Handling rude behaviour

 

What do you do when someone is rude to you?

• Get upset.
• React rudely.
• Become frustrated.
• Run away from the person or avoid the situation in the future.
• Blame the person.
• Preach to the person.

None of these will in any way strengthen you. What are the options? See someone’s rude behavior in this light:

• Rudeness indicates the intensity of their commitment.
• It indicates their level of stress and insensitivity. It attests to the upbringing of the person.
• It indicates a behavioral pattern.
• It shows a lack of knowledge.
• It shows a lack of insight into their own mind and its sensations.
• It shows you behaviour to avoid.
• It is an opportunity for you to welcome and absorb the rudeness.
• It strengthens your mind. It reveals the love that you are as unconditional.

The next time someone is rude to you, make sure you do not get upset. Just return a broad smile. If you can digest rudeness, nothing whatsoever can shake you.

Three essential things everyone must do, to be happy

1. Look back in the past and see that it was futile feeling insecure. This gives you strength.

2. Know that there are good people on this planet. They will always come to your help. There is a power which is going to guide you and help you out. With this wisdom and understanding, get over insecurity.

3. Third is to get rid of prejudice. There are many types of prejudice. There is prejudice between generations where young people will not sit and share with senior citizens. There is a generation gap. There is prejudice about class, about gender, about religion, culture, language, and so on in many parts of the world, so many types of prejudices. Wisdom is to rise above prejudice and see the whole world as one family. 

If everyone has this idea of a "one world family", there will be no war, no crime and none of the problems that we are facing in the world today. See how many people are being killed. There is so much violence in the world. This is all because of lack of a broad vision and wisdom. With meditation, yoga and breathing techniques, get over stress. 

With wisdom, get over prejudice, and reflecting on your own life and having the confidence and faith, get over insecurity. Once you get over stress, insecurity and prejudice, then you are like a child, full of joy, and happiness simply wells up in you. 

Happiness is already there, it is just covered by these three things, and once you removed all these three things, it becomes obvious. 

Feeling at home, everywhere and with everyone

 

Feeling at home, wherever and with whomsoever you are is what I would call the true evolution of human beings. For that, we need to take a look within ourselves. Thirty years ago, there was so much prejudice towards spirituality and wisdom. People would want to keep it at arm’s length and believed that it was not for them. Today, there is acceptance. People are willing to try it and once they see that it benefits them, they are less prejudiced.

Life comes to us like a gift, a very charming gift, but we seldom open it. It’s all about opening ourselves and being open. Life is a gift wrapped in golden paper, which is waiting for each one of us to unwrap. Many of us are too formal, but such an atmosphere is not conducive to knowledge.

We need to be in an informal atmosphere to know something about ourselves and gain deep wisdom. When you meet somebody, you ask, “How are you?” Now I have a question for you. Did you really greet the person or did you do it as a formality? Most of the time we exchange pleasantries, we really don’t mean it.

But, if the same words come to you from your grandmother, they carry some energy, some vibrations, and some presence. Life becomes so dry and the world becomes charmless when we relate at a superficial level. In the coming decades, the biggest challenge in the world will be mental depression. Belongingness can create a better atmosphere and environment around us. It is for us to create that environment.

Can you feel at home with everyone? Then you can truly say you have evolved. For that, we need to go within. A baby smiles 400 times a day, a teenager only smiles 17 times, and an adult hardly smiles. We don’t smile from our hearts.

Why is that? It is the stress and the tension that we carry. Meditation can help you get back to your nature, which is pure innocence. Then a smile comes from deep within, that nobody can snatch from you. We should all dream of a stress-free and violence-free world, one where there is total belongingness. 

Health is the optimum life force

 

Once Mullah Naseeruddin met with an accident and was in a hospital with bandages all over him. One of his friends came to visit and asked, “Mullah, how are you?” He said,” I am fine. It only hurts when I laugh.” The friend said, “How can you laugh in this condition?” Mullah replied, “If I don’t laugh now, I have never laughed in my life.”

This undying enthusiasm is an aspect of being in perfect health. The word health in Sanskrit is ‘swasth’ which means an enlightened being, one who is established in the self. The first sign of being in the self is enthusiasm — one who can laugh and say, “today nothing worked.” To be able to say this you need a state of mind that is stress-free and tension proof. 

Health is the optimum life force. It is when your consciousness is alert, intellect is sharp, energy high and there is a willingness to learn more and more. If you are physically fit and mentally lethargic and depressed, then that is not health. We need to recognise this aspect of ourselves. 

Half of our health we spend in gaining wealth and then we spend that wealth to gain back our health. This is not economical. When animals get wet or play in the dust, they shake their full body and get everything out of them. But we human beings hold onto everything. When you come to office, shake the home-related matters off your mind. When you go back home, shake the office off your back.

For tackling stress, there are techniques of pranayama and meditation which also strengthen your nervous system and mind, release toxins from the body and enhance your performance and overall quality of life. Never mind if some failure happens here and there; so, what? Every failure is a big step for success. Increase your enthusiasm and avoid getting stressed.

Creating a happy world through peace

 

In a world marked by conflicts and a ballooning mental health crisis, one pressing question beckons: Is there a way out of this?

The post-pandemic world continues to fluctuate between extremes of aggression and societal violence on one end and depression and suicidal tendencies on the other. Mental health and loneliness have become silent epidemics with estimated one in every three individuals in the world suffering from anxiety or depression.

With nearly two mass shootings per day and classroom violence becoming commonplace in the U.S., it makes one wonder if we are regressing to a barbaric age. In today’s virtual world where more and more people seem to be operating in silos, there is an increasing feeling of mistrust and isolation.

How did we even get here? Let’s look at life through the lens of these three fundamental aspects: passion, dispassion and compassion.

Passion is essential to achieve anything worthwhile. Without it, one could feel lost, unenthusiastic or even depressed. On the other hand, unbridled passion can lead to anxiety, fear of uncertainty and even insomnia.

While passion propels one into action, dispassion allows one to relax. Certain amount of dispassion is essential in order to feel sane, safe and to have a sound sleep. It broadens one’s vision and allows one to look at life from a bigger context, acknowledging the fact that people and situations are constantly changing. When one embraces this sense of impermanence, the world appears like a transit lounge. Both, modern scientists and ancient sages concur that the world is illusory in nature. This awareness makes individuals pause and reconsider the priorities of their life.

The third aspect is compassion which defines humanness. In absence of which, life appears dry and meaningless. While compassion towards others is essential, compassion towards one’s own self is equally important. It also creates an environment where people feel heard and included thus mitigating the adverse impact of loneliness.

When these aspects go out of balance, it induces stress and societal discord. This is the primary cause of today’s mental health crisis. Unfortunately, neither at home nor in school have we ever learned how to manage stress and emotions. Popular interventions such as therapy and medication are cosmetic at best as they don’t seem to offer a long-lasting solution. This calls for a fundamental rethink.

Breathwork and meditation hold the key to eliminating stress and restoring balance in all aspects of life. 42 years ago, when I first started to travel across various countries, yoga and meditation were colored with prejudice. While the stigma around these practices is waning, there is still a long way to go.

Our breath has many secrets that have not been explored fully. Each emotion corresponds to a distinct breathing pattern. If emotions can impact how we breathe, the reverse is also true. From ancient times, people have been using breath as a way to relax and strengthen their minds. A strong mind can carry a weak body. However, a weak mind cannot even support a strong body.

Meditation helps individuals experience a rare state of outer dynamism and inner calm. It is no longer a luxury, but a modern-day necessity. Meditation and breathwork are not just cures but also preventive measures for maintaining mental and emotional well-being. Even if one person in a family is disturbed, it affects the entire family. Inner peace is key to the peace in family, society and eventually in the entire nation.

Wars originate as a conflict in the mind of an individual. Perceived threat from others, breakdown of communication and lack of trust fuel discord, resulting in loss of sensitivity and sensibility. Thus, it is all the more necessary for people in positions of power to have inner calm and peace. This enables them to think better and act more effectively for the greater good of our planet.

In global discussions, peace and security are always mentioned in the same breath. However very little attention is given to peace education. It will serve the planet in the long run if governments could spend a fraction of their security budget on peace education and mental health towards creating a happy world.

A violence-free society, quiver-free breath, stress-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, trauma-free memory, and a sorrow-free soul is the birthright of every individual. My vision is to see a happier society. Some may say it’s utopia but I’m confident that together we can make it a reality.

Meditation - practice of holding onto infinity

 

Every cell in the body has the capacity to hold infinity. A worm too eats, sleeps and performs its daily activities. There is no point in living like that. We must tap the full potential nature has bestowed upon us, the potential to hold infinity in every cell of your body. For that, we must practice meditation regularly. It takes only a few minutes every day, and once we imbibe it in our daily routine, it is no more a burden or a chore.

Meditation is like a seed. The better a seed is cultivated, the more it flourishes. Similarly, the more we practice meditation, the better it cultures the entire nervous system and the body. Our physiology undergoes a change and every cell in the body is filled with prana (life-force). As the level of prana in the body rises, we are filled with joy.

The culturing of the system by meditation is normal. Some people call it the higher state of consciousness as we are endowed with the ability to live in that state. 

Meditation helps in two ways. It prevents stress from entering the system and simultaneously releases the already accumulated stress. Regular meditation also leads to happiness and fulfilment; to sensitization of the sensory organs thereby intensifying the experiences of seeing, tasting, feeling, etc; and to greater intuitiveness.

With the assimilation of meditation into daily life, the fifth state of consciousness, called cosmic consciousness, dawns. Cosmic consciousness perceives the whole cosmos as a part of oneself. When we perceive the world as a part of us, love flows strongly between the world and us. This love empowers us to bear with the opposing forces and the disturbances in life. Anger and disappointments become fleeting emotions that occur momentarily and then vanish.

Usually, we tend to let go of pleasant emotions and cling to the unpleasant ones. 99 per cent of the world population is prone to doing this. But when the consciousness becomes free and cultured with meditation, this tendency of holding onto negative emotions is the first thing to disappear. We start living in the moment and let go of the past. This is important because no matter how good the people we interact with, there are bound to be misunderstandings in any relationship. Once a little misunderstanding crops up, our emotions get distorted and a host of negativities follow. But if we are able to let go and focus on the ability of consciousness to revel in the glory of every moment, we are shielded from all the above. The truth that every moment is supportive and complimentary to our growth dawns on us.

A person in a higher state of consciousness is expected to know everything. ‘‘All knowing’’ simply means being conscious of the essence of all you know. In this state, knowledge and ignorance co-exist and complement each other. The confluence of knowledge, understanding and practice makes life complete. When you grow into higher states of consciousness, you find that you are no longer thrown off balance by different situations and disturbances. You become beautiful yet strong, a soft, delicate being capable of accommodating different values in life.

Success in failure

 

Everyone wants to be successful in his/her examination. But what is success? It is having strength, having an unshakable smile that nobody can take away, and having such courage that does not diminish in the face of adversity.

In exams, some may get very good results and some others may not. It is natural to feel bad when one fails. There is tension, fear and worry about the future. But look at life from a broader perspective. Consider this life as a bigger examination than the one you have been through. Do not think that passing or failing in exams determines your entire life’s direction.

Some disheartened students commit suicide when they fail. No one should commit suicide. Do not become a victim of stress. This life is very precious. In life you have to accept failures and success. There is no control over the fruit of action.

Everyone who fails in an exam is not a fool and everyone who passes an exam is not necessarily intelligent. My request to parents is to encourage children even if they fail and to ensure that they come out of their depression. Parents must make them understand that life is beyond this exam.

When faced with difficult times, invoke the valour in you and tackle the challenge with confidence. Practices such as yoga, meditation will help tremendously. Have faith that you are supported by nature. And you will succeed.

Life is a mixture of everything; failure and success complement each other. If you fail, then you know the value of success. It is a stepping stone. You need to move forward; ask yourself, what did I learn from the past, and then what is my vision for the future? If you fail 10 times, you will be successful the 11th time. Remember as a child how many times you have fallen before you could stand up on your legs?

Tell yourself now, “Whatever happens, I will never go down. God will always hold my hand.” This much is enough to pull you up.

What is the purpose of life?

 

Certain questions indicate the maturity of our mind. They are: What is life? What is the purpose of my life? Why am I here? What do I want?

These questions are vital. Where am I? Are you aware you are on this planet Earth? Have you ever thought “I am on planet Earth and this planet is in the solar system”? So, I am in the solar system. The solar system is just a dot in the Milky Way. So, I am in the Milky Way. This expansion of awareness to the macrocosm and being aware of where you are in this body is important. Just sit with your eyes closed and ask yourself “where am I in this body”? Am I in the head, in the nose, in the heart? Where am I in the body?

Then the sharpness of the mind happens, awareness happens. You are able to perceive that you are nowhere and you are everywhere in the body. A shift in the quality of awareness happens instantaneously. And it is this awareness that can eliminate stresses and sorrows from life. This awareness is called wisdom.

When we raise our consciousness, we become more aware of the sensation that is happening in the body and we see that the sensations change. An intense sensation that is pain and an intense sensation that is pleasure, both become pleasurable. Love and pain, they are very closely related. The symbol of Jesus on the cross means that the cross is pain and Jesus is love. One is with the other. The transformation of this pain into bliss, the love into bliss is what happens with awareness.

Without awareness the mind shrinks. When the mind shrinks, the joy diminishes. Whenever we are happy, we feel that something in us is expanding and the expression of sadness is the contraction of mind. Meditation is a technique using which the mind expands and relaxes. And whenever we are relaxed, we are expanding automatically.

It is worth knowing this expansion because then nothing can disturb us or take our smile away. Otherwise, small things can throw us off balance. It is not worth letting your mind or your life undergo such suffering and misery.

World Yoga Day

 

On 5th December 2011 at a conference on ‘Yoga: A Science for World Peace’, several yoga institutes came together and signed a proclamation to have 21st June celebrated as International Yoga Day.

Today, Yoga has reached 170+ countries, and billions of people. But we must remember that 2/3rd of the world population is yet to reap the benefits of yoga!

Yoga, though born in India belongs to the whole world. Though yoga was conceived in the ancient Sanatan Dharma, it opens its avenues to the whole world. Yoga is a technology that allows you to be more compassionate, more loving, more friendly and happy! It’s a technology that can remove stress, greed and all these negative emotions!

Yoga is not just a set of stretches but an attitude - how you care for nature, how you connect with people of all races, cultures & religions. That oneness with Divinity, with nature & people is the real essence of yoga.

Teach kids the importance of non-violence

 

The troubling pattern of school violence in America has different causes at its core for the perpetrators. We must be aware that aggression is part of our nature and we all possess the potential for it. The challenge is to teach one another how to handle the aggressive tendency that comes within each of us.

We need to teach our kids how to handle their own negative emotions. We cannot avoid stress in life yet we need to teach our young how to manage the stress each of them encounter. It is our responsibility to institute in each other respect for life and adopting non-violence as our means of conduct.

Young minds must be educated in non-aggression programs and learn how to handle the negative emotions of rage, grief, guilt, and frustration. We must also recognize the hurt and wounded in our society. If someone is behaving badly and is troubled, they are pained and require a healing touch, a sense that someone is listening to them and cares.

If we do this, we can impact their lives. We can help them go from darkness to light and make headway against the scourge of violence. This is our role as fellow citizens and human beings. Beyond this, it’s important to develop skills to control our emotions. Meditation can help. This inward journey can help us go deep within to summon the ability to meet our challenges and ultimately triumph. The power is within each of us.

It is time to work together towards creating a violence-free society. This is the birthright of every child in our schools. America has always stood as an example of pluralism and harmony, serving as a guiding light in the world. Currently, the beautiful fabric of America is being damaged by school violence. We can turn this around by joining together in the spirit of America and reapplying our universal values, binding our wounds.

Let’s work on sharing healthy ways for people to manage their stress, frustration, and anger at their core and commit to building human values back into our schools and communities. Together, let’s create a violence-free, stress-free world.

Being in control of one's happiness

 

We are often disturbed by others’ behaviour towards us. This is why we feel that our happiness depends on many other factors.

Someone who is stressed, and unhappy, spreads unhappiness. 

Why do you have to succumb to it? Instead of succumbing to it, say to yourself, “I can be in control of myself. I can spread happiness. I can be the source of happiness when I have compassion for others.”

Ways to be successful and stress free in the corporate world

 

As times are getting tougher in the corporate world, many are feeling the pinch. Stress impacts the way we think, feel and behave, thus affecting all aspects of our life. The consequences of letting stress rule are nothing short of disastrous and tragic. So how to be successful without paying the heavy price of a stressful life is what everyone is asking these days? I would say it’s rather easy and simple.

It’s like riding a bicycle

What is the secret to riding a bicycle? Balance! It’s about staying at the centre: not letting it fall to the right or left. When it’s falling on one side, you bring it to balance. When you go out of balance, you feel the pinch. Listen to that. Don’t just ignore it, acknowledge it and come to the centre. Whenever you go out of balance in any aspect of life, listen to your inner voice, and come to the centre.

Balance work and rejuvenation

First, balance your time between work and rejuvenation. Take care of your food, exercises and take time out for some meditation and relaxation.

Take interest in art

Second, take interest in some art form. In the corporate world, you are loaded with left-brain activities like logical thinking, planning, analysis, etc. So you need to balance the left-brain activity with the right-brain activity. Painting, music, poetry or any other kind of creative and recreational activities activate the right brain. When the two hemispheres of the brains are balanced, you can experience higher clarity, higher creativity, higher productivity, higher efficiency and higher relaxation.

Strike a work-life balance

Third, strike a work-life balance. Listen to your inner voice. If you have ignored your family, it pinches you. If you have ignored your social commitment, it pinches you. If you are ignoring your business, it pinches you. If you are ignoring your spiritual practices, it pinches you. So wherever anything pinches you, come back to the centre.

Do acts of service

Fourth, do some seva (acts of service). Be useful to people around you. It’s the best antidote to stress. You must contribute to society. When you do some act of service and kindness, it brings immediate feeling of inner rejuvenation.

The secret of true success is in balancing all aspects of life without being attached or averse to any of them.

Controlling emotions through breath

 

Verified

Our first act in this world is to take a deep breath in. Breath is life. Yet, we are taught neither at home nor at school, about the importance of breath and its impact on the mind and body.

Observe how you breathe. There are different patterns that relate to different emotions. Just as your mind influences the breath, you can influence the state of your mind through breath as well. 

Breathing techniques like Pranayamas and Sudarshan Kriya can help us calm our mind and emotions. We can control negative emotions like anger and fear, and manage stress levels using breath.

Four powerful ways to happiness in 2021

 

Celebration can be attributed to any reason, because the nature of our spirit is to celebrate. The new year is a time when the spirit of celebration engulfs the whole world. This is also an opportunity to reflect on the year gone by and take stock of the lessons learnt. A celebration has social, emotional and spiritual components. Often, we focus on the first two and forget the third. True celebration happens when the spiritual aspect is attended to.

Very often, people ask me how I see the future. And I say that the future is for them to build however they want it. The unwise regret the past, think the future is destiny and are miserable in present. The wise see their past as destiny, the future as free will and are happy in the present.

However significant the events of the past year were at the time, looking back, you cannot see them all as anything but a dream. Reflecting on these events, what stands out is the impermanent nature of all things. Events are like stones and pebbles in the great river of time which keeps flowing unabated. In life, things are to be learnt and forgotten — learnt so that you do not repeat the same mistakes and forgotten so that they do not leave you traumatized.

Here are four ways to happiness in the new year:

Make Meditation a Part of Life
Modern life’s demands lead to stress and restlessness, which can be released through a few minutes of meditation. Meditation gives you deep rest. The deeper you are able to rest, the more dynamic you will be in activity. It is the best tool to wipe your mind clean of all past impressions that weigh you down.

Often, we get pulled in different directions and are unable to devote time to ourselves. We do not take out the time to think and reflect. This can leave us dull and tired. A few quiet moments everyday are the source of creativity. Silence heals and rejuvenates and gives you depth and stability. Sometime during the day, sit for a few minutes, get into the cave of your heart, eyes closed, and keep the world away.

Serve
Make a commitment to make this world a better place to live. Do some acts of kindness without expecting anything in return. Service (seva) alone can bring contentment in life. It creates a sense of connectedness. When you bring some relief to someone through selfless service, good vibrations come to you. When you show kindness, your true nature, which is love and peace, come to the surface.

Feel Grateful
Our love, faith, and belief should be deep-rooted, and then everything else moves on its own. The feeling that “I am blessed” can help you overcome any failure. Once you realize that you are blessed, then all the complaints and grumbling disappear, all the insecurities disappear and you become grateful, contented and peaceful.

Spend time with Nature
If you are not amazed by the magnificence of this creation — your eyes are not yet opened. Tell me, what in this creation is not a mystery? Birth is a mystery, death is a mystery. If both birth and death are mysteries, then life is certainly a greater mystery. Being completely immersed in the mystery of life and in this creation is samadhi.

Just like we live in the outer world of events and circumstances, we also live in the inner world of emotions and feelings, which we are not always aware of. The distance between the outer and the inner worlds is just the blink of an eye. Yoga is the skill of keeping attention on the inner world while acting in the outer. When you are lost in the outside world, there is disharmony in the inner world and life is like a war. When you are established in the inner world, there is clarity in the outer world and life becomes a game.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Transformation for perfect health

 

Only a healthy bud can blossom. Similarly, only a healthy person can succeed. Health is just not the absence of disease but it is also being mentally serene and emotionally soft. If the mind is stiff and unsteady, one is not mentally healthy. When the emotions are rough, one is not emotionally healthy.

The state of good health is called “swastha” in Sanskrit. It also means ‘being established in one’s Self’ and is not just confined to the body or mind. It has to come as a gift from the cosmic mind- from the innermost of one’s being to the outermost and vice versa.

Sometimes when you enter a room inhabited by a disturbed person, you start feeling disturbed for no reason even if the person is no longer in the room. You have the same feelings, same thoughts and same emotions as that person. Similarly, when there is a harmonious vibration like a place of satsang (chanting or singing), you feel good for no reason.

Feelings are not isolated to one’s body, they are all around. It is the same with the breath and the mind. They are in the whole environment. If there is a fire the heat is not just inside the fire but radiating throughout the place. If one is unhappy or depressed, the feeling spreads to the whole environment.

Other people’s words and actions create jealousy, anger, frustration or sadness in a mind that is not centered. The unstable mind contributes to the process and hence, we become responsible for our negative emotions even though it appears that someone else has triggered it.

When we meditate and do pranayama, we increase prana or the subtle life energy. When we attend to the subtle, the gross is healed. The breath is subtler than the body and when attended to, it heals the body. Similarly, prana being the subtler heals the emotions.

Being individually happy is not enough. A frustrated man will spread frustration; a jealous person will spread jealousy. Everyone we meet has to be happy and radiate happiness. This is the only way we can have that unshakeable peace and happiness.

If somebody is shooting an arrow at you, insulting you, realise that they are doing it because they are miserable. They are pouring out their stress, tension and anxiety. When you have blossomed from within, you can take any insult and turn it into your advantage.

When someone commits a mistake, he is not the culprit; the stress within is the cause. Once, the stress is got rid of, then there is no culprit- no one needs to be forgiven. We begin to realise that the whole thing is just a game in which there is no winner or loser. It’s just a play and fun.

The objective is to have joy in life and make sure that the knowledge we gain permeates within us. As we learn more about life, the mystery of the whole creation unfolds. Then the question in the mind is: What is the meaning of life? and What is its purpose? What is this world? What is love? What is knowledge?

Once these questions arise in you, know that you are very fortunate. These questions need to be  understood; you cannot find their answers in books. You have to live through them and witness the transformation. That is perfect health; you are transformed from within. And the bud becomes a totally blossomed flower.

How to Become a Successful Entrepreneur?

The challenges that you face as an entrepreneur are not limited to just your work-related field, they are diverse – interpersonal, infrastructural, administrative and even emotional. To be able to deal with all these, one needs to be multi-faceted. All these aspects in you grow in you when you are established in yourself and are free from stress. 

Some level of stress at the workplace is normal & acceptable, perhaps even essential. It can keep you on your toes, help you face challenges, and you’re able to meet your deadlines. However, just like too much salt can spoil the food, stress beyond normal levels can leave you feeling frustrated and powerless.

What is Stress?

Stress is when you have so much to do, very little time and don’t have enough energy. Now to deal with it, either reduce your workload – that’s impossible in a startup! Or increase your time – but a day has only 24 hours. The only option we’re left with is to increase our energy levels.

1) Increase your energy levels

There are 4 ways you can increase your energy levels:

a) Proper food will help you. Not too much, not too little. Also, pay attention to keeping a balanced diet, freshly prepared food that is easily digestible.

b) The right amount of sleep. You need 6-8 hours of sleep. Not more, not less.

c) Breathing is a lesser known but very critical source of energy! Regular practice of breathing exercises like pranayama is effective energy boosters. Breathing exercises help in improving perception, observation and expression, all vital for good management.

d) A few moments of meditative awareness. Meditation is conscious, deep relaxation. Just a few minutes of meditation regularly can relieve all types of stress. About 15-20 minutes of meditation, morning and evening, is good enough. Meditation also helps us get in touch with our inner space – the source of joy, peace, and love.

2) M&Ms!

Meals and Meditation. When teams have meals together or sit together and meditate, they find it so refreshing that they’re able to carry on for the rest of the day with the same energy with which they came into the office. It also brings people closer and creates a healthier work environment.

3) Celebrate Diversity

Learn to accept diversity, and honour it. Everybody has their own strengths. Instead of having defined job descriptions and assigning people to them, see how their strengths and interests can be manoeuvred to the roles you have in mind.

4) Accept the opposites

Accept the pleasant and unpleasant moments of life. You need to accept that you will experience both of these in your life. This will help you maintain the equanimity of your mind.

5) Perfect Imperfections

Lastly, make room for imperfection. Accept a little bit of others’ as well as your own imperfections. It allows you to be more patient. It’s like the space in your house where you keep your dustbin. You need it there to keep the rest of your house clean.

Whatever happens in life, if you can keep these, then you have really found success.

A world without violence

I have this crazy idea… a world without violence. This might appear to be utopian thinking, but we need to dream and we will get there! If we instill pride in being non-violent, in being compassionate, in being helpful to others, our lives will take a new direction. And that should be our unwavering commitment.
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It is saddening to see the impact of gun-violence on our families and society. An ABC news report indicates that there are more gun retail stores than grocery stores in the U.S. When we have not provided education in non-violence, or equipped people with tools to control their aggressive tendencies, we cannot afford to have so many gun stores making it easy to pursue deadly acts of violence.⠀
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Aggressive tendencies can occur in anybody; it is quite natural. But one should be taught how to handle that aggressive tendency in a healthy way. When conflict arises in the mind of an individual, perception, observation and expression are impacted. This in turn impacts communication with the other party. In a conflict zone, the first thing that is needed for resolution is an improvement in the communication between the parties. This can happen only when the mind is calm and is able to respond, rather than react. In order for the mind to be calm, mental traumas need to be relieved. The rhythmic breathing and meditation techniques that the volunteers of The Art of Living use have been quite effective with relieving mental and emotional distress.⠀
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The ignorant are fanatically religious, the so called intelligentsia are fashionably atheist, and the wise are genuinely spiritual. It is time that we encourage our young people, our children, to see beyond limited identities and to associate with the common humanity that we are all part of. It is time to tear down the walls between cultures and celebrate diversity. It is time to connect at the heart-to-heart level and let go of the negative emotions. This is how we can create a violence-free, stress-free society.

Finding the right balance through meditation

Today scientists say, if you meditate even for eight weeks at least once a day, the grey matter in the brain increases and the structure of the brain changes. That's what I have been saying for the last 35-40 years. Today scientists have said the same thing, they have authenticated it in some way – that meditation does so much good to your nervous system and it does so much good to your brain. It creates a positive energy around you, it uplifts your spirit and alters your behavior pattern.

World Health Organization says that the biggest challenge that mankind is facing today is depression, and by the year 2020 depression is going to be much more prevalent. If half the population are on anti-depressants, then that is going to be terrible. Even anti-depressants work for some time and then they stop working. So, we need to bring a lifestyle change in people by making them understand how they can handle their own mind, their energy and their vibrations.

We live in era of quantum physics and today quantum physics says this is all about vibration. The whole world is nothing but vibrations, and this is what spirituality also says – it's all vibration. So, we need to teach people how they can shake off all the stress that accumulates on a day-to-day basis.

30 years ago, when I would talk about yoga or meditation, people would say, “Wow, that's not the normal thing to do. Someone who is crazy would go for all this”. That was the paradigm, that was the assumption people had. Today it has changed. Today, big companies, like Daimler Chrysler Benz, show someone in a meditative pose to depict happiness in their advertising. Relaxation and happiness has become synonymous to meditation. I feel there's a big change in the mindset of the people.

5 Things You Need to Know About Stress

There is a beautiful human being inside everyone. What makes one different is the stress that covers the beauty. When the stress is gone, we become our original selves. Five things that you need to know about stress:

1. Too much to do, too little time, and no energy – that’s what the definition of stress is. When you want to do too much and you have neither energy nor time, you get stressed.

2. Secondly, remember you have faced many challenges in the past and you have overcome them all. So, have this confidence that I can handle this challenge as well.

3. Then you must also know that there’s nothing more important in life than life itself. If you are alive, then everything else is. If you are alive, then there is business. If you are alive, then so are relationships. If you are alive, then there is fame or whatever you wish for. Don’t put life at risk to get these other things. You must give more importance to life itself.

4. Why do you do anything that you do? It is because you want to be happy. And if you achieve something at the cost of happiness, it is worth nothing at all. You achieved what you wanted but you lost happiness, then that achievement is null and void. So you must keep this in mind.

5. Things happen through a different law in the Universe. You might have noticed that you had been very good to people and still there were people who suddenly became your enemies. Your friends became your enemies. And the opposite happens too: someone whom you have not done any big favor for, they help you when you really need it. So friendship or animosity happens through some special law of the Universe, and it is called karma.

When your times are good, your worst enemy behaves as a friend, and when your time is bad, then your best friend behaves like an enemy. So, understand things from a bigger dimension.

What Are Signs of Intelligence?

Buddha means the enlightened, and also the super intelligent. Buddhi in Sanskrit means intelligence and there are four signs of intelligence.

The first sign of intelligence is being alert. You can’t say that I am intelligent but I am a little sleepy. Intelligence means alertness. When you are alert your perception and observation improves, and this helps your expression become perfect.

Many times people say, “Oh, nobody understands me.” Instead they should say, “I haven’t been able to express myself.” If you have the skill to express, then there can be no misunderstandings. Perception, observation and expression – all these come from being alert.

Now if you keep yourself very alert for long periods of time, what happens? You get tired and feel exhausted. So, it’s not in the nature of our brain to be alert all the time. We need is relaxation. And the type of relaxation we know is taking a pillow and going to sleep. That's it. Sleep is necessary, but there is another type of relaxation where you are alert and at the same time relaxed, and that is meditation.

The other sign of intelligence is the ability to resolve conflict! Fools create conflicts. An intelligent person knows how to resolve conflicts in oneself and in his surroundings. If someone is creative but creates a lot of conflicts, you say, “Oh my god, that's not an intelligent thing to do”, isn't it so?

If you put an intelligent person between a conflict, will there be more conflict or will he reduce it? He will reduce or resolve it! The tendency to bring harmony is a sign of intelligence. The ability to find a solution is a sign of intelligence.

The next sign of intelligence is humour. There is a story I would like to tell you.

Swami Vivekananda went to a restaurant and went and sat on the same table as his professor. The professor told Swami Vivekananda, “A pig and a bird can't sit on the same table and eat.”

Do you know what Swami Vivekananda said? He said, “Sir, whenever you tell me, I will fly away.”

Intelligence has the ability to turn every conflict into humor. Humor is another sign of intelligence. If you have humor, you will overcome any conflicting situation.

Another sign of intelligence is not getting stressed, and if you get stressed, to know how to get over stress. Intelligence is to know how much to use our minds and our bodies, and not overusing them. If we overuse our minds and our bodies, we get drained, exhausted and tired. Intelligence is walking the fine line of the middle path.