NARA'S NOTEPAD

VOLUME 11

OCTOBER 2015

NUMBER 10

MEMO FROM NARA

Pursuing a hobby is listed as one of the pleasure activities in a book I read recently. Hobby is an activity or interest pursued outside one’s regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure. Such activities are many. Dancing, singing, instrumental music, gardening, collecting objects like coins, postal stamps, drawing, painting, cooking etc. are some of the hobbies people used to practise. Even reading, writing, acting, exercising and photography are considered as hobbies. But they are full-fledged professions for some of course. As a hobby, one does not specialize on these items. However, hobbies are generally pursued only as a pleasure not as a profession.

One of my friends a colleague of mine had pursued astrology as a hobby initially. He sued to help in writing horoscopes for many of his friends including me. Slowly and slowly astrology became his main job and started earning a lot for predicting the future of people. After retirement he forgot about his profession and specialized in astrology that paid him a lot and also many people and families depended on him! Thus he became a popular figure among the common people as well as the well-to-do of the town. Even the villagers started visiting his house every day. So a hobby can become an occupation same day depending on its importance and popularity.

Yoga is another hobby practised by many – both men and women. Of late yoga has become one of the international hobbies. Since it has an advantage for health and happiness of human beings, the hobby is accepted and practised by one and all.

Photography is and was my hobby. I have some simple LCD cameras and also I use the camera of my iPad and iPhone. Those cameras are high definition models that give wonderful pictures. Moreover there are umpteen numbers of soft wares to improve or change the photographs to present in any form as we like. Olden day film photography was not a match for modern day photography. Smart phones we carry everywhere are used for clicking anything on earth. Objects and events are being photographed and sent to friends through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+ etc. instantaneously. Indeed marvellous hobby!

Everyone should pursue one or two hobbies along with his/her occupation in order to get the pleasure of it. A family having four or five members can have different hobbies to enrich its uniqueness and talents. Learning hobbies is a hobby itself. So start pursuing a hobby which you like most!

GIVE UP YOUR NEED TO ALWAYS BE RIGHT

There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

JUST TO LAUGH

Wife: How much you love me?

Husband: I love you so much I can’t measure…

Wife: No, just tell me…

Husband: OK. I am like a cell phone and you are my SIM card, I am nothing but you.

Wife: Wow! That is so romantic.

Husband: (saying to himself): Thank God, she doesn’t know, this is a Chinese phone with FOUR SIM cards…

The future of "I give" is "I take."

The inhabitants of Moscow are called Mosquitoes.

A census taker is man who goes from house to house increasing the population.

BEING INDEPENDENT

Being independent refers to the act of being in charge of yourself, and the consequences of your actions, instead of being subservient to other people, or other forces. Below are some basic understandings

 1. Creates discipline of the mind and body. When you are directly in charge of yourself, you will have an understanding of how your own personal actions and thoughts affect reality. You are not subservient to anybody else and can see clearly what affects your actions are having in the environment around you. This increase your discipline of the body and mind, in which you continue to make the right decisions towards your goal.

 2. Allows you to follow your passion.  You are not living someone else's passion, but your own. When you live your own passion, you can connect to within your passion and increase its energy even more. This correlates in an increase in mental and physical manifestation directly. You will get more ideas about your goal, and you will develop a clear plan of how to apply your ideas to achieve material manifestation.

3. Allows you to understand the factors of success. If somebody else is doing all the work for you, you can't understand the main principles and variables which are creating the success. When you take charge of the ropes yourself, you can see exactly what works and what doesn't.

4. Strengthens your frame and reality against other realities. When you have a strong     frame, you can push back against others who try to override your frame or way of doing things. You also can hold your ground against the invasion of different ideas and beliefs of other people, because you have formed inner mental fibre which acts as a blockade and barrier against it.

READING

From time immemorial it has been commonly understood that the best way to acquire knowledge was to read. That is not true. Reading is only one way to knowledge, and in the writer’s opinion, not the best way. But you can surely learn from reading if you read in the proper manner. What you read is important, but not all important. How you read is the main consideration. For if you know how to read, there’s a world of education even in the newspapers, the magazines, on a single billboard or a stray advertising dodger. The secret of good reading is this: read critically! Somebody wrote that stuff you’re reading. It was a definite individual, working with a pen, pencil or typewriter — the writing came from his mind and his only. If you were face to face with him and listening instead of reading, you would be a great deal more critical than the average reader is. Listening, you would weigh his personality; you would form some judgment about his truthfulness, his ability. But reading, you drop all judgment, and swallow his words whole — just as if the act of printing the thing made it true! If you must read in order to acquire knowledge, read critically. Believe nothing till it’s understood, till it’s clearly proven.

LINES I LIKED

• Do not fear going forward slowly, fear only to stand still.
• Actions speak louder than words.
• Sometimes you hate to take a few steps back in order to go forward.
• People want more of what they cannot have.
• When something has limited availability people assign it more value.

VISUALISATION

A mental picture paints a thousand words. You can explain so much more diagrammatically and as an image, than can be explained through words alone. This means the ideas which you are wishing to express are effectively leveraged and more clearly expressed.

A mental image is closer to reality. Reality is a series of images and experiences. To therefore see our goal as an image as opposed to words allows us to more readily connect with its achievement in reality. Also, true reality has its foundation through and behind our mind. Therefore seeing a mental image is allowing it to connect with true reality, and charges it with its secret powers. 

A mental image can be constructed in the future. What we see around us is images in the present. An image in our mind can be put forward into the future. This therefore allows us to see that image in relation to things which have yet to come about in our lives. 

 A mental image is easy to produce. Visualisation is like a sense that does not need to be taught. It is a natural ability that allows us to achieve our goals easily and with very little effort on our part. The secret is to use it in concentrated and particular times of the day only, so that we are constantly kept on the right mental track.

TO QUOTE

Moving to a new place and starting a different life will make us happier. That is why we go on vacation. – Jorge Ramos

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments. – Jim Rohn

Everything has beauty, but not everyone can see. - Confucius

Go along to get along!

Meet you next month – November, 2015

 

Professor A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP

E-mail: arumugakannu@gmail.com 

Phone: 0422 4393017 Mobile: 098422 42301

www.nara.tumblr.com  (NARA’S DIGEST) 

www.nara2007.blogspot.com  (NARA’S NOTEPAD)

NARA'S NOTEPAD

VOLUME 11

SEPTEMBER 2015

NUMBER 9

SPONSOR

NARA’S NOTEPAD

THANK

PROF. SRINIVASA RAO MENTREDDY Ph. D

ALABAMA A & M UNIVERSITY, USA

FOR SPONSORING ALL ISSUES OF 2015

MEMO FROM NARA

How to win over others? or how to influence a person’s beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations or behaviours? – These are questions every one of us faces every day in our profession. We influence others for various reasons because people depend on others for many things. Winning over others – not defeating them – is an art, otherwise known as persuasion. Persuading others for various purposes depend on our need. When we need a help – may be money, votes, food, shelter, security etc. we have to persuade in such a way that we are successful in getting them. For that, we have to use the tactic/strategy of persuasion carefully without hurting the feelings of others.

Leaders should master the technique of persuasion. Religious leaders try to persuade people to join in their religion by telling the goodness of their religion over the other religions. Business leaders have to change the attitude of their subordinates towards the consumers/customers. Political leaders win over their cadres by providing them opportunities for them. Mostly changing behaviour of people is done through logic and reason. Sometimes even bribing helps in influencing people. We call it as corruption. If friendly persuasion fails, people try to use force or blackmailing strategy. Thus there are many ways to win over others.

In order to achieve over ambitions, persuasion is generally used. People who are physically attractive seem to be more persuasive. Likewise people who are similar in behaviour and attitude with others are good in persuasion. Knowledgeable and trustworthy person has an edge over others in influencing people. In fact, we are always influenced by others around us; we want to do what everyone else is doing.

The secret of persuasion to change the minds of people like defeating the erroneous views of others was given by Blaise Pascal (1623 -1662) as “People are generally persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered then by those which have come into the minds of others.” Changing the minds of people is challenging but persuasion is the solution for it.

Eloquence is an essential part of persuasion. It is said that eloquence is painting of thought. Therefore, eloquence is an art of saying things in such a way – that those to whom we speak may listen to them without pain and with pleasure; that they feel themselves interested, so that self-love leads them more willingly to reflection upon it!

Hence, Blaise Pascal said – “Kind words do not cost much; yet they accomplish much.”

BE GRATEFUL

BE GRATEFUL…

1. Thank God I woke up this morning.
2. I’m so happy I’m alive.
3. I’m so grateful for the roof over my head.
4. I’m thankful for each and every breath I take.
5. I’m grateful I have my food on my table.
6. I’m blessed to have clean drinking water.

         

BELIEF

Belief is mental acceptance of some idea as being true. You accept ideas from others because they are authority figures. This setting of a belief in your mind (usually at a young and trusting age) comes about because you have absolute trust in the authority (generally the parent, sometimes the religious or educational institution, sometimes another trusted outside agency such as a relative, peer, or the media).

This acceptance can come about even when there are facts that contradict it. Reinforcement of beliefs strengthens until, faulty or true, they become a fundamental part of your thought processes. To entrench matters more, now beliefs are tested through the structure of the faulty belief, thereby compounding the problem. What this means is that you only accept information that reinforces the belief. Information that contradicts the belief is rejected.

JUST TO LAUGH

A man complains to a friend. “I had it all – money, a beautiful house, a nice car, a great motor cycle, the love of a beautiful woman. Then it was all gone!”

“What happened?” asks the friend.

“My wife found out!” replies man.

Charlie: I don’t believe in vaccinations.

Sarah: Why not?

Charlie: “My uncle got vaccinated and died a week later!

Sarah: I’m sorry to hear that, what did he die for?

Charlie: He fell out a window.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

1. Movement toward any goal is better than analysis paralysis. Remember, done is better than perfect.
2. It’s not about perfection but direction.
3. The key to happiness is having dreams. The key to success is making your dreams come true.
4. How you handle yourself on the bad days will determine your success on the good days.
5. Happiness is your responsibility, not others. Don't waste your life in search of ultimate satisfaction. Find pleasure each moment you live and satisfaction with each breath you take. Decide to be happy. One day it will be your last breath.
6. Fall in love with what you're doing in life or stop doing it. Remember, if the horse is dead, get off it!
7. Tough problems never last; tough people do.
8. To have a sense of control, know where you’re going and why you’re going there.
9. Out of every negative comes at least one positive.
10. If you don't prepare for change you'll never be prepared for the future.

LINES I LIKED...

• The future belongs to those who are bold.
• The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day.
• The future is better than you think.
• The future is simply a manifestation of what we are presently thinking.
• The future of the country can only be secure when the future of its children is safe.
• The true purpose of education is to train the mine to think.
• The time is always right to do what is right.

BEING REALISTIC...

It is natural to want to be perfect, but aiming for perfection inevitably leads to negative feelings simply because – in work, play, friendship or love – perfection just is not possible most of the time. So challenge your perfectionist thoughts. Be realistic in what you expect of yourself, of other people, of the world. Do not stop aiming high, achieving well, or expecting the best of others, but stop feeling bad when things do fall short of perfection in some way.

TO QUOTE...

Don’t compare your relationship with those of your parents, friends or extended family. Each relationship is different just as each person is. – Melissa D’Costa