Self awareness to Self empowerment

Self-awareness to Self-empowerment

Rule your thoughts and change your attitude from ‘I have to do it’ to ‘I can do it’

Recently during a visit to Pondicherry, I visited the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Matrimandir. The philosophy of the society is ‘awareness’ and the vision is ‘human unity’. The environment is very serene and surrounded by nature’s beauty. The inner sanctum of the Matrimandir is made of white marble and a large crystal is situated in the center of the hall under a skylight. Sunlight bathes the crystal and covers the hall in a warm glow of light. People are required to sit in silence and concentrate on their thoughts and get in touch with their inner light. The entire experience and concept is simple yet very powerful.

How aware are we of our thoughts?

We spend hours debating about the world economy, politics or gossiping about other people. We buy insurance policies for our assets; we painstakingly look after our homes and obsess over our children. I believe we look after all our possessions except that which possesses us – our thoughts. We allow our thoughts to rule our life rather than rule our thoughts.

“Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives.” Anthony Robbins

The path to self-empowerment requires self-awareness –- awareness of thoughts that are redundant or of disservice in the present scenario and creating new thoughts that add value and strength. Our thoughts belong to us and we have the power within to change, control or create new thoughts or above all, even silence them. Our thoughts are our constant and only permanent companions and they shape our life more than any other education.

While coaching, the main focus is on guiding a person to discover their core thought process and recognizing the manifestation of that into various domains of life. I have observed that often one core thought or perception influences our life. If we convince ourselves that we can achieve anything, then we are able to overcome hurdles and create miracles. On the other hand, if we see ourselves as helpless and incapable, we sink deeper into the vortex of misery.

For instance, there are clients who are reluctant to take support, delegate or share because of a misplaced belief that they may lose control or another may get ahead of them. This leads to various issues such as inability to develop people, time crunch, a sense of overwhelm etc. This desire to hoard or need to be in control stems from lack of confidence to survive. People are largely not aware of their behavior or its impact. It is just a habit arising from a survival instinct and is as natural or silent as breathing -- always a part of us yet one does not even think of its existence.

There are some who are aware that they are living a pretentious life and choose not to address it in the garb of being ‘cool’ or ‘its not my problem’. Or some people who develop an arrogance of this sense of awareness and don’t even realize when their behavior becomes judgmental.

"If your emotional abilities aren't in hand, if you don't have self awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far." Daniel Goleman  

Till some years ago, I was unaware of the impact of my mental conditioning. My mother always encouraged me to believe that I could achieve anything that I set my mind to and my father believed my potential was higher than my performance. I feel blessed that these two thought processes shaped my life and served me to cross several barriers and tap into my potential. However, the belief that I had to get it right was so ingrained and performance below my imaginary expectations was often not an option. I tried very hard to rise to the next challenge or challenge myself the moment I felt that life was too quiet. I have tested and pushed my limitations and have always been in a hurry to achieve the next goal.

One day I asked myself – what is my destination and where do I want to see myself. Am I already successful or not? Am I happy or not? Do I have enough or not? These thoughts were disempowering because there was no end in sight. I could see no joy in living a life of incompleteness and discontentment. I could only see fear of what if I can’t climb or how will I climb the next mountain. There is no end to goals and while chasing goals we often lose sight of life’s vision of happiness and peace. Now, if any action or expectation agitates my mind, I question myself to check whether I have to do it all, how can I do it, do I need time to build myself or do I need external help.

There comes a time, when the attitude needs to change from ‘I have to do it’ to ‘I know I can do it’. After all, we have the internal resources and we are externally supported. We need to be open and live with this awareness at all times. I can confidently say that I have created and achieved miracles by reducing the self-imposed pressure of success, goals, growth etc. These needs pop their head up time and again when I mistakenly forget to trust life and the power within to handle the cards that will be dealt to me. True joy of living is in enjoying the mystery of whatever unfolds in life. Life is perfect as it is in this moment of time. Live in the Now!

Time Management

Time Management

I had the privilege to listen to President Bill Clinton, whilst he was visiting Mumbai. When I looked around in the audience, I wondered what is it that distinguishes a leader like Mr Clinton from the rest of us sitting in the audience.

Mr Clinton has served as President of USA for nearly a decade and prior to that as Governor of Arkansas. Subsequent to serving in office, he has established the Clinton Foundation to make a difference in society in areas where he believes often government is not able to maximize its reach. He flew into India 4 hours before the talk and was there on the podium engaged and charismatic as ever. He has evolved with time, whilst being committed to his vision of public service.

“The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, a man of talent is driven by it”, Schopenhauer.

I recall some years ago when I had finished giving my CA final exams, I took 2 days off because I felt the desperate need to recuperate. My manager was appalled because he was used to doing a round trip across the globe for meetings and not taking even an hour off.  It was indeed a lesson learnt.

Many of us have dreams and many of us even walk the road to pursue our dreams. Time is the one resource that we all been given in equal terms – 24 hours in a day. How we use that time is what makes all the difference. I often start my day around 630am and keep hoping for the clock to go slower to be able to snatch an extra wink. It’s an on going struggle between the ticking clock and the desire to chat on the phone with a friend, have a lazy coffee, watch a movie or spend time with the kids versus doing something to make a difference in the world.

Sachin Tendulkar, one of the greatest batsman of today is known to practice for hours on end in the nets. His dedication and training enable him to remain unfazed on the field and face any ball. His level of focus and commitment is an inspiration to the team and others. Time for him is a precious resource to be used wisely and unflinchingly. I’m sure he too likes to take a vacation, spend a leisurely weekend with his family and put his feet up and read a book or listen to music. The pertinent question that remains to be answered are how often and for how long does he indulge in himself versus his commitment?

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.” Carl Sandburg

Time is resource and it is not limitless. Every moment in the past, is a moment lost or gained. Time cannot be rewound or recalled. We however, have the power to choose and decide how to use this resource in the present. 

As a coach, while working with one of the senior executives, the issue was “I am feeling pressured and I don’t have enough time!”  What I listened to and heard was the word, “feeling”. I asked him, if he felt out of depth to manage the challenges of the role that he had taken on. The immediate response was, “of course not, I know I can do it”. This response itself, reduced the sense of overwhelm and opened his mind to look for solutions. The question was capability versus capacity and we needed to work on creating capacity. His business environment is very dynamic and it requires crisis management moment to moment. There is sense of emotional assault due to the constant unknown. He has a preference for structure and hence, there was an immediate need to create structure in this unstructured environment. We introduced a half hour slot every morning to walk alone and mentally plan, analyze and prepare for the day ahead. Secondly, he started to be more discerning and ruthless before saying, “yes” to every interruption and prioritizing where his time was being spent. These consistent practices have significantly helped him discipline his day and create time effectively. In fact, he is now able to manage his role better and is also ready to stretch himself to take on higher responsibilities. To summarize what created time was:

·   Planning
·      Analyzing
·      Preparing
·      Prioritizing
·      Consistency
·      And above all, Action

To achieve such consistency and discipline, there is a constant need to be self-aware.  Ask yourself, what is my relationship with time?

·     Who am I being in this moment - am I being wishful, fearful, desirous of miracles, wasteful, irresponsible or am I being action and solution oriented.

·      How productive am I, what am I doing with my time?

·      Am I utilizing my time in line with my vision of life?

Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Steve Jobs and Mahatma Gandhi are legendary leaders who continue to inspire. What did they do differently when neither time nor the environment was in their favour? They took responsibility and decided to be in control of time rather than allow time to control them.

I have commonly observed that ever since the global financial crisis, many executives, especially in financial services have been waiting for time to reverse. On the other hand, entrepreneurs in the technology and social media have maximized the opportunity by accepting the paucity of resources and recognizing the need to stay connected and supported as an opportunity. We need to accept “this is it” and adapt to the changing time to turn the tide by seeing opportunities rather than problems.

“Until we can manage time we can manage nothing else”, Peter Drucker 

Work Life Balance

Work life balance A common debate that universally captures attention is the concept of work-life balance. What do you mean by work life balance? The fundamental question that arises is why do we look at work separate from life. Are we not living life while working? Balance is a state of mind. We are gifted with aptitudes as thinkers, creators or workers. How we live and fulfill our role in the world determines the quality of our life. We go off balance when we get attached to our role and consequently our thoughts (fears, desires or ego) hinder us. If we are able to control our thoughts and play our designated role, our body - mind - soul will stay in balance. All human beings are capable of doing something. Obviously, everyone cannot do everything. We all are gifted with certain intelligences and talents. When people take professions according to their personal inclinations, they perform work effortlessly, efficiently and joyously. They succeed easily and feel satisfied, as they are able to excel at it. If the choice of profession does not match the inherent preferences, there is hypocrisy, tension, boredom within and chaos and confusion outside. “Where there is love, there is life.” Mahatma Gandhi Where and how we distribute our love defines our life. The area of life that gets more love, flourishes more. The ethos of Nalanda University was discipline and commitment to excellence. How mindful are we of the state of your body, mind and self? At times, we take our life for granted and not necessarily regard it as a precious commodity, valuing every aspect of it and using it mindfully. “I’ve learned that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time.” Oprah Winfrey Work is a part of life and how much you make it a part of life is a matter of choice. If we are driven to succeed at our job, we divert our energies accordingly. The quality of other aspects of our life gets impacted in the process as we have limited resource of energy and time. Technology can be used as a powerful tool to improve the quality of life. The i-pad allows you to catch up news through e-newspapers and magazines and emails, the mobile connects you through the day, internet gives you access to data on every possible topic. We can use them effectively to create time and communicate on a real time basis. Many organizations are today open to concepts like flexible working hours, working from home, having baby day care facilities for working mothers. As a parent, the conflict often arises on time at work versus family and other interests. Often although we are physically present, our mind may be preoccupied. Hence, the effectiveness of time spent gets marginalized. Making an effort to have a meal together, play a game together, taking short holidays to reconnect and rejuvenate are some examples to stay connected with the family rather than always waiting for that long break. It is challenge to keep our eye on the larger picture or our vision for life at all times. It requires tremendous time consciousness, awareness and commitment to the goal. Our two most expensive resources are internal energy and time. When life is lived impulsively rather than thoughtfully, these get wastefully consumed. For instance, we idle time chatting and gossiping about the office politics, Bollywood, cricket, economy etc at the coffee machine or on the telephone. When I coach executives, I often recommend that they take out at least 10-15 minutes a day as reflection time to analyze what did they do well or not and incorporate the learning accordingly. Life is a bundle of choices based on our motivations at that moment of time. We normally make time for what motivates us. Life is dynamic and the time required to be given to activities shifts moment to moment. A sense of balance is achieved when we accept responsibility for the outcome in each area of life. “Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management. Balance means making choices and enjoying those choices.” Betsy Jacobson

I, Me, Myself

I, Me and myself
What do you think about or who do you think about all day. If you are young, you are likely to think about your school, your grades, how good or bad are your teachers, friends or parents. If you are older and working, you may think about your boss, your job, your promotion, pay package and maybe your marriage.

How often do you think about anything other than yourself or the inner circle that is impacting you? How often do you think about the poor beggar on the street who may not have got his next meal or that orphan child who didn’t get a hug?

Did you know that your survival is practically guaranteed because you are that one in a million sperm that is living? Is there really need to worry about surviving? No, yet we live our life worrying will I survive the next circumstance. Did you pause and ask yourself, when did I live my life and actually cherish every moment and enjoy little aspects of life?

As a student, I can’t recall a day when my prayers were not directed towards my school grades or that I wish my parents listened to me or that I could have more fun. Rarely, did I issue a prayer in service of anyone else. As I grew up the prayers changed from school to university and then work life, but they were mostly directed towards my success. Moving on, the prayers changed to finding a good life partner and then having healthy children. How selfish and limited was my thinking! No wonder there was limited contentment in my life.

Even though I grew up in India, a land of paradox and a society that offers the opportunity to actually look at every duality of life – wealth-poverty, villas-homeless, loved-orphaned, physically able-handicapped etc. Life’s realities stare into your face at every junction of life, yet you ignorantly move on in a bubble world of your own. Your mind obsessively revolves around thoughts such as your need for love, your need for freedom, your need for success, your need for money, your need for power. All thoughts surround around I, Me and Myself. How can you be happy when all you are thinking about is you? You are actually drowning in your self created sea of emotions.

If I allow my mind to indulge in thoughts about my own emotions, I will fall into a crevasse. I will go deeper and deeper into feeling bad, sad and mad. Only if I am able to discipline my mind into thinking something other than my fears, my ego or my needs, chances are I may be able to listen to what’s going on outside of me and which is more relevant because ultimately it’s the outside world that is going to impact my life.

Oscar Wilde said, “A man who is the master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them and to dominate them.”

Go with the Flow

Go with the flow


I attended a talk given by Mr Werner Erhard, founder of Landmark Education, who said, “Masters of life (all those he had met) dont think about life – they are in a dance with life!” This was news to me that you can acquire mastery by dancing with life moment to moment. They don’t think about life.

I have never stopped thinking and the concept of not thinking scares me. Thoughts! They are my identity, they are my validation, they are my sustenance, they keep me occupied and are my single biggest companion. I don’t know a life without thoughts. A life of nothingness! How is it possible to live such a life? This is the secret that was revealed by the wise spiritual gurus.

Human beings are all gifted with four major parts – body, mind, intellect and divine spirit/energy. The body is our vehicle of sensory pleasures such as taste, smell, hearing, speech and seeing. We experience the world and its objects through our senses and collate our information through them. Our mind is the centre of perception and how we react to the information we acquire is determined by the mind. The mind expresses emotions such as fear, greed, anger, joy, sorrow etc as soon as it perceives the information that has been received by the bodily senses. The intellect discriminates or defines these perceptions as good or bad, right or wrong, yes or no and propels the body into action.

The more importance we give to the body, mind and intellect, the less space we allow for the divine spirit to flow in us. If we compare ourselves to a car, our body is like the exterior of the car, the mind is like engine and the intellect is like the brake and accelerator. The fuel is the essential component without which none of the above can move ahead. A car is refueled and serviced regularly to ensure it functions efficiently. How often do we service our engine or refuel ourselves? The fact is that we have got the fuel and engine (ability to think and decide and divine energy) for free upon birth and that’s why we don’t value it as much till we are ready to lose it upon death. It is often on the death bed or in near death experiences that we start looking at what can I do differently to live a better life or how can I live a life of fewer regrets. Until then, we keep hurtling along pressing the break and accelerator as and when we feel like and we agonize each time there is an accident.

Then how can we reduce or avoid these accidents. We live our life based on how it occurs to us or how we perceive it. If I see my life as tough, it will constantly be tough because every situation will be a challenge and every moment will be a struggle and every event will be a test to prove myself better. If I see life as easy, I may not make an effort to learn and work hard because I may become indifferent. However, if I see life as a divine gift, I will make optimum use of the gifts of mind, body, intellect and have gratitude and appreciation for the same.

Every aspect of a human being needs care and looking after just like a car needs regular maintenance. The body needs to be kept hygienically clean and healthy and for that one needs to eat the correct kind of food. For instance, in a petrol car you will fill petrol and in a diesel car you will fill diesel, not vice versa. Sadly, in present times, the emphasis given to the body is so high or rather media uses it very effectively to exploit this human weakness and people succumb to the same associating with the body as a way to gain importance, success, competitions to the point of suffering.

The way every car looks different, with different shape, colour and engine horse power yet runs on the same fuel, every human being looks different but is made up of the same divine energy. Like cars, we serve in different aspects of life – a SUV carries more people than a Nano, a Ferrari runs faster than an ambassador. The only way both the car and human beings can fulfill their purpose is when they are in action.

The mind helps to collect information and synthesize the same for taking the action. And the intellect helps to discriminate what to do or not to do. The mind needs to stay alert and up to date on information since the world changes rapidly and the intellect needs to stay sharp to adapt to current circumstances.

Now, there is something beyond the body, mind and intellect that tells us what is right for us. That guide or little voice is the divine energy or divine spirit. This may be better understood with an example – my nose smells food. My mind recognizes the smell as the familiar likeable taste and urges me forward. My intellect tells me that it is not good for me because it is high in fat and unhealthy. However, lack of self control or rather my inability to listen to that voice because of an over-powering emotional need to taste the food; I end up eating the food. The more I listen to that little voice, guide and true friend, the better is the quality of my life.

How do I listen to this voice? First and foremost, you need to have faith in its existence and accept it as your best friend. Then an effort is required to quite the noisy thoughts caused by the waves of emotions and the judgments and perceptions. We are so attuned to listening to our emotional thoughts and judgments that we rarely allow ourselves to listen beyond. The sound of the inner voice is so subtle, that it can be heard only when there is complete silence inside. In that moment of silence, what you hear is your true guide. Our egoistic mind and intellect often defy the message because human beings are not used to listening to the messenger.

Therefore, if we allow ourselves to listen to the inner voice and we allow time to play its role in our life, and treat life as a dance, wherein we need to simply go with the tune, our pain is minimized and life becomes an enjoyable journey.

Franklin D Roosevelt aptly said, “We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence and the courage which flow from conviction.”

Life is an Illusion

Illusion

Saint Vyasa in his epic tale, The Mahabharata depicted a human being through an amazingly creative medium using symbolic representation such as chariot, horses, reins etc. The chariot signifies the human body, the horses – the senses, reins – your ability to control your desires, Arjuna – the mind, Krishna – intellect. The chariot i.e. the human body is designed to be in action, Arjuna i.e. the mind is a passenger who is designed to get carried away by the emotions unless controlled by the charioteer, Krishna, the subtle intellect through a firm hold of the reins to control the senses.

Saint Vyasa has cleverly revealed the intrinsic purpose of life and how to achieve it with this powerful yet simple visual representation. Our life, from birth to death is an accumulation of experiences and we all make our own story through our interpretations. The story is formed based on how we see, hear or feel about each occurrence in life. Our emotions are at play all times. We see each occurrence through the lens of emotions and react externally in our environment based on emotional interpretation.

Greed, anger, envy, jealousy, pride, lust; all these emotions play a significant role in our actions. If your thought process is governed by pride, the likelihood of arrogance showing up in your inter-actions is very high. Similarly, if the underlying thought is that of jealousy or envy, then comparison and/or revenge may show up outwardly. Each time you allow these emotions to influence your thought process; they rule your actions, shape your personality, shape your relationships and shape your life.

My younger son reminded me of a nursery rhyme that aptly and profoundly enumerates the art of living;
“Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!”

The human body is designed to be in action and hence, it needs a place to play and enact. The universe is like our personal playground. All the elements of Creation i.e. natural resources, solar system, plants, animals and human beings are mediums for your experiments and ways to be constructively occupied, where there are innumerable options and opportunities to contribute through our various gifts of art, music, science, medicine etc. Human beings are the only Creation that have the option and opportunity to choose how and where to act. Unlike animals and plants, human beings are not programmed in their reactions. They are gifted with a certain type of intelligence and way of perception but they reserve the choice of reaction to their circumstances.

Essentially, if you don’t know where you will be born, the type of intelligence will be gifted with, the type perception lens you will be born with and you don’t know when and where you are going to die; what is it that you can determine – control over your reactions and actions. Unlike other living creatures, human beings have been gifted with free will to decide. Situations, opportunities, circumstances, people come our way, what we do with them is our choice. We are born to contribute through our intelligence and skill as we learn to understand and control our emotions and behavior and act freely in this world; yet we complicate life by falling prey to our emotions and suffering. Do we suffer and how. We spend our life trying to unravel this mystery called life. If we simply allow ourselves to follow the design of creation by using our intelligence and our preceptors, with control over our emotions, our life becomes effortless.

“A house must be built on solid foundations if it is to last. The same principle applies to man; otherwise he too will sink back into the soft ground and becomes swallowed up by the world of illusion.” Sai Baba

The intellect i.e. the tool of discrimination is given to choose (think and decide) to act effortlessly and contribute effectively through our vehicle of action, the body. The more you develop or use your intellect, the easier it gets to live life. Often you will observe a pattern of occurrences. Events of a similar nature occur till you do not learn to understand and control the underlying emotion that is causing the series of events and grow from there on. We suffer due to our emotional attachment to people, things or outcome of our actions.

Essentially, all the events and circumstances occur in your life in different shapes and sizes but with similar messages simply to make you evolve. As you understand and reduce unnecessary interpretations and the impact of emotions such as fear, greed, lust, anger, expectations, attachment etc on your life, the higher is your ability to see the meaning of life.

We are born through our parents who impart life and values to us. Parents are meant to be mediums of giving life, take responsibility for the life that they have brought into this world until the child is an independent adult. However, in this process of fulfilling their duties, they get emotionally attached and build expectations from their children. A sense of duty comes towards your parents because you take so much from them. Your family members are called “relations” because your birth is related to them. It is these emotional expectations that give colour to our life and add emotional conflict to our lives and cause suffering. Similarly, circumstances are also part of this process of evolution.

If you look at life as a tap of water and yourself as a pot; you can sit under the tap upside down and let all the water flow past or sit under the tap facing up and fill your pot with water. The more you choose to learn and receive from each situation and opportunity, the more you enjoy life.

An illusion is a distortion of the senses and illusions distort reality. Because we live our life through our senses and interpret every event and circumstance through our senses of hearing, feeling etc, we create illusions around ourselves and are unable to elevate beyond to just act freely and fearlessly. If you look closely at yourself and reflect on your actions, there is invariably a grip of emotions governing our inter-actions with the external world.

Do you ever truly possess anyone or anything? Yet this is the most common illusion that is shared by most people. They live their life believing that they possess their children, husband, wife, subordinates and so on. Then they try to control each one to their benefit and get disappointed because they are unable to achieve the desired outcome. They get so attached to wanting to control and the other person gets attached to wanting to be free and life’s drama unfolds. We experience stress and suffer anxiety. What is truly required is for a person to be in control of their emotions and not allow another to impact their emotional equilibrium. Then only one is able to play fully and whole-heartedly in this playground of Creation and enjoy every aspect of it.

“A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes suffering.” Buddha

Emergence of Ego

Emergence of Ego

We live our life like a Ferris wheel; one moment, up, another moment, down. You are either trying to manage your emotions or that of others around. This creates a feeling of frustration, helplessness, resulting in outbursts of anger. Do you often wonder if life was meant to be so?

Every human is keen to find happiness in life, the question often remains “how?” In that desire to find happiness, people work hard to get good grades at school, then starts the race for university, then the race for a job, then the race for marriage, children and so on. This race does not end till your last breath unless you choose to step out of the race and actually look for happiness inside yourself rather than through the various races. Each race is temporary and transient and the outcome is dependant upon a multiplicity of factors, many uncontrollable. However, time and again we are made to believe that the outcome of every success is dependant upon “Me” and if we do not achieve it, then “I” am a failure.

For instance, let’s look at a cricket match. The success of the match is not just dependant upon the players of the winning team. Behind the match there is the effort of two teams, the coaches, the sacrifice of the families, the love of fans and supporters, the media, the grass on which they play, the weather and many more. However, we only applaud the winning team or sometimes just the high scorers. What about all those who are silent contributors. As a batsman or bowler of the winning team, you are one of the “mediums’ of action” in the sequence to success. If you are the last one to swing the bat or bowl a ball i.e. pull the trigger and hence take the highest risk, the responsibility for that action also becomes the highest and so does the reward.

We are all like the links of a chain – inter-connected and inter-dependent. No one can work alone or win alone or achieve anything alone. Any such belief is harbored by the “I”. This “I” is the Ego, a sense of individuality. The ego limits our experiences of the world to our sensory judgments of seeing, hearing, feeling, touching and tasting. When we relate to life through these limited senses, we are unable to enjoy the subtle experiences which are actually the privilege of only human beings. We are unable to perceive creatively the subtle messages of Creation. It is this ego that starts thinking and attributing every success and failure to itself. It is this “I” that creates the feeling of joy or sorrow. It is this “I” that shapes the personality of a person, thereby contributing to behaviors such as arrogance or defeatist or skeptic.

People get so used to living in the belief that it is “I” who is successful; it is “I” who is in control; that it is difficult to change. We get caught in a vicious web of our own creation. Either we react to people or people react to us and this process goes on and on. The power to come out of this web is within you. It requires, above all, a desire, a willingness to accept your persona and to change perceptions.



The human personality is the most complex design amongst living and the path of self discovery and the shedding of the “I” is unique. It is painful to shed the persona one has lived with and think that the life you lived was all self created and take responsibility for all the actions. As you peel the layers covering your true self, your heart fills with a sense of calm that is unparallel to any other experience. You can be in control of your happiness. You can design your life and not live a life full of accidental occurrences. If you do your best in relation to others, the room for angst reduces. Your head and heart feel free and your fatigue levels go down. Your energy levels increase, your error levels reduce and you are able to achieve more with less effort. A sense of appreciation, gratitude and abundance starts seeping in.

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power,” Lao Tzu