B99 But persist we must ..

 To truly create inclusive and diverse societies and organisations we need to consciously work on our ability as individuals and groups, to listen , appreciate and integrate diverse perspectives as well as worldviews. Including the ones divergent from ours .

In this process of creating and learning we are bound to experience an enviornment of conflict at multiple levels which can lead to ourselves sometimes questioning the wisdom and the price that we are paying for inclusion and diversity.

But persist we must....because that's that only way forward to overcome barriers that are both internal and external to us.

B98 "Be open to inspiration but for sure create your own path step by step"

 A couple of days back i was at my desk deep in thought on how best to guide a client improve customer experience in his single store retail organisation, and the book " Fish Sticks " stared at me from my book shelf inviting me to relook at it. .

Though its predecessor "Fish !" is more well rated by many readers , i find the sequel " Fish Sticks " addressing the more difficult challenge of making change stick .

While it contains some deep practical insights , one line that is worth remembering is a quote in it from Joseph campbell

" Your path is created in the moments of action . If you see it laid out in front of you , step 1 , 2, 3 ..you can be sure its someone elses path . Thats why you see it so clearly "

"So while we should all be open to taking advise and any inspiration from observing other organisations and people, when it comes to action , do not borrow someone elses to do list .
Instead take your own first step !! "

B92 Be honest with your inner struggles

 Gandhi Ji's reliance on truth extended to his battles with his weaknesses, inner doubts, failings which are well documented in his own words .

Through this he demonstrated to the world that no challenge or goal is insurmountable however strong and powerful the opposing forces be if you are honest with your own inner struggles.

My gratitude as the world and we indians celebrate his 151st birthday.

B64 Encouraging people to be authentic

 Our assumptions of how we ought to behave /project ourselves, fuelled by the expectations of organisational roles takes many of us away from our natural authentic selves.

Fostering a culture  that encourages and enables people be their authentic selves could help root out some of the unhappiness/ disengagement and anxieties that we see around us in organisations today.

Having honest conversations confronting reality however painful, being nonjudgemental are some of things that encourage people become more authentic and shed their masks .

Would be interesting to see some cases and experiences of companies encouraging and enabling people be authentic

B59 Blessed to be in Gods own country

Salute! #Kerala government for taking care of its #people

While millions in india are facing huge difficulties a first hand account from kerala.

Mohini chechi (in picture) our domestic help dropped by after 7 weeks. With buses not running in kochi, she walked and hitched a ride as she says she was fed up of sitting at home.

She narrated how the government has taken care of her family of 5 during the lock down. Her husband and sonin law are daily wage earners and have no income since lock down . She and her 2 daughters a nurse & an accountant got their salaries on line (I too have send it regularly,twice sofar)

They hold ration cards for people below a certain income level ( not sure on the exact figure) which ensured they got 25 kgs of rice from the ration shop and another 25 kgs from the panchayat ( 5 kgs per head). An additional 5 kgs was given by the local ward member. They also got 2 sets of kits containing 17 items including 1 kg wheat, lentils, soaps etc. All this she says of good quality and zero cost.

She says other than feeling bored and having body pains because of sitting idle, she has had no problems.

I salute the #Keralagovernment & the machinery for taking care of its #people .

Blessed to be in God's own country.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mpsriram_kerala-people-keralagovernment-activity-6665465936881025024-RAlw

B35 Consciously embrace every situation I find myself in as a gift- No qualifiers

6 months back I decided to experiment and see how it would be to “Consciously embrace every situation I find myself in as a gift- No qualifiers” obviously influenced by a lot of stuff I had been reading.

It wasn’t easy. But credit to me I have been disciplined in my experiment.

To detail one incident. A few weeks back I had gone fully prepared to "assess the impact of initiatives undertaken in the last 18 months ". 30 minutes before the session the client wanted it to be run in a format very different from the way I had prepared for. In my default mode I would have become defensive, argued why my approach was best suited for the situation and got stressed about how I was going to make changes at the last minute.

Given my resolve,I truly listened to his point of view, build on his perspective and quickly improvised.

No prizes for guessing. The session gave us insights that were qualitatively far deeper and sharper.

I am convinced from the results across contexts, the mundane and significant that this approach yields far superior results and impact.

Try it for yourself. Am sure you wont be disappointed!

B34 " People come to me because I give, and not because I take from them ".

I have to keep reminding myself that " People come to me because I give, and not because I take from them ".
In the process of my giving ,I get lots more in return .

Why is it so difficult for many of us to practise this naturally and just focus on giving something that the other values ?

B31 Proactively seek out and understand world views different from mine

30 years back Stephen Covey wrote “We see the world not as it is but as we are conditioned to see it”

Technology enabled targeted messaging and reinforcement has pervaded so much of our lives today , that the only truth we see is our truth.

To escape getting into #gridlocks of strong opposing #worldviews , I have realised I need to proactively seek out and understand world views different from mine and appreciate alternate perspectives.

I have set goals to this end and am actively meeting , listening to and reading people who hold worldviews and perspectives different to mine in the social, political and professional domains .

I might not be able to change the course of the world but I am sure my actions can cause a ripple in my sphere of influence !

B28 Keep honing your abilities !

A bird sitting on a tree is not afraid of the branch breaking as its trust is not on the branch but on its wings. Keep honing your abilities

B20 Your destiny is in your own Hands

I see a lot of people especially in times of despair doubting in the truth that “their destiny is in their own hands”.

They often say “I am doing all the right things ,am hard working, work honestly ,look to meet others needs first, add value to them , yet I continue to struggle to meet my wants and desires, face challenges every day and an not certain of my future. I see dishonest people , backstabbers , people who will do anything to be successful make money and live a life of power and luxury “

This puts them through a lot of mental conflict and strain.

To all of them I have only the following words

The situation that you are in today are the results of all your past choices and actions. The situation you will find yourself in tomorrow is fully dependent on the choices that you make in your thoughts, words and actions today.

Therefore be focused on the present situation however unpleasant or undesirable it currently might be , being alert and being aware of the choices that are available in front of you and make those that will bring success and prosperity to others, spread happiness and love and you will see the same happening in your life in the future .

Be patient and allow the seeds you sow to grow , continue making these choices and over a period you will experience life in a way that will help you regain belief in the truth that your destiny is in your own hands.

B16 From corporate class room to vedic padashala

Three months back my brother and a couple of other people from the neighborhood decided to start a Sunday Vedic class in the mutt (temple cum community hall) next to my property. I enthusiastically joined in as it was a long standing desire coming true. I should confess I had tried doing some self learning in the last few years with audio aids but wasn’t too successful. The accuracy of pronunciation eluded me and the length and complexity of words in some of the Sanskrit shlokas (verses) stood in the way. The only thing I managed with some degree of success thanks to the internet and the English translations so easily available now , was understanding the meaning of quiet a few of the shlokhas . For some one associated with learning in a corporate scenario in various contexts over the last 16 years it has been a different experience. As it is too early to come to any generalizations and conclusions I am just stating a few facts in this write up. There is a teacher who teaches the group of students numbering 18 every Sunday for 1 hr 15 minutes. The composition of the learner group is as follows: 10 children between the ages of 8-15, 6 adults in the age group of 35-40 and two elders above the age of 60. My son aged 10 is also part of this group , though he refuses to sit with me , instead sits with his friends . The teacher who is an independent financial consultant by profession , refuses to take any fee. In fact he has been encouraging the group to have more classes every week to speedup the learning process, and is ready to offer his time whenever the group wants. The premises are in the local community hall and anyone is free to join. The teacher chants a few words once aloud all the while focusing on the clarity of pronunciation and the intonations, and this is followed by the group chanting the words loudly twice, and this teachning-learning continues. The teacher repeats the earlier words again in case he feels people aren’t able to pronounce/intonate it perfectly. This is done even when he feels a couple of people are out of sync. He is able to follow the chants of each one in the group and able to identify when some one is out of sync. He stops to help the individual chant it right. Every session is broadly divided into 2 parts. The first part lasting around 30-35 minutes is spend on chanting what had been learned in the earlier sessions, and the second part focuses on new verses. The session ends with an exhortation by the teacher to continue individual practice during the week. I will write more on this learning adventure at an appropriate stage later.

B15 Being Blessed and Miracles

A lot of us often have this feeling of being blessed. We often wish people with the words “May God bless you” What do we really mean when we use the word blessed. To me it means being more connected to the divine, universal, all pervading energy and having ones actions guided by it. How does this happen: Through our conscience which is the universal energy manifesting itself in the form of our internal voice, thoughts, feelings . The effect of this in day to day life is that though we commit millions of acts (small and big )being guided by our fears , greed , passions , selfishness , ego etc , the impact the same are mitigated by acts that we do which are guided by our conscience which makes us do things that are right . A person is recognized as a saint when he completely and at all times acts according to the dictates of ones conscience , or in other words the universal energy . This is what enables saints to perform acts which we cannot and therefore we label them as miracles.

B13 Trust ,Faith and Self Accountability

As I was driving to the temple yesterday I suddenly got reminded of this incident which happened to me around 2 years back.

This incident happened between the 14th -16th october 2006 .

On a Saturday evening I was standing at a road side tea shop in kochi, a cup of tea and a smoke in hand . As my luck would have it a police jeep with a lady inspector in charge pulled up next to me and charged me for smoking in public. I profusely apologized and admitted to my wrong doing and swore never ever to repeat this(both to her and to myself). She wrote me a summons to appear in front of the magistrate after 2 weeks. 

830 am Monday enroute to my clients office in Bengaluru I received a call from a Jr officer asking me to come to the police station by noon.

A lawyer from my brother’s office promptly went to the station and met the lady inspector. She said she had decided to withdraw the summons as she felt I was sincere in my apology and thought that I would never commit the offence again . She then tore the summons!

I stayed true to my word and even quit smoking within 6 weeks after having been a smoker for 17 years .

This incident reinforced a few beliefs . In addition to the power of trust and faith in others, i also realised that there is nothing more powerful than self accountability. 

B12 Parenting and values

Children have their own sense of values . Right /wrong,world views .....They view the world in wonder and amazement .They see it as it is.They do not have any glasses through which they see the world. Their level of trust in others is unqualified. Similar is their capacity for love. Just see one child take care of another . In our desire to instil the right values in them are we actually doing them more harm than good?

B11 Freedom

What is freedom? 

Is it freedom in terms of a man able to do as he desires, when he desires,where he desires; 

Is it freedom in terms of not wanting anything and able to live a life free of desires and wants ; 

Is it the ability to be present fully in that current moment and experiencing eternity through it: 

Is it all of this and something more..

B10 Garbage Handlers

I have been shaken from the reverie of my cocooned existence. The garbage crisis that afflicted my city Kochi, in the early weeks of june had its impact on me. I have become more sensitive. I burn all the office waste paper and other items in my back yard twice a week. I have instructed all at home to keep kitchen waste separate. 

But more importantly i have started noticing the garbage handlers. Some of them come with the truck to pick up the pile that is accumulated in the dump near my house, others I see dragging handcarts loaded with waste (all in different stages of putridity) in different parts of the city. 

A couple of days back I noticed a few of them physically wading through the garbage, segregating the waste into bio and non bio degradable , a task which each house hold, or office is supposed to do but which I think they rarely do .

What would we do without these souls? Are any of us bothered about what they earn, what is happening to their children, what are their aspirations? I am not sermonizing. Far from it, I have just been woken up. But there is still inertia to overcome to get into action .Will I start doing something about it. What will I do? What can I do? Where can I help? Or will I slip back to my own existential concerns. I don’t know time will tell ….

B07 Human Bonds

Lepers begging is a common sight in the temple. Especially on special days like Saturdays , Sundays when the visitors increase . There is normally a group of 5-6 of them sitting one next to the other asking for alms.

There is an old man among this group with whom I have been having conversations once in a while for the last 4 years. Not really conversations the occasional word or two . I have been seeing him intermittently ever since I started visiting the temple daily. He would enquire about my grand uncle when my grand uncle stopped walking around in the temple due to age.

Initially I used to feel a little embarrassed when he used to try and talk to me . Fears used to dog me.What are others thinking,when they pass by and see me talking to him. will he ask for more than the mandatory 2 Rupee coin that i give him.

I slowly started giving him more than the coin. Once or twice a 5 rupee note or an occasional ten. He has never asked me for more money. He though asks at times for an old shirt, dhoti. Once he asked me for an old umbrella. I am happy to give.

I have begun to develop a soft corner for him. I realized this yesterday when I saw him lying on the ground. For a moment I panicked as I saw flies sitting on his body. I went close to him and saw his stomach moving with his breath, I felt relieved.