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Total Well-Being::
6. Building Inner Strength - Physical, Emotional and Intellectual:
People generally live much below the promise of their true potential. If only
we tune up our three equipment viz. body, mind and intellect (BMI), we can be
much better performers. Our life will have a holistic beauty. The whole of our
life is precious and our relationships at home, work and society are the mirrors
of our well-being. It is codified common sense to spell out that diet and exercise
are tonic for the body. So too, emotional literacy keeps the mind in fine health.
Study and observation are the prescription for the intellect.
7. Objectivity - Keeping Out All Storms:
"Let external objects remain outside!" - says the Song Celestial, the Bhagavad
Geeta (5:27). We need not make let our minds remain occupied with outer imperfections
in the form of undue guilt or shame. If we allow out heart to house all the
problems of the world around, even changes in weather would make our moods go
up or down. "Act, do not react!" said Swami Chinmayanandaji. We ought to live
in two chambers: one for interaction with the world, the second for looking
within and rejuvenating the mind. Let us learn the special art of moving smoothly
between these two chambers - the din of the many human contacts of our life
and the quiet of our soul.
8. Fuel For Effiency - Healthy Emotions:
Even the strongest man or lady in the world has emotions and can be hurt.
Understanding and managing the waves - of gratification and sorrow, of pride
and envy and of motivation and despair - that rise in our bosom is pivotal in
boosting our efficiency. It is important to perceive others correctly also.
To know and handle their feelings is vital in successful leadership. First we
must recognize how important Emotional Quotient (EQ) is. Without it out Intelligence
Quotient (IQ) is crippled. Nurturing healthy emotions can have magical effects
on our life's quality.
9. Building Inner Security - Reducing the Cause of Fear - I, me and mine:
"Anger is an appeal for help," someone observed. Many forms of inadequacy
infest us as we live in this society, which conditions us continuously with
false values. Taking a closer and deeper look at our own psychological suffering,
we realize that the very ego that we try to safeguard is the cause of all our
problems. Slowly we discover the beauty of generous thinking, listening, giving,
sharing and serving. As the ego dissolves, we feel more secure - with or without
money, with or without position, with or without name and fame. The plain truth
is that wisdom is independent of all these externalities, in which generally
we are held hostage.
10. Group Dynamics - Balancing Empowerment and Control:
Our mind tends to go for extremes. Some of us try to do too much by just ourselves.
Yet others among us look for somebody else always to take up a task. Teamwork
is a skill that blesses one and all. TEAM means Together Everyone Achieves More.
However, when we lead a team, we again have the same challenge of overcoming
extreme tendencies, in another way now. Some of us give too little freedom to
the team members, while others among us do not oversee enough. It is then a
question of excessive control versus excessive delegation. Spiritual values
help us view people with broadmindedness, and at the same time have healthy
practices of supervision and stocktaking. We empower but do not pamper. We control
but do not suffocate or frustrate anyone.
11. Mind Management - Through Right Breathing and Meditation:
"Mind and breath have a common source (and are closely linked); they are like
two branches emerging from a single point." - Sri Ramana Maharshi. Managing
our breathing, or even just observing the movement of breath, can calm the mind.
It can facilitate self-knowledge. Fine attention, without any preconceived notion,
is the hallmark of meditation. Alert, but not moving in any specific direction,
one may come upon the highest truth. We need to know what meditation is not!
"All conflicts cease if the thinker can transcend himself." J.Krishnamurti.
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