Sukku no speak!

Looks like I have nothing to speak these days as I am busy with a lot of stuff ever since I return home. Finally today I told myself that I have to update this blog and since there is not much to do today at site.

I am seriously thinking of reducing my blogs from 6 to maybe 1, but I just don't know which one to eliminate or should I do the next best thing! Keep them all and hope that I get time to blog on them at least once a month.

So please bear with me.

What the future holds

Too many things are happening here at the moment. My job with the present company is stake as there is a change in the management. With the entry of new owners and directors and the formation of EXCO committee to oversee the operations, and the old boss is still hanging on to the company, it looks like a full fledged corporate war is going on. Now what is going to happen to mere mortals like us, are we going to be trampled by the elephants that are doing their war dance.

I guess I am so deeply entrenched with the affairs of the company and so far I have not seen the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully something good comes out of this exercise and I guess it is going to be a long and bumpy ride.

I have an option here, should I abandon the sinking ship or sink further with it? I think these next couple of days are going to be pretty crucial for me.

The art of being present

Julie Redstone

There is an awakeness that comes from a clear mind, unobscured by wandering thoughts and preoccupations, and there is an awakeness that comes from a clear heart, willing to engage with life as gift and as an everunfolding revelation of the purpose of creation.

Such an awakened heart can’t respond indifferently to life because it sees the outstretched hand of the creator at every turn and in every particle of experience.

It cannot turn away from feeling, no matter what feelings may occur, because it perceives emotional depth as the great gift of individualized consciousness. This gift stirs the response of individualized life to the source of life as it displays itself in all living things.

To be awake and present is to take responsibility for noticing — for maintaining an intimate connection between the self that is, and the rest of the world that is. It is to know that within the domain of this relationship lies a profound revelation of the source of all within every gesture, every interaction, and every experience that takes place. It is to perceive the sacred in every moment.

In today’s overscheduled world, being continuously busy is sometimes a necessity but often a choice based on the drive for outer success, wealth, and the symbols of what is often taken to be a ‘life worth living’.

Being busy, as opposed to having time ‘on one’s hands’, is perceived by many as a testimony to a life that has merit, purpose, and meaning.

By contrast, idle hands — hands that remain receptive rather than active in relation to time, suggest that time is being wasted — that one could do more, achieve more, accomplish more. No matter if these hands are connected with one’s heart and with the heart of the world. For many, it is only the visible ‘doing’ of things that creates a sense of security and lets us know that time has meaning. The existence of a space of silence in which awareness can broaden is often not considered a gain. Nor is simply being here, responsive to the very air we breathe, considered a virtue.
Is it any wonder, then, that we, as a collective humanity, have forgotten the sacred art of being present, that we have placed ‘noticing’ on the back burner of experiential values. And what would we notice if we took the time to do so?

In order to answer this question, it is helpful to sit in one place, breathing quietly, eyes somewhat unfocused, listening, seeing, sensing. Though one can do this profitably in a bare room, it is easier, at first, to sit in an environment where there is just a little movement present. Now, close the eyes and pay attention to the other senses. Feel the comforting fabric of surrounding life as if it were an envelope or cocoon, gently cradling one’s essential self. Notice everything without discrimination, without opinion. Try to feel the intimacy of connection with what is.

Spending time for a few minutes each day being awake and noticing is a good way to begin the practice of being present. It is a good way to begin to expand one’s idea of what constitutes a meaningful life. And yet more than this is needed if one is to truly embrace what is, and to be ‘present in the present’. What is needed is the greater opening of the heart to the one self that exists within all.

This perception of unity and oneness has an opportunity to grow at any moment in which we interact with another soul. It is nourished by an absence of judgement and by a willingness to be open to the deeper levels of who that other might be. Such openness comes from a state of innocence and of childlike grace. It comes from knowing that the ‘other’ is part of the same ‘all that is’ as oneself, therefore of one heart, one breath, one life.

The gift of being present as it applies to relationships is that it brings love to every interaction, no matter how small or insignificant. It brings the divine into every perception, no matter how ordinary. And it brings gratitude into each moment as it unfolds.

As a sense of being present deepens and one’s capacity to notice flowers, the deep richness of life and of love can be found everywhere and separation nowhere. In this state, one senses only the one who lives within all. One feels the essence within every other. Here, consciousness can only affirm the greater life of which it is a part:

I am and you are. We are both of the stars and of the dust of the earth. We are both of the rocks and of the sandy shores. We are water and we are sky; we are earth, and we are air. We are the breath that life breathes through itself, in a single and continuous song of creation.
(Julie Redstone is a writer, teacher and founder of a spiritual centre for healing and transformation)

This article is reproduced from the Sunday Times Hyderabad 20.07.2008 Edition. Happy reading.

What is your level of trust?

Do you believe that the person on the other side of the computer that you are chatting with is genuine? Aren't there wolves in sheep's clothing waiting to con you. Have you encountered any such experience? Do share your experience so that we all can learn from it.

Forget about romance but just the motive of the other person ,maybe a fraud, trying to steal information from you. What is your level of trust and how comfortable are you with strangers?

Do you have the 7th sense in knowing the unknown, that is the other person on the other side can be trusted. Have you ever connected to the other person even without seeing them eye to eye or at the their body language.

I have a mixed feeling on this as I generally trust the other side easily as all I want is nothing from them, just to share my experience and thoughts. I read an article about the romance on the internet and it sounds pretty scary. I will paste part of the article below just for your information. But you can access it at :

http://www.ou.edu/oupd/kidsafe/websafe.htm

While danger from such links may not be readily apparent, consider that the persons with whom you are communicating:

1. May not be anything like they describe themselves, and may not even be the gender they claim.

2. May not be providing their real name or personal information, and may be using someone else's account or even a "hacked" account.

3. May not be located where they say; the individual whom you believe to be on the other side of the country or overseas may be two blocks away.

Tips For Your Safety
Here are some basic personal safety tips you should consider whenever participating in Internet communication, particularly of a personal nature:

1. Avoid giving out personal information such as your home address or telephone number to people you meet on the net; not everyone is what they seem. There are predators out there, but they won't look like wolves; they'll be disguised as sheep.

2. Exercise caution when agreeing to meet anyone in person whom you've met on the net. Before you arrange any such meeting, at least try to address the following:
   

1. Can you verify, through a third party whom you know and trust, the true identity of this person?

2. Is there a way to verify the information provided by this person?

Spain 1 Germany 0

Another chapter in the Euro Cup championship came to an end this morning with a superb goal by Torres at the 33rd minute of the game (I loved it as Torres is playing for my favourite team Liverpool). Looked like Germany was outplayed by the Spaniards and the game was getting a bit out of hand and I felt the refree was not in total control of the game.

Michael Ballack being the captain, had been the main culprit and I am suprised that he got away with only a yellow card. Nothing was going right for the German team even though I was hoping until the last second for them to score the equalizer but my dreams were shattered.

To me without England in the tournament was a damper and I just couldn't come to terms of watching the rest of the team even though at one stage I was pinning my hopes on Holland but they too dissapointed me.

So looks like all good things must come to an end and so did Euro 2008, and I loved the scenic cities where the game was played and the atmosphere on the stadiums looked electrifying. My hats off to the organisers for a great show.

What it takes for a blog to be a hit?

I wonder sometimes why some blogs are popular and some are not. What it really takes for a blog to be a hit, for the other bloggers to keep coming back for more. Some just cruise along your blogs silently, they don't even want to say anything like they are on a stealth mode (yahoo messenger) but then again there are some who would always make it a point to make their presence felt by saying a few kind words. Sometimes harsh words would be a welcome sign too.

Getting ideas or churning out blogs is not an easy task as you have to keep the readers in mind and what you say should have some value (do you agree with me) or it should be able to connect with them. I personally like to read about blogs which focus on the simple mundane day to day activity but with a little touch of humour thrown in. It's like looking at your life situation but at the same time being detached from it because you have infused some humour in it and maybe laugh at yourself in the process.

And I would also like critics who would say it like it is and maybe stimulate the mind for a debate but I don't seem to find that from my visitors. A debate is what I like and if my opinion is wrong then I should be told so. I could be barking at the wrong tree so to speak but what I write is always centred on me and my emotional thoughts. I am sure you would have felt the same feeling that I am having regarding your blogs too.

So if you have an answer to my question, please feel free to let me know so that I can improve myself.

My years in India

I always wanted to write a piece on my stay in India and on what I felt being here from October 2002 until now on my official work of running my company’s office in Hyderabad. What have I learned here over the years which has enriched my life or which made me into a monk (like the Monk who sold his Ferrari)? You decide!

1. Read a lot of books on philosophy

2. Learned to be patient

3. Look at life in a holistic way

4. Learned humility

5. Learned to cook like chef out of desperation

6. Learned to hold my drinks, not like an alcoholic

7. Learned to forgive

8. Learned to be alone

9. Learned to share

10. Travelling and meeting new people

Reading has always been my passion and what better place can I do that when I am alone most of the time in Hyderabad. Books on philosophy had my mind working overtime and also the landmark course that I did had helped me to look at things in a different light. I know I can’t change others but I surely can change myself and my perception about others.

Learning to be patient is a virtue that you will imbibe once you are in India with its age old wisdom and the pace where thing go by. Over here when someone says “2 minutes” it really never will be a 2 minute, it might be 20 minutes or 2 hours. So stay cool as ‘2 minutes” is really an expression without any time frame attached to it. And I know when I give someone an appointment; I have to wait for ages. Even the church here never starts on time, I remember the pastor was making an announcement asking the parishioners to be in the church by 9.00 a.m. and not to start from their homes at 9.00 a.m. and eventually lead to the service starting at 9.15 a.m., in Hyderabad, and even God has to wait.

I remember I was waiting in the office of the number one person in this state and I am sitting there in his office waiting for his P.A for fixing my appointment for my company director to see him, after 2 hours I called him (the P.A), just to find out that he has left the office and had to go through the whole waiting game at another venue the following day. So patience is what I learned and I can sit like a statue for hours with just staring at the walls.

Being humble and forgiving is another trait that I was forced to pick up. Thanks to our partners whom I sacked and they fixed me up after that. And it was revenge I guess served as a cold dish. I came out of it shaken but not stirred and that got me looking at life and freedom at a different angle (Don’t ask me what they did, as I have forgiven them, but God hasn’t I pray so).

Sharing is what I like to do here, be it materialistic things or knowledge. I know for sure that the more you give, the more you would gain (being selfish eh). It’s a never ending process. They also say that to be in an enlightened state, we should share with others what we know.

The last item on the list is travelling, I love to travel in India and try out all the different varieties of food that is available for the palate. I would pick Chennai as my favourite destination for breakfast and banana leaf food. I love Mumbai for some very exotic variety of food followed by New Delhi. Ahmedabad in Gujarat is the worst place that I can think off, for the food and the place being a dry state, meaning no beers to quench your thirst after a hard days travelling and getting your stuff from the permit room like some hard core alcoholic.

And finally it is Hyderabad, for the chaotic traffic, laid back attitude and fiery hot spicy food which I don’t think you can find anywhere in India, maybe Warangal should take the title for pungent chillies. Warangal incidentally happened to a place where I did my Engineering at the Regional Engineering College (during my student days). I remember how I used to wash my chicken pieces in the curry with hot water and still find it hot.

©sukku2008