What's the love of your heart?

Posted on 23 June 2009 10:16pm in Empowerment

If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you. - T. Alan Armstrong

There are more than six and a half billion people in the world today and it amazes me to think that EVERY ONE of them is special and unique in some way. Everyone has some talent or ability or gift that is unique to them. That special gift, or the mark of genius as I would like to call it, resides in the depth our hearts. It is what gives us direction in life.

Some people recognize this gift in them and they make it their passport to greatness. Others never bother about it and, by their ignorance and negligence, they simply let the genius die. And let me tell you, it’s painful to watch genius die.

And it’s even more painful, excruciatingly painful, to know that countless geniuses die every day without ever knowing that they were geniuses. Without knowing that they were special, uniquely gifted individuals who could live fulfilling lives if they explored and expressed their core genius. Who could not only brighten their own life but also illuminate the whole world if only they recognized and manifested their unique talents and special abilities. If they simply followed their passion – the love of their hearts!

What about you? Are you following the love of your heart? Are you expressing all your special talents and abilities? Are you giving the world the special gifts that it expects from you?

Please do. Do the thing you love. Do what brings joy to your heart. Follow your passion. Answer your calling. Give the world the fruit of your genius. You just can't come down to this world, hang around a few years, and just leave from here. That's mighty discourteous. You've got to leave something behind, something of value. And what better thing to leave behind than the gift of your genius!

Yes, the gift of your genius. Which, again, is only possible if you follow the love of your heart. Whatever it may be. Whatever. From collecting rocks to designing rockets. It may even be hanging out talking with people. That's what people like Oprah and Ellen do. Or it may be computers, just like that of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. So, as I said, whatever. Whatever pumps your heart and makes you jump out of bed in the morning. Do that. Do it as passionately as Ms Winfrey or Mr Jobs do.

That's all it takes.

Now to end this post, I'd like to invite Steve Jobs, yes the same Mr Jobs, the whiz and boss of Apple Inc, to say something to you on this very topic. Perhaps Steve would like to share a few remarkable instances from his own life. Watch him speak in this YouTube video and let the message sink in.

All the best.

A fantastic tale to delight your heart and ignite your soul

Life skills for young people

An unconventional guide to exceptional teaching

2 comments ( post yours ) more »

I am God!

Posted on 15 June 2009 10:50pm in Transcendence

If you find the following post strange, then you’ve outsmarted me. My idea was to make it shocking!

Let me begin by telling you a story from my own life.

I was born into a devout Hindu family. I grew up listening to Vedic recitals, chanting the mantras and worshiping the gods (all the odd 330 million of them). I was barely thirteen when I began reading the Bhagavat Gita. By age fourteen, I was so completely immersed in it all that I gave up all material attachments and became an ascetic, walking around with a loincloth around my waist and sandalwood paste on my forehead.

Then, slowly but surely, disillusionment set in.

I saw no purpose in following some god whose job was to create creatures like us and play with our lives. I’m not going to be a puppet, I decided.

I was fifteen when I gave up asceticism, replaced the loincloth with jeans, and became a die-hard non-vegetarian, non-conformist and non-believer. At eighteen I was into marijuana, body piercing and other cool things.

A devout, God-fearing kid had grown up into a confused, angst-ridden, wayward, atheistic delinquent youth.

What went wrong along the way? What turned a dreamy adolescent into an ascetic, an addict and an atheist?

Nothing went wrong. It was all my choice.

I deliberately chose to go through all that I went through. Right from my birth. I chose my parents, my country of birth, the situations that I’ve been in, my trials, tribulations, frustrations, hopes, dreams, everything. I chose them all, for I wanted to savor the rich kaleidoscope of human experience. And I’m happy I did so.

The Bhagavat Gita that I read as an adolescent is in fact a book about myself. Lord Krishna who dispenses transcendental knowledge to the confused warrior Arjuna is none other than me. And Arjuna, too, is who else, but me. It’s fun to play these contrasting roles at the same time. Arjuna and Krishna, the muddled and the sublime, the victor and the vanquished, the sinner and the saint, war and peace, birth and death. Oh how I love to play these multiple roles! This variety is what keeps me lively and engaged. If not for this wealth of diversity, the whole idea of creation would be so mundane and outdated.

There is variety and flux because I choose it to be so. It’s all my choice.

Even at this moment, here on earth, it’s my choice whether I am happy or sad, whether I complain about what is not or be grateful for what is, whether I pursue my passion and go for my goals or I wallow in self-pity and drown like a mouse. Nobody else but I choose my own success and failure, I choose the way I live my life.

I choose, because I have life. I have life, because I am God.

Yes, I am God.

And so are you. Because we are one, inseparably one. We are one God with many faces.

A fantastic tale to delight your heart and ignite your soul

Life skills for young people

An unconventional guide to exceptional teaching

2 comments ( post yours ) more »

The tale of a firewalker

Posted on 08 June 2009 09:16am in Inspiration, Empowerment

Can anyone actually walk barefoot across a bed of red hot burning coals and not get hurt? Is it possible to take your shoes off and walk on a heap of broken beer bottles without getting a cut on your feet? Fakirs and monks from the east have been known to have achieved such feats, but how about mere mortals like you and me?

Well, I did both and lived to tell the tale and share the lessons I learned.


The first time I ever heard of firewalking was from Indra Gurung, an HR trainer and friend of mine. He had participated in one of Anthony Robbins’ firewalking seminars in Manila some years back and would often talk of his experience. I used to think to myself, don’t some people have anything better to do than walk on fire?

But then, a few days back I found myself staring at a 12-feet stretch of embers and flame, ready to take the steps. Do you think I was scared? Or was I enthusiastic and eagerly waiting for the countdown from my coach? Honestly, I was filled with Fear (yes, with a capital F), and how I wished I could just run away from the scene. But then there was no escape, with more than a hundred people cheering and prodding me from all directions. I did the 12 feet marathon and when I reached the other end there was a winning smile on my lips and not a tiniest burn on my feet.

Then I did something else. I walked over a pile of broken glass strewn on the floor, and I did it without so much as a scratch on my feet.


Tall tale? No. There was not a scar on the feet of any of the people who went through the experience. I was not an exception.

How did we do it? And why did we do it? Why would anyone in their senses ever want to walk barefoot on fire, or glass, or ice, or whatever for that matter?

Let me explain.

How is it possible?
Most promoters of fire and glass walk emphasize that you need to be in a special mental state or have an unwavering belief in order to prevent the hot coals from burning and the sharp glass edges from cutting your feet. Critics quickly point out that neither firewalk nor glasswalk has anything to do with the power of the mind, and it doesn’t really require any special mental state or ability; it all has to do with basic physics.

Going by the laws of physics, the reason you can walk on burning coals is that they are poor conductors of heat. It is the same reason why you can touch a cake baking inside an oven without being burned, but you can’t touch a metal plate inside the same oven.

Similarly, it is subtle pressure management when it comes to broken glass walk. A bed of glass is prepared with sufficient depth for the glass to be able to shift and settle as a foot is planted slowly and directly down upon it. This is somewhat similar to pressing a sharp knife with the flat of the blade against one's flesh, where considerable force may be used without injury.

A word of caution though, no matter how much physics or logic you apply, there are definitely serious risks involved in both fire and glass walks. So do not try any of them at home! To make matters clearer, swimming across a 12-feet deep pool is possible by all laws of physics, but you wouldn’t take the plunge unless you know how to swim or you have an experienced coach to guide you through the process.

Why would you do it?
In certain tribes such a practice is a part of the ritual that you can’t escape, and for the ascetics it may be a form of penance and surrender. As for Tony Robbins, Suresh Padmanavan (whose event we attended) and other life coaches, getting people to walk barefooted across a bed of red hot coals or a pile of broken glass is a way of driving home some valuable life lessons.

These people use fire or glass walk as a tool to demonstrate it to people how they can overcome their fears and limiting beliefs.

One of the most important sets of beliefs that we have are the beliefs about possibilities and impossibilities in life and these beliefs influence not only our choices, behavior and actions, but also the risks that we take and what we are willing to try. If we believe something is impossible for us, we wouldn’t even try it, would we? But once we start believing that something is actually possible, it opens up a whole new set of avenues and choices right in front of us.

The firewalk or glasswalk experience is a perfect example. People who have not seen or experienced any of them find it difficult to believe that anyone could actually walk on hot coals or broken glass without getting hurt. It seems to go against common sense and their previous experiences with hot coals or broken glass. But when they do the walk, the old belief comes crashing down, and there is a major shift in paradigm.

That’s what exactly happened with me.

PS: This article was written almost two years ago right after the event.

A fantastic tale to delight your heart and ignite your soul

Life skills for young people

An unconventional guide to exceptional teaching

2 comments ( post yours ) more »

What to do when someone calls you ugly and stupid

Posted on 03 June 2009 02:36am in Empowerment

I have been called ugly, stupid, dunce, failure, thief, everything. Not now of course, but in the past.

Do you think I am any of those? Not by any chance. I am a wise and handsome author and educator who’s into giving, rather than thieving. And I am not a failure; I am a success by any definition.

What about the people who called me those names?

Well, I don’t even bother about them because I secretly know that they were calling those names to themselves.

How’s that?

Look, it’s simple. If they were beautiful people, they wouldn’t call me ugly. Those who have beauty in them also have the vision to see the beauty in others. And if they were wise people, they wouldn’t call me stupid. Those that are truly wise have the wisdom to see the greatness in others.

I never paid attention to what they said. I knew I wasn't any of the things they said about me. So whatever they said went back to them.

Indeed, what we see in others is really what we are. It is our own reflection that we see around us – good, bad, ugly, beautiful, success, failure, everything.

In the story of Little Master, the little boy learns this lesson from the stars. He and his friends were looking at the stars when…. Well, let me give you the extract from the book itself:

Suddenly, the sky looked unusually bright. There was a flurry of flashes and blinks all over the sky. It seemed the stars were in celebration of some kind.

Then the boys and girls heard whispers and giggles up in the sky. "We are beautiful! They think we are beautiful!" It was the stars whispering among themselves.

Then a bright old star in the northern sky blinked merrily at the boys and girls as if it was trying to get their attention. When they looked at it, it simply said: "Thank you for making us beautiful." The other stars immediately broke into a beautiful chorus. "Thank you for making us beautiful!" they sang.

The little boy was thunderstruck, and so were his friends.

"We... how do we... make you beautiful?" the little boy asked in great surprise and disbelief. "You are stars and we're just human, young and little."

The stars continued to sing. "You are made of the same stuff that we are made of. Yet you are more than the stars. It is you who make us twinkle."

"Wow!" exclaimed the boys and girls in unison. "How do we do that?"

The wise old star of the north winked heartily at them and said:

"We are stars because you call us so. We twinkle because you look at us. We dance with joy for you think we are beautiful. If it weren't for you, we'd just be balls of hot swirling gases."

The old star then joined its billions of little friends in the merrymaking. They were all frisking and frolicking and turning the sky into a heaven of lights.

The little boy and his friends continued to look at the marvelous night sky for some more time. Now they had a new reason to look there: to make the stars beautiful, to get them to twinkle. They even made new stars appear in different parts of the sky.

Imagine making the stars beautiful!

But it could be true. It could be true that the beauty we see around us (including that of the stars) is really our own beauty reflected back to us. It could be true that how we see other people is really how we are. It could be true that when we call someone ugly or stupid, we are really calling that to ourselves.

So the next time you are tempted to point a finger at somebody, remember that you might be doing that to yourself. The rubbish you want to hurl at someone might land on your own nose.

But what, now I hear you scream, but what if it is the others who are calling me the names and throwing the garbage at me? It’s they who think I am ugly and stupid. I am the victim here!

Well, in that case, you have a choice: Believe what those people say to you and dutifully play the role of a victim. Or do what I did – DON’T GIVE THEM A DAMN! Let them call you a thousand names, point a million fingers at you and scream their hearts out. You hold your head high, put a smile on your lips, pray for those poor souls and walk your way. For you know the truth.

A fantastic tale to delight your heart and ignite your soul

Life skills for young people

An unconventional guide to exceptional teaching

3 comments ( post yours ) more »


« Older entries