Category: Personal Growth (Page 8 of 8)

On making better decisions

May 5, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Quite often, we feel overwhelmed by the prospect of making a big decision. One that could steer the course of our life in future. Fearing making the wrong choice, we find ourself not making a decision for as long as possible.
Most likely, the decision pertains to either

A) Starting something new, a fresh avenue in life

B) Quitting something that we were involved in for long in the past.

Considering the gravity of the consequences of making the wrong decision, we often procrastinate for far too long. But the indecision doesn’t serve us.

An easy way around this is to sincerely ask yourself the following two questions.

A) Do I have enough love for what I am getting myself into?

B) Is there a prospect to learn and grow ?

If the decision is about quitting something old, ask yourself,

A) Do I have enough love left for what/ who I’ve been involved with?

B) Does the opportunity to learn and grow still seem promising?

If you have enough love to get involved with something new and there are avenues to learn and grow,
By all means you should decide to go for it.
And if you find yourself not passionate about what you were involved with and it doesn’t hold the promise of learning and growing, even if it is hard to do so,
Quit it.

Do not fear making the wrong decision. Sometimes choosing to making a decision is in itself, the best decision one could make.
For regardless of whether it is right or wrong, there is a prospect of learning and growing.

Trust your instincts and tread.
Making the decision itself is the way forward.

To more love and learning in your life.
To boundless beautiful possibilities.

On realising your own unique voice

May 4, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Recently, a friend of mine shared her design work with me. It was a poster she has designed for an event.
I must share that I found the design to be extremely pleasing. There was a seamless coherence in the elements, colors and font.

Happily I remarked,
‘I love your design ! Do you?’

‘Yes, I’m happy with the design too’ she said.

‘I must say that you have a unique voice as an artist!’

‘Hmmm.., I don’t know about that !’

‘Most certainly you do.’

‘Maybe!’ she said hesitantly.

I smiled. And wondered, how an artist perceives her own self.

I’d like to pose a few questions before I elaborate.

‘Do all of us have a unique face?’
‘Do all of us have a unique, identifiable voice?’
How about physique?
Worldview?

The answer to all of these questions is undeniably in affirmative.
Why are we so comfortable with accepting our physical uniqueness, yet hesitant when it comes to our art?

For me, every person is an artist. It doesn’t matter if you wield the paintbrush or the broom or a chef’s knife. And every person does even the smallest of things in his own unique way. It’s our karmic signature so to say.
It is unique, much like our fingerprint.

It is upto us to first accept ourself as an artist. Then, we have to realise and embrace our uniqueness.

No two mother’s ever cooked a meal that tasted alike. Delicious in their own ways, their art of cooking is still peculiar.

Unique.

Modesty is a great virtue.
But modesty to the point of self denial of one’s own artistry doesn’t serve an artist.

Then, it is our job, to compliment each artist for their own unique voice.
Uniqueness is beyond good and bad, black and white.

As we accept our own true signature and let it express through our work,
It shall enable others in our world to do the same.

We need a thriving world.
Full of artists,
Unique in their own creative ways,
Expressing without inhibitions.

So next time,
At the first opportunity,
Compliment and celebrate the unique artist you find around you.
And most certainly,
The one within you.

The Power of Everyday

May 2, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

We have a tendency to set ambitious goals for ourselves. We would like to be the ‘Biggest’, ‘ Quickest’, ‘Smartest’ , ‘Youngest’ etc. at a particular activity that we let into our life.
While this pool of superlatives helps one set a clear goal, it doesn’t help with the journey along the way to realising it.

For instance,
Wanting to be the quickest sprinter in your school helps set out a clear goal, but doesn’t help much with the work you have to put in to achieve the target.

I believe goal setting needs to be visualised differently. One must aspire to do the smallest task he can do, every single day, to reach his goal.
In my experience, nothing is as difficult as being consistent at something.
One of the reasons majority of new year resolutions never make past the first fortnight !

From what I’ve learnt,
One must design ‘micro goals’. He must aspire to do the smallest thing possible to take him the shortest distance forward in the direction of fulfilment of his goal.

Consistency is the key.

As a writer, I make sure I write an article every single day. As a fitness enthusiast I do Yoga every single day.
The habit of being consistent at the micro task every single day is the surest way to achieve the loftiest of dreams.

This is one of the reasons why I started
‘The power of everyday’ project.
This project aims at investigating the effect of consistent, deliberate practice.

In the month of April, I had the follow three projects.

1. To write one foolscap page with the left hand
2. To write and publish a blog everyday
3. To practice Yoga every single day

I’m happy to share that I did all of the above mentioned micro tasks, every single day in the month of April.

It has been challenging at times especially since I am traveling.
For example, on 29th April, I wrote my daily left hand page on a roll of tissue paper when stranded in an under construction school at an island.
I’ve written blog posts at ungodly hours just so that I can publish them the next day at 8 am IST no matter what.
I’ve found myself asleep on the yoga mat halfway into a yoga pose from the sheer exhaustion of the day. I woke up four hours later on my Yoga mat, and continued on to finish what was left of the daily micro task.

What did I gain from this month of experiment?
My left hand writing is improving and I can write much faster than before.
I am getting better at writing and creating content every single day.
And because of Yoga, I am definitely fitter than how I was a month ago when I started the project.

But more than that,
The most discerning change is in the mindset.
I sense a subtle shift in brain chemistry that helps me be in a positive frame of mind. Finishing all the daily micro tasks by the end of the day gave a reassuring sleep every night. Trust me, it really feels amazing!

In the month of May, I am undertaking the following five daily micro tasks in ‘The power of everyday’ project.

1) Wake up bright and early and watch the sunrise everyday. Write a page about it with your left hand.

2) Day dream for half an hour and journal it. Every day.

3) Celibate.

4) Continue the daily Yoga practise.

5) Continue writing and publishing a blog post every single day.

As you can see, I have built upon my old micro tasks and added a few new ones.

I’ll share one post about the progress of this project and what I’m learning from it every week.

I would really enjoy if you join me on this journey.

Pick one micro task for yourself, that you are willing to do every single day. It can be the smallest thing that leads you in the right direction (Say, write one line every single day)
Focus solely on consistency.
Pick something easy that would seem ridiculous to not do.( One push up a day every single day?)

Share your micro task for the week in the comments below. Don’t hesitate.
We are only enabling each other’s growth,
with the smallest step possible in the right direction.

Paving the way for youth

May 1, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Deep inside we all realise we could be in better physical shape. The modern lifestyle is designed in a way that we have to make time for fitness related activities. A few decades ago, the mostly physical nature of work made sure we got sufficient exercise during the course of the day. Fitness was integrated with life.

But times are changing and so is the nature of work. We earn much more than our ancestors per capita, but we are poor when it comes to affording the time to be physically fit.
To make matters worse, we have so many distractions that steer us from activity to passivity that fitness remains a distant dream, even for people in the prime of their youth.

Most people think that once they grow older, assume familial responsibilities, they can let go off the possibility of cultivating vigorous physical health.
As a consequence they grow older much earlier.

But today, as I biked with a 72 year old youth named ‘Phulong’ all day long, I realised something.
The older we get, the more power we have to inspire younger people.
When we see a physically active elder person, we feel motivated to sweat it out too and reach a better physical shape.
A forty year old marathon runner has great power to galvanise people younger than him that haven’t put on sports shoes in a few years. The older one gets, the more power of influence he has.
Phulong bicyled up the highest mountain in Thailand at age 68. He showed the way to the summit to an entire generation!

Ageing is inevitable. But our youth is in our hands.
And with preserving our youth through physical activity, we can create a fitness centric narrative for the younger generation.

The elder you get, the more responsibility you have. Not just of your own health but also of the health of the younger generation.

So remember,
when you choose to go out for a jog at the stroke of dawn,
You are paving the way for the younger community to tread along.

To smiles borne out of sweat.
To a youth that never ages.

On Harnessing Latent Smiles

April 25, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Passing through a little village nestled in the hillocks, I wished to reach my destination before sundown. The bicycle ride had been a long one, eight hours long to be precise. I was still an hour away from the destination.
I stopped for a moment to have a sip of water. An elderly village lady walked towards me in the meantime.
She started speaking to me in Thai quite avidly.
I couldn’t understand much of it.
I just told her , ‘Me, Ban Samoeng’
Ban Samoeng was the village I had to reach.
‘Ah, Ban Samoeng! ‘ she exclaimed.

As I got on my bicycle and started to pedal, I felt a gentle push.
I looked back to see that the old woman was pushing my bike forward intending to help me bicycle on.
Oh the carefree smile on her face!
‘Bye bye!’ she waved to me excitedly.

And from deep inside me, she summoned a latent smile on my face. I was tired from the days bicycling, and had no energy to do much. But her gesture proved me otherwise. She fueled me enough to reach my destination with a smiling face, right in time.

It got me wondering about the power a human being possesses. You might often have experienced a lull in your daily life. There might seem no apparent reason to smile. But a stranger smiles at you with such warmth that you find yourself smiling out of nowhere.
Kids have this power over the whole world that surrounds them. No matter how tiring the day has been, once the father is back at home, he has all the reasons to smile and feel grateful as he looks at his child.
Even a stranger cannot resist the smile that a baby springs up on his face.

Realising this influence over each other makes one feel empowered. And as they say, with great power, comes great responsibility.

We have the power to summon smiles on people’s faces like a sorcerer. We can, with a simple decision to smile, being forth a discerning change in the energy of the world around us.

And once we choose to do that,
We feel,
‘The world is suddenly a kinder place.’

As humans, as social engineers, at every opportunity,
We should trade smiles.
For in this business,
Everyone Profits,
Smilingly.

A Lesson on Mindfulness

April 22, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

The roosters announced the arrival of the first rays of sunlight. The sun, still hiding behind the hills waited for the earth to turn, and experience daylight.
Petals dripping in dew greeted onlookers a spirited day ahead.
Bright and early, I got out of the dormitory and savoured the sunrise.
I looked around to find out if my friends had woken up or not.
Some friends were practising Yoga, some sitting by the garden, enjoying the moment in stillness. It seemed like a deeply immersive start to the gift of new day.

As I walked around, I found my friend Alice brushing her hair, transitioning slowly to wakefulness.
I walked on and went to the kitchen to help cook breakfast. Soon, Alice walked down the stone stairway into the open kitchen.
She looked at me briefly and said
‘Good morning!’
I nodded smilingly and continued with my work.
She washed her face under a tap to freshen up.

Soon I heard her voice again from nearby.

‘I don’t think that was the most mindful good morning I could offer Sreenath.
I wish you a very good morning’ she shared as she looked into my eyes with an open heart.

That gesture made me bloom like a flower in springtime.

As she was walking away I called her out,

‘Alice!’
‘It’s wonderful to be mindful of your own un-mindfulness.
And even better so to improve upon your un-mindfulness so quickly.
Thanks for your mindful behavior!’
‘You made my morning !’
I shared lovingly.

She walked off with a smile, and we continued on with our day’s work with the pursuit of being mindful in all our actions.

This interaction made me wonder about how we are used to giving ourself an unending grace period to correct our mistakes. It even needn’t be a mistake, it could just be an action that could be done better, in a more mindful way.

For instance, a person might not have been the kindest to a friend. He keeps thinking that he would acknowledge his mistake and apologize soon but that never happens. And with time it becomes easier to forget, harder to confront.
It doesn’t help the relationship in any way.

It can be something even simpler than this. We have all experienced that interaction where we forget the name of the person we’re talking to but we still navigate our way out of the conversation without simply asking them their name once more. Wouldn’t it be a more meaningful conversation if we accepted our un-mindfulness and asked for their name again?

In all our daily interactions, there is always scope to be more mindful. If we acknowledge this and resolve to better ourselves the moment we find an opportunity, we will definitely create a more loving and mindful energy around us.

On that note,
In sincere hope
I wish you a series of mindfully led moments,
As they culminate into days,
And eventually
Into a mindfully led lifetime.

Farming Mindfully

April 19, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

The morning drizzle had just stopped. A flurry of flirting clouds danced over the skyline obeying the wind’s choreography.
Determined to get back on the road again, I loaded up my bicycle and headed up north.

As much as I liked the fragrance of wet earth after a rain, today, I was wishing to ride away from it as fast as I could.
I was heading to volunteer at a farm 60 kms North of Chiang Mai city.
I had heard great things about the farm from fellow travellers. The focus area of the farm is to integrate Farming and mindful meditation. Quite aptly, it was named, ‘Mindful Farmers Community.’

Fascinated by the farm’s core values, I headed straight in its direction without thinking twice.

I would have been better off if I had thought about the terrain though. Even though it was only 60kms away, it was also at a constant 8 percent slope for half of the way. Traversing through a huge national park throughout, I could hear waterfalls all around me. After a point, I couldn’t bicycle anymore, the slope was such. For the next two hours, I was pushing my Bicycle uphill. Halfway up,
I could hear a thunderstorm brewing at a distance. I took shelter at a bus stop and waited for thick black clouds to condense.
The storm lasted for half an hour. Determined still, I kept pushing the bike uphill. I must have been possessed by something, else there was no way I could go on. What seemed like a simple 3 hour ride turned out to be an agonising 9 hour marathon. It was easily the most challenging thing I’ve done in my life.

But finally, I reached the destination at 6 pm. As I made my way into the community late in the evening, I was met with a friendly group of people. I was quickly escorted to my place in the dormitory, shown to the showers and then invited for meditation.
Following that I had a homely meal with all community members.
The place has a kind and accepting aura.
It is special indeed.

Sitting satiated after the sumptuous meal, as I reflect back on the day I wonder,

Notwithstanding where you are,
If you do what matters to you with all your heart,
People will even scale mountains,
Just to experience the deeply divine vibrations you set out into the world.

The wise monk who runs this farm,
Through his mindful work,
Led me all the way up this mighty hill.

And gave me a lesson,
Without speaking a word.

The Buddha’s Sermon

April 18, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Yesterday I went for a little hike up a hill in Chiang Mai. There is a nicely paved road leading all the way uphill to the sacred Temple ‘Wat Phra That Doi Suthep’
It’s a steep road with many bends and corners.

I chose to hike up about half the way to a temple called ‘Wat Pha Lad’ on the trail. It used to be the temple where monks would stop to rest in olden times as they hiked to the main temple uphill.
Slowly and steadily, walking afoot, I made my way to the temple.
On the road, just before the temple, there was a little shrine with a statue of the Buddha inside it.
I wondered why there was this little shrine on the road just before a major temple that stood a bit further from the road, inside the forest.
I looked into the eyes of the Buddha’s statue and prayed for the strength to find my own truth.

After visiting the breathtaking temple nestled in the forest, I started walking downhill, back home. I passed by the little shrine again. After being mesmerised by the ethereal beauty of the temple in the jungle, I wondered again, why this little shrine stands here after all!
And I continued on.

Today, I decided to cycle all the way uphill to ‘Wat Phra That Doi Suthep’. Within one kilometer of cycling I understood what I had gotten myself into.
The steep incline was going to last for 11 kilometers until I reached the temple. The weather was getting stormy by the second. I gasped deeper and deeper for breaths as my heart rate jumped to twice the normal. Drenched in sweat, I pedalled on in the lowest gear, heaving and panting constantly.
About half way up, thick black clouds started to condnese into raindrops. Huge blobs of water started hitting me like torpedoes.
I got a bit worried since I was going uphill and there was a forest all round me.
I could turn back and race downhill to save myself from getting drenched. But I wanted to go all the way up.
I was determined.
I saw a signboard at a distance as I approached it at an easy pace. In moments I could read what it said,
‘Wat Pha Lad 500 meters ahead’

I heaved a sigh, this time of relief.
I pedalled on quickly to reach the little shrine just ahead of the temple I’d been to yesterday.
I parked my bike and took all my stuff inside the shrine to find shelter.
The downpour lasted for half an hour.
In the meantime, I just sat in front of the Buddha’s statue. I saw what I failed to see yesterday. There was a roof on Buddha’s little shrine!
And it saved me from getting caught in heavy rain.

I tried to remember if there were any roofs in the magnificent forest temple I was so mesmerised by yesterday.
I couldn’t remember any.

Grateful for the roof, I understood why there are small shrines leading to all big temples.
I looked intointo Buddha’s eyes on the statue,
And he told me,
‘I am here only to remind you to pray.
Not to me.
But just to pray.’

‘When you face adversity as you undertake a big challenge,
Your prayers will manifest into the shelter you need to keep you going.’

After two hours of cycling uphill, I finally reached the main temple ‘Wat Phra That Doi Suthep’
On my way back downhill,
speeding past the little shrine,
I smiled,
And prayed.

And in my mind,
Full of belief,
I am ready for the next challenge,
The next ride,
Uphill.

The subtle art of making friends

April 17, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Late at night, I was working on my laptop in my hostel. There were other people around me busy with their own devices as well. The dark room was lit up by the faces of people staring on the screens of their phones. No one breathed a word.

Until a gregarious Irishman walked in through the door. He went on greeting everyone.

‘Hey, howya doin? ‘ Pretty good? Jolly good I bet eh? ‘

He took great care of each person in the room . He greeted everyone and asked them about their day.
He had such an affable energy that everyone felt connected to him instantly.
One conversation led to another and through eavesdropping, everyone got to know each other.
One of us was a competitive bicyclist, one a peripatetic traveler, one a Yachtsman and so on.
He got himself a beer from the little fridge and sat down across me. We had a good exchange of words. Soon he called up the peripatetic traveller to join him for a beer.
The three of us got talking and over the course of the next couple of hours we shared a lot of things close to our hearts.

As the night came to a close he shared his story.
‘A Yachtsman from Ireland, at age 74 he dreams of sailing across the Atlantic to go to the Caribbean. Then he wishes to cross the Panama canal and sail the Pacific like a roaring trade wind.’
His curiosity and childlike fascination about other people’s stories was inspiring to experience.
At a ripe old age, he personified the vitality and spirit of an young, adventurous sailor.

I was enlivened by his sharing.
As we got up to go to bed,
I thanked him for bringing us all together on one table and enabling the exchange of ideas. We were sitting like perfect strangers until he arrived. And now we all felt close to each other, as if we’d been friends for a long time.

‘Thank you Mr. Eugene!’ I said as I hugged him.

“Don’t thank me young man,’
He raised his glass and said,
‘I just chose to say Hello’

Whenever you can,
‘You should too.’

Wonder-struck, sleepless on my bed,
I cherished the most simple advice I’ve gotten to cultivate brotherhood.

‘Just say hello!’

So my dear friend, I ask you,
How are you doing :)?

On sculpting your identity

April 13, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

You.
Yes you, my friend.
Grant yourself a few moments of perfect stillness.
Take a deep breath.
And Imagine.

Imagine who you currently embody. Your mind, body, thoughts and soul.
This is what you represent.
You’re a being in incessant flux, becoming and evolving.

Accept it.
This is YOU in the present moment.

Now imagine the version you wish to embody.
What do you represent?
How do you ennoble the people around?
Do you shine in your own glory, and invite people to do the same?
Visualize and believe in it.

Now,
Think of your present self as a chunk of marble.
And your better self as the finished work of art, the timeless sculpture you wish to create.

Now, let me share a story about the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo.
When Michelangelo was asked about his creative process of sculpting, he simply quipped,
‘You have to see the sculpture in the block of stone and chisel out the bits that aren’t the sculpture.’

Drawing a parallel,
each adversity,
each challenge,
each responsibility you willingly take represents the chisel your stone like self has to go through to inch closer to your better self.

Then, the question remains,

Can you visualise the better version of your self?
If so, are you ready to weather adversity, face challenges, embrace responsibilities that shall sculpt you each living moment?

It is a slow process.
It takes time.
It takes mindfulness.

But it also takes you closer to your better self.

So I ask you, my friend,

Are you ready,
To begin the journey,
Of Chiseling
Your own self?