Let's understand the Secret of Deleting Karma through a story. In India, as a renunciate or a sadhu, it is the duty of a person to travel the length and breadth of the country as a pilgrim. My first guru 1008 Sri Ramdas ji Maharaj whom we lovingly called Maharaj ji had done this pilgrimage (travelling across India) 3 times.

One day he was explaining the law of Karma and its effects. He relayed a story from the times when he was traveling the country (most of the time on foot) the 3^rd time and was staying at the outskirts of a village with one of his disciples in a hut.

In this village was an old lady who would come daily with a pot of milk for him. This old lady was suffering from “Lymphatic filariasis” commonly known as elephantiasis or elephant foot in one leg. Maharaj ji was moved with compassion on seeing her suffering. The next day a miracle happened – the lady came running to him as she was miraculously cured of her disease. She was thanking Maharaj ji for this miracle, but my guru decided to immediately leave that village without a word.

Days went by and he continued his travel. One day as he was walking through an open field, he had a vision where a man came and pierced his foot with a spear like object. A cry of pain came out of his mouth as he fell on the ground. His disciple was startled and on checking found that a thorn was pierced in his foot.

As Maharaj ji lay there, he understood that he was settling the karma of the old lady on her behalf – with this knowledge, he continued in his journey and by the time he came back to his native hut his leg was swollen and his wound was infected, in need for an operation. When the surgeon came to operate, Maharaj ji asked him to operate without anaesthesia to fast track the karmic account. With this extreme suffering, the foot got healed completely.

Such is the law of Karma. It is like a loan which must be paid back. If someone wants to settle it on your behalf, it is allowed. However, there are processes using which you can delete your Karmic issues with the Grace of a Master. This is called Karmakchhaalan (reduce your karmic load) – I am available to talk more about this process and help you offload and dissolve your karmic loads in a non-intrusive and easy manner.

Till Then Act Virtuously, Stay Healthy and Stress-free!!!

In this blog, I urge you to be your own friend, before anyone else! We’ve often come across the idea of a good friend or a best friend. What does a friend mean for you? I’m sure, the idea of friendship for all of us comes along the idea of support, love, encouragement, and trust. Isn’t it so? These are the four pillars of any healthy relationship.

A friend in need is a friend indeed! This is the most common saying we’ve come across since our childhood. But the general idea of friendship that we’ve been taught for ages has conditioned our minds to look for a friend in the outer world, outside ourselves. Why haven’t we ever looked inside and asked us whether or not we are our own friends? Do we really love ourselves and treat ourselves as our best friends?

What do I mean by being your own friend, and why is it necessary?

You cannot give what you do not have. It is as simple as that! How do you expect to give love and kindness to others if you’re not kind towards your own self?  This starts with having Empathy towards yourself. What I mean with empathy is that you should understand yourself. For that, you need to reflect on who you really are and start treating your own self as you would treat your best friend. Unfortunately, we all have been strictly taught to become perfect in whatever we do. Everyone is expected to always be successful at everything, and we take this as a load and become overburdened. In stressful times, who do you want to share the load with? A friend! Have you ever thought that you can also be that friend for yourself? Every time one fails, self-criticism comes into the picture, and criticism without self-encouragement is a potion for failure. A friend lifts you up from the dark and encourages you to see the light. It is important to be that friend for yourself, first!

How to be your best friend? Let me tell you a few checkpoints for you to make sure that you love yourself first, before anyone else!

• Do you know yourself well enough?

If anyone asks you at this instant, “Who you really are with all your positivity and negativity? What are your likes and dislikes? What are the tasks you’re good at? What are your areas of improvement?” Would you be able to answer without fail? Observe your emotions happy and pain points, observe your highs as well as your lows. Stop Judging yourself or stop being a hard taskmaster and look at yourself from a different perspective. Maybe looking at yourself with the perspective of empathy is a good way to know yourself very well. Friends know how to work upon you because they know very well what you need in different instances. Do you know the same?

• Do you always attend to your needs?

Everyone has needs and wants. Needs change with time but every time a need arises, you need to look at it as a responsibility towards self and work towards fulfilling the same. After a long day at work, you might feel you need to spend some quality time in a serene environment, maybe a walk in a park amidst nature, or a joyful time with your loved ones or maybe some me time. Try to attend to your needs as much as you can. Do not ignore them in the garb of laziness or self-neglect.

• Do you have Me Time?

Do you have fixed times for breaks from your busy lives? Consider keeping aside the gadgets you work upon for the whole day for some time and spending time doing something completely different from your office work. If you have bore a special attraction towards painting, or dancing, or singing in the past, include that activity in your break-time. Do anything that rejuvenates you.

• Do you recharge daily?

Every device requires a recharge, your mind does too. Meditation helps you recharge yourself, gather your thoughts, and introspect in a healthy manner. Consider including regular meditation in your schedule to channelize your energy. Rejuvenating yourself is the best way to be your own best friend!

• Do you keep celebrating your successes?

A good friend makes sure to remind you of your past successes time and again to keep you going! How often do you do that to yourself? Consider maintaining a journal of success, write every tiny success you attain in your daily life in that journal, and revisit it often. A journal of success can be the best gift you give yourself!

Become that friend who’s always there at your side. Good friendship does wonders. Hence, be your friend like no one ever will, and this is how you will begin your journey towards self-transformation!

Love Yourself, Stay Healthy, and Stress-free!

Stop hypnotizing yourself towards your failure! The word and concept of ‘Hypnotism’ has an eerie emotion attached to itself, that is what we have been fed throughout our lives, through stories, cinema, and generic conversations. However, various psychologists have been conducting research and practicing hypnosis for treatment purposes all around the world for decades altogether. The concept of hypnotism needs to be looked at with a different angle altogether in order to use it for our benefit. If I say, you hypnotize yourself with every single serious thought of yours, will you believe me? It is the truth, our thoughts have the capability to hypnotize ourselves. How?

Let’s know more about this below.

Thought governs your mind, your life. You all must have heard about ‘induced trance’. Trance can be induced via various external agents, however, thoughts can induce trance as well. A high or a happy state of life induces a happy trance and a low life state, extreme negative thoughts can induce a negative or a consuming trance-like state. Hypnosis involves induction of trance which leads you towards one direction, makes you act in one way or another.

While through happy thoughts and motivation, you hypnotize yourself to have a positive outlook towards life and hence are encouraged to face every challenge with confidence, negative thoughts, and fear can hypnotize your mind into believing in lies, and you eventually lose faith in yourself.

I’m sure you all must have come across the ‘Pavlov’s dog theory’, the theory which talks about training your dog at the sound of a bell to have its meal.  Your mind is that dog, and your thoughts have the capability to train it. Let me share with you an incident to explain the effects of self-hypnosis:

As a child in school, we were supposed to assemble for morning prayers and announcements in our school ground. One day, one of my friends felt uneasy and nauseous in the assembly; she fell down unconscious. She went to visit a doctor and she was told that she fell unconscious because of suffocation and that her nausea was a result of an upset stomach. However, she became so scared after this incident, that she began to avoid the assemblies out of fear. The picture was set in her mind, she had connected crowd to suffocation, and further to dizziness. Her fear had consumed her in a psychological trap so badly that she actually felt dizzy every single time she stood in the assembly, or joined a crowd. Despite being healthy in her body, she had infected her mind and hypnotized herself into believing that she will fall or feel suffocated in crowded places.   Her repeated failure was a direct result of self-hypnosis.

It’s almost like you being scared and extra-conscious of falling in a pit, and you end up falling right into it. You attract your thoughts and your fear, and hence become psychological slaves to those thoughts. However, one needs to realise that self-hypnosis can also be done for good, for changing the course of your life in a positive direction. How? Let me tell you:

• Change the stories you tell yourself and to others!

Have you ever noticed that if you tell a lie repeatedly, with conviction, you start believing it to be true, and eventually you end up turning it into reality. Why does that happen? Because you give energy to a thought by repeating it in your mind, or through your words. Changing your story, your words, is extremely important to change the course of your life. Tell yourself, that you’re capable of overcoming any challenge and achieving success, start believing in the same and you eventually will. Everyday you wake up to a positive thought, you will automatically act in the direction of bringing it into reality!

• Ask yourself, are you believing too much and too quickly?

Every time you realise that you’re dwelling on a negative thought, check yourself, have you been believing too much on what others or what the social media has fed you? Social media in today’s date is one of the biggest hypnotizers of the mind. Fact check everything, before you place your belief. Be careful with every thought you’re letting in your conscience.

• Begin training yourself, today!

Instead of letting your negative beliefs train your mind to act in a negative direction, make conscious efforts to train your mind in the other direction. Imagine the scenario you fear, face your fears head on, and imagine utmost success for yourself in that event. Imagine it repeatedly, every day. Believe in your success like there are no two ways about it. This is exactly the story you will create for yourself. This is how you train your mind to act in a particular manner, for your benefit!

• Meditate to de-clutter your mind!

In order to use self-hypnosis for your benefit, the mind needs to be free of complexities and doubts. If you’re unable to think straight, it becomes difficult for your mind to focus and it begins dwelling in confusion. Remove confusion, and meditate in order to get clarity of thought.

In the current global lockdown-like situation, the fear of coronavirus has consumed numerous minds and people are unable to fight against the negativities that surround them. Be conscious not to self-hypnotize yourself, or to create your own problems. Realise the opportunities that come your way. Train your mind to succeed, instead!

Stay Motivated, Happy and Stress-Free!

Break free from your habits and transform yourself! The current coronavirus pandemic has brought along itself challenging times for all of us. It is a necessity for us to transform our lives to adapt to the new ways of living. If you’re still clinging to your old habits, you’re harming yourself to a large extent, unknowingly. Let me ask you a question, ‘What are habits according to you? What are good as well as bad habits?’ I am sure that you consider waking up early, sleeping on time, following a good diet etc as good habits, and smoking, heavy drinking, working without taking rest, as bad habits. Let me tell you that good as well as bad habits are not limited to these. How? Let us know more about it.

Habit is nothing but a repeated behaviour. You do not have to make conscious effort while doing these actions. These actions form a part of your comfort zone and you often refuse to come out of that zone. It is quite possible that you follow a good and busy routine each and every day, i.e. getting up on time, eating the same breakfast, driving the same car, doing the same work, and reaching home, and cooking similar food,  and sleeping on the same time every day. However, I would suggest you ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I feel happy and satisfied at the end of the day?
• Am I stuck in this routine?
• Is this routine my comfort zone?
• Do I fear coming out of this comfort zone?

If the answers to the above questions are  ‘Yes’ for you, this is the time you need to work upon yourself and transform yourself into a person who is free and genuinely happy. Self-dependence is the key to success. You must have noticed that when you try adopting a good habit or when you take on a task towards a better self, for example, losing weight, or following a healthy diet, it takes a lot of effort and time for you to follow the same. As kids, we were always taught that “tiny drops lead to an ocean”, or “ little efforts are necessary for a bigger goal”, or “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, i.e. it always takes ample time to build something great. However, we attract negativity faster and in a big way. The more you’re stuck in habits, the more difficult it gets to transform yourself. Let me tell you a story to explain the same.

A young boy had various habits which he was unwilling to give up. An old hermit wanted to teach him the importance of transformation. One day, while taking a walk in the park with him, he told the young boy to pick a flower off the ground. The young boy did that in a second. In a few minutes, the man told him to pluck a small bush off the ground. The young man plucked it and gave it to the old man. The old man smiled and talked, and after a few minutes, he told the young boy to pluck a tree off the ground, the young boy looked at the old man in doubt and said, “How can I pluck the tree? it is impossible!” The old man said, “Why do you say so? You plucked the bush, why can’t you pluck the tree? The flower you picked earlier fell off the same tree.” The young lad thought for a while and answered, “Because the roots of the tree are strong. I could pluck the flower with no roots, the bush, because it roots were not strong. But the tree has been here for years, and because of its strong roots, I cannot pluck it!” The old man gave out a big smile and said, “Exactly! If you do not decide to give up your habits and transform yourself quickly, these habits grow stronger and hence are extremely difficult to be changed later on!”

Living in comfort zones is like leaving water stagnant for a long time! Stagnant water is the breeding ground of impurity and infection.  It is extremely important to be independent and free to lead a life towards success.

How to become self-reliant and come out of your comfort zones?

1. Make realistic goals, instead of burdening yourself!: Social media has become a source of stress for most of us, instead of being merely a source of entertainment and connectivity. One must take inspiration from people trying to change themselves in these times, and not instead stress yourself out and set huge goals. Being focussed, witty and dedicated is the key to transform yourself.  
2. Look at your life from a third party perspective! Do you think your life is what you have always wished it to be like? When you judge it from a third party perspective, do you feel certain things need to be changed? If yes, take on the challenge today!
3. Take risks! Anything new demands stepping out of the comfort zone, that may be as simple as stepping out of your bean bag to get moving to lose weight, or as huge as waking up an hour earlier than usual to meditate and focus on a new venture you’d been wishing to work upon. Fear is the foremost factor keeping you from success. Do not let fear infect your mind. Taking a route different from the usual might seem a risky attempt, however, you won't get to know any new or easier routes if you don’t make that decision.

The current situation, where most of us are at home living a completely different life, is a chance for you to become self-dependent, take your life in your own hands, and lead a better life towards success!

Take that first move! Stay Happy, Healthy and  Stress-free!

 “Your Infected Mind Can Kill You Faster than the Virus!” Yes, you heard me right. Let me tell you why I am saying that! The current times are extremely stressful with the coronavirus outbreak taking hundreds and thousands of lives around the world. The fear of this infection has in turn affected humans both physically as well as emotionally. It has rendered us weak in spirit, and sadly, has had a bad influence on our lives. Let me ask you a question, do you think that the global panic is only a result of fear of the pandemic? Where does this fear come from? What if I tell you, that before our bodies, our minds have been infected already? Yes, my friends, we have come to a point where we suffer in our minds even if our bodies are safe from the virus.

If you look around yourself right now, you will find numerous things that arise fear in your heart. It can be an update on the pandemic, an unfinished task, or a post on social media. What is the cure of this infection of the mind? Is fear the only symptom of this infection? Let me elaborate more on this.

Infection of the Mind - Major Causes

What causes the mind to catch infection?  Let me elaborate on the causes:

Herd Mentality: I believe in the importance of good and fruitful relationships among human beings in a society. Society can make or break a man. Hence, cordial and collaborative relationships between people are necessary for them to be successful and happy in life. However, the most dangerous side effect of a collaborative society is the development of a herd mentality.

What do we refer to as herd mentality? When you keep your logic and thought aside to blindly believe in what the other person says to you, you’re a victim of herd mentality. A negative thought in the current times of difficulty spreads like wildfire. If you have a herd mentality, you easily give in to that negative thought, and hence plague your mind.

In the current times, taking actions wisely and spreading truthful information are two basic tenets of avoiding panic-like situations. Be aware of the decisions you make under the influence of others. Meditate, and use your own intelligence in order to develop better decision-making skills. Do not copy others and act in one direction because “everyone’s doing it.” Remember, as long as an idea is not criticized, its credibility and worth is not proven. Do not judge those who work differently, develop relationships with society based on effective communication and logical actions.

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

Bertrand Russel

Belief on Rumours: What happens when you decide to believe in a mob? You end up believing in rumours and/or spreading the same. Fear and stress are the two foremost and direct outcomes of belief in fake news. Apart from these, making decisions based on rumours also leads to loss of compassion and appreciation.

Social media, especially in the current times, is the biggest spreader of fake news and rumours. If you dwell on the news spread on sources such as social media, you can subject your mind to perils as dangerous as clinical depression and anxiety. The emotions of hatred and fear arising out of fake news make you attract negative energy towards yourself. Run a fact check before you believe or forward anything on social media. Do not let the effects of technology and social media consume you and infect your mind.

Rumors are like germs. They spread and multiply almost in a breath and before you know it, everyone is contaminated.”

C.J.Tudor

Dwelling over Negativity: I have repeatedly talked about the strengths of the Law of Attraction in my previous blogs. Words have immense power and energy. Through repeated discussions of negative news, reacting to and spreading the same, you attract more negative energy. Negative thoughts can make you extremely stressful. Manage your thoughts by writing them down, and focusing on improving your physical as well as mental health.

Fear and stress arising from a belief on rumours lead to an imbalance of chakras as well as directly reduces the immunity of your body to fight against infections. If you let your mind get infected by fear, your body weakens and gets more susceptible to the infection you’re fearful of.

What are the outcomes of an infected mind?

In these difficult times, what we need is to support each other and infuse our life and environment with positivity. Instead of brooding over fearful thoughts, it is time to plan out your life better, improve your relationships and family life, bring your body clock on track, balance your chakras and take actions to incorporate wellness in life. An infected mind reduces your confidence levels, develops issues like brain fog, and hence keeps you from success. Herd mentality combined with the belief in rumours can lead to a panic-like situation. Panic and fear, as we read in our previous blog, kill you faster than any other infection. Appreciate and pay gratitude to what you “have” right now and focus on growth.

Keep your Minds Infection-Free! Stay Healthy and Happy!

My question to you is “Are you stressed in your job? Is it due to Accountability?” Stress is most common in the workplace today. With the increasing advancements in technology and economies developing at a fast pace,  the world seems to run against time. From a time in the early 1900s when corporate sector jobs were considered atypical, to the present day where a major share of the employed finds itself working in a corporate setup, workplace issues have always been a point of concern. Stress, fatigue, anger issues, time management and energy management problems are a few in the long list of issues faced by the employees in the day today.  Lack of Accountability may be the issue which is creating stress in you.

What is Meant by Accountability at the Workplace?

 Accountability refers to taking initiative and having a sense of ownership for the work you do. It directly affects your work efficiency and approaches towards every little contribution you make at your workplace.

Do you feel in charge of the job you’re supposed to do? If not, this might create a problem.

A lot can go wrong in case there’s an imbalance in your perception of your accountability towards your job. The major issue resulting from the same is stress. An adult in the corporate sector spends approximately 8 to 9 hours a day in office. This number can go much higher, depending upon the nature of their job. This directly means, that, on an average one-third of their lives is being spent in the office.

This is reason enough for us to be immensely affected, physically as well as mentally, by our life at our jobs. If there’s a disbalance with respect to ‘taking charge’ at the workplaces, personality issues are likely to emerge in personal lives.

Stress and frustration, unfortunately, tend to be a part of your daily life, whether you are a manager or an associate or both. The causes, in general always come down to the factor of accountability. Let us see, how.

Major Causes of Accountability issues

As a Team Manager:

You end up feeling stressed, if:

• You are not able to make your team accountable for their work because there are staff members who are not pulling their weight and are relying on others to pick up their task
• You feel that the efficiency of your team is half as some of your staff is shouldering others work
• Your team shows signs of disharmony; members with varying opinions are affecting the work quality
• Your team is not open to feedback

As a Team Member

You end up feeling stressed, if:

• You are shouldering someone’s else work because he/she is not pulling their weight
• You’re scared of being held accountable for your job as your team’s slackness thrives
• You do not really recognize the importance of your work in your firm
• You’ve failed once and fear handling new projects

Accountability plays a major role in the above issues.

How to tackle these issues?

1. Creating Trust through Constructive Feedback: Constructive Feedback is a skill which can be used to create trust in the team. Constructive feedback is where you not only provide feedback on areas of improvement but also appreciate examples where the staff has displayed their strength. This type of feedback is taken positively by the employees and creates trust in their manager or team lead. Research studies have shown that most of Gen Z and Millennials consider a growth on the basis of feedback as important as financial growth opportunities. Meetings, further, are building blocks of unity, trust and developing a sense of accountability in the team. Being open to feedback by initiating one-on-one meetings with the manager towards building a better relationship at the workplace is a step towards recognizing your importance.
2. Know Your Worth: As employees, you or your team members have to believe that they are in the team for a reason. You are there to play a professional role. To play this role you and your team members need to speak their mind and provide their professional concerns in the team meetings. This will create the importance of self and will enhance productivity and confidence.
3. Internal Over External Accountability:
   • What is Internal accountability? Internal accountability is when a person entirely accepts responsibility for their job, believing it to be their task, and gets motivated to take charge. Internal accountability directly elevates you and your team's mindset from being a Victim to a Creator. This further reduces stress levels and fills the workplace life with positivity.
   • What is External accountability? External accountability, however, refers to forced accountability, when you feel you are working for someone else. This is a major cause behind constantly feeling stressed. Stress, in turn, reduces work efficiency.
4. You’re Much More Than a Mistake: One mistake can never decide your worth. Do not be afraid of mistakes - they are just learnings if you do not repeat them. The better way out is to take note of the mistake, own up to it, learn from it and step up. Taking charge of your work through accepting your mistakes is a stepping stone towards success.

If you feel accountable to yourself, are open to constructive feedback, you know your worth and you are not afraid of owning your mistakes, then you will be less stressed and you will not waste your time and energy in blame-game. People will recognize your work and your contribution to the team, instead of your manager taking charge as you yourself review your performance from time to time.

In this series of blogs, I will be sharing more about wellness in the corporate sector where I will provide some useful insights and tips to help you enrich your time at your workplace. The Stress Masters Programme created by me can further guide you through the ways to de-stress yourself at work and achieve immense success.

Till then, Stay Healthy and Stress-free!

What comes to your mind, when we think of the word ‘Being’? We, as humans, recognize ourselves with reference to the three pillars of our existence, the mind, the body and the universe. A balance between the mind as well as the body has been known to be the basis of sanity, and our connection with the environment defines our social character and further decides our well-being.  In my previous blog, we discussed how the human body is formed by the five elements, i.e. earth, air, water, fire and space. Their balance, in numerous ways, decides our life condition as well as health. Let me further elaborate on the way each element affects our body, as well as mind and the outcomes of element imbalance.

The ancient traditional Indian medicine system, known as the Ayurveda, focuses on maintaining health through takingcare of your diet, enhancing the power of the mind and controlling stress through practices such as meditation. The roots of the element theory are also believed to lay in the ideas of Hippocrates, the father of medicine.  Natural therapy, or Naturopathy, introduced in its modern form in 1902 by Benjamin Lust, had faded in its charm over time, with the proliferation of modern medicine. However, in the contemporary world, it has regained its admiration, owing to the limits of modern medicine being tested repeatedly. The system of Naturopathy, as well as that of Ayurveda, comprises the sole belief in the removal of toxins from the mind as well as the body, creating a balance between the five elements for seeking a healthy life state.

How does the element imbalance affect our mind and body?

Each element affects us on two levels, physiological as well as psychological.

{The physiological stratum refers to our body, i.e. the physical self. The psychological stratum refers to the functions of our mind.}

1. The Earth Element:

The Earth element, being the element of highest density is connected directly to the entire body mass. Its excess causes obesity and lack cause emaciation. The generalization of the Earth element in itself tells you the psychological aspects of it. ‘To be down to Earth’ is often considered a virtue, unless it is in state of excess. The more the Earth element is imbalanced in your being, the more you feel ‘stuck in your own head’, stuck in emotions and lack self-confidence or on the contrary, you are in a constant state of apathy. Brain Fog is another common condition arising from Earth imbalance. The lack of the Earth element pushes you away from emotions and from the sense of life itself.

Natural Ways to Balance the Earth Element:

• Eat foods which are lighter on the digestive system
• Devise ways to manage your time and energy efficiently;
• Enjoy the smell of the earth, touch nature once in a day; a walk on the grass barefoot is the best way to stay connected with the Earth element
• The Ayurveda recommends the Balneotherapy or the Mud therapy to balance the Earth element in your body
• Sound and Vibration Therapy helps in balancing the Earth element
• Meditation on your Mooladhaar Chakra (the Base Chakra) also helps you to balance your Earth element

2. The Water Element:

With direct nexus with all the significant fluids of the body, the Water element takes cares of your blood circulation and controls the body function effectively. Our bodies are made of 60 to 65% water, and its imbalance creates issues in the proper functioning of the body and mind. The system of natural medicine believes water to possess a sense of memory. It is said to retain energy and affect its carrier accordingly. Health issues such as lethargy and kidney-related disorders are a result of Water imbalance.

Natural Ways to Balance the Water Element:

• Drink water, as pure as possible, free from toxins
• Consumption of alkaline, structured water is the best way to neutralize the acidity in the body and balance the entire system
• Hydrotherapy, i.e. external usage of water in different forms is another recommended technique to balance the Water element
• Taking dips regularly in Sea or river water (which are full of minerals) cleans the water element of the body
• Sound and Vibration Therapy helps in balancing the Water element
• Meditating on the Swadhisthaan chakra (Sex Chakra) helps in balancing the water element

We shall talk about Fire, Air, and Space elements and the impact of their imbalance on our lives in my next blog.

Till then, Enjoy your being’s balance, Stay Healthy and Stress-Free!

"He who is unable to live in a society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god" - Aristotle

To begin our discussion about our relationship with the society, I consider it mandatory to mention the great ancient Greek philosopher and polymath, Aristotle. Those who have never read about Aristotle might wonder how an ancient Greek philosopher is relevant in the modern world of today!

Aristotle is famous for his significant contributions into every aspect of life. He describes a human being as a social creature, i.e. a human being, according to Aristotle, cannot lead a good life in solitude.

Today,I would like to tell you about an incident which gave me a new perspective to my life.

I visited my childhood friend, Nikhil after almost a decade, on his father’s 87^th birthday. Nikhil works as a General Manager for a large corporation in India. For a very long time, he had been trying to tackle certain grave conflicts at his workplace, with his friends as well as within his family. For his father’s birthday, he had decided to host a grand party and was secretly hoping that his initiatives might improve his relationship with his parents.

As I spoke to him in the party, I realized that Nikhil had been struggling on every front; his days and nights were all about complaining, harboring negativity and despondency. Our conversation was filled with negativity. This was when his old-aged father joined us – he sat quietly and heard us through the remainder of our talks.

And then the wise, old man spoke to Nikhil -

“Nikhil, tell me honestly, have you ever considered recognizing yourself apart from the roles you play; of a father, a son, a General Manager, or a friend? Have you ever looked at yourself from a third person’s perspective? Each of those around you reacts to you as per what they see. Have you tried to see what they see? I have been searching for Nikhil for a very long time. I only get to meet the GM. You create your world. The reactions people give you is a reflection of who they see - if they see a humble and warm person they react accordingly and  if they see an arrogant, self-involved person then they react that way.

Look at how you interact with people and I can guarantee things will change...”

Nikhil was taken aback by his father’s words. He went quiet for the next few hours. He called me next day morning and told me his father’s words had really made an impact on him. From that day onwards, Nikhil had started to focus on his behavior, and leading his life differently, for better.

I met him a year later, he was a smiling happy and a very cool guy – someone who looked similar to the Nikhil I had known from my childhood.

What are the recurring questions on this subject in our minds? Let’s find out.

1). How Can the Society Shape My Life?

Our beliefs and opinions are all placed as per the surroundings we have lived in. An ignorant mass of human beings tend to produce an ignorant human being, and an awakened group of people nourishes and often produces an awakened intellectual. Your surroundings & environment play a major role in shaping up your life. A positive environment automatically enhances your creativity, and a negative one pulls you into a pit of inaction and complaint. However, let me call this trait of society not a characteristic but a tendency. It is in your hands whether or not can you maintain a healthy relationship with your environment, take out the good from it and leave the rest.

2) Can I Change my Conditions? How?

• Gratitude and Appreciation: Two Pillars of a Happy Life

Before you begin your day, think back to the things that have contributed to your life. Understanding other’s contribution increases gratitude for everything you have in your life. Colleagues, fellow travelers, juniors, seniors, friends, family, or house-helps, everyone around you shall cherish an appreciative remark once in a while. Make the person next to you smile;good vibes shall comeback to you.

• Align your Mission with your Vision

Your life needs to have a mission as well as a vision. Mission is your personal goal, however, vision refers to a greater good. The universe, i.e. surroundings plays the most important role in your success. All success stories of today have a vision of a greater good, of providing the society with something for its betterment, hence the universe responds in a similar way.

From the endless list of practical and running examples for the same, Tesla stations itself as a global leading automotive firm, with a vision,

Tesla, with its beautiful vision of gifting an absolute pollution-free environment to the society is the core reason for its tremendous success.

• Do Not Let Social Anxiety Get the Better of You

Through my previous blog series on the Law of attraction, I tried to make my readers realize that you control everything in your life. Begin with working on your physical as well as mental health, maintain a diary for daily productivity and gradually break out of your cocoon. The world is ready to accept you the way you are; all you need to do is make the first move!

• Know the Bigger Picture

Pick your battles. Every time you’re about to get into a conflict with anyone, pause for a second and ask yourself, “Will my reaction here help me in future?” If the answer is no, take a deep breath and move on. 

It is important to look at yourself from the perspective of the society to maintain a healthy relationship with the same. Healthy relationships lead to a healthy mind, further leading to realization of personal dreams of success and happiness and your happiness flows through the society you live in.

The More you Give, The More comes back to You – giving momentum to your Vision.

Spread Joy! Stay Healthy and Stress-free! 

The famous author Mark Manson, in his book known as ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***k’, says, 

“If it feels like it's you versus the world, chances are it's really just you versus yourself.” 

It is always you versus yourself. Things change when you begin leading your life this way. However, for numerous years, we have directed our minds to constantly deny our faults and blame things on our surroundings. 

1. Shifting The Blame Without Introspecting Within

Let me narrate an incident to explain this. Some time ago, in a party, I came across this person. My friend Nitin told me certain things about his life. The man was the founder and CEO of a famous beverage start-up which, in the last few months, was on the slope towards failure. Besides the hefty funds they received, the company had begun to lag in the market because their workforce had stopped being supportive. When I walked past him, I heard him blatantly blaming his employees and calling them ungrateful and sluggish. 

Nitin told me that in the recent past, the man’s employees had been complaining about his behaviour, and some had even resigned. The man was rude and mismanaged in his work. He used to call his employees for meetings on weekends or holidays, providing them with unrealistic reasons and often cancelled at the last minute. Such repeated acts were clearly a reason why his employees had stopped supporting him.  

Numerous attempts had been made by his closed ones to explain to him the real reason behind his downfall, but he refused to accept it. He deeply believed that his employees were at fault.  

This was his blindspot!  

And this is where I realised that most of us constantly dwell in our blindspots. A blind state is not healthy for your mind. You need to remove your blindspot in order to move forward in life and accept your responsibility towards shaping your life. Let me explain this better through the Law of Attraction.  Your life is constantly getting shaped with or without your knowledge. How so? Every decision you take, be it small or big, makes a difference in your life. Often do we wonder, 

“How come these successful people are always so confident? Do they never make wrong decisions?”

The answer to these questions can be easily understood with the proper understanding of the Law of Attraction. Every decision is correct if taken confidently and for the benefit of the others, hence, people who take decisions without any doubt, always tend to be successful in life. Law of Attraction has one basic rule: 

For the law to work, Desire and Action need to be present, however there should be no place for Doubt. When was the last time you gave an advice to a colleague, or a friend? How easy or difficult was it? We do not hesitate while making decisions for others. While counselling others, we do not give in to doubt. However, while deciding or taking an action for ourselves, we often spend days as well as months before reaching a conclusion.  

What do you need to do or eat to remain healthy? What should be your daily routine? Most of us have been aware of the answers to these questions for years, but have we really begun to bring them into action? We spend hours planning, thinking about what we should or should not do. Being practical and taking actual decisions for yourself is the tricky part. 

2. Harbouring Superstitions Rising From Self Doubt

Doubt emerges mostly from our past experiences. Here, let me introduce the concept of Power Centre, i.e. the collection of beliefs (stored in our subconscious) which is a result of positive as well as negative experiences in the past. We often dwell on our past for the decisions we make in the present.  Dwelling in the past gives rise to superstitions!

Let’s say, you have failed an exam when you slept early the night before the exam. Your past belief will not let you sleep before the next exam. You’ll always be scared and will try your best to study till late at night. If somehow, you fall asleep the previous night, you’ll sit for the exam with a truck load of fear in your heart and eventually end up forgetting what you learnt! As explained in my previous blog, the Law of Attraction shall work perfectly in this case. 

This is how doubt, and in most cases, superstition forms a part of your subconscious.  

It is your responsibility to constantly make choices from the positive power centre and not from the negative power centre. Make use of your past for motivation! This is one of the few ways to direct the Law of Attraction in your favour! 

Do away with doubt and remove the blindspots which keep you from your dreams and life goals! 

Stay tuned for my next blog where I’ll explain the do’s and don’ts that will allow the Law of Attraction to work in your favour!

If you want to understand how and where to start, let’s have a conversation.

Till then, Stay Positive! Stay healthy and Stress-free! 

To your kid who has an exam tomorrow, or to a friend who is leaving for an interview, how would you wish the best for them?

Languages change across the world; emotions remain the same. However, if you closely notice, there are only two beliefs with regard to delivering good work. Wishing someone “the best” is very different from wishing someone “the best of luck”. They say it is in your own hands whether you depend on luck for success, or on hard work. It is always easy to blame it on fate – just believing in your hard work takes courage.

But what if I told you, there’s a grey area right in between ‘hard work’ and ‘luck’?  What if I say, your success or fulfilment of your desires lies solely in your hands, and a slight change in the way you think, can make all the difference that is needed? Let me further help you through it. As has been shown to us by science as well as philosophy, each and everything that exists, be it a living or a non-living entity, is guided by various laws. Right from the Law of Gravitation, which we learn in school, to the various Laws of the Universe we have all come across as we grow up, our life works in tandem with the universe.

The Law of Attraction, as I call it, is the basis of all universal laws, if understood and worked upon in the correct manner. What exactly is Law of Attraction? As I said previously in my blog, changing your thought can change your life. Thoughts, in their severity, are understood as emotions.

We, owing to the electromagnetic fields we generate around us, are trying to attract something all the time. The Law of Attraction states that, your emotions guide your life. Love is an emotion, the same way, anger, fear, lust, happiness, are all  emotions. Whatever you love or desire in its extremity, the universe readies itself to serve you the same. This holds true for fear as well!

Two mountain climbers, George and Michael, were onto completing a project – to successfully reach atop one of the highest mountains in the world. However, they met with a horrifying accident on their way up. Both couldn’t maintain their balance after hitting a huge rock on their way and slipped down speedily, cutting snow on their slope downwards. They got up after remaining unconscious for a few minutes, only to find out that their shoes were torn, and they’d both lost their bags, which had all the food they would need on the trek. This incident would have been enough to break their spirits.

However, returning was not a viable option for them. They were representing their country! Tired and dejected, walking for several hours without food, both seemed to have almost reached the top! However, the final climb was going to be the most difficult. Successfully crossing such a thick belt of snow with torn shoes and lack of energy, was going to the toughest. They paused for a few minutes before taking the climb. Thoughts ran in their heads:

Eventually, as both George and Michael began the climb, George felt slightly uneasy. His shoe got stuck, and he began to sink in the snow. He was so tired by then that he couldn’t get up. His frustration and anger was starting to get the better of him.

George said, “Michael! I knew this would happen! We shouldn’t have continued!”

He noticed Michael had already taken the lead. Very soon, George heard him shouting in joy, “And here goes the flag! I did it!”

Howsoever magical it sounds; it is nothing but pure science! As per Einstein, “Everything is energy. And that's all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.”

The universe is listening to whatever you think or utter. Universe will serve you exactly what you serve it. George decided his fate himself and so did Michael. See, how their thought process made all the difference!

How does the Law of Attraction work, why does it work for some and not for others, and how can we effectively use it for ourselves to build the life of our dreams?

As you wait for my next blog on this subject, listen to my video series that talks about many aspects of this law.

If you want to understand how and where to start, let’s have a conversation.

Stay positive in your mind, words and actions. Stay healthy and stress-free!