Little Things That Matter

Learn From The Past, Live The Present and Have An Open Mind to Face Tomorrow

Do You Value Trust?

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I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche.

Did you know that Trust is an important part of every fraction of a second of our lives,  in all we do and in the way we conduct ourselves. And yet many a time we undermine the value of Trust and may take it for granted.

A strong foundation of any human relationship is based on Trust. Without Trust, life becomes lonely. Trust is what allows us to have meaningful relationships with other people. Trust is knowing that you will do the same thing irrespective of whether someone is looking at you or not.

When one is Trusted there is a feeling of belonging, safety, and it appeals to the soul. Once the Trust is broken, I believe it is worse than fixing a broken mirror, because the relationship never comes back to the sanctity it originally carried.

Do we really use Trust in every walk of our life?

1. Child & Parent – When a child first learns to climb up and decides to take  a leap from the chair or table confidently into the hands of his/her Mother’s or father’s extended hands, there is immense trust in that act.

2. Spouse – no marriage can last unless there is Trust between the husband and wife.

3. Friend – when you Trust a person as a friend, and you confide in that person you trust that this friend will not harm you or hurt you or tease you or misuse the information you have shared. Good friendship is based on trust, respect and love.  Friendship will crumble once the trust breaks.

4. Siblings –  Trust is imperative to a good relationship between siblings.

5. Life – Have you realized that when you hire a taxi, you trust the taxi driver to take you to your destination, charge no more than the fare indicated by the taxi meter and at the end of the journey, you trust the driver to return the change. Trust is what it takes when you open a bank account, when you walk into a shop to buy something, or  eat at a Restaurant.

6. Start-ups – As a Start-up Entrepreneur you face a tough time to convince people of your vision,not because you don’t have an appetite for hard work. But as a Startup, there is a deficit of Trust. It takes time to earn the same and these days it is probably even more difficult because there are one too many who take you for a ride.

7. Trust Yourself – If you don’t then no one else will. You are your best friend and need to believe in yourself.

How does Trust help? 

1. At the work place – When I’m trusted, I’m motivated to do even better and take on new challenges and explore the path not taken.

2. Trust builds loyalty without bonds in day-to-day life.

3. Trust is about authenticity and  helps to build a rapport.

4. Trust is about reliability and consistency and walking that path in every walk of life.

Life continually evolves. We’re constantly moving into new experiences, new possibilities. Life is a flux and the solace we find is the Trust we place on our relationships and that placed on us.

Life becomes joyful when we remain open to the constant flow and ride freely with it. We thus need to learn to Trust.

What does Trust mean to you?  Please share your views in the comments section. Thank you

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Twelve Ways to Inspire Yourself When You Are Feeling Down & Out

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“None but ourselves can free our minds.” ― Bob Marley

In our life today we face an enduring issue of one too many negative things and few positives. Right from newspapers, TV and other forms of media be it political, economic, or social there is a lot of negative incidents, news, events, mishaps. On top of this if you are having an out of sorts day, it is difficult to keep the positive momentum because we could be so imprisoned by our state of mind, that we forget to step back and look at things with a fresh perspective.

There is a confusion of values among the youth which is aggravated by the wrong portrayal of fame and success that mass media and social media often tend to reflect. There seems to be an  increasing number of people who are beginning to feel negative in their outlook.

I met a woman entrepreneur the other day who seemed dejected and felt that she was being attacked by stress and negative emotions.  When she told me her story, the positive takeaways for me were that she had determination, passion and love for what she did and had managed to grow her revenues by 20% and most important she had touched the hearts of many a tourist and child through her works of art.

This woman runs her own business of arts and crafts and supplies to museums, souvenir shops, gift shops and several private establishments. Today she is at a stage where she wants to expand and grow and is making efforts to achieve that. But she is overwhelmed by her negative thoughts, apprehensions and feels her life is out of control.

She is however not alone.   In reality, she may just be a cynic and not a negative personality. But the forlornness of the big cities, where youngsters follow their dreams and passion becomes the breeding ground for negativism and depression to flourish.

Statements like I’m no good at writing, or I am a born loser or I can never get any job done on time are self-fulfilling and ultimately strangle the personality they feed on.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.  The amygdala is most commonly associated with our emotions of fear and anxiety.  Negative thoughts trigger  electro-chemicals in our brains which in turn triggers our decisions and behavior. The more we keep getting such negative thoughts, the more our brain keeps getting hardwired to being receptive to such thoughts.

It is important to recognize these negative emotions but not allow them to control us. Here are 12 simple ways to break away from the Negative Emotional attractor

1. Reframe the Negative statements that you keep telling yourself. For e.g. Instead of saying I’m no good at writing, may be change your thought or statement to “I need to hone my writing skills and I’m working on it.”  I find positive self talk to be a great motivator.

2. Express gratitude. Make a conscious effort to do a kind deed.

3. Encourage someone. Make them realize that they matter and what they do matters.

4. Exercise – I find that exercise triggers the endorphins and releases the stress and flushes out the negative thoughts.

5. Focus on things within your control and things you are good at.  Feel good at doing those things first and then move on to new challenges.

6. Learn something new for which you have a passion for.

7. Talk to your dog, if you own a dog.. I find  dogs and puppies to be great stress busters. I feel a sense of joy, the moment I look at a cute dog picture or video.

8. Talking to a close friend or a family member or a Samaritan helps.  It’s imperative to have circle of positive friends who will inspire you.  “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you what you are … As goes the American saying.

9. Keep milestones and measure your progress against them. Checking off against an achieved milestone can be one of the most rewarding acts to keep moving forward.

10. Read a book or some inspiring quotes. These days there are several Self Motivation posts on various blogs which definitely would be a Positive Emotional Attractor.

11. Chin up – good posture and a smile always helps.

12. Listen to music. Music is to the Soul what words are to the mind.  ” I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.” Billy Joel

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live! Bob Marley

An Act of Crime by the Centers of Education

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Schools are called the Centers of Education but here is a case where they are discriminating against a girl because she has cerebral palsy. Do they even know and understand what cerebral palsy is..

Shocking!!! that they would show this child the door!. Children like Darshana need care not disdain. Read on…..

While all her classmates are enjoying their summer holidays,Darshana Ramgiri is worried about her future.The nine-year-old has been told by St Columba High School at Nana Chowk,where she studies,to leave.
Headmistress Annette Lobo justifies the decision on the grounds that the girl has cerebral palsy and has to be physically carried up to her classroom every day.The child cant do anything on her own.Can I keep a special teacher just to look after her she said.
However,this correspondent saw Darshana walking about in her house with a slight limp.I carried a schoolbag and tiffin to my classroom on the first floor everyday, said the girl who passed third standard with 44.5 % marks.In fact,she scored 65 % in maths.A report from Sion Hospital dated April 19,2010,says Darshanas IQ is normal.
Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to the motor control centres of the developing brain and can occur during pregnancy,during childbirth or after birth up to the age of three.In Darshanas case,it has affected her gait and weakened her right hand.She writes with her left hand but is slower than normal children and her writing is bad,though not illegible.
Darshanas mother says that none of her teachers ever complained about her but the headmistress insists that she should be put in a special school meant for retarded children.Darshanas mother alleges that she was forced to write a letter saying that they were withdrawing Darshana from the school due to personal reasons for fear that the kid would be failed.Lobo denies this,calling Darshanas mother a liar.
Psychiatrist Harish Shetty,who has taken up the cause of dyslexic and differently abled children,intervened on behalf of Darshana but to no avail.Schools are known not by the academic feats of their students but by their response to those who are differently abled, he said.Incidentally,St Columba High School,established in 1832,was the first school for girls in Mumbai.Today,its three buildings set in a wooded campus cater to 1,800 students.

Educationists and mental health activists say Darshanas case is a blatant violation of child rights and a negation of the principle of inclusive education enunciated in Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan.

Sangeeta Shrivastava,principal of SVT School and T P Bhatia Jr College in Kandivli,said it was the schools responsibility to sensitise children about disability.We cannot be hypocrites and teach one thing in value education classes but practice the opposite, she said.Because of her schools initiative,the classmates of a polio-striken student are protective about him.

Among the famous people with cerebral palsy are renowned physicist Stephen Hawking,Nepali literary figure Jhamak Ghimire,Irish poet and painter Christy Brown who wrote and painted with his left foot and Stephen Hopkins,signee of USs Declaration of Independence who said,My hand trembles but not my heart.

Source: The Times of India School shows girl with cerebral palsy the door

Why Twitter

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Why Do I use Twitter

I am still a novice to Twitter, having joined in Aug 2009. Twitter was first mentioned to me by a friend of mine about 3 years back and though I created an id at that time, it just did not appeal to me and the end result was deleting my account. At that time I thought it was a waste of time and I surely was not interested in knowing each person’s activities during the day or what time a person woke up or whether he had tied his shoe laces or which restaurant he was having food. After the demise of my twitter id, I did set up a Facebook id as well (which still exists) but I rarely use Facebook, since I don’t find it appealing & engaging

I decided to join Twitter again in Aug 2009 after having read so much about it in various blogs, and press. Now comes the most important question. Why have I decided to stick on with it and why am I so addicted to it?

I. Source of Information – Knowledge is Power and twitter is surely one source for that. All one needs to do is to follow the various media sources (MSNBC, Times of India, NYT, CNN etc.). Also depending on your area of interest, one can follow people who tweet about topics of your interest.  Many a time information on iPhone, news on earthquakes, financial news is available much quicker on Twitter than through other forms of media. Once can learn about Personality Development, Health & Fitness, Recipes, political arena in a country, blogging, twitter, new applications and pros and cons of these new applications …

Some of the sources of such informative tweets are from @Flipbooks, @2morrowknight @imadnaffa @v_shakthi @adamconsulting .. These are only some of them, There are many other sources of information that  I follow.  I am still learning and it never stops.

II. Sharing  A) Information -By Sharing information we enrich ourselves. No better way than Twitter by way of the RT (Retweet Function). The RT function is also a way to acknowledge & give credit to the person who originally tweeted this information.

B) Gratitude -RT function is also my way of acknowledging and thanking the person who originally put that information on Twitter. It also resonates my feelings or thoughts that is contained in the message.

III. Charity – One can contribute to charities, organize charities and raise funds through Twitter ( one of the most recent Global Charity events being Twestival) .

Charity Lists is another way to get in touch with a charity or support a charity.

IV. Support a Cause – For me it has been to fight against Violence on Women, and Child Abuse, as well as Support Human Rights. Twitter gives me a platform to get in touch with people who work to support these causes and organizations which work towards these causes.

V. Meeting of Minds/Ideas/people  – Many a relationship can be formed on Twitter – one of a friend ( I have met some wonderful friends through twitter), a business relationship and also one of source of inspiration from the tweets that a person may post.

VI. Break the Ice – Many a time a tweet on a person’s timeline may be the best form to start a conversation. I have done this many a time and it is in fact one of the best ways to get followers. Twitter also allows you to judge a person just like in daily life when you meet somebody face to face. You can judge from the tweets that a person posts, from the profile picture.  I find that many a time you can have an engaging conversation with some people on Twitter.

VII. Inspirational – I love reading quotes because it motivates me, puts a lot of perspective to my thoughts at the time . I follow a lot of people who quote through their tweets. I RT a quote which I believe in or reflects my thoughts at the time I RT. Many of these quotes are also gentle reminders to myself.. e.g of a smile, of kindness, of action speaks louder than words etc…, in the day-to-day chores of life.

Finally, I joined Twitter first and there after started blogging. As you can see my blog was started a week back. Simple reason I have a full-time job and social media as much as it is useful is not a form that is allowed on my job for valid reasons.  I Found the use of Twitter to be easier and quicker and yet the ability to reach out to many people.

To me Twitter was an easier way to start a blog and it is through Twitter and the various blogs, links of which are available through the profile page, that encouraged me to start a blog. Twitter is addicitive and I sure have found it useful.

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