SILENCE

There is an old adage which reads ‘SILENCE is golden’. Perhaps the beginning of this adage could be attributed to our forefathers, the cave men who leveraged the power of silence the most when in the jungle. They used silence to stalk a prey and kill for food and they also used silence as a means to eliminate potential danger from animals and foes stalking them. Over thousands of years just as the cave men evolved the meaning of silence evolved and today we Soak In Life Eliminating Noise Clutter & Ego through silence.

While communication has progressed in leaps and bounds, from sign language to the spoken word to the written word and today through wireless technology, our senses are being overworked and fatigued by the sheer magnitude, variety and intensity of the communication tirade. As a result we now have to make a systematic and conscious effort to embrace silence. Putting the mobile phones on silent mode is a visible manifestation of the need for silence to be induced. With noise overpowering us in different ways, being immune to its wiles is not an option. However by being aware that noise is negatively impacting us we find ways and means to address the issue so that we have a better appreciation of our life devoid of complications.

Meditation is perhaps one of the most popular techniques used to leverage the power of silence. The Vippasana method is perhaps one of the most intensive and effective techniques of using the power of silence to connect with the inward self and to rediscover ourself. Whatever the technique, the essence of silence is cut out the noise in our life both physical and metaphorical so that we can listen to our heart, our mind and our conscience. This means we have to eliminate Noise which is sound from the physical world as well as the sounds of negativity, fear and loneliness which is psychological. Then there is clutter that is an outcome of a disorganized, confused and tardy style of lining and thinking. Lack of concentration, being easily distracted and flirting with ideas and thoughts aimlessly, are manifestations of this type of noise. Finally there is the ego, which time and time again rears its ugly head and manifests itself in one-upmanship, the compelling urge to hold center stage and a defiant and stubborn attitude.

Libraries are prime examples of how SILENCE is accorded a god like status. Have you noticed that you can focus better, widen the depth and breadth of your knowledge  and above all stimulate & recharge yourself in the library. If you were to extend the golden rule of silence in everyday life, you would be more observant, less argumentative, soak in a lot more and have people pay attention to you when you share your thoughts and ideas. This is because SILENCE provides both you and those around you an opportunity to Soak In Life Eliminating Noise Clutter & Ego

Action Points

1. Next time you attend a meeting or follow a discussion on TV observe those who speak sparingly. How do they come across in their style of communication? Do they make substantially more contribution to the quality of the discussion/ meeting?
2. Try to sit silently for 5 minutes. Did time weigh heavily on you? Were you able to control your mind from wandering here and there and thinking about a wide variety of issues?
3. Watch a Charlie Chaplin movie to appreciate the power of eloquence emitting from that silent movie.

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TEACH

To Educate And Coach Humanity is the focus of all those who TEACH

One of the noblest professions, teaching is both an art and a science. The nobility of teaching stems from the fact that we are sharing our learning, our expertise and our experience with others with a view to making them educated, confident and independent. The science of teaching outlines the rules and theory which will help one to effectively impart the learning in a structured manner, provide guidelines for evaluating the learning and provides stimulus for upgrading ones own knowledge. The art of teaching focuses on stimulating the students to be attentive, encourage learners to experiment and personalize the style of imparting the teaching.

As the saying goes’ Feed a man and you will make him dependent on you but teach him to fish and he will become independent’ The nobility of the teaching profession lies in the fact that you are giving back to society at large, much more than what you have personally got from the world. Real teaching is all about guiding pupils through the basics, encouraging them to explore the more advanced and facilitating and encouraging them to move beyond he frontiers of academics and books and unlock their potential, be more creative and change the world. Understanding and empathy are two qualities essential for any teacher. There are times when the students feel restless, defeated and frustrated more so when they cannot cope up with the pressures of learning by rote, the weight of parental expectations and unfairness of being compared with peers on pure academic results alone.

Teaching is not limited to merely the classrooms. Our first teachers in fact are out parents, elder siblings, grandparents, uncles and aunties, neighbors and friends and religious instructors, all of whom instill in us the values, the virtues and the social graces so essential to make us gentlemen and ladies. Our good qualities, our bad habits, our thought process, our body language are all greatly influenced by the early teaching we received in our growing up years in the non formal world of family life, social life and religious process. Very often, many of what we imbibe is based observation of the examples set before us by family, society and community around us.

Real teaching therefore is the responsibility of each one of us because by our thoughts, words and deeds we are setting examples for the young to follow. Our lack of patience, our intemperate language, our penchant for gossiping and bad mouthing are all silently observed and incorporated by those around particularly the children and the youngsters. It would be best if we can be polite, courteous, well mannered, use the three magic words of please, thank you and sorry in our day to day living, for then if the youngsters follow and imitate us, they will be well tutored in life and we can be proud and feel flattered; as they say ‘imitation is the best form of flattery’

Action Points:

Have you attempted the challenge posed in the previous post of 7th Feb.2010, where you had to make as many words as possible of 4 letters or more with the alphabets  E T F S N S A and ensure that the alphabet F appears in all the words. Please attempt this challenge now!!

1. Check out your own academic performance when in school and college. It would be unfair and unreasonable to expect your children to do disproportionately better than yourself in their academic performance.
2. Check out your bad habits and the most common criticism about yourself given by your spouse, friends, colleagues etc. Ask yourself if you are setting the right example for others to follow. Outline steps you will take to curb your bad habits.

Many of you are anxiously waiting for the answers to last week’s problem. Here are the words that you can make with the given alphabets and with the F appearing in all the words.
Fate, Fast, Fest, Fans, Feast, Feasts, Feat, Feats, Fastens, Safe,

How many CLAPS did you give yourself?

 Power Act - from http://www.actspot.com/ is focused on -

 Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

 You are also invited to visit our daily inspirational and motivational blog http://www.actspot.wordpress.com/