Just for Today

How to respond peacefully in 2015

 
1. Pause - When you notice yourself getting offended, frustrated, angry, irritated, disappointed … pause. Take few deep breaths.

2. Don’t act -Acting in anger is injurious to your own health. Procrastinate it.

3. Examine - the idea you have about how they should act. You are holding onto this idea, and it is in conflict with reality. Do not hold onto such fantasies, learn to let go of them. 

4. No Expectation -Throw your expectations into the ocean. Do not expect anything.

5. Smile - Accept the person in front of you, and yourself, as a flawed human.

6. Act with compassion - When you stop blaming the person for not acting perfectly, you can then respond appropriately, and with compassion. Accepting reality doesn’t mean you don’t take action — it just means you let go of the frustration. Instead, you can act appropriately, and be more cantered in your actions.

Stop reacting to people or situations; Start responding!

Are you ready to increase your happiness by 25% today?

 

I am going to share a simple idea to boost your happiness.

As your life proceeds today, you may encounter many people, situations or events which may be pleasant or unpleasant.

You may not like the quality of roads and complain about it.

You may not like the behavior exhibited by your friends, colleague or a stranger and feel upset over it.

You may not like the opinion or idea by your spouse and end up in an emotional fight.

You may not like this and that and that and this....this list can go on and on...

You have two choices at any point in time. You can either look for complains or look for good things in any situation.

Today, just for today, train your mind to look only for good things in any situation. When you find one, start appreciating the person or the situation for showing you this opportunity.

Appreciate everyone you meet, anything that uplifts you. Thank more people today. Let today be your best Appreciation Day. You become a great Giver of Thank you's today!

The more your appreciate, you will find yourself more happier. Research shows that people who appreciate and express gratitude towards other people or events are 25% more happier than others.

Remember, more happiness attracts more good people & more success in life.

Thank you for reading this article. You are Awesome!

Happiness is not an escape plan

Happy people face lot of unhappiness in life.

Happy people also face lot of problems & obstacles in life.

Happy people also go through their financial crisis.

Happiness does not depend on how many bad things happen to an individual.

What is more important is whether an individual tends to make negative conclusions about him- or herself when negative events occur.

One research study shows that Individuals who think of themselves as the cause of negative events are 43 percent less likely to be satisfied than individuals who do not.

Happiness is a choice and happy people always look out for the goodness in each situation or problem.

Today, whatever happens, look out for goodness in life. Watch this video & try the simple exercise suggested in this video.

How to spend summer with your kids - 87 FREE activities

Your energy levels and activities can be determined by how much time and what you do with your children. These are some activities which I had personally participated/played/worked out with my two daughters (11 yrs and 7 yrs). Some activities may not suitable if you have boys. Please adopt a different strategy/activity with them.

1. Write stories together.
2. Play soccer/football.
3. Paint or draw together.
4. Create a fort in your living room out of blankets or cardboard boxes.
5. Go on a hike or trek

6. Have a dinner picnic at a park or beach or even your terrace.
7. Play board games.
8. Get up early, cut vegetables & pack breakfast
9. Go to a museum.
10. Go to a playground.
11. Play hide-and-seek.
12. Have a pillow fight.
13. Ride bikes/cycles
14. Build sandcastles in the beach
15. Rent/buy a cartoon DVD and watch together.
16. Tell stories.
17. Play scavenger hunt.
18. Make puzzles/sudoku for each other to solve.
19. Play card games.
20. Garden together.

21. Make sandwiches together.
22. Go to the zoo.
23. Go to the library.
24. Create/Help in working on a blog together 

(www.msanjana.blogspot.com)

25. Create a scrapbook.
26. Make a movie using a digital camera and computer.
27. Learn to play music.
28. Finger-paint/Palm painting
29. Make play dough from scratch using materials in your kitchen.
30. Make lemonade, relax and enjoy.
31. Go to a pool.
32. Go to a public place, watch people, and make up imaginary stories about people.
33. Visit family.
34. Write letters to family or to a next door friend
35. Paint or decorate a room.
36. Make milkshakes.
37. Create a treasure hunt for them (leaving clues around the house).
38. Decorate/Embroidery work for a pair of jeans.
39. Do a science experiment.

40. Play games online.
41. Teach them to play chess.
42. Learn magic tricks.
43. Create a family book, with information and pictures about each family member.
44. Fly kites.
45. Volunteer for a social activity
46. Donate stuff to charity.
47. Compete for a running race together
48. Play music and dance crazy.
49. Write and produce a play (to perform before other family members).
50. Have a water gun fight.
51. Have a sword-fight (sword made of cardboard).
52. Explore your garden and look for insects.
53. Explore your street and collect rocks & pebbles
54. Go for a walk and explore the neighbourhood.

55. Go jogging/walking together.
56. Take pictures of nature.
57. Make up funny questions about each other.
58. Clean the house together
59. Do shadow puppets.
60. Make a comic book/booklet (my daughter love to do this)
61. Play in the rain (don’t complain to me on the cold later)
62. Blow bubbles.
63. Take turns saying tongue twisters.
64. Sing songs.
65. Tell ghost stories in the dark with a flashlight.
66. Build stuff with Legos/building blocks
67. Play computer games together.
68. Build paper rockets and play with them
69. Bake a cake and cut them for birthdays/special occasion/no occasion
70. Arm-wrestle, or have a tickle fight.
71. Learn and tell each other jokes.
72. Walk barefoot in the grass and pick flowers.
73. Build paper airplanes and have a flying contest.
74. Prank call their grandparents, using disguised, humorous voices.
75. Send a mail and ask them to reply back to you.

76. Help them to create a story in power-point.
77. Play Jenga blocks.
78. Create stories together with each contributing only one line at a time.
79. Chanting/Bhajans together.
80. Take them to your office event/programs.
81. Help/Contribute for school project work.
82. Make Goal Charts together(This one is very powerful)
83. Go for a ride in bike.
84. Go to parlour & Eat Ice-cream together.
85. Go to the roof-top terrace and talk about sky, stars & moon.
86. Sell Buttermilk or lemonade on your street
87.    Meditate together

Group Meditation Class - Mar 2014

Are you interested in this job profile?

Position Vacant - CEO

Company Name - LIFE International

Work Time - Always in the “NOW”, 24 hrs, 365 days for 100 years (No retirement)

Job Description:-

1. Set a clear vision & purpose for your life
2. Achieve daily, monthly, quarterly & yearly targets to accrue happiness as profits
3. Maintain monthly Balance sheet of emotional accounts in life
4. Service the body regularly - Eat healthy food, sleep well, exercise daily
5. Train the mind to live in the “NOW”
6. Unburden emotional burdens regularly & avoid 
7. Meditate daily to uplift company energy levels
8. Do one random acts of kindness as part of CSR activity

Top 8 Skills Required:

1. Vision
2. Awareness
3. Acceptance
4. Compassion
5. Modesty
6. Economy
7. Peace & Happiness
8. Contentment

CTC - 100% share holding - so keep all your profits (Management is not responsible for any damage or loss incurred during the tenure).

Are you ready to work as the CEO of your own Life International?

If NO, You may be interested to apply in our other companies like Un-Happiness Pvt Ltd., STRESS International, Loans & Debts Incorporation, ICU Services, Depression Unlimited & Angry Man.

If YES, you are appointed right NOW!

Can you give these 4 gifts only to YOURSELF today

Our Intention is to be happy & peaceful,

But we lead a life In-Tension only.

Because we are always focused outward. 

We ignored our true self.

Today, let’s focus only on our own self.

Let’s Give ourselves the best gift possible.

Those GIVE realize true happiness.

Allow me to suggest 4 gifts for the day. You can pick and choose all the 4 or any one. The key is to take action.

1) Gift your Body with Restfulness - Take 10 minute body relaxation break every 90 mins. Get up from chair or seat, stretch yourself, go for a gentle walk.

2) Gift your Mind with Mindfulness - Whenever time permits, shift your focus to your feet touching the ground. Feel the heaviness of your body, feel the chillness onto your feet. With that focus, go for a small walk with around your work-spot. Mind will wander. Never mind, bring it back to your feet.

3) Gift your Emotions Statelessness - Once in a while check how you felt in the last one hour. Dump all your negative emotions by accepting people or situations which happened in the last one hour. 

4) Gift your Life Energy with more Awareness - Key to life is become more Aware of what’s happening within you and around you. Shift your focus to the tip of your nose, take a nice deep breath. Allow your breath to heighten your awareness.

No one can gift you the above. Only YOU can!

Your Life, Your day, Your Choice, Your Gift.

New Year Message 2014

My New Year 2014 message to this world. One great secret and a technique to Happiness & Success for 2014 revealed in this audio. Invest 5 mins and reap the benefit for the whole year.



Audio Transcript:

My Heartful New Year 2014 greetings to you and to your family.

Let me tell you one great secret regarding new year - Come closer...2014 will be your best year so far in your whole life. I can promise you that.

When you look back in 2013, you will realize that all your problems, issues & challenges were not caused by the educational system, political system or even by your family members or friends. Almost 99% of your problems were created by your own mind.

Happiness is an inside job and we will dedicate this year for our inner happiness.

The natural alignemnet of the universe are so precise that we are getting into you a new timeline where spiritual energies are upsuriging naturally.

We just have to align yourself to this  universal frequency.

All we have to do is to drop our worries, issues, problems of our past and all the anxieties of the future to tap into this natural or spiritual energy.

Your awareness will become more active & You can double or even triple your profits this year. Anything you start this year will flourish naturally.

To make the best use of this time and energy in 2014, we have to become aware of the present moment. We should learn how to live in the Here & NOW.

This is the year for Heartful living - living from your heart. Or in otherwords this is the year for Mindful living. In ancient indian language "Pali" - heart and mind represented by the same word. In tibetian psychology, the heart is synonymous with mind.In yoga psychology, we call that the heart is the switchboard of the mind.

To lead a Happy, Successful & Profitable 2014, Our focus for this year should be heartful or mindful living. Let this be your theme for 2014.

Allow yourself to live mindfully - completelely present in whatever action you are going to take in 2014.

For example,

If you are brushing your teeth, be with your teeth, brush & paste. Do not allow your mind to wander.

If you are bathing, just be with the water falling onto your body.

If you are eating, only be with the food.

If you are listening to your colleagues, just listen to them mindfully. Do not allow your mind to think what to talk next once they finish. 

If you are walking, enjoy every step of your walk.

If you are breathing, feel every breath going in & out. 

Taming the mind to be in the present moment starts with our daily mundane tasks and this is the  most important step that I request you to take in 2014. This requires consistent practice. Because Mind is like a monkey which keeps jumping from Past, future or the fantasy world.

Even if you were able to hold your mind in the present moment just for 2 seconds, that's ok....it's like adding two dollars into your bank account. Every time you become aware of your present moment, you keep adding 2 dollars into your mindful account.

One simple techique you can adopt is to set an alarm or a reminder once in 15 mins or 1 hour. You can use the mindfulness bell available in the play store or istore. Download this app. Set the timer to ring either once in 15 mins or 1 hour.

Mindfulness Bell

Whenever you hear the bell or the alarm you set, become aware of:- 

1. Posture of your body sitting or standing. 
2. Adjust your body. Sit erect. Upright your spine.
3. Bring your awareness to the tip of your nose.
4. Take one nice deep breath
5. Feel the chill air as you breathe in
6. Feel the hot air as you breathe out.

Just become fully aware of one deep breath. That's it.

The more you are consistent with this one simple action, you are programming yourself to be in the present moment. Your life becomes magical & spontaneous.

Being Mindful of your breath is the action for the year 2014. This is like nurturing your roots of inherent potential. After some time you will reap the fruits of happiness, peace, calmness, focus, clarity in thinking & faster problem solving capacity.

I can promise you that you would become more productive and better in whatever would be doing.

My best wishes & greetings to you for a Mindful New Year 2014.

Namaste!

Simple, Easy & Easier way to Increase your Happiness@Work

Are you Happy@Work?

Allow me to share with you three techniques (simple, easy & easier) which you can apply in your work-spot. These techniques will increase your happiness and thereby your productivity & relationships with your peers, supervisor & colleagues.

Simple Technique 1:- 
Before you leave office, take a sheet of paper (or even on your comp), list down 5-10 good things that happened on that day. Talking nice to your colleagues, had a healthy or sumptuous lunch, got a new sale, solved an issue, meeting a deadline, successful client servicing, able to inspire one colleague, appreciated somebody & felt happy etc.

You can maintain this as a happiness log or happyness@work journal also. Since many of us have the tendency to remember the negative experience, it's better to remember the positive one by writing in this journal.

Writing at-least 1 positive experience per day means, 22 in a month & 250 plus positive experiences in one full year. This list will pep you up, motivate you and above all help you during your half-yearly or annual appraisals.

Remember, the last 5 minutes of every single work day will determine your happiness at work.

If this exercise sounds boring, then let me share with you an easy way & an easier way.

Easy Technique 2:- 
Can you invest just 8 seconds of this easy way.

That’s all I am going to ask you now.

Bring your entire attention to the tip of your nose & take just one full deep breath mindfully. Feel the chillness of the air as your breathe in for 4 seconds & feel the hot air coming out as you breathe out for 4 seconds. You can mentally count 1-4 for inhale and 5-8 for exhale.

Can you do this without getting distracted? 

One mindful breath & you are done with today’s meditation. 
Nevertheless, One mindful breath a day, keeps your unhappiness away!  

Easier Technique 3: - 
Everyday, when you enter your work-spot, at random look at any two people and mentally tell “I want this person to be happy”. Start doing this exercise, you will suddenly find that you are filled with lots of happiness & good things happen in your life.
If you like any one of the above 3, then, pick that one & start the practice for the next 21 days till it becomes a habit for you.

Practice promotes habits and habits deliver results.

Happyness@work = Super charged, Exciting, Rewarding, Energizing, Fun.

Tele-Happiness - Simple & Powerful 1-2-3 Technique

 

Tring...Tring...Tring...

Hello....

Good Morn Sir, I am calling from ABC Bank.
Hi Honey!
Why did you do this do?
I didn't expect this from you.
I want this job to do done now.
Can I ask you for a favour?
Sir, do you want personal loans?

etc, etc...

Everyday we attend different varieties of phone calls viz, cold call, conference call, phone call, boss call, courtesy call, service call etc

Everyday we dial our iPhone or smart phones many times to interact with friends, supervisor, colleagues or family members.

Some calls are productive & profitable, some are depressive, some are addictive & some are empowering & happy.

I know many people who keep thinking about their phone calls. The dialogues continue to run in their head in auto-pilot mode. Negative talks persists & the happy talks vanishes faster.

Am I right in saying!

Let me share with you a simple technique which can empower your tele-happiness.

The more your practice this technique, you will increase your

1. Profitability
2. Relationships
3. Attention capabilities
4. Calmness & Clarity in thinking

and you will decrease your

1. Emotional Stress
2. Negative thinking

1-2-3 Phone Meditation:- Simple & Powerful technique

1) Every time the phone rings, just take ONE nice deep breath before attending the phone call. Yeah, any caller can wait for your one breath.

2) When you are going to make a phone call, take TWO deep breaths and mentally say the following - "I want this person/caller to be happy".

3) When you have to take a decision over phone, when you are in a conflict or argument over phone, when you are influencing or convincing someone over phone, then take THREE deep breaths and then respond accordingly.

Remember, it's all about the space between the stimulus and response. The higher the space between them, higher will be your happiness & peace of mind.

More you practice and become aware of this space, more your life is under your control. Otherwise, the other person takes over your life.

Your phone, Your Space, Your happiness!
 

Four minute happiness technique

Can you invest 4 mins for your happiness? 

Then, let me share with you two 2 minutes technique. You can’t strengthen your muscle just by reading a fitness book. You have to do it. Similarly you can’t become happy just by reading this status update. You have to do it, build your happiness muscle.

First 2 mins - Without break for continuous two mins, bring your awareness to your breath. Feel the air going in and coming out. Just be only with the breath for 2 mins. As simple as that.

Next 2 mins - Sit for the next 2 mins without any agenda and do nothing. Just simply sit without any agenda or thinking. Just observe things or events or people as it is without any judgements.

You can mix and match both the techniques and you can practice at any time of the day. You can even do it each for one minute also. More you practice it, more you will be happy.

Every time you practice this, happy chemicals are released in your brain which keeps your calm & clear.

Happyness@Work - Present & Future of your Organization

Happiness is not a joke in management. I am damn serious. 

Happy companies will succeed. Happy companies will grow and happy companies will innovate new products. 

The present & future of any organization lies in the happiness levels of its employees.

Performance & Happiness are deeply connected. Read more to understand the power of happiness@work...

Can you answer this question?

Which of the following types of persons would you prefer to have in greater numbers in your organization?

A. Happy Low Performers
B. Unhappy Low Performers
C. Unhappy High Performers
D. Happy High Performers
E. All of the above.

I am sure, you would choose "D".

Look at this at this matrix by Dr.Charles D Kerns which reveals the happiness & Performance matrix.

Higher the positive experience, higher is the performance.

Happiness at work is that feeling you get when you:

• Enjoy what you do
• Do great work you can feel proud of & tell others what you do
• Work with amazing people/mentors
• Know that what you do is important
• Are appreciated/recognized for your work
• Get to take more responsibility
• Have fun at work
• Learn and grow
• Make a difference in lives of customers, colleagues & family members
• Feel motivated and energized 
• Feel part of something larger than life

Most of us already know that feeling. We have been there at least some of the time in our working or business lives. The question is: How to get MORE of it?

Just Imagine the other way...

You wake up early on Monday morning and feel it's going to be a wonderful week. You are going to have one full week of fun, happiness & productivity at work without getting stressed.You eagerly look forward to work with your boss, co-workers, colleagues whom you admire a lot etc.

You are ready to make a positive difference in everybody's life out there at work-spot. Best part is you come happily & satisfied to spend quality time with your family & kids.

WOW! Amazing way to balance work & life.

So, the key question here, why be happy at work? What's in it for me...

Because happyness@work ensures

• More drive and motivation.
• Have clear sense of direction
• Better relations with co-workers
• More success
• More creativity and good ideas
• More energy
• Better health
• Less stress
• Much more fun
• More meaning & purpose in work
• Achieving desired results
• More positive experiences than negative experiences
• More grateful and not carry grudges on the past events or people
• Become more optimistic
• You Talk, act & behave in ways which promotes performance & happiness
• More happy feeling about the workplace

And it’s not just good for people. 

Global Organizations have understood the importance of inner well-being & happiness at the work-spot. More and more businesses are finding that things go better with happiness and that happy companies have:

• Higher productivity—happy people achieve better results.
• Higher quality—because happy employees care about quality.
• Lower absenteeism—people actually want to go to work.
• Less stress and burnout—happy people are less prone to stress.
• The best people—people want to work for happy companies.
• Higher sales—happy people are the best salespeople.
• Higher customer satisfaction—happy employees are the best basis for good service.
• More creativity and innovation—happy people are more creative.
• More adaptability—happy people are much more adaptive and open to change.
• Better stock performance and higher profits—for all of the above reasons.

Simply put: Happy companies are more efficient and make more money. And they make people happy, which is of course a goal in itself.

Now, ask yourself

Are you happy@work?

Take this simple self assessment survey to find your happiness levels at work-spot.

Instructions: Use this survey to assess your performance and happiness in your current work place on the dimensions cited below. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 (“10″ being the highest or “very true”) for each dimension.

Dimension	Self-Rating
1. I have a clear direction.
2. I am motivated by that direction.
3. I am focused on what is important.
4. I am focused on what I can influence
5. I am linked to the necessary resources to execute key actions.
6. I act in ways that promote performance.
7. I achieve agreed upon results.
8. I act in ways that promote positivity.
9. I am significantly engaged in my work.
10. I find meaning/purpose in my work.
11. I have more positive than negative experiences at work.
12. I look at the past gratefully.
13. I practice forgiveness.
14. I look into the future with optimism.
15. I am happy about my work place.

© Copyright, 2007, Charles D. Kerns, PhD

Score of 8 or above indicates higher performance & happiness levels. Score of 5 or below indicates opportunity for development or change.

Action Plan:

From today on-wards, let's follow this simple technique.

Before you leave office, take a sheet of paper(or even on your comp), list down 5-10 good things that happened on that day. Talking nice to your colleagues, had a healthy or sumptuous lunch, got a new sale, solved an issue, making a deadline, successful client servicing, able to inspire one colleague, appreciated somebody & felt happy etc.

You can maintain this as a happiness log or happyness@work journal also. Since many of us have the tendency to remember the negative experience, it's better to remember the positive one by writing in this journal.

Writing at-least 5 good things means, 100 in a month & 1200 positive things in one full year. This list will pep you up, motivate you and above you will surely even help you during half-yearly or annual appraisals.

Remember, the last 5 minutes of every single work day will determine your happiness at work.

Remember,

Happyness@work = Super charged, Exciting, Rewarding, Energizing, Fun.

Job satisfaction = Booooooooring!

Related articles

• 46 ways for Happy Living
• Positive Values@Work-Spot - What's your VQ
• How to create a new HABIT - Step by Step Plan