Work on your past!

Life is not even and there are Ups and Downs for all of us. When you look back at life and the path you travelled, do you see struggles and pain? Though we cannot undo the path we walked into the present, we could have done better to reach the same ‘today’ and yet feel ‘achievements’ instead of struggles. 

So, here is the question! How to feel happy about the past? How to feel that you had a great past? 

The answer is very simple. Today is the past for tomorrow. Making today as rich as you can, creates a better past. No matter how you have been so far, what lies in your hands now is to give 100% to your ‘Today’.

Look at earnings and not income! To a common man with common thought, income and earnings might sound the same. But, if you carefully think about it, what you save from the income is your earning. Earn also means ‘to gain’ and gain is after you meet your living costs from your income. Life is the same. All that happens today is like your income; what must stay with you for future is like earnings. Choose what you want to spend and forget about today and what you want to carry with you to the future!

Turn setbacks into positive experiences! Struggles that you face today can’t stay with you as pain forever. When you make your struggles into experiences, what stays with you is how it changed you for good. Convert every failure into a lesson and a good habit to stay. There was a time, when I had a very big problem and an astrologer asked me to pray Sun God at the time of sunrise for 48 days. Instead of just praying, I made it a habit to memorize few religious hymns/slokas. I also started walk in the morning and made it a habit. Today, when I think of that problem, I don’t have the pain of the past paint the picture in front of me, rather what made me a better person!

Know yourself! This helps to avoid a bitter present. It is all about today, when you want to create a rich past. Introspect the person in you. See what makes you tensed, angry, react and makes the day stressful to make mistakes. Take for example, a day when you start to work 15 minutes early. You tend to observe lot of people in a hurry while you are not. You stop at the signals properly, give way for people who rush and enter with a smile to work. Compare this to a day when you start 10 minutes late than usual for work. You will experience being in the opposite side of the crowd who are in a hurry, shout at people on the road, try to jump at signals. This can be applied to any event in a day, like a meditation in the morning to start your day, a good exercise, not staying up hungry for long, sleeping early et al. Listen to the person in you and see what keeps your day at peace! 

Reactive tendencies and Creative competencies! When I read this somewhere, I was extrapolating it to how we all have these dimensions inside us. Many a times, I have seen creativity and leadership accompanies people who are early risers. Their first winning for the day is beating the sun by waking up before the sun wakes up. It creates fresh ideas and clarity of thought. I have seen implementers or reactors/adapters to be late sleepers. They find their nights calm and peaceful to implement what they want to. We all are formed by the creative, enterprising and implementation as ingredients but, not in the same proportion. So, the rule can’t be ‘one size fits all’ and it is not just about waking early or sleeping late. Look where you stand and what is the ask of you, seek inside and carve yourself through practices that meets the asks! I am sure this will make a brand out of you!

I don’t want to make this article complete. Rather, even if I try to, I will fail. Life is different for each one of us. Each life is unique. Each of us will have to apply our own techniques to be successful. While the tips I quoted above largely applies for anyone, post your tip to me. Waiting eagerly for it … ! 

The 'NEW' in ME - An Associative Thinking

What am I touching upon in this article? A way to upbring children, the concepts of innovation, the insights of a video that explains how "Om" helps us balance these enrgies [so a little insight spiritually as well]. More importantly I wanted to share an awesome introspection that I went through to realize that innovation is within us always. I also wanted to share. Basically linking all of these :-)

This is a little lengthy but I hope it is a good read. I was reading two different things this month; One on spirituality and One on Innovations. This blog is just a product of my associative thinking of two different nice things that I read last week. This is definitely not written with an intent to advocate/side the Hindu beliefs. But, I am sure every religion has some or the other on these lines to achieve the same goal.

Om [Aum] - A way of interpretation:

Om is considered to be a very mysitc word that has manifold explanations/interpretations. This is one of those. The 3 syllables of Om "Aa", "Uu", "Mm" signigfies Brahm"Aa", Vishn"uu", Siva"mm". It was nice for me to see how the syllables form the ending sound of the names of these Gods first of all. More interestingly, when you utter these syllables separately, you can see the vibrations in stomach when saying "Aa", at chest when uttering "Uu" and at head when you utter "Mm".

The "Aa" that denotes Brahmaa, and that which creates the vibration in stomach indicates our creational force. Isn't that true our energy is created in stomach, may it be the food that creates energy or the birth/life-force that gets created in the stomach. Similarly, the "Uu" that denotes Vishnu, and that which creates vibration in the chest indicates the protective force. True if you think og our heart/control-unit that is held protected by the rib cage in chest? Similarly, the "Mm" that denotes Shivam, which creates vibration at the head indicates the transformational force [not to call it a destructive force. One form of energy gets destructed to create another. So this is a transformational force]. Isn't that true where all thought process of our knowledge/wisdom gets born here [in our brain].

So what this means? When do we succeed or be completly unmatchable. When we are creative, sustain [protect] our creativity and get efficient at it by transforming the creativity manifolds so it reaches all and becomes prevalent to yield us popularity and success. Om [or Aum] is a balance of all of these in us and is within us for people who realize it?

Now, let's go to what "Innovation" gurus classify innovation as:

Growth Innovations takes an offering that was complex, expensive and used by only a very few and turns that into an offering that is affordable, simple, convenient and can be used by many.

Sustaining innovations occur in companies that exist, and their purpose is to develop better products that they can sell for better profits to their best customers. Helps sustain success amidst competitors.

Efficiency innovations typically entail creating a new business model, not new products or services, per se. But these business model innovations allow companies to deliver good products or services much more efficiently.

My Associational Thinking makes me feel these are one and the same. Call it spirituality of innovation "or" Innovation in Spirituality, it gives me the same thinking. The growth innovation that initiates an innovation [or a business model] is the Brahmaa, the Sustaining innovation that protects or maintains the business model's success is the Vishnuu and the Effiency Innovation that transforms/adapts the business model to the newest of new generaions and changing trends is the Shivamm.

Now, to the upbringing of children:

It is said everyone as a child, has some core strenghts by birth. Have you seen some kids being very creative in what they do? They have a high creativity ["Aa"] in them. Have you seen some kids are less disruptive? You give them something to play and tell them how to play, they just do that. They dont disturb the setup and are not naughty, which means they have a high protective energy ["Uu"] in them. And some kids are always disruptive, you give them something they are beyond creative and interpret the given thing manifold with their curiosity and transform them into many things. That's the sign of transformational energy ["Mm"].

This is exactly what we need to observe in them. This helps in upbringing, when you know what your child is good at. In this competitive world, we need the right balance of being creative, sustain success and then transform it into efficiency towards changing trends. Spiritualist say chanting "Om" help the energy flow from the stomach to the brain and creates a balanced energy in your nature through continuous chanting of the same. I am sure, every relegion has something to achieve the same.

I want to keep this article a little abstract, without a conclusion. This message is meant for interpretation by anyone who reads it and I want that observation and inference to come in you without biasing it with my conclusions.

Happy Innovation and Introspection!

-Mani

My Father!

When I opened my eyes the first,

I saw him, a stiff and a huge man;

To me, it was him, at his best,

            Who always had an attitude of ‘I can’;

I used to feel protected, staying in her arms,

            Feel safe being with my lovely mother;

Being with her is so secure and void of harm,

            Who else is around, I didn’t bother!

At first, it was difficult to accept him,

            Commands over me if I wasn’t gentle;

For the mischief I did, he shows a grim,

            Seeing which, I go calm to settle.

I grew up to feel, He is nice by his gesture,

            Majestic, Mature, Calm and Cool;

My eyes slowly turned to him, for his nature,

            Felt if nurtured by him, I can’t grow a fool.

It was too early for me to think about career,

            Though I was too naïve to define role model;

But, after looking at his life with success and cheer,

            I learnt cheer doesn’t sustain if I dawdle.

I have reached many of my dreams,

            Though there was a lot of pressure or stress; 

Handled them easy and cool without any screams,

With his savings, support and bless!

Now, when he transforms his strengths, as he ages,

He neither bids adieu nor feels to retire;

Relentlessly adds value to my life with his adages,

            Proud at his past and my present to admire!

Even today, in the equation of life,

            He covers my minus with his plus;

When the unfilled X and Ys are at rife,

Balances with his math, without any fuss.

Everybody needs a father like the one

            A man who is useful always as he redefines;

And feel, without him life is none,

            Aspires me to be a strong man, yet refined!

Composed By: Mani Jayaram

Date: 13-Nov-2013

Seed: About my father!

Stronger Than Yesterday!

How many times in life, our happiness or satisfaction has come to a halt by looking at peers? Sometimes, we are personally very happy on what we achieved but when sharing it, we show the pride only to people who have achieved less than us? I feel that our satisfaction quotient in life has come down and our happiness quotient has become relative to our surroundings. What should our comparison be on is the key to life and this blog!

Just imagine that you bought a second hand car. How is your tone of communication, when communicating it to a village man Vs a person who owns 2 cars? Say you score 60% on a paper in which you usually fail. You will express your happiness to other failure candidates with a couple advises to them on what they can do, to be you! But you might either not communicate to the class topper or pass it on to him as a news if you have to. Dont you think that we play low with people above us even though our own sense of pride is high on what we achieved?

In the facebook page of A.R.Rahman, I saw a post where an authority judges elephant, lion and monkey on their capabilities with a single test of climbing a tree. Though funny, it nailed a beautiful message. Is there a single measure that can grade all of us? There is no "One Size Fits All" in this world.

Why do we compare? Every living organism subconsciously adapts to the surroundings and thus it becomes law of nature? Our parents [or we as parents] usually compare children with neighbors and ask them to be [or not to be] like them? So it all starts there and we continue it for our life and we pass it on as a legacy to the next generation. Instead of complaining the law of nature, we as humans with the unique sixth sense can overcome it!

Believe in "Stronger than Yesterday"! In effect compare yourself with what you were yesterday. Do this to be safe and successful for the following reasons:

• You know what your life needs, to be better!
• Your surroundings/situations are not same as other person and thus you cant apply his way or doctrines!
• You are the one who knows your plus and minus better. So the only one who can balance your equation is you!
• Beware! A wrong upper limit of "Becoming Einstein" can make you run for your entire life without achieving it.
• Beware! A wrong lower limit of any other lazy/failure person, will take you "no where" as you will achieve your goal sooner and feel contended.

All life's EQUAL and each life is UNIQUE. Each of us have a job to do and we do it in our one way. It could be taking you UP the ladder faster/slower based on how you approach your tasks. Please note that I just mean NO to comparisons and not learning by seeing others. Life is not too long to punish ourselves for what we are. We will have to bring the best out of what we are, and in that journey make ourself and people around us happy. If you believe that you have that extra mileage to achieve, even if the people you used to compare with have failed, you will be able to do it.

A bird sitting on a branch doesn't sit there trusting the strength of the branch, but the strength of its wings! So, Believe in you! Believe that you are a unique formula. Introspect to see what you can do, to be better that the past! Set small milestones, achieve them every now and then, and always strive to be stronger than yesterday! You will incrementally reach great heights one day ... Observe others, get inspired and try it your way ONLY if you feel you can! This is the legacy that according to me, we should pass on to the next generation!

Happy New Year and Stay Spirited!

- MJ

Hunger – A Sign of Strength or Weakness?

Often, the word Hunger is linked to lack of something that makes one weak. But are we looking at it as an instigator to fill what we lack? What we achieve or would like to achieve is the result of hunger/craving/passion that we have towards it. Hunger is not a ‘lack’ of something, but if we don’t have it, we lack success. This is the crux of my thought process today.

Like an expert swimmer who doesn’t fear the deeps and like the phoenix, which doesn’t fear the fire, a person with a hunger for something doesn’t fear obstacles towards his destiny. Let us literally take the attitude that we demonstrate when we are hungry. Don’t we eat crazy like a glutton the moment we see food after prolonged fasting? Does that demonstrate the force that we have/exhibit when seeing our passionate food?

A spiritual digression to this topic can also be cited here. The reason why we follow fasting before we offer our prayers ... There is an unconscious activity or energy flow that happens in our body, when we are hungry. It is believed that when you starve for a very long duration and sit near a small tender plant for few hours, the plant droops down losing its vitality. It is because our body tends to absorb the vital energy around it, when it lacks/craves for energy. Scientifically I would say that energy flows from higher to lower concentration. Thus came the belief of praying in empty stomach that makes our body absorb the spiritual/positive vibes effectively. When every cell of our body exhibits this involuntary behavior, don’t we have a reason to believe that hunger is a sign of strength in us?

I have heard of a story where a man goes to Swami Vivekananda to know the secret/tip behind achieving what he wants.  Vivekananda takes this man into the nearby water body and immerses him inside water. When the man somehow manages to come out and takes a deep breath for his survival, Swami says that one should be that desperate like how desperate he was to get that one breathe of life while he was under water. That’s the hunger that can also be called as desperation to achieve.

Hunger gives us the drive to run for what we want. It sets us on fire and helps achieve greatness. Its only when we don’t act upon this intensity, it starts to develop weakness in us.

Stay Hungry and Stay Tuned towards your goals!

-         -  Mani

Sustaining Vs Stagnating

I was supposed to pen this blog a couple months before, when I completed 10 years in IT. It took some time for my brain to connect my fingers to the keyboard. So here it goes...

The months of May and June, usually puts me into many questions towards my career, every year. Every May, I complete 1 extra year in my company and Every June I complete 1 extra year of experience in IT. This year I was checking myself against "Stagnating Vs Sustaining".

There is life, when you say that you are sustaining on your goodness and success. It means that you get past your previous milestones and constantly maintain a pace in the race, to meet new laurels. Sometimes your successes and your comfort zone make "Stagnation" look like a Sustaining Activity. Appreciations from known colleagues, people praising you wherever you go, setting goals to your comfort and laziness can cause this delusion.

As life changes and you get into more commitments, it is difficult to have the same vigor in you that you had when you were a bachelor. Everything in this world is bound to wear-and-tear and thus we slow our pace too. But, it is always good to check if you are stagnating at a level. Sustain and Stagnate means staying in a level. But as you can see one is lively and flowing and the other is stale.

Making smart moves to sustain your success is very important as we get into a lot of personal commitments. Work hard Vs Work Smart is again a key. One can work hard and get the same results as working smart. But as you progress in your career and get into a higher role with lots of professional and personal commitments, we will have to choose the smart way to enjoy success. We can't run fast and work hard, when our hands and legs are fettered with too many commitments. Are we just concerned or cautious about the steps that we take during this transition? Again, both "Concerned" and "Cautious" shows your worry towards a happening. But, as you can very well see, one is of superlative in nature. I feel being 'cautious' begets actions from your end towards careful planning of your career.

Being 'Cautious' about what you do, to 'sustain' your success is the simple message that I wanted to convey. Again you can either think about this or meditate on it. You know what I am going to say here ... :-) Both 'meditate' and 'think' create a thought process. But when you meditate, you give life to the thought process and make it flow through your smart deeds!

Innovate, Inspire and Get Inspired always!

- Mani

FRIENDS - Old Poem Revisited for Friendship's Day!

This can be fine-tuned a lot now. But I wanted to leave it like that. A baby's prattle should be admired and not corrected. I see this poem that way. Takes me back to my memories of 2002 and my naive in it, as an amateur poet ;-)

====

In the hectic world of worries,
There are some queries,
What gives us pleasure?
That is hard to measure.
Sure, Friendship is that treasure.

It is that love and care,
That the friends mutually share,
The feelings that are relished,
Forever, to be cherished.

In any field of battle,
They stand together with mettle,
Throw their arms out,
And put their enemies to rout.

Keep in mind,
They are one of the kind,
Who are really hard to find,
Sure, it is a lifetime bind!

Composed By: Mani Jayaram
Date: 23rd May 2002.
For: A dedication to all those who respect Friends and Friendship.