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.