Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Goal II - It’s not luck By Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt

is a management book that keeps you engaged. Without giving high fundas, it achieves the paradigm shift for the right objectives a company must have. This is in fact the best book I have read on positive thinking though I don’t remember ever coming across the word “positive” in the entire book (!??!.. not so sure about it).

Story revolves around Alex, an executive who has the challenges of safeguarding three of his companies all with different problems from being sold to competitors and dissolved, saving the jobs of those involved and also securing his own job. It is interesting to read how Alex and his teams follow a systematic process to reach breakthrough solutions and make unbelievable profits. It’s not just enough to have intuition but should have a process to systematically put your intuition to work. It is this story through which author successfully explains the complex steps involved in a technique, Thinking Tree.

If a little bit of plagiarism is no crime, here I go..” You need to believe that it is possible only then you will have the stamina to go and look for it! The knight who doesn’t believe in the Holy Grail will never find it. And the one who does? Try and stop him.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A rock passing through water...

The story of Siddhartha as told by Nobel Laureate Hermann Hesse in his book "Siddhartha" is certainly one of the most influential works I have come across. It has left me thinking, wondering... "wisdom cannot be passed on. Wisdom which a wise man tries to pass on to someone always sounds like foolishness." Knowledge can be conveyed but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but cannot be expressed in words and taught.

Opposite of every truth is just as true! It's like this: any truth can only be expressed and put into words when it is one-sided. Everything is one sided which can be thought with thoughts and said with words. A person or an act is never entirely Sansara or Nirvana, a person is never entirely holy or sinful. It does seem like this, because we are subject to deception, as if time was something real. Time is not real. And if time is not real, then the gap which seems to be between the world and the eternity, between suffering and blissfulness, between evil and good, is also a deception. The sinner is a sinner today but in times to come he will become Brahman again, he will reach the Nirvana, will be Buddha and now see: "these times to come" are a deception, are only a parable! The sinner is not on his way to become a Buddha, he is not in the process of developing, though our capacity for thinking does not know how else to picture these things. No, within the sinner is now and today already the future Buddha, his future is already all there, you have to worship him, in you, in everyone the Buddha which is coming into being, the possible, the hidden Buddha.
The world is not imperfect or on a slow path towards perfection; no, it is perfect in every moment, all sin already carries the divine forgiveness in itself, all small children have the old person in themselves, all infants already have death, all dying people have the eternal life. In the rodder and dice gambler, the Buddha is waiting; in the Brahman, the robber is waiting. In deep meditation, there is the possibility to put time out of existence, to see all life which was, is and will be as if it was simultaneous, and there everything is good, everything is perfect, everything is Brahman.

When you throw a rock into the water, it will speed on the fastest course to the bottom of the water. This is how it is when Siddhartha has a goal, a resolution. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like a rock through water, without doing anything, without stirring; he is drawn, he lets himself fall. His goal attracts him, because he doesn't let anything enter his soul which might oppose the goal. This is what fools call magic and which they think is effected by demons. Nothing is effected by demons, there are no demons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast."

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Sand in my hand!

It's often said "If held loosely in the palm of your hand it stays there, but as soon as you close your hand tightly it slips through your fingers".  Needless to say this is easier said than done.

It could be because the power of attachment is greater than power of detachment. I am no expert to give an opinion on life. But it is so simple and obvious that it is the will to let go that one needs in order to be happy; be it attachments to material things or your loved ones. We often think we can't live without somebody. Truth is life goes on... Oh yea, I have heard this one before - "Rational thinking does not go well with emotions". I'm not a big fan of right brain.

If I have to cry for ages to let go off something or somebody so shall I. But I will not give up living. I shall turn every stone to be happy. Though I don't totally agree with Ayn Rand, I have to quote "I shall never live for the sake of another man, nor wish another to live for mine".

P.S. Before you start thinking that I might be going through a break up let me clear the air by saying that I am feeling low about leaving Le Cloud. I have started to love the empty roads, far stretched forests, freezing temps, ever smiling americans, refrigerated food...

Friday, March 19, 2010

The Wind bloweth where listeth..

May be because it is windy today here in St Cloud, I am thinking of the "wind". I can hear the sound but I don't know where it is coming from or where it is going. The wind blows where it wishes. Nobody decides its direction.

I want to live by my terms. I want to die by my terms.. I am well aware I don't get to make the choice about the later. But yes, living is in my hand. so I shall! Men and women of free spirit attract me the most. The will to swim across the oceans is what makes them great. Huge challenges seem to be the thriving factors for the most brave.
Did I tell you learning to swim is one of my resolutions for 2010? I wish to learn horse riding and own a majestic horse one day. Resolutions is a topic for later discussion. Now what was I saying about free spirit?

Lets all break the boundaries of caste, creed and language, men and women, black and white..and live like the wind that blows where it wishes.

If - a poem by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

 
If you can dream and not make dreams your master;
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

 

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Is it time to tour yet?

I would say "yes"... a week off from work; sail to a lonely island or losing myself in the wilderness. Roaring river could soothe me. Skydive could be exactly what I need!

Come to think of it, St. Cloud is beautiful these days; It feels like spring, with snow, sun, and warm temps all rolled into one. I'm loving it; all the more enchanting with light showers. I admit it does feel like a hill station at times. But I wonder if it's time to tour yet!