What's on Your Canvas for 2018?

Another year (2017) going by and another one(2018) knocking at our doors. The deja vu is all so familiar and again it's time for another set of resolutions.The same ritual of setting goals and then striving to actualize it will continue unless something done differently. The onset of new year also brings about a resurgence of ambitions and expectations that matter to us and our lives.

In the midst of all this, the million dollar questions that crosses our mind so many times are

• Can we make this year any better?
• Can we make this year count more in our life? 
• Can we manage more luck, success, happiness and prosperity in the new year?

Standing still between the past (2017) and future (2018) and aiming to make our lives more worthwhile, our quest to make our impending "present" the best begins. Our search for answers and  solutions continues. A quick reflect back on our Canvas for last year could help give us an insight into the missing pieces. Those missed out or incomplete caricatures, landscapes, sketches and the missing colors speak a lot about what we need to do better this time around. A simple solution by way of mending the missing elements in the canvas will not only render the canvas complete but also  add great meaning to our life in 2018 and beyond.

Make the Canvas (of our life) ready for 2018 is just about

• Identifying the pieces that are missing in our life in terms of our mission, vision, goals, or action items. Incorporating these pieces will not only complete the picture but make it holistic too.

• Bringing to conclusion all those incomplete tasks that stand on the verge of losing relevance and importance if not catered to Now. Those goals and resolutions which just need an action plan and that first step to make it happen.

• Adding more zing to those half-hearted tasks which are as good as any incomplete because of the lack of proper pursuance. Adding passion and purpose in our efforts will liven us and make our life an experience to cherish.     

Let's paint our best life on the canvas and splash it with all the beautiful colors of positivity and optimism to welcome more success, happiness and abundance forever in our lives. 

So, get going and create you masterpiece Now !

"Thanks to Thankfulness" - The shortest path to GRATITUDE

Technology has permeated every aspect of our life, promising to make us better, effective and more productive; the gaps have also been bridged in terms of seeking/ accessing information/ knowledge and everything is available at our fingertips now. Still the biggest irony that exists is that the parallel online world created to bring together and connect people across geographies, continents, countries, etc. has been created on a bedrock of loose human values. 

A case in point is – can we recollect easily the last time we appreciated something around us or in others? 

Isn't is hard to do so as there aren't be too many such occasions.  

The interconnectedness of people that promised camaraderie and togetherness has in fact created a more self-centered society where personal success and achievement rules the roost. We are seeing an erosion of fundamental human values and Gratitude is one of those key values that is diminishing. The “Thanks” or “Thank You” are hard to come and if they come, they are just so robotic.

Let’s dig deep and examine why gratitude is eroding and what could we do to cultivate it

What is Gratitude?

Gratitude is the basic quality of appreciation or being grateful.

Why is Gratitude important?

• Gratitude builds holistic health and personality by positively impacting our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspect.
• It shapes the growth of society as connecting together is a key tenet of a flourishing society
• It complements the interconnected nature of the virtual world that we live in. Our parallel online world needs real values to build lasting relationships.
• The new smartphone generation needs to imbibe basis human values like gratitude to build a holistic personality.
• Gratitude acts as feeder to many more essential human values like kindness.

How to cultivate Gratitude?

The simplest way to cultivate gratitude is to make a transition from “Thanks to Thankfulness”. Practising the following would help us achieve the same 

• SATISFICING which means finding delight in what’s given to us. This builds in the quality of being grateful for what we have. This further triggers our orientation towards the much needed concepts of decluttering, minimalism and essentialism. Maintaining a “gratitude journal” is an easy way to do so. The journal entries act as a reminder to us that by default there are plenty of things that we need to be grateful for in our life such as the beautiful body, the nature, the family, the friends, the sunshine, and so on.

• MINDFULNESS which builds awareness of the present moments and makes us appreciate the beauty that lies in each moment. This generates feeling of gratitude and makes us grateful for each moment.

• EMPATHY which is the foundation of human relatedness. Empathy propel us to connect with others at a deeper level and establish an emotional connect. It’s this deeper connection that builds in us feelings of gratitude.

• CONNECT MORE – One of the major downside of technology is that the opportunities to meet face-to-face are very few. This lack of physical connection inhibits our basic human tendency to relate to others. Establishing more face to face connections will kindle the feelings of gratitude.

• A LITLLE EXTRA – Once we imbibe the basic feeling of empathy and start connecting more (at a physical level), offering a little bit extra through our intent and action will develop more gratitude.      

For all the readers looking for more scientific explanation about the benefits of gratitude, here's the link to a wonderful article http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/

So, what are you grateful for today ?

Are You Living A "Subset of Life"?

If accomplishing Money, Fame and Power defines our success in life then why is it so that many of us still feel a certain hollowness/ vacuum inside us; a hollowness that prods us to reflect on self and

then ask many probing questions such as

" Is my life turning into a blob?"

"Why am i not satisfied with my life?"

"Why do i feel a body-mind-soul disconnect?"

"Why do i still desire more of what i already have (money, power)"?

"Why does internal happiness still elude me?"

"What is missing in my life?"

We may think we are treading a path and moving towards a destination but it's actually a directionless pursuit leading to a land of obsession and desire. All this self brooding converge towards a serious food for thought which is

"Am I living a subset of life?"

"Why don't all my accomplishments in life (money, fame and power) provide me with real joy, peace or satisfaction and merely add up (cumulatively) to only become a subset of my life?"

source:http://www.spyculture.com/tom-secker-ripple-effect/

The answer is revealing and requires a discerning insight into our approach towards life. The fact is

that we are focusing on high-end subsistence, thereby diluting the actual aim of our existence which is to live with purpose. That purpose gets clear to us the moment we check the ripple effect that our individual life generates. If the ripple effect is missing, the purpose is missing and it's only a self-centered life we are living by catering to our own needs.

The real joy and satisfaction in our life appears when the ripple effect generated by our actions positively impacts others and bring joy in their lives too. The moment the realization dawns on us that there is a life beyond our "personal self", that is when we start giving a purpose and meaning to our life and our existence. The transition from "ME" to "WE" is when the transformation occurs in us.

We don't really need a long checklist to identify whether we are living a "subset of life". The following pointers would act as a good reference

• Do we have a bigger Purpose identified for our life beyond the high-end subsistence?

• Whether all our actions and goals align with out purpose and mission

• At night, when we retire for the day, do we sleep with satisfaction with a feeling that we spent our day well and contributed our best for a larger cause than just fulfilling our own desires and needs

• At dawn, when we wake up, do we feel a surge of energy and excitement to live the day     

Let's make our existence count and move beyond mere subsistence. Let's create a Super Life by bringing Purpose and Mission in our existence !