Role Model – Define your growth path

Change is constant in life. We call it as our growth when the changes influence us in a positive way. The primary purpose of our life is to grow in a positive way and lead a meaningful & purposeful life. It is important to experience and feel the positivity of growth from time to time on a constant basis. Life becomes dull and monotonous when one fails to experience the positivity.

Growth: Positive growth can be achieved by two means. One is by contribution.

 Yes!! Contribution = Growth

Contribution: Your resourcefulness gets leveraged only when acquired resources are utilised for the benefits of others. This is called contribution and the contribution aids in allowing the energy generated by your resourcefulness to flow seamlessly.  The energy is blocked when your resourcefulness is not utilised for the purpose of others. For example, my resourcefulness of yoga skill has no meaning if I do not allow leveraging this skill for the benefit of others. Obviously, our contribution has positive impact on others and as well it aids in our own growth.

Secondly, growth can be achieved by enhancing the resources or by acquiring new skills. These resources/new skills should influence you in a positive way to lead a meaningful and purposeful life.

Role Model: Role modelling is one such ideal way to build the new skills/new resources. First step is to identify the role model depending on the level of interest in the field where you want to build your new skill/resource.  If you believe that running marathon will influence in a positive way which improves your health and fitness level then it is important to anchor this idea, right away. Obviously, right now, you do not have the right kind of resources to achieve the end result but you seek to build the resources by adopting the qualities of the role model.

Anchoring: The best way to anchor the virtues of role model is to take the printout of the photo of the role model & write down the list of qualities that you want to build over the period of time. Stick this photo and qualities that you want to build in your bedroom or drawing room. Whenever, you see this photo, it acts as a reminder to achieve this goal. Then, all that you need to do is to mimic the successful patterns of this role model. Over the period of time, you can able to produce similar result as that of your role model.

Bridging the gaps:  In our culture, a person who has achieved greatest heights in any particular field is titled as DEVA. Yes, they are equated to God. For example, Sachin Tendulkar is considered as a cricket god. Here, we are trying to reproduce his success pattern. While attempting this, the first start point is to understand your present resource capabilities and mindfully bridging the gap between your current patterns to that of the role model.

This involves a three steps process. a) Understand our present resource capabilities b) understand the success pattern resource requirements c) mindfully bridging the gaps between these two patterns.  Most of us do the mistakes in not understanding clearly our own resource capabilities or simply overstepping into our unknown discomfort zone that eventually causes the damage.

So, anchoring is a powerful tool and a clearly defined process as explained above is important in avoiding those commonly made mistakes. Let us GROW and HELP others to grow!!

Long distance running: A Test platform

Yesterday, I ran the second edition of the Bengaluru half marathon. It was an incredible experience to feel the energy of the seventeen thousand participants across the different categories. The atmosphere was really electrifying & wonderful.

Since, I didn’t practice well for this event; I was bit reluctant to participate. But, the sheer thinking on the kind of energy that gets generated in such events forced me to go for the event. There are couple of points that I would like to highlight in this blog.

Test Platforms: After that I achieved my desired health & fitness level, I was looking for some test platforms to monitor my fitness condition on consistent basis. So, as my age ticks every year, I know exactly how healthy & fit am I. I have integrated such test platforms in my personal life such as long distance running, horse riding, hiking etc. Primarily, long distance running helps to check the endurance level and a good test to check the cardiovascular as well as the respiratory systems. I use horse riding mainly to check my postures and spine stability & flexibility. Now also, I am on the lookout for many such test platforms to keep me fit & healthy.  I feel that all these activities are simply the extensions of yoga & to see how the mental, physical and emotional skills that one developed in yoga can be applied and tested.

Performance:  When it comes to the performance of my running skill, I am nowhere near to those who are on the top of this activity. I feel that top 10% of the runners are the real and serious performers. This is true in any other fields as well. Even in our career, if we are not in the top 10% then we will have to go through some scuffle & there will be a sense of incompleteness in our career life. My policy in life is to be in the top 10% in those areas where we seriously invest our energy or otherwise, take enough effort to reach that bracket. Rest of the 90% of the people are part of the crowd.

My performance is now in the top 25% to 30% bracket. I would like to invest sufficient time & energy to push to less than 20% in the coming months. I am banking on the yoga skills that I developed over years such as my deep breathing, flexibility of the body, efficient cardiovascular system etc.

Misconception: Some of the clients as well as the yoga practitioners believe that it is harmful to run long distance especially after the age of forty years. They think that the knees and ankles will get stressed heavily. They also think that yoga and running are mutually exclusive activities and can’t be done together. In my experience, yoga is not a practice to keep your mind calm, keep you fit & flexible and keep your stress level at minimum. It is much bigger than these. Yoga is something which really shakes the core of your being and changes the way of living that provide an opportunity to explore and expand the different dimensions of life (health, wealth, relationship & spiritual development). So, if one experiences yoga in true sense then he will not equate yoga to mere physical & mental workouts.

So, just go for all theses activities such as long distance running which not only serve as test platforms but give tremendous opportunity to explore the abundance of the life.

Upgrade: All the skills that you have learned by practicing yoga are to upgrade to your higher self. You feel and see yourself in your growth path on day today basis. The ultimate purpose of yoga is to realise the inherent power within ( Shakti- Kundalini) , bring it your consciousness ( Shiva ) and use those powers for the benefit of others. So activities such as running are simply a validation process to reach your higher self. I know made it almost like a ritual to participate on annual basis those mega running events of the country such Mumbai Marathon, Bengaluru Marathon & TCS world 10K. That is my commitment for my health & fitness. Would you like to join me ?

Build the right energy circle

We are influenced by the environment and also we influence the environment. Being a social animal, each one of us influences the society in some way or other and also we are influenced by the society. No one can stand and live alone. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are always in constant connect with the environment. Even as you read this blog, if you notice now, your feet is in contact with the earth element, you breath is in constant contact with the atmosphere and so on. We are in constant contact with the nature and the environment & we can’t isolate from this bonding.

Because of this bonding, there is always an energy circle built around us. This is not a random or discrete energy ring forced upon. In fact, this energy circle can be designed. Yes!! The good news is that one can consciously build this energy circle that helps in his growth.

Essential components: The essential components of this energy circle are the nature elements, the society in which we live, the family members, friends, the technology & gadgets, the virtual internet space, office colleagues, the living place, the lifestyle enhancing tools such gym, physical activities and the list goes on. Each of the above components creates its own energy field and it shapes your energy circle.

Open up the channels: For the energy circle to manifest in a beautiful balanced way, it is important to open up consciously all the possible energy channels. Say for example, if you are not a very social person and you do not have close friends then it is important to make a conscious effort in opening up this channel.  A deliberate attempt in building up the relationship with the friends circle is important even if it is limited to one or two friends. But, the channel should be opened up.

Bidirectional flow: For the sustainment of the energy flow, the first and foremost criterion is that the energy should be bidirectional. If you are drawing some help from your friend then this should be reciprocated back your help to him even if it is not at that given time space but in some other time space. Then this energy channel acts as a sustainable source of energy. If you are drawing some knowledge from the internet source, say for example by reading this particular blog then do not stay passive. Reciprocating energy can be created by some simple acts such as leaving a comment to this blog, saying thanks to the author etc.

Active interaction: For the energy to get multiplied, it is important to have an active interaction. Say for example, you want to relax yourself and hence want to play some sort of computer game. You might opt for a single user board game. Obviously, it allows you to relax but then the interaction here is passive in nature. As a slave, the game does what you really want from it. Instead, if you opt for a multiusers game, then there is another human playing opposite to you then there prevails an active interaction & hence, an opportunity to multiply the energy.

Supporting structure: In case if any of the essential components of the energy circle drains then you need to have some sort of supporting structure which acts as a substitute energy source. For example, if you are not a social person then your energy drains when you are not comfortable in a social gathering. This does not mean than you need to shut down this channel. It is simply, you need to find out an alternative channel that substitutes. You may consider having a limited close friend circle who can substitute this source of energy.

So, build the right energy circle where the inflow and outflow of energy is seamless. We then act simply as a medium where the energy goes in and out effortlessly.

Reconfigure : Experience the abundance of the life

Our experience of the external world is determined by the way how our internal world is configured. We are an integrated system where the body, mind, emotion, intelligence and ego work together to experience the life. Yes, one can experience the abundance and the positivity of the life if he knows how to train and reconfigure himself to tune to this abundance.

Many years before, I was introduced to the practice of “forgiveness”& “gratitude” exercise by one of my spiritual friend. I did not buy the idea of practicing this exercise as it was not at all convincing and compelling to me. But, he insisted me to practice for at least a month and he said, “The practice has the ability to reconfigure the brain to act and think in a positive way that helps in observing the abundance of the life”.

After few days of the practice itself, I started to witness the shift in the way how I was experiencing the life. Now, after seven years of the practice, I can confidentially say that this is one of the greatest gifts given to me in my life by my dear friend. This practice has the ability to assign a powerful meaning to your life experience and the way how we perceive the event in a positive framework of mind.

Practice method:  Now, I have integrated this practice at the end of my daily yoga practice session. As a process, it takes just three minutes of our time.

Forgiveness: Just, recollect on the previous day of at least three such events/experiences that really hurt my feelings. The first step is to bring to my awareness the person or group of people who are responsible for the event. Next step is to simply forgive them and also ask for the forgiveness from them in case if I have done something wrong unknowingly without my conscious knowledge. Simultaneously, pay attention to the bodily sensation and our emotional state as we go through this process.

Gratitude: Same like “forgiveness” practice, just recollect from the previous day life experiences, three such events that make you to feel happy.  Again, get the person or group of people who are responsible for such events in our mind and simply say, “thank you” for creating such a happy experience to us. Simultaneously, pay attention to the bodily sensation and our emotional state as we go through this process.

My experience:  We are given two buckets of people. One bucket is for the people to show our forgiveness and another bucket is for the people to show our gratitude. In the initial days of my practice, the number of people in the forgiveness bucket were more (at least ten times) than the ones in the gratitude bucket. This scene had changed within a month of practice where the count in the forgiveness bucket was going down and there was an increment in the gratitude bucket. Now, after many years of practice, I can confidently say that the people in the forgiveness bucket are negligible whereas the gratitude bucket is full & overflowing with the people.

Now, we are suddenly surrounded with many good people and eventually, we start to experience the goodness within and around us. So, practice & enjoy the abundance of the life!!