Action Plan to protect your legacy

• Commit your dream to paper. Be clear about your legacy – give details. • Build ownership in those empowered to take it forward. Listen to divergent opinions and let go. • Start detaching yourself and don’t give too much advice and cramp the style and enthusiasm of those on the job. • Remember life is short. Let not your legacy become ashes and dust when you die. You have responsibility to leave the world a better place. Start the task now!

Focus on happiness

Focus on happiness, not the lack of it. I believe the focus on stress and unhappiness should be turned upside down. Instead of attracting unhappiness, we should plant a garden of happiness, by welcoming the positive emotions into our lives—love, compassion, wonder, courage, laughter and peace. Focusing on our unhappiness only helps to accrue more power and attention to the negative person, event or object that causes it. Focus on cultivating happy people and avoid toxic people. Build protective walls against toxic events that threaten your tranquillity.

Take them everyday!

1. Take short relaxation breaks, at least thrice a day. 2. Eat fresh, energy-giving foods. 3. Take a walk outdoors during lunch break. 4. Stay away from politics and back-biting. 5. Involve your spouse and children in your work. Bring them to the office during lunch break or on a Saturday. 6. Spend time reading and improving your mind. 7. Get involved in activities that will benefit others. 8. Develop an absorbing hobby or skill—driving, dancing, gardening, carpentry, painting, amateur radio, etc. 9. Keep in touch with your close friends and extended family; use the power of the internet. 10. Plan to cut off from work on weekends.

Steps to increase everyday happiness

• Do the crossword as you age • Take up a course of study that will improve your work skills: may be computer literacy • Eat a piece of dark chocolate 4 times a week. • Have at least four interesting, intimate conversations with family and friends every day. • Spend at least two hours outdoors. • Participate in at least one group activity. • Have a good belly laugh. • Forgive and forget and what you cannot forgive, forget. • Find a meaningful job to do, even if unpaid. • Live in the present and enjoy it.

Season of Hope

Easter Sunday celebrates the themes of hope, regeneration, resurrection and the possibility of eternal life. The day is a joyous one, celebrated with a feast of Easter eggs, coloured red, hearty meals, games and family reunions. The Russian princesses exchanged golden jeweled eggs made by the fabled jeweller Faberge. This day follows 40 days of the Lenten fast. On a personal level, it reminds us of the cycle of time which moves inexorably from fasting to feasting, from sorrow to happiness, from defeat to victory, from darkness to light and death to eternal life. It is a reminder that neither good times nor bad are permanent. As the Bible puts it, “This too shall pass”. We can take the Easter message to heart as we dive into a new financial year on 1st April. Here are some of the lessons: 1. Everything changes 2. The kalachakra or wheel of life takes one through the ups and downs of life. Neither lasts. Both are temporary. 3. Have faith that good things are waiting round the corner. Meanwhile, work hard and hope. 4. Celebrate the dawn of hope and move forward. 5. Transformation is awaiting you if you are willing to allow your old self to die. Just like a seed transforms from being a seed, to become a plant and a mighty tree. So, roll up your sleeves, close your personal and corporate accounts as the March 31st deadline approaches. Pay creditors. Make up with those with whom you have had conflicts. Reach out to enemies, if any. Thank God for the blessings of the previous year. Get ready for a brand new future – the season of Hope! See how skillfully March 31st avoids major holidays like Christmas and New Year. Notice how it takes into account the unpredictable outcome of the February-March crop. Celebrate the past; clear the decks for a bright and prosperous, financial year ahead.

Principles of Emotional Well-being

•Listen to yourself. • Live in the present moment. Now. Every minute. • Discipline yourself—it will give you true freedom. • Do not pretend to be in total control. • Allow yourself to be vulnerable sometimes. • Ask for help. Network. • Reinvent and renew yourself periodically. • Explore the concept of acceptance of self. • Love yourself. Accept yourself, your body and mind, as you are. • In your quest for self-improvement, affirm and love yourself as you are today, here and now. • Accept your life, good and bad as it is now, as a divine gift. • Love another. A gift of yourself is the greatest gift you can give. • Keep the child in you alive. Cuddle, nurture and liberate the baby in you.