When nothing goes right, go left.

"In life there are no stops. Keep moving forward to feel alive." This has been my life mantra.

Imagine spending  sleepless nights to work on a project. Spending all your energy to make plans and counter plans of how to go about it and win that pitch. And then everything fails. Yes the best laid plans can also fail. Then what does one do? Be angry, be upset but then one has to come to terms with the failure and start again. No matter how good your plan is, no matter how much time and energy one has spend on it, at times no plan is good enough to succeed. Such is life.
I believe that when nothing goes right, thats the time everything is possible. My best laid plans are as per mine and other's expectations from me. But when things don't go as per plan, there is a small opportunity for us to create something which probably is unexpected and thats when we can really challenge our limits.
 We have all been down this road. Only people who might object are the one's who have never tried something new or challenged their limits. To be alive is to feel it in your gut that this is the moment. And the only way one can be alive is to look at the same problem with a different perspective. I believe when nothing is going right , sit back enjoy the music, read a book and go out with friends and family. Leave the problem for sometime and then with a fresh mind and perspective look at it as an opportunity to find new things. Many times we realise that we can solve it with a different approach and many times we realise our mistake in tackling the problem. Either way we find solutions to make things happen eventually.
When i see a couple fighting, i ask myself one question that what can be so huge that two people instead of spending time with each other are finding time to fight? I have never been able to understand the small ego's and control which human want to exercise over each other. It's more one see's in personal life than at work. Then again one tries to figure out what is it that makes people at work be respectful and work together while people in families can give one a good fight?
This brings me to think probably at work we are so used to deadlines and teamwork  that our mind is receptive to change and we do have an ability to look at things differently at times. Not that people don't get screamed at work if one loses a big account. Or maybe our sense of humour is much better at work and we let go of small issues as its all about winning and team work.
Then how come we don't apply the same principle at home? This is soul food for thought for many people.
After taking a journey within i realised one day that at times i take life seriously. I was thinking too much about my future and i was looking back at my past. I frankly had no present as my mind was like a yo-yo between past and future. Thats the day i made one promise to myself, let plans of life be any. It does not matter where i would be 5 years from today as i don't have a guarantee of being alive the next moment. When i shifted my mindset from being cautious, to live life; I automatically  challenged my limits and that's when i figured out my strengths. My real inner strength's which gave me an insight for me to work in a different manner. And strangely i do believe today that success comes to those who live life different and challenge there limits every time.
I am a strong believer in when life hands you lemons, take the vodka out of the refrigerator and make your self a good drink to enjoy what life gives you.
It's one life, no stops, keep moving. 

Life. Dreams. Aspirations.

" Dreams are which the mind conceives , the heart desires and the soul believes" author unknown.

In a world where majority of our time is spend on dreaming and aspiring to be someone, comes along a thought which leaves us to think if our life has given us possibilities to dream and think then somewhere lies the opportunity for our aspirations to take wings. What stops us from following our dreams? Is it the people? Is it the society? or Is it just us who don't have the courage to follow our own dreams?
We are conditioned to think one way, we are imposed with a mindset in our childhood and this is who we become as we grow up. Life's little instructions are coded in our mind and the time we are told about how to go about life, honestly i don't remember connecting to anyone of those instructions when i was a child. I wanted to play and sometimes break public property to be a rebel. But little instructions imposed in my mind; respect public property till date does not allow me to consciously or sub consciously even remotely think of invading public or any private property for destruction. I cannot even think of throwing a paper or litter public area as the instructions code has somehow imbibed all that is related to this one little instruction as a code of conduct for me. This has somehow taken away the freedom from me to join public rally's or any event which in someway disrupts public life and property. So if ever i harnessed the dream or aspiration to be a Political, rebel or a thief my gene code has suppressed this aspiration due to code of conduct imbibed in me.
In a way i am happy, i never had any aspirations to be a public figure. Your life is not your own anymore. Your actions are judged, your life is disrupted by public opinion and in a way you start living a life as per the aspirations of people than yourself. So thanks to one instruction a whole plethora of aspirations which i could have build on have been sidelined by me.
But i used to have a constant dream, funny as i say this it was one aspiration which had two very different dreams. One was to travel the world, meet people, do mega shows and always i saw that stage. My second part of the same dream was to help the needy, create schools, shelter, employment, hospital etc for the underprivileged. It was strange that time also and it feels strange today too.
Recap of my aspiration:
Part 1:I wanted to do big shows, travel, meet famous people, create concepts, hold a high position and run a company. My dream all elements ticked. I have lived this life for two decades and had a time of my life is all i can say. Yes my recurring childhood dream since i was 12 years , i made it happen.
Part 2 of my same dream : Philanthropy, help under priveledged, love and compassion. This is the beginning of Soul Studio.
What i figured out is that we have dreams and we have fears, the choice is ours to follow our heart and let go of fears or believe in our fears and let go of our dreams. Each one of us is given multiple possibilities and from these possibilities we try to prioritise our dreams and aspirations. We make a bucket list of this and start living life by living our dreams. I have come across many people who have two lives's. One they are living and one they aspire to live. Why do we short change ourselves when it comes to our dreams and aspirations? In the end its our life , then why do so many live someone else's life? Sometimes we are not aware of our own fears and addictions and the life instructions told to us as a child. Sometimes our actions are related to sub conscious thought, and sometimes we are too indifferent to change.
Fear, addictions and our mindset play a very vital role in us living our life or suppressing our dreams and aspirations. Buying few houses, big cars, planes, owning few companies, jewellery , kids going to ivy school, club memberships etc are perks of dreams and aspirations coming to reality.
But is this all which we aspire for? is our dream and aspiration only for us to buy materialistic pleasures? Do take a journey within and answer this for yourself.

As rightly said by Lao Tzu : "If you realise all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve."
And as said by Samuel Johnson : " Our aspirations are our possibilities."

Prisoner's dilemma _ Mind a slave or master

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men" beautiful quote by Martin luther king jr.

Often i think about what goes in people's mind. Do we all think alike at some level? or are we all so unlike yet try to exist on this planet together. This thought plays with my mind and i wonder if some one else is also having the same question. We feel so important of being who we are without realising that there are 7 billion plus people who feel the same importance. We don't realise that we are just a speck of energy in this whole big universe. Our actions sure make a difference to the fate of this planet but our existence makes no difference to the universe.
Its a thought which keeps crossing my mind, what do i bring to this planet? I mean literally am i of some importance with my purpose or am i a burden which is being carried over. The "I" is of utmost importance here. As for myself and for my means to live "I" is very important in the scheme of my whole existence. Yet will my achievement be my own or will other people's joint efforts make it worthwhile? Now the "I" shifts to "We" or "Us". Still in the giant scheme of events "I" will always  gain more points than collective "We".
Our mind control everything for us. Our logic way of thinking and our logical conclusions to everything we do is the boost our mind needs constantly. The masks are many and we know how to wear them at all occasions .
Its difficult to be a leader in todays world. How many people can one appease and how many different conclusions can one come up with. Somehow the end result is always the same. As many times we do the statistics we will come to the same conclusion, we cannot please everyone all the time. Some people will follow us, some will respect, some will listen to further their own growth opportunities but majority will always be dissatisfied. My problem is not with the dissatisfied people but the one's who follow or respect . The thin line which we create here is what at time scares me. These are the people with dreams and the day your vision does not fit with their dreams, thats when the problem arises.
Our mind allows us to be led by someone only when it solves our purpose, we are engineered in a way which makes us vulnerable to our weaknesses and allows others to guide us for sometime. Once we get clarity of mind, the control freak mind wants to move away from the discipline and forge its own path. Its our nature to always look for problems and when the mind wants to control thats when the thin line between satisfaction and dissatisfaction merges. Now what does this make us? The answer my friend is within you to understand this. We are like a wave which is looking for a purpose to hit the shore and then recede back in our shell to rise up again with the purpose . Does the wave ever finds its purpose? Its a controlled predictable pattern till the time a storm does not come for the wave to create havoc.
Now the question which arises is who creates the havoc? What is the catalyst which brings this change in the predictable pattern of the wave?
As i said earlier we are just a speck of energy which on its own can do nothing. But a collective energy can bring change to this world. We still will mean nothing to this universe. I have seen many companies ride this wave at a certain stage in there life. Its a pattern where the old and new thinking merges and many times old employees leave as the new vision does not give them the power which they are used to. In the end its all about control and power. The old game which our mind has always played with us. The same is with countries. Global peace is a far cry as not a single leader trusts the other to help in taking steps towards disarmaments and global warming.
We are slaves to our mind and love the games which exist as it gives us control and power. At times i feel we are all in a delusional prisoner's dilemma and maybe someday will wake up and laugh at ourselves for putting ourselves in this position.

As the saying goes , "Mind a beautiful servant, a dangerous master."

The choice is always with us.

Time Out_Shine like a diamond in the sky

"A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well."

Shine like a diamond i have heard this many times. and often wondered how can i shine like a diamond. The underlying message somehow eluded from me for a long time. Every time some one said this phrase to me, i felt this meant i had to look my best , excel in my studies , sports and work etc. I realised much later in life that how we have this ability to cope with stress and come out stronger and more positive about our life is what this old saying actually meant.
I never realised i was a good conductor of stress until i got in events. Its easy to say "i am stressed". But its difficult to be in stress and work effectively. Initially when i started work i was always short of time, work never finished. Before i could finish one event, another was already in pipeline and at times i realised i was coordinating 4 events in different locations of this country in a day. My stress levels were high and i don't remember Shinning like a diamond in those days.
After much thought i realised where i was going wrong. I had programmed my mind by constantly saying to myself and to anyone i met "I am stressed" , "I don't have any time for myself", "I am very busy". I suddenly realised saying these sentences made me feel important and busy with my work. But in reality my mind was getting signals of being stressed and finding no time for myself. My productivity level as per my understanding was low even though i was working and delivering my targets. Hence the change came in my perspective and as i said earlier probably i am a good conductor of stress, once i made up my mind of accepting the impact of being in events , i suddenly was less stressed and had time for both my work and personal life. This change in my mindset has helped me for two decades and if today i conduct workshops for people to realise their trigger points of stress is all thanks to the Time out my mind takes which has changed my perspective.
Modern lifestyle, we love the attention and constant influx of calls and messages. Social media is at its all time high. Our lifestyle now has too much of digital influx which keeps us on our toes always. This ping sound resonates in our mind constantly and candy crush the best time pass game invented. This is what eases our stress from work and attention disorder has hit roof high.
For me personally, i prefer to take Time out for my mind. Today i find vacation places where i have no mobile / data connectivity. One hour a day i put my phone on silent so that i can be with my thoughts and plan my day and week accordingly. This disciplined Time out is for me to rejuvenate and think creatively at my next project. At meetings i ensure my mobile is on silent mode and not kept on the table to divert my mind from discussions. While meeting family and friends again i keep my mobile away as i would prefer to give all my attention to the person in front of me than the virtual ping which diverts my attention  My mind needs rest just like my body. I could not write a blog for a month as no thoughts came in and too much of travel, social and work took toll on my creative thinking. This happens to all of us but in the rat race to be somewhere we let go of fatigue signs which our mind gives us.
For some playing an instrument, cooking, shopping, sports etc are few ways to take Time out from digital influx. Somehow we have not grasped that if "I don't take this call or reply to the message will not make me irresponsible . I too, do have a right to have some family and me time in this busy world. " Stress is no one's friend and our body in many forms gives us a notion to stop and take some time out but we in our busy little world wearing blinkers don't want to understand the telltale signs.
We all can devise our own time out methods, provided for this brief period we are not on any digital medium.
There are some breathing exercises which can instantly bring our mind to calm down and before we know we are in this space where Time holds still for some and we can rejuvenate. I once again reiterate "Still your mind" meditation does have a very positive impact on our thinking and to rejuvenate our tiring mind.
For me personally "Time Out" is the new Mantra in this ever evolving busy life to Shine like a Diamond in the Sky.

Talent isn't much without Passion _ You are as good as your last event

"I have no special talent. I am just passionately curious." Albert Einstein

What drives us? i mean literally.. what is the driving force behind us achieving the heights in our career, or in our personal life? Education and talent is something which gives us the base for us to strive forward but there is something else which makes us extra ordinary people at what we do.
What is this force?
This elusive question can have many different possible answers. Some say paying someone a high salary and high incentives gets the job done. While others differ and say paying a good salary is always good but incentives need not always be related to money.
From my diaries of an event manager, i was passionately curious to create events. There are many stories and for me to pick up one will be difficult. I never slept more than 3 to 4 hours during my tenure as an event manager. The excitement to get back to work and create events which will be remembered was always taking precedence over my sleep. We did create concepts which even after a decade are annual events for many companies and the high to do something different was always my addiction. Yes when i speak of addiction as one of the pillars of stress, i was addicted to my job and events.
I honestly don't remember getting bored as long i was creating something new. After 2 decades i guess all events started looking the same, all concepts looked a tweak of something done many moons back and all of a sudden my passion turned into regular job. The day i felt i was going to work i was bored and with the boredom came my decision that it was time to move on. Its strange that the moment my passion for doing events left me however talented i was told i was in my job, i was not interested anymore. No amount of money or big job title can excite me to go back and do events today.
So i wonder if it was not money or incentives what made me work so hard and deliver rocking events day after day for 2 decades. What was it? I often told my team before any event, it was my mantra and motivation talk one can say " You are as good as your last event". And they believed in it and delivered some of the best events done in this country.
Looking back i have learned few things which i am sharing with you
Passion is the driving force for a creative mind. No amount of money can trigger amazing work without passion. Present generation looks for money and can jump jobs just to get the extra money hike which in my time was usually experience getting paid. The market dynamics have changed and i see less passion and less talent with more cribbing. "My time" was limited and the deadlines of the project were the driving force. I had never heard my team cribbing of not getting enough time off.
Respect was another driving force. The clients used to respect the agencies and would share all details to ensure that the agency would come up with the concept keeping in mind the vision and what the companies envisaged from the event.
Relaxed work environment in an event company is a must. Many companies are now coming up with open offices. This was something which was done more than a decade ago. I still remember my team used to come to office at 9 am and first 15 minutes was loud Shiny disco balls and similar music playing and everyone dancing and freaking out. Come 9:15 am everyone used to be at desk and our regular day at work used to start. We had a dart board in my cabin where my team could sit discuss the events and also relax themselves out by playing the game. In the long corridor we invented Mallu bowling. Yes you heard it correct, a coconut tossed at plastic pins just to have fun and try to train our focus. Cricket on friday afternoon, maybe at times a movie played on projector if the team wanted to relax. Mind gets tired, and one cannot think creative concepts always. So we had means to relax ourselves and work into the night to meet our deadlines.
Team work : It was never the individual but the whole team which delivers. I still remember in 2002, one of our clients called out my name to come on stage after the show as a thank you for doing an amazing event. I stood in my console , called out each and every team member of mine to go up on stage and take a bow. Its always team first. This was one habit which continued of mine till my last show.
Show must go on : This is our saying in entertainment industry. What ever happens the show must go on. Therefore the team becomes an extension of one's family. If one person has some problem, the team takes over and helps the individual overcome the problem. And the Show happens without any excuses or delays.
Did i give any monetary incentives to my team to deliver rocking shows every time. the answer is NO. The team was driven by passion and one vision and focus to be the best and deliver the best. As the saying goes " You are as good as your last event"

Namah Astu Te .... I bow to you

Namaste ( Nah - mas - tay)

My soul honours your soul. I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honour the light, love, truth, beauty and peace within you. Because it is also within me. In sharing these things we are united, we are the same, we are one.

A simple greeting which has such a deep and profound meaning. This is the hindu way of greeting anyone. ( be it family, friends, colleagues, enemies or strangers)

What i learn from Namaste

We are all equal : When i bow down with folded hands and greet the one in front of me, i am bowing to the divine soul in front of me. There is no cast, race, religion, language but a boundary less world in which we are connected to each other through the energy which resides in us. Our souls are connected on a higher level and we need to understand that we all are equal on spiritual plane.
Unfortunately we have created walls of race, religion, language, culture to define ourselves.  This makes me realise that while we have become more technologically advanced species we have also created more walls for us to be safe in our own little world. How lonely we all must feel in these walls.

Respect for each other : With folded hands greeting the one in front on me i am showing respect and love for the person. I am not better than the one in front of me. Everyone has a purpose and meaning to be alive in this world. I bow down to you and respect you for who you are.
This makes me realise that as we advance our knowledge we would have developed more compassion and respect for everyone and for the planet. But when i look around i see technologically advance species which have "D -evolved' if there was such a word from compassion and love to indifference and violence. We have no respect for anyone other than to meet our greedy devious means to survive.

Peace and harmony : There is peace around and within me. I bow down to the peace and harmony which we all bring together as we greet each other.
Strangely the world we live in now its a long shot for all of us to live together in peace and harmony till the time we don't make love and compassion our way of life.

Let go of EGO : In this simple greeting we bring our ego down and bow to the divine soul in front of us. This divine soul is none other than another human being. Letting go of our EGO is one of the most difficult emotion which we find to let go.

Simplicity : I bow to the simplicity which you have inside you. We are mirrors to each other and this simplicity binds us in being human.

A simple greeting with such deep meaning, i am amazed at the culture and knowledge which ancients had. Maybe someday the true meaning of Namaste will dawn upon us and probably one day we will go back to our roots to create peace and harmony.

Namah Astu Te .... I bow to you

Happiness is..... You make me Smile

" Happiness is not something ready made. It come's from your own actions" beautifully said by His Holiness Dalai Lama.

My happy moments are scattered through my life. Its a tussle to segregate happy and sad moments. Somehow one always finds the other. Its strange one moment i am filled with laughter and the second i can feel tears running down my face. I am strange or we human's i should say have a strange affinity to sadness. Even in our happiest moments we find tears streaming down. I can never understand the science behind this. In our happiest and fits of laughter moments, we somehow cry. If one cries being extra happy then why do we feel awful and down in our moments of sadness? Why do we think our happiness is short lived?
Some how sadness always finds us without any purpose. Being happy is something which we all want and yet the feeling eludes many. Happiness is a state of mind, and i am sure not many of us understand what makes us happy. What gets the euphoria inside us, tears of joy and a smile which can light up the whole universe.
My happy quotients are many. At work i used to feel euphoric the moment i would be in office. To create an event is somehow an awesome feeling for me. My work always made me happy. Its not that i did not have stressful moments, they were plenty. Deadlines, late night work, no holidays, last minute changes, best plans going no where but still it was fun. So my happy quotient at work was FUN. My work was not regular day 9 to 5 job and every day in the morning my passion to create something unique and new made me feel ALIVE and that feeling made me have fun at work. As i look back i was happy doing the work i did for many years. Tears of joy found me many times at work but never once did i feel sad.
My baby, my black labrador - Simba is my one and only child. I am a paw mom. The day i got him home, he filled up my life with Unconditional love. To come home to a 38 kg big lab who is always jumping and cuddling to you is a treat after a hard days work. Somehow i never wanted to change his personality and therefore Simba is a spoilt baby of mine who i have never shouted at or ever hit to train him. He somehow is highly intelligent and can understand what i am talking to him. The only way he lets me be at home at peace is when i get back my first half hour is spend playing with him, no phone calls, no talking to any one else, nothing but my whole attention just to him. So we have an unconventional child who gives and takes unconditional love.
My teacher had told me many years ago to find happiness 'go within'. Its strange but the fact remains we can only be happy if we are at peace with who we are. It has taken me many years of "Journey within" to find myself. Each day has thousands of moments and each moment has a different feeling. The beauty of my moments is that in a day - 24 hours i can feel different emotions and somehow there has been peace even in the toughest of times i have faced.
I expect people to love and appreciate me just like i love and appreciate them. Expectations are a human condition and if i am born human i'am definitely having these traits. Therefore when people say don't expect anything from anyone to not to be disappointed. I am confused with this statement. We all expect from each other. This is how we all are brain wired, therefore i expect people to deliver as per their promise to me and i don't get disappointed but angry if a promise is not kept. So my happy quotient is not affected if some expectation is not met. Anger is another emotion which is emoted than having repressed emotion of sadness. Somehow communication i feel is a much better tool than assumption for my happy quotient to stay intact.
We all have different trigger points for our emotions. Each person has a different state of mind and each one deals with emotions in their own way. As a famous song lyrics ring in my ear " Don't worry, be Happy". We all find it in doses.
If i sum up what is happiness is to me.... all i can say is "You make me Smile"

Ignorance is a choice

"Ignorance is Bliss." 

This proverb resembles " What you don't know cannot hurt you." It figures in a passage from "On a distant Prospect of Eton College." by the eighteenth-century English poet Thomas Grayso.

How many times we have heard people say this i cannot even count that much. Indeed to be ignorant of many facts is bliss as we don't want to destroy our illusions. But then who is any one to be wise or ignorant other than the person themselves. I somehow feel a wise person is someone who understands the boundaries of their ignorance and instead of trying to be google of information "knowledge", learns to move around the capacity of ignorance to lead a life.

But then how many of us can really survive in this world with our illusions playing with our mind and we calmly sway with the ignorant mind? Sometimes the boundaries merge between ignorance and conscientious stupidity and is the end result bliss for who??

Driving in India is a nightmare, somehow the concept of traffic rules seem to elude the population and even the traffic cops. At times on a one way street you find people coming from the opposite end and then .... kindly adjust is the driving mantra. At times one gets confused that are we a right hand drive country or a left hand drive. I mean you loose track when people want to drive on both opposite ends. Parking is normally rules and common sense. But then again in this country one can park any where or stop car in the middle of the road to ask for directions. Again Kindly adjust or face the road rage / violence of the people. Obviously the dangerous ignorant person is in bliss here while a traffic nightmare for ones who follow the rules.

As rightly said by Emma Goldman " The Most violent element in society is Ignorance."

Education can give us the wings of imagination and rationale. But sometimes the innocence which exists in the eyes of the ignorant is beautiful. Why do we have to judge every one? Why do every one have to be street smart? Why can't we have innocence also co existing? A stranger helping a stranger without any expectations. Its hard to believe that we have no time for anything other than satisfy our selfish needs and desires. I work because i want money, status, my family to be taken care of, house, ..... etc etc. I do not work to give 50% of my wealth to the poor. Off course not how can i give my hard earned money to a poor stranger? The question which arises is does that someone have equal opportunity like you to be educated and be born in an environment to actually have a career? Well my ignorance of not understanding the situation of the other person puts me in my perspective of what i believe in. Therefore the huge gap which is forming between Have's and have's not is a sore truth to who we have become.

Philanthropy is for people who understand the journey within. From nothing we make everything and go back to be nothing. So my desires and my wants are fulfilling this moment, beyond this moment they have no value. But if i can help people to have a good education and basic necessities then all my moments have a purpose and value. This is a very personal choice yet something to ponder for everyone.

I don't know how to cook. Yes i have never enjoyed being in kitchen to cook. The way to my heart is not by cooking for me. For this i have hired an excellent housekeeper who is also an amazing chef. Therefore i am ignorant to the art of cooking. The upside to my handicap is when invited to potluck parties, i usually am excused from making a common menu and then to make my speciality. Yet i make the best contribution to these parties - I bring booze.  Sometimes the Unexpected virtue of ignorance is good too!

Often i feel our perception about intelligence, knowledge, ignorance or stupidity is based on our standards of what an individual should be. Now that's a very tall order for 7 billion plus people to meet. Not all of us think alike, even in close knit families you find people with different view points trying to co exist with each other. 

From here where do we go?

Forgiveness _ I am Human, Born to make mistakes

"To err is human, to forgive Divine".

Is it really for us to bind anyone with our anger and hurt? Am i a better human, if i learn to forgive? And exactly , who am I, to even tell a person i forgive you?

Is my forgiveness going to make the other person repent? or treat me better? What is such a big deal about forgiveness. I have been struggling to find answer to the questions and till date what has come back to me is in simple crisp words : I am human, born to make mistakes. So who is forgiving me for my actions and who am i forgiving for their reactions or actions?

Now the question which comes to my mind is, in the eyes of God there is nothing right or wrong. So what forgiveness can we ask the universal consciousness who believes everything is right and every action has a predestined purpose.

Spirituality is confusing, plays with our mind and eventually we, who come from nothing, go back being nothing. The whole tryst is while we live, we need to live by the rules of the society. Its inbuilt in us, the right and wrong. Ethics, character, upbringing, culture etc etc... wow heavy words, wonder we don't weigh down by just listening to them. But hold on, this is what makes us the good human beings. Abiding by each and every rule and asking for forgiveness if we break any one of them.

Yet we human's expect apology and want to boost our ego by saying the magic words " I forgive you" or act like slaves and ask "Please forgive me"

Forgiveness! music to my ears, it can make lives and it can break homes. In today's fast paced lifestyle, people are changing. You see more promiscuous people than they were a decade ago. It's not that they have just emerged, but by changing lifestyles and active social platforms, now you see more than there were before.

"Sorry" the most abused word of today's lifestyle. 

"I am sorry, it won't happen again. Please forgive me." This is todays mantra. Many people let go for small things. But when you need to let go and forgive someone for a major mistake, thats when you suddenly realise that we don't have it in us to forgive. We all have distinct character and we all strive to be who we are eventually. Truth and trust is something which comes in small doses. It a refection of what we believe in. My truth can be your lie too. But people don't see it that way. When it comes to forgiveness then there seems to be only one absolute truth and one absolute lie. What happens to all the white lies, which again have become our lifestyle and we all indulge in them. What happens to shades of grey in truth, which are very good argument and discussion points , as reminded by many while losing and not getting forgiveness. At that time, the heart is aching and we only see the absolute lie disguised as absolute truth.

There is a forgiveness meditation which i teach. It helps us to forgive ourselves first, then anyone who has knowingly or unknowingly hurt us and then we ask for forgiveness from any who we have knowingly or unknowingly hurt. This meditation sets us free from the baggage which we seem to be carrying. In this meditation, the intent is to forgive ourselves from our mindset and accept what has happened in our life knowingly and unknowingly. Our life is the sum total of what we feel. And many times we keep feelings hidden deep down in our sub conscious mind and it keeps emerging somehow somewhere and we keep repressing our feelings and make same mistakes again n again till we don't learn to let go.

So i ask again : Who am i, to forgive anyone other than myself? 

I am only Human, born to make mistakes and i forgive myself.

Journey between breath and name.

When a person is born, the person has breath but no name, and when the person dies, the person has name but no breath. The gap between this breath and name is Life. (author unknown)

I somehow have got stuck on this meaning of life, its simple yet it says more than words can say.

This gap is what interests me, i am amused by people who forget that what ever we do in this world in the end we take nothing. Our name is only remembered by our family and friends , our work if helpful to society on large is remembered by many. So my journey can be for millions of bucks and property left to my family or my journey can be to create a sustainable environment and help to millions when i go. The choice is always ours.
My whole life i have wondered , what's in a name. Is name more important than deeds done by unknown people? I do know few philanthropists, who would never divulge their name when they are helping the under privileged. I also know people who donate to charity to get tax redemption, then there are people who donate and want their name put in bold letters that they are the reason to either donate money for hospital wing/ library etc etc. I personally like people who privately, without any noise and ego boasting donate.
There are entrepreneurs who have radically changed our entire thinking and mindset by their inventions and innovations. They have created cults which are very difficult to break till the next big wave of innovation does not come through. Was it name? fame? or to do something which would help society at large made these entrepreneurs create such innovations?
But then we are 7 billion plus different ego level human beings residing on this tiny planet, so probably everyone has a difference in opinion.
There is one meditation i reckon for people to try in the morning, Death Meditation. Imagine its your last day in this world. What will you do today? What you had planned or  you create something by which you leave your legacy behind?



Steve Jobs for 33 years did this meditation every single day.

We live in moments of choices and once a person understands that we are created from nothing to achieve everything to once again become nothing. The whole world looks beautiful and becomes our playground for us to create a life with meaning.




So whats the legacy you want to leave behind?

Reflection leads to opportunity

"Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action." as said by Peter Drucker.

My life is my choices, some were good and some were my mistakes, which lead me to be who i am today. Will i make those mistakes again, or will i like to go back in time to make changes in my choices for me to be ... where?

This question has many possibilities of different answer's overtime as i reflect back in my life. Could I, should i have, maybe, probably.... all voices which give me answers to what i want to hear at the turning points of my life. But my growth if i may say has been due to reflecting on my choices and mostly on my mistakes. I have learnt more from my failures than winning and getting things right in first go.

As rightly said by Henry Ford " Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently". 

We all have faced our mistakes in our faces, fallen down, bruised our ego's and yet again stood up to try once again. Only the next time we don't make the same mistake twice, we find new ones. We try till we succeed. Our mantra of success  is looking at our failures and ensuring our goal is yet achievable and we strive to hit the bulls eye, if not today, then definitely tomorrow. 

All of you will say been there done that. But how many really made their dreams come true? I mean literally facing the failures, not letting anything come in between, beating the odds, strategically ensuring that the moves are correct for you to meet your goal. How many did not give up in between and focused on something else? 

I gave up in between on my dreams. I felt i did not have it in me to be an entrepreneur. Started couple of times in my life but in between when the going got tough, gave up and took a job. I was somehow more secure in getting my pay check on first of every month. No stress, no hassle and my bills were getting paid. Even if the price was letting go of my dreams. I tried thrice lost money thrice and then decided this is not what i can do. I actually let myself believe that i was not good enough to run my own business. Yet i was able to run other person's business and live other person's dreams. How could i have so little belief in my ability? Life at times is a horrible joke and we don't realise that the joke is on us. Life is teaching us, nudging us to move from our comfort zones, expand our horizons and follow our dreams.

If i look back, i realise my heart was not there in the ventures i had very excitedly thought of creating. I never wanted to own an event company, and three times i tried was to have my own event company. Work i enjoyed doing but would i make my this passion my business, many would think i am talking nonsense, off course your passion is the best business one can get in. To me it was my passion not my legacy i wanted to leave behind.

My failure in this was my biggest strength / opportunity  in pursuing my dream - Soul Studio. Creating a platform for people to talk about wellness, fitness, mind and soul. Not just spiritual but instilled with logic and taking the journey within to be just ourselves. I suddenly realised i am creating one of the biggest event platforms, my passion and dream fused together to create an event which could/may/should help people. The dream was always there, its how to implement it which has taken me 3 failures to understand.

Silence is deafening. As it is said, the voices which you hear inside, us reflecting on our actions, not something which we all enjoy doing and many of us would prefer to push this voice away. Its true there is no where in this world or universe we can run away from ourselves. Accepting who we are is what makes us who we are. Our failures and reflecting on them objectively, gives us strength and opportunities which our mind cannot fathom till the time we don't come to terms with our failures. Many of us try shifting the blame on some one else for our mistakes. It's common and we being human with large ego's we prefer to live in denial, than accepting our failures.

Once again i say "Still your mind" meditation helps us understand our deepest fears, which directly helps us understand our addictions and mindsets. From this arises our strength to be ourselves and accept our failures. 

Failure is not opposite of success, Its part of success.

Everything happens for a reason and that reason is us trying to be human. I am... who i am and that what matters to me.

The consequence of choice

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Similarly we have the right to make choices for our life, but we cannot evade the consequences which are choices bring upon us.
We feel, we are in control of everything in our life. If we feel otherwise then we are plagued with misery and depression and errant mood swings. What choice can i have to control my life? Life as it is gives me choices to make, yet the consequence of my choices come much later in effect. Am i strong to bear the burden of my choice consequence or am i a fool to blame someone else or even life as i write this?
Many times i wonder about the choices i have made in my life. Were they good? or did they take me away from what i was destined to do? I really would not know the answer to this one question about what i am or was destined to do with my life.
I never thought i would be an event manager, my mother wanted me to be a doctor. Now i cannot see the sight of an injection or blood, therefore being a doctor was a very far cry for my destiny to play its role. Always a party, fun girl i somehow by chance got into this industry. From day one it was fun for me. Everyday was a new experience and creating new concepts and ideas. It somehow gave wings to my imagination and every morning i would wake up to have fun at work. The day i felt i was going to work is the day i quit this industry.

This choice of being in events was by chance but i took the chance and enjoyed every moment. I will not say that i took the road less travelled, i will say i found my passion and lived it every day.
The consequence of my choice of work meant no time for my family and friends. I travelled the world, made friends every where i went, but never had time for the people i cared for. Do i regret my choice? Only regret that i never got to spend time with my mom, and always thought that she would be around and fate had some other plans. Other than this regret i enjoyed my years.

When i got married , i had a choice of being in India or move to Switzerland. Both me and my husband decided that he moves to India and also understands my culture. This choice was life changing experience for my husband. He coming from a mature market to an emerging market itself was a huge change, work ethics, environment, social responsibility... the list is huge and he was challenged at every point. This one choice had lots of consequences for us, and its strange how sometimes i look at India from his eyes and I am in awe. A new perspective which i never saw or could have imagined otherwise stares right back at me many times. He has grown to love India and we don't talk about going to Switzerland but talk about our future in this country in these exciting times. Would he have ever loved India the way he does now if we had stayed in Switzerland? Again a question i cannot answer but surely the choice ascertained that he knows about my culture probably more than i do today.
We all have choices, but are usually closed minded to them. We do not like moving from our comfort zones and therefore what ever we choose is similar to our existing life and then we crib about life and why our life is stagnant. I don't understand people who crib the whole day about their job, but instead of quitting they continue working in the same job they crib so much about. Our choices define us, our lifestyle , our social and professional network. After some time the consequences of our choices make sure that we are slaves of our decisions. To break free from this is not easy and thats when many of us are looking for something else. Life after some time becomes mundane, the same work, same routine, same network, same circle of friends. Everything is defined by our choices as routine.

As rightly said " We make our choices, then our choices make us"

Pain leads to success or regret?

Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret? which one would one choose?
A mighty question but the common denominator is same.. Pain.

I dont believe there is anyone in this world who is not familiar with Pain. We all have our share of distress and heartaches. Different forms of pain meet us at every turning point of our life and not one single person is devoid of it. How strange, there are people who don't believe in love, and according to them, never find love. But there is not a single person i can find who has not found pain. Love and pain to me goes hand in hand. Where there is love there is pain and where there is pain, there is passion.
A mother goes through labor pain to give birth, a life created out of pain. Our first step usually makes us fall down, once again we experience pain as we take our first step. At every point of our life it finds us, yet we take pain as if its new, each time we meet it. Why Me? a big question comes in our mind when ever we meet the mighty pain.
Some say Pain makes me strong, some become cynic and some devour in their pain as misery. Funny the same emotions we show when we are in love. When in love, the world is beautiful and we feel on top of the world, when loves jilts us we become cynic and say there is no such emotion as love, some choose to stay in love and be miserable. How can these two emotions bring out the same emotions in us?
To me pain is the under current which flows like blood in my body and love is the air we breathe in to be alive. The choice is ours how we look at pain.

In events industry, there are no work timings. I remember after a full night setup, going to sleep for 2 hours and rushing back for rehearsals and conducting a full day event and at times taking a flight same evening to next city for once again night setup and next day event. It is very stressful and not everyone's piece of cake. But my team and i used to work like this for days together. The only thing which made us effectively very good event managers was our discipline and passion for our work. I never heard any team member cribbing about lack of sleep or lack of concentration while running the show. The award was a good show done and getting ready for the next one.

In show business we all say this famous line " the show must go on", and i have seen this in literal sense. We were in Australia , running a show and in the middle of the show my colleague got a sms from his home that his favourite aunt has expired. I could see the pain in his eyes when he read the message, and his voice had a quiver when he spoke with me on headset. But he knew as it was just the two of us running the show and being abroad meant less managers with us, he took 2 minutes break to calm himself down and was back in his position before his que to run the show. That was the day i realised that once we accept pain as part of our life, our life goes on.... just like the show must go on.

There are times when i still think of my mother. I moved from my city, left my work, made my husband leave the job he loved to get another one and moved to New Delhi, when we knew my mother who was suffering from cancer had very few months to live. Unfortunately i did not have more than 75 days with her. Life is such. My mom was my inspiration for Soul Studio and it was her words which resonate in my ears till date. She believed in the vision of Soul Studio and my dream to create a platform for spiritual growth and to help people overcome their fears, addictions and transforming mindsets.
My pain is what losing my mom, or is it moving to this city, or is it leaving my work which i loved? I have not been able to find answer to any of my questions other than the opportunity which i have now of building Soul Studio, which could not have happened if i was still in my work. Therefore one good thing came out of the whole pain i have gone through.

There is always a silver lining which we choose not to see. Regrets is what most of us have in life as we never had the courage or discipline to see through a task or chase a dream. There are always moments when we feel like turning the clock and going back in time to change some things. Time never stops, we cannot go back in time but we can learn from our pain the simple truth that life is meant to be lived and instead of having regrets in life, let there be discipline which keeps us focussed on our goals and achievements.

As pain is part of our DNA, so is success . With both hand in hand there is no obstacle which one cannot overcome.

Show must go on is all i can say.

Fear an Illusion or a limit?

Limits, like fear are often an illusion'  quote by Michael Jordon.

My fear is my limit and my illusion of not being limitless. Often our fears define us and we have no option but to accept them. How many times has anyone overcome their fears? I don't know but i definitely know that the one who fears nothing, is the most dangerous individual on this planet.
Without this bargaining chip, we have nothing. As we have learnt to find people's weaknesses and how to play with them. Our world, personal or professional thrives on this and we call ourselves masters of getting what we want by using simple parlour tricks.

Overcoming my fear's has been my goal for the longest time. I have let go of most of them but still fear of being in closed small places termed as claustrophobia is something i am still trying to get over.
Instead of taking this as my disadvantage, i ensure that i am in large open spaces and enjoy the little luxuries which due to my fear i am forced into. Somehow back of my mind i don't think i want to overcome my this one fear. Reason is simple i enjoy the large spaces and no one would ever ask me to visit small scrappy spaces due to my this fear. This fear suits my purpose and therefore why should i think about letting go of this. Many a times our fears have built our lifestyles and its scary to move from the known to the unknown. If my limits make me happy why should i aspire for limitless, its an unknown, uncharted territory.

My choices are ascertained by what i want in life and thankfully fear has not got into any of my choices. I remember while hiring my senior people, i wanted leaders who would be independent in their decision making and grow the business. People with hunger who would one day like to take my position. I enjoyed seeing the banter which my senior people would get into and many a times deliver an impossible task. Was i fearful of losing my job to one of them? No, in fact i was happy that there were couple of leaders which were getting ready to meet the challenge. The day i decided to retire i was happy that i was handing the job to a very competent and talented individual.

Our Soul is limitless, yet we create limits for ourselves. Our fears are many, and our ego enjoys ruling our fears and we in turn end up living half life.

My favourite hobby is watching people, in our hectic life everyone is so busy looking down at their mobile and walking that many people don't realise the body language they emit. A well dressed woman, a style statement and yet biting her lips with nervousness , a busy business man walking with a purpose to close a deal yet you see sweat dripping down from his forehead, or fist clinching as walking, small little giveaways of our fears. I have many a times in my meeting just sat down and observed my clients and have learnt more about them while i have been just observing them than trying to make a point with my presentation. I will say this that my best closures and negotiations have happened observing people in my meetings than going all out to sell the concept.

Fear cannot be defined but felt. Every one has there stories and what they are fearful of. A tyrant boss or parent, losing your loved ones, losing your job, losing your youth, losing your wealth, fear of talking to strangers ... etc etc.

Our fears come to life when we think about them. Once again i say that 'Still your mind' meditation helps people overcome their fears. Once our mind is in control, imagination will not find wings to play with us. Slowly we start understanding the nature of our fears and constructively we can work towards coming to terms with them. This transformation is called 'Emotional Maturity'.

In this limitless world the choice is ours to live in fear or in its illusion.

We are all living our choices. The question is the choices we are making of hope or out of fear?

Love has no boundaries

Love has no culture, boundaries, race, gender and religion. It is said, love is never planned it Happens!

In a world where we are all struggling to be ahead and sadly most are complete control freaks, how can an emotion like love be left uncontrolled? We have created boundaries of land, religion, race, money, education... the list goes on and very sadly we have also ventured into creating boundaries for love. An emotion so pure, yet the human mind cannot fathom the chance of letting love grow. We have this narrow minded vision of world and intend to stay in this tunnel of darkness with our idea of a glorious perfect world. In a world where a society decides the parameters of love.
Falling in love is magical, it brings the best in us out. The whole world looks beautiful and time has no place when one is in love. I love myself equally as i love any one in my life. If i am incapable of loving myself, then how can i love any one else? Same way i love everything in this world, Unconditionally. Yes unconditional love which expects nothing in return other than a feeling of love which resounds in the universe. All religion talk about love. To me it is universal consciousness which one can feel. This feeling of connecting with this consciousness is Love.
So what is love in our world? An emotion which makes me happy? or a universal bond which we all share yet choose to disengage ourselves for our selfish needs and desires? Pleasure is what we can experience outside and love is what makes us alive inside. We are a by product of what people believe and therefore we all feel love is nothing more than a process which needs to be followed as per the norms of society.
The age old rue with love being sacrifice is very alien to me. Why would i sacrifice my love for what? If two people love each other, want to spend rest of their lives together, why would any society put boundaries on their love? This is one question which i am incapable of understanding.
I have seen people behaving oddly if there is a cross race / religion love. Friends forget family are betting on how long will the love or marriage last. Pathetic is all i can say, betting on how long will their love last? What our mind cannot understand, instills fear inside us. The result of this fear is that we feel we are loosing control and once that thought passes our mind, well you see traditions, rituals what ever the week mind can conjure up is thrown as rules of society.
For many years transgender love was taken as taboo and still is an offence in many countries. How can people of same sex love each other, this is not what we need in our society. Really? Who decides this? Probably people who have compartmentalised their feelings and purpose in life. How can i call a person "Queer" if that person loves same sex person? Why will that person be called any names other than respecting the individuals choice of love. And why should anyone be at mercy of society to legalise their love? Why is the question.
I agree sick and queer are many people in this world who believe in having sex with children, or a father forcing himself on his daughter, or sex slaves (prostitution) which has crossed enormous proportions in this perfect world of ours. Rape is on all time high, honour killings in certain sects of society are also prevalent.
But why would this society try to curb two people of same sex wanting to spend their life together as Taboo? It scares the living day lights out of many to accept these relationships, therefore as moral police of society, they call upon traditions, religion and society to make laws of who one can be with.
I am surprised that human beings have in their endeavour to rule the world, are also ruling the only emotion which binds us.
I am glad that few mature countries have come forward after years of debate to legalise same gender marriages. The world is changing and hopefully the hate and fear will reside in other parts of the world for people to have a right to choose their love and life partner.
Love sets us free, love is love with no name, no gender, no boundaries.

Live to dream

'Dreams are not what you see while sleeping, dreams are those that keep you from sleeping' a beautiful quote by Late APJ Abdul Kalam.

We all have dreams, many a times these dreams stay in the back recess of our minds and stay there forever. Its takes a brave heart to live their dreams. Some how we have moved from the innocence which our dreams used to be build on. In our hectic lifestyle we have moved away from reality into something which i honestly have no name for. This way of living, constantly online, being overtly passionate about social platforms, somehow dreams have now turned into e- personalities and that's where many dreams reside.
I am a day dreamer, i dream with my eyes open and enjoy every moment of it.  I don't remember the book or was it some one who had told me decades ago, if you  are dreaming or thinking about it, its meant to happen. I believe that if a thought enters my mind and if i still believe in it after couple of days then i put in all my effort to see it take shape. My dreams are plenty, as a child i always thought of conducting large public events and creating magic on stage. True to my dream i went into events industry and did some of the most magical and grand events to speak off. To me day dreaming is something i look forward to. Please don't take me wrong, i get my work done and do not procrastinate  my work. But to come up with an idea and take it to its final place day dreaming is very interesting and fascinating to me. 
When i have a problem, this helps me. I can be anyone and see the situation as i want to through any one's eyes and find the solution. Somehow i feel when you put yourself in other people's shoes, it helps you to understand the situation better and instead of using our mindset and perception, we truly see the situation from another perspective and this has at many times helped me in being effective with my decisions. Now i am not debating about my decisions, but for me to not look back and have a regret at any of the decisions i have taken so far, this is what has helped me.
As children we have so many dreams. I can list mine and i get a smile on my face that i have ticked off most of my childhood dreams in reality. Events, travelling, meeting famous people, partying at the most happening cities and places, helping people to find themselves; Journey within (Soul Studio takes care of this) and finally marrying someone who would love me for who i am. My husband Rolf, loves the dreamer in me and it was his push which made me follow my dreams by founding Soul Studio.

I never had a dream to have a big house, or many cars, millions of bucks in my bank account. And i am happy that i was looking for meaning in my life not materialistic comforts. I am glad with events i got to meet some very special people, met people who have made a difference in our world and i got to travel across the globe for my work and vacation. To help me understand different cultures, it was never about money, i was living my dreams and money is always a side effect when one is living their dreams. I don't know how much is enough to live, but once you get what you want nothing is enough. To a dreamer when one dream is fulfilled they chase another.
I dont know, how many people get a chance to make their dreams into reality. Its always a tussle between our heart and mind and we true to ourselves follow our mind thinking after i have made enough in my life i will follow my dreams. How many succeed to give up their current lifestyle to follow their dreams? Lucky are those who get a chance to even live one of their dreams.
I love when i hear some one say ' i am following my dreams'  or  ' i am living my dream', at that moment i feel the person is alive  and some of the best startups are dreams which have turned into reality. It takes that one second, one move towards what one believes in to make a success story.
When you look at the world with coloured glasses, everything is coloured. But when you look at the world as your stage, you create something as your legacy in this world.

So what's it gonna be; follow your dreams and let the world be your stage?

Truth has no temperature

"Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti" Rig Veda (1.164.46)

There is only one truth. But the sages/ people say it differently to suit there purpose.

Absolute truth is the derivative of my mindset and what i believe to be real is my truth. What ever form i choose to adapt to, my truth automatically adapts to my form. Then what is truth? The absolute truth? Has anyone ever experienced it?
I am a Hindu by birth married to a Christian. So what is my truth of religion here? Do i give up being a Hindu and adopt my husbands religion or do i live in my truth of God being one, we human's have given different names to the same universal consciousness to gain our absolute truth ; our identity, our religion. This is the society of demarkation we all live in.
So where do i fit in this society of demarkation, as my truth is that i am a global citizen who believes that we are part of the same universal consciousness, therefore i have no other religion than love. Can i in my moment of truth say my religion is love?
Now i must have upset few zealots who believe that religion is very important, therefore my truth is a lie for them. How can anyone have Love as religion, there is no religion with the name of love. Are they wrong? Well if all religions talk about unconditional love then maybe my argument of my religion being love is true.
The boundaries of truth have always been tainted with our vision and our needs. We have become the fabric of this society where white lies have taken the definition of truth. What my right hand does my left hand does not need to know, is the mantra of today's modern fast paced society.
I remember many years ago, i had called in for a team meeting. The agenda was to educate my team of white lies and to consciously as an organization, we remove white lies from our mindset. No more lame excuses for coming late to office or taking a leave with a pretext of not well. Let's try to tell the truth and see how it works. It actually worked great for us. The team was charged, they were not judged if they came late and said the truth, that they did not hear the alarm. Or getting late for meeting and saying the famous words " i am 5 minutes away" and these 5 minutes at times happen to be half hour late. We actually got more work done and the trust among the team members grew. We had removed the emotions which come from white lies and there was just plain truth which was being said. 
After trying within, we tried the same technique with our clients. At first they freaked out, but slowly and gradually came the trust and a strong relationship which i share till date with many of my clients. .The truth, did set us free from telling white lies and then trying to remember what we had said earlier to counter any further lies. We had moved beyond the vicious cycle of lies.
While healing i hear a lot about people's lives when they come to me. What is said in the healing circle stays there. There is no judgement in the circle and lightens up the burden which many of us carry with us. We believe in our white lies, we start dreaming about them, we start living our white lies and one day eventually our whole life becomes one big white lie.
I teach one meditation which is all about accepting who we are. With the threads of white lies interwoven in our lives and many a times we validate our own lie to believe in ourselves and very often we are very scared of people judging us. This simple meditation is looking at your absolute truth and accepting it. This is the journey within to break ourselves from the survival tactics which we all have build of white lies to live in this society.
Truth is only a fragment of my own imagination, my belief, my values, my life is what is my absolute truth without any emotions. There is no high, or low in truth. In life there is no absolute truth other than we are all connected to each other through a seamless energy which binds us and this universe together.
This is the only truth, rest is all derivations of our mind.

Carpe Diem : Seize the moment

'The future depends on what you do today" as said by Mahatma Gandhi

My moment is what i feel now, what i went through yesterday is history , i have yet to know what i will feel tomorrow but this moment is when I am... Alive. I have never been a buff for history, people say that we need to know where we have come from, what we have achieved from yesterday and in order to not let history repeat itself, lets engage in understanding history.
One day i tried walking backwards, i tripped as my eyes were in front and my footsteps were moving backwards. Then i tried moving forward but with my back as i wanted to look backwards and move forward. Well i tripped again. That's the day i realised past is past, if we keep looking for answers in our past, only outcome will be we will trip and history will repeat itself. I am not a scholar nor can i debate on this topic as their are many views on this topic, but from my heart i do feel that some where we all know that past cannot be changed, future is what we make by living in our present.
I remember one day at work, we were working on a pitch and we were sure about what our client wanted therefore the work was in full swing to ensure we get the business. My colleague who was taking care of the account, comes to me to tell me that the client has shared our ideas with our competition and we will not get the business. What action had been taken, and i was told none. Now as we didn't have much time but just that day to ensure we get the business. We called our client, insisted on an immediate meeting with his team and presented our ideas without any graphics. The point was after our presentation, any other agency even presenting amazing graphics on the same idea would not have been entertained as the ideas belonged to us. This was the choice we made and the risk we took to ensure we had the business. Past did not matter that our ideas were shared. What we had was that moment to make a decision to make our future and get business.
Its always that blink of a decision we make to seize that opportunity which knocks at our door, many a times we let go of this as we are uncertain of the outcome. Many a times we are shy of going ahead with an idea which comes in our mind as we don't know how people will react.
When i started writing my blogs, i had no idea if people will like them, appreciate or just laugh at them. No idea at all, but as i enjoy writing my thoughts, i one day just started writing.
Similarly one day i left my corporate world and decided to teach people meditation. Every one i know was shocked, what you retiring from your work and to do this? Being in entertainment industry, glitz , glamour and hard work and all of a sudden i am talking about meditation. Yes the thought had sounded very corny to me too... from capitalist to spiritualism. Well i never wanted to open an agency of my own, i frankly had no time when i was working. I wanted to create something substantial which could eventually help people and in my tryst with destiny i seized the moment when i had the courage to quit. I did get second, third, fourth thoughts , even went back to the same world for an year and half but then i realised, i was looking backwards in my life. What i had, not what i will make. This realisation got me back on my tract to pursue my dream of creating a stress free environment.
Every morning i practice old tibetan Death Meditation. If today is my last day on earth, will i do what is expected from me by people, or will i create something which will help humanity at large. This can be both capitalistic as well as spiritual , the thought is to be alive and seize the day!
Carpe Diem ... time waits for no one... let this be your moment.

Cogito ergo sum : I think, therefore i am

French philosopher René Descartes in Discourse on Method, 1637, where he attempted to prove his existence as a thinking being, by thinking. 'I think, therefore I am'. Descartes' original statement in French was "Je pense, donc je suis". In philosophy this is lesson number one. 

The only thing i am certain about is my existence, and that also i am not so sure but i can feel myself and my thoughts, therefore i exist. 

What does this mean to us? Life has changed, many perceptions of past have been forgotten and in our busy lives, we don't even have a moment to think about ourselves. So how can i a 'materialistic person' ever doubt my own existence?
Then we have the doubters who take this one step further, instead of doubting themselves we have now started looking at everyone with coloured glasses of doubt.
My first lesson in life; when in doubt, doubt the doubt.
I personally have trouble with non trusting and doubting people. I cannot understand what is half trust and if one doubts you, instead of asking you directly they will play the game of non communication on the subject but they will still be your friend, colleague or do business with you. At times i feel its the fear of god knows what, which makes the doubters never come out in open and ask. If one cannot speak their mind out then why even have the cloud of doubt?
Then you have the thinkers and argumentative people. They seem to have a opinion about everything. God forbid don't get into a discussion with these people, they always seems to have the last say. I find these people very interesting, they seem to know everything and have very stoic opinions about everything too! I personally don't need a wikipedia or google when i am with such people, they are as i smile to write my entertainment quotient. I doubt my own sanity when i am amongst such learned individuals. What amuses me most is that these people assume what my mind is thinking and what my next action will be. My reaction and actions are assumed, assimilated and strategies are worked on how to deal with me. Interestingly i might pay these people huge sums of money on contractual basis as many a times i have no idea how i am going to react to a situation.
When i teach people meditation, and ask them to still their mind as the first baby step to meditation, i try telling each person, remember who you are. For us to know whether we exist or not, what i am thinking or what is my purpose in life, where have i come from etc etc is not going to get any answers. But if we realise who we are, and then take the meditation forward we have in truth given wings to trust and instead of doubting the doubt we have started painting the empty canvas of our life's journey within. A person who can think, is someone who can ultimately bring changes within themselves and in their surroundings. Like in corporate world we prefer leaders, mavericks and adapters but definitely no company has any place for dissenters. Similarly while meditating, a positive thought and a positive outlook about oneself helps us deal with fears, addictions and mindsets much better which are also considered as three pillars of stress in our daily life.

If one can be honest to themselves and remember who you are: I think, therefore i am .... one with the universal consciousness, i have no fear and as i am nothing, therefore i am everything!

Take the journey within and let trust replace doubt. Fear is nothing other than our addictions and our mindset playing with us.

Yo-Yo Life

I did a hit search on Internet, and found thousands of funny, motivational, depressing , name any terminology quotes on life. They were very interesting, sounded more like a backlash of all pain, hurt, ego, happiness, Funny, spiritualism, love; name an emotion and you could feel them while reading these quotes. 

Well life is life, and we all play our part in it. Definitely we get no rehearsal time, its one shot one moment. But then same scenes keep repeating in our life, we do get choices and our choices define our life eventually. This sounds so simple, makes me smile as i write this because none of us take life simply. Our every moment is destined with this mystical four letter word Life.

When i was a kid, i never understood or dwelled  into the meaning of life. Never felt the need, as my needs were met by my parents. I did not have to go to work, pay my bills or be responsible for someone else actions. My life depended up passing the exams, being liked by my friends , if a nail broke, oh my god or the new boy who joined school, on whom i had developed a crush must like me. Mundane teenage problems and if anything went wrong, oh my life was over!

Drama queen is what i would call myself if i look back. It was just an exam, if i did not pass it i would have to study harder that's all for next time. Being liked by people, was wearing masks and not being myself but the sacrifice was worth, for my low self esteem. New boy liking me seriously how shallow but then i was a teenager and this was my life. Every one can relate to this situation in school and college. Now comes the fun part, first job, first responsibility and from here the badgering of life starts. 

Small things effect us so much that, at times we forget the larger picture and our life becomes something which we never imagined. Work pressure, performance pressure, family pressure, well we live in pressure made by us and we blame our life for this. For every choice which we make, if things don't go as planned we have the fall person, Our Life to blame. Funny how smoothly we can pass all our misfortune and failures to Life.

Well this goes on and on till the day we live. 

What is Life? Question asked by many,  What is the meaning of my life? Now we can take the capitalism route or the spiritualism . Some where the two routes would definitely meet for me to find the meaning of my life. But then i am too busy with my work and i have no time to think about myself or what i want from life. So when things are going my way, its a beautiful life. And when things go the other way, why ME? Why is my life like this? 

I love the Yo-Yo relationship i have developed with my Life. There are highs and lows, at times i turn with the curve on my high to reach my goals and many a times i fall flat on the low. 

When people come to me to learn meditation, i ask them one question and also ask them to answer in a blink, unfortunately till date i have never got the answer to this question from anyone. Let me put it out for all of you, to know your life, one should be able to answer this in a blink, if one cannot, then do take a journey within is all i can say.

What is it you want from your life?

If you cannot answer this one question about "what i want from my life', then what exactly are you doing in this world?

We look for happiness outside, while many a times wise people have told us to look within for happiness. I tried being happy inside but then many times people outside changed my happiness quotient inside, this made me think maybe i was doing something completely wrong. the Yo-Yo life was now controlling every element of mine.

Therefore after much debate within myself i thought about defining life as i would see it. And strangely when i tried looking at the four letter word, the first thing that popped to my mind was "Look inside for entertainment"
All of a sudden i realised only thing , Life is simple, don't complicate it.
Wow what a summation of life.

An Ape who can communicate!

Man is a social animal.
I remember reading this is in my social class as a child and was confused that how can we be animals. Then i was told by my teacher that homo sapiens have evolved from apes. Great! i have ape genetics, but have i evolved is the question i was not prepared for at that age.
As i grew up , i  could not help but smile at this, as we humans ourselves say this with dignity, the irony never left me that we still consider ourselves Animals. In the food chain , are we on top? or do we fear someone who is above us and we have very diligently   made them instinct. It was definitely the animals who came before us, therefore its easy to believe that our primate functions are still based on our animal instinct or have we actually evolved? I have never heard anyone say i have human instincts. Its a question which i am not sure i will get the correct answer for.
Yes we have created a way of life; our code of conduct to be social animals, we live in houses than in caves, we wear clothes, read and write and some of us work. Yet in our nature how much have we evolved?
Across cultures we have a hierarchy system, which exists in our personal and professional lives , religion, even in politics and lets not forget the caste system. Somehow so similar to animal kingdom, rules of the jungle apply to modern civilisation.
I hear many times people motivating their teams and saying its a jungle out there and you have to be ready for everything to be the market leader. So if i have competition in the market, i assume my market is my jungle and i need to be prepared with all i have to become the market leader?
What makes me laugh is you see people with degrees from reputed institutions and yet when you start talking to them you realise we have only learned the art of communication but our innate inner essence is still that of an animal. "I am more educated, i understand the world problems better, i am a better leader, i can provide better solutions, this culture is stupid, what does your religion know about mine" etc etc etc..... this is what we hear in every conversation. Who is Better and more Powerful?Sometimes all these people remind me of hyenas than a lion in the jungle. Damn so our evolution has led us where in the food table in the animal kingdom?
If we evolved from animals, than why are we so anti- nature? We cut trees in acres every day for what purpose of technology? We leave carbon footprints, making air we breathe in toxic for our own health. We have tried nuclear tests in ocean, have had huge oil spills and killed many species for?Forget anti- nature, if we have evolved, why can a human not stand together with other humans? Why are we always pushing the weak down? I have yet to meet a community which stands together as one, helping each other, not trying to gain from some one's misfortune. Strange this sounds as i see herds of cows, zebras, deer, elephants, hyenas and lion who move together as one. Yet some how survival of the strong has taken a different turn in our human evolution. We create war for what? Resources, ammunition industry.. what? World dominance and apartheid for what? Does this makes us better human beings? I cannot answer any of these questions which arise in my mind, because to understand a Human mind which is still evolving and is less logical, it seems it is still ruled by our primate genes of evolving from an ape.
Therefore one thing which hits me is -  Has our evolution led us to be losers than we were before our evolution?