Preserving Our Forest

New Ways for Corporate Women

Woman managers need to appreciate that it takes heroic energy to rock the cradle and rock the corporate world. First pin a badge for bravery on yourself for attempting it. Then, promise you will not even begin to tread the path that leads to the joyless land of being a super-woman or super-mom. Enlist your men and families as willing accomplices in the challenging task of reconstructing a corporate. Workplace that lovingly accommodates the needs of humans, for families, for music, poetry and time for just standing and watching the world go by! Be kind to yourself. Love yourself. Conquer fear and overcome the need for instructions. Pursue the ability to adapt and be a leader of proactive change. The New World is not for those who are what Nehru called unwilling victims, dragged to be sacrificed on the altar of change. Be leaders to be accepted as such. Banish forever your fear of being centre stage, your reluctance to accept that you are where the buck stops. Relearn and re-install the software of the human heart that your mothers embodied. The New Woman of the past decade must not forsaken her heritage of loving and caring for the tough hard-bitten so-called ‘male boss model.’ Both men and women managers need to put the human being at the centre of all business processes.

Tips to Work-life Balance

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.

creating a positive interpersonal field

Develop the capacity to pick up subtle verbal, tonal and non-verbal signals from others. Learn also the ability to send out soothing, nurturing signals to others, thus creating a positive interpersonal field. In order to develop this skill, practice working with people and listening to them with the same attitude as you would a beloved child, or respected parent. Your word, tone, glance should be completely focused on the person. Don’t dilute the interaction by playing with your Blackberry, talking on your cell phone or fiddling with your laptop. When you are with someone, pay complete attention. Anything less will only elicit a lukewarm response. Those who can create positive fields around themselves attract and build lifetime relationships.

Valuing Human Effort

Young and handsome Ananda become the leader of a monastery when Buddha left his physical body. The townsmen were skeptical. They felt he was too young and frivolous. They went in a group and asked him what the old bed sheetswere to be used for as the monastery had just been given new ones. Ananda said, ‘I had them cut into towels for the monks. ‘When those get worn out, what will you do?’ they asked. ‘I will fold them, stitch them and use them as doormats for monks coming in from the rain.’ Still they persisted. ‘What will you do when those too get worn out?’ ‘I will have them cut into strips to use in the kitchen to handle hot vessels.’ ‘Why do you take so much trouble over old bed sheets?’ they asked. Ananda reflected for a while, then he said, ‘The life blood of some mother, some human being has been poured into making those sheets. That human effort should be treated with respect,’ he said. The townsmen left satisfied that Buddha had chosen well.

The Healthy, Nurturing, Home

A healthy home should be a healing space, a nurturing positive mind field. It can be a place where all wounds are healed. Alvin Toffler wrote ‘The family is the giant shock absorber of the family to which the bruised and battered individual returns after doing battle with the world!’ If your home is not a sanctuary but a battle-field do something about it. Get help, your work. Have a rule to avoid difficult topics during meal times or bed time. Music, if is soothing, can be a powerful force for peace. The very walls absorb the vibrations of the music. Mantras can do the same for your home. I sometimes feel that if music can be infused into the mindspace so that it plays quietly in your mind, as the background to your day, it can have a really soothing affect. Avoid violent, depressing programmes. Just as you would not allow a terrorist into your home, do not allow such movies into the sacred space of your home. You surely are the protector of the field that exists in your home. Make your home fragrant with incense. Clean and sparkling and beautiful. Respectful of the sacred forces that can animate your home.

FROM ZERO TO HERO

Handling and learning from failure is a skill that will ensure you achieve your goals. Like boxing, in life also there is no dishonour in falling down. You lose only when you fail to get up. “Learning to fail well is important”, said Rahul Dravid, renowned cricketer at a camp for teenage cricketers. World Mental health day is celebrated in October. The key element of mental health is the capacity to deal with the ups and downs of life. The capacity to deal with failure, enhances our capacity to have healthy relationships, make good life choices, maintain physical health and well being. So how do we recover from failure and even make it a stepping stone to success. Embrace the experience of failure. Feel the pain, grieve and learn from it. Then get up and go. If the failure shatters you and makes you feel there is nothing left to live for, get professional help from a therapist. Never failing, means you are not leaving your comfort zone. Failure, properly handled, is good for you and makes you a more compassionate person. Focus on the present. Be gentle with yourself. Take care of your health. Introduce a few happiness breaks into every day: activities that definitely make you happy. Meet positive friends. The past is over and no one knows the future. The present is yours to shape. It is a gift. Enjoy it. Get help to develop a plan for what to do next. Lay down the burdens of yesterday and develop choices for what to do tomorrow. This is a time of freedom, when you can recreate your life and leave behind what you don’t like. Choose to do something you love that you have never pursued seriously. Something that makes you feels blissful. Do something for others. It will give you jolt of bliss. Reach out to someone who cannot do anything for you. Failure can be God’s greatest gift to you. Enjoy it!

Action Plan to Enhance Positives

• Write a love letter to your parents • Buy tickets to a music concert and give away some of it. • Treat yourself to a full moon dinner with loved ones. • Take your dog to the beach. • Plant a tree and take care of it (a tree is an oxygen factory). • Give away seeds. The monsoons are awaiting to make them grow • Feed the birds. Do God’s work

Celebrate the Positives

Celebrate the positive in all interactions. Rest assured that God did not create you for the sole purpose of correcting others or making them unhappy. When we say namaste, we say ‘I bow to the Divine in you’. ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’ say, our holy book – the whole world is your family. Imagine the rich network of love you could create, where your children can be nurtured if you believed and practiced this. The most inexpensive ticket to happiness is helping others and making others happy. So spread happiness like Amul butter on bread. It will stick to your fingers. Create a happiness committee in your street, which meets every month to create a happy street. Every month as you decide to install comfort touch, celebrate Diwali or have a painting competition for kids, neighbours become friends.

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.

World Kindness Day

The world kindness movement began incorporating NGO’s on November 13th 1988. The actions on this day make everyone feel that kindness is cool. Young, trendy people, caring adults, celebrities participate to make kindness so viral. Corporates who participate in my year long Innovation Initiatives have a Make Things Better (MTB) Board in the front office. Anyone can post a note which says ‘You made things better by ………………, about a team member’. The person who gets the maximum MTB notes, is recognized, as also the person who posts the most MTBs. Kindness, generosity and co-operation can spread faster than violence or hatred. A study conducted by San Diego and Harvard Universities provide laboratory evidence that co-operative behavior is contagious. When the people benefit from kindness, they “pay it forward” by helping others who were not originally involved, and this creates a cascade of collaboration that influences dozens more in a social network. Research and Shakespeare have both shown that kindness benefits both giver and the receiver, filling the blood stream with neurotransmitters of relaxation and contentment. Serotonin and endorphins elevate the mood. Doctors have to do less when people are kind and content. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about the ‘most curative herbs and agents’ of gentleness and kindness is ensuring health and well being. So on World Kindness Day, start a daily, lifelong habit of kindness. Let’s start to: 1. Hug all the loved ones in your life who rarely get a hug – your parents and grandparents. 2. Write love letters to them recording how you feel, before it is too late! 3. In Singapore, they gave away 45,000 yellow flowers last year. 4. Canada had a Kindness Concert. 5. Put out grains and water for birds to feed. 6. Adopt a elder who has no visitors and cheer up that elder by visiting him once a week or fortnightly or monthly – whichever is feasible. As the Dalai Lama said, “My religion is simple. My religion is kindness.” Send this to all your friends. Let’s go viral with this.

Joyful Living

In order to experience the spontaneous happiness that bubbles out of your heart like a mountain stream. We need to concentrate on the following seven actions 1. Physical Wellness 2. Emotional Wellness 3. Personal Wellness 4. Family Bonding 5. Nurturing Workplace 6. Social Bonding 7. Dharmic Living Great mountain and beyond, a green sunlit valley is a beautiful and enjoyable sight. Only when you climb the mountain can you see the beauty of the journey ahead. Hence in the same way only when you learn the seven actions of happiness, you can realize and enjoy real happiness.

Asanas for Healthy and Happy Life

Padmasana (Lotus Pose). This pose destroys all disease and brings peace of mind to those who suffer from anxiety, tension, anger and other negative emotions. Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand). Also known as the mother of asanas, this asana stimulates every part of the body and helps transport oxygen-rich blood to the heart. Matsyasana (Fish Pose). This asana expands the chest and tones the nerves of the neck and back. It also ensures maximum benefit to the thyroid and parathyroid glands. Dhanurasana (Bow Pose). An excellent asana for the spine, it strengthens the hips and takes care of spondylitis. The expansion of the chest increases blood circulation in the heart muscles. Savasana (Shanti Asana). This is a powerful practice for relaxing the body and releasing mental and physical tension. Techniques like self-hypnosis or kaya kriya can be applied here to provide relief from anxiety and insomnia. Persons who have are sad and disturbed are greatly benefited by this asana. Yoga Nidra (Yogic Sleep). A state of conscious deep sleep for extreme relaxation and subtler spiritual exploration. Silence. Practice silence. Let thoughts pass like birds in the sky. Let the mind sink to its bedrock of silence. As the Zen Buddhists say, ‘The mind is a drunken monkey that is bitten by a scorpion.’ Allow it to relax into silence.

Celebrating Summer

Summer is waiting, crouching in the shadows to leap upon us with an orange roar of colour, heat and sweat. In the drama of the four seasons, summer is the brightest. The Kashmir valley celebrates the Tulip festival in April at Siraj Bagh, clasped in embrace of the scenic Zabrawan range, in Srinagar. Nearly 60 varieties of beautiful Tulips worship the sun in over 5 hectares of land. Imagine a living carpet caressed by the cool summer breeze, woven by the great Architect of the Universe Himself! It is a changing kaleidoscope of red, yellow, variegated pink, white, orange, light blue and magenta. The Kashmiris celebrate this event by displaying their handicrafts and cultural programs. Authentic Kashmiri cuisine is part of the festival. After last week’s events, I wonder whether blood is good for the Tulips to grow? Vibrant life and the tragic death of beautiful young people lie so closely woven together, here. Summer too is like that, let us decide to enjoy the joy and vibrancy of the season and push the discomfort to the back of our minds. Welcome and celebrate the summer. Plant the colourful, short lived summer flowers. Float them in water, in artistic mud, wide mouthed, pots. Celebrate summer in the evening breezes in flower strewn gardens and lazy beaches. Celebrate with raw mango juice and lime sherbet. This is the season for a luxury bath – set apart time for your tryst with cool water sprays in the pool and in the bath. Emperor Akbar had to get his ice from the Himalayan glaciers on elephant back. We just need to keep the fridge well stocked. Wear a cool attitude and retreat to cool air conditioned spaces at noon, instead of testing your tolerance with outdoor tasks. Create a water spot for people who walk past your house. Fill the bird baths and set out water for the squirrels. Happy summer holidays!

The International Family day

The International family day is on 15th May. As the world becomes more and more self centered, and people shift to a more solitary and independent way of life, it is a way to remember the most important bond in human society. It is the family that is holding and protecting the human society through the ups and downs of the human life cycle This day highlights the importance of this relationship which is the birth right of all. It also focuses on important issues that can strengthen it – equality, sharing of domestic responsibilities and work life balance. The family is the most important institution that has existed from the beginning of human society. The family today has undergone many changes, but it is usually made up of married adults, and their children, living together and enjoying economic co-operation. Here are some steps we can take to strengthen the family unit. • Enhance the bonds of mutual affection and goodwill by organizing annual get-together, pujas, prayers and religious festivals like Diwali, Eid, Bakrid, Good Friday, X’mas, Mahavir Jayanthi, Guru Nanak Jayanti, etc and also other festivals like Pongal, Onam, Baisakhi, Ugadi, Holi, etc. • Ensure that caring adults in the family shape the lives of children during the first three years which are spent at home. Elders should help young parents to accomplish this, especially if both parents are working • Enjoy and celebrate successes in the family digitally. Comfort each other through loss and failure. • Ensure ‘family time’, good work-life balance and proper sharing of work at home. • Celebrate the contribution of care, wisdom and love of elders to the family. Teach respect for them, from youngsters, by setting an example in your behavior towards your elders. The family is the most permanent institution in human society. Make sure that it remains strong and stable for the well being of future generations and Mankind.

Proactive Change

The results of transformative change are all around us this summer. Sunflower plants busting out from seeds where they have slept tightly curled, butterflies leaving behind their worn out cocoons, flowers dressing up the bare limbs of trees. This time as the financial year begins, it is the time for proactive change. Change is the only certainty in an uncertain world. This year you will change, merely because everything around you will change. What you can decide is, whether you will lead the change or become a victim of it. Think about proactively changing things in the following areas of your life. 1. Personal 2. Family 3. Professional 4. Social Things will change anyway. Make sure they change in the way you want. And remember a butterfly is not an improved caterpillar. Just as a sunflower is not an improved seed.

Give Yourself a Hug

Soon you will be looking at March, 31st the time of financial reckoning and feeling completely drained and knocked out. You are overworked and exhausted and you don’t like the person you see in the mirror. Your doctor does not like the person he sees in your medical reports. Now turn inward and start a personal affirmation account for yourself. Give yourself a big hug for being the most hard working, kind and special person in your life. Invest in a note book which will document your love affair with yourself.  Write a love letter to yourself. Recognize your unique beauty, your capacity to do your best and all the gifts that make you such a fabulous person. “Love yourself first and everything else falls into place,” said Lucille Ball.  Start a gratefulness dairy where you record all the things you are grateful for. Thank God for His blessings.  ‘I can,’ is a hundred times more important that IQ. Celebrate your smallest successes. Stop that nagging, critical voice in your head that keeps picking on you. Speak to yourself kindly and lovingly.  Stop worrying. The way to be happy is to stop worrying about things which cannot be changed.  Plug into the Source of all power, through prayer and meditation and acknowledge that you are a child of God, made in his own image.  Explore, dream, discover: at the end of your life do not regret all the dreams you have failed to pursue. Take care of your body. It is the only home you have: nourish it, nurture it, exercise it. Make friends with a young physician. Focus on it, love it! Have fun! Because as Oscar Wilde said, “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.”

Why Regret?

Imagine a buttoned down, French stock broker, suddenly flying off to the South Sea Islands and becoming a famous painter. Paul Gauguin a Post Impressionist painter, who influenced many modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse is an unusual case of having achieved his dreams in mid career. I am sure he died without regrets. It’s never late to follow your dreams. If only, or it might have been…. are the saddest words in the English language. Most people, on their death beds do not regret what they have done. Most regrets are about all the things they have not done. So it is important to do all the things you want to do, by preparing a to-do list. This is a human privilege, because humans are the only living creatures who are able to plan for the future. The best way to be happy is, of course to live intensely in the present. That is why it is called a gift or a present. Plan at least 6 ‘happiness breaks’ every day. Because research shows that it is many small, minute-to-minute happiness creating activities, that lead to a happy life rather than the one big, award or achievement.

Be Compassionate to all

The key to developing compassion in your life is to make it a daily practice. Compassion is an emotion that is a sense of shared suffering, most often combined with a desire to alleviate or reduce the suffering of another. The main benefit is that it helps you to be more happy, and brings others around you to be more happy. If we agree that it is a common aim of each of us to strive to be happy, then compassion is one of the main tools for achieving that happiness. It is therefore of utmost importance that we cultivate compassion in our lives and practice compassion every day. The first step in cultivating compassion is to develop empathy for your fellow human beings. Instead of recognizing the differences between yourself and others, try to recognize what you have in common. Practice the act of kindness practice. Even a smile, or a kind word, or doing an errand or chore, or just talking about a problem with another person. Practice doing something kind to help ease the suffering of others. When you are good at this, find a way to make it a daily practice, and eventually a throughout-the-day practice. These compassionate practices can be done anywhere, any time. At work, at home, on the road, while traveling, while at a store, while at the home of a friend or family member.

Be Happy and Enjoy

Happiness is our birth right and responsibility. we can take proactive steps to welcome it into our lives. Celebrate the positive in all interactions. Rest assured that God did not create you for the sole purpose of correcting others or making them unhappy. “It is isolation that causes crimes to happen”, says, a senior police official. Get grandparents to volunteer and mentor to share knowledge or teach football and chess. Let them create a ring of protection as they watch the street to keep it safe for kids to play. Let the grandmother teach young women to work and teach girls how to draw kolams. It is up to each family to celebrate, to enjoy life on a regular basis. Maybe every day, with super celebrations on the weekend, like teenage kids do. A special movie on television can be celebrated with popcorn. One can dress up for dinner on Saturday night at home.

Work with love

People can be very happy if they love their work. To work at something you love, is to be “self-actualised”, in Maslow’s terms. This will ensure you die young when you are a100 years old. Serve others. Look at your profession as a means to serve and make others happy. Make a living causing the least amount of pain to living creatures. Eliminate mad deadlines. Ensure freedom to be self-dependent, take own decisions, be innovative. Believe in hi-touch along with hi-tech. You can choose to enjoy any work. It is your choice to be happy at work. • Plan a happiness break at work • Create a route map of progress at work • Develop a network of caring • Make friends to enjoy, support, caring and sharing • If nothing works look for another job

Follow The Rules of Dharma

Hinduism describes dharma as the natural universal laws whose observance enables humans to be contented and happy, and to save him from degradation and suffering. ‘You can fool everybody, but you cannot fool yourself. Not even for a single minute. Doing your dharma as you understand it, alone can make you happy. In order to achieve good karma it is important to live life according to dharma, what is right. This involves doing what is right for the individual, the family and also for the universe itself. Dharma is like a cosmic norm and if one goes against the norm it can result in bad karma. So, dharma affects the future according to the karma accumulated. Anything that helps human being to reach god is dharma. The purpose of dharma is not only to attain a union of the soul with the supreme reality, it also suggests a code of conduct that is intended to secure both worldly joys and supreme happiness. The practice of dharma gives an experience of peace, joy, strength and tranquility within one's self and makes life disciplined.

Follow The Rules of Dharma

Hinduism describes dharma as the natural universal laws whose observance enables humans to be contented and happy, and to save him from degradation and suffering. ‘You can fool everybody, but you cannot fool yourself. Not even for a single minute. Doing your dharma as you understand it, alone can make you happy. In order to achieve good karma it is important to live life according to dharma, what is right. This involves doing what is right for the individual, the family and also for the universe itself. Dharma is like a cosmic norm and if one goes against the norm it can result in bad karma. So, dharma affects the future according to the karma accumulated. Anything that helps human being to reach god is dharma. The purpose of dharma is not only to attain a union of the soul with the supreme reality, it also suggests a code of conduct that is intended to secure both worldly joys and supreme happiness. The practice of dharma gives an experience of peace, joy, strength and tranquility within one's self and makes life disciplined.

Wellness Activities

There are many steps that will take you to a state of optimum health. A complete medical checkup once a year can provide accurate information about the state of your body to your physician. Make sure this becomes an annual habit. Listen to your body. If you are tried, rest. If you are hungry, eat. If you are lonely, communicate, ask for a hug. If you are angry, deal with your anger constructively, resolve it. So far, both doctors and their patients have focused on reducing LDL cholesterol as a key part of their treatment regimen. However, new research at Baylor College of Medicine shows that having too little HDL cholesterol may be more damaging and may even be more predictive of heart disease than LDL. Aerobic exercise and strength training can increase your HDL if done correctly, regularly. Maintain optimal body weight: Obesity can increase LDL cholesterol levels while reduce HDL. Losing weight can help increase HDL. Eat more monounsaturated fats: Increase intake of fats such as olive oil, homemade peanut butter, avocados.

Restore Peace Defuse Anger

Anger is "an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage," The instinctive, natural way to express anger is to respond aggressively. The three main approaches are expressing, suppressing, and calming. Expressing your angry feelings in an assertive—not aggressive—manner is the healthiest way to express anger. It means being respectful of yourself and others. The goal of anger management is to reduce both your emotional feelings and the physiological arousal that anger causes. Simple relaxation tools, such as deep breathing and relaxing imagery, can help calm down angry feelings. Physical activity can provide an outlet for your emotions, especially if you're about to erupt. If you feel your anger escalating, go for a brisk walk or run, or spend some time doing other favorite physical activities. Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that can leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out.

Restore Peace Defuse Anger

Anger is "an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage," The instinctive, natural way to express anger is to respond aggressively. The three main approaches are expressing, suppressing, and calming. Expressing your angry feelings in an assertive—not aggressive—manner is the healthiest way to express anger. It means being respectful of yourself and others. The goal of anger management is to reduce both your emotional feelings and the physiological arousal that anger causes. Simple relaxation tools, such as deep breathing and relaxing imagery, can help calm down angry feelings. Physical activity can provide an outlet for your emotions, especially if you're about to erupt. If you feel your anger escalating, go for a brisk walk or run, or spend some time doing other favorite physical activities. Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that can leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out.

Put Your Family First

The family is the magic circle where all wounds are healed. There should be one person who can be a shock absorber in the family. Someone who is not too busy to listen, to support, to manage the daily tasks of living. This could even be a paid caregiver or a cook. Networking is the key for working mothers. Networking with parents, in-laws, neighbors, domestic help and friends. Spending more time with the family is a rule that should be non-negotiable. Children however need the security of a simple, dependable schedule. Ambiguity or lack of dependability in family life is known to affect the individual’s capacity to live in a secure long-term relationship in the future. Helping a child with their homework not only allows you to spend time together, but enables you to see what they are learning and how they are doing academically. Many children have extracurricular activities like sports or dance. By involving yourself in these activities and praising them on their participation you are helping build their confidence as well as strengthening your bond.

Sacred Place

When you consider yourself as sacred, you will treat yourself well. The space around you, your house, your office needs the same kind of careful attention. When a space is sacred, it magnetizes wonderful people and attracts beautiful events into it. All religions sanctify space by holy water, prayer, dress and conduct. Hindus draw sacred symbols on the earth with rice flour or chalk (kolam) and a particular space can be set apart for the gods and prayer. A sacred space is defined by the rules of conduct laid down for those who enter, as in a court room, a church, a temple, or the parliament. Very few misbehave in such places. They are rarely able to cast away the weight of laws and customs built up over centuries around them. Some religions lay down rules of cleanliness and dress to enter sacred places, including a purificatory bath. A person who maintains such dignity and decorum in such a place, may be totally different in a bar or when at a party. This is true about people in different interactions. Some people create a field, which accesses the best in us, while others access the worst. If you learn the secret of positive fields, you can improve your Happiness Quotient.

Keep Fit: Body, Mind and Soul

Yogasana is the science of beauty of form which combines effortless postures and definite stances in the projection of a healthy and striking personality. Yogasana covers the harmony of bodily stances and breathing techniques that mould, every part of the body to its ideal contour. This is possible through various postures incorporated into daily actions like standing and sitting. These asanas also subtly aid in the development of a new and striking personality. Asanas are thus not merely yogic postures but they embody the proper physical and mental disposition through the harmony of body and mind. Some of them you can do in bed as soon as you are awake. So exercise your mental options. Exercise increases the brain growth factor and receptors, prevents the stem cell drop in middle age. A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the brain of a mouse and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.

Meditation for Wellness

In order to treat or prevent disease, it is essential to look into our emotional, mental and psychological environment, as our thoughts and emotions directly contribute to our wellbeing or otherwise. Some doctors believe that it is more important to know the patient who has the disease than to know the disease the patient has. Wise gurus, and now modern research, both believe that meditation can contribute enormously to an individual’s psychological and physiological wellbeing. It reduces stress, hypertension, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, improves cardiovascular health, memory and concentration, work efficiency, and immunological resistance to diseases. As a result, some form of meditation has become an essential part of wellness programs.

Joyful Living

In order to experience the spontaneous happiness that bubbles out of your heart like a mountain stream. We need to concentrate on the following seven actions 1. Physical Wellness 2. Emotional Wellness 3. Personal Wellness 4. Family Bonding 5. Nurturing Workplace 6. Social Bonding 7. Dharmic Living Great mountain and beyond, a green sunlit valley is a beautiful and enjoyable sight. Only when you climb the mountain can you see the beauty of the journey ahead. Hence in the same way only when you learn the seven actions of happiness, you can realize and enjoy real happiness.

Healthy food for good physical wellness

Food brings people together, allows human beings to feel satisfied and comfortable, connects us with the earth and provides us with health. Eating should be regarded as a sacred act. In an orthodox Hindu home, food is offered to the family deity first and is then consumed as prasad or offering with the diety’s blessing. In both cases, food is offered as an oblation to the five pranas which are regarded as five fires. Even if one does not follow this ritualistic concept, one should make eating a fully conscious and peaceful act. Hurry, worry, anger, distractions and chattering should be avoided while eating.

Positive Mindspace

When the garden is clean, blooming and full of life, the snakes of anger have no place to hide; the thorns of greed get cleared away. Adbuta, or wonder, is one of the positive navarasas—the nine emotions. It heals and energises. To stand in wonder before the splendour of God’s creation is to be rejuvenated. The body and bloodstream are bathed in endorphins and serotonins which are Nature’s tranquillisers.’ Enjoy the nature - the chirping of the birds, the wind through the fluttering leaves, the murmuring river. The harmonious fabric of nature enfolds us in a blanket of pure beauty. The colours and shapes that flowed from the hands of the great Architect of the universe soothe us in positive emotions.

Life’s Greatest Gift

Happiness is a life’s greatest gift. There is joy to be found in the small things. Go peacefully amidst the noise and the haste. Enjoy the sweetness of everyday things. Events or people around us are not under our control. But our reactions, our responses to them are. Respond with love and peace. Focus on happiness and on cultivating happy people. Build protective walls against toxic events that threaten your tranquillity. Let the cells of your body be gently bathed in happiness, positive thoughts and healing energies. The Vedas speak of the self as a beautiful lotus growing in the muddy waters of life. With its roots in the muck the lotus rises above it, in perfect beauty and bliss.

Nurturing Life-Force

Prana is the life-force that flows in all living things. When prana leaves the body, the body dies. When prana is in full flow, the person is full of vitality, energy and enthusiasm. Prana creates a field of possibilities where the seed of any idea develops rapidly, where our activities proceed smoothly and bear rich dividends. To develop prana, meditation, pranayama and a calm attitude are key. Freshly-cooked healthy food, pure fresh air and yogic exercise nurture and enhance prana. Eating too much, consuming stale food, exercising till you are ready to drop dead, constant arguments, overworking, getting emotionally upset, breathing polluted air, all interfere with the smooth flow of prana.

Work to Win

‘Work hard and you will succeed’ said our elders. But what happens when you work hard, but are facing in the wrong direction. Today, research shows that working long hours, does not mean better work. Time to think, creates better ideas. Time to be still and be inspired is the secret of great work. Productivity reduces sharply after concentrated and sustained effort. Many writers do their best work in short, concentrated bursts. Charles Dickens worked for 5 hours a day from 8.00am till 2.00pm, with a break for lunch. Many focus on 3 hours a day. Antony Trollope published 47 novels writing between 5am and 8am. Today many worship the 80 hour week. But does this really lead to true productivity? Research shows that the best work emerges in researchers, from working 20 hours a week. Over 60 hours researchers say, were the least productive. Many workers in Japan, work for 100 hours a week and some of them die due to over work. Some of them are driven to extreme measures like alcoholism, violent anti-social behaviour and even suicide. So the Government of Japan is trying to urge industry and business to restrict the number of hours. Someone can work up to 60 hours a week and also make the taking annual vacation compulsory, for everyone. No one is allowed to accumulate his leave and cash it. You cannot get reimbursed by cash for forgoing your leave. You have to compulsorily use your leave, go on holiday and not report for work. This is having a major statutory and sobering effect on Japanese society. Practice is important. Practicing 10,000 hours can make you an expert in any field. But practice in a way that enables you to recover on a daily basis. Top performers rest and sleep better than others. Maybe the 10,000 hours of work should be taken gradually, allowing for atleast 4 times the amount of rest and sleep. To be a real winner, practice silence and deep contentment, alternating with intense effort.

Live in Peace

‘Rest in Peace’ (RIP) they say in an obituary. It would serve a much better to purpose to say to everyone, ‘Live in Peace’. As we celebrate the international day of peace on September 21st , we need to devote ourselves to strengthening peace and togetherness among families, people and nations. The practice of peace starts within oneself. To be happy and satisfied within oneself, is to plant the first seed of peace. We all know that the greatest destroyer of resources and lives is war. The UN identifies several challenges standing in the way of peace: poverty, hunger, diminishing natural resources, water scarcity, social inequality, environmental degradation, diseases, corruption, racism and xenophobia, among others, pose challenges to peace. If these challenges are met, the causes for conflict can be eliminated and the global architecture of peace can be built. Each of us must strive to resolve these issues in our own lives. Then next step is to reduce their impact in the families we live in. We then need to reach out to our communities. The practice of peace starts with building an attitude of collaboration and cooperation in our own lives. Research has proved that the regular practice of meditation can positively affect at least 200 people in our environment. To be peaceful at home, on the roads and in the market place, releases and liberates resources that can be used for societies to develop and prosper. So let us declare, practice peace in our own lives this year and resolve: • To focus on avoiding conflict in our families and building togetherness • To practice friendliness and collaboration with our neighbours to build happy streets. • To reach out to all those who work for us and help them to overcome poverty and need. • To practice and spread the art of meditation and kindness. • To practice fairness, high ethical and quality standards at work. So this year, let us live and practice the art of peace and happiness.

New Everyday Happiness Mantras

Happiness Mantra 1: Each new day holds out a chance to create a whole new beginning, a sparkling new field of possibilities. Seize the day. Enjoy! Happiness Mantra 2: The ecology, the geography of your inner mindspace, is in your hands. Create a mindspace full of positive emotions. Happiness Mantra 3: 'Swayambhu' is a word that describes happiness welling out of you, like an underground stream in the mountains. Be still and allow joy to find you. Happiness Mantra 4: Focus on stress and unhappiness should be turned upside down. Instead of attacking unhappiness, we should plant a garden of happiness, by welcoming the positive emotions into our lives - love, compassion, wonder, courage, laughter and peace. Happiness Mantra 5: Focusing on our unhappiness by attacking it only helps to magnetize more power and attention to the negative person, event or object that causes it. Hence focus on cultivating happy people and avoid toxic people. Happiness Mantra 6: When the garden is clean and blooming and full of life, the snakes of anger have no place to hide; the thorns of greed get cleared away. When the clutter of old hatreds is replaced by order, the flowers of friendship bloom. The scorpions of revenge and jealousy slither away and the butterflies of laughter return to celebrate the flowers. Happiness Mantra 7: Too much television is ‘Tele-visham’ – (Tele poison). Too much stimulation, a mindspace crowded by fantasy people and events, distracts you from focusing on your own mindspace, your home, your backyard. Happiness Mantra 8: Some days we seem to live a fantasy life dominated by day dreams, while reality tugs at our heartstrings for attention, like a neglected child. Take care of what is yours and enjoy it. Happiness Mantra 9: Let the cells of your body be gently bathed in happiness, positive thoughts and healing energies. Happiness Mantra 10: ‘Physical fitness is the most important thing in life. The capacity to attain perfection of mind and soul depends on your physical health. Take care of yourself as no one else can do it for you.’ Happiness Mantra 11: All the ancients believed that no attempt should be made to cure the body without treating the soul. Invest in an oil massage. Happiness Mantra 12: To be healthy is to have the ability, despite an occasional bout of illness, to live with full use of your faculties and to be vigorous, alert and happy to be alive, even in old age. This concept of operational health has been termed ‘wellness’. Take a peaceful mental health holiday

The Poetry of Life!

Poetry, music, dance, theatre and free speech capture the happiness capsule that Life has provided mankind. Even the most tragic of events hold forth in their arms a sheaf of poems, a collection of literature. This is the month we celebrate world poetry day. Poetry captures the deepest feelings of the human spirit – its joy, its wisdom, its failures, its deepest terrors. "By paying tribute to the men and women whose only instrument is free speech..... By giving form and words to that which has none – such as the unfathomable beauty that surrounds us, the immense suffering and misery of the world – poetry contributes to the expansion of our common humanity, helping to increase its strength, solidarity and self-awareness," says Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO. World poetry day is celebrated on March 21st as declared by UNESCO. The purpose of the day is to promote reading, writing publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world. The Romans celebrated poetry on the birthday of the great poet Virgil. Poetry preserves the authentic feelings of people by creating an oral tradition, which often mingles with theatre. Many languages which have no script, like Tulu, my own language, is preserved in the oral tradition. Endangered languages are thus saved for posterity. Poetry breaks down barriers created by conflict. It makes us realize that as human beings, our innermost desires and feelings are the same. More translations into commonly read languages like English can bring about better understanding and peace in the world. Each celebrates Poetry Day in his own way. An Austrian coffee company offers a deal for coffee drinkers to pay with a poem. Last year, 1,00,000 coffee drinkers in 27 countries paid for their coffee with a poem. As a creative art often set to music, poetry makes us capture the most beautiful and elevated thoughts of our time on earth. So get involved in poetry recitals. Publish poetry promote the synthesis of poetry with other arts – theatre, dance, music and painting. And why not start writing poetry? Dr. Rekha Shetty Author of “Everyday Happiness Mantras” and And “Happy Street”

Children’s Day

Children’s day is celebrated in India on November 14th, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. It is a day to celebrate the child. Children are the family’s greatest wealth and asset. Without Santhana Lakshmi (the goddess who bestows happiness in children) there is no joy in the family. The laughter, the mischief and newness children bring into the world is irreplaceable. As the Japanese say, ‘Children bring the ‘Oh!’ into your life’. It is also a day to pledge support for children suffering from abuse, violence, discrimination and death –all avoidable. One child dies every 90 seconds in India - this means 1.7 million children every year. Many children are motherless because women in India have only a 50/50 chance of skilled help during childbirth. A woman dies in childbirth every 10 minutes in our country. The Taj Mahal, the greatest monument to love, was built for Mumtaz Mahal by Shahjahan in Agra. She died at child birth, giving birth to her 14th child. The ‘State of World’s Mothers’ places India 76th on a list which shows the best places to be a mother. We lose more women every week because of this cause, than they lose in Europe, in a whole year. This is the same as having 400 Jumbo Boeing 747 planes crash annually. What is shocking is that one third of child death and 1/5th of the maternal death are caused by lack of nutrition. 153 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are bonded into child labour. So what can you do to celebrate children’s day: 1. Write a beautiful letter to each of your children about how much you value them in your family 2. Send a gift to their teachers with a letter thanking them for giving them the gift of knowledge 3. Plan a special family outgoing, which they find interesting and exciting. 4. Children are great imitators. Be a person worth imitating. As Magic Johnson said, “All that kids need, is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them”. On this day give some poor child some of these gifts.

Work to Win

‘Work hard and you will succeed’ said our elders. But what happens when you work hard, but are facing in the wrong direction. Today, research shows that working long hours, does not mean better work. Time to think, creates better ideas. Time to be still and be inspired is the secret of great work. Productivity reduces sharply after concentrated and sustained effort. Many writers do their best work in short, concentrated bursts. Charles Dickens worked for 5 hours a day from 8.00am till 2.00pm, with a break for lunch. Many focus on 3 hours a day. Antony Trollope published 47 novels writing between 5am and 8am. Today many worship the 80 hour week. But does this really lead to true productivity? Research shows that the best work emerges in researchers, from working 20 hours a week. Over 60 hours researchers say, were the least productive. Many workers in Japan, work for 100 hours a week and some of them die due to over work. Some of them are driven to extreme measures like alcoholism, violent anti-social behaviour and even suicide. So the Government of Japan is trying to urge industry and business to restrict the number of hours. Someone can work up to 60 hours a week and also make the taking annual vacation compulsory, for everyone. No one is allowed to accumulate his leave and cash it. You cannot get reimbursed by cash for forgoing your leave. You have to compulsorily use your leave, go on holiday and not report for work. This is having a major statutory and sobering effect on Japanese society. Practice is important. Practicing 10,000 hours can make you an expert in any field. But practice in a way that enables you to recover on a daily basis. Top performers rest and sleep better than others. Maybe the 10,000 hours of work should be taken gradually, allowing for atleast 4 times the amount of rest and sleep. To be a real winner, practice silence and deep contentment, alternating with intense effort.

Embracing the reading habit

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life” wrote W. Somerset Maugham. The whole world lies ready to bloom like a flower before your gaze as you journey into the heart of a great book. New people, new worlds, open before your bedazzled gaze as you explore the world through the eyes and heart of a literary genius. Choose your books carefully, as you have limited time. Take steps to make reading a daily perk. Each of us has the same amount of time – 24 hrs. Find a one hour period when you can read. It can be in 20 minute modules. Set apart a non digital time, when you don’t answer the phone, or access your computer. Have a book on hand; Keep it at your bed side; leave some in the car; use a bookmark. Read as you travel in the car (if you are not driving!) Start a book discussion group which meets once a month. Keep a record. Make a note of the books you are reading: your comments will be helpful to others in your circle. Record the time it takes to read. Listen to great audio books as you do your chores. Introducing structure: set apart a space, to read in. A good book can change the way you feel. It will keep you happy and satisfied. Identify a place in your life meant only for reading. Furnish it with pillows and a lovely blanket. Let it be cool and breezy. A small book shelf and a note book for your comments will complete the picture. Reading enables you to enjoy and explore the soul and life force of a genius. It gives you the opportunity to experience a different, adventurous, even a dangerous life, with no consequences. It is a means of learning, enjoying and feeling.

Preserving Forests and Water

The recent cyclone in Chennai, Vardha last December, uprooted 100 year old trees and turned green Chennai to a sad brown town. Unless each of us makes an effort to replace these portable oxygen factories, Chennai and its environment will suffer a shortage of rain and shade. Forests cover 1/3 of the earth’s surface. They sustain 1.6 billion people as a source of livelihood. More than 80% of all creatures, animals, plants and insects live in these forests. Yet 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed every year and account for 20% of the global green house gas emissions. The World Bank’s starting point now is to ask how can practices that have often led to significant forest degradation, tax evasion and corruption, be reformed, so that forests contribute more revenue to the State, produce more and better jobs, and result in more sustainable development? Forests are critical for the planet’s supply of water through rain. Their roots protect ground water supply while preventing soil erosion. Forest watersheds and wetlands supply 75% of the world’s fresh water supplying, one third of our cities drinking water. Forests act as natural water filters. Manoel Sobral Filho, Director of the UN Forum for Forests, speaks of massive growth of populations in Africa and Asia reaching 8.4billion people in 15 years. Some of the world’s largest cities depend on our forest water resources: Durban, Jakarta, Rio De Janeiro, Bogota, New York and Madrid. 75% of all fresh water is provided through forest catchments. Over 42% of the world’s workforces are heavily water dependent. Forests are a natural safety net during famine providing fruits, leaves, grains, nuts, timber and wood. So every year, plan to plant one tree a month in a protected area in your house, in a school or a community centre. Take your own steps to preserve water and planet earth.

Dance

The body moves to the cadence of music. The rhythm of drums had been part of the earliest societies. The Bhimbetka rock shelter paintings are 33000 years old. The dancing figures in Egyptian tombs are dated 33000 B.C. Dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations and entertainment. Dance was a means of social communication since the earliest times. The eyes, the fingers, the feet and the body are used to communicate information and ideas. Harvest dances are part of almost every culture. The rain dances are common among Red Indians, some African communities and surprisingly in China! The Dandiya reverberates through the towns of Gujarat during the Navarathri celebrations for the Goddess. Vigorous dance movements often induce ecstatic and heightened feelings that are useful in healing. They often led to trance states of heightened suggestibility. Dance was also used to preserve and pass on stories and literature to flow, from generation to generation. Dance can be a very enjoyable form of exercise. In fact Jazzercise has become the new craze, making exercise more zestful and less monotonous. Dance even more than exercise affects your flexibility, energy levels, controls weight and affects mental and emotional health. It is said that a ballerina can burn up to 432 calories while doing ballet. All forms of dance improve posture, balance and co-ordination with others. Improving dance steps enhances creativity and problem solving skills. It helps in improving memory skills. The release of emotions liberates the happiness chemicals like endorphins and serotonins. Dance unblocks neural pathways in diseases like Parkinson, while improving mood and satisfaction. As spring enters with the colours of Holi, you are challenged to understand yourself better through movement rhythm and music. Explore some form of dance and discover new facets of yourself.

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.

World Kindness Day

The world kindness movement began incorporating NGO’s on November 13th 1988. The actions on this day make everyone feel that kindness is cool. Young, trendy people, caring adults, celebrities participate to make kindness so viral. Corporates who participate in my year long Innovation Initiatives have a Make Things Better (MTB) Board in the front office. Anyone can post a note which says ‘You made things better by ………………, about a team member’. The person who gets the maximum MTB notes, is recognized, as also the person who posts the most MTBs. Kindness, generosity and co-operation can spread faster than violence or hatred. A study conducted by San Diego and Harvard Universities provide laboratory evidence that co-operative behavior is contagious. When the people benefit from kindness, they “pay it forward” by helping others who were not originally involved, and this creates a cascade of collaboration that influences dozens more in a social network. Research and Shakespeare have both shown that kindness benefits both giver and the receiver, filling the blood stream with neurotransmitters of relaxation and contentment. Serotonin and endorphins elevate the mood. Doctors have to do less when people are kind and content. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about the ‘most curative herbs and agents’ of gentleness and kindness is ensuring health and well being. So on World Kindness Day, start a daily, lifelong habit of kindness. Let’s start to: 1. Hug all the loved ones in your life who rarely get a hug – your parents and grandparents. 2. Write love letters to them recording how you feel, before it is too late! 3. In Singapore, they gave away 45,000 yellow flowers last year. 4. Canada had a Kindness Concert. 5. Put out grains and water for birds to feed. 6. Adopt a elder who has no visitors and cheer up that elder by visiting him once a week or fortnightly or monthly – whichever is feasible. As the Dalai Lama said, “My religion is simple. My religion is kindness.” Send this to all your friends. Let’s go viral with this.

Build your Cultural Capital

Culture is to human beings what the purity of water is to a fish. It defines the quality of life, its beauty and ease. Culture is of course, undergoing change as tradition collides with fashion. It was Gandhiji who said “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.” Cultural vitality ensures that you have strong roots that bind you to the living earth of tradition, while allowing the winds, birds, rain and storms of change to transform you. • Act. For instance wearing of the beautiful saree is becoming rare. There is a Chennai based movement urging women to wear sarees 100 times a year! This would support all the weavers and artisans connected with this unique 6 yards of beautiful material. Use things in the kitchen from your grandmother’s time. Jewellery: pass it down through the generations. • Document old customs, photographs and record digitally, old furniture, artifacts, pictures. Circulate family jokes, stories, recipes and interviews digitally and harvest worldwide inputs. • Learn and discuss religious and spiritual traditions. Look at the meaning of sacred texts and ceremonies, rather than just accept without understanding them. • The Maoris have created ‘language nests’ to help their young to learn their distinctive mother tongue. Indians in the US have ‘Sunday school’ to teach Hinduism to their kids. Some languages like mine, Tulu, have no script. They need to be spoken. Record it on tape; see if people can learn it digitally. • Preserve old customs. • Get together to record cook and eat old world food from your family’s past during Diwali or Pongal • Spend time with members of your community on a regular basis. Events can be in your city, nationwide or even worldwide. Being part of building cultural vitality can make you more participative and build your precious social capital.

Children’s Day

Children’s day is celebrated in India on November 14th, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. It is a day to celebrate the child. Children are the family’s greatest wealth and asset. Without Santhana Lakshmi (the goddess who bestows happiness in children) there is no joy in the family. The laughter, the mischief and newness children bring into the world is irreplaceable. As the Japanese say, ‘Children bring the ‘Oh!’ into your life’. It is also a day to pledge support for children suffering from abuse, violence, discrimination and death –all avoidable. One child dies every 90 seconds in India - this means 1.7 million children every year. Many children are motherless because women in India have only a 50/50 chance of skilled help during childbirth. A woman dies in childbirth every 10 minutes in our country. The Taj Mahal, the greatest monument to love, was built for Mumtaz Mahal by Shahjahan in Agra. She died at child birth, giving birth to her 14th child. The ‘State of World’s Mothers’ places India 76th on a list which shows the best places to be a mother. We lose more women every week because of this cause, than they lose in Europe, in a whole year. This is the same as having 400 Jumbo Boeing 747 planes crash annually. What is shocking is that one third of child death and 1/5th of the maternal death are caused by lack of nutrition. 153 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are bonded into child labour. So what can you do to celebrate children’s day: 1. Write a beautiful letter to each of your children about how much you value them in your family 2. Send a gift to their teachers with a letter thanking them for giving them the gift of knowledge 3. Plan a special family outgoing, which they find interesting and exciting. 4. Children are great imitators. Be a person worth imitating. As Magic Johnson said, “All that kids need, is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them”. On this day give some poor child some of these gifts.

New Ways for Corporate Women

Woman managers need to appreciate that it takes heroic energy to rock the cradle and rock the corporate world. First pin a badge for bravery on yourself for attempting it. Then, promise you will not even begin to tread the path that leads to the joyless land of being a super-woman or super-mom. Enlist your men and families as willing accomplices in the challenging task of reconstructing a corporate.

Workplace that lovingly accommodates the needs of humans, for families, for music, poetry and time for just standing and watching the world go by! Be kind to yourself. Love yourself. Conquer fear and overcome the need for instructions. Pursue the ability to adapt and be a leader of proactive change. The New World is not for those who are what Nehru called unwilling victims, dragged to be sacrificed on the altar of change. Be leaders to be accepted as such. Banish forever your fear of being centre stage, your reluctance to accept that you are where the buck stops.

Relearn and re-install the software of the human heart that your mothers embodied. The New Woman of the past decade must not forsaken her heritage of loving and caring for the tough hard-bitten so-called ‘male boss model.’ Both men and women managers need to put the human being at the centre of all business processes.

Save the Oceans

That Mount Kailash the home of the Gods and even Everest, is littered with plastic garbage, is common knowledge. But unseen, in the depths of the beautiful blue ocean, more than 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped, every year.

This is fuelled by our ‘disposable’ life style. Everything including throw away wedding gowns have ensured that most plastic items are thrown away after just one use. It is estimated that more than 1 million plastic bags are used every minute, many of them ending up in the ocean. ‘No water, no life. No blue, no green’, writes Dr. Sylvia Earle. A plastic bags average ‘work life’ is just 15 minutes.

Plastics are not bio-degradable. In the ocean, plastic doe not dissolve or disintegrate. They remain to affect human health. The movement of waves tears them into tiny pieces which are eaten by fish and sea mammals who slowly choke and die a lingering painful death. They are then eaten by birds and human. The chemicals are also released into air and water.

Plastics contain lead, cadmium, mercury and carcinogens like DEHP and BPA. An average person produces half a pound of plastic waste every day. How can we be more responsible about cleaning up after ourselves?

Huge plastic islands have been created because of ocean flows. The great Pacific Garbage Patch is larger than the State of Texas. Five such patches have been discovered.

What can we do to protect the oceans?

·         Buy a cloth or  paper bag

·         Choose products packaged in bio-degradable materials.

·         A predominantly fish diet is a hazard

·         Be responsible for disposal of your garbage

·         Recycle plastic

God gave us the infinite oceans. Let us save them before it is too late!

Tips to Work-life Balance

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.

11. Meditate. Take care of yourself.

12. Look at your life-goals and evaluate your job to see if it will help you achieve them.

13. Learn to say ‘No’.

14. Remember that people are more important than getting ahead.

15. If you have a toxic workplace, look for another job.

16. Know that you are more important than the car you drive, house you inhabit, your bank balance or the promise of a foreign holiday.

creating a positive interpersonal field

Develop the capacity to pick up subtle verbal, tonal and non-verbal signals from others.

Learn also the ability to send out soothing, nurturing signals to others, thus creating a positive interpersonal field. In order to develop this skill, practice working with people and listening to them with the same attitude as you would a beloved child, or respected parent. Your word, tone, glance should be completely focused on the person. Don’t dilute the interaction by playing with your Blackberry, talking on your cell phone or fiddling with your laptop. When you are with someone, pay complete attention. Anything less will only elicit a lukewarm response. Those who can create positive fields around themselves attract and build lifetime relationships. 

YOGIC HARMONY

Workplace Wellness Assessment

Here are some few questions to assess your workplace wellness:

1. Would it be personally profitable for me to spend more time reading?

2. Do I effectively balance time between family, social, academic and recreational activities?

3. Do I concentrate too hard on just getting the job done rather than on my whole career?

4. Do I see about my bosses as role models?

5. Do I hope that by improving my knowledge I will have a job and a good life?

6. Are there some active steps I might take today to ensure a successful future?

7. Would talking to professionals in various fields help improve my job awareness?

8. Would this be a frightening thing to do?

9. Are there some channels, people or sources that could make this a pleasant experience?

10. Have I honestly assessed my potential for growth and participation in future jobs?

11. Do I travel more than a week every month?

12. Do I rest when I am tired?

13. Have I learnt to say ‘No’ politely?

Score

a. Good: More than 9 Yeses

b. Adequate: 5 or more Nos

c. Poor: Less than 5 Nos

Hold back desertification

It is said that early civilizations around the Nile, Tigris, Europhrates, Indus and the Yellow river were all destroyed due to soil degradation and soil erosion, leading to food scarcity and starvation. In the first Sahara African drought, 2,00,000 people and millions of their animals died.

China grew a Great Green Wall with 66,000,000,000 trees to prevent the desert from advancing. American farmers did the same in the 1930s to stop the advance of the Mid West Dust Bowl. Jojoba plantations, have played a role in combating the effects of desertification in the Thar Desert, India.  Green belts are the best way to protect fertile land and prevent desertification

My city Chennai should be called the ‘Blue City’ because it is on the sea coast and blessed with 134 lakes and three rivers. Unfortunately, all these water bodies are polluted or drying up. On June 17^th the world celebrates World Day to Combat Desertification and drought. It is no surprise that this year, all 32 districts of my state, Tamil Nadu have been declared drought striken.

In our case, this problem has arisen because of human activities. Desertification as a process has become a global ecological problem. Deserts appear as a result of natural processes. But many times desertification is man made. This leads to the loss of water bodies denuding of vegetation and the death of wildlife. It happens as a result of greed and misuse of natural resources...

So plant at least 12 trees a year. Get involved in the protection and cleaning of a water body. Refuse to consider living in building being built on a reclaimed lake. Promote sustainable agricultural practices. Buy food from those who promote such practices. Invest in helping people continue to live in villages, instead of triggering large scale migration to cities, due to poverty.

The success of Rajinder Singh India’s water man, also called ‘Water Gandhi’ in the deserts of Rajastan prove that these processes are reversible through proper practices of water management. Much of this happens due to human induced land degradation.

He leads villagers in the footsteps of their ancestors to bring dormant rivers back to life. The key is participatory community action, empowerment of women and linking indigenous knowhow with scientific technologies.

Valuing Human Effort

Young and handsome Ananda become the leader of a monastery when Buddha left his physical body. The townsmen were skeptical. They felt he was too young and frivolous.

They went in a group and asked him what the old bed sheetswere to be used for as the monastery had just been given new ones. Ananda said, ‘I had them cut into towels for the monks. ‘When those get worn out, what will you do?’ they asked. ‘I will fold them, stitch them and use them as doormats for monks coming in from the rain.’ Still they persisted. ‘What will you do when those too get worn out?’

‘I will have them cut into strips to use in the kitchen to handle hot vessels.’

‘Why do you take so much trouble over old bed sheets?’ they asked.

Ananda reflected for a while, then he said, ‘The life blood of some mother, some human being has been poured into making those sheets. That human effort should be treated with respect,’ he said. The townsmen left satisfied that Buddha had chosen well.

Professions to be happy

·         Serve others. Look at your profession as a means to serve and make others happy.

·         Make a living causing the least amount of pain to living creatures

·         Eliminate mad deadlines or emergency.

·         Ensure freedom to be self-dependent and take own decisions.

·         Make space for innovation.

·         Believe in hi-touch along with hi-tech. Have a good level of contact with people and elicit positive responses from them.

Everyday Love

Our lives revolve round love. Next week our grandson Akira will be one year old. His little nostrils flare at the fragrance of a flower. He is an efficient drinker of milk and loves food. His perfect limbs stretch in strange flexible asanas and he does everything with noisy enthusiasm. He gazes up at the light and smiles to strange dreams. We are his puppets on a string.

Glued to electronic toys are we forgetting the need to communicate love face to face?  Are we forgetting daily acts of kindness and caring? While sms, email, Facebook or Twitter can enhance the instant communication of loving thoughts, nothing can replace the human touch. So make sure it plays a major role in building unbreakable bonds and bridges in your life.

Let us send out valentines to those we care for, entitled “What I really love about you is……..” everyday!

Meditation

Meditation is the broom that sweeps out the negative emotions and pours the honey of tranquillity into the mind. There are many forms of meditation. Here are some examples: Each of our senses provides us with new adventures and helps us live more fully. Often, however, our senses are scrambled or numbed by the hurry of life. Opening-up meditation gives us a heightened awareness of our senses. Explore each one of your senses and experience their immense potential for joy. The purpose of this meditation is to relax the physical body and the mind.

This exercise of sense-opening can be performed with any object, and while taking a walk in the park, in the house, or at your workplace. For the purpose of the example here we will use an apple. Practise this meditation for ten minutes. Some actions are performed simultaneously, but focus on one sense at a time.

1. See: Take an apple and closely examine its outer skin—its colour variations and texture. Peel it and inspect the edge of the peel. Look at the inside of the peel. Cut the apple into wedges and look closely at them. Break open a wedge and examine the heart of the apple—the tiny seeds and the wooden core. It is even permissible to use a magnifying glass.

2. Hear: Squeeze the apple. Is there a sound? As you peel it, listen. Bend the peel and listen to the sounds. What sound is it? Close your eyes and break a wedge in half. What sound is there? Rub your fingers along the outside of the peel. Is there a sound? Rub your fingers along the inside of the peel. What difference is there?

3. Touch: Close your eyes and rub your fingers along the outside of an unpeeled apple. Feel the texture. Rub your hands all over the apple. Spend five minutes examining the apple with your fingers before peeling it. Peel it slowly, feeling each piece. Break the apple into wedges and explore each wedge. Feel the inside of the peel. Examine the edges.

4. Taste: Close your eyes and place a wedge of the apple in your mouth. Bite slowly into the wedge. Bite a piece of the peel. Taste the pulp. How many different tastes are there in an apple?

5. Smell: Sniff an unpeeled apple. Peel it and smell the inside of the peel. Smell a wedge. Bend the peel and smell the acid as it explodes from the peel. Smell the pulp. Smell a squeezed wedge. How many different smells are there in an apple?

By extending the senses one forgets about present problems and is able to relax. By allowing in more than the ordinary amount of information from a single sense, other thoughts are blocked. That is why it is called meditation. It must be patently apparent that if one can extend the senses to examine an apple, those senses can be used in an even more extensive way during a walk in the park, or on a city road, on the way to work, or during lunch. It is a handy, quick and efficient way to meditate. It will even work with an apple!

Nurturing the Prana

Prana is the life-force that flows in all living things. Kirlian photography has captured pictures of the pranic aura. When prana leaves the body, the body dies. When prana is in full flow, the person is full of vitality, energy and enthusiasm. Prana creates a field of possibilities where the seed of any idea develops rapidly, where our activities proceed smoothly and bear rich dividends. To develop prana, meditation, pranayama and a calm attitude are key. Freshly-cooked healthy food, pure fresh air and yogic exercise nurture and enhance prana. Eating too much, consuming stale food, exercising till you are ready to drop dead, constant arguments, overworking, getting emotionally upset, breathing polluted air, all interfere with the smooth flow of prana. Moderation is the rule. 

Drala

The Tibetians of the Shambala tradition believe in a concept called drala by which any space can be made sacred. Drala is created by the reverence, purity and faith within a space. When a person treats his office space with reverence and keeps it clean and sparkling, he attracts drala into that space. Drala makes that space powerful and attractive. When he dresses carefully, speaks and acts mindfully, he attracts personal drala.  Many are able to do this in their homes. Indian homes have beautiful white flower patterns drawn at the entrance to attract Lakshmi, the Goddess of Good Fortune. The atmosphere is further enhanced by the fragrance of incense and joss sticks. Certain sounds like that of mantras or the sound of bells, or wind chimes in a Chinese home, are said to purify the field.

The Secret Power of Emotional Fields

Around every person there is a field of emotional energy. Some people always look radiant, and everything in their life flourishes and grows. They have a positive energy field around them. Some people, on the other hand, always have a morose or tense air about them, and everything in their life seems to fade and die. They have a negative energy field around them. A positive field is created by positive emotions and a negative field draws sustenance from negative emotions. Energy causes all beings to act in this world. The higher the level of energy, the greater will be the accomplishments. When we are tired, our energy level plummets and we do not feel like doing anything. When the field around is negative with hurt, anger, possessiveness, greed, jealousy, fear and abhorrence, we are less able to act with speed and efficiency. These emotions suck the energy and life-force out of us. All beings have within them the all-pervading life-force, the same one that creates and sustains life in the universe. It is the universal or cosmic energy that binds and connects all creatures in a single, networked web. That is why it is difficult to be completely happy while hurting others. It is necessary at all times to make sure that the negative field is not created. 

Yoga: Mind, Body and Spirit

Yoga rejuvenates the physical system and restores mental equilibrium. The word ‘yoga’ is derived from the Sanskrit word yuj which means to ‘yoke’, ‘unite’ or ‘join’. It implies the joining or uniting of the individual consciousness with the universal consciousness. This chapter deals with the most popular element of yoga—asanas or body exercises. Yogasana is the science of the beauty of form. It

combines effortless postures and definite stances in the projection of a healthy and striking personality. Asanas mould every part of the body to its ideal contours. Yogasanas, in conjunction with pranayama, bring harmony and balance to every part of the body, and are highly therapeutic for the body, mind and soul. Yogasanas are best practiced with good teachers, and there are various well-known schools of yoga to choose from, namely, the Bihar School of Yoga, the Krishnamacharya Yoga Foundation, the

BKS Iyengar School of Yoga, and the Sivananda Centre for Yoga. Every Indian city has yoga teachers.

Building Your Social Capital

We all try to amass wealth, by putting money in fixed deposits, dabbling in shares, buying gold or land or a house. Cold cash in a favourite option. But  the latest research shows that social capital could be your greatest asset.

An oven (physical capital) or an MBA (cultural or human capital) can increase productivity. In the same way, social contacts certainly enhance the productivity of individuals, teams, families and communities. Anything you own will not really help you, especially during a crisi,s unless you have goodwill, fellowship, mutual sympathy and affectionate interactions with your family, neighbours, friends and work associates. The man who has no social capital, will find no support when faced by financial loss medical emergencies or any catastrophe where he needs a helping hand. Everyday life would be lonely and boring. Those without social capital are more prone to illness. Dean Ornish the heart specialist says that those who have five or more close friends are far less likely to get heart attacks than those who don’t.

Though no man is an island, there are four negative consequences of social capital: exclusion of outsiders; excess claims on group members and restrictions on individual freedom.

So gather your social network close around you like a warm multi-coloured blanket. Keep in touch on telephone, sms, internet. All of these channels can enhance the most important way of communicating-in-person and face to face.