Optimism
Optimism and a clear conscience are signs of a well
balanced life.
Carelessness
Very often I find myself leaving things to chance or to
people. I tend to take care of big things and become
careless in little things. When I leave things for
others to take care and if they don't do it, I become
disappointed - even if I have not delegated the task to
be done. When I recognize the fact that I am fully
responsible for the task at hand, both the big things
and the little ones to be done, I'll never be careless.
I'll make it a point to take care of every little aspect
to the end. This is what will bring accuracy in my tasks
and also enables me to delegate the work well.
Motivation
The example of an iceberg shows the need to see under
people's surface behavior; the need of a deeper insight.
Only 10% of an iceberg is visible on the surface, 90% is
under the waterline, invisible, but yet prominent. If
there is a wind coming from left to right, just by
seeing the visible mass, we think it will move the
iceberg to towards the right. If, against all
expectations, the iceberg moves in the opposite
direction (left), it is because, under the waterline,
there is a strong current running towards the left.
Sometimes you, as a leader, try to move people in a
certain direction by giving them orders, instructions,
explanations and encouragement, but you do it on the
basis of what you see above the surface. The visible
part represents what is at the surface such as
appearance, behavior, manners etc. You do not see what
moves them under the surface so you become surprised and
maybe frustrated seeing them move in the opposite
direction.
The main part, which is the 90% not visible, is within
the subconscious. Under the surface (subconscious) you
will find emotions, fears, attitudes, deeply held values
etc.
If you want to move people, if you want to motivate
others for a project or even just to reach others, you
need to be aware of these kinds of things that you find
under the surface. The key to understanding others
better is to be more aware of your own feelings and
under-currents, because, at a deep level, we are very
much alike. If you understand your own fears and strong
motivators, you will understand others much better.
Soul Sustenance
Injustices
And Suffering In The World – Applying The Law of Karma
(Part 1)
We are presently living in a closely connected world
where everyone knows what everyone else is doing, as
they are doing it. Each day brings scenes and images,
through the media, in front of us, of many apparent
injustices and suffering of individuals or groups of
individuals. Whether it's in the office, or in the
market or on the television news, we hear and see
reports of people suffering tremendous pain and sorrow
at the hands of others. At these moments, our sense of
injustice is stimulated and it becomes easy to rise in
outrage against the sinners. In the process we ourselves
suffer from our own self-created anger and perhaps hate.
This process then becomes a habit and an inner pattern
we begin to repeat, not only when we encounter scenes of
global peacelessness, but the moment someone in the
family or at office does something similar. A panic
button is pressed and we react with the same pattern.
What we forget in both global and local contexts, is the
history and geography of karma. Every scene and
situation has a variety of related causes in both time
(history) and space (geography) e.g. emotions of
hatred and revenge amongst various countries and
religions (in different parts of the world) and the
actions connected with these emotions has underlying
hidden causes, related to the Law of Karma (Law of Cause
and Effect) which go back sometimes to hundreds of years
– X is doing something with Y because Y had done
something similar with X sometime in the past, but in
different physical costumes, sometimes quite some
time back in history – this is the reason, we often fail
to take these causes into consideration when viewing
these negative scenes and situations, because we see the
situations with a limited perspective of present
physical costumes and circumstances.
(To be continued tomorrow …)
Message for the day
With humility and love, flexibility becomes natural.
Expression:
In order to be flexible we need to have the virtue of
humility. With humility we will be willing to understand
the people around and their behavior. Then we will also
be able to have love for them. This automatically brings
flexibility within us.
Experience:
When we come across people who are not being
cooperative, we need to become humble and try to
understand what the they are communicating, if not
through words at least through their actions. When we
are able to listen with love and understanding, we will
no more be rigid but can easily adapt ourselves.