SHINE

Look around you right now and try catch your reflection on some object around you (other than a mirror) and invariably you would be searching for something that is sparkling clean and shiny. Even if you have a mirror handy, it is essential that it be clean and shiny for you to get a good image of yourself on it. Even in the humdrum of everyday life, your attention will always be drawn to something that shines, sparkles, glistens because it radiates pleasantness, newness and is strongly coveted. A simple act of us dusting and cleaning at home is aimed at creating such an ambience and the resultant SHINE is nothing but the outcome of what you set out to achieve -  Seeing How Instant Newness Emerges

Quickly look around you and identify 3 objects around you that can do with a big of cleaning and get back its original shine. (Maybe it is window panes, could be the telephone instrument, it could be your leather bag or shoes or wall clock….) Use the appropriate cleaning agent could be polish, soap and water, maybe a coat of paint or polish or the right agent to polish up the sliver and brass wares. Some of you would perhaps have stopped reading this and already given in to the urge to clean up now so that the objects shine and you get to savor the instant newness that emerges.

Have you noticed that when things are shiny, it draws your attention, gives you a sense of pleasantness, soothes your  charged up emotions and the worth of those objects subtly goes up in your estimation. Are you the proud owner of numerous medals, trophies and curious. Over the years the original feeling of joy and euphoria that you experienced when acquiring it may have dimmed. It is also possible that no one ever seems to notice it and perhaps it may have become an eyesore too. The simplest thing to do to restore both the artifact and your own morale is to go on a spring cleaning exercise and let each object SHINE. You will immediately experience and See How Instant Newness Emerges not just in the object but also within yourself.

Action Points:

Have a schedule for cleaning and maintenance. Why wait for the festival season to get going? Don’t forget that some of the things that need cleaning are located at a height e.g. The ceiling fan, the portraits and photographs, the light fittings etc. By merely dusting the upper part of the tube lights and bulbs the room can be lit up manifold.

How about helping out an elderly neighbor or the old age home nearby or your local library sparkle and shine? It must be done voluntarily and if possible get others to pitch in too.

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Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

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PICNIC

A PICNIC is a much looked forward to event in families, amongst friends and certainly amongst office mates. The excitement is in the mere thought there is going to be a lot of fun and that there would be Pleasure In Companionship Nurtured In Change. It may sound strange that people who otherwise spent so much time together, occasionally disagreeing, at times annoying one another and certainly interacting most times find a commonality of purpose and expectation in a picnic.

Part of the charm of the picnic arises from the sheer opportunity to escape from the daily grind and drudgery of mundane chores, the realization that there is an opportunity to laze around and the unlimited opportunity to have a variety of games, fun and food. There is also the anticipation of the unknown, the unplanned and a utopian idea of having a blissful time thrown in between too. Ironically, a successful picnic is always well planned and involves excellent coordination too.

While ‘spontaneity’ is key ingredient that adds luster to the fun of a picnic, it must be viewed only as the topping that flavors the entire picnic. Through spontaneity, individuals display their creative side, their hidden talents, open up more freely and allow others to experience a side of an individuality personality that perhaps was never evident. Another important element that is often overlooked is ensuring ‘inclusivity; of all participants. This is tricky as some people are introverts, others are too boisterous and quite a few could be indifferent. Finally there must someone in charge and a certain amount of discipline to ensure that the picnic goes as per plan.

Getting maximum participation, ensuring many ideas are sought and incorporated, providing for diversity of participants wants and needs are paramount to ensure that a picnic is an exhilarating experience where everyone finds Pleasure In Companionship Nurtured In Change.

Action Points:

1. Make your circular for a picnic more lively by being more creative both in its presentation as well as style. Perhaps you have a theme based picnic e.g. A color code for the dress or a style code for the outfits or you can put some conditions that participants must fulfill e.g. getting one round fruit or vegetable.
2. Group people innovatively for various activities e.g. Group them by height or by date of birth (all born in Jan- Mar, April –Jun etc) or by using a mixer game to help warm up as well as make the groups.

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Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

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LISTEN

Communication is perceived as the life line of the human society. Communications encompasses a wide canvass in terms of styles, languages, variety etc.  Yet uniformly, the backbone of all communication remains one’s ability to LISTEN for it is then that we Let Interest Sustain To Enlighten Now. If we learn to appreciate the value and importance of listening, we would have become better communicators, more socially acceptable, have a wide social and friends circle and above all learn to value and respect all those whom we come in contact with.

Why is it that many of us are poor Listeners? The answer lies partly in our ignorance but mainly in our impatience and biases. Here are a few pointers to understand why we fail to LISTEN and we can then work on improving our listening skills by ironing out our personal limitations that we become aware about.

The misconception that talking holds the key to communication. Nothing is as ill conceived as the notion that the whole business of being an effective communicator lies in being able to talk incessantly. Alas, the notion is taken to ridiculous lengths especially when people meet in social circles, at meetings and definitely when one is in the company of friends and relatives.

Our craving to react rather than respond. The ego often tempts us to rebut, refute, allege, deflect, dissect and digress when we are at the receiving end of a communication. As a result, our mind is focused on immediately reacting to what we perceive to have heard or understood and the victim in the human folly is the power we could have held over the communication if we cared to listen.

Distractions that do not let us focus on listening. Apart from the physical conditions like extreme climatic conditions or poor sound quality or other noises that distract, we can be distracted by our limitations of understanding the contents e.g. Our disinterest in science and math’s. When we are distracted, we are focused on letting the communication directed at us come to an end so that we can escape from the suffocation, pain and monotony that we endured. Obviously listening has no chance to rear its head when we are simply shutting ourselves from the proceedings.

Comprehension of the communication becomes challenging. When the communication is liberally peppered with jargon, technical terms and a lot of philosophy the receiver of the communication is often left perplexed and bemused.

Personal limitations e.g. Prejudices, impatience, quick temper etc. When we participate in a communication process with a prejudiced idea or view point or when we are forced to participate in a process which does not hold our interest or if one is an agitated state of mind, listening would be a near impossible task. Our mind is already preoccupied and absorbing anything would be well nigh impossible.

So how does one try and improve one’s listening skills?

Be aware. A quick look at the points listed above and its relevance to us as an individual would quickly make us aware as to where we need to focus on in order to improve our listening skills. For starters talking less and learning to respond rather than react would dramatically enhance our listening skills.

Be motivated to listen. This is tougher than it seems because every communication situation would be different and finding the right motivation would test our creativity and our will power. To be motivated to listen one needs to find a reason to listen. One good way to be motivated is to visualize yourself as an important participant in the communication process. Another way is, to engage in the communication process with the hope of finding a suitable benefit in the communication e.g. the speaker / writer gives very good examples or shares very good anecdotes.

Prepare to listen. Students in particular or those going for a seminar would greatly benefit if they read up on the topic that will be the focus of the communication. Even a casual participant in the communication process can make an attempt to be prepared by proactively thinking, researching, collating information on the topic of the communication that they would be part of.

Paraphrase, clarify, jot down. Not every bit of the communication is relevant or important. The context, the individual motivation and the perceived benefit of the communication would vary from individual to individual. However every individual can actively listen and gainfully participate in any communication process by summarizing or paraphrasing and clarifying the messages. It works best when one takes the effort of jotting it down and subsequently revising it.

In conclusion it is clear that developing the ability to LISTEN is a key human learning that would be extremely useful to every individual because it allows one to Let Interest Sustain To Enlighten Now.

Action Points:

1. Take a sea shell and press it to your ears and concentrate and try and perceive the sound emitting which mimics the sound of the ocean.
2. If you reorganize the alphabets in the word LISTEN you will get another word that would give you the best hint on how to be a better listener. Can you identify that word?

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Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

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HEART

Within the confines of one’s HEART lies the key to life in its physical form but more importantly life in its emotional avatar for it  Holds Empathy Appreciation Respect & Trust. The ECG can at best give an output that mimics the state of one’s heart in its physical form but the true nature of one’s heart lies in the manner and mode in which one is able to cope with the people, situations and feelings that one has to face day in and day out.

While emotions are never triggered by the heart, there is a predominately romantic feel in associating all emotions with the heart. In particular the more positive ones like love, affection, kindness etc are always conjured up as emitting from the heart while the extremely despicable ones like hate, anger, revenge etc are associated with an evil and stone like heart. Consequentially the good and the evil are both given some space in the confines of the heart; with the former occupying a disproportionately larger area.

Love is the most common emotion that the heart is supposed to be filled with. While a heart is portrayed as the most visible cliché of a romantic shade of love, what it does not fully bring to the fore are the other shades of love like love for family, friends, objects and things. What is even less evident is the reality that the heart if used as the epicenter of positive emotion holds a wide range emotions that give purpose, meaning and positive energy in relationships. Let us examine a few of these.

Empathy- it is the equivalent of walking in another’s shoes. Only then can we know where the shoe pinches and we can appreciate their view point and perhaps even experience what they go through.

Appreciation- Many of us secretly admire others but rarely do we take the initiative to express our appreciation. Pause for a moment and look back at the numerous times we have felt elated when appreciated by others. It is not that we lack the ability to appreciate but what we lack is the drive and the magnanimity to express it.

Respect – This is all about acknowledging age, experience, expertise and being humble. Only one with a strong upbringing and a pure heart can have this in ample measure.

Trust – The simple adage Trust begets trust should be the trigger to help us express our confidence and belief in others. It is possible that occasionally our trust could be misplaced and we regret our mistake. However, that should not be an yardstick to judge others for each person is an individual different from others and each one inherently must be extended your trust.

In an ideal world an ideal person with the perfect heart would be the one who Holds Empathy Appreciation Respect & Trust in his/ her HEART

Action Points:

1. Here is a picture of a hear with a few spaces earmarked. Can you fill it up with other positive emotions that your heart possesses?
2. Can you outline some other English terms associated with the heart.eg. stone hearted, hearty laugh, large hearted etc. How many of these terms apply to you? 

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GYM

In today’s fast pace world, the hurly burly of everyday life has resulted in two big problems for the average to deal with; poor dietary habits (fast food, junk food, excessive eating, eating at odd hours, too much of aerated drinks and liquor etc) and stress (managing work life balance, meeting deadlines, working excessive hours, coping with tensions and pressures etc.) The awareness of these two very dangerous ills in our life is the first step to managing them. While the obvious solution is to get control over ones diet and to attempt to de-stress, the harsh reality is that the sheer magnitude of the problem is hard to cope with. The third alternative is to attempt to Get Yourself a Makeover and go to a GYM regularly.

By being regular at the gym, there are three advantages that come to the fore.

1. You ensure that the poor dietary habits are compensated for through a disciplined exercise regime.
2. It helps act as an antidote to the stress that one is subject to.
3. The body and mind are put in sync by the appropriate, controlled and regular exercise routine and the net result is a complete makeover of the personality.

Contrary to popular belief, body building is rarely the prime objective of anyone exercising at a gym. While many a youngster would under peer pressure and the influence of their heroes and icons beginning their gyming routine visualizing a muscular body, they often give up their pursuits for lack of motivation and their own tardiness. However for those who are more consciousness of their general physical looks and if that is coupled with the urge to keep fit the gym is the logical solution that meets their requirements. 

The real change that one experiences by being regular at a gym is in the manner we perceive ourselves; we feel healthier, feel nicer about our physical features and experience both calmness in our temperament and resilience within ourselves to cope with whatever life throws up. The positivity that seeps into our psyche transcends our being and spreads it’s aura around us and often makes a sublime transition into those we interact with.

Being regular at a GYM also makes one disciplined, enables one to slowly stretch ones limits and has limitless possibilities of toning up every part of one’s physique, strengthening one’s mental attitude and ultimately Get Yourself a perfect Makeover.

Action Points:

1. If going to a gym sounds difficult, draw up a personal physical exercise plan and an objective to be achieved within a specified time frame. E.g. Go for a walk daily beginning with a half an hour walk and slowly increasing it to an hour. This should help me lose 1 kg in 2 months or do a set of yoga exercises that will make me feel more fit, supple and refreshed.
2. Make a list of exercises that one can do during the work hour and at the work place that will supplement your need for physical exercise that you may not be able to commit to due to lack of time or the availability of convenient gym.

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

Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

You are also invited to visit our inspirational and motivational blog

http://www.actspot.wordpress.com