B104 Seeing reality as it is

 If there is one book i would strongly recommend everyone read it has to be " Mindfulness in plain english " written by Bhante gunaratana a buddhist monk 26 years back .

As the title suggests it is written in a manner that helps us comprehend and start experiencing reality as it is.

Each page removes our illusions . A snippet from page 68

As you observe the inflow and outflow of your breath, " eventually the breathing process will move along its own stream and you will feel no impluse to manipulate it. At this point you will learn a major lesson about your own compulsive need to control the universe "

Truly a masterpiece !

B103 The illusion of our beliefs and reality

 Some lines completely change your perspective. "Early Indians " by Tony Joseph a deeply insightful book i am currently reading starts with the following quote from Prof Andrew Franknoi.

"As you read this sentence perhaps sitting in your chair you would consider yourself at rest. But you are really not , because the milkyway galaxy of which you are a part is moving through the space at one million kms per hr.This is without taking into account the effect of earths rotation on its axis(1600 kms/hr), orbiting around the sun(107,000 kms/hr) and suns journey around the milky way (792,000 kms/hr). "

So in the roughly 20 seconds it would have taken you to read the para above you have already moved thousands of kms , while you believe you were at rest.

How illusory our beliefs are ,and how wonderful the world is ...

This certainly changed mine !

B102 Mistakes we can avoid while self publishing

 Mistakes we can avoid while self publishing

I recently had a friend Hariharan V.R. review and copy edit all the case studies, articles and presentations that were uploaded on our newly created website.

A few learnings
1) Avoid usage of capital letters in between a sentence except for names, places, titles and the word "I". If you wish to highlight use alternate methods.
2) Use words to write the numbers one to nine rather than numerals(1, 2 etc ).
3) Provide the full form of a word along with the acronymn you intend to use at the first instance in a document. Do not assume that the reader will know the acronym . E.g. Chief people officer (CPO).
4) While using bullet points, use full stops at the end of each point.
5) Importantly be consistent in the way you spell your words ( British vs American) . Ensure the auto correct in your machine is set to your natural preference (e.g. behaviour vs behavior).

This by no means is an exhaustive list. Am sure the professional writers ,editors and language experts would have a lot more to add .

My biggest learning from this exercise, never assume the obvious!

B101 Perseverance

 Perseverance- "Our ability to give our best every moment despite knowing there would be difficulties and delay in achieving our goals.

In president Barack Obama's words from his latest book " A Promised land"
I realized that for all the power inherent in the seat I now occupied, there would always be a chasm between what I knew should be done to achieve a better world and what in a day, week, or year I found myself actually able to accomplish "

Clearly an epitome of perseverence , the book stands out in the presidents openness to lay bare his thoughts , his self doubts. Inspiring read on many counts

!