Improving Sales - Learning To Fly

The moment when nothing seems to go our way, and no matter what we do, we can't seem to make the numbers budge. We want to improve sales, but it's just not happening. The truth is, we've  all been there, and sometimes it can feel like eternity before we get out of it. It is only during this time, we should keep our hope and faith intact.

Since I am talking here about keeping our hope and faith with us, it is almost like, learning to fly, let us not forget the king of the air- Eagle, and if we have to learn to fly let us take the lessons from the eagle only. As we learn to trust God we are called to live beyond the obvious, beyond our human perspective and limitations. How this compares with the flight of the eagle we will discover soon. First lets try to learn a little more about the eagle. An eagle can grow to be over three feet tall and have a wingspan of 6-7 feet. It builds its nest high in the mountain. The nest is a sizable construction which can weigh over 1000 pounds. It would be big enough for a human being to lay in it.

Before the female eagle lays its eggs the eagle couple makes sure that the nest is prepared with care, is strong, secure, and has the maximum of comfort, when finally the brood of eaglets hatches the eagle parents are ready to provide everything needed for their little offspring. They watch day and night and feed them with timely precision. The routine for the eaglets is rather simple at first: sleep, open the beak to be fed, and sleep again. Life couldn’t be better. After weeks of sleeping and eating in the cozy nest, the eaglet must learn the first lesson, namely to stand on its feet.

Actually they are forced to get up. At one point mother eagle takes out of the nest all the comfort, the plumage and brings little branches and thorns instead. She even shakes the nest and forces those eaglets to stand up. It is very important that the muscles of the eaglet’s feet develop early. The eagle’s claws are very essential for its survival and need to be powerful. The next step in this learning process is an even greater surprise for these little, but growing, bundles of feathers. The eaglets need to learn how to fly.

This process now includes not only discomfort but even harshness and shock therapy. Mama eagle suddenly grabs one of her brood and soars to great heights. There she releases the eaglet on a horrendous free-fall. First paralyzed by fear the little ball of feathers goes down like a stone and would certainly dash against the rocks if father eagle wouldn’t be there flying underneath to provide a save landing on his powerful wings. Then he carries the eaglet back to the nest. Those who have studied closely the life of the eagles say that this exercise is repeated up to sixteen times until the little eagle realizes that it is created to fly and learns to use its own wings. Eaglets have no other option. They must learn how to fly.

What a tremendous spiritual lesson! Similarly God our eternal father uses in our life the discomfort and even the horrors of being thrown out of our nest and security in order to teach us to trust Him and to use our wings.

God is interested that his children learn to believe, to soar on the current of His Spirit. We can remember personally times of crisis in our life when God takes away all our securities and we feel like being on a free-fall and frankly crying in despair. Praise God that, as father eagle He is watchful, when mama eagle lets go of the little eaglet father eagle picks it up before it dashes against the rocks, similarly God comes to our rescue. God is faithful and carries us through out-most difficult times.

It is comforting to know that the shock the eaglets go through when they suddenly find themselves on a free-fall from a couple of thousand of feet is only part of the process for them to grow up.

We seem to have a choice to just stay in the comfort zone of the nest, avoiding growing up, instead of accepting God’s flying lessons. But if we desire to grow spiritually, God answers our prayers and treats us like the eagle. His purpose is not to make us feel good or comfortable, rather to make us grow and know Him better.

This truly means that our difficulties and even trials and tribulations are not necessarily something to fear and shy away from, but rather to accept as opportunities to develop trust? Yes, this is exactly right. Let us consider it pure joy, whenever we face trials of any kinds, because the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

The key for someone to be able to have the right attitude and focus in such a situation is his/her trust in God’s wise and loving intention. It is this trust, or faith, that will enable the believer to experience God’s faithfulness and to learn to live by His power in the realm of the supernatural. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. They would be the one who would know how to fly in the difficult times.

Manifest Positive Thoughts

Many times when we think now we have become very learned and experienced after gaining so much knowledge, we start judging our present with the past experience of ours. Wearing those glasses, whatever we perceive, we think is right and best option for that situation, while we completely ignore the other possibilities which can be generated by some one else in the same situation, who would not judge the situation with our experienced parameters or glasses. We operate in the limited capacity of past experiences, knowledge of what has been. If we really want to feel as though our potential is limitless, which it is, move out of the limited past and get in touch with the Authentic self, which has solutions for any situation at the present moment. One feels less resistance, and more freedom.

Living in the Now allows us to believe in the limitless possibilities of our achievements. When we let the fear, disappointment, or negative experiences we've had in the past live in our conscious minds, we resist the abundance that we can access at any time. We have two choices when we experience disappointment: we can choose to adopt a state of struggle and victim hood, or we can release the negative emotions related to the experience and create a different future with our intentions and our focus.

It has been said that our greatest victory comes not in ever falling, but in rising each time we fall. If we don't consciously choose to release our past experiences then we end up manifesting similar experiences over and over.

We are all beings of energy, and the Universe is made up of energy packets, we are connected and our thoughts and actions create a ripple effect. It all contributes to the collective consciousness. Discover exactly HOW to create a human experience that truly reflects the divinely abundant nature of our Soul! Maybe we need to do some minor tuning to find the right frequency. The energy we send into the Universe finds a similar channel and plugs into it, like a radio receiver. To find the right channel or frequency, we have to put off vibrations that match the vibrations of our true desires.

One way to get rid of the static and find the channel we want is thinking and feeling high energy emotions like gratitude, abundance, joy. The high energy vibrations automatically plug into a frequency of the same energy level, and we begin to manifest, create, and enjoy the high energy experiences we are now able to receive.

Our past rich experience should be used to make progress in life, leading happier and more prosperous life, and in case it creates doubts or comes in the way of our happiness and progress, then we really need to stop and check. This is a very deep spiritual question related to how we interpret our experiences and how we take life's challenges and transform them into blessings. I believe this is the true meaning of alchemy; instead of turning lead into gold, however, we're turning so-called negatives into positives.

Thinking positively is simply a matter of looking for blessings and finding them, even when they're in disguise. If we pretend to be a "positive person" whether we feel positive or not, eventually, we will become a positive person. The more we can express gratitude for life, God and the people we meet, the more gratitude will become a part of our nature, and gratitude is the emotion of the highest vibration. It is synonymous with "pure, positive energy."

In every recession or depression or messed up state of affairs, while the majority is struggling and floundering, there are some who prosper. These are the positively focused individuals who are always on a hunt for blessings in disguise. It applies not only to business and economics, but to every aspect of our lives: where there is a problem, there is an opportunity. Instead of being a "problem-solver" (which is exhausting), study those people, and become an opportunity finder/creator.

Thought is the most powerful influence in our life. Life is thought, and as a man thinks, so he becomes." When we watch our thoughts closely we can see that we are making things happen. Choose happiness and love and we cannot go wrong! It is very simple, whenever encountered with a negative thought, instead of trying to fight it, simply "turn on the light," and it will vanish. Shadows can't exist in the presence of light. It means show it the truth, peace and happiness, replace the lines with more positive words.

Our attitude will not change overnight. We will have to learn to read a lot about positive thinking type books and be persistent to change how we think. Remember the ways we think did not just happen; we were conditioned to this way of thinking. We were not born with a bad attitude and self defeating thoughts.

Manifesting is the development of our souls and into a divine being which we were all born to be able to do. It is our birthright. When we were children we would daydream about whatever we wanted in our lives. As time went on we were told by our parents or society that we can not do this or that and we began to believe this and it is now a reality. We need to learn and teach ourselves how to manifest our lives all over again just like a child would daydream. This is done through positive thinking, faith and a great attitude about our life.

Like every day is fresh day, we should create fresh thoughts for these new situations, thoughts from the past are stale, they cannot bring new, fresh and better results, see good in every situation and create a better future by manifesting the right positive thoughts in the present. Combining inspired action with right thoughts allows us to make miracles happen. Happy Manifesting!

Help Yourself

If one has grown up as an adult, looking back all the time for all small issues of life, for help from outside, then one has just grown old as an adult and not at all rich in experience and maturity to solve the issues of life with self- help. So much of help lies inside us- which goes totally unnoticed. Each individual has the potential and capacity to solve all the challenges which life throws at them, but every time we have to look inwards for help, there is a deep embedded knowledge, power and strength already there. But as a child we should be exposed to our this faculty, otherwise it remains dormant, but still if one takes a decision to use it at any age one has to just go ahead. Mind is like a library, full of wisdom on all layers.

We are so full of self noise inside and outside, that this wisdom gets buried beneath all this noise. If we consciously decide to stay quiet, silent, talk less, talk softly, slowly and sweetly; when we talk loud we get disconnected with the natural rhythm of this universe. Beyond this noise lot of wisdom awaits, which shall flow from our own soul, in the form of self help required for any present situation.

Soul manifests through body, it carries lot of knowledge, if we are able to quiet our own mind, creating stillness and silence inside, then we can clearly hear to the soul. Soul can help us experience blissfulness amidst any kind of confusion. But first we have to create bliss inside; we shall then attract or draw bliss from all worldly pleasures. A miserable person will attract misery from every where.

There is short inspiring story of 4- Wives, which I had read as a child in a book, I would like to share it here:

There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her nothing but the best. He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He was very proud of her and always wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant was always in great fear that she might run away with some other men. He too, loved his 2nd wife. She was a very considerate person, always patient and in fact, merchant's confidante. When ever merchant faced any problem, he always turned to his 2nd wife and she would always help him out and tide him through difficult times. Merchant's 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.


One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told himself, "Now I have 4 wives with me. But when I die, I'll be alone. How lonely I'll be!" Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word. The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant's heart. The sad merchant then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you so much for all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?" "No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is so good over here! I'm going to remarry when you die!" The merchant's heart sank and turned cold.


He then asked the 2nd wife, "I always turned to you for help and you've always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?" "I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd wife. "At the very most, I can only send you to your grave." The answer came like a bolt of thunder and the merchant was devastated. Then a voice called out: "I'll leave with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go." The merchant looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny, almost like she suffered from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the merchant said, "I should have taken much better care of you while I could have!"


Actually, we all have 4 wives in our lives:
a. The 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it'll leave us when we die.
b. Our 3rd wife? - Our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, they all go to others.
c. The 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how close they had been there for us when we're alive, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.
d. The 1st wife is in fact our soul, often neglected in our pursuit of material, wealth and sensual pleasure.
Guess what? It is actually the only thing that follows us wherever we go. Perhaps it's a good idea to cultivate and strengthen it now rather than to wait until we're on our deathbed to lament. Let us help our self right now cultivating a soulful life.

Soul has three faculties which it has to use- mind, intellect and values/ belief system. But with most of us these three faculties get so dominating, that instead of soul running and managing them, they are on their own and soul sits in when corner neglected under the clutter of our mind. If the soul is in a blissful condition, pure, peaceful and calm, it shall get the right guidance from God. We should know our role. We are like a student and God is like a teacher/ guide/ power. He can teach us, guide us, give us strength but we have to perform in the exam our self, we can prepare with His help for the exam but we have to appear in the exam our self. So learn to take help from Him and prepare your soul, but appear in exams with your own help.

If the soul is in the right condition, it shall use the mind, intellect and belief system righteously to generate the right thought, from right thought comes the right feeling, from right feeling comes the right attitude, from right attitude comes the right words/ actions, they form our habit, then personality and it constitutes our Destiny. So we can create our right Destiny from just one right thought. Help yourself to generate this right thought.

Transformation is just one thought away, not years of work. It is really worth it. By just changing ourselves, we can actually make a big difference to make the world a better place.

Freedom

It is once again 15th August, and time to remember that we are free. So let us check how much our freedom meter is this year in 2011 after officially 64 years of independence. What exactly I mean is how much free we are today? Freedom means that I can easily fly through my day and flying shall be easier if I am mentally light weight. And light weight is possible if I am free. Free from the hurt of past, free from the fear of future, free from anger, jealousy and proud.

When we talk about detachment in spirituality and be free, it is actually to be detached from these vices, for our actual freedom we have to get rid of these vices, which chain us up and direct our life in a limited direction. While man is born free and in this world he is here to enjoy all the freedom. And here, it is no outsider who can chain us, as we bound our self in to our self inflicted pain. The chains of bad habits/ vices are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken!!

We like victimization, in order to avoid personal responsibility. Otherwise we have to work on our self and change our earlier belief system and thought cycle. So we give our self the permission to stay in that pain, in that state of fear, anger and other vices. And when we get emotionally addicted to this pain, we are used to this as a stimulant, we feel good with this hurt as a part of life. Even when no body actually hurts us, we go ahead and find such people; we invite them and choose their actions to be perceived as hurt. Accept people and reject pain.

So this 15th August, let us LET GO our deep rooted attachments, attachments to hurt, fear of losing, insecurity, holding tight. If something belongs to you, it belongs to you, don’t hold it inside, otherwise tightness develops and only pain will result. Actually by nature we are a light, free, peaceful soul and nothing belongs to soul, when we were born what did we bring with us, which we are calling ours today. Similarly when we die what we can take with us? It is only our soul which was with us and which shall be there, so let go rest of everything and feel free today to enjoy what ever is here right now in the present with us.

When ever we are holding on to something, a person, place, possession etc, we have turned very mean and greedy because we are bothered about what will happen to me, if you will go? It is all about me and not about you. But little do we realize that detachment brings us even closer to people, as now the soul gets connected to the soul. Practice this art of let go and then we are actually FREE.

This independence day let us take a pledge together to be free from all past hurt, future fear, free from anger, greed, jealousy and proud. Forgiving but remembering the people and the situations of the past. Once our slate is clean, it is ready to create a beautiful present and future of our choice. Happy Independence Day.

Embrace Life

Whatever comes in the way of life, to accept it, embrace it flow with it, rather than resisting it and wasting our energy. This is the way to progress. Life is like a hurdle race, in which hurdles shall come in the way, as they are the part of the race; we cannot stand, wait or resist the hurdles, rather we have to move across them.

Whenever there is a new hurdle on our way, we should embrace it, it has come to teach us how to jump, and there is a new lesson to be learnt. It has come to increase my tolerance and acceptance power. Hurdles are not in the way, they are in the head and the moment we create a new perception towards them, we can easily overcome it with success.

Welcome the resistance itself play with it, give in to it while remaining alert to the ways of redirecting the energy. This requires ego resiliency, the ability to respond flexibly and persistently to challenges.

If we resist and do not accept, it invites struggle. It works against us, the situation or the person gets even difficult to deal with. Struggle strengthens resistance. Let the situation or the person be hard, let me get softer, by accepting it or him/her. Like flowing water, when the stones come in its way, due to its softer nature, it crosses around it and moves ahead. Similarly this person or situation is not difficult, it is just a different situation or a different person to deal with.

By embracing resistance we are actually utilizing it. Resistance should be openly accepted, in fact graciously accepted, since it is a vitally important part of communication and often can be used as an opening into new realm of possibilities, if the energy of an opponent’s attack is not resisted or rejected, rather is welcomed as an opportunity to restore the disturbed harmony which resistance represents. The attacker’s energy is accepted with flexibility and without struggle, and redirected away from the point of attack. The attacker can find nothing to push back or resist against. To challenge resistance with rigid rejection only limits the range of potential responses and strengthens the other person's resistance. To welcome resistance with flexibility invites cooperation that can’t be resisted. Understanding and releasing resistance can create ease and efficiency where struggle and impediment exist.

Let us take an example how differently people working on the same job profile make meaning of their work. Some see what they do for a living as just a job, others view it as a career and the rest think of it as a calling. People who see their job as a calling work more hours, miss less work and report higher life satisfaction than others doing similar work. While working in the same organization, it raises the question, “How can people doing the same work, sitting next to each other in the same organization, think so differently about their jobs?” Those who see their job as a calling, talk about it in glowing terms, like what they do and describe it as needing a lot of skill. Those who see their job as just a job, on the other hand, see their work as being simple and involving no skills. This shows that people are themselves responsible to actively shape the meaning of their life's experiences.

For embracing life fully it has five components to the best of my understanding:

1. Find the meaning in life in living of each moment.
2. Passionate commitment to a way of life, to one’s purpose and one’s relationships, is the highest form of expression of one’s humanity.
3. We have freedom of choice and responsibility for our choices.
4. Openness to experience allows for the greatest possible expansion of personal expression.
5. In the ever-present face of death itself, we find the deepest commitment to life itself. (The threat of death may be seen as “a dark, unsettling presence at the rim of consciousness” or everyday awareness of death may provide the motivation to live life more immediately.)

The extent to which we are experiencing life is the extent to which we are being fully alive. When we fail to experience, by denying awareness or avoiding opportunities, we waste our potential.” Embracing of life is being fully alive, and resistance to life is any self-sabotage that denies and thwarts our potential.
The individual remains locked in resistance until he experiences them both, owns them both, and indeed embraces the totality of himself with compassionate self-acceptance. One is energy of attraction and openness to life and growth. The other is energy of withdrawal, disintegration, and resistance to life and growth.

One’s reaction is often to flee the dreaded reality by creating an inauthentic life with self-sabotaging neurotic anxiety, defenses, resistance, repression, addictions, distractions and dissociation.

At the time of conception, the spirit has the choice of fear or faith, is it a passionate and committed leap of faith from spirit into earthly life, or avoidant, ambivalent or controlling? Similarly at the time of birth, leaving behind the security and predictability of the womb again requires a monumentally trusting leap of faith. The fetus willingly surrenders itself to the unknown force that will carry it to a new infinitely expanded world. Of course, again, it can also be done unconsciously, in fear or pain or rage. The difference between these choices sets in motion influences of vast proportions on the lifespan to follow. Similarly the choice whether we are embracing or resisting a situation would set in motion the energy which shall flow with that choice.

The moment we embrace, a new power is generated inside us, to take care of that situation, then why do we want to resist, after all each and every scene in this drama is for our ultimate good and benefit, let us accept it as it is with faith and hope, putting in our best actions.

Servant Leadership- An Altruistic Approach

Recently came across this word ‘Altruistic’ wanted to understand the deeper meaning of the same and its day to day relevance in our work culture. Altruistic means to show unselfish concern for the welfare of others, so an altruistic approach would be a selfless one. Now how can we apply this to our corporate world? - Is it by serving others - customers, business associates or co- employees.

Practicing altruism is the real source of compromise and cooperation; merely recognizing our need for harmony is not enough. A mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir - a constant source of energy, determination and kindness. This is like a seed; when cultivated, gives rise to many other good qualities, such as forgiveness, tolerance, inner strength and the confidence to overcome fear and insecurity. The compassionate mind is like an elixir; it is capable of transforming bad situation into beneficial ones. Therefore, we should not limit our expressions of love and compassion to our family and friends. Nor is the compassion only the responsibility of clergy, health care and social workers. It is the necessary business of every part of the human community.

For this one has to develop a spiritual temper. Pure altruism is giving without regard to reward or the benefits of recognition. The concept has a long history in philosophical and ethical thought; materialistic struggle for personal gain is no way to make the world a better place. We should try to ignore the monetary aspect and put people at the heart of what we do, concentrating on what will be of real benefit to others. And if we are serving honestly money should follow.

Many illnesses can be cured by this one medicine of love and compassion to others. These qualities are the ultimate source of human happiness, and need for them lies at the very core of every being. Unfortunately, love and compassion have been omitted from too many spheres of social interaction for too long. Usually confined to family and home, their practice in public life is considered impractical, even naive. This is tragic. The practice of compassion is the most effective way to pursue the best interest of others as well as our own.

What ever is a conflict - an altruistic approach is frequently the sole means of resolving it. At times, when a resolution seems impossible, both sides should recall the basic human nature that unites them. This will help break the impasse and, in the long run, make it easier for everyone to attain their goal. After all we have to keep in mind our interdependent nature.

We can always learn from the nature by observing small insects, ants and bees. The laws of nature dictate that bees work together in order to survive. As a result, they possess an instinctive sense of social responsibility. They have no constitution, laws, police, religion or moral training, but because of their nature they labor faithfully together. In general the whole colony survives on the basis of cooperation. Human beings, on the other hand, have constitutions, vast legal systems and police forces; we have religion, remarkable intelligence and a heart with great capacity to love. But despite our many extraordinary qualities, in actual practice we lag behind those small insects; in some ways, I feel we are poorer than the bees.

When we are unable to share, we suffer from lack of love, loneliness, for instance, millions of people live together in large cities all over the world, but despite this proximity, many are lonely. Some do not have even one human being with whom to share their deepest feelings, and live in a state of perpetual agitation. This is very sad. We are not solitary animals, if we were, why would we build large cities and towns? But even though we are social animals compelled to live together, unfortunately, we lack sense of responsibility towards our fellow humans. Does the fault lie in our social architecture? Is it our own external facilities - our machines, science and technology? Or is it just a smile away? Just away by a spontaneous feeling of empathy.

I believe that despite the rapid advances made by civilization in this century, the most immediate cause of our present dilemma is our undue emphasis on material development alone. We have become so engrossed in its pursuit that, without even knowing it, we have neglected to foster the most basic human needs of love, kindness, cooperation and caring. The development of human society is based entirely on people helping each other. Once we have lost the essential humanity that is our foundation, what is the point of pursuing only material improvement?

Servant leadership puts emphasis on serving others, whether customers, employees, or community, as the number one priority in the business. Servant leadership emphasizes increased service to others, a holistic approach to work, promoting a sense of community, and the sharing of power in decision making. At its core, servant leadership is not a quick fix or magic bullet to organizational leadership. It is, however, a transformational approach to life and work and has the potential to create positive change throughout society.

Servant leadership deals with a reality of power in everyday life, its legitimacy, the ethical restraints upon it and the beneficial results that can be attained through the appropriate use of power. Servant leaders are those who serve with a focus on the others, the servant leader leads and serves with an altruistic approach. This leader also empowers others, acts with humility, exhibits love, leads with service, is trusting, and is a visionary for others.

Servant Leaders help others selflessly just for the sake of helping, which involves personal sacrifice, even though there is no personal gain. The traditional view of altruism as an unselfish concern for others often involves personal sacrifices; however the servant leader gets personal pleasure in helping others. This is the true understanding of altruism.

Inner Fitness

When we talk about inner fitness, it is not about any fitness regime concerned with health, we are concerned with inside calmness and inner stability, I believe that if this aspect of inner fitness is there health automatically follows. We have to make this inner stability, this peace as an integral part of our personality. This is from where the true leadership also begins.

The concept of inner fitness is directly related with spirituality and spirituality plays an important role in enhancing our professional lives. The real bottom line in business is spiritual and personal growth. As the business world becomes more complex and demanding, there is a need for a stronger foundation on which to build a professional life, job, or career. Principles that influence the quality of passionate work; how to absorb them into daily practice? Spiritual/ inner fitness increases energy, reduces absenteeism, improve sleep and mental outlook and overall health.

We live with so many wrong beliefs all of our lives, one of such beliefs I was living with was: "peaceful are those, who are weak, who are powerless. If I am calm and peaceful people will walk over me”. But this is not true it is a wrong belief, rather peace is actually for strong people, inner peace itself gives a lot of power, and rather anger depicts loss of power. In a leadership position one has to know the difference between assertiveness and submissiveness. Assertiveness indicates inner stability and putting your point straight forward, where as submissiveness creates turmoil inside and is represented with anger or fear outside. Fear paralyzes and one can not find the right solution.

There should be times when we should choose to be quiet because there is no benefit in getting angry at that situation. And if there is any task to be done, the request should be clear and straight forward. When we chose to be quiet, we shall be stable inside and can listen to the whole situation in a way finding, and solving the issue rather than messing it up further.

Now there is another wrong belief which most of us live with: “If I am quiet- I lost!” Question is what do I want to win? What is winning and losing? In the game of life we are all together we are not competing. If we have to loose something we have to loose our anger and fear; our jealousy and proud. Our life is our own choice- what we want? Then I win. I win over the illusion that life is not a race or a competition. My journey is my own, on this road of life, I am driving my own vehicle.

How do we as individuals and organizations survive and thrive amid tremendous change and transition? The key to dealing with transitions is having a changeless, principle-centered core. Learn to see change as a challenge, not as a threat. During a challenge we should learn how to develop our internal compass and use it as a source of security, guidance, wisdom and power.

Internal compass or inner fitness can be developed by following simple steps, number one is to let go of suffering, mental noise and anxiety. We miss so much when our minds are cluttered with events of the past and anticipation of the future. The energy we give to things that are not part of the present is wasted and blocks us from seeing and experiencing what is right in front of us.

When we have inner stability we can create the life we want not how others dictate or want our life to be. It is a life free from anxiety, disturbance and irritation. The right thoughts will create the right words, right words will create the right actions, and right actions will create the right harmony in our life. With right thoughts, actions and behavior we are creating a peaceful, content and happy life. Let us take out time to feel the love and support which already exists around us. Listen for the still, small voice within and be open and receptive to the answers we seek. Then the path we travel shall be filled with the fragrant sweet smell of roses.

Our peace and inner stability is checked the moment somebody shouts at us! Or the moment a challenging situation arises? How do we react at that time is the true test of all the lessons learnt, that is the true test on the scale of spirituality where we stand. In the small, small situations we face daily! Normally we shout – to attract attention, but if we show and have acceptance towards others, then why to waste our valuable energy in getting angry?

Step on the path of knowing thy SELF and we will reach greater heights of success, creativity and joy; feeling more spiritually radiant. I have heard that happiness resides within us and have believed it. I must say profound, to experience our true happiness and to find the place within us it radiates from, has nothing to do with people, places, or conditions in the external world.

When we see, and admit, our essential powerlessness to provide for ourselves what we believe can make us happy. This is a necessary stage in our spiritual development: to realize we don't have a clue how to help ourselves become whole. This discovery alone makes it possible for us to learn real patience and inner calmness.

Bhutan - Real Estate n Nature

A visit to Bhutan feels like a visit to the abode of Gods; the majesty and grandeur of the natural surroundings eludes one to a special environment where communion with the divine is possible through contemplation, connection and meditation. One gets irresistibly drawn towards these remote and rugged Himalayan Mountains in a personal search for wisdom, inspiration, solitude and happiness.

Bhutan tucked in the Eastern Himalayas, has preserved and still richly intact, its traditional lifestyle. Rather the modern secular life is being influenced and permeated with the traditional cultural life style.

Gross National Happiness (GNH)has been the overarching development philosophy of Bhutan as the concept has guided the country’s development policies and programmes. GNH suggests that happiness is the ultimate objective of development. It recognizes that there are many dimensions to development other than those associated with Gross National Product (GNP), and that development needs to be understood as a process that seeks to maximize happiness rather than purely economic growth.

The country believes that for a holistic development of the individual and society, it is essential that development achieve a sustainable balance between the economic, social, emotional, spiritual and cultural needs of the people. This has led to the declared objective of viewing development as a continuous process towards achieving a balance between the material and intangible needs of individuals and society.

The concept reminds the country that the means must always be considered in terms of the end and, therefore, every step in material development and change must be measured and evaluated to ensure that it will lead to happiness, not just more development.

The four major areas as the main pillars of GNH:
1. Economic growth and development.
2. Preservation and promotion of cultural heritage.
3. Preservation and sustainable use of the environment.
4. And Good governance

Guided by the ideas of Gross National Happiness (GNH), Bhutan has been making steady progress in every sector toward the goal of modernization. Hydroelectric power, economically the most signification sector for Bhutan’s goal of self-sustaining development, has grown impressively. The education, social services and health sector have made great strides forward and continue to be the most important social components of the country’s development programme. The government‘s fiscal situation has been improving steadily. Progress has been made in the development of human resource and the legal infrastructure.

Bhutan the land of thunder dragon, nestled between India and Tibet, the exquisite mountain kingdom has been isolated and protected for centuries by mighty Himalayan peaks, with daily life rituals remaining sacred and the landscape is relatively undeveloped.

Tradition and Buddhism infuse every facet of life, from jingling brass bells of prayer wheels to ornate monasteries perched high above terraced rice paddies. Change is coming to Bhutan, but the country isn’t blindly adopting modern western culture. After all, Bhutan still defines prosperity by Gross National Happiness, measuring well being rather than consumption. This trip to Bhutan, provided a unique opportunity to see how the Bhutanese balance development and tradition, and it was enhanced by experienced local guides who proudly share their country’s culture with us. One finds something akin to Bhutan's wonders in the beauty of remote monasteries and in interactions with Bhutanese people.

Tide Of Change

Recently took up a new role and responsibility with a real estate company at a new position. Real estate industry in India- the main excitement of this industry is that it is changing rapidly, and another major attraction here is of helping make although miniscule but some little contribution to the growth and infrastructure development of the nation. This made the role a terrific opportunity. Being a new company in this industry my role is more as the growth driver, the challenger, and the visionary, cultural leader, customer champion, focused on people and values, and very much the public face of the organization. The role involves execution, strategy support, growth enabling, productivity and process transformation, as well as compliance.

By the time we reach our forties we know a great deal more about life than we did when we began our careers. This wisdom and knowledge, as well as the insight into myself, was an important catalyst for this career move. When we begin our working careers most of us work with a singular drive to succeed in competitive careers that offer high wages. Yet, later in life, we develop a grasp on what really compels us to remain productive in the company. Later on the career goals are no longer driven by high wages and a certain status instead it is replaced by a desire to find passion, enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment from our work. Because of this, the challenge becomes more like an adventure as we set about developing new skills growing our self along with our work. And let us not forget that we haven't even reached the halfway point of our most productive years.

In this fast-changing times of doing business, creativity should be on top of the list of qualities of a good leader. What has been effective in the past years might not be effective tomorrow, so creative leaders tend to weigh in the methods used as well as the results obtained in the past and then try to ‘custom-fit’ it to the present situation to obtain the best possible results. I am trying to be as creative and as flexible as that.

Integrity and Influence can put us to the top but Creativity makes us stay on top. I think slowly but surely, modern managers are realizing that the complex situations they face require not only creativity, but also inquisition and even more recently a new focus on socially responsible practices to meet the increasing demands of the multifaceted customer. Another aspect here is that creativity is strongly needed to be able to lead the young ones that are no still attending school.

Change is the law of nature, and one’s growth depends a lot upon, how accepting and welcoming one can be towards this change. When we are caught up in the tide of change and there is no turning back, might as well adjust, adapt and mould ourselves as per the requirement of the situation. With this attitude if we enter into new role, success is not far away. Many opportunities await the motivated individual who wants a change.

Although in a new set up but in any business or company, it's about two things: the people and the product. Naturally, there has to be a great deal of focus on the product itself, especially in terms of making sure it's competitive with the offerings out there right now. We need to have the features that industry demands and accepts, bringing future value to our customers. Behind every great company, there are great people. My hope is to give the current staff the resources they need to be successful, and to identify new people that can take this company to the next level as we grow. I strongly believe that there is great capacity in every individual and each one has there own set of strengths and weaknesses. As a leader one has to be accepting and humble enough to this fact and curious enough to selflessly and compassionately connect with others in a desire to bring about the best in them.

The Beautiful City Of Venice, Italy

Millions of people head to Venice every year for one simple reason; it is like no other city on Earth. The city offers fantastic architecture, wonderful food, unique shopping opportunities, and great historical sites. Everything in Venice is so picturesque. It is easy to get lost in this city of more than 100 islands united by over 400 bridges and many waterways. Venice is an artistic and architectural masterpiece filled with palaces from the Renaissance and the Gothic and Byzantine periods. It is known as one of the world's most extraordinary beautiful and unique cities.

Venice is a beautiful and unusual city with such breathtaking sites, smells and sounds. It's a place full of energy that everyone should experience at least once in their lives.

Some of the many outstanding attractions worth visiting in Venice include one of the first things one sees as soon as one is out from the Santa Lucia station-The San Giogio Maggiore. This is a church that was set upon the tiny island across from Venice and it's the dream work of architects everywhere. The structure is the creation of Andrea Palladio who built the church in 1566. It sports a classical design which includes a line of columns that separate the Austere Choir loft from the alter.

Another not to miss site is Saint Mark’s Basilica, which is the most renowned church in Venice. It's named such because the remains of St. Mark, who is the patron saint of the city of Venice, are kept there. The church actually sits in the eastern side of St. Mark's Square. This is the heart and soul of Venice and it's one of the most desired photo attractions for tourists in the world.





Other attractions include:

Burano, San Rocco,

Doge’s Palace,

The Grand Canal,

Santa maria dei Miracoli,

Campo Santa Margherita,

Rialto Market,

Anyone with any appreciation of history and architecture will absolutely love a visit to Venice. The city offers the kinds of memories and experiences that cannot be had anywhere else.

Among those who've seen it in person, the conclusion is unanimous: Venice is the most beautiful city in the world, and the only one that can truly be described as unique. Each building is a work of art, with their beauty enhanced when reflected on the canals that cross the city. Its magical scenery is fascinating and breathtaking at first sight, evoking the feeling of entering the setting of a real-life fairy tale. It's perhaps even unfair to all other cities to call Venice a city, as it is a place unlike any other that no other can compare to.

When one is in Venice you can walk for hours or days and you will find something different every time.Places in Venice can be difficult to find if you do not carry a map. It is easy to find the Saint Mark Ducal Palace and the Bridge of Rialto but rest of the beautiful and mysterious Venice might elude you. Get lost in the beauty of its streets and enjoy.

Florence- The most Cultured and Inspiring City

Florence - A special place that has managed to preserve some of the greatest works of art and architecture of its buildings. The wonderful quality about Florence is that it is rich in culture yet unpretentious. We had come to Florence intending to stay for only a short while and then never wanted to leave. A city with historic masterpiece of architectural buildings, paintings, sculptures and natural beauty that is presented lavishly in this Italian city. The benefits from a holiday in Florence are one enjoys vacation in a city filled with historic sites. In every corner of the city, its beautiful scenery will always draw the eye. And most importantly, we can feel surrounded by historical buildings … step foot anywhere, will deal with works of art. Tour in Florence means to rotate around in the city without having to leave it.

Florence is a jewel of the Tuscany region of Italy. The beautiful surroundings contain other beautiful locations such as Siena, Pisa, Lucca and San Gimignano. The region has inspired many great artists such as Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Botticelli, Paolo Uccello and the universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Some of the great artists of European History were given the resources and surroundings necessary to create an amazing collection of architecture, sculpture and paintings. Visiting Florence gives the ability to see an amazing collection of creations within the environment that inspired them.

Some of the premium highlights of Florence include:

• Il Duomo – Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore

• Piazza della Signoria and Palazzo Vecchio

• The Baptistery, Pisa

• Campanile – Bell Tower

• Ponte Vecchio Bridge

• Galleria degli Uffizi Museum

 • Galleria dell’ Academia

• Boboli Garden and Pitti Palace

Florence, originally named Florentia (means “flourishing”) by Julius Caesar, who founded the city in 59 BC in the fertile valley of the Arno River to celebrate the triumphs of Rome’s veteran soldiers. Many of Florence’s great treasures are found within its churches, one really captures the vastness and spectacular intricacies of these world-renowned structures. Enjoy the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte, high on a hill overlooking Florence, and the late 13th century Basilica of Santa Croce, the burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini. Often called “The Pantheon of Glories,” it is the largest Franciscan sanctuary in the world. Other destinations include the breathtaking dome of Tempio Maggiore – one of Europe’s most beautiful synagogues – and the weathered and angular copper roof of Florence’s central market, Mercato Centrale, home to legendary Tuscan pastas, meats and cheeses.

Siena is well preserved Medieval town located 30 miles south of Florence. It is set on three hills.
One of the main area in this town is piazza del Campo; a large scallop shaped square. It is divided in 9 segments representing the Council of the Nine that ruled Medieval Siena. In piazza del Campo a historical bareback horse race called “Palio” is held twice every year (on 2th july and 16th august). One of the palaces surrounding the square is Palazzo Pubblico; one can visit it inside. There you can see several frescoed rooms. This palace is used as town hall.

One cannot go to Florence without visiting the art museums and the Duomo. One also cannot go to Florence and not enjoy the food. And one must never, ever go to Florence without rubbing the porcellini's (little pig) nose for good luck (and promise of someday returning to Florence).

From Florence it is easy to take a regional train to Pisa, which is about an hour west of the city by train. In Pisa we saw the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. This beautiful city is a world center for art and architecture. Not only are there many museums with outstanding collections of art, but also the buildings themselves are architectural wonders. Just strolling the streets is an awe-inspiring activity.

On a more practical note, Florence is a special place for shopping. Italian designer stores abound. Clothing, leather goods, fine stationery, gold jewelry, luggage …the list is endless. Many people set aside time on their trip just to buy shoes, purses, gloves and jewelry. With many open-air markets, there are even bargains galore. There is such a high level of design that even “window shopping” is fun.