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Thursday, 31. January 2008, 21:45:39
Meeting Our Own Expectations
Saturday, 15. December 2007, 06:46:08
Doing The Best You Can
It isn't always easy to meet the expectations we hold ourselves to. We may find ourselves in a situation such as just finishing a relaxing yoga class or meditation retreat, a serene session of deep breathing, or listening to some calming, soul-stirring music, yet we have difficulty retaining our sense of peace. A long line at the store, slow-moving traffic, or another stressful situation can unnerve you and leave you wondering why the tranquility and spiritual equilibrium you cultivate is so quick to dissipate in the face of certain stressors. You may feel guilty and angry at yourself or even feel like a hypocrite for not being able to maintain control after practicing being centered. However, being patient with yourself will help you more in your soul's journey than frustration at your perceived lack of progress. Doing the best you can in your quest for spiritual growth is vastly more important than striving for perfection.
Just because you are devoted to following a spiritual path, attaining inner peace, or living a specific ideology doesn't mean you should expect to achieve perfection. When you approach your personal evolution mindfully, you can experience intense emotions such as anger without feeling that you have somehow failed. Simply by being aware of what you are experiencing and recognizing that your feelings are temporary, you have begun taking the necessary steps to regaining your internal balance. Accepting that difficult situations will arise from time to time and treating your reaction to them as if they are passing events rather than a part of who you are can help you move past them. Practicing this form of acceptance and paying attention to your reactions in order to learn from them will make it easier for you to return to your center more quickly in the future.
Since your experiences won't be similar to others' and your behavior will be shaped by those experiences, you may never stop reacting strongly to the challenging situations you encounter. Even if you are able to do nothing more than acknowledge what you are feeling and that there is little you can do to affect your current circumstances, in time you'll alter your reaction to such circumstances. You can learn gradually to let negative thoughts come into your mind, recognize them, and then let them go. You may never reach a place of perfect peace, but you'll find serenity in having done your best.
It isn't always easy to meet the expectations we hold ourselves to. We may find ourselves in a situation such as just finishing a relaxing yoga class or meditation retreat, a serene session of deep breathing, or listening to some calming, soul-stirring music, yet we have difficulty retaining our sense of peace. A long line at the store, slow-moving traffic, or another stressful situation can unnerve you and leave you wondering why the tranquility and spiritual equilibrium you cultivate is so quick to dissipate in the face of certain stressors. You may feel guilty and angry at yourself or even feel like a hypocrite for not being able to maintain control after practicing being centered. However, being patient with yourself will help you more in your soul's journey than frustration at your perceived lack of progress. Doing the best you can in your quest for spiritual growth is vastly more important than striving for perfection.
Just because you are devoted to following a spiritual path, attaining inner peace, or living a specific ideology doesn't mean you should expect to achieve perfection. When you approach your personal evolution mindfully, you can experience intense emotions such as anger without feeling that you have somehow failed. Simply by being aware of what you are experiencing and recognizing that your feelings are temporary, you have begun taking the necessary steps to regaining your internal balance. Accepting that difficult situations will arise from time to time and treating your reaction to them as if they are passing events rather than a part of who you are can help you move past them. Practicing this form of acceptance and paying attention to your reactions in order to learn from them will make it easier for you to return to your center more quickly in the future.
Since your experiences won't be similar to others' and your behavior will be shaped by those experiences, you may never stop reacting strongly to the challenging situations you encounter. Even if you are able to do nothing more than acknowledge what you are feeling and that there is little you can do to affect your current circumstances, in time you'll alter your reaction to such circumstances. You can learn gradually to let negative thoughts come into your mind, recognize them, and then let them go. You may never reach a place of perfect peace, but you'll find serenity in having done your best.
Acres of Diamonds
Friday, 14. December 2007, 02:40:03
One of the most interesting Americans who lived in the 19th century was a man by the name of Russell Herman Conwell. He was born in 1843 and lived until 1925. He was a lawyer for about fifteen years until he became a clergyman.
One day, a young man went to him and told him he wanted a college education but couldn't swing it financially. Dr. Conwell decided, at that moment, what his aim in life was, besides being a man of cloth - that is. He decided to build a university for unfortunate, but deserving, students. He did have a challenge, however. He would need a few million dollars to build the university. For Dr. Conwell, and anyone with real purpose in life, nothing could stand in the way of his goal.
Several years before this incident, Dr. Conwell was tremendously intrigued by a true story - with its ageless moral. The story was about a farmer who lived in Africa and through a visitor became tremendously excited about looking for diamonds. Diamonds were already discovered in abundance on the African continent and this farmer got so excited about the idea of millions of dollars worth of diamonds that he sold his farm to head out to the diamond line. He wandered all over the continent, as the years slipped by, constantly searching for diamonds, wealth, which he never found. Eventually he went completely broke and threw himself into a river and drowned.
Meanwhile, the new owner of his farm picked up an unusual looking rock about the size of a country egg and put it on his mantle as a sort of curiosity. A visitor stopped by and in viewing the rock practically went into terminal convulsions. He told the new owner of the farm that the funny looking rock on his mantle was about the biggest diamond that had ever been found. The new owner of the farm said, "Heck, the whole farm is covered with them" -
and sure enough it was.
The farm turned out to be the Kimberly Diamond Mine...the richest the world has ever known. The original farmer was literally standing on "Acres of Diamonds" until he sold his farm.
Dr. Conwell learned from the story of the farmer and continued to teach it's moral. Each of us is right in the middle of our own "Acre of Diamonds", if only we would realize it and develop the ground we are standing on before charging off in search of greener pastures. Dr. Conwell told this story many times and attracted enormous audiences. He told the story long enough to have raised the money to start the college for underprivileged deserving students. In fact, he raised nearly six million dollars and the university he founded, Temple University in Philadelphia, has at least ten degree-granting colleges and six other schools.
When Doctor Russell H. Conwell talked about each of us being right on our own "Acre of Diamonds", he meant it. This story does not get old...it will be true forever...
Opportunity does not just come along - it is there all the time - we just have to see it.
One day, a young man went to him and told him he wanted a college education but couldn't swing it financially. Dr. Conwell decided, at that moment, what his aim in life was, besides being a man of cloth - that is. He decided to build a university for unfortunate, but deserving, students. He did have a challenge, however. He would need a few million dollars to build the university. For Dr. Conwell, and anyone with real purpose in life, nothing could stand in the way of his goal.
Several years before this incident, Dr. Conwell was tremendously intrigued by a true story - with its ageless moral. The story was about a farmer who lived in Africa and through a visitor became tremendously excited about looking for diamonds. Diamonds were already discovered in abundance on the African continent and this farmer got so excited about the idea of millions of dollars worth of diamonds that he sold his farm to head out to the diamond line. He wandered all over the continent, as the years slipped by, constantly searching for diamonds, wealth, which he never found. Eventually he went completely broke and threw himself into a river and drowned.
Meanwhile, the new owner of his farm picked up an unusual looking rock about the size of a country egg and put it on his mantle as a sort of curiosity. A visitor stopped by and in viewing the rock practically went into terminal convulsions. He told the new owner of the farm that the funny looking rock on his mantle was about the biggest diamond that had ever been found. The new owner of the farm said, "Heck, the whole farm is covered with them" -
and sure enough it was.
The farm turned out to be the Kimberly Diamond Mine...the richest the world has ever known. The original farmer was literally standing on "Acres of Diamonds" until he sold his farm.
Dr. Conwell learned from the story of the farmer and continued to teach it's moral. Each of us is right in the middle of our own "Acre of Diamonds", if only we would realize it and develop the ground we are standing on before charging off in search of greener pastures. Dr. Conwell told this story many times and attracted enormous audiences. He told the story long enough to have raised the money to start the college for underprivileged deserving students. In fact, he raised nearly six million dollars and the university he founded, Temple University in Philadelphia, has at least ten degree-granting colleges and six other schools.
When Doctor Russell H. Conwell talked about each of us being right on our own "Acre of Diamonds", he meant it. This story does not get old...it will be true forever...
Opportunity does not just come along - it is there all the time - we just have to see it.
India, Take The Lead
Thursday, 13. December 2007, 21:19:43
The country has a crucial role in fostering democracy globally
-Larry Diamond
Whether it wants to be so or not, whether it is ready for this role or not, India is becoming a global power. In the years to come, India will have to decide what kind of global power it wants to be. With its economic might, its military power, and its "soft power" all increasing steadily, India will find it increasingly difficult to continue its traditional foreign policy of non-alignment and non-intervention.
Americans are in an awkward position to appeal to another rising power to promote democracy, as our own engagement for democracy abroad over time has contained more than a little neocolonialism, unilateralism and hypocrisy. However, in the last three decades, this has been partially supplanted by increasingly effective efforts (especially when multilateral, practical and soft-spoken) to assist democratic development around the world.
One must also acknowledge the serious problems with India's own democracy: tenacious poverty and inequality, troubling levels of political violence and criminality in some states, and a fragmented political party system that makes it difficult to take decisions. In the face of acute challenges, it is understandable for India to want to be able to focus on its own problems.
Yet the established democracies of the world share a strong common interest in trying to bring about a more democratic world, and India's help is sorely needed in this cause. The global balance of power, of economic energy, and of moral authority is tilting from North to South. And the global environment for democracy is less favourable than at any time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, as an oil-rich Russia turns its back on Europe and democracy, a booming authoritarian China casts a lengthening shadow over Asia and now Africa as well, and democracy gasps for life in such crucially important countries as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines, Nigeria and Venezuela. There are still a lot more democracies in the world than there were in 1989, but the momentum is reversing, and many democracies are in danger.
There are several reasons why India should care. First, India's own democracy could be affected by what happens regionally and globally. Recall that emergency rule fell upon India at a low-point for democracy in Asia and the world. Democracies thrive in regions where they enjoy the reinforcing legitimacy and mutual security of other democracies.
Second, by engaging other democracies around the world, India will also draw solidarity and some lessons that could be useful for its own democratic reform. All democracies in the world today are imperfect, and we all need to learn from one another.
Third, a more democratic world will be a
more secure world for us all. Democracies do not go to war against one another. And they do a much better job of advancing human well-being and protecting the environment. Moreover, terrorism emanates disproportionately from authoritarian soil.
We are threatened in common with a global crisis of climate change that dwarfs anything human civilisation has ever confronted. And the pathologies of badly governed states — terrorism, crime, corruption, environmental stress, infectious disease — spill across borders more quickly and vengefully than ever before.
India does not need a radical reorientation of its foreign policy in order to make a difference to democracy in the world. It has an exceptionally rich history of democratic practice and experience to share with other developing democracies. Some of the obvious realms of experience that India has to share include: the evolution and functioning of federalism, the management of ethnic and religious conflict, the constitutional court, state and local government, electoral administration, the independent mass media and civil society. A very useful first step would be to bring practitioners and scholars from emerging democracies to India for periods of time to study how democracy works and has developed here. New institutions could be established and existing Indian think tanks and organisations could be supported to host such visits.
Of course the United States does quite a bit of this. But how relevant is the highly expensive and decentralised American (or even European) model of democracy for Asia and Africa? We would all be better off sending more democrats to countries like India and South Africa. And conducting these exchanges would be an excellent and also ethical way for India to extend its soft power at a time when China is doing so for much more brazenly commercial and strategic ends.
If India were to establish an institution to coordinate and organise exchanges with democrats around the world, richer democracies in the world would want to join with it and help to fund it. And in the near term, we have a ready potential vehicle. The UN Democracy Fund has recently been established, with a substantial budget that includes sizable contributions from India and the United States. It is a natural candidate to provide early support for such a new initiative.
India should join the worldwide movement for democracy because doing so is in India's own national interest, not because the West asks it. But the democratic West has obligations to India that it must fulfil in the process. If we are asking India to play more of a leadership role on the world stage, than we must make room for that leadership. This should include India's permanent membership on the UN Security Council and its inclusion in global agenda-setting dialogues, such as the G8.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
-Larry Diamond
Whether it wants to be so or not, whether it is ready for this role or not, India is becoming a global power. In the years to come, India will have to decide what kind of global power it wants to be. With its economic might, its military power, and its "soft power" all increasing steadily, India will find it increasingly difficult to continue its traditional foreign policy of non-alignment and non-intervention.
Americans are in an awkward position to appeal to another rising power to promote democracy, as our own engagement for democracy abroad over time has contained more than a little neocolonialism, unilateralism and hypocrisy. However, in the last three decades, this has been partially supplanted by increasingly effective efforts (especially when multilateral, practical and soft-spoken) to assist democratic development around the world.
One must also acknowledge the serious problems with India's own democracy: tenacious poverty and inequality, troubling levels of political violence and criminality in some states, and a fragmented political party system that makes it difficult to take decisions. In the face of acute challenges, it is understandable for India to want to be able to focus on its own problems.
Yet the established democracies of the world share a strong common interest in trying to bring about a more democratic world, and India's help is sorely needed in this cause. The global balance of power, of economic energy, and of moral authority is tilting from North to South. And the global environment for democracy is less favourable than at any time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, as an oil-rich Russia turns its back on Europe and democracy, a booming authoritarian China casts a lengthening shadow over Asia and now Africa as well, and democracy gasps for life in such crucially important countries as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines, Nigeria and Venezuela. There are still a lot more democracies in the world than there were in 1989, but the momentum is reversing, and many democracies are in danger.
There are several reasons why India should care. First, India's own democracy could be affected by what happens regionally and globally. Recall that emergency rule fell upon India at a low-point for democracy in Asia and the world. Democracies thrive in regions where they enjoy the reinforcing legitimacy and mutual security of other democracies.
Second, by engaging other democracies around the world, India will also draw solidarity and some lessons that could be useful for its own democratic reform. All democracies in the world today are imperfect, and we all need to learn from one another.
Third, a more democratic world will be a
more secure world for us all. Democracies do not go to war against one another. And they do a much better job of advancing human well-being and protecting the environment. Moreover, terrorism emanates disproportionately from authoritarian soil.
We are threatened in common with a global crisis of climate change that dwarfs anything human civilisation has ever confronted. And the pathologies of badly governed states — terrorism, crime, corruption, environmental stress, infectious disease — spill across borders more quickly and vengefully than ever before.
India does not need a radical reorientation of its foreign policy in order to make a difference to democracy in the world. It has an exceptionally rich history of democratic practice and experience to share with other developing democracies. Some of the obvious realms of experience that India has to share include: the evolution and functioning of federalism, the management of ethnic and religious conflict, the constitutional court, state and local government, electoral administration, the independent mass media and civil society. A very useful first step would be to bring practitioners and scholars from emerging democracies to India for periods of time to study how democracy works and has developed here. New institutions could be established and existing Indian think tanks and organisations could be supported to host such visits.
Of course the United States does quite a bit of this. But how relevant is the highly expensive and decentralised American (or even European) model of democracy for Asia and Africa? We would all be better off sending more democrats to countries like India and South Africa. And conducting these exchanges would be an excellent and also ethical way for India to extend its soft power at a time when China is doing so for much more brazenly commercial and strategic ends.
If India were to establish an institution to coordinate and organise exchanges with democrats around the world, richer democracies in the world would want to join with it and help to fund it. And in the near term, we have a ready potential vehicle. The UN Democracy Fund has recently been established, with a substantial budget that includes sizable contributions from India and the United States. It is a natural candidate to provide early support for such a new initiative.
India should join the worldwide movement for democracy because doing so is in India's own national interest, not because the West asks it. But the democratic West has obligations to India that it must fulfil in the process. If we are asking India to play more of a leadership role on the world stage, than we must make room for that leadership. This should include India's permanent membership on the UN Security Council and its inclusion in global agenda-setting dialogues, such as the G8.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
My Thought About God
Friday, 7. December 2007, 05:12:07
long walks on a beach....
the pleasing sound of the waves....
water touching the feet...........
thats what i call heaven.....
i believe there is god and he has his own
sweet way of looking at things rewarding
and punishing us for wat we do.....
he is cruel and unfare sometimes....
yet i feel he has a heart.
the pleasing sound of the waves....
water touching the feet...........
thats what i call heaven.....
i believe there is god and he has his own
sweet way of looking at things rewarding
and punishing us for wat we do.....
he is cruel and unfare sometimes....
yet i feel he has a heart.
Diwali And Ramzan
Thursday, 6. December 2007, 21:16:07
"…Who are we to say, who is Hindu and who is Muslim?
when there is ALI in DIWALI and RAM in RAMZAN "
when there is ALI in DIWALI and RAM in RAMZAN "
Life has great options.
Wednesday, 5. December 2007, 23:37:10
Life has great options.
You don't always have to pick
what seems best.
Sometimes,the best and the
perfect are not always what
makes you happy.
You may have chosen what seems
to be a wrong decision or caught
in a not so good situation but at
times,it is through them that our
lives become better!
You don't always have to pick
what seems best.
Sometimes,the best and the
perfect are not always what
makes you happy.
You may have chosen what seems
to be a wrong decision or caught
in a not so good situation but at
times,it is through them that our
lives become better!
EIGHT TRUTHS TO REMEMBER
Wednesday, 5. December 2007, 23:21:33
1. Faith is the ability not to panic.
2. If you worry, you didn't pray. If you pray, don't worry.
3. Do the math. Count your blessings.
4. God wants spiritual truths, not religious nuts.
5. Laugh everyday, it's like inner jogging.
6. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
7. Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.
8. There is no key to happiness, the door is always open!
Give up in life so you can learn something from these Quotes
Wednesday, 5. December 2007, 23:17:23
1. Never expect things to happen.. struggle and make them happen.
never expect yourself to be given a good value
create a value of your own
2. If a drop of water falls in lake there is no identity.
But if it falls on a leaf of lotus it shine like a pearl.so
choose the best place where you would shine..
3. Falling down is not defeat...
defeat is when your refuse to get up...
4. Ship is always safe at shore... but is is not built for it
5. When your successful your well wishers know who
you are when you are unsuccessful
you know who your well wishers are
6. It is great confidence in a friend to tell him your faults;
greater to tell him/her
7. "To the world you might be one person,
but to one person you just might be the world
8. "Even the word 'IMPOSSIBLE' says 'I M POSSIBLE' "
9. Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort in your
life makes all the difference.
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