the thin lines between...

as we take our stance on certain qualities that we possess, seldom are we aware of being caught at the thin line between two extremes... the thin line between lack of confidence and self-confidence, the thin line between self-confidence and over-confidence, the thin line between over-confidence and arrogance, are all examples of typical caught-in-betweens...

as we stand on every such thin line, it becomes critical to identify not merely which side of the line we stand right now, but also to understand which is the 'right' side to move to... personal perspectives, situational constraints, percentage of ego (will get to this percentage thing later in the post), past experiences, quality of friends, age (to a certain extent) are all some of the many factors that help us determine the two rules of thumb to handle these thin line betweens... once we identify our stance and choose our move-to-make, the journey to that destination is as important as the goal itself... in the path of this personal transformation, the strength of the intellect and the truth of the heart should prevail for the traveller's success...

as we talk about inner qualities, it is worthwhile analyzing another important aspect of life that we live with during every single moment... our very own 'EGO'... while some may like to define ego as an enumeration of a set number of states, i personally consider it to be a certain percentage rather to be an absolute, just like most of the other personal qualities we possess...

it is however not right to say that someone with a higher percentage of this 'ego' is a bad person... looking at the big picture and then assessing the result, is what counts... a simple example of a situation where one needs his/her ego at a boosted level, is at a workplace... if members of a project management team are all people with such less ego that they bind to the rules of the project implementation team, then they are pretty much not serving their primary purpose... the other extreme also works, to demonstrate the same effect... finding the right balance involves a complex set of rules that we have in place... these rules, which as we learn to live in this wonderful filled with such a variety of people, are iterative, which means that our intellect iterates with every change that it comes across... and so continues the beautiful journey...

squeezing time out of 'no time'

if someone's said a 'thank you' from the bottom of their heart, not because you left them a fortune but spared a few of your minutes to go out of the way and help them, there lies REAL satisfaction... this sense of personal satisfaction comes as a result of that willingness to squeeze out the time within your mind, more than the actual time...

taking time off for one's self will also help tremendously in maintaining a balance between keeping the senses together with that growth-of-the-thinking-domain... while it may help you maintain low stress levels, it'll also help in giving a 'refreshed' feeling, each day, every day!

probably one of the most common phrases you hear people say is: 'sorry - didnt have time'... just before giving up on anything due to 'lack of time', the difference between an ordinary being and a difference-maker is determined by small mental adjustments like these to the increasingly mechanical life-styles of an urban living...

the hidden patterns in chaos theory...

it would take a beautiful mind to figure out the distinct differences in the existential world and the creative world... one such creative world exists within the intellect... there is a dream, there is a hope, there is a theory, there is a definition, there is a flavour, there is a taste... amidst the chaotic real world, is this calm and peaceful inner world, which longs for nothing but peace!

secrets to life is not merely experiencing the patterns, but living 'it' to the fullest, and understanding and appreciating the gains out of any challenging situation, treating it as part of the same whole which provides all the other 'sweet moments' as well...

for not what it takes to forget makes you great, it is what you forgive... it is for this reason, that when great people are made, it is for-real and not may-believe...

the pic is from a recent trip of mine to Vancouver, Canada... just made me realize how wallpapers are taken out of 'actual' places!

what a wonderful world...

Lyrics By George Weiss / Bob Thiele

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah

the art of negotiation...

in a world that is constantly 'expecting' something in return, for any and every action, it is almost a mandate to know how to make 'everybody' happy! we may think that it's not possible to make everyone happy, but i strongly believe it is! you may call it 'playing the tables' or 'making hay while the sun shines' or whatever, it is certainly possible with a few basic rules of the thumb...

such an art associated with the philosophy of making everybody involved happy, involves a lot of situations as to what may be termed 'win-win' situations... for instance, if you attend an interview, do not merely say what you are capable of, but strongly portray your positive qualities in a way that can solve the needs of the employing organization... another example would be getting the best deals on purchases like a cellular phone, where the key lies in how you can convince the service provider that it is a win-win situation (or convincing the customer, if you are the service provider)... win-win situations are far too many in everyday living to be ignored for long... despite this fact, we often tend to overlook this aspect in everyday life... the earlier the realization to make complete use of them, the earlier the benefits of those fruitful situations would be...

it is however extremely critical that we create such situations out of what would otherwise be 'selfish motives' or 'using somebody to their gains' kinds of situatons... a thought worth thinking about ??!! you betcha!

oh... those wonder years...

for a majority of the people, those years growing up from being a kid to an adult - are often thought of and cherished to be 'wonder years'... having 'no ties', 'no responsibilities', 'no fear' are probably some aspects that we often correlate those years of experiences to...

somehow we tend not to, or to least think about what actually were the driving engines behind those high-speed high-powered years of glory, of fascination, of freedom, of fantasy, of learning... on deeper inspection, we will realize that it was a phase meant to serve a certain unique purpose... just like how one appreciates the value of some 'cool shade' after being out in the sun, like how one appreciates the value of some 'hydrating fluids' after a physically exhausting session of workouts/sporting activities, like how one appreciates the sunrise after long hours of darkness... some experiences happen so that we live through them, learn through them and start cherishing them for even having been a part of the ever-diverse set of experiences in our lives...

it is indeed special to cherish every single special moment around, and merely to be thankful that it happened atleast for that little bit... for, there are those who live to tell the tales, when they do not even know what you are talking about!

the significance of being insignificant...

i was commenting on a friend's blog recently, when a certain 'eureka' struck my head... if and when we do wonder at often times about our insignificant presence in this monstrously HUGE world, do we really wonder what it actually means to be so?

some believe there are always two sides to a coin... many others believe there is always one side that you can see, the other one being the flip... looking at the problem in hand from an optimist's perspective, physical insignificance never limits one's abilities to be truly significant to the eyes of the world... sure there may have existed ONLY ONE Gandhiji, or ONLY ONE Martin Luther King, or ONLY ONE Sir C V RAMAN, etc etc etc... but he fact of the matter remains that they were 'naive' about being insignificant... call it a blessing or a boon, so was it! now, looking at the same problem from an eternal pessimist's point of view (note that i'm using an extra word in this context - eternal, as thats how they usually stay... its so easy to poison a whole lot of pure milk, than to purify just a little bit of poison... ), the concept of physical insignificance is too trivial to be noticed in the series of sad, terrible, disgusting and depressing set of issues in hand (according to the eternal pessimist of-course) that its more often than not, rejected from being a subject of discussion...

what one must actually take to heart is that, since this world (and life) is made up of all kinds of perspectives, all kinds of cultures, all kinds of intellects, all kinds of circumstances, all kinds of experiences (good, bad and neither), this concept could easily be argued differently at different points in time by different people, living at different places! a wise-man once said

"life is like a grindstone... whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends on what you are made of"

its about time you quit thinking about your being insignificant... and start twinkling in the deep blue skies instead!