Developing Purposeful People Leadership (Purposeful Leadership – Part 7)

In the previous article, we explored the concept of purposeful people leadership and its importance. In this post, we delve into how leaders can intentionally develop purposeful people leadership, an approach that transforms teams and organisations by aligning individual purpose with collective contribution.

Purposeful people leadership begins with the leader’s own sense of purpose. When leaders connect their role to their higher purpose, they begin to see their primary responsibility not just as managing tasks, but as developing their team members, purposefully. This shift in perspective changes everything. The team is no longer a means to an end; it becomes the very reason for leadership. The leader’s purpose expands to include helping team members discover their own purpose and align it with meaningful roles.

This development process starts with purposeful conversations. Leaders engage with team members to understand their aspirations, strengths, struggles, concerns about their world and values they aspire to live by. They help individuals reflect on their personal purpose, articulate a purpose statement and explore how it can be expressed through their work. When people are placed in roles that resonate with their purpose, they flourish. Their contribution becomes authentic, passionate, and sustainable.

Continue reading “Developing Purposeful People Leadership (Purposeful Leadership – Part 7)”

Developing Purposeful Self-Leadership (Purposeful Leadership – Part 4)

We explored the notion of Purposeful Self-leadership in the last post, part 3 of this series titled ‘Start with the Self’. Today we explore how to develop Purposeful Self-Leadership and in the next post, we can explore the complexities of such an aspiration. In the first two articles of this series, we explored the two key concepts of purposeful leadership: purposefulness and leadership, and the three branches of purposeful leadership: self, people, and organisations.

Developing Purposeful Self-Leadership starts with articulating a purpose statement depicting our sense of purpose at the current stage of life. The first version of the purpose statement is only a glimpse of our purpose as finding purpose is a lifelong journey. However, having a sense of purpose begins the quest and gives us the drive and desire to be purposeful. Being purposeful improves our clarity about our life purposes and helps us fine-tune our purpose statement, leading to us being more purposeful. This cyclical process not only improves our sense of purpose and purposefulness but also attracts abundance to succeed in vocations aligned with our life purpose, gives us happiness and peace of mind (De Silva, 2024).

Continue reading “Developing Purposeful Self-Leadership (Purposeful Leadership – Part 4)”

Start with the Self (Purposeful Leadership – Part 3)

Purposeful leadership starts with the purposefulness of the individual holding the leadership role. How can a purposeless individual help people and organisations to be purposeful? I am not claiming that all leaders are purposeful self-leaders. Many are not, and as a result, the people and businesses are not purposeful. In this article, we explore the notion of purposeful self-leadership. Given the need to keep these articles short, we will explore how to develop purposeful self-leadership and the complexities of such an aspiration in subsequent articles. In the first two articles of this series, we explored the two keywords of the concept of purposeful leadership: purposefulness and leadership and the three branches of purposeful leadership: self, people and organisations.

A useful question to ask at the outset is what is purposefulness and how do we know we are purposeful?

Continue reading “Start with the Self (Purposeful Leadership – Part 3)”

Saying ‘Yes’ to Beingness

An original poem by Ranjan De Silva

Image credits: goodmorninggratitude.com




Beingness invites us to ‘be’

But we attempt to ‘become’

Are we human beings or human becoming’s?

What would it mean to just be?

Continue reading “Saying ‘Yes’ to Beingness”

Herd Immunity of a Different Kind

Image Credits: Elegentthemes.com

While trying to avoid any infections of the vulnerable is our responsibility, it is important that we do it in the most holistic and helpful manner.

Taking precautions to prevent being a conduit in spreading the virus based on social distancing and hygiene guidelines is important. This can be augmented by strengthening our immune system. Good quality and timely sleep, exercises, fresh air, nutrition and being stress free is important to keep a strong immune system.

Continue reading “Herd Immunity of a Different Kind”

Slowing Down – Living life (a poem by Ranjan)

A photos taken at the Udawattakele rain forest in Kandy Sri Lanka – reminding us to let the sunshine through the clutter of life.

Frenzy of activity when the world went into pandemic mode,

Figuring out ways to be safe, sustain income, reduce cost, and stay afloat.

New ways of working from home, office or hybrid mode,

Going online to communicate, learn, teach, shop, work and stay aboard 

Months flew through birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, funerals and more,

Spiritual celebrations, special days and public holidays galore.

Learning a new way to be, sharing home space and more,

Balancing time between family and work, finding ways to be.

Governments, hospitals, law enforcement and all,

Had their plates full trying to keep us safe and well. 

Quarantine, testing, tracing, lockdowns enforced,

Masks, glows, sanitizers were used when forced.

While lockdowns and vaccines were invented for avoiding death,

Continue reading “Slowing Down – Living life (a poem by Ranjan)”

The Moral Foundation of Value

“The first principles of value that we need to rediscover is this: that all really hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws” – Marting Lucher King Jr.

The importance of value for organisational and personal purpose came into my radar about 25 years ago when I was in the mid thirties in age. I have incorporated this notion in my leadership development practice in developing leaders and helping them transform organisations. As I started inquiring in to this notion as a part of my doctoral studies a few years ago, having learnt to look at things critically from different paradigms, I realised the complexity of the notion of ‘values’.

Continue reading “The Moral Foundation of Value”

Values – The Compass of Morality

Think of the last time you had to make a difficult decision. A time where options were difficult to pick from. A time where the more materialistically profitable option did feel right. I have faced many such situation. I would like to share my personal experiences to help shed some light on this dilemma.

When I have such a dilemma I reflect on my aspired values to find direction as per the quote by Idowu Koyenikan in the visual above. The five values I attempt to live by are summarised I the following statement.

Continue reading “Values – The Compass of Morality”

Loving Intentions

This years Christmas present from my eldest daughter – a symbol of abundance & purpose

My new year’s message last year was ‘I wish you a new year and new decade overflowing with abundance & purposefulness’. Having gone through perhaps the most ‘interesting’ year of our life, I wonder if this wish had an impact or not. I suppose it depends on how we look at 2020. While many of us had challenges in our jobs, businesses, finances, relationships and health, it is important to reflect on and find the hidden gifts. 

Continue reading “Loving Intentions”

Letting Life Flow

Image Credits: Inhabitat.com

How time flies. We are upon the final month of 2020.  

This year we learnt that plans are nice to have but our plans are so insignificant when compared to the plans of the higher powers; be it God, Universal energy system or nature. 

We learn that we need to deeply understand and respond to the plans of the higher power so that we synchronise, rather than fight those plans, causing anxiety, stress and a multitude of negative behaviours. 

Continue reading “Letting Life Flow”

Your Children Are Not Your Children

When I first read these lines in the ‘Road Less Travelled’ by M.Scott Peck, quoted from the original writings of Khalil Gibran, I was confused. What are you saying? My children are my children, I gave birth to them and I did what it takes to grow them in to purposeful adults. However, after listening to it and reflecting on it, I realised how profound these words were. I have created a video with these words of wisdom as you see embedded in this blog. I recommend you watch and listen to the words in the video, reflect on it and then read the rest of the blog.

I believe the impact this video creates is different from person to person. I also believe the impact this video creates for you is determined by the journey of your life so far, where you are in your life now and your aspirations for the journey ahead. Therefore I feel the best contribution I can make is to write about what this poem means to me. Perhaps that might give you another perspective for you to reflect on, perhaps nourish your perspective and move you on to further reflection.

Let me reflect on the verse in two parts;

Continue reading “Your Children Are Not Your Children”

Who Are You?

Do you really know who you are? Well, I am still discovering who I am and I am not sure if I will ever find the answer. However, everyday I live with this question in my mind, I see a little bit more of who I am.

So, how do we find who we are?

Continue reading “Who Are You?”

Taking a Break – Is it Purposeful Behaviour?

Image Credits: Humanperformancepsychology.com

I decided to take a break from social media, blogging, tweeting and newsletter writing during October. This is partly to allow my mind to settle down and rest after the extensive online work done in the past 6 months from April to September. It is also due to my calendar getting filled with corporate sessions for clients in UAE, Africa, Solomon Islands. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.  

On the personal side, it was my second daughter’s wedding which gave us a lot of joy and I needed to release myself from work for this important life event.  We also had two other wedding anniversaries and four birthdays in the family during the month. It looks like October (my birth month) is becoming a month of family celebrations and this perhaps would be the month I take time off from work in the years to come. 

Continue reading “Taking a Break – Is it Purposeful Behaviour?”

Being Human – Path to Being Religious

Reflection Guide

Reflect on the basic human qualities taught by each religion and philosophy. Reflect on the extent to which we measure up to those qualities. What changes do we need before we earn the right to call ourselves Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or any other religion or philosophy we belong to.

When We Judge a Book by the Cover!

I Dreamed A Dream by Susan Boyle

An amazing perforce that stunned the audience and judges at Britains Got Talent.

Reflection Guide:

As you watch this video, think of the times that you have pre-judged someone by your initial perception. How many time have they surprised you with the real substance in them. Reflect on times that you had been in the receiving end. What learnings do you take from the reflection and what steps would you take to change your attitude and help other change their attitude.

Songs for Growth

How Is The Pandemic Serving Us?

Image Credits: Wired.com

In the one before the last blog post (two Wednesdays ago) in the ‘Purpose Quest’ series, I attempted to list down questions that came up during my various interactions with various audience over the last 6 months of the pandemic. I started attempting to write about how I responded to those question and the insights I had regarding the first two questions related to goals, in last Wednesdays blog post. Let me attempt to respond to the third questions;

What is the purpose of the pandemic? How is it serving us?

Continue reading “How Is The Pandemic Serving Us?”

Attitude of Gratitude For Those Who Raised You Up

You Raised Me Up by Westlife

Reflection Guide:

As you listen to this song, reflect on those who raised you up so that you can stand on mountains and walk on stormy seas, specially during times of troubles and heart burn with an attitude of gratitude.

Lyrics

When I am down, and, oh, my soul, so weary
When troubles come, and my heart burdened be
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence
Until you come and sit awhile with me

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
I am strong when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
I am strong when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
I am strong when I…

Songs for Growth

Goals! What Goals?

Image Credits: Saba.com

In the last blog post in the ‘Purpose Quest’ series, I attempted to list down questions that came up during my various interactions with various audience over the last 6 months of the pandemic. I will attempt to write about how I responded to those question and the insights I had, in the next few blog posts. So let’s begin with the first two questions. Both of them are related to goals;

My goals have become irrelevant due to the pandemic? What do I do now?

Why do I need to have goals when they can become irrelevant due to uncontrollable situation?

Continue reading “Goals! What Goals?”

Let the Daffodils Heal You

Daffodils – William Wordsworth

As you listen to this poem, reflect on the wonders of nature and let it heal your pensive mood or broken heart.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continue reading “Let the Daffodils Heal You”

Philosophies That Drive Us

For Neil deGrasse Tyson, its increasing knowledge and reducing suffering daily, that drives hime? Reflect on what drives you everyday.

Questions about Purpose

Image Credits: thamarathorpe.com

The last six month opened up amazing opportunities for me to reflect on the notion of purpose. These opportunities arose during conversations with family, team and clients in trying to make sense of the pandemic. These opportunities arose during webinars conducted to help people with their concerns, anxieties, stress and other psychological challenges. These opportunities arose from the 150 plus participants from 15 countries taking part in the four ‘Mastery of Self’ through NLP, online certificate courses over the past few months.

In this blog post I will attempt to list down the questions that came up. Some of these questions were already asked earlier, some of these are modifications to the old questions and some of these are new questions.

My goals have become irrelevant due to the pandemic? What do I do now?

Why do I need to have goals when they can become irrelevant due to uncontrollable situation?

What is the purpose of the pandemic? How is it serving us?

Is our purpose changed due to changing realities?

I am struggling more due to the pandemic. Is it helping me to find purpose?

Am I struggling more during the pandemic because I try to live purposefully?

Do our values change with situations? Arn’t they supposed to be fixed?

Isn’t values an important component of our purpose?

My purpose is clashing with the purpose of some of my family. It is prominent now because I spend a lot of time with them. How do it deal with them?

Are religious people more purposeful than non-religious people?

Does spirituality become more important than religion for purposeful people?

Does the notion of Purposeful living taken a new meaning with the pandemic?

Are world leaders being purposeful in the way they are handling the pandemic?

I will reframe from answering these questions to provide you the opportunity to reflect and answer these questions. I am not sure what that process will do. I will be delighted to hear from you the answers that came up and how these questions and answers served you.

I wish you purposeful living.

Who Needs Healing? The Society, You or Both?

As you read this quote, reflect on how well or sick the society you live in. Do you see the level of wellness and sickness or are you blind to it? Have you adjusted to the society or are you trying to adjust the society to be well so that you can be in sync with it. What baby steps would you take to heal the society? If you do not see how sick the society is, do you require some healing/ If so what step would you take? Hope these questions are helpful in finding success, happiness and peace.

Where Great Men Are Made

The place which developed thousands of boys to be men of stature for over 165 year, the place I had the good fortune of being nurtured, St Anthony’s Collage in Kandy, the hill capital of Sri Lanka. The picture speaks of the nurturing location on the banks of the Mahaweli river, the space provided for sports signifying the importance of the development of the body in addition to the mind. To write about the great men produced by St Anthony’s will take a few books. All I have is gratitude for my alma mater.

The Pandemic and Temporal Aspect of Purposefulness

Image Credit: Nationalpost.com

In the last 8 blog posts in the ‘purpose quest series’, we explored how the pandemic impacted eight important pillars for purposeful living; spiritual, mental, emotional, relational, physical (health), financial, environmental and societal. Let’s explore the ninth pillar, the ‘temporal’ aspect in this blog post. As in the past eight blog posts let me attempt to describe my personal experience during the pandemic. 

The word ‘Temporal’ has two broad applications; relating to worldly as opposed to spiritual affairs (secular) and relating to time. I use the word in relation to the use of time. The temporal aspect of purposeful relates to the use of limited time. The purposeful person attempts to utilise most of the time for purposeful activity, which requires letting go of non-purposeful activity.

The last eight weekly blog posts in the ‘purposeful quest’ series illustrated how my time was allocated to purposeful activity in spiritual, mental, emotional, relational, physical (health), financial, ecological and temporal areas. These activities took most of my waking time and there was rarely any time remaining for non-purposeful activity during the approximately 16 hours of waking time.

The sense I make from this reflection is that the pandemic gave me so much opportunities to be purposeful, that it left me with almost no time for non-purposeful activities. This way of life has kept me occupied in meaningful and energising activity, giving me inner success, happiness and peace. My purpose is to inspire others to live a purposeful life and I hope this series of blog posts will inspire you too to live a purposeful life and find Success happiness and peace.

Say ‘No’ to Distraction and Say ‘Yes’ to ‘Mastery’

Robin Sharma – on the dangers of your devise and other non-value adding addictions on your success and how to gain monomaniacal focus, using practical and neurological information.

As you listen to this powerful speech by Robin Sharma, reflect on steps you can take to kill the distractions of your life, build purposeful habits and give life and energy to your special talent … to achieve mastery purposefully.

How You Lived Will Epitomise Your Death

How Did You Die? – Edmund Vance Cooke

Reflect on the deeper meaning of this poem as you listen to it and read the lyrics below. How did you respond to trouble times? What did you do when you fell down? What is real success & failure? How would you face life’s challenges from now onwards?

Read by Shane Morris – Full Poem:

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way

With a resolute heart and cheerful?

Or hide your face from the light of day

With a craven soul and fearful? 

Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,

Or a trouble is what you make it,

And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts,

But only how did you take it? 

You are beaten to earth?

Well, well, what’s that!Come up with a smiling face.

It’s nothing against you to fall down flat,

But to lie there-that’s disgrace. 

The harder you’re thrown, why the higher you bounce

Be proud of your blackened eye!

It isn’t the fact that you’re licked that counts;

It’s how did you fight-and why? 

And though you be done to the death, what then?

If you battled the best you could,

If you played your part in the world of men,

Why, the Critic will call it good. 

Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,

And whether he’s slow or spry,

It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts,

But only how did you die?

Protect Your Secret From Complacency

As you read this quote by Aesop, reflect on a baby step you can take to protect your secret – your special character and values, from getting swallowed up by complacency.

Liberating Empathy

Can empathy be developed or Liberated? As you watch this video, reflect on this questions. Consider how important empathy is for leadership success. Is there an ideal amount of empathy? Could empathy be too much or two little? What steps would you take to liberate the ideal amount of empathy from within you for your leadership success.

The following process can be used to create a learning experience for your team using this video.

Step 1 – A moderator (an expert from your company) to open the session, explaining the importance of the session.

Step 2 – Show the video – let participants absorb, take notes and write down questions to ask later

Step 3 – Have a Q&A session and a discussion

Step 4 – Agree on actions to be taken based on the video

Step 5 – Participants to say how the session was useful.

The Value of Love

Image Credits: Pinterest.com

What does this picture arouse inside you? Reflect on how blessed we are. Reflect on what we can do to give a little bit from the much we have to make a difference.

Something Inside So Strong – To Make You Rise Above the Odds …

Something Inside So Strong – Lewisham And Greenwich NHS Choir

As you listen to this powerful song, let the strength inside you awaken and fight against the odds so that your bright light will blind the darkness.

Lyrics

The higher you build your barriers
The taller I become
The further you take my rights away
The faster I will run
You can deny me, you can decide
To turn your face away
No matter ’cause there’sSomething inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though you’re doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone, oh no
There’s something inside so strong
Oh, something inside so strongThe more you refuse to hear my voice (ooh-weh ooh-weh ooh-weh ooh-weh)
The louder I will sing
You hide behind walls of Jericho (ooh-weh ooh-weh ooh-weh ooh-weh)
Your lies will come tumbling
Deny my place in time, you squander wealth that’s mine
My light will shine so brightly it will blind you
Because there’sSomething inside so strong, strong
I know that I can make it
Though…

The Pandemic and Societal Aspect of Purposefulness

Image Credits: shethe people.tv

In the last 7 blog posts in the ‘purpose quest series’, we explored how the pandemic impacted six important pillars for purposeful living; spiritual, mental, emotional, relational, physical (health), financial and environmental. Let’s explore the eight pillar, the societal aspect in this blog post. As in the past seven blog posts let me attempt to describe my personal experience during the pandemic. 

With lockdowns being imposed, offices closed, and people starting to work from home, my clients either took the assigned transformational work online or postponed them. This gave me the illusion that there will be a lot of free time. Since I was in Dhaka, while engaging with the foreign ministry and the high commission to arrange repatriation flights, I joined my friend I was staying with to distribute dry rations to people who were financially affected due to lockdowns. In addition I arranged some help for some relatives and friends who were looking for financial assistance and guidance.

To help with the psychological challenges faced by many, my team in Dhaka helped me to produce some videos with mental tips to deal with challenges and anxiety releasing meditation. While using social media to get these to people who needed it we started conducting free webinars to help people deal with the present and gear up for the future. After returning to Sri Lanka I had the opportunity to join my team to conduct psychological first aid for the medical staff of the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), the command center fighting the pandemic in Sri Lanka.

I believe most of the above opportunities were provided to me to help be purposeful during the pandemic. My purpose to inspire others to live a purposeful life and these opportunities helped me share the idea of ‘purposefulness’ and show how it can help to make sense of the pandemic, deal with anxiety & stress and adjust their way of life to respond positively. While all these were related to giving, my time without any financial benefit, I enjoyed the happiness of giving, learning & building relationships in the process. I feel purposeful.

Living Life To The Fullest as the Captain of Your Life

O Captain Mu Captain – Walt Whitman

Reflect on the deeper meaning of this poem as you listen to it and read the lyrics below. Who is the captain of your life? How will you live to be able to be happy on your last day feeling that that you lived it all.

O Captain, my Captain our fearful trip is done
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people are exulting,  
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring  
But O heart! heart! heart!  
O the bleeding drops of red,  
Where on the deck my Captain lies,  
Fallen cold and dead.  

O Captain, my Captain (x3)

O Captain, my Captain rise up and hear the bells  
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding  
For you they call (the swaying mass)
their eager faces turning (their eager faces turning)
Here Captain! dear father!  
This arm beneath your head  
It is some dream that on the deck, 
You’ve fallen cold and dead. Dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still  
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will  
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done  
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with this object won
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!  
But I, with mournful tread,  
Walk the deck my Captain lies,  
Fallen cold and dead. Fallen cold and dead.

Simple and Unassuming life for a better body and mind.

Eric Berne’s – Transactional Analysis presented.

As you read this quote by Sir Albert Einstein, reflect on a baby step you can take to go towards a simple and unassuming manner of life that has potential to have a positive impact on body and mind.

Interfaith harmony – Childlike Joy

The Cardinal of the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka and a Senior Buddhist monk during a moment that capture interfaith harmony and childlike joy. The picture speaks for itself. Let’s hope and pray that this type of authentic harmony and joy spreads far and wide to heal this world.

It’s a Possibility, with Your Heart the Hunter, to find Peace and Happiness

It’s a possibility – John Denver

As you listen to this beautiful song reflect on how you can use your heart, the hunter to fight off hatred and help find peace and happiness in your little world, thereby creating ripples to make this world a better place.

Lyrics

For all of the times that you’ve wondered why
The world turned out this way
And all of the times that you’ve asked yourself
About the games that people play.

About the politics of hunger
And the politics of need,
How the politics of power
Seem to be the politics of greed.

For all of the times that you’ve struggled in an effort
To work your way back up stream,
And all of the times you’ve held on to it,
When most of us had lost the dream.

And for all of the ones who have walked with you,
By your side or way back home,
Maybe much more than any of us
You know that no one is really alone.

Because the heart is still a hunter,
It’s like a beacon in the night.
Though the heart is just a lover,
It’s never afraid to fight.

We are fighting for more than survival,
We are…

What’s Your True North?

Anne Hathaway Keynote Address International Women’s Day 2017

As you listen to this speech, reflect on how it speaks to your heart and mind. Is it about the rags to riches story? Is it about love? Is it about parenting? Is it about gender equality? Is it about speaking out on behalf of your concerns? Is it it about your sense of direction? Is it something else? Reflect on what matters to you and the baby steps you would take to make a difference.

Natures Wrath – When Will We Wake Up?

mahogany landslide may 2017
 Landslide of a Mahogany Plantation

It’s May 2017. I got a call from the account manager from the company that manages my Mahogany plantation in the Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka. I have some bad news to share with you. What is it? I ask. One of your Mahogany plantations in Munihinkanda has got affected by the recent landslides. We have not been able to access the plantation yet as the authorities have restricted access to the plantations until they are able to confirm that it is secure. What is the extent of the damage? I ask. About ten acres of the plantation has slid down to the river below and we feel it includes one of your plots too.

As I digested this news my mind went to the time that a rubber plantation of a larger extent belonging to my father was destroyed due to a cyclone about 40 years ago. I remembered my involvement in the process of transporting the fallen trees to help my father recover at least a part of the losses. My mind wonders to the hundreds of lives lost due to this storm and thousands who have lost their livelihood as a result. I have watched with dismay so many natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunami’s, floods, landslides, forest fires and now a pandemic.

The question is, when will we humans learn to stop destroying nature? How many more disasters are needed before we stop damaging Mother Nature so that we can live in harmony with nature.

The Pandemic & Money

Image Credits: gfmag.com

In the last 5 blog posts in the ‘purpose quest series’, we explored how the pandemic impacted five important pillars for purposeful living; spiritual, mental, emotional, relational and health. Let’s explore the sixth pillar, the financial aspect in this blog post. The financial pillar consist of four aspects earnings, expenses, savings and investments. As in the past five blog posts let me describe my personal experience during the pandemic. 

With the announcement of the pandemic, cases starting to rise and lockdowns getting implemented, many of my clients decided to postpone sessions that were scheduled. In addition some of the industries my clients were in, specially the apparel industry was having orders getting cancelled, resulting in impending reduction in their cashflows. In the past too, some companies first eliminated people development budgets when such challenges arose. All this made me realise that I need to focus on planning my finances. Continue reading “The Pandemic & Money”

Everything is Waiting for You – Experience it All.

Everything is Waiting for You – Poem by David Whyte

As you listen to this poem, reflect on the wonders of the world that we experience every day. Reflect on how we take them for granted or just don’t notice the wonder in them. Imagine if you pay attention. Everything is waiting for you, go experience all of it.

EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU – Words

Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. 

To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. 

Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array; the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding out your solo voice. You must note the way the soap dish enables you, or the window latch grants you freedom. 

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.

The stairs are your mentor of things to come, the doors have always been there to frighten you and invite you, and the tiny speaker in the phone is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. 

The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves.

Everything is waiting for you.

Finding Values to Live Life

Reflection Guide

Reflect on the values you were living by when you were happy and peaceful and what were the values in your life when you were unhappy and disturbed. What were the values you were living by when you made good decisions easily and what were your values when the decisions were wrong and difficult to make. Listing these can help you pick a few values for you to shape your life around.

The Quest for the Truth

Reflection Guide

Reflect on what you are seeking? Is it Love? Is so how True is that Love? Is it Money? If so how Truthfully can you earn it? Is it Fame? If so how do you know you truly deserve it? In all these three situation the question of Truth comes up. Therefore is it Truth that we ultimately seek?

Pandemic and Relationships

Image Credits: Americaamplified.org

When lockdowns happened in mid-march I got standard in Dhaka without flights to return home. Therefore my experience is quite different to those who were with families and had to spend a lot of time with them while working or not working from home. However since returning home about 2 months ago I have been largely working from home that gives me the experience to reflect on that reality as well.

Being away from home with the uncertainty of when I will return home increased the concern towards me by mother, wife and daughters at home as well as my siblings and other relatives from various part of the world. The 10 weeks in Dhaka resulted in more communications with all my close family and other relatives more than ever before. Conversations among relatives resulted in each one inquiring from others about how they are affected by the pandemic, the impact on livelihood etc. Therefore there was concerned among each other for each other, much more than usual. Continue reading “Pandemic and Relationships”

Gems of Wisdom

Compilation of speeches by A P J Abdul Kalam

Listen to the wisdom of A. P. J Abdul Kalam in a compilation of his speeches and interviews. Reflect on the message that matters most to you. The variety of insights are so diverse and insightful, each person listening to this will takeaway gems of wisdom most relevant to you. Reflect on a change in attitudes, behaviours and actions that you will make as a next step.

How to Manifest Your Destiny

Reflection Guide

As your read Mahathma Gandhi’s quote above reflect on the destiny you intend manifesting and think in the reverse order. What values will help create that destiny? What Habit will help live those values? What actions will help create those habits? What words will lead you to those actions. What thoughts are needed to use those words? and what beliefs will help generate those thoughts?

Thereafter develop the required belief through reading, writing, affirmations, conversations, and teaching etc. As you keep moving forward towards destiny by converting beliefs to thoughts to, words, to actions, to habits to values to your destiny, reflect if this process has changed your sense of destiny. If so work backwards from any point in the process and start again.

While you may or may not find and/or reach your destiny in this life time, being in this process, holding it lightly, experiencing the messiness, savouring journey will give you contentment, happiness, and peace. You will feel that your life is purposeful, giving you meaning.

You might be searching for destiny your entire life, but being in this process, holding it lightly, moving forward and backwards will help you to live and happy, content, peaceful life. A Purposeful life.

Interfaith Respect for a Better Word

A picture from the interfaith conference in Sri Lanka a few years ago. The respect for each other and their views points gives hope to make this world a better place. Please reflect on a baby step you can take to create interfaith harmony in your own community, be it the neighbourhood, workplace, school, social organisation or any other organisation you are associated with.

Time We Must Unite – To Heal the World

As you watch and listen to this authentic, passionate, and united performance, reflect on the baby steps you can take to create unity in your little world to heal this planet of not only the medical disease.

The Master of My Fate, Captain of my Soul.

Invictus – The Poem

As you listen to the words of this poem, closed eyed or watching the visuals of the visit of the South African Rugby team to Nelson Mandela’s  prison (scene from the movie Invictus), reflect on your biggest struggle and how that helped you to realise that you are the master of your fate and the captain of your soul.

What’s your ‘Why’ that helps you find the ‘how’?

Reflection Guide

Read the above quote and reflect on the struggles you head and the steps you took to deal with it? Did you have a big ‘why’ to understand the higher purpose of the struggle? If so how did you serve you? If not, how would it have been if you had a big ‘why’?

Did the Pandemic Stimulate you Intellectually?

When the world started changing due to the pandemic it had a big impact on my focus on my intellectual development process. This blog post tells my story and I hope this will help you to reflect on how the pandemic affected your intellectual development.

Image Credit: medspace.com

Let’s start with the question, what is the meaning of intellectual? While different people may make sense of the word ‘intellectual’ in different ways, based on their thinking, to me intellectual is the quality of my thinking and understanding aspects I am concerned with. The stronger my intellectuality becomes,  I tend to understand aspects I am concerned with and the related complexities in a deeper manner. The shift in priorities brought about by the pandemics resulted in some interesting changes to my intellectual development processes.

Continue reading “Did the Pandemic Stimulate you Intellectually?”

What Inspires You?

A collection of Ranjan De Silva’s favourite poems recited by him with short introductions and debrief of each poem at an online Rotary meeting between Rotary Club of Colombo Reconnections Sri Lanka and Rotary Club of Nanganallaur, India.

As you listen to these poems reflect on what inspire you. Is it the selection, a particular poem, the themes, the words, the way they are recited, relevance to you, your mindset or anything else?

The poems include;

  • If you think you can you can
  • Little Cloud
  • Risk
  • Rose
  • Cookie thief
  • Love is separateness
  • Plea of a graceful lady
  • Determination of an extra-ordinary man
  • Forgive me when I whine
  • Anyway

Soul Nourishing Poems

Who Are You Being?

425nReflection Guide

Reflect on the quote by John Lennon and ask yourself, Who do or did you want to be? Who are you being? Are you pursuing happiness? Where and how do you find happiness? I hope these reflections will help you understand life better and find the higher purpose of life.

Quotes for Reflection

Spirituality and the Pandemic

spiriruality and the pandemic
Image Credit: Jewishboston.com

When the world started changing due to the pandemic it had a big impact on my spirituality. This blog post is to tell my story and I hope this will help you to reflect on how the pandemic affected your spirituality.

Let’s start with the question, what is spirituality? While different people may make sense of spirituality in different ways, based on their beliefs, to me spirituality is the quality of my engagement with the energy that nourishes my soul. The stronger my spirituality becomes,  I get more concerned with the well being of other living beings and my peace of mind and less concerned with  material things. The shift in priorities allows me to embrace my spirituality in a more profound way”

Continue reading “Spirituality and the Pandemic”

Valuation done in Heaven

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Reflection Guide:

Reflect on the value you put on simple things of life, those things we take for granted, things given to us free or we obtained cheaply. Look at such things from someone less fortunate than you. Would you see a different value? Perhaps thats heavens way of helping us see the proper price of goods. Feel the attitude of gratitude.

Quotes for Reflection

Welcome Havingness

havingness
Image Credits: Pulasthi Palansuriya

A picture that speaks of the notion of ‘Havingness’. The lady’s white dress and serene face show that she is totally in peace with herself. The background shows the abundance of the universe. The open arms depicts being open to welcome the the gifts of the universe. Havingness is an energy space we are capable of creating based on the notion and methods of ‘Releasing’ introduce by Lester Levenson.

Pictures that speak

 

Find Purpose & Let Money Find You

Relationships & moneyAfter having arrived in Dhaka with a packed schedule of coaching, facilitation and consulting assignments for multiple clients on the 14th of March, I suddenly found myself having to make some decisions on how best to respond to the universe who decided that we need to change the way we operate.

With some companies postponing  the scheduled sessions, free time was opening up. What do I do with this time? It takes time to sell the time and right now most of my clients were fire fighting, figuring out what they need to do. Therefore I decided to be available to them. Continue reading “Find Purpose & Let Money Find You”

Did the Pandemic Reveal the Original You?

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Reflection Guideline

Reflect on what you felt and thought differently during the pandemic. What are the new relationships you formed and new action you took? Did you notice a different you? Was that different you a better version of You? A Deeper Version of You? The original version that was pushed away due to the way the world was operating? Reflect on what you would do with the version of you that got revealed during the pandemic?

Quotes for Reflection

Paying it Forward

Because you Loved me – song of gratitude by Celine Dion

As you listen to this song, reflect on those who helped you and are helping you grow to you your fullest potential. What kind of sacrifices did they make and are making? These could be your family, life partner, friends, teachers, colleagues.  Is this person who helped you, your own self? Feel the emotions you experience as you listen to the song, each time with a different person in your life in mind, including yourself. Could you give a name to these actions ? Reflect on what you would do to pay forward?

Songs for Growth

Loving is Purposeful Growth

Image Credits: Dreamtime.com

The notion of Love is perhaps one of the most complex.

I like to define ‘love’ as the act of helping someone to grow to their fullest potential, even if it is inconvenient to me. Growing to our fullest potential starts with baby steps.

The potential of a seed is the fruit. The seed needs watering before it turn in to a plant. The plant needs water, air, sunlight and fertiliser to become the tree. The tree needs continuous nurturing to become the fruit. Converting the seed to a fruit requires help that is inconvenient to the nurturer. Continue reading “Loving is Purposeful Growth”

The Difference You Can Make

Only You can make the difference – a poem by Leo Buscaglia

As you listen to this short poem given to Leo Buscaglia by a Vietnamese Girl, think of the times you made a difference by understanding someone else and not reacting, even if the other person was responsible for it. Remember the pleasant surprise in the other person and the bond you created with each other. Or remember someone else who did this to you. My plea to you, make a promise to yourself to understand and respond with love, immediately it happens. The time is Now!

The Fathers Gift

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Reflection Guide:

As we celebrate fathers day, let’s reflect on the greatest gift your father gave you.

My loving father taught me that no one is perfect and that I can be happy if I accept myself for who I am, improve areas that can be improved and give of my best to the world, starting from my own little world, my family, my team, my community and so on.

I love and respect my dad; Stephen Richard Francis De Silva, who left us 16 years ago to enjoy eternal happiness.

Quotes for Reflection

Healing for the Healers

IDH Session 15 June 2020

What else can be more gratifying and humbling than to be trusted by the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka with the nerve center fighting covid-19 in Sri Lanka, the Infectious Disease Hospital, popularly known as IDH. The team of 300 medical professionals led by the Director of Quarantine of the Ministry of Health – Sri Lanka, Dr. Mahendra Arnold benefited by this initiative.

These héros and heroines have contributed to the machinery of the Sri Lanka government that has eradicated the community spread of covid-19. The statistics speak for the amazing work they have done with less than 2000 infection in the Island, no community spread for 7 weeks,  74% recovery rate, 0.5%  mortality and less than 1% infection rate (only from quarantined overseas returnees and a spread in a navel base that is now under control).

These healers were gifted with psychological first aid based on Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Releasing to help them learn how to heal from inside out.  The workshops organised by Intercontinental Institute of Human Resource Management (IIHRM) was delivered by my Team and me. We salute all the companies who supported this initiative.

We hope and pray that these healers will get mentally stronger to continue their noble cause.

Pictures that speak

Being a Point of Light

Points of Light – By Randy Travis

When you see what’s wrong and try to make it right, you become a point of light.

As you listen to this song, reflect on the times you were a point of light, when others were a point of light for you and when you could have been a point of light. Write down situations in your life that you can and you will be a point of light to make this world a better place.

Songs for Growth

Releasing Anxiety

anxity releasing
Image credits: lightworkerhealing.com
Last week I wrote about how we can become an Abundance Magnet as a part of the weekly ‘Purpose Quest’ series I commenced two weeks ago. Today I focus on an aspect of the story that I wrote last week, releasing anxiety’. Anxiety was arising due to my  inability to return home  to Sri Lanka and impending drop in revenue when the reality of the pandemic was getting clearer.  This blog post is dedicated to illustrate how I released such emotions using Releasing Techniques that I was learning and teaching since October last year. When we have an emotion, we either repress it, express it or escape from it. Initially I repressed it by telling myself that this will pass soon, flights will be arranged for me to return and clients will continue their work. My sleep that night was not comfortable as something from within was nudging me to take this more seriously. So how did I respond to this call? Continue reading “Releasing Anxiety”

Connect the Dots

Commencement Speech by Steve Jobs

Reflect on where you are today and how you got here. Was your journey well planned an choreographed. Connect the dots backward and noticed the amazing plans of a higher power. Reflect on how you would respond to opportunities and choices of the future.

Inspirational Speeches

Simple Signs of Hope

Hope – Soul Nourishing Poem

As you read this poem, listening to the soothing music in the background, reflect on the lille things that gives you hope. Imagine how our collective hope can make this world a better place.

Soul Nourishing Poems

How Was Your Soul Tested?

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Reflection guideline

Reflect on what you saw, heard and felt during the past few months of the pandemic. How was it different to what you experienced before. Did something from within urge you to reach out, help out, ask for help, leave your ego aside, reprioritise what was important in life. This reflection could help you understand how your soul was tested during these challenging times.

Quotes for Reflection

The Healing Experience

Blue Waters 2 June 2020

Gardens of the Blue Waters resort, usually filled with holidaying tourist, quietly healing.

The lone healer, in the boiling hazmat suit symbolic of the amazing medical team, setting up Covid tests for another batch of quarantined returnees from overseas.

I watch from the balcony of my little ashram (hotel room) in anticipation for my turn to clear the final hurdle, before I am cleared to return home to my family.

Although missing the dip in the sea, soaking in the pool and relaxing on the lawn, experiencing the cool breeze, sounds of the ocean and view of the sea, beach, pool and the gardens is a confirmation I am back in my motherland.

Yes! I am back, it’s not a dream anymore.

Full of love for the universes and all its living beings, I feel so thankful and hopeful.

Pictures that speak

Life is Worth Living

Life is worth Living – an inspirational song by Justin Bieber

As you listen to the song, reflect on the how you feel when you look at the long road ahead in your life, on who who gave you direction and help when you were confused, and on the mistakes you made and how you responded. Moving on reflect on how would you respond to such situations and how would you help others who are on the journey of life.

Songs for Growth

Abundance Magnet

Abundance Magnet
Image Credits: Brainhackers.com
Last week I started this series,’Purpose Quest’ to illustrate with narratives of how we search for purpose. We explored the question, Are we Searching for Purpose or is Purpose Searching for us?   Today let me focus on one aspect of the story that I wrote last week, attracting abundance. Once the various social distancing norms were coming in to place and clients started postponing the various sessions that were planned, I was concerned about its impact on cash flow for my organisation and family. Therefore  while starting to engage with government authorities in getting myself home and ensuring that my family back home in Sri Lanka was safe and comfortable, I started reflecting on the situation related to my practice. While there was some anxiety with regard to the situation, I was able to release such emotions using Releasing Techniques that I was learning and teaching since October last year. I will write about how releasing helped in an upcoming post. After having released the anxiety, my reflections reminded me of three principles and beliefs that could help; ‘God does not give challenges we cannot handle’, ‘focus on the process and let the outcome take care of itself’ (the 3rd principle of Mastery we teach during our Mastery of Self – NLP learning sessions) and ‘give and you shall receive’. So what steps did I take and how did it turnout? Continue reading “Abundance Magnet”

Little Things to Big Things

If You Want to Change the World, Start Off by Making Your Bed – William McRaven, US Navy Admiral

One little task leads to another and to another and to the big achievements. One little person can be the strongest link. One little hope leads to big hopes. One little bit of compassion leads to unlimited love.

As you listen to this inspirational speech, reflect on the little waves you can create now that will create ripples leading to waves that makes this world a better place.

Inspirational Speeches

Danger or Oppportunity?

Reflection Guide

Yes the pandemic has many dangers in the medical, economic, social and psychological fronts. While recognising and reflecting on it, do reflect on the opportunities you have already recognised and yet to recognise.

Unlocking the Power of Mind

An introduction to Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and simple steps on how to unlock the power of mind and unleash our potential. A powerful and thought provoking 27 minute presentation by Ranjan De Silva at the ‘Unleashing Your DNA’ seminar at Zayed University Convention Center, Dubai, UAE.

The following process can be used to create a learning experience for your team using this video.

Step 1 – A moderator (an expert from your company) to open the session, explaining the importance of the session.

Step 2 – Show the video – let participants absorb, take notes and write down questions to ask later

Step 3 – Have a Q&A session and a discussion

Step 4 – Agree on actions to be taken based on the video

Step 5 – Participants to say how the session was useful.

Please send a message if you would like to receive a white paper that can help in your learning process.

I hope this learning process was useful in providing online learning to your team during the current down time so that they would be kept positive, motivated and sharp so that all of you would be geared to perform with excellence during the crisis and after.

Dynamic Life

These are a set of pictures taken by me in Bangladesh during a leadership retreat for a client. The contrast of the four pictures provided me a great sense making opportunity.

Photograph 1 was at dusk, photograph 2 was at dawn and photograph 3 was at noon. After taking photograph 3, I realise the angle of photograph 1 was not the same as photograph 2 and 3. So I go back at dusk next day and try to re-capture photograph 1 and end up taking photograph 4. So what sense do I make from this?

The sense I make is that same way the tree looks different in different conditions but is not affected by the conditions, I may look different to different people given their conditions. Seeing the tree at dusk differently the second time informs me that I could look different to people as live evolves. The fact that the tree continues to grow in all conditions irrespective of ecological condition that supports and destructs and people who care for it and harm it. The people who consume from it are not necessarily those who nurture it and experience it. This shows me that life is dynamic and I need to choose my from the feedback I receive and respond appropriately to allow myself to grow in sync with the universal energy system.

I invite you to reflect on these pictures and make sense of it with regard to the dynamic nature of your life, the feedback you need to take and how to respond to the call of the universe to grow in a synchronic manner.

A Tribute to the Champions

This song ‘We are the Champions’ by Queen is dedicated to all the front line people such as medical care givers, military, pilots, cabin crew, delivery people, taxi drivers, hotel staff and numerous organisations such as the Rotary movement who is fighting the pandemic.

Please remember to smile and say a big thank you to any of the champions you meet. They need all the encouragement to keep fighting.

Is Your Purpose Searching for You?

purpose quest-1

This series of ‘Purpose Quest’ will be illustrated with narratives of how we search for purpose. The question is, Are we searching for ‘purpose’ or is ‘purpose’ searching for us?

On the 14th of March, when I boarded the Sri Lankan airlines flight UL 189 to Dhaka I did not realise that I will have to stay in Dhaka for 10 weeks due to flight restrictions. The WHO had declared Covid-19 as a pandemic a few days ago. My mother was encouraging me to stay back without going as I had just recovered from a cough. I was hearing how passengers coming in to Sri Lanka from Europe were being taken to quarantine centres.  Was the universe trying to inform me and help me make a purposeful choice?

Continue reading “Is Your Purpose Searching for You?”

Variety is the Spice of Life

Soul Nourishing Poems

Over the past two months I switched to a daily blog from the monthly blog I used to write. This was prompted by the pandemic and lockdowns that provided me the opportunity to spend more time indoors and online.

Learnings that Matter

I initially started with online learning videos and soul nourishing poems to share my life work for those needed to learn and those looking for inspiration while being at home.

Quotes for Reflection

Thereafter I introduced quotes for reflection and yesterday I added motivational speeches. Some of this work is from others who have inspired me, some from my colleagues and some my own presentations.

Inspirational Speeches

As I was reflecting on the purposefulness of my life yesterday, my mind went on to the online work I am doing. Something from within prompted me to expand my contribution to have one type of blog everyday of the week.

Songs for Growth

That prompted me to think of other types of work that inspired. Music and Art were two other areas that came to my mind and therefore I decided to experiment with ‘Songs for Growth’ and ‘Pictures the Speak’.

Pictures that speak

I needed one more. What is the seventh category? And then, ‘Purpose’ which is the core philosophy of my life, that I have been writing for the past 4 years, but have not focused too much on over the past 2 months popped in to my mind. Yes I miss writing those ‘purposeful living’ blogs. So the seventh category became ‘Purpose’ Quest’.

purpose quest-1

I invite you to join me in exploring the wonders of life through these seven categories. I welcome comments, feedback , life experiences, ideas and questions from you so that we can create ripples that makes this world a better place.

Pressure Reveals the True You

Pressure Reveals the True You 

Watch Michelle Obama’s speech about her husbands Presidency and reflect on the pressure situations you had been in and how it help reveal your true nature and core values.

Inspirational Speeches

This Too Shall Pass – A Soul Nourishing Poem

The Too Shall Pass – A Should Nourishing Poem – Helen Steiner Rice

Mediate on the challenges you went through in the past and how it passed, as you listen to this poem. Then reflect on the challenges you and your family and friends are facing in relation to the pandemic. Then reflect on how this too shall pass leaving us stronger and with a better world. Reflect on what you need to do today to prepare for the new reality.

Soul Nourishing Poems

 

Need or Greed

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Reflection Guide

Reflect what you need in the minimum for sustain yourself and meet your commitments till the next assured cash inflow. Reflect on what you need and what you can give, how you can give and when you will give.

Quotes for Reflection

To Love is to Nurture – A Soul Nourishing Poem

Meditate on the poem and reflect how you make sense of the notion of Love. Does this prompt you to re-think the way you make sense of Love. Does the new way make you feel more peaceful internally. Reflect on baby steps you would like to take to test in reality your new way of making sense of love. 

Enjoy Bette Midler’s song recited in a poetic manner, defining ‘Love’ by Ranjan De Silva

Soul Nourishing Poems

Man – The Most Insane Species

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Reflection Guide:

Reflect on how you knowingly or unknowingly destroy nature. Reflect on how it is directly or indirectly an act of destroying God’s creation and disrespecting God grand plan to help all living being live in peace and harmony.

The Road Not Taken – Soul Nourishing Poem

The Road Not Taken – by Robert Frost

Has the pandemic given you the opportunity to take a road not taken? Imagine the positive difference it can make for you and your little world. What baby steps would you take today in identifying that road and the baby steps you need to take today.

Arousing Sympathy

www.ranjandesilva.com

Reflection Guide;

Jennifer Niven’s wish for measles or small pox or some easily understood disease has been granted with Covid-19. Her intention was that the disease will help people be more sympathetic. Reflect on how the pandemic has helped you to become not only sympathetic but also empathetic and compassionate. Reflect on baby steps you can take to make the best our of this opportunity.

Love and the Rose: A Poetic Definition

Reflect what Love is to you. Is it River that drowns, a razor that leaves the soul to bleed or an endless hunger? Or is it nurturing – like a seed in to a flower.

Enjoy Bette Midler’s song recited in a poetic manner, defining ‘Love’ by Ranjan De Silva

Rethink Wish List

https://www.ranjandesilva.com

Reflection Guide:

Reflect on what you used to wish for before the pandemic and what you wish for now? How has that helped you to make sense of your purpose in this world? Reflect on what steps you need to take to live your life with your renewed wish list and renewed purpose.

https://youtu.be/mZmjv9bbrxk

Is Covid the Greatest Disease?

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Reflection Guide:

Reflect on the greater disease of humanity, the hunger for Love and hunger for God. Reflect on what we can do to show a little LOVE to those who need it so that we can ensure the greater disease is not forgotten in the pandemic. Reflect on how to protect your family, friends and self from the spiritual disease, in addition to the medical disease. 

Quotes for Reflection

 

A Million Pieces – Soul Nourishing Poem

Soul Nourishing Poems

 

 

 

 

 

A Million Pieces – Recited by Jon Jorgenson

We all have felt broken, let down, and practically shattered to pieces specially during this pandemic. How do you build yourself back up from such a low point? In this inspirational poem, Jon Jorgenson talks about how there is beauty to be found in every downfall. This poem is for Anyone going through a trial of any kind.

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Blurring of the Boarders

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Reflection Guide:

Reflect on the divisions in your life such as interests, beliefs, geographic boarders, status, economics etc. that has become irrelevant in your life due to the Pandemic. Reflect on how such blurring of the boarders are affecting you positively and negatively, in the short term and the long term.  Reflect on baby steps you can take to power-up the positives and negate the negative.

The Most Beautiful Poem of All Time

The Most Beautiful Poem of All Time by Nefthali Hoyos Barrena

Discover the secret to happiness in this soul nourishing poem

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

 A Mental Vacation

Free Online Videos

 

 

 

 

 

A Mental Vacation through Alpha Meditation (35 mts) – by Ranjan De Silva

 A simple explanation of the benefits of meditation and a guided meditation session to help you take your brain to the alpha brainwave frequency, that provides you a deep mental relaxation at a conscious state. Take your mind away from the turbulence of the current world, improve health & well being , quality of sleep, focus, creativity, relationships, peace of mind and purposefulness. 

I hope this could be useful in providing online learning to your team during the current down time so that they would be kept positive, motivated and sharp so that all of you would be geared to perform with excellence during the crisis and after.

The following process can help you get good value from this video:

Continue reading ” A Mental Vacation”

Is the medical crisis curing the ecological crisis and causing an economic crisis?

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Reflection Guide:

Reflect on what we have done to create the medical crisis that is curing the ecological crisis and causing an economic crisis. Reflect on the change in consciousness we need. Reflect on one simple step we can take to make this world a better place, medically, ecologically and economically.

Quotes for Reflection

Love is separateness

Love is separateness: recited by Ranjan De Silva 

Love is Separateness is Soul Nourishing Poem by Khalil Gibran written by M. Scott Peck in his book The Road Less Travelled. Parents sometimes fail to appreciate the individuality of their children, and instead regard their children as an extension of themselves. It is a mild but nonetheless destructive forms of parental narcissism. These are perhaps the finest words ever written about child rearing,

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

Biggest Learning from your Mother

Today’s Quote for Reflection

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Reflection Guide:
As we celebrate mother’s day in Asia today, reflect on your biggest learning from your mother. Share it and learn from each others mother.

Quotes for Reflection

 

 

Don’t Give Up – Soul Nourishing Poem

Don’t Give Up recited Tushar Das

Poem that reminds us never to give up and never to give in as there is an answer for everything. Live your life with an attitude of gratitude.

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

It’s no laughing matter … or is it?

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Reflection Guide:

Reflect on what you can do to create contagious laugher and good humour. Use this great immune booster in addition to all the other steps you are taking to boost immunity and precautions you are taking to fight cover-19. Stay safe, stay positive, stay hopeful.

Quotes for Reflection

Winners – Soul Nourishing Poem

Winners: recited by Ranjan De Silva

A Poem dedicated for winners. This poem describes behaviours of real winners and appreciates them. This poem is an ideal gift for those in your life you consider real winners.

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

Disaster or Pimple-Level Problem

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Reflection guide:

Reflect on how you rate the impact of the pandemic in your life. Would it seem a lesser problem if you look at it from a broader view point. How would this help you to respond with less anxiety and more effectiveness?

Quotes for Reflection

 

From Up There – Soul Nourishing Poem

Soul Nourishing Poems

 

 

 

 

 

From Up There by Jon Jorgenson

A poem that helps change the perspective of life. Experience how different our perspective of life is when you look at it from up there. 

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

The determination of an Extra-Ordinary man – Soul Nourishing Poem

The determination of an Extra-Ordinary man: recited by Ranjan De Silva

A poem for all the men and the men in the lives of women who sees this poem. Reminds us of what it takes to be a real hero. Please share this as a thank you gift with the special men in your life such as your grandfather, father, husband, brother, son, friend, teacher and guide.

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

 

If by Rudyard Kipling – Soul Nourishing Poem

If by Rudyard Kipling – narrated by Tom O’ Bedlam.

A poem that shows how the word ‘IF’ opens up possibilities in our mind.

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

The Plea of a Graceful Women – Soul Nourishing Poem

The plea of a graceful women: Recited by Ranjan De Silva.

A poem for our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and friends. A nice thank you gift to be sent to the ladies in your life to give them courage and confidence to continue the great work they are doing.

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

The Hero’s cry –  Soul Nourishing Poem

Today’s Soul Nourishing Poem is: The Hero’s cry by – Eddie Pinero

Dedicated to all heroes in our lives. We remember their names not because of a lack of mistakes but because they looked the universe dead in the eye and dared to give what it takes

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.Soul Nourishing Poems

Anxiety Releasing Meditation – Online Learning

Free Online Videos

Today’s learning video is for anyone who is affected in someway by the crisis

Anxiety Releasing Meditation (17 mts) by Ranjan De Silva

Guided meditation, specially done to help release anxiety related to the Covid Pandemic. Follow it closed eyed or open eyed on a laptop watching the beautiful visuals of life. Do it in quiet place, using ear phones for best effect.

 

 

I hope this could be useful in providing online or in-room learning to your team members, family, friends and self during the current down time so that they would be kept positive, motivated and sharp so that all of you would be geared to perform with excellence during the crisis and after.

How to get best value from the video:

Continue reading “Anxiety Releasing Meditation – Online Learning”

If You Think You Can You Can – Soul Nourishing Poem

Today’s Soul Nourishing Poem is: If You Think You Can You Can  – recited by Ranjan De Silva

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

Little Cloud – Soul Nourishing Poem

Today’s Soul Nourishing Poem is: Little Cloud – recited by Eric Carle

I am pleased to provide you a series of videos containing soul nourishing poems. There will be one every other day for the next few weeks.

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

Eliminating Covid From Your Life – Learning Video

Free Online Videos
Today’s learning video is for employees at all levels.

Fight Covid-19 – 7 Simple Steps (7.35 mts.)

A 7 minute video with 7 tips on how to deal with the present and gear for the future.

 
I hope this could be useful in providing online learning to your team members, family, friends and self during the current down time so that they would be kept positive, motivated and sharp so that all of you would be geared to perform with excellence during the crisis and after.
How to get best value from the video:

Continue reading “Eliminating Covid From Your Life – Learning Video”

Forgive Me When I Whine – Soul Nourishing Poem

Today’s Soul Nourishing Poem is: Forgive Me When I Whine

I am pleased to provide you a series of videos containing soul nourishing poems. There will be one every other day for the next few weeks.

I hope this could be useful in nourishing your soul with hope, aspiration, positivity and confidence to deal with the present and gear up for the future.

Please feel free to share this poem with others who can benefit and communicate with me if you would like to share your thoughts.

Soul Nourishing Poems

How to Survive and Rise from the Pandemic

I hope you, your family and team are safe and in the event you or a loved one is affected by the virus, I wish you strength in dealing with the situation.

We are all in some way affected by the Covid-19. Many of the conversations are about the impact on health, economy, jobs, livelihood, etc. This is real and we need to first accept it and respond to the immediate realities. Once some of these immediate realities are responded to, it is important to reflect on how to rise and move in to the post-coved future. These 7 steps will help you in the process. Watch, reflect, customise, use, discuss and Share.

A 7 minute video with 7 tips on how to deal with the present & gear for the Future.

New Year during the Pandemic – A Reflection

NewYear 2020
Image Credits: Tripadvisor.com

Wish you all a happy new year, Subho nababarsho [Bengali], Sawatdii pimaï [Thai], Hnit thit ku mingalar pa [Burmese], Naya Barsa Ko Hardik Shuvakamana [Nepali], Nav varsh ki subhkamna [Hindi], Iniya puthandu nal Vazhthukkal [Tamil], Suba nava vasarak wewa [Sinhalese]

This is an amazing time every year for many countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia when most of us celebrate the traditional New Year. The New Year is celebrated between 13 to the 15 of April in India, Nepal, Myanmar [Burma], Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

However, this New Year is perhaps the most significant in our life time as we celebrate it during the pandemic which most of us are experiencing for the first time. Let’s explore the significance of the New Year this year from that context.

Continue reading “New Year during the Pandemic – A Reflection”

The Purpose of the Pandemic – Purpose of Living – Part 37

Animals and people near pond
Image Credits: Vectorstock.com

We are all in some way affected by the Covid-19 virus and wondering how it is going to affect our lives. Many of the conversations I read are about the materialistic impact such as health, economy, jobs, livelihood, etc. This is real and we need to first accept the reality and respond to it. The response needs to be at different levels; global bodies like the World bank and World Health Organisation, governments, business organisations, NGO’s, social groups, communities and individuals. It is heartening to see this happening at different levels, although much more still needs to be done. Once some of these immediate realities are responded to it could help to reflect on the bigger purpose of the pandemic.

Continue reading “The Purpose of the Pandemic – Purpose of Living – Part 37”

Take a JUMP in to your purpose – Purpose of Living – Part 36

Jump-blogI have learnt that we keep discovering our higher purpose as we live life once we discover the notion of purpose and is conscious of its existence. This had got me in to the habit of reflecting, reviewing, refreshing and re-writing my purpose every month.
The first part of my current purpose statement is;

Inspire others to live a purposeful life based on their own evolving beliefs, values and methods.

This is based on my discovery of how my beliefs, values and methods evolved during my first-person inquiry and my discovery of how different people have different beliefs, values and methods that evolve as they attempt to live purposefully, during my second-person inquiry. First- and second-person inquiry are methods of action research that I adopt in my doctoral research into the notion of ‘purposeful living’. Continue reading “Take a JUMP in to your purpose – Purpose of Living – Part 36”

The Purpose of Family – Purpose of Living – Part 35

purpose and family
Image credits: alagant-travel.com

It was not an easy decision to take 10 days off my busy schedule and travel to the other side of the planet to be with my sister for one of her milestone birthdays. It was not easy because I had to allocate time to respond to time demanded by my clients and team.

However, I made the decision, went through many challenges getting the visa because my busy travel schedule provided me only a small window to obtain the visa, worked long hours to clear as much work as possible so that I can be with the families of my sister and brothers during this time.

I am so glad that I made this decision to see the joy in my sisters face when I arrived at her door at 7am a few days ago, with my brother who picked me up from the Toronto Airport. I am so glad that I can spend time with the families of my brother and sister, catching up on their lives, sharing nostalgic moments, visiting interesting places, and spending quality time together.

Continue reading “The Purpose of Family – Purpose of Living – Part 35”

What can we learn from the Inn Keeper? – Purpose of Living – Part 34

nativity-scene
As I cherish the wonderful experiences on the day of love, peace, giving and forgiving, a profound message at the Christmas Mass last mid-night re-enters my mind. This message not only gave me a new perspective to the attitude and behaviour of the Inn keeper, it made me realise that peoples thinking and action can have a higher purpose that we may not understand, and therefore makes us misunderstand them.

We’ve grown up hearing the account that the “inn” in Bethlehem was full, with no “room” available, so Joseph and Mary ended up in a stable, with Jesus Christ born and laid in a manger there. This image has been used to promote the typical Christmas nativity scene for generations.

Continue reading “What can we learn from the Inn Keeper? – Purpose of Living – Part 34”

How to use messages from our subconscious mind to live a purposeful life? – Purpose of Living – Part 33

purpose and subconscious
Image credits: theconversation.com/

The question for today’s blog post is; How can we use messages from our sub-conscious mind to live more purposefully? We have been exploring the notion of purpose and purposeful living over the past 33 posts and hence I assume the notion is clear to you. Therefore, let’s directly move on to exploring the sub-conscious mind and how we can use it to live purposefully.

The idea of deeper levels of information processing was developed and extensively studied by famous Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939). According to him, the mind could be divided into conscious, subconscious and unconscious levels. The Conscious Mind – defines all thoughts and actions within our awareness. For example, the beauty and pleasance of the smell of a red tulip. The Unconscious Mind– defines all past events and memories, inaccessible to us no matter how hard we try to remember to bring things up. For example, the first time you had ice cream, or how it felt to be able to speak for the first time. The Subconscious Mind defines all reactions and automatic actions we can become aware of if we think about them. For example, our ability to ride a bicycle: once we get skilled we stop thinking about balancing, when to pedal, when to break, when to speed up, when to slow down, when to bend etc., but when we think about it later, we become aware about all the action we took.

Continue reading “How to use messages from our subconscious mind to live a purposeful life? – Purpose of Living – Part 33”

Purposeful Living through Releasing – Purpose of Living – Part 32

Releasing
EntImage credits: 10ofcupsministries.org

After having been a student and teacher of how to master ourselves by living a purposeful life and programming our own mind, for the past twenty five years and believing that this is one of the best methods available to help us live a happy and successful life, finding ‘Releasing’ (or did Releasing find me?) has opened possibilities I thought never existed.

Sometimes opportunities find us when we welcome them. And perhaps it was such serendipitous moments when the notion of Purposefulness found me about 25-years ago and the notion of Releasing found me 25-years later.  Releasing, also presented under the rubric of The Sedona Method (same methodology with a different presenter), has been hailed by people like Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, was showcased in the best-selling The Secret, has been the subject of numerous testimonials from leading authorities like Dr. David Hawkins, Michael Singer and others in terms of being an exemplar of “inside out” breakthroughs. Continue reading “Purposeful Living through Releasing – Purpose of Living – Part 32”

Stress & Life Purpose – Purpose of Living – Part 31

Stress and Life Purpose
Image credits: lifealchemyblog.com

Managing stress was at the center of a coaching discussion I had with a CEO a few months ago. He was very successful and his success is attributed to the hard work he put in to his job. He gave his job first place and was willing to work late in to the evening, work on weekends and travel extensively for the success of his organization.

He had not adequately developed his team to take over responsibilities as he preferred to get things done on his own. While this worked for a while, it was taking its toll when the organization grew to a larger scale. He was also having issues at home as his two teenage sons had lost interest in studies and sports and preferred a lazy life engrossed in video’s and games using the expensive devises the father had purchased for them. His wife had given up trying to get him involved in family matters and was trying to manage on her own, but the absence of the father’s love, guidance and attention could not be compensated adequately by her. This is a source of stress when he returns home.

Continue reading “Stress & Life Purpose – Purpose of Living – Part 31”

Living our Dream Purposefully – Purpose of Living – Part 30

NAFLIA 2019 Presentation (Click here to Download Powerpoint)

NAFLIA 2019 Presentation (Click here to download PDF)

Click on the above link for the presentation related to the keynote speech to be given by me at NAFLIA 2019. Conference participants are invited to download the presentation and use it to follow the keynote speech. 

This blog is written in service of life-Insurance Advisors in Sri Lanka, specifically the members attending NAFLIA 2019, the National Forum for Life Insurance Advisors scheduled for the 2ndof September. My attempt is to articulate the key messages of the keynote speech that will be delivered by me.  

As I was reflecting on the topic for the annual conference, ‘Assuring Tomorrow Dream Today’. The questions that come up are, what is the action we need to take today to assure our dream of tomorrow? How do we know the action we choose to take today will assure our dream tomorrow? I realised this is a very complex question and that there is no standard answer to this as the action to be taken depends of the world each person lives in. What I mean by the ‘world’ is the immediate world of each person starting with him/herself, family, friends, organisations they belong to, organisations and people they interact with etc. The answer is personal.

Continue reading “Living our Dream Purposefully – Purpose of Living – Part 30”

Is Selling a Purposeful Profession – Purpose of Living – Part 29

purposeful sales person 2
Image credits: businessknowhow.com

I was at a cocktail party listening to an interesting conversation between two other guests who were in the same huddle as me.

Person A: What do you do?

Person B: I sell financial services.

Person A: What do you really want to do?

Person B: I want to be banker.

I asked A why he asked that question, and B why he responded that way. A said, “isn’t selling a profession that is not respected?” B said “yes”, it is so difficult to sell because customers look at him with suspicion. In my three decades of being in business and playing the roles of seller, buyer, leader, trainer, consultant and coach of sales professionals, I have encountered this attitude towards sales on many occasions.

However, my personal attitude towards sales is the opposite. As I reflect on the questions – how is it that people have developed this attitude towards sales, and what would be the best way to help people to look differently at sales? – the notion of purposefulness continues to come to my mind. Perhaps if I can find out if ‘sales’ is a purposeful profession, then it might help me to engage with people who have diverse viewpoints regarding this question.

Answering the above question requires understanding what is a purposeful profession. While I have attempted to answer this question in the earlier blog posts regarding purposefulness, there is no definite answer due to the complexity of this question. I believe that a purposeful profession needs to be of service to the flourishing of life and supported by noble values. Let’s examine these two aspects in relation to the sales profession. Continue reading “Is Selling a Purposeful Profession – Purpose of Living – Part 29”

Impact of religion and politics on personal purpose? – Purpose of Living – Part 27

Impact of religion and politics of people 2

My blog post of last month addressed the notion of purpose of violence in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka. We saw the involvement of religion and politics in the aftermath of the incident, over the past month. The intention of this blog post is to help us to understand how religion and politics positively and negatively impacted the lives of people.

Since I am not an intelligence, theological or political science expert to make judgements about what happened, and who was responsible for what happened, I request you not to take the assumptions I make in this post as truth. I am far away from the inner circles to know the truth and I am basing this blog post on what I have heard from trusted personalities such as the Cardinal of Sri Lanka, the Commander of the Army, and a retired intelligence experts known to me personally.

Continue reading “Impact of religion and politics on personal purpose? – Purpose of Living – Part 27”

Attacking the Innocent – What is the Purpose? – Purpose of Living – Part 26

easter attacks - condole april 19
Image Credits: fairmail.info

It was Easter Sunday (21 April 2019). I was in my flat in Dhaka, attending to some important business matters when I got a message that a bomb had gone off at St Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade, Colombo. Having not heard of bombings and terrorist violence for the past ten years, since the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, I hoped it was a hand grenade thrown by a business rival involved in unscrupulous business, with no injuries; these were the rare occurrences we heard of over the past ten years. Then the news started pouring in with photos and videos of simultaneous bomb attacks in two other churches and luxury hotels as well. My immediate concern was for my family who would have been at an Easter Mass at the same time. After calling and ensuring they were safe, my thoughts went out to the victims. I started hearing news of people known to me or families of people known to me having lost their lives or being injured, among the 253 souls that departed and 500 plus injured. I had visited St Anthony’s Church many times and I could picture the carnage as if I was there. It is considered a miraculous church and people from all religions visit to reflect on their challenges and ask help from St Anthony to resolve them.

Continue reading “Attacking the Innocent – What is the Purpose? – Purpose of Living – Part 26”

When Purposes Clash in Families – Purpose of Living – Part 24

When purposes clash
Image credit: http://www.keyministry.org a caption

Have you ever had a situation where you have a purpose different to the purpose of a family member, such as a spouse, parent, sibling or child? Has this situation led to misunderstandings, arguments, anger, violence or estrangement? How did you handle the situation? Has it made you become disgruntled about the notion of ‘purposeful living’. I will try to address this issue in this blog post from the limited experience I have had in dealing with such situations.

Recently I had the opportunity of counselling a couple who were facing such a situation;  the husband is a successful chief executive of a company and the wife is a senior manager in a bank. They have two adorable children. The family is financially sound with means of passive income. The husband was very caring to the family and they were always happy. The wife had always been supportive of the husband, specially in the early days of their marriage when he was struggling to move up the corporate ladder, while caring for the children. Continue reading “When Purposes Clash in Families – Purpose of Living – Part 24”

Finding Purpose in giving – Purpose of Living – Part 23

purpose in giving - jan 19
Image credit: http://www.stapostle.org

It’s interesting that the month of January 2019 was a month where I did as much free work as paid work. The first free assignment was to provide a keynote address at the new year celebration of a leading organisation in the insurance industry to inspire the staff of over 1000, who were gathered for the celebration, on the 1st of January. The second free assignment was to continue to help the administrators, parents and past pupils of my alma mater, St Anthony’s Collage, to take forward the strategic plan that I facilitated in formulating one year ago. The third free assignment was to help an important arm of the government of Sri Lanka to develop the leadership of a very important category of officials in becoming better leaders and making a better contribution for the development of the country. Continue reading “Finding Purpose in giving – Purpose of Living – Part 23”

Purpose of Living – Part 21: Inspiring others to live a purposeful life

inspire
Image credits: http://icorecoach.com

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the next ten blog posts. I invite you now to reflect on the ninth aspect in the model of purposeful living– inspiring (the dark blue colour circle in the model). While this is the ninth and final circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine circles, it’s not necessarily chronological. There could be also other circles that are yet to be discovered. Once we gather momentum in living purposefully, we start inspiring others to live purposefully as well.

This blog-post deals with our responsibility to inspire others to live a purposeful life. We can inspire others by design or by accident. On one hand, others can get inspired when they see the improvement of our quality of life as we attempt to live a purposeful life.  Living a purposeful life includes; living with a set of positive values, engaging in spiritual activities, looking after our health, building quality relationships, building financial stability, developing intellect and allocating time for purposeful activities. On the other hand, we could use our roles in life to inspire others. These roles include being a parent, sibling, relative, teacher, leader, colleague, author, speaker, and social figure such as a sportsman, entertainer, business leader, religious leader and social leader etc. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 21: Inspiring others to live a purposeful life”

Purpose of Living – Part 20: Learning & Growing as we Struggle to be Purposeful

struggle-has-purpose
Image Credits: Grouphigh.com

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the next nine blog posts. I invite you to now reflect on the eighth aspect in the model of purposeful living– Learning & Growing; the bronze colour circle in the model. While this is the eighth circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine circle process, it’s not necessarily chronological. Learning and growth that occurs due to an experience could make us feel fully alive and of service to the world and this can make us reflect and find purpose. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 20: Learning & Growing as we Struggle to be Purposeful”

Purpose of Living – Part 19: Responding to the Universe

universe responding to purpsoe
http://www.breathethinkwriterelease.com

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the next eight blog posts. I invite you to now reflect on the seventh aspect in the model of purposeful living– Responding (the dark green colour circle in the model). While this is the seventh circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine circles, it’s not necessarily chronological. An opportunity received could make someone feel fully alive and of service to the world and this can make him/her reflect and find purpose.

This blog-post deals with responding to the opportunities provided to us from the universe. I use the word universe to describe the energy system, a higher power that makes this planet tick. Those who are religious would make sense of this higher power as God, Allah or the Almighty. Whatever we call this power, I feel we are not intelligent enough to understand this higher power and it requires faith or a brilliant scientific mind. I believe the opportunities can come our way or we can go looking for the opportunities. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 19: Responding to the Universe”

Purpose of Living – Part 18: Rituals for our Purpose

Care Of New Life - Watering Young Plant
Image credits: https://imerys-filtration.com/

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the next seven blog posts. I invite you to now reflect on the sixth aspect in the model of purposeful living– Rituals; the red colour circle in the model. While this is the sixth circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine steps, it’s not necessarily chronological.

This blog-post deals with rituals for our purpose that we have now started to glimpse, based on the processes suggested in the last few blog posts.  Rituals helps us to internalise the purpose, remind ourselves that we are in this world for a bigger reason, helps us decide to take some baby steps during the day towards living a purposeful life, energizes us, makes us feel more valuable, helps us to make decisions, solve problems etc.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 18: Rituals for our Purpose”

Purpose of Living – Part 17: A Representation for the Purpose

Purpose artefact cropped
An artefact representing my life-purpose – read the post for an explanation of how it represents my life-purpose

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the next 6 blog posts. I invite you now to  reflect on the fifth aspect in the model of purposeful living – Representation, the light beige colour circle in the model. While this is the fifth circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine steps, it’s not necessarily chronological.

This blog post deals with creating a representation for our purpose that we have now started to glimpse, based on the processes suggested in the last few blog posts.  A representation when seen regularly helps us to internalise the purpose, remind ourselves that we are in this world for a bigger reason, helps us decide to take some baby steps during the day towards living a purposeful life, energizes us, makes us feel more valuable, helps us to make decisions, solve problems etc.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 17: A Representation for the Purpose”

Purpose of Living – Part 16: Building Self to be Fit for Purpose

Building ourselves to live purposefully

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last five blog post. I invite you to now reflect on the fourth aspect in the model of purposeful living– Building – the light blue colour circle in the model. While this is the fourth circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine steps; it’s not necessarily chronological.

This blog-post deals with building ourselves to be fit for purpose. I believe that God almighty or the universal energy system, or whatever way you make sense of the energy that makes life tick, would send us the opportunities to make our contribution to life. It could be a calling, a vocation, an opportunity to serve or an opportunity to further develop ourselves.

When I had a glimpse of my purpose 22 years ago, I decided to build myself by developing my spirituality through regular prayer and meditation, my health through regular visits to the gym, my relationships through spending more quality time with my family and team members, and my knowledge through re-introducing the reading habit to my life. These are four areas where we need to build ourselves; spiritual, physical, relational and mental. I started improving in these four areas and I felt successful and happy as a result, giving me peace of mind resulting in the improvement of the fifth aspect; emotional. I found I was getting less angry and was less frustrated when things did not go according to my plans. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 16: Building Self to be Fit for Purpose”

Purpose of Living – Part 15: Purposeful Choices

purposeful choices
Image credit: http://www.emzingo.com

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last four blog post. I invite you to now reflect on the third aspect in the model of purposeful living– The choices (the orange colour circle in the model). While this is the third circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine steps; it’s not chronological in real life.

This aspect deals with making choices once we have a glimpse for the beginning of what our purpose might be. When I had a glimpse of my purpose 22 years ago, I made choices such as finding opportunities to improve my knowledge regarding personal development through Neuro Linguistic Programming and organisational development through continuous improvement by reading and conducting training for my team at Keells Super, and attempting to apply this knowledge in my work and personal life. I started spending more time with my family because helping them grow and see them grow gave me joy. They are the oxygen that energized my flame. These choices were relevant to my purpose, which was about helping myself grow to my fullest potential by helping others to grow to their fullest potential. I started going to the gym regularly as I wanted to keep my body in shape so that I am fit to do purposeful work. I started to pray and meditate regularly and felt peace of mind. I also started to be more helpful to others thereby building high quality relationships. I knew all these were in some way connected to my purpose as I really felt good doing it. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 15: Purposeful Choices”

Purpose of Living – Part 14: A Glimpse of our Purpose

purpose - part 14 - glimpse copy

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last three blog post. I invite you to now reflect on the second aspect in the model of purposeful living– The glimpse, the light green circle in the model.

This aspect deals with how we start seeing a glimpse or the beginning of what our purpose might be. The reason I sound so tentative is because I feel that we may have a specific role in this world and a purpose to live by, based on the higher powers that created us, be it God or the Universal energy system or however we chose to make sense of our existence. I discovered the beginning of my purpose about 22 years ago and the more I attempt to live by the sense of my purpose at any given time, the more I become clearer about it. Therefore, my clarity of my purpose has evolved with me and I believe it will continue to evolve during the rest of my life, although I may still not know what my purpose is completely, even when I transcend. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 14: A Glimpse of our Purpose”

Purpose of Living – Part 13: Awareness about the Notion of Purpose

Purposeful Life - mar 2018
Image credits: Centre for disability and development – Texas A&M University a caption

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last two blog post. I invite you to now reflect on the first aspect in the model of purposeful living – Awareness, the grey circle.

This aspect deals with how we become aware of the notion of purpose, and realise the importance of living purposefully. There are some who are aware of the notion of purpose, but do not realise the importance of living a purposeful life. There are others who are aware of the notion of purpose and its importance as well. I believe both aspects are needed to motivate us to start seeing the glimpse of our own purpose, the second aspect of the model of purposeful living.  Let’s explore these two aspects in the next two paragraphs.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 13: Awareness about the Notion of Purpose”

Purpose of Living – Part 12: Making Sense of our purpose – the space

psychic energy
Image credits: http://getcontent.wordpress.com

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last blog post, the eleventh in the series. I invited you to explore a model of purposefulness that has been developed over the past three years of my doctoral studies. This is still work in progress and will continue to evolve in this year of writing my thesis and beyond.  However, I believe it has potential to help us make sense of our purpose because my professional practice over the past 20 years and my doctoral inquiry so far over the past three years has informed me of possible ways of making sense of our purpose.

The model as it stands now, presented in the previous (eleventh) blog post is based on the notion that our sense of purpose, that may evolve with life, is related to making a positive impact on the process of life using the talent, passion and compassion of each living being. I used the metaphor of the sun that provides us energy and inspiration, to explain purpose and the nine planets as the various aspects related to living purposefully. These aspects are related to each other through the space it resides in and I have a hunch that the space is the real thing. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 12: Making Sense of our purpose – the space”

Purpose of Living – Part 11: Making Sense of our purpose – the overview

planetary model of purposefulness
Ranjan’s Model of Purposefulness

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the past ten blog posts in this series. I believe it is now time to explore how we can make sense of our purpose. One reason I believe the time is right is because my professional practice over the past 20 years, and my Phd inquiry so far over the past three years has informed me of possible ways of making sense of our purpose. I believe some of the readers have already explored their purpose given various experiences and learnings in their life, and from the suggestions in the ten blog posts in this series so far.

Over the last three years the model of purposefulness has changed from having four components to nine components and from linear to loosely related. This change has happened based on an action inquiry process that took place as I tried to make sense of the notion of purpose by attempting to live a purposeful life in an inquiring manner. Inquiring into the notion in my family life, work life, social life, academic life, reflecting in to my experiences, taking new actions based on the reflection, reflecting based on action, and continuing the action-inquiry process. The model of purposefulness has evolved in this process and I believe it will continue to evolve.

The model as it stands now is presented in this blog post and I will explore the components and their relationships in depth in the blog posts to follow. I believe our purpose is something universal, related to making a positive impact on the process of life. The process of life consists of living beings, both human and other than human, the environment we live in, the resources we need to live such as food, water, fresh air, clothing etc., the infrastructure we need to live such as healthcare, education, transportation, communication, housing, and processes that ensure peace, harmony, joy and morality such as worship, entertainment, sports and marriage. Therefore, each living being has a role to play, based on their talent and passion to make a positive contribution to the process of life and I believe that would help us find our purpose.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 11: Making Sense of our purpose – the overview”

Purpose of Living – Part 10: The Action Logics (Post – Conventional) Viewpoint

Action logics - post con copy
Post – Conventional Action logics & Life Purpose

We explored the notion of purpose from the viewpoints of Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies, Early Sciences, Modern Sciences, Philosophy, Psychology, Ecology and Action Logics (pre-conventional) viewpoints in the past blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from an ‘Action Logics (post-conventional)’ viewpoint.

I started the previous blog post with an attempt to understand the notion of ‘Action Logics’, which tries to explain the ‘logic’ behind the ‘action’ we take. Most unspontaneous actions are based on decisions, which are rational, and therefore they could be based on an intention, reason or purpose. The four pre-conventional action logics; opportunist, diplomat, expert and achiever, explored in the last blog post was based on the degree of mutuality and expertise.

Let’s attempt to explore post-conventional action logics in this blog post based on the proposition by Greuter Cooke (2002). According to a research study in the USA of about 4300  adults, it was found that 18.2% belong to the post-conventional group. While it is difficult to define post-conventional, to me it seems like those who are more mature, wiser, selfless, seeking happiness through harmony, simplicity, generosity and spirituality, would fall into this group. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 10: The Action Logics (Post – Conventional) Viewpoint”

Purpose of Living – Part 8: The Ecological Viewpoint

mahogany landslide may 2017
Natures Wrath: Landslide of a Mahogany Plantation

We explored the notion of purpose from the viewpoints of Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies, Early Sciences, Modern Sciences, Philosophy and Psychology in the last few blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from some of the Ecological viewpoints.

It’s May 2017. I got a call from the account manager from the company that manages my Mahogany plantation in the Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka. I have some bad news to share with you. What is it? I ask. One of your Mahogany plantations in Munihinkanda has got affected by the recent landslides. We have not been able to access the plantation yet as the authorities have restricted access to the plantations until they are able to confirm that it is secure. What is the extent of the damage? I ask. About ten acres of the plantation has slid down to the river below and we feel it includes one of your plots too. Interestingly I was calm as I heard this news, although the financial loss was going to be quite severe. As I digested this news my mind went to the time that a rubber plantation of a larger extent belonging to my father was destroyed due to a cyclone about 40 years ago. I remembered my involvement in the process of transporting the fallen trees to help my father recover at least a part of the losses. My mind wonders to the hundreds of lives lost due to this storm and thousands who have lost their livelihood as a result. Perhaps the reason for me to be emotionally unmoved by my financial loss could be because these are more severe than the personal financial loss I have incurred. I have watched with dismay so many natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunami’s, floods, landslides, forest fires etc. happening in various parts of the world. It seems like it is getting more and more intense.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 8: The Ecological Viewpoint”

Purpose of Living – Part 7: The Psychological Viewpoint

psychology of purpose
http://www.webpt.com

We explored the notion of purpose from the view point from Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies, Early Sciences, Modern Sciences and Philosophy in the last few blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from some of the Psychological viewpoints.

Although having been appointed to boards of two of the companies of John Keells Holdings, at the age of 27, after having been appointed Marketing Manager of that company at the age of 24, largely due to the gold medal I won at the final examination of the UK based Chartered Institute of Marketing examination, and many corporate successes, I had a sense of emptiness and meaninglessness in my life during my early thirties. The various solutions applied to deal with this emptiness were related to attempting to think and act positively after having attended the ‘Mastery of Self’ playshop during that period. I also find many of the participants attending workshops I facilitate grappling with such emptiness.

Positive psychology – A science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions promises to improve quality of life and prevent the pathologies that arise when life is barren and meaningless – addresses this feeling of emptiness, described with the word ‘barren’.  The exclusive focus on pathology that has dominated so much of our discipline results in a model of the human beings lacking the positive features that makes life worth living. Hope, wisdom, creativity, future mindedness, courage, spirituality, responsibility, and perseverance are ignored or explained as transformations of more authentic negative impulses (Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi, 2014, p.5).

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 7: The Psychological Viewpoint”

Purpose of Living – Part 6: The Philosophical Viewpoint

purpose-of-philosophy
Image Credits: http://www.lifepersona.com

We explored the notion of purpose from the viewpoint from Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies, early sciences and modern sciences in the last few blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from some of the Philosophical viewpoints.

An early proponent of the concept of purpose was Aristotle. His thinking of purpose tends to summarise the viewpoints of this diverse group of people. He suggests that the most basic meaning of quality of life refers to the ability of humans to formulate and implement purpose. Adoption of a good lifestyle that includes good health, social wellbeing and environmental safety or their promotion is purposeful activity (Jonsen,1976). While concepts of health, social wellbeing and environment is alluded by Aristotle, he does not talk about skills, knowledge and vocation, as echoed in some of the conversations I have had, and from my first-person knowing.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 6: The Philosophical Viewpoint”

Purpose of Living – Part 5: The Viewpoint from Modern Sciences

purpose - modern science3
Image Credits: http://www.powepresive.com

We explored the notion of purpose from the perspective of Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies and early sciences in the last few blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from some of the modern scientific viewpoints.

Modern sciences have developed new theories, from the findings of the early sciences, about the evolution of life. An initial review of this literature does not provide specific answers regarding the purpose of life and the purposeful living of beings, specifically human beings. Therefore, this body of knowledge needs to be further analysed for deeper and wider understanding, which could lead to a theory regarding purposefulness (major theme in my doctoral inquiry). The discovery of Nuclein and Double Helix Structure of DNA by Crick, Watson and Wilkins (Olby, 1974) has helped deeper understanding of its role in the makeup of human beings, providing potential to understand the purpose of our lives.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 5: The Viewpoint from Modern Sciences”

Purposeful Living – Part 3: The Religious Viewpoint

purpose and religion
Image Credits: Alternate.org

My work over the last 20 years around the notion of purpose has informed me of diverse viewpoints about purpose. These viewpoints are defined by the values and beliefs of different persons I was fortunate enough to interact with. Attempting to articulate at least a glimpse of one’s purpose may require an appreciation of such values and beliefs, so that such a purpose does not conflict with who the person is and his/her viewpoint of the nature of the world. Therefore, I would like to dedicate this blog post to various religious viewpoints regarding purpose of life. The next blog post will be dedicated to the scientific viewpoints regarding purpose of life. Continue reading “Purposeful Living – Part 3: The Religious Viewpoint”

Purposeful Living – Part 2 – The Importance of Living Purposefully?

million dollars on the mountain
Image Credits: Elevated Christian Network

Let’s examine the question; why is it important to find our purpose? Some would say; we have lived all these years without a clear purpose or we know what it is in our mind and our life is moving on well, so why do we need a purpose? I have come across a very small percentage of people who have a clearly articulate purpose, but most of them would say; I think this is my purpose, but I am not sure if it is the right purpose. The following interactive story, titled the million dollars on the mountain, helps audiences of my workshop to start understanding the importance of a purpose;

Ranjan: Imagine a cheque for a million dollars drawn in your name on top o a mountain. Would you like to go get it?
Continue reading “Purposeful Living – Part 2 – The Importance of Living Purposefully?”

Purposeful Living – Part 1 – What is the difference between a purpose and a goal?

purpose
Image Credits: http://www.purposedriven.com

The notion of ‘purpose’ has fascinated me, since I discovered it more than 20 years ago. I have attempted to live a purposeful life and help others to do so during my practice of helping individuals and teams live their potential. A concept in the centre of this endeavour is to help those who I am fortunate enough to interact with, discover ‘purpose’ and ‘live purposefully’. I have also chose to inquire in to the notion of purpose in my doctoral studies that I am pursuing at the moment. I invite you to read and reflect on this series of blog posts, take action that you are driven to take after reading them, reflect again on the action you take and take further action based on such reflection. I find this cycle useful and I hope it serves you too. It will also help my inquiry if you are willing to write to me about your experience.

The first of this series of blog posts is to explore the difference between a purpose and a goal? Let me take you to the second half of the first day in the ‘Mastery of Self – Through Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)’ playshop, where we attempt to understand the concept of purpose. We start this section by trying to clarify the difference between ‘purpose’ and ‘goal’. While there is a discussion on this question, an answer that generally comes out is; purpose is the bigger reason why we pursue various goals in our life. It is the big ‘why’ of our choices. For example, if you are attempting to get a qualification, ask your self ‘why? If you keep repeating the question ‘why’ until there is no answer remaining, that might help you understand the difference between ‘purpose’ and ‘goal’ and perhaps give a hint of your higher purpose. So lets try to find the reason for pursuing the qualification;

Continue reading “Purposeful Living – Part 1 – What is the difference between a purpose and a goal?”

How to change your habits with Action Inquiry

ranjans-reflective-model
Ranjan De Silva’s Reflective Process

Joseph tends to get angry when his wife Judy asks him too many questions? He notices this tendency and realizes that his response hurts Judy. But this thought does not come to his mind when he is angry. He feels this is not helpful for their relationship, which has been deteriorating gradually.

You may have faced similar situations with family, friends, colleagues or anyone else you have regular interactions or you may know others who are facing similar challenges. Have you ever wondered why it has been sometimes very difficult to change a habit?

While I have been using techniques of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Transactional Analysis (TA) to help myself and those who come for my guidance, to change habits, I was fascinated by the power and potential of Action Inquiry in achieving real and lasting change.

Continue reading “How to change your habits with Action Inquiry”

Universal Energy Sync – For Success and Happiness

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Image captured by me at the Ashridge Business School in January 2017

This image is the sunrise at the ‘Ashridge Business School’ captured earlier this month during my quarterly stay there. I consider this my spiritual home that nourishes my soul as I pursue my doctoral studies. This is a place that helps me grow towards my fullest potential, giving me real inner happiness during the process.

 Perhaps you are one of those people who is always tasting success and living happily. Perhaps you are one who observes others in this way of living. Perhaps you are one who is searching for the ‘how’ to achieve such a state of life. This blog is designed to discuss how such a state of life can be achieved.

While there could be millions of ways of making sense of success and happiness, my personal belief is that success comes from improving in areas that are purposeful to me. I am refereeing to action that is driven by a higher purpose as I keep on my quest to make sense of what that higher purpose is. Happiness is what I experience when I am in the process of improving in areas important to me.

What is important to me is my purpose that helps me to be of service to the world and thereby helping me to provide a comfortable and purposeful life for my family and me. This requires me to improve my spirituality that gives me peace of mind, and improves my brain, which helps me learn and teach, improve my body, which helps me act effectively and efficiently, improve my relationships, which provides the love to live purposefully, improve my emotions to be in joy, improve my finances to help fund my purpose and improve the use of my time choosing to do purposeful work.
Continue reading “Universal Energy Sync – For Success and Happiness”

Preparing for a fruitful 2017

fruitful-2017
Image Credits: http://www.pinterest.com

2016 is almost over and I hope you made good progress during the year. Some of us would say it was an awesome year, some would say it was an average year and some others would say it was not a good year!  The best we can do is to use the learning from 2016 so that we can make 2017 a better one.

I am pleased to present a simple four-step process to help you prepare for a fruitful 2017.

Step 1: Let’s start by doing this simple reflective exercise to take the resources from 2016 for a better 2017. Answer the following question in writing or in an artful form such as a picture, poem, collage, structure etc.

  1. What were my biggest successes in 2016? What did I learn from it?
  2. What were my biggest failures in 2016? What did I learn from it?
  3. Who am I grateful for 2016?  (Those who helped me and was tough on me)

Once the above is done, allow some time for the energy and learnings to settle in before starting the preparation for 2017.
Continue reading “Preparing for a fruitful 2017”

Understanding and Dealing with Misunderstandings

blogLet me use the words of the ‘Cookie Thief’ poem by Valerie Cox, I recite at trainings and the ‘ladder of inference’ developed by Coghlan & Brannick (2014, p.31) to attempt to figure out why we have misunderstandings. I will interrupt the poem and use the seven steps of the ‘ladder of inference’ model during the interludes in this attempt.

 A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

 She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene. Continue reading “Understanding and Dealing with Misunderstandings”

Intelligence: Is it a Window into our Purpose?

multiple_intelligence_wheel
Image Credits: http://www.rotation.org

My previous blog titled ‘why try to be a banana when you are a peach’ attempted to discuss the idea that we are unique and for me living purposefully is trying to discover if I am a Peach or a banana or something else and trying to live as one. I also feel that having a glimpse of what might be purpose would help make choices on how to live and we can get confirmation if those are congruent with purpose through bodily signals. I believe it is a life long search, and that living our life inquiring what our purpose might be, could help us find happiness… what ever that might mean to each of us.

In this blog post I would like to discuss if an exploration in to multiple intelligences could help us in the pursuit of finding purpose in our life. Howard Gardner introduces the concept of multiple intelligences and suggests that each one of us may have some predominant intelligence in us. The list of intelligences he suggests are; bodily physical, verbal/linguistic, mathematical/logical, visual/spatial, musical, inter-personal and intra-personal. The following description might be helpful in starting to think about our predominant intelligence.

Continue reading “Intelligence: Is it a Window into our Purpose?”

Why try to be a Banana, when you are a Peach?

peaches-bananas
Image Credits: http://www.keywordhut.com

I could be the most delectable, the most delicious, the most wondrous peach in the world, and I could offer it to everybody.  But there are people who are allergic to peaches.  Then they may want me to be a banana.”  And so often we become a banana for other people who want peaches.  What a messy fruit salad.  Isn’t it all right to say to them, “I am so sorry I cannot be a banana? I would love to be a banana if I could for you, but I’m a peach.”  And you know what?  If you wait long enough, you’ll find a peach lover.  And then you can live your life as a peach, and you don’t have to live your life as a banana. All the lost energy it takes to be a banana, when you’re a peach!

This is a part of a poem I love, written by the author of ‘Love’ Leo Buscaglia. It had an amazing impact on my life and the choices I make. This has helped me to continue to search for my God-given gift by asking the questions; what do I love to do? What am I good at? What is important to me? These reflections have led me to find a sense of my ‘purpose’ and I continue to ask myself questions to inquire if that is my purpose. Such inquiry has also changed the questions and I ask and the third question above has now changed to; for what or who am I in service of?

Continue reading “Why try to be a Banana, when you are a Peach?”

How do we know what we know?

ways of knowingHave you ever thought about how you know what you know? When this question was first asked from me, the answers that came to my mind was; from books, from parents, from teachers, from the learned. But when confronted with the next question, so do you believe that all that you know was true, I felt yes, it must be true, if not these will not be thought to me by those who I respect as learned, honest and well-meaning. But when I thought deeper, I felt that what is true to them, does not have to be true to me, because they come from different backgrounds, eras, conditions, cultures, religion, and would be driven by different purposes etc. Therefore for us to claim that we know what we know requires a kind of self-validation. John Heron provides a theoretical framework that helps make sense of the way we know. He names it extended epistemology, which has four interwoven ways of knowing (Heron 1992, 1999): Continue reading “How do we know what we know?”

Purposefulness

Have you ever wondered about the purpose of your life? Why on earth are you here? Those of you who may have been to one of our workshops or any other relevant learning experience, may have an idea about the concept of purpose and know at least the beginnings of your purpose. Given below is a poem I wrote as I reflected on where I am with regard to my purpose, together with a group of us who are co-inquiring about our purposefulness.

Purposefulness the poem June 16

I recommend you do some creative journaling about where you are with regard to your purpose using a poem, song, photo, drawing, pottery, mask, handicraft, dance, writing, mind map, formula, graph or any other form you are most passionate about to understand about your current purposefulness. Please share them with us if you wish, we would love to see them and help you make sense of it.

The photo of the tree in the picture that includes the poem above inspired me to write this poem.

Why we do, what we do – Part 2

why we do what we do - part 2
Image Credits: http://www.linkedIn.com

We examined why we do what we do from the Action Logic framework Introduced by Greuter Cooke (Cooke 2002) where we discussed the four pre-conventional action logics; opportunist, diplomat, expert and achiever. Click here to read the previous blog. This paper takes us to the post-conventional action logics; Individualist, Strategist, Alchemist and Ironist.

We need to remember that only about 15% of adult population, based on research done on a sample of adults in the United States, operate with post-conventional action logics. I suspect the percentage may not be too different in other parts of the world, but I feel the percentage may be higher in the east (countries around India and China) due to the long history of mindfulness practices such as meditation, yoga etc. that we adopt. It is also important to note that those in lower action logics may find it difficult to relate to and practice higher action logics, but those operating in higher action logics, finds it easy to relate to and operate in lower action logics as required.

Since the transition from pre-conventional action logic, let’s go back to the example of Sara, I wrote about in my earlier blog, who transitioned from a ‘expert’ action logic and learnt how to listen, take feedback and discuss different options presented by her colleagues. This approach not only helped her to make better decisions, as she is richer in perspectives, it has also strengthened her relationships with her colleagues.

Continue reading “Why we do, what we do – Part 2”

Why we do, what we do?

why-we-do-what-we-do
Image Credits: http://www.ccfla.com

Think of the last time you reflected upon an action you took? Remember asking yourself the question why did I do what I just did? Sometime we may not even ask this question, thinking it is the way it is or it is meant to be or you were too busy to do so. Even if we asked this question we may not think deep enough to reflect on the root causes. Sometimes, even if we thought deep enough, we may not reflect on alternate ways of responding to the same situation the next time. Sometimes, even if we thought of alternate ways of responding the next time, we may not reflect on alternate actions we could take the next time. Those who go through this whole process and take alternate action the next time, and continue to follow this process, will find tremendous personal growth.

Continue reading “Why we do, what we do?”

Paradigm Prisons into Paradigm Prisms

Paradigm Prisons to PrismsWe are one of seven billion people in this world and each one of us sees the world from our own paradigm. This short blog post will examine the dangers of getting imprisoned in a paradigm and the benefits of becoming a prism as prisons are restricting and prisms are reflecting.

For example, when it comes to a decision of buying a family car, each family member would look at the decision from a different paradigm. The father might look at technical performance and fuel efficiency, the mother might look at the spaciousness and colour scheme, the teenage son might look at how classy it looks and how fast it can go and the teenage daughter may not care about any of this. When each family gets prisoned in their paradigm, they will not be able to come out of it to look at the decision from other paradigms, leading to possible misunderstandings, conflicts and even permanent damage to the quality of relationships.

Therefore the question is, how do we get out of the paradigm prison?

Continue reading “Paradigm Prisons into Paradigm Prisms”

Power of Purpose for Leadership Success!

Purposeful Leadership
Image Credits: salitabacchi.com

What makes a difference between an ordinary leader and an extra ordinary leader?

While there could be many reasons for this difference, I would like to propose the idea of ‘Purpose’.

I remember the time where I was responsible for business results in a company before I found my purpose. My primary focus is to achieve profit target of the company. This was pursuing a goal set by my company; it was not even a purpose. My life was about going to work every day, making decisions on how best to be better than competitors and using (yes using them without thinking of their growth & welfare) the people allocated to me in achieving these goals. Unknowingly I was neglecting my health, spirituality, my relationships, my financial health and I was squandering my time. I remember those days where I was hospitalized with stress attacks, struggling to pay my bills, gaining weight and working long hours. Fortunately I had a drive to educate myself, perhaps to overcome the fear of financial challenges and the passion to spend time with my children, perhaps because blood is thicker than water and, as they were such adorable children.

My life changed when I was fortunate enough to write a purpose during the first Mastery of Self playshop I attended. What was powerful about the purpose was it helped me to know myself deeper and to see the life I am designed to live. Formulating a realistic five year and Continue reading “Power of Purpose for Leadership Success!”

Month End Booster!

month end booster
Image Credits: http://www.boost.it

I remember the time I used to be so enthusiastic about a new year and formulate an exciting plan. However after a few months there is disappointment realizing that I had made only insignificant progress in executing the plan.

 

Over the years I have formulated and refined a method of ensuring my plans get achieved by carrying out a month end (or next month beginning) booster and I would like to share it with you. As I always say, just because this worked for me, there is no guarantee it will work for you. Therefore I invite you to try this out and adjust it to suit your situation so that it works for you.

Continue reading “Month End Booster!”

Passion Killers and Passion Ignitions

passion killers vs ignitions

We are born as passionate beings and somewhere down the line some of us started seeing the diminishing or absence of that passion. This piece of writing will attempt to identify the reasons for the diminishing of passion, the role we play in killing passion and what role can we play to ignite that passion. I have found that using the energy within the hearts and minds of our teams by igniting their passion as one of the most productive and cost effective ways of driving performance.

Reflecting on our childhood where we had all the energy to live life will confirm this. Observe a baby showing the need for affection with her passionate cry for attention. Observe children passionate about playing the games they love to play. Observe children passionately asking for the toy of their choice from their parents. We also carry this passion to our adulthood in areas that are important to us. Observe a young man passionately pursuing to foster a relationship with the woman of his dreams. Observe a musician singing his heart out entertaining his fans. Observe and entrepreneur passionately promoting his business.

Continue reading “Passion Killers and Passion Ignitions”

Gearing up for an Awesome 2016

plan 2016
Image Credits: dreamtime.com

Let’s make 2016 an awesome year! Trust you have already done the two activities recommended in my blog in taking the best of 2015 to make the best of 2016. Having done that would help in making this activity even more powerful. The first blog is about doing a gratitude list; people and happenings durign the year that you are grateful for. This activity makes us generate the positive energy required to gear up for the new year. See more details about this activity following this link. The second blog is about taking stock of 2015. See more details about this activity following this link. However if you are short of time you may do the activity in this blog post as a stand-alone activity and make a note to re-visit the earlier two activities if time permits.

We prepare our mind for success and failure based on how we programme, condition and prepares it. A positive mind will activate the ‘Reticular Activating System’ [RAS] to experience [see, hear, feel, smell, taste] positive situations if we are looking for it and open to it. Therefore if you are looking for the ideal ‘Masters Degree’ to pursue in 2016, once you see, hear and feel yourself enjoying pursuing the masters degree successfully in your mind, your brain will filter and pick up ides for the ‘Masters Degree’ from the millions of stimuli bombarding us every second of our life.

Gearing up for an awesome 2016

Given below are two processes. The first process will help you come up with an inspirational plan. The second is to take steps in implementing the plan. Given below are the steps in coming up with the inspirational plan; this can be done individually, with your family or with your team.

Step 1: List down three big goals you [or your family or your team] would like to achieve in 2016.

Continue reading “Gearing up for an Awesome 2016”

The New Year and the New You!

New Year 2016We all look forward to the New Year and celebrate it in different ways. There are those who clean up and pain their houses to give a new beginning. There are those who wear new cloths as the New Year dawns. There are those who go to a place of worship and take part in religious celebrations to usher in the New Year. There are those who eat, drink and dance at hotels, home or parks to usher in the New Year. There are those who stay at home and do traditional rituals such as boiling a pot of milk for good luck. There are those who do not do any of these or sometimes don’t even know it’s a dawn of a New Year. Whichever group you belong to, it is interesting to reflect on the deeper change that happens in you during the transition in to the New Year.

 

New Year is about renewal. When we renew ourselves we eliminate accumulated negative energy and replenish ourselves with positive energy. That’s what exercises, a shower, a make over, an inspirational reading, an authentic conversation, a paying off a loan, waking up after a refreshing sleep, meditation etc. does to us. It gives us new fresh positive energy that helps us get a new start. Perhaps that’s what New Years do t us.

 

There are certain things in our life that does not change, while we renew ourselves;

 

It’s a New Year although it is another day

It’s a new vision although it’s the same purpose

It’s a new attitude although it’s the same mind

It’s a new passion although it’s the same heart

It’s a new you although it is the same face

 

Have an awesome 2016 … May it be the best of your life!

 

Ranjan De Silva

Christmas for Joy and Peace

family greeting 2015Christmas is here again. Let me wish each and everyone of my network a merry Christmas.

 

It was amazing how yesterday the 24th of December 2015 had so many religions converging. It was Poya and one of the most holy days of significance for Sri Lankan Buddhist. It was the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (Sal); Peace be upon him. And it was Christmas Eve, moments before the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ. What an amazing opportunity for peace and yes it was so holy and peaceful.

 

It’s amazing to see Sri Lanka whose Christian population is a minority celebrates Christmas like in any predominantly Christian county. A drive a round the city with all the decorations will make this evident. I have non-Christian friends who decorate their homes with Christmas trees. What an amazing mindset to have.

 

Lets take this feeling of unity, peace and happiness deep in to the hearts and minds of all people in our beautiful country and the people in this world so that we can have unity, peace and happiness in our families, work places, societies, countries and between countries.

 

Mat God Bless you all.

Take the best of 2015 to make the best of 2016 (part 1): The gratitude List

gratitude
Image Credits: www.huffingtonpost.com

As we wind up 2015 and start looking in to 2016, let me propose a few steps we can take to take the best of 2015 and make the best of 2016.

The first step I propose is a gratitude list. This is a list of all the people and happenings in 2015 that we can be grateful for. It is amazing how many great things happened to us and sometimes they go un-noticed or we take them for granted. A gratitude list helps us to recall them, reflect on them and record them. This activity will energize us to start looking at 2016 with more eagerness, more energy and more enthusiasm.

Here are a few items in my gratitude list. This is still been written and as I write it I remember more people and events I can be grateful for.

  • For Lord Jesus Christ for guiding, keeping and protecting me as I dealt with the various opportunities and challenges provided to me during the year.
  • For Lord Jesus Christ for giving us the opportunity and means to visit holy places in Italy (the Vatican, St Anthony’s shrine and other places of religious and historic interest) and to be able to take my mother and the family on this pilgrimage.
  • For my mother for always been there for me to share my challenges and success.
  • For my wife Jennifer for being the guardian angel to my 3 daughters during the year, specially when I had to be away from home serving my clients
  • For my wife Jennifer who managed all logistical aspects regard to my affairs in Sri Lanka, allowing me the space to focus on serving my clients.
  • To my eldest daughter Natasha for continuing to inspire me by balancing all her roles as a Phd candidate, As a mentor at Apple, as a teacher at the City University and as peace ambassador for the Olympic truce and doing all of them at an exceptionally high standard.
  • To my second daughter Menasha for excelling in her Masters studies in fashion marketing and being their with her sister and soul mate Natasha.
  • To my third daughter Radeesha for being so adorable and loving and for her wonderful culinary creations of cakes, pastries and what not.
  • To my business partner for giving me a free hand to develop the business in this region and to lead my team serving our clients.
  • To my team members Caroline, Ejaz, Fahim, Farzana, Florentina, Lester, Partho, Prarthana, Riaz, Siddeshwar, Tanzi, who helped in designing, developing and delivering our services to our clients.
  • To my clients who trusted us with their most important asset, their people and gave us the opportunity to serve them.
  • For the faculty, batch mates, my supervisor Geoff and my Doctoral Support Group (Roger, Britta and Kavitha) of the Ashridge Doctorate in Organisational Change (ADOC) for being a part of a new journey of self discovery and learning deep in to the body of knowledge that gives me new ways of learning, thinking and serving the world.

I recommend you do your gratitude list and stay tuned in. I will be back with further guidance in helping you to do a spectacular transition from 2015 in to 2016.

Wish you purposeful living with happiness and excellence.

Ranjan De Silva

Wrong

you-are-wrong-and-i-am-rightWe may have heard this word tons of times from our childhood. You are wrong! That’s the wrong answer! You have wronged me! that’s the wrong way to do it! I have many times wondered about the meaning of this word. What impact does this word have on our lives? What impact does this word have on our relationships?

There are specific activities that need to be done in specific ways. An aircraft has to be flown in a specific way and needs to follow a specific flight path and altitude. If the pilot deviates it can put the passengers in danger. A surgeon has a specific way to perform a surgery. If the surgeon deviates it can put the patient in danger. A driver has to drive on a specific side of a road. If the driver deviates it can result in an accident. In this case it may be appropriate to use the word ‘wrong’. That the wrong flight path, that the wrong leg you are operating and that the wrong side of the road you are driving.

Continue reading “Wrong”

Great Conversations make Great Teams!

Image Credits: www.dailyhappyquote.com
Image Credits: http://www.dailyhappyquote.com

Remember the last time you were engrossed in a conversation? Conversation where real issues were discussed! Conversations that were authentic! Conversations that were value adding! Conversations that made time stand still! Conversations that made things happen! Conversations that got continued! These are the conversations that make great teams.

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2014 titled ‘How Great is Your Team?’ I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that make a great team. The first seven aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’, ‘Team Alignment Around Critical Goals’, ‘Does your Team have Clearly Agreed way of Working?’ ‘A Great Decision-Making Process for a Great Team’, ‘Information Flow is Encouraged’, ‘Great Leaders don’t Mince their Words’ and ‘Positive Crisis’ have already been posted in this blog. Here is the 8th installment regarding the 8th aspect; ‘Great Conversation’.

Continue reading “Great Conversations make Great Teams!”

Positive Crisis – Makes Great Teams!

Image credits: www.matthewroda.com
Image credits: http://www.matthewroda.com

Have you ever wondered what makes a movie interesting? It is the crisis in the movie, even when it is a comedy or an animated children’s film there is some crisis and you will realise how boring that movie could be without that crisis. Similarly meetings become interesting when there is a crisis to deal with. A project becomes interesting when there is a crisis to deal with. A team becomes interesting when there is crisis between team members.

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2014 titled ‘How great is your team?’ I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that make a great team. The first six aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’, ‘Team Alignment around Critical Goals’, ‘Does Your Team have Clearly Agreed Way of Working?’, ‘A Great Decision-Making Process for a Great Team’, ‘Information Flow is Encouraged’, and ‘Great Leaders don’t Mince their Words’ have already been posted in this blog. Here is the seventh instalment regarding the 7th aspect; ‘Positive Crisis’.

Continue reading “Positive Crisis – Makes Great Teams!”

Connecting & Connections!

Image credits: http://www.connections4children.com
Image credits: http://www.connections4children.com

Living in the Internet world we know the value of connectivity. When we go to a restaurant, cafe, hotel, hospital, airport or any other public place we look for Wi-Fi connections. The theory of ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare, is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away from any other person or thing in the world. Therefore a chain of  “a friend of a friend”  statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.

Surekha Ahgir Yadev in a recent blog mentions that the most important phrase for expats in Colombo, Sri Lanka is; ‘I Know a Guy’. She says Colombo has a surprisingly sophisticated corporate scene, excellent Internet connections, an array of professional advertising and digital marketing agencies – but it has hardly any human headhunters and nothing much in the way of talent-matching services. Finally she discovered that everyone knew everyone else and if you asked someone for the right person for a particular job, the common term she hears is ‘I know a guy …….’. This again shows the importance of connections.

When reflecting on my insights during the month of January 2015 for my monthly ‘Team Leadership Newsletter’, I realized that I had been working on many connections during the month. These are the connections that built us, the connections that will sustain us and the connections that we need to give back to. Focusing on these connections helps us to live a happy, fulfilled and successful life. Let me explain how I connected during the month to give you a practical illustration.

  1. Connecting with ourselves: Connecting with ourselves includes understand our deeper hopes, aspirations and fears as well as our strengths and improvement areas. It includes connecting with our higher self, the sub-conscious mind. Over the last month I paid more attention to my subconscious communications such as gut feel, aha’s and dreams and responded to them and found my decisions were better and I was more peaceful and happy.
  1. Connecting with our family: The family is our base, our foundation and our support network. We need to be in touch with our family so that we are reminded of our roots [values] and support each other. During the month I had quality family time starting the new year with the family, attended the holy mass celebrated by pope Francis with the family, spending time with my immediate family at home, communicating with my daughters studying in the UK on What’s App and Skype, spending time with my brother who was staying with us during a short visit to the country and connecting with some other relatives. I found this quality time really nourishing for my being.
  1. Connecting with our higher purpose: While I reflect on my purpose and plan my day in line with my purpose everyday, I continued to do this more intensely this month. This helped me to take decisive actions in spiritual, mental, physical, relational, emotional and financial aspects everyday so that my life was balanced thereby feeling great in body and mind.

Continue reading “Connecting & Connections!”

We can Achieve Peace through an Inter-Faith Approach!

Buddhist and Hindu Religious Leaders with Pope Francis at the inter-faith conference in Colombo Sri Lanka.

Pope Francis with the Sri Lankan muslims

Leader of Sri Lankan Hindu’s honoring Pope Francis at the inter-faith conference at Colombo Sri Lanka.

Religious leaders of various faiths at the inter-faith conference in Colombo Sri Lanka.

Pope Francis with Buddhist Monks at the inter-faith conference in Sri Lanka

Indian Prime Minister greeting the Pakistani Prime Minister at his inauguration citizen of a Buddhist country. The Mass by the pope was not only attended by the Buddhist but by members of other religions and many of them had mentioned to the media that this is one of the most significant days of their life. All this augurs well for inter-faith corporation and understanding that cam lead to peace, unity and reconciliation. The world has seen many efforts of unity by world leaders. citizen of a Buddhist country. The Mass by the pope was not only attended by the Buddhist but by members of other religions and many of them had mentioned to the media that this is one of the most significant days of their life. All this augurs well for inter-faith corporation and understanding that cam lead to peace, unity and reconciliation. The world has seen many efforts of unity by world leaders.

It was really heart warming to see the visions and hear the sound bites of the Inter-faith conference held in Colombo Sri Lanka as a part of the visit by His Holiness Pope Francis on the 1st day of his 3 day visit to Sri Lanka. The conference was led by some of the most senior leaders of Buddhism [followed by the majority of Sri Lankans], Hinduism, Islam and other Christian religions. It was attended by over 1000 members of the clergy of each of the religions. The ceremony included a welcome from a Catholic Bishop, a chant from a Buddhist Monk, blessings from Hindu and Muslim leaders, and an ecumenical Christian prayer led by the head of Sri Lanka’s Anglican church. Each speaker had a message that had peace, unity, reconciliation and respect for each other. Pope Francis said inter-faith work should not blur the lines between different religious convictions and he sought to reaffirm respect for each religion’s beliefs but to ground such respect in a full and forthright presentation of our respective convictions and that religion cannot be used for violent purposes. The Sri Lankan Muslim leader Ash-Sheikh M.F.M. Fazil said, “I will fail in my duties if I do not mention the attack, the killings, that took place in France, in Pakistan,” Fazil said; “Children were massacred and killed in the name of Islam. As we know very well, Islam has no relationship with regard to such practices and evil conduct and deeds,” he continued. “Islam promoted peace, love, and harmony.One of Sri Lanka’s senior Buddhist leaders Niyangoda Vijithasiri Thero who delivered a sermon mentioned all religions are important and used the metaphor of different treatment methods to cure the same disease.

Sri Lanka’s newly elected president, Maithripala Sirisena, was at the airport to welcome the pontiff and in his welcome speech mentioned that he is blessed to have the Holy father visit soon after his elections and requested for his prayers. This is significant coming from a Buddhist, the 1st citizen of a Buddhist country.

The Mass by the pope was not only attended by the Buddhist but by members of other religions and many of them had mentioned to the media that this is one of the most significant days of their life. All this augurs well for inter-faith corporation and understanding that can lead to peace, unity and reconciliation. The world has seen many efforts of unity by world leaders.

His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians worldwide, with his brother Pope Francis together with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

In December 2014 President Barack Obama went in to a peace deal with Cuba with a symbolic prisoner exchange and anticipated reforms by Cuba and lifting of embargos by the USA. In January 2015 all political parties in Sri Lanka united to appoint a President known for his virtues and to form a government that will reform the political culture in Sri Lanka. A few days ago most world leaders gathered in Paris to show solidarity after the attacks in Paris. It was significant that both the leaders of Israel and Palestine were a part of the world leaders who had locked hands together in solidarity. In the backdrop of the various conflicts, terrorism and armed conflicts going on around the world, these are efforts to find love, peace, truth, justice, reconciliation, unity, progress and happiness to make our  efforts to finding love, peace, truth, justice, reconciliation, unity, progress and happiness to make our world a better place.

saarc leaders at modi's inaugaration
Leaders of the SAARC countries at the inauguration of the Indian Prime Minister.

US and Cuban Presidents – Historic Hand Shake.

Pope Francis with leaders of various faiths.

Leaders of Sri Lanka’s political parties that has joint together to create a positive political culture and successful nation.

Simple Steps to Achieving and Maintaining World-Class

Image Credits: www.business2community.com
Image Credits: http://www.business2community.com

I had the privileged of listening to a webinar by Robin Sharma titled ‘Treats to being World-Class’. He shares 8 points. I am happy to provide the ‘How to’ for each of those threats for those working on achieving ‘world-class’ and those who are already ‘world-class’.

 

  1. Disbelief – We can over come this by reading our purpose and visualize we have achieved what we set out to achieve everyday and celebrating all successes – even the small ones.
  2. Distraction (broken focus syndrome) – We can overcome this by switching off those mobile phones or by keeping them on silent mode. Check it once every 40 mts and respond to missed calls and messages. Focus rest of the time on a specific task as per our priorities. We must change focus by switching to another task every 40 mts. So that we rejuvenate the part of the brain we were using while using a different part for the new task.
  3. Complexity –We can overcome this by looking for simplicity, having a minimalist mind set, focusing on a few important things and having everything we need to do on a ‘Getting things done list’ that needs to be updated everyday.
  4. Under capitalization (How much of our potential do we actually use – what do we do with what we know?) – We can overcome this by digging deep into our memory and information stored in our hard drives when we work on tasks. Taking on new projects and stretch projects also helps capitalize on what we have.
  5. Threat of reaching ‘Good enough’ – We can overcome this by pushing ourselves to do better. Ask ourselves, ‘how could I have done this better?’ even when we had done an awesome job that received sincere compliments and standing ovations.
  6. Talent depletion – We can overcome this by learning something new and teaching what we know every day.
  7. Loss of longevity – We can overcome this by re-fuel ourselves with good sleep at night and energizing breaks during the day, exercising daily and eating the right food.
  8. Reputation deterioration – We can overcome this by maintaining the quality of delivery with great understanding of customer needs and great preparation. Lets do things that those around you will approve and be proud of.

 

We are all born to be world-class, lets use these simple steps to get to world-class and maintain world-class.

Programming the Mind for an Amazing 2015

Image Credits: www.dna-nigeria.com
Image Credits: http://www.dna-nigeria.com

Let’s make 2015 a ‘Wow Project’! In fact let’s make it the best project of our life so far.

We prepare our mind for success and failure based on how we programme, condition and prepare it. A positive mind will activate the ‘Reticular Activating System’ [RAS] to experience [see, hear, feel, smell, taste] positive situations if we are looking for it and open to it. Therefore if you are looking for the ideal ‘Masters Degree’ to pursue in 2015, once you see, hear and feel yourself enjoying pursuing the masters degree successfully in your mind, your brain will filter and pick up ides for the ‘Masters Degree’ from the millions of stimuli bombarding us every second of our life.

Therefore let me share with you a process that has helped me, to help you make 2015 the best ‘Wow Project’ of your life.

I hope you have followed the guidelines given in my previous blog to take the resources from 2014 to energise 2015. Click here if you need to access it. Review your success inventory 2014 and failure inventory 2014 from the earlier blog referred to above, when doing the following exercise.

Planning ‘Wow Project 2015’

The first step is to come up with an inspirational plan. This can be done individually, with your family [Family Wow Project 2015] or with your team [Team Wow Project 2015].

Step 1: List down three big goals you [or your family or your team] would like to achieve in 2015.

Step 2: List the attitude changes you need in each of the following areas: physical wellbeing, knowledge & skills, values that create a positive spirit, relationships, management of time, allocation of resources [funds, talent & physical resources] in order to achieve the three big gaols. E.g. new knowledge is important for me to do new things to achieve my goals for 2015.

Continue reading “Programming the Mind for an Amazing 2015”

Using 2014 to energize us for an amazing 2015!

Learnings from 2014
Image Credits: http://www.economicsinsights.com

We are not equal to our past; we are the resources we bring forth. Yes, the past is gone, we need to leave it where it belongs, and however we need to also take the resources from the past to energise our future.

We all started the past year with fresh hope for our families, our teams and ourselves. We planned to make the New Year the most spectacular year of all. Some of us were able to build on success and continuously improve to achieve and even surpass what we set out to achieve. Some others may have started off with great plans and found it fizzle off really fast.

The best we can do is to derive energy from the last year to gear up for a great 2015. This requires us building on the successes and take learning’s from areas that could have been better.

Given below is a few simple steps that can help you to gear up for an amazing 2014.

This can be done individually, as a family or with your team.

Continue reading “Using 2014 to energize us for an amazing 2015!”

Getting things done … Superbly!

David Allen and Ranjan De SilvaDo you generally find that your email inbox clogged with unattended mail?

Do you find that there are many important things to attended to?

Do you find that some important projects don’t get your required attention?

Do you find that some important task are neglected or delayed?

Do you feel that there are some task that you need to attend but you get drained trying to do them?

Do you find you just don’t have enough time to do tasks you enjoy doing that energizes you?

Well, if the answer to one or many of these questions are yes, then many of the answers are with David Allen, the author of many books including, ‘Getting Things Done’ and inspirational speaker.

I was fortunate to be at David’s session today, organized by Right Selection, the company who also represents me in the Middle East. While I generally have an empty email inbox, have things quite well organized with most things done by the end of each week with, and adequate time to do things I am passionate about, I found David helps put things in perspective and provides concepts and a process that helps get things done.

Here is a summary of the learnings for you.

Continue reading “Getting things done … Superbly!”

The Beauty of Diversity

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Image Credits: Leanin.org

A new client of mine recently requested me to design and run a workshop for their top team on ‘valuing differences’. I was excited about the prospect of doing this as this is at the core of my company and our mission statement also states it explicitly:

To be the best possible global catalyst in organizational and personal transformation. To help the world celebrate its diversity and re-discover its unity.

Inspired by our mission and the prospect of designing a new workshop that resonates so well, I named the workshop ‘The Beauty of Diversity’ which the client loved too.

The objective of the workshop was to help participants realize that we are very different from each other in many ways, that all the different versions of us add value in different ways, one person alone does not have all the different aspects and therefore we need to work with others who are different to ensure all angles are covered, that the diversity adds synergy and by celebrating the beauty of this diversity we not only add synergistic value but also re-discover our unity.

I approached the design of the workshop by helping participants look at 4 areas of differences;

  1. The thinking and decision-making mode: technical or behavioural.
  2. The working preference: quick start, fact finder, implementor or follow through
  3. The brain activity dominance: left brain or right brain
  4. The communication preference: Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic

The participants had an opportunity to do 4 assessments to ascertain their modes & preferences before the session and that helped us to have some interesting discussions regarding the diversity in the group and the richness and value of that diversity. Each area was learnt with the support of concepts, video’s exercises, discussions and soul-searching sessions that led to personal action plans.

After receiving an amazing transformation the participants left the session with a commitment to deploy their energy to value the beauty of diversity [rather than trying to change others to be similar to them] in order to enjoy personal and organizational growth, success and happiness as this approach helps not only synergize but also be a better closer knit team.

Better Team Leadership with ‘Adult’ Ego state!

adult-300x164Transactional Analysis [TA] introduces the fascinating concept of the 3 ego states in us: Parent, Adult & Child. While TA is used extensively in relationship therapy, it is a powerful and potent tool for improvement of leadership.

 

The ‘Parent’ ego state has a positive side and a negative side. The positive side is nurturing and protective. The negative side is uses fear and force to control and is cynical. The ‘Child’ ego state also has a positive and negative side. The positive side is fun loving and carefree and the negative side is being a victim, looking for approval and whining. The ‘Adult’ state is the more mature, rational, long term, restraining and professional.

 

TA therapist recommend that we should develop an adult value system and be in that ego state as much as possible for more healthy relationships. Creator of TA Eric Berne in his book ‘Games People Play’ illustrate how two individuals get into a pattern of behaviour and continue to be in that pattern. These are referred to as ‘Games people play’. There are many games and they will continue if they are complimentary even though they may not be productive or healthy.

 

Let’s see how the ‘Adults’ ego state helps better leadership.

This is a conversation between ‘Tom’ and his manager ‘Joe’.

Continue reading “Better Team Leadership with ‘Adult’ Ego state!”

The Super Job

Here is the quiz of the century?

Image
Those doing the Super Job!

  1. Can you guess the Job that needs the most hours per week?
  2. Can you guess the Job that requires staying on your feet most of the time?
  3. Can you guess the Job that requires you to have meals late and sometimes even skip them on behalf of your customer?
  4. Can you guess the job that requires staying up the whole night quite often and then starting early morning again and going on till late night?
  5. Can you guess the Job that requires a good knowledge and skills in medicine, finance, banking, teaching, home science, networking, sales, negotiating, human resources, teamwork empathy and relationships all at the same time?
  6. Can you guess the Job that needs the most amount of multi-tasking?
  7. Can you guess the Job that requires sacrificing things you desire on behalf of the customers despite all the qualifications and responsibilities listed above?
  8. Can you guess the Job that does not pay you despite all the qualifications and responsibilities listed above?
  9. Can you guess the Job that does not earn gratitude despite all the qualifications and responsibilities listed above?
  10. Can you guess the Job that sometimes results in humiliation and insult from the very people being served despite all the qualifications and responsibilities listed above?
  11. Can you guess the job that requires unconditional and selfless love to their customers?

Yes the answers to the above questions are one and the same. MOTHERS. Let’s remember and pay respect and gratitude to our mothers and all the mothers we know. Lets start today as someone thankfully invented mother’s day to remind us of the most precious person in our life and make every day of our life mothers day.

 

I dedicate this blog post to my own mother Carmen, the mother of my children Jennifer, my sister Kishani, my sisters-in-laws Bashi and Mirani and all the other mothers in my family, all the mothers known to me and all the mothers in this universe. God bless you all.

How credible are you?

One of the most valuable assets of a leader is personal credibility. Credibility is a perception and we are perceived as credible by our habits. A habit is formed when behaviours are repeated over a period of time.

Image
Image credits: http://www.warriorforum.com

Here is an opportunity for you to do a self-assessment of your credibility. Given below is a list of 8 credibility habits and a brief explanation of each. In order to know your current level of credibility, read each value and mark a score from 1 to 5 [Poor to Excellent] in front of each habit. You could also give this list to your team members and ask them to rate you to see the difference between your self-assessment and the perception of others.

 

 

  1. Show Up On Time: Rating: ____

Questions to ponder: Do I do things on time. Do I arrive at meetings on time? Am totally present, emotionally, mentally and spiritually in addition to just my physical self.

  1. Do What You Say: Rating: ____

Questions to ponder: Do I make promises I can definitely keep even under pressure? Do I keep the promises I make? Do I under promise and over deliver? Continue reading “How credible are you?”

Turning Stress in to Success – A practical Illustration

Image Credits: www.gvsu.edu
Image Credits: http://www.gvsu.edu

I had the fortune of helping out a person to overcome a highly stressful situation. Lets call him Frank.

He was quite a successful businessman and his success was partly due to a business partnership he forged with another individual who was more senior, who had more experience and who was more successful. Lets call him Robert. After awhile Robert had lost control of his lifestyle and had started to face some financial challenges too. Robert kept assuring Frank that it was a temporary cash flow issue that most companies go through.

After awhile Robert requested Frank for financial help and due to the gratitude he had for Robert, he responded. Frank was promised an early return of the loan. The loan amount was so big, it virtually wiped out all his savings; a part of it was reserved for his daughters’ higher education.

The promised day passed and Robert was not in a position to pay back. Many meetings with Robert and constant follow up did not help. Robert needed more financial help and mentioned that a new loan will help him seal a deal and get out of the financial mess, enabling him to pay back Frank. Frank gave the last bit of saving he had trusting his business partner who helped him to be successful.

Continue reading “Turning Stress in to Success – A practical Illustration”

Valentines day Everyday!

Image Credits: Bing.com
Image Credits: Bing.com

Love is the act of extending ourselves to help others or ourselves become the best they/we can be even if it is inconvenient to us.

Love is helping ourselves or others understand the real potential, the purpose of life and to ignite the passion to live life to the fullest.

A mother feeding her child the best of food is performing an act of love as she is helping the child grow. A father working day and night to send the child to school is performing an act of love as he is helping the child grow. A young man maintaining a disciplined exercise regime is committing an act of love as he is helping himself grow in health. A man patiently listening to his lover when she is confused about life is performing an act of love as he is helping her reach clarity.

Continue reading “Valentines day Everyday!”

Galvanizing Your Team for a Great 2014

Image Credits: marketzingsolutions.com
Image Credits: marketzingssolutions.com

Wish you a successful, growth giving and happy new-year of excellence.

New years every year brings so fresh hope to teams and leaders. This is the time we think of making the New Year the most spectacular year of all. While we start of with this intention we find it fizzles off really fast.

The reason for this is because a bigger mission or purpose does not support such efforts. This is because such efforts are not done with the engagement of the hearts and minds of the teams who are responsible to deliver such results. The reason for this is because such efforts do not have a disciplined approach.

Given below are a few simple steps that can help you to gear up for an amazing 2014.

Get together with your immediate team and go through the following process.

Continue reading “Galvanizing Your Team for a Great 2014”

Gearing up for an Amazing 2014

ImageNew years every year brings so much hope to so many people. This is the time we think of giving up bad habits and making a fresh start. Most people take a fresh step with a good intention, only to find themselves slipping back to their old habits very quickly.

The reason for this is because such efforts are not supported by a bigger purpose. The reason for this is because such efforts are not done with the enlistment of the deeper subconscious mind. The reason for this is because such efforts do not have a disciplined approach.

Given below are a few simple steps that can help you to gear up for an amazing 2014.

Continue reading “Gearing up for an Amazing 2014”

Attitude of Gratitude to my Alma Mater

When I feel blessed about what I have achieved my mind automatically takes me to people and events that I am grateful about. Whilst having a deep sense of gratitude to my parents, family, friends and social contacts, one major aspect that made the difference to me is my Alma Mater St Anthony’s College Katugastota in the hill capital of Sri Lanka.

One can’t ask for a better place than St Anthony’s to shape up a young mind and body to become prepared to take on the world. I believe great products from college would have felt the same. Beneficiaries of our alma mater are old Antonians of the calibre of Sir William Gopallawa, the first President of Sri Lanka, Mr. T B Illangaratne, renowned politician and dramatist, Justice Asoka De Silva, World famous professionals such as Prof. Malik Peiries, Dr Patrick Nugawela, Dr C. R. Panabokke, Prof C Suriyakumaran, World class sportsmen such as Mr. Muthaiah Muralitharan, Entrepreneurs such as Mr. Sumal Perera & Dr Lawrence Perera, Musicians such as Mr. Rookantha Gunatilleke & Mr. Stanley Peiris, Military officers such as Colonel A C Lafir and hundreds of other Ministers, Officers of the armed forces and police, academics and business people.

As I look back with an attitude of gratitude to St Anthony’s, I get a deep urge within me to do what I can to help the college continue to do the good work it has done for me. This was further reinforced when I was honoured as one of the top 100 Old Antonians during the 150-year celebrations of the college. Therefore when the opportunity came for me to be a part of the Antonian Rugby Trust, I was delighted to take it; I continue to serve in the advisory committee. I also had the privilege of providing mental toughness training to the rugby team.

The motivations of different people are different. Some do it for the gratitude, some do it for the glory, some do it for social status and others do it to develop business networks. When the motives are different there is bound to be conflict. Such conflict can make those who do things with nobel motives disgruntled. When this happens some feel like walking away, minding there own business and not doing anything for the college and some others decide to persist. I always believe such obstacles helps us to further develop our goodness. Such opportunities help us to help others to become better people. Such opportunities strengthen our resolve to be more generous.

We all belong to various religions and philosophies and we learn the need to give back to the world, do good to others and do our part to make the world a better place. When we split due to differences we lose the opportunity to accumulate goodness credits. On the other hand when like minded people like us who have walked the nooks and corners of the college, who have sat in the same class rooms, who have listened to the same teachers and who have sung our college anthem proudly gets together we can do wonders. So lets get together re-energize ourselves with nostalgia and do what we can do to uplift the standards of our alma mater so that we can celebrate the successes from a far and accumulate stories of before, during and after our time to tell our children and grandchildren.

The Motto of our alma mater ‘Lux De Coelo’ means light from heaven and was taken from a prayer sent from the Vatican when college was inaugurated. I consider this true when it comes to my life. So let the light from heaven that has brightened our being continue to shine in us, our families and the generations of Antonians to come. May god bless you all.

The Art of Well-being

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Photo credit: http://www.nalakah.com

In my ‘Self Mastery’ trainings I teach the importance of a balanced life for success of happiness. It is important to have a balance in caring for our being, body, brain, people, time and money and growing all these areas simultaneously. While I was sharing this good advice at my trainings and practicing them to a great extent, I always felt there was more room for improvement.

I always believe we get the required knowledge and inspiration when we are open to it. I was fortunate to meet up with a friend of mine Nalaka Hewamadduma who had migrated to Canada, when he made a visit to Sri Lanka many months ago. He gifted me a copy of his new book ‘Art of Well-being’ when we met.

Nalaka and I had many things in common and we were both interested in enhancing human performance. While Nalaka helped people to become successful using eastern philosophies such as yoga and other wellness methods, I used more western leadership and self-mastery philosophies, Neuro Linguistic programming and Transformational learning.

Nalaka’s book is well written. It is easy to read due to his story approach and the descriptions are practical and inspiring. While I was following exercise, rest and nutritional habits, the big take away for me was how to adjust our lives to be in sync with the universal energy system. This was not a new concept to me but Nalaka’s book helped me discover a simple method of putting it in to practice and reminded me of the importance of it.

Continue reading “The Art of Well-being”

Gearing up our children for excellence!

Family units, social infrastructure [such as our places of worship, schools, mass media and social networks] is set up to develop our children to be great assets to our world. These institutions help our children gain the right attitudes, beliefs, behaviours, values, knowledge and skills. We are Imagewho we are because of the sacrifices made by so many who have touched our lives and I am ever-grateful to them.

When I first attended the personal transformation ‘playshop’ Mastery of Self [MS] through Neuro Linguistic Programming [NLP] I was amazed at the tools that are available to unleash our god-given potential in a balanced systematic and purposeful manner. While I got so much out of it to make my life a success from that programme, I felt I should have attended this programme when I was leaving school or even during school.

Continue reading “Gearing up our children for excellence!”

Courage: What will it take for us to display more of it?

Watching Malala Yousofzai speaking at the UN on her 16th birthday about a year after she was shot on the head and neck by the Taliban, motivated me to write this blog on Courage.

While her entire speech was inspiring and can be watched in the embedded video, I would like to quote the following part to illuminate this blog;

“Dear brothers and sisters; do remember one thing. Malala day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights. There are hundreds of human rights activists and social workers who are not only speaking for human rights, but who are struggling to achieve their goals of education, peace and equality. Thousands of people have been killed by the terrorists and millions have been injured. I am just one of them.

So here I stand… one girl among many.
I speak – not for myself, but for all girls and boys.
I raise up my voice – not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.
Those who have fought for their rights:

Their right to live in peace.

Their right to be treated with dignity.

Their right to equality of opportunity.

Their right to be educated.

Dear Friends, on the 9th of October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came, thousands of voices. The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.”

Continue reading “Courage: What will it take for us to display more of it?”

The Beauty of Giving

Ignacy J. Paderewski – Image credit: en.wikipedia.org

Herbert Hoover – Image credits: old-picture.com

I recently received an email from a friend that had an inspiring story. On researching the story for authenticity I had to do a few amendments to it to make it more factual. An article by General Edward L. Rowny confirms the authenticity of the meeting of the two great men featured in the story. While I cannot confirm the authenticity of the details of the story the overall event is factual and worth sharing.

A young, 18 year old student and a friend of his decided to host a musical concert in Stanford University in 1892 to raise money for a worthy cause.

They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2,000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck. And the boys began to work to make the concert a success.

Continue reading “The Beauty of Giving”

Empathy – Key to Healthcare Success

I was moved by the ‘Empathy’ video on ‘YouTube’ [see the embedded video]. This is a video every health care provider, be it a medical practitioner or non-medical practitioner must watch. The CEO of Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA, Dr. Toby Cosgrove, MD, showed this video during his 2012 state of the clinic address.

Dr. Cosgrove, who I had the fortune of meeting during a 2 week intense healthcare leadership course I attended in this magnificent hospital in April 2013 says; Patient care is more than just healing – it is building a connection that encompasses mind, body and soul. If you stand in someone else’s shoes, hear what they hear, see what they see, feel what they feel, would you treat them differently?

Continue reading “Empathy – Key to Healthcare Success”

Anger – how we get it and how we get rid of it!

Anger is one of the most common negative behaviours in human beings. Anger makes people act in an irrational manner. And therefore anger causes tremendous amounts of unnecessary destruction. Many who are connected with me have asked me how to manage anger. While I teach many tools on how to manage anger in my learning experiences and in my books, I felt this is an issue where many people need help and I need to find faster methods of reaching more people, hence this blog post.

Firstly we must realize that anger is a behaviour we learn and therefore it is not something permanent in us. We learn new behaviours when we see benefits in such behaviours. Therefore for example at a tender age when we observe our dad getting angry and everyone else doing as per his demands in an attempt to make him calm down, we learn that anger has the power of controlling and we quickly learn to use anger as a tool ourselves.

Continue reading “Anger – how we get it and how we get rid of it!”

Jack of all trades… Master of none …true or false?

Image Credits: en.wiktionary.org

I first heard the saying; ‘Jack of all trades, is a master of none’ from my dad. While I took this as face value and later felt it is valuable mindset to have, I now wonder if this is true or false. On one hand it is humanly possible to be the best in all trades as there are millions of them. We would not have the time to master everything in a lifetime or just even explore them. Anyway I don’t think this statement suggests that anyone attempts to be a master of all trades.

We also don’t have the time in our lifetime to be a Jack-of-all-trades as well. But what do you think the original writer meant by the use of the word Jack. If it is the Jack from the pack of cards, then we are referring to the person who does all the work for the King and Queen. Therefore, by doing all the tasks required he learns many things, but will he ever be the master of any of those subjects.

Recounting my experience, I was in the collage rugby, athletic and chess teams. I was also a Boy Scout and I studied the subjects required to be an engineer. I believe  I excelled in the engineering class when I lead a team of my classmates to make a electronic scale in the late 70’s. While it was very primitive and shabby we believe it was one of the first such attempts in Sri Lanka. It was viewed by the then President of the country J R Jayawardena and a later Prime Minister  Ranil Wickremasinghe.

Continue reading “Jack of all trades… Master of none …true or false?”

The Power of Emotions

Image Credits: theft.com

As I was sitting on my flight out of Dhaka and reflecting on the 4 full days of 9 hours each that I spent on my feet inspiring over 100 souls, I was moved from within to share my experience in my next blog. At that point I received an AHA (a term we used for an inner learning that happens to us when we are open to inspiration) about the power of emotions.

I was fortunate to learn about the power of emotions when I first attended the life changing learning experience, ‘Mastery of Self’ many years ago. Up to that point I knew that I was emotional and I felt it is weak to be emotional.

I recounted many incidents in my early childhood where I was bullied by schoolmates, ridiculed, insulted and laughed upon. I remember going to a safe place and crying to ensure that I was not seen by them and be more ridiculed. Sometimes I could not hold my emotions in front of them and it was visible in my voice as I responded. Nevertheless I excelled in sports and scouting while being an average student despite this improvement area and it helped me to make progress in life.

Perhaps it is the culmination of these experiences that prepared me to totally accept the teachings of Mastery of Self and later make it a powerful factor in vocation of helping people and organizations to find a better way to live and work.

The idea that people get motivated when they feel good, when they feel valued, when they are appreciated, when they are engaged, when their needs are met is so obvious, so simple and so powerful but it had to presented in a manner which deeply penetrated my soul for me to start seeing the obvious and doing the required.

Emotion is Energy in Motion. The Chinese word for energy is Woolee, which means patterns of living energy. Therefore when energy is in motion we can influence it to form the patterns that create positive energy. We can use that energy to create positive results.

Continue reading “The Power of Emotions”

Celebrate the Diversity and Re-Discover the Unity – This New Year

Image Credits: http://dogstarfoundation.wordpress.com/

Wish you all a happy new year, Subho nababarsho [Bengali], Sawatdii pimaï [Thai], Hnit thit ku mingalar pa [Burmese], Naya Barsa Ko Hardik Shuvakamana [Nepali], Nav varsh ki subhkamna [Hindi], Iniya puthandu nal Vazhthukkal [Tamil], Suba nava vasarak wewa [Sinhalese]

This is an amazing time for many countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia when most of us celebrate the traditional New Year. The New Year is celebrated between 13th to the 15th of April in India, Nepal, Myanmar [Burma], Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

In addition to being united by the dates of the celebration that runs across all these countries, all of these cultures have common rituals such as cleaning their houses, cooking fresh new food, dressing in new clothes of designated colours, visiting relations & friends, enjoying traditional music and taking part in religious rituals.

There is beautiful diversity in the variety of traditions being used in different countries and states. From lighting small oil lamps and dressing in flowers in India,  taking a ritual wash or bath in the Hunumantay River in Nepal, Mehendi body painting and face painting in Bangladesh, the water festivals in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia and following of the auspicious times to light the fire, boil milk, take a bath, exchange gifts and go to work etc. in Sri Lanka.

Continue reading “Celebrate the Diversity and Re-Discover the Unity – This New Year”

We can all rise from our depths – Easter Message

Easter is a time that reminds us of how Jesus Christ suffered, died and rose from death. This has a lot of meaning for all of us to lImageive a meaningful life.

Firstly as Jesus who was all good and helped so many people through simple acts and miracles was accused and was branded as a criminal. That is because those who judged him used different yardsticks to judge Jesus and had ulterior motives. We may also do all good, help people and do an honest job, but there will always be people who find ways of showing us that we are criminals or having committed mistakes in companies, personal life etc. We may be punished in an unwarranted manner.

Secondly Jesus had the power to save himself as he has performed so many miracles. But he did not use that power without the approval of the god almighty. He knew there was a bigger plan and he had to go through the suffering to achieve greater growth. We too may have the power to save ourselves, but we should not use it without the right authority. When we are put through challenges we must have faith that we are put through it for a bigger reason that we may even not understand.

Thirdly Jesus rose from his death. While we do not have the power to rise from a physical death, we have the power to rise from the depths that we fall to. We may lose our valuable possessions but we can re-gain them. We may lose our health to sickness but we can recover from it. We may fall into a bad, self-destructing habit but we can recover from it. We may lose our job but we can recover and get a better job. We may lose in a relationship but we can start a better relationship.  In short we have the power to rise from any depth and this Easter is a reminder of this powerful truth.

So let me wish you happy rising from your depth this Easter.

Use it or lose it!

Image created by Menasha De SilvaAfter having returned to my apartment in Dhaka Bangladesh after being away for over 2 weeks, I happened to open my shoes closet and found some of my shoes I had left in the closet in a deteriorated state. I then realized I had not used those shoes over about 6 months and a line that I use in my workshops; ‘use it or lose it’ came to my mind.

There is an on-going battle between positive energy and negative energy all the time.  From a humanistic philosophy point of view, EVIL is LIVE spelt back words. Evil is anti-Life. Evil is negative energy and life is positive energy. The universe is in constant decline due to Evil forces or negative energy. This process is known as Entropy, which is the opposite of Evolution. Evolution requires a higher power that provides positive energy.

The purpose of life is to grow physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Physical well-being requires positive energy in the form of right nutrition, exercises and rest. The absence of these will result in the decline of physical well-being.

Mental well-being requires positive energy in the form of good attitudes, creative ideas, new value adding learning, development of skills etc. The absence of these will result in the decline of mental well-being.

Continue reading “Use it or lose it!”

Pope Francis – the Epitaph of humility

Pope FrancisIt was late night last Wednesday; I was doing some work on my laptop. After finishing off one task I just logged in to Facebook and saw a photo of the white smoke coming out of the Vatican with a comment ‘We have a Pope’

I immediately switched on the TV and was thrilled to see the live broadcast and the new Pope was about to make his first appearance. I was pleasantly surprised to hear than the new Pope was from South America, I was thrilled to hear that he had chosen the name Francis which is also the name of my late dad. It was mentioned he lived a simple life and had given up his official residence and car back in Argentina and rode the bus with the others and used the opportunity to connect with the masses.

As he walked on to the balcony and looked at the crowd it was easy to see how humble the new Pope was. He was also confident and looked like a man ready for a mission. What a mission it is going to be, given the challenges facing the Catholic Church.

In one of his first sermons he mentioned that we should be ready to repent, accept our faults and ask for forgiveness from those we have harmed.

Meeting the press for the first time Pope Francis was relaxed, confident and full of humour. He told that the name Francis was chosen when the cardinal next to him embraced him and told him ‘don’t forget the poor’ as soon as he was elected.  He then named himself after St Francis of Assisi who devoted his life for the poor, who was known to be committed to peace and who was known to be a reformist of the catholic church.

The event of the election of Pope Francis also created new social media records with over 1.2 billion tweets from all over the world sent out, in relation to this event. This shows that people around the world, specially the young are touched by his election and are filled with hope for a better tomorrow. Pope Francis is known as the Techie Pope as he has his twitter account @pontifex. His holiness who already has 1.9 million Twitter followers sent out just 1 tweet: Dear Friends, I thank you from my heart and I ask you to continue to pray for me.

Everything about Pope Francis in this blog that I was fortunate to experience gives me the feeling that he is an Epitaph of Humility and gives me hope that he will be able to bring diverse groups of people, not only the various denominations of Christians, but also various religious groups together so that we can a live in a united, respectful and peaceful world.

Love is for giving, that’s why we should be forgiving! – my valentines day thoughts!

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Image credits: http://www.timeanddate.com

It is great to have Valentines Day, the same way we have mother’s day, father’s day etc. While many commercial enterprises have used these days to make money, it at least reminds us to express our love to our loved ones, at least once a year.

But why celebrate such important days once a year? Why not every day? Why not make every day Valentines day, Mother day, fathers day and perhaps a few new important days such as reach out to enemy’s day, make up with fallen out friends day, get in touch with old friends day etc.

While Valentines Day is about celebrating love by giving surprises such as gifts & visits and special dinners & cruises it is will be great not only to ‘give’ but also to ‘forgive’. After all, love is for giving and that’s why we should be forgiving.

Forgiving is tough if we hold on to the past hurt and pain. Sometimes it is our ego that won’t allow us to forgive. Holding on to the bitterness only creates negative energy in us as we carry those negative feelings in us. Accepting that we are all human, we are not perfect and we all make mistakes helps us in the forgiving process.

Forgiving helps us to repair relationships and therefore it is beneficial to fostering quality relationships, or closure so that we can rejuvenate relationships or move on with confidence.

When the almighty god always forgives us, why not we take a cue and follow suit.

Celebrating a spectacular 2012, filled with amazing learning and growth!

ImageWith the Mayan Calendar reaching the end of its current cycle, 2012 was eventful with the economic downturn continuing and there were many efforts in many countries around the world to get out of it. Then there were the various natural and human made disasters such as the various storms, earthquakes, wars and killings that added more burdens on the leaders grappling with the economic crisis. Political leaders had new challenges to deal with, dividing their attention between the economy and the new challenges.  There were elections in many countries such as the USA, Russia, France, Spain, Egypt and it is hoped that the new leadership will have new vision and a new mindset to solve the challenges faced by the world.

Then there were the celebrations with the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen, The London Olympics, the re-election of Obama, the launch of path breaking communication technology [Quad Core] for smart phones and tablets such as the iPhone 5, iPad 4th Generation, iPad mini, Samsung Galaxy note and Windows 8. And of course the first video on You Tube to reach a billion hits; Gangnam Style!

Continue reading “Celebrating a spectacular 2012, filled with amazing learning and growth!”

Christmas is for giving, that’s why we should be forgiving

Image courtesy of lovingyourchild.com
Image courtesy of lovingyourchild.com

I had a packed 10 days of work in Dhaka and I was scheduled to take a flight back to Colombo on the 24th morning to be with my family for Christmas Eve onwards. I was looking at options to do confession before Christmas mass. I did not want to leave it to the 24th evening, as there was only a little window from my time of arrival, to get home in the traffic that is likely to be heavy given that large crowds will be on the roads doing their last-minute Christmas shopping.

As I was looking at the Christmas schedule issued at the beautiful church I pray at in Banani – Dhaka, I found that confession was scheduled for 10 am on the 24th. My flight was a t 12.45 and it could take up to 1 hour to get to the airport. It was a risky option to do confession at 10 am and try to get to the airport on time given the unpredictable traffic in Dhaka. I called Father Tom, the Parish priest who kindly agreed to come early to do my confession. It was a peaceful confession and I felt cleansed and peaceful as I walked out of the church.

Finally at the airport I was standing in the line to get my passport stamped at emigration. I had an urge to go to the washroom and I was the next person in line to go to the immigration officer. At that moment a gentleman, who was with his wife and little child asked me if they could go before me as they had just 45 minutes for their flight. Since I still had another 90 mts I agreed to let them go before me. As the family who went to the emigration officer was finishing, an official of the airport escorted 5 persons and went past the line to the emigration officer.

Continue reading “Christmas is for giving, that’s why we should be forgiving”

When the mighty fall…

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Jimmy Saville. source: http://www.mirror.co.uk

We were shocked by the news of the pedophilia scandal of Jimmy Savile, a BBC children’s show host who died last year, who coerced hundreds of children at the corporation’s studios when they were underage.

It was not just Savile, but also Mark Thompson, who led the British television network who has a question mark hanging over his head, whether he did enough to investigate allegations of the scandal at the BBC. And what about the New York Times who has hired Mark Thompson while he is under investigation at BBC?

This came on the heals of the scandal surrounding Lance Armstrong who was used as a classic example by us motivational speakers as a role model of human potential. A man able to come out of cancer and continue to win the tour de France many times over. With doping allegations against him proven, his empire started tumbling around him with his medals stripped, sponsors such as Nike dumping him and the charitable foundation he founded to fight cancer, ‘Livestrong’, removing him of the chairmanship.
Continue reading “When the mighty fall…”

If selling is a dishonest job and if everyone is a salesman, then is everyone dishonest?

A Better Way to Sell Book CoverYes this is an interesting dilemma!

It is a generally known perception that selling is a dishonest job as sales people only try to sell a product to a customer, even if the product is not needed by the customer and at any cost to the customer. Most sales books and sales training introduces sales ‘tactics’ that help sales people to ‘sell’ at any cost.

On the other hand it is a known fact that everyone is a salesman from the little child to the grandfather, from the housewife to the corporate executive, from film star to sportsman and from the politician to the priest. They all sell ideas, they sell their value, they sell all the time.

So does it mean everyone is dishonest? The answer is a clear ‘NO’. In fact my belief is that we don’t sell, we help people to buy. We don’t sell, we provide information for people to make the right decision, we don’t sell, we help others become more successful.

It is with attitude in mind that I decided to title my second book [an improved new edit of the first book]; A better way to sell – Mastery of Sales through Mastery of Self. Click here for more details of the book.

Continue reading “If selling is a dishonest job and if everyone is a salesman, then is everyone dishonest?”

How to master yourself and win in your life

When I was first nominated for the ‘Mastery of Self [MS] through Neuron Linguistic Programming [NLP]‘ in 1995 by my employer John Keells Holdings, I never knew what an impact it was going to make in my life. When I first received the notice to attend the workshop I thought it was something to do with computer programming. I was right and wrong. I was right because it was about programming a computer. I was wrong because it was not the desk top or the laptop or the palm top. It was the neck top super computer the most powerful information processing system in the world.

I was fascinated learning about the potential of the brain. I was fascinated learning about the power of the NLP tools to release that potential. I was fascinated by the inspirational impact made on all the participants. It was not a seminar or a workshop but a playshop, an experience where we learn with fun and activity in a child like manner, exploring the wonders of our real potential and talent. Continue reading “How to master yourself and win in your life”

Olympics 2012 – ‘Imagine’ the great manifestation of possibility

A picture of the Olympic Logo on the Tower Bridge taken from the London Bridge during my visit before the Olympics.

The 2012 Olympics that just concluded was one of the greatest manifestations of possibility that I had experienced.

My family and I were in the UK just before and during the opening ceremony that made us fortunate enough to feel the energy in the country this great spectacle was taking place. We were not able to witness any sporting events at venues at circumstances required us to return end of July, but we were fortunate to be able to witness this great spectacle on TV and the internet.

The first possibility that was manifested was the participation of almost all the countries of the world, 204 in total and every country having both male and female sportsman. All sports had a women’s version as well resulting in some teams such as USA having more women Olympians. What a great equalizer.

It was amazing to see conservative countries such as Saudi Arabia who do not permit women to drive, having women participating. I was fortunate to switch on the TV to see the women’s 800 m heat where Saudi Arabia’s Sarah Attar was running. Although she came last, she got the biggest applause to show that this was a victory for humanity.

World records were many manifesting that there is no end to improving human performance and endurance. Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter of the USA 4x100m relay team establishing a new world record at 40.82 destroying the 27-year old record and Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt  of Jamaican 4×100 relay team establishing a new world record at 36.84 will remain in our memories for ever. These amazing human beings showed that we can be individuals stars and teams at the same time.

Continue reading “Olympics 2012 – ‘Imagine’ the great manifestation of possibility”

Living Purposefully – path to success and happiness

An interesting question that keeps getting asked by my followers and students is; why do we live? Some gone on to ask; how can we make our lives more successful and happy.

The answer lies in the ability of discovering as life changing gift we are all capable of. This blog will helps you to dive into the amazing arena and to come up with the life changing gift we all look for.

 The following story will help us unearthing this life changing gift;

 Martin and Sam lived in a tiny village at a foot of a mountain. Martin was ambitious and he had some mountain climbing skills. His level of health and fitness was above the level of an average person. Sam on the other hand was less ambitious and had not even learnt basic survival skills such as mountain climbing. They always wanted to know what was on the top of the mountain, but they rarely found the time or motivation to go up the mountain as they were so engrossed in their day to day work.

  One day they received a message from an angel that there was a million dollars on top of the mountain with each of their names on it. They had to climb the Assume Mountain within 24 hours [mid night to mid night] on a selected day within one year. They were told that in order to climb the mountain during the given time, they would have to have an above average level of health and they would need to have basic mountain climbing skills. 

Both Martin and Sam considered the million dollars an important thing to have so that they could start a business or an industry and start making a comfortable life for them selves and their families. Martin the more ambitious, skilful in mountain climbing and who was above average in health and fitness, decided to start the journey the very next ay, starting at midnight. 

Continue reading “Living Purposefully – path to success and happiness”

Anything is possible – Creating a World without Poverty – with inspiration from outer space and inner space!

Inspiring Millions, Creating a better World
With Muhammad Yunus, Ron Garan, M A Muhith & Monica Yunus at Social Business 2012

When I received an invitation from the Yunus Centre to attend the Social Business Day 2012 at Sarvar Bangladesh, I was excited at the prospect of listening to a man who is one of a kind. I had heard of Prof Muhammad Yunus many years ago and had once met him at the Dhaka Airport Business Class Lounge where we had an interesting conversation about the quality of leadership in Bangladesh. Professor Yunus is a Nobel Lauriat for introducing Micro Credit to the world. After its amazing success in Bangladesh, it has been adopted in many countries around the world including the United States of America.

I was also intrigued to know that NASA astronaut Ron Garan will be the key-note speaker. While getting an opportunity to listen to an astronaut was interesting, I never knew the significance of Ron Garan’s presence, his relationship with Professor Yunus who also invented the concept of Social Business that also spread around the world in the same manner micro credit spread.

It was amazing to discover that Ron Garan took Muhammad Yunus’s book; ‘Creating a World without Poverty’ with him during his 5 1/2 month in space. The book therefore travelled 65,340,224 miles in 2,624 orbits during 164 days in space together with Ron. Ron Also took with him the Bangladesh national flag to honour the motherland of Professor Yunus.

Continue reading “Anything is possible – Creating a World without Poverty – with inspiration from outer space and inner space!”

Point Of Light

It had been a lonely holy week for me this year in Dhaka away from my loving family. As I left my apartment for the Easter vigil in the beautiful church nearby, I remembered   that I need to take a candle with me for the Easter blessing.

The previous year I went to church hoping to buy a candle there, but I could not find one. As I was following the mass and when the light was being shared from the Easter candle, a gentleman who was next to me offered me a candle. I did accept with gratitude, thanking god for the gift.

As I was pondering where I could buy one this time, I remembered I had a bundle of new candles in my apartment which I had purchased to use for the ‘point of light’ exercise I conduct during my ‘Mastery of Self’ playshops’ [We name our training workshop, playshops, due to the childlike atmosphere we create to speed up learning in a fun manner].

When I reached for the candles, something told me I need to take two candles, not just one and I know it was my inner need to pay back the favour I received last year.

As the light was been passed in church today I looked around but did not see anyone without a candle and a tinge of disappointment went through my soul. After receiving the light I turned to the gentleman standing to my right  to pass on the light and low and behold he did not have a candle with him. I offered him the extra candle I had and the joy I felt is unexplainable.

Continue reading “Point Of Light”

Hatred ceases not by hatred but by love!

Image from: kulmiyenews.com

The run up to the day of the US sponsored UNHCR vote against Sri Lanka, the results of the vote and the aftermath had been an emotional event for many Sri Lankans around the world. As I was pondering on the details, an incident that happened 60 years ago came into my mind. It was the ‘Treaty of Peace with Japan’ between Japan and part of the allied powers officially signed by 48 nations on September 8, 1951, at the war memorial opera house in San Fransisco on April 28, 1952.

According to Wikipidia, a major player in providing support for a post-war free Japan was the delegation from Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). While many were reluctant to allow a free Japan capable of aggressive action and insisted that the terms of surrender should be rigidly enforced in an attempt to break the spirit of the Japanese nation, the Ceylonese Finance Minister J. R. Jayawardena spoke in defense for a free Japan and informed the conference of Ceylon’s refusal to accept the payment of reparations that would harm Japan’s economy. His reason was “We in Ceylon were fortunate that we were not invaded, but the damage caused by air raids, by the stationing of enormous armies under the South-East Asia Command, and by the slaughter-tapping of one of our main commodities, rubber, when we were the only producer of natural rubber for the Allies, entitles us to ask that the damage so caused should be repaired. We do not intend to do so for we believe in the words of the Great Teacher [Buddha] whose message has ennobled the lives of countless millions in Asia that ‘hatred ceases not by hatred but by love’.” He ended the same speech by saying “This treaty is as magnanimous as it is just to a defeated foe. We extend to Japan the hand of friendship and trust that with the closing of this chapter in the history of man, the last page of which we write today, and with the beginning of the new one, the first page of which we dictate tomorrow, her people and ours may march together to enjoy the full dignity of human life in peace and prosperity”.

Continue reading “Hatred ceases not by hatred but by love!”

The Forest Fire of Compassion for the freedom from Kony

As I sat down at my laptop this evening with a list of tasks to finish, I logged on to Facebook to see what’s been going on in the cyber world. I was lucky to see my two elder daughters online and started chatting with them. Both of them recommended I watch the video they had posted on their walls, Kony 2012.

So I put aside the tasks I had planned and started watching this 29.59 mts movie. It is a relatively long time for one single YouTube movie but I started watching it with many interruptions as I went on. When I started watching this there were 1,835,637 views and when I finished watching it about an hour later there were 4,285,557 views. It’s just 2 days on YouTube. By the time I finish writing this it could be 10 million! See the movie embedded below.

It bought a few tears to my eyes and awakened my consciousness to an important responsibility I have as a citizen of the world. It inspired me to write this blog with my list of tasks for the evening still pending.

Continue reading “The Forest Fire of Compassion for the freedom from Kony”

Celebrating the life of the father of a genius!

I was saddened to see an email from my business partner, friend, brother and coach, this morning about the loss of his father. I feel for this loss personally as I love and respect him and I knew his father had a special influence in making him the genius he is.

Unfortunately he could not be by his side before his death or attend the funeral as there was not enough time for him and his wife to get back on time for the funeral as the Islamic traditions require burial within 24 hours.

I can imagine the pain his mum was going through after losing her sister a few days ago and now her husband. It may also be tough for her not having her son by her side. I can also imagine what he may be going through, not been able to bid good bye to his father and not been able to be there.

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Experiences and insights during my journeys to guide business leaders – in and out of work!

I have been learning a life time and this has really accelerated over the last 14 years as a leadership and team development consultant, coach, catalyst and trainer. While I have resisted blogging all this time to avoid adding to the clutter, I have been inundated with requests for my blog. The requests have sky rocketed after I uploaded the video of one of presentations in Dubai at the ‘Unleashing your DNA’ seminar, where I spoke on the topic; ‘Gearing up for excellence’. There have been almost 500 views of this video in 2 weeks.

My work takes me to many countries and I am blessed to meet people from many cultures, stay in various hotels, see new place and eat in various restaurants. These travels and teachings give me many experiences and insights and I wish to share these with those I am blessed to interact with.

Continue reading “Experiences and insights during my journeys to guide business leaders – in and out of work!”