Abhishek Kumar

Off-topic

2010-08-02T18:32:00.004+05:30

I do not post too much about myself or my life. Ideas excite me more than my life - I thrive on them. I talk about them as a part of my chosen vocation. I delight in them. I value learning above love, above pride, above adventure and probably above life. I also believe a good, well-constructed, powerful idea is much more exciting than anything I could have going on in my life! :-)

However, a new friend suggested - it would make much more sense if I also spoke about myself a bit more on my blog. It is important, she said. It helps people understand your ideas in context. Often, only ideas on the blog or in my programs project an image of an infallible intellectual. Often, I am perceived as such by those who encounter me professionally. As my friends will tell you, I can't walk on water and often get lost while driving. I feel at a loss when others approach me with the hint of a suggestion that I hold answers to their lives. I don't. I play with ideas. I share them powerfully and articulate them well. They are the tools of my trade.

However, it is also true that every idea, every thought I have is but an extension of who I am. I am earnest and sincere about what I do, about learning, about experience and about growth.

It would not be such a bad idea to share more of myself on the blog. So, do not be surprised to see some personal, off-topic posts - not about ideas or the mind, but about the author. I will tag these posts as Abhishek or Off-topic, so they should be fairly easy to ignore or assimilate.

So.... I have a dog. I love her, her name is Sherry Blackberry....

More coming up..

// Abhishek sighs :-)

Hegel on Knowledge

2010-07-16T02:24:00.005+05:30

Reading "The Phenomenology of the Spirit" by Hegel. Find it fascinating. While, I have myself often taken an intellectual position of not trusting what I do know, or what I can know. I have been wary of error. Hegel points out beautifully, that this lack of trust itself cannot be trusted. It presupposes quite a bit, among them that Knowledge is distinct from us as well as from what Hegel calls the Absolute - which is true. (In the excerpt below, 'Science' refers to Philosophy and not the scientific method Science.)

Meanwhile, if the fear of falling into error introduces an element of distrust into science, which without any scruples of that sort goes to work and actually does know, it is not easy to understand why, conversely, a distrust should not be placed in this very distrust, and why we should not take care lest the fear of error is not just the initial error. As a matter of fact, this presupposes something, indeed a great deal, as truth, and supports its scruples and consequences on what should itself be examined beforehand to see whether it is truth. It starts with ideas of knowledge as an instrument, and as a medium; and presupposes a distinction of ourselves from this knowledge.

He goes on to say - what I think have been stunning lines for me.

More especially it takes for granted that the Absolute stands on one side, and that knowledge on the other side, by itself and cut off from the Absolute, is still something real; in other words, that knowledge, which, by being outside the Absolute, is certainly also outside truth, is nevertheless true - a position which, while calling itself fear of error, makes itself known rather as fear of the truth.

Ripples Lab

2010-07-03T14:04:00.008+05:30

My goal is to be at the forefront of human knowledge. To push the boundaries of what we know. To do tremendously exciting things.

Today, I am as proud as a new father - to announce the birth of Ripples Lab.

Ripples Lab: An independent research initiative.- with a goal to find out. To explore. To discover. To satisfy my curiosity. Research for research's sake.

And Ripples Lab Studio: To create solutions & installations. To create performances & educational programmes. To create an exciting and fresh view of human nature.

First draft of the web site is at http://www.rippleslab.com/ - still under construction. Fortunately, Ripples Lab has a solid team backing it. Ripples Learning - with its ability to fund research. A bright and talented anthropologist - who shares my vision of Ripples Lab. Not to mention, a pool of working professionals, organizational psychologists and psychologists - whose wisdom we can draw upon, when needed.

The first experiment of Ripples Lab, titled 'Lost in Translation' is underway this week.

This is by far,the most exciting thing I have ever been a part of!

The 'real' secret

2010-06-20T19:38:00.000+05:30

"The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do."

-- Henry Moore

Landscapes of my mind

2010-05-26T01:37:00.004+05:30

The emotional landscape of my life is a different universe than the intellectual landscape.

The rules that apply in one break down in the other.

The principles that define one are meaningless in the other.

What is well-formed in one is warped in the other.

They are different universes - neither opposite, nor the same. They cannot be 'similar' and one cannot be 'better' than the other. They are different.

It is possible for the intellectual landscape of my mind to be rich in choice while the emotional map remains impoverished. Typically this would manifest in me being very intelligent yet reactive, jealous, fickle, holding grudges, resentful etc.

It is possible for the emotional landscape of my mind to be rich in choice while the intellectual map remains impoverished. Typically this would manifest in me having trouble with logic and argument but having an ocean of tolerance, maturity, forgiveness and empathy.

Reality, Nature, Life - is rich in both. When we enrich our choices in both these landscapes, we truly live life. To live in only one landscape at the cost of the other is living only half a life.

I strive to nurture both these landscapes and have richness of choice in both.

Jonjhua

2010-05-20T10:32:00.005+05:30

Surely we are asking the wrong questions.

Why are we alive?

Why do we exist?

What is the purpose of life?

What's the point?

What is going on?

Why do we die?

What is reality?

I have figured out - the right question to ask is Jonjhua.

Jonjhua we alive?

Jonjhua we exist?

Jonjhua purpose of life?

Jonjhua point?

Jonjhua going on?

Jonjhua die?

Jonjhua reality?

What is Jonjhua?

Patience. :-) Read on...

All our questions are based on trying to figure out reality.

Let's see how well we do on "reality" on a day-to-day basis.

What we normally refer to as our experience of the world is actually a set of events that have already been significantly transformed with respect to the world and bears only a shadowy resemblance to the real world.

What we see is just a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Photons of wavelength between 400 to 700 nanometers strike receptors in the retina of the eye. All wavelengths below and above this are undetected and unexperienced by us directly. The photons between 400 to 700 nm are detected by our receptors and create an impulse which travels through the optic nerve passing through larger complex structures (eg. distinct nerves, lateral geniculate bodies, hypothalmus etc.) and leading to the occipital lobes. At each of these stages mapping through neurlogical processes changes or adds on to the data stream that serves as the initial input to the receptor.

(Simple translation: What we see is not what is really out there, but a version of it corrupted by our own receiving antennae)

John Grinder in 'Whispering in the wind' says -

The image we see of what we take to be in front of us is actually behind us on our occipital lobes. We "know" that that occipital lobe image corresponds to some event in front of us through learning and especially the multiple descriptions of the our experiencie of the world that we create through a comparioson of the products of the neurological transforms that define the individual sensory modalities - in particular touch and audition. The sound we hear emanating from behind us is an event that is actually occurring on our temporal lobe - but we have learned as in the case of vision through coordination with the other modalities and in particular by arrival time differentials as refined as 1/250,000 of a second between the two ears where in the space around us the source of the sound is located. Again similar descriptions are available for the other sensory channels.

Case in point - Stainless Steel. Stainless Steel is made 'stainless' by a thin film created when chromium, oxygen (from air and water) react with iron, chromium, manganese, silicon, carbon etc. This thin film is invisible and prevents additional corrosion by acting as a barrier that limits the access of oxygen and water to the underlaying metal surface.

What this means is - that stainless steel does not corrode - because it is already corroded. Since, we can't see the new film - it looks "stainless" to us.

Similar sequences of corruption of each sensory channel can be described. What we hear is within a limited bandwidth. What we feel is too. What we smell is again inhibited. And so is what we can taste.

We can't hear dog whistles.

We see stars which are probably long dead.

A dog can smell what we can't.

What we experience is not reality. What we experience is a shadow of reality - mutilated, corrupted, modified, added on,

changed beyond recognition by our own neurological receptors.

In his book, Grinder gives a beautiful description of this distinction -

You are likely sitting in a comfortable chair holding this book in your hands as you read these words. You are sensing a vast number of things; most of them occur without your being aware of them; some force their way into your consciousness. We invite you to back out of your present perceptual position for a moment and look at this reader seated comfortably in a chair, holding a book. What is the larger context in which you observe him or her holding the book?

This reader whom you are observing is awash in a sea of electromagnetic energy - the entire electromagnetic spectrum is in active play in, around and through her, her chair and her book. The reader has very limited access to this vast spectrum of events. Her eyes are capable of detecting wavelengths between 400 nanometers and 700 nanometers. Her ears register the arrival the sound waves, alternating compressions and attenuation of sound waves generated between 20 cycles per second and 20,000 cps. The tactile sensitivity of her skin responds to differences in position, temperature, moisture... within extremely limited ranges. The rest of what is happening — indeed, the vast majority of those events that occur in the electromagnetic spectrum that defines the actual world — occur without any awareness, in fact, without the possibility of unaided awareness (that is, without instrumentation) by her. In the time that it took her to read the last paragraph, a large number of sub atomic particles have literally passed through her body.

The channels of access - her sensory apparatus - to this booming buzzing riot of movement, energy and flux are as small knotholes in a fence through which she attempts to peer as if to catch a fleeting glimpse of the great game being played out there.

Having already demolished the reality of the real world - let us now zoom in to what seems to be going on inside our mind.

Thought.

Memory.

Imagination.

Reasoning.

Cognition.

Decision Making.

Sentience.

Subjectivity.

Self-reflection.

These are the tools or appratus available to us through which we are trying to figure out the 'meaning' of reality.

What makes us believe that these tools are enough? How do we know that there are not other tools that exist and are available - just not to us?

We are not equipped to "see" the real world.

We are not equipped to "hear" the real world.

We are not equipeed to "feel", "smell" or "taste" the real world.

What makes us believe we are equipped to "think" about the real world usefully and come to 'real' answers?

And isn't the construct of an 'Answer' merely that - a construct?

What if our intellect operates within a limited range and once one goes beyond this range (which is of course, not possible) - the whole construct or idea of things having an answer or solution dissolves and something unknown takes its place?

What then?

And then - comes the problem of 'framing' the question. Our experience of the world - is not real. It is merely First Access. It's messy. It's corrupted. It's downright inaccurate.

But at least its a representation ( a re-presentation, we present the world again to ourselves ) through the apparatus available.

To this cocktail of confusion - we now add Language. It is like doing tequila shots when you are already pissed drunk so that you can get a grip on reality.

Language is not even a re-presentation. It is a re-presentation of a re-presentation.

Remember First Access? Language deletes, distorts and generalizes from the First Access and tries to make sense of the world.

This means - language undergoes two levels of corruption (the more appropriate word is "transormation").

Now imagine - you are trying to figure out the meaning of reality (or life) by using tools of language - which are a representation of a representation of reality - when the first representation itself is assuredly inaccurate.

Good luck with that!!

Hence, Jonjhua.

Jonjhua is the word I have invented to describe a language construct - which uses a range of mental faculties not available to us so as to get rid of all the limitations posed above. If we use Jonjhua - we are not dealing with the challenges of corruption in language. We are not even dealing with the challenges of corruption from First Access.

When you use Jonjhua in language - it directly (and what must seem like magic) connects one to "reality".

And using Jonjhua helps you access the unknown "stuff" that helps 'real' reality makes sense.

Jonjhua we alive?

Jonjhua we exist?

Jonjhua purpose of life?

Jonjhua point?

Jonjhua going on?

Jonjhua die?

Jonjhua reality?

If only, it were possible.

Going down the rabbit hole

2010-05-13T16:09:00.000+05:30

I earlier wrote a post about how the two balancing forces in my life are Ambition and Meaning. I have created in a very short duration what was merely a dream for me a few years ago. It is immensely satisfying. When I wake up every morning - I wake up to a reality where I have freedom, independence and the physical and intellectual space to do whatever I want. I can take the most exciting and inspiring thoughts in my head and turn them into projects and be occupied with them for the time to come.

So, what?

What's the point? In absolute terms, you can't really "make a difference". Why bother?

This post is an attempt to think that through.

Also, I thought long and hard before posting this. This post is not what I talk or teach or write about. I talk and write about making good and lasting changes in life and finding ways to be positive and have fun. Should I really post about God, Religion and Meaning. Then I remembered the words of Goethe and decided - this is where I am in my current development of thought. No reason not to express myself authentically - so here, it is - A journey down the rabbit hole of meaning...

-------

Am I an atheist?

I sure as hell don't believe in god.

In fact, I sure as hell don't believe in either god or hell.

I don't believe in the pseudo, arrogant, angry, calculative, punishing, jealous, psychopathic god that religion would have me believe in.

In my head, figuring out that religion was nonsense was the starting point of intellectual inquiry.

Does that make me an atheist ?

Probably.

But I am not quite sure.

It is easy to not believe in something. Belief requires a mental shortcut. It requires that we fore-go the process of reasoning and rationality to assume something to be true about a situation. And we proceed with that generalization.

So, the question is not what I don't believe in. UFOs, Ghosts, God, Religion, Paris Hilton's IQ.

The questions is - what do I believe in?

That is where I differ wildly from other atheists I know.

This is what I have thought about in the past few months - I do not believe in anything. I do not believe the world has any meaning. That all that is happening is happenstance. That reality is a dance playing itself out and we just happen to be here - no rhyme or rhythm - no meaning,no reason.

First - I still agree with that. There is no other way to look at it. Reality is an illusion. It is just playing itself out.Reality is empty of meaning. Human beings are meaning-makers and all of reality that we experience merely exists in our mind. Nothing means anything. Good, bad, evil, liberty, democracy, rights, society, justice, collective, humanity, law, love, life, marriage, government, business, economics - just our feeble attempts to attach meaning to our experience. All these meanings are transitory and can be replaced by another meaning in a different context. In NLP, its called Reframing. Nothing is absolute.

This is meaninglessness.

And this can be quite depressing for some people. When they think that life is essentially meaningless and empty - they get depressed. They feel that life "ought" to have a meaning - and it is somehow sad that it doesn't. As though, it's cosmic customer service that has failed to meet their expectation.

Yet, by their own rationale - this hunger for meaning, for coherence and the obvious lack of it in reality - is also meaningless.

The reaction to meaninglessness is also meaningless and therefore its a circular loop.

It might be argued that there is an "innate" or "inherent" thirst or curiosity which is responsible for this existential depression.

I could concede that. However, even if this "innate" and "inherent" curiosity and thirst existed in human beings - the consequence of the realization that the world is meaningless leading to a 'sad' response is still an interpretation and therefore false.

The philosopher is guilty of making meaning out of meaninglessness.

Then, where are we?

We realize the world is meaningless. But we just witness it. Merely observe it. And make no judgment about that.

Because all of our bad judgments about the world are as false as our good judgment.

Pessimism is as much of an illusion as Optimism.

Sadness is as false as Happiness.

And this is where I stand intellectually.

Frozen. Witnessing the meaninglessness of life.

But still, the challenge of living life remains to be tackled. And that requires meaning-making.

So, I choose optimism knowing it is false, yet also knowing that the alternative is equally false.
I choose optimism because I want to.

I choose inspiration, knowing that it is false, yet knowing that the alternative is equally false.
I choose inspiration because I like it.

I choose a positive spin on stuff, knowing that its bullshit, yet knowing that a negative spin on stuff in equally bullshit.
I choose a positive spin, because it feels good.

If I were to attempt an adventure in meaning-making, I would say: Maybe the meaninglessness of life is not a lacuna to be mourned, but an opportunity to be celebrated. Maybe, the meaninglessness is an invitation to paint. Maybe, the meaninglessness is the silence which music can be created and played.

So what do I believe in?

I believe in what makes me feel good, because I know that everything that makes me feel bad is as false as everything that makes me feel good.

But I prefer feeling good.

I am not inspiring

2010-05-11T17:18:00.005+05:30

I have been often told that I am "inspiring". As a communicator, leader, coach - I am able to paint pictures and tell stories with an infectious passion which leaves people "spellbound - sometimes with goosebumps" (quotes from a participant in a workshop).

However, the truth is - I am not inspiring.

I am inspired.

Being inspired is my favorite emotional state. The whirlpool of positive emotions I feel inside me when I follow a chain of positive thoughts is heady and powerful for me too. When I meet others and talk to them - I am not inspiring them - just myself. And they naturally seem to bathe in the experience of my emotions.

When I look at facts, situations and people - I do not look at "what is" but what is possible - what can be. When I meet people - I do not see the limitations they place on themselves. I see them for who they can be. And I share it with the passion that I feel within me. I inspire people because they inspire me.

A scary thought is - the same would be true for toxic emotions too, isn't it? If one has a whirlpool of pessimism spinning wildly inside - what impact would it have on those around us?

Isn't communication merely transference of emotions?

धन्यवाद् प्रेमचंद ! :-)

2010-05-09T17:40:00.001+05:30

मुंशी प्रेमचंद से मेरा साक्षात्कार बचपन में ही हुआ था। शायद, 'हीरा-मोती' की कहानी से। तब से, प्रेमचंद मेरे प्रिय बन गए। उनकी अनेकों कहानिया, उपन्यास मैंने पढ़ डाले। उनके लिखने में कोई ऐसा जादू था, जितना पढता, उतना ही ह्रदय बाग बाग हो जाता। उनकी जीविका भी पढ़ी। कैसे एक साहित्य के मार्गदर्शक, एक महान लेखक का जीवन दुःख एवं आभाव से भरा पड़ा था। कहते हैं, मसीहा को अपने देश में कभी नही पूजा जाता। प्रेमचंद आज विश्व-प्रसिद्ध हैं। उनकी कहानियो एवं उपन्यासों का अनुवाद अनेको भाषाओँ में हो चुका है। उन्हें हिन्दी साहित्य का एक अविलम्ब चिह्न माना जाता है। परन्तु अपने जीवान काल में, न तो उन्हें प्रसिद्धि मिली, ना ही सम्रिध्य। अपनी सरस्वती प्रेस को चालू रखने में ही उनका जीवन गुज़र गया।

प्रेमचंद शब्दों में निपुण थे। अपनी भाषा, अपने लिखने के तरीके से, वो ऐसा समां बांधते, कि लगता उनकी कहानियो के पात्र कागज़ से निकल कर आपके सामने खड़े हों, व आपसे बातें कर रहे हों। उनके सभी पात्र असली थे, कोई भी बनावटी न था। उनकी कहानियो ने मुझ पर एक गहरी छाप छोड़ी। आज भी, उनकी पुस्तकें मेरे पास हैं।

मैं प्रेमचंद का आभारी हूँ, उन्होंने मेरे जीवन के कुछ क्षण बहुत ही यादगार बनाये।

धन्यवाद्!

Fake

2010-05-03T11:54:00.003+05:30

How easily our lives get swept away by the fake world of borders and stock markets, advertisements and sports, being good-looking and looking good, the evening news and the morning newspaper, the talk shows and the reality tv, the national elections and the international ones, the wars and the freedom struggles.

How easily we make that business deal over there, matter to us so much that we develop ulcers over it. How effortlessly we get swept away in the world of distractions that surrounds us – till we forget to be with ourselves. Then – we are alone and we want the TV on, or that magazine to read. The distraction from life has now become life – while life looks on – hapless as an accident victim, the only witness to it too busy to take note and rescue it.

Almost nothing that touches us in real life is real. Almost nothing.

Money is fake. Countries are fake. Passport and Visas are fake. Stock Markets are fake. Deodorant and Perfumes are fake. Clothes are fake. Cars are fake. Sports are fake. Movies are fake. Advertisements are fake. Religion is fake. Godmen are fake. Promotions are fake. Laws are fake. Currency notes are fake. Banks are fake. Police and military are fake. Schools are fake. Colleges are fake. Degrees are fake and Ph.Ds are fake. Organizations and corporations are fake. Houses are fake. Rules are fake. All traffic signs are fake. Marriage is fake. Divorces are fake.

Almost everything that touches us in real life is fake. The things we care about, get high blood pressure over, cry, scream and wail over – are fake.

Money, passports, visas, bank-statements, insurance claims, bills – pieces of paper which we have agreed to mean something. Fake.

Promotions and Corporations – invisible designations in artificial constructions called organizations make us feel good or bad. Fake.

Degrees and Education – Spend so many years visiting the same buildings with the same people, sitting in the same rooms, pretending to study the same thing, answering the same questions, getting different marks and you have graduated. Learning – is optional. Fake.

God and Religion – A megalomaniac of a God, waiting to hurl punishments and the everlasting fires of damnation upon you if you dare to break his rituals, forget to remember him or worse still – pray to another god. A needy clingy monster egoist god who would not smile and bless you till you kneel in submission at him, for the rest of your life. By the way, he loves you. And he’s always a He. Fake.

Marriage – a fire, a ceremony, a party, a court-paper, a judge, two witnesses is what you need for marriage. Not understanding and compassion and growth and expansion and creativity and sensuality and love and laughter. A paper, with four signatures and a seal. Fake.

Divorce – a court proceeding, hurled accusations or amicable separations – must be legal. A couple married long ago – bored, stiff, unfulfilled, no conversations or love or laughter or sensuality, a limp resignation and cynicism about each other, hoping like hell to be somewhere else every minute they spend together – are still married, unless the paper says so. Fake.

Houses and Cars and other Toys – who you are is everything around you except you. Who you are is the house you live in, the car you drive, the mobile phone you use, the gadgets you own – You don’t exist, you have no inherent value – the Toys make the man. Fake.

Rules and Laws and Codes - Everything that is held sacred now, was up for sale once. Everything that was held sacred once, is up for sale now. Societies keep choosing the way they wish to live. And keep changing their choices. It gives workability, transient – in the moment – workability. Fake.

Countries – lines drawn on sand, grass, desert and across seas by an invisible hand-mind-gun invoke passion, fury, hatred, love, pride and breeds violence. Fake.

Then, what is real?

What is intransient and exists.

Music is not fake. Music is real.

Learning is not fake. Learning is real.

Love is not fake. Love is real.

Fear is not fake. Fear is real.

Courage is not fake. Courage is real.

Love, Fear, Courage, Learning, Music – is real. Is Life.

On Writing

2010-03-29T01:16:00.000+05:30

The greatest respect an author can have for his public is never to produce what is expected but what he himself considers right and useful for whatever stage of intellectual development has been reached by himself and others.

Von Goethe

Poetry

2010-03-28T13:18:00.001+05:30

Like all kids, I was a born poet.

I was naturally gifted to see the rainbow in the oily puddle in the road.

Then – my language improved, I started articulating better, became aware of subtle nuances of communication, geometrically expanded my vocabulary and… promptly gave up on poetry.

What if I got my poetry back ?

Quotes by Richard Bandler

2010-03-23T16:23:00.001+05:30

Brains aren't designed to get result; they go in directions. If you know how the brain works you can set your own directions. If you don't, then someone else will.

Do you want to know a good way to fall in love? Just associate with all your pleasant experiences with someone, and disassociate from all the unpleasant ones.

The reason people have problems is that they have too much time to think.

The best thing about the past is that it's over. The best thing about the future is that it's yet to come. The best thing about the present is that it's here now.

The greatest personal limitation is to be found not in the things you want to do and can't, but in the things you've never considered doing

Physics changes, but reality stays the same

"Is it true?" vs "Does it work?"

2010-03-16T20:34:00.004+05:30

Lately, I have been so intrigued by the question "Why" that it has clouded my life-long fascination with the "How".

Trying to answer the fundamental Why questions remains a quest - its deep, its meaningful, even sexy.

Trying to answer the How is less glamorous. It is an arena filled with squabbling crooks, missionaries, conmen, charlatans, quacks and well... those like me. Since masses care about the How more than the Why, there has been commercialization of this space too.

Here is why I care about "How"

The lack of empirical evidence is more the norm than an exception of the discipline of mind-science (to use a not-so-graceful term).

John Horgan in his book "The Undiscovered Mind - How the brain defies explanation" says... (not verbatim)

Evolutionary Biologist Erns Mayr argued that no field of biology can match the precision and power of physics, because unlike electrons and neutrons, all organisms are unique. Even then, the difference between two different kinds of bacteria or different types of horses is trivial compared to differences between two human beings, even those who are genetically identical. Each individual mind may change dramatically when its owner is spanked, learns the alphabet, reads a book, takes a drug, falls in love, gets divorced, undergoes Jungian dream therapy, suffers a stroke. The variability and malleability of the human mind enormously complicate the search for general principles of human nature.

Investigations into the human mind have failed to generate the kind of applications that compel belief in a particular paradigm. Physicists can boast of lasers, transistors, nuclear bombs. Biologists can show-off vaccines, cloning, antibiotics. By-products of mind-science are less impressive: cognitive behavioral therapy, thorazine, prozac, shock therapy, IQ tests etc.

Millions and millions of people receive inputs through psychoanalysis, which Freud invented a century ago. Psychoanalysis also fares very poorly in empirical research. Freud has been described as a cult-leader who excelled at self-promotion and also as a genius whose insights into the psyche, though difficult to pin down empirically, still "ring" true. Each of these views is defensible, and the persistence of psychoanalysis proves the inability of science to offer an obvious superior explanation of the mind and its disorders. Freudians cannot point to an unambiguous evidence of their paradigm's superiority, but neither can proponents of more modern paradigms.

The field of social psychology - which continues to speculate about human culture - coining terms that we are so intimately familiar with as teachers - like "identity crisis", "conventional wisdom" or "learned helplessness" - these are not scientific theories but "help us think".

A slightly different approach then, would be to judge paradigms of thought, not on what they say - but for what they do. The question shifts from "Is it true?" to "Does it work?"

Early advocates of Quantum Physics could only describe results from esoteric experiments. Later, they had the supporting evidence from fission reactors, transistors, lasers, thermonuclear bombs - technologies that altered the course of history. For many physicists; whether quantum mechanics is true is almost irrelevant. It works.

I believe - the name, the label, the thought-movement or affiliations don't matter. I discovered NLP and several other philosophies in a personal quest for meaning and growth and accepted that which made sense and matched my experience. This strategy has worked for me. I cannot claim in all honesty that I have not been skeptic or unfairly judgmental of certain bodies of knowledge. However, in such cases - the loss has been mine.

Reality is a purple blob

2010-03-07T00:22:00.002+05:30

Floating heads like me are often urged to be "realistic" and "practical"

Another request often made is to live in the "real world"

In about 120 years, all seven billion human beings alive on this planet would be dead - and that is "really" realistic!

Being realistic and practical wouldn't have mattered at all.

That can be deeply distressing or immensely liberating.

I am smiling...

Ambition or Meaning?

2010-03-02T19:03:00.003+05:30

When I think about how I have evolved, there seem to be two main players.

Ambition and Meaning

These are the two principal actors in the theater of my life.

Ambition and Meaning.

Ambition takes center stage at times, his demeanor is assertive, his gaze fixed. He is full of passion and believes in his dreams. Ambition strives to succeed, to create, to partner, to conquer, to defeat, to win. Ambition takes a hard look at reality and proclaims "This needs to change" or "I will create this and that". Ambition got me to be dynamic, learn skills of persuasion and negotiation. Ambition tells me I should hire an agent who will do a good job promoting me. Ambition got me to start my own company and persist in the face of odds. Ambition gets me to create new products, ideas. Ambition gets excited at the slightest mention of fames and riches and seeks glamor and the limelight. Ambition is full of energy, constantly dissatisfied, constantly striving, constantly improving.

Meaning on the other hand is much pensive. Much reflection, curiosity and intellectual honesty seem to have gone into the making of Meaning. Meaning strives to find, to connect, to synthesize, to combine, to bring together, to understand, to analyze. Meaning does not believe in perceptions. Meaning does not believe in the "outer world". Meaning is beyond social, political, environmental and even personal happenings. Meaning only strives for intellectual honesty and believes only in the power of reason. Meaning does not care about glamor or riches or fame. Meaning only cares for an understanding, for things to make sense. Meaning seeks its place in the universe and its role in the scheme of things. Meaning does not even seek fulfillment or satisfaction - merely the beauty of "it makes sense!". It seeks the higher truth, not worldly gratifications.

Here I am, typing these words into a screen with zillions of shimmering digital drops of lights. I run a company, care about my work. I make a difference to people's lives - when I know in the 'absoluteness' of it all - it doesn't matter. I strive to succeed, yet understand that success is an illusion. I seek fulfillment, yet understand that its impossible.

This is my malaise. Who do I choose to rule my life - Ambition or Meaning?

As of now, we continue with their uneasy co-existence.

When the student is ready...

2010-02-20T14:40:00.005+05:30

I chanced upon a photo-album in my hard-drive. It had pictures of Gandhi, Richard Bach, Tim Berners Lee and others. At first, I just couldn't for the life of me remember, why I had created this album and downloaded these pictures. Then it dawned on me. I was creating an an album with pictures of people who had really made a difference to my life. Who had mattered. People who had me look at life in a whole new different way. Usually, coming across them meant an intense and immensely satisfying period of personal growth and learning. I was never the same again after crossing paths with them.

Thought it would be fun to capture this list. So here it goes - in no particular order:

Kalpana desai: 1998 - She was the trainer for a Silva program I attended. She was kind, compassionate, loving and really cared for the audience. She was the first trainer I ever knew.

Sue Knight: 2002 - I attended a two day workshop by Sue called 'Introduction to NLP'. After relentlessly pursuing NLP on my own for three years - finally getting to learn it from someone as insightful as her was a revelation. She also helped me make some powerful distinctions about myself.

Premchand: I am yet to find a better writer than Premchand. He makes me want to write. His stories and novels literally taught me the beauty of the written word.

Neale Donald Walsche: His book "Conversations with God" helped me create a model of the universe and its meaning - which held good for a very long time. It helped me build some of my core beliefs about the world.

Anthony Robbins: He introduced me to NLP

Sabah Carrim: She introduced me to pure philosophy and conversations with her about philosophy blew my mind. Everything I knew suddenly became a subset of something bigger, more wonderful. The fundamental questions I was asking about life and work changed. The brightest mind I ever came across in person.

Anne Townsend: Taught me how to facilitate. Her kindness and affection with a greenhorn trainer like me allowed me to build confidence in myself. She said one of the most powerful things I have ever heard "We are not different from each other, we're different like each other"

Mark Wedgwood: Taught me how to facilitate. Anne and Mark were my first models of serious facilitation and I blindly copied (er... modeled :) ) what they did in the first two years after I went solo. I also value his friendship and some amazing conversations we've had.

Dale Carnegie: In 9th standard, I read his book "how to win friends and influence people" - the first non-fiction book I ever read. Got me started on non-fiction.

Azam Pasha: Discussions with him about life, love, creativity and philosophy added new dimensions to my thought

Swamini Vimalananda: Attended a Chinmaya Yuva Kendra camp in her guidance when I was about 12 years old. Met her again when I was 24. Her grace, depth and self-effacing humor probably got me interested in personal growth to begin with.

Ayn Rand: Fountainhead seared itself on my mind for years. I came across her in school - while I tend to disagree with some basic tenets of her philosophy, she helped me find my own voice.

Richard Bach: Introduced me to the magical world we live in and a philosophy of life which resonated true. Illusions remains one of my favorite books.

Purushottam Rai: My grandfather - every moment with him makes you want to be a better human being. Can I be like him when I am old, please :)

Gandhi: I read his autobiography in a train journey from Ranchi to Chennai. Life changed forever. Some of my fundamental ideas about our world, war, peace and society are derived from Gandhi.

Tim Berners Lee: Thank you for having the courage to give away the www to the world for free. it changed my life in so many ways that I cannot even begin to describe. I couldn't sleep the night I came to know about the world wide web, in 1997 :)

The Answer

2010-02-18T19:54:00.001+05:30

There are no answers.

Only choices.

(From the movie Solaris)

Chris Rock

2010-02-15T09:21:00.002+05:30

Are you Single and Lonely?

Married and Bored?

:-)

The Albatross

2009-11-29T00:49:00.001+05:30

Often, to amuse themselves, the men of a crew
Catch albatrosses, those vast sea birds
That indolently follow a ship
As it glides over the deep, briny sea.

Scarcely have they placed them on the deck
Than these kings of the sky, clumsy, ashamed,
Pathetically let their great white wings
Drag beside them like oars.

That winged voyager, how weak and gauche he is,
So beautiful before, now comic and ugly!
One man worries his beak with a stubby clay pipe;
Another limps, mimics the cripple who once flew!

The poet resembles this prince of cloud and sky
Who frequents the tempest and laughs at the bowman;
When exiled on the earth, the butt of hoots and jeers,
His giant wings prevent him from walking.

— Charles Baudelaire

Two of a kind

2009-11-29T00:40:00.002+05:30

I do not write very often. I have been advised of Bernard Shaw’s “Write-5-pages-a-day-no-matter-what” rule, have tried it and not succeeded. Regular readers of my (other) blog would notice that the promise of one-post per day was not kept either. I need inspiration to write. I need an idea to bubble up from the abyss of consciousness, stir my soul and strum my neural network till I am driven by inspiration and energy to put it down on paper – or – type it out on the screen.

I am inspired, today. Why?

Imagine growing up knowing there is something fundamentally weird about the way you think. Imagine being able to see the unfairness of the world and the hypocrisy of it. Imagine never buying into the world, really. Imagine learning to shut up and be normal. Imagine learning not to let your teachers know you are smarter than them. Imagine learning that your astute observations about life, education, religion, learning, patriotism, morality might be really really politically incorrect. Imagine learning to shift, change, adjust, accommodate. Imagine lowering your standards for the kind of person you are, can be and want to be with. Imagine being abnormal, idealistic, impracticable, unconventional, eccentric, over-analytical, dreamer, stupid….. and hiding that. Imagine being not-understood and imagine not imagining any other way things could exist.

Now, Imagine discovering that there are two of you.

Richard Bach says – Your true family is seldom the one you are born in

Where do you want to go today?

2008-06-11T15:43:00.001+05:30

And the winner is.... Choice!!

2007-08-01T17:17:00.000+05:30

Just before I started penning these words, I stared at the white blank space in front of me. The possibilities are staggering. With my thoughts, my mind and fingers, I have the choice to make any use of it that I like. I can write a poem about the beauty of rains, a story about a little girl and her dog, a hate letter against a country or community, a new manifesto for a better world, conversations with myself, haikus, an article about how to use nail-clippers better, a list of my deepest held goals and desires, a list of things i need to buy in the next one week, names of people who have hurt me, a love letter, a gratitude note to those who have touched me, a work mail, a love song, a swot for my company, a recipe for making littis, a manual on how to get an autorickshaw in bangalore, a litany of accusations against someone I despise, a list of reasons I shouldn't write anything or nothing at all.

Anything.

The white space invites me to express any part of myself that I choose to bring forth today... right now. The possibilities, the potential, the freedom, the limitlessness, the infiniteness of it is very difficult to miss.

Life is a lot like this, isn't it?

At any given moment, the next moment and the moment after that stretch before us like a blank sheet of paper. We have absolute freedom, total control, complete power over what we choose to bring forth in those moments. We can choose to write a beautiful story of our life, our destiny. We can choose to write lovingly or write with angst, we can choose to write with our soul or write with our mind. We can choose to admire or envy, we can choose to learn or weep, we can choose to grow or shrink, we can choose to bring forth that which is the best in us – our best version of ourselves or we can carry on – a humdrum existence or even a part of ourselves that is angry – full of hate and venom. We can also tear up the blank sheet of paper. But, we are free. We can be, do, think – anything we want. The only limitations we might apply are those that we have created ourselves.

It's all about money, honey! Or, is it?

2007-07-26T23:44:00.000+05:30

Of course, Money is important.

That is how most perspectives that explore the importance of money in our personal and spiritual growth start off. The tone is apologetic, often a bit guilty. The writers seem to be battling an inner incongruence between their soul's desire for growth and expression and the harsh reality of insurance premiums and EMIs. It is a painful recognition of the role money plays in our day to day existence versus the heart which knows it matters not at all.

The reality says "I am judged, assessed, measured, accepted, respected, often even loved on the basis of the amounts of money I have." The heart says "Money doesn't matter – it is the self that does. There are plenty of unhappy rich people around."

It is important to explore the role money plays in our lives and make peace with it for once and for all. I hope this article will help you do that.

Of course, money is important.

It is very important to notice where, how and why money is important. I believe money is an enabler in the external world. The key word here is "enabler". Money is an enabler. It enables us to do things we would otherwise not be able to do. Like "walking" for instance. Walking enables us to get from one place to another. Or "swimming". Swimming enables us to stay afloat while in water. Money similarly enables us to do things we would not be able to do without it. It enables us to travel to meet our near and dear ones. It enables us to avail of medical facilities to cure our body when we are sick. It enables us to buy nutrition and education. It is a resource.

It is important to distinguish money as an external enabler. It allows us to do things in the external world. Our internal world is different. It is made up of our beliefs, values, attitudes, thoughts etc. Our internal world has absolutely nothing to do with money and this awareness is crucial. Our internal world is the essence of who we are. It is the ever changing, dynamic landscape of our "self" which is shifting, evolving and growing every moment of our lives.

It is when we mix up the role of money and start using it to cater to our internal world that it pollutes and corrupts us. It is when we try and substitute the amount of money we have for being generous or kind or courageous or loving or honest that we have literally "mixed up" priorities.

Self awareness, I-witnessing, Self observation, self discipline, self exploration are the currency of the internal world. Not money. You cannot buy these no matter how much money you have.

The role of ego is using this external enabler to fulfill our soul's needs is undeniable. Ego – a healthy tool that facilitates the illusion of separation of "me" from everything else can prove to be the single biggest obstacle in our personal quest for growth. The ego, which sees money as an extension of itself – easily confuses money as a substitute for developing personal traits and qualities.

So, let us earn money, spend money, give away money, have fun with money. Let us celebrate money and be grateful for it. Just as we should hop and jump for the gift of walking and be grateful for it.

Let us be kind, generous, courageous, loving, grateful, good, soulful, happy inside - whether we have the kind of money we want or not.

What rules is not bits of paper with pictures of noble deceased on them.
What rules is how you choose to express yourself - everyday.

Am I being the best version of what I can be?
That, my friends - is the question!

I like money, but I would choose self-expression (or self manifestation) over money any day.

Like a film director said in an interview "I make money to make movies, I don't make movies to make money"

That, I believe is self expression.

Back to the Blog

2007-07-26T23:41:00.000+05:30

It's been a while.
I am back.
It feels good.
A lot has happened.
But this blog is not about me. (ok, maybe a little)
It's about learning, growth, change, freedom, adventure, fun.

I am back.
It feels good.

Three Days off work

2006-04-13T23:38:00.000+05:30

Three Days off work.
And I am off on a mini vacation!
See you Monday.
Take care and have a fantastic weekend!

--

Organizations - Wonderland?

2006-04-13T00:02:00.000+05:30

Something to think about…

Organizations are artificial structures which provide you a fantastic opportunity to associate with people you would never, ever associate with under normal situations. Organizations provide us with an unparalleled opportunity to grow, to become more, to express the best part of ourselves in a setting which claims to be about tasks, goals, targets, missions and all that… but is really about who you choose to be with respect to all of these and the people around you.

Probably if not for organizations, our experience would be severely limited in terms of the number and the kind of people we would associate ourselves with.

If you think about it, every single day – surrounded by a milieu of people whom you don’t know, probably are not like and probably do not like – it’s literally a rabbit hole down there waiting to be explored by you.

--

New Web Site Coming Up

2006-04-11T23:54:00.000+05:30

A big overhaul of www.abhishekkumar.com – my web site is underway. Some very key elements to make the web site successful are yet to be figured out. I have been spending the past two days learning about Keywords, Meta Tags, and Frames etc. I went to college with computer science as a major, so I cannot claim complete ignorance of the technologies that work behind the scenes to make a web site come alive on our computer screens. I do believe, though, that the process of creating a search-engine friendly, well organized, logical web site can have a steep learning curve. Well, I am climbing.

I am also planning a series of articles on the most common personal development issues we face.

So, coming…
All this and more.
Stay tuned. (

Thank you Firaq Saab!

2006-04-09T20:55:00.000+05:30

Almost ten years back, I read a verse by Firaq Gorakhpuri that touched me deeply –

Ae mere ahbab kya kare numayan kar gaye…
B.A kiya M.A kiya, naukar hue, pension mili aur mar gaye...

(Oh my friend, You have indeed achieved a remarkable feat...
You did your schooling, you went to College, you worked in a job, you got your pension and you died…)

The moment I read this verse (Called a ‘Sher’ in Urdu), something resonated deeply inside me. The fact that I remember the verse almost by letter ten years after I read it first holds testimony to that.

This verse was a moment of insight for me and the ‘wow, I get it’ feeling that I had changed my life for the better.

It taught me to look beyond the path that was laid out for me by my family and the society in which I was born.

It taught me – that life is about more than what seems to be the most obvious and the easiest path to follow.

It drove me to look deeper, inside myself for purpose and fulfillment.

Thank you, Firaq Gorakhpuri.

--

Time Management in the Moment

2006-04-08T21:27:00.000+05:30

The field of time management has been explored like never before in the past 60 years.

We have graduated from talking about better planners and increased efficiency to living our purpose and being effective.

We have evolved from talking about doing a lot of things in a day to doing a few things that really matter in the day. (The urgent vs. important principle)

All of these ideas are important and deserve some serious thought.

However, one of the key observations anyone with a slightly evolved consciousness would make is

“Life is always lived in just one moment”

That single unit of time in which you read this article and slide into the next moment is where life is – that is the only place you will ever live.

Every single moment – literally zillions of possibilities exist in front of us. Every single moment we choose one of these possibilities and make up our life as we go along.

Right now, you could close this window and start working on a project that really matters to you but you have not had the courage to start, you could write a letter to your mother, you could browse irrelevant sites, you could get up and scream a profanity, you could quit your job, you could go for a run…. The possibilities are endless.

And the only thing that prevents them from coming true – is that you don’t choose them.
But right now, couldn’t you choose to express yourself in any which way you want?

How can we ever be bored or stuck or be in a ‘rut’ if this is true?

The answer to that is complicated, but based on two pillars.

Conditioning

Fear

1. We believe certain things about ourselves. Generalizations we assume to be true. And then we feel we have to live by those generalizations. We literally, belief by belief, thread by thread create a structure that imprisons us in it. We trap ourselves into a corner and create the illusion that we do not have choice.

Choice is the ultimate and the only weapon we have to create any reality we desire.

You can choose a different belief, a different action, a different thought, a different idea, a different word, a different emotion, a different system, a different way.

What happens sometimes is – we make a bad choice and then we suffer. But instead of choosing again and choosing differently, we believe that we are the choice we have made. We use the consequences of that choice to define ourselves and then use this self-definition to create a limited reality – with limited experience, limited joy, limited fulfillment, limited satisfaction, limited happiness.

Most of the times, we choose unconsciously – we repeat patterns of past choices (often bad choices) even though they have not served us in the past.

The first step then is to become conscious of what you are choosing. Awareness is the first step to change. An evolved consciousness is a result of accurate witnessing or observing.

If you do not like what you are creating in an area of you life - choose again, choose wisely, choose differently.

Let me repeat that.

If you do not like what you are creating in an area of your life – choose again, choose wisely, choose differently.

If you want to create a result in your life, your new choices must be aligned with it.

Choosing wisely, choosing differently, choosing again in the moment is what the urgent/important theory is all about.

2. I talked about Fear. The question you might be asking right now is “How do I choose wisely?” or “How do I know which is the right choice?”
A choice born out of Fear is the choice that will limit your experience. A choice born out of love is the higher choice. If we must err, let us err on the side of love.

An enhanced awareness will let you answer this question “In this moment, am I expressing myself through fear or through love?”

A choice born out of Love will always be the higher choice.

Time Management, from a spiritual perspective boils down to two To-Dos

Don’t like what you are manifesting? Choose differently, choose wisely. Choose a different emotion, a different action, a different word, a different state of being, a different belief. It is impossible to live without choosing – just choose what serves your highest vision of yourself.
How do we know we are making the higher choice? Choose Love over Fear.

Summary

Choose consciously

Choose Love

Role Playing

2006-04-07T22:47:00.000+05:30

When I walk into a restaurant or a coffee-shop - I assume the role of a customer.
And the person serving me assumes the role of a waiter.

I play my role - some characterisics of which are to expect , demand some things, even if they mean inconveniencing the other human who plays the role of a waiter.

The waiter plays his role - some characteristics of which are to fulfill my desires, even if it means inconveniencing himself.

Busy playing our roles, both of us fail to notice the inherent humanity glowing within the other.

If I am a boss, and you are my subordinate. We are not two human beings sharing humanity.
If I am a father, and you are my child, here is the rulebook for that. Please fit in. We are not two human beings growing together.
If I am an expert, and you are not - I cannot say "I don't know" because that is not acceptable to the game we are playing.

If we stop acting our roles out and start acting human, how will our experience change.

--

'Topics' under Blog

2006-04-06T19:18:00.000+05:30

Posts are now sorted into topics.

Most of today was spent trying to learn how to sort the posts in this Blog topic wise, instead of by months – as is the default provided by Blogger.

After hours of browsing and learning and looking at scripts that seemed more hostile than Chinese…finally I got it working.

On you right, you would see the topics under which the posts are divided. When you click on a topic, the page re-loads and all the posts under that topic get displayed just below the heading “Topics”

Hope this makes accessing posts for you easier.

--

Conversations R Us!!

2006-04-05T23:57:00.000+05:30

Conversations are reflections of who we are being in that moment.

Think about it, how does a deep, honest, intense, touching, passionate, incredible conversation leave you feeling – energized, recharged…. Your personal energy increased and the world a little bit brighter than it was earlier, isn’t it?

And how does a shallow, superficial, pretentious conversation leave you feeling… drained out, tired?

In a conversation when we express the deepest and the best parts of ourselves (invariably, the deepest part of us is usually the best part of us), we express or manifest our true selves.

In fact, life is expression, isn’t it?

In fact, we cannot not express.

Right now, as you read these words, infinite potentialities and possibilities exist within you. The very next moment, what you think, decide, do or say is an expression of one of these infinite potentialities.

When we express a potentiality or a possibility, we bring a latent or a hidden part of ourselves into existence. As we bring it into existence, we experience it and it becomes, our experience.

If we habitually express a part of ourselves again and again – it becomes a pattern of experience in our lives and we start ‘believing’ that we are ‘it’.

But, at that point – every other potentiality and possibility also exists – latent, hidden, unexpressed.

If you want to assess the quality of your experience and the quality of your life – take a closer look at the quality of your conversations.

Conversation is a tool we use everyday, regularly to express ourselves.

The quality of your conversations would probably reveal a great deal about what you are bringing forth from the world of infinite possible expressions called – you!!

To improve the quality of your experience, improve the quality of your conversations.

If your conversations are happy, intense, passionate, happy, contended, joyful, cheerful and ‘soul’ful… then so are you!

----

Brain, Mind and Me

2006-04-04T19:04:00.000+05:30

For more than a decade now, I have been fascinated by the human mind. And the more I have understood, the more baffled I have become.

Simple things – seemingly simple things like perception, decisions, awareness, emotions are such complex events and happen at so many levels (chemical, electrical, macroscopic- physiological, environmental, metaphysical, spiritual…) that with every passing moment, my awe and respect for the web of complexity in which we live has only increased.

While scientists have made some useful connections in terms of details, we are still struggling with some very basic questions –
“What is consciousness?”
“Who is the observer?”

Recently I have been reading a book called “How do brains make up their minds?” by Walter J. Freeman. In spite of the deceptively simple title, the book is a difficult read, but I am persisting and the result has been a rare insight into the workings of the brain (not the mind!).

Learning about the brain is fascinating, because unlike in the case of mind (which is intangible), in the case of brain – you actually have something to work with. The physical mass of gooey matter between our ears we call the brain. The neurons, the hypothalamus, the neuropeptides and the neural network are some of the labels we have given to an absolutely unexplainable miracle happening inside our heads all the time.

Every emotion has a chemical associated with it (called a peptide) and every time you choose to experience an emotion, the chemicals are produced in your hypothalamus. These chemicals are then released into the bloodstream. So, the happiness-chemical or the sadness-chemical literally explodes into your entire body through the blood-stream and finds its way to different cells. It then docks on a cell and then changes the very nature of the cell, sometimes even the nucleus.

We literally, with chemicals – poison ourselves with anger.
We literally, with chemicals – fill ourselves with fulfillment.

Fascinating, isn’t it?

How does this fit in with making real, measurable changes in our lives?

This is a good place to share another distinction I have made. In learning about the brain and creating real change in life (which is what I am committed to).

It is very interesting, it can give you amazing insights – but it is no more necessary to create changes in real life than it is to understand the intricate workings of the internal combustion engine to drive a car or even know how exactly a microprocessor works to use the computer more effectively.

Of course it would help, but it is not necessary.

While studying hardware is good for a deeper understanding and quenching our thirst for knowledge, it is surely more important to know your operating system and how it works.

Which is why for someone like me, who hopes to create effective results in life – better relationships, fulfillment, satisfaction and passion – study of the brain must remain secondary to the study of the mind.

If only it were not so damn fascinating!!

---

Choosing Habits - The 30 Day Trial

2006-04-03T01:09:00.000+05:30

I discovered this fantastic site http://www.stevepavlina.com/index.htm

Steve Pavlina is a writer, speaker, entrepreneur, games-programmer. He is inspiring!

A lot of his posts are fantastic – addressing the most basic facets of self development, which are sometimes skirted by other authors for a more esoteric and less practical (not to mention preachy) approach.

His post on doing a trial for 30 days of a new habit that you might want to adopt motivated me to adopt it.

So, I will be trying these on for the next 30 days (from 3^rd April to 3^rd May) – On 3^rd May I will decide whether I want to keep these.

Waking up at Seven : I wake up late. That is because I sleep really late. I somehow am most creative when the world goes to sleep and I can feel the eerie quietness beyond my window. However, I would like to be an early riser. I can do it really, I already do it in case there is some work that has to be done early in the morning. So, I will be waking up at seven everyday for the next 30 days – weekends included. I will be using this strategy, again suggested by Steve.

Vegetarianism: I have wanted to do this for a long time, but just didn’t get around to doing it, because I always thought of turning a vegetarian for life – and that seemed too big a commitment to make. However, I could easily turn a vegetarian for 30 days. Lets see if I feel like extending the commitment on 3^rd May.

25 Minute Workout – I do take care of my body, going swimming is my favorite – but it has to be painstakingly decided in advance and followed through. So, a 25 minute workout everyday is in order – and should be easy if I am especially waking up early.

Blog Everyday – I created this Blog a looong time ago. However, I have posted only a handful number of times. I would like to post more. Hence – one post everyday for the next 30 days. That is probably a greater number of posts than already existing. Sounds cool.

Well, that is about it! I am excited about this new experiment and would share the results in the forthcoming posts!

May the best happen!

---

A better world

2005-12-05T15:55:00.000+05:30

I do not believe in a perfect world.
I do not believe in a world without death, disease, anger or tragedy.

I do believe in a better world.

I have often felt my anger against ‘how things are’ versus ‘how things should be’.
I am sure you have too.
Anger against obvious injustices.
Men and women losing loved ones because of man-made reasons for one.
Anger against profit-motives overriding humanitarian concerns.

I have recently realized, anger against injustice is like war for peace.
It’s an anomaly. It’s useless. It’s pointless.

A more spiritual and a much more practical perspective to adopt would be to just start doing things that I would do if the world were just what I expected it to be.
If I want the world to be kind, let me jus believe it is and respond.
If I want people to be humane and selfless, let me just believe it is and respond so.

Somehow, this belief seems to have made a difference in my experience of life.

The questions is – what do I do when you witness proof to the opposite, which I surely will.

The answer – nothing. Just forget it and move on. Just tell myself, that this was an anomaly, an aberration – not reality and move on.

But then what is the truth. What is the world really like?
The truth is – nobody knows!!
Nobody knows whether people are good or bad or cruel or kind. There is surely no empirical proof and the subjectivity of the matter can be debated for eons to come.

The newspapers or TV Channels, if you choose them to be a mirror of our world are I believe, inaccurate.
They do not report reality, they just report what is newsworthy.
And more often than not, what is newsworthy is violence, tragedy and death – because they are abnormal.
Newspapers or TV Channels do not and can not report millions of people falling in love this very moment. They cannot report millions being selfless and kind and helping others. They cannot possibly be witness to the mind-battles millions fight and win by making a higher choice.

Since, no objective reality exists – the world will be whatever we choose it to be.
I choose a better world.
And remember Gandhi.

He said – “Be the change you wish to see in the world”

---

Ramayana - The US version

2005-11-09T11:21:00.000+05:30

Laughed my guts out at this article I received on e-mail..
Read on…

A young second generation Indian in the US was asked by his mother to explain the significance of "Diwali" to his younger brother, this is how he went about it... "So, like this dude had, like, a big cool kingdom and people liked him. But, like, his step-mom, or something, was kind of a bitch, and she forced her husband to, like, send this cool-dude, he was Ram, to some national forest or something... Since he was going, for like, something like more than 10 years or so.. he decided to get his wife and his bro along... you know... so that they could all chill out together. But Dude, the forest was reeeeal scary shit... really man... they had monkeys and devils and shit like that. But this dude, Ram, kicked ass with darts and bows and arrows... so it was fine. But then some bad gangsta boys, some jerk called Ravan, picks up his babe (Sita) and lures her away to his hood. And boy, was our man, and also his bro, Laxman, pissed... And you don't piss this son-of-a-gun cuz, he just kicks ass and like... all the gods were with him... So anyways, you don't mess with gods. So, Ram, and his bro get an army of monkeys... Dude, don't ask me how they trained the damn monkeys... just go along with me, ok...

So, Ram, Lax and their monkeys whip this gangsta's ass in his own hood. Anyways, by this time, their time's up in the forest... and anyways... it gets kinda boring, you know... no TV or malls or shit like that. So,they decided to hitch a ride back home... and when the people realize that our dude, his bro and the wife are back home... they thought, well, you know, at least they deserve something nice... and they didn't have any bars or clubs in those days... so they couldn't take them out for a drink, so they, like, decided to smoke and shit... and since they also had some lamps, they lit the lamps also... so it was pretty cooool... you know with all those fireworks... Really, they even had some local band play along with the fireworks... and you know, what, dude, that was the very first, no kidding..., that was the very first music-synchronized fireworks... you know, like the 4th of July stuff, but just, more cooler and stuff, you know. And, so dude, that was how, like, this festival started."

Change the world, Shall we?

2005-10-28T13:30:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: I am not a commie, leftist, rightist, liberal, conservative, marxist, royist, mathewist etc.

I believe before we begin to arrive at any conclusion, it is very important to notice where we begin.

Most of the time we begin with an awareness of where our 'faayda' lies.

Then we conveniently use our intellectual ability to highlight those parts that make us right.

I believe it is very convenient to 'not look' at a world that we are not a part of.

Let us see...

1. The world's populating is 6 billion people where 4 billion live on less than 4 dollars a day.

2. There are 577 billionaires in the world. Together they have more wealth than 195 of world's poorest nations.

3. While you and I have daily concerns like 'Got to pay my bills on time' or 'Saving tax', there are a LOT more people who have daily concerns like 'How can I keep my child alive' or 'Where am I going to get food for tomorrow?'

4. You and I cannot identify with that because we have never felt starvation, homelessness or been thrown out of our houses.

5. Let us not put labels on each other - call each other commies and leftists and rightists. Let us ask ourselves a question.

"Can the world be better?"

Of course yes.
I am not talking about utopia.

I am talking about hardcore ground-realities level improvement.

The hardcore reality improvement is that as Indians we campaigned for freedom some 60 years back and the situation did improve. Oppression did end. Freedom was indeed gained.

We might point out flaws in our freedom and say how things are not perfect - in Kashmir/ in North-East etc.

But at a very basic level - they are our problems. We are dealing with them, sometimes not very well, sometimes appallingly, but we are. It's better than being ruled by the British.

Moral: Changes can be made. Positive changes can be made.

Imagine you are living in a house. The house has 10 rooms. You live in a room that is well furnished, has an A.C, a comfortable bed to sleep in, food to eat. The other 9 rooms are full of people starving, dying, diseased, malnourished, frustrated, deprived. How long will you be able to remain aloof of their agony, their pain and finally their anger, their hatred?

So, how do we bring about this change?

I am wondering.

Do you have an answer?

One NEW Thing !!!!

2005-10-22T13:33:00.000+05:30

I would like to throw an open challenge to the readers here....

Today, after reading this piece - Do something, one thing that you have never ever done in your life!! EVER!!

Okay, here is the deal. Make this one thing. one new thing that you do today positive, good and really cool. It need not be a path breaking, spine tingling, nervous-system-exploding thing (like quitting your job, which by the way, i recently did - but oops, that is another post in the making!!)... it can be something really small, really simple but it has to be something you have never ever done!!

Maybe you could give 100 bucks to a beggar

Maybe you could call a long-time enemy and shock him by saying hi

Maybe you could simply run up the stairs of your office

Maybe you could go for a run on the beach

Maybe you could write a letter (not a mail) to your folks back home (and shock the living daylights out of them)

Maybe you could find five good things in your boss

So, guys... here is the challenge... do something you have never done it before....do it today and tell me what happenned!!!!

All the best!!!!!

PS: It would be nicer if knew how to tag someone with this...But I don't.... so, I won't. Unless someone out there tells me!

You want a good war?

2005-10-21T12:38:00.000+05:30

This has me concerned today...

From an interview with Herman Goring, an early member of the Nazi party, founder of the Gestapo, and one of the main perpetrators of Nazi Germany:

Goring: "Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

Gilbert: "There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

Goring: "Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Here, Right Now...What am I up to?

2005-10-20T17:10:00.000+05:30

Taking on from the last post – that was a very good question.

What are you up to?

There are layers to this seemingly simple question. The deeper we go, the more clarity we have.

Taken in first person, this translates into an immensely useful question that we can ask ourselves when debating choices, making decisions or reacting/ responding. Asking myself this questions often makes it clear what the higher, the better, the healthier choice is.

What am I up to?

Your four year old daughter spills a glass of milk on the floor.
You look at her and shout in anger.
What are you up to?

You are walking by on the road.
An old beggar raises a shriveled hand for loose change.
You smirk as you give him some coins.
What are you up to?

You just heard from friend A that friend B has been fired.
You immediately call up friend B.
Is it only concern or curiosity as well?
What are you up to?

We behave, we react the way we do because of thousands of reasons, many of which are not always clear even to us. We could be enacting our life dramas or fulfilling a pressing psychological need. We might want attention, love, a listener, a punching-bag etc..

Asking myself “What am I up to?” often shows me that the reason why I am doing something is not the real reason at all.

The most significant lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

Asking myself “What am I up to right now?” has helped me be more genuine, more in touch with myself and has helped me in making the higher choice.

What are you up to?

Me, Myself and Traffic!

2005-10-17T17:09:00.000+05:30

I think we reveal quite a bit of our real selves when we are in traffic.

Traffic provides us with a unique scenario. A zillion people together in the same physical space trying to attain their own individual objectives.

Our encounter with other human beings while in traffic is wonderfully innocent. We do not have a history together, no baggage. There are no expectations for a future. The relationship we share with a stranger in traffic is devoid of any possible WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) factor.

Traffic provides an opportunity for interaction with others where nothing is at stake, there is nothing to lose and nothing to gain.

In such a unique situation, what are we up to? The answer I believe will reveal quite a bit about our ‘real’ selves. What part of our ‘self’ do we express when faced with this unique advantage-less situation?

Here is a never-before opportunity to be generous, kind, forgiving, happy, grateful.

Do we take it?

Traffic can be such a wonderful teacher about who we choose to be and which part of us we choose to bring forth.

This evening, while going back home… Check that rearview mirror and notice the teeming mass of humanity you are a part of.

What are you up to?

Blogging from Word?

2005-09-30T13:58:00.000+05:30

Trying out this Blogger Ad-On for MS-Word.

The big promise of this software is that you need not visit the site to publish.

You can type in stuff from the comfort of you MS-Word editor and publish your blog from there.

So, does that work?

Well, if you are seeing this. It does!

Terrorism and Loveism!!

2005-07-09T02:24:00.000+05:30

In the age and time that I have lived – Terrorism is an important world issue.

I was born in 1979, so I missed most of the Cold War action. That was good, because it ultimately turned out to be nothing. A damp squib. I vaguely remember seeing the Berlin Wall fall and the break up of Soviet Union.

But as I grew up, what most definitely changed the world forever happened just a few years back. 9/11 – the digits chillingly the same that Americans dial to get help from Police when in distress.

Since then, Terrorism became an important issue. Probably, the important issue. Whether I will live to see the day a girl would decide to go out with me depends entirely upon whether my country is sending some troops to Iraq. It seems, in the cold war you could blame everything – from a rude neighbor to the weather - on Russia (or U.S depending upon where you were). After Russia decidedly stopped being a threat – there was a godforsaken peaceful vacuum in which the world existed.

Now, things are better. We have Al-Queda. We have an enemy, we have somebody to fight with. And that is great!

If we don’t know who we are against, if we do not know who is our enemy – we don’t know who we are!! Not having an enemy might lead to such wasteful things as introspection and worrying about unimportant issues like environment or poverty or even…. Shudder shudder… hunger-deaths.

We don’t have to worry about those things anymore. We have terrorism. Yippee!! We have to worry about smoking them out of their holes and shooting them down and waging war and counting dead bodies and preparing for bomb-blasts and hostage negotiations.

The world is normal again!

Thank you Osama uncle.

Terrorism – Terror-ism. Philosophy of Fear.

Interesting.

I wonder if there was another way to fight terrorists.

Is there something called Loveism. Well, the red underline under the word on my word-processor says there isn’t.

But imagine if there was.

Loveism – Love-ism. Philosophy of Love.

Love is the opposite of Fear. Isn’t it natural that we should fight fear with love? Fighting fear with fear could result in overall – well...... more fear!
Oh, you are a terrorist?
Know what, I am a Loveist!!

Here are some imaginary headlines from newspapers not yet published.

Loveists strike in the heart of New York! Police reach in time to be kissed.

Unknown Loveists sprinkle flowers and rosewater over Iraq.

Loveist head – Cupid Bin Bush warns: All those who believe in fear are our next target.

Loveism is a threat to the Weapons Industry – stocks plummet.

Here is a small news item:

Loveists attack London, Afghanistan, Iraq

By our international Reporter,
September 11, 2xxx

In a worldwide attack of chilling accuracy, Loveists today struck three corners of the world – London, Kabul and Baghdad at 8 A.M GMT.

London
Londoners were in for a shock as the Loveists forcibly stopped an underground train and distributed, again, forcibly – footstep counters (small digital devices which count the number of footsteps you take everyday!) and conducted small training programs on how to stay healthy. They segregated the smokers and shot water pistols at them. The stunned smokers were then presented with toy-lungs and asked to care for them. The hunt is on for the Loveists, but as always – they have left no traces. Later on a statement was posted at an unofficial site on internet which said a new group ‘Random acts of Extreme Kindnesses” has taken responsibility for the act.

Baghdad
A group of rebel U.S marines sent a chill down the spine of the entire world by revealing their real identities as agents of “Love Group for Middle East”. They shocked the Iraqis by reciting verses from the Koran over loudspeakers in the city. They had been practicing for months, reports say. They proceeded to the now-famous Abu Gharib prison and made a public apology on behalf of mankind to those who had suffered there. The matter has shaken the U.S army to the core and head in command was sacked the same evening. The U.S marines have been arrested for the heinous act and will be face a court martial.

Afghanistan
At about the same time – a group of about 100 loveists appeared out of nowhere – and in a precisely executed operation erected a plywood school building with a well stocked library and built a huge water tank for a small town near Kabul, all within eight hours. Eyewitnesses say, the authorities were kept at bay by a parade of strippers, who in eight hours of a sleazy dance show – managed to take their veils off and also exposed their elbows. The Mayor of the town was then kidnapped and tickled till he approved of both the constructions as legal.

World Reaction
The love attacks have brought the world community together in expressing their condemnation and disgust. President Gregor Bush of U.S.A in a white house release today said “The Loveists pose a threat to the world as we know it. They stand against the concepts of profit, power and believe only in spreading harmony and love in the hearts of our voters. We will not tolerate this. We will smoke them out of their holes and kill them. For without fear, there is no power”. He was supported by the British PM, Mr. Tony Blare. Indian PM, Mr. Manmohan Sing said that the Loveists were looking for a resolution of the Indo-Pak hostilities without any extended negotiations over hundreds of years. This, he said, went against the very idea of two countries making peace. The Loveists, he said – would never succeed in their loving schemes.
Stop Press
The French however, have extended their full support to the Loveism movement and has been declared a Loveist country.

Ha ha…
Ha ha ha …
Ha ha ha ha….

Very funny, you say?

Romantic but not realistic, you say.

Exaggerated? Yes.
Romantic? Very much.
Realistic? Totally.

How do we know? When was the last time we responded to terror with love? When was the last time we felt fear and said “I forgive”. As a race, when was the last time we did it?

And if we have never done it, how do we know what consequences will it bring?

If U.S, instead of vying for the oil of Iraq, provided water and food to Iraq and Afghanistan and marketed its contributions well enough – are there any chances that some of the hardcore militants would soften? If I am giving you water, will you kill me? Well, maybe after you read my book, no matter what I do, you will kill me – but I mean seriously. If we made a genuine, from the heart effort to help those who hate us – would hatred give way to shock… to guilt…. To tolerance… to understanding…. To appreciation… to love.

Maybe not.

But then,

Maybe.

Is it worth a shot?

Holy Cow!!

2005-07-07T14:26:00.000+05:30

Reading this book called "Holy Cow" by Karan Chopra - it's such a delight. It's written for first time tourists to India. Our country is so colorful. And we hardly notice. Reading about the Mughals, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sadhus - it is somebody telling me everything I know....... for the very first time. And you know what? That changes everything!

For example, when Mumtaz Mahal was dying, a tear drop fell from her eyes and rested on her cheek. ShahJahan picked it up on his finger and said 'I will build a monument that looks exactly like this tear drop, descended from heaven and eternally frozen on earth...." That is how Taj Mahal was built. While Taj Mahal was being built, a small city called Mumtazabad sprang around it. Imagine this.... Taj Mahal being built... 500 elephants bringing marbles, silver and gold to Yamuna... Craftsmen, engineers, workers..... The whole place hustling bustling for over 20 years with one goal... To create an eternally frozen tear drop on earth....

Or Aurangzeb... The super-villain amongst Mughals was the least indulgent of them all. He wore white clothes, no jewels and sew caps for a living. He was a fundamentalist and he razed numerous temples and gurudwaras to ground. He did not take opium (every other Mughal emperor was big on dope) or alcohol and did not have any monument built for his death. He lies buried in an inconspicuous grave near Aurangabad (which Anisha, my neighbor has visited :-D)

Or did you know that Ganesha, the elephant God has only one tusk. He broke one off while writing Mahabharata (which was dictated in one sitting by Vyas) to use as a pen.

Or that Jain religion favors extreme form of ascetism. They wear those white masks because they do not want to kill an organism while inhaling or exhaling.

Or that Sikhism is the only religion in the world where the book defining the religion was composed while the figurehead of the religion was still alive. Sikhs do not worship statues, they worship the book - "Guru Granth Saheb"

Or that 85 temples dedicated to love and passion were built, out of which only 22 remain and Khajuraho is the most well preserved.

I am really enjoying this book. Really. It's about rediscovering what I have known all my life and there is nothing more interesting than looking at something you know and you think you understand very well in a new perspective.

PS: Do not confuse this with another book called Holy Cow by Sarah MacDonald.

Creating in Emptiness

2005-07-06T16:34:00.000+05:30

Revisiting this blog, after almost a year. So much has happenned. I really should write more often. Make that - I really will write more often.

A friend left for a month - leaving me with suddenly empty evenings. All current personal projects, brainstorming sessions and pleasant outings came to a sudden stop. When I was done watching the latest movies I had bought - the questions has started settling in... what do I do? Such bouts of 'not-knowing' have a history of turning into some of the most creative periods of my life, and I am looking forward to it.

Something similar happenned when I was at home for almost two months after TAPMI (the college where I did my post grad) convocation. I was alone at home in the city where I grew up. The streets seemed unfamilliar with no familiar faces in sight. A whole generation had left the city and a strangeness blanketed the familar 'black field', the 'football ground' and the 'community center'. Even the tennis court had looked intimidating then. My only responsibility then had been to make myself available at dinner and lunch. And I spent a lot of time walking to the browsing center and sending 'Miss You' mails to modellites - that's what our college gang called (calls?) itself. After a while of dealing with this sudden silence, something inside me began to stir. A need to create, a need to express. It appeared with doodling on blank pieces of paper, capturing an idea on the blank sides of the newspaper while solving a crossword and slowly... slowly... took form. This 'stirring' led to me writing a rought sketch of a screenplay based on TAPMI days. And I started writing a book called 'What the F is the meaning of life'. Still incomplete, the book is a potential best-seller :-) , it's just that I have not had much 'quiet time' since then...... till now!

I need these stirrings, or these 'quiet times' to create and express 'felt' things. Otherwise I just get too involved in living life. But the stirring is there. I can feel it. That is wonderful. Therefore, the return to the blog!

So, the next month or so - should ideally be extremely creative and soul-satisfying for me. Make that - will be extremely creative and soul satisfying for me.

Also, working on my new web site (which I recently registered) www.abhishekkumar.com .

Will come back.

I should have...

2004-08-17T20:05:00.000+05:30

The saddest words in English Language are - "I should have...."

The novel 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy has a character called Ian. Ian is old and he is dying. On his deathbed this is what Ian says to himself

"What if my whole life has been wrong? What if all I did was live by the rules - others wanted me to live by? What if those rare flashes of inspiration - which lasted only a few seconds and which I let pass as something abnormal - were the real thing? What if I never did what was really important to me? What if all the happiness I felt was only incidental - not created? What if the happiness I felt could have been deeper, richer and more intense? What if I never really asked myself what was important and never figured it out? What if... what if my whole life has been wrong?"

In the twilight of life, it is not what you did that bothers you - it is what you didn't do, what you could have done - that gnaws at your soul.

In old age, with so little left in the future and so much there in the past, you will come back and live your life all over again. A life that is being created now, as you read this message. Try and make it a life, you can look back on and tell your grandchildren about, and laugh silently at the looks of admiration in their eyes.

Because the alternative is grow into a cynical, bitter old person where you will choose to make your existence mundane, routine and uneventful while the wait for inevitable death continues.

Remember, we do grow old and die, you know.

Wake up call

2004-08-04T19:52:00.000+05:30

A person who is sleeping can be woken up.

A person who is pretending to sleep cannot be woken up.

The worst and the most significant lies are those which we tell ourseleves.

The worst actions are the ones that we take, all the while knowing that our soul does not want it.

The worst thougths are those which tell us that we deserve something less than the best that life has to offer.

The worst words are those which we speak knowing that they will offend someone who truly cares.

And even if you do all of these things, you still remain a worthy, good human being - yet become worthless in your own eyes. You become like a street drug peddler, who looks shiftily in every direction, aware of the dangers, on the lookout for an opportunity to make a sale, all the while knowing that what he is doing is wrong, yet doing it because he does not know any better. The street drug peddler, if he could forget himself for a moment, is a wonderful, magnanimous, great human being. So are we. If only we could forget ourselves.

No matter what your age, sex or circumstances, you are mostly made up of unused potential.
Life does not become great or beautiful by philosophizing about it. Life does not become great by listening to preachers or reading manuscripts of wisdom. Life does not become great by making yourself feel good about how great you are. Life becomes what it is because of a simple word. HABIT.

Your present moment of NOW is the only time in which you are alive. In which you will ever be alive. Your present moment of NOW is dictated by habit. Your life is nothing but a cumulative sum of your present moments.

Finally, a quote sums up what I have to say...

Life is measured not by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away.

Quote

2004-08-04T12:11:00.000+05:30

Adversity causes some men to break... others to break records.

I am online...

2004-02-28T19:12:00.000+05:30

It has been a long wait. Finally, I have an internet connection at home. It was in 1999 that the 19 year old me put up the first www.abhishekkumar.cjb.net on internet. I had no computer then. Working on a friend's machine, taking the files in a floppy to a browsing center (which was 1 and a half hours away by local bus) and uploading it - seems almost surreal now. The computer did arrive in 2001, but living on the net took almost five years. Using the college internet connection while doing my MBA and then again browsing centers accounted for the site that you see now. Finally, a few days back - the Sify guys came in and installed the connection. And I can now update this web site, more often, as often as I want, from the privacy of my own home. Feels great. :-) I am sure I will be able to add a lot more value, make the site even more interesting and fun now. Look out for several new free gifts coming your way and the new Abhishek's store. Hope you keep coming back. The action is just about to begin.

Abhishek's List

2004-02-01T14:28:00.000+05:30

One of the most revealing experiences I had was in Bombay during my summer project with Bates Advertising. There was no work in the beginning and I was spending a lot of quality time in my Xavier's hostel room. As usual, I was reading up and doing some writing too. It is then that it struck me to make a list of all the things I have been successful at in my life. I went as far back in memory as possible and wrote down all - ALL - the things I had succeeded at. Right from my childhood till then. It was a very intense experience and I almost relived all my previous successes in the process of writing them down. It also helps to have the list ready and look at it in case you want some feel-good moments
in life.

It was a wonderful thing to do. We need to take note of good things we do and not merely feel guilty of bad about things we do not do. We should also celebrate successes in as much as we note down our failures. While it is important to note down what we have not down, noting down our accomplishments makes us feel very satisfied and confident about ourselves. Self-image, self worth and self-respect are very important ingredients for motivating us to achieve further successes in life.

There is one more aspect to this. Noticing your own accomplishments will put you on the right path to surpass your own achievements and make you to draw your strategies on your successes and not on your failures.

Today you do a simple exercise: List down all the things you have done successfully and note down your feelings as you read your list. Remember, it doesn't have to be success as per somebody else's definition (like topping school or something!) it just has to be something you consider a personal success. It helps to have such a list handy.

Crows Share

2004-01-16T11:21:00.000+05:30

When crows get food, they do not eat it all by themselves. They go and call everyone else too. So that everyone gets to eat - the logic being that when some other crow finds food, he will do the same thing. If every crow shares - ALL crows get to eat and nobody dies of hunger. Its called an Abundance mindset. (Of course, we human beings do seem to have good reasons why thousands should die of hunger every day. World hunger exists because we think there are less resources. Its a scaracity mindset.)

I updated and quite changed the look and feel of the web site around two weeks back. Hope everyone likes the new web site. I wish everyone a belated happy new year! I pray that this new year brings you greater opportunities to grow, learn and express more of your potential.

With the Abundance Mindset, I have shared information which I think should be useful to you. Do go through the web site. 'Notes from Abhishek' is an attempt to share the insights, learnings, aha's that I have.

I hope the synchronicity of you visiting the web site leads you to answers you are looking for. All the best.

Salesman

2003-11-10T15:45:00.000+05:30

I had read a wonderful book called 'The Greatest Salesman in the world' a couple of weeks' back. This time in B'lore, I was visiting this book Shop called Oxford and I saw 'The greatest secret of the world' which is like a sequel and application-manual for the earlier book. Bought it. Also bought "The richest man in Babylon" which was recommended by Tony Robbins. Started working on "The greatest secret of the world" - hope to continue with the program. Will take 45 weeks in total. Gotta do this one!!

Web Resources

2003-05-13T12:47:00.000+05:30

An absolutely great and wonderful (and as a bonus FREE) web resource is HAMR . It consists of patterns for instilling positive beliefs in your mind. (HAMR stands for Hands actuated mental reconditioning).

Another wonderful site on tools for a happier life is Lollie's Tools for a happier Life. It is such a beautiful site. In a 4 hour browsing session where I was just visiting self-help sites, this struck me as the most genuine. Do visit and do read her stuff on getting over emotional pain (or using it - as she says) and love.

Of course, an old favourite is A K S World, the web site of nuclear scientist turned new ager Asoka Kumar Selvaharajan. Visit the discussion forum for dynamic discussions on Personal Development, Spirituality and Creative Writing. Lot of insights.

Do visit all these sites. They are good!!

Snap out the negativity

2003-05-13T12:38:00.000+05:30

Here is something beautiful I read on getting rid of negative thoughts. Of course, the first step is becoming aware of them. You have to be on the guard, be conscious. There is no change without consciousness, without awareness. Now, for the technique.
Just tie a rubberband on your wrist. Whenever you catch yourself thinking thoughts that belittle your potential, thoughts that disempower you or thoughts that are negative, just snap the rubberband. You will hurt yourself, but the pattern will be broken and pain will be associated to the negative thought. Over a period of time, this will lead to change. So, go over and buy that pack of rubberbands today. Lets snap and break a few of them - and become more positive in the process.

Learning and Education

2003-05-09T23:13:00.000+05:30

I have seen that college, school and a general formal education dulls the mind giving the person a sense of cockiness. Compare that to somebody who has not had "proper", formal education. He would have a more keen mind and a mind more attuned to learning from every single experience.

Shut up

2003-05-07T21:13:00.000+05:30

I am sure all of us have heard the critical voice inside our heads. The voice that says- "I can't" or "I am weak" or "I am not good enough" etc. etc. The worst critic and probably the most influential one we can ever have is this critic inside our heads. Next time you hear that voice do this. Assign a face to it. (could be yours, your friends, boss or even a dog) and SLAM a PLATE FULL OF VANILLA ICECREAM INTO THIS FACE. Make it into a cartoon charecter and add funny cartoon music. Have a puppy dog come and generally pee on this face. Make it look ridiculous. Add a looooong nose or BIG ears. Suddenly you will find that the power of the inner critic over you is gone. Use it whenever this guy speaks up.

2003-05-07T21:08:00.000+05:30

Hi everyone!!
This starts my web journal on the net where I plan to keep all of us updated on the dynamics of my life in terms of how I have grown, what I have learnt and the latest set of experiences I am having.
Keep visiting,
Abhishek