What to Do When Depressed / Bored / Lethargic ?

All of us know strategies for succeeding in life. You might have shelves full of how-to books on all aspects of life. They require us to follow certain steps in a certain way to be successful. For example, to achieve your goal through affirmations, you are asked to write your affirmation several times everyday.

However, what do we do when we are in the blues ? You just don’t feel like making that effort. Sometime back, I wanted to rise early at 5 the morning. I tried everything, buying fancy sonic shaker alarms that would shake me awake. However, I found myself switching off the alarm and going back to sleep.

Or perhaps you are feeling depressed after some setbacks in business or career or relationships or your health. You don’t feel motivated to do anything. Advice given at this point may make us feel more negative and resentful.

There is a way out of this gloomy mental state. It originates in the mind, so the solution is in the mind. You only need to repeat some affirming phrases to yourself, wherever you are-even if slumped in bed under the blankets.

   I accept myself!

          I approve of myself!

I love myself!

I help myself!

Let’s take a practical application: you have an exam tomorrow and you haven’t prepared well enough, you don’t feel motivated to take up the challenge and burn the midnight oil.

Just repeat the above thoughts to yourself as many times as possible.

    I accept myself!

           I approve of myself!
I love myself!

I help myself!

Slowly, you can feel hope rising with in, belief in yourself will start coming back, and you feel motivated and energized to take action.

Along with that, I have also found this affirmation very helpful. The French psychotherapist Émile Coué developed it :

Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and better !

These two techniques combined give wings to surmount any depression and heartache caused by negativity –whether in our mind or from others. But we would be better off keeping the depression far away, by engaging in constant activity. As the saying goes...Idle mind is the Devil's workshop and Flowing water remains fresh and free of worms.

Activity is the best known cure for depression and other negative moods.

Related:
How to have Hope
Hope For The Suicide-Prone: Perspectives From The Other Side

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A Drop of Water !

It was 6 in the morning, on a wintry Bangalore day. I was on my irregular morning walk, through the narrow streets of Benniganahalli, off Old Madras Road. As I moved past the government residential quarters in nearby CV Raman Nagar, I saw the water tank overflow and spill over into the street below. I walked on.

6:45 am. I was on my return. Passing the quarters again, I looked up and was aghast to see the tank still overflowing. I wanted to stop it. There were two guards near the gate and I approached them. They did listen to my concern and said they would look for the person responsible, to stop the pump. That was as much as I could go. I did not belong to that residential colony.

For many people, water is an infinite resource, that can be used lavishly. There is a lot of effort behind each drop of water; as you can see from the hydrological cycle (see figure below).

In addition to this, there are processes of absorption and transpiration in trees and plants, and the movement of running water as it percolates through the ground strata to meet ground water reserves. All these are processes that happen before each drop of pure water falls from the clouds.

But isn't water an inanimate object, formed by an automatic natural process, and can't we use it as we like ? The best and most vital things in life are all free-air, water, and the earth we stand on. We human beings are also a part of nature. Nature is not complete without us. We cannot stand apart from it, and are subject to the forces of nature like all other creatures. The recent Tsunamis and earthquakes are reminders of man's punitive stature before the stupendous forces of nature.

Great scientists like Isaac Newton have recognized this. He famously said: I am just like a small child playing with a few grains of sand on the infinite seashore. He knew what he had discovered about natural laws was just a very tiny part of the real thing.

If we can accept our stand relative to the grand Cosmos, it will be easy to be humble. A humble mind will always think twice before spending any resource.

How to conserve Water

There are many ways in which we can conserve water. For instance, dish-washing after kneading dough at home. We knead the dough in a bowl. Afterwards, if we keep it aside without washing off immediately, the dough sticking to the vessel dries up and is harder to remove. Then you need to fill the vessel to the brim with water and let it soak, to clean. If you had cleaned it out while still fresh, you could have saved at least 3 liters of water, for an average bowl.

Mighty Water

Here is a real story from Japan showing what potential a drop of water has! Tetsui was the disciple of a Zen master. He performed various chores as part of his responsibilities at his monastery. They involved watering the garden. One day, after finishing watering, he saw that there was a little water at the bottom of the bucket. He upturned the bucket and emptied it on the ground. Unseen by him, the master of the monastery who had been watching him all along, shouted: How dare you waste that water!

Tetsui's mind opened inwards and he experienced the truth. It was after this incident that he came to be known as Tetsui. It means ‘a drop of water.’

(Image courtesy: Wikipedia)

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Why Focus ?

If you were a soldier and you had only one shot at your target, and if your life depended on it, you would realize how vital it is to have concentration. An archer must concentrate, if he is to hit the target. Scientists must focus their thoughts, in order to uncover the mysteries of nature. Students need to focus to study effectively, to imbibe their study material.The deeper your focus and attention, the more effective and long-lasting results you can achieve.

Lack of Focus can result in mishaps of all kinds. Many accidents occur because of this. Relations can be harmed if people are not mindful of what they think, do and speak. Being aware of our thoughts and words, is being focused on the well being of our relationship.

In short, bad and ineffective actions of every kind are a natural result of lack of Focus. Focus here also connotes mindfulness, awareness, and concentration.

Focus is not a stressed out state. People try to maintain concentration under stress -this happens in critical situations. For instance, students cramming on the night prior to exams. Fighters engaged in a duel to death. The persons are in a state of focus mostly out of fear-for survival-but it is very stressful and exhausts. Such kind of situations do not occur everyday. We need to practice maintaining focus in a relaxed state of mind. Such a training benefits us during emergencies also. Emergencies cease to be emergencies then.

It is the Relaxed and focused state of mind that we need to be in. How to be in Relaxed focus ? It is a matter of daily practice, 24 hours a day.

Do we need to practice so much ? Actually it is not a matter of practicing a lot. It is just practising this moment.  If you practice this moment, it will take care of the coming moments, days, months and years.

So, yes, take a deep breath, relax. Watch your breath flow in an out. And swing into action.

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The One Factor That Can Sustain Relationships

In one word, it is Introspection. Holding a mirror to yourself, to see your actions, words, and thoughts, as others see and experience them.

In relationships, people point to each other :"it is his/her fault ! She/he is responsible ! He doesn't do it right! She is always complaining !" In all likelihood, we will be having our own hideous sides that we cherish. We never think of casting a glance at how it may be affecting others. Even in this age of education, elders who  may be post graduate, still abuse their adolescent younger generation.

We are conditioned to look outside us for the cause and the solution. Of course, we can never be the problem. I find I have a strong tendency to blame the outside world for the way things are. It never occurs to me that I may be, in some way, contributing to the situation.

I complain about the banana peel lying on the road; but I never thought of cleaning it up myself. (Gandhi: Be the change you want to see)

People accuse their partners of behavioral problems, yet turn a blind eye to the secret sins that they themselves commit. It is impossible to accuse others when one is aware of his own shortcomings. There would be no time-one would be too busy working on himself.

So the next time you find yourself pointing your finger at your partner, look closely at your hand. See ? Your  three fingers are pointing back at you. There is something to be set right first, my friend.

Note: I am not implying that one should take all injustices lying down. Correcting others is more easier when you do it with consideration and love-just as you would like to be corrected. One needs to practice separating the action from the person. And if we find ourselves losing our emotional balance at others' faults, perhaps that is where we should start-being aware of our own feelings ! This works like pricking a balloon-it takes the sting out of your emotional turmoil. Keep at it and you can see the difference, slowly.

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Anything is Possible, Even Catching a Bullet Shot

I have read about the miracles that Yogis and Qigong masters perform, and have witnessed a few. This video shows a Qigong master catching a fired bullet, among other incredible feats. It appears after 5 minutes into the video. This just goes to verify the infinite potential within you.

Love Can Do Anything

The power of love is understated in today's competitive, alpha-spirited world. Or rather, it is rarely visible. You catch glimpses of it in random acts of tenderness, such as the smile of an unknown child when it looks at you through the passing vehicle's glass. It is love in action. What motivated that child to smile at you ? We will never know-perhaps its innate Godliness (which is still unsullied in children) made it do it.

Terry Dobson, world famous martial expert, narrates an incident of kindness that changed his perception of martial arts and life itself. It happened while he was travelling in a suburban train in Japan. He had been learning Aikido (a martial art) there.

A drunk man in the compartment started bullying people near him. He shoved an old lady, and knocked an attendant down.

Dobson stood up, his youthful enthusiasm for adventure coupled with the desire to test his newly acquired skills in Aikido. But he wanted the drunk to make the first move, so he blew him a kiss to infuriate him. As expected, it provoked him and a fight was about to erupt when an elderly man who had been sitting quietly till then, intervened.

He spoke soothingly to the drunk man, and gently eased him away. Soon he was listening with a heart of empathy to his tale of woes. It turned out that he had lost his job and his wife too had left him !

Soon, the hulking man was sobbing in his lap like a child ! The old man's loving approach had melted the bitter hardness of his heart, embrittled by life's misfortunes.

What a way to resolve a conflict !

Have You Been Born Before ? An Argument for Rebirth with a Documented Event

The debate on rebirth has been raging for centuries. In the latter half of the twentieth century, leading authorities in various fields began publishing their experiences, research and views on the subject. Notable among them were Elizabeth Kubler Ross (M.D), George Ritchie (MD), and Brian Weiss (MD). We can find many arguments in favor of rebirth.

Is there life after death ?
For one thing, we would never know. For nobody would live to tell it, even if there were. NDEs( Near Death Experiences) are the nearest that we can come to documented study. But we can advance several case studies towards this theory.

Here I present for your consideration (for rebirth):

1. An argument
2. A documented event

1.The Argument
You need a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Take the pen and draw a line from left to right (straight or curved) on the paper. Name the end points as A and B. Your line might look like this :

          A                                   B


Now please answer these two questions :

         Where is the origin of the line?
         Where is its end ?


If you are like most people, you would have pointed to A and then B (or vice-versa if you had drawn right to left).

However, consider this : Precisely the line originated when you moved your hand, took the pen, then you placed its tip on the paper to draw the line AB. And before that, you were reading this post. Before that? You landed on this page somehow. Before that.....................it just goes on...and on...
And does it end at B ? No. You kept the pen down, and now you are reading this...it will continue...

So the line AB here represents the visible life on earth (from our birth to death). There definitely can be, has to be, events associated with you before your birth. You cannot assign individuality just from a point, simply because it is the only one visible.

Coming to think of it, how much can you remember of what you did and thought today ? Yesterday ? Before that ? Were you even aware ? If you were aware you would have remembered every single one of your actions (and your births).

2.The Event
This is a well known incident, documented in all major Indian newspapers, at-least those in South India. It is about a child prodigy painter called Clint who lived in Kerala, India from 1976 to 1983. A street in Kochi (his home town) is named in his memory and a film has been made about him.

He drew over 25,000 paintings in his short life span of, six years and eleven months. He never received formal training. And he drew pictures in elaborate detail.


Before you read Wikipedia's article on Clint : A question--How did Clint acquire his abilities ? He was born  and raised a Christian. He drew pictures of Hindu Gods as well.

He did not acquire this ability in this life time.

The same can be said about artists and athletes who exhibit extraordinary skill in a particular art or sport early in their lives, before any formal training can be given.

Read about Clint on Wikipedia :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Thomas_Clint
See also: http://edmund-thomas-clint.co.tv/

Why Germans are Great Inventors

Ever wondered why Germany is known for so many scientific and technical innovations? And about its excellent engineering products? (Scroll down to the bottom to get straight at the answer).

• Germans make excellent cars (Benz, BMW, Volkswagen)
• They invented the modern rocket (Verner Von Brown)
• Movable type printing (Gutenberg)
• Geigercounter-for measuring radioactivity (Hans Geiger)
• The first functional program-controlled Computer (Konrad Zuse)
• Uncertainty principle (Werner Heisenberg)
• Theory of Relativity (Albert Einstein)
• X-rays (Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen)

For a more complete list of German innovativeness, click the links at the bottom of this post.
Well, what forced this conclusion was a discussion on German grammar. I had been studying German for the past two months and its hair-splitting logic gave me the notion that the German society is very rule-based. This reflects the absolutely structured nature of their thought process.

For example, they distinguish between the state of repose of objects on the same platform. Suppose we have, on a table, a pen, a book, and a cup. Now in German, one has to specify like this:

The book and the pen lie on the table while the cup stands on the table.

Why do they distinguish like that ? The first two objects are horizontal whereas the cup is vertical. Now, if we were to turn the cup over on its side, so that it lies horizontally, we would have to say :the cup lies on the table.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_inventors_and_discoverers

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Delayed Gratification :The Marshmallow Test

Do you have it in you to delay your pleasures so that you can have a better reward ?
How do kids do on this ?

Here is the video of a study on kids on this topic. It is both funny and thought provoking:

The Truth Seeks Itself

There was this seeker after Truth who wandered all over the land, desperately. He went to Gurus and plied them with questions.

Their answers did not satisfy him. They did not open his eye to the truth, and his quest went on...

Then one day he sought out a less known sage. He was living in a remote area, shunning the public eye.

After the formalities, he, as was his wont, unleashed his question:

"Sir, where is the truth ? How may I see it ?"

The master looked up from the cup of tea he was holding in his hands, and gazed silently into the seeker's eyes. After a long silence, he said:

"It is verily the Truth that is asking this question!"

The answer homed into the seeker's heart like an arrow, and silenced it. His mind opened inward, and he knew:

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Perplexing Printer Puzzle

Recently I was learning to use a new computer printer from a leading manufacturer. It came through a Mail order service, on a web site.

Having been using printers as part of my job, still, I had not gone into the nitty-gritty of it-installation, ink cartridges etc. However, since it was a DIY manual, I decided to face up to the task.

The manual was well structured and the topics were easy to find, in logical sequence. I moved along smoothly through installing the printer software, making the settings, connecting printer and computer, even the totally unfamiliar task of loading the ink cartridges. Ah, now to print! But we needed to load the paper. Where was it? Of course, in the paper tray.

Unsuspectingly, I put the sheet of paper in the protruding tray in the front. No need of the manual for this. I switched on the power, opened a document and gave the print command.

Nada. Nothing.

I checked the manual. A picture was given of the paper tray, how to pull it out, etc. It was a close-up, and unfortunately, it did not have a reference. That is, one could not make out on which part of the printer this tray was located. I tried hard to locate any part that resembled that in the figure. The only protruding part (a paper tray should protrude, right?) was in the front, but it did not have any of the tabs mentioned in the manual and the figure. I pressed and pulled at various other parts in the hope that the tray would spring open.

Mortified that my tech savvy, super fast installation had been botched just at the finishing line by a most plain task, I stalled, perplexed. A good thirty minutes must have gone on it.

I sat before the printer, eyeing it with growing exasperation. My plight reminded me of the proverbial simian with the coconut. More than that, it hurt when one's pride in being tech-savvy was reduced to rubble.

Who would have guessed that the paper tray would be covered and be at the back of the printer? Somehow this idea clicked in my brain and I tried pulling a latch at the back of the printer. Lo! There was the paper tray. Having used only Laser jets till now, and their paper trays being opened from the front, I was conditioned to look for the tray in the front.

It was a bit frustrating that the creators of the manual did not try to think from a possible perspective that some users would have. They just cannot assume that all users will know the location of the tray. What is the point in showing a close up of the paper tray, without showing where it is located? All parts are straight lines and look alike to the first time user.

Showing a picture of the printer and referencing each part with a letter can avoid this unsavory situation. It should be easy to distinguish the front, back and the sides-left and right.

That will save time and make for a great user-friendly manual that even Grandmas can use!
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Message Magic: Answering Machine Humor$666.52

Take Charge of Your Life...or We Will !

If you do not rule yourself, you are asking to be ruled, and you will be.
If you do not manage yourself, you will be managed.
If you do not discipline yourself, you will be disciplined.

If you do not manage your time, somebody else will do it.
If you do not set your own goals, somebody else will do it.
If you do not make your choices this moment, somebody else will.

If you do not think for yourself, somebody else will do it, and not in your best interests.

After all,
you alone can eat to sate your hunger, others cannot !
you alone can breath your breaths, every single one of them !
Then why not think for yourself ?
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Aikido as a De-stresser

Today, dealing with day to day situations and yet enjoying a reservoir of inner peace is challenging enough. Life has built up a frenetic pace, especially in the metro cities. Throw in drugs, terrorism, porn, communal and religious politics - we have a Pandora's box open.

Chasing as we are our dream of material super wealth, when mishap strikes, we are like deer caught in headlights: ill equipped to deal with life's exigencies. Forget about the external issues, how do we handle issues within our families and in our relationships ? The age old tit-for-tat rule reigns even now, and well wishers who come in to resolve disputes end up aggravating them.

We need to equip ourselves to have a balanced perspective on life. We need a poise to be able to deal with life's challenges. Why?

We have to eat for ourselves, breath for ourselves, and pretty much everything else. Why not think for ourselves as well ? Nobody else can do that for us. If they did, even if with the best of intentions, it would be from a skewed view of situations. Only you have the true picture of your life.

Let us see how Aikido's(a Japanese martial art) philosophy can help us in our challenging issues.

Aikido's basic philosophy is non-resistance. It is not just non-resistance: neutralization is a more accurate description. While Christ exhorts us to turn the other cheek to an attacker, Aikido advises to turn your cheek before being hit. in other words, it entails us to maintain a constant alertness.

Aikido does not aim at vanquishing and destroying an opponent. It aims at tuning in to the attacker's energy so that we can harmonize and neutralize it. For this reason there are no attacks practised in Aikido, except for training. Also, fending off an attack, an aikidoka does not look at how it turns out- it is just a deflection of energy of the attack- executed smoothly.

This is in contrast to conventional martial arts where participants aim for a decisive win. The word Aikido in Japanese means the way of Universal Harmony. It was founded by a Japanese martial artist, Ueshiba Morihei. He underwent prolonged training in Jujitsu and Judo before he developed his own unique art, Aikido.

Apart from the physical art, the principles of Aikido can be applied to day to day life situations as well. An excellent example is given by Terry Dobson.

It is about an incident that happened to Dobson while he was learning Aikido in Japan. You can see the essence of Aikido in real life. Please see Terry Dobson for the full story.

This incident demonstrates the secret of how Aikido can help us defuse tensions in real life situations: refuse to yield or fight against the anger in the other person. Instead we neutralize the energy by harmonizing.

In simple words, on a physical level: move in the same direction as the offending energy-push when you are pulled, pull when you are pushed.

Aikido practice has meditation as an important part of it. It is through meditation that one can achieve the thought free state, a prerequisite for seeing things as they are. Through meditation and Aikido practice, practitioners achieve such feats as having irresistible power in hands such that they cannot be stopped etc.

As there is no winning and losing in Aikido, it does not have tournaments either. Perhaps you can say a practitioner loses when he becomes angry.

Suppressing anger is not the way to resolve it. When we maintain a non-critical, non-judgmental awareness of the thoughts and emotions arising in us, they automatically quiet down. The peace that you experience forms an aura around you and transfers to others.
Note: This article was posted on Articlesbase.com on Dec 8, 2009. Link: Here
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Clear Thinking Can Solve Personal Problems

Understanding a problem incorrectly can lead us into all sorts of side tracks, wasting enormous amounts of time, effort and money.

I will narrate an experience that illustrates the various errors that can happen in analysing a problem. A proper analysis can present a simple solution that was right there under your nose all the while.

The incident happened around my mini stereo system. It developed a snag. It had two small speakers and one big speaker. The big speaker was fixed in a cabin. One of the small speakers stopped producing any sound. Well. Not totally silent. It would come on and off, with just some hissing noises in between.

For a long time I thought the speaker was gone, and blamed the company for robbing me. I tried to pry open the speaker, naively hoping that the problem was with some wire connection and that I could set it right myself.(I was no electronics engineer and had no experience with repairing gadgets.) The speaker frame was a molded whole and there was no way to open it. I thought I would have to buy a new one. But would a single speaker be available ? Would the company insist on my buying a new set ?

Then I happened to switch the speaker channels, just to test and found that there was nothing wrong with the speaker. It was only one channel that was not responding. If I connected the speaker to the other channel, it did produce sound. That was a relief. Now I did not have to change the small speaker.

But the channel came out of the Main speaker cabin(It housed the amplifier). Now I had to open the cabin. I resolved to make an attempt, before showing it to an expert. In fact, one of my acquaintances, a cd shop owner, had offered to service it. But I hated to lug the big box across the street to his shop.

Opening the cabin was easy. I used a pocket knife, improvised as a screwdriver. Peering inside, I could see a PCB( Printed Circuit Board) with a lot of small devices on it. Capacitors, transistors, ICs…? what the heck was all that ? I have’nt had to deal with them ever, since college. I strained my eyes to find a piece of wire pulling on which, the sound would come back. Nope. Everything was screwed and soldered properly; there were no loose ends in sight.

I guessed I had no option but to take it to my friend for his expert opinion. He should have. All day he sits around DVD players, TVs and Stereo systems.

Then the break came which was a sort of Aha moment for me.(I seriously believe I might have awakened to “The Zen of speaker tweaking.”)

The speaker had been coming to life off and on while I moved the cable which carried the signals from my computer to the speaker system.There! That meant the channels were being seperated in that cable itself. Otherwise it would not have affected a single channel. It would have affected both channels.

Now I knew that the problem lay in this cable. It was broken at some point along its one and a half metre length. All that I had to do was get a new cable.

Moral : Before attempting to repair audio equipment, do check the various connecting cables. Do it safe. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Bigger moral: Often a problem is not as complicated as it seems to be. Just relax and observe. The solution will show itself.

Are you going to finish strong ?

It is amazing how much we can accomplish if we focused on what we have, instead of lamenting about misfortunes. This is what I learnt from the man in this stunning video.

The Plain Miracle

This is about a fact that all of us forget in the rush of life, what no one appreciates until it's too late: It's a great miracle to be alive and to love each other.

We don't need to go through a tragedy to realise this fact. Let us express our love to our near and dear ones while we still can.

I had to write this post after I chanced upon this site by Andreas Ramos. As I read the letters, I could not stop the tear drops.

Andreas is a well known author. His first hand account of the fall of the Berlin Wall has been published in many books like The Berlin Wall and The Cold War: Chronicles of America's Wars.

Experiences with The Secret

Here is a gift :

Click on the title of this post and you can read through the real experiences of people who have used The Secret.

The Secret does not say anything new. But it expresses the Law of Attraction and other principles of Abundant Living in a most effective manner, so that it is indelibly printed in our minds.

I had read the Science of Getting Rich(from which Rhonda Byrne gathered the inspiration for The Secret) years ago, but it did not click in my mind. Now
when I watch the Secret, it all appears so easy and possible.

What goes into our ear can influence our actions

A study by scientists on teenagers has proved that teen kids who habitually hear degrading lyrics are more likely to indulge in under age sex. This is a case for the principle that our behaviour can be influenced by what we habitually hear. If that is true, then this principle also holds good: If we constantly hear about what we desire to be, i.e. a better and transformed image of ourselves, that also will materialise ! In other words, habitually listening to self help cds, self talk cds, hypnosis cds and wholesome songs will grant us the desired result. Which means self talk that we give ourselves will also give concrete results.

Here is the link to the report.

Overcoming the recession and changing it into an upturn

The recession has been in for quite a while now. It has become a reality to people who have lost their jobs. Let's see if a change of perspective can do any good in overcoming it. If it does on an individual scale, it definitely can help in overcoming on an international level also. It's not possible to wish it away. Yet, it does seem to be man-made for a large part. I remember a real incident narrated by Norman Vincent Peale in one of his books.

It was the Great depression of the 1930s. In a remote American village an old man ran a hotel. His business was good, he had a plentiful clientele, for he was a cheerful person, always happy to serve. His cafe was always bustling with people.It was a meeting point for the villagers to catch up on the latest developments in town.

His son was educated, and worked in an office in one of the big cities.When the recession struck, his firm was one of the first to close. He came home.

Things were not as he had expected to be at the village. He did not see glum faces, he did not hear grim discussions of tumbling markets and closing businesses. On the contrary, everyone was having a good time, and his father's hotel was always full with merry villagers.

This cannot be, he thought. Perhaps they had not heard of the recession, and he felt he should inform them.

So he told his father about it and how it was playing havoc in the country. We had better be careful, it can pounce on us anytime.

The father listened. His son was college educated and must be having better sense. He thought it would be prudent to go by what he said. In time the customers too heard and came to believe the tale of the recession.

Gone were the days of cheer and merry business. Everyone started preparing for the recession. Few people now came to the hotel.

It wore a desolate look. In no time, it closed down.

The recession had finally arrived at the village (!)

Note : Although you may argue this point, a recent incident in the Indian stock market supports this theory. It is about the Reliance group which is owned by the Ambanis, one of the richest families in the world. Before they split, the Reliance group stocks were booming. Then the brothers Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani parted ways to establish their own empires. Immediately the Reliance stocks came tumbling down. It had nothing to do with reality. It was the news that caused the panic, as in the above story. So a little faith can work wonders, and boost up your personal success. Many individual successes can revive the economy of a nation!

The Ultimate Technique for Success

The most effective and reliable personal development tool : Yourself. Your body, your thoughts, your words. Do it by yourself : through Self-talk, Free writing(stream of consciousness writing), Self-suggestions, Exercise, Meditation,....

External aids like books, CDs and seminars are only props or route maps. They require conditions-electric power, visibility, money etc. But when you internalise their content and start DOING it, you are transforming yourself.

I realised this after reading The Secret. It held a mirror to me and showed where the correction was to be done: my thoughts. I have to overhaul my thoughts- be aware of my thoughts, state of mind...And that is a 24 hour job.
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