Week 5 and what’s Ramki saying… ????
- ‘True time management has become a life skill.’ With today’s explosion of data and information one can go mad if one does not manage time and have focus.
- You have touched all aspects of good time management – boosting self-esteem; less stress; more productivity; more learning opportunities; more introspection time;
- Charles Darwin said: ‘A man who dares to waste one hour of time, has not discovered the value of life.’
- Many people have not learnt the art of saying no. That is a pity. Not only do they exhaust themselves, they also earn a bad name for not keeping up their words!
- Prioritizing based on likes is something many of us do! It becomes a habit! Your suggestion has to be implemented by all to save time and be productive.
- Stress – some time back I listened to a HBR idea cast ‘Handling stress in the moment’ – in it HBR contributing editor Amy Gallo discusses the best tactics to recognize, react to, and recover from stressful situations. She’s a contributor to the HBR guide to managing stress at work. You may want to listen to it/read the related HBR article.
- Morning before school stress – reminded me of a story on Toyota’s Five why’s and how a lady found the solution to her life problems (why the family can’t have dinner together) asking the question why –five times -like Toyota does to solve any problem. Read it here: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/how-asking-5-questions-allowed-me-to-eat-dinner-with-my-kids/ ** on parenting – see below
- Financial needs are limitless – how true! Scriptures say desire is like ghee poured on fire; the more ghee you pour, the more ghee the fire wants! Sense objects have 3 defects – dukhamisritattvam, athriptikaratvam, bandakatvam (sure of leading to sorrow, insatiabe – being never fully satisfied, leading to bondage – may God pardon my poor translation!)
- Looking inward is really the solution to move forward. Essence of Vedanta.
- Spend some time with Nature – it works very well for me; I like to take my walks in parks; and after the walk just spend 5 minutes watching the trees, the flowers, the wind , the birds, the squirrel and listening to the nature’s sounds – it is so rejuvenating! (Yesterday I and my daughter took a walk in an estate in Coonoor and I did this morning too – it was a sublime experience! Imagine starting the day with a Rainbow and a Golden sun!)
- Mindfulness is important – Swami Paraarthananda used to say about meditation – it should not be ‘mouth chanting and mind ranting’!
- TV serials – yes some of them so absorbing it is difficult not to watch-get hooked – I make it a point to see ‘only on weekends’; actually it heightens the suspense and that is good! I watched serials in Nettflix like ‘Designated survivor’; (Thanks to Vardu) ; ‘Suits’; ‘Big bang theory’; one which was totally gripping (unputdownable as they say for books) was the ‘Money Heist’ a Spanish serial with English sub titles–it was awesome. ‘Breathe’ in Amazon Prime was good too.
- All 3 action points are very useful. 30 minutes a week, planning 4 boxes with family and adding ‘me-time’. Talking of me-time equivalent, Gita 13th chapter Verse 8-12 (Amanitvam, Adambitvam…) while talking of qualities of Gnani includes ‘an inclination for solitary places and an aversion for mundane society’.
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On Children
Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
**