The Power of a Sacred Space

A sacred space is defined by the rules of conduct laid down for those who enter, as in a court room, a church, a temple or the parliament. Very few misbehave in such places as they are rarely able to cast away the weight of laws and customs built over centuries around them. A person who maintains dignity and decorum in such a place may behave totally different in a bar or when at a party.

The Tibetians of the Shambala tradition believe in a concept called drala by which any space can be made sacred. Drala is created by the reverence, purity and faith within a space. When a person treats his offi ce space with reverence and keeps it clean and sparkling, he attracts drala into that space. Drala makes that space powerful and

attractive. When he dresses carefully, speaks and acts mindfully, he attracts personal drala.

Many are able to do this in their homes. Indian homes have beautiful white flower patterns drawn at the entrance to attract Lakshmi, the Goddess of Good Fortune. The atmosphere is further enhanced by the fragrance of incense and joss sticks. Certain sounds like that of mantras or the sound of bells, or wind chimes in a Chinese

home, are said to purify the field.

Positive Energy

Energy causes all beings to act in this world. The higher the level of energy, the greater the accomplishments. When we are tired, our energy level plummets and we do not feel like doing anything. When the field around us is negative with hurt, anger, possessiveness, greed, jealousy, fear and abhorrence, we are less able to act with speed and efficiency. These emotions suck the energy and life-force out of us. All beings have within them the all-pervading life-force, the same one that creates and sustains life in the universe.

· A mental process which draws a magic circle around all those who are participating.

· A prayer or mantra.

· A common exercise, a company song, common goals.

· A handshake, a friendly look, an encouraging word.

· Thinking, believing and acting in a positive manner.

· .Laughter and shared jokes.

Good Food for Healthy Living

Food brings people together, allows human beings to feel satisfied

and comfortable, connects us with the earth and provides us with

health. You are what you eat. Hurry, worry, anger, distractions and chattering should be avoided while eating. The following discipline for eating will help us to enjoy good health

· Sit down peacefully to eat. Close your eyes and allow your mind to leave all other subjects and return to the food before you.

· Choose the fuel for rebuilding your body with care.

· Thank the universe for creating the food that will give you the energy to accomplish your goals.

· Focus on the sight, smell, feel, touch, and finally the taste of the food you are eating. As you chew, be completely assured that the food is gently repairing all the cells of your body.

Physical fitness for Happy and Jofyful Life

‘Physical fitness’ is of utmost importance as it is the starting point for wellness of the mind and spirit. Take care of yourself as no one else can do it for you. Sushruta Samhita, the ancient Indian work by the physician Sushruta, describes perfect health as a state where all body parts function at their optimal level and wherein the body, mind and spirit are in perfect balance and in a state of bliss. Health is not a state but a continuous adjustment to the changing demands of life and the environment. Positive health implies perfect functioning of body and mind in a given society. All the ancients believed that no attempt should be made to cure the body without treating the soul. The concept of optimum health has been termed ‘wellness’. It is a sense of all-round wellbeing. In order to treat or prevent disease, it is essential to look into our emotional, mental and psychological environment, as our thoughts and emotions directly contribute to our wellbeing or otherwise. Meditation can contribute enormously to an individual’s psychological and physiological wellbeing.

Health Guide for Happiness

The first exercise in the ancient pranayama tradition—the art of filling every part of your body with life-force or prana. According to the ancients, Brahma the Creator has put in a certain predetermined number of breaths into every creature. If a person gives in to intemperate passions, the first system to be affected is his breathing, followed by a chain reaction that causes the pulse and heart rate to escalate, digestion to stall, muscles to stiffen, and the brain to stop thinking rationally. He who uses up his designated number of breaths faster succumbs to death earlier.

‘Adbuta,’ or wonder, is one of the positive navarasas— the nine emotions. It heals and energises. To stand in wonder before the splendour of God’s creation is to be rejuvenated. The body and bloodstream are bathed in endorphins and serotonins which are Nature’s tranquillisers.’ The body is the boat human beings are given to sail across the sea of life. It is your duty to take care of it.’

Happiness is everyone’s responsibility

Happiness is a gift, not a commodity. We all have a choice to make every moment, through our senses, our thoughts and our actions. We can choose what we want to see, hear, touch, taste and smell, think, feel and do. Most of the time, we are responsible for our decisions—for our happiness and unhappiness. We can decide how we want to feel even in the worst possible situations. To a jealous mind, an innocent smile is proof of adultery; a prisoner can choose to keep the flame of freedom alive and maintain a cheerful disposition. Events or people around us are not under our control. But our reactions, our responses to them are. Respond with love and peace. The ecology and geography of your inner mindspace is in your hands. Study how to deal with each of your five senses to be happy. Focus on happiness, not the lack of it. Focusing on our unhappiness only helps to provide more power and attention to the negative person, event or object that causes it. Focus on cultivating happy people and avoid toxic people. Build protective walls against toxic events that threaten your tranquillity. Happiness is everyone’s responsibility.

A Blue print for Joyful Life

At each stage of life, it is human nature to feel that the things would be better at the next stage. One would tend to think that he will be happy after getting a good job and a healthy pay packet. At some point the feeling of frustration creeps in and he would feel that he would be happy once he gets married and have children. This search for happiness continues as he passes through each stage. The truth is there is no better time to be happy than right now. Life is full of challenges. It is better to admit as much and decide to be happy in spite of it all. There is no road to happiness. Happiness is the road.

To quote the words of Greek Philosopher, Democritus, “Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold.” Happiness of life is made of minute fractions like a simple smile, a helping hand, a heartfelt compliment and countless other infinitesimals of pleasurable thought and genial feeling. The sad part is in our pursuit of happiness we fail to recognize this magnificent feeling that is just there right at the end of our nose.

Happiness is, in fact, living with a sense of fulfillment and peace. It is a belief in the fundamental goodness of people, in the value of compassion, a policy of kindness, and a sense of unity among all living beings.

Follow the dog

Physical transformation is possible, if like the ancient yogis, we follow the actions of young animals. Watch the young dog. It is always in movement and bouncing and stretching. Make physical movement a part of your daily life. As the salesmen say ‘Cover territory instead of covering your chair’. ‘Use it or lose it’ said Jane Fonda. Violent physical exercise once a week is no use, if you’re just vegetating for the rest of the week in front of the T.V or computer. Listen more and bark less, use non verbal actions to show unconditional affection to family and friends.

Listen to your body. If you are tired, rest. If you are hungry, eat. If you are lonely, communicate, ask for a hug. If you are angry, deal with your anger constructively, resolve it. The body is our vehicle for the journey of our soul in this world. You may be an immortal soul who happens to own a body, but the body-vehicle has to be maintained in good condition, so that we may achieve the goals for which we were created.

Turn on the fountain of love to help find joy

The latest corporate buzz is to make people happy at workspace - to liberate the butterflies, turn on the fountain of love and to help find joy in the small things in life. "In workspace, people should have two real daily laughs - the first laugh and the last laugh’

"Companies were waking up to the need to make their workers happy. At ICICI Bank, in one of its Mumbai branches, allows its workers to bring their kids to the workplace on Saturdays. The children have fun for a couple of hours while their parents work. And then they take off directly from the office for the weekend," people spend two-thirds of their working hours in office and happy employees can do double the work compared to their unhappy colleagues. Nowadays more and more women were working from home after they have babies.

Preventing stress is a negative way of looking at life; "instead, fill your mind with your garden of poetic emotions like laughter, wonder, love and compassion to counter lust, anger, obsession, greed, jealousy, fear and repulsion.”

Pursuit of happiness

Around every person there is a field of emotional energy. Some people always look radiant, and everything in their life flourishes and grows. They have a positive energy field around them. Some people, on the other hand, always have a morose or tense air about them, and everything in their life seems to fade and die. They have a negative energy field around them. A positive field is created by positive emotions and a negative field draws sustenance from negative emotions.

Energy causes all beings to act in this world. The higher the level of energy, the greater would be their accomplishments. When we are tired, our energy levels plummets and we do not feel like doing anything. When the field around is negative with hurt, anger, possessiveness, greed, jealousy, fear and abhorrence, we are less able to act with speed and efficiency. These emotions suck the energy and lifeforce out of us.

New Rules for Women Managers

Woman managers need to appreciate that it takes heroic energy to rock the cradle and rock the corporate world.

First pin a badge for bravery on yourself for attempting it.

Then, promise you will not even begin to tread the path that leads to the joyless land of being a super-woman or super-mom.

Enlist your men and families as willing accomplices in the challenging task of reconstructing a corporate workplace that lovingly accommodates the needs of humans, for families, for music, poetry and time for just standing and watching the world go by!

Be kind to yourself. Love yourself.

Conquer fear and overcome the need for instructions.

Pursue the ability to adapt and be a leader of proactive change.

The New World is not for those who are what Nehru called unwilling victims, dragged to be sacrificed on the altar of change.

Be leaders to be accepted as such. Banish forever your fear of being centre stage, your reluctance to accept that you are where the buck stops.

Relearn and re-install the software of the human heart that your mothers embodied.

The New Woman of the past decade must not forsaken her heritage of loving and caring for the tough hard-bitten so-called ‘male boss model.’

Both men and women managers need to put the human being at the centre of all business processes.

How to Develop Work-Life Balance

Love yourself enough to outsource

Take short relaxation breaks, at least thrice a day.

Eat fresh, energy-giving foods.

Take a walk outdoors during lunch break.

Spend time reading and improving your mind.

Involve your spouse and children in your work. Bring them to the office during lunch break or on a Saturday.

Get involved in activities that will benefit others.

Develop an absorbing hobby or skill—driving, dancing, gardening, carpentry, painting, amateur radio…

Keep in touch with your close friends and extended family, use the power of the internet.

Plan to cut off from work on weekends.

Meditate. Take care of yourself.

Laughter Breaks

Laughter increases the levels of endorphins in our bodies, which are natural pain-killers. Norman Cousins, an American journalist who wrote “Anatomy Of An Illness” was suffering from an incurable disease of the spine. Laughter therapy helped him when no pain-killer could. Endorphins released as a result of laughter may help in reducing the intensity of pain in those suffering from arthritis, spondylitis and muscular spasms of the body. Many women have also reported a reduced frequency of migraine and tension headaches. Norman Cousins recovered from what is usually a fatal disease

He who laughs frequently is less likely to suffer from heart attacks. ‘A light answer turneth away wrath,’ says a proverb. An anger hijack can be stopped by a joke. Laughter is certainly the best medicine.

You can be happy by taking regular laughter breaks. There are a number of causes for high blood pressure and heart disease like heredity, obesity, smoking and excessive intake of saturated fats. But stress is one of the main factors. Laughter definitely helps control blood pressure by reducing the release of stress-related hormones and bringing relaxation.

Transformation for Happy living

Transformation is what happens to a drop of water when it is touched by the magic of sunlight. It becomes a rainbow. It is what happens to a seed when it starts the journey to become a mighty banyan tree. The banyan tree is not an improved seed, just as a butterfly is not an improved caterpillar or a rainbow an improved drop of water.

Each of us has many opportunities for transformation. We can transform ourselves and others. Bringing laughter into the work place can install happiness in the system. The first laugh, can greet people as they enter the work place. The last laugh will recycle them and make them fit for a joyful family life.

Life Greatest Gift - ‘Happiness’

Happiness is living with a sense of fulfillment and peace. It is a belief in the fundamental goodness of people, in the value of compassion, a policy of kindness, and a sense of unity among all living beings. ‘Happy’ is a word derived from ‘happ’ meaning luck or chance.

All beings seek happiness and act to avoid pain. Everyone is looking for something better. We can train the mind to be happy—it is an achievable goal. Most psychiatrists see people in distress and conclude that the most one can hope for is the transformation of despair into common unhappiness.

The Indian tradition shows us that positive radiant happiness is our birthright. Happiness quotient (HQ) is a concept that rates approximately, the measure of happiness each person has achieved in his life.

Whatever the external circumstances may be, the individual is responsible for his inner state. Events are not under our control, but our perceptions and reactions to them are. I believe that it is possible to realise one’s full potential for happiness by training the mind, body and soul to dwell in that state.

Overcome Failure with Happiness

Whatever is the failure don’t ignore self care. Take care of your mind and give yourself happiness breaks. If going to the temple gives you courage then go to the temple. Our mind is like a garden in which failure represents rocks and stones, thorns and scorpions – they represent anger, jealousy, greed or disgust. All these creep into the garden, if you allow them to. What you need to do is plant flowers of love and fountains of compassion. You can stop feeling sad by just calling up someone and telling them what you love about them, helping the needy, anything that adds to the happiness of others increases your happiness. The rainbows of courage are bound to fill you with joy. Gandhiji took ordinary people and changed them into matchless warriors to fight for the right cause. They say charity begins at home and you could start by cleaning up your street or fighting against injustice.

In the current work lifestyle, companies should have the first laugh and last laugh, so that people start their day at work on a happy note and end it on one, too. Learn basic meditation, 15-20mins of silence and looking within will give you inner peace. Looking at the sunrise, sunset, watching the rain fall, so many cosmic wonders add happiness to your life. Whatever happens life goes on. The cosmos unrolls its wonders. We are but atoms in the great dance of the Universe. Let us celebrate the gift of life by forgetting the miniscule self.

To Deal with Death/grief

Death is an inevitable concept and dealing with it is a subjective experience. Premature death is the hardest to come to terms with. Start by accepting that what has happened is causing you grief. ‘Share the grief. Take care of your body and mind, network with people who make you feel better. If you have lost a dear one, it won’t be easy to overcome the grief and one has to go through several stages. First comes denial of the fact that you lost your dear one followed by anger: ‘how could this happen to me?’ Bargaining with the higher power: I’ll give up everything I love and finally you accept reality. Treat yourself like a child who is hurt and wounded. Time is a great healer. Take happiness breaks and indulge in things that make you feel happy.