The Minimalists

Hello Readers

 I hope you guys are doing great!

 Love people, not things; use things not people.

-Spencer W. Kimball

 When did you buy your last phone, laptop, or any gismo?

 But did you want it? Or did you buy it because you were bored with what you already had?

Last week I was searching to watch some documentaries, by the way, I am a huge documentary buff!

 I came to cross this one: The minimalists: less is now. I liked the concept and got hooked on it.

It's about the real-life stories of two people, Joshua Fields Millburn, and Ryan Nicodemus.

 They were living their everyday lives in America, but something was not going well. They were not feeling happy.

 The documentary starts with an interview with Ryan, where he says he had this craving of buying things, and he had filled his place with lots of stuff and felt he would feel happy by having these material things.

 But for some reason, both the friends never felt that real happiness in life.

 Then something hit their mind; they started living with only what they wanted and gave away all the extra stuff.

 So, they called it minimalism, started making road trips across the USA, and started giving out this message.

 Many people got influenced by this and started feeling the happiness of things just enough to survive. They even started living in minimized houses.

 So, they conclude by showing us having less okay, and we all should be away from the delusion of consumerism!

 Being an Indian, the thing hit me the moment i saw this piece; in our scriptures, they have permanently imbibed the model of "having less is fine."

 The Indian scriptures have always believed in knowledge and the other great principles of materialism at the end of the chain.

Courtesy Google images

 Incredibly, I started writing this blog, and my first topic was about materialism; here I am, 280 blogs later writing about it.

 I hope we all stay away from consumerism and think of giving our surplus to the less fortunate.

 Thanks for your valuable time.

 Enjoy the rest of your day!

 Helios.

Roots and Blooms

 Hello readers!

 True teachers are those who help us think for ourselves.

-Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

 Happy new year to all, good to be blogging after a while.

 No cough, fever, can taste food, and Spo2 is above 96%; these are considered happiness these days; this is a meme making the rounds in social media.

 Looking at it a little seriously, I feel it is true; maybe staying healthy is only happiness. But, yeah, it is evident we are in the middle of bio war.

 I couldn't write for almost a month as I was caught up with a few things. Still, thanks to my readers who keep asking me if I was okay and why I did not publish these days, it makes me even more eager to create new blogs!

 I have written about teachers before, but I got a new perspective about it a few days back, so this one reflects those thoughts.

 Teachers are the first leaders and motivators in life because it's hard to guide young people without these qualities.

 Then what is that one niche quality of a teacher? It is selflessness.

I will talk more about selflessness a little later.

 What I admire about teachers is that they feel happy about our success. Do you think is that a big deal?

 Yes, it is a huge deal. But, in this world of comparison and jealousy, a person feeling happy by seeing someone else succeed and moving ahead is indeed a sacred act.

 The word teacher is something very different. We all get an image in front of our minds when we say the word teacher. It may be your favorite teacher in your school or college, or it may be an experience that taught you something.

 So, it is just not a person; it is life, actually! So yes, life is one of the best teachers available for us free of cost.

 Scientists refer to life as a semi-living thing because it involves both living and non-living things; of course, in this era of artificial intelligence (AI) humanoid robots, we learn from machines too and vice-versa.

 For a society, teachers become an integral part.

 Sometimes I feel our societies are not well informed due to a lack of primary education. But, on the other hand, there were enough opportunities and desires where some people wanted to become teachers but could not because of societal problems.

 They say the best teacher-student relationship was seen in the Indian Vedic schools in ancient times, which is still considered the summit of value education.

 Next comes the Chinese martial arts teacher and student an equation of accuracy and precision.

 Being a teacher in life is an opportunity, the best you can give back to society. So try to blossom the future of a few children who have the fragrance of intelligence just waiting for your watering to the roots, and they bloom!

Courtesy google images

 It is okay if we are not teachers by profession; let us guide people who seek our help and make them smile.

 My respect to all the people in my life who have helped me become the person I am today, who taught me lessons with their good guidance or made me learn the hard way.

 Finally, I bow to my experience, which has always been a loyal teacher!

 Thanks a lot for your team; 2022, more blogs coming up!

 Have a great day ahead.

Eyes wide open

Hello Readers

 I hope you all are doing well.

 My soul is not asleep, it is awake, wide awake. It neither sleeps nor dreams, but watches, its eyes wide-open far-off things, and listens at shores of the great silence. 

 -Trou Aikman

This piece was lying in my drafts for almost a year now though I would finally write about it today.

It is one of the simplest things to understand, and it is very accurate and happens in our lives often.

From the time you jump out of your bed, many personal and public incidents happen in a day in your life.

 Some may be your routine, and many more pleasant and some unpleasant ones.

Of late, I am not labeling incidents as good, bad, and ugly; what I feel is the truth, and we must learn to face it.

Conversations are an essential part of our day. We reach one step closer to our goals.

Each successful conversation is a good thing; it opens new opportunities, learns new things, or even builds new relationships.

Courtesy Google images

Sometimes, we fail to see the larger picture of a conversation and jump to conclusions, and eventually end up in fights and arguments that can be avoided.

Even you can win the toughest of conversations with people. You forgo your ego and biases in exchange be open-minded; half of your issues are resolved.

I see many tussles go on due to miscommunication picking wrong lines in a conversation, and sometimes pushing the pencil on others because it was a bad day.

We need to keep our eyes wide open all the time and smile; please realize we have one life, let us make most of it and do some good to this world and pass it on to the next generation.

Think macro, leave the micro dejections, frowns, and disappointments.

Connect with your friends, have a great time, make your life simple and a happy one!

Thanks for your time. Have a nice day!

Helios.

Essence Of Success

 Hello Readers

Hope you all are doing well.

 You create the life you wish by your thoughts, speech and actions.

Lailah Gifty Akita

 I have this hate and love feeling on winters, I love it for the blue skies and the clear night skies to gaze at the horizon and the sunlight which doesn’t scorch.

 But kind of do not like it for the headaches and winter wear, of course, my immunity is to blame, and I am in the Indian sub-continent, I don’t even know what actual winter is!

 I had been to Kashmir some years back, and it was snowing, I touched fresh snow for the first time that feeling was very pristine.

 In cold countries, winter is a time of family reunion and spending time of their daily routine, they call it “wintertime out.”

 The word time-out is excellent because it helps you come out of whatever web of thoughts you have entangled with.

  It helps you start over your thinking process, just on a lighter note we need to factory reset our mind occasionally, as there are too many thoughts which are to be wiped.

 The talk of the town these days is building skills, learning programming languages, starting a YouTube channel, monetize them and make money: courtesy from the tycoon machine called “Google.”

 I cannot even get closer to their business strategies and models, they have opened new horizons to portrait talents across the world, it is simply great no second thought on that.

 Skills are what we inculcate throughout our lives either by learning it by personal interest, for passion, or maybe you develop it on your job.

 There are so many online courses available on the internet about soft skills: communication, stress management, teamwork are few examples.

 Communication would be top of the list I would say when it comes to soft skills.

 If we think about it, this whole world and whatever we do ends up at one focal point, that is communication.

 Whatever you do in life whether at the personal front or at professional level your presence will be  felt on how you spoke, what you spoke or wrote  on paper and lastly your behaviour.

 Oculesics- the study of body language is a specialized branch in behavioral science.

 Why should there be so many courses, workshops, studies, and theories to understand and teach communication.

 Communication is the most essential part to live in this world.

 Many of us don’t understand this, there are times when we had to be kind to the person whom you are conversing with, but you were shrewd, and it broke both of you apart.

 We cannot expect to be a hundred from day one but are we open to learn, evolve or even atleast think about accepting feedback from people who actually give you those feedbacks with the right intention, and that is to change you for good.

 When we end up in problems, I feel half of the situation would resolve if we first understand the issue and also if we can explain the matter to the people who will help you decide it.

 Rest of the problems would resolve if you try to understand people, and comprehend their situations when that happens you build a network, or network of like-minded people just like you, who knows a dream team someday. Still, it starts with you how you talk to them. 

Honestly, that’s all it matters.

 I remember during my course study, my professor made us do this exercise. it is called “Chinese whisper”: initially a short story was readout.

 Few people were asked to go out of the class and a story was narrated, now the students who were sent out earlier were called in and the class was asked to repeat the story to each one of the person who came in one by one finally there was comparison between the initial version and what the class told.

  Conclusion the basic story which was described was lost, what was left is bits and pieces of the story with entirely new meaning, this is called vocal adulteration or gaps in communication.

 It was an eye-opener for me.

We all should definitely heed in the direction of improving ourselves each day as we progress through life and one of the critical areas we need to look at is how do we talk to people and most important of all, to get feedback from them.

 

  You can be called a success, not with your truckloads of knowledge and the highest degrees which you earned, but  when you enter a room full of people and they were all  waiting for you with a smile, that day you can be called a success.

 - Alistair Maclean.

 Hope this blog has opened your mind to think in the direction, which should help you to achieve success in whatever you want to do!

 Thanks for your time.

Helios.

Stooge

Hello readers

How are you doing today?

We meet all types of people each day, some become our friends, many just pass by , among the people we meet we all have a general tendency to judge people, pass comment on each other and sometimes even mock at them, look at them as you are the superior and the latter worse than trash or vice-versa, do you think all of this is good to do and does it add any life to our years, or does it add only years to our life. Let us discuss.

Going back to the last sentence in the previous paragraph, let us meditate on this phrase “add life to our years or years to our life” well it seems too simple to understand, actually it is simple.

The first part says “add life to our years” which means, when we follow certain habits in life, it will give us satisfaction, peace of mind and also a good night’s sleep and self containment.

The second part “add years to your life” is not such a pleasant feeling it simply implies it is just adding years to this mortal body without being any use to  the environment around.

Who is a fool? Again an easy question, we normally say a person who does not understand how the world works? Is a fool, who can get easily cheated is a fool? Or who takes bad decision is also a fool. I agree with all of that but, I want to introduce you to a person who is leading a good life, he is not an idiot, who knows how the world works but still I feel he is fool and I call him a learned fool.

The person in question is not a great educationalist or a rationalist he is living within me and you, yes the sad truth we all behave like learned fool at times, I seriously do not mean any offence to anyone but as they say truth is bitter.

I remember sometime back I had written a blog about fools, I have a short lived memory, but I am clear in my mind that I had not spoken about this aspect.

Why I want to criticize this group of  given population and call them scholarly chumps is  because they behave in such a manner which seriously do not correlate age with their educational qualification or the background from where they come from.

They also forget basic manners at times and behave in a childish manner which will be an embracement for the folks of their family, friends and people around him/her.

If you ask me to be precise and name few qualities of these jesters here are they: always trying to find fault in others, mocking people for no reason, trying to copy others, bumping into conversations, trying to show the world they know everything including the big-bang theory, back answering people, peep into or rather poke into someone else’s business and snoop on them gossiping on them, assuming things without any basis.

There is another group of people whom I call negative fall guys! Because they spend half their life cribbing about what they don’t have, comparing what others have and pressuring family folks to get those which they do not have, grumbling on simple issues and absolutely no ability to take stress and reacting  like a rogue in all situations, treating money as the only valuable thing in the world giving least importance to feelings, emotions, family, friends.

Even people becoming emotional and bursting out with people who do not even care about them are also not wise, because the world is becoming a mean place where your grief is someone’s happiness and an entertainment to others, that is the illusion of life where a person does not realize until something worse happens to him and continues to take please in others pain until it happens to himself.

So do these people ever realize all these nuances any time before they leave this world? If they do, I feel that is the best thing that could happen to him.

If not then they will be in a situation where people try to throw stones inside a glass house trying to prove who is wiser!

These quotes are pertinent “Man lives less, dies more” and another famous quote “fools are not born they become”

-Anonymous

I thank you for your time, I hope you will take this in the right spirit and kick start your thinking engine and evaluate yourself accordingly.

Have a nice day ahead.

The real happiness.

Hello readers                                                                                                              15-MAY-2015

Welcome back to friday!

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.

-Helen Keller

Well in today's blog I want talk about, happiness and the way I have understood this feeling which everyone want to feel all the time, is that possible? Let's see.

When do we feel happy ,that would be a simple way to start,we feel happy when we see an old friend ,who was close to you,we feel happy when our desires are fulfilled  and so on.

But is that real happiness, I don't think so ,those jubilant feelings we experience is a reflex action of that moment,for example there are situations where we feel very happy after clearing a test or an exam, the reason is that the brain was in a controlled environment, and had stressed  out ,and when you completed the test ,and also passed it the accomplishment ,eased your brain and you felt happy.

But actually what is real happiness,it is actually you as person feeling happy,confusing?let me make it  clear and simple with an example

Imagine you wanted to take a nap on this saturday afternoon and your very happy that there is no work today and you have finished all your morning chores ,and all set for your power nap,when suddenly your doorbell rang ,and it was your favourite uncle !

You felt very happy to see him ,but inside you feel that someone cribs that you could not sleep?who is that someone?that's the person who lives inside you or your soul.

This is the conflict I am talking about ,we are doing things in life which does not make the person happy ,but only the medium which is your mind happy.

I do agree that there are compromises in life which we do for others pleasure and as a help ,but at some point of time we need to start doing ,what we want to do .

The next type of happiness that I want to talk about is called the combined happiness.

The concept is very simple again,you do things in life which will make you feel happy ,as well as the people around you happy,now how do we do that? well we know many stand-up comedians this is what they actually do ,whatever is the problem going on their life ,they put that aside and laugh to the core and make others or his or her's audience laugh ,which is a great quality.

There is no point in cribbing because as my boss used to say,its the most unproductive feeling you can experience !and the next moment he used to say come on !what's happened has happened just move on! I think that is exactly what we need to do ,we must start living for the moment ,time is very dynamic its sometimes faster than your thought.come what may always aim to be happy and spread happiness

In life I think that is what counts ,we being selfless ,but not cheating yourself and trying to spread the happiness wave .

It is not easy to bring a smile on others face ,when a person is in agony ,great people like
Robin Williams and Michael Jackson had the great power and were successful in making others happy through their great shows,music and movies though their personal life was not a happy one.

In  the end ,I would like to say  spread happiness to the world ,its okay to compromise ,sometimes on our happiness ,for the sake of others ,which will give you as person more happiness,we should start targeting in making our souls feel happy,which happens when we start being selfless and service -minded Which will take us closer towards the path of salvation,in life.

Thanks a lot your time,have a great weekend .

Reborn?

24th April 2015

Hello readers

The only way to have a friend is to be one. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The week is about to end, and there we have the weekend.

So in todays blog I wanted to talk about the concept of rebirth
and being reborn.The concept is actually about being born again every day?!

I know you were thinking about soul and rebirth,actually that is not where I am heading to, on the philosophical side,but I want to explain you about how without our knowledge, we become kids and what you are again.!

Our mind is a wonderful instrument,it helps you to do what you want to learn each day.

Let me start with a simple example, think about the first day you did something, for instance the first time you learnt to write, there was a method in which you were thought by your teacher.

Then you slowly started grouping letters,and formed meaningful,words,and those group of words into a specific sequence and pattern, and you called call it a sentence.

So we need to understand, that we learn everything from scratch and become rookies and then professionals in what ever we do in life.

So the concept of just pushing the weak person down is always pointless and we should stop doing it in life.

When we start working on  a new job we will exposed to all types of difficulties,and we do not have another option other than to accept it and live with it ,but I feel there's not much need to be make it so difficult as it looks,the rookie can be given a chance to swim out of the situation and encouragement can be given to him .

May be I am talking like its an ancient time here ,where the forces of arrogance and ego were not ruling the world fluxed with selflessness,But times have changed the competition is so much that ,people have started making war strategies for the simplest thing,in this world.

But I guess its about time we wake up from the sleep and understand the world in a better way ad start being compassionate and considerate to your fellow beings and help them grow in the way the way they are supposed to be born that will give this world the boost that it need t show the road for the young sparks who are bursting out of  the ocean of knowledge.

We must always remember that ,when we try to bully someone or think that the guy is dumb ,just think when you initially started that task, did you not undergo the same situation?

To conclude ,accept your mistakes ,promote happiness in you and around you,help the weak to become strong and the strong to remain strong,show the guts in talking about good things about a person than speaking rotten things behind this back.

Lastly we must stop cribbing and start living.

Have a great weekend ahead ,and thanks a lot for your time.

The Great Minds.

Hello readers

Hope your doing good, it's Saturday again the only 2 days where we the corporate junkies can relax a bit and have some personal time! Let me start with a thought.
              simplicity is not so simple
-charlie Chaplin
          
              Moving on, I wanted to talk about some people and some organizations which have always amazed me and try to understand the energy and spark that keeps them going on achieving their goals by facing all the issues and challenges.

                 If a group of people, work together in coordination to each other with a specific goal in mind, it becomes an organization of people.
                
               some history about the concept of how this type of systems emerged,the best known natural organization in the world even today is the ant colony!

               organisations emerge for a common cause which was seen as important by the founders who built it!
   
                 Lets talk about few founders, if we take the car industry we first remember sir Henary Ford, whose cars are still one of the best.

               when we talk about one the earliest inventions of vehicles,we should remember the great Macmillan, who created the first bicycle, which is now the most eco-friendly vehicle.

               Another important invention was the light bulb by Sir Thomas Edison, well the list is endless.
            
               One common truth is that we need to catch is, these inventors were simple men like you and me, and if you read about their life, they were less fortunate than us, and sulked in poverty and other problems.

                But there was a spark that kept them going, what we, the current generation lack is this spark.It is the spark of self confidence,self motivation, the urge to achieve, risk taking ability, and being selfless.
 
                 To develop this spark there is only one person who can help you that's you?! Surprised? Please don't be unless you have a clear motive,and start doing something from scratch, you cannot become an inventor.

            Now to the part that always leaves me wondering, and these are facts,
all inventions, are considered and have been used by man in one way or the other, the world survives on inventions which enable the flow of new ideas.

             The organisations are also brilliant, and are equally important,
the makers of this huge goal-oriented        firms are to be saluted, as they have generated jobs,to so many people who work in there.

              To conclude, let's all aim to create one new thing each day, rather than just stick to our books,and learn nothing at the end, because our creativity determines, the survival of this eco-system.who knows one day we make become the founder of a great organization or a great inventor, let's keep trying from today.

                Thanks for your time, a very good morning to all,enjoy your day.
    
          
     

Back To The Present!?

Hello readers
Thanks a lot for your time, it's only because of you my dear pals I have reached this far and get motivated each time to write a blog.
            So I am sure most of you would have watched this super hit movie "Back To The Future "so the movie is about Marty Mcfly (Michael.J.Fox) getting stuck in the past or the future with his friend Doc Emmet Brown (Christopher Loyd).
             So if we see the basic concept of the movie it always gives us a message travelling through time is a risky task, well I am not trying to give a review or a promotional ad about this great movie! but what I want to tell you is that, we always live in this present minute, but think about that hour which has past yesterday or will occur tomorrow, believe me all of us would have done this at some point in our life I am no an exception , even I would have done this,and let me tell you this is not an issue with us, it's one of the mechanisms that our brains adapt to think and help you react, a simple example would be you had some allergy to some fruit punch so, next time your buddy offers you to drink you will for sure retort, and you would say no.

why should we live in the present?
             The simple answer would be, is there any use of thinking or living in the past or for that matter mindlessly predicting the future which is uncertain asin the movie back to the future the scientist invents a time machine,and finally realises, that he had made a big mistake, and regrets it in the last part of the movie.
               Our mind rambels to stay in the present and always takes you to the previous day or that cut -away where you were sruck suffering in some situation, which may motivate you or make you quit. Do you know the result of this rambling,you cannot concentrate on your at work or anywhere for that matter and you take double the time to complete the same task that your doing for a long time.
            So next time you decide to do something do it as if your doing it for the first time that will help you get success in half the time you are taking to finish it now,Ok meet you again next week have a great evening, enjoy life.

A Friend Who lives within you!?

Why did it happen only to me? What next will I do? Oh I think my life is sealed,these are some of the pharases that we are all listening or telling to our selves or hear  from others.
       Well hello again there,meet my friend Mr.anxiety who has never left me in my hard times and also introduced me to his pals who are Mr.tension and Ms Heartburn.
          now your thinking that this is very strange that I calling anxiety as my friend because of which we always endup burning more calories than usual and we forget to move on and fall in that well of thoughts just thinking about what just happened.
            Let us see.... Why do we get anxious, the simple reason is people want to be the best always and are scared of future, this is not agreed by some who tell me they become anxious if their child is not back home for supper or if their kith is driving a car!.
            well come on there are some instances where we need to be little bit worried but not all the time, if we are so worried about future why dream about it, remember future is just an unreleased movie which is open to watch day in and day out whether you like it or not like to watch it in this theatre called life, every day I see lot of negativities happening around me due to this disease called anxiety, which is horribly stressing,depressing and even killing some people who take it too hard, I am sometimes upset on myself as to why I feel I am in a hole which I cannot jump out and I later realise my legs were tied due to tension.
         My message to all chaps who get nightmares thinking about tomorrow and today is 'stop thinking 'and face life with courage and honesty and you will never be played around by your friend who lives in your adrenaline called anxiety.
  Thanks for your time, happy weekend.

Why do we like what we like?

Hello readers
Thanks for your time let me start with a thought, "it doesn't matter what difference you make all it matters is how big it is and what step it took towards development "so said the protector of animals Ms Jane Godall.
       Well my topic for the day is very simple and I am sure that everybody likes this one,so what does your brain, mind, some writers call it intellect like?Ok wealth ofcourse that is always first in the list which includes all the wordly things and this world people tell the second option is health and peace of mind,which is definitely important just for a heads up likes and dislikes are groups of chemicals in our neurons which jump up triggered by your senses routed to your hormones finally the brain decides the reflex appropriately, but have we ever wondered why we like something and why we don't that is still a quest going on in the scientific world about this!
         It has come out of after an analysis from a well known denographical agency that 80% of the people for every 10% of a given community in the world like music, so what is so special about music?
        The answer is simple we inherit a pair of genes from birds which picks voices and tries to replicate it.
    Well I was too technical I guess let me put it in a lighter way likes and dislikes of you depends on the environment you had grown your are growing and will grow in future,if we consider the like towards music it is very certain because brain easily understands notes of music than math! Why is that? because music sooths your mind and and eases your stress out, brain works like a memory bank of sorting and storing its likes and making you feel happy whenever your senses notice it.The main intention of this article is that respecting our likes is important for having a good mind and a healthy mind at the same we need to be careful of our likings not lead them towards addictions.
           so floks take care of your likes and at times control them and do things you do not like and feel balanced, thanks for your time have a great weekend see you next week with a new title.

Who is the best teacher?

Hi readers
How are you so finally we have friday so to be frank, time is running faster than light these days,or as my dad says we wont care about time if we don't have problems!.
      As soon as you read my topic which is a question you would have got a picture in your mind of your most respected teacher in your school or your day to day life that one person who always thought you how to get what you wished, these people are no doubt the great souls who are responsible for what you are today.But at the same time you have a teacher within yourself and the student is none other than yourself! Feeling confused? Let me introduce you to him his name is professor experience he holds a degree of dejection, panic,satisfaction,learning and confidence,masters in reacting to situations and so on.He is a type of teacher who was born on your birthday and will be there what ever level you reach in life and his grades depend on you! In this test for survival called life. 
          Experience is the best teacher,as a matter of fact in this era of corporate life it is measured in years and surprisingly your pay cheque depends on It! So why is it so important?
           Let me explain it you with a simple example all through in our life we are judged of our responsibility and presence of mind with the way we have handled tough situations from which  we swam out , why is there a stress interview conducted in a MNC or any other interview for that matter? The simple reason is people want to check how well you can handle problems in a work place where issues are similar as they call it which woukd have  occurred or will occur in your day to day life.
        To conclude I would like to say face situations with an upright chest get the taste of dejection,dissatisfaction and discomfort, and if you feel things happening with you are bad let it happen  because great things are waiting for you! so all the best face life by its throat enjoy every bit of it, thanks for your time have a great weekend and a happy week ahead.