Connecting higher

So if you had 10 hours to chop wood, how much time would you spend to sharpen the axe?

In life, we all have a purpose or goals. The question is how effective we are in achieving it? Are we diligent, hard at work, giving our all? If so, what is the outcome and output? Can we do better? Will taking time aside from the business and busyness of life help up to be more happier, healthier, and more emotionally and financially fulfilled? Big question and bigger words no doubt. But taking a break and thinking is a must – the idea is to connect to and with something higher within ourselves.

So am creating this thread to post on matters not specifically related to trading, but of equally if not higher in importance. The subjects covered will be diverse, but all pertain to ideas and to provoke alternate viewpoints, to make us think and reflect, rather accept things as status quo.

Contribution request from all. Do critique ideas, and avoid being personal. Thanks

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The power of habits

They are like small streams, they join form to form rivers. They cut thru land, and create space for themselves. So how about if we think to create a new habit (which can start as a stream and end up as a mighty river) that is worth a few lakhs or millions of rupees? Is it possible? For e.g if we were to get up an hour early each morning, and spend 15 minutes in meditation and another 45 minutes in taking a brisk walk or some form of exercise, how would we feel after six months.? A small start no doubt, but in terms of fitness and health, possibly priceless.

We can consider saving 60-120 minutes or more each day from a habit of reading news paper end to end, watching TV, being on facebook or on social sites, or cut off time from any other non productive activity and put the time 'created' to good use.? How about saving an hour off from watching TV dramas, or mindless movies to ‘kill time’ - Just a thought here.

Most of the habits happen without reflection. It may happen that at times we get a call from a friend to join for a cigarette smoke, pubbing, movie, snacking or such activity… this is fine as far it gets one off. But it may be detrimental to us in the long run, if this becomes a habit or a routine activity. Unfortunately disempowering and bad habits start small and in this manner.

Our intention should be the opposite - For us to create a habit (not a small one, though that is fine too) that over a period of say three or six months, becomes a million dollar habit - not necessarily financially, but it can be in terms of better health, happier relationship, connecting with our kids etc. We can start off with an idea where we want change in our life, and then pursue and work on that only one habit consistently for a period of time.

For e.g If it is wealth creation that we are seeking, how about shutting off from all distractions such as TV, phones, internet, newspaper, etc for an hour a day, and thinking, working, reflecting and creating a strategy that we follow to its logical end on a day to day basis for three or six months.? We can write down our ideas and make notes in a journal. How would this feel once we have done this as per our goals or project?

The fact is, that our mind is our greatest treasure – much more than the money or wealth that we have. However, it is easily influenced both negatively as well as positively. Unfortunately, we have the tendency to use it carelessly and without proper thought and reflection. If we cultivate it well, it can be empowering and put us in control of our life. Compare the small analogy of two farmers : One who cultivated vegetables for a living on his plot of land. The other too, did the same, but thought and planned ahead. Besides his regular crop of vegetables, he planted mangoes and teak wood tress on the border of his plot. One farmer is thus making a living. The other, has made his life.

Thanks button did not work, hence posting thanks. This is a topic close to my heart and would look forward to interaction with like minded people.

The law of atrophy

The Collin’s English Dictionary defines the medical term atrophy as any degeneration or diminution due to lack of use. Muscles that are not used will result to atrophy. In simple terms, the law of atrophy means that what you don’t use, you lose! Indeed, the law of atrophy is also true in life, such as a house not being used may easily deteriorate, a car engine not in use may corrode, a student who does not sharpen his brain may think that he is the dumbest person in school, or a clerk who thinks he does have what it takes to be promoted may one day retire as a clerk.


http://cbnasia.org/home/2012/07/the-law-of-atrophy/

Excerpt :


I want to encourage you: do not settle for something less! What you have accomplished in your career, relationship, and life so far is just a fraction of your full potential. Yes, just a fraction! Meaning, there’s still so much more in store for you! So many things you can still do with your career! You’ve got so much potential screaming to be unleashed! Keep pushing forward! Stir up the gift in you! God has gifted you an amazing gift called the brain! Use it! Don’t let it result to atrophy!

According to Peter Reber, a professor of Psychology in Northwestern University, “The human brain consists of about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, amounting to more than a trillion connections. If each neuron could only help store a single memory, running out of space would be a problem. You might only have few gigabytes of storage space. Yet neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain’s memory storage capacity to something closer to around 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes). For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold 3 million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continuously for more than 300years to use up all that storage.” So we are gifted us with an amazing potential! Keep using and sharpening what you have! Reach for new heights!

Here's a true story of Dr. Ben Carson, a poor boy, who was raised by a single mom. He went through considerable trauma over his parents’ separation when he was eight. When he was in fifth grade, everyone in his class considered him as the dumbest kid in class, and so he believed he was. He was already contented by his poor performance in class and believed that his brain was too dumb. One day, his mother examined his report card and found out that he was doing poorly in every subject. Ben’s mother, who finished only third grade, understood the law of atrophy. She kept shaking the report card and told Ben to work harder and use the good brain that God has given him.

His mother often said, “Ben, you are not dumb. You are smart! You’ve got everything in your brain.” She also said, “You can do anything other people can do—only you can do it better.” She stressed that giving the best is the only way that he can get ahead in life and be successful. With a strong conviction, Ben’s mother once told him that if he will continue to get poor grades, he will spend the rest of his life sweeping floors in a factory, and it is not the kind of life God wanted for him.

Two nights after the incident with the report card, Ben’s mother came home and saw his two sons watching the television. She immediately turned off the television and told her children not to waste too much time in front of the television. It was then that she gave rules that unleashed their potential! She said to her children, “First, you can only watch two television programs per week only after you have done your homework. Second, you cannot play outside after school until you finish your homework. Third, you have to read two books from the library each week and must write a book report about what you had read.”

Ben and his brother tried to offer several arguments, but their mother was firm. His older brother seemed to grasp the wisdom of what their mother said, and so he convinced Ben to do it. The following day after school, they walked to the local library. As soon as they got home they started to read books. It was the first book that they ever read. Within a month, they could find their way around the library like someone who had been reading books for a long time and became the favorites of the librarians. Both of them continued to read and they learned more and more.

One day, in Ben’s Science class, the teacher held up an object that looked like a piece of black, glasslike rock. The teacher asked, “Does anybody know what this is?” Immediately, Ben recognized the stone because he read all about it. He waited for his classmates to answer but none raised their hands. Ben felt so strange because not even the smartest kids were raising their hands. It was then that he answered correctly and began to tell the class everything he knew about the rock called obsidian.

His classmates could not believe that Ben was able to answer the question! His teacher said with enthusiasm that Ben got the correct answer and proclaimed that what he answered was a tremendous piece of information. It was at that time that Ben tasted the thrill of achievement! His classmates looked at him with admiration! A boy that everybody thought as stupid now realized how much knowledge he had accumulated from reading.

For the first time, Ben realized that his mother was right. Education is a way out of poverty, and reading is the road to achievement. He then recognized that he is no longer a class dummy and felt like a hero in school. His grades improved in all his subjects. The first thrill of achievement pushed him to read more because he believed that there is so much more to learn. He later became the top of the class. The boy who never got any answers right on his first test had totally reversed everything in his life. Ben graduated from high school with honors and earned admission to Yale University, where he earned his degree in psychology. He then studied at the University of Michigan, where his interest changed from psychiatry to neurosurgery. After his medical school, he took his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

The child who thought that he had a grim future is now called Dr. Ben Carson. He is renowned for his innovative and groundbreaking neurosurgeries. Dr. Carson achieved the first in medical history by successfully separating conjoined twins. His success and contribution to the world has been phenomenal by doing seemingly impossible operations and giving children a second chance to live normally. At age 33, he became the youngest doctor ever to head a major division in Johns Hopkins. Since 1984 up to the present, Dr. Carson is the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He received America’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He held more than 40 honorary doctorate degrees and hundreds of other awards. He is also the President of Carson’s Scholars Fund, which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments. He is a professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery, and pediatric medicine. He is also an author of several books that inspires many people to unleash their highest potential.

Through the years, Dr. Ben Carson realized that he has the responsibility to unleash that gift. Until now, he continually sharpens his craft knowing that it will wither if he will not. Don’t allow the treasure inside you to lead to atrophy! Wake up! Keep pushing forward! Remember, what you don’t use, you lose! If you are an employee, do not wait for your company to send you to training. Take the initiative: read books and unleash your craft. Don’t say you’re too old to learn or too young to grasp learning!

Winners never quit.... and quitters never win

http://www.planetmotivation.com/never-quit.html



Sylvester Stallone had it rough as child. He was taunted in school and in and out of foster homes. He didn't have it much better as an adult. Not able to earn a steady income, and having to sell his dog for $25.00 to help turn on his electricity, he was faced with many obstacles. It was only 2 weeks after selling his dog that he wrote the Rocky script in nearly 20 hours straight. He peddled the script relentlessly. Finally, being rejected over 1,500 times, Stallone was given a nod by United Artists for $125,000. BUT - only if Stallone would NOT star in it. Stallone refused.

He was subsequently offered $250,000 and $325,000! He would not accept unless he starred in it. Finally they compromised. They would allow him to play the role of Rocky, but would only pay him $35,000 and a percentage of profits as a concession. He accepted. Incidentally, Stallone's first purchase with his $35,000 windfall was buying his dog back for a whopping $15,000! Rocky cost $1,000,000 to make. It grossed over $200,000,000!! His sequels grossed over a billion dollars!!

Anthony Robbins tells the story in youtube video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywuse55qU2A

What a beautiful & thoughtful idea ,to create this thread .Thank you !!
Interestingly, the thought behind this got me to ‘wonder, and find an appropriate sentence to describe ‘Useful life ‘..So I googled ‘Useful life ‘ and here are the top 2 search results ..
1] http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/useful-life.html ==Period during which an asset or property is expected to be usable for the purpose it was acquired. It may or may not correspond with the item's actual physical life or economic life.
2] http://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/usefullife.asp =Useful life usually refers to the duration for which the item will be useful (to the business), and not how long the property will actually last. Many factors affect a property's useful life, including the frequency of use, the age when acquired and the repair policy and environmental conditions of the business.
Was disappointed to see these top 2 results .. Thought to myself , this is what the world has come to ..’Materialistic’.. Then realized, its’ not the world .or google search .It is due to me ..I had other windows open which were related to business news and trading . Naturally google ‘ arrived at such..
The reality is, we under estimate the power of our present ‘ actions and thoughts .The ‘now ‘ is so precious. If only Each ‘NOW ‘ had clean , useful and helpful thoughts…Thoughts are such powerful tools, to Yet, we under estimate it’s use.
As gmt900 as rightly pointed out , since there is no like button we resort to write messages,and unnecessarily crowd the pages.
Honestly admire the concept and the materials . Thanks a lot !

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When Einstein Met Tagore source-from the book , Science and the Indian Tradition: When Einstein Met Tagore

Truth and Beauty at the intersection of Science and Spirituality.

On July 14, 1930, Albert Einstein welcomed into his home on the outskirts of Berlin the Indian philosopher Rabindranath Tagore. The two proceeded to have one of the most stimulating, intellectually riveting conversations in history, exploring the age-old friction between science and religion. Science and the Indian Tradition: When Einstein Met Tagore recounts the historic encounter, amidst a broader discussion of the intellectual renaissance that swept India in the early twentieth century, germinating a curious osmosis of Indian traditions and secular Western scientific doctrine.



The following excerpt from one of Einstein and Tagore's conversations dances between previously examined definitions of science, beauty, consciousness, and philosophy in a masterful meditation on the most fundamental questions of human existence.

EINSTEIN: Do you believe in the Divine as isolated from the world?

TAGORE: Not isolated. The infinite personality of Man comprehends the Universe. There cannot be anything that cannot be subsumed by the human personality, and this proves that the Truth of the Universe is human Truth.

I have taken a scientific fact to explain this — Matter is composed of protons and electrons, with gaps between them; but matter may seem to be solid. Similarly humanity is composed of individuals, yet they have their interconnection of human relationship, which gives living unity to man’s world. The entire universe is linked up with us in a similar manner, it is a human universe. I have pursued this thought through art, literature and the religious consciousness of man.

EINSTEIN: There are two different conceptions about the nature of the universe: (1) The world as a unity dependent on humanity. (2) The world as a reality independent of the human factor.

TAGORE: When our universe is in harmony with Man, the eternal, we know it as Truth, we feel it as beauty.

EINSTEIN: This is the purely human conception of the universe.

TAGORE: There can be no other conception. This world is a human world — the scientific view of it is also that of the scientific man. There is some standard of reason and enjoyment which gives it Truth, the standard of the Eternal Man whose experiences are through our experiences.

EINSTEIN: This is a realization of the human entity.

TAGORE: Yes, one eternal entity. We have to realize it through our emotions and activities. We realized the Supreme Man who has no individual limitations through our limitations. Science is concerned with that which is not confined to individuals; it is the impersonal human world of Truths. Religion realizes these Truths and links them up with our deeper needs; our individual consciousness of Truth gains universal significance. Religion applies values to Truth, and we know this Truth as good through our own harmony with it.

EINSTEIN: Truth, then, or Beauty is not independent of Man?

TAGORE: No.

EINSTEIN: If there would be no human beings any more, the Apollo of Belvedere would no longer be beautiful.

TAGORE: No.

EINSTEIN: I agree with regard to this conception of Beauty, but not with regard to Truth.

TAGORE: Why not? Truth is realized through man.

EINSTEIN: I cannot prove that my conception is right, but that is my religion.

TAGORE: Beauty is in the ideal of perfect harmony which is in the Universal Being; Truth the perfect comprehension of the Universal Mind. We individuals approach it through our own mistakes and blunders, through our accumulated experiences, through our illumined consciousness — how, otherwise, can we know Truth?

EINSTEIN: I cannot prove scientifically that Truth must be conceived as a Truth that is valid independent of humanity; but I believe it firmly. I believe, for instance, that the Pythagorean theorem in geometry states something that is approximately true, independent of the existence of man. Anyway, if there is a reality independent of man, there is also a Truth relative to this reality; and in the same way the negation of the first engenders a negation of the existence of the latter.

TAGORE: Truth, which is one with the Universal Being, must essentially be human, otherwise whatever we individuals realize as true can never be called truth – at least the Truth which is described as scientific and which only can be reached through the process of logic, in other words, by an organ of thoughts which is human. According to Indian Philosophy there is Brahman, the absolute Truth, which cannot be conceived by the isolation of the individual mind or described by words but can only be realized by completely merging the individual in its infinity. But such a Truth cannot belong to Science. The nature of Truth which we are discussing is an appearance – that is to say, what appears to be true to the human mind and therefore is human, and may be called maya or illusion.

EINSTEIN: So according to your conception, which may be the Indian conception, it is not the illusion of the individual, but of humanity as a whole.

TAGORE: The species also belongs to a unity, to humanity. Therefore the entire human mind realizes Truth; the Indian or the European mind meet in a common realization.

EINSTEIN: The word species is used in German for all human beings, as a matter of fact, even the apes and the frogs would belong to it.

TAGORE: In science we go through the discipline of eliminating the personal limitations of our individual minds and thus reach that comprehension of Truth which is in the mind of the Universal Man.

EINSTEIN: The problem begins whether Truth is independent of our consciousness.

TAGORE: What we call truth lies in the rational harmony between the subjective and objective aspects of reality, both of which belong to the super-personal man.

EINSTEIN: Even in our everyday life we feel compelled to ascribe a reality independent of man to the objects we use. We do this to connect the experiences of our senses in a reasonable way. For instance, if nobody is in this house, yet that table remains where it is.

TAGORE: Yes, it remains outside the individual mind, but not the universal mind. The table which I perceive is perceptible by the same kind of consciousness which I possess.

EINSTEIN: If nobody would be in the house the table would exist all the same — but this is already illegitimate from your point of view — because we cannot explain what it means that the table is there, independently of us.

Our natural point of view in regard to the existence of truth apart from humanity cannot be explained or proved, but it is a belief which nobody can lack — no primitive beings even. We attribute to Truth a super-human objectivity; it is indispensable for us, this reality which is independent of our existence and our experience and our mind — though we cannot say what it means.

TAGORE: Science has proved that the table as a solid object is an appearance and therefore that which the human mind perceives as a table would not exist if that mind were naught. At the same time it must be admitted that the fact, that the ultimate physical reality is nothing but a multitude of separate revolving centres of electric force, also belongs to the human mind.

In the apprehension of Truth there is an eternal conflict between the universal human mind and the same mind confined in the individual. The perpetual process of reconciliation is being carried on in our science, philosophy, in our ethics. In any case, if there be any Truth absolutely unrelated to humanity then for us it is absolutely non-existing.

It is not difficult to imagine a mind to which the sequence of things happens not in space but only in time like the sequence of notes in music. For such a mind such conception of reality is akin to the musical reality in which Pythagorean geometry can have no meaning. There is the reality of paper, infinitely different from the reality of literature. For the kind of mind possessed by the moth which eats that paper literature is absolutely non-existent, yet for Man’s mind literature has a greater value of Truth than the paper itself. In a similar manner if there be some Truth which has no sensuous or rational relation to the human mind, it will ever remain as nothing so long as we remain human beings.

EINSTEIN: Then I am more religious than you are!

TAGORE: My religion is in the reconciliation of the Super-personal Man, the universal human spirit, in my own individual being.

. Science and the Indian Tradition: When Einstein Met Tagore is a sublime read in its entirety

http://www.ted.com/talks/einstein_the_parrot_talks_and_squawks


Einstein, the African grey parrot, has a vocabulary of more than 200 words and sounds; she can perform nearly half on cue. Einstein, the African grey parrot, is trained by , Stephanie White, . —


"This whimsical wrap-up of TED2006 — presented by Einstein, the African grey parrot, and her trainer, Stephanie White — simply tickles"

Unknown activist to Nobel Peace: Kailash Satyarthi:clap::clap::clap:

Kailash Satyarthi'- Nobel Peace Prize2014, shared with Malala Yousafzai

Before he became the second Indian to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday,10th October 2014, not many had heard Kailash Satyarthi’s name
Building on his initial activism, Satyarthi organised the Global March Against Child Labor in the 1990s -- dedicated to freeing the millions of children abused worldwide in a form of modern slavery.

The activist is also founder of RugMark, a widely known international scheme that tags all carpets made in factories that are child-labour free.

In 1998, he organised the Global March Against Child Labour across 103 countries, which helped pave the way for an International Labor Organization convention on the worst forms of child labour.

He described the plight of children forced into the worst kinds of abusive work in a 2010 interview with the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights.

"If they cry for their parents, they are beaten severely, sometimes hanged upside down from trees and even branded or burned with cigarettes," he said.

Satyarthi has said his social conscience was awoken when he was six and noticed a boy his age on the steps outside the school with his father, cleaning shoes.

Seeing many such children working instead of being educated, he felt an urge as he grew older to solve the problem -- launching him on his career of activism.

"I think of it all as a test. This is a moral examination that one has to pass. ... to stand up against such social evils," he said in the Kennedy Centre interview.

Through a number of training programmes, Satyarthi also helps children sold to pay off their parents' debts find new lives and serve as agents of prevention within their communities.

He and his organisation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) - the Save Childhood Movement, have single-handedly brought to centre-stage the debate on child rights in India.

"Child slavery is a crime against humanity. Humanity itself is at stake here. A lot of work still remains but I will see the end of child labor in my lifetime," Satyarthi told The Associated Press at his office in New Delhi. "If any child is a child slave in any part of the world, it is a blot on humanity. It is a disgrace."

The Nobel committee said: 'Satyarthi, 60, has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, "focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain.'

About Kailash Satyarthi:

#1 A human rights activist, Kailash Satyarthi has been at the forefront of a movement in India to end child slavery and exploitative child labour since 1980. Satyarthi has helped free children from slave-labor conditions and advocated for reforms, as director of the South Asia Coalition on Child Servitude and leader of Bachpan Bachao Andolan. In 1994, he founded a group now known as Goodweave, which certifies child-labor-free rugs and provides assistance to rescued and at-risk children.
#2 Kailash Satyarthi has headed various forms of peaceful protests and demonstrations, focusing on the exploitation of children for financial gain.

#3 In 1980, Kailash Satyarthi gave up his job as an electrical engineer to begin the crusade to end exploitation of children in India. As a grassroots activist, he rescued of over 78,500 children who were employed as child labours and developed a successful model for their education and rehabilitation.

#4 He was instrumental in making the problem of child labour in India as a human rights issue. He has established that child labor is responsible for the perpetuation of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, population explosion and many other social evils.
#5 Satyarthi has also played an important role in linking the fight against child labor with the efforts for achieving 'Education for All'.

#6 The Nobel Laureate is a member of a high level group formed by UNESCO on Education for all comprising of select Presidents, Prime Ministers and UN Agency Heads.

#7 Kailash Satyarthi has survived numerous attacks on his life during his crusade to end child labour, the most recent being the attack on him and his colleagues while rescuing child slaves from garment sweatshops in Delhi on 17 March 2011.
8 In 2004 while rescuing children from a local circus mafia, Kailash Satyarthi and his colleagues were brutally attacked. Despite of these attacks and his office being ransacked a number of times his commitment for the cause has been unwavering.

#9 Satyarthi has been honoured by the Former US President Bill Clinton in Washington for featuring in Kerry Kennedy's Book ‘Speak Truth to Power', where his life and work featured among the top 50 human rights defenders in the world.

#10 Wikipedia states that Satyarthi has been the subject of a number of documentaries, television series, talk shows, advocacy and awareness films.

Came across this quote from what is considered to be the most important poetry ever, (this is subjective ofcourse) in english language. It's from Paradise Lost, containing over 10,000 lines and written by John Milton. A quick check on wiki, makes it interesting read. I will take time to go thru and understand it in leisure. Comming to the quote, it is on the subject (which we are now using to understand the meaning of the words), and that we use in our daily life, which brings to mind the question, does it make our life heaven or hell???

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, and a hell of heaven...... ― John Milton, Paradise Lost

(How true is that)