Why people have friends

haaa!

The thing about coffee

 

Boom! A good reminder before you start off the week

Interesting read on the higher education bubble

From: The Best Colleges

This is your life

Via @navinjain09

Peace & Love,

TRB

New Song!

Wrote and composed a song. Here's the video.

Going from failure to success

If you're not constantly failing, you're not doing enough. It's true - try new things and push yourself to the edge of your limits. But failing can often leave you feeling miserable. But there's not need to give up.

The four steps in the road from failure to success:

1. Know that you as a person did not fail. Just the activity that you did was a failure.
2. Analyze what part of your activity was a failure. Typically, there might be one or two things you can improve and change the outcome of any activity. Consciously try finding these.
3. Then, try it again.
4. Learn from it, and don't make THAT mistake again.

Easy enough, right? 

Give something back

Beautiful Corporations

Venturebeat reported about the new types of corporations that California created: Benefit Corporations and Flexible Purpose Corporations.

It is amazing to see that governments are quietly making the "revolution" happen - and understanding that the new world is not about making huge corporations that only care about money. We are a generation who grew up with the ability and willingness to take into account the good of the world.



Way to go!

The choice is really yours

50 ways to improve yourself your mind, body and soul

Physically

1. Simple food, quality, quantity.
2. Regularity in eating and sleep.
3. Masticate; leave table hungry.
4. We are a part of all we have eaten.
5. Exercise, five minutes, three times daily.
6. Air — most important.
7. Sunlight, artificial light.
8. Water inside and outside.
9. Loose clothing.
10. Early to sleep; get plenty.

Mentally

1. Think sanely.
2. Learn from mental superiors.
3. Learn to listen attentively.
4. Read best newspapers and books.
5. Improve the memory.
6. Concentrate.
7. Don't worry unnecessarily.
8. Be systematic.
9. Weigh both sides.
10. Avoid inferior minds.

Morally

1. Right is right, wrong is wrong.
2. Be truthful.
3. Ignore precedent if wrong.
4. Seek elevating recreation.
5. Don't deceive yourself.
6. Learn to say "no."
7. Live up to your principles.
8. Avoid temptation.
9. Form good habits.
10. Have a constitution.

Financially

1. Increase my earnings.
2. Decrease unnecessary expense.
3. Save money, U.S. Postal Bank.
4. Money makes money.
5. Invest — don't gamble.
6. Make family budget.
7. Hard work.
8. Study the business.
9. Pay cash for everything.
10. Increase credit balance.

Socially

1. Avoid bad associates.
2. Select helpful friends.
3. Think alone.
4. Learn to be happy alone.
5. Family best company.
6. Work out, alone, my problems.
7. Avoid so-called society.
8. Entertain economically.
9. Stand well with neighbors.
10. Do some welfare work.

(Via.)

Be a possibilitarian

Nine people were discussing a business problem. The challenge they were facing was not their fault; it was circumstances beyond their control that resulted in this problem. The problem was identified, and they were discussing what they were going to do about it.

"What will we do," asked one of them. One person immediately said, "There is nothing we can do." That response was unacceptable to the rest of the group and acted as a spark of action. "Yes, there is something we can do!" replied two of them in unison. It was at that point that their minds started to work coming up with solutions. It reminded me of the quote by John Cage, "If someone says 'can’t', that shows you what to do."

We are all faced with challenges at some point in our life, challenges that we did not create. Challenges that happened beyond our control. The difference is how we respond to these challenges. You can adopt the attitude there is nothing you can do, or you can see the challenge as your call to action. Your attitude can take you forward or your attitude can take you down. The choice is always yours!

As Norman Vincent Peale said, "Become a 'possibilitarian'. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities - Always see them, for they are always there."

(via)

Thought

Truth is, we all have tons of options. We're just scared to choose. We're scared of change.

Travelling without money

I recently read an extract from Paulo Coehlo's new book "Aleph", where he speaks about travelling. Many of us have the heart to travel, but believe that we don't have enough money to do that. The truth is, Travelling can be done under any budget, you just have to believe that what you'll learn from the experience will be more valuable than what you will give up with a small budget. His point:

Travelling doesn't require money, it requires courage. If you don't have the courage to go out and explore, no amount of money (or lack thereof) will help you travel more.

Its quite apt. If you were to backpack for instance, or live in hostels, you could easily travel under a budget, and it really does have to do with a "come what may, I can deal with this" attitude.

letsgo.com and travelindependent.info have some amazing tips and plans for such travellers.

You can get the Paulo Coelho's "Aleph" on Amazon here.

Thought

If you can find the balance between doing what makes you happy and not affecting the lives of others negatively, that's enlightenment. That's bliss and the real path to a better world. The world so many people call heaven.

Things You Should Let Go Of

Photo Credit: Urban Bliss Yoga

Here's a brilliantly thought out list of things that bog us down from Soul Hiker. Whether we are entrepreneurs, professionals or artists - following these in mind will make your life that much better. 

1. Let go of attachments: According to Buddhist Philosophy, attachment is one of the roots of all suffering. I can’t agree more. We attach ourselves to all sorts of things even the most self-slapping stupid notions in the universe. Are you attached to something? How much are you attached? Is it keeping you back from something? Is it making you suffer? Look at it straight through – break the illusion. Know that every attachment can be detached.

2. Let go of guilt: Guilt has absolutely no function whatsoever. Think about it – what could guilt possibly resolve? It just holds you imprisoned to self-mortification and sorrow.

3. Let go of Negative thinking: Pessimistic thoughts and negative attitudes keep you locked in a dark aura that permeates in everything you do. It’s a dangerous line to follow. Know that thoughts influence the world around us. Enough said

4. Let go of self-criticism: Many times we are our biggest pain in the neck. We criticize ourselves with the best of intentions but then go over the acceptable limit. Criticism then turns to disempowering messages. Let go of it and be kind and gentle to yourself.

5. Let go of prejudice: Prejudice keeps you bitter and resentful. It restricts your opportunities to connect meaningfully with others.

6. Let go of compulsive thinking: Do you keep on doing something just because you feel you have to do it without any apparent reason? It’s time to honestly reflect on its usefulness and its side-effects.

7. Let go of the need for others’ approval: We often tend to seek approval by others. This is an attention-seeking behaviour and one which threatens our self-confidence and authenticity.

8. Let go of limiting beliefs: Most of our limits are self-imposed. Life doesn’t have defined limits. Our beliefs do. Learn to identify those beliefs which narrow down your possibilities for action and let go of them.

9. Let go of grudges: Let me put it this way – grudges are bad for your heart. Keep them long enough or numerous enough and your health will eventually suffer. Research is showing the relationship between heart disease and emotions such as anger and grudges.

10. Let go of the “I’ll do it tomorrow” attitude: This is a delaying tactic of your subconscious saboteur trying to keep you from accomplishing important tasks. Try to be aware of it when you think it and consciously push yourself to do at least the first part of it. Naturally you will then continue the whole task because the hard part is only the beginning.

11. Let go of anxious thoughts: These are born out of our fear of the unknown and uncertainty about the future. The thought that something unpleasant may happen is only an unreal thought we have created ourselves. Ask yourself: “Is this thought based on real evidence?”

12. Let go of past heartbreaks: A heartbreak can take quite a long time to heal. Your heart is locked as your mind keeps on hovering over the same thought. The thing to realize is that in heartbreaks it is not the loss that make you suffer but the idea you create in your heads about that loss.

13. Let go of bad memories: Sometimes we remember unpleasant things that stir up some sad feelings in us. Bad memories make you relive those sad moments in the present. Keep them where they are – in the past.

14. Let go of useless things: We also attach ourselves to things of all sort. Sometimes we clutter our life with useless objects. Let go of them and simplify your working and living environment.

15. Let go of bad company: If there are people around you that are insincere, harbour envy, are highly pessimistic or disempowering, keep away from them.

16. Let go of the idea that you are a product of your past: One very common mistake we fall into is the belief that we are determined by our past experiences. This limits our view on future possibilities since we are stuck in believing that the future can only be more of the same as our past.

17. Let go of identifying yourself with your job/role: This is one of the risks of modern day life. Since roles are always becoming more specialized we think that we are part of our roles. This makes us lose perspective of our true nature.

18. Let go of counterproductive habits: These are the repetitive patterns of behavior that obstruct or distract you from constructive and productive behavior. They can be anything from watching too much TV and overeating to self-destructive behavior such as drug abuse.

19. Let go of taking things too personally: Very often we are disturbed emotionally because we interpret people’s words and actions from a very subjective perspective. When we take things personally we get irritated, hurt and disappointed.  When you look at life from a more detached and objective point of view, we stay emotionally balanced and focused on our priorities.

20. Let go of the ticking clock: Time is one of our biggest sources of stress. Well, not time really but our perception of it. Sometimes we are enslaved by the concept of time even in our moments of leisure. This has devoured a lot of our genuine freedom and space. Learning to spend moments without the constant awareness of time can be liberating and finally productive.

My favorite? Let go of limiting beliefs: If you believe that nothing can stop you - then truly, nothing can stop you as long as you're alive. "Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right".


(Via).

How creativity flourishes - TOI

This piece on the Times of India about the importance of conflict in making creative leaps. I previously wrote about the importance of sadness in understanding happiness or creating art - it's a conflict with yourself. The following is an excerpt from the article that is quite enlightening, read up!

Most are confused between conflict and the method of resolving a conflict. We assume, incorrectly, that Gandhi, as a peace loving person, must have avoided situations of conflict. On the other hand, he faced conflict heads on. Bhagat Singh and Gandhi were both gearing themselves to deal with conflict, except that Gandhi tried to employ peaceful means while Bhagat Singh chose aggression.

The duty of a scientist, artist or professor is also to engage in conflict against repressive regimes of knowledge. Any kind of limited knowledge is a form of bondage. Albert Einstein advanced the boundaries of scientific knowledge. James Joyce did the same in the world of literature. He flouted rules of writing as he saw them as restrictions on creativity. Picasso and M F Husain for example, explored realms beyond accepted rules in visual art. Mother Teresa redefined the concept of caring. Every one of them faced criticism and controversy, yet they remained convinced of the nature of their work and the methods they used to fulfill their vision.  They remained engaged. 

Continue to read here

It's important to remember that facing conflicts will make you stronger - and a stronger mind means stronger creative leaps. Yep, it's true!

TRB

How Do Geniuses Think?

Here's an interesting article that talks about how Geniuses think, how they take in information and decipher it. They do two things mainly:

1. they look at any given information from many perspectives
2. they think the exact opposite of what is said to them.

Here's an excerpt:

"Genius often comes from finding a new perspective that no one else has taken. Leonardo da Vinci believed that to gain knowledge about the form of problems, you begin by learning how to restructure it in many different ways. He felt the first way he looked at a problem was too biased toward his usual way of seeing things. He would restructure his problem by looking at it from one perspective and move to another perspective and still another."

Continue reading here [psychologytoday.com]

Croma, how is this fair? #cromastores #tata #india

Anyone living in India may be well averse with Croma, a Tata enterprise for electronic goods.

Today I went there to buy headphones. Before me was a lady who had bought an antivirus software two days ago because there was a free 8gb usb drive with it. She went home and found that the usb drive was not working - and so she came to return it.

The salesman says "we can't give you another drive because you opened it". How exactly is she supposed to know that the usb drive isn't working without opening it? Leaving the judgement aside that she was stupid enough to buy antivirus for a "free 8gb" drive, It saddens me to know that a Tata enterprise treats its customers in such a way!

For India, I think the one name is amazing values is Tata, and if they're doing this, I think we can let the rest of the big names in country rot anyway. Sorry for being so harsh. But in the big names, Tata is one of the most "customer-oriented", if you will.

Now if the salesman simply told her that they can't replace free drives because they're.. Free, that would be acceptable. But to make a stupid reason up like the one he did is just sad.

If somehow the executives that handle Croma at Tata get to reading this: do something about your customer service execs.

PS. EVERY SINGLE exec was playing with the iPad when I walked in. Time to make some changes, perhaps?

--
TRB

The power of subconscious decision making

Here's an interesting video for y'all. The founder of Buddy Media was interviewed on how he makes decisions and all I can say is that it is enlightening!


Check it out.

Leave your thoughts in the comments

#BBM that #inspires

Every once in a while, you will receive a BBM that improves your perception or puts a smile on your face. Here's one of them:

--
When I was a kid, my Mum liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now & then & I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.
On that evening, my Mum placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Mum and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember hearing my Mum apologise to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said:

"Honey, I love burned biscuits."

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said,"Your momma put in a long hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides... A burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"You know, life is full of imperfect things... And imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything,and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults and choosing to celebrate each other's differences, is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

So...please pass me a biscuit. And yes, the burnt one will do just fine!And please pass this along to someone who has enriched your life...I just did!Life is too short to wake up with regrets... Love the people who treat you right and have compassion for the ones who don't...

--

Its a good way to start your morning, so good morning!

TRB