting the intent whereas what we need to do is hold onto the intent and be willing to let go of actions.
**
21 April 2013: How can I act from greater depth? How can I plunge even more fully into service? And how can I be as useful as I can — to be an instrument of the Universe’s pure intent?
All those things that I believe aren’t right with the world yet — they are my responsibility too, in however small part.
Sometimes I talk too much — too many status updates and too little action, compared to my potential to contribute. I don’t act out of the anxiety of results, a sense of fear, of how it will make me look. My irritation and helplessness to change conditions outside are as much with my lack of mastery over myself.
In my limited time on the planet, how can I live selflessly? Identifying myself with the larger Self?
It is a beautiful struggle — an enjoyable journey….even more intense work needed on the inside….
**
25 May 2013: The most powerful way to restrict someone is not physical control.
It is to create a prison in the person’s own mind — through conditioning, imposed norms, unquestioned traditions and constant messages.
If governments, societies and civilizations can restrict the idea of what is possible, they exercise the ultimate form of control. Because when an idea is not even allowed to exist, the question of pursuing it or fighting for it does not arise.
In our own heads are so many of these invisible barriers and walls, these prisons constructed by unquestioned messages. Only because they lock in large number of us, they may feel ‘normal’ and we may not realize we are trapped — but we are.
When we will confront these unseen walls and break them down, a new Renaissance will be born.
**
8 June 2013:
Deep beneath the layers of language and meaning, of context and culture, deep below biases and perceptual errors lies pure existence.
It is throbbing and alive — full of energy and devoid of meaning — where everything just IS. It just IS in its rawness — just existing without any good or bad. This is reality — where life truly happens.
That field is also the field of witnessing — anchored in which I can witness without judgement. And the space in which I can just exist, just Be.
Om.
**
15 March 2014: Populism is the easy way out for politicians — lower prices, free electricity, more jobs will always enthuse people. So will Us vs Them arguments, rhetoric, sensationalism and black-n-white thinking.
For now it is what masses seem to want, and what our leaders are very happy to supply.
But what to me is truly worthwhile (though way more time consuming and less fashionable) is building the capacity of people to think through the impact of their choices, to respect the Other (rather than stereotype and condemn it), to see the greys and to own responsibility for their condition rather than pinning hopes and aspirations on leaders.
This ploughing will create a soil fertile enough for the right seeds to germinate — and we won’t need either fertilisers (like exaggerated claims, unrealistic promises etc) nor pesticides (hatred and ‘anti’ thinking). We will truly move to ‘organic’ and than ‘natural’ farming :)
**
20 March 2014: To change the world requires us to change the stories we have told ourselves about it — our narratives and assumptions about the way things are.
Till we don’t examine and rethink them, all action will be optimising our already ineffective ways of being.
For example, the sweeping assumptions of ‘more is better’, ‘work is worship’, ‘humans are inherently selfish’, ‘markets know the best’, ‘growth is good’ -> each of these are worth questioning.
Once we are willing to confront and change these, the change will follow….
**
20 March 2014:
The good news is — you can MEDITATE!
Meditation must feature right up there with air, water and food if we are to have any chance of experiencing what lies beyond our limited minds.
**
25 March 2014:
Make a list of 10 things you would do if you would be more courageous.
Do them.
**
3 April 2014: The biggest challenge of our times is is intellectual laziness — it is the unwillingness to really think for ourselves, to create informed and nuanced opinions, to expose ourselves to diverse views and to be willing to explore the new and unfamiliar.
The result of this is us making choices on auto-pilot rather than consciously. Which in turn leads to massive group-think, choosing the path of ‘least resistance’ and several pointless conversations (which don’t lead us to the truth but rather insult each other)
This is probably from the way we are educated (where we just have to exercise memory), what we consume (trashy entertainment), where we spend our time (shopping in the malls or package tours), what we read (entertainment promotional features i.e. newspapers) and so on…..
And this affects the quality of our lives (where we find ourselves stuck in jobs / cities / choices that we don’t want but put up with), it affects our ability to create a change (both in ourselves and the world) and it affects how much of the richness of the world can we absorb and engage with.
So let us start flexing our mental muscles — reading unfamiliar stuff, forming informed opinions, engaging with people we disagree, questioning status quo and living with creative unrest in our lives.
Ignorance is not bliss. It is an excuse.
15 Aug 2015: How do you know you are doing the right thing?
If you want to know whether your choice is a “right” choice or not, imagine every single person in the world making the same choice.
What would happen to the world then?
If it would be better, it is a right choice.
If it would stay the same or become worse, it is a wrong choice.
7 Sept 2015:
The 7 Insights Challenge
Share 7 insights from your life, and tag atleast 7 co-travellers to share theirs
1. Action is our primary access to life
2. Knowing is not Being
3. Attention and energy resolve most ‘knots’
4. Subtle is more potent than gross
5. All language, reality, culture, and our lives are ‘made up’
6. There is a deeper ground where we are all connected
7. It is all about Love :)
6 April 2017:
I am anti-fragile
Each time I’m hit by an unexpected challenge, I take a fall.
I bide my time. I let it sink in. I stay with the dust.
Then I get up. I wipe my face. I pick up the challenge.
I exercise with it. I use it to build up my (psychological) muscle. I grow.
The next time it comes my way, it won’t feel like as much of a challenge. It won’t get me down.
But trust life to keep throwing tougher ones.
Each is only an invitation to grow, to expand.
Not breaking down.
Not merely accepting.
But getting stronger. Every single time.
That’s anti-fragile
