Someone is watching you!! [CC # 4]

There was a farmer who thought that if he stole a little wheat from different farms, then other farmers would not notice him, while he would have a big pile of wheat.

One night he went to farms for stealing, and asked his daughter to stand guard him while he does so. As he was stealing from the first farm, his daughter shouted, "Dad! someone is watching you." He came out running, but saw no one there.

He then went to the second farm to steal some more wheat. Again, his daughter called, "Dad! someone is watching you." He came out running, but again he saw no one there.

Then he went to third farm. For the third as well, his daughter cried, "Dad! someone is watching you." As before, he came running back but saw no one again.

This time he was furious. "Why do you keep shouting that someone is watching me, when there is noone here?"

His daughter replied, "Dad, there is someone who is always watching you from above and that's GOD."

Dear friends! I read this story during my school days. And I truly believe that God is always watching us.

Now, here's one story from my own life.

When I was about 11 years old, I attended the school annual function of my siblings. My 8 year old sister participated in a group dance performance. I and my 9 year old brother were a part of the audiences. We enjoyed the show throughly. Especially the group dance. We were trying our best to look at the front liners, however, our attention was drifting towards the back row dancers. We even tried to focus on our sister, still our eyes were being dragged to the other dancers.

It was funny to see the miss-coordination, the different steps being followed by the flock of young small kids. The public was laughing especially at the struggle of the last liners to be in sync with the front-liners.

The front row dancers are obviously the best, as the dance teacher would always put on the best dancers in the front. So they capture the attention of the chief guests and the principal of the school. However, compare the attitude and reactions of the two sets of students, you would find significant difference between the front liners and the last liners. The dancers in the back are usually fillers. They are expected to hide behind the dancers in the front line. They get their cues from those placed ahead or at their sides.

You can clearly figure out the degree of commitment by both the teachers and the students in those 5 minutes.

After the show when my sister joined us, we discussed about the dance performance.

I asked them, if they noticed any difference between the dancers in the front and the dancers in the back. My brother replied, "Yes, the dancers at the back and the dancers in the front were not in sync, their were not in line. They were trying to imitate the movements of the dancers around them. There faces had a blank expression, the gesture was missing totally."

Then, I asked them, "Why were they not performing well, when they had the same teacher and the time given to all of them was same as well?"

My sister replied promptly, "May be they had no interest. Or they were shy and they thought they could get away with copy or hide."

Then I told them, "It is attention and interest by the individuals, which made all the difference. The students knew this is for everyone's viewing, still they were not good in performance. The teachers too knew that. Still they too took the other last liners casually and paid most of their attention to the best dancers of the class may be.

Remember the world will watch you all your life, just as you watched this dance performance and just as you watched your friends.

You may think that you are not being watched, but you are - by your teachers, by your parents, by your relatives and friends - by anyone, anywhere, everywhere."

Dear friends, most of all we have to watch ourselves before anyone watches us. If you train to watch yourself, you will know when the world is watching you, this is what you have trained yourself to do. Hence, we may be placed in the back row, yet performance needs to be as good as the people in the first row. Never ever forget that all our life God as well as the World will be watching us in all that we do, whether it is big or small. Again, God is another name of one's conscience. It is one's guardian in the moments of moral crises. It is inner voice, which guides us in the right direction.

If you betray other you are actually betraying yourself. If you betray yourself you can't reach to the greater height of success in your life. Try to show 100% interest for the work you do. Try to give the 100% attention to the job you do. Let's try to live up to our commitments, our beliefs, and our values.

"Cat drinks milk closing its eyes, thinking no one is watching it." But is it really not being watched? I believe you know the answer. Let's not behave like the Cat and give unfinished things to anyone. So remember, Someone is Always watching US!! i.e. Your Conscience.

Catch you in next blog...

♥ ~ Smile

Attitude of Gratitude [CC # 3]

Year 2005. I was in Mumbai then. During weekend we visit the big malls there to celebrate friends' birthday or just have a group lunch or dinner. One weekend we visited Pizza Hut in the famous R-Mall to celebrate our friend Venkat's marriage.  We savored some of the fine Pizzas of different variety. After the food we paid our bills and came to the entrance.

To show we are pleased, we rang the bell hanging at the door. We heard a "Phank You"! Yes, we heard a phank you and  not a thank you. None of the boys looked at us, or the person at the counter. Everyone was busy with their job of taking orders, serving orders, printing bills. They didn't even look like they are willing to say thank you. And yes, all these turned their Thank you into a Phank you. I have never ringed a bell since then. I don't feel like. Because that is not the way a "Thank you!" is conveyed.

As the pace of our life speeds up, we tend to lose some of the simple gestures of life. The more is the pace the greater is the impact of these gestures in some of those most deserving of them. We have forgotten the proper usage of the two tools - Thank you and Sorry. These are to be felt and expressed at the right time. A birthday card sent a day late is like a month old newspaper!.

Many of us are too shy to say thank you or sorry. We want to put them across nicely, when we are in good mood. This is where we actually lose the right opportunity, the right context and the right moment to express our gratitude.

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but also is the father of all virtues. Do not forget that 'thank you' is a poor wage. And whenever, someone has done a job for you, you must pay and then give 'thank you' as a bonus. Your reputation will spread slowly and steadily.

When you convey your thanks:

                   What you express in words is 10%

                   What your eyes convey is 20%

                   What you say from your head is 30%

                   And what you say from your heart is 40%

The same goes for 'Sorry'. So, my dear friends, you can fool yourself but not others.

If you have not said "Thank you" or "Sorry" yesterday, where you should have said so, do the next best thing and say it today.

When Jesus Christ cured 12 lepers only one stayed behind to thank him. Today, one in a hundred is fine. Do you want to be the one or one among ninety nine?

Likewise, there is one more simple gesture that is almost lost and has profound consequences. It is the lost art of writing "Thank-you Notes".

Everyone loves getting e-mails. It's a fact of human nature. We all have a deep seated need to feel important. I truly love receiving letters/fwd. messages/feedback. I feel great when I receive a note on my speech delivery from my fellow TMs and Guests. A sincerely written thank-you note has the power to build and to cement relationships with those heartfelt letters of thanks. It shows you care; you are considerate and human.

By saying thank you and sorry promptly, you can reduce your stress a lot in your personal as well as professional life. Every morning when you get up, Thank everybody, for all that they have given to you. In this way, you start your day with gratitude and this attitude of gratitude will help you deal with the above simple gestures throughout your day.

When you go to places in a taxi, after you pay the driver, bless him with the bonus of 'thank you'. This way, you are actually depositing the blessings into your love account. These deposits will give you far more happiness than any amount of money in your bank account.

Go out and buy a package of "thank you cards" and start writing. You and other people that you deal with will be glad you did. My teacher, Ms. Swati, was glad for I wrote her a thank you letter. And I am glad for she acknowledged my act with an Archies thank you greeting card.

To explain it more, the tree that has the most fruits is the tree that bends to the ground. Practicing humility shows that you respect others and in return you too receive respect from others.

I leave you with this quote well stated by Emerson "Without the rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar".

♥ ~ Smile

[Some of the thougths and statistics are inspired / extracted from books written by Dr. Pramod Batra and Mr. Robin Sharma.]

Love is a temporary insanity curable by Marriage?

I recently attended the charter ceremony of Sound Bites Toastmasters club. We came across a table topic there "Love is a temporary insanity curable by marriage". The participants gave very nice and powerful thoughts on this topic. Some went for, some against, some were diplomatic and said it doesn't matter if its love or marriage.

The thoughts forced me to think over and over on finding the difference between Love and Marriage. Is there really any difference? If yes, then which is powerful amongst these two?

Through out the way to my home I was in my thoughts about these two powerful terms. I tried to find out the meaning of Love for me, in my life, in my soul. I could not find much difference. However, could find a deep correlation between these two.

A farmer loves his land, his crop. A mother loves her child. A child loves its toys. The bees love the flowers. We human love the aroma of the sweet nature. Peacock loves the black clouds. The trees love the sun. The lovers love each other.

We all have this deep necessity to love and be loved. It’s a way of expressing your care and affection. It’s a feeling that provides you power. Power to achieve, power to sacrifice, power to fight, power to cry, power to serve, power to expect, power to reach greater heights, power to understand, power to be understood, power to know each other, power to take a step ahead to know the unknown, power to discover.

Water boils at 211degree. Just an extra degree, i.e. 212 degree and it generates steam. This steam has the power to move the giant iron devil - the train. Love serves as that catalyst to bring that extra degree in yourself to run your mind and soul to achieve your heart's true desire. It gives you that courage to display your true and honest feelings for your love and loved ones.

You learn what sacrifice is only if you are in love with someone. That someone can be your best friend, your brother, your sister, your father, your mother, your colleague, your relatives, the orphans, and the old elder people. If you truly love someone then only you can sacrifice. Otherwise the ugly fungus called Selfishness will rule over you. And you lose even humanity in due course.

To build a good and strong house you need to build the foundation very strong. Only when the foundation is strong you can build the house without much trouble and struggle. Otherwise there would be hustle and bustle every now and then. Love is that foundation for any good relationship. Marriage is a bond between two committed people or thing to server each other with love. Love is the foundation, Love is floor, Love is the walls and Love is ceiling.

Marriage doesn't necessarily mean that two people follow the rituals and say we are committed. The commitment should come from within. Only when the farmer is committed to his harvesting field, he can get a good crop. That commitment can't be attained by force. You feel like committing, you may get married. However, that's not a necessity. You can still be in love and love each other and serve each other without selfishness. Rather marriage sometime sounds like selfishness. If there is even a minor glitch then you much get out of that commitment, cause that would not last. You must reinvent that relationship from a fresh perspective.

Now Love being insanity, is not something that my mind can crumble just like that. However, if I think about the rainbow then Michelle Sedas has said, its only when you welcome the rain then you can see your rainbow. So, why not have this insanity. It brings so much power, so much happiness. It showers you with so many attributes to live your life with. I can crumble the insanity part. But ‘temporary’; its no was temporary. I already spoke about that. It is the foundation, the floor, the walls, the ceiling. Without Love marriage won’t go a long way.

Marriage is like a vehicle and the wheels are made of Love, Love, Love and Love. Love for everyone related to that marriage. If the pressure in any one wheel is less, then the balance goes off. And you may ultimately drift to an accident; to avoid that you have to refill the Pressure from time to time. Again how come without petrol a vehicle would go. Yes, that petrol is trust and that trust again comes with the companions of Love, i.e. Care, Affection, Sacrifice, Understanding, Ownership etc.

Love can lead to a marriage. Marriage needs Love. Marriage is not something to cure Love; it is to grow Love. Love needs only Love to cure it.

That’s my definition of Love. What’s yours?

Catch you in the next blog...
♥ ~ Smile

Recipe for a Pure Environment [CC # 2]

Today we see pollution all around us. Dirty dark greasy pollution damages starting from our skin to our hair to our respiratory system etc. etc. etc. Our environment is really getting spoiled now.

I have a recipe to have a pure environment. However, its not about the one that is affecting just our external self. It affects our inner self too.

I am talking about the pollution, which surrounds us wherever we are, wherever we go. I am talking about the ill-feelings we have that cause inner pollution. Depression, Anger, Fear, Disgust – where are they generated from? They are not generated from our hands, legs, lungs, or respiratory tubes. These are generated from our thoughts.

One of the timeless truths of successful living can be stated as:

“Your thoughts form your world.”

To add more Earl Nightingale has rightly said, “You become what your mind thinks!”

What you focus on your life grows, what you think expands and what you dwell on determines your destiny. Life is a self fulfilling prophecy – it gives you just about what you expect from it. To add to it there’s a famous saying:

“Thoughts can make you,

                Thoughts can break you”.

So, given this principle the first step to become happier, a serene person is to manage your thoughts and purify your thinking.

I’ll provide you with 3 ingredients which would help you improve the quality of your personal environment.

Let me start with the first ingredient: It’s your Surrounding.

Our surroundings shape our moods, our thoughts and our dreams. Take a good, hard look at your surrounding because your thoughts are associated by the people you associate with, by the books you read, by the words you speak, by the food you intake and by your daily physical surroundings. I keep a flower or two in a vase next to my bed. That gives a fresh feeling; it helps me release my stress after the work hours.

Are you spending your time at work with negative people? Do your friends always speak to you that they are dissatisfied with their work life / married life? If so, they will eventually make you negative and cynical.

Are you watching violent TV shows or mindless videos at home? If so, your mind will grow restless and noisy.

Is the space you work in bright, colorful and inspiring? Over the coming weeks, I would suggest you to take steps to make the place you work and live in, a better one. You will quickly detect the improvements in the way you think, feel and act.

Now, the next ingredient is – Food.

The foods you consume affect your mood as well as clarity of your thinking. This is why the ancient sages ate light foods.

Just think, if you owned an expensive formula one race car, you would not think of fueling it with anything less than premium grade gas. Anything less would reduce its performance.

Then, why would you put anything less than the best food into your body which is even more valuable performance vehicle? Eating wrong foods in large quantity would reduce your energy level, affect your health and prevent your mind from serving you with its fullest. Every greasy lunch reduce your motivational level.

In order to boost your energy level and your mood is to getting into a habit of starting your day with a glass full of fresh juice.

“Jerry Maguire” – Tom Cruise in the character of Jerry Maguire is playing the role of a hard driving sports agent. And this scene is one of the memorable scenes where he has just signed up one of the hottest draft picks in football and as he drives away from the athlete’s home in a state of utter joy, impatiently searches from station to station in his car radio, for the kind of song he can turn up loud and sing along to the top of his lungs. Finally he finds it – Tom Patty’s hit “Free falling” and he begins to sing his heart out.

I hope you must have guessed it by now.

Yes, the third ingredient is – Music.

Now, do you remember those times when you heard just the right song at just the right moment? In those moments, you felt fully alive, full of energy and happiness; and all because a few chords strung together, in right sequence. Music can do that to you. It can lift your mood, put a smile back on your face and add immeasurably to your quality of life.

Get serious about listening to music that inspires you. Build a collection of your favorite pieces and play something that fills your heart with joy every single day of your week,

Now, I would suggest you to fuel your body with some fresh juice, your mind with some great music and some inspiring thoughts. These would help you to create a cheerful environment.

Now, I would leave you with a final thought,

“A first class environment is an investment and not an expense !!”

I hope you would relish my recipe. You can drop your comments, your feedback in the comment section. Would love to receive them. Would come up with more recipes very soon.

Catch you in my next blog...

♥ ~ Smile

My First Newsletter Designing Experience

My first newsletter designing experience. I designed the first newsletter for the Hyderabad Toastmasters chapter.

Here's a link to the document:
http://cid-caf02f69ddb851c4.office.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Speakers%20Pen%20Volume%201.pdf

Check out the pdf file sometime.