Saturday, May 31, 2014

 
 
NARA'S NOTEPAD
 
VOLUME 10
JUNE 2014
NUMBER 6


 
NARA'S NOTEPAD
 
IS SUPPORTED BY READERS
LIKE YOU


DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME

MEMO FROM NARA...



Blaming others is one of the best hobbies for some. They are very good at it especially when they are upset or angry. In fact, we fail to find reason for it. We try to protect ourselves putting the blame on others. This is a universal human nature. Once we are free from upset or anger, then some of us do realise our mistakes and ask pardon from others. It is one of the bad sides of our character that is common to both genders.

Why do we do this? Is there any reason for it? Self-interest may be the main reason. Even we are not upset or angry we do find fault with others and blame them. We do it individually as well as in a group. Politicians are experts in blaming others. We often find political parties and party leaders quarrel by blaming each other every day. The opposition parties blame the ruling party in the name of helping the common man (aam admi). It is a common sight and entertainment for the common man!

When someone or a team is defeated either in sports, election or any other competition, he or she or a team blames the opponent or the referee or the election officer. It becomes the immediate reaction of these people and later they bow for reason, rules and proofs. Others are responsible for the blame in some cases. Therefore blaming others at times helps to bring out the truth. Protest is in fact, the right of everyone, but blaming others unreasonably is not desirable. Blaming others in their back is a custom people do follow so that they can easily escape. But it backfires when someone conveys the message to the concerned. It happens most of the time.

However, people try to escape by hiding while blaming others. No sensible person blames others without reason. If someone misbehaves, everyone is tempted to blame him or her. So in a social set up one has to learn how to behave and adjust with others. Understanding others is an art. So, one has to learn this art. It is a delicate affair. If we fail to handle it, then it leads to misunderstanding causing a great damage to relationship.

Building relationship and connecting people are essential for everyone who likes to live in a society harmoniously. Patience is one of the aspects we need to develop for tolerating the viewpoints of others we may like or we may not. Still it is better to listen and try to understand others’ views on a particular subject. Short sighted decisions are being taken often by the quickies. Those decisions may have adverse consequences.

Therefore, it would be better to wait, think and discuss before arriving at a decision. Blaming people for such quick decisions may not help once the decision is taken. If it is possible to reverse the decision for correction, we can avoid the blaming part. Blaming in fact is an irresponsible act. Although we know its effects, we do blame others to create unhappiness in the minds of people.

Why we need to do that? Instead, we may try to understand the person and correct him by teaching the proper ways and means. That would be a sensible action rather than going on blaming him. I feel that people should have tolerance and treat people as one like him or her. Such feelings will certainly improve the character of human beings. Are we not thinking of this view? Are we not supporting this view?

TIPS FOR BETTER HEALTH...



1. Drink a lot of water.

2. Eat your breakfast like a king, lunch like princes and dinner like beggars.

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and less food made in factories.

4. Live your life according to the TEE people: Truth, Empathy, and Energy.

5. Make time for contemplation and/or prayer.

6. Involve more game playing in your life.

7. Read more books than you read last year.

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 min. a day.

9. Invest at least 7 h of sleep every in the night.

10. Take 10 – 30 min. to walk somewhere each day. Smile while you walk.

 

SOLITUDE


1. Solitude is a positive state.

2. It is where we are perfectly happy to be by ourselves and relish and enjoy our own company.

3. Solitude can help us get in touch with, or engage with, our true self. It allows us to reflect on ourselves, others our life and our future.

4. Often Solitude is a springboard to greater self-awareness.

5. Solitude is something that restores and builds us up.

6. Solitude grounds us in who we are – and that enables us to reach out and give to others.

TO QUOTE...




Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. – Wayne Dyer

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. – Oscar Wilde

JUST TO LAUGH...


A guy is reading the newspaper when his wife walks up behind him and smacks him on the back of the head with a frying pan.
“Ouch! What was that for?” he cries. She says, “I found a piece of paper in your pocket with ‘Miranda’ written.  He says, “Jeez, Honey, remember last week I went to the track?” ‘Miranda’ was the name of the horse I bet on.” She shrugs and walks away. Three days later, when he’s reading the paper, she walks up behind him and smacks him on the back of the head again with the frying pan.  “What was that for?” he asks, rubbing his head. “Your horse called, “she answers.

 

A young child walked up to her mother and stared at her hair. As mother scrubbed the dishes, the girl cleared her throat and sweetly asked; “Why do you have some grey strands in your hair?”
The mother paused and looked at her daughter. “Every time you disobey I get one strand of grey hair. If you want me to stay pretty, you better obey.” The mother returned to her tasks for washing dishes. The little girl stood there thinking. She cleared her throat again. “Mother?” she sweetly asked again. “Yes?” Her mother replied.
“Why is grandma’s hair all grey?”

BEST FEELINGS IN THE WORLD


 

v  Feeling important and precious to someone.

v  Succeeding in something you thought you couldn’t.

v  Falling asleep on your lover’s chest.

v  Helping someone in need.

v  Getting good grades.

v  Making your parents proud.

v  Being warm and cosy when it’s cold outside.

v  Receiving a text saying “I miss you.”

v  Watching outside the window when it’s raining while reading a book and drinking hot tea.

v  Waking up in the middle of the night and realizing you still have hours to sleep.

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX...



The "box" is the normal way of doing things and looking at things. It is the assumptions that almost everyone involved is making. The best way to start thinking out of the box then, is to identify and challenge all the assumptions that make up thinking inside the box. For example, one of the major liquor brands was faltering years ago, and they couldn't seem to boost their sales. Promotions, lowering the price, getting better shelf placement - these were the "in the box" solutions. Then someone challenged the assumptions, by asking "What if we stopped the promotions and just raised the price?" The price was raised as an experiment, and sales soon doubled. As it turns out, some types of liquor are bought quite often as gifts. Buyers don't want to buy the most expensive one, but they also don't want to seem cheap, so they won't buy products that don't cost enough. Now imagine what happens to your profit margins when you raise the price and double the sales. That's the power of thinking outside of the box.

SPONSOR


 
 
NARA’S NOTEPAD thank

Late Dr. A. Appa Rao*, Former Vice-Chancellor

 Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad for sponsoring March 2014 to Dec. 2014 issues.

 

*Dr A. Appa Rao passed away on 30 April 2014.

 

 

Be specific in asking for what you want!


Meet you next month – July, 2014


 


Professor A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP



Ph : 0422 2423017 Mobile : 098422 42301

www.nara.tumblr.com  (NARA’S DIGEST)  www.nara2007.blogspot.com  (NARA’S NOTEPAD)

 

Friday, May 2, 2014

 
 
NARA'S NOTEPAD
 
VOLUME 10
 
MAY 2014
 
NUMBER 5
 
NARA'S NOTEPAD
IS
SUPPORTED
BY
READERS LIKE
YOU
 
 
OVER THINKING
 
LEADS TO
 
WORRY

MEMO FROM NARA...


 
Some of us think that knowledge is from reading research reports and books – nowadays from internet search engines like ‘Google.’ But the real knowledge is from watching and experiencing the real life which is considered to be the true laws of behaviour in action. We used to refer the former one as ‘bookish knowledge’ which is available to only a fraction of the human population. Such knowledge has to be tested before we put to use. At the same time the knowledge gained from ordinary people – may be the majority of human population – who have had real life experience, are indeed wonderful sources of knowledge because such knowledge is already tested.

 There are people who have not gone to schools and colleges or joined such institutions and left because they failed in examinations. In fact, such people have more confidence and they try to take risk in their life for survival. That makes the real life experience tested by trial and error. Most of the successful people in world are not Oxford and Harvard educated elites. They are ordinary people. They learnt their life according to the opportunities they got. Somehow they developed their skills and use their untapped potential of their brain to achieve great goals in life. Their experience might have met with many errors and failures. But those setbacks would have been the stepping stones for success. We do see many examples in history as well as in today’s life.

Knowledgeable people have to put their knowledge in appropriate use. Those who fail to do so are not going up in the ladder of success. They always remained where they were. On the other hand, we do see people who get into hard life and experience all facets are respected and honoured by one and all. They may be called as ‘practical person.’ We can get the meaningful experience, the wisdom and insight from such practical ordinary persons.

Bookish knowledge provides us enormous opportunities to progress and achieve great things in life only when it is practiced. In order to practice those knowledge, we have to focus and concentrate which is often more difficult for many. So they remain with the bookish knowledge only, not attempting to go further. However, some of them cross this barrier and come out with flying colours. We also see such geniuses in our life-time. Scientists, doctors, engineers, technocrats have contributed a lot for the humanity. Whatever comfort we enjoy today is because of those knowledgeable persons.

 Think of the millions of artisans of yesteryears and today who meet the needs of billions of people day-in and day-out. They are ordinary people who learned from their or other’s life. Also their constant pursuit to perfect their work improves the real life style of people. The real life however, provides the real impetus for gaining knowledge. I do talk to many of these ordinary people who throw newspapers at my door step, who press my shirts and pants, who sells groceries and vegetables to me, who build a house, who cultivate our food, who drives me around in taxi, who serves food in a restaurant and many others like that. It’s a great surprise and wonder to learn how much knowledge they have about their professions. They are also the real professionals like the teachers, doctors, engineers, corporates. Therefore let us try to appreciate every human being’s skills and talents per se and try to learn from them.

SPONSOR


 
 
NARA’S NOTEPAD thank

Dr. A. Appa Rao, Former Vice-Chancellor

 Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad

for sponsoring

March 2014 to Dec. 2014 issues.

MOTIVATION


MOTIVATION: Motivation is what drives you to perform well. What drives an individual? Most definitely, it would be the goal that he/she has set for self to achieve. Motivation is the key to any successful management role. Again, motivation could be internal or external. However, what comes from within really makes the difference. Motivation is not about facts but about being able to address feelings.

GET MORE OUT OF LIFE


1. Stop resisting change and see it as constant in life.

2. Learn to enjoy, and value, solitude.

3. Never forget that friendship is a gift, not a possession.

4. Things are rarely as bad as they seem at first.

5. Do your most important tasks first thing in the morning.

6. Smiling seems to help with most things.

7. Schedule margin into your life – as something unexpected will often change your plans.

8. QITP – Quit Taking It Personally.

9. Define what is necessary and say no to the rest.

10. Take a deep breath and wait before responding. Don’t react and say something you’ll regret.

 

 
 
Let us leave behind all the unfortunate things that happened in the past. For too long this fair land has been bled by scarred and seared violence. It has been bled by the orgy of the killings of human beings by human beings. Each death diminishes us. The past cannot be rewritten. But we can write our common future with our collective, cooperative efforts. – Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Kohima in 2003.

 

Everyone is my teacher. Some I seek, some I subconsciously attract. Often I learn simply by observing others. Some may be completely unaware that I’m learning from them, yet I bow deeply in gratitude. – Eric Allan.

 

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily. – Zig Ziglar

AMUSING DEFINITIONS



Library: A place where the dead live.

 Life Insurance: A plan that keeps you poor all your life so you can die rich.

Pessimism: The determination to see less than there is in anything, and optimism is the ability to see more than there is in everything.

Pickpocket: A man who lives alone, but occasionally goes out in a crowd for a little change.

Politician: A fellow who shakes your hand before the election and shakes you after the election.

 Sickness : Means not to feel well. There are three stages : 1. Ill 2. Pill 3. Bill. Sometimes there is another: 4. Will.

Snorer: A sound sleeper.

Successful man: One who can earn more than his wife can spend.

 Summer Resort: A town where inhabitants live on your vacation money until the next summer.

 Synonym: A word to use when you can’t spell the other word.

Tourist: A person who drives 1000 km to see some beautiful scenery and litters the road all the way.

JUST TO LAUGH...


 
 
The lawyer was reading the late husband’s will. “Mrs. Jones, your late husband left everything he had to the Home for Widows.” “But what about me?” -  Mrs. Jones asked dejectedly.  “You were all he had.”

A preacher dies, and when he gets to Heaven he sees a New York cab driver who has more crowns. He says to an angel, “I don’t get it, I devoted my whole life to my congregation.” The angel says, “We reward results. Did your congregations always pay attention when you gave a sermon?” The preacher says, “Once in a while someone fell asleep.” The angel says, “Right. And when people rode in this guy’s taxi, they not only stayed awake, but they usually prayed!”

An intelligent wife is the one who makes sure, she spends so much that her husband can’t afford another one.”

WHITE TEA...


 
White tea is derived from the first flush buds grown only in the Fukien Province of China, but now manufactured in India and Sri Lanka, among other places. While the tea is not white in colour, it has got its name due to the silver-coloured, white hair-like picked tea bud. The beverage is pale yellow in colour. It is one of the most expensive teas in the world. The reason for it exorbitant rate is because white tea is plucked in a very short time. White tea is produced from unopened buds of tea shoots. Those buds are withered and dried under special conditions. It is produced in small quantities which is one of the reasons why it is very expensive. Similar to green tea, white tea also has a lot of health benefits. The benefits of this tea can be given to it’s flavonoids as they help in various ways such as improving vascular health which further helps in the prevention of heart diseases.

LINES I LIKED...





 
 
 
Ø Worrying never solved any problem.

Ø Keep your words few and carefully chosen.

Ø Fulfil your duties without complaining.

Ø Learn from ideas that are different from yours.

Ø Do not look for problems where there are none.

Ø You can’t always have your way every time.

 

 

Enjoy the little things!


Meet you next month – June, 2014


 


Professor A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP



Ph : 0422 2423017 Mobile : 098422 42301

www.nara.tumblr.com  (NARA’S DIGEST) 
 www.nara2007.blogspot.com  (NARA’S NOTEPAD)