NARA'S NOTEPAD
VOLUME 8
OCTOBER 2012
NUMBER 10
Saturday, September 29, 2012
LIFE
PLUS Pharmacy - Personal service of any medicine at your door step & by
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–
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Dr.
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Jan. & Feb. 2013 issues of NARA’S NOTEPAD.
Thank
you all.
NARA
MEMO FROM NARA
Democracy…freedom
of speech…freedom to protest…political and non-political parties with conflicting
views…coalition politics… all these human activities are growing day
by day in a country where diversity is the norm. No one understands these
norms, but everyone comes out with new demands which are difficult to implement
for any government. Instigating poor people and their emotions against others
whom they don’t like has become a day to day affair in all parts of the world
including India. Human beings are becoming inhuman in spite of rules and
regulations, religious belief and orderly life. The net result is nasty
behaviors of people on the street.
Society
is organized and people have chosen a path of democracy which is in fact,
dominated by political parties. These parties have leaders who are all in all
for their followers. What the leader thinks is the rule and the cadres have no
choice. Otherwise the followers do not get what they want to get in their life.
However, it is not easy for anyone to survive in a political party with
freedom.
India
like any other country is undergoing tremendous technological changes. In order
to cope up with such changes, one has to sacrifice some of their personal
interests. But some people are not willing to do that. They are having fixed
and traditional ideas which are spread to the common people and gather them to
protest. These protests are sometimes legal and often illegal. Legality is
determined by the apex courts by honorable judges. But people do not bother
about the judgments if they go against them. In other words, even judgments
from Apex courts are not being respected. Then what is the way out?
People
protest peacefully on any issue which affects their life in one way or other.
They say that it is the Gandhian way. There are advocates to support such
activities. Therefore, the authorities, like the government organizations
cannot use police force to harm the protestors. Police in large numbers are
mobilized with an instruction not to touch the protestors. It looks strange!
Peaceful people and peaceful police! How to solve the problems?
Invariably,
some elements either in the group of protestors or in the police forces may
start a confrontation either orally or physically. That lights up the fire and
subsequent actions end up in chaos. People may die and police may also die in
the violence. Public and private properties such as vehicles, offices, shops,
houses etc. are burnt down. Stone throwing by the protestors is one of the
common sights we see and lathi
charge, tear gas usage and firing in the air are some of the police actions.
The
electronic media will present a running commentary to spread the news among the
public elsewhere. Thus the violent incidents reach the far off places. In fact,
media should give an impartial account of the news, but there are TV channels
governed by each and every political party. So such channels twist the news and
present bias news. Hence the role of media is violated, but no one can find
fault with media in a democracy. Media are the main channel through which news
flow. The flow may be still or turbulent. It is often observed that media want
to make sensational ‘breaking news’.
We, the common people fall prey to such sensational news and harp on those
issues. Is it not ridiculous?
In
the name of democracy, every organization including the media makes the society
more vulnerable to violence and hatred. Such activities are on the increase in
every part of the world. Behind all these, there are technological developments
which offer comfort and happiness to all people. If we highlight those
developments and educate the mass we may end up in reducing if not abolishing
protests on every silly issue. Anger and hatred towards others are the reasons
for all the violence we view every day. Hence let us try to put down anger and
hatred to solve many unsolved problem we face in our country.
TO QUOTE...
Great
advances of science so often start from prejudice, on ideas got not from
science but straight out of the scientist’s head, on notions that are only the
opposites of the prevailing superstitious nonsense of the day. – De Kruif
STEPS FOR EFFECTIVE LISTENING
Talk
less.
God gave us one mouth and two ears that should tell us something.
Get
rid of distractions. If it is important for you to listen, do
everything you can to eliminate internal and external noise and distractions
that interfere with careful listening.
Don’t
judge prematurely. All of us are guilty of forming snap
judgments and evaluating others before hearing them out especially when the
speaker’s ideas conflict with our own.
Look
for key ideas. We think much faster than people speak. To help focus
attention extract the central idea.
Ask
sincere questions. Devil’s advocate questions are really
statements or criticisms in disguise. Sincere questions are requests for new
information that clarifies a speaker’s thoughts or feelings.
Paraphrase. Reword the
speaker’s thoughts in your own words to make sure your interpretation as a
listener is accurate.
Suspend
your own agenda. While you are listening, concentrate on what the speaker
is saying not what you think.
Open
your heart with love. Often we listen to score points and make
ourselves right and the other person wrong. When we open our hearts to each
other, we do so with the belief that we are all the same. We have the same
feelings, fears, and hurts, doing the best we can with what we know. – Gwen Nyhus Stewart
LISTENING
According to social scientists, verbal communication skills account for 7% of the
communication process. The other 93% consist of nonverbal and symbolic
communication and are called listening skills. Listening involves the ear, the
eyes, undivided attention, and the heart.
Listening is described in numerous studies as the most prominent kind of
communication. It has been identified as one of the most frequent problems in
marriage, one of the most important in family and social settings, and one of
the most important on-the-job communication skills. Often people think that
because they can hear, listening is a natural ability. It is not. Listening
effectively requires considerable skill and practice and is a learned skill.
Listening skills have been described as either ‘listening with our hearts’ or
‘hearing between the words.’
Listening is a process that consists
of five elements: hearing, attending, understanding, responding, and
remembering. Hearing is the physiological dimension of listening that occurs
when sound waves strike the ear at a certain frequency and loudness and is
influenced by background noise. Attening is the process of filtering out some
messages and focussing on others. Understanding occurs when we make sense of
message. Responding consists of giving observable feedback to the speaker such
as eye contact and appropriate facial expressions. Remembering is the ability
to recall information. Listening isn’t just a passive activity; we are active
participants in a communication transaction. – Gwen Nyhus Stewart
Ram’s grand mom: Go hide,
your teacher is coming.
Ram: You go
hide! I’ve taken leave today stating that my grandma is dead!
Three
men were applying for the same job as a detective. One was French,
one was Jewish, and one was Italian. The chief decided to ask each applicant
just one question and base his decision upon that answer. When the Jewish man
arrived for his interview, the chief asked him, "Who killed Jesus
Christ?" The Jewish man answered without hesitation. "The Romans
killed him." The chief thanked him and he left. When the Italian man
arrived for his interview, the chief asked the same question. He replied
"Jesus was killed by the Jews." Again, the chief thanked the man who
then left. Finally the French arrived for his interview; he was asked the same
question. He thought for a long time, before saying, "Could I have some
time to think about it?" The chief said, "OK, but get back to me
tomorrow." When the French arrived home, his wife asked "How was the
interview?" The French replied, "Great, I got the job, and I'm
already investigating a murder.
AN ACTIVE READER
v Knows what
he is going to read.
v Prepares
the reading materials so it will be easy to turn pages.
v Asks
questions at the various stages of reading so that he keeps looking for answers
to his questions (keeps him actively involved in his reading).
v Sits or
stands in a comfortable reading position.
v Uses his
left index finger to preview, read and review his reading material at various
speeds.
v Applys good
note-taking techniques to his reading.
v Reviews his
notes to identify what is important to remember for future use.
LIFE IS A RISKY BUSINESS
v By living,
we risk dying.
v By loving,
we risk losing.
v By feeling,
we risk getting hurt.
v By doing
new things, we risk feeling stupid.
v By trying,
we risk failing.
v By speaking
up, we risk being ridiculed.
v By
succeeding, we risk reacting our limits.
LINES I LIKED
Ø If you
don’t believe in God and ghosts, they don’t exist.
Ø Respect
yourself and others will respect you.
Ø Most people
are dishonest because they don’t believe in themselves.
Ø Overspending
often is a form of economic dependency.
Ø Keep your
expectations low and your motivation high.
Ø Focus on
what you can do right now.
Do
what you do best!
Meet you
next month – November, 2012
Prof.
A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP
E-mail: arumugakannu@gmail.com
Ph :
0422 2423017 Mobile : 98422 42301
www.nara.tumblr.com (NARA’S DIGEST)
www.nara2007.blogspot.com (NARA’S NOTEPAD)
Friday, August 31, 2012
SPONSORSHIP
LIFE
PLUS Pharmacy - Personal service of any medicine at your door step & by
courier for outstation –
Ph: 91715 40114 (Sponsoring Sept. Oct. Nov. 2012
issues)
NARA
MEMO FROM NARA...
Everyone
in this world encounters the problem of too much in various situations. We know
very well that anything more than optimum is always not desirable. But some of
us do not agree with this statement because they want to reach the maximum,
whether it is money, achievement, body strength or any other such things. Once
a friend of mine asked me a pertinent question: why rich people go on amassing
too much money, wealth, property etc.? What do they do with all those which
they may not use by themselves? Yes, it is true that one does not need more than
what he/she wants; but still some of us want more and more and they become
greedier in possessing too much.
Of
course, too much is always useless and sometimes dangerous too. But one thing
is certain, that we should know our limit and try to enjoy what we have. Going
for more is really a problem. Take for example; drinking of alcohol is ok if it
is within the limit. If it is beyond the limit and too much drinking certainly
affect our health and lead to an unhappy life.
Many
of us are attracted by more attractive articles advertised in dailies and magazines
and now in the internet regarding the improvement of health by consuming
certain vitamins or other products required for improving health. I have seen a
number of people around me bought such supplements, as they are called without
prescription by a physician. In the long run, it became too much and the excess
levels led to more complications. In fact, the sellers of the supplements give
all details and side-effects in small prints which are invariably no one read
seriously. If they do, many will not venture to consume such fancy supplements
at all.
Too
much wealth is one another thing which creates problems in family at later
stage. Rich people try to plough in the profits they earn from one business
into another business and thus generate more wealth. One of the positive things
we learn from it is that those rich people in fact, provide opportunity for
thousands of people jobs and thus help a number of families to earn their bread
and live better.
On
the other hand, the black money generated through private businesses brings
pain to the rich people who are harassed by the law of the land. So they have
to tackle the law in such a way that they can escape the strict rules and go
for generating more and more black money which neither they use nor their
family because they possess too much. Too much wealth has to be stored and
protected. Sometimes certain banks help in this. Take for example a simple
instance of offering one toy to a child to play as compared to a dozen toys
which the child may not able to handle and use. The child tries to choose the
best of the dozen and throw the rest of them. That is the way many men and
women buy their costly dresses every time to fill up their wardrobe rather than
using them daily. They too feel that problem of too much and try to select a
few which they like to wear and leave the rest in the wardrobes or offer to
others.
How
to solve the problem of too much then? We feel that too much is always not
desirable, but at the same time we continue to buy and collect too much. It
appears that it’s an inherent character of human mind to go for too much
without knowing what to do with them later on. Solving the problem of too much
is very simple, but the adoption of the simple philosophy is very difficult for
many. Most of our spiritual gurus and religions preach us to lead a simple
life. It needs will-power to resist the desire for too much. For those who have
more money in their pocket, it becomes too difficult to resist such desires. On
the other hand those who do not have money cannot have the desires to have too
much.
Therefore,
our desires are the main causes for the problem of too much. Let us try to have
much not too much and have limited or controlled desires to solve the problem
of too much.
TO QUOTE...
Things
change for the better when we take responsibility for our own thoughts,
decisions and actions. - Eleanor
Roosevelt
Feeling healthy and feeling good about yourself is not a luxury - it's an absolute necessity. - Eleanor Roosevelt
Feeling healthy and feeling good about yourself is not a luxury - it's an absolute necessity. - Eleanor Roosevelt
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