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.

Climbing Heights

Climbing heights, achieving success and rising in the ladder of corporate world, these are quite a heard of words around us. Let us examine how to rate success or achievement? Is it material prosperity like lands and buildings, stocks and shares, ornaments and armaments, cars and convertibles or is it subtle aspirations like success and recognition, power and position, knowledge and skill, relationships? Or is it the-growth within, the self enrichment, the journey from darkness to light. Definitely it is a movement towards the defined objective.

In life, value and belief systems assist in carrying on in spite of the stress placed on the character as one moves toward greater heights of success. For living successfully life should be rich in a wide variety of areas rather than having depth in only one and shallowness or emptiness in others. Bringing life into greater balance energizes us, expand opportunities for success in all areas, and lead to many exceptionally interesting and beneficial unintended consequences! Having a successful career, maintaining a successful relationship with family, conducting in a manner deserving of people’s respect, becoming a productive member of the community, and feeling satisfied all require planning, hard work, and perseverance. Success is not a static event or single goal to be met.

There will always be a higher mountain to climb. Charting the course and scaling the mountain that is our Personal Pinnacle of Success, it is a life-long process. If definitions of success and successful living evolve throughout our lifetime, we will ultimately derive a sense of satisfaction with our achievements as well as a feeling of being successful.

This is actually the secret of climbing heights and then staying in the saddle. 'Karma', the work is the means of reaching the heights of achievement in life. And 'Shama', the tranquility, it is the composed mind, calm mind, untrapped mind, uncluttered mind!!This is the means of preserving the achievement so gained in life.

In today's fast paced world, being good at what we do is not good enough to rise in the corporate hierarchy. We are expected to be good; that's what we get paid for. Being excellent will not do it either. Being excellent only means that we are filling our present place. It's no reason to be promoted or to rise on the corporate ladder.

To be noticed, to be invited to fill a higher and more rewarding position, we must be outstanding. That is where the money is. That's where the train that leads to the top starts. That's where we get the wings that will allow us to soar above the crowd and reach the rarefied air of the mountaintop of success.

Jim Rohn said it best, "Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune." It is by working every day to improve ourselves that we can acquire the competence to become outstanding and in doing so, become a magnet for opportunities and advancement.

The self-education that Jim Rohn talks about is not restricted to our area of expertise. It also encompasses the entire gamut of the disciplines covered in the self-improvement world. It's about life's philosophy, character building, communication and relationships along with the multitude of subjects being covered in the self-help movement.

Self-education is about personal growth in all its facets. It's about learning how to make finer distinctions and about taking wiser decisions. It's about better self-control and about leadership abilities. In one word, it about becoming a better and more complete person, smarter and wiser.

Greater success is the natural result of inner growth and self-actualization. Just as the tree depends on quality soil to reach maximal growth, success depends on the abundance of the intellect to bloom and flourish.

There are plenty of opportunities out there just waiting for those who have the courage and wherewithal to spend some time every day on self-improvement. Victory belongs to those who have earned it – not to those waiting for some lucky star that won't ever show up.

Real Me!!!!!

Recently we were attending an event on Mata Ki Chawki, a religious get together for remembering God and offering prayers. There a friend of mine asked me two questions which really made me think. First was “Are you religious?” Second one was “Do you go to the temple?”

That was the time I realized we think ourselves to be very well educated, experienced and knowing a lot. But to be very frank I did not have the answers to these two simple questions!!! Later on after quite a soul searching on these questions whatever came to my thoughts I am sharing with all.

To be religious means following a particular religion, its beliefs, values and customs. If one is born to Hindu parents one becomes Hindu and if one is born to Muslim parents one becomes Muslim; but after twenty years of following that religion, one day your parents tell you we have adopted you from a Christian family…….then what is your true religion?? It means being a Hindu or a Christian is a label which we are carrying and viewing the world through that label.

Then I realized there are so many other labels which we carry with us, forgetting our real identity. We identify ourselves as our surname & name, another label, we identify ourselves with the degree we earn in school, college, I am B- Tech, M- Tech, Dr., B.Arch, MBA, ……. so and so, these are some more labels, then there are relationship labels, I am a son, daughter, father, mother, husband, wife, brother, sister, girl friend, boy friend………these are some of the roles we play, is this real me, these are only some more labels…..But where is the real me!!!! Who am I? Is real me the designation one holds; Head – Sales & Marketing, VP- Finance, CEO, HR- Head……….But tomorrow if one retires or lose the job, then who is the real me?

For knowing thy real self, one has to remove one by one each of these labels, know the difference between the real me and just the roles and the labels we carry. Even to perform these roles will become much more efficient, if we know our true self. We shall be much happier, content and fulfilled, if we know; Who am I? Where am I? and why am I here? If the answers to these three questions are clear in our mind, sure the life would be much easier, enjoyable and complete.

After removing all these labels we reach to our body, so am I this body, but there are people who get their sex changed, a male can become a female and vice versa, even the body parts have to be cut and removed for accidental or other reasons, then one is not this body, this is also not the real identity!!! After a lot of introspection- the real identity of everyone here is the soul, which is by nature happy, peaceful and powerful, these are the three intrinsic qualities of our basic nature that is real me. The only issue is the real me has got buried under the dust and weight of all these labels.

These roles and responsibilities will always be there but we have to consciously remember the difference between the real me and my role. Number one responsibility is of myself, and if that is being played correctly then only one can perform the rest of the roles righteously.

The real me is the soul, a conscious energy, and where am I? I am in the field of relationships, in action with other souls. Why am I here? I am here in my natural self with the qualities of being happy and peaceful, playing the various roles I have to perform, whether at home or work or society, everywhere. I am here to share the peace and love with other fellow souls, exchanging this conscious, positive energy. So the one important thing which we have to remember is that first take the responsibility of our self and our state of mind. We have to be first at love and peace with our self and then perform the role.

And when we are without the weight of all these labels, it is very easier to connect to God; one need not go to a temple and stand in all those ques and crowd to connect to God. Just by sitting in the corner of our room, with the eyes closed, one can connect with Him in the corner of his or her own heart. One can connect with Him by connecting with their fellow beings………

Happy soul searching, and in this big crowd, let us not get lost, let us find and connect to our self once again………..let us find the Real Me.

Grow A Backbone

Having a backbone means to speak our mind, take risks, stand up for our self and others, be trusted, and taking a position and holding on to it. Most people think they have a backbone as physically we all do, but mentally where is it? Having a backbone mentally means to have control of our environment, one is more hopeful, empowered, enthusiastic and in turn it makes it easier to take on any type of challenges.

Do you feel as if everyone is taking advantage of your good nature? Feel disrespected and want to be able to stand for your ground without guilt or fear. If friends, family and colleagues see you as the person who’s always available to help them out or pick up the extra stuff, they’ll continue to ask favors because as far as they’re aware, you always say ‘yes’, so you must be happy to do it. And when the resentment builds up to the point where you lash out at the next person to ask you for something, they’ll be genuinely shocked. You need to realize it’s not just people taking advantage of you – you’re allowing them to, by always saying yes. Is it a fear of rejection or conflict that’s holding you back from standing up for yourself, this you only need to check? But no matter what the reason is that you always say ‘yes’, you’re actually doing the other person involved (as well as yourself) a disservice.

For many it is hard to stand up for what he believes in and get others to do the same. Most take the back seat while the "man in charge" delivers orders. Now it's our time to shine, our time to grow one. Stop living a spineless miserable life of a shy, under confident person, that is tired of his life and its unexpected outcomes. Now is the time to take charge and grow the spine. Start speaking the mind, losing the fear of opposition, and going to stop going with the majority. Follow these simple steps to begin growing a backbone and living a healthier life.

Stop apologizing. Many of us use the term "I'm sorry" far too frequently and often at inappropriate times. Think about when you use those two simple words. Is it a situation that you truly should be sorry for?

To develop a backbone, voice your opinion and be proud of what you have to say; people will take notice and listen. Speak up. Tell those around what you need. Assertiveness requires good communication skills. Be clear and firm with what you desire. Practice standing up for yourself by conveying your wants and desires to others. Simply communicate that you have thoughts, opinions and needs, too. Once you begin to express these better, the people around you will learn how to appreciate and respect you more, too.

The most important component of growing a backbone is being Competent. Competence means being self sufficient. You don't need anybody to take care of yourself. You can take care of your own necessities of life. Don’t always look for another shoulder to carry your load. Age does not bring self sufficiency; it is to be cultivated on daily basis. On one side there are even kids who are self sufficient, and on the other side there are adults who look for answers to their challenges outside, depending upon others.

Don’t grow a wishbone where a back bone ought to be. ~ Clementine Padford ~

Least do we realize but we spent a lifetime wishing for everything. Wishing had a newer car, a better place to live, more money, better clothes, a better body, a loving spouse, to have lots of friends, to be successful….. wished and wished. How many times a day we wish for things in our life, no idea but it sure is a lot. By just wishing and no action one feels small, no presence, rather handicapped, feeling not smart enough to survive on his own..… having no backbone. How can one possibly stand up without a backbone? Take responsibility for your own life, rather than waiting for someone else to come around and fix it for you. Instead of looking to the horizon for a knight in shining armor, need to roll up the shirtsleeves and get to work figuring out what needed to be done.

Wishbones help us know who we really are and what our dreams and aspirations are. Backbones give us the courage and resolve to make those dreams a reality. Let’s celebrate how we can use them together to fully enjoy a creative and productive life.

Our attitude is everything and impacts how other people perceive us, right through to the signals we're unconsciously sending out. Our attitude sets the tone of our voice, the quality of our thoughts, and is reflected in our facial expressions and body language.

In this modernized world, women serve as a pillars of strength—bearing the weight of so many responsibilities. From motherhood to corporate life to volunteer hours, today’s woman does it all. The days of wishing for a better tomorrow have disappeared. Today, we are empowered to make choices– to take the helm and control our path- growing our backbone.

Know Thyself Better

Most of us believe that we know ourselves very well. But in reality lot of people are strangers to themselves. Why? Not everyone is courageous enough to travel the path within to achieve a better self-understanding. For a person to have a well-lived life, it is important that he knows himself well.

Know thyself, and thou shall know the Universe and God.- Pythagoras
Learning about oneself is a lifetime process. Every day we are given new insights about our self. Maintaining the hunger to know our self better makes us more self-aware, opening up new opportunities to enrich our life.

We are born as a baby, taken care and brought up by our family, receive education by schools and colleges, and then employed by some company to earn a living. Life goes like a journey, in between platforms keep changing. The earlier we ask this question; that do I know myself, the earlier chances of leading a happy and successful life.

It is true that if we are happy with our self then only we can make anyone else happy. To make our self happy we have to know what we are and this demands some self-exploration. The best way to know our self is to be honest about our feelings and explore every new thing which God is exposing us to. Instead of being laid back always welcome anything new which is there around and never ever say no. Then only one gets more challenges and get to know the self better.

Meeting new people and making friends with them is the other way through which we can know our self better. It's always when we meet somebody new then we come across a person with new set of habits, attitude, knowledge, behavior and personality. When we interact with that person we come across so many points which are missing in us. Then we contemplate on the way we reacted with him, or went along with him. In a way we are helping our self to know in a much better way.

Learning new things in life also help in getting to know our self better. You never know while exploring something new you might come across something which excites you and reveals some new personality trait in you. Trying out a new game, hobby, food, and activity should always be welcomed in life.

Life is a wonderful journey to explore. It's up to us how we can make out the best out of this exploration. Therefore let us start exploring first!

We all possess a soul blueprint, even in basic terms, a high level of common sense. When life begins to change, the only place that we can go is within. Going within, is the only way to know our self better and going within is the only way to understand how to proceed on the journey of life change.

Knowing our self better can bring out the best in who we are, and as we are on the journey of our own discovery, be patient and be kind to yourself. Knowing yourself better, is a journey worth taking.

Do the unusual thing: When faced with a choice in daily life, step back for a minute and think. Then take the option that is and feels unusual or difficult one.
Do something new and something you wouldn’t expect from yourself. For example if you often step back from a challenge,just don’t for this one time. If you often get into arguments with people then just don’t this one time and instead just let it go or treat the other person with kindness. Do the opposite of what you usually do and see what happens (while using common sense of course).

This is fun and great way to get new experiences and to learn things about the world and about our self that we wouldn’t know if we kept going like we usually do. It’s also a great way to be surprised about life as things often turn out more positively.

Getting stuck in the same old routine until it becomes a rut can suck the life out of us. Doing the unusual thing in small and big situations, no matter how it goes, is a great way to feel alive again and to reveal aspects of our self that may have been hidden from us.

Expand the mind by becoming aware of the things we resist. We do not need to change anything. Awareness is a catalyst for true change. In its light, ignorance cannot persist.

Revolutionize Thinking

A mind once stretched by a new idea can never return to its original dimensions. We see the world not as it is but as we are. The size of our life reflects the size of our thinking. Our thinking creates our reality. Our beliefs truly become our self fulfilling prophecies.

Focus and energy shifted from conceiving something good to creating something great. “You will be bold and extraordinary, just being you." We all have within us the ability to be great. I believe that we are all created perfect and complete exactly as we are. However, we experience blockages to our perfection - - and these blockages can be transformed by subtle shifts in our thinking, thus transforming our ways of being, health, actions, and our reactions.

What we are thinking now is creating our life. Stop for a moment and identify thoughts. Are they positive or negative? Recall your daily thoughts; do you focus mostly on what is wrong in life rather than creating the life you want? We build our life by the blueprint and foundation of our thoughts.

Change the consistent thought pattern. The negative thoughts racing through our mind contribute to muscle tension, high blood pressure, and various other physical ailments. Negative energy created from negative thinking is permeating the cells of our body and surrounding our physical Self. This energy is interacting with the energy around us and intermingling to create our life.

To demonstrate a change from this, switch thoughts for a few moments and feel the difference in body and energy. Think of a meadow or a beautiful landscape. Feel it completely. Now think of something that prompts a smile. When we smile, we can feel a change in energy.

Change your thoughts and you change your world. - Norman Vincent Peale

Create a shift here, don't get critical or judgmental on any situation or any person; observe this behavior for few days and see the difference. This shall help to change the present and future. The judgments and criticism are coming from the past, let us not recreate the past again, let us create better present and future, it shall become better only by better thinking. This shall help us in becoming more peaceful with inner stability. And peace is power, power to influence, whether a situation or a person.

Experts say that when we’ve repeated a new thought or practiced a new habit for about 90 days, it becomes part of the brain architecture… part of our living. Let us never make the mistake of thinking that we’ve learned all there is to learn or that we can’t possibly grow any more. As long as we never get overly satisfied with whom we are, we’ll continue to grow.

In the words of B. Copeland, “Life is now in session. Are you present?”

With this little effort, it creates an aura of strength, purity and positivity around us. A shield which protects us from the arrows of negative talks of others and negatives of any given situation, rather giving strength in order to find a workable solution.

Let us find newness in every day, every situation and person. World has changed, so have myself and so have others, how can one person or situation be compared to something else based in the past. Let us deliberately work for and find something new in everything.

On the other hand if one tries to judge things based on their random perception which is developed based on the past experiences, then it acts as a filter or glasses to view every situation. The present and the future gets affected by our past perception and we find ourselves in similar situations with similar people, without any appropriate solution to move ahead progressively.

We are creating and giving meaning to every situation and people’s behavior. There is no meaning in any situation; we drive our own meanings based on our state of mind and past experiences of life. So, let us work on to consciously shift thoughts from negative to positive.

Consciously shift focus and choose to give time and awareness to all that we’re grateful for in life, doing this immediately shifts energy field and emerges into an open, receptive place where beautiful things can begin to happen. The act of appreciation can literally transform our life. Don’t underestimate the power of focusing on blessings each day, when we do this, we find our self becoming even more abundantly blessed with each passing day. One of the most important things to remember when we face challenges or seemingly impossible situations is to recognize that reality can always shift! In every single moment of every single day, we can choose to replace our feelings of stress, fear, or anger and breathe in feelings of peace, acceptance, joy, self love, and forgiveness. The choice is with us at all times.

We are not a victim of our surroundings or our circumstances unless we choose to be! An energetic shift is always (in all ways) available. We simply have to accept that opportunity each day of our life and begin to create our life on purpose by getting in the driver’s seat of our existence and choosing the energy that we wish to radiate into the world and our surroundings each day.

Know Your Own Self Worth

In life one may travel a lot, may go places, have loads of experiences, good or bad, but one should never lose sight of who you are and what is the self worth.

"I am unique I am worth it and I deserve much more”.

The way forward to our own true life, is from the inside. Get to know and love yourself.

If we allow our value to be determined by others, by how useful we are to them, we may find our self constantly running around taking care of them, trying to prove our worth. We are allowing our validation to come from outside of our self. Our energy will be spent proving our worthiness to others.

We have the power completely within us to decide how to see and treat our self. If we first decide and appreciate our talent, capabilities and intelligence, it will be easier for others to see these parts of us.

It means knowing our good points and also knowing our points needing improvement. It means knowing how to take a compliment and accept a thank you. It means having pride in our accomplishments but without arrogance. Arrogance is the polar opposite of humility; it is thinking we are better than we really are.

One of the most common things people tend to base their concept of self worth on, is the job they do. OK fine, but what happens if one cannot do the job anymore?
What happens when one retires?
What happens if one becomes or was born, disabled, and all the "jobs" are no longer possible?
Now, does this mean that one no longer has any self worth?
Well, in the eyes of some people,.... But, important fact here, in your own eyes, has anything changed.

So what's my point? One’s self worth does not, or should not, depend on anything or anyone, outside of one self.

In the midst of an economy that has been slow in generating new jobs, it is dangerous to measure self-worth and the worth of others through a job title or the ability to make money. The family breadwinner who gets laid off and suddenly faces unemployment for the first time in his life, the idealist who quits an unfulfilled job to pursue a satisfying but less lucrative career or the college graduate who, has difficulty finding meaningful employment after graduation, suffer deep emotional blows if they tie their self-worth to a job.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

The reality is, our self-worth is in our own eyes, who and what one really is. Not what we can do for others, or what place we hold on the social scale, it's not our job, or our status, it's you .... you as a person, what you are inside that matters.

You are worthy by the simple reason you exist, you don't have to be anything else. You live, you breathe, and as long as you do both of those things, you have the ability to use whatever resources you have, for whatever purposes you want to.

Job titles or status, are wrong. None of that has anything thing to do with who and what we are. So whatever your pathway, it's for you and you alone to decide that. Once you have decided it, and accept the reality behind it, then you have a clear inner mirror, your self-worth is rock solid, as it’s based on your own personal thoughts.

We have no say on what another thinks, but we do have a choice on how we let those thoughts affect us.

May our inner mirror be bright. The more we feel good, the more we love our self and the more we love yourself the more positive things will come our way, since we will be receptive to them.

When we start looking within and celebrating the Truth of who we truly are, then we can celebrate our unique differences instead of judging them out of fear.

Contaminated Happiness

Most of us seek happiness throughout our lives, not happy with what we have but want something different or more. Many look for happiness in the wrong places, such as material possessions - a large house with all the latest luxuries, a luxury car, or a well-paid job or may be in reputation, good looks, power, excitement or adventure. Many try to find the meaning of their life in relationships with their family and circle of friends. All these things can make us happy for a short while, but they can also cause us much worry and suffering. They can never give us the perfect lasting happiness that all of us, in our heart of hearts, long for. Since the key to happiness is in the hands of another person, object, place or situation, one can never be truly happy, it shall only be linked outside.

As an end in themselves worldly attainments are hollow; they are not the real essence of human life. The happiness of living beings is rare and fleeting, and this is only a contaminated happiness that is in reality the nature of suffering, as we increase the cause of our worldly happiness, our happiness will gradually change into suffering. You are hungry, got food became happy, ate too much, caused suffering. You were lonely, found love- became happy, wanted too much, got possessive, suffered. Without job, found one, very happy, gave in your best, wanted promotion, incentives, suffered. And so on. Since suffering is coming from happiness, thus it is coined as contaminated happiness, only to end in despair.

When things go wrong in our life and we encounter difficult situations we tend to regard the situation itself as the problem, but in reality whatever problems we experience come from the side of the mind. If we were to respond to difficult situations with a positive or peaceful mind they would not be problems for us; rather we regard them as challenges or opportunities for growth and development. Problems arise only if we respond to difficulties with a negative state of mind. Therefore, if we want to be free from problems we must learn to control our mind.

Suffering, worry, depression and pain are feelings—of mind—so, they exist inside and not outside our mind. If while experiencing adverse conditions, our mind remains calm and happy through the practice of patience, we do not have a problem. By keeping a peaceful mind in difficult situations we are far more likely to find solutions and respond constructively.

When you find yourself reacting with anger or opposition to any person or circumstance, realize that you are only struggling with yourself. Putting up resistance is the response of defenses created by old hurts. When you relinquish this anger, you will be healing yourself and cooperating with the flow of the universe. Motivated by the truth inside you, you can face any threat because your inner strength is invulnerable to fear. Live in the present, for it is the only moment you have. Keep your attention on what is here and now; look, for the fullness in every moment. Accept what comes to you totally and learn from it, and then let it go.

Don't struggle against the infinite scheme of things. Instead, be at one with it. Relinquish your need for external approval. You alone are the judge of your worth; and your goal is to discover infinite worth in yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks.

The key to being truly happy—is a way of life, and you have to choose that as your way of life. I have to be happy and that is my way of being. You have to seek happiness in whatever comes your way.

Helping and sharing with others than to be self-centered and caught up in one’s own problems, cares and concerns. Living the way of ‘give’, as opposed to the way of ‘get’.Do not wait for life’s circumstances to come together to provide you the perfect life you always dreamed of living, rather be happy with what you have got.

Even if someone I have helped
And of whom I had great hopes
Nevertheless harms me without any reason
May I see him as my holy Spiritual Guide.

Our normal reaction when faced with a problem is to try and find someone to blame, but if we look at the situation with wisdom we shall realize that we created the cause of that problem through our negative actions.

The main cause of all our problems is necessarily a negative bodily, verbal, or mental action that we our self created somewhere, sometime in the past; other people’s actions are only secondary conditions that enable our negative karma to ripen.

If they do not provide the conditions for our negative karma to ripen, someone or something else definitely will; for once the main cause has been established, unless we purify it through purification practice, nothing can stop the effect from occurring sooner or later. Instead of blaming others for our problems we should use our misfortunes to deepen our understanding of karma.

By training our mind to recognize the spiritual lessons in all our experiences, we can come to view everyone and everything as our Spiritual Teacher, and we can turn any and every situation to our advantage. And stay away from the vicious cycle of contaminated happiness.

Challenge Yourself, Don’t Challenge the TIME

Whenever we face a situation which is difficult to handle, we feel cornered, not finding any way out, desperate, frustrated, don’t know which way to go. The immediate reaction is we start challenging the time, the people around us and the circumstances we are in. We start a blame game, blaming the time, the people, the situations, but ignoring the most important link our self. We are unable to see our own limitation in the situation. When ever we are put in such a situation, actually we need to grow ourselves from there, the very fact that we are desperate in it, means we are still lacking in some area of life, there is some hidden blind spot which we are not able to see.

Man is a great machine, and if we challenge our own self, to be better in that situation we can create wonders, at times we don’t know who we are until we see what we can do, until we stretch ourselves beyond our limits, until we actually CHALLENGE our self. Go beyond what you know you can do. And just like that, you'll know how much more you can do.

Go beyond again, and again. Grow past the limitations you've imagined, they are only in your head and your thoughts, outside there is no limit. Do a little bit at a time, one step at a time.

Challenge yourself, and then do what it takes to meet the challenge. As you feel your strength increasing, resolve to add to it through your own efforts. The way to have real confidence is to build it. Every day is your opportunity to make yourself more confident, competent and effective.

The skills and abilities that seem out of reach are really just a number of steps away. Challenge yourself toward them, and with each effort you move closer. Push yourself beyond the familiar, beyond the comfortable, and into a higher level of ability. Feel the unique joy of breaking through your limitations again and again. And experience yourself fully, a whole new yourself, which you were not aware in the past.

If you are challenging yourself each day, it shall keep you feeling vital and vibrant. You may even develop an entirely new appreciation for who you are and what you can do. And I am sure you would love that.

Sharpen Your Axe

Once upon a time, there was a very strong woodcutter. He asked for a job from a timber merchant,and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.

The first day, the woodcutter brought down 18 trees. The Boss was very much impressed and said,"Congratulations keep it up!"
Very motivated by the words of the boss, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only could bring down 15 trees.
The third day he tried even harder, but he only could bring down 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing down less and less trees.
"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought to himself.
He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
"When was the last time you sharpened your Axe?" the boss asked.
"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my Axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees.

The moral of the story:

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to sharpen the axe. In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?

There is nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like our personal life, taking time to care for others, taking time to read,further developing and increasing our knowledge etc.

We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.

So start from today, think about the ways by which you could do your job more effectively and add a lot of value to it.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

Sharpening marketing skills to build competitive edge is essential to winning greater share of customers’ purchasing power in the months and years to come. In that context, Marketing has never been so important or under so much pressure to deliver growth, yet so ill-prepared to do so. In addition to recession, a raft of other challenges like globalisation, media fragmentation and the rise of digital media are combining with internal challenges like cost-cutting, organisational turmoil and loss of corporate memory to make marketing harder than ever.

Marketing capability development is a relatively young discipline yet it is a powerful one - helping an organisation sharpen up its operations and equipping it to excel at customer-centric marketing. It demands a practical approach to driving business growth that inspires tangible change, making marketers, and those around them who support marketing, better equipped so they can more effectively and more efficiently drive demand-led growth.

Unlike conventional training, marketing capability development tackles not just individual skills but the most important and weakest organisational marketing capabilities. By investing in marketing capability development, organisations can ensure that their marketing efforts are much more cost-effective, better leveraging skills and internal best practice and enhancing impact and performance externally.

Today, many world-class organisations are building marketing excellence strategically to better drive demand-led growth. For anyone with a rudimentary understanding of business, it is clearly not enough in these days of credit crunch and recession to look to spend your way out of trouble. Marketing capability development can make the difference between a performing and a failing organisation.

By focusing on sharpening marketing capabilities, companies can begin to build the competitive edge needed to deliver demand-led growth despite the challenging economic times in which we now live. Lets sharpen The AXE.