Tuesday, 7. July 2009, 11:25:08
Qualities, leader
An age old saying goes that; 'managers do things right, leaders do the right thing.' Having a leader is particularly important in organisations, from small family companies to large corporate businesses. It represents structure and every business, organisation and group needs structure to forge ahead successfully.
The term being a good leader means that you inspire others to follow your example. You are leading people to success and you are responsible for the actions that are taken to do this. Great leaders are sought after by all large organisations. Great leaders are worth their weight in gold because they get things done and they inspire others to get things done. So just what attributes does it take to achieve this?
What are the qualities of a good leader?
1. They are proactive rather than reactive. This basically means they can anticipate what is required, plan ahead to avoid disruption and get things done, calling on the right members of the team at the right time. Drumming up enthusiam and seeking team participation.
2. They know themselves. They are aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They are also aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their team. They inspire people to be the best they can be by being a mentor. They play to their strengths and train to improve their weaknesses. They know they are not always right and bring together the right people to obtain different points of view. They highlight weakness in their team and suggest training to improve those weaknesses.
3. They go the extra mile. It may be giving a member of the team their support over a personal issue, or putting in extra hours to get the job done. A good leader isn't a 9 to 5 person, they are flexible with a good character and completely committed.
4. They know their limits. They know they don't know everything. A know-all in a company is a dangerous employee. True leaders may make the ultimate decision but they will ensure they gather all the relevant information from trusted sources to enable them to make the decision.
5. They are visionaries. Through experience they are able to see creative solutions where others see none. They are constantly seeking and identifying new possibilities and looking for ways to progress those possibilities.
6. They adapt easily to change. Change within a company is what keeps it fresh, above its competitors and away from bankruptcy. Good leaders see change as a challenge and embrace it whole heartedly.
By choosing the right leader for your organisation you are climbing the ladder of success. Good leaders will help employ the right staff based not just on their skill set but also their attitude. Having the right team behind your company, with fully motivated staff and great leadership qualities can only enhance your company's reputation and productivity.
By Lisa Mills
Tuesday, 30. June 2009, 11:56:06
success qualities
What if you can be, do or have anything you want, what would you desire in your life?
Now do you believe it can happen? Yes? No? In the words of Henry Ford, "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."
Well then what actually happens for those people who do seem to get everything they desire?
Let's take a closer look.
For one, they know what they want. They do not give up when what they want does not happen. They keep moving forward. Everything they do is a success, because they don't see the results they are getting as failure. They are more educated and know what works and what doesn't. They press on!
They are focused. If you have ever seen any professional sports players you know what focused people look like. Take a football player for example. I will use a line backer for this example. A line backer has to know where the runner is going and he has got to make split decisions as to what he is going to do. He is not thinking about what he is going to eat for dinner, he is not thinking about what his kids are doing, or what his next vacation is going to be. No, he is thinking about reading the runner and getting to the point where the runner is going to be and tackling him.
What are you thinking about throughout the day? What do you think 30 days of focus would do for you in accomplishing your goal? I think it could have a huge impact.
They know how to separate what is and what is not important. We have so many decisions to make everyday. We sometimes lose track of what day it is because of the number of things that we think about everyday. How many times have you started to work on something, and then you get a call from a friend to go out for lunch. You know you need to finish what you are doing. However, you find yourself saying, well, I have not seen my friend in two weeks, but I need to get this done. You then decide to go out to lunch with your friend and end up spending more time at lunch than you wanted. So now you are behind and have to stay back late in office and miss your child's game.
When you are able to separate what is important from what is not, you will find yourself accomplishing your goals a lot faster, and find yourself doing more of what you want to do rather than things you have to do.
They are committed. When it takes more than six months to accomplish a goal, people who are committed will stay the course to the very end. Most people want their goals accomplished in a week. Yes, there are short term goals; however, I am talking about long term goals. When you have a long term goal it can get a little overwhelming when things don't seem to be moving as fast as you would like. However, taking the time to see the big picture will help you stay focused and keep you motivated.
Whatever goal you are looking to accomplish, take these 4 qualities and incorporate them into your action plan. If you have found yourself starting something and never finishing it, look into getting a coach, or mentor to help you stay on course.
Anthony Treas is a life coach, motivational speaker, mentor, and soon to be published author.
Tuesday, 30. June 2009, 11:53:25
successfull life
How do you define a successful life? Is it by how much money or stuff you have amassed, or is it by the legacy you leave behind? All too often we equate a successful life with material possessions. Yet, there are millions of people out there who lead successful, fulfilled lives who may be of modest means. They may not be rich in the financial sense, but they are rich in life and values.
So what are the things we should strive for to make our lives successful and have a positive impact on those around us? Here is a list of traits that I think defines what true success in life is all about. Does your list differ?
Sincerity: Be sincere in your actions. Don’t try to deceive or impress others. Be yourself, and do what you feel is right based on your values and beliefs. You will be surprised at how people accept you when you stop trying to be someone you aren’t.
Unfeigned:.Be genuine in what you do; your actions speak louder than your words. Don’t falsify or embellish events that may have happened. Don’t say one thing and do the other.
Wholehearted:. Be enthusiastic about what you do. Show it. Be committed to life and everything that you set out to accomplish in life. Devote yourself to your family, friends, and community and commit yourself to being the best father, husband, wife, mother, friend, and neighbor you can be.
Honest: Be honest in your dealings with yourself and with others. When others interact with you, let them see someone who is reputable, respectable and genuine. Do what you say you will do and never use fraud or deception to get ahead in life. Let ethics, morals, and honor be your compass.
Heartfelt: When you do something for someone, or they do something for you, let your thanks and emotion be openly and outwardly expressed towards them.
Hearty: Be someone who displays an honest, warm, and exuberant personality to those around them. Let your feelings show and let them be genuine when they do.
Humility: Don’t lead a life thinking you are better than others or are superior to those around you. Modesty and humbleness will leave a far more ever lasting impact on people than trying to show off.
Personal integrity: Always follow your heartfelt values, and never let a situation or anyone steer you away from doing what you know is right. Be someone that people can look up to and respect and not someone who trades his or her moral values for material gains in life.
Incorruptibility: Let it be known that you stand firm for what you believe in and that your morals, values and actions are not for sale. Don’t let outside forces corrupt the person you are.
Sound: Show good judgment and sense in life. Don’t let prejudices or emotions cloud your judgment.
Whole: Be focused on what you want to achieve in life. Give everyone you interact with your complete and undivided attention.
Courtesy: Practice good manners even though others around you may not.
Civility: Graciousness and respect go a long way in life. What is more, they are viral – when people see you doing it they are more apt to practice civility themselves. Be kind to others and extend courtesy towards them. Don’t interrupt people when they speak and don’t dominate the conversation.
Wisdom: Gain from the wisdom that is inside you. Understand the inner qualities of people and learn how to understand situations that might be different than we are used to.
Charity: Practice kind, gentle, and compassionate treatment of others – especially those who may be undeserving. Learn to extend a hand to help others, even though they themselves may not have helped you.
Empathy: Be aware that each person is different and may have different values and beliefs than those that you hold. Be understanding of the feelings and thoughts of others without having to be told or reminded of them.
Sympathy: Share your feelings with others and understand the emotional situations that people go through. Put yourself in their shoes.
Compassion: When someone is in distress, reach out with a genuine interest in helping alleviate their suffering.
Altruism: Think of others without thinking of yourself. Do good things for people without expecting something in return for yourself.
Magnanimous: Be generous in life. Give of your time, money and wisdom. Share with others so they can see the true joy and adventures of life themselves.
There are the qualities I think helps lead a person to life a successful life. Clearly everyone's views will differ, as they should. What are some qualities that you think define success in life?
Written by David B. Bohl of Slow Down Fast.
Thursday, 25. June 2009, 08:44:03
Transactional Analysis
Transactional analysis, commonly known as TA to its adherents, is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. Integrative because it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches. It was developed by Canadian-born US psychiatrist Eric Berne during the late 1950s.
TA outline: TA is a theory of personality and a systematic psychotherapy for personal growth and personal change.
1. As a theory of personality, TA describes how people are structured psychologically. It uses what is perhaps its best known model, the ego-state (Parent-Adult-Child) model to do this. This same model helps understand how people function and express themselves in their behaviors.
2. As a theory of communication it extends to a method of analysing systems and organisations.
3. It offers a theory for child development, where it ties in very neatly with the Freudian developmental stages -oral, anal, phallic.
4. It introduces the idea of a "Life (or Childhood) Script", that is, a story one perceives about ones own life, to answer questions such as "What matters", "How do I get along in life" and "What kind of person am I". This story, TA says, is often stuck to no matter the consequences, to "prove" one is right, even at the cost of pain, compulsion, self-defeating behaviour and other dysfunction. Thus TA offers a theory of a broad range of psychopathology.
5. In practical application, it can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of many types of psychological disorders, and provides a method of therapy for individuals, couples, families and groups.
6. Outside the therapeutic field, it has been used in education, to help teachers remain in clear communication at an appropriate level, in counseling and consultancy, in management and communications training, and by other bodies.
Philosophy of TA
•People are OK; thus each person has validity, importance, equality of respect.
•Everyone (with only few exceptions) has full adult capability to think.
•People decide their story and destiny, and this is a decision that can be changed.
•Freedom from historical maladaptations embedded in the childhood script is required in order to become free of inappropriate, inauthentic, and displaced emotions which are not a fair and honest reflection of here-and-now life (such as echoes of childhood suffering, pity-me and other mind games, compulsive behavior, and repetitive dysfunctional life patterns).
•The aim of change under TA is to move toward autonomy (freedom from childhood script), spontaneity, intimacy, problem solving as opposed to avoidance or passivity, cure as an ideal rather than merely 'making progress', learning new choices.
History
TA is a neo-Freudian theory of personality. Berne's ego states are heavily influenced by Freud's id, ego and superego, although they do not precisely correspond with them. A primary difference between Berne and Freud is the former's treatment of the observable transactions known as "games". A number of books popularized TA in the general public but did little to gain acceptance in the conventional psychoanalytic community. TA is considered by its adherents to be a more user-friendly and accessible model than the conventional psychoanalytic model. A number of modern-day TA practitioners emphasize the similarities with cognitive-behaviorist models while others emphasize different models.
Development of Transactional Analysis
Leaving psychoanalysis half a century ago, Eric Berne presented transactional analysis to the world as a phenomenological approach replacing Freud's philosophical construct with observable data. His theory built on the science of Penfield and Spitz along with the neo-psychoanalytic thought of people such as Federn, Weiss, and Erikson. By moving to an interpersonal motivational theory, he placed it both in opposition to the psychoanalytic traditions of his day and within what would become the psychoanalytic traditions of the future. From Berne, transactional analysts have inherited a determination to create an accessible and user-friendly system, an understanding of script or life-plan, ego states, transactions, and a theory of groups. They also inherited troubled aspects of his thinking and personality, especially his rebelliousness and antagonism toward the psychoanalysis of his day. They have inherited misunderstandings arising from the ill-informed equation of the ego states of transactional analysis with the psychoanalytic constructs of id, ego, and superego, and from the consequences of the popularity of his book Games People Play which resulted in the vulgarization of some of its concepts. These problems have been compounded by the isolationist and elitist attitude that permeated the beginnings of transactional analysis as it established its own standards for competency-based credentialing without taking into account other training or certification in occupational fields—while at the same time paradoxically cultivating the “pop psychology” image that appealed to mental health clients and other consumers in organizations and education.
Fifty years later
Within the overarching framework of transactional analysis, more recent transactional analysts have elaborated several different, if overlapping, “flavors:” cognitive, behavioral, relational, redecision, integrative, constructivist, narrative, body-work, positive psychological, personality adaptational, self-reparenting, psychodynamic, and neuroconstructivist[citation needed]. Some transactional analysts[who?] highlight the many things they have in common with cognitive-behavioral therapists: the use of contracts with clear goals, the attention to cognitive distortions (called “Adult decontamination” or “Child deconfusion”), the focus on the client’s conscious attitudes and behaviors and the use of “strokes”[citation needed]. Cognitive-based transactional analysts use ego state identification to identify communication distortions and teach different functional options in the dynamics of communication. Some make additional contracts for more profound work involving life-plans or scripts or with unconscious processes, including those which manifest in the client-therapist relationship as transference and countertransference, and define themselves as psychodynamic or relational transactional analysts. Some highlight the study and promotion of subjective well-being and optimal human functioning rather than pathology and so identify with positive psychology. Some are increasingly influenced by current research in attachment, mother-infant interaction, and by the implications of interpersonal neurobiology, and non-linear dynamic systems.
Key ideas of TA
TA emphasizes a pragmatic approach, that is, it seeks to find "what works" in treating patients, and, where applicable, develop models to assist understanding of why certain treatments work. Thus, TA continually evolves. However some core models and concepts are part of TA as follows:--
The Ego-State (or Parent-Adult-Child, PAC) model
At any given time, a person experiences and manifests their personality through a mixture of behaviours, thoughts and feelings. Typically, according to TA, there are three ego-states that people consistently use:
•Parent ("exteropsyche"): a state in which people behave, feel, and think in response to an unconscious mimicking of how their parents (or other parental figures) acted, or how they interpreted their parent's actions. For example, a person may shout at someone out of frustration because they learned from an influential figure in childhood the lesson that this seemed to be a way of relating that worked.
•Adult ("neopsyche"): a state of the ego which is most like a computer processing information and making predictions absent of major emotions that cloud its operation. Learning to strengthen the Adult is a goal of TA. While a person is in the Adult ego state, he/she is directed towards an objective appraisal of reality.
•Child ("archaeopsyche"): a state in which people behave, feel and think similarly to how they did in childhood. For example, a person who receives a poor evaluation at work may respond by looking at the floor, and crying or pouting, as they used to when scolded as a child. Conversely, a person who receives a good evaluation may respond with a broad smile and a joyful gesture of thanks. The Child is the source of emotions, creation, recreation, spontaneity and intimacy.
Berne differentiated his Parent, Adult, and Child ego states from actual adults, parents, and children, by using capital letters when describing them. These ego-states may or may not represent the relationships that they act out. For example, in the workplace, an adult supervisor may take on the Parent role, and scold an adult employee as though they were a Child. Or a child, using their Parent ego-state, could scold their actual parent as though the parent were a Child.
Within each of these ego states are subdivisions. Thus Parental figures are often either nurturing (permission-giving, security-giving) or criticizing (comparing to family traditions and ideals in generally negative ways); Childhood behaviours are either natural (free) or adapted to others. These subdivision categorize individuals' patterns of behaviour, feelings, and ways of thinking, that can be functional (beneficial or positive) or dysfunctional/counterproductive (negative).
Ego-states do not correspond directly to Sigmund Freud's Ego, Superego and Id, although there are obvious parallels: ie, Superego:Ego:Id:Parent:Adult:Child. Ego states are consistent for each person and are argued by TA practitioners as more readily observable than the pats in Freud's hypothetical model. In other words, the particular ego state that a given person is communicating from is determinable by external observation and experience.
There is no "universal" ego-state; each state is individually and visibly manifested for each person. For example, each Child ego state is unique to the childhood experiences, mentality, intellect, and family of each individual; it is not a generalised childlike state.
Ego states can become contaminated, for example, when a person mistakes Parental rules and slogans, for here-and-now Adult reality, and when beliefs are taken as facts. Or when a person "knows" that everyone is laughing at them because "they always laughed". This would be an example of a childhood contamination, insofar as here-and-now reality is being overlaid with memories of previous historic incidents in childhood.
Although TA theory claims that Ego states do not correspond directly to thinking, feeling, and judging, as these processes are present in every ego state, this claim is self-contradictory to the claim that the Adult is like a computer processing information, therefore not feeling unless it is contaminated by the Child.
Berne suspected that Parent, Adult, and Child ego states might be tied to specific areas of the human brain; an idea that has not been proved.
In more recent years the three ego state model has been questioned by a marginal TA group in Australia, who have devised a "two ego-state model" as a means of solving perceived theoretical problems:
"The two ego-state model sought to correct inaccuracies in the three ego-state model Berne devised. The two ego-state model says that there is a Child ego-state and a Parent ego-state, placing the Adult ego-state with the Parent ego-state. The information we learn at school is all Parent ego-state introjects. How we learn to speak, add up and learn how to think is all just copied from our teachers. Just as our morals and values are copied from our parents. There is no absolute truth where facts exist out side a person’s own belief system. Berne mistakenly concluded that there was and thus mistakenly put the Adult ego-state as separate from the Parent ego-state." For anyone interested in sourcing this deviation from mainstream TA.
Transactions and Strokes
•Transactions are the flow of communication, and more specifically the unspoken psychological flow of communication that runs in parallel.
•Transactions occur simultaneously at both explicit and psychological levels. Example: sweet caring voice with sarcastic intent. To read the real communication requires both surface and non-verbal reading.
•Strokes are the recognition, attention or responsiveness that one person gives another. Strokes can be positive (nicknamed "warm fuzzies" or negative ("cold pricklies"). A key idea is that people hunger for recognition, and that lacking positive strokes, will seek whatever kind they can, even if it is recognition of a negative kind. We test out as children what strategies and behaviours seem to get us strokes, of whatever kind we can get.
People often create pressure in (or experience pressure from) others to communicate in a way that matches their style, so that a boss who talks to his staff as a controlling parent will often engender self-abasement or other childlike responses. Those employees who resist may get removed or labeled as "trouble".
Transactions can be experienced as positive or negative depending on the nature of the strokes within them. However, a negative transaction is preferred to no transaction at all, because of a fundamental hunger for strokes.
The nature of transactions is important to understanding communication.
Kinds of transactions
There are basically three kinds of transactions:
1.Reciprocal/Complementary (the simplest)
2.Crossed
3.Duplex/Covert (the most complex)
Reciprocal or Complementary Transactions
A simple, reciprocal transaction occurs when both partners are addressing the ego state the other is in. These are also called complementary transactions.
Example 1
A: "Have you been able to write the report?"
B: "Yes - I'm about to email it to you." ----(This exchange was Adult to Adult)
Example 2
A: "Would you like to skip this meeting and go watch a film with me instead?"
B: "I'd love to - I don't want to work anymore, what should we go and see?" (Child to Child)
Example 3
A: "You should have your room tidy by now!" (Parent to Child)
B: "Will you stop hassling me? I'll do it eventually!" (Child to Parent)
Communication like this can continue indefinitely. (Clearly it will stop at some stage - but this psychologically balanced exchange of strokes can continue for some time).
Crossed Transactions
Communication failures are typically caused by a 'crossed transaction' where partners address ego states other than that their partner is in. Consider the above examples jumbled up a bit.
Phenomena behind the transactions
Life positions
The phenomenon that colours every dyadic transaction with a general feeling (i.e. not a conscious philosophical position, but unconscious one) about life is called "a life position" in TA theory. Initially there were proposed four of them:
1."I'm Not OK, You're OK" (I-U+)
2."I'm Not OK, You're Not OK" (I-U-)
3."I'm OK, You're Not OK" (I+U-)
4."I'm OK, You're OK" (I+U+)
However, lately, an Australian TA analyst has made the unsubstantiated claim that in order to better represent life position behind disorders that - he alleges - were not as widespread and/or recognized at the time when TA was conceptualized as they are now (such as borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder etc, we require an alteration and two additional "life positions" [5]:
1."I'm OK, You're Irrelevant" (I+U?)
2."I'm not-OK, You're Irrelevant" (I-U?)
3."I'm not-OK, You're not-OK" (I-U-)
4."I'm not-OK, But You're Worse" (I-U--)
5."I'm a Bit More OK Than You Are" (I++U+)
6."I'm OK, You're OK" (I+U+)
7."I'm not-OK, You're OK" (I-U+)
The difference between one's own OK-ness and other's OK-ness captured by description "I'm OK, You're not-OK" is proposed to be substituted by description that more accurately captures one's own feeling (not jumping to conclusions based only on one's perceived behavior), therefore stating the difference in a new way: "I'm not-OK, but You're worse" (I-,U--), instead.
Life (or Childhood) Script
•Script is a life plan, directed to a reward.
•Script is decisional and responsive; i.e., decided upon in childhood in response to perceptions of the world and as a means of living with and making sense of the world. It is not just thrust upon a person by external forces.
•Script is reinforced by parents (or other influential figures and experiences).
•Script is for the most part outside awareness.
•Script is how we navigate and what we look for, the rest of reality is redefined (distorted) to match our filters.
Each culture, country and people in the world has a Mythos, that is, a legend explaining its origins, core beliefs and purpose. According to TA, so do individual people. A person begins writing his/her own life story (script) at a young age, as he/she tries to make sense of the world and his place within it. Although it is revised throughout life, the core story is selected and decided upon typically by age 7. As adults it passes out of awareness. A life script might be "to be hurt many times, and suffer and make others feel bad when I die", and could result in a person indeed setting himself up for this, by adopting behaviours in childhood that produce exactly this effect. Though Berne identified several dozen common scripts, there are a practically infinite number of them. Though often largely destructive, scripts could as easily be mostly positive or beneficial.
Redefining and Discounting
•Redefining means the distortion of reality when we deliberately (but unconsciously) distort things to match our preferred way of seeing the world. Thus a person whose script involves "struggling alone against a cold hard world" may redefine others' kindness, concluding that others are trying to get something by manipulation.
•Discounting means to take something as worth less than it is. Thus to give a substitute reaction which does not originate as a here-and-now Adult attempt to solve the actual problem, or to choose not to see evidence that would contradict one's script. Types of discount can also include: passivity (doing nothing), over-adaptation, agitation, incapacitation, anger and violence.
Injunctions and Drivers
TA identifies twelve key injunctions which people commonly build into their scripts. These are injunctions in the sense of being powerful "I can't/mustn't ..." messages that embed into a child's belief and life-script:
•Don't be (don't exist)
•Don't be who you are
•Don't be a child
•Don't grow up
•Don't make it in your life
•Don't do anything!
•Don't be important
•Don't belong
•Don't be close
•Don't be well (don't be sane!)
•Don't think
•Don't feel.
In addition there is the so-called episcript:
"You should (or deserve to) have this happen in your life, so it doesn't have to happen to me." (Magical thinking on the part of the parent(s).)
Against these, a child is often told other things he or she must do. There is debate as to whether there are five or six of these 'drivers':
•Please (me/others)!
•Be perfect!
•Be Strong!
•Try Hard!
•Hurry Up!
•Be Careful! (is in dispute)
Thus in creating his script, a child will often attempt to juggle these, example: "It's okay for me to go on living (ignore don't exist) so long as I try hard".
This explains why some change is inordinately difficult. To continue the above example: When a person stops trying hard and relaxes to be with his family, the injunction You don't have the right to exist which was being suppressed by their script now becomes exposed and a vivid threat. Such an individual may feel a massive psychological pressure which he himself doesn't understand, to return to trying hard, in order to feel safe and justified (in a childlike way) in existing.
Driver behaviour is also detectable at a very small scale, for instance in instinctive responses to certain situations where driver behaviour is played out over five to twenty seconds.
Broadly speaking, scripts can fall into Tragic, Heroic or Banal (or Non-Winner) varieties, depending on their rules.
Ways of Time Structuring
There are six ways of structuring time by giving and receiving strokes:
1.Withdrawal
2.Ritual
3.Pastimes
4.Activity
5.Games
6.Intimacy
This is sorted in accordance with stroke strength; Intimacy and Games in general allow for the most intensive strokes.
Withdrawal
This means no strokes are being exchanged
Rituals
A ritual is a series of transactions that are complementary (reciprocal), stereotyped and based on social programming. Rituals usually comprise a series of strokes exchanged between two parties.
Pastimes
A pastime is a series of transactions that is complementary (reciprocal), semi-ritualistic, and is mainly intended as a time-structuring activity. Pastimes have no covert purpose and can usually be carried out only between people on the same wavelength. They are usually shallow and harmless. Pastimes are a type of smalltalk.
Individuals often partake in similar pastimes throughout their entire life, as pastimes are generally very much linked to one's life script and the games that one often plays. Some pastimes can even be understood as a reward for playing a certain game. For example, Eric Berne in Games People Play discusses how those who play the "Alcoholic" game (which Berne differentiated from alcoholism and alcoholics) often enjoy the "Morning After" pastime in which participants share their most amusing or harrowing hangover stories.
Activities (Work)
Activities in this context mean the individuals work together for a common goal. This may be work, sports or something similar. In contrast to Pastimes, there is a meaningful purpose guiding the interactions, while Pastimes are just about exchanging strokes. Strokes can then be given in the context of the cooperation. Thus the strokes are generally not personal, but related to the activity.
Intimacy
Intimacy as a way of structuring time allows one to exchange the strongest strokes without playing a Game. Intimacy differs from Games as there is no covert purpose, and differs from Activities as there is no other process going on which defines a context of cooperation. Strokes are personal, relating to the other person, and often unconditional.
Games and their analysis
Definition of game
A game is a series of transactions that is complementary (reciprocal), ulterior, and proceeds towards a predictable outcome. Games are often characterized by a switch in roles of players towards the end. Games are usually played by Parent, Adult and Child ego states, and games usually have a fixed number of players; however, an individual's role can shift, and people can play multiple roles.
Berne identified dozens of games, noting that, regardless of when, where or by whom they were played, each game tended towards very similar structures in how many players or roles were involved, the rules of the game, and the game's goals.
Each game has a payoff for those playing it, such as the aim of earning sympathy, satisfaction, vindication, or some other emotion that usually reinforces the life script. The antithesis of a game, that is, the way to break it, lies in discovering how to deprive the actors of their payoff.
Students of transactional analysis have discovered that people who are accustomed to a game are willing to play it even as a different "actor" from what they originally were.
Analysis of a game
One important aspect of a game is its number of players. Games may be two handed (that is, played by two players), three handed (that is, played by three players), or many handed. Three other quantitative variables are often useful to consider for games:
•Flexibility: The ability of the players to change the currency of the game (that is, the tools they use to play it). In a flexible game, players may shift from words, to money, to parts of the body.
•Tenacity: The persistence with which people play and stick to their games and their resistance to breaking it.
•Intensity: Easy games are games played in a relaxed way. Hard games are games played in a tense and aggressive way.
Based on the degree of acceptability and potential harm, games are classified as:
•First Degree Games are socially acceptable in the players' social circle.
•Second Degree Games are games that the players would like to conceal, though they may not cause irreversible damage.
•Third Degree Games are games that could lead to drastic harm to one or more of the parties concerned.
Games are also studied based on their:
•Aim
•Roles
•Social and Psychological Paradigms
•Dynamics
•Advantages to players (Payoffs)
Contrast with rational (mathematical) games
Transactional game analysis is fundamentally different from rational or mathematical game analysis in the following senses:
•The players do not always behave rationally in transactional analysis, but behave more like real people.
•Their motives are often ulterior
Rackets
A racket is the dual strategy of getting "permitted feelings," while covering up feelings which we truly feel, but which we regard as being "not allowed". More technically, a racket feeling is "a familiar set of emotions, learned and enhanced during childhood, experienced in many different stress situations, and maladaptive as an adult means of problem solving".
A racket is then a set of behaviours which originate from the childhood script rather than in here-and-now full Adult thinking, which (1) are employed as a way to manipulate the environment to match the script rather than to actually solve the problem, and (2) whose covert goal is not so much to solve the problem, as to experience these racket feelings and feel internally justified in experiencing them.
Examples of racket and racket feelings: "Why do I meet good guys who turn out to be so hurtful", or "He always takes advantage of my goodwill". The racket is then a set of behaviours and chosen strategies learned and practised in childhood which in fact help to cause these feelings to be experienced. Typically this happens despite their own surface protestations and hurt feelings, out of awareness and in a way that is perceived as someone else's fault. One covert pay-off for this racket and its feelings, might be to gain in a guilt free way, continued evidence and reinforcement for a childhood script belief that "People will always let you down".
In other words, rackets and games are devices used by a person to create a circumstance where they can legitimately feel the racket feelings, thus abiding by and reinforcing their Childhood script. They are always a substitute for a more genuine and full adult emotion and response which would be a more appropriate response to the here-and-now situation.
TA and popular culture
Eric Berne's ability to express the ideas of TA in common language and his popularisation of the concepts in mass-market books inspired a boom of popular TA texts, some of which simplify TA concepts to a deleterious degree[citation needed].
One example is a caricature of the structural model, where it is made out that the Parent judges, the Adult thinks and the Child feels. Most serious TA texts, including those aimed at the mass market rather than professionals, avoid this degree of oversimplification.
Thomas Harris's highly successful popular work from the late 1960s, I'm OK, You're OK is largely based on Transactional Analysis. A fundamental divergence, however, between Harris and Berne is that Berne postulates that everyone starts life in the "I'm OK" position, whereas Harris believes that life starts out "I'm not OK, you're OK". Many transactional analysts[citation needed] have regarded Harris as too far removed from core TA beliefs to be considered a transactional analyst.
New Age author James Redfield has acknowledged[7] Harris and Berne as important influences in his best-seller The Celestine Prophecy. The protagonists in the novel survive by striving (and succeeding) in escaping from "control dramas" that resemble the games of TA.
Thursday, 25. June 2009, 08:08:28
Cybernetics, Goal-Seeking Mechanism
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Are your dreams eluding you? Your desires left unfulfilled? A psycho-cybernetic force could be at fault!
Everyone has buried deep in their subconscious a very powerful mechanism called the psycho-cybernetic force. This mechanism collected and stored every event, every word spoken to you during your early childhood years and then synthesized this data to determine how you feel about yourself and what you believe you can achieve.
This function of this force or goal-seeking mechanism is to make sure that whatever you have subconsciously concluded about yourself and your potential in life is fulfilled with unwavering accuracy.
Unfortunately if during those very early and susceptible years of your life you were told negative things about yourself and your abilities, such as you were dumb or ugly or destined for failure, you most likely believed these to be true and may still believe them to be true.
Numerous plastic surgeons have reported this programming to be so strong that even when some patients were presented with pictures of themselves before and after their surgery; pictures that showed a tremendous change for the better, these people stated they either saw no change or believed they looked even worse!
I set worthy goals but fail over and over to attain them!
Because this goal-seeking mechanism operates without your knowledge or awareness, you may have become puzzled and frustrated about why you continue to fall short of your goals and dreams no matter how hard you try. The problem is that goals are defined by our conscious mind but it is the goal-seeking mechanism within our subconscious that brings goals to reality.
That's why you can set a positive goal yet fail to achieve it. Your true belief that you are not capable of attaining your goal takes over and propels you to failure.
Is there another way?
Fortunately you can re-program the psycho-cybernetic force within your subconscious with new data. It will take some time and patience but it can definitely be done. There are two steps that are necessary for this to happen.
Step1: Crystallize your thinking about exactly what you desire from your life. This can take some time and soul searching. Be specific in every way. Decide who you would like to be as a person, how you would like to live, the job you might enjoy, and the people you'd prefer.
Step 2: Spend at least 30 minutes each day creating a mental picture, almost a movie, of yourself already enjoying the benefits of the life you desire. Since your mind and nervous system do not differentiate between fantasy and reality, they will assume that what you are imagining is true and automatically move you toward your goal.
Be prepared to experience trial and error situations along the way. This is not bad. Your goal-seeking mechanism's job is to use these incidences or errors as data to correct your course and to provide you with better solutions in the future. No progress is smooth; stay with it.
How can I use my psycho-cybernetic powers more effectively?
•Do all the thinking and planning about your goals before you make any decision about a course of action; then stop thinking and planning and let the natural abilities of your goal-seeking mechanism take action. Don't force it! Let the solutions, hunches, and ideas flow naturally.
•Live in the moment! The past is over; the future has not arrived. Use your energy and focus for today.
•Do only one thing at a time. Set one priority and give it your full attention. Every time you split your concentration, you reduce your effectiveness.
•Sleep on major decisions. Don't rush. Your psycho-cybernetic power needs time to creatively work out solutions to achieve your goals.
•Relax. Living stressed out actually interferes with your goal-seeking mechanism's ability to function resulting in faulty feedback.
Important! You must be actively engaged in moving toward your goals for your goal-seeking mechanism to work. For example, the famous inventor, Thomas Edison was completely immersed in his work when the idea of the phonograph came to him.
A new beginning
As you re-program your goal-seeking mechanism and start to experience the attainment of your goals, you will grow more trusting of its power. You will learn to be patient with setbacks, knowing they are temporary and part of the process of collecting new data for future use.
Soon you will experience the dreams you previously concluded would never be fulfilled. You'll enjoy the freedom of inner peace and tranquility that only comes from accepting who you really are. You'll know you have a friend, a powerful force within whose sole purpose is to take you where you want to go!
Thursday, 25. June 2009, 07:53:36
Game Theory, Transactional Analysis
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The ideas of Sigmund Freud are now obsolete. Journalist Michael Ventura and psychologist James Hillman said it all succinctly in the title of their 1993 book "We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy and the World's Getting Worse". The pervasive Culture Structure – that big machine that is designed so that nothing works – continues to advocate psychiatry because the availability of such a soporific diverts us all from any effective solution.
One such very effective solution is Transactional Analysis, created in 1957 by Dr. Eric Berne. The attributes of T/A produce extraordinary results for anyone who chooses to employ its distinctions:
(1) The activity is democratic, as opposed to the paternal nature of the classic doctoral figure listening to the ramblings of the recumbent patient. In T/A, the patient is at least an equal participant with the therapist, and indeed, in the group therapy setting, the therapist participates (to varying degrees) as a patient.
(2) T/A is an active set of clearly defined theories. While psychiatry hopes to uncover dark secrets of the patient's past, T/A is used to discover present methodologies – chosen in the past, yet practiced in day-to-day interaction – as well as providing skills to use in present and future dealings with everyone that might pass thru one's circumstances.
(3) The basics of T/A can be taught to six-year-olds, which is a mission that I am committed to seeing fulfilled. As enlarged upon in my essay "Lost In Bombay" ("Working Minds" Chapter 12), human beings are tossed into the schoolyard and other environments with next to no effective knowledge of the rules, forcing each child to learn such matters under fire, as it were. (If you think not, then take a closer look at how well people work together: Even in the best of environments, there are dangerous undercurrents of intrigue, manipulations over turf, and rampant 'one-upmanship', ranging from the petty to life-threatening.)
Armed with the concepts of T/A, the Individual of any age is better able to deal with the onslaught of others' actions, the same as anyone having read the users manual for a computer or for a software package can operate with much more ease and facility and speed than the (typical) user who refuses to read any such manual, barging ahead as if the rules are irrelevant.
The rules of any game are important, and Transactional Analysis supplies a powerful set of conceptual tools for direct use in the Game of Life.
Dr. Berne discovered the Game Theory area of T/A during close study of alcoholics. He defined only three roles or moves in Game-playing: Victim, Rescuer, and Persecutor. You all make these moves in virtually all transactions, automatically, by default, because these three moves were given to you by example, since the day that you first drew breath, since every one of you grew up inside the Culture-Structure.
The advantage of learning and consciously, intentionally operating inside of an awareness of Games operated by others is the same as with any skill: You can learn to drive from a parent, or you can learn to drive at racing school; you can learn English in school or on the street or from our brain-deadening media – or you can study an encyclopedia and a dictionary and a thesaurus. One is haphazard, the other produces a skill.
How you know that there is a Game is that there is a switch. Someone bangs their car into yours, you become a Victim – or they do. If there is a policeman nearby, you might prevail upon them to Rescue you. Both sides in such a case will usually attempt the role of Persecutor, either immediately – loud accusations, even fisticuffs – or wait to ask the insurance company to Rescue by acting as Persecutor.
The Dating Game is fraught with soap opera-style drama: girl flirts with boy (Rescue me from being single); boy takes girl out and is over-aggressive (she is Victim); she tells all her friends (Rescue by sympathy). Meanwhile, he tells all his friends how she conned him for dinner and entertainment (he is also Victim, from the same evening), and likewise receives 'Rescue by sympathy'. If things go just a little wrong, she warns her friends of his boorish or ill-mannered behavior (Persecutor), and-or he lies to his friends that she led him on and did not acquiesce (same evening: he is also Persecutor). If things go really bad, she calls the cops on him for touching her (serious Persecutor), or he does more than touch her (same: serious Persecutor). Switch, switch, switch.
On and on, for the last several millennia, with no solution expected for the never-ending Battle of the Sexes/Genders – or for the Irish or the Israelis or the native population of whatever country you want to name.
But the use of T/A skills can intervene in this automatic stimulus-response, which occurs at the level of Individual, at the levels of Group and Community, and indeed, between nations and races. In fact, should an expedition of Martians ever land on the White House lawn, Mankind will perpetuate this same Game behavior on them, which the Martians will not comprehend. I expect any such party of Visitors From Space will either take us under their wing, classifying us as intergalactic savages, or take immediate offense and wipe us out without a qualm.
Creative writers should especially absorb Game Theory, for writerly reasons as well as for personal use. Great dramatists, from Shakespeare to O'Neill to Mamet, have instinctive knowledge of the moves made in human interaction, while the new student of T/A can quickly utilize the moves – a switch from Victim to Rescuer to Persecutor, and back again – to orchestrate dramatic events on the stage or screen or page.
So too can the Individual orchestrate moves in the Game of Daily Life. However, the danger in that is the eternal perpetuation and escalation of more Games. Whether either of the two sides in a hostage situation comes out ahead by knowing and using Game Theory is no help: the purpose of the Working Mind in learning T/A is a radical one – to Stop The Game.
The Working Minds philosophy adds a fourth move in Game behavior: that of Empowerment. By refusing – by Act of Will – to react in a Game as expected, by consciously choosing to stand outside such Game moves, one is able to invoke some Empowering Act, by choosing Objective Reason as one's guide.
In the brief example above of the fender-bender, the Working Mind can act very business-like, neither Rescuer, Victim nor Persecutor. In the example of the 'heavy date', either party can prevent escalation, keep the moves at a non-dramatic level, fall back on millennium-old traditions, and if disappointed, simply remove the other person's name from his/her address list. No switch, no Game.
This is not easy, since all of the Culture Structure's might is addressed to perpetuating Game behavior: simple 'divide and conquer'. Are you not the Victim of 'Big Government'? Or do you believe that the role of Government is to Rescue you? And then there is all the wasted effort of attempts to Persecute – thru sabotage or resistance or mealy-mouthed complaint – the very terrible Government that you yourself elected (by vote or by default) into office at all levels.
Game behavior is standard and omnipresent; the antidote is Empowerment.
The best overview of the principles of T/A that I have found is in the book "Scripts People Live" by Claude M. Steiner. He was a fellow of Dr. Berne and the book clearly explores and explains all facets of T/A, which besides Game Theory includes Script Analysis, Structural Analysis, Time Theory, Okay/Not Okay, and Stroke Economy/Trading Stamps. (Game Theory and Time Theory are such rich concepts that my summarization in the book "Working Minds" runs to over 40 pages.)
The more that you as an Individual learn of T/A, the more that you increase its conscious application in your Daily Life – along with the concepts of the Working Minds philosophy – the better off you will fare in your ongoing struggle to move beyond mere survival, toward Making A Difference With Your Life.
"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." Likewise, the Individual who wills his/her actions to take into account the principles and practices of T/A and of the Working Minds philosophy has a major advantage over those who do not have a clue.
In educating one's loved ones in these distinctions, you empower them by giving them similar advantage. Once you are surrounded by fellows empowered to the same level, that of on-going non-Game behavior, what will open up is the possibility of Mankind's Potential, the fulfillment of which requires the fulfillment of your own freely chosen Personal Purpose In Life.
If you are doing your best, inside Objective Reason, if you Empower more and more as time continues, then the rest will follow.
[copyright 2001 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]
Thursday, 25. June 2009, 07:16:28
Gupta Period
Capital Pataliputra
Government Monarchy
The Gupta Empire was founded by Sri-Gupta. The Empire covered most of northern and central India, as well as parts of modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. The capital of the Guptas was Pataliputra, present day Patna, in the north Indian state of Bihar.
The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors. Historians place the Gupta dynasty alongside with the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Roman Empire as a model of a classical civilization. The time of the Gupta Empire is referred to by some scholars as the Golden Age of India in science, mathematics, astronomy, religion, dialectic and Indian philosophy.
History of the Gupta dynasty
The origins of the Guptas are shrouded in obscurity. The Chinese traveler Yijing (also Xuanzang) provides the first evidence of the Gupta kingdom in Magadha. He came to north India in AD 672 and heard of Maharaja Sri-Gupta, who built a temple for Chinese pilgrims near Mrigasikhavana who lost their lives in epic battle . Yijing gives the date for this event merely as '500 years before'. This does not match with other sources and hence we can assume that Yijing's computation was a mere guess. Very recently a few scholars have linked Guptas with rulers mentioned in Bhagwatam; however, these things are largely disputed and the idea seems politically motivated and to promote the sale of books written and promoted by some entities.
The most likely date for the reign of Sri-Gupta is c. AD 240-280. He was, perhaps, from a Vaishya community and a Prayag-based feudatory of Kushanas. His successor Ghatotkacha ruled probably from c. AD 280-319. In contrast to his successor, he is also referred to in inscriptions as 'Maharaja'. At the beginning of the 5th century the Guptas established and ruled a few small Hindu kingdoms in Magadha and around modern-day Bihar.
Chandra Gupta
Ghatotkacha (c. AD 280–319), had a son named Chandra Gupta. (Not to be confused with Chandragupta Maurya (340-293 BC), founder of the Mauryan Empire.) In a breakthrough deal, Chandra Gupta was married to Kumardevi, a Lichchhavi princess—the main power in Magadha. With a dowry of the kingdom of Magadha (capital Pataliputra) and an alliance with the Lichchhavis, Chandra Gupta set about expanding his power, conquering much of Magadha, Prayaga and Saketa. He established a realm stretching from the Ganga River (Ganges River) to Prayaga (modern-day Allahabad) by 321.He assumed the imperial title of “Maharajadhiraja”.
Samudragupta
Samudragupta succeeded his father in AD 335, and ruled for about 45 years, till his death in AD 380. He took the kingdoms of Shichchhatra and Padmavati early in her reign. He then attacked the Malwas, the Yaudheyas, the Arjunayanas, the Maduras and the Abhiras, all of which were tribes in the area. By his death in 380, he had incorporated over twenty kingdoms into his realm and his rule extended from the Himalayas to the river Narmada and from the Brahmaputra to the Yamuna. He gave himself the titles King of Kings and World Monarch. He is considered the Napoleon of north India. He performed Ashwamedha yajna (horse sacrifice) to underline the importance of his conquest. The stone replica of the sacrificial horse, then prepared, is in the Lucknow Museum. The Samudragupta Prashasti inscribed on the Ashokan Pillar, now in Akbar’s Fort at Allahabad, is an authentic record of his exploits and his sway over most of the continent.
Samudragupta was not only a talented military leader but also a great patron of art and literature. The important scholars present in his court were Harishena, Vasubandhu and Asanga. He was a poet and musician himself. He was a firm believer in Hinduism and is known to have worshipped Lord Vishnu. He was considerate of other religions and allowed Sri Lanka's buddhist king Meghvarna to build a monastery at Bodh Gaya.He provided a gold railing around the Bodhi Tree.
Chandra Gupta II
Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang came to India in the time of Gupta Empire. Samudragupta was succeeded by his elder son Ram Gupta , a weak king who agreed to surrender his wife Dhruvadevi to the Saka Chief Rudrasimha II. Ram Gupta’s younger brother Chandra Gupta II went to the Saka camp disguised as the queen and assassinated the Saka Chief. After this he killed his brother Ram Gupta, married to his widow Dhruvadevi and ascended to the throne. Chandra Gupta II, the Sun of Power (Vikramaditya), ruled from 380 until 413. Chandra Gupta II also married to a Kadamba princess of Kuntala region and a Nag princess, Kubernag. His daughter Prabhavatigupta from this Nag wife was married to Rudrasena II, the Vakataka king of Deccan (this daughter was forced to be married by the father). Only marginally less successful than his father, Chandra Gupta II expanded his realm westwards, defeating the Saka Western Kshatrapas of Malwa, Gujarat and Saurashtra in a campaign lasting until 409, but with his main opponent Rudrasimha III defeated by 395, and crushing the Bengal (Vanga) chiefdoms. This extended his control from coast-to-coast, established a second (trading) capital at Ujjain and was the high point of the empire.
Despite the creation of the empire through war, the reign is remembered for its very influential style of Hindu art, literature, culture and science, especially during the reign of Chandra Gupta II. Some excellent works of Hindu art such as the panels at the Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh serve to illustrate the magnificence of Gupta art. Above all it was the synthesis of elements that gave Gupta art its distinctive flavour. During this period, the Guptas were supportive of thriving Buddhist and Jain cultures as well, and for this reason there is also a long history of non-Hindu Gupta period art. In particular, Gupta period Buddhist art was to be influential in most of East and Southeast Asia. Much of advances was recorded by the Chinese scholar and traveller Faxian (Fa-hien) in his diary and published afterwards.
The court of Chandragupta was made even more illustrious by the fact that it was graced by the Navaratna (Nine Jewels), a group of nine who excelled in the literary arts. Amongst these men was the immortal Kalidasa whose works dwarfed the works of many other literary geniuses, not only in his own age but in the ages to come. Kalidasa was particularly known for his fine exploitation of the sringara (erotic) element in his verse.
Chandra Gupta II's campaigns against Foreign Tribes
Fourth century AD Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, credits Chandragupta Vikramaditya with having conquered about twenty one kingdoms, both in and outside India. After finishing his campaign in the East and West India, Vikramaditya (Chandra Gupta II) proceeded northwards, subjugated the Parasikas (Persians), then the Hunas and the Kambojas tribes located in the west and east Oxus valleys respectively. Thereafter, the glorious king proceeds across the Himalaya and reduced the Kinnaras, Kiratas etc and lands into India proper.
According to the Brihat-Katha-Manjari of the Kashmiri Pandit Kshmendra, king Vikramaditya (Chandra Gupta II) had "unburdened the sacred earth of the Barbarians like the Sakas, Mlecchas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas, etc. by annihilating these sinful Mlecchas completely".
Kumaragupta I
Sri Kumaragupta Mahendraditya.Chandragupta II was succeeded by his son Kumaragupta I. Known as the Mahendraditya, he ruled until 455. Towards the end of his reign a tribe in the Narmada valley, the Pushyamitras, rose in power to threaten the empire.
Skandagupta
Skandagupta is generally considered the last of the great ruler Raju Jagdhane. He defeated the Pushyamitra threat, but then was faced with invading Hephthalites or "White Huns", known in India as the Huna, from the northwest. He repulsed a Huna attack c. 477, But the expense of the wars drained the empire's resources and contributed to its decline. Skandagupta died in 487 and was succeeded by his son Narasimhagupta Baladitya.
Military organization
The Imperial Guptas could not have achieved their successes through force of arms without an efficient martial system. Historically, the best accounts of this comes not from the Hindus themselves but from Chinese and Western observers. However, a contemporary Indian document, regarded as a military classic of the time, the Siva-Dhanur-veda, offers some insight into the military system of the Guptas.
The Guptas seem to have relied heavily on infantry archers, and the bow was one of the dominant weapons of their army. The Hindu version of the longbow was composed of metal, or more typically bamboo, and fired a long bamboo cane arrow with a metal head. Unlike the composite bows of Western and Central Asian foes, bows of this design would be less prone to warping in the damp and moist conditions often prevalent to the region. The Indian longbow was reputedly a powerful weapon capable of great range and penetration and provided an effective counter to invading horse archers. Iron shafts were used against armored elephants, and fire arrows were also part of the bowmen's arsenal. India historically has had a prominent reputation for its steel weapons. One of these was the steel bow. Due to its high tensility, the steel bow was capable of long range and penetration of exceptionally thick armor. These were less common weapons than the bamboo design and found in the hands of noblemen rather than in the ranks. Archers were frequently protected by infantry equipped with shields, javelins, and longswords.
The Guptas also had knowledge of siegecraft, catapults, and other sophisticated war machines.
The Guptas apparently showed little predilection for using horse archers, despite the fact these warriors were a main component in the ranks of their Scythian, Parthian, and Hepthalite (Huna) enemies. However, the Gupta armies were probably better disciplined. Able commanders like Samudragupta and Chandragupta II would have likely understood the need for combined armed tactics and proper logistical organization. Gupta military success likely stemmed from the concerted use of elephants, armored cavalry, and foot archers in tandem against both Hindu kingdoms and foreign armies invading from the Northwest. The Guptas also maintained a navy, allowing them to control regional waters.
The collapse of the Gupta Empire in the face of the Huna onslaught was due not directly to the inherent defects of the Gupta army, which after all had initially defeated these people under Skandagupta. More likely, internal dissolution sapped the ability of the Guptas to resist foreign invasion, as was simultaneously occurring in Western Europe and China.
Huna invasions and the end of empire
Skandagupta was followed by weak rulers Puru Gupta (467-473), Kumaragupta II (473-476), Buddhagupta (476-495?), Narasimhagupta, Kumaragupta III, Vishnu Gupta, Vainya Gupta and Bhanu Gupta. In the 480's the Hephthalite King Oprah broke through the Gupta defenses in the northwest, and much of the empire was overrun by the Huna by 500. The empire disintegrated under the attacks of Toramana and his successor Mihirakula. The Hunas conquered several provinces of the empire, including Malwa, Gujarat and Thanesar and broke away under the rule of local dynasties. It appears from inscriptions that the Guptas, although their power was much diminished, continued to resist the Hunas. Narasimhagupta formed an alliance with the independent kingdoms to drive the Huna from most of northern India by the 530's. The succession of the sixth-century Guptas is not entirely clear, but the tail end recognized ruler of the dynasty's main line was king Vishnugupta, reigning from 540 to 550.
Legacy of the Gupta Empire
Scholars of this period include Aryabhatta, who is believed to be the first to come up with the concept of zero, postulated the theory that the Earth moves round the Sun, and studied solar and lunar eclipses. Kalidasa, who was a great playwright, who wrote plays such as Shakuntala, which is said to have inspired Goethe, and marked the highest point of Sanskrit literature is also said to have belonged to this period.
According to historian's work, “The Gupta Empire is considered by many scholars to be the "classical age" of Hindu and Buddhist art and literature. The Rulers of the Gupta Empire were strong supporters of developments in the arts, architecture, science, and literature. The Gupta Empire circulated a large number of gold coins, called dinars.”
Contributions to the world and achievements
Gupta astronomers also made many advances in astronomy by using their mathematical breakthroughs. It was during this empire that philosophers in India first proposed that the earth was not flat but was instead round and rotated on an axis by viewing a lunar eclipses. They also made discoveries about gravity and the planets of the solar system, which they used to tell the horoscopes. Chess originated in Gupta India, where its early form in the 6th century was known as caturaga, which translates as "four divisions [of the military]" – infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. Doctors also invented several medical instruments, and even performed operations. The Indian numerals which is the first positional base 10 numeral systems in the world have originated from Gupta India. Kama Sutra the ancient Gupta text is widely considered to be the standard work on human sexual behavior in Sanskrit literature written by the Indian scholar Vatsyayana. These ideas spread throughout the world through trade. The Gupta reign was certainly the "Golden Age" of north India.
Gupta dynasty
The Gupta dynasty ruled the Gupta Empire of India, from around 320 to 550. Some of its main rulers were:
Samudragupta
Ramagupta
Chandragupta II
Kumaragupta I
Skandagupta
Narasimhagupta
Buddhagupta
Purugupta
Vishnugupta
History of South Asia (Indian Subcontinent)
Stone Age 70,000–3300 BC
• Mehrgarh Culture • 7000–3300 BC
Indus Valley Civilization 3300–1700 BC
Late Harappan Culture 1700–1300 BC
Iron Age 1200–1 BC
• Maha Janapadas • 700–300 BC
• Magadha Empire • 545–550 BC
• Maurya Empire • 321–184 BC
• Kharavela • 209–170 BC
• Chera Empire • 300 BC–1200 AD
• Chola Empire • 300 BC–1279 AD
• Pandyan Empire • 250 BC–1345 AD
• Satavahana • 230 BC–220 AD
Middle Kingdoms 1AD–1279 AD
• Kushan Empire • 60–240 AD
• Gupta Empire • 280–550
• Harsha Empire • 590-647
• Pala Empire • 750–1174
• Chalukya Dynasty • 543–753
• Rashtrakuta • 753–982
• Western Chalukya Empire • 973–1189
• Yadava Empire • 850–1334
Hoysala Empire 1040–1346
Kakatiya Empire 1083–1323
Islamic Sultanates 1206–1596
• Delhi Sultanate • 1206–1526
• Deccan Sultanates • 1490–1596
Ahom Kingdom 1228–1826
Vijayanagara Empire 1336–1646
Mughal Empire 1526–1858
Maratha Empire 1674–1818
Sikh Confederacy 1716–1799
Sikh Empire 1799–1849
Company rule in India 1757–1858
British Raj 1858–1947
Partition of India 1947
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tuesday, 15. May 2007, 11:31:32
Motivation
Motivation - Get Motivated and Stay Motivated
Getting motivated to accomplish a goal may be easy, but it is staying motivated that we often find difficult. Staying on task, or motivated to reach a goal can be a long process and can be frustrating if you do not take the time to accomplish the short-term goals first. When you have a goal, no matter what it is, you can take steps to ensure that after you get motivated, you stay motivated.
Most people set certain goals for themselves. Maybe it is to get in better shape or maybe it is to go back to school. Whatever goal or dream you have, motivation is sometimes hard to come by. Motivation takes not only hard work, but it also takes dedication, willingness, and drive. Many people start out strong when they want to accomplish a goal, but soon find that it is not always
easy to stick to the task.
Since everyone is motivated by something different, it will be important to find what it is that motivates you personally. For some people, who are motivated from within, motivation comes from that inner voice that pushes them to work harder and do better. Others need outside factors to push them to their goals. For those people, there are things that can be done to get motivated and to stay motivated no matter what goal you are working towards.
One thing that can help keep you motivated or can get in the way of keeping you motivated is just life. If you are busy, you may tell yourself that you do not have the time or the means to stay motivated. This is especially true for anyone that wants to get in shape or lose weight. We find ourselves making excuses because we are too busy or cannot find the time to exercise or eat right. In addition, we may find that the snack machines at work are just too tempting during the day to turn down. Maybe we find that we are too busy to cook a healthy meal and instead find a fast food drive through. When you think your life is too busy to achieve your goals, you need to take the time to rethink. You can stay motivated if you can reorganize your priorities and your life to reflect your goals and dreams.
Another good way to stay motivated is to find a dedicated partner who is willing to help you through your hardest times. Find someone; whether it is your spouse, friend or neighbor that you can talk to when the times are hard. Maybe you can find a friend that also wants to get in shape or eat better. Work with that person to find a routine that works for the both of you. When you know someone else is depending on you, you will find it is easier to stay motivated to accomplish you goals. Find a partner that shares your willingness and dedication and will work to push you to stay motivated.
You can also stay motivated by hard work. When you see how far you have come when you are working towards your short-term goals, you will see that you can accomplish your goals. This will help you work hard and stay dedicated and motivated. It is not always easy to work hard towards something that is difficult, but when you believe in yourself and work hard it will be easier. When you work hard and see results, others will notice. Those compliments will go far in helping you stay motivated day after day.
Another easy way to get motivated and stay motivated is to use uplifting music during your work. Maybe you are trying to clean your house or walk two miles day. Invest in a good portable music system, such as an MP3 player and fill it with music that will keep you moving. Even when you are not actively working on your goals, good music can help you think about what you want to accomplish and keep you excited about the next day.
When you work hard and dedicate yourself to accomplishing your goals, you will have the ability to stay motivated. Think about your goals and work with a partner, organize your life to accommodate your goals and stay dedicated. Almost any goal can be accomplished when you are motivated.
Staying motivated at work is easier than you think when you know what to do.
1. Decide What You Must Achieve Today.
It is easy to get caught up with non-urgent matters that you can either ignore completely or do at a later date.
All that clutter leaves you confused about what to do so you end up procrastinating.
You need to ask yourself:
What is of the utmost importance that I must complete today?
Define that specific goal and focus solely on that until you have achieved it.
Clarity is power. It allows you to operate in a peak state of concentration and will help to ensure you are at your best. You will be amazed at how much you will get done and how successful you will feel when you FOCUS.
2. Break Down Complex Goals Into Manageable Steps.
One of the biggest mistakes people make is the failure to take big projects and restructure them as a series of challenging but stimulating tasks.
Take any project and list the sequence of steps you need to follow. Make sure the steps are big enough to keep your interest and not so small that you feel bored by the prospect of moving ahead with the project.
It is very motivating to have a highly specific game plan that challenges you without leaving you overwhelmed.
Once you have this blueprint written down you can get started. And make sure to mark your progress with the time of completion as you work your way through the list.
Tracking the time encourages you to make a game of getting things done properly and quickly.
3. Use Negative Pressure To Keep You On Target.
This is an unusual but highly effective tip.
Pick someone at work to check in on your progress during the day. Make sure this person has a positive outlook and that he or she is fully supportive of your goal to achieve more. Choose someone you want to impress with your abilities and productivity.
The secret is to use negative pressure to keep you on track. i.e. you want to dread the prospect of failure because you do not want to lose the approval of this person.
You will have moments during the day when you feel good about the progress you are making. At this point the natural reaction is to ease up.
You can deal with this by setting up the very real prospect of disappointing someone who believes in you. This desire to avoid embarrassment will drive you to give of your best.
Use these three tips each day and watch your productivity soar.
Motivation really is a question of strategy. When you know your personal motivation blueprint there is nothing you cannot do.
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report, the 5 Step Motivation Report. Apply now because it is available for a limited time only at: http://www.getmotivatedstaymotivated.com/special.htm[/size=1]
Tuesday, 13. March 2007, 15:51:41
Game Theory
Philosophy
Philosophers are increasingly becoming interested in Game Theory because it provides a way of elucidating the logical difficulty of philosophers such as Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant and other social and political theorists.
Rationality and the pursuit of self-interest:
According to Bertrand Russell " 'Reason' has a perfectly clear and precise meaning. It signifies the choice of the right means to an end that you wish to achieve". This is the interpretation of 'reason' that most contemporary philosophers favor. However, many philosophers have pointed out situations where the concept of rationality seems to break down. The situations are those who strategic structures resemble that of the Prisoner's Dilemma.
An example of a multiple person Prisoner's Dilemma is as follows: Suppose that during a drought, a person must decide whether he should act in his own self-interest and water the garden or whether he should exercise restraint and conserve water. No matter what the other community members do, a person is always better off watering his garden because this is the right means to the end that he desires. The reasoning for this is that it is unnecessary for one person to exercise restraint if the most other community members are restraining as well. Even if the rest of the community doesn't exercise restraint, it is futile for just one person to do so since one person does not have that big of an impact on the whole water supply.
The paradox is that if the entire community reasons this way, the water supply will dry up completely but if each community member cooperates and exercises restraint (acts irrationally) the water supply will be spared. Moral philosopher, Derek Parfit, believes that cooperation, instead of being the irrational choice, can be a rational course of action. Parfit has proposed several solutions to the Prisoner's dilemma so that cooperation becomes the reasonable choice. One solution involves changing the entire structure of the game so that it is no longer a Prisoner's Dilemma. To do this, the payoff functions of each player should be changed in order to make it unprofitable for anyone to defect. In the case of the example given above, the payoff functions of each individual would change if there were a fine for watering the garden during a drought. Such a solution is considered a "political" solution and oftentimes these sorts of solutions cannot be implemented.
Parfit argues that an even better solution would be to find ways to make people cooperate for purely moral reasons. Parfit proposes that the way to achieve such a "moral" solution would be to educate society about the Prisoner's Dilemma and it's most desirable, though irrational solution.
Kant's Categorical Imperative
Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative, which is intended to be a fundamental principle of morality, states: "Act only on such a maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." A maxim is just a personal rule of conduct while the universal law is the conduct of all people. Kant's categorical imperative is continually debated among moral philosophers because of its obscurity. Through the use of Game Theory, Kant's views can be clarified. Kant's beliefs, when understood, offers a moral solution to the Prisoner's Dilemma.
One of Kant's examples of categorical imperative is illustrated in the following maxim: "Always borrow money when in need and promise to pay it back without any intention of keeping the promise." This maxim cannot possibly made into a universal law because it cannot be made universal without creating a contradiction. That is, if this maxim was made universal, then everyone would break promises and a promise would have no meaning and therefore promises would cease to exist. Therefore, if this maxim were made universal, a logical contradiction would follow.
In terms of Game Theory, Kant's categorical imperative can be restated as follows: "Choose only a strategy which, if you could will it to be chosen by all the players, would yield a better outcome from you point of view than any other". This statement, then, becomes a solution to the Prisoner's Dilemma. That is, according to Kant's categorical imperative, only a cooperative choice can result. This is because the personal choice of defecting, if made universal, is in contradiction to one's personal interest (similar to the above example).
Hobbes's and Rousseau's Social Contract
Through the use of Game Theory, Hobbes' argument, later made popular by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for absolute monarchy can be reconstructed. Hobbes argued that, without some form of external constraint on people's behaviors, anarchy would ensue. Cooperation among people would be impossible since people act only to maximize individual welfare and not the welfare of society as a whole. Granted, there will exists altruists (maybe even many of them) who constrain their self-interests for the good of others. However, if even one self-interested person exists, he/she will exploit the altruists' constraints, profiting from both his/her absence of constraint and the altruist's unselfish behavior. As a result, Hobbes believes that it is psychologically unnatural for altruists to exist. If just one narrowly self-interested person exists no altruist can survive unless he/she becomes narrowly self-interested too. In such an environment, known as a State of Nature, Hobbes argues that a person must always be suspicious that another will attack in order to maximize his/her own self-interest. Therefore, in order for a person to maximize his best interest, he must attack the other person before that other person can attack. Each such conflict between two people in a state of nature has been termed as the "Hobbesian Dilemma." However, in the field of Game Theory, the Hobbesian Dilemma has the same structure as a "Prisoner's Dilemma."
Hobbes believed that the "Hobbesian Dilemma" results in a State of Nature because morality is an unstable enforcer of social cooperation. According to Hobbes, a stable enforcer can only exist if not one person can deviate from the established rule by which the rest adhere to. Since cooperation among people is biologically necessary, a stable enforcer must exist. Hobbes believes that the best form of social enforcement is the existence of an all-powerful sovereign.
Resource Allocation and Networking
Computer network bandwidth can be viewed as a limited resource. The users on the network compete for that resource. Their competition can be simulated using game theory models. No centralized regulation of network usage is possible because of the diverse ownership of network resources.
The problem is of ensuring the fair sharing of network resources. For example, ten Stanford students on the same local network need access to the Internet. Each person, by using their network connection, diminishes the quality of the connection for the other users. This particular case is that of a volunteer's dilemma. That is, if one person abstains from using the network, the other people will be better off, but that person will be worse off.
If a centralized system could be developed which would govern the use of the shared resources, each person would get an assigned network usage time or bandwidth, thereby limiting each person's usage of network resources to his or her fair share.
As of yet, however, such a system remains an impossibility, making the situation of sharing network resources a competitive game between the users of the network and decreasing everyone's utility.
Biology
Although the natural world is often thought of as brutal, dog-eat-dog type, cooperation exists between many different species. The reason behind this coexistence can be modeled using game theory. For example, birds called ziczacs enter crocodiles' mouths to eat parasites. This symbiosis allows crocodiles to achieve good oral hygiene and allows the ziczacs to get a decent meal. But any crocodile can easily eat a ziczac (defect). So why don't they? Apparently, over the eons of evolutionary action, the crocodiles and the ziczacs have learned the benefits of cooperation, the "equilibrium point."
Of course, chances are that neither the crocodiles nor the ziczacs rationalize their behavior with game theory. But their behavior can still be modeled using game theory principles.
Artificial Intelligence
One of the marks that differentiates a human from a machine is the human's ability to make independent decisions based on environmental stimuli. Most computer programs that are required to make any sort of a decision are currently pre-programmed with the lists of decisions based on a number of conditions. However, if those conditions are not met in some way or are altered, computers have no way of making decisions they were not programmed to make.
In the future, AI programs may be endowed with the ability to make new decisions unplanned for by their creators. This would require the programs to be able to generate new payoff matrices based on the observed stimuli and experience. A program that is able to do that would be capable of learning and would, in a lot of ways, resemble the human decision-making process.
Economics
Many of the interactions in the business world may be modeled using game theory methodology. A famous example is that of the similarity of the price-setting of oligopolies to the Prisoner's Dilemma. If an oligopoly situation exists, the companies are able to set prices if they choose to cooperate with each other. If they cooperate, both are able to set higher prices, leading to higher profits. However, if one company decides to defect by lowering its price, it will get higher sales, and, consequently, bigger profits than its competitor(s), who will receive lower profits. If both companies decide to defect, i.e. lower prices, a price war will ensue, in which case neither company will profit, since it will retain its market share and experience lower revenues at the same time.
Prisoner's dilemma is not the only game theory model which can be used to model economic situations. Other models can be applied to different situations and, in many cases, can suggest the best outcome for all parties concerned.
Wednesday, 28. February 2007, 10:31:27
Self Esteem-2
Courage
by Edgar A. Guest
Courage isn't a brilliant dash,
A daring deed in a moment's flash;
It isn't an instantaneous thing
Born of despair with a sudden spring
It isn't a creature of flickered hope
Or the final tug at a slipping rope;
But it's something deep in the soul of man
That is working always to serve some plan.
Courage isn't the last resort
In the work of life or the game of sport;
It isn't a thing that a man can call
At some future time when he's apt to fall;
If he hasn't it now, he will have it not
When the strain is great and the pace is hot.
For who would strive for a distant goal
Must always have courage within his soul.
Courage isn't a dazzling light
That flashes and passes away from sight;
It's a slow, unwavering, ingrained trait
With the patience to work and the strength to wait.
It's part of a man when his skies are blue,
It's part of him when he has work to do.
The brave man never is freed of it.
He has it when there is no need of it.
Courage was never designed for show;
It isn't a thing that can come and go;
It's written in victory and defeat
And every trial a man may meet.
It's part of his hours, his days and his years,
Back of his smiles and behind his tears.
Courage is more than a daring deed:
It's the breath of life and a strong man's creed.
Wise Old Owl
by Connie Hinnen Cook
Like the Solomon of fowl
Sat a wise old owl
Perched in a Sycamore tree,
While the moonlight glimmered
And the starlight shimmered,
These words he spoke to me:
"I guess you've heard
I'm a wise old bird,
And if wisdom you would find...
Always look for the best
And your life will be blest,
To all others' faults be blind.
"In this life, I know
You will find it so
That if you think kindly of others,
You'll soon find that it's true
They'll think kindly of you...
Praise your sisters and your brothers!"
You may think me a fool -
Owls don't talk, as a rule,
But in solemn tone he said:
"Don't be quick to enact
Words you'll wish to retract,
Dwell upon the good instead!"
Though I hate to admit it,
I could see, once I did it,
What that wise owl said was true.
Your faults I'll overlook
'Cause it says in The Book
What you sow comes back to you!
Now, if you will agree
With what he said to me,
Then my faults you will ignore...
Like that sage bird said
We'll both come out ahead
If we judge less, and praise more!
Wednesday, 28. February 2007, 10:12:53
Knowledge
Power Shift by Alvin Toffler
We are all in a power shift era. Power deals with knowledge and the role it plays in our lives. Without knowledge you will not win a battle, in war or in market competition. Knowledge is the key to success. Alvin Toffler gives many examples on how knowledge has changed lives in his incredible book PowerShift. With knowledge you can gain power. But the shifting of power has become more fluid; it can shift from one person to another quickly.
Manufacturers were once in control before our digital age. One example Alvin talks about is the Gillette razor company and the power it had. Gillette had all the control of its product in the beginning. Gillette controlled how many razors went in each store. How many different styles/brands of Gillette’s a store would display. The store owner had no control.
Manufacturers kept their competition running because of the information they knew. They knew how to accumulate knowledge about their consumers. From this knowledge power was born. The invention of bar-codes shifted power from the manufacturer to the retailer. Bar-codes reveal a lot of information about the consumer. A retailer now has information about their consumer from these bar-codes. The invention of computers for bar-codes has shifted the power from the manufacture to the retailer.
Today these same manufacturers beg for space in stores. Store owners know what the customer wants from the information it collects through its barcode system. A good example of how power can shift because of technology. Deeper knowledge permits us to reach high speed levels that produce items as a faster and better efficiency.
The invention of networks has opened the world to anyone. LANs and WANs can connect companies across the globe. “Companies daily grow more dependent on their electronic nets for billing, ordering, tracking, and trading; for the exchange of design specifications, engineering drawings and schedules; and for actually controlling production lines remotely. Once regarded as purely administrative tools, networked information systems are increasingly seen as strategic weapons, helping companies protect established markets and attack new ones.” In today’s society we have VANs (Value Added Networks) now. These networks can translate information’s from one form to the other. “VANs merely scramble and rescramble messages to adapt them to different media.” VANs can translate from one language to another. It may not be perfect but it is understandable.
VAN networks are a revolution in today’s business. A network's main function is to share information. Corporations are leading towards electronic interaction network. This interaction allows the buyer to place an order with the seller and have the transaction take place immediately. This leads to intimacy with customers and suppliers. You can become locked into a supplier though. Information sharing could lead to blurring boundaries of information. The information can be used as a weapon for the ‘go-betweens’ and intermediaries. Wholesalers and warehouses are bypassed. There are dangers to new technology. Corporations have to watch out for themselves and their customers. Information boundaries are critical.
Could extra intelligence produce a better way of life? Technology is proving extra intelligence does lead to a better life. The invention of the computer has proven this fact. “Before long the power of computers will leap forward because of parallel processing, artificial intelligence, and other stunning innovations. Speech recognition and automatic translation will, no doubt, come into wide use, along with high definition visual displays and concert-class sound. The same networks will routinely carry voice, data, images, and information in other forms.” Upgrading information leads to intelligence.
Microprocessor revolutionized the mainframe computer. “The next step has come with the introduction of recently of “hyper-media” data bases capable of storing not merely text but also graphics, music, speech and other sounds. More important, hyper-media combine data bases and programs to give the user far greater flexibility than earlier data base systems.” This technology has changed how people in today’s corporate world operate.
Information is freely transformed from one place to the other. Everyone does not have to have the exact same computer and software. “The goal of hyper-media is to “free-form” and “free-flow” information.” Knowledge is power and power is knowledge.
Skills and knowledge are needed for jobs, not quantitative but qualitative. In the near future job descriptions will be based on what knowledge you have in the technological field. Your brain will earn you money not your physical strength. UPS and FedEx drivers use computers, load and unload trucks plus they drive trucks. They have to use their brain to run the computer and their physical strength to load and unload the trucks. Knowledge is inexhaustible. Wealth used to be measured by the possession of goods you had now it is measured by the amount of intelligence you have. The information wars struggle for control of knowledge. Knowledge is a hot commodity.
Wednesday, 28. February 2007, 10:03:54
Bricks
Self-Esteem Bricks
One of the toughest things to obtain and maintain is a positive self-esteem. Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves, where positive is the condition we wish to maintain.
But how does one go about developing a positive self-esteem? In order to be positive one must have an optimistic view about the possibility of things we trying to achieve or accomplish.
Only through personal successes, small or big, do we enforce or reinforce our self-esteem.
I’m often reminded of the story of the three little pigs when I think of self-esteem. In the story, each pig chose the type of material they would use to build their house. One chose straw, the other wood and the last one brick. The big bad wolf was able to blow down the first two, but failed to blow down the house made of brick.
In life and in business, we run across situations or individuals for that matter who will try to blow our house down. When you lose your job the first thing you begin to question is why did this happen to you? What did you do wrong? What could you have done better? All these questions are puffs or gusts aimed at bringing down our house of self-esteem.
Some of us have self-esteem houses made of straw. This lightweight material is the result of always depending on others for help and never achieving a sense of self-reliance. A person who has never accepted responsibility or accountability for their actions completely will always have their house blown down with the slightest puff of an unfavorable circumstance. For example, people who live off of government subsidies to survive or who chose not to get an education are always in danger of getting their self-esteem house knocked down.
Those who’ve chosen wood are usually those who’ve always piggy-backed off of other’s successes. People who’ve never gone it alone or taken any risk themselves and have always played it safe. These people assume some accountability and responsibility to the degree others will cover for them if things go wrong. There are those that can withstand small puffs and get by. But this same group people who use wood to build their houses will have it collapse at the first gust of real adversity. Good example of this group would be people who overextend themselves on debt or try to leave beyond their means. And when they lose their job, for instance, their seemingly solid house of wood begins to collapse under the weight of debt.
The question we need to ask is, how do we construct a house of self-esteem made of brick? Well like any good builder, it begins with acquiring the proper material. The best material for building comes from our past. Each brick we lay is a reminder of all the great things we’ve done in the past. And the mortar we lay between them is our confidence that we can do these things again.
Often times in the face of adversity, we panic and depress ourselves. We commit a great crime against our self-esteem by not remembering all the good things we’ve accomplished. We forget about all those times where we surmounted the problems and dealt with adversity face on.
When we surrender self-esteem in the present, it is because we’ve forgotten or forsaken our past. I hear many motivational speakers and pundits who say the past is the past. I disagree to the extent that remembering successes and lessons learned is worth looking back at. Looking back into the past is a reminder of how far we’ve come.
Adversity and personal challenges to overcome are part of the success equation. As many have said, it is how we confront these setbacks that determine our character going forward. Difficult times will come, but they won’t last unless you allow them to.
Look back at your accomplishments and reflect on who you are and how far you’ve come. Then turn your head and look forward, over the present obstacles, and see the possibilities. Build your house with bricks of personal accomplishments and private successes and you will never have to fear the gust of change shaking your foundation.
Please forward this article; share it with a friend who may need a few words of inspiration.
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