If by Rudyard Kipling

Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.”

“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.”

Mahatma Gandhi needs no long introduction. Everyone knows about the man who lead the Indian people to independence from British rule in 1947.

So let’s just move on to some of my favorite tips from Mahatma Gandhi.

1. Change yourself.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”

If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you wouldn’t have – or maybe even have thought about – while stuck in your old thought patterns.

And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies etc. intact.

And so in this new situation you will still not find what you hoped for since your mind is still seeping with that negative stuff. And if you get more without having some insight into and distance from your ego it may grow more powerful. Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.

2. You are in control.

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. There may be a “normal” or a common way to react to different things. But that’s mostly just all it is.

You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don’t have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way. Perhaps not every time or instantly. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction just goes off. Or an old thought habit kicks in.

And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.

3. Forgive and let it go.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. And as said in the previous tip, you always choose how to react to something. When you can incorporate such a thought habit more and more into your life then you can react in a way that is more useful to you and others.

You realize that forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service. And spending your time in some negative memory won’t help you after you have learned the lessons you can learn from that experience. You’ll probably just cause yourself more suffering and paralyze yourself from taking action in this present moment.

If you don’t forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.

4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere.

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard and difficult. There can be much inner resistance.

And so you may resort to preaching, as Gandhi says. Or reading and studying endlessly. And feeling like you are moving forward. But getting little or no practical results in real life.

So, to really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.

You can check out a few effective tips to overcome this problem in How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips. Or you can move on to the next point for more on the best tip for taking more action that I have found so far.

5. Take care of this moment.

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

The best way that I have found to overcome the inner resistance that often stops us from taking action is to stay in the present as much as possible and to be accepting.

Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment that you can’t control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences – or reflecting on past failures – of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.

Have a look at 8 Ways to Return to the Present Moment for tips on how quickly step into the now. And remember that reconnecting with and staying in the now is a mental habit – a sort of muscle – that you grow. Over time it becomes more powerful and makes it easier to slip into the present moment.

6. Everyone is human.

“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

When you start to make myths out of people – even though they may have produced extraordinary results – you run the risk of becoming disconnected from them. You can start to feel like you could never achieve similar things that they did because they are so very different. So it’s important to keep in mind that everyone is just a human being no matter who they are.

And I think it’s important to remember that we are all human and prone to make mistakes. Holding people to unreasonable standards will only create more unnecessary conflicts in your world and negativity within you.

It’s also important to remember this to avoid falling into the pretty useless habit of beating yourself up over mistakes that you have made. And instead be able to see with clarity where you went wrong and what you can learn from your mistake. And then try again.

7. Persist.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want to hold you back and keep you like you have always been will grow weaker.

Find what you really like to do. Then you’ll find the inner motivation to keep going, going and going. You can also find a lot of useful tips on how keep your motivation up in How to Get Out of a Motivational Slump and 25 Simple Ways to Motivate Yourself.

One reason Gandhi was so successful with his method of non-violence was because he and his followers were so persistent. They just didn’t give up.

Success or victory will seldom come as quickly as you would have liked it to. I think one of the reasons people don’t get what they want is simply because they give up too soon. The time they think an achievement will require isn’t the same amount of time it usually takes to achieve that goal. This faulty belief partly comes from the world we live in. A world full of magic pill solutions where advertising continually promises us that we can lose a lot of weight or earn a ton of money in just 30 days. You can read more about this in One Big Mistake a Whole Lot of People Make.

Finally, one useful tip to keep your persistence going is to listen to Gandhi’s third quote in this article and keep a sense of humor. It can lighten things up at the toughest of times.

8. See the good in people and help them.

“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

There is pretty much always something good in people. And things that may not be so good. But you can choose what things to focus on. And if you want improvement then focusing on the good in people is a useful choice. It also makes life easier for you as your world and relationships become more pleasant and positive.

And when you see the good in people it becomes easier to motivate yourself to be of service to them. By being of service to other people, by giving them value you not only make their lives better. Over time you tend to get what you give. And the people you help may feel more inclined to help other people. And so you, together, create an upward spiral of positive change that grows and becomes stronger.

By strengthening your social skills you can become a more influential person and make this upward spiral even stronger. A few articles that may provide you with useful advice in that department are Do You Make These 10 Mistakes in a Conversation? and Dale Carnegie’s Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Social Skills. Or you can just move on to the next tip.

9. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”

I think that one of the best tips for improving your social skills is to behave in a congruent manner and communicate in an authentic way. People seem to really like authentic communication. And there is much inner enjoyment to be found when your thoughts, words and actions are aligned. You feel powerful and good about yourself.

When words and thoughts are aligned then that shows through in your communication. Because now you have your voice tonality and body language – some say they are over 90 percent of communication – in alignment with your words.

With these channels in alignment people tend to really listen to what you’re saying. You are communicating without incongruency, mixed messages or perhaps a sort of phoniness.

Also, if your actions aren’t in alignment with what you’re communicating then you start to hurt your own belief in what you can do. And other people’s belief in you too.

10. Continue to grow and evolve.

“Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”

You can pretty much always improve your skills, habits or re-evaluate your evaluations. You can gain deeper understanding of yourself and the world.

Sure, you may look inconsistent or like you don’t know what you are doing from time to time. You may have trouble to act congruently or to communicate authentically. But if you don’t then you will, as Gandhi says, drive yourself into a false position. A place where you try to uphold or cling to your old views to appear consistent while you realize within that something is wrong. It’s not a fun place to be. To choose to grow and evolve is a happier and more useful path to take.

14 Things Ridiculously Successful People Do Every Day

Having close access to ultra-successful people can yield some pretty incredible information about who they really are, what makes them tick, and, most importantly, what makes them so successful and productive.

"Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them." – Vaibhav Shah

Kevin Kruse is one such person. He recently interviewed over 200 ultra-successful people, including 7 billionaires, 13 Olympians, and a host of accomplished entrepreneurs. One of his most revealing sources of information came from their answers to a simple open-ended question:

“What is your number one secret to productivity?”

In analyzing their responses, Kruse coded the answers to yield some fascinating suggestions. What follows are some of my favorites from Kevin’s findings.

They focus on minutes, not hours. Most people default to hour and half-hour blocks on their calendar; highly successful people know that there are 1,440 minutes in every day and that there is nothing more valuable than time. Money can be lost and made again, but time spent can never be reclaimed. As legendary Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller told Kevin, “To this day, I keep a schedule that is almost minute by minute.” You must master your minutes to master your life.

They focus on only one thing. Ultra-productive people know what their “Most Important Task” is and work on it for one to two hours each morning, without interruptions. What task will have the biggest impact on reaching your goals? What accomplishment will get you promoted at work? That’s what you should dedicate your mornings to every day.

They don’t use to-do lists. Throw away your to-do list; instead schedule everything on your calendar. It turns out that only 41% of items on to-do lists ever get done. All those undone items lead to stress and insomnia because of the Zeigarnik effect, which, in essence, means that uncompleted tasks will stay on your mind until you finish them. Highly productive people put everything on their calendar and then work and live by that calendar.

They beat procrastination with time travel. Your future self can’t be trusted. That’s because we are time inconsistent. We buy veggies today because we think we’ll eat healthy salads all week; then we throw out green rotting mush in the future. Successful people figure out what they can do now to make certain their future selves will do the right thing. Anticipate how you will self-sabotage in the future, and come up with a solution today to defeat your future self.

They make it home for dinner. Kevin first learned this one from Intel’s Andy Grove, who said, “There is always more to be done, more that should be done, always more than can be done.” Highly successful people know what they value in life. Yes, work, but also what else they value. There is no right answer, but for many, these other values include family time, exercise, and giving back. They consciously allocate their 1,440 minutes a day to each area they value (i.e., they put them on their calendar), and then they stick to that schedule.

They use a notebook. Richard Branson has said on more than one occasion that he wouldn’t have been able to build Virgin without a simple notebook, which he takes with him wherever he goes. In one interview, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis said, “Always carry a notebook. Write everything down. . .. That is a million dollar lesson they don’t teach you in business school!” Ultra-productive people free their minds by writing everything down as the thoughts come to them.

They process e-mails only a few times a day. Ultra-productive people don’t “check” their e-mail throughout the day. They don’t respond to each vibration or ding to see who has intruded into their inbox. Instead, like everything else, they schedule time to process their e-mails quickly and efficiently. For some, that’s only once a day; for others, it’s morning, noon, and night.

They avoid meetings at all costs. When Kevin asked Mark Cuban to give his best productivity advice, he quickly responded, “Never take meetings unless someone is writing a check.” Meetings are notorious time killers. They start late, have the wrong people in them, meander around their topics, and run long. You should get out of meetings whenever you can and hold fewer of them yourself. If you do run a meeting, keep it short and to the point.

They say “no” to almost everything. Billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” And James Altucher colorfully gave Kevin this tip: “If something is not a ‘Hell Yeah!’ then it’s a no.” Remember, you only have 1,440 minutes in a day. Don’t give them away easily.

They follow the 80/20 rule. Known as the Pareto Principle, in most cases, 80% of results come from only 20% of activities. Ultra-productive people know which activities drive the greatest results. Focus on those and ignore the rest.

They delegate almost everything. Ultra-productive people don’t ask, “How can I do this task?” Instead, they ask, “How can this task get done?” They take the I out of it as much as possible. Ultra-productive people don’t have control issues, and they are not micro-managers. In many cases, good enough is, well, good enough.

They touch things only once. How many times have you opened a piece of regular mail—a bill perhaps—and then put it down, only to deal with it again later? How often do you read an e-mail and then close it and leave it in your inbox to deal with later? Highly successful people try to “touch it once.” If it takes less than five or ten minutes—whatever it is—they deal with it right then and there. It reduces stress, since it won’t be in the back of their minds, and it is more efficient, since they won’t have to re-read or re-evaluate the item again in the future.

They practice a consistent morning routine. Kevin’s single greatest surprise while interviewing over 200 highly successful people was how many of them wanted to share their morning ritual with him. While he heard about a wide variety of habits, most nurtured their bodies in the morning with water, a healthy breakfast, and light exercise, and they nurtured their minds with meditation or prayer, inspirational reading, or journaling.

Energy is everything. You can’t make more minutes in the day, but you can increase your energy to increase your attention, focus, and productivity. Highly successful people don’t skip meals, sleep, or breaks in the pursuit of more, more, more. Instead, they view food as fuel, sleep as recovery, and breaks as opportunities to recharge in order to get even more done.

Bringing It All Together

You might not be an entrepreneur, an Olympian, or a billionaire (or even want to be), but their secrets just might help you to get more done in less time and assist you to stop feeling so overworked and overwhelmed.

Inspiring and powerful words from Richard Branson

"Dear Stranger,

You don’t know me but I hear you are going through a tough time, and I would like to help you. I want to be open and honest with you, and let you know that happiness isn’t something just afforded to a special few. It can be yours, if you take the time to let it grow.

It’s OK to be stressed, scared and sad, I certainly have been throughout my life. I’ve confronted my biggest fears time and time again. I’ve cheated death on many adventures, seen loved ones pass away, failed in business, minced my words in front of tough audiences, and had my heart broken.

I know I’m fortunate to live an extraordinary life, and that most people would assume my business success, and the wealth that comes with it, have brought me happiness. But they haven’t; in fact it’s the reverse. I am successful, wealthy and connected because I am happy.

So many people get caught up in doing what they think will make them happy but, in my opinion, this is where they fail. Happiness is not about doing, it’s about being. In order to be happy, you need to think consciously about it. Don’t forget the to-do list, but remember to write a to-be list too.

Kids are often asked: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ The world expects grandiose aspirations: ‘I want to be a writer, a doctor, the prime minister.’ They’re told: go to school, go to college, get a job, get married, and then you’ll be happy. But that’s all about doing, not being – and while doing will bring you moments of joy, it won’t necessarily reward you with lasting happiness.

Stop and breathe. Be healthy. Be around your friends and family. Be there for someone, and let someone be there for you. Be bold. Just be for a minute.

If you allow yourself to be in the moment, and appreciate the moment, happiness will follow. I speak from experience. We’ve built a business empire, joined conversations about the future of our planet, attended many memorable parties and met many unforgettable people. And while these things have brought me great joy, it’s the moments that I stopped just to be, rather than do, that have given me true happiness. Why? Because allowing yourself just to be, puts things into perspective. Try it. Be still. Be present.

For me, it’s watching the flamingos fly across Necker Island at dusk. It’s holding my new grandchild's tiny hands. It’s looking up at the stars and dreaming of seeing them up close one day. It’s listening to my family’s dinner-time debates. It’s the smile on a stranger’s face, the smell of rain, the ripple of a wave, the wind across the sand. It’s the first snow fall of winter, and the last storm of summer. It’s sunrise and sunset.

There’s a reason we’re called human beings and not human doings. As human beings we have the ability to think, move and communicate in a heightened way. We can cooperate, understand, reconcile and love, that’s what sets us apart from most other species.

Don’t waste your human talents by stressing about nominal things, or that which you cannot change. If you take the time simply to be and appreciate the fruits of life, your stresses will begin to dissolve, and you will be happier.

But don’t just seek happiness when you’re down. Happiness shouldn’t be a goal, it should be a habit. Take the focus off doing, and start being every day. Be loving, be grateful, be helpful, and be a spectator to your own thoughts.

Allow yourself to be in the moment, and appreciate the moment. Take the focus off everything you think you need to do, and start being – I promise you, happiness will follow.

Happy regards,

Richard Branson

Jack Quigley‎'s FB posting to Wallabies coach Michael Cheika

Jack Quigley‎'s FB posting to Wallabies coach Michael Cheika - June 17 at 6:53pm after they lost to Scotland.

Hi guys,

Just wondering if you'd be so kind as to pass this on to Michael Cheika on my behalf.

My name is Jack Quigley, I'm 29 years old, I'm a rugby player/coach/referee in the Far North Coast rugby competition.

But that's not important. I'm a pleb. I'm a nobody. My opinion on rugby counts for the square root of f-all in the grand scheme of things.

But I've got one thing. Passion. Passion for the game of rugby. And for the Wallabies. And you can't deny me that. Despite your best efforts.

I love you, but I'll be blunt. The Wallabies are a disgrace. You got lucky in the Quarter Finals of the World Cup in 2015 thanks to Craig Joubert losing the plot in the last minute (against Scotland, funnily enough) for some reason and you've lived off it ever since.

The constant disappointments. I'll grant you New Zealand. The All Blacks are playing a different game than everyone else right now. But losing at home, to Scotland 'B'? (I say Scotland 'B', because anyone decent the Scots had is in New Zealand on the Lions tour right now).

You hurt me. I have to go to work tomorrow. I'm not going to turn this into one of those "they earn so much money they should do better" rants, because I know that our playing stocks are limited. Severely. But I have to go to work tomorrow, and I have to do with this sick feeling in my stomach that stems from the utter disappointment that is my national rugby team.

When I was a kid - hell, even now, I would've given my left nut just to pull on a Wallabies jumper, but when I see you guys run out, I feel like you don't care. I KNOW you don't care, because it shows. And don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't say that you DO care, because my response is that you don't care ENOUGH! CLEARLY!

I live in Lismore, NSW, it's a two hour drive to Brisbane. I'm willing to drive to Brisbane this week and address the squad. For 15 minutes. That's all I'll need. Then I'll turn around and drive home again. Because i feel like you've lost touch with the common man.

Anyone who says "I wouldn't necessarily agree with that" is wrong. You have. And it kills me. And everyone I know. You're quite literally hurting people with your lack of application to your jobs.

The Wallabies attitude towards the basic skills is unacceptable. A culture of blame-avoidance has been allowed to fester.

The Wallabies attitude towards goal kicking of "hopefully he kicks it" is simply not gonna cut it.
I'd suggest an attitude of "Bernard, it's literally your full time job, perhaps you should stay back a few minutes after training and practice until you don't miss the goals any more?"

The attitude towards the set piece of "hopefully TPN/Stephen throws it to the guy we've lifted" is simply not gonna cut it. I'd suggest "Don't practice until you get it right, practice until you can't get it wrong."

If the forwards aren't in at 8am tomorrow morning working on set piece, something is wrong.

If the halves aren't in at 8am tomorrow morning working on passing the ball to the chest of the guy they're trying to pass it to, something is wrong.

If Bernard isn't in at 8am tomorrow working on kicking the ball through the god damn posts, something is wrong.

And if I have to see Izzy (or any other player, for that matter, nothing against Izzy personally) collecting his Seiko "Wallabies Man of the Match" watch after losing to Italy like I did after the game tonight, I'll lose it. You'll lose me. Forever. Gone.

Give me 15 minutes. That's all I want. To look these guys in the eye and tell them WHAT IT MEANS to be a rugby fan in this country. Because they don't know. They're not fans. They're players and coaches. That's different. They don't know.

Print this email out, give it to the Wallabies media person, pass it on to Cheiks and hopefully he gives me a 15 minute window. I'll take a day off work. It'll cost me $150 in addition to the 4-hour round trip but I'll do it. And then I'll pay $100 and a 4-hour round trip on Saturday to drive up and have the privilege of watching you stutter and stumble and fumble and make a game against Italy look a million times harder than it actually is.

But I'll do it. And I'll cheer you on and hope that you win so that on Sunday I can go into work to earn my peanuts with a smile on my face while you enjoy another skinny latte at the airport.

Kindest regards,

Jack Quigley

HOW TO REPROGRAM YOUR MIND - Tony Robbins

TAKING A MORE ACTIVE APPROACH TO DESIGNING YOUR LIFE


Are you living the life you’ve always wanted to? Or have you settled into the status quo?

Most of us have a subconscious idea of what we think we deserve. And when life does not represent what we think it should be like, we experience frustration and discontent, which can spur us into action to make change.

But this can work in reverse as well. So many of us end up sabotaging our success. What happens is, we start thinking that we deserve better, and we drop right back down to where we think we should be – in our careers, our finances, our relationships, our health, our general sense of well-being.

What if you took active control of your mind and redirected your focus on making your life a masterpiece? What if you reprogram the way you think to design a life that gives you fulfillment, joy and passion?

Your mind is the key to success. And if you want to live the life you desire, then it’s time to decide, to commit and to resolve. Because it’s not what we can do in life that makes a difference, it’s what we will do. And there’s no better time to take back control of your mind and set your sights on something better right now.

DECIDE

What is your desired outcome? What do you want out of your life? The first step is to get absolutely crystal clear about what you want. Clarity is power. The more precise you are, the stronger your vision will be, and the more you empower your brain to come up with ways to turn that vision into reality.

This is a step you can start to use immediately. For example, if you are in an argument with your partner, your run the risk of escalating that argument if you are just focusing on winning. But what if you stopped in the middle of the argument and asked yourself what the desired outcome is? You would see that your outcome isn’t to argue and cause dissension, but to find resolution. This would help you shift your focus towards resolution. And you’d empower your brain to use its resources to produce that outcome in that moment.

So it’s time to decide what you want – right now and in the future – and to get laser focused on it. Give your brain direction. What do you want physically, financially, emotionally, spiritually, in your business, and in your personal life? Make the decision that you are not willing to settle, that you are not willing to live the way you are living right now, and set your sights on what you want.

COMMIT

Now it’s time to rid your mind of fear and self-doubt. How do you do that? By cutting off from any other possibility so that you have no choice but to commit to your decision.

Fear is one of the biggest traps that keeps people from taking action. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, success, rejection, pain, the unknown – we all have fears. And the only way to deal with fear is to face it. You must face it head on, look at it eye to eye and take action in spite of it.

Scared of failing? Failure is an education. Look at it this way, if you fail, you will know what doesn’t work. And you’ll be able to take a more educated, informed approach when you try again. You’re better off than where you were before!

Most people just sit around and will never take real action on their dreams or goals. They just keep saying, “Someday, I’ll do [this or that].” But the road to someday leads to a town in nowhere.

Breaking through negative chatter is like a muscle. At first, when you try to do it, it will seem difficult and perhaps even taxing. But if you start small and try it again every day, you will gradually become stronger. And before long, it will become effortless.

Commit to yourself. Commit to overcoming the negativity. Commit to a better life. When you commit fully, cutting off any other possibility, you are going to push yourself to the next level and you are going to demand more of yourself than anyone else could ever expect. And that is true power.

RESOLVE

Once you have decided on your path and committed fully, you need to take inventory of your situation. Notice what you are getting from your current actions and direct your mind towards assessing what is working and what isn’t. And then make the shifts. Resolve is about finding solutions to whatever may come your way.

A critical part of finding resolve is flexibility. Flexibility is power. When you get locked in tunnel vision, you will miss out on unexpected opportunities and alternative routes that could provide incredible benefits. Remember, you are never 100% in control. Think about it: has your life gone according to plan? Probably not. The path is never a straight line. And that’s why it’s vital to remain flexible along the way – learning from mistakes, embracing failure, and using negativity as a driving force for change.

By reprogramming your mind to focus on resolve, you can change your approach as required to attain the outcome no matter what obstacles, hurdles or circumstances come your way. Imagine that! That no matter what you encounter, you are conditioned for success. Frustration becomes a gift, because it means you are on the verge of a breakthrough. Failure is a lesson, counseling you on how to be better in the future. Any hurdle, emotional, physical or mental, becomes an opportunity for you to pivot and find a new creative solution. That is the power of your mind’s dedication to resolve.

CHANGING THE WORLD BEGINS WITH YOU...!!!

Albert Einstein famously remarked in a conversation with Werner Heisenberg, “You know in the west we’ve built a beautiful ship, and it has all the comforts. But actually the one thing that it doesn’t have is a compass and that’s why it doesn’t know where it’s going.” 

This paradox of our times was propounded by the Dalai Lama when he said, “We have wider freeways but narrower viewpoints. We have taller buildings but shorter tempers.” 

Will Smith said that we spend money we haven’t earned on things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like.

And it’s phenomenal how the same technology that brings us close to those who are far away takes us far away from people that are actually close. 30 billion WhatsApp messages are sent per day, but 48 percent of people say that they feel lonelier in general. The paradox of our times is that we have more degrees but less sense. More knowledge but less judgement. More experts but fewer solutions. 

It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said that the irony of our time is that we have guided missiles but misguided men. Have you ever found it perplexing that you’ve been all the way to the moon and back but you struggle to start a conversation across the road or across the bus?

It’s amazing that Bill Gates was known as the top earner of 2015 with a wealth of $79.2 billion but one in four CEOs claims to be struggling with depression. Do we actually thrive on this paradox? Is it that this paradox actually makes the media interesting, it’s what makes journalism interesting, it’s what makes politics interesting, it’s what makes television interesting? Is this paradox actually what we feed off and what we live off and what we talk about and discuss in our circles? Doesn’t it seem that we’ve tried to clean up the air but polluted our soul, we’ve split the atom but not our prejudice, and we’re aiming for higher incomes but we have lower morals? So how do we bring a change?

Well, it starts with us, each of us pressing pause, pressing reset, and then pressing play again. Taking a moment to become more conscious, taking a moment to become more aware, taking a moment to really reflect on the consequence, the implication of a misplaced word of an unnecessary argument that we all know we didn’t need to have, or to speak to someone just slightly differently in a different tone, in a different voice, in a different empathy, with a different perspective. Just to really connect with people on a different level.

This, thinking out loud, started from Albert Einstein when he actually said that the problems we have today can’t be solved with the same thinking that we used when we once created them. We need to research alternative teachings and dig deep down into these ancient books of wisdom. We need to go back to understanding if there’s anything written in those creased pages of time that can actually reveal more knowledge and more wisdom of how we can transform our experience of life today. Otherwise, this paradox means that every step forward we take, we’re taking three backwards every time.

Simple Tips For A Happy And Healthy Life

1. TRY TO MAKE AT LEAST THREE PEOPLE SMILE EACH DAY.
2. WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF YOU IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
3. SIT IN SILENCE FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES EACH DAY.
4. DON'T WASTE YOUR PRECIOUS ENERGY ON GOSSIP.
5. DON'T TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY. NO ONE ELSE DOES.
6. SPEND TIME WITH PEOPLE OVER THE AGE OF 70 AND UNDER THE AGE OF 6.
7. DREAM MORE WHILE YOU'RE AWAKE.
8. DON'T COMPARE YOUR LIFE TO OTHERS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEIR JOURNEY IS ALL ABOUT.
9. YOU DON'T HAVE TO WIN EVERY ARGUMENT. AGREE TO DISAGREE.
10. LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO WASTE TIME HATING ANYONE. SO, GET RID OF THOSE ILL FEELINGS.
11. NO ONE IS IN CHARGE OF YOUR HAPPINESS EXCEPT YOU.
12. READ MORE BOOKS THAN YOU DID LAST MONTH.
13. YOUR JOB WON'T TAKE CARE OF YOU WHEN YOU ARE SICK.YOUR FRIENDS WILL. STAY IN TOUCH.
14. SLEEP FOR 8 HOURS A DAY.
15. SMILE AND LAUGH MORE.
16. DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.
17. FORGET ISSUES OF THE PAST. DON'T REMIND YOUR PARTNER HIS/HER MISTAKES OF THE PAST.
18. HOWEVER GOOD OR BAD A SITUATION IS, IT WILL CHANGE.
19. CALL YOU FAMILY OFTEN.
20. NO MATTER HOW YOU FEEL, GET UP, DRESS UP AND SHOW UP. 
21. EXERCISE DAILY. 

FACTS OF LIFE

As we grow older, and hence wiser, we slowly realize that wearing a $1,000 or a $10 watch - - they both tell the same time. Whether we carry a $500 or a $50 wallet/handbag - - the amount of money inside is the same. Whether we drink a bottle of $100 or $10 wine - - the hangover is the same. Whether the house we live in is 100 or 1,000 sq. ft. - - loneliness is the same.

You will realize, your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world.
Therefore, I hope you realize, when you have mates, buddies and old friends, brothers and sisters, who you chat with, laugh with, talk with, have sung songs with, talk about north-south-east-west or heaven and earth - - That is true happiness!!

SIX UNDENIABLE FACTS OF LIFE:

1. Don't educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be Happy. So when they grow up they will know the value of things not the price.

2: Best awarded words: "Eat your food as your medicines. Otherwise you have to eat medicines as your food."

3: The One who loves you will never leave you because even if there are 100 reasons to give up he or she will find one reason to hold on.

4: There is a big difference between a human being and being human. Only a few really understand it.

5. You are loved when you are born. You will be loved when you die. In between, You have to manage!

6: If you just want to Walk Fast, Walk Alone! But if you want to Walk Far, Walk Together!

SIX BEST DOCTORS IN THE WORLD:
1. Sunlight
2. Rest
3. Exercise
4. Diet
5. Self Confidence and
6. Friends
Maintain them in all stages of Life and enjoy a healthy life.

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.

A Y S GNANAM

The A. Y. S. Gnanam story

Speech by the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Kadirgamar, during the United Nations General Assembly Debate on International Terrorism, October 2, 2001

The following is the speech made by Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar during the UN addressed debate on international terrorism. Kadurgamar reiterated Sri Lanka’s commitment to the global endeavour in the fight against terrorism and called upon the comity of nations to make as its primary objective the elimination of the supportive financial systems on which terrorism depends.

Mr. President,

On behalf of the Delegation of Sri Lanka, I convey to you the warmest congratulation on your election to the Presidency of the General Assembly.

To your predecessor, Mr. Harri Holkeri, I would also convey Sri Lanka's appreciation for the careful and devoted manner in which he presided over the affairs, and the extremely busy schedule, of the fifty-fifth session of the Assembly.

I

The horrors of the morning of Tuesday the eleventh of September, the spectacle of International terrorism in action viewed 'live' on television screens the world over, has cast a heavy pall on all of us and on humanity as a whole.

We are all still deeply moved by what happened in the United States that tragic morning. We will always be affected by the memories we shall carry with us for as long as we live.

The President, the Government and the people of Sri Lanka have conveyed to the President, the Government and the people of the United States, and all those bereaved, Sri Lanka's profound condolences. On behalf of the Delegation of Sri Lanka, I would also, today, convey to the Delegation of the United States the very deepest of sympathies.

II

The Terrorism of the eleventh of September, so shocking as it was, gave rise to a "coming-together" of the people of the great city of New York in the finest traditions of humanity.

On the twelfth of September, the Security Council and the General Assembly convened to express: their collective condolences; an unqualified condemnation of the terrorism: a determination that those responsible should not go unpunished; and firm concurrence that terrorism threatened the foundations of human society and order and would need to be, and must be, globally removed.

Let us hope that such a deep sense of the "togetherness" of all of humanity at times of great crises will continue to be pervasive.

III

To ensure that those responsible for the terror of the eleventh of September are brought to justice and that those responsible are deprived of their support and their resources, whatever and wherever that may be, has the immediate urgency.

Sri Lanka has assured the Government of the United States of every possible assistance Sri Lanka could provide.

Terrorism is, sadly, no stranger to Sri Lanka. We, in Sri Lanka know terrorism, unfortunately, only too well.

We know the horrific direct consequences of an act of terrorism: the carnage; the horror; the thousands of unsuspecting innocent lives lost or maimed, in the flash of an explosion; the thousands of families then left bereaved; the countless personal tragedies that terrorism leaves in its wake.

There are also the larger disruptions of national stability and order as well: of the economy, of infrastructures, of the customary ways of life.

Yet we must not forget the elaborate funding, support and preparation - in a word the "logistics" that lie behind a single act of terrorism: the extensive secret collection organizations, their associates, their collectors, their enforcers, their many other supporters misguided or otherwise; the ability to transfer millions perhaps just by word of mouth; the numerous connections to the underworld of crime; the deliberate fanning of the flames of difference or discord in societies into the fanatical hatred from which crucible a suicide mission is born; and, above it all, there looms the reclusive leader who attracts and directs the misguided and the impressionable.

The elimination of the supportive financial systems on which terrorism depends must, in Sri Lanka's view, be a principal objective and that will require a global undertaking: complex difficult, multi-faceted long term.

However, because of the eleventh of September, important beginnings are now being made for that purpose - which, hopefully, will be of assistance, as well, to those of us who have known the heavy hand of terrorism for many years past.

May I recall here the words I spoke from this podium, almost exactly a year ago, to the Millennium Assembly, of Sri Lanka's experience with terrorism.

My words were these:

A criminal organization - whether involved in rebellion against a State or not - must depend for its sustenance outside the law. For its massive operations and massive weaponry, massive collections of funds are continually required. As funds available for criminal activities within a State, especially a developing State, are Invitably small, and the monitoring of their collection and disbursement relatively simple, fund collection for such activities is carried out abroad - through international criminal networks, of course - and also, as in all criminal enterprises, through knowing or unknowing front organizations or other entities that now proliferate in many forms, in many countries - often in the guise, sadly, of charitable groups or groups ostensibly concerned with human rights, ethnic cultural or social matters'.

'The magnitude of the collections of funds from abroad, and the extensiveness of the reach of the international networks developed for the purpose, boggle the mind. Their receipts seem to exceed the receipts of many transnational conglomerates - and all free of tax, Revenues come, of course, from the customary illegal trade in drugs or arms or other merchandise including the smuggling of humans'.

'Yet, there also exists a far more abundant and seemingly limitless reservoir of funds - namely, expatriates of similar ethnicity settled abroad. As the western median has reported over the last few years from time to time, collection from expatriates abroad for the armed group. Known as the Tamil Tigers, battling the Government of Sri Lanka are staggering in their magnitude; for example US $ 400,000 a month from one country; US$ 600,000 a month from another; US$ 2.7 million a month from yet another, and large additional funds from expatriates in still other countries'.

'In 1988 an excellent study was published on 'Financial Havens, Banking Secrecy and Money-Laundering'. It was a study commissioned, to experts in the field, by the United Nations Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention'.

'In order to implement adequately the provisions of the recently adopted Convention on the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism, a study, of a similar nature, on the collection of external funds for massive continuous internal armed rebellion against a State, such as occurs in Sri Lanka, should surely be undertaken also by the appropriate United Nations bodies. It seems to me that such a study is especially necessary when the armed group battling a State is in blatant violation of human rights and humanitarian norms and standards (including those relating to children and children in armed conflict) that this Organization and its Councils, Commissions, Committees and officials, including the Secretary - General and his Special Representatives, so correctly and so diligently espouse as the minimal contemporary requirements in human society.

'I proposed such a study at the fourth Round Table of the Millennium Summit, and that proposal was endorsed by our Chairman, President Bouteflika of Algeria, in his summation to the General Assembly of the proceedings of our Round Table. I urge that favourable consideration be given to that proposal by the international community".

Let me recall too, the following sentences in a Report submitted by the Secretary-General in 1998 which comes often to our minds in Sri Lanka.

"Government authority and civil society are increasingly threatened by transnational networks of crime, narcotics, money-laundering and terrorism. Access by underworld groups to sophisticated information technologies and weaponry as well as to the various instrumentalities through which the global market economy functions are vastly increasing the potential power of and influence of these groups, posing a threat to law and order and to legitimate economic and political institutions."

IV

The many disparate forces for international terrorism do not come together in one monolithic whole. They are variously interconnected in numerous ways and their international networks are extensive. They are mutually supportive and communicate through the global underworld of crime when special missions are afoot. If international terrorism is to be ever removed from our midst, we must begin with the recognition that international terrorism is a form of global criminality. We must not let ourselves be deceived by the artfully crafted cloaks of false pretensions. It is the method of terrorism as in the murder of innocent civilians and the defiance of the sanctity of life - that defines terrorism.

V

The eradication of such a global criminal phenomenon requires a global governmental and non-governmental endeavour in many fields.

There shall have to be numerous bilateral, sub-regional, interregional, and global, governmental and non-governmental arrangements.

To such a global endeavor, this organization, the United Nations, must contribute and the United Nations is no stranger to the development and administration of global programs.

One of the magnificent achievements of this Organization, in the last half century, has been the transformation that has taken place in global opinion on the relationship that should obtain between the governing and the governed, between the government and the citizen. It was on the basis of the moral authority of the General Assembly's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the determined endeavours of the Commission on Human Rights, that this transformation was achieved. The dignity of the individual has now, largely as a result of United Nations leadership in the field of human rights, been placed, as it should be, amongst the primary priorities of national and international attention.

The achievement is due, in large part, to the remarkable multi-faceted and powerful structure that was developed within the United Nations system of organizations and agencies, over the past fifty years, for the protection and promotion of human rights. We know of the large number of general multilateral conventions that were concluded. We are acquainted with their reporting requirements and monitoring committees. We know of the many special rapporteurs. There are training programmes and centres on human rights. We have had Special Sessions of the General Assembly and special Conferences. Numerous Trust Funds supplement and often exceed the allocations from the Regular Budget of the United Nations. There is an enormous public relations programme on Human Rights. There is a High Commissioner of Human Rights. The list of United Nations entities which make human rights one of their major concerns could go on and they would still not include the hundreds of governmental and non-governmental national and international groups that are themselves engaged in the protection and advancement of human rights, and we have not as yet come to the international and national print and electronic media.

If only such a powerful edifice would turn its attention to the eradication of the horrors of terrorism that afflict so many in developed and developing countries alike, the world would be a better and safer place for all the peoples of the planet.

Moreover, let us remember in this connection, that the Universal Declaration on Human Rights is not limited in scope to ensuring the observance of human rights by Governments alone.

The Declaration has a far wider purpose: the observance of human rights by all governmental and non-governmental alike. One need only look to the explicit prescription in article 3 of the Universal Declaration, which requires that everyone has the right to life; and to the provisions of article 30 of the Declaration which prescribe that: "Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein".

An act of terrorism by a non-governmental entity against civilians is surely one of the most heinous violations of the human rights of its victims and, surely, a crime against humanity as well.

VI

Sri Lanka pledges to follow closely and cooperate fully in the work of the United Nations on terrorism. Sri Lanka will, of course, do so pursuant to the Resolutions of the Security Council and in particular the Resolution 1373 adopted by the Security Council last Friday night 28 September.

Sri Lanka will, also, follow closely and cooperate fully with such other United Nations programmes against terrorism that shall, hopefully, also develop, within the United Nations System in the knowledge that it is the prevention of the terrorist's strike that should be the principal focus of a global endeavour against terrorism; and that fundamental to such prevention is the interdiction of terrorism's "life-blood": the provision of funds made available in such millions, knowingly or unknowingly, willfully or otherwise, directly or indirectly, overtly or covertly, in circumstances where it is possible that such funds may be utillised to further terrorism's purposes.

It is surely morally unacceptable in contemporary times, whether there be specific legal provision in international conventions to that effect or not, that funds should flow in their millions, or tens of millions would perhaps be more exact, from territories under the jurisdiction of one State for the slaughter of innocents in another.

Sri Lanka will, of course, continue in its active role as the Chair of the General Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on the Elimination of International Terrorism established in February 2001, with a view to concluding, under the auspices of the Sixth Committee, international conventions on particular aspects of terrorism and eventually developing an appropriate comprehensive and focused international legal framework in the light of which Governments would bring to justice those who are responsible for acts of terrorism.

The world before the eleventh of September was not always encouraging to the Ad Hoc Committee. Two examples should suffice to make this point; the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1999, shows as of now only 44 Signatories and just 4 States Parties of whom Sri Lanka is one; the International Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime adopted by the General Assembly, on 15 November 2000, shows as of now 123 signatories and just 3 States Parties.

We know also that our negotiations on international conventions, often concluded after lengthy, exhaustive sessions to produce lowest common denominator provisions enleavened by "constructive ambiguity" have not been as effective as they ought to be. They may salve our consciences but with loopholes through which millions of dollars could pass in questionable transactions in the real world.

Yet that was the world we know before the eleventh of September. Let us hope that things will now change for the better.

Sri Lanka, a party to all the major United Nations conventions relating to terrorism, will continue to urge the widest possible participation in the international conventions that have already been formulated under the auspices of the United Nations, on a number of aspects of terrorism. Sri Lanka will also pursue the fullest participation in the formulations of the conventions that remain on the agenda of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elimination of International Terrorism.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka, October 2, 2001