Between two words,
Two people,
Two steps,
Two moments,
Is a space.
That is the Pause.
Think of it
Like a bridge
Of reflections
To discern
To understand
To learn
To recover
Use it well
Pay attention to it
For it has potential
To heal and help.
Practice the pause
Savvy
It’s wonderful and easy
When life is a breeze
But the test is when
It’s a little stormy…
Life is a gift
Any which way
The trick is to see
The many blessings
That at times goes unnoticed.
Live life lovingly!
Savvy
This precious life that lives in you
Holds the key to the future
The precious things you will do today
Paves the path for tommorow
Precious thoughts we carry today
Will take us where we believe we are.
Hands heart and head will move as one
In hope and love our life will evolve.
Precious words that you speak today
Gladdens the heart for the future.
The future is truly in our hands today!
Savvy
Are you too empathetic for your own good?
Are you putting yourself in others shoes so much that you disregard yourself?
Are you neglecting your own self for others’ needs?
Are you having shoulder stress and general fatigue?
Are you feeling worn out often and yet get dressed and show up?
Are you feeling you are giving more than you have…in words and deeds?
Maybe you are overstretching in the giving.
Remember you need to reach out but only until you are able to keep your own self in balance.
Otherwise, you will soon feel you have nothing left to give.
Are you unable to sleep well?
You toss and turn all through the night.
Are you are so tired that you are constantly down and have chronic pain?
Are you overpressured?
You feel responsible for others’ problems.
Time to check your own state of being.
It is quite possible …
Maybe you are being over accountable.
Maybe you are over accommodating.
Many of us may identify with some of these sensations. I have also born the brunt of being in the state, with my health affected, in spite of being aware, thinking it will self heal in time.
The truth is many us may even know we are in such situations that are exhausting our reserves and yet at times may be unable to take drastic measures to prevent them. Knowing is not enough! It is necessary to take a step to change.
The trick is to understand the circumstances that we are feeling overwhelmed by and choose to target our changes realistically.
To each, the problem presents itself uniquely! For some, it may be relationships and family or careers. For others, it may be a personal affliction or tendency to multitask beyond themselves or even battling over perfectionism.
Whatever the reason the sooner you realize that it is detrimental for your health and understand you need to implement lifestyle changes the better it will be.
Often in our efforts to be the best version of ourselves, we may go into a mode of putting ourselves into more than we can handle. Our mind body and spirit also need rest and recovery from the daily stressors that life doles out to us all.
We can learn from nature
Everything is best in balance.
Savvy
Each of us may have different coping strategies to overcome the challenges but the problem is our purpose of being is so passionately driven and in the determined perseverance of what we choose to accomplish and achieve in our lifetime we often fail to recognize the state of our own lives until it feels too overwhelming.
Until the lack of sleep creates discomfort and disorders eventually leading to inflammations and diseases in the body and mind. We are guilty of undermining ourselves. We need to remember our sole responsibility as adults rest with us and we need to adhere to our health needs. After all, it is the only body we have. The importance of a healthy body and mind cannot be stressed enough.
Things every one of us can easily implement include :
Savvy
Curvy Road of Ideation to Solutions
When creativity is put to test…
The process of creation to finding targeted solutions in the world of products to services is a long and winding road in creativity. The general assumption is that of a direct and linear way to creativity. While one thing leads to another it is not always a straight linear road.
It is the very nature of creativity to retrace, rewind, edit and reframe until it makes sense.
Non judgmental understanding and
empathy is crucial to creating solutions.
It is important to set aside ones own assumptions to gain understanding of another’s perspectives and needs.
To brainstorm you need a direction so it is important to give a clear sense of flow and the perspectives gained in understanding and emphasizing with the needs, helps to streamline the flow of thoughts towards ideation.Ideation is a result of many thoughts, many questions, in analysis, synthesis and deductions.
There are so many paths in the process of creative ideation like for instance…
Brainstorming : This is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members.
BrainWriting : Another collaborative creativity concept at work. Here the ideas are all recorded by the creator and then passed on to the next person who can use it as a trigger for their own set of ideas..
The Worst Possible idea : This is a creative design thinking technique where team members seek the worst solutions in ideation sessions. This eases the pressure and boosts the confidence of the team to challenge assumptions and find better and better ideas
SCAMPER : This is an acronym and each letter stands for a thinking technique: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, Reverse.
It is important to know what to focus and what to let go as there will be many plenty of ideas that may come up in the process of ideation. Hence keeping focus on what the actual problem is, helps in finding solutions to address and resolving it.
Then comes the part of checking out whether the ideas are actually a perfect solution by examining the quality checks, fault testing and cross questioning so that the idea can be then accepted or rejected as a solution.
New issues can come up that can challenge the process flow. There would also be new opinions and opportunities to explore and refine more.
So however curvy or zig zag the truth is, the road is full of potential and myriad possibilities in the making. Such is the truth of the creative flow.
Sounds like a good idea?
Savvy
The tree above signifies the connection
Of how the microscopic characteristics
Relate to the macroscopic structures.
The tree speaks for itself…
Overall ensuring a form and identity
That speaks of structure and integrity
That can withstand stress & pressure
Erosion & the aging processes.
The tree perhaps is shriveled & stark
Within its roots the winter wilts its will
Yet the tree upholds itself in tenacity
Branching out to balance itself.
Standing strong and proud
In the autumn of life
In being all it needs to be.
The tree speaks for itself.
Savvy
AN ARTIST’S RELATION TO SOLITUDE
An artist must make time for the long periods of solitude
Solitude is extremely important
Away from home
Away from the studio
Away from family
Away from friends
An artist should stay for long periods of time at waterfalls
An artist should stay for long periods of time at exploding volcanoes
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at fast-running rivers
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the horizon where the ocean and sky meet
An artist should stay for long periods of time looking at the stars in the night sky
Marina Abramovic
I loved the poem enough to share it, yet felt there is something much deeper to reflect there.
Is solitude the road to stillness … afterall there is often stillness in the movements and movement in the stillness as well.
So I would like to ask an artist…
Do you really want solitude or stillness ?
Sometimes in deep solitude there is no stillness.
And that is perhaps the reason for the need of staying away from it all.
Staying away is not the answer but just a change to alter and arrange thoughts.
For thoughts run amuck sometimes and have a speed all their own
Perhaps the need of the moment is being still
To witness the tides as they rise and recede.
Stillness is amidst it all in your hearts
Not in some far away place.
Then anytime you are free to…
Walk in to your own special place.
Art happens out of nowhere
It has no specific time to arrive
In the busiest of moments
Arises an insight
To write to paint and draw
It tugs on your heart to create itself.
It sees no day or night
No reason to appear or disappear
In fact art is living in every moment
Waiting for us to manifest it.
Savvy
Touching the nerve of truth
It is not an easy task to confront
Cause to confront is to be ready for conflict
Be it any kind…
From mental social or physical and more
Conflicts are always unwanted.
But change is the only constant
And life moves on creating itself.
In any art and creative endeavour
Say even speaking & writing for that matter, there is much scope for influences and perceptions.
It is the nature of truth to transform
But not without chaos and confusion
Such is the nature of human frailty.
There in lies the strength of human spirit. (Contd)
Savvy
A young newly appointed Human Resources manager in a company, when told about the companys plan to induct empathy-based training for the employees, questions the founder why to invest on people when they may not stick around, speaks much about the necessity for such training.
Her question was more about cutting cost incurred per employee, but the management was looking at a larger picture. If through these training humane interactions can become a norm than a chance happening, the overall retention of employees will cut the costs of hiring them.
The value of empathy as part of work culture across the world is spreading far and wide.
Many times a leader can show empathy in one situation but not consistently. An awareness of what empathetic behaviour can alter in conversations is worth knowing. In fact, every employee can benefit from life skills training which includes empathetic communication.
How can employees be taught Empathy as a life skill?
Tools of Empathy can be practised in all office settings. Management can take initiative in settings precedents to practice than preach. This ensures faster retention and greater scope of emulation.
Senior managers can adopt skill sets that are conducive to the implementation of empathy in the workplace.
1: Practising good listening skills ceates a feeling that they are being heard.
2: Empathy is about taking into consideration another’s point of view in a non-judgemental manner.
3: Giving time and attention to employees increases communication and productivity.
4: Mindfulness increases in the workplace as employees begin to be aware of each other. Strength and weaknesses are mutually balanced and supported in cooperation.
5: Helps in conflict resolutions and negotiations and trust-building and thereby improving teamwork and collaboration.
Enough evidence to show the difference empathy based trainings can bring to offices and how it creates a positive environment. It is time to adopt and build empathy driven work culture.
Is your office empathy driven as yet?
Savvy
Nature is a great teacher
There is much to learn and emulate
There is much to explore & understand.
Witness and expand your horizons
Evolving for the better along the way.
Let nature lead the way.
Savvy
Life is both simple and sufficient
Simplicity is hidden
In the clutter and complexity
Sufficiency is hidden
In the grace of gratitude.
Life is strengthened in stability and flexibility.
Stability is hidden
In the chaos and confusion
Flexibility is hidden
In the flow of the structure.
Life is nourished in empathy and compassion.
Empathy is hidden
In the sensing and understanding
Compassion is hidden
In the actions from the heart.
Life is nurtured in Care
Caring is hidden
In love & in goodwill.
Life is a maze of the mysterious
Life is challenging yet resilient.
Life is full of wisdom in the challenges
But wisdom is hidden
In the very truth of life and living.
Life is a puzzle that awaits solution. The solution is found in simply living it.
Savvy
Evolution is a matter of chiseling
Of discarding the unnecessary.
Chiselling towards perfection
Weeding out the unwanted.
Until there is clarity of purpose.
Chiselling goes on cutting through
The edges of existence
To arrive at the core of the being.
That stays true to its form
The rest fall off unbound
Leaving the essence to come alive
Breathing life into the being.
Such is the act of chiselling
To reach the purpose of the being.
Each of us helps the other
Uncover the truth of our soul.
For life shapes up
As matter takes form
Igniting the spark of energy
To mould the spirit of the being.
And spirit willing we can keep on
Sculpting… the process of evolving
For the better of the world, we belong.
Revealing the meaning of life and living.
Came across this interesting picture on social media and these were my immediate thoughts.
Do care to share your thoughts.
Savvy
A dare into the unknown
Discover your truths
In continuation to my earlier post on Holistic education. I came across this poignant post and I heartfully share this wonderful initiative and reflections.
ATTENTION ALL TEACHERS AND PARENTS
Every Friday afternoon Chase’s teacher asks her students to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of four children with whom they’d like to sit the following week. The children know that these requests may or may not be honored. She also asks the students to nominate one student whom they believe has been an exceptional classroom citizen that week. All ballots are privately submitted to her.
And every single Friday afternoon, after the students go home, Chase’s teacher takes out those slips of paper, places them in front of her and studies them. She looks for patterns.
Who is not getting requested by anyone else?
Who doesn’t even know who to request?
Who never gets noticed enough to be nominated?
Who had a million friends last week and none this week?
You see, Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s looking for children who are struggling to connect with other children. She’s identifying the little ones who are falling through the cracks of the class’s social life. She is discovering whose gifts are going unnoticed by their peers. And she’s pinning down- right away- who’s being bullied and who is doing the bullying.
As a teacher, parent, and lover of all children – I think that this is the most brilliant Love Ninja strategy I have ever encountered. It’s like taking an X-ray of a classroom to see beneath the surface of things and into the hearts of students. It is like mining for gold – the gold being those little ones who need a little help – who need adults to step in and TEACH them how to make friends, how to ask others to play, how to join a group, or how to share their gifts with others. And it’s a bully deterrent because every teacher knows that bullying usually happens outside of her eyeshot – and that often kids being bullied are too intimidated to share. But as she said – the truth comes out on those safe, private, little sheets of paper.
As Chase’s teacher explained this simple, ingenious idea – I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. “How long have you been using this system?” I said.
Ever since Columbine, she said. Every single Friday afternoon since Columbine.
Good Lord.
This brilliant woman watched Columbine knowing that ALL VIOLENCE BEGINS WITH DISCONNECTION. All outward violence begins as inner loneliness. She watched that tragedy KNOWING that children who aren’t being noticed will eventually resort to being noticed by any means necessary.
And so she decided to start fighting violence early and often, and with the world within her reach. What Chase’s teacher is doing when she sits in her empty classroom studying those lists written with shaky 11 year old hands – is SAVING LIVES. I am convinced of it. She is saving lives.
And what this mathematician has learned while using this system is something she really already knew: that everything – even love, even belonging – has a pattern to it. And she finds those patterns through those lists – she breaks the codes of disconnection. And then she gets lonely kids the help they need. It’s math to her. It’s MATH.
All is love- even math. Amazing.
Chase’s teacher retires this year – after decades of saving lives. What a way to spend a life: looking for patterns of love and loneliness. Stepping in, every single day- and altering the trajectory of our world.
TEACH ON, WARRIORS. You are the first responders, the front line, the disconnection detectives, and the best and ONLY hope we’ve got for a better world. What you do in those classrooms when no one is watching- it’s our best hope. http://momastery.com/blog/2014/01/30/share-schools/
Is the form you see
Exactly the form I see
Perhaps they differ
In the way we choose to interpret.
Is form the mark of reality
Does being formless makes it unreal
Is form the contention
To know the real and unreal.
Forms are shaped by intentions
In dedication & deliberation.
For forms become fleeting memories
Perishing in the sands of time.
While the formless evolve in the heart
Holding up to unfathomable faith
They may live on in the silent knowing
Of unspoken trust in the being.
Discernment of the forms
In the inner recesses of the heart and the mind
Waltzes the consciousness of the being
In States of knowing ,of the truth of light
A light of wisdom
That takes many forms
Million times over
To show the path of truth.
The path is lit
As the steps are taken
The forms manifest in the interactions
Of vibrations in resonance.
Between these Illuminating illusions
Of the form and formless
What is real and unreal
All are just reflections in the dimensions.
In the beam of even one moment of truth
Is the convergence of envisioning
Forms and formless become one
Conveying the message safely home.
Savvy
