Tag: #newlens

Empowerment through Inaction.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Contrary to popular belief and what our minds are almost always trained to do- in one way or the other- not everything that comes your way- calls you to act and not everything that comes you way requires you to act! Join me here as we take a quick look around this intriguing space- where Inaction- Stillness and mere Presence can create more empowering pathways which build clarity and direction and how this can eventually help you stop the habit of unwanted and unwarranted pre-empting behaviour which at times can work potently to disempower you and short change you- in the short and long term! So here we go!

We live in an era where “hustle” is perhaps the key word- whether required or not- we see millions of people day in and day out racing to their work desks and places of work to accomplish something that will be life changing, only to realize by evening that they have to go on with it for another day, then another and then another…the endless tomorrow simply sticks like super glue and the never ending hustle seems to live on! It is certainly good to set measurements, metrics, achievable goals and so on and so forth, for that is how human progress is made and monitored, but when the hustle keeps on going on endlessly with no real rhyme or reasons- eventually the only person who gets hustled is the hustler! You see, you don’t call for an earthquake to shift the furniture in your house- that is not how it works and that is as simple and straight an explanation why endless and meaningless hustle is not good and in fact is very much counterproductive- a major reason for may burnt out minds, failed hearts and lost-in- travel-personalities! A lot of chaos and complexity that we end up giving to ourselves originates from these rushed spaces of hustle which often are accompanied by bouts of instinctive and impulsive decision making- while that may work well for a few most of the time, for the many, it almost always ends up into manifesting even more chaos and begins a chain reaction wherein the individual is left with no other choice, but visiting one problem after the other and this newly found hustle of their lives, soon enough becomes all consuming!

A lot of hustle that we witness around simply evaporates with time, in weeks, months or perhaps a few years, but it will and it does- the real area of concern here is the damage that we end up doing at an intrinsic level to be part of facilitate hustle which is agenda driven to get something in the now, with no real essence or application for the long run- well that is the real story in most of the cases! You see, you may be a hustler and hitting your business targets year after year, but the question is at what cost and at the expense of what! The day you walk out of that business or office, you are only left with scars which tend to damage you at an intrinsic level more then anything else and that is the real and lasting price that one ends up paying for being caught up in mindless hustle of the world! Whether you are a victor or a survivor really doesn’t matter, because by the time the mindless hustle ends, you would have lost perhaps the most valuable thing- Your Time! Which, no matter what you do will never be back! SO does this mean, that hustle is not relevant? Or does it mean that we become passive and take things as they are and stop the effort to usher in change and a better tomorrow? Well none of that, the problem is not about the hustle itself, the problem is with the hustle for things that don’t deserve it for one or the reason! This could be different for different people and it is within these specific contextual realities that one needs to find the real mindful hustle that one needs to pay attention to! This only become possible through Inaction! The primary step before you decide to do something! Empowerment through Inaction is perhaps the only meaningful way to harness and manage purposeful hustle that creates an impact the way you want it to!

Inaction is not about being lazy, neither is it about being passive, Inaction is rather the ability to make a deliberate choice – a choice of not doing anything – because there are many instances, when you allow things to untie themselves they do and it all becomes relatively painless and more importantly when you do decide to act, you actions are empowering and potent enough to bring in a change or shift as you want them to! Inaction is an effective tool and approach because it allows you to observe, monitor and record- patterns, behaviours, impacts and allows you to create a meaningful cause and effect association of things that are unfolding in front of you, if you were to rush in and try to solve something, chances are that even as you try to solve one aspect of a perceived problem, other things will seem cropping up and then the cycle goes on endlessly with no end in sight! When you apply the approach of Inaction, what you immediately end up doing is you stop feeding into perceptions, unfound fears, rushed conclusions and skewed observations that would have been shared with you. You are able to see the dynamics of things as they unfold, people, processes and everything that goes along with it. It is only when you have captured enough of the depth and width of this unfolding drama and you decide to finally act and take a stand- your actions will almost always be decisive, clinical and laser shape- which is normal parlance of the working world spell out effectiveness or productivity!

Inaction is not the inability to act, rather it is the choice made not to act- simply because more needs to be known and understood before taking steps and moving ahead! Like I have mentioned earlier in my other articles, the pause is perhaps the greatest enabler that we have- whether it is the chat that you need to have with yourself or whether you want to assimilate the learnings coming your way and make an impact outwardly to the world. The next time you want to do something, like that in a snap of your finger, hit the inaction brake and take a walk- spend the time that you must in proportion to that impact that your decision will have- it is only when this practise becomes natural that you will be able to shift and sieve through rapid decisions and choices as your mind develops an ability to be in the state of inaction over one area even as it is engaged and implementing action for some other area once that has passed the space of inaction! Meaningful Inaction is always proportional to the probable impact of the ensuing action!

Even as communicators’ we have always been told the value of silence- which conveys so much more- then the spoken words- what silence is to verbal communication, Inaction is to the world of Action and Implementation! It is the vital space within the noise and rhythm that goes along with any implementation and any action, but it is within this pocket that a great sense of clarity and purpose can be derived and many a times the predestined course of impeding actions goes through a radical and decisive change to serve a greater cause and for the greater good!

I leave you with these thoughts for now and urge you to seek your meaningful Inaction to create an even more empowering actionable presence!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one, until then stay safe and yes, embrace the silence in your action!

Your real priority.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Half way around the world, either you are planning to spend a calm Sunday or you are perhaps already preparing for the approaching Monday- well irrespective of that bit, no matter what you do or not, whether you are opulent or not and whether life has been fair or not, the game really is all about your real priority! Join me here as we take a quick paced walk down this route and decipher why most of us run the risk of running into and carrying further conversations which are more about “what could have been” rather then allowing it to be about “what can be”! So here we go!

Whether it is through the upbringing years at school, the formative years at college or the years spent through the corridors of the corporate world- we almost always end up leading a life – knowingly or unknowingly that is run and directed based on the priority listing methodology of someone else- who ever that could be and this is where the divergence commences!

If you are able to step back and embrace the pause, you will observe that many a things that “were high priority”, “so called defining moments” all tend to fade away and become meaningless or irrelevant with time as contexts change and things move ahead. Sure enough you may argue that, this is what hold true for almost everything and anything around us! Sure it is, but we don’t end up sabotaging ourselves the way we normally end up doing while we pursue the “so called priority” which almost allays is a case of someone else’s dream, requirement or necessity! It is this disconnect that ends up creating students graduating each year with ever more confusion about what they want to do next, with companies re-visiting their corporate strategies every now and then and wondering whether they should continue a product or service or not and governments who end up delivering what is not promised and never seem to deliver what has been promised. The whole social maze around strife and struggle is a whole lot because of this space of misplaced priorities and conformation narratives!

Through the student days, marks and grades are a priority – for that bit is sold to you- as the only assurance for an opulent life and only way to beat the race and stay ahead- well I am not saying this is not correct, the problem is this is not entirely true! You see if there are top 10 students across the thousands of universities then there are the next 20 from each one of them- so even for that visibly small variance of percentage or grades – as far as marking goes -which will never be beyond 10%, to believe that , this 10% difference can create such a wide and un-breakable barrier to earn and live an opulent life- simply doesn’t make sense and neither is that true! You have back benchers leading firms, business and doing exceptionally well, by the simple fact that they are able to hire the top performers at the price that they demand! So if the priority while being a student was only to get good grades or marks- why does this logic fail to deliver beyond an eclectic top 10-15% of the millions of students that exist at any given time?

If this was not enough, see what unfolds in the corporate world- you walk into that grand office each morning- or in today’s context, you hit your WFH desk to open up emails each morning only to find that “new priorities” have come in and as the week and month’s go by- if you ever reflect on what actually has happened- the corporate world end sup being a scene of accidental priorities and misplaced strategy- which often ends up achieving quite less when what could have been- simply by the latent power of the human potential that exists within each organization! You may want to say, that as organizations respond and react to market conditions things are bound to change- sure- but what is the meaningful variance- what’s the whole point of calling something “a priority” if the next market situation is going to ask you to throw all of that into a dustbin and sack half of your team? What does this speak about the whole approach to setting up and defining what a priority is, should be or can be? Think around this!

If you thought, this is limited to only the world of corporate and things that impact socially, think again, just see what has unfolded closer to you- your inner circle- your relations, ideals, mentors, coaches and what not! If you think that anyone or any of them were a priority for you- the essence of the word priority would imply that irrespective of what has unfolded or not- whether things have worked for you or not- you would still stand by them, their guidance and so would they too! But is that how it really gets played out? Well chances are they will not get played out that way and if they do, trust me and count yourself to be the luckiest among the lucky people to have some support system like that going around for you! So what is real priority then? Why is it vital and what makes it so encompassing and omnipresent? Read on!

Well, the real and perhaps the only meaningful and enduring priority that you will ever have in your life is “You”. Unless you make it a practise and a directed effort to place yourself and your core priorities first, no matter how successful you are or not, how rich you get to be or not, end of the day, all of that will be hollow and things will crumble at some or the other time sooner or later- simply because you have no control as you keep working and slogging for external priorities which are perhaps of core importance for someone else- a person or an organization and the trick in that space is, if you are not willing to stay enslaved for that, there will always be someone else to get that done and hence whether you like it, hate it or are good or bad,no one really cares a damn and irrespective of what you gain through that association, you will always end up loosing yourself from the context of failing to give priority to yourself!

Giving yourself priority is not about being self-centred, selfish or being disrespectful or disconnected or disengaged to working for others, with others or anything around that! On the contrary, once you are able to give priority to yourself, you know the value that you carry at an intrinsic level and that becomes a formidable push to achieve more in less time- especially when you are engaged to fulfil something for someone else- simply because you know that- only once that is done, will you be able to act upon what really matters to you at an intrinsic level – that is to work on your priorities! This is the real essence of moving ahead with a meaningful existence- being able to strike a balance between your real priorities- your intrinsic priorities and the external tasks and assignments that you race ahead to complete by virtue of your worldly engagements!

It is only when you begin to arrange the world around you by placing your priorities- which need to be aligned to your urge for expression, creativity and brilliance will you be able to contribute in any meaningful and uplifting manner to anyone else! You see, all of us want to be leaders and lead, but before we do that, what we must first and always do is lead ourselves! Unless you decide to lead yourself- why would anyone else even want to follow you, let alone being lead by you! No one likes to be lead by leaders who don’t have stories to share or who don’t have a compelling narrative and clarity- and for the leader in you to behold these aspects- you need to first put yourself at the highest priority. It is only when you act with clarity, decisiveness and meaningful directed purpose- will the others around you begin to trust and believe in your abilities and willingly surrender to follow you! Unless you don’t chart a course for your own life, you will not be able to make a great headway to lead a business, a nation or anyone else for that matter- simply because you too would be as lost as the person whom you are supposed to lead- only because you failed to recognise your real priority- which is no one else and nothing else but “You”!

I leave you with these thoughts for now, urging you to think around this and do take some time off and think around”what is your real priority?” Shouldn’t it always be you? The world is replete with examples where people keep racing ahead in a straight line along a circular track, to reach the same point where they started year after year, instance after instance- all simply because of missing the essence of who they really are!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one, until then stay safe and stay wise! Remember, it all begins and ends with “You”!

Touched by Inertia.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

As ironical it may seem to be, the world keeps going the way it does, not only because of what we do or the way we act, but more because of what we do not do and what we don’t act upon! Join me here as we take a fleeting look at how this omnipresent problem and facet of Inertia- tends to serve us a world that we perhaps end up earning for ourselves- simply by deciding what not to do or by not acting when we ought to have acted! So here we go!

Our modern lives are nothing more then the play of Inertia, for a few of us it comes in as a blessing and yet for a few of us it comes in like an intertwined curse! Whether we like it or not, accept it or not, it persists and it very much pulls and pushes us- by simply through the nature of it’s existence around and within us! Whether it is the measure of success in the corporate world, the desire to create a new narrative for tomorrow or perhaps as simple as getting out of your bed and making it- each of these and many such day to day instances are replete with how Inertia influences what we are able to do, get done or not!

Whether it is the school kid that doesn’t seem to listen to you, or the grown up teen up or your boss at the workplace or the relationships that you deal with- each and every person that you connect and engage with, for whatever the reason there could be, is at all times either being what they seem to be working along their inertial construct- for some it could be about not doing anything and wanting to be the way they always have been and for yet others it could be about transforming on an ongoing basis based on what the surrounding developing contexts are simply to either consolidate their presence, grow it or at times just plain- survive!

There is nothing right or wrong about how you want to deploy your meaningful existence- whether you want to seem meaningful to a few or to the many- all depends on how compelling that drive is- something which is a story of your intrinsic love or hate for inertia. We have all known someone who got run over by change and then we almost always know someone who crated their lives because of change- so if you closely see what has actually transpired- in one instance it is the case of hugging inertia to stay where you are in the other instance it is about embracing it and partnering to take a leap of faith banking on what seems to be coming your way- hoping you will develop all that it takes to manage that bit on the journey to the new hazy destination!

The world of corporate houses and the corridors of political leadership that influence public lives and alter the way people live or can live is no different! You have leaders who want to stick to the ways of the tried and tested not wanting to rock the boat or even take it to some place and yet you come across Captains’ who are driven by an intrinsic urge of wanting to challenge what there is and want to chart a new compelling course which hold the promise of a better tomorrow. It is not that one approach is better then the other, the reality is that a little both of both is required to make an meaningful progress at optimum costs, go a bit too long either-ways- the chances are you would end up doing more damage then progress to whatever you are setting out to achieve! So what really is Inertia all about?

To put it simply it is that mind game that your brain is constantly playing with you- a function of our primitive mind- which only cared about one thing- not getting you killed! So when it comes to complex thinking and challenges of the modern day world that we have come to be- no matter how great or superb the brain is as a thinking organ- it too tires and fatigue sets in- when you a tired thinking mind- chances are it will push the button to hold on to what there is and follow the one simple rule- if doing what is being done and what has been done has not as yet got you killed- chances are you will survive going ahead! This is how students say “yes” when they are asked “if they understood or not” – simply because their mind has read it- if the teacher has not been able to explain three times- the fourth time is likely going to be a waste of time and energy- the teacher may have- but your tired and hungry brain has lost its interest to infer, deduce and compute so that’s when you cling to what there is! Likewise when you grow up and start walking the office corridors- “the boss is always right” because why would you care- if shit does happen- it is at the bosses’ table! Well when you have politicians and administrator’s who are given the task to create, sustain and develop the social framework-bitten by the inertia effect- well you see societies either stalling and stagnating or getting stripped and layered all the time on different parameters- looking statistically vibrant but completely wrecked at the human level!

The real point here is that, whether we act as individuals or as a society or a group- it is our disposition and orientation towards inertia that either makes us surge ahead or compels us to keep on repeating the same cycle over and over again! There is no truth in seeking continual change, just as there is no truth about never changing! The reality and essence of meaningful change resides somewhere in between- that space is empowering meaningful change aligned to what is required in the now and the arriving tomorrow! Needless to say not all of us can go on to decipher that bit and lead the many- the irony of the issue is that followers often have the ability and quite a few leaders are stuck to the earlier stories of the good old days and this fundamental difference of having to work for a myopic leader or a myopic leadership is at the heart of people leaving organizations and people failing to relate to the countries and societies that they live in! So what can be done? Well read on!

To being with you, can do something, only if you are able to agree and concur to the reality that something needs to be done- it is only when this compelling intellectual thought has been verified and has been able to successfully over-ride the pressures of your intrinsic inertial state is that you will be able to act decisively – either as an individual or as a leader of a group! Unless this step is not completed- it will almost always be the a case of few steps ahead and a few steps back! It is only when you are able to make your Intrinsic Inertia your friend that you will be able to decipher exactly when it is time to act and when it is time to wait and that is the secret and essence of being successful or not in the view of the world as it measures success, from your stand point- acting on the pivot of known inertia will empower you to make choices which are an expression of your identity and help you stamp your authority on whatever you choose to do- irrespective how big to small that act is!

I leave you with these thoughts for now, guess my Inertial urge for a coffee to think the next idea, is calling me in a quite compelling way! Until then stay wise, stay connected and yes, do strike a connect with your Inertial connect and decipher what tick you and what ticks you off- for there resides the secret to your empowerment!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one! Until then stay safe, stay wise and stay connected! Yes, before I go, A Big Big Thank You for being a part of this journey of ours- this is our 250th Blog! Thank You and Keep sending in those mails and ideas on what you want to hear next!

Know your Knot.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Our lives revolve around the “knot”, well seems trivial, perhaps you never even get to notice it, but that remains to be a fact! Our modern world is all about knowing which knot is the one that you need to keep knotted and which is the one that you require to liberate, end up opening the wrong knots or tying up where you don’t need any and you will sure enough end up creating more problems, rather then solving the ones that you already are dealing with! Join me here as take a quick look around this space and understand what could be a meaningful way to engage and deal with a knotted world that all of us have inherited and continue to share and pass on! So here we go!

The extent of simplicity or complexity or the extent of being empowered or feeling disempowered is a direct measure of how astute one has being with regards to the ability of dealing wit the knots that have come their way! The more knots your come across the more enriched your life will be through the lens of the experience and stories that you are able to gather. The prudence and wisdom that you display by leaving a few as they are and focus on opening up the ones’ that matter sets the course for the trajectory of your life’s story and everything around it! How far you will reach, how that journey will be and what that long lasting definition of success will mean to you- whether that is an expression by virtue of harnessing opulence, staying simple, being empowered tom lead for others or creating narratives for empowering others!

The approach to play around with the knots can be many and as unique as who you are as a person! The compelling need for you to open up a specific knot, may not be that high for someone else and like with truth and reality- end of the day it is each one to their own! Nothing right or wrong- the knots that you come across are only for you- what you choose to do with them today, is what sets the tone and pace for what comes your way in the future! The whole essence resides in knowing which one to open up and which one to leave alone for that time or forever! So, how do we get this done? Read on!

To keep it really simple, just know that there are fundamentally two types of knots- one which you must untie and the others which must be left as they are! Within the first types of knots- the essence of untying them comes up with two important aspects- one is the timing of their opening and second being able to manage with what emerges once you have untied that knot! If you have wondered why humanity- most of it is, almost always complacent and good with status quo- it is because once they have untied that knot- they seldom know how to deal with what begins to come their way and it is this incompetence or not being prepared to deal and engage with the new realities of the world around that many people tend to fall back and begin to seek comport in the known zone- never realizing that, the known zone for everyone, each one of us is shrinking by the moment and every time we try to outgrow our lives through any enrichment we bring it- that known zone will shrink even further and eventually push you to experience life as it comes to you when you are probably the most vulnerable and least prepared- simply because you opened up the knot and never learnt what or how you will manage what emerges from that!

Sure enough you may argue, that how can one be prepared to meet the unexpected and the unknown- well, this is why- the whole concept of “self-awareness” and being attuned to yourself (forget about anyone else around) matters so much! It’s not only limited to the knot, but for that matter any action that you decide to take- without being immersed into it completely will always short change you even if the results are in your favour! If you have ever instinctively slowed down your vehicle at a pedestrian crossing even as you saw no one and then actually in the last few seconds, got zapped by someone just umping across- you know what I am talking about!

That instinct to slow down is your signal to open the knot and being able to think in the hindsight about being aware of things developing around ( to stay secured) is what empowers you to deal with the sudden surprises that a new untied knot may throw at you- as long as you are aware of this space and are vigilant to ensure the greater good for yourself and everyone around- rest assured you will almost always stand to benefit from the untying of the knots- as long as you untie the right and meaningful ones!

You may want to really decipher what are these knots all about to begin with? Well, depending on the layers of life that you have added to the canvas of your soul, you will find these knots opened up, half open, locked away at every layer across the layers of your soul! There are these passive knots of dead secrets, lost relevance and unwise narratives which serve no meaning in your now or the approaching tomoror0w- even as they serve as valuable lessons of life- these are best left to where they are in the graveyard of life’s mystical manifestations- call them hallucinations, unwanted bravado’s or perhaps simply mistakes or grave miscalculations- each and all of them are ought to be here and that is the space where they belong to- never to be touched or re-visited! This is the space where the remnants of your life’s expeditions stay buried for all the right and wrong reasons- but each one of them having added their colors and shades to make who you are in the now- before they went silent!

Then we have the set of knots which are meant to be opened up and acted upon to create more meaningfulness, empowerment in our lives’ for only then will you be able to create some meaningful narrative to others’ life! No one ever became an influence unless that person was able to first and foremost influence and lead himself or herself! This is what brings us to the “knotted thinking” which very often has the potency to stall and confuse even the brightest of minds and unless there is an adequate space of checks and balances around- people often fall prey to this knotted thinking and end up living a life- much mellow than what actually it could have been!

This space of knotted thinking is visible everywhere around us, each one of us has this and sure enough is an essential construct of our human mind to ensure we don’t become unwisely reckless or risk driven- which can jeopardize others too around us! But when this very knotted thinking begins to replicate and follow others and the human mind begins to get comfortable with conformed thinking, is when meaningful knots that are supposed to be untied begin to get tighter and tighter and eventually end up becoming too many to deal with- resulting in a complete depletion of originality and potency of thinking that finally takes a toll on how advanced the society can eventually become!

The essence of success and being able to create a meaningful narrative resides in an individual’s ability to untie the knots that one must and leave alone the one’s that must not be touched! It is only when you play around with meaningful knots and begin to decipher new aspects of life is that you will be able to come up with a new unknotted way of thinking to provide new innovative ways to deal and engage with the new reality that you begin to create through the opening of the meaningful knots which come your way as challenges or problems! These meaningful knots take on different manifestations in our real world- family, friends, work places, social fabric, outlook towards tomorrow- and many more such spaces- as long as you are able to traverse these spaces by opening up knots when it matters the most and how it is meant to be opened up- is that you will be able to better harness the new reality that comes you way and rest assured be more equipped to deal with it!

The irony of our times is that people often end up investing a lot of their limited time on opening up unmeaningful and wasted knots and then keep wondering around those futile bygones, futile because, nothing can be now corrected and nothing valuable can be applied to your now or tomorrow by re-visiting those spaces again and again! Sure enough the past is important and that is why it is your past! Your today, stands on the foundation of what you do today guided along the path that you have walked upon to reach where you are now! What matters is that the next knot that you go on to open will decipher where you reach next and that is when- your now will become a past- to be knotted and kept away, even as you race ahead to open up a new knot coming your way!

Final words, choose your knots wisely as you can, for what you are able to do or not, will depends upon your ability to decipher the knots that you open up and more importantly which ones you leave alone and which ones you engage with! As long as you are able to figure out the meaningful and the unmeaningful knots in your life and around you, you will be able to make progress on the path that you have chosen- the more time you waste dealing with unwise knots, your journey only ends up becoming that bit tiring. Whether these knots coming your way, are the people around you or the things around you or the work around you or a mix of all of these (which will normally be the case!) doesn’t mater, what matters is how well you are at selecting and engaging with, which one of them at what time- for that alone will set you on an accelerated course of progressive life learning!

I leave you with these thoughts for now, will be back soon with another one, until then stay wise and yes, open up the knots that matter and that begins with opening up your knotted mind to embrace the unknotted soul that you are! Ciao for now! Stay safe, stay wise!

Decoding money.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

This is the time of the year, when nations are racing ahead and so are corporations for their favorite annual activity- the matters of the budget! No matter what your take about money is, whether you have a lot of it or struggling to arrive at your desired lucky numbers, the fact remains that irrespective of the varying facets and lenses that you may want to apply for deciphering what comes your way, the universal truth of societies has been that; ever since the modern concept of “government controlled money” has come into existence, social disparity has only widened and will continue to do so! Join me here as we explore this space and try to understand what really is unfolding and what is that you and I can do around it to make sure we have enough to survive and some to spare! So here we go!

To begin with the whole extreme concept of money being either useful or useless is a complete illusion! The truth about money and all money matters resides somewhere in between mapped to your contextual realities and the truth that beholds sanity for you! Let me explain, at some or the other point all of us have signed up for that awesome looking monetary incentive plan! If you sell “x”, you get “y”+1,2,3 so on and so forth, but what that actually translates in reality is almost always no where close to what your mind was tempted with to begin with for you to sign up! Call it the smartness of the others who ensured you fall for that trap or your own acquired level of incompetence for being able to see something hidden in plain sight- either-ways one of that would have done the trick! The same goes for the awesome offers on buying properties, schemes that are supposed to save your taxes and so on and so forth- from a chocolate to the coffin you end up buying for yourself, everything eventually is discounted and offered at a price tagged to some different factor! So why is that money is so tempting and seducing, why do people continue to fall into the trap pursuing it (no one is questioning whether they should or not), especially by discounting the realities and the truth which almost always sets up trim levels!

If you observe carefully and patiently enough the whole drama around the modern day concept of “government controlled money” and policies that go on with it are simply a tool to benefit one segment of a society over the other from time to time, well nothing yet to be prejudiced about this, perhaps a 100 years ago this thought was perhaps the only way, to ensure people who can empower others should be provided more resources over others so that through their iconic ways they can create new pathways for a new future! It surely worked and worked well, that is what the story of success through the industrial age has been, however that did not answer one question then and even now for that matter and that question is, “What happens when you have multiple potent icons who have formidable and lofty dreams and aspirations and all seem to be true, rational and perhaps intersect each other, what do you do then? Add to that a layer of equally dis-enchanted people who want to keep shifting allegiance from one dream to anther at a drop of a hat, what do you think the outcome will be? Well that outcome is what all of us get to see across societies around the world! The societies of today are a compelling narrative of handshakes and bruised association among the polity and business class which endlessly alter the ongoing narratives of their societies and compel people living in those spaces either to pursue utopian dreams or become too shy to even bite their realities!

Much of the modern day challenge with money is not about its availability but rather the timing and the method of its availability. This is what makes the pursuit of money never ending- irrespective whether you have enough of it or less of it! Unlike the modes of commodity exchange before the advent of the modern day concept of money, barter and medieval coin systems which were often made of precious metals and their alloys made it possible for a fair chance for people to rise and progress as long as they had individual ingenuity or ideas and action. You may argue, that this aspect still exists, it sure does, but unlike the earlier times when an individual had control to slow down or pace up, today; you and I don’t have that choice left to ourselves, those aspects are almost always controlled by the external factors that are so wrapped around us in varying disguises of government bodies, agencies and regulatory offices, what they end up doing is altering the course of our journey either by urging us to accelerate or slow down- when we ourselves may be thinking otherwise! This is where the whole modern day chaos commences- whether you employ a 100 people or you are one of the 100 people employed, everything that is wrapped around you is a maze of empowering and dis-empowering disguises and narratives, all that you need to do is, end up being in the wrong time at the wrong place and years of your hard work and ingenuity will evaporate right in front of you!

We live in times of complex narratives, where everyone is trying to gain an access to more and more of “government controlled currencies” the world over and their supplies are needless to say controlled and driven to help a few, not help a few and help everyone from time to time and place to place, for some strange reason you happen to be in the wrong timezone, rest assured you will be written off beyond repair and if your arrival coincides with the sweet spot at a right time, you will race ahead to your own surprise- never to realize what the hell happened and how you managed to do what you did! The question is never about whether money is good or bad, how much is enough or not- for all of these are different truths for different people, a billionaire may still cry for the next billion even as a struggling life may be more then grateful for the first 1000 dollars!

The real problem with the money collective in todays’ era is the superimposed script which is run by governments and a close circle of companies who want to drive a narrative- a compelling one which tends to alter the social behaviour, norms and ways of life to embrace what products and solutions they propose to usher in as part of that new social conformation bias story! Think about it, perhaps 30 years ago showing up at your friends or cousins house was “surprising”, the new age of communication arrived and defined that space to be rude and soon we have a whole new world seeking and waiting for permissions through communication channels to meet our friends and family and now this seems courteous! If you thought it is only this space, think again, whether it is the food that you eat, the fabric that you wear, the travel you undertake, all spaces around you always are nothing but a intrusive dialogue by select capitalists directing you to live and lead a life which suits and serves their purposes of business and more importantly helps your government know that the extent of oddity within the social structures is limited and manageable!

The whole modern day concept around money is to make you feel miserable- whether you have it or not- when you have it- by making you think and feel you deserve more- and when you don’t have enough- make you feel and think that you are entitled for more! Either-ways it’s a never ending trap, with no end line and no meaningful conclusion! It is on these sensitive spaces that governments of the day latch upon and drive societies to the pockets of managed chaos to keep the struggle on- a struggle with no end in sight and no meaning within! This is how millions the world over end up spending their entire lives pursuing what is simply utopian, not necessarily because they were incompetent, but perhaps they landed up in a place and time, where that is all what was going to be! You see, you may land up on a gold mine of an opportunity, but if that areas is already marked to be blown up by dynamites- the first thing you want to do is move out and watch from a safe distance and then revalidate your thinking based on what remains after the mayhem of the destruction!

I leave you with these thoughts for now, before I go, I urge you to rethink and calibrate your association with money- whether you have a lot, or are struggling to reach those magical numbers, take a pause and do think, is it really worth all of what you are going to undergo to achieve what you aspire- for money is simply a tool to achieve something else and even if money can buy you a thousand things, there are a few things that it will never be able to buy for you, among them is your peace of mind and your ability to cheat death! All of us have an opening balance of limited seconds, the moment we arrive, perhaps that is the most precious of all the things that you and I behold and it is this invaluable commodity of Time, which alone has the power to tame money and create an iconic life with or without it! Think around this and pursue a life that is enriched in the real essence of the word and not by the show “controlled money” which is almost always as fickle as its’ masters!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one, until then stay wise, stay safe and yes, pursue an enriched life in the real essence of it! Money may be important, but it is not the only thing, it never was!

The future of jobs.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Gone are the days when there was relevance to the question, “Where do you see yourself in “x” years, simply because in that time frame, the question itself will most probably end up being pointless! As the world embraces a more potent mix of automation and human intelligence (and latent dumbness), we are racing ahead to throw out a big majority of “jobs” which seem to be so cherished and meaningful in the context of today! Join me here as we decipher what really is unfolding and what is that you and I can do about ensuring that we develop meaningful relevance to our existence by associating with something that is timeless and ever relevant! So here we go!

The history of human progress in the last 300 odd years has been a complete circle of sorts! Starting with the promotion and encouragement of individual genius, greatness and spark of being a master- to moving ahead and encouraging social cohesion through promotion of similarity of thought and action (the great dawn of the MBA era- where rules were given to follow and break alike!) to an age that we have been witnessing through the last two decades- a confluence of ingenuity, cohesive effort through focussed asymmetric collective thinking! Going ahead what we are about to witness will be an age where if there is any one thing that will be held up with high regard and requirement- it will be your UQ – your Uniqueness Quotient! In the decades to follow through this century and beyond, before the reset to collective and cohesive collaboration again begins, there will be an oasis of calm that will reward humanity and humans who display a higher UQ!

There is no doubt that automation is here to stay and perhaps even out do humans when it comes to the space of managing the routine and in certain areas even the creative engagement with or without human assistance, but what will empower and enable people to ride this automation wave to build their fortunes will be their intrinsic opportunity to develop ingenious solutions and services by ensuring that the human element supersedes and rides over the whole stack of automation. So how do we go about it and what is that you and I can do to survive and excel at what is destined to come our way? Read on!

It all starts by tapping within and staying connected to your intrinsic competencies. For this to happen what is important is, being abe to develop an impeccable ability to behold awareness- about self and everything and everyone around you- minute to minute! It is only when you are engaged and connected from this pivot of unflinching endurance that you can measure what matters and see what is perhaps cloaked– both so vital as far as deciphering and decoding the future is concerned!

As the world races ahead to embrace automation, it will only become more and more vital to have intellect and innate wisdom to lead the way to ensure that the automation that humanity is signing up for is safe and sane! The world is replete with examples where automation has ended up throwing up unwanted and unnecessary glitches and aberrations which have then further gone to add more problems rather then provide solutions to the ones’ on hand! The way to decode this compelling paradox is to understand why did we agree to embrace automation to begin with!

Through the advancement in science and technology and the appetite for consumerism, the world moved ahead and began to experience the first wave of automation wherein goods could be mass produced through an engaging blend of human and machine dexterity, as time progressed more and more of mundane and routine, repetitive functions began to get handed down to the automated spaces under the garb of allowing enough free time for humans to further excel at their creative pursuits and come up with further and higher innovations and inventions- whether that worked or not is a different story to agree and disagree- but what that certainly ended up doing is that in no time humanity ended u being enslaved to the curse of automation! Today we have ended up in a zone wherein automation not only projects the overview or identifies the problem or suggests alternatives, but rather does all of this and even more importantly executes further instructions to alter and manage further scenarios of dynamic nature that geos on to impact production and supply chains not only at one location but across multiple locations all over the globe! This is the space where human intellect is being tested and challenged to stay relevant and deliver meaningful options overriding the mind boggling crunch game that powerful computers and nimble machines are able to do all by themselves!

It is only the application of intrinsic and directed intelligence and wit that can ensure that automation stays relevant and in command of human wisdom- that alone ensures that we have defined family of jobs and vocations in the future too which are able to walk side by side of prevailing automation. The singular fact however will be that all jobs of the future that have a human engagement will thrive and stand on the foundation of the UQ of an individual- whether organizations would want to further promote and propagate a collective UQ to deal with a compelling large problem at hand- is a different matter, but as long as Individuals are able to apply themselves to the tasks at hand on the pivot of their UQ, they will remain relevant and valuable, irrespective of the extent of the automation blended around what they do!

In a sense, the future of jobs is more to do with services and solutions that Individuals can offer- because of who they are and what they are- both as Individuals and as a part of some collective group or team and how well this is realized and deployed is what will go to define how and where automation will be check-mated and where it will go on to advance! There is no reason to fear or shun automation, as long as it is meaningful and relevant and in the real sense is able to liberate human intellect to pursue something higher and compelling, but when automation threatens to mimic and over ride human engagement and value based assessment of situations and processes, be assured it will fail and falter and the consequences of that melt down is something perhaps societies are not yet ready to pay up for!

What I see coming our way in the future is the excellence of automation and human intelligence going hand in hand aligned to their own respective core value ethos and needs! Professions and Vocations that elevate the human spirit, soul and the provide directed guidance, innovative thinking and accelerate deployment of wit and human ingenuity will thrive and progress. Jobs that empower people and create an impact and ring in continuing hope and promise for humanity will linger on and perhaps even get better with time! Likewise automation that helps take away the mundane, repetitive, low engagement and high risk job functions will get more advanced and better at getting things done with every new generation of research and firmware upgrades! For everything else that humanity chooses to do, it will almost always be the case of fleeting dynamism between varying degree of automation and human control! Sure enough a lot of it will get standardised with time and through trial and error!

Like the cycles of the bygone era, we are moving ahead to experience the finesse of human wit, intelligence and wisdom in the coming few decades and for the remainder of this century, even as automation races ahead to liberate and empower us, it is only the discerning human mind that will be able to behold any meaningful essence to achieve a dynamic balance between human efforts and automation!

I leave you with these thoughts for now, urging you to tweak your mind and set it up in an automated mode to empower you so that you may deploy your UQ and devise your own personal niche to embrace automation through the wisdom, wit and intelligence of your mind!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one, until then stay safe, stay wise and take that journey to tap into your UQ to embrace the automated future coming your way!

The real miracle.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

If you have been wondering what the world has ended up becoming and if you have been wondering if miracles do exist and how does one embrace them; join me here we we take a quick trip down this space and decipher the real essence of miracles and what is that we can do, to harness them and have them within and around us! So here we go!

Each one of us wake up every morning seeking, hoping or praying for a miracle, whether the definition of that miracle is wining that odd lottery, that lucky hand at poker or just being able to survive a day at a crazy workplace or perhaps even plain simple staying alive- whatever that means to you, the fact remains that human lives are an expression of this mad obsession to seek and hold the miracle that one pursues!

Humanity has always been a story of hope and within that space resides the compelling belief for a miracle to break free and manifest to address some pressing challenges, whether they are for an individual or for a collective society. But what are thee miracles really? Why are they so rare and infrequent? Why do they seem to favour a few and disregard the many? Why do they manifest when they do and why do they stay elusive at some other times? Well if you too have been plagued by these questions and others as well, read on as we take a step to understand these “miracles” more aptly!

Based on what it means to you or a society, the miracle could be a factor of either of the two fundamental blocks- they can either be intrinsic or extrinsic and each one of these will almost always have a rational and scientific explanation- which more often than not is either hidden in plain sight or for some reasons (best known to the people who do so)- is just overlooked! Whether it is about that sudden spell of rain (or should I say rain when you were not expecting it – for your lack of knowledge of the weather around you!) or that winning of lottery or game of chance (as you came closer and higher in the probability space) everything that the human mind has attributed to being a “miracle” almost always has been a story of manifestation of efforts whose count has been lost! This is the space where so much of labour has gone in and for so long that when the seed begins to finally emerge from the shadows as a tree laden with fruits- very often in the daily hustle of life we have lost track of that seed and all the fruits coming our way seem to be simply magical and a miracle- the real essence here is that the seed may not have been planted by you- but by someone else- either intentionally or unwittingly- you just end up being there to enjoy the fruits of labour (perhaps connected or not to you!)

When it comes to the bounties of nature and the miracles that happen as we engage with nature- they follow the rule of nature! We expect pleasant weather- where none is possible and end up creating a template around what to expect and not- this even as we know that the whole of modern science of appreciating and deciphering nature has evolved only in the last 300 years and the planet has been here longer than that and as humans we too have evolved through the eons! So when storms dissipate, we are thankful, when we sense that earthquake – we are on the edge and as we get to tame the waves, note the rain and decipher the snow around us- we begin to read the cryptic messages of nature and in no time- miracles seem to dwindle away as regular occurrences and it is then left to only a handful rarest of the rare weather manifestations which are left to qualify for being a miracle and more often then not these are a direct impact of a localized geographical phenomenon which binds the elements of nature in a strange manner!

Miracles are nothing more or nothing less, but the last remaining frontiers of time and space for which the rational thought and explanation is yet to arrive! However when it comes to the intrinsic space, the real miracle has been very accurately identified and deciphered- that space of the miracle is really who you are! The real miracle is you! Each one of us are a living example and an unfailing citation of being a miracle- by simply being who we are and what we are- whether that helps us to pursue what we strive for is a different story- but the fact remains that each one of us is a miracle unto ourselves and that is the real essence of humanity! This is what makes the world what it is- a diverse, complex and yet unifying mix of pursuits and passion which help us propel human societies a step ahead from where they were earlier! Then why is it that there is so much strife and struggle?

Well, the strife and struggle emerges as we begin to pursue and seek what is not meant for us – not because we can’t or we shouldn’t, simply because that is not what is meant for us to seek! Ships look grand in the harbour and aeroplanes look beautiful by the hangars, but that is not where they are meant to be! This is what is applicable to us as well, we may be good perhaps, too good being what we are, doing what we do, but the million dollar question is, whether that is what we are supposed to be doing? If you have ever wondered, why nothing miraculous has ever come your way, perhaps the answer resides in this space, your pursuits are in the wrong direction and perhaps for the wrong intent! Miracles will emerge only once you align yourself, your life and pursuits to do what you are meant to do and for you or me to understand and decipher that code- could be a day’s job or at times a lifelong pursuit that comes calling only when we have perhaps few extra months or hours to spare! This is the essence of relation that humanity has with miracles and perhaps that is what makes them seemingly so rare and elusive- as a large chunk of humanity keeps pursuing what is not meant for them, they simply keep moving farther and farther away from realizing their true potential to touch and experience the miracle that they are entitled to and this is what makes miracles seem so unrealistic and elusive!

The miracles are as real as your efforts, intent and pursuits are in the right direction and if there is any real meaningful miracle- that is about being able to find that right direction, at the right time and in a right way- for unless this happens- everything that is about to manifest- gets either vibrant and enduring or tends to get complicated and ambiguous- however in either of those scenarios- there will be a strong prevailing case for the onset of the miracle with a different timeline as far as the enduring value that it will bring along with it!

Miracles are only as real as your ability to decipher and behold them, timing is of essential value and alongside that unless the miracle doesn’t serve the greater good- rest assured it will lie buried or at it’s very best manifest as some half-done job by a great master!

Do take some time off and do ponder around the miracle that has come your way- if nothing has ever come your way- chances are- you- yourself perhaps are the miracle manifesting in the lives of the people around you- simply by doing what you do!

Ciao for now, will be back soon, until then stay safe and stay wise- yes miracles are real- as real as your ability to dream, behold and manifest them!

What you search is what you find!

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

The real essence of human excellence resides not only in being able to have the right answers or solutions on hand, but importantly it is about being able to ask the right questions! Join me here as we take a quick short tour around this space to understand why being able to ask the right questions, matters more than having the right answers!

The greatness of humanity is seldom an act of accidents, rather it is a culmination of events one after the other, either synchronous or asynchronous all based on the potency of the questions raised by the ever curious and nourished mind! Societal progress has been a factor of having more such potent questions which go on to engage the brightest minds and thereby alter the course of societal growth and pathways!

The mind limits its pursuits in accordance to the questions that it is engaged with. As long as the questions are not routine and are original, the mind will be compelled to seek answers and depending on the rewards that go alongside will be steadfast and consistent until the answers are found! This is the very essence of great inventions and discoveries! A state of human mind where it simply is programmed to achieve what it has set out for and all that being made possible by the essential first step- that of asking a potent question!

Sure enough, this seems to a philosopher’s territory, but isn’t that who we are at the very foundation? Modern lives have set us up for some fast paced lifestyle where our thinking, questioning and solution seeking has all ended up being another menu on the fast- food table! We tend to seek short ended questions and sure enough get served with short serving answers! There is nothing right or wrong around this space- As a coach I can tell you that, you see everyone has the right to calibrate what their life’s mainstay should be or can be, but what then becomes singularly important is the fact of acceptance of life that comes your way- it has to be firm and unambiguous! You see, you can’t expect a great and iconic life or life style if you are hinged to mediocre questioning mindset! Neither will you be able to lead a normal and ordinary life if you stir up the hornet’s nest by taking a deep dive into fundamental questions that perhaps plague humanity or your society and when the answers come you way- there is no escaping, but taking them in your stride and working selflessly to execute and deploy them as it is meant to be!

We all are pretty aware of the elementary facet of the human minds’s never ending curiosity and wanting to seek more and more- but within this space of wanting to seek more- bringing in the qualitative part of the question becomes critical! As long as the questions have a great amount of depth, consistency and potency in terms of their influence and impact, rest assured you will always reach meaningful solutions and answers and once they come your way- your ability to deploy has the power to establish a new order! But how can this be made possible? Is the mind able to deal with this level of engagement on an ongoing basis without being entrapped into fatigue?

The secret to this answer lies in the intrinsic alignment that an Individual has when it comes to the space of enquiry! Some of us are naturally more inclined to ask questions that are compelling, far reaching and more challenging and there are few of us who are quite contend with the answers provided to the routine questions that life presents us with. based on what is your natural alignment, you will find it comfortable asking questions which are mapped to who you are and hence even the potency of your questions will be sharper or diffused accordingly! Ever wondered why not all researchers end up getting the coveted Nobel Prize, or why not all Actors end up getting The Oscar, part of that answer lies in this space! People who end up creating and weaving magic or some breakthrough almost always are engrossed and hooked up to some compelling fundamental questions and unless they find a meaningful closure which befits the question, they don’t stop and it is this pursuit which ends up defining what their life is all about and hence- in a way- you can say- they end up living a life which is nothing more but a pursuit of one fundamental question – which their curios mind has set them up against as their seeking of a lifetime!

As it happens with Individuals, the same can be sensed at a societal levels! As long as societies are able to ask pertinent questions and seek meaningful answers, societies progress, the day societies tend to get myopic and begin to hang up on short term questions for quick short term answers, in the long run they almost always are left short changed with no real purpose of direction and no meaningful leader to lead the way! So whats the way ahead, you may ask!

Well, to really keep it simple, the meaningful way ahead is to behold a dynamic balance of questions- few pertinent – long term and fundamental and yet a few others which are meant for the short term and that yield short term answers- because all of us can’t be philosopher’s and neither can all of us as part of humanity get dressed up everyday for a party that doesn’t exist! Unless Individuals and societies understand this bit and are able to deploy a balance in meaningful pursuits through a healthy mix of different types of questions, progress will tend to get sporadic and sublime, rather then being consistent and predictable!

Whether it is the pursuit of a belief system that you follow, or that of your favourite philosophical approach or perhaps a directed and focussed contemplation about the world around you, whatever your compelling need may be- all your pursuits will almost always end in proportion to the quality of your questions and what is that you set out to seek- as long as you are consistent with that bit! This is the reason why life is almost always all about serving you, with what you set out to seek, seek greatness you shall receive it, seek the routine pursuits and that’s exactly what you will end up having served to you!

I leave you with these thoughts for now and urging you to make an attempt to understand what is that you have embarked upon as a journey, based on the questions that you behold- for the answers and the manifestations, all of them will only be aligned to what you begin with and what you seek!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another piece soon! Until then stay wise and seek great solutions through some awesome questions!

Calm within the Storm.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

All of us have heard about the saying, “The Calm before the Storm”, but humanity and it’s modern advancement also brings us face to face with something called as “The Calm within the Storm”. Join me here as we travel down this space and understand how this can help us and why each one us- irrespective of who we are, is a story of holding greater calms within the storms that brew! So here we go!

The old known way of the calm before the storm arrives, is pretty well known, that is how nations makes their presence felt, that is how societies react and that also is how Individuals act and react. But when it comes to the matters of holding the Calm within the storm- things change completely and this change is what goes on define the event as a normal one or an iconic one depending on how well you embrace the calm within the storm that you are engaged with!

Human lives, today, are as complex as one can think about! At one end the ever present challenges of managing and dealing with the human elements of the stories that surround you and at the other end is the completely enslaved lifestyle- enslaved to your work or the technological dependence (which has been sold to each one us as Independence). What this ends up doing is that, irrespective what we pursue as individuals or collectively as a society, we end up fighting battles at different times for different reasons- with or without provocation and even as we do that in a particular area- we tend to be at absolute calm or bliss in yet some other facets of our life! This is what is the real essence of the clam within the storm- why is this so important- simply because, if we are able to shift the calm within to the sectors where the storm is brewing as transiently as we end up being in a storm, we would be able to manage a major part of our “real and apparent problems” more effectively and in a timely manner!

You see, as we end up living the many lives and the roles that we have to play, given the life that we have and who we are to whom and how many around- it is simply impossible to be all fine, all the time with everyone around- the reality of life is that we will end up being fine with a few, not so great with a few and in between with yet other things and people- it is within these spaces that many a times we end up stirring up the storms in the tea-cup for trivial issues and often neglect the real issues and when they come biting back- we are almost always lost with the “why me” phase and more often than not we end up misdirecting the calm quotient that we have to areas where we don’t need to stay clam and end up burning up ore intensely situations where a momentary calm would have eased up the situation and provided the much required breathing space.

The whole idea of appreciating and reaching “the calm within the storm” is also about being able to practise restraint and continue with a calm composed working mind even as you are fighting a battle or waging a meaningful war! Many a conflicts that people face or end up raking up is all about not being able to harness this internal oasis of clam even as they venture to deal with emerging challenges. irrespective whether these challenges are intrinsic, contextually propagated or manifested by virtue of who you are and what you are supposed to do and enact- as long as you are able to tap into the space of your internal calm, you will be able to prevail whatever comes your way! This also is another hallmark of iconic leadership- something that great international leaders display- even as they are maligned, misquoted, misrepresented or sold out by other of being something different from who they really are- it is their intrinsic ability to tap into the depths of their calmness that empowers them to overlook all and any provocation coming their way. Problems become irreparable only when they fail at this ability to overlooks and run short of their intrinsic calm and that’s when rapid actions are manifested and at times they tend to be detrimental to all that has ever got built or achieved earlier on! So how do we cultivate this space of inner calm- it it is so vital and of core value to our ability to stay engaged with worldly affairs? Read on!

It all starts by developing a high level of self-awareness and a deliberate approach by practising the pause, as that initiates you to embrace the calm withing even as you are in the thick of things! Even as you are trying to figure out solutions for compelling problems, once you have reached the calm within- rest assured you will be able to take a better and holistic path to solve what you are dealing with and more often than not your quality of decisions will greatly improve thereby resulting in fewer problems on hand as times progresses! This provides you greater clarity as well and this ensues that you can pick and choose your battles well and once you are in midst of one of them, you are able to decisively take them and end them at a place and time of your choice! Great political leaders have mastered this art and as you sieve through pages of history, you will find many such examples where- despite great odds, a calm and resolute approach has helped to turn the tide of time and created new history and at times even drawn new geographical lines on the face of the earth!

Apart from the intrinsic greatness, what also is needed is the appropriate contextual setting and the apt audience without which even the deepest oasis of calm will be misread as being passive, inert or incompetent- for when it comes to the virtue of perseverance or resilience often people are mistaken to be weak or inapt to act decisively fast!

As long as you are able to hold your calm and tap into that reserve when it matters the most and are able to time it well and to the extent that it must be- you will almost always end up surprising your detractors and be able to grow your team, no matter what the overbearing circumstance around you! “John C Maxwell has always said- Leadership is Influence- Nothing more, nothing less” and if you want to know about one powerhouse that provides that vital source of dynamism and momentum- it is the depth and spread of the calm that you hold within- all the while as you are engaged with and dealing with the routine worldly battles to foster what serves the greater good. Making routine choices between choosing battles which either represent the “need to have ” or “good to have” becomes easier when they are done by tapping through the intrinsic calm and more often then not the decisions taken then are more meaningful and long lasting!

I leave you with these thoughts for now, urging you to tap and maintain that inner reservoir of your calm, for that alone will empower and assist you when the crunch time arrives as you keep shifting your focus from one battle to the next as you keep moving towards your life aspirations!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one! Until then stay safe and stay wise! Remember, all greatness is held within and for the same to manifest externally it has to draw the power from your oasis of calm!

Deciphering ” The Radical Thinking” mind.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

If you are left wondering about what happened at the Capitol Hill on January the 6th and are feeling anguished, angry, dejected, proud or sad or perhaps little bit of everything, this piece is for you; simply because what happened at the Capitol Hill is not an isolated incident as it may seem and is played out across societies all over the world for one or the other reason and depending on which side you view what’s unfolding, either you will be elated or sad and either ways- what unfolds seldom serves you or the society in terms of moving it closer to the larger and greater good! So join me here, as we go further to understand what the so called, “radical thinking” is all about, from where does it emerge and what is that can be done about it- does it only harm or is it helpful too? So here we go!

The dynamism that human societies have witnessed in the last century have laid the foundation to what we witness and experience as our societies around us! Societies which have typically witnessed oppression, war, strife, struggle, more often than not tend to become more mellowed, humble and accommodative with time and as people in those societies begin to get equitable access to opportunities of growth and learning! On the other hand, societies which have always had a very intrinsic and unipolar view of the world and about everything and everyone around them tend to live and die in their own unwarranted over confidence or lack of it!

The challenge that societies have always faced and continue to is about being able to share the dividends of progress in a proportional manner- no one is suggesting socialism here, neither am I suggesting Capitalism is bad, what is relevant and contextually important is the fact that, unless the fruits of labour of progress are not shared in a proportionate manner (whatever that proportion is), societies will feel moving at different speeds within the sub-segments and thereby- you will witness people racing ahead and people being left behind and it is from these extreme scenarios of societies that radical thoughts begin to emerge- the ones’ who are racing ahead feel right about what they do because they are enjoying what the aspire and those who are being left behind, tend to feel right about what they do, thinking that is their way and approach to reach their unfulfilled aspirations! So you see in a sum total way, the essence of radical thinking emerges from the extreme ends of societies hinging on their association with their aspirations- at one end- being enjoyed and wanting more and at the other end wanting the basic ones’ first! Based on what society you live in, you will have different standards for aspirations and different levels of volumes at the extreme end and in the middle of the given society.

As long as societies have the majority of their constituents around the centre, the few on the extreme ends can be managed, but as polarization sets and more and more people start to feel compelled to take extreme stands (as part of the larger social conformation bias) the societal balance is thrown away and what you are left is with few people standing in between of two extremely polarized sections who have a large volume as well! This is what the story of many societies across the nations is today! The cause of that polarization could be anything from, political ideologies, personality worship, religious belief’s, genuine like or despise of available quality of leaders’ , whatever other hundred reasons that you can think about- the fact remains that no human is ever born with a polarized mind or heart and it is the society which goes on to indoctrinate that aspect and whether that helps or harms largely depends on what is injected into the impressionable minds of the people through their forming years and this is perhaps the on stage where societies can strive to check the run away polarization that only comes back to bite them at the end! But how and why do people get sold into extreme views or end up taking a radical stand?

As people begin to race ahead or begin to get left behind, despite and inspite of everything, the ones’ ahead are ready to do anything it takes to stay ahead and the ones’ left behind are ready to do anything that it takes to make that move ahead! For achieving this, whatever comes to their rescue works! This could be taking hardstands on political ideologies, personalities or perhaps even using matters of faith as deemed appropriate, all of this- just as tools or instruments to achieve something that is totally different and what’s worse is that, scoities which allow this to develop and get strong- do so with unwritten laws and incentivization based on how far to an extreme a person leans to! More often then not the heady cocktail of the political class and the people from the society and tool used for the hard-line stand ends up destroying and ripping away whatever would have been the unique identity of the society itself!

Before the rampant industrialization, societies had time and space and were more accommodative and allowing for people to pursue without the fear of getting left behind nagging anywhere around their minds! Today’s world is a different place altogether, trust me if Picasso or Gustav Eiffel or Einstein would have been present today, they would have at the most ended up leading the design or science lab at one of the large corporate houses and that would be their limited claim to fame! They too would have ended up being enslaved to fit into the social frame either as leaders racing ahead or as oddity left to struggle and sink in their own corner- which again are the same positions of the two extreme ends of todays’ world! It is almost easy to go on to a television debate show and claim that there should be no space for extreme thoughts in the society, well the problem with that statement is that all great discoveries and innovations have always had when extreme and radically different thinking was applied to something that can serve humanity and hence the problem is not with the space of radical thinking but rather the deployment of that ability for the serving or unnerving causes! So what’s the plan?

The plan is simple and straightforward, it is about creating enough space within societies to accommodate all the voices, feelings and thoughts that are there and try to resolve and address them the way it should be done! The maddening race to be ahead and the unwanted fear and anxiety of being left behind has to be done away with in totality- sure enough a tall and utopian order, but unless that happens, societies will keep drifting away from humanities foremost agenda of meaningful and purpose driven progress and end up sub-serving ourselves and the generations that rely upon us! If you though this is just a civic problem or the ones’ that politicians should be left to deal with it, think again!

The elements of societies are all of us, You and Me included, as we walk in and out of our offices, get driven in the cabs, are taking trains, buses, co-workers, vendors, clients, visiting stores and going about our social community engagement- we are knowingly and unknowingly touching and connecting with various segments of our society and the way we carry ourselves, behave and speak we are sending out a signal not only about the society around us but importantly also about who and what we have ended up becoming as Individuals while we have been either busy either racing ahead- to stay ahead or we have been striving and struggling to catch up as we have got left behind!

It is only when societies are able to create enough space for all constituents within its frame and enough scope for them to express and explore that we will see the beginning of the end of radical thinking and radicalization! may sound utopian, but that is the only way, human progress has been a story of the ingenious ability of the human mind to come up with new thinking and new solutions for perplexing problems at hand, with time sure enough, even this problem of radical thinking will be addressed- once the root causes that accelerate and provoke it are taken care of!

I leave you here with these thoughts for now, not pushing you to either edges of your thinking mind, and just sharing a final thought with you that, the problem is not about the human mind that thinks, neither it is the problem of the mind that thinks radically, the real problems is about what is the contextual truth around that mind which makes it to think the way it does! Fix that and you have fixed all the minds around you -fixed for good!

Remember, average thinking always produces average results, great thinking produces great results and all great thinking happens at the very edge of the thinking process and that is what Radical Thinking is all about- use it wisely and humanity will be endowed with gifts and bliss unlike ever before!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another one, until then stay safe and stay wise!